3,000 Years

Questions

A/N: We have Twilight to blame for this one. The awkwardness between Bella and Edward just spoke to me.

.....

"Is it...my turn to ask today?" Elizabeth blinks, turning to face the demon whom lay beside her in the grassy field.

It had been like this for the past few weeks, questions being passed between the two with no subjects being barred. Anything could be asked from personal family matters to more intimate thoughts and feelings. Elizabeth had suggested it, to know him better, but it was Meliodas who introduced the idea of taking turns and having a select day to ask or answer.

One day, Elizabeth would spout out the questions that annoyingly niggled at her mind. The next, Meliodas would coolly, calmly, inquire about her and avidly take in every last word of her answers.

As a pair, they were odd. No-one would understand their weird agreement to exchange questions and answers. But they didn't entirely mind it. It was their thing, their own little arrangement, and both were perfectly content in keeping it hidden.

"No, it's mine," Meliodas responds his hooded eyes seemingly flickering up to meet hers lazily. Elizabeth knew better.

"Oh..." The goddess murmurs, pretty sure that it was meant to be her turn. They often alternated each day, after all, Meliodas never being one to go back on the natural order of their questioning. At times, he would even correct her when she mistook her days for his and his for hers. But today it was different; today he was asking questions twice in a row and she was answering once more. Odd.

"Well, ask away," Elizabeth sighs, weakly waving a hand as she knew she could do little to alter his decision. He was too easily angered, too easily persuasive to her. With just a simple look, a single word, Meliodas could get her to confess anything. He could shut down her brain, freeze her muscles and paralyze her nerves - and that was only with a single look. A single, intense, mysterious look that could make Elizabeth lose track of time, place and even herself.

"You're not going to protest?" Meliodas hums in questioning, the sound low and pleasant in the base of his throat. He raises a brow. It is now she notices the emerald shade of his eyes and the crooked grin that lopsidedly forms on his lips.

They were charming; Elizabeth considered them his nicest features when he cared to display them. Those and the many other lists of things she could compliment Meliodas on. But of course, like with everything about this demon, they were also extremely compelling towards her. Just a glance of that grin, a hint of the colour of his eyes, and Elizabeth would feel as if she were obligated to answer anything he wished.

She hated that: the power imbalance.

Another sigh escapes the goddess, her hair bouncing as she shakes her head. "There's no point," Elizabeth surrenders, making sure to avert her gaze from his grass green eyes. Instead her eyes focus on the sky, noting the fronds of leaves that dangle to block out the pale morning blue. "You dazzle me too much."

"Dazzle?" He grows a grin, the corners of his lips twitching even more. His eyes drift back to hers. "How?"

"You - you have this skill that makes me stop thinking," Elizabeth's face warms, her porcelain skin spreading with a light blush. She catches a twig bending in the light breeze, small blossoms being broken off and scattered away. "Every time you use it, I have to answer truthfully."

"Really?" Meliodas muses, his amusement not at all hidden. He wanted to test this out. "Well then, what's your favourite colour?"

"My - favourite colour?" Elizabeth nearly chokes on the words, surprised by the unexpected question. She'd thought he'd go for something more embarrassing, something more incriminating, after finding out she was compelled to tell the truth when he 'dazzled' her. But apparently, Meliodas had other plans for his day of questions. "It changes."

"What's it today?"

"...Green."

"Why's that?" He asked it lowly, but it lacked the hidden tones of anger it usually held.

Nevertheless, Elizabeth felt her face explode with heat. Hot blood was rushing through her veins, staining her skin pink as all she could do was press her lips and continue to stare upwards like she had not heard him at all. Heartbeats echoed strongly through her ears, steady and consistent, as her lungs heavily filled and emptied. It was embarrassing. Extremely embarrassing. Elizabeth's favourite colour had always changed throughout her life, she'd always loved each colour equally, but recently two had been more favoured than others. Two that linked to cause of her rapid heartbeat and racing lungs.

"Elizabeth?" Meliodas' voice is musical, velvety, making the goddess' heart stutter in her chest as his fingers climb up her arm. They swipe over her collarbone. Her heart pauses. "It's your turn to answer..."

"Your eyes," Elizabeth relents, deciding not to try and lie. It wouldn't work anyway, not with his intense gaze settled over her. She was simply a squirming worm on a hook in his clutches. "If you asked a few days ago, I would've said onyx."

"Really?" A grin curls its way onto his lips, smug.

"Yes," Elizabeth breathes, trying to ignore how much his wandering touch and smooth voice were unsettling her. Awakening her. No-one had ever gauged this sort of reaction from her before, made her skin feel aflame and her stomach twist into a thousand knots. No-one had ever been able to pull the truth so easily and simply from her mouth with just a single glance. Not even her mother - and she was the freaking leader of her race!

"Do you have anymore questions?" She asks quietly, shyly, sheepishly peering upwards through silver lashes. "Or are you satisfied for today?"

"No, one more," Meliodas responds, his hand tangling through her hair. "Just one more."

"Fine," Elizabeth answers, relived, swatting his hand away and turning to face him. It was one more question. One final question. "What is it?"

"How mad would you be if I kissed you right now?"

Tight. Her throat felt tight and essential air had ceased to enter her lungs. Fire replaces the blood in her veins, and Elizabeth is sure she has died from how heated and flushed her face feels. The echoes of her heartbeats are no longer audible, nor is the sensation of her lungs inflating and deflating. Everything is shifted, disconnected, but even so, Elizabeth can still feel his gaze on her. She can sense those gorgeous eyes of his awaiting her answer.

And gods does she want to say 'not really'. She wants to utter that reply more than anything else. But she can't. There's rules to follow.

"I'm not allowed to answer that," Elizabeth breathes deeply, turning away from his gaze. He will not get the chance to dazzle her. Not now. "You know that."

"Too bad."

"Meli- "

A quick peck. A light, little dusting of his lips against the corner of hers, but Elizabeth felt it. She recognised that odd tingling in her spine and the rumbling rush of her blood flooding beneath the skin of her cheeks. She sensed the warmth that came from his form, the slight tickle of his blonde hair. She caught the scent of dew speckled grass and the earthly scent of his skin. She heard the chuckles coming from him.

"Dumb demon!" Elizabeth pouts, hitting his arm as her face became tomato red.

He continues to laugh.

She hated when Meliodas got to ask questions.