Title: Indistinguishable

Theme: #1 Look over here

Fandom: Nanatsu no Taizai/Seven Deadly Sins

Pairing: KingxDiane

Note: AU/SPOILERS. Introducing the first sequel chapter in this challenge. While it's not necessary to read Chapter 14, this was meant to loosely tie into it. This chapter is also based off of Chapter 280 and beyond of the manga so if you have not caught up then 1. I have no idea why you're still reading my spoiler-rich challenge here and 2. Go catch up on the manga. It's too good not to read.

Disclaimer: I own King! ...Merchandise! Cut me some slack here. It's not easy collecting every little thing with his beautiful face on it. There needs to be more merchandise for this anime! So fine. I don't own it. But if I did King's face would be on skyscrapers!

Indistinguishable

Diane shuffled her feet nervously.

The terminal intercom called out the flight arrivals and her heart sped up while her stomach twisted when she heard the announcer call out his flight number.

She hadn't seen him in close to two years.

They had spoken over the phone and sent each other messages every day but it was different in person. She had been supportive when he had been offered the internship with Gloxinia, it was a prestigious oppurtunity, but two years was a long time for a long-distance relationship. They used to spend every day together. While he had been gone she had been busy with her own work, studying with her dancing mentor Dolor, but it did not mean she hadn't missed her boyfriend terribly.

Waiting for him had been hard.

Had he changed? Did he still love her? Had he missed her as much as she missed him?

The PA system announced that his plane had landed. She brushed a hand through her hair nervously. For this important day she had decided on an orange sundress with wedge sandals with an assortment of bracelets on one wrist and a purse in the shape of a teddy-bear. Around her neck was the gold flower design necklace he had given her when they had first started dating. Her hair she had allowed to fall around her shoulders, newly trimmed and shining. She looked cute. She was cute. There was no reason to be nervous. It was just King, she kept telling herself. There was no reason to think that he wouldn't be happy to see her.

A crowd began to appear from the end of the terminal and she breathed deeply. There were so many people, the airport of Liones one of the largest in the world. She clasped her hands behind her back, looking over the heads of everyone under her five feet ten inch height. The throng of people thickened and Diane began side-stepping and dodging bodies, eyes bright and searching.

"Diane!"

Her heart warmed at the sound of her name spoken from the familiar voice and she turned to greet him. Her eyes widened.

A man stood before her, six feet tall and dressed sharply in a slim-cut suit that was tailored for him by the way it accented his lean frame. The coat and pants were the color of charcoal with a dark green button-down shirt underneath and a gold tie to pull the whole look together. The familiar hair that she had often ruffled with her fingers had changed. The color of spring-fresh apricots was still there but the once short strands had grown, now teased and styled to fall over the right side of his face. A face that was leaner and sharper than the round face of her lover.

He looked...different.

He looked...good.

Diane subconciously grabbed the ends of her hair to cover the lower half of her face, blushing madly. "K-king?"

The sheepish look on his features, slim and handsome though she would miss the childish chubbiness of his cheeks, was all King and it lay to rest some of the fear that had struck her. She still knew him if she could still see the King she remembered in the face of this stranger. "Ah. Don't worry Diane. It's still me." It was there, in his eyes. The same look he had given her so many times before. Diane felt her own eyes well up when he reached out his hand.

It was him. There was no mistaking that voice, that familiarity. He looked different but he was still him. Still hers. Diane looked at his hand and made to offer him her own but when she looked up and saw the way he watched her, hopeful and so full of love she decided to brush the hand aside in favor of throwing herself at him.

"Harlequin!" His real name escaped her lips with all the happiness she could muster as she threw her arms around his neck. The arms that encircled her and held her close were not the same as the ones she remembered but she loved the safe feeling she felt in the embrace. The height was another daunting change. She used to have to stoop just to kiss him! Now he was a solid weight against her, holding her up easily. She buried her face in his neck.

"You've changed." She muttered shyly.

His fingers brushed along her head fondly, catching in her hair clumsily as he nervously told her, "I know. I'm sorry. I didn't even know I had another growth spurt in me. It caught me off guard too. But I'm still me Diane. I promise I haven't changed that much. I still love you."

Diane's tears threatened to spill over. He told her he loved her, in the same voice he had always told her he loved her in. With an inhale of air she identified the scent that was Harlequin, a smell she had always associated with him. Sweet, like vanilla mixed with fresh berries, and it was like she was home for the first time in two years. How she had missed that smell.

"I love you too Harlequin." She laughed, pulling away to get a proper look at him. "You look so handsome! I can't believe it's really you!"

He was blushing, the tips of his ears and cheeks completely florid. "Y-you really think so?!" was his incredulous response.

She smiled up at him. "Mmhmm!" Diane leaned up and King, stammering compliments at her about how cute she looked, was silenced with a kiss.

'There's my Harlequin.' She mused happily when she felt him respond to her kiss, his grip on her tightening so that he could lift her up for easier access to her lips. 'Nothing feels better than this.'

Somehow they ended up at the Boar's Hat Bar before opening hours began. Elaine had gone there to help Ban set up chairs, unaware that her brother would be in that day as he had wanted to surprise her. Diane had been the only person he had told, asking her to keep the secret. Now Diane glowed with pleasure, eyeing her boyfriend's back as he led her to the place they had first met, his fingers warm from where they laced with hers.

Diane liked this new Harlequin. Where once he had been timid he was now headstrong. Where he would nervously hesitate to initiate physical contact in the past he now swiftly placed his hand in hers, as if it were merely a natural reflex! When he spoke there was no tremble to his tone, the sureness in his words, the sheer confidence he exuded almost making her dizzy with attraction. She had loved her King before but she was ridiculously pleased with the change in him, feeling wonderfully off-balanced, almost as if she were experiencing first love all over again.

There was the sound of the chime ringing down the hall from the coat check and as the duo stepped in a pink face with a large nose poked from the corner. "Diane! You were supposed to be here an hour ago to help with clean up and-who's that?"

"Good to see you again Master Pig." King greeted sincerely as he looked behind him and shared an amused look with Diane. "Shall we?" he asked with a tilt of his chin, his charm making Diane look down shyly with a blush. She squeezed his hand and gave an affirmative hum. They headed for the room proper.

"Brother!" Elaine's shocked face was a treasure, her bright features widening into a heavenly smile as she rushed forward to jump into her brother's arms, already marvelling over her twin's difference in appearance. Meliodas looked on with a surprised whistle while Ban watched Elaine and King with an unreadable expression. Gowther appeared from the kitchen, head cocked until he realized just who King was and then a childishly happy grin appeared on his face. He skipped over to the group and Diane giggled, hanging back.

As she watched her friends all gather around her boyfriend, teasing him, others genuinely expressing approval of his growth, and some like Elaine who offered warm hugs in way of greeting, Diane felt herself swell with a happiness that seemed to fill her full past bursting. This place was where it had all started, on a night that back then had seemed just like any other. The first time she met him she thought him only an unimpressive little man with adorable cheeks and a low tolerance for whatever alchohol had sent him into a sputtering fit. She never knew that one day she would be able to look upon him and their group of friends and think to herself, 'Family.'

King laughed off his friends before turning to look over his shoulder at her and Diane felt her heart thump, the smile he threw her way just for her and so different but so handsome with everything it contained; promises, secrets, but most importantly, love.

OWARI

GAWD. If you don't like how sexy and perfect King becomes in chapter 280 then there is no helping your taste. Then his new clothes! UGH! DIANE! You're such a lucky woman! So here's my AU take on that scene! Haha!

Wow...Twenty-Five down. ONLY five more to go. Wow...It doesn't seem real.