A/N: For today's prompt Dance for Astelle week 2022 I tried myself at Finral's and Mimosa's point of view. A big thanks to my guest reviewer for my story yesterday :)
Noelle looked how Asta danced with Mimosa. Finally admitting to herself that she had romantic feelings for him, had made it easier to identified her current emotion as jealousy, but that didn't really make her feel better.
"Care to dance with me?" Finral's voice pulled her out of her thoughts.
When she was about to reject his offer she saw him glance at Langris, who was dancing with a noblewoman and his smile flatter. Despite his womanizing ways, she considered Finral a close friend and she knew how it felt to be treated like this by siblings and family. Sighing she took the hand that he was offering her.
"One dance and feel honored that a royal like me agreed."
At her word Finral's charming smile turned into a real one and he gently lead her to the dance floor. When they were in position and began dancing Noelle noticed that they were on full display right in the middle of the dance floor, but she should have seen that coming, considering this was Finral.
"You know that only because you're dancing with me, it won't change their view of you."
"Maybe I just wanted to dance with a beautiful woman." Finral tried, but after a raised eyebrow from the royal in front of him, he sighed. "You're right, but I'm sure this dance is profitable for both of us."
"Then tell me what I get out of dancing with you."
Finral smiled slightly. Since he had asked her to dance there had been a pair of eyes on them. Sure, now that they were dancing a lot of people were watching them, but only one was burning a hole in the back of his head with his eyes. He was sure that the swordsman wasn't even aware that he was doing it.
The changes in their manaless teammate and Noelle had been slow, but Finral, being the self-proclaimed love expert of the Black Bulls, had seen it. The former rookies spend almost every minute together, on and off the battlefield and Finral could see that they were more than best friends. That Noelle had romantic feelings for Asta had been easy to read, but for a while now it seemed as if Asta was slowly realizing his feelings for Noelle. Case in point for Finral was that he felt the angry aura from his teammate when he dipped Noelle and pulled her closer afterwards.
"You know, he is watching us." He whispered into the royal's ear, knowing that she would surely know who he was talking about.
When he looked at Noelle, after pulling back a little, he had awaited a shy smile or a bright red blush, but instead he saw sadness.
"Even if he is, it's not like it'll change his feelings for me." Finral's confusion must have shown on his face, because Noelle continued. "The whole evening he didn't even notice me. Not once did he ask me to dance and I'm sure he didn't even notice my dress at all."
"It's a beautiful dress indeed and I know for sure that Asta noticed. You might not have seen it, but he stole a few glaces at you." He winked at her.
For a moment that brought a smile to her face, but with a look at Mimosa and Asta it vanished.
"It's nice of you to say this, but we both know that he doesn't see me that way."
It was rare that Noelle doubted herself openly, but Finral knew that this thought had been constantly on her mind. They share this, the fear of being rejected due to the rejection they had gone through as children. Noelle was becoming more and more confident in herself and Finral knew that it was thanks to Asta and the Black Bulls, but the fear sat deep. He had gone through the same feelings when he had joined the Black Bulls and he was glad that Noelle got the same support. Despite that he could understand that she was still hesitant.
"Only because we were rejected in the past by our families doesn't mean that we don't have a chance to be loved. Even if he might not realize what he feels for you, he cares deeply for you with all his heart. Give him and yourself time and he will come around."
"Thank you Finral." A small smile stole itself on her lips.
Finral returned her smile and dipped her one last time. He could see Asta and Mimosa ending their dance and he was sure that they had only be a few seconds until he came over. Finral had always wondered what it would be like to have a bond with a sibling to share his past with and despite that Noelle and him had only met after they had both experienced their families treating them the way they had, he felt that bond with her. Noelle was the closest he had to a sister and he hoped that the both of them could find the love they were searching for. Bringing her back up from the dip he gently squeezed her hands before letting go.
"You deserve to be happy." He looked slightly over her shoulder. "And I think someone who can help you with that is on his way."
"What-"
Before Noelle could ask what he meant, Asta stood in front of her.
"Dance with me Noelle." It wasn't the romantic question Noelle had probably hoped for, but Finral could see her eyes light up. However Noelle wouldn't be Noelle if she not at least protested.
"I'm royalty and you can't even really dance. Why would I give you the chance to dance with a royal like me." Her words were accompanied by a deep blush.
This reaction was to be expected and Finral was sure that in a few seconds Noelle would still agree, but what surprised him was the nervousness he saw in Asta's eyes. Asta knew Noelle the best of all of them and he had seen her act like this so many times. Was he really nervous that she wouldn't accept? Maybe he had already fully realized his feelings for Noelle after all.
"Fine, I'll dance with you, but if you step on my feet I'll never dance with you again."
The nervousness immediately vanished out of Asta's eyes and Finral watched him happily drag Noelle outside on the balcony. Hopefully happiness found Noelle sooner than him, Finral wished her that with all his heart.
Mimosa had watched Asta and Noelle stand together for the whole evening. They hadn't danced and hadn't left the others side, but Mimosa had to change that for a moment. All she wanted was a last dance with Asta before she would finally put her crush on him to rest and let Noelle have the happiness she deserved.
When she approached Asta and asked him to dance, his eyes glanced at Noelle for a second before he agreed. Noelle didn't make it obvious that she disapproved, but Mimosa, knowing Noelle since their were little, noticed the way her shoulders tensed.
With Asta no long by Noelle's side it didn't take long for someone to ask Noelle to dance and a few minutes later her and Finral joined the dancing couples. Mimosa had attempted a little bit of small talk with Asta, but as soon as Finral had hold out his hand for Noelle, his complete attention was on them.
"It's nice of the wizard kind to honor us with this dance, don't you think?" Mimosa tried to get him to look at her.
"Sure." His eyes never left Noelle and Finral.
At his reaction Mimosa tried to push her annoyance to the side and she was successful until Asta stepped on her feet again.
"Could you maybe try to move in sync with me?" She tried politely.
"Sure." Was his answer, but neither his eyes found hers nor his feet the dance floor instead of her feet.
Sighing Mimosa took a hold of his cheek and turned his head to her.
"You're constantly stepping on my toes, Asta."
Mimosa saw Asta's eyes widen and it seemed that her words had finally pulled him back at the situation at hand.
"I'm sorry, I didn't notice." He smiled apologetically at her.
Mimosa tried to ignore the way her heart skipped a beat at his smile and focus on the mission she had assigned herself to.
"If you want to watch Noelle, maybe you should have asked her to dance. Why didn't you already?"
Asta's eyes glanced back at Noelle and he sighed.
"When we were practicing for this, she said that I wasn't any good at dancing. I'm sure that she wouldn't want to dance with me."
Mimosa shook her head, Noelle had been right, Asta was dense. Noelle couldn't have made it more obvious that she wanted Asta to dance with her and he still thought she wouldn't dance with him. Then again, Noelle could have asked Asta, after all she had asked Asta, but Mimosa knew that Noelle had too much pride to do so and then there was her secretly shy nature.
Noelle had always been braver than her and she had stood up for her in the past. Mimosa didn't have a sister, but she had always considered Noelle her sister. They had grown up together and Mimosa had witnessed the abuse Noelle had gone through at the hands of her siblings. Despite that and that it was frowned up on when a royal trained, Noelle had never given up and worked hard to become better. Mimosa had always admired that about her, but her past had also made Noelle careful with her vulnerable feelings. It wasn't only Noelle's pride that kept her from confessing to Asta, but also a deep fear of being rejected. If things between them should change Asta had to show Noelle that he was romantically interested in her. It was time to push him in the right direction and knowing Asta she couldn't be gentle to make him finally realize his feelings.
"Go and ask her to dance." She told him and stepped away from him.
At her words Asta, who until now had been busy glaring at Finral, turned back to her. When he was about to protest, clearly with the same reasoning as before, Mimosa spoke up again.
"I know her all my life and believe me, she wants to dance with you." Looking deep into Asta's eyes, Mimosa tried her best to help Noelle. "Please make her happy. After everything she deserves it so much and I know you can be the one to do that."
Seeing the seriousness in her eyes, Asta took a second to let her words sink in, before he made his way over to Noelle and Finral.
Mimosa felt her heart hurt a little, but that was expected. Even if her feelings for Asta didn't ran as deep as Noelle's for him, it still hurt to know that Asta didn't see her this way. The royal watched Noelle and Asta argue, before the manaless peasant lead a blushing Noelle outside on the balcony to dance. Not being able to stop herself from watching Mimosa looked outside to see them dance together. It was far from the perfect dance she had seen Noelle and Finral do, but it was still the most beautiful dance Mimosa had ever seen.
Noelle was blushing deeply and Mimosa could even see that Asta's cheeks were a little red. They stood rather close together while swaying and after a few seconds Noelle rested her head on Asta's shoulder. The moonlight illuminated the young couple and made it possible for Mimosa to see Noelle smile. Seeing her fellow royal, who was more like a sister to her, finally be happy made her heart lighter. Noelle and Asta deserved each other and if there was anyone who could give Noelle the happiness that she deserved it was Asta.
"We can only hope to have someone look at us, as they look at each other." A voice said close to Mimosa. Looking away from the dancing couple she saw Finral next to her. "It seems that we were successful in finally getting them to dance together."
"It was hard, wasn't it?" Mimosa smiled at him.
"Sure was. I think we deserve a break. Care to dance?" He smiled charmingly at her.
Despite rarely knowing Noelle's teammates Mimosa immediately smiled in return. It seemed that she wasn't the only one who was rooting for Noelle and Asta. Taking Finral's hand she gave the dancing couple on last glance only to notice that their were now facing each other. When they began moving in, for what Mimosa was sure to be their first kiss, she turned away. There were some moments that belong only to the people involving it and she had a dance to get to. Looking at Finral, she realized that he must have thought the same, because he was looking away from the balcony as well.
"I would love to dance." Mimosa finally replied and let herself be lead to the dance floor.
It seemed that Noelle would get even more than a dance and Mimosa couldn't be happier for her.
A/N: Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it :)