What can I say – I love Seven Deadly Sins. And I die every time when I see my OTP. T_T I decided to do another AU – this time a one-shot, but I hope you guys will love it! This one-shot is loosely based upon a few experiences I had, so you know it's going to be good. LOL.
Right on Track
Running shoes? Check – she had them on.
Student ID and Residence ID? Check – she had the lanyard holding her residence identification around her neck and her student ID was in her wallet.
Oh, and she was going to need a bottle of water.
Going to the gym on a Monday night wasn't at all Elizabeth's cup of tea. Even though she lived right on the university campus, it was one thing for her to go out at an ungodly hour. It was pretty much an impulsive decision on Elizabeth's part, and she was willing to concede that she made terrible choices in her life. Elizabeth was lucky that she didn't have any morning classes on Tuesdays – otherwise she would have had to go to the gym another time. But even though she was no pushover in the slightest, how could Elizabeth have rejected the opportunity to bond with her new roommate? Even if said roommate seemed to come from a totally different world from hers?
They could not have been a more mismatched pair if you asked any outsider. Elizabeth came from a well-respected, overprotective debutante family whereas Diane pushed her way through school via scholarship funds and athletic talent. Elizabeth, as humble as she was, knew who was more admirable between the two of them. She told Diane about her past, deciding it would be better to do it sooner rather than later, and she felt quite relieved that Diane didn't care about who her family was.
All Diane cared about was how welcoming Elizabeth made her feel here. It didn't take long for Elizabeth to burst out her brightest smile for Diane: a smile that not many people got to see. That was the moment in her life that she knew she made the right decision in coming to this university.
She had the opportunity to make friends who wanted to get to know her. Nothing would have made her happier than to be normal for a change.
Diane seemed like a goddess; as far as she knew, Diane was amazing athletically – she was part of the basketball team (which seemed fitting, given her stature). She was lean and lithe, always dressed up in her usual spandex shorts which hugged her curves and a light orange tank top. In short, Diane was rocking it. Elizabeth also couldn't help envying Diane's hair as well; it was just long enough for her to put up into pigtails, but short enough to not be much of a hassle.
She knew that she shouldn't be comparing herself to Diane, but she couldn't help it. Her own style differed greatly from Diane's. Seeing that she never went to the gym much in her university career, Elizabeth never considered herself prepared to change her routine.
Her sisters would indubitably laugh at her if she told them that she was going to the gym. Well, Veronica would at least.
"Ok, that's enough sulking." Elizabeth was pulled out of her reverie, breaking the stare she held with her mirror. Diane was standing beside her, and she happened to be a few inches taller than her as well, so Elizabeth would lie if she said she was not at all intimidated. Not that Diane scared her per se.
"Sorry, I was just thinking," Elizabeth chuckled, clasping her hands in front of her, fighting the urge to twiddle her thumbs.
"What's wrong?" Despite the fact that they hardly knew each other, seeing that the new school term had started two weeks ago, Diane gave her the impression that she could be trusted with anything. Hardly the judgmental type. "Is it your outfit?"
"Will it really be ok for me to wear these?" Elizabeth's eyes glazed over the knee-length capri yoga pants (which felt a little too tight if she had to be honest) and the pink muscle top covering only partially of her cleavage. She wasn't nearly as conservative as the rest of her family, but there was only so much skin she felt comfortable showing.
"Of course, you look great," Diane grinned. "You're gonna feel great too after we do a few laps around the track." Elizabeth had to admit that she was relieved that they were not hitting the weights at the gym, but instead jogging laps and maybe hit up the treadmills.
"Thanks again. I'll be sure to wash these for you," Elizabeth returned the smile. Since Elizabeth never went to the gym, Diane was sweet enough to let her borrow some workout gear.
"No problem. Now let's get going, yeah?" And just like that, Elizabeth's nerves completely vanished.
:3 :3 :3
Elizabeth had to admit that the gym was snazzy. Sure, Liones University wasn't exactly the biggest postsecondary institution within Britannia, but it did have a reputation for having a beautiful campus. Despite how most of the buildings fashioned themselves after 17th century architecture, which many argued to be pretentious, the gymnasium was not: in fact, it just finished major renovations and Elizabeth would be lying if she said she wasn't curious to see what it looked like. She was in her first year when it was being remodelled, and now that she was in her second year, she could now say that she went around all campus.
She was wrong about the gym, excuse her - the Liones Fitness and Wellness Centre; it was incredible. She didn't expect it to be this spacious. It didn't take a genius to figure out that whoever designed the building wanted it to be as modern as possible; onyx wood casement windows lined up perfectly on the walls, light purple carpets lining the floor in the building leading up to the gymnasium itself, the freshly painted white walls, and the ceiling lights which were not set up to blind you at first sight. You would think that most gyms would reek of sweat, but seeing this was a fitness and wellness centre, the only scent that Elizabeth was able to pick up on was chlorine. Which meant that the pool wasn't too far away.
It made her curious as to what the budget for this renovation was. Not that it mattered to any of the 12 AM gym rats who were either running the track or using the weights.
The second floor was pretty much empty, much to Elizabeth's relief.
Although it clearly wasn't a problem for the singular entity working the front desk. In all honesty this person looked bored out of his mind, and she sympathized with him a little bit. She would be bored too if she had to work the front desk at 12 AM. But the first thing that Elizabeth noticed was his burnished hair, which looked liked it was gelled up every morning (she never saw anyone with that kind of hairstyle in her life, so of course it would stand out to her). Being careful not to stare too much, she noticed how he was dressed in an entirely red ensemble consisting of sports jacket and sweatpants: sort of like he was part of a running team.
"May I help you?" Oh crap, he just caught her staring at him. And apparently, he thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen, as his lips formed a smirk.
"Oh, um… Sorry. We'd like to go into the gym please," Elizabeth stuttered, as she realized that her cheeks were warming up in embarrassment.
"Sure thing, sweetheart. Just show me your ID and I'll let you in no problem." Elizabeth had no idea what to make of the former comment – other than the conclusion that he was clearly joking around with her.
"Leave my poor friend alone, Ban," Diane hissed, "We're not in the mood to be putting up with this." Elizabeth used her peripheral vision and noticed Diane taking out her student ID, and so she figured she should be getting hers out too. But she was also a little surprised to learn that Diane knew this guy.
"Oh come on, I wasn't bullying her at all," he snorted, rolling his eyes. Then his eyes swept over to Elizabeth's, quickly looking her over. She was comforted by the fact that he wasn't looking at her as if she were a piece of meat. "I haven't seen you around before. You a new student?"
"I'm actually a second year," Elizabeth cleared her throat, before plastering a polite smile on her lips. "I'm Elizabeth."
"I'm Ban, fourth year Kinesiology major. It's nice to meet you." Ban returned her smile. "Now if you'll just give me your ID, I'll make sure to get you in as soon as possible."
"Sorry," Elizabeth squeaked in response, as she dove into her usually neatly organized wallet to find her ID.
"So did Diane here force you to come here against your will?" Ban asked nonchalantly. "No offense or anything, but you don't seem the gym rat type." Diane was giving him a nasty glare, but Ban didn't notice it.
"I'm not, but…I'm open to doing anything," Elizabeth confessed, as she handed her student ID over to Ban for him to scan. "Well, not anything; I don't think I would last very long on the weights." This elicited a chuckle from Ban, which made her slightly less anxious than before.
"Diane, why can't you be as charismatic as your friend?"
"Elizabeth's practically a saint, and she doesn't know you as well as I do," Diane snorted, as Ban handed both of their IDs back to them, though Diane was a little too quick to retrieve hers. "Thanks Ban, you're the best."
"Have fun, ladies. If you need help with anything, you know who to turn to."
"Thanks!" Diane stuck out her tongue playfully, and before either Ban or Elizabeth could get a word in, Elizabeth found herself being dragged away by Diane, and toward the track – which was right across from the weights and machines.
"I'm sorry about him. Ban can be a jerk sometimes." Elizabeth could tell that Diane wasn't as annoyed as she let on earlier.
"How do you know him?" Elizabeth blinked, gazing into Diane's eyes, as Diane's grip on her forearm disappeared.
"Mutual friends," Diane said simply with a small smile, and judging from the dazed expression on her face, Elizabeth assumed that something was weighing on her mind. But Elizabeth decided not to say anything; it wouldn't be in her best interest to pry into other people's businesses unless they consented to it. "Ok, so what do you want to do first?"
"We can do a few laps around the track," Elizabeth suggested.
"Sounds good to me," Diane said back, just as they approached one end of the track, assuming they were going the right way. "So which clubs did you join?"
"Huh?" Elizabeth blinked, taken back by her roommate's question.
"You mean you haven't joined any?"
"No, not really. I'm taking a full course load this semester," Elizabeth explained. "I already feel like I'm in over my head." Not even a month into the fall semester, Elizabeth was already knee-deep in assignments. She supposed that she should have seen it coming, considering that she was going into nursing. Helping people was a knack that Elizabeth had, ever since she was younger, from what her father told her. She couldn't remember what exactly inspired her to be a nurse, but she knew she must have announced to her family that nursing was her vocation; that she could help as many people live healthy lives. But it would take a certain amount of courage and tenacity to go into this field. She would have to take care of herself physically and emotionally if she hoped to help others.
Ironic, given that she felt she wasn't as in shape as she knew she should, as they turned the corner around the track.
"I guess that makes sense. Just don't push yourself too hard," Diane advised with a small smile. Then suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh, I almost forgot; did you want to put your hair in a ponytail?"
"Yeah, that sounds great, thanks." Elizabeth should have thought about wearing one before they went out, but somehow it slipped her mind.
"You look good with your hair like that."
"R-really?" Elizabeth flushed; she never really did anything with her hair for most of her life, even when it grew kind of long for her.
"Of course. I think all the boys would fall head over heels for you." Ok, Elizabeth could feel her cheeks burn even deeper.
"I don't know about that."
:3 :3 :3
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
She was almost there… if only she could pedal little longer, she would make it in no time. Elizabeth glanced toward the distance meter on the screen in front of her, noting that she had pedaled for almost a mile and a half. At least her legs were getting in a good workout.
Was exercising always this exhausting for the first time? Why did she even ask that – of course she knew that. Elizabeth mentally groaned, as she felt her heart pound against her chest, partially from exhilaration and partially from exhaustion. Not going to lie, she did feel icky and gross (for lack of a better term but give her some slack: it was basically midnight now); she only spent twenty minutes on this bicycle machine and already she could feel herself working up a sweat. Her thighs and her lower back getting the brunt of it.
A cold shower really sounded good about now.
As much as Elizabeth wanted to complain, she knew that it would do nothing to instill some sense of commitment. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Diane focusing tremendously on her machine. She showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
But then something else caught Elizabeth's attention. Or rather, a person caught her attention. Usually Elizabeth would move on after just one glance, but there was something about this person which didn't give her that impression.
Maybe it was his bright blonde hair.
Or perhaps it was his height that threw her off; it wasn't often that Elizabeth saw guys around her age who were shorter than her. Not that she didn't detest guys who were vertically challenged.
But for some reason, she thought it suited him. Which was a strange thought to even have, seeing that Elizabeth didn't know who this person was and that she only could see his backside. No, no, she didn't mean it like that! Well, she technically could trail her eyes downward and see that he was wearing white sweatpants which made his butt look good…
Elizabeth could feel her cheeks burning, deciding that it would just be best to look away in general. What was she doing? What was wrong with her? Did she just…did she just check him out?
There was a nasty part of her that didn't seem flustered at all, so she wanted to keep staring.
Much to her embarrassment, he happened to turn around as if he had noticed there were a pair of eyes staring directly into his back. It would have been impossible for Elizabeth to turn around gracefully, so instead, blue eyes met with emerald. And then she was also greeted with a dazzling smile, which sent her heart racing.
Elizabeth liked to think it was because she was caught gawking at him and refused to think otherwise. She did return his smile with an apologetic one though, and she had a feeling this guy knew what she was trying to convey. In fact, he merely waved at her as if he knew her.
Thump-thump-thump-thump. And she also liked to think that her heartbeat was skyrocketing because of her workout, but in reality she had stopped doing said workout for at least five minutes.
:3 :3 :3
It was quarter after one when Diane and Elizabeth decided to call it quits. Elizabeth was more than happy to just refill her water bottle and go back to residence to sleep the workout off.
Elizabeth decided that there was no other time in her life when she felt this sore.
"I'm so glad I don't have class tomorrow," Diane sighed happily, leaning against the wall by the entrance to the locker room, stretching her arms upward.
"But aren't you meeting King tomorrow?" Elizabeth, who was busy filling up her water bottle, made sure to throw a playful wink in Diane's direction. Elizabeth had to admit that it was adorable seeing Diane's reactions sometimes; as of right now, she could tell that Diane was trying to fight a blush.
"M-maybe," she stuttered, just as she was untying her hair from her ponytails. "And he's just a classmate, okay? We're just getting together to work on our project."
Elizabeth didn't know too much about who King was, granted she only heard so much from Diane. But she quickly deduced that she liked him romantically simply from her mannerisms whenever she talked about him – whether Diane realized it or not.
"W-what about you? What are your plans?"
"I don't know. I mean, I do have an early afternoon class at 2, so I'll probably just prep for that." Elizabeth could still feel strands of her hair stick to the back of her neck, so she decided to toss some of her long locks over her shoulder.
"You really need to let yourself live a little, you know?" Diane scoffed, but not in disdain, as she and Elizabeth started to head back towards the front entrance. At a slow pace of course – even Diane would say that her legs were led.
"I know." Elizabeth didn't really know how else to respond.
But just as they were reaching the exit, Elizabeth nearly stopped breathing; the blonde boy from earlier just so happened to be speaking with Ban at the front desk. A part of her hoped that he wouldn't remember her, given that she had made a total idiot of herself. But she couldn't help herself from looking at him again from up close.
Elizabeth could tell that he was finished from whatever workout he had too, if the white towel around his neck wasn't an indication, and that he had taken off his sweater to wrap around his lean waist, revealing a white muscle top.
Which accentuated his arm muscles that Elizabeth couldn't believe were genuine for someone who looked much younger than her.
Ok, so he was kind of cute, she thought to herself, as she heard light-hearted laughter coming from him. Why did he have to be cute? Why did he have to have a nice laugh?
"Have a nice workout ladies?" Both Diane and Elizabeth stopped walking as soon as they heard Ban's voice call out to them.
"You bet."
"I was kind of disappointed you didn't need my help with anything," Ban feigned a small frown, as if he were genuinely disappointed. But Elizabeth knew that he didn't really mean it – if the look in his eyes said anything.
"Does a girl have to ask a guy for help for everything?" Diane retaliated with a snort, raising an eyebrow as if she were challenging Ban on his words.
"I miss you too, girly." Ban snickered, then flickered his gaze toward Elizabeth. "What did you think of your first time? Think you'll come back?"
"Maybe. I know I'll be pretty busy for the next couple of weeks though."
At this point, Elizabeth could feel his eyes settle on her, so she made it a point to not look at him directly. But she failed miserably. Before she knew it, she was having a staring contest with the perkiest green eyes she had ever seen.
"Hey, how's it going?" Elizabeth felt like she was going to melt in a puddle at any moment; of course this guy would have an immediate effect on her. Heck, her legs were just about to give out on her after hearing his voice.
"Good, thanks." He never stopped looking at her – he just kept eying her as if she were some marble statue. Something to be appreciated. No boy had ever given her that kind of look before. Elizabeth had no idea on how else to interpret it.
"Hey lovebirds, there's a time and a place for that, and now is not one of those times," Ban interjected, smirking in amusement (most likely at Elizabeth's expense).
"I-it's not like that," Elizabeth immediately squealed in protest. "I don't even know him."
"That's incredibly hurtful," the blonde pouted, as if he were about to burst into tears. "I wanted to get to know you. My name's Meliodas. Fifth year." Elizabeth had to confess that she really liked that name…and he was older than she thought he was.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say it like that. My name's Elizabeth. It's nice to meet you." And what happened next was only something you would find in a romantic comedy. Given that Elizabeth's legs were feeling weak, she knew it would have been a matter of time that she'd fall over if she didn't keep moving constantly. She was about to fall over, but then she felt calloused hands holding her upright, resting on her hips. That single touch sent sparks flying.
"Careful." At this point, Elizabeth could look down and see that this boy – Meliodas, she reminded herself – was almost face-level with her chest. She automatically tensed up, knowing that he was extremely close to her. If her heartbeat was calm before, it wasn't now.
"T-thanks," Elizabeth murmured, and she knew that her whole face was crimson, as well as the tips of her ears.
"No problem," Meliodas eagerly replied, his eyes never once leaving Elizabeth's.
"Hands to yourself, pervert," Diane growled, immediately stepping in between Meliodas and Elizabeth.
"I'm not doing anything dishonourable," Meliodas stated, stepping back with both of his hands in the air, although he gave Elizabeth a wink.
"I'm sorry about him. He can be stupid sometimes. I didn't think he was going to be here," Diane apologized.
"So you guys all know each other?" Elizabeth's discomfort melted away, deciding to focus on the fact that Diane knew who Meliodas was.
"Yep, all best buds," Ban replied, stifling a yawn. "We've taken some of the same classes together."
"I wasn't planning on coming by, but I'm so glad that I did," Meliodas chirped in, once again sneaking a peek in Elizabeth's direction.
"We're heading back now," Diane stated, gently leading Elizabeth towards the exit. "We're going to need our beauty sleep and all that."
"Let me walk you guys back; it's not exactly safe for two lovely young ladies like you to go walking around at night," Meliodas suggested, but Elizabeth saw that Diane was not having it.
"Thanks, but no thanks. You do realize that I've taken Brazilian jiu-jitsu, right?"
"Maybe I just want the chance to get to know your friend."
"Still not happening, ladies' man."
"Elizabeth, you don't mind if I walk you back, right?" And Elizabeth was trapped in those green eyes again, much to her dismay. But she was also aware of a hand resting just below her tailbone, almost but not quite touching her butt. This was probably why Diane was on edge around Meliodas. She should have expected that.
"Maybe I'll see you around next time?" Elizabeth cleared her throat, hoping she wasn't coming off as rude. But she found that she meant what she said; even if she got the impression that he was handsy, she didn't think that he was going to take advantage of her.
"Again, there's a time and place for the eye-sex, lovebirds. Oh look at her face – she's blushing!"
Maybe it would just be best for Elizabeth to crawl underneath her blanket covers and never come back out for a while. Yeah, she liked the sound of that.
After that extremely awkward comment, Elizabeth knew that she shouldn't be sticking around any longer. She was a prude, if her own reaction didn't elicit laughter from Ban didn't say anything about it. Or maybe she just wasn't used to Ban's bluntness. Still, she was uncomfortable with what Ban said about her and Meliodas. Part of her wanted to go back to her dorm and forget this whole night ever happened. But the other part of her was against it – did she really want to forget meeting Meliodas?
No, Elizabeth didn't want to forget him. She dared to say that she…liked his company?
She hadn't known him very long, but Elizabeth did want to see him again and get to know him. Despite Melodias almost being her opposite. He was flirtatious, she was shy. He was confident, she was modest. What was it about her that drew his attention?
Elizabeth didn't know anything about relationships beyond platonic or familial; this was all new to her.
But she was more than willing to test the waters.