What It Takes

It Takes a Village

Noelle is beyond nervous, she has no idea what to expect from tonight and she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little afraid. It had taken all her courage just to tell Asta, and she had known he would respond positively because it was Asta.

And while she didn't doubt that her squadmates would be happy for them, she is afraid of their potential judgment. After all, they're still quite young and they're not married; it's not exactly their society's ideal terms for bringing children into the world. At least not for someone of her social standing.

She had just found out she was pregnant two weeks ago, and she had finally pulled herself together to tell Asta-her boyfriend and father of their child a few nights ago. He had been over the moon, excited about the prospect of being a dad and eager to welcome their baby into the world.

She had to practically gag him from spilling the beans. He was so excited and wanted to scream how happy he was from the rooftops; it was endearing and sweet, but Noelle needed a bit more time before she was ready to tell the others.

Not long after she told Asta the news - actually the very same night, they had a long and lengthy discussion about who they were going to tell and who they weren't.

Noelle was adamant that they keep her family in the dark.

She is a royal and Asta is a commoner, they're both only 19 and they are not wed. She is terrified of what her siblings would do to her- or god forbid to the baby if they found out. Asta tries to assure her that they likely wouldn't take things that far, but even he does not want to take the risk.

They agree to keep her pregnancy a secret that only the Bull's and Asta's family will know about.

Noelle is a little hesitant for Yuno to know, as she fears that he may tell Mimosa. While she's confident that the plant mage would never do anything to intentionally put her in harm's way, she does know that Mimosa can be a little loose lipped and a bit of a blabber mouth. It would only take one slip up around her brother or Leopold for the word to get out.

She wants to keep that from happening at all costs.

But at sametime she knows that out of everyone in Asta's family it is Yuno who he is closest with. The prospect of not sharing this part of his life with his foster brother had broken the boy's heart and it was something that she didn't want for him to give up.

Asta promises her that Yuno will keep their news a secret, and she can believe him because Yuno doesn't seem like the type to gossip or break Asta's trust.

They've decided to tell the Black Bull's first.

And Noelle is terrified.

Her biggest fear is being kicked out of the base.

It's illogical because of course Yami would never do that, but the idea of being kicked out of the closest thing she has to a home by the closest people she's had to a genuine family is a horrifying one, and one her anxiety has been whispering it in the back of her mind for countless nights.

Asta knows that they won't get kicked out and he has remained optimistic about the entire thing. He's unsurprisingly excited about sharing the news, but still he's mindful about Noelle's fears. He's been carefully reassuring her for the past week that everything will be fine, and on the unlikely (next to impossible) chance they do get kicked out then Hage would take them in without hesitation.

It admittedly makes her feel a little better, but it hasn't been enough to completely quell her anxiety.

So Asta has been trying to keep her mind off it by planning the reveal out with her. She had just wanted to tell them over dinner, but while they were out one day shopping at one of the boutiques in the castle town, Asta finds something perfect.