Disclaimer: I do not own Nanatsu no Taizai, The Seven Deadly Sins or King, unfortunately.

No proofreader for this chapter. I apologize ahead of time for the mistakes. Read at your own risk!

Chapter 5: Crush

King was just beginning to doze off from the comfort of captain's couch. Ban and Meliodas had gone out on a beer run, leaving him to watch the house. The house was finally quiet except for the soft background noise of the television. Slowly his lids began to close and he was overjoyed it was the weekend. He had absolutely no obligations to tend to. He snuggled into his pillow and eagerly welcomed the sleep that immediately came to him.

"YO! KING!" The door suddenly slammed open, startling the fairy. He fell off the couch, crashing into the coffee table. On the way down he knocked over a cup of ice water, spilling all over his face and effectively waking him up for good.

"Dammit… Ban… WHAT?" King growled. He was tired. He was grumpy. He was a tired and grumpy fairy who needed sleep. Someone was going to die.

"Yo! You're not planning to sleep this Saturday away are you?" Ban seemed unfazed by King's irritation, which further infuriated the fairy.

"So what if I am?" His voice was as cold as the ice he wiped from his face. "I. Need. Sleep." He said through grit teeth.

"Come on buddy." Ban threw an arm around King's shoulders, effectively signing his death warrant.

King's arm shook as he summoned Chastiefol towards him. His body was acting on its own at the present moment.

Meliodas, who had just walked in, seemed to notice that someone was about to be murdered.

"Whoa whoa! King. Calm down! Ban, leave him alone." Meliodas set a couple cases of beer down on the countertop. "Gees, having you two around is like having children. You two fight like siblings."

"That's because we are siblings." Ban nudged the irritated fairy in the ribs a couple times. "Isn't that right, big broth-?"

King couldn't take it anymore. He snapped, thrusting Chastiefol's spear form right through Ban's chest and effectively silencing him. He pulled his spear from Ban's chest and with one snap of his fingers it returned to its pillow form. King took the opportunity to crawl onto the pillow and curl up to sleep. He made an effort to fly high enough up that he would be out of reach from Ban once he recovered.

Within seconds, Ban's body began to regenerate; the blood that once littered the floor slowly disappeared.

Meliodas sighed, rubbing his temples. "Gees King, you're very grumpy when you get woken up."

"It's because he's like a million years old." Ban said in his singsong voice, wiping the blood from his face.

King growled, flopping over on his pillow to face away from the two of them.

"Anyways, King, the reason Ban woke you is because he wanted to know if you wanted to go down to the lake with us today."

"No thanks." King replied quickly, not giving his answer much thought.

"But there will be booze. Booze! How can you pass that up?"

"Yeah, King! Booze!"

King flipped back over to shoot them a glare. "If you think you can just bribe me to get me to go, you have another thing coming. Thanks to you two, I'm very behind on my sleep."

"Oh, well that's understandable." Meliodas said, turning away from King and picking up the beer once more. "I bet Diane will be very disappointed to hear you won't be there."

King quickly sat up from his place on Chastiefol. "Diane is going?!"

Meliodas nodded. "She is, but I guess it won't matter to you either way because you're not planning on being there."

King grumbled to himself. If Diane was going to be there, he better go to make sure no one at the lake tried anything weird with her. After all, there was bound to be tons of people there and Diane was a very pretty girl. "Fine, I'll go."

Ban smirked. "I knew you would come around!"

The Fairy King said nothing and calmly landed on the ground. He put a couple fingers together and whistled loudly.

"WOOF!" Oslo suddenly appeared before him.

"Don't tell me you're bringing the mutt." Ban grumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets.

Oslo growled at Ban, obviously not a huge fan of him.

"Yes I'm bringing him. He doesn't get to get out much. I bet he would love some lake time." King patted his black hound's head. "Wouldn't you, boy?"

Meliodas beckoned them all towards his car. "Well let's head out. Please grab the rest of the beer, guys."

Once they had all their supplies loaded into the car, they headed out to a lake outside of town. Elizabeth, Diane, Elaine, Gowther, Escanor and Merlin would meet them out there.

It was a half hour drive out to the lake, and King was able to catch a bit of shuteye despite his two friends blaring music. Their Captain was a fan of AC/DC and a slew of other classic rock bands. Ban and Meliodas enjoyed obnoxiously banging their heads to the music the entire drive.

They eventually arrived at a lakeside campsite. There were tons of college students already there, all ready to party away the first weekend of the college semester.

King opened his door and Oslo immediately bounded out, excitedly sniffing the ground around them and exploring. They were surprisingly the first of their group to arrive so they were able to start unloading the car and getting things setup. Meliodas had bought enough hot dogs and hamburgers to feed their entire group and Ban had offered to grill. King was simply in charge of unloading the rest of the car.

It was only as he was setting out their plates at a nearby picnic table when he noticed Guila and Jericho were present. King hurriedly walked over to their captain and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hm?" Meliodas muttered as he set a pack of hotdogs next to the grill. "What's up, King?"

"Look who's here." King said simply, tilting his head over towards the girls' general direction but not turning around.

Meliodas turned to look and seem unfazed by their presence. "I thought they might be here."

"And? Should we leave?"

Their captain shook his head. "Of course not." He winked. "Why do you think I had us come out here in the first place? More intelligence gathering of course."

The Fairy King narrowed his eyes suspiciously, obviously not a believer in what his captain was saying. It was more than obvious that Meliodas had wanted to go to the lake so he could get drunk and stare at poor Elizabeth in a bikini.

"Pay very close attention to who they're hanging out with today. We need to find out who all is involved with this whole Holy Knights business. I want to know how big this is."

King nodded and turned back around to shoot a quick glance. Guila and Jericho were playing a game of volleyball with Gilthunder and a blonde-haired athletic guy King didn't recognize. "Gilthunder is with them?" He wondered out loud.

Meliodas nodded. "I've noticed he seems to be hanging out with their group a lot."

Gilthunder was Meliodas' little brother within their fraternity. Within greek life, older members take on new members and mentor them. King knew for a fact that Gilthunder really looked up to Meliodas. It was sickening to think there was a possibility that Gilthunder was involved with the Holy Knights.

Suddenly, there was the crackling sound of a car driving over gravel towards them. In that moment, a very familiar 1994 Camry pulled up to their campsite. Elaine, Elizabeth and Diane emerged from the vehicle, carrying an assortment of beach towels, sun creams and beach balls.

"Hey you guys-!" Elizabeth's greeting was cut off as Meliodas wasted no time doing something perverted. He had already buried his face in the soft, cushiony area between her breasts. "KYAHHHH!" Elizabeth screamed, trying to push him off.

King placed a hand on his head and ran it through his hair in irritation. Captain was always acting so perverted around the poor girl. It was almost embarrassing to be around him sometimes.

"Hey beautiful!" Ban called to Elaine, scooping her up in his arms and swinging her around. Elaine giggled gleefully.

"We're the odd ones out I guess." Diane commented, coming to stand next to King.

He nodded. "So it would seem."

Diane smiled and chuckled to herself. "So what have you guys been up to today?"

King smiled towards her as well. "I caught up some sleep while these two went beer shopping. Then they invited me to go to the lake with them. And now we're here. A pretty uneventful Saturday, I'm afraid."

"Uneventful isn't always a bad thing though. Lazy Saturdays are the best, actually."

King nodded. She had no idea how much he agreed with that belief. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Sure!" Diane chirped.

He nodded again and walked over towards their cooler. He dug through the ice a bit and located two cans of Bud Light. She gratefully accepted one from him.

"So we start playing soccer on Tuesday in our class. I'm kind of excited!"

King nodded enthusiastically. "Me too!" That was a lie. He was actually dreading Tuesday. Athleticism wasn't his strong suit and he wasn't excited for Diane to see him being ridiculously weak and bad at something.

"I figured you would be excited. You did so well on your pretest! You know the rules quite well."

He shrugged, popping open his beer. "I've read a few books and seen a few games. I guarantee I will be the worst player out there though."

Diane popped open her own beer before responding. "I don't know… at least you know the rules." She smiled and took a drink.

"Well, the rules are pretty simple. I guarantee you'll catch on quick."

Diane nodded. "I'm just glad Jericho and Guila offered to teach me some things about the game… speaking of which…" The giantess waved her hands frantically and called over to the two girls. "Yo! Jericho! Guila!"

The girls seemed to just notice her presence and excitedly jogged over.

King bit his lip. It took everything in him not to blurt out to Diane just what kind of monsters she was talking to. From the corner of his eye he could see his Captain shaking his head, as if to dismiss any temptation the Fairy King felt.

"Hey Diane! Hey King! Sorry we didn't come earlier, we just now noticed you were here." Guila smiled. She wore a pink bikini with her hair pulled up into a ponytail. Under her arm she held volleyball.

"No worries, we actually just got here. Celebrating the first weekend of the school year?" Diane replied, taking another sip of her beer.

"Of course. We wouldn't miss a chance to kick back and relax." Jericho responded.

"Would you like to play volleyball with our group?"

Diane excitedly jumped up and down. "That sounds amazing! Please teach me how to play!"

Once more, both of the girls' jaws dropped.

"You… you've never played volleyball?!" Jericho asked, completely caught of guard. "You must seriously be from another planet."

Diane blushed in embarrassment. "Hehe…. Sorry…"

"No worries Diane." Guila stated, grabbing Diane's wrist and gently tugging her towards them. "We'll teach you!"

King bit down his lip even harder. Internally, he fought the urge to summon Chastiefol to him and slice Guila's hand off for even touching Diane.

Guila looked down at King, as if sensing the tension. "Would you like to play too, King?"

"No thank you." He answered curtly. He took a deep breath and walked back towards the rest of their small group.

Diane frowned. 'What's with him?' She turned towards Guila and Jericho. "Sorry… I think he's just really shy."

Jericho shrugged and Guila began leading them back towards the makeshift volleyball court by the lake. Two guys were waiting for them.

"Diane, this is Gilthunder and Howzer." Guila said, pointing at each guy respectively.

"Pleased to meet you!" She approached the pink-haired man and shook his hand.

"Nice to meet you too. You can just call me Gil."

Diane nodded. "Thanks Gil!" She smiled and then walked over towards Howzer. "Nice to meet you as well, Howzer." She stuck out her hand and the taller man gratefully took it. It was only then that Diane got a clear look at his face. She could feel her heart thud in her chest momentarily. He had a gorgeous face with a strong jawline. His blonde hair was obviously well taken care of and styled in an attractive manner. Howzer's grip was strong and confident.

"Yes, nice to meet you, Diane."

Diane took a deep breath and took a few steps back before turning to face Guila and Jericho again. She prayed to every god she could think of that there was no visible blush on her face.

Back at their picnic site, King relaxed on top of Chastiefol, giving Diane, Guila, Jericho, Gil and the blonde muscle head the occasional glance. He really didn't like the way Diane looked at the muscle head. He sighed and buried is face into Chastiefol. This was absolute torture.

King suddenly felt a hand gently patting his back and he turned to locate the source. It was his sister.

"I'm sorry, Harlequin. I understand how you must feel."

King grumbled under his breath. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I know you believe you did the right thing by erasing her memories of you two. You have to live with the consequences of your actions." Deep down, Elaine didn't agree with King's decision to make Diane forget him. She knew he had only wanted to protect Diane but it didn't make it right.

Her brother mumbled something unintelligible, burying his face in Chastiefol once more.

"Cheer up, Harlequin. It will all get easier with time." Elaine patted his back again.

"Woof!" The Fairy King heard a bark before his face was suddenly covered in slobber.

"Oslo!" King yelped, wiping his face with the sleeve of his shirt.

His younger sister giggled, rubbing the black hound's ears.

Suddenly there was a loud and startling pop. King quickly jumped to his feet, protectively standing in front of his sister. Meliodas and Ban were on high alert as well.

"Oops…" They heard Diane say. It became apparent that the sound had come from the volleyball popping as it hit the ground. Gilthunder, Howzer, Guila and Jericho's eyes were wide with shock. Diane's face was red in embarrassment. "I'm so sorry! I'll buy you another I swear!"

King sighed while Meliodas and Ban relaxed and returned to grilling food. The fairy fell backwards onto his Chastiefol and snuggled into its warmth. There was no need to be protective of Diane, she would be able to take care of herself. It seemed that even in her shrunken state she still kept a lot of her strength. Popping the volleyball on her first serve was no small feat.

King was having the most wonderful dream. Diane and him frolicked around together in a field full of flowers.

They had never been apart. He had never erased her memories and things had worked out perfectly. They lived together in his forest, among its beauty and his people. He wanted to ask her to be his queen.

He was suddenly filled with an awful feeling. He felt like he couldn't breathe. No matter how hard he tried to pull air into his lungs, it was no use. It was in that moment that King was awoken from his dream. He sat up panting and noticed Ban huddled over him, a wide smirk on his face.

"Ban! Leave my brother alone!" Elaine exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips.

'Ugh…' The Fairy King noticed that awful feeling was from Ban plugging his nose while he tried to sleep. He flopped backwards into his Chastiefol.

"Are you really going back to sleep? It's dark now. You missed all the fun." Ban grinned over him.

It was only then that King noticed it was indeed dark. He sat up and looked around. The group had built a campfire and everyone was sitting around it. Merlin, Escanor and Gowther were present. Diane had rejoined them and Gilthunder, Howzer, Guila and Jericho were nowhere to be seen. Meliodas was busy stoking the fire while Elizabeth fetched the ingredients to make s'mores from the car.

"I'm not going back to sleep, I'm awake now." He replied curtly.

"Are you okay, King? Have you been getting enough sleep before today?" Diane asked.

King blushed, touched by her concern for him. "Well, not really… You know, with classes and everything and—"

Ban smacked the fairy on the back, stopping him mid-sentence. "He's fine. Don't listen to him. Don't be such a drama queen."

"Why you—" King started, gritting his teeth.

Diane laughed. "I'm just surprised you were able to sleep through all the commotion. Jericho accused Meliodas of trying to poison them. His cooking is terrible."

Meliodas shrugged. "That's not my problem. Ban was supposed to be the one cooking the food… and then he bailed on his responsibilities."

"Hey!" Ban yelped. "Elaine and I wanted to do some exploring." He rubbed his head and then turned to exchange a glance with Meliodas, who nodded. "Speaking of which, Elaine, why don't you show Elizabeth and Diane that spot we found earlier? I'm sure there will be a ton of fireflies. It's going to be pretty cool."

"But I…" Elaine started, and then realized what Ban's intentions were. "Of yeah, of course! Come on girls!"

Diane whined. "Awwwh, but what about the s'mores?!"

"Come on! It will only take a moment; The guys can start roasting marshmallows for us. Merlin, would you like to come?" Elaine helped Diane to her feet.

The scantily clad woman, donning nothing but a tiny bikini, shook her head. "No thank you. I don't really feel like wondering around just wearing this."

Elaine nodded and grabbed Elizabeth and Diane's arms, leading them away from the campsite.

One the girls were out of sight, Ban spoke quietly. "Alright, Elaine probably bought us a couple of minutes. What's up captain?"

"Right. So while I was working on preparing that delicious meal, I was trying to overhear anything weird the Holy Knights were saying." Meliodas said, sliding a marshmallow onto his stick.

"And?" Merlin pressed.

"I can't be for certain, since they were with Diane the entire time, but I think that Gilthunder and this Howzer guy are apart of their group. Obviously they didn't specifically speak about anything weird, but it sounds like, from the way they talk, they're constantly together. Also, when they were leaving they mentioned to Diane they all had a meeting with an organization tonight."

"What kind of organization has a meeting at 9PM on Saturday night?" Ban asked.

"Exactly." Meliodas replied. "That's the point I'm trying to make."

"Well then, someone needs to be present to gather some intel." Ban stretched his arms. "Since King has done it the last couple of times, I'll do it."

King was relieved to have a break from tracking the Holy Knights. It was always stressful for him and he didn't get much sleep afterwards.

"Yo, big brother?"

It took The Fairy King a moment to realize Ban was speaking to him.

"Take care of Elaine. Tell her I'll see her later." Ban waved to him and winked.

King growled. "Stop saying weird stuff!" Even when Ban seemed to be doing something nice for him, he had to ruin it by finding a different way to torment him.

Meliodas tossed Ban his keys. "Thanks! We'll ride back to campus with Merlin."

Deep within the woods, Elaine eventually led the other two girls to a clearing. There was a small creek that ran through it and a tiny waterfall smack dab in the center. The faint sound of gently falling water was very relaxing. Around them, the atmosphere was full of life as tiny fireflies glowed around them.

"Oh my… Elaine, this is beautiful." Elizabeth gasped, placing her hand over he mouth.

"Yeah…" Diane agreed, although slightly uneasy from the bugs floating around them.

Elaine sat down on the cool grass, gracefully folding her legs beside her. Diane and Elizabeth joined her. "It's nice to get some peace and quiet away from those boys. They can be so loud and obnoxious."

Elizabeth nodded. "I'm just glad to not have to fight Meliodas off of me every two seconds."

The girls giggled quietly.

Elaine leaned over and nudged Diane. "So, how was your first week of college? Meet anyone we should know about?" She winked playfully.

Diane blushed. "Well…"

"Go on, tell us!" Elizabeth leaned in with anticipation.

Diane grabbed one of her pigtails, subconsciously hiding her blushing face behind it. "That Howzer guy I played volleyball with earlier was pretty cute."

"Howzer, huh?" Elaine leaned back, tilting her eyes upward in thought. It took everything in her to keep any disappointment from showing on her features. Howzer was a stereotypical jock with a slightly douchey personality.

Elaine shook her head. Howzer was probably a nice guy. She couldn't help but think nasty thoughts about anyone capturing Diane's attention but Harlequin. Her brother loved Diane so much. It would completely shatter him if she were to date someone else.

Elizabeth smiled. "He is pretty cute. You should ask him out!"

"What!" Diane squeaked. "No way!"

"So he didn't seem into you at all?" The silver-haired girl asked her roommate.

"No! Well… I don't know… Maybe?" Diane bit her lip nervously. "I don't know. He was flirting but he seems like the type to flirt with anyone."

"Oh please Diane. He was totally into you, I'm sure." Elizabeth teased.

"Elizabeth stoooooop!" Diane blushed and shook her head wildly before quickly regaining her composure. She cleared her throat loudly. "So anyways… Elaine. There's been something I've been meaning to ask you."

"What's up?" Elaine responded. She was happy they were moving away from the Howzer subject.

"Where are you and King from?"

The blonde-haired fairy tilted her head in curiosity. "To be honest… I'm not sure you would have even heard of where we're from." She obviously wasn't going to blurt out that they were from the Fairy King's Forest.

"Try me."

"We're from a small town in the northeast called Vaizel." She lied.

"Oh." Diane sighed.

"Why do you ask?"

Diane twisted her face in frustration. "This is going to sound weird, but every time I look at your brother I can't help but get this overwhelming feeling. I really feel like I must know him from somewhere. He looks so familiar. When we lock eyes I get this ridiculous sense of déjà vu." She crossed her arms. "I thought maybe if we were from similar areas that would explain it but…"

Elaine shrugged. "I don't know… he must just have one of those faces."

Diane nodded in agreement. "You're probably right. It's just weird how familiar he feels to me." The giantess' stomach suddenly growled loudly. "Oh goodness, I think I'm ready for some s'mores."

Elizabeth nodded, standing up and dusting her legs off. "Me too! Let's head back."

"Thanks for showing us this spot Elaine. It really is beautiful! We should come here more often!" Diane said, standing up as well.

Elaine nodded. "You're welcome!" As she began to follow her two friends, her thoughts kept drifting back to Harlequin. Even if her brother had erased Diane's memories, there were still traces of him left in her subconscious. They must have been completely in love with each other.

A/N: Another chapter down! I hope you all enjoyed. Don't hate me! I swear this is a King x Diane fiction. Buuuuut…. It would be too boring if they got together immediately. ;)

Next Chapter: Howzer flirts with Diane and King gets extremely jealous and protective.