Banned

Explain

'Shit I can't breathe...' 
I woke up gasping, clutching my arms and sitting up, knocking heads with Ban.  "Jesus Princess, what's going on?"  Ban groaned, rubbing his forehead before noticing my tears, his hands holding my cheeks.  I'd never seen Ban worried like this before. 
"Nightmare?"
"M-memory..." I mumbled, looking up at him.
"B-Ban, who's Elaine?"  I asked quietly, his gaze falling to our laps as he sat back.  "So it was that memory..."  He chuckled slightly, running his hands through his hair. 
"That was the first fight we had as a couple."
"You said we weren't dating."  I state quietly as he looked at me and sighed.  "You're right, we weren't..."  Ban mumbled, rubbing his face a bit.  "Elaine, she's - she was - King's sister." I nodded, playing with my fingers silently.
  "She protected the Fountain of Youth, and I wanted to steal it's powers, gain immortality and all that." He sighed deeply, just staring at his lap for a few minutes.
"I tried and tried and tried and...I guess she saw something in me, something stupid like honesty or shit like that.  So she took me in, let me stay with her for a while.  We really bonded, and she listened to me when I talked and in return I helped her protect the forest." 
Ban looked at me, his eyes dull and regretful, as if he was stuck in a different world for a moment.
"I was so in love with her.  I'd do anything, if she told me to kill myself, I would have asked 'With what?'.  It didn't matter in the end, after that demon came..." 
I took his hand, squeezing it gently, though he didn't seem to notice.
  "It burnt the entire damn forest, killed everything in its path and then finally-" Ban sucked in a breath, though he didn't dare cry.  "Elaine forced me to drink the water from the fountain, I didn't want t-to, I gave it t-to her and...and..." 
"You don't have to finish."  I interrupted as Ban looked at me again, almost spilling over.  "I joined the seven after that."  He breathed out, regaining his composure and straightening slightly.  "I remember the day we picked you up, god that was a day."  He grinned, which in return made me smile slightly;  he wasn't all that bad.
"We were short on money, I thought we could round up a little bit if we pick-pocketed here and there but no one liked the idea, so I acted on it myself.  I found you first and thank god too.  If I was restraining myself Meliodas surely would have had you right then and there."  I blushed darkly, making Ban snicker as he watched my reactions.  "You were bathing under the waterfall of this little village we went to, I remember seeing your bag first, since you were hiding underneath the water, watching me.  I guess you had a plan, but I didn't realize it until later.  I was just about ready to take it and then-" Ban whistled lowly, grinning from ear-to-ear.  "You came out of the water so slowly, washing your hair as if it were a normal thing.  I was bonerstruck."
"Bonerstruck?"
"Well come on, we just met, I wasn't about to be love struck at first sight. The big-guy liked you first."  He snickered loudly as I blushed more and hit him with a pillow.  "You must be part siren or something, because before I knew it you were holding my head underneath the water shouting, "Pervert!  I found a pedophile!".  Never laughed so damn hard in my life."  Ban criss-crossed his legs and leaned his arms forward onto his knees.  "Of course the others knew it had something to do with me, and when they came you weren't even holding me, just created a water blanket I guess.  Meliodas said you were just sitting on a stump, brushing your hair like no big deal.  'Are you a guard?  Thank god, this fella here's a peeping Tom!'"
"I don't sound like that!"
  "Ah princess, and thank god you don't.  It would make our sessions much less steamy."  He winked and I flushed again, looking away.  "You stayed with us since then, and I guess that's basically when we became...I don't know what you'd call us.  We were in love, for a long damn time.  Even kids in towns we'd never been in picked us out as a couple, though we never actually made it official.  You don't love me anymore of course so-" 
"Do you still love me Ban?"