Author's Note:

Thank you all for the favorites and reviews! I can't believe all of the positive responses, it really makes me giddy. I've settled on keeping this short: 3 chapters total. Enjoy!

*I do not own The Seven Deadly Sins / Nanatsu no Taizai.

Meliodas wasn't quite sure how he got into his current… position. He distinctly remembered pushing his princess flat onto the bed, but he didn't remember when the decision to do so had ever entered his mind. He could feel her fluttering pulse from where he pinned her wrists to the mattress, but it felt like a distant ring instead of an actual heartbeat. He felt both present and incorporeal simultaneously. And he wasn't sure if it was the sudden surge of his inner demon at the surfacing of Elizabeth's goddess magic, or if it was the poignant sense of déjà vu settling under his breastbone.

He'd seen her like this before: pinned underneath him, silver-spun hair haloing her face against the darkness of night, alabastrine complexion flushed, delicate lips slightly parted, hazy carnelian gaze fixed on him. The only flag that this was now and not then was the beautiful azure of Elizabeth's human eye. The last time he'd seen her like this wasn't as an incarnation. No, the last time they'd been like this- his original Elizabeth, in all of her goddess glory- had been making a promise.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the lobe of her ear. How could he explain that to his princess? He couldn't just tell her about demon mating rituals, how there could only ever be one pre-destined mate and that theirs was the only mating between their two clans? They were a taboo, known but never acknowledged unless it was in punishment. It was after their binding that his father had cursed them alongside the Sovereign Deity. He'd always been bitter over how the only thing that brought the two clan leaders together was their mutual hatred over their mating.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the upper corner of her jaw. Even now, he could feel the connection that had long been dormant between them starting to stir. Forged using both of their magics in the ancient mating ritual, even the clan leaders hadn't been able to break it. Of course, stealing his emotions and repeatedly killing Elizabeth was pretty close to doing just that. For years, he had wandered the earth feeling the silent connection within him and praying he would once again feel her on the other side. It was the worst kind of amputation, where nothing looked wrong on the outside. But on the inside, he was always waiting for a response from his other half.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the peak of her cheekbone. Now, pinning his Elizabeth beneath him for the first time in 3,000 years, he could finally feel something. Their connection was finally starting to speak again. It was soft, barely even a whisper, but the presence of the demon's mate finally beginning to return to him was unmistakable.

Meliodas pressed his lips against the bridge of her nose. His emotions were still contradictive, swirled up by a turbulence of unanswered questions. What did this mean for the curse? Would she remember their past and inevitably die on him again? Or was this a sign that the curse was finally weakening? And what of the sensations that were quietly trickling to him through the connection? The sensation of love and trust, the pounding in her blood, her cherished familiar presence. But the sense of uselessness, and the desire to be more?

He would not allow his mate to feel this way. He was one of the most powerful beings in the history of the world and she alone had the power to bring him to his knees. And despite all of his questions and concerns, he refused to let Elizabeth continue to believe such nonsense. He refused to let her go unloved.

Meliodas pressed his lips against hers.

For a moment and an eternity, all Elizabeth knew was the gentle pressure of Meliodas's lips against hers. Her world narrowed to this one instance; the soft texture of his lips, the moist warmth, the tender force, then the slow drag as he gently drew away…

Elizabeth wasn't sure when she'd closed her eyes or when she stopped breathing. Willing herself to breathe lest she pass out from the dizzying effect, she looked up at her demon's unguarded expression. She could feel something turbulent tickling the back of her mind, mirrored in the controlled tension she saw in muscles around his jaw and eyes. She stared, transfixed by Meliodas, has he whispered her name in a shuddering prayer.

"Elizabeth…"

She wasn't sure when the thought had crossed her mind, she certainly had never given it permission, but suddenly she was arching up, stretching to slant her lips against his in reciprocation. Meliodas froze against her mouth for a single heartbeat, before he caused her world to detonate with sensation. He was pushing her back into the pillow, his lips moving in a delightful friction, his body suddenly against every inch of her in a blazing heat. She felt her goddess magic surge forward at the fizz of his demon power so close to her skin, but the illumination was lost on her as Elizabeth's eyes had snapped shut at the onslaught. Her demon switched needy lips for the tension of teeth against her bottom lip, and unthinkingly she let her lips part to follow the motion. A second later, his tongue was dipping between her lips to drag along her own tongue. Her body was responding as if orchestrated by him: her tongue twined against his, her hips curled slightly upward, and from some unknown place in the back of her throat- she moaned.

The sound was quiet, but it seemed to please her knight because she could feel the smile of his lips against hers. Still caging both of her wrists with his hands, he abandoned her lips in favor of trailing moist, forceful kisses down the column of her neck. She was thankfully breathing again, but in ragged pants that seemed to catch on wordless sounds every time he discovered a particularly sensitive spot. The juncture between her neck and her shoulder, right above her collar bone, served as one such spot, and when he kissed it she was surprised to find she could still speak two distinct words:

"S-sir Meliodas." The name was dragged from her throat breathlessly, and something told her that he liked it that way. So very many ways he must have heard his name said throughout the years, and that was definitely his favorite. A flare of frustration soon followed the knowledge, and then the thought was chased from her mind completely by the sharp bite of teeth at that same spot.

"Try again, Elizabeth." She shuddered against the slightly deeper timber that pronounced her name. Had that slowly growing itch between her legs always there? How was she to shape words when all she wanted was more of this insatiable friction?

Another nip to the same spot, and she was sure she would have a bruise. "Elizabeth," he drew her name out, as if savoring a sublime decadency, "say my name."

She fought to comply with his request, but her tongue was no good with words in this context. Were her lessons as a princess all for nothing? He breathed against her shoulder, ripping another sound from her throat. "Sir-"

She didn't even get past the first syllable before his teeth were against her again, turning the remaining syllables into a punctuated moan. Oh, he quite liked that sound, she was somehow sure of it. But the tang of annoyance was there again.

"Say my name, Elizabeth. Just my name." And then his breath was against her shoulder again, followed by his tender lips.

"Meliodas!"

Something rumbled from his chest, she could feel it against her skin all along her body. Her demon kissed her lips again in praise, but when he went to leave she drew her tongue along his lower lip in a plead to stay. The request must have been heard, for he growled and pressed down against her again, delving into her mouth while their lips explored a heated ebb and flow.

He finally ended the kiss with a quiet pop, then departed to keep exploring down below her chin. Why did he not want her to apply the honorifics to his name? He was nothing but deserving, and she so much weaker than him, wasn't it only fitting? She felt his teeth against her again on the top edge of one of her breasts, drawing another soft moan from her throat in both surprise and unnameable heat. Abandoning that thought, Elizabeth realized in a rush that she was still wearing nothing but his shirt and her panties. And though she had buttoned up the collar as high as it would go, the shirt still dipped rather deeply into her cleavage in this position.

The pressure on her wrists disappeared as Meliodas re-purposed his fingers to work on the buttons of her shirt while his lips explored the plane of skin above her breasts. "Let me know if you want me to stop." She wasn't sure if she heard his voice in her ears or in her mind, only that the ringing it left behind made her want to kiss him again. With her now-free hands, Elizabeth reached for his chin and guided his seeking lips back up to her face. Digging her fingers into his wild blond locks, she kissed his lips, his nose, his cheek, his ear. His skin tasted salty and spicy at the same time, a combination of sweat and magic. He groaned as she nibbled gently on the edge of his ear, and her heart fluttered knowing she could draw such a sound from him. One of his hands immediately went to her cloth-covered breasts, and her breath caught again on his name in her throat.

"Meli-odas."

A grin passed briefly over the demon's visage, before he pulled away slightly to sit against her hips. The added pressure against her core felt delectable, but the rest of her shivered at the sudden departure of his heat. The night air was thick with the sounds of their heavy breathing and rapid heartbeats, but Elizabeth was confused with his sudden withdrawal. Meliodas flicked his eyes down and back up to hers again, and she quickly brought her hands to her face in embarrassment. He'd finished unbuttoning her shirt, and now she laid pinned beneath him, a straight line of marble-white skin revealed all the way from her neck to where he was sitting over her panties.

Was he asking her permission? Flicking her eyes back to his blackened gaze, she knew the answer was definitive "yes". Elizabeth couldn't help but hesitate. She trusted him wholly, but she was raised a princess. Her body had never actually been looked at by any man before, really only the female servants that had helped dress her in her more complex outfits. And here Meliodas was, poised above her, still completely clothed…

Her thoughts came to a screeching halt when Meliodas placed his hands again in hers. Wreathed in hellblaze, her hands lit up again in response. Elizabeth gasped lightly, the feeling of her goddess magic activating still new and exhilarating. Her knight gently tugged on her hands, urging her to sit up. She complied, and he shifted off of her so she could tuck her legs safely underneath her. Sitting across from him with her shirt hanging open but still covering her breasts to preserve some semblance of modesty, she couldn't help be confused.

That is, until he gently guided her hands to the collar of his own shirt.

Elizabeth's flush darkened another shade and she ducked her head to hide her face in her bangs. Her knight let go of her wrists and placed his own hands on the bed, leaning back slightly in a completely relaxed manner. Her heart wanted to burst from her chest and begin to soar. Earlier he had been so closed off to her, but here, now, he was completely open. When she had asked about his demon mark, hadn't he asked her about hers first? She flicked her gaze up to the swirly crest on his forehead, knowing this was very much like before. He was asking to see her, well, naked, and he was willing to open up first if it would make her more comfortable. And, well, really, she was curious. She'd seen him shirtless before during battle, but those more anxious situations were hardly the proper context for noticing her companion's body. Now he was offering her the opportunity to do some exploration of her own, and she was far too eager to pass it up.

She began to fumble with the red tie against his collar, and Meliodas chuckled quietly to himself. It was a dark, promising sound, but he still waited patiently as she worked methodically to undress him, nibbling her lip and shifting her legs against her core to ease some of the tension that was still simmering in her veins. First the loose tie was unknotted, carefully slid out from his shirt collar, and dropped over the edge of the bed. Then the buttons of his black vest were undone. Elizabeth swallowed thickly as she eased the crisp fabric over his shoulders and off his arms, but her knight made no comment as he moved his arms out of the vest and let her toss that over the side of the bed too. She briefly made contact with the obsidian gaze, reading equal parts tension and hunger as he wet his lips, and couldn't help but burn a little hotter in memory of the taste of those lips. The princess quickly averted her gaze to her task and began to work on the buttons of his remaining white shirt, slowly revealing the skin underneath it.

Hands shaking, she released the last button above his hips. She could feel the warmth radiating from his skin, but she held on to the edge of his now open shirt and raised her gaze to his, asking permission. Meliodas blinked as if surprised, then smirked darkly and minutely nodded. Permission granted, Elizabeth reached higher up on his shirt to pull it open and back over his shoulders.

First she just stared, eating her fill of the muscular planes revealed to her in full. His skin was darker than hers by a shade, but still pale in contrast to the swirls of darkness winding like fire over his right shoulder and left hipbone. Holding her breath, she hesitantly reached forward to graze her fingers above his bare pectoral. The skin tensed underneath her, but Meliodas remained stony still, hands fisted in the bed covers. Elizabeth exhaled in a rush. So finally touching him had no dire consequences: no explosions, no reality ripping at the seams, and he was staying right where he was instead of running away. It seemed a little silly to be concerned in the first place, but considering their experiences minutes previous, the thought had still been there. Her demon snickered, flashing a cheeky grin that bared his teeth. Sending him a barbed look, Elizabeth turned back to the skin of his chest, tracing her fingers through the warm creases of muscle and around the corners of black decorating his shoulder. His skin twitched and tensed against her ministrations, but she got the distinct feeling that he was allowing her to explore while stifling his reactions. After the sounds he had just drawn from her throat? That wouldn't do.

Watching him for any indication she should stop, she seated her palm against his waist and slowly leaned forward. With aching caution, she pressed a gentle kiss to the space beneath his collar bone. His breath hitched, but the reaction was far too minimal for her satisfaction. Elizabeth kissed the spot more languidly, darting her tongue out to sample the salty, musky tang that was sweat and skin and power. She kissed and licked across to the other side, inhaling deeply a scent that was distinctly Meliodas but also something more. She shifted her legs underneath her again, seeking relief for the ache that had settled there with the heady scent, while drifting lower to gently kiss his nipple. Another hitched breath, but nothing more.

In a flash of frustration, the princess nipped her knight sharply on his pectoral. A deep growl vibrated the skin next to her lips, and she couldn't help but be pleased. She shifted her hands to knead against his abdominals while drifting upward again to nip the juncture of his neck and shoulder as he had done to her, and was rewarded again by a growl that sounded distinctly like her name.

"Elizabeth…"

She hummed, oddly pleased with herself, and gently pressed him down towards the bed to allow herself greater access to further explore. Her knight complied with the nonverbal request, leaning back onto the bed and propping himself up on his elbows. Elizabeth bent lower against him, determined to find every place on his body that might elicit similar sounds. The dip between his hip bone and abdominals made him twitch and growl some more. The edge of his belly button yielded a breathy gasp. And the corner of the twisting black fire spread across a downward-leading trail of fine bond hair bore a hiss of air between clenched teeth. Sensing his struggle to keep quiet against the onslaught, Elizabeth lingered in these spots with little kisses and nibbles while working with shaky hands to undo the button and zipper of his pants.

It took quite a bit of finagling for her trembling fingers to work the pants open, but when the task was done, the princess halted all other motion. Casting her gaze up the planes of his chest, Elizabeth tugged lightly on the edge of Meliodas's pants in askance. The demon faintly bobbed his flushed face in permission, the look on his face a mixture of lust, disbelief, and worship. Turning back to her task, Elizabeth wiggled her fingers into the waistband and cautiously tugged the pants down and off his legs.

Once the pants were dropped in a heap on the floor, the princess paused her endeavor again to observe Meliodas. Was it funny that she now knew that he wore boxers instead of briefs? The black fabric of his underwear was crinkled in various places- the wrinkly hem ending somewhere high on his muscular thighs. A significant bulge at the apex of those thighs was of particular interest, as the loose material hinted at something she was only familiar about in theory. Of course she'd been taught be bare necessities of such things, but it was hardly a well-explored topic for a princess's curriculum. Elizabeth found herself holding her breath again as she tentatively reached to gently grasp what was hidden below the fabric. The moment she grabbed it, Meliodas fisted his hands again into the bed covers and gasped wordlessly.

The, well, penis, was warm. Incredibly warm. And stiff, but not immalleable. It was also much larger than what she was expecting, though she didn't really know what to expect in the first place. She encircled her fingers around the considerable girth and moved her fingers up and down the length of it once to get a sense of exactly how long, and was rewarded by a strangled sound coming from her knight's throat. She cast a her gaze up at him again in response, and noticed his very kissable lips were parted slightly in desperate pants. Meliodas moved to grasp the hand grabbing him and tugged gently to encourage her to release him, which she did immediately. Then he placed the same hand against the waistband of his boxers before replacing his arm back underneath him.

Oh. This was it, she was going to see him naked. Her first naked man. Elizabeth shifted her heel against the heat pooling between her legs again, thinking about just where the thing she'd just been touching was actually supposed to go. Well, it didn't have to go there tonight if she didn't want it to, and she was still rather curious what it actually looked and felt like, and he had given her permission…

With slow and delicate movements, Elizabeth carefully peeled back the waistband of the boxers, the last vestige of clothing on her demon coming away. Every inch of skin revealed more muscle and more curly blond hair until the fabric caught. She tugged a little more forcefully to pull the boxers over the appendage, only to have it spring free.

Elizabeth froze now, staring up at her demon in his full naked glory. The black fire decorating his skin veered away from the v in his hip bone to curve up his backside, bearing open the long and thick column of skin to stand upward. She didn't really know what to think of it, other than it looked bigger than it had felt a moment ago, and it had felt awfully large. The base was nestled in a wealth of blonde curls, which also decorated the fleshy bulge that hung just underneath. She tugged the black boxers the rest of the way off his legs so that the night air carried the sounds of sliding fabric and bated breath.

Hesitant, she first trailed a single digit up the length of it. It twitched underneath her ghosting touch, and Meliodas hissed quietly as he struggled to breathe. Emboldened by his response, Elizabeth grasped the appendage more firmly, wrapping her fingers again around the naked girth. It was hot, the skin almost like warm velvet beneath her touch. She gulped, again thinking of how that heat was supposed to somehow fit inside her. Licking her suddenly dry lips and shifting her thighs underneath her, she gave the length a slow experimental pump, dragging her fist up and back down once. Her demon rewarded her with a growl that evolved into a strangled sound, wordless and breathy. Exceedingly pleased, she repeated the action. Twisting, alternating pressure, switching speeds, she found that Meliodas couldn't keep quiet as he'd previously endeavored.

"E-liz-abeth," he growled the broken syllables of her name. Heat bloomed around her womb at the sound of it, a pleased smile twisting the corner of her lips upward.

The grin turned mischievous, and Elizabeth gazed up at him with mock innocence. "Yes… Sir Meliodas?"

A snarl was her only warming. In an instant, she was flipped onto her back, her naked demon perched again above her. Her wrists were caged beside her face, the heat and power in his skin was swelling against hers, his bare length pressed along her abdomen. Her eyes went wide, hyper-aware of all of him and especially the piece of him that she had just been familiarizing herself with. Elizabeth swallowed thickly, lips caught between her teeth.

"I thought I told you to say just my name."

"I-" her response was silenced by his lips pressing urgently against her own. His skin seared against hers where the flimsy shirt lay slightly open. His tongue was in her mouth, demanding her submission with every forceful twist. Too soon, he released her swollen lips to stare heatedly down at her, something fierce burning in the abyss of his eyes.

His breath fanned across her face with every word. "You are the last person who should be addressing me with titles in tow, my goddess, my mate, my Elizabeth…"