Disclaimer: I do not own Nanatsu no Taizai aka The Seven Deadly Sins or its characters. All of these people belong to the original owner.
Bar Etiquette
Meliodas was surprised that he hadn't had a problem before now.
After all, Elizabeth was a very pretty girl. Her face had delicate features, which together with her pink lips and bright eyes was a welcome sight to see. Her long, platinum blonde hair was smooth and silky and just begged to be touched. She also had a great figure that even he couldn't help himself around her. All of this along with her kind and somewhat naïve disposition made a killer combination.
And well, this was a bar. It didn't always attract the greatest crowd of characters. Most were fine, but there had been several times in the past when the owner had seen some of his clients giving Elizabeth the side eye. It wasn't a good look, and just spelled trouble. That was usually when he would call her back to the kitchen to learn cooking from Ban or send her to gather food with Diane. Hawk and King would chase the unsavory guys out in the meantime.
Meliodas had learned that in such cases, it was best to leave himself and Ban as last resorts.
Still, as a result, the barkeep had managed to avoid an incident like this since he had Elizabeth become a waitress for the tavern.
"Kya!" Elizabeth jolted upright, nearly dropping her tray. Her chests reddened as she promptly stepped away from the patron who had just copped a feel of her rear.
The man leered at her, seeming to delight in her discomfort. "Problem, sweetie?" His friends chuckled along with him. They were also eying Elizabeth.
"Ugh." King floated down next to Ban as the thief looked up to see what all of the commotion was about. "I guess I'll have to take care of it."
"Don't bother." Ban said, because at least he knew how this was going to go. He ignored King's confused look.
"I, uh, I have to go." Elizabeth muttered, trying to remain courteous, and she attempted to step around the man. He stood to block her way.
"Ah, come on, sweetie. We just wanted to talk to you a bit." The man brought his hand up to touch her face, and Elizabeth flinched away from him.
It never connected though.
Halfway to her face, the hand came to abrupt halt. The man grunted in pain.
"Elizabeth, is there a problem?" Meliodas smiled up at her while keeping a tight grip on the man's wrist.
"Uh." She looked between him and the offender, not wanting to get him in trouble but also not wanting to lie. Elizabeth really was too good sometimes for her own sake.
"I think Diane was calling for you. Why don't you go see what she wanted?" The barkeep offered her a way out.
"All right." She swiftly walked away, though she looked over her shoulder worriedly.
Meliodas turned his full attention to the man now. "I think you and your friends should pay your bills and leave." He said it with a smile, but his grip was so tight that the man's fingers were turning white.
The man wrenched his hand away, and Meliodas let him. He was too busy trying to rein in his temper after all.
"Listen, brat." The man gave an imperious sniff. "I think that you should mind your own business." He looked away. "Now, where did that girl go?"
"I'm actually the owner of this joint." Some of his irritation began to creep into his voice, despite his pleasant smile. "So if you're bothering my waitress, then you're bothering me."
King stared from where he was. "This isn't going to end well." He muttered to Ban.
The patron roared with laughter, drawing the attention of anyone who hadn't already been watching the action. "What? A pipsqueak like you?" He wiped a tear from his eye. "Am I supposed to be intimidated or something? Of you and that toothpick you consider a sword?" He gestured at Meliodas's sheathed sword.
Of course, he didn't know it was a broken sword, but it's not like that mattered with the captain's strength.
"I'll tell you once more." Meliodas crossed his arms over his chest. "Pay your bills and leave. Never bother my waitress again."
"How about a no?" The man sneered and made to shove past the tavern owner, his friends cheering him on.
It all ended pretty quickly after that.
Meliodas grabbed the man's arm to hold him in place and landed a swift punch to his solar plexus. The force of the punch sent the man flying right towards the door. At that moment, the door opened as a new customer went to step in. He scuttled out of the way with a yelp to let the man soar past him and land on the ground with a loud thump.
As he lay there on the ground, cursing and coughing all the while, a large shadow fell over him. He looked up to see a giant girl, Diane, standing over him and cracking her knuckles.
"Are you the one who touched Elizabeth?" Her voice was dangerously low and a vengeful glint was lit in her eyes. A glance from the man showed the unfortunate waitress peering around the giantess's leg.
"Uh…" He started to sweat as he realized he had targeted the wrong girl.
"Not an answer." Diane punched down, the force kicking up the dust around them.
The man's friends watched all of this come to pass from their seats. The other patrons had also observed the spectacle with a mixture of awe and fear, but they began to sweat like their friend.
"Now then," Meliodas turned back towards them, "will you listen to me now?"
The rest of the group quickly dumped money on the table and scrambled to get their things and get out. As they lurched through the doorway, the dust had cleared enough that they could see their friend. Diane hadn't punched him, but she had hit the ground right between his legs. He had fainted from fright, so they scooped him up and pulled him away as they continued their panicked flight.
"Oh, some choice leftovers tonight!" Hawk exclaimed as Meliodas put the plates with the men's mostly uneaten meals at his level. The pig happily took care of it, as Ban was a way better cook than the owner.
"And they also left a pretty big tip!" Meliodas collected up the money on the table. He returned to the bar with a cheerful hum, and slowly the chatter in the room started back up.
Somehow, the captain knew that that would be the last person from this town who would mess with Elizabeth. He was glad that some people knew basic etiquette.
"So." He looked up at one of the guys sitting at the bar. "A bit overprotective of your waitress?"
Meliodas picked up a glass to clean. "Not really." He said nonchalantly. "After all, her father would kill me if I let her fall in with a crowd like that."
The guy laughed, but he didn't know how serious he was. Who knew what the king would do if he learned that Meliodas not only let his precious daughter act as a waitress but also let some scummy degenerate lay his hands on her?
It was better to just let her be a waitress. He at least had an excuse prepared for that.
"Meliodas-sama?"
The tavern owner turned to see Elizabeth standing there with a slight blush crossing her cheeks.
"Thank you for earlier." She said, and she brushed some of her hair over her shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to step in like that."
Meliodas smiled at her. "No problem." He gave her butt a decent squeeze. "Now, go back out there and attract customers. No one else should bother you."
Elizabeth's blush grew deeper from his actions, and she quickly grabbed a tray and left for the bar floor.
Meliodas grinned as he watched her walk away.
"Uh, isn't that kind of hypocritical?" He heard King whisper to Ban.
"It's the captain, so it's different." Ban basically shrugged it off like he knew he would. "Besides, he's not going to let some stranger get a feel of the princess."
No, Meliodas certainly would not let some stranger touch her.
After all, the only one allowed to grope Elizabeth was him.
AN: Takes place sometime after King joins the group, but before the sword handle is taken from Meliodas. This was just something that occurred to me while reading, since it is a bar. I had to use one of the old bar stereotypes about pretty waitresses. Meliodas wouldn't let anything happen though. I ship Elizabeth and Meliodas, but he's still devoted to Liz. I'm betting it's all connected though, since there are way too many coincidences.