BOOOOM

"You're in for this time you little punk!"

ZAAAPPP

"Dahaha! That's what you say every day, Magna!"

It was a normal day in the Black Bulls hideout. As usual Magna and Luck were duking it out, using the common lounge as the battleground.

"GAH!" Grey screamed as she dove under a table, avoiding an errant attack. Whether it was fire or lightning, she didn't really care.

She crouched and put her hands on her head, wishing she hadn't even bothered to get out of bed today. Not having to show her face. She felt naked when she wasn't someone else. She needed a mask.

Vanessa's face suddenly appeared next to her, scaring her even worse as the witch peeked under the table.

"C'mon, Grey the one time we get you to agree to betting, and you're not even going to watch the outcome."

"What is the point in betting if you don't know how it turns out?" Finral called from the couch on the edge of the room. He flicked his hand and warped a laughing Luck, who was about to crash into him, back to the other side of the room to continue his fight against Magna. "Kinda counterintuitive, no?"

"I say let her keep cowering and sniveling. That way in case she does win, we can tell her she didn't." Zora said, sipping a drink with his legs crossed at the bar.

Vanessa rolled her eyes. "Always the pragmatist, aren't you, Zora?" She then turned her head back to Grey. "Don't listen to him, he's not confident Magna will win today even though he trained him."

Finral laughed nervously at the tense atmosphere that suddenly developed from Vanessa and Zora glaring at each other. "I mean he has a point. Gauche doesn't get involved in their shenanigans. What makes you think it'll change now, Vanessa?"

The witch broke off her staring contest to address Finral, back to being carefree. "Call it a girl's intuition," she said, wagging her finger while Rouge meowed next to her.

"G-Gauche wouldn't get involved in this…" Grey mustered up the courage to say.

"We'll see…" Vanessa said cloyingly.

Vanessa, Finral, Zora, and herself had agreed to a bet. The bet was on who would win Luck and Magna's daily battle.

Zora bet on Magna.

Finral bet on Luck.

Vanessa made a long-shot bet on Gauche interfering and beating them both. This prompted Grey against her better judgment, to proclaim Gauche would stay out of it. Before she knew it, Grey found herself roped into it under the condition Gauche would stay out of it.

So far it had been going well.

Gauche as per his usual was sitting at the end of the bar ogling a picture of his younger sister Marie, while Luck and Magna literally trashed everything around him.

Unfortunately, her luck didn't hold up.

Luck bounced off the wall and zipped to the side of Gauche, using him as a human shield.

Magna, not thinking, launched a fireball barrage at Luck.

"Do you think you can get away from me?!"

Time seemed to slow down. Zora and Finral's expressions started to crumble, and Vanessa's started to uplift in triumph. Grey crouched and cowered even harder.

Magna's fireball sailed right past Gauche's face and impacted the wall behind him.

Zora and Finral let out a sigh of relief, Vanessa, a groan of frustration.

Gauche on the other hand, turned to Magna in anger. "Don't you two morons have anywhere else to beat the crap outta each other? Can't you see I'm trying to look at my picture of Marie?!"

Grey had rolled onto her elbows and knees, looking through the gaps in her fingers out of morbid curiosity.

Gauche held up the picture in his hand for all to see, only for everyone's eyes to go wide. Manga started backing away slowly while Luck vibrated with excitement. Grey promptly shut the gaps in her fingers.

Half-confused he addressed them as he slowly turned back to his photo. "I know she's breathtaking but if you look at her for too long, I'll…..."

Gauche's voice trailed off as he saw the photo of his younger sister. The top half was now smoldering ash, the bottom quickly followed suit, disintegrating in his hand.

"….I'LL KILL YOU!"

Mirror instantly appeared around the whole room and a pink blast of magic followed, bouncing off each surface in an unrelenting effort to hit Luck and Magna.

"That was picture number 368! Do you know how hard it'll be to replace?! It'll take at least three months!"

Magna summoned a bat made of fire and smashed one of the mirrors that was hurtling at him. "Chill out man! It's not like you don't have 367 others!"

Luck laughed crazily as he aimed a kick at Gauche who dodged. "Ahahaha! So, you want some of this too, Gauche?"

Grey whimpered under the table as she watched it all unfold. She felt a tap on her shoulder, and with watery eyes, she found that Vanessa and Finral had taken refuge alongside her. Both of her squad mates had smug smiles.

"Well, Gray, it seems like you lose."

Grey wished the earth would swallow her up right then.

—X—-

Vanessa had won the bet.

Gauche had handily won the scuffle when Manga and Luck accidentally struck each other through a mirror illusion. Gauche had promptly dragged off the two battle junkies for an unknown ghastly punishment.

Grey and Finral were in the seiza position in front of Vanessa who sat on a chair. Zora refused and was lying on the couch, head propped on his hand.

"Hmm, what shall I do with the three of you? Hmmm," Vanessa hummed, finger on her chin.

Zora groaned and rolled his eyes. "Will you drop the scary godmother act and get on with it? You've been doing that for the last ten minutes. Excuse me but apparently, me and Magna have more training to do."

"Aww fine, you're no fun as always," Vanessa complained, then a devious gleam entered her eye. "If you want to train so bad, your punishment is that you and Manga have to go pick a fight with Mereoleona!" she said, happily pointing a finger at him.

Zora sat up in alarm.

"What?! You want the two of us to fight that raging she-beast by ourselves; who took down Princia Funnybunny by herself! Do you want us to be killed?!"

Vaness studied her fingernails in mock ignorance. "Then you shouldn't have lost the bet….Now then ta-ta," She replied shooing him off.

"When I die, I'm haunting you." He grumbled as he passed by her on his way to collect Magna.

"Can I not get the death sentence?" Finral said, waving his hand.

"Oh no, I have a better plan in mind for you," Vanessa said giggling.

Finral inched back from her in fear. "W-Why doesn't that make me feel any better?"

"Finral, you're going to be my pack mule while we go shopping."

"Noooooooooooo!" He cried to the heavens, streams of tears running down his face and shaking his arms in disbelief.

Grey was afraid to ask what her punishment would be. Maybe if she kept her mouth shut, Vanessa would forget about her. She closed her eyes and tried to curl into a ball.

"Don't think I forgot about you, Gray."

Grey hesitantly opened her eyes and looked up at the smiling older woman. Nervous sweat started to form on her face. She wished she could change to someone else; put her mask on.

"Your punishment is to…"

"Here it comes, the moment where she commands me to die!" Grey thought.

"...Transform into Noelle for the day! And you can't let anyone catch you."

"...What?"

It wasn't Grey who had spoken but Finral.

"How is that a punishment?!" he shouted.

"It amuses me, Finral." Vanessa said as if it was the obvious thing in the world. "Aside from Luck and Magna fighting every day, things have been boring around the hideout since we defeated the Spade Kingdom."

She wasn't wrong in Gray's opinion. Gordon and Henry were spending more time at the Arggripa estate researching curses. Nacht was out performing undercover duty more often than not. Charmy when not hanging around the garden was at the Golden Dawn hideout under the pretense of "helping rebuild". Even Captain Yami wasn't around that much earlier nowadays. He hung around the castle town. Grey was suspicious it was around a certain hideout he didn't know how to approach.

"And if the real Noelle shows up?" Finral asked skeptically.

"That's the fun part."

Grey had a bad feeling about today. On the bright side, she could now hide away how she really felt.

—X—

Grey was fidgeting on the couch. She pulled at the fabric on her legs, trying to will the shorts to extend longer.

Noelle's dress style was so radically different from her own. Her legs had too much exposure and she showed too much cleavage for her liking.

That was part of the reason she tended to never transform into her or Vanessa. Grey preferred to dress conservatively…even while being someone else. Vanessa made her aware of how eye-catching her body could be when they went swimsuit shopping.

But that was the problem!

She didn't want any eyes on her, and those two drew attention to themselves. Flies and honey had nothing on them!

Asta was the main exception though. He was virtually shirtless most of the time either way. She always felt like a carved piece of marble whenever she transformed into him.

Being Noelle wasn't all bad though. She oozes confidence, despite her constant fretting over her magic and love for Asta.

Grey knew, she saw it all. Noelle secret had concerns over her magic control. She also knew she freaked out whenever Asta got close to another girl. That issue was only exacerbated when Nero joined the squad who was glued to Asta's hip.

Grey took note of all these things. In order for her to become someone, she had to know them, including the way they thought. Especially when it came to her family. The family she called the Black Bulls. The one thing she was confident in was that she knew most aspects of her family's lives. She doubted anything would surprise her now.

So far no one had doubted a thing. Vanessa and Finral knew of course, but Zora and Luck didn't suspect a thing. Magna questioned her but left her alone when she called him a commoner.

Gauche didn't give her a second glance as he stormed out on his way to the church. That stung. It hurt every time he didn't recognize her. She could never find the courage to say to him what she wanted to say. If she did there wasn't a point…his heart had enough space for Marie and Marie only. She was a worthless crybaby for all he was concerned.

Guess she was in the same boat as Noelle. Asta carried a torch for Sister Lily back at his village.

Donning her mask again, Grey stood up and lifted her chin and crossed her arms in a haughty imitation of her royal squad mate.

She strutted to the kitchen, but the moment she opened the door and stepped inside she slammed into something hard that sent her on her butt.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Noelle. I didn't see you there." Grey found herself staring up into the green eyes of Asta. She wasn't even aware he had come back yet!

"Then you should look where you're going, Dorksta. I am a lady you know. And ladies, especially royal ones like me, don't like being sent into the dirt!"

"Hopefully I said that right…" Grey thought to herself.

"Yeah, I know." Asta said. Without asking he reached under her arms and effortlessly picked her up and put down on her feet. The blush that appeared on her face wasn't the result of acting.

"Thanks…" she said bashfully while looking away. "What are you doing here anyway? I thought that you were out training."

Asta blinked and rubbed his neck. "You know me, Noelle. All that working out made me hungry. I was actually about to come find you to see if you wanted to eat lunch together."

Grey hesitated for a second. "U-Umm, yeah sure. We can eat together." Grey wasn't entirely sure she should go through with this. If anyone would be able to catch her, it would be Asta. The two were undeniably close.

"Awesome! Sister Lily just sent some pot potatoes from Hage Village. There's a new dish I've been wanting to try."

"Oh really? I'd love to try it. Might be a nice change of pace from Charmy's cooking." Grey said in a slightly eager voice.

Not only did she have to stay in character. Grey didn't have the heart to deny him. Asta was so emphatic about his village's specialty.

"I was thinking almost the same thing. You can't beat Charmy's cooking but every once in a while, you want a taste of home, right?"

Grey smiled and nodded her head. Wasting no time Asta dragged her into the canteen area and had her sit down at a table. He then went into the kitchen area and returned with three steaming plates of food.

"Here we go! Tempura Potatoes with fries and sauce."

Grey had to admit. They did look good.

"Who's the third plate for?" Grey asked.

"Liebe!"

The little demon in his grimoire popped into existence on Asta's shoulder, giving her a slight scare. She occasionally forgot they were a package deal now.

Liebe tilted his head and gave her a curious look. Grey tried to plead using her eyes.

"Liebe, what is it?" Asta questioned the demon's quietness.

"It's nothing, Asta," he said, jumping down to his plate and picking up one of the potato slices. "Let's just eat." Liebe shot her a last glance before he started crunching away.

"Huh, okay…Works for me."

She sent a silent prayer to whoever was listening for having Liebe not expose her.

Asta and Grey then started to eat their food. She found it surprisingly delicious. The sauce complemented the meal perfectly and the potatoes were nice and crunchy. Grey didn't think Asta knew how to cook.

Her hand scraped the plate when she reached down for another. That's when she realized her plate was empty. On Asta's other side, Liebe let out a huge burp, laid back, and disappeared back to his grimoire.

"Have you been practicing, Asta?" Grey asked tentatively after a couple of moments of silence.

Asta finished the last of his meal, dusted off his hands, and stacked their plates. A far off expression was on his face. "Yup. After the last time we were together, you got hungry afterward. Neither of us knew how to cook so we ended up going out to eat. I didn't want that to happen again, and Yuno told me the guy was supposed to make the meal for the girl….So I learned how to cook."

Call her crazy but something seemed off about what he just said. Before she could follow up, Asta had left for the kitchen, plates in tow.

Just then Magna and Zora walked through the canteen door. Both of them were burnt to a crisp. Grey raised an eyebrow at them the exact way Noelle would.

Zora noticed and grunted at her, smoke came out of his mouth as he did so. "Damn wild child of the Vermilion household gave us what's what if that's what you're wondering."

"Don't say it like she destroyed us!" Magna yelled at him.

"That's because she did!" Zora fired back while picking his ear. "Just because you hit a couple of spells back at her doesn't mean we didn't get squashed, mashed, churned, and creamed."

"You don't have to say it like that…." Magna said, almost too quiet to hear.

"I did. And there's no shame in it. That big cat is a goddamn anomaly."

"I guess." Magna huffed. "Anyways where the hell have you been, Noelle?"

"Uh? None of your business? Rude. I don't have to answer to you."

On the outside Noelle petulantly turned her head away and upturned her nose. On the inside, Grey was absolutely mortified. There was no way she'd ever have the courage to talk to another person like that. She'd be killed or worse.

"Technically, I outrank you." Magna said, sneering, shaking his fist at her.

"And, I'm more important than you. What's your point?"

Magna opened his mouth to respond when the kitchen door flew open and Asta walked out, wiping his hands on his pants.

"Hey, Noelle? I know we kinda talked about it earlier but you wanna…." Asta then noticed Magna and Zora were in the room. "….Look at something in my room?" He finished slowly and slightly hesitantly.

"Why, sure, Asta, I would love to leave this place and visit your room." Grey put a little extra emphasis to get under Magna's skin.

Asta gave her a soft smile and pulled her by the arm, forcing her to get up and follow. For good measure, Grey gave him an akanbe gesture as she disappeared around the corner.

Inwardly Grey prayed Magna never found out it was her and not the real Noelle.

Together, Grey and Asta made their way through the ever-changing Black Bulls hideout and to Asta's room, which happened to be on the highest floor and away from everyone else today.

He opened the door and let her walk inside, closely following behind her.

He had barely closed the door when he glomped her in a hug.

Gray's face instantly went red, and her eyes widened, but she wasn't given any time to react as Asta pulled out his next surprise.

He kissed her.

Grey let out a startled gasp that got muffled by his mouth.

"My…my first kiss…."

The shock quickly wore off as her mind slowly went hazy, the pleasure taking over as his lips pressed against hers. His arms wrapped around her waist. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck.

He pushed her hips and guided her to the bed. The back of her knees hit the mattress. She toppled backwards but found herself safely caught in his arms as Asta gently lowered her to the bed.

Grey let out a soft grunt as her back hit the material and she sprang up a bit.

Asta leaned over her and planted his demon hand next to her waist, while his human hand caressed her face.

Grey found that she didn't mind his touch. He was too good at this at making her relax and feel safe. His tongue pushed against her lips and Grey granted him entrance.

Their tongues slid and rubbed against each other. Their lips made wet smacking sounds. She was officially making out with Asta.

It was all happening so fast for Grey, yet Asta was so smooth and in control. Then on top of that, she has surrendered control to her body, her magic. They were guiding her, telling her that this was what Noelle would do.

Then it occurred to her.

He had done this before.

Asta and Noelle had made out before.

Asta and Noelle were in a relationship!

A relationship that was a secret from the whole squad.

As she processed that, Asta broke off the kiss to finally allow both of them to breathe.

He leaned back and stared at her appraisingly. Then he went in again and captured her lips.

Parts of Grey were at war now. The first part of her, the rational part said that this was wrong. She was literally making out with Noelle's lover.

The second part wanted her to follow her magic. To continue to be Noelle. Right now, her magic whispered to her to rip that white flannel shirt off his chest and….do things…...Things Grey was unwilling to describe lest she spontaneously combust.

The last deeper part of her wanted to submit. To just let things, happen as they may. The way he looked at her, the way his touch felt against her face. How careful and caring he handled her.

She had never felt so….Loved. The center of someone else's world. Noelle was so lucky. Gauche would never look at her the way Asta did now.

Maybe she could indulge in his love for the moment. Let the mask work for her.

Grey started to give in, the other voices in her head gradually went silent. Her eyes closed, her hands found their way underneath his shirt and rubbed his abs, unintentionally pushing up his shirt. Her lower half was starting to heat up and get excited.

Asta's hand left her face creeped down. He tugged her top down exposing her bra. He then directly put his hand on her breast.

Gray's eyes snapped open. The shock of having her breast suddenly touched allowed the rational part of her brain to regain control.

The hands that were rubbing his chest now pushed him away. Not hard enough to qualify as a shove, but enough for him to get the message.

Asta's eyes were now open, and like he had touched a hot stove, he broke the kiss and yanked his hand away from her.

He sat back on the bed, his eyes were full of surprise and fear. Another emotion flashed on his face for a split second, but Grey was unable to place and decipher it.

"D-Did I do something wrong?"

"Y-you did nothing wrong, Asta. I just…" Grey needed to come up with an excuse fast. "I'm just not in the mood today. I'm sorry…"

Despite her using Noelle's voice, the words were purely hers and hers alone. She was still reeling from multiple revelations dropped on her all at once. How utterly embarrassing.

Asta gave her a soft smile and shook his head. "Don't be. We go at your pace after all. If anything, it's my fault for assuming…...Do you want me to leave?"

"No!" Grey said, with a speed that surprised her. "I'm not in the mood for…for…for sex….but I'll be willing to allow you to…to hold me."

What was she saying? She was speaking before thinking now!

That smile got a bit wider on his face and something soft unfurled in Gray's heart. Asta held out his arms and Grey fell into them, burying her face in his chest.

She felt his arm wrapped around her for the second time that day. His head sat on her shoulders.

"Tough time lately?" He said directly to her, voice barely audible.

Grey balled up bunches of his shirt between her fingers. "Yes."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

She decided to speak from her heart for a change, to let her mask slip a bit. "It hurts, Asta. It hurts having to wear a mask all the time. To pretend you're something you're not because no one will accept your true self. To hide away your feelings for the one you love. Never being able to voice how you really feel. It's almost enough to cry."

Tears threatened to leak out and Asta held her even tighter.

"I think….I think I can relate. Back when I was a kid, I could never let how much my lack of magic actually bothered me show. I had to be big brother to Yuno and the others. At times it felt like I was wearing a mask, like a fraud pretending to be cool. With you Noelle I can just be me as I know you'll accept me for who I am. I'll do the same for you, come hell or high water."

Grey could tell, he meant every single word. The part of her current imitation Noelle wanted to swoon at the romanticism of his words. The Grey side had envy gnawing at her.

Asta breathed out a sigh. "Do you want to go public with our relationship? Tell the others?"

Oh dear. She couldn't let him go through with that. She'd be exposed in a heartbeat. Noelle would kill her!

"No….I'm fine the way things are right now….I just get lonely sometimes, you know?"

"I understand. I'll be here as long as you want."

Grey squeaked out a 'thank you' as she buried her face deeper in his shirt.

They lapsed into silence as they sat on the bed hugging each other.

"Hey, Asta?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you tell me a story?"

"Tell how N-we first got together. I never get tired of hearing it."

Grey could feel his chin move on her back, making it obvious he was smiling.

"We were in the Heart Kingdom, training our tails off to take on the devil possessed," he said, voice laced with nostalgia.

Grey remembered that half their squad had gone there to train. Most of those who didn't had their own separate training grounds The base was quite empty and lonely during those months. It was basically her, Vanessa, Henry, and Gauche.

Asta took a deep breath and continued. "You were really running yourself ragged. Beating Megicula meant that much to you. Lolopechka was worried so she sent me to check on you. When I found you in your room…...you were…...uh…"

Grey giggled a bit, she could feel him squirming in embarrassment. "You can say it."

"Topless," Asta gulped. "You had just started changing from practicing with Undine. I thought you were going to blast my light out like you usually would."

The gist of the situation started to clear itself for Gray. "But I didn't."

"Imagine my surprise when you hugged me instead. You were crying. Not of winning or losing but worrying that the curse would affect you like your mom. You didn't want to let things go unsaid, so…you kissed me."

"Do you regret it?"

Grey found herself pulled even tighter against Asta.

"Never." Came his one word resolute answer.

"Thought so," Grey said, some sadness creeping in her voice. The perfect fairy tale romance happened between the two-star members of her squad.

The Demon Lord and the Valkyrie Queen joining together in unity and matrimony. She wasn't a romantic; that was Vanessa, but the thought made her sigh.

"Do you regret it?"

"No, Asta. I would never regret that. I will never regret you being there for me."

She leaned her head back, took out her hands on both sides of his head and this time she pulled him into a kiss.

She didn't know if it was an action of Grey or Noelle.

—X—

Grey woke up feeling relatively comfortable.

She felt a pressure around her waist. It was like a cinched belt, but warmer.

Looking down, she saw a jet-black arm around her waist, holding her protectively. Red-tipped fingers were resting on her stomach.

That right….she was in Asta's room….Disguised as Noelle.

No sex of course. Her face went red thinking about that. They had simply made out, then fell asleep for a nap. Even that pushed past her limits. But she did enjoy the new sensations it brought.

She reached down and ran her fingers over the jagged red line that appeared on his arm.

Asta had sacrificed his arm for their sake, so he could have enough power to overwhelm Dante. Grey was sure that for the rest of her life, she wouldn't forget that moment. If it wasn't for him Gauche would have died and Dante would have…...to her….

Grey shook her head. Dwelling on that was pointless. Figuring out how to leave claimed the top priority spot. The sun had begun to wane. The other Black Bulls could be back at any time including Noelle.

The death penalty awaited Grey if she got caught now!

She carefully lifted his arm up, replaced it at his side, and scooted away from him.

Managing to get off the bed without waking him, she stared at his sleeping form.

Grey leaned over and pressed a last kiss to his temple then made her way to the door.

He deserved that for unknowingly allowing her the chance to be loved.

Also, she wanted to cling to the illusion for a moment longer.

As she stepped out and closed the door behind her, Grey could have sworn a small smile bloomed on Asta's face.

She couldn't help but think how adorable he looked and how good he made her feel as she closed the door with a click.

It wouldn't hurt if she did it again…...Right?

Me and Asdf0789 had fun workshopping this idea, this is my attempt to bring the concept to life. I intentionally tried to make Gray's dialogue ambiguous between what Noelle would say and what she would if she wasn't so damn shy.

Also, I might be playing my hand here, but Asta is aware it's Grey and not Noelle. At what point? I'll let you pick that point out.