Ban had noticed the change in Meliodas immediately after Zeldris and him walked back inside. He was closed off, reclusive, much more timid, and very quiet.
It was obvious something had happened while they were outside. Especially with how guilty Zeldris looked and how much he was trying to take care of the blond lately. Whatever happened between them, clearly affected Meliodas and in turn made Zeldris feel responsible for it.
He planned to talk to the ravenette to see what happened. After all, two days of this was more than enough. He hated seeing all the progress the kid was making fall apart.
So that brought him here, waiting for Zeldris to come back inside from emptying a bucket of dirty cleaning water. Which he did shortly after the thought.
"Hey Ban. Have you seen Meli? I haven't seen him for ten minutes now and I'm starting to get worried. Maybe he hurt himself? Or did he seem upset? I should have paid more attention.."
"Okay, that's enough, kid."
"Huh? What do you- hey! Let go of me!"
Ban threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and started carrying him up the stairs to Ban's room- since Zeldris's was still being built.
"What the hell, Ban!? What was that for?!"
"That was because we need to talk about whatever happened between you and Meliodas."
The teen blinked, his previous annoyance quickly turning into sadness and guilt as he sat on the bed and put his head in his hands.
"I.... I screwed up. There was this guy at the diner who knew about what Meliodas was. He started treating him like shit and Meli... didn't do a damn thing. He even thanked him for "his graciousness." I got mad and took him outside before bombarding him with questions like "why did you do that" and "why didn't you fight back" eventually my brother let it slip that he was used to being treated like that. Of course I asked him more about it, but he shut off again. I lost my temper and demanded he told me what he meant by that. Shortly followed by him crying... My big brother, my idol growing up, my hero, the strong, brave, confident Meliodas.. was crying and so scared he flinched away when I tried to touch his arm. I did that to him.. I made him cry, and now he won't even look at me.. I-I've been trying so hard to take care of him, and yet I was the one who hurt him... I failed him.. again."
Ban put his hand on the- almost in tears- boy's head, his eyes gentle as he spoke to, what he realized was a kid just like Meliodas regardless of how tough he acted.
"Listen kiddo, ya didn't fail him. You've been trying so hard to take care of him even though most would say he's a lost cause. You've acted much stronger than your age, and I think you have been handling this pretty well so far. So what if you made a mistake? Based on the Meliodas you just told me about, he'll bounce back again. And if you'd like, I'll have a chat with him to see what's bothering him so much. Kay?"
He nodded, wiping away the tears in his eyes as he took a deep breath.
"Y-Yeah.. okay."
"Good. Now you should probably get back out there. The only ones running the place are Hawke and Elizabeth, so there's bound to be at least a little disaster left unchecked."
"Okay. Oh, and... Ban?"
"Yeah, kid? What's up?"
"Thank you.."
He gave him his typical toothy grin.
"Any time ya need, I'm here."
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Broken
FanfictionA boy that has been a slave for longer than generations of humans, had finally found a master who is willing to treat him as a person rather than the demon heritage that got him into this mess. However, just becasue he is no longer a slave to anothe...
