A/N: Hi guys, I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter out, but hopefully you guys can consider it an early christmas present hehe! The holiday's have been kicking my butt, which is why my stories have been taking forever and why I haven't responded to comments lately. But I will try to answer them today and tomorrow so I hope you all can forgive me! This chapter is more of a cute confession, and the next one will be a wedding hehe. So i hope you all enjoy~!

—

Noelle quickly got dressed in a simple light purple dress, silver cardigan, and shoes as she walked down the hall towards the Black Bulls common area. Asta had asked to see her and that he had a surprise for her, she had casually agreed and told him that she would have to check her 'schedule' first. But of course that was a lie, she just didn't want him to know how excited she was.

Grey and Gauche had gone on a date before she confessed to him, so maybe Asta was doing the same thing?

She quickly cleared her throat and tried to calm herself down. As she walked into the common area what awaited her wasn't…what she expected.

Asta was standing there in his usual attire, not a suit or nice clothes, but the ones he wore on any given day. He was also doing push ups.

" Oh you're here! Are you ready to go?" He asked cheerfully as he stood up, he tilted his head in confusion as he looked her up and down. " What're you all dressed up for? We're just going out to train."

Noelle's face turned bright red at his statement. They…were just going out to train? Then why did he say he had a surprise for her?! She quickly pulled her wand out and hit Asta with her Water magic.

" Hey, what was that for?!" Asta shouted in surprise as he wiped the water off his face, Noelle glared at him.

" You idiot I thought…" she paused for a minute before sighing and shaking her head. " Nevermind! Let me go change and we can go train." She muttered as she turned around and walked back down the hallway.

" Geez, what's up with her? I thought she'd like this training session." Asta muttered as he rubbed the back of his head, Captain Yami walked up to him and sighed.

" Well seeing as how she had gotten all dressed up I'm thinking she thought you two would be going out on a date." Yami said with a shake of his head, Asta turned to look at him.

" A date? You mean where you go to a fancy restaurant and eat? Like what Gauche and Grey did?" Asta asked before laughing a bit. " I'll admit that doesn't sound very fun to me."

" They can be fun if you're with the right person." Yami told him, and Asta nodded in agreement. The Captain had a point.

" Captain Yami, can I ask you something?" Asta began softly, which caused the older man to frown but he nodded. " A date…it's where you tell someone you like them, right?" Asta asked which caught him by surprise.

" You mean…?"

" Well, today, during our training session, I was going to tell Noelle that I think I like her as more than a friend. So I guess it is a date, at least in a way." Asta admitted with a nervous laugh and he rubbed the back of his head.

Yami was partially surprised, he had noticed the two growing closer and closer after their daughters went back to the future. So it was only a matter of time before one of them confessed, and it seemed like Asta was going to be the one to do it. Yami almost chuckled, he had to admit, he was proud of the brat.

Suddenly a word that Asta had said was stuck in his head.

" Wait a minute, you think you like her? What'd you mean, do you like her or not?" Yami asked with a frown, and Asta shrugged a bit.

" I dunno, I've never liked someone before. I mean, I liked Sister Lily since I was a kid, but I think…that was more of a childish crush than actually being in love with someone y'know? Ah I dunno Captain Yami this is all so confusing!" Asta said exasperatedly as he scratched his head frantically, Yami chuckled as he nodded.

" Well love's supposed to be confusing, I know I'm still confused to this day." Yami joked and Asta looked at him with wide eyes.

" Really? Even though you married Captain Roselei?"

" Yep. Love's complicated that way; it confuses you, makes you act completely different to how you thought you would, but it also makes you happy." Yami said with a shrug before adding. " That's what Vanessa told me anyway, and guess what? She was right."

" Just be yourself, and confess to Noelle proudly. You did it once before with that Sister Lily, so you can do it again with Noelle right?" Yami asked and Asta suddenly looked sad.

" But…what if Noelle rejects me like Sister Lily did? I don't know if I want to have my heart broken again." Asta said softly, and Captain Yami walked over and ruffled his hair.

" I don't think that'll happen kid," the men turned as Noelle came walking towards them. She was wearing her usual clothing and had her arms crossed and a cold look in her eye.

" C'mon Bakasta, let's go train." She told Asta coldly before walking past the two, Yami watched as Asta stood and followed behind her.

" Thank you for the advice, Captain Yami! I swear I won't let you down!" Asta shouted proudly, Yami shook his head as he watched the two walk away.

He didn't know quite when it happened, but Asta had really matured. If Yami were being honest he acted more grown up in the past few minutes than a lot of grown ups had in their entire lifetime. Yami sat down on the couch with a fond smile on his face.

He really hoped it would work out for those two.

—

Noelle followed behind Asta as he led her through the woods, her irritation still firmly in place. But she wasn't quite sure if she was more irritated with him, or with herself for misunderstanding his intentions.

She couldn't believe she actually thought he was taking her out on a date, she probably got ahead of herself as she thought about how Gauche had asked Grey out on a date a while ago.

" Alright we're here!" Asta announced happily as he walked through a few bushes, Noelle suddenly took in her surroundings and frowned.

This wasn't the area they usually trained at, this was somewhere else entirely.

" Where are we exactly?" Noelle asked with a confused tone to her voice, Asta just turned around and smiled brightly at her.

" I told you, it's a surprise!" He said as he held a bush to the side, Noelle gave him an odd look but walked through the bush, and a shocked gasp escaped her.

In front of her stood a large crystal blue lake, the water was so clear that Noelle could see her reflection in the water, as well as the small fish that swam at the shallow end. She turned to look at him and watched as he pulled his sword out of his grimoire, his smile shining so brightly that it rivaled the sun.

" You ready to train?" He asked cheerfully as he pointed a finger at her. " Just know I won't hold back!" Noelle scoffed at his words but a smile appeared on her face as she pulled out her wand.

" Alright, then I won't hold back either!"

The two trained for around 2 hours before they collapsed beside each other onto the grass, they laughed and smiled as they tried to catch their breaths. The two really didn't hold back.

" Y'know," Asta said as he continued to try and catch his breath. " I think you've gotten a lot stronger since we sent the girls back to their time." He added as he turned his head to look at her, he watched as her face turned a bright red.

" W-Well, that's true. I did get stronger after they left, but still, I'm nowhere near as strong as you." Noelle muttered softly, and Asta frowned.

" What're you talking about? Right now you're a lot stronger than I am."

" Don't lie Asta, you're not good at it."

" I'm serious, there's more to being strong than just the physical stuff. You had the strength to forgive your siblings for what they did to you growing up, and you were able to move on and actually try to have a better relationship with them. To me, that makes you a really strong person." Asta told her softly and he watched the blush on her face deepen.

" You would have done the same thing." She muttered as she stared at the bright blue sky above them, and Asta suddenly made a humming noise.

" You're right, maybe I would have, but it wouldn't have been anywhere near as cool as how you forgave them." He told her cheerfully, and he suddenly went quiet for a moment.

" That's one of the many reasons why I like you. Because you're cool, smart, you pretend to be stuck up but you're actually humble, and you do your best to try and be the strongest magic knight that you can be. I saw it when Brielle, Mizuki, and Kaiyo came from the future, and I've been seeing it more and more here lately."

" So…I guess what I'm trying to say is, that I've started seeing you as more than just a friend…I've begun to like you romantically…is that okay?" He asked, and he blinked in surprise as he sounded more shy and hesitant than he had intended. Captain Yami told him to be confident just like he was when he was with Sister Lily, so why was he being more shy?

Noelle's head turned sharply to look at Asta, her face turned almost as red as Grey's usually wasat his words. He liked her as more than just a friend? Then did that mean…?

Noelle had never seen Asta so shy and nervous before, he was always so confident and sure of himself. She liked seeing that side of him, but she also liked this side of him. The more nervous and shy one, the one that made him seem more like the young 20 something that he was.

Noelle slowly moved a bit closer to him, her heart beating rapidly in her chest as she tried to psych herself up to do what her heart was telling her to do. She watched as a confused look entered Asta's big green eyes and how his brow furrowed in confusion as well.

She took a deep breath before placing a quick, gentle, and chaste kiss onto his lips. She quickly pulled away and watched as his face turned bright red as well.

" W-Well…I guess it's okay for you to like me…because maybe I…like you too." Noelle muttered softly as she looked away shyly for a moment. Asta's bright smile slowly returned to his face at her words.

" Really?! You like me too?" He asked, and when she nodded Asta sat up. " Alright! Then I guess that means we're a couple now?"

" Well," Noelle sat up as well. " I guess so, but we'll have to go on a few dates to make sure that we really like each other." She added thoughtfully, and Asta nodded.

" Then since I picked out what we did on our first date, you get to decide what we do on our second one!" Asta told her, which caused Noelle to frown.

" What'd you mean? We haven't gone on a date yet?"

" Yes we have, this is our first date." Asta told her as though it were obvious, and Noelle suddenly blinked at him in surprise. So, it hadn't been a misunderstanding? This was actually a date just like she had thought? Which meant, she had gotten angry for no reason…

" SERIOUSLY BAKASTA?!"