Title: The Talk

Notes: Spoilers for the whole series. Takes place somewhere right before the events of Chapter 310.

Disclaimer: Don't own. Don't sue.

THE TALK

"So...You and Diane, ne?"

King felt his neck burn as a blush ignited under his skin. He turned to the Captain, his eyebrows rising to his hairline as he cast the shorter man a nervous look. The deadly demon was wearing a plain smile, the mask he wore when he didn't want to reveal what he was actually feeling. The tactic was wasted on King now that he was a fully realized Ruler of the Fairies. He could clearly sense what was boiling beneath the surface despite Meliodas' exterior.

So he would have to choose his words carefully.

"Ah..." He cleared his suddenly dry throat. "Yes."

Meliodas didn't respond, sipping from his tankard of mead, not even glancing at King. They were sitting on the grass a ways away from where they'd settled the Boar's Hat Bar, on a cliff that sat over an open field. Somehow they managed to just end up there though it hadn't seemed as if either of them had been particularly seeking the other out. Meliodas had with him a barrel of mead that he used to refill his tankard whenever he downed the contents. If he wasn't the Fairy King then the Grizzly Sin of Sloth would have wondered if someone had managed to magically compel him to land there. Meliodas hadn't seemed to be looking for company. Yet there they were.

"Don't make promises to her that you can't keep. That will only hurt her more."

The Fairy King bowed his head out of respect for the concern Meliodas portrayed for Diane. He couldn't begrudge him for it, knowing now how much the Sins had meant to him. "I'm going to ask her to marry me."

It was hard to say exactly what Meliodas thought of that as his expression didn't shift.

"Do you actually think you can protect her? Are you prepared to do whatever it takes to be together? It might not be as easy as you think."

"I-"

"And are you sure you won't make another mistake?"

King's cheeks flushed red, the pit of his stomach dropping as the words hung in the air. He hated hearing the words Meliodas had to say, hated knowing why he was saying them. They were valid questions. No matter what he had accomplished nor how far he'd come he could not erase his past. Meliodas had been there since his arrest and had been the one to find and look after Diane after her own misunderstanding that branded her a fellow Sin. He had every right to voice his concerns.

Still...it hurt to hear.

"I-There's nothing I can say that can make up for what I did to Diane all those years ago." It was hard to actually lay his regrets out in the open, knowing that they didn't absolve him of his wrongdoing. "I knew her heart, her fears. I convinced myself I was doing the right thing, believing that by tearing myself away along with her memories that she would be better off for it. That was...a mistake. People need their memories. Whether good or bad, a person get's to decide what to do with them. No one else has the right to tamper with them." As he said it he could tell that Meliodas would understand that, had lived the nightmare that came with altered memories far too often. "Sometimes I wish I could take it all back but... I can't. And I don't ever want to make Diane sad again. So even if I make a mistake, I'm just going to do my best to make her happy. She deserves that and more." He sighed, his styled hair falling over his right eye and hiding his expression from view.

"I'm proud of you."

And just like that something in King lifted. "Wh-what?" He openly gaped at the man who had been his ally and friend, even when he was too caught up in his own thoughts and feelings to realize that. He was confused now but there was something warm replacing the discomfort he had been feeling so strongly.

Meliodas finally looked King in the eye, his green eyes open for the first time since King had met him. "I mean it. I'm proud of you. In the past you would have let your temper say something stupid or mean back. I'm glad to see how much you've grown."

Ah. Now King could identify the the warmth that had begun radiating from his heart; gratitude and respect. King smiled slightly, looking away with an embarrassed chuckle. "Ah...Haven't we all?"

Meliodas nodded, something serene in his expression. "I couldn't have made it this far without any of you."

"None of us would be here if not for you Captain."

In companionable silence the two inclined their heads, needing no more words to acknowledge the mutual trust and friendship that had been achieved between them.

It was strange, sitting there together. They had started as tentative allies, secrets creating walls between them. King didn't think there would ever be a time when he could place his complete trust in Meliodas. He had always thought him too guarded, someone he could only identify by the mask they wore and not their true face. He had been able to put those feelings aside until his suspicions had proven correct and his demon heritage had been outed. After that King had fallen prey to bias, instead of facing Meliodas as the man he had known for years, instead of believing his own eyes, he had quickly made the assumption that as a demon, Meliodas could not be trusted.

That had been wrong.

Meliodas was a better man than King could have ever imagined. In visiting the past through First King Gloxinia's power he had been able to see for himself the sort of person Meliodas was. An honorable demon who had become a victim of love and spent centuries punished for it. How could a selfish and horrible King like him compare to that?

"Can I ask you one more question Captain?"

"Mm?"

"Why did you pick us?" At Mel's questioning look King found his attention drawn to his hands, suddenly aware of how much he wanted to know the answer. "Or rather, was it really just because of what Merlin told you? Did you pick us, me, as your fellow sins for any other reason than that?"

Meliodas was quiet for a long time. King waited him out. When Mel finally spoke it was with a fondness that humbled King down to his core.

"I picked you because I couldn't believe someone so strong was being held back from his true power by no one other than himself." Meliodas laughed casually. "A fairy without wings. The king himself! The power you've recently awoken, your wings, were within you even all the way back then. I noticed it from the moment I saw you. At first I couldn't believe that such latent power was coming from you. But it was there the whole time and the only reason you couldn't tap into it was because you had never sought to explore it." Then Meliodas patted King on the shoulder good-naturedly. "You've always been powerful. You just hadn't discovered your true strength until you found something you truly wanted to protect."

"C-Captain..." What sort of response could he give to that? To know that Meliodas held him in such esteem... It was daunting and yet... the nicest thing he had ever heard from the Dragon's Sin of Wrath. Fighting a sudden lump of emotion in his throat he said the only thing he could think of. "..Thank you."

The hand on his shoulder rose to smack him lightly. "Shi-shi-shi. Good to see you're not as quick to cry as ya used to be." Meliodas grinned. "You're a man now!"

"Oh shut-up." King laughed, swatting Mel's hand away. "Trust you to ruin a good moment Captain."

"Ne...King.."

"Hm?"

"No...It's Harlequin from now on ne?"

The wind blew then, rustling the grass and tousling their hair. "Y-yeah."

With an approving hum Meliodas turned to refill his tankard and surprised King when he produced another one from behind the barrel. He held one out for King. "Cheers."

King took the offering with a bemused smile before his tankard rose to gently tap Meliodas'.

"Better than wine right?" was the Captain's response once they'd each taken a generous gulp.

"Wine suits my look better now."

"Ah, is that so?"

A lengthy silence followed and then-

"I know you'll take care of her."

Owari

Where did this come from? Haha. I love the idea of PapaMel. It always made more sense to me than DianexMeliodas. I suck at writing Mel. Oh well. It was a fun little ficlet.

I really wanted to see a private moment between King and Meliodas like this. I know the manga isn't done yet but he disbanded the Sins and was saying his goodbye's before Elizabeth's best friend Rocky came a-calling. I just thought that after the little scene in the cave where they fight when Mel is training to get his full power back that we would have a stronger scene between the two of them.

It's not perfect. Wrote it on my lunch break at work. Hope you enjoyed.