Authoress' Note: ... And that's it! I might continue this theme before Christmas, but I'm not sure yet. Depends on if I come up with another idea/have time to write it up before Christmas. I hope you enjoyed my little tales! Have a safe and happy holiday, wherever you are!

Mishap Three

There were three things Noelle Silva realized upon waking up on the morning of the Festival of Yule, sitting up in her bed with an audible groan.

One, the sunlight was coming in way too bright, prompting her to remember to ask about getting thicker curtains for her room. Two, that she had a splitting headache, stemming very much from the heavy celebration the night before, filled with a lot of food, a lot of yelling, and definitely a lot of alcohol that she was sure she had more than she should've. And three, that she wasn't alone in her bed.

Oh, there was nothing indecent about her or her bedmate, to be sure! Both were fully dressed, albeit just disheveled here and there with mussy hair and wrinkled clothes. But it wasn't an occurrence that the young royal was used to, and she nearly screamed at the person in her bed before she realized who it was and she rushed to cover her mouth to keep any more loud noises from escaping her lips. Extra benefit to her aching head, to be sure.

Sleeping next to her, curled up slightly with arms wrapped around Noelle's extra-fluffy pillow and turned towards the mage was Secre Swallowtail, affectionately called by everyone in the Black Bulls by her gifted name, Nero. Usually, when she slept, it would be in her bird form, but for some reason she was in her human state, seemingly dead to the world. Much to Noelle's internal relief.

With a gulp and a sigh, Noelle tried to steady her rushed heartbeat, relieved that the person in her bed was just Nero and not someone else. Although why was Nero in her bed anyway, when she never had before...? The royal teen sighed, rubbing her pained head as she tried to remember what happened last night that could've lead to this situation. She remembered feeling just a bit tipsy last night, much thanks to Vanessa's insistence in having "at least one glass of cider" with her. Pretty sure that one glass turned into two or three, and by the time they had reached midnight, Noelle's inhibitions were getting more and more shot. As well as her becoming more and more sleepy, despite all of the good cheer being thrown about.

Oh yeah... she remembered falling asleep at one point, only to be briefly woken up to be instructed to go to her room. Where it'd be safer for her to sleep, recalling something about Luck and Magna getting into a fight for the third time. She wasn't sure who it was that woke her up, remembering only that it was one of the ladies based on the sound of the voice. She then was helped to her room by that person, as the water mage was clearly not fully coherent from both the bit of drink she had and her slumbering state, but from there everything else was a blank.

That blank was becoming more clearly painted in, realizing that Nero was her angel of mercy that got her safely to her bed. Although why the cursed girl had decided to also take residence in her bed and not be shifted back into her bird form was still unanswered. Still, despite wanting answers, Noelle didn't make an effort to force her to wake up.

Violet eyes watched her for a few moments as she slept, not at all bothered by Noelle's stirring or the bright morning light reflecting off of the white snow outside. Once again feeling grateful that Nero was as sound of a sleeper as she was, as there was a definite pink tinge to the royal's cheeks.

'How cute.'

Noelle has always thought Nero was cute, but her human form cemented that even more. Many times she had mentally remarked about the girl's adorable looks and personality – sometimes even fretting about it when it came to the relationship between her and the object of Noelle's affections, Asta – but now she had Nero sleeping in her human form to just add to that. Combining that with the fact that she was still decked out in the red, white, and gold holiday dress that Vanessa had created with her thread magic, and it was no surprise that Noelle was blushing over the extra levels of cute sharing her bed.

Nero stirred, making a low grumble as she began to wake up, and Noelle had to quickly avert her head, trying to not let it be known that she was being some sort of creep watching the girl as she slept, ruby red eyes squinting at first in reaction to the bright sunlight.

"G-g-good morning, Nero! Happy Yule!" the water mage stammered at first, trying to act like everything about this situation was normal.

"Good morning, Noelle. Happy Yule," Nero replied groggily, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

She blinked, realizing what she was doing, followed by realizing where she was. "Oh," the girl muttered, "I'm in your bed."

"Y-yeah, you are."

The two were awkwardly quiet for a few moments, before Noelle licked her dry lips, "So um... what happened last night? After you woke me up and helped me get to my room, I mean? You usually don't sleep in my room, or in your human form, so..."

"... I was tired, and I didn't wish to return downstairs. Nor did I want to go to Asta's room. He's loud enough when he's sober, let alone when he is potentially buzzed."

Noelle blinked, taking notice of how pink Nero's cheeks were becoming as she answered, making her doubt some of the validity of the words. But, despite her curiosity over the answer, she didn't press further for the answer, pursing her lips into a straight line. Nero never looked like this before, at least not that Noelle could recall, so whatever the real answer was, she probably wouldn't like it. And for today, given her current state of ache and not knowing what else may come, that would just have to do.

"Okay, I guess. Well, we probably should head downstairs. Although pretty sure everyone is pretty hung over from last night," she replied, accepting the answer at its face value, pushing the blanket back from her legs and swinging them over the edge of her bed, socked feet hitting the cold stone.

Looking down at the floor, her vibrant eyes caught sight on something on the floor, and her head tilted to one side as she leaned over to grab it up. "Hmm? What is... is this mistletoe?" she hummed, examining the sprig up close.

Nero's skin bristled, and that heat in her cheeks burned even more as Noelle brought the plant more into her line of sight. Thin brows furrowed as the royal tried to remember if one of them had this on their person last night, before remembering that, yes, Nero did. It was something that Charmy had clipped into her hair, after she had thought it was some of food before Finral had to remind the glutton of what it was. It must had fallen out when Nero had put her to bed, she mused.

"Oh yeah... I forgot all about that. And Finral attempted to kiss you, but you shot him down with a look, and no one else bothered you about it," she recalled with a laugh, remembering that little event, placing the sprig onto her nightstand.

"Yes, that is correct," came the brisk reply, and Noelle blinked again, confused by the attitude Nero was displaying.

As much as Noelle wanted to just let things lie, this was making her change her tune. What did she do last night to make Nero act like this? Teeth bit down on her bottom lip, "Did I do something really stupid last night?"

"It wasn't stupid."

"Okay... so... what did I do?"

The two girls were once again thrown into awkward silence, Nero's fingers grabbing tightly to the blanket while a set of Noelle's dug into the mattress. "Nero?" the Silva asked in a half-whisper, her word coming out shaky and almost frightened.

"... You pulled me into bed with you, and then you kissed me."

Blink. Blink. "Eh!?"

Noelle fell out of her bed, hitting the floor with a shock while Nero leaned over, watching as the princess' eyes rolled about in comical circles from the trauma. But as quickly as she had fallen to the floor, she rose to her feet just as fast.

"I-I-I kissed you!? Oh my god, Nero, I'm so sorry! I must had been more tipsy than I thought, or maybe I thought I was still sleeping, or something... I really don't remember. B-b-but I swear, I wouldn't have done that normally, you know!" she rambled on, running about the room like a mad woman, hands at her head as if she was trying to hold back all of her panic from spilling out of her ears, "Oh my god... I'm so so so so sorry, Nero! I'm the worst! I-"

The black bird's lips fell open to say something, but the words died on her tongue. After a moment of collection, she tried again, "You're not the worst."

"B-but I am! I can't believe you didn't fly away... I mean, you could've easily escaped me, even if I held you down, but you didn't and I don't know-"

"I didn't want to."

"You... you didn't want to?"

Their eyes met for a second before Nero looked away, staring down at her clenched hands. "You... were warm," she said softly, "So I wanted to stay."

"O-oh... but... I'm still sorry, though!" Noelle stammered out, almost feeling glad to hear that she didn't keep her friend there against her will or anything like that, but she was still flustered by the events that were starting to flood back to her, "I shouldn't have pulled you into bed, and definitely shouldn't have kissed you like that! I mean... you were wearing mistletoe, and I know that's the tradition, but that's not an excuse! I can't believe that I would even-"

She didn't even have a chance to finish her ranting before Nero leaned over, grabbing one of Noelle's flailing arms and pulling her back down towards the bed, the water mage's hands reaching out to brace herself against the mattress, eyes going wider than ever as the sealing mage performed a spell without the use of her mana, two sets of pale pink lips meeting almost too delicately for the forcefulness of the act.

The kiss lasted only a couple of seconds, parting with barely a pop, and the room went quiet for the third time since their awakening. Noelle's throat went dry, unable to form any sort of thoughts or reaction, staring blankly with an agape mouth as she tried to decipher anything in Nero's expression that would give her an understanding of what just happened.

"... We're even."

Noelle couldn't say anything in response before Nero released the grip around her wrist, turning away to remove herself from the bed, walking towards the door and opening it up before she turned back into her bird form, leaving Noelle all alone in her room. She was a bright red, steaming coming from her ears as she touched her lips, feeling the lingering heat from the impromptu kiss, before collapsing onto the bed in a heap of nerves, confusion, and intensifying head pain.

Once Nero was as far away from Noelle as she could be, she returned to her human form, leaning against a nearby wall with a sigh and a blush, her fingers also going to her lips and gently brushing the appendages, ruby eyes closing as she tried to relax, wanting her heart to stop racing as fast as it was.

She sighed again, looking up at the ceiling as she played through the memory of last night. Recalling how she had dragged Noelle up to her room after failing to get Finral's attention to create a shortcut portal... at how she had roughly dropped Noelle onto the bed... at how she had reached out and grabbed Nero's arm and pulled her down with her, holding onto her with a fierce grip while speaking a string of nonsensical words, remembering seeing the mistletoe that was clipped to her hair falling out and out of her sight... how the only words that the cursed mage could make out were "Asta's so lucky" and unable to figure out what exactly that actually meant...

Remembering Noelle smiling at her, as drunk and sleepy as she was, calling out her name in a half-inquisitive sort of way... remember how she blinked, responding with an annoyed "yes?" before she was surprised with a soft, sweet, and sticky kiss upon her lips... how she had no time or ability to react to the motion before Noelle pulled back, smiling again with a "Happy Yule!" before she fell asleep, snuggling her face into Nero's shoulder while wrapping her arms around the girl's waist.

Nero's form heated up again, her head shaking vigorously to rid herself of the visions, although she knew that this wasn't a subject that was going to go away. She knew that it was something that the two would have to talk about again. But after the holiday, they both agreed to themselves in unison, while Noelle removed herself from her bed and Nero returned to her bird form, both making their way towards the main hall where nearly all of the Black Bulls were still largely passed out.

… Maybe then, Nero could say the words she wanted to say before but couldn't, the worry and fear about what would be said or done if the words were uttered as they were: 'I didn't mind.'