A/N: I'm sorry updates have been so irregular! I've been super busy this year, like seriously, and time has been passing way too quickly. Anywho, here's the late 'January' piece. It was inspired by 'Sweater Weather' by The Neighbourhood. I hope it's just as enjoyable as always :)

Till next time,

D.L.D


January

January. The first month of the year, the first week in which the year began. January.

Winter's frost had began to settle in more deeply, more icily, lacing the earth of the land with its suffocating coolness. Bitter winds blew to redden skin, their howls and cries echoing like the wails of a banshee in the middle of the night. Days were still dark, the weather was still gloomy and the sea was just as black as it had been in December. The world was just as cold as it had been the year before - just as desolate and decayed as it was last year.

Spewing misting clouds of air, Elizabeth sniffed. Before her were the crashing waves of the sea, the jet black waters lacking the white sea foam they usually held in the warmer seasons. Swelling over each other, the waves attempted to climb up the beach and engulf everything within sight. Each dull black rock that they crashed against was harshly consumed and polished, their layers being roughly eroded by the sheer power of the waves.

Whipping past her, nipping gusts of winter air pinched at her exposed flesh. They reddened her skin, forcing the blood to rush to the surface of it and form in the innocent pink of a blush. It was only now, when she was standing at the edge of the shore, that was truly regretting bringing her thin windbreaker. Doubting that he'd really be here, on a cold and desolate beach in the middle of winter, Elizabeth had stupidly came ill-prepared.

Only her boots could protect her, their soles being thicker than her jacket and clothes, but even through them she could still feel the frost attempting to penetrate them. Gelid ice still tried to freeze her right to the bone.

"Why did you want to come here?" Meliodas doesn't bother to turn, instead tossing another rock into the tumultuous waters. Dampened by the sea's salty spray, his blonde hair hung limp and lacked its usual wild bounce.

Immediately, he had noticed her presence, the shift her presence brought, to this beach. Instantly, he could make out the peace she made within the roaring waves and rolling rocks, anchoring him from being dragged away and consumed within them. Just by knowing she was there, sensing that she had come to find him, made everything change. It contrasted directly with the crashing waves and biting winds; it made it all seem that tiny bit more bearable, more kind.

But he would never tell her that.

"To find you," Elizabeth tread carefully towards him, noticing the wet squelch of the cement-like sand beneath her boots. Odd pebbles skipped across the sand, smooth and polished like marble but slick with seawater. Unlike Meliodas, Elizabeth could not leave no trace of her visit. Unlike him, her clumsy nature made her leave clunky footprints and scattered pebbles.

"Well, you can go back," Meliodas continues to ignore her, not face her, throwing another rock. A deep splash. Water sprays onto his face, stinging his eyes and skin. He doesn't even blink. "It's too cold for you here."

"Nonsense," Elizabeth scoffed, rolling her eyes. Easily, she wedged herself onto the rock, settling beside him. Bleeding into her form, his body heat easily penetrated the thin layer of her windbreaker and t-shirt, combating the freezing winter winds. Naturally, she longed to have just a little bit more of it - that warmth that combated the piercing cold - but of course, that wasn't possible. It wasn't anywhere near enough. Even with the extra warmth, Elizabeth still shivered, goosebumps rising on her skin in an attempt to cling onto any heat she'd encounter.

She should go, go home and warm up after being out for so long - but she didn't want to. She didn't want to leave him alone out here with the crashing waves and swelling tides. The craggy cliffs and the jagged shoreline.

"Here," Meliodas huffed, knowing that she wouldn't leave. Knowing Elizabeth, he knew that she'd stay out here even if it meant catching hypothermia.

Motioning towards her, Meliodas effortlessly scooped her up and deposited her form into his lap. He then wrapped his sweater around them both, satisfied when she had stopped shivering.

"You'll stretch it out..." Elizabeth protested gently, biting into her lip.

"I don't mind," Meliodas brushes it aside, ending the argument.

So they just sat there on the freezing beach, watching the black waters crash against the shore.

Just another January afternoon. Just another January.