Meet Me Under the Mistletoe
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the canon characters in this story. They belong to their respective owners, also known as not me. This story is written for my younger sister Madison as part of her "Secret Santa" gift I decided to do for her this year in writing since she usually draws me something each Christmas. More notes will be posted in the Author's Note at the end. Enjoy the story!
Whenever Meliodas designs a plan, it usually ends in either a Pyrrhic victory or a destruction so great that both the Seven Deadly Sins and their opponents are battered for a minimum of one week. It can be said that King does not voluntarily go along with Melodias' often suicidal plan nine times out of ten. However, most of the times when King acquiesces to the plans of his Captain, Diane factors into the decision-making process somehow, whether it is that she suggests the plan or that King is trying to save her from some harm or evil. Or, in this case, King seems to be feeling a bit selfish since it is closer to the holidays and will agree to the plan even if he is pretty sure Diane would pummel him to a pulp if she were to find out that he was going behind her back with Meliodas of all people to prepare a trap of some kind for her with no viable escape route. Yeah, the Fairy King most definitely does not want to think of those images, but when Meliodas is discussing the plan with him, that is all that comes to Harlequin's mind as he visualizes all of the ways that Diane could possibly kill him if she ever found out.
"Yo, are you even listening, King?" Meliodas inquires, snapping King out of his wandering thoughts, proof that the Fairy King was not listening at all to the plan after the preliminary thought behind it was revealed to him.
"Hmm? No, sorry, Captain," King apologizes, his face going a bright shade of crimson as he rubs the back of his own neck nervously, not quite sure why this particular plan has him as flustered as it does. "I thought I heard something inside the bar that doesn't belong," he continues, light brown hair flopping on his forehead as he shakes his head around to give the appearance that he has been surveying the inside of the Boar Hat.
"Yeah, they gotta word for that, King," Ban's voice comes from behind the bar where he had been kneeling to pick up the apple peels he had dropped while trying to prepare a batch of holiday apple tarts for everyone, especially once he found out that such a sweet is an absolute favorite of Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret. "It's called cowardice and should be avoided at all costs," he laughs, sliding the apple peels into a dish for Hawk and then preparing to add the eggs into the bowl of batter he had started prior to peeling and dicing the apples.
"BAN!" King practically yells, flying into the air and nearly hitting his head on the ceiling of the tavern as he yells at the Fox Sin of Greed. "I'm sorry, Captain. Can you run through how we are going to carry out the plan one more time?" he questions, floating down from the ceiling as he glares at Ban with a gaze cold enough to freeze stone.
Meliodas simply laughs, throwing his head back and exposing his teeth as he tosses a glance over at Ban, to which the Fox Sin of Greed simply tosses his head back and lets out a snort of a laugh, exposing his abnormally long canines in the process.
"Nope," Meliodas snickers before running out of the Boar Hat, no doubt in search of Elizabeth since she had disappeared a while ago to look around the small town with Diane and Merlin for the weekly girl time that the three female members of the group insisted upon having with one another to catch a break from their four male companions, as they still have yet to locate Escanor at this point in time.
King can't help but sigh, falling backwards into his Chastiefol and sighing deeply into it as all that he realizes he knows about Meliodas' plan is that it involves mistletoe of some sort since it is around Christmas. How could anything possibly go wrong? King won't hold his breath; he is almost certain the Captain's idea will backfire significantly.
When Meliodas reaches the town's shops, he instantly spots Elizabeth, so he comes up behind the youngest princess of Liones and squeezes her thighs in a way that would surely make Baltra yell at the leader and captain of the Seven Deadly Sins in the way only a father truly can. Elizabeth squeals in that high-pitched tone of hers as she tries to escape from Meliodas' grasp, only for Diane to smack Meliodas' hand away and then bonk the yellow-haired man on the top of his head, effectively trying to stun him.
"Elizabeth, look at all these cute flowers!" Diane practically shouts, trying to distract herself from the obvious affections Meliodas holds for Princess Elizabeth as well as trying to help Elizabeth appear to be busy where maybe Meliodas would simply leave her alone.
"Oh, my! They are so beautiful!" Elizabeth happily squeals, lifting the bouquet up to her nose to smell the sweet perfume enveloping the silky petals of the white flowers that almost look to be tipped in snowflakes. "Smell them, Sir Meliodas!" the youngest Princess of Liones commands, shoving the bouquet into the Dragon Sin of Wrath's face, and he can't help but smirk and laugh at her excitement.
Meliodas inhales the scent of the flowers before bouncing a lock of Elizabeth's nearly silver hair in his hand while casting an acknowledging look at Merlin to tell the Boar Sin of Gluttony to buy the flowers as a Christmas gift from him to Elizabeth for the celebration two days from now. Of course, Meliodas has already gotten Elizabeth her main gift, but he enjoys spoiling her a bit too much, most likely because he is afraid that something will rip her from his watchful gaze and grasp like the force that took Liz so soon from his affections. Knowing they are the same person has helped to ease that burden, but Meliodas will always feel the loss associated with the departure of Liz. However, with the company of the other Seven Deadly Sins, Gilthunder, Howzer, Princesses Margaret and Veronica, and most importantly, Princess Elizabeth, Meliodas knows that he will never again feel the numbing pain that gripped him for years following Liz's agonizing and untimely death.
During the next few days that follow before Christmas, Meliodas, with the unwilling help from Ban and Hawk, has gone around the forest surrounding the Boar Hat and has found all of the mistletoe he could have possibly gotten his hands on. Mounds of it fill the storage room of the Boar Hat kitchen because the only people allowed in the kitchen's storage room are Ban and Meliodas, so the mistletoe would remain a secret. However, not everyone is doing the best at keeping the secret, as King has gotten increasingly jumpier as the mistletoe stash has grown significantly and it gets closer to Christmas and the time when Meliodas has claimed that nothing can possibly go wrong.
"You need to calm down, King," Meliodas tells the Serpent Sin of Sloth as the Captain carries a pile of potatoes into the kitchen for Ban to make them some warming soup to combat against the freezing temperatures of Liones. "If you ever want to kiss Diane, you gotta master the art of stealth like I do," the blonde Dragon Sin of Wrath starts to instruct the Fairy King, only for Ban to snort in laughter and nearly collapse on the floor as he practically bellows in laughter at the Captain's statement.
"Are ya kiddin' me, Cap'n?! You're about as stealthy with Elizabeth as Hawk tryin' ta get out of the Boar Hat whenever he's got the runs!" Ban wheezes, having to forcefully pat on his own chest in order to keep from choking as he laughs so hard his sides begin to hurt. "You an' Gilthunder are the very last people in this dimension that someone should ever ask for romantic advice!" the Fox Sin of Greed continues to bellow in laughter, doubling over on the bar, resulting in a few chopped onions to fall on the floor which are promptly disposed of by Hawk.
"And who should we ask, Ban?" King skeptically questions, unsure of what the light blue-haired behemoth of a man could be suggesting. "You?" he continues, twirling his Sacred Treasure absentmindedly while trying to prepare himself for completing the Christmas wish he is so intent to bear the fruits of his rather awkward labor.
"Because that worked out so well for you, Ban," Meliodas cruelly teases, and Ban has to use all of his self control not to leap over the bar and pull his Captain into a headlock to which the Fox Sin of Greed would then try to suffocate Meliodas until the Dragon Sin of Wrath apologized.
But, that is a digression, as Ban instead rapidly chops tomatoes to prepare his base for the stew, deciding to take his anger out on the food instead of his Captain and best friend. After all, there is only one Meliodas, and he may be needed for future quests, particularly ones that involve resurrecting Elaine and allowing the love of his life to return to the land of the living.
Meanwhile, Meliodas is imparting some last-minute directions to King regarding the plan since tomorrow, after all, is Christmas Eve in Britannia.
"Now, then, King," Meliodas starts to instruct, his voice low in case they happen to have any listeners or a squealer known as Hawk that will go and tell their business to Diane and Elizabeth. "You want to kiss Diane, right?" he makes clear, not wanting to beat around the bush and instead gets the issue at hand out into the open.
"I need to prepare mentally for that!" King shouts, his cheeks flushing a dark red and his eyes starting to roll back into his head where all you can reliably see are the whites of his eyes.
Quite honestly, Meliodas is impressed that King's nose did not start flowing a river of blood out on the tavern floor at the prospect of kissing Diane on Christmas becoming more realistic and hopeful as the days drag on. After all, the blonde owner of the Boar Hat would admit that his plan is one of the best ones in existence and surely wouldn't be foiled by their team of warriors and one Princess of Liones. He would pat himself on the back, but Meliodas knows from experience how disastrous that one action can be when applied before true credit is due. However, the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins frankly does not believe anything will ruin his plan to kiss Elizabeth on the lips in front of everyone in the Boar Hat; nothing would prevent him from getting his Christmas kiss from his princess and love.
Diane and Elizabeth are out walking together in the village, looking at all of the decorations people have displayed in their shop windows and even in their homes. Decorated trees stand in homes and in front of shops, each branch decorated in some way for Christmas with either ornaments or tinsel hanging delicately from the branches and swaying slightly in the crisp air. Elizabeth often would come into this village with Margaret, Gilthunder, Veronica, and Howzer when she was a young child, tagging along with the older children to see all of the pretty lights and decorations that would be put up in time for Christmas. One of Elizabeth's most treasured memories was from when Gilthunder and Margaret were sixteen, making Elizabeth a girl of merely ten years old. Gilthunder and Margaret held hands in the main square, nearly running amongst all of the shops to look in the windows to look at all the Christmas displays with Elizabeth and Veronica, with Elizabeth being far more interested than her second oldest sister. Howzer ate a lot of free samples from the varying shops, complaining of a stomach ache an hour later and receiving a smack on the back of the head from Gilthunder before the two young men playfully sparred with one another, using large branches as substitutions for lances and other weapons of the Holy Knights both Howzer and Gilthunder aspired to be. After that, it had begun to snow, so Margaret excitedly grabbed Gilthunder's hand before asking him to dance with her in the snow. The two of them smiled at one another and began to sway amongst the snow, young Gilthunder often twirling Margaret around to watch her hair curl around her face and ears as her dress twirled magnificently beneath her. Not one to be outdone, Howzer had invited Elizabeth to stand on his boots, dancing with the youngest Princess of Liones in the best way he knew how, which is a rather embarrassing dance routine to say the least. The outing to the village had ended with Margaret and Gilthunder cuddled up close under a blanket while sitting on one of the castle walls to watch the fireworks, with Elizabeth and Veronica reclined on either side of Howzer, Elizabeth's head resting on the future Holy Knight's chest before falling asleep amongst the cheers of her sisters and the booming of the fireworks. Baltra had smiled and carried his youngest daughter to her bed before pressing a light kiss to her head and whispering a plea for her to always stay that little and never grow up.
Diane's voice snaps Elizabeth out of her memories she started to relive while she stroked a patchwork blanket much like the one Gilthunder had procured for himself and Margaret to cuddle under in order to combat the cold that was trying to nip at Margaret's arms and hands as well as Gilthunder's exposed hands that then laid entwined with his princess' beneath the blanket in both an attempt to remain warm as well as an excuse to get closer to his darling love Margaret. That had been one of the few days that the spell was not as strong on Gilthunder and Margaret and allowed them to remember their love and admiration for one another.
"Elizabeth, you mean you haven't noticed anything at all?" Diane calls, and Elizabeth suddenly realizes that she has no idea what the Serpent Sin of Envy is talking about.
"Noticed what, Lady Diane?" Elizabeth inquires, her face showing every last bit of her confusion as she is quite unsure what Diane could be referring to.
"King and Meliodas have been acting weird the past couple of days," Diane admits her thoughts, stopping in the middle of the square to look around before continuing. "Almost like they're planning something sneaky," she reveals her thoughts on the matter, knowing she cannot be the only one who has noticed such a phenomenon.
"Perhaps Sir Meliodas and Sir King are simply trying to plan a surprise party for you," Elizabeth suggests, recalling the date of Diane's birth in her mind. "After all, your birthday is on Christmas Eve, which is tomorrow. Maybe they've been working to surprise you and aren't as skilled in hiding it as they thought," the youngest Princess of Liones continues, hoping that the case is just that and that King and Meliodas aren't trying to hide some natural disaster or impending crisis from the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins.
"They won't hide it from me! I'll find it out," Diane vows with a giggle, knowing that King will cave in and tell her his plans if she begs him enough.
"That would ruin the surprise and fun, Lady Diane!" Elizabeth gasps, remembering the one time when Veronica came into her own surprise party an hour before anyone else had arrives; the cake had been gone by the time Griamore was sent to retrieve her. "Isn't that Sir King right there, though?" Elizabeth asks Diane, pointing up into the sky where King is flying with his Chastiefol and looking down at the square, notably at Diane.
Diane glances upward, having to squint quite a bit, as she still is not completely used to being this small and not having her normal height advantage that allows her to see further up without any complications.
"Quick, Elizabeth! Pretend we're looking at the dresses where King doesn't know that we spotted him!" Diane softly commands, practically rushing over to the dress shop she and King had passed during the repair of Liones, and she begins to point at different dresses while making superficial comments about a few of the dresses that Diane would never wear in a million years due to how they are made.
"Oh, look at that dress!" Elizabeth gushes, knowing that it is a dress both she and Diane would actually wear, and no doubt one that Gilthunder would love to buy for Margaret in order to accent her beautiful, shimmering eyes that Gil loves to gaze into.
"How pretty!" Diane compliments, yearning to run her hands over the silk sleeves just to feel how soft they no doubt are; there are no disagreements that this is one of the seamstresses best works in the collection of winter dresses.
"Do you want me to buy it for you?" King softly inquires, floating down to the cobblestone and lightly resting a hand on Diane's shoulder.
He knows how amazingly beautiful his crush would look in the winter dress that is red and white like what King imagines Christmas angels would wear while completing miracles. King has no doubts that Ban would have bought one for Elaine if she was still with them.
"That's okay! I'm just looking!" the Serpent Sin of Envy smiles, leaning into King's touch and breathing in his unique scent, giggling slightly as she smells his hair and remembers how Gowther had commented it smelled like flowers.
They stand like that for a few minutes before Diane links her fingers with King's and they walk side by side the entire way back to the Boar Hat, King blushing crimson and nearly passing out the entire way back. Elizabeth can't help but smile at the two of them and hopes that King actually confesses his love for Diane this year. She thinks that it would be even better if King confessed his love for her on Diane's birthday at a candlelit dinner or even when exchanging presents with her during their Secret Santa. Elizabeth knows that King got Diane's name; she made sure of it, after all.
On Christmas Eve morning, Meliodas and King finish putting up the mistletoe around the Boar Hat, much to Ban's distaste since the heavy concentration of the plant makes him sneeze exponentially throughout the morning as he cooks Diane a special birthday breakfast to carry up to her in bed, as is his tradition when any of the women within their tight-knit group celebrates a birthday. Later, they would all celebrate Diane's birthday complete with a warming fire, gift giving, Secret Santa, and then they'd all fall asleep near the tree Elizabeth, Gilthunder, Margaret, Diane, and Ban had decorated within the Boar Hat. On Christmas they would wake up and complete the same routine, waking up to eat Ban's special breakfast and then open presents while eating some rather messy treats that Ban invented that he likes to call s'mores.
"Because you'll always want s'more!" Ban would laugh, and Meliodas would throw some melted chocolate at the Fox Sin of Greed, which Ban dutifully would catch in his mouth or lick off his own face when Meliodas missed.
"Captain, I think we're finished," King whispers, not wanting to draw attention to himself or Meliodas.
"Yep! I think so, too!" Meliodas grins, content with his handiwork and noticing how almost every square inch of the Boar Hat's ceiling is covered in mistletoe. There would be no escaping his kiss now.
"What have you hung up, Captain?" Gowther inquires, sneaking up behind Meliodas and King in that creepy way only the Goat Sin of Lust is capable of.
"Mistletoe!" Meliodas happily cheers, and Gowther looks completely confused by that proclamation.
"Is that supposed to mean something to humans? I am unaware of its tradition," Gowther continues his interrogation-like behavior towards mistletoe.
"Ya," Meliodas snickers, a boyish grin on his face as he thinks of peppering Elizabeth's skin with kisses. "You meet someone under the mistletoe and they have to kiss you; those are the rules!" he laughs, and King's cheeks flush pink for the umpteenth time as he thinks of kissing Diane's lips underneath the mistletoe if she doesn't punch him first for being so bold.
"And I assume this is to show your affection for someone you've known for a while and care for," Gowther makes his observation, to which he receives a nod from Meliodas in return.
"Yep! Now watch and learn!" Meliodas devilishly grins, and Ban cannot help but groan from the bar.
"This is gonna be a disaster," Ban mumbles under his breath, making himself scarce by heading into the kitchen to check on the eggs that he was cooking for Diane.
"Elizabeth, come downstairs for a minute, please!" Meliodas bellows upstairs, knowing that the youngest Princess of Liones is already awake because he heard her talking to Hawk when she awoke before washing her face in the basin of hot water Merlin places in all of their rooms each morning.
"Okay!" Elizabeth calls back, slipping her shoes on her feet before scurrying down the stairs, not quite sure what Meliodas may need her to do but anxious to find out.
When Elizabeth gets downstairs, the sight that greets her is not one she expected. Gowther is attempting to press his lips to Meliodas'. The Dragon Sin of Wrath yells in alarm before pushing Gowther to the other side of the bar, quite confused as to why Gowther suddenly began to make advances such as those.
"Captain, I thought that you said you showed affection this way," Gowther remarks in confusion, and Meliodas simply draws a blank face before sending thoughts nigh unprintable in the direction of Gowther, knowing the Goat Sin of Lust will read them as he had hoped.
Meliodas realizes that he hadn't stressed that you kiss someone you love. He sends Gowther the thoughts of the Goat Sin of Lust kissing Guila where maybe he will understand human customs. Then, Meliodas makes advances of his own, knowing that Elizabeth is aware of the true intentions of mistletoe. Meliodas wraps his arms around Elizabeth's back, holding her close to his body, his right hand traveling up her back to rest on her shoulder before he begins to passionately kiss her on the lips and cheeks in a display that would surely make Baltra faint and then proceed to constantly keep Elizabeth a minimum of ten feet away from the leader of the Seven Deadly Sins. Unfortunately, as Elizabeth and Meliodas kiss under the mistletoe, Diane chooses that moment to walk in, smelling the starting of bacon in the frying pan that Ban is cooking in. The Serpent Sin of Envy narrows her eyes upon seeing Meliodas kissing Elizabeth so passionately and then practically stalks towards him. Diane then simply punches Meliodas in the face, effectively detaching the Dragon Sin of Wrath from the Princess of Liones' face. Meliodas winces slightly, wiping out his face before looking up to see Diane's purely enraged face on her birthday no less.
"What did I do?" Meliodas inquires, trying his best to look innocent before Diane simply punches him again, making Meliodas crumple on the floor at the unexpected force.
"You really are an idiot, Captain," King practically spits, following Diane in the hopes of calming her down and helping her enjoy the rest of her birthday and their Christmas Eve celebration.
He finds her crying at the foot of the stairs, sniffling into her dark brown hair as she thinks of seeing Meliodas kissing Elizabeth more passionately than he had ever looked at Diane before. It was all because he knew that she was always going to be a giant and that he could not get a giant girl to listen to his every whim and could not have children with him the way he saw that future with Elizabeth, thought most certainly not at the bequest of her father King Baltra.
"Diane," King softly says, sliding down onto the floor to sit next to the love of his life.
"King, why would he do that?!" Diane demands, looking up to King to which he wipes the remaining tears from her violet eyes.
"Because he doesn't know what an amazing woman you are, Diane," King murmurs, knocking his shoulder softly against Diane's, making her smile. "And how beautiful you are…. Not- Not that I care about that, Diane! You're my best friend, and- and I…" King trails off, his face blushing entirely red.
"I love you, too, King," Diane simply grins, pressing a kiss soft and sweet to King's lips, to which he simply makes the motion of cradling her head behind his hands.
They kiss for about two minutes before King smiles so wide he feels his face will split open from grinning so much at one time and so wide.
"I love you, Diane," King is barely able to mumble out before he faints from shock, not smacking his head against the ground this time, for Diane catches his head and protects him from damage that would certainly have made him forget this kiss just as much as he forgot their first one in the village not so very long ago.
Elizabeth grins from the main room of the Boar Hat, knowing that King and Diane have both had their Christmas wish come true, regardless of the jealousy Diane had recently felt at Meliodas kissing the youngest crown princess. However, with the love proclamation out in the open, Elizabeth knows her plan she and Ban had concocted together would work out perfectly so long as King played his cards right and asked Diane to accompany him to the Christmas ball at the palace tomorrow evening once he regains consciousness once more, that is.
Author's Note: And there it is! My third Seven Deadly Sins Fanfiction and the first installment of my sister Madison's Christmas stories I promised her! Thank you all for reading, and I sincerely hoped you enjoyed it, Madison! As for everyone else, I hope you enjoyed as well; reviews are always appreciated, and I hope you keep a lookout for any further stories in the fandom from me! Have a nice day, afternoon, or night, my dear readers. I will try and put up a few more Christmas related Seven Deadly Sins stories for my gift to Madison, so be on the lookout! Until next time, my dear readers! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!