Chapter 1: A Fox's Drunken Lust

It was always like a festival when the seven deadly sins got around to drink together. Ban would cook the food, Meliodas would distribute drinks, Elizabeth would wait on tables, Hawk would clean up the leftovers, and everyone else would have a good time. And after all the cooking was done and over with, Ban would joined in and drink as much alcohol as he could before passing out.

This time, though, Ban had really outdone himself. Several bottles of beer, wine, and bourbon lay empty and scattered about. His stein had been filled and refilled more times than anyone was able to count. Had no one seen him actually drink it all, everyone would've thought the Sin of Greed had bathed in it, as the smell of booze on him was less of a smell now and more like an aura.

On the opposite end of that spectrum was Gowther, who only drink when everyone else was drinking, and he never drank much. He was more preoccupied studying the others, figuring out their feelings and behavior patterns, and alcohol always seemed to bring about a new situation or emotion that he would try to make sense of. King would always fall asleep after a few drinks, Merlin and Diane grew louder and laughed more, Meliodas was fueled by beer and could usually down several gallons without much need for concern, and Ban . . . Well, Ban was someone whom he was still trying to figure out.

The Fox's Sin was typically disoriented after two steins of beer, but the odds of him drinking more than that were always 100%. On another note, he learned that the Sin of Greed did not prefer a light squeeze to the breast as Elizabeth did with Meliodas, and whenever the Sin of Lust with talk, Ban would typically react in a negative sense; either angry or confused. Aside from all of this, though, he knew nothing.

As Gowther sat at the counter observing, Ban suddenly stumbled his way to one of the stools next to him. It took three failed attempts before his rear end found the seat to the stool so he could sit down.

"Are you alright, Ban?" Gowther inquired.

Ban threw his head back in a boisterous laugh before letting out a satisfied sigh and slinging an arm around his shoulder.

"I'm just great!"

"Oh? You seem to be extremely disoriented."

"I just said I'm great, didn't I? You need to loosen up a little!"

A lost, pondering look settled on Gowther's face, "Loosen up? I don't understand."

Ban wasn't listening. He had already found the stein Gowther had been poured and was guzzling down what was left. He only paused for a moment as he shot the Goat's Sin a grin.

"Do you mind?"

"It's mostly gone now, anyways," Gowther replied.

The drink was disappearing down Ban's throat before Gowther had even finished. As the magenta-haired man watched him, he wondered if allowing him to take his drink had been the right choice. Ban's face was already red from the constant laughter and drinking. If Gowther's calculations were correct, Hawk would be the one dragging him to bed. Again.

Gowther turned around and went back to observing the rest of his team. Merlin and Diane were caught up in a conversation, King was asleep on his pillow, Hawk was cleaning up a pile of food Ban had spilled earlier, and Meliodas . . . Well, he had his head tucked under Elizabeth's skirt, earning him an enraged glare from Diane. There were a number of new situations here that he simply didn't understand their motives too.

"Why does Diane get upset whenever the Captain touches Princess Elizabeth?" Gowther asked.

Ban chuckled, "She has a bit of a crush on the Captain! Kinda makes sense that her sin is Envy, huh?"

"So if the Captain would do that to her, then she would be happy?"

"Hard to say. I think he tried that once and she tried to crush him for being a pervert. Now that I think about it, I'm surprised that isn't your job."

Gowther turned to Ban, "What do you mean?"

"You're the Sin of Lust, aren't you? You don't exactly live up to it, though. You're like the least lustful person I know!"

"Is that a bad thing?"

Ban didn't have the opportunity to answer the Goat Sin's question. The massive amounts of alcohol he had consumed over the course of the past few hours suddenly forced their way back up, causing the Sin of Greed to spew vomit on the ground beneath his stool. Nobody really took notice. Ban's stomach could never hold the amount of drinks he usually downed. This was practically a nightly occurrence.

Gowther sat there quietly as he allowed Ban to empty his stomach. He knew that trying to speak to him when he looked stressed out or upset earned him a punch to the face every time, so he waited.

Once the flow vomit stopped, Ban made an attempt to stand up, only to stumble and lean heavily on Gowther's shoulder.

"Are you feeling alright, Ban?" Gowther asked.

"I feel fine!" Ban replied, his words slurred and his head spinning, "I just need another drink . . ."

"Is that really a good idea?" Gowther asked, "According to my calculations, your chances of getting sick again are over 80% now."

"Shut up! Let me tell you somethin' . . ."

"Tell me what?"

"Let me tell you, you're a . . . dude Gowther, have you always been this cute?"

Gowther tilted his head in confusion, "What?"

"It's got somethin' to do with your face. I think you're cute."

Cute? What was that supposed to be? Gowther had heard that term before, read about it in books, he'd even heard Meliodas and Diane use it a couple of times. But hearing it come from Ban had having it directed towards him made the term sound like a foreign language.

"You think that I'm cute?" Gowther asked.

"Yeah, that's it . . ." Ban mumbled, "Come to think of it, I always thought you were cute . . . Better than that Elaine bitch all those years ago."

Better than Elaine? Cute? If Gowther hadn't known any better, he would have thought that this Ban was an imposter.

"I'm not sure what you're trying to say, Ban," the Goat's Sin said.

The Fox's Sin leaned in closer to him, taking him by the hand and leading him towards the door.

"Let's just go inside . . . Together . . . Alone . . ."