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cessielib · 2 years ago

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First Christmas

Description: This year the Black Bulls are going all out for the holidays because it's their nephew's first Christmas! Charlotte may still be getting used to her chaotic new family, but she and Yami agree that it's very sweet the new "aunts and uncles" are going out of their way to make the holiday season truly special for their son.

Rating: G

Warnings: Mentions pregnancy. Otherwise, just fluff.

Fandom: Black Clover

Genre: Holiday Black Bulls Family Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Christmas Fluff, Babies, and Slice of Life. Totally self-indulgent, but I hope you will like it too.

Relationships: The major emphasis is on the Black Bulls squad as a family and secondarily some YamiChar domestic fluff & babies. Other relationships included are Rill/Charmy, Vanessa/Finral, a little bit of Asta/Noelle and Gauche/Grey are teased also mentioned.

Characters: Charlotte Roselei (POV Character), Yami Sukehiro, Charmy Pappitson, Rill Boismortier, Vanessa Enoteca, Finral Roulacase, Asta, Noelle Silva, Zora Ideale, Magna Swing, and the Black Bulls

Word Count: 3578

Link to original post on AO3. Please do not repost to another site.

Happy Holidays everyone! Story below the cut!

The Black Bulls’ hideout was as busy and bustling as Charlotte would have expected, but it was far more festive than she had ever seen it before with colorful holiday decorations in every nook and cranny. Magna had told her that he had gone on an expedition with Luck and Zora to find the biggest tree in the woods behind their base, and now that they had brought it back home, Gordon, Gauche, and Grey were busy hanging tinsel, ornaments, and strings of popcorn on all the branches. Charlotte had always known that the Black Bulls enjoyed celebrating around the holidays, but they had been super insistent on going “all out” this year since it was their nephew’s first Christmas.

The thought brought a warm and gentle smile to Charlotte’s face. Of course, she and her husband wanted the holidays to be special for Katsu, but it was so sweet that all of his Black Bulls uncles and aunts wanted this as well. Uncle Gordon had been showing off some of the shiny ornaments to him earlier before Aunt Charmy and Uncle Rill had whisked him away for a tour of the kitchen, filled with all kinds of delicious holiday treats he wasn’t old enough to eat yet. Uncle Magna had him now and was walking him around to look at all the twinkling lights while Uncle Luck prattled on about having a snowball fight once he was old enough which, he was promptly reminded, would be a long time since Katsu was only a few months old.

Katsu’s big, blue eyes were wide—almost mesmerized by the lights which seemed to please his Uncle Magna who had been responsible for lighting all the candles in the first place. When his Uncle Asta tried to take him, however, he started to fuss and cry, and Magna looked over at her almost helplessly.

“Sorry, Charlotte,” he said as he handed the baby off to her. She shrugged and patted her son’s back until he calmed again, nestling into her shoulder.

“It’s okay. He’s probably just tired.”

“Or he wants his mom,” suggested Asta with a good-natured smile. “He looks pretty happy now.”

Asta was right. Though Katsu still had a tear in the corner of his eye, he looked as content as could be now that she was holding him again. Yami often teased that he was sure their son was a mama’s boy. Maybe he was right about that.

“He’s probably just tired of being passed around all the time,” huffed Noelle, and Charlotte supposed she had a point. Ever since Katsu had been born, it seemed like his Black Bulls aunts and uncles were fighting over who got to hold him. When they were all together like this, he tended to get passed around faster than even his parents could keep up with. “That’s a lot of strange people holding him.”

“We’re not strange people,” said Asta, giving Katsu a gentle pat. “We’re his family.”

“Noelle has a point though,” Secre interjected. “Maybe we should let Charlotte have him for a while. You can hold him afterwards.”

Zora huffed looking up from the string of popcorn he was putting together. “Wait a second—I was next.”

“I thought I was next…” protested Finral. “We need to write this stuff down or something.”

“Calm down. You’re all gonna get a turn to hold him”—Yami shook his head with an almost-affection—“you knuckleheads.” He sighed before he raised his glass. “Now I’m gonna go get some more mulled wine. This is the best year yet, Vanessa.”

Vanessa smiled. “Glad to hear it. Unfortunately, I won’t be having any.” Shrugging her shoulders, she ran her hand across the small bump which had only recently popped out of her abdomen. “You had better be worth it,” she teased, giving her stomach a pat.

“You can always have some next year. I’m sure it’ll be even better then,” Asta reassured her with a bright smile.

“Unless she’s pregnant again,” quipped Charmy without even looking up from the cookies she was currently decorating with Rill.

Vanessa rolled her eyes, but Finral choked out a shaky, “Don’t even joke about that!”

“She’s got a point though,” quipped Yami with a lopsided, teasing grin. “You’re gonna have been married what—9 months when this brat is born? If you keep this up, you’re gonna have a whole hoard of them.”

“You’re terrible, you know that?” huffed Vanessa though there was a playful twitch of a smile in her the corners of her mouth.

“Well I think it’s great,” chimed Rill. “Congratulations!”

“You would,” Charmy teased, playfully wiping frosting on his nose. Rill merely laughed.

“Who knows? Maybe it’ll be you and Charmy having a baby next.” As Vanessa winked at her, Charmy wrinkled her nose.

“We just got married a couple months ago,” she protested crossing her arms as Rill’s cheeks flushed pink. “I don’t expect that to mean anything to you but some of us actually want to wait awhile before having kids.”

Vanessa blinked at her but sighed, rubbing her hand almost absentmindedly across her belly. “This wasn’t exactly planned, Charmy.”

“Yeah we figured,” quipped Zora who had finished his popcorn string and was handing it off to Gordon to put on the tree.

“Even if this one was a surprise, babies are awesome,” exclaimed Asta with a bright smile. “And with two of them around we won’t have to fight over who gets to hold Katsu nearly as much.”

Vanessa ruffled his hair affectionately. “Thanks, kiddo.” She turned back to the rest of her squad mates. “I’ve decided Asta gets to hold my baby first.”

“What about me?” asked Finral pressing his hand to his chest in a somewhat playful outrage that made Vanessa shake her head and stifle a laugh.

“Don’t be such a goofball. Of course you’re going to hold our kid first. Then Asta and then the rest of you.” She paused before she winked at Charmy and teased, “Except Charmy, unless she starts being nicer about it.”

Charmy huffed but bantered, “You’re the one who decided to marry Finral—we get to tease you about it.”

“She’s got a point there, little birdie,” quipped Yami twisting his mouth to one side.

“Hey!” protested Finral, but Vanessa just sighed. “You guys are so mean to me. You’re both married and no one ever gives you a hard time about it.”

“That’s because Rill is wonderful”—Charmy beamed at him—“there’s nothing to give me a hard time about, and we were all waited for years for the Captain and Charlotte to get together. When they finally did, we were just so relieved that they had stopped being so dense.”

“Charmy, Rill didn’t even know who you were for how long…” bantered Vanessa. “We actually told him that you were his ‘food goddess,’ and he still didn’t get it. I don’t think you get to tease anyone for being dense.”

“That was a mistake,” said Rill apologetically. “But I know who she is now, and we’re very happy!”

Finral patted him on the shoulder. “It’s okay. These things happen.”

“He’s still not as dense as Captain Yami,” said Zora dryly.

“Listen, I got married before any of you morons so I don’t think I’m the dense one here.” The room grew suddenly quiet as the entire squad just blinked at him. Yami frowned, as Charlotte’s cheeks flushed. She had learned pretty quickly that the Black Bulls had been waiting for her and Yami to get together for almost as long as she had, but she was still getting used to getting teased about it. “She was sending me a lot of mixed signals, okay? I was just trying to be respectful.”

Vanessa snorted a laugh before she rolled her eyes. “They weren’t mixed signals. She was totally into you—even Magna noticed.”

“Hey, what’s that supposed to mean? I notice things!”

“We were honestly starting to get worried it was never going to happen,” teased Vanessa with a wink, completely ignoring Magna’s protests. “But you figured it out, and now you have this little one.” She turned to Charlotte with a smile, and as ran her hand across Katsu’s back, he turned to look at her with wide blue eyes that looked far older than his years. “And he’s such a cutie! Do you think he’s ready to be held again?”

Charlotte nodded as she held Katsu out to her and said, “Sure. Go ahead” to the wide-spread protestations of the rest of the squad who were promptly told to wait their turns.

Smiling brightly, Vanessa took the baby and began walking around with him to show off the decorations. “Hi Katsu. Aren’t you just the cutest little man? You look just like your dad—especially with all this messy dark hair. If only we could get him in a Christmas sweater like this.”

Yami frowned. “Don’t even think about it.”

Charlotte laughed, and her husband tilted his head at her. “What? It might suit you,” she said with the slightest twitch in the corners of her mouth.

“We should all wear matching sweaters next year,” suggested Gordon.

Gauche huffed. “We’d look ridiculous.”

“We should have worn them this this year for Katsu’s first Christmas,” Asta interjected.

Noelle bristled. “He’s not even going to remember this, Bakasta…”

“But that doesn’t mean we can’t get him presents.”

“Oh that reminds me. I have a present for you,” cooed Vanessa as she walked with Katsu over towards the tree. As she walked back with the gift, she paused. Laughing, she pointed up above her head. “Ooh, mistletoe. Do you have kisses for your Aunt Vanessa?” She chuckled and kissed Katsu’s forehead causing his little brow to furrow at her as he frowned. “Now you really look like your dad.”

“I’ll trade you,” said Finral playfully, reaching out for Katsu. “A kiss for the baby.”

Vanessa hummed thoughtfully. “I’m not sure that’s a fair trade,” she teased, but she gave him a quick kiss and handed Katsu off to him.

“You guys are gross,” mumbled Gauche with a shake of his head.

“Oh yeah…you sure you don’t want to get caught with Grey under the mistletoe?” As Vanessa winked at them, Gauche’s cheeks flushed a faint pink as Grey turned bright red, buried her face in her hands, and muttered something incoherent but unmistakably mortified.

“Well I for one would love to get caught under the mistletoe,” declared Rill as he grabbed Charmy hand—spinning her until they were both in the perfect spot. Then, he dipped her and kissed with the kind of dramatic flourish they had come to expect from him. This earned him a prompt round of applause and laughter, especially from Charmy who was wiping frosting off her face.

“Alright, Captain, you’re next,” Vanessa teased him.

Charlotte’s cheeks blushed red, but Yami frowned, “Isn’t the whole point of this stupid tradition that it’s supposed to be spontaneous?”

Vanessa shrugged. “No one ever said that dragging someone over there wasn’t allowed.”

“And pushing people together is always an option,” chimed Charmy.

Charlotte’s cheeks flushed. She had been the victim of this rule during her first Christmas with the Black Bulls when she and Yami had only been newly dating. She had never been so mortified as when his squad had teamed up on them and casually corralled them until they were basically cornered under the mistletoe. Though Yami had told off his squad for being “knuckleheads” and had insisted that they wouldn’t need to kiss because of some stupid tradition, Charlotte had said it was fine—albeit she was bright red in the face and barely managed to choke out the words. He had just barely brushed her lips, but it had earned oohs and ahhs from their companions as well as a few whoops and whistles from some of the rowdier members of the bunch. Neither before nor since had Charlotte ever seen such a concerted effort to trap two people under the mistletoe, though they still hung it up every year, if only for tradition’s sake.

“Well with all you knuckleheads pairing off already, you don’t really need to do that this year, do you?”

“It’s for Noelle’s benefit. Since somebody is still dragging their feet…” Vanessa winked at Noelle, and Charlotte could have sworn she glanced over in Asta’s general direction as well—though he was cheerfully oblivious to it.

Noelle’s face flushed a deep red, and she spluttered, “Wha—what? Why? Why would you—? Take it down!” She quickly stood up from her seat and rushed over towards the mistletoe—jumping up and down and grasping at it even though she was, unfortunately, too short to reach.

“Oh, Katsu, please don’t cry,” pleaded Finral, pulling Charlotte’s attention to the baby who was squirming and fussing in his arms. “I think he wants mom—unless he just hates me,” he added with a sheepish chuckle as he handed her son back to her.

“I’m sure he’s just tired,” Charlotte tried to reassure him.

“Or he needs changed,” suggested Yami taking Katsu from her with an “I’ve got it” before grabbing their bag and stepping out.

Gauche shook his head. “You couldn’t pay me to change a baby.”

“What are you going to do when you and Grey have kids?” teased Vanessa.

“What? We’re not… um… what?” stumbled Grey burying her face in her hands. Gauche frowned, but his cheeks flushed pink.

“I’ll do it. I could be the nanny,” said Gordon excitedly.

“I can help too!” interjected Asta.

Huffing, Noelle shook her head. “Bakasta! They’ve barely even been dating. They’re not having kids right now.”

“Th—thank you,” choked a particularly red Grey.

“I’m sure they will someday, and so will you…and Asta…” As Vanessa winked at her, Noelle huffed and crossed her arms despite the beet-red color of her face and her incoherent spluttering.

“That would be great! I love babies!” said Asta with a bright, beaming smile.

“And the most dense man award goes to…” muttered Zora under his breath with a roll of his eyes.

Before Noelle could jump into more protestations, Yami appeared in the doorway with a much happier Katsu in tow. “Who wants him?” he quipped dryly to an exuberant chorus of volunteers. Eventually, Katsu was handed off to his Uncle Henry, probably on the merit of Henry not being nearly as loud or persistent as the others.

“Now that Katsu’s back, here.” Vanessa handed Charlotte a wrapped box with a pretty bow. “This is for him. He’s so little he probably won’t remember it,” she chuckled. “But I still hope he gets a good use out of it.”

“This is so sweet. Thank you, but you really didn’t have to—” Charlotte began, but Asta cut her off.

“Oh is Katsu going to open presents?”

“He’s a baby. He can’t open presents, dumbbell,” Zora quipped, but he still reached for a wrapped gift under a few of the tree branches.

“We’ve got one for him too!” exclaimed Charmy as she and Rill made a dash for the tree. Everyone else, it seemed, followed suit and started grabbing their gifts and excitedly throwing them at Charlotte and Yami to open on Katsu’s behalf.

Yami shook his head. “More presents? You already gave us a ton of sh—” He stopped himself as Charlotte glared pointedly at him. “stuff when he was born. How many presents does he need? He’s not even gonna remember any of this.”

“It’s his first Christmas. We had to get him presents,” Finral insisted.

With a sigh, Yami shook his head again, but the lines of his face softened and Charlotte could tell that he was genuinely moved by the gesture. Charlotte and Yami took turns unwrapping Katsu’s presents as he was passed around by his uncles and aunts. He got two more hand-knitted sweaters from his Aunt Grey, a hand-carved wooden rattle with his name on it from his Uncle Gauche, a cute but somewhat frightening set of plush farm animals his Uncle Gordon had clearly sewn together himself, and a handmade magic knight doll from Uncle Zora. His Uncle Magna and Uncle Luck had teamed up to get him a tiny broom that Magna had decorated himself, and Uncle Asta, Uncle Henry, and Uncle Liebe had jointly purchased multiple sets of wooden blocks: some with numbers painted on the sides, the others with letters or pictures of animals. Aunt Secre had bought him a tiny pair of shiny, leather boots, and Aunt Noelle had purchased several complete outfits including a tiny vest that Charlotte thought was particularly adorable. Uncle Nacht’s gift was an incredibly practical set of bottles and several pairs of tiny socks of varying sizes for Katsu to “grow into.” Rounding out the haul was a wool coat, a painting of him, and several empty jars with a promissory note for homemade baby food as soon as he was old enough to eat it from his Aunt Charmy and Uncle Rill, and a silver ornament in the shape of a bird, a collection of illustrated children’s books and a beautiful, hand-embroidered quilt from his Uncle Finral and Aunt Vanessa, who Charlotte was sure, must have completed all the sewing and embroidery herself.

“Well now my son is officially spoiled,” said Yami with a lopsided grin as he folded the quilt back into its gift box.

“We’re his uncles and aunts. That’s what we do,” Charmy insisted, and Yami chuckled with a certain softness in his eyes.

“Thanks you guys. This was real nice.”

Charlotte nodded in agreement. “Very thoughtful—thank you. Though Katsu seems more excited about the wrapping paper.” Chuckling, she glanced over at her son who was playing with a large piece of shiny paper from one of his presents as his Uncle Asta held him on his hip and swayed back and forth.

“You look like you’re dancing,” laughed Luck.

“Ooh that’s a good idea,” said Rill reaching out and taking Charmy’s hand.

“There’s not even any music,” she chuckled with a shake of her head as he spun her around.

“Finral, why don’t you play something for us?” suggested Vanessa, rubbing her hand across his back.

Sighing, Finral sheepishly ran his hand across the nape of his neck. “I…don’t know…” After being begged by his squad mates, however, he took a seat at the piano and began to slowly pick out a familiar carol. Charlotte’s brow furrowed, and she began to wonder if he had forgotten the tune until he slid his hand across the piano keys and began to play at a jaunty, lively tempo that was perfect for dancing, much to the delight of his laughing companions.

“Show off…” muttered Yami with a shake of his head, but the corners of his mouth with turned up into a slight smile which widened when he turned to her and held out his hand. “What do you say, Prickly Queen? If we don’t get out there and dance, they’re just going to make us like Gauche and Grey over there.”

Charlotte chuckled as she watched Gordon and Vanessa practically pushing the two together over by the tree. Meanwhile, it appeared that Charmy and Rill were trying to corner Noelle and Asta under the mistletoe. Noelle let out a squeal that reminded Charlotte a lot of herself back in the day, but Asta gave her a quick kiss on the cheek that stunned her into blushing, sheepish silence as he pulled out into the middle of the room to dance. Charlotte smiled. Maybe they were both a lot like her and her husband after all.

“Alright,” she said taking Yami’s hand with a smile. Her husband had never been much of a dancer, but he tried his best especially when they got their son back after he started fussing for his Aunt Secre. Katsu seemed to like the swaying motion of dancing, and he soon nestled into his father’s shoulder and began to drift off though Charlotte wasn’t sure how he could even think about sleeping with all that music in the background.

“You’re under the mistletoe!” Vanessa’s teasing voice pulled Charlotte out of her thoughts. Her brow furrowed as she looked around the room, wondering who she was talking about. A blush filled her cheeks as Yami twisted his mouth to one side pointing above their heads. He smiled at her; then at their son before he kissed the top of Katsu’s head; then he leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss to the—albeit quiet—applause of their companions…no, their family who had made this a wonderful holiday.

Charlotte was suddenly struck by a warm feeling radiating in her chest at the thought. Somewhere along the way Yami’s chaotic knuckleheads, as he would probably call them, had become her family too and now were an amazing group of aunts and uncles to Katsu. As Yami met her eyes and smiled at her, she knew he must be thinking the same thing. Sure, the Black Bulls were all a little zany and quirky and more than a little chaotic, but looking around at them now, it was so clear that they cared and that was what mattered—to Yami, to her, and to their son who had just been given the best first Christmas thanks to them. A smile tugged at Charlotte’s mouth. She hoped the holidays to come would be just like this one.

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