…
Why are you at my side?
How can I be any use to you now?
Give me a chance and I'll let you see how
Nothing has changed

Deep in my heart I'm concealing
Things that I'm longing to say
Scared to confess what I'm feeling
Frightened you'll slip away

You must love me
You must love me
-"You Must Love Me," Andrew Lloyd Webber
…

Lavender's blue (dilly, dilly)
Lavender's green (dilly, dilly)
When I am king (dilly, dilly)
You shall be queen

Diaval lay on his back in human form, absently humming the human lullaby he'd pick up whilst watching over Aurora. However, as usual, he was thinking about someone completely different to the young Princess.

Lavender's blue (dilly, dilly)
Lavender's green (dilly, dilly)
If you love me (dilly, dilly)
I will love you

He abruptly stopped humming as he realised his thoughts had started to stray down dangerous paths.

Again.

As much as he appreciated the ability to daydream that his human form gave him, it could be downright dangerous at times. Not to mention all of those pesky human emotions.

Emotions that could be hard to control even in his bird form, especially when his mistress – when Maleficent, he corrected himself – stroked him.

Aurora also had the tendency to pat him when he was a bird, but it was different with Maleficent. At least, it felt different and there had even been a couple of times when he could almost have sworn she was going to kiss the top of his head.

He lived for those moments.

"I need you, Diaval."

Ironically, he had been the first one to utter those words but she hadn't denied them. In fact, she'd repeated them later on and had even let him remain with her, as a dear friend this time rather than a devoted servant.

Unfortunately, he'd found himself wanting more and was terrified of what that more might be.

He pushed his tumultuous thoughts aside as Maleficent came soaring into view, revelling in her newly restored wings.

He grinned, she was glorious.

She executed a particularly intricate manoeuvre before coming down to land a few feet away from him.

"Was that display for my benefit?" he teased, sitting up as she came to join him. "I think you kept me in this form today to avoid competition," he added with a smirk.

Maleficent shook her head, "Vain bird," she murmured as she came to sit next to him.

Diaval swallowed another grin, he'd learnt long ago that it paid to listen to what Maleficent didn't say as much as what she did.

And she hadn't denied showing off.

That gave him the courage to wheedle her further, "Perhaps if you turned me into something more imposing than a raven we could have a more equal contest of our abilities," he suggested.

Maleficent suppressed an amused smile, "I'm not turning you into a dragon again."

Diaval leaned back on his elbows, "That's a shame, I rather liked being a dragon."

She turned to him and raised an eyebrow, "All that power," he explained with a grin, and a greater ability to protect you, he added silently to himself.

Maleficent merely rolled her eyes and looked away, "It didn't stop you from being hurt," she reminded him.

Diaval shrugged a shoulder, "I can hold my own," he replied easily, "besides, that was different, you were in danger."

She glanced at him sideways, "I hope you don't think I'm ungrateful," she said after a moment.

Diaval's brow creased in confusion, "Never," he assured her. "Besides, my continued presence by your side would be penance enough if I did," he teased, lying back down with his hands behind his head.

Maleficent pursed her lips and stared off into the distance for a long moment, "I wish you wouldn't do that," she said finally.

Diaval looked up at her, "Do what?"

Maleficent took a moment to compose her thoughts, she hadn't intended to have this conversation.

Not to today, maybe not ever.

"Belittle your importance to me," she explained, deciding to take the risk and meeting his gaze. "You are not – nor have you ever been – a penance, Diaval," she paused as he sat up. "I don't think that even Aurora could have changed my outlook had you not already begun to weaken my defences," she admitted quietly, dropping his gaze.

"You saved me from myself long before I even realised that I needed saving," she continued as he remained silent, "and you are the only one to stay by my side, even when I was at my worst." She paused, "Well, I suppose you had no choice, but you never complained, aside from the dog incident, but-"

Her ramble was cut off as Diaval surprised them both by kissing her.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," Diaval apologised in a rush as they broke apart, avoiding her eyes, "I, uh, it just seemed like the right thing to do…" he finished lamely, running a hand through his hair self-consciously.

Maleficent watched him squirm with an amused smile, "Diaval," she said quietly and he looked up at her, "I could have pushed you away."

He stared at her for a moment, "But you didn't," he said finally, watching her warily as he processed this.

"I didn't," she confirmed, with a small smile.

Her smile broadened as she watched realisation dawn on his face, "You didn't," he repeated with a smile.

"No," she said with a laugh as he continued to stare at her with a mixture of shock and awe.

He sobered, "Maleficent, I-"

"I know," she interrupted him in a low tone, sobering in turn.

He blinked, "You do?"

"Yes."

He looked away, "I see, well, could you…?" he trailed off.

"I do," she said firmly.

He looked up at her in shock, "You do?" he whispered.

"Yes."

"Well, then-"

"Diaval," she cut him off sharply, "just kiss me," she ordered, her voice and expression softening.

Diaval grinned, "Yes, Mistress," he teased as he leaned in.

As their lips met Diaval reflected that perhaps something more wouldn't be quite as terrifying as he thought it would be.

...

A/N: Yep, this was going to be a one-shot, but that just wasn't going to happen in the end - as you can see I've also seen Cinderella and remembered how much I like "Lavender's Blue." Also, there's no explicit declaration as I'm not convinced they'd come out and say it completely (at least, not yet).