I couldn't not write something for my beloved Mage's birthday! Happy birthday dear Merlin! I hope that you will find your happy ending (*coff coff* Escanor *coff coff*), you deserve it!
Please, follow me on twitter if you like! I'll appreciate it ^^
( /RoryWild4)
And Bertaz too! (She draws Escalin sooooo well! She's an inspiration and a huge help every time!)
( /BertazHead)
Go read all the other Escalin stories that have been written! There are so many good authors out there that love them! ^^ 3
All characters belong to Nakaba, etc… as usual!
SURPRISED
"Do we all agree on this?"
Asked Meliodas in a serious tone.
The other Sins, present there, plus Elizabeth and Hawk, all nodded with determination.
"Good! Then there's only one thing we must take care of now…"
They all turned to look at Escanor, as if that had been some kind of signal, and the poor man found himself looking to his companions in flustered surprise, not knowing what that meant.
"Escanor, you…"
He swallowed, waiting anxiously.
"...really must avoid Merlin at all costs this week!"
The Lion blinked, taken aback.
"...uhm...p-pardon?"
"You can't maintain a secret when it comes to Merlin! It's sure that you're going to spill the beans to her, and then it wouldn't be a surprise anymore!"
All the others nodded in agreement, and he really couldn't fault them for thinking that, it was the truth after all.
"A-ah…"
He wasn't happy at the prospect of having to avoid her for the next week, but really, it was for the best if they wanted their plan to be a success.
"O-ok, I'll try m-my best!"
He answered, determined to do all he could to make everything work out, even if he had to avoid her company for the next few days.
He sighed sadly.
"Ha! Don't worry man! She'll be very grateful in the end!"
Ban gave him a one armed hug, lifting his eyebrows suggestively and making the other Sin flush hotly at his, not at all innocent, remark.
He knew that she would never be that grateful to him, but he couldn't help himself dreaming about it.
"Okay! Now that that's taken care of, we must divide the various tasks between us!"
The Captain said cheerfully.
"Escanor! You can help the most and coordinate everyone, seeing as you won't have much else to do, aren't you happy?!"
He grinned, and the Lion had to admit that he didn't mind taking charge or doing most of the work for this event, he cared about this, he wanted it to be a success!
"I'll do my v-very best!"
Merlin felt that something was off, but she couldn't pinpoint what it could be!
She has been inside her lab for the most part of the day, but she felt like something was amiss.
"Escanor, could you write these ingredients and proportions please?"
Her question was met with total silence.
She blinked a couple of times and finally turned from her cauldron to look behind her, but she found no one in the room with her.
That took her aback.
She was sure that he would be there, as he always was.
Oh! Hadn't he come to see her yet today? Judging by the light from her window, it was already sundown, he was late.
Had she missed his visit perhaps? Maybe he had come inside when she was particularly focused and hadn't noticed him?
She felt a little guilty if that was the case, but looking around she couldn't see any trace that told her that he had been in here today; usually he brought her something to eat and drink, but there was nothing of the sort around, no plates, no glass, no tray, no nothing.
Now the Mage was perplexed.
Had she been so out of it and lost in her thoughts that she had forgotten to have already eaten?
Her grumbling stomach was answer enough.
If that wasn't the case, then she was even more surprised: Escanor hadn't come to see her today.
Her brows furrowed at the thought, it wasn't strange that she would miss his presence, he knew not to disturb her when she was occupied with her experiments, and tried his best to be as inconspicuous as possible, but he would always leave something in her room for her, even if just a flower or a small pastry, to try and cheer her up and put a little smile on her face.
He knew that she liked his attentions towards her.
She was puzzled.
Oh well, maybe he had something else to do today, maybe some mission she hadn't heard about, or maybe she would find him below, with the others, eating. She could join them today, she had to admit that she was hungry.
Having decided that, she put a hold on her experiment and went out of her room, walking towards the stairs and the main room; she needed to move some muscles, she had stayed still for a long time today.
The Boar couldn't help the little smile gracing her face when she saw him eating with some of the others at a table, as she had suspected. She made her presence known and sat down with them, but she couldn't find a place near him to be able to talk, she'll have to wait.
Strangely enough she had noticed that during dinner he seemed to be avoiding her gaze, he had greeted her, shyly, when she had first come down, but apart from that he had resolutely stayed to his side of the table, his eyes never wandering over towards her.
That was another odd thing.
Part of the reason why she joined the others at meal time was to be able to catch his gaze, smile at him, and see his charming reactions at that: most of the time he just blushed, averting his eyes, but sometimes he smiled back, and that made her feel a strange and warm sensation, she could almost describe it as 'giddy', but she wouldn't stretch it so far.
To eat with everyone and don't partake in their little 'ritual of gazes', was a big let down.
If one also counted that between them there were Meliodas and Ban, who were occupied to see who would get drunk first, again, and suddenly she could feel her hunger almost vanish, but she had to eat something anyway.
After some time, finally her chance presented itself: King, who had been sitting on one side of Escanor's, left his chair to go somewhere, and she quickly teleported in his place, so that she was now sitting beside the Lion.
The man in question almost jumped out of his own chair, he hadn't been expecting this, and she couldn't rein in her amused smile.
"How are you Escanor?"
She was sitting sideways, turned towards him, so that he couldn't escape her gaze.
He swallowed and tried his best to look anywhere else.
"U-uhm, I am g-good… thank y-you."
He stuttered, seeming very embarrassed.
She was even more amused by his behaviour.
"Aren't you going to ask me how my day was?"
She asked, lifting a brow, not really able to conceal her amusement.
The poor Lion seemed to panic at that.
"Ah...uhm...o-of c-course."
He continued to try to not look at her.
But before he could ask, suddenly Merlin felt an arm around her shoulders, taking her back against the side of a very drunken Ban.
"C'mon Meeeerl! Drink with uuuus!"
He was totally wasted, as usual!
Both the Mage and her companion were taken aback by the other man's actions.
"No Ban, I don't want to have a drink now."
She told her fellow inebriated Sin, trying to push his arm away from her.
"Aaaaawww why nooooot?!"
The Fox just continued to lean on the Boar, without a care in the world, and she was starting to feel very annoyed.
Escanor could just stare, unsure of what to do, until he caught Ban winking at him, and immediately King popped up beside him.
"Ehi Escanor, I wanted your help with something, can you come with me?"
The Lion felt torn, but the fairy grabbed his arm, looking meaningfully at him, reminding him that he had to maintain his distance and why; so, swallowing down his guilt, he nodded and stood up to follow the Bear.
"S-sorry Merlin."
He was able to whisper just that and then he was gone.
The Mage blinked a couple of times, shocked, then she had finally had enough and teleported outside of Ban's hug, resulting in him falling down his own chair to the floor, making all the others laugh out loud.
That had been another strange thing: no matter the time of the day, Escanor would have surely tried to help free her from their too forward companion, the fact that he instead had fled away with King was very unsettling for her.
Something was going on with him, and she couldn't understand what that was.
The next day the Mage was again occupied with her experiment, but she had decided to be more aware of what was going on around her, and kept stopping to look behind her or listen to see if she could catch traces of Escanor, but she never did.
She spent all day in her lab, as usual, but the man never came to see her.
And because she continued to be distracted by the thought, her experiment didn't really bear fruit, and that annoyed her even more.
At dinner time she teleported directly in the main room of the Boar Hat, looking around to find the Lion, she spotted him at a table, their gazes found each other immediately, but before she could even take a step in his direction, he stood up and quickly excused himself and almost ran out of the room.
The Boar stood there, speechless, for some time. What was that? Why was he behaving this way? It seemed almost as if he was avoiding her. Had she done something to deserve it or was it something that concerned only him?
Following him now would have been counterproductive, so she teleported back to her lab, her hunger suddenly forgotten.
The next day she decided to act starting from the morning, walking around trying to find the man everywhere; sadly, every time she caught a glance of him, he hurriedly changed path or vacated the room, almost stumbling on his own two feet from the hurry he was in to leave.
She caught some of the other Sins snickering or rolling their eyes at his antics, and that confused her even more.
She didn't understand what was going on at all!
At first it had been amusing, but from the third day of this, she was beginning to feel worried and annoyed.
She didn't like the feelings she got when he obviously was trying his best to avoid her.
The fourth day she was sitting at one of her desks, trying to research something to distract her mind from thoughts of Escanor and his strange and annoying behaviour, when suddenly there was a knock on her door. She almost jumped and turned immediately around, something akin to hope blooming in her chest, her eyes alighted and her smile found its way on her lips.
She gave the visitor permission to enter, and in an instant her smile dropped and her shoulders slumped.
"I'm not who you were hoping for, am I?"
Elizabeth entered her lab, smiling amusedly at the Mage's reaction. The raven haired woman just sighed and turned around, her brows furrowed, and she felt even more annoyed than before.
The goddess smiled gently and walked until she stood behind her.
"What is it?"
She asked, knowing already what the 'problem' was.
The Boar sighed again.
"Escanor has been acting strange lately, he has been avoiding me, and I don't know why."
She was clearly frustrated.
"What have I become, some kind of plague?!"
She exclaimed, huffing, and almost pouting, in irritation.
At that Elizabeth chuckled, and then put a reassuring hand on the younger woman's shoulder.
"Don't worry Merlin, give it time. I bet everything will solve itself! Just don't think too much about it, be patient, and you'll see that soon everything will be back to normal."
The Mage grunted, not really sure about that, but decided to follow the goddess' advice; thinking about it wasn't doing her any good anyway.
Her Big Sis-Sis smiled and gave her a kiss on the brow, before leaving her to her experiments.
She sighed, trying to calm her mind and refocus on the tasks at hand.
Surely she missed Escanor's help and company, but she could be patient and give him time, hoping that he wouldn't need too much of it!
The next few days were a repeat of the first ones, Escanor never came to her lab or room and whenever he would see her, he quickly removed himself from the premises.
Merlin had been in a foul mood these last few days.
She decided to stay in her lab, coming out of the room only to eat something, but every time she saw the Lion's attempts to avoid her, her stomach closed up.
It had been a week already, and nothing had changed; she was almost at the point to find him, freeze him, and forcefully make him talk to her.
This situation was beyond frustrating!
She almost didn't answer when she heard someone knock on her door, it was probably Elizabeth, she had visited her every day, making sure that she was alright. She was grateful to her Big Sis-Sis, but she couldn't make her feel better.
Sighing she told her visitor to enter, never turning around from her position at the desk and the books in front of her.
She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't catch the differences in knocks and opening and closing of the door.
"Uhm… Merlin?"
She stiffened, shocked, blinking a couple of times to make sure that she wasn't hearing voices now. Slowly she turned around and her eyes widened in surprise.
Escanor was staying rigidly in front of her closed door, blushing and scratching his neck in embarrassment, looking down.
"Escanor."
She greeted him almost in confusion, she didn't know what had happened before or now, to make him change behaviour towards her, she didn't want to make him flee from her presence again, so she was a little unsure on how to talk to him.
"Ah… I w-wanted to a-apologize for my b-behaviour t-towards you this w-week…"
He was looking like a beaten dog, looking shyly at her, with evident regret in his deep blue eyes, and she couldn't find it in herself to be angry or harsh towards him.
She furrowed her brow and nodded, she still wanted to know more, but Escanor knew her too well, and was already explaining more.
"You see...uhm...I had s-something very i-important to do, and...uhm...n-now it's f-finished. D-do you want to s-see it?"
He was struggling to keep looking at her, but she could see the determination in his eyes.
His words caught her off guard, surprising and intriguing her.
"Yes, of course."
She smiled his way, standing up. She was still unsure why he had to avoid her to do what he had to do, but she hoped to find out if she followed him, and if not, this time she would surely freeze him and force him to answer her!
The Lion opened the door for her, and then led her towards the stairs that went to the main room. He stopped at the head of the stairs and turned to her.
"Uhm...c-could you c-close your eyes and k-keep t-them closed, p-please?"
She was puzzled by his request.
"I...I will l-lead you d-down the stairs, I won't m-make you f-fall, I promise!"
He gave off such confidence and determination that the Mage couldn't say no. Wordlessly she closed her eyes and trusted her hand in front of her, for him to take. She could hear him swallowing nervously, making her smile in amusement, then his hands were gently but surely holding hers, and he began to lead her down the steps to the main room.
His hands were warm and she felt safe in his care.
Finally they arrived downstairs. She felt him moving away from in front of her, letting her hands go.
"N-now you c-can open t-them!"
When she did she was completely blown away.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY MERLIN!"
All the Sins, Elizabeth, and Hawk were there, wearing some birthday hats and shooting party poppers, covering her in confetti.
The room was all decorated with various festoons, and she could also spy some food and beverages behind them.
The Boar was speechless, her expression told everyone that they had clearly been successful with their surprise for her!
"What..?"
She was still trying to understand what was going on.
"We planned this surprise birthday party as a gift for your birthday!"
Elizabeth explained helpfully, smiling happily.
The Mage was still out of it when suddenly Escanor walked in front of her, with a birthday hat on his head, and another personalized one in his hands, clearly for her: it was a hat modeled as a crown and a birthday cake, and she couldn't help laughing in amusement at that, the sound making the man's eyes light up and chuckle too.
Her shoulders still shaking with laughter, she let him put the hat on her head, regarding him with mirth and awe, he just smiled, his eyes seemed even bluer, and then made way for the others to come and wish her a happy birthday up close.
"How did you… when…?"
She still couldn't wrap her mind around all that was happening.
"We decided on it a week ago! We have prepared things since then!"
The goddess provided her with an answer again.
A week ago…!
Suddenly something clicked in Merlin's brain, and she immediately turned towards the Lion, as if wanting him to clarify her suspicions.
He was blushing uncomfortably.
"We told Escanor to avoid you because he couldn't keep a secret from you, for the life of him! And we didn't want to spoil the surprise!"
The Captain explained, grinning.
She just kept staring at the embarrassed and apologetic Lion in front of her.
"He did most of the work and told everyone what they had to do!"
King was acknowledging his efforts.
"Yes! He was awesome!"
Diane added cheerfully.
"You should thank him properly for all this!"
Ban arrived and put an arm around Escanor's shoulders, flustering the other man with his suggestion.
"B-B-Ban!"
The Lion was completely red! He was happy about all the compliments, but they also embarrassed him, and it was clear that the Fox was trying to push the Boar in his direction.
"Yes, you are right."
Both of them stilled, surprised at her words.
Ban let him go, Escanor felt the pressure of everyone's eyes on them, but was totally captivated by the golden ones in front of him that were regarding him with affection; he had never seen that gaze on her, and never directed towards him!
The Mage walked a couple of steps, arriving directly in front of him, looked in his eyes for a moment, and then moved forward, embracing him in a big warm hug, leaving him speechless and flustered.
She had her arms around his neck, pressing their bodies together, her head resting on his shoulder, cheek to cheek with him; he didn't know what to do with his hands at first, but then felt her squeeze him, and was encouraged to hug her back, being mindful to where he put his hands, letting one circling her waist and the other resting on her back; he couldn't help himself and took a deep breath of her scent.
Merlin was hiding her smile against his shoulder, she couldn't believe how warm and happy she felt, they had seriously surprised her! But she was also relieved that now she would start to see him again in her lab, and she promised herself to spend more time with him from now on, he was so sweet and precious to her.
She found out that she liked to hug him very much, but they had an audience, so she began to loosen her hold on him, but at the last moment she gave into the impulse and kissed him on the cheek, taking a step back right after, to watch his reaction: he was completely flabbergasted and blushing hotly!
The others cheered and whistled, and began to walk towards the food and drinks, leaving the two Sins on their own.
The Boar was trying to rein in her chuckles, looking mischievously at the speechless and red Lion, who in turn was trying his hardest to come back to reality. He coughed a little, smiling at the raven haired woman, before feeling someone tap him on the shoulder, turning around he found Gowther, who was handing something over to him; Escanor's eyes widened, took what he was being passed, smiled and thanked the doll, and then turned around to the Mage.
He presented her with a very beautiful bouquet full of many colorful flowers.
"Happy birthday Merlin!"
She took the gift, bringing it to her nose to smell the sweet fragrance.
"Thank you Escanor, for everything."
He smiled with affection and then offered her his arm, to gentlemanly escort her where the others were. She smiled too, and gladly took his offered arm.
She had never enjoyed her birthday this much!
I hope you liked it! ^^
Please let me know what you think with a comment/review!
Thank you for reading this! :D