Male Reader inserts

go and come back || meliodas

{light angst, fluff}

source: Seven Deadly Sins, Nanatsu no Taizai

~

When (Y/n) had vowed to follow the Seven Deadly Sins, he had been barely old enough to be a squire boy. He'd been accepted pretty nonchalantly, being humored as just some kid looking up to his heroes, and was allowed to tag along when there was nothing important going on. He'd always looked at them with stars in his eyes - they were amazing. You'd never feel unsafe with one of the Sins in your village. (Y/n) had believed that those 7 people were the ones who had scattered the stars in the sky, that they'd been the ones who made the sun revolve around the Earth - around them - the vivid memory of tousled blonde hair and emerald green eyes hoisting him onto broad shoulders barely taller than he was. He used to look up at the night sky with such wonder, knowing that him and his idols were looking at the same glittering flames that peppered the sky. He'd always be with them as long as the sun continued to rise and fall. 

He never imagined that the last thing he'd ever see was that same clear and starry sky, though from a dank alley instead of his childhood bedroom window. 

Within the past 10 years he'd become an orphan, parents dying of sickness and overworking, village falling into disrepair and bankruptcy. The soil had been depleted of nutrients by a drought and subsequent famine and (Y/n) had fled the village as a young man in hopes that one of the bigger towns would reap more success for him. He had hoped that he wasn't being naive, and he hadn't been. Many who came to this particular trading town from other decrepit villages made it big and became very affluent merchants. (Y/n) simply seemed to be unlucky. So, so unlucky. 

His face felt puffy and sore and blinking was painful. Breathing deeply was much too laborious, only able to make wheezing, shallow huffs. His throat burned from when he'd been kneed continuously in the stomach by the group of tipsy men who'd propositioned him, thinking him some sort of prositute. Him begging for jobs shouldn't have led to that. He could clean windows, he could help with promoting local  businesses on the street. He was clean and well kept, how could anyone refuse his offer? 

His ears rang as if he'd just been caught in the range of a Holy Knight's pommel smash to the face. Background noise was watery and muffled and he just wanted to close his eyes and sleep. Wherever those Seven Deadly Sins had gone, he hoped that right here, right now, they were looking at the same stars he was and taking just one breath out of many to come while he took his last. 

He blinked slowly, weakly trying to spit out the pooling blood in his mouth but not wanting to tear his eyes away from the sky. Reopening his eyes, he vaguely saw a splatter of blonde hair, lightly tousled and the color of wheat. 'Meliodas?' he wanted to call out, hopeful that it truly was his childhood hero there to save him from the brink of death, but all he could manage to do was a stifled and breathy groan, cut short as he tensed up in pain. 

He vaguely heard talking, close, not part of the dwindling crowd outside of the alley. Footsteps and suddenly, somebody - two bodies in his blurried line of vision. He wanted to feel comfort, but with the fresh memories of being ganged up and beaten and worse, he was frightened. Beyond terrified. Tears leaked from his eyes as he shut them, willing that these people wouldn't harm him and just leave him to die. He could feel the pull of something at the back of his brain, telling him it was time to go. He allowed it to take him by the hand and lead him away, to a land of sleep and dreams. Funnily enough, as his conciousness left him, he felt warm. And here he thought it was supposed to be cold. 

Meliodas had stopped by this town with Elizabeth to restock on something or other that she'd asked for, agreeing because, well, it was on the way. He was still searching for the other Sins, currently only it being him, Elizabeth, Hawk, and Hawk Mama. He been walking around, looking for a pub or something just for a quick drink while Elizabeth looked for what she was searching for. It was getting pretty late, the sun already setting, and Elizabeth couldn't find a single shop open, so Meliodas had agreed that they should rest and come back in the morning. However, he couldn't help overhearing a group of men trying to solicit a young woman, obviously against her wishes. Meliodas fixed that with a few quick punches and a small smack when he asked the woman if she was single, but he had thought that was the end of it.