After washing up you noticed that there was a nice dress on your bed with a note. You picked it up and read it:
Hey Y/N!
I got you this dress to wear for tonight. I hope it fits you! I don't know your size but one of my friends who is a guess here tonight saw you with your mom and gave me your measurements so hopefully it does fit! I can't wait to see you tonight!
~Arthur
You were red as a tomato after reading that last part of the note. But you had to admit the dress was beautiful and you thought it was very sweet of Arthur to get it for you so you had something presentable to wear tonight. You made your way towards the Great Hall and blushed when you saw that everyone had already arrived. Crap. You were late... Arthur saw you come in and gave you a big smile. "Everyone I'd like to present to you, Miss Y/N Y/L/N of Camelot, a very close friend of mine." He says and everyone stands to greet you. You blushed.
"Umm...hi." You say and walk to your seat. You started to sweat when you realized you didn't know where it was. Arthur pulled out a seat that was beside him at the head of the table.
"Arthur?" One of the Lords that was dining with him asked. "This woman is sitting beside you at the head of the table? She must be a Princess or Lady of some sort."
"Nope. She's from the village." Arthur explains and all the Lords fall over. You blushed as Arthur held your hand and sat you down next to him. "I've known her for as long as I can remember and now she's living in the Palace with me." The Lords had started to get back up but upon hearing that they fell over again. Merlin started to look worried. Especially when she heard the Lords chattering about inappropriate things that their King might be doing with this young lady.
"You look amazing." Arthur whispers to you and you blush.
"Thank you." You say and look away from him and play with the material of your dress. "Your friend must be really good at judging measurement sizes."
"Well that explains why she was late." A Lord says as he retakes his seat. "Only someone with no class would show up on time." Your smile fell and Arthur frowned and took your hand and stood.
"And only someone with no class would say such a thing, Lord Salem." Arthur argues. "Now take your seat and don't insult my Lady again, or else I'll have to ask you to leave." Lord Salem squints his eyes at the young King and sits back down, Arthur doing the same, the two men never breaking each other's gaze the entire time. Arthur kept holding your hand however, even after the tension left. It made you blush. That and the fact that he referred to you as his Lady in front of all these men whose status was far greater than yours. To be honest it made your heart flutter. You noticed on the other side of the table there were some chairs set up.
"Who else is supposed to be sitting over there?" You ask Arthur and he gets the goofy smirk on his face again.
"You'll see soon." He says and as soon as he finishes that sentence the doors burst open with a loud crash and you see seven people standing there.
"We're here!" One of them, a young blonde child announces and strolls into the room, the seven people following. All the Lords started murmuring again.
"Arthur just how many people did you invite to dine with us?" Lord Salem asks in an annoyed tone.
"Just a few good friends..." Arthur says and sweat drops while scratching the back of his head. You giggled softly at his flustered appearance. Lord Salem was about to comment on that but chose not to, remembering the King's warning. You all stood to greet the newcomers. "My Lords I'd like to introduce you to the Seven Deadly Sins and Princess Elizabeth of Liones. They're the greatest knights that have ever existed in my opinion and I've become friends with them. The seven people sat down, the young blonde boy taking the seat closest to Arthur with Elizabeth beside him. "My own mage Merlin is actually a member of their order." All the Lords started murmuring again.
"Is this your friend?" The blonde asks Arthur.
"Yeah. Meliodas I'd like to introduce you to my best friend Y/N." Arthur introduces. "Y/N meet Meliodas, the Dragon Sin of Wrath. Captain of the Seven Deadly Sins."
"Wow. It's an honor to meet you." You tell the blonde. You were shocked by his title. This was just a kid wasn't it? How could he have such a prestigious honor at such a young age?
"You too." Meliodas says and smiles. "I see I measured you correctly. That dress fits you just right." He says and you blush profusely and Arthur turns to cover you a bit, keeping Meliodas's eyes off of you and Elizabeth nearly spits out her drink and seems a bit upset, as if she was jealous that Meliodas complimented you.
"Why...thank you. That's very kind." You say, trying to relieve some of the tension.
"But of course I think Elizabeth is the prettiest girl I know." Meliodas says and Elizabeth's expression brightens and she blushes a bit.
"Why thank you Sir Meliodas..." She giggles and Arthur lets out a sigh of relief. It was then that you realized...Was Arthur jealous when Meliodas made that comment? "It's an honor to meet you Lady Y/N." Elizabeth says and you blush.
"Oh Princess Elizabeth, I'm no Lady...I'm merely a village girl that was friends with Arthur when we were children." You say and then hear the Lords muttering. But only Merlin could hear what they were saying since she was closer to them.
"I knew this would be a bad idea." One said.
"Perhaps making an adopted Commoner our King was a bad idea...Now he's bringing all the peasants into power? Is he plotting against us?" They murmur and Merlin gets a worried expression on her face. She looked over at Arthur and noticed him whispering things to you and holding your hand, the two of you giggling over the things he said. The King seemed so happy, yet she wasn't sure if you being so close to Arthur would be good for him as a King.
The next day you wandered the Palace gardens, wiping flour from your arms. You had just helped your mother this morning making some pastries for the King and his staff. Now you had some time off and Arthur had invited you to the gardens. Although you weren't entirely sure of his intentions with this invitation. You heard the clang of swords against each other and decided to follow that noise. You came to a clearing and your eyes went wide and your jaw dropped at the sight before you.
*flashback*
"Come on Arthur!" A little boy teased as his comrades tugged on your hair, making you cry out in pain and try to hit them. "Don't you want to save your girl!" He mocked and Arthur ran at the boy and tried to take him down but he was too little to do anything. The older boy just grabbed him and threw him into the dirt.
"Hey! Leave my friend alone!" You shout and punch the boys that were holding you down and you charged at the boy that had thrown Arthur and took him down. You knocked into him and sent him flying back into some mud by a pig pen. You ran over to Arthur who was spitting out dirt and grass and crying. "Arthur!" You cried and ran over to him.
"Are you alright milady?" He asks and you nod and help him up.
"I'm fine but are you okay?" You ask in a worried tone. "That was a nasty blow you took there."
"I'm not okay." Arthur says and kicks a rock. It bounces off a tree and hits him in the face. "Ow!" He yells and lets out a frustrated groan. "Those guys were hurting you and I'm not strong enough to protect you..." He says and looks at you with sorrowful eyes.
"That's okay Arthur." You tell him. "You don't have to be strong. I'm strong enough to protect myself, I don't need you to do it. And I'll always be there to protect you too!" You tell him and hug him, making the young boy blush. "No matter what I'll always look out for you." Arthur smiled and hugged you back.
"Thanks Y/N." Arthur says and pulls back and looks into your eyes. "One day I'll be strong enough to protect you, and when that day comes, I'll never let anyone mess with you. I promise." He says. "You're my girl, and I'll do my best to become stronger for you."
*flashback end*
You saw the Seven Deadly Sins, along with Elizabeth and another girl who seemed quite young with pale blonde hair and a lovely white dress watching Arthur fight Meliodas. But that wasn't what made your jaw drop. What made it drop was that your best friend, who you had always known as a small, scrawny little boy was now before you, shirtless, and a strong, muscular man. Your eyes raked over his shirtless torso. His pale skin glistening with sweat, defined muscles underneath. Defined pecks heaving as he took a few panting breaths and backed away from Meliodas who was also shirtless. He had a sword in his hand and he studied Meliodas, who was smirking proudly. "Is that all you've got Arthur?" He taunts and gets into a fighting stance. Arthur smirked and slid his hand out of his pocket, making you look down at his defined 'v' which made you feel a tightening in your core. Since when did your childhood friend become a man? Arthur got into a fighting stance and charged towards Meliodas and took a powerful swing at him. Meliodas ducking to the side and parrying him. The two suddenly got into a frantic exchange of parries. You couldn't even see what was going on. Then suddenly Arthur thrust forward and knocked Meliodas's blade down and aimed at his neck, making Elizabeth squeal in fear. Meliodas smirked. "And that's how you defeat a Master Swordsman." Meliodas says and Arthur gives him a goofy grin.
"Could I really have defeated you Sir Meliodas?" Arthur asks eagerly.
"Going just by sword fighting, possibly." Meliodas says. "But in order to become as good a fighter as the Holy Knights we'll still have to try to unlock your magic power somehow." Arthur nods in understanding. He turns to where you were standing, knowing that you had come to watch him.
"Thank you Sir Meliodas." Arthur says and shakes the demon's hand. "Hey Y/N what did you think of that?!" Arthur asks you eagerly then looks surprised when he sees you're not there.
"Let go of me!" You groan as some strong knights pulled you through the gardens, away from Arthur.
"No can do." One says. "We have orders from Lord Salem to remove you from the Palace." You bit his hand and he howled in pain and you ran away, trying to get back to Arthur, but suddenly you were picked up and thrown over someone's shoulder.
"Put me down!" You yelled and struggled in his grasp. The men only laughed.
"No way. This is revenge." He says and then suddenly you recognized these men. The bullies that used to beat up Arthur when you were kids. "We're stronger than you now little girl. You can't beat us up like you used to."
"Well we'll see about that." You declare and punch and kick as hard as you can but it's just not enough anymore. The men laugh at your struggles.
"Well this is rewarding isn't it boys." The man holding you says. "We've grown up to be honorable knights and the girl who used to plague us, has become the King's whore." The men all laugh and your anger mounts and you struggle more. "Well I think we've seen enough." They say and start to move on.
"Or have we..." One suggests and you pale as you feel one of them lifting your skirts and you scream and try to kick them away. The boys only laugh as you continue to struggle. "Let's see what the King gets to see every night." One laughs and then goes completely silent. The same happens to the other and you feel your skirts fall back down and your legs get released.
"Put her down..." Arthur says behind you and the man holding you smirks. "As your King I command you to release her!" Arthur commands loudly. The man laughs.
"As you wish my King." He says and roughly throws you onto the ground. You saw Arthur, his eyes bright with anger and the Seven Deadly Sins behind him as well as the two girls. All of them looking angrily upon the men who assaulted you. They readied their weapons but Meliodas held up his hand to stop his comrades. The two girls, Elizabeth, and this younger looking girl came over to comfort you and help you up.
"Who are you?" You ask the new girl.
"My name's Elaine." She says.
"Why don't you want us to fight Captain?" Diane asks.
"These guys are Arthur's old bullies." Meliodas explains. "He has a score to settle with them. This is his fight, not ours." The men laugh.
"Well considering how badly we used to beat him up, it seems like he could use the help." The men laugh. "To think a weakling like you is our King. And what? Is this filthy bitch going to be our Queen?" One cried out in pain when Arthur slashed him across the face with his sword.
"Never call her that again!" Arthur demands. "She is far more honorable than any of you could ever hope to be." And that's when the fight started. Arthur quickly and efficiently dodged parried all of their attacks and landed some heavy blows on them through their armor. All three of their blades couldn't even touch him. At one point the man that had held you, knocked Arthur's blade out of his hand but Arthur quickly disarmed him with a kick to his wrist and then punched him in the face, sending him back onto the path. Arthur picked up his sword and stepped on the man's chest, his sidekicks trembling in fear as Arthur pointed his blade at the man's neck. "Apologize to Y/N and maybe I'll let you go." Arthur says and the man nods his head.
"We're sorry." They all cry. "We'll never bother you two again."
"You'd better not." Arthur warns. "Because if I ever see you near Y/N again, I'll finish the job." He says and points his blade at the man's neck. He gets off and kicks the man. "Now get lost." He says and the three men run off. Once they're out of sight, Arthur immediately rushes to where you were with Elaine and Elizabeth.
"Are you alright milady?" Arthur asks and holds out his hand to you. You smiled. So this is how Arthur felt when you helped him all those years ago. You took his hand and he pulled you up into his bare chest.
"I'm fine." You say and blush at your close proximity to the King.
"I promised you one day I'd be strong enough to protect you." He tells you and you smile.
"And now you are..." You smile.
"No one will ever mess with the King's girl." He says and pulls you closer to him. You blushed when you felt your hand slide along his abs. He only laughed. "Don't be so stiff. You can feel me up whenever you want." You squeal and jump away from him.
"I taught him that line." Meliodas says and Hawk jumps into the side of his head, knocking the demon over. Arthur took your hand and gently placed a kiss to the knuckles. You blushed and Meliodas cleared everybody out of the are as Arthur brought you close to him again.
"I'm your girl?" You ask him and he smiles.
"Always have." He says and places a gentle kiss to your cheek. "Always will be." He promises and you rest your head on his shoulder lightly as his arms hold your body close. Merlin watches from around the corner. Worry clouding her mind.
