Author's note: Written for Maleval Week, Day Six. The prompt was Playing w/Children + Scars. The "scars" thing just kind of took off in its own direction. BUT: Maleficent confessing her love for once. How nice, right? Also if you think my previous work is schmoopy: this is utterly cavity-inducing! Enjoy the fic. Tomorrow's prompt is AU, so I think I will simply update Legal and Binding and count that for the final piece for this lovely ship week ;)

Three Little Words

Of all the ways Diaval pictured Maleficent telling him that she loved him: the actual moment when it occurred was far better than anything his imagination could have conjured.

It happened when they were lying, curled up in their nest, mostly asleep, and the faery was preoccupied with tracing along his various scars.

He had told her the story behind each one in detail. One he'd received for protecting his younger siblings from a hawk; another had been from a farmer's dog when he'd gotten too close to the crops.

To his amazement, his mate had never scoffed or teased him about any of them. She'd merely listened attentively.

He also had not failed to notice that whenever they made love now, she would devote special attention to all of them (not that he ever minded).

Still: it came as a surprise when she made her confession during such a quiet, intimate moment.

Diaval was used to the fact that Maleficent had issues conveying emotion. In fact, he had become resigned to the fact that she might never tell him how she felt, but that didn't really matter to him in the long run. What she lacked in words she made up for in actions.

Her love was shown in the tiniest things: holding his hand, a gentle kiss to his cheek or leaning in to whisper softly in his ear. Above all: it was there in those brilliant green eyes that he could get so easily lost in.

When she finally said it—when she finally said "I love you, Diaval," it was mumbled against his neck and in such a low tone that, at first, he thought he'd been hearing things.

Tentatively, he reached down to cup her chin, tilting her head back slightly so he could look into her eyes. "What did you just say?"

Maleficent looked as shocked as he was, and he wondered if she had meant to say anything at all.

After a rather pregnant pause, she cleared her throat and looked at him directly. "I said: I love you, Diaval."

His breath caught in his throat, and he gaped at her for so long that she couldn't resist toying with him a little, so she reached up and began to stroke through his dark hair, her fingers lingering over the feathers that were scattered throughout the silken strands. "Did I just break you, my pet?"

He snapped out of it due to her words and the sparkle of mischief in her eyes. "No, no, of course not! I just…didn't expect that."

"I'll give you a bit of time to process the information then," she smiled warmly and drew him down to her level for a kiss, her wings enveloping them both as she made it perfectly clear that her words had not been a joke.

He sighed against her lips, catching the bottom one between his teeth and nibbling playfully and delighting in the breathy gasp that emerged from his mate as he did so.

Diaval settled against her, their naked limbs entwining instinctively as the embrace turned more passionate, and before long: they were completely caught up in one another.

It wasn't until afterwards: once their lust for one another had been sated and they could think coherent thoughts yet again that Diaval finally responded to Maleficent's revelation of her feelings.

"Did you say that because you wanted to or because you thought it was what you thought I wanted to hear?"

"Can it be both?"

He chuckled and glanced down at her. "It doesn't really matter as long as you mean it."

"Of course I mean it, my love," she reached out and framed his face between her hands. "I'm just not so great with expressing such things with words. But then…it kind of slipped out, didn't it?"

He grinned. "It did. You must have been quite sentimental."

She shook her head, holding in her scoff of laughter, and instead tugged him forward for yet another kiss.

He gladly returned it, deciding that for the moment: he was just happy to have heard those three little words at all.

The End