A/N: Another thing written for the kink meme. I really love this pairing, and it's a crime that I haven't written more about them! We can never have too much Fortuneshipping fluff after all~

"Are you sure you still want to come over for dinner tonight? It's okay if something came up last minute, we'll understand…"

Dawn sighed on the other line, and he could hear the disappointment in her voice when she spoke. "It sounds like you don't want me there, Lucas."

His eyes widened, and he quickly tried to undo the damage of his earlier comment. "No it's not that, Dawn! Of course I want you to come over, ignore what I said before. I'm sorry, I—"

Her giggle cut him off. "I was teasing you, Lucas."

"Oh…" Now he felt silly. "I-I knew that."

"Of course you did." She made a soft humming sound, the one that always accompanied her hand stroking his cheek when she tried to reassure him. He could feel the blood rush to his face as if she'd actually done it. "Don't worry, everything's going to go fine. I've already met your family and they love me, so you don't have to worry about us not getting along."

"That's not what I'm worried about, though." He said, shifting the phone so that his shoulder could support it while he flipped through the folder on his desk. "I know that they're going to do something embarrassing and by the time I walk you home, you'll want to break up with me."

"Lucas…" She said, and he could tell that she was smiling just by the tone of her voice. "Why would you worry about something like that? You know that I love you too much to even consider a life without you."

There was a second of silence after she said it, both of them too surprised by her bold statement to say anything at first. Dawn was the first to recover.

"Y-You knew that already though." She stuttered. There was a tapping sound on the other line, probably her nervous tic of lightly slapping her face when she blushed. "S-So you shouldn't worry, okay?"

"Y-Yeah, okay." If he wasn't red before, he certainly was now. He kept his eyes down, worried about what his co-workers might think. "I still think something's going to happen though."

She laughed. "Well if it does, we'll take it in a stride. It couldn't be any worse than the Distortion World at least!"

That got him to smile. She always knew what to say, whatever the situation. It was one of the many reasons he loved her. "I'll see you tonight, Dawn. I love you."

"I love you too. We're going to have a great time, you'll see."

The evening went south as soon as Dawn entered the house. Despite having warned his family to please refrain from gushing over his girlfriend tonight, his younger sister Lucy still came barreling down the stairs and attached herself to Dawn's legs, causing both of them to tumble to the floor.

"Welcome home, Dawn!" She cried, grinning up at the older trainer.

"Lucy!" Lucas exclaimed, hurrying to help the two of them to their feet. "What did I tell you this morning?"

"I'm not bothering her, Lucas." Lucy said, with all the smugness that a nine year old contained. "Am I Dawn?"

Dawn shook her head, smiling down at the girl. "I'm not bothered at all. How have you been, Lucy?"

"Great! I'm going to be getting a Pokémon next year, and I want to get a Chimchar like you!"

Dawn raised an eyebrow and looked over at her boyfriend. "You don't want to start off with a Turtwig like your brother?"

"A starter with a four times weakness to ice types?" Lucy wrinkled her nose. "No way!"

"You used to think my Torterra was the greatest thing in the world." Lucas muttered under his breath, not low enough that they couldn't hear him.

Dawn giggled. "Well, at least she still looks up to you, Lucas. I wonder where she learned about type weaknesses, after all?"

"It wasn't just him you know! I watched your battles on the television too." Lucy's eyes took on a particular shine. "You're close with Cynthia right? What's she like? Is she really as cold as she looks on the screen?"

"She's actually a really nice person, once you get to know her." Dawn said. Her eyes turned from her to the staircase, and Lucas followed her gaze. His grandfather was walking down the stairs, almost as if in a rush.

"Is your little girlfriend here, Lucas?" He called before his eyes landed on her. He gave her the once-over and gave a long whistle of appreciation. "You've got yourself quite a looker, my boy!"

"Grandpa, mind your manners!" He exclaimed, feeling the embarrassment wash over him. A glance at Dawn let him know that she was definitely uncomfortable with that remark.

"I don't mean any harm." He said, waving his hand as if that excused his comment. "I was just letting the girl know how lovely I think she looks. Does she have a grandma?"

Lucas was actually relieved when his father walked into the room and announced that dinner was ready. Lucy immediately detached herself from Dawn and ran into the kitchen. His grandfather followed her in, nodding to the two of them to hurry along.

Lucas reached for Dawn's hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze. "I'm sorry. Do you still think we'll have a great time?"

She squeezed back, and smiled at him. "Yes, I do."

The table was spread a little more decadently than was usual for Sunday night dinner, and Lucas knew that it was for Dawn's sake. He held out her chair for her, earning him a peck on the cheek for 'being such a gentleman', as Dawn liked to put it. Lucy made an obnoxious kissing sound that he pointedly ignored.

"Everything looks so good, Mr. Diamond." Dawn said, looking at the food spread out in front of her. "You shouldn't have gone to so much trouble just for me though."

Mr. Diamond chuckled. "Don't worry Dawn, this isn't anything special. Help yourself to anything you want."

Dawn gave him a polite smile. "Thank you, sir."

His father's words ended up being proven wrong. Oh, Dawn's plate was piled with more than enough food, but she hardly got any of it off of it because Mr. Diamond kept her talking so much that she hardly got a chance to breathe, let alone eat.

He spoke non-stop about his lab work, and Lucas could have died from shame when he began to talk (in detail) about different breeding techniques. And despite being clearly uncomfortable, Dawn kept up her side of the conversation, answering any questions Mr. Diamond asked her when she could and looking to Lucas when she couldn't.

"Y-Yes, I've seen a Happiny before sir, but I haven't been able to capture one yet. How do you get one, Lucas?" She asked, managing to bring a bite of her food to her lips.

"The most common way is to breed them." He said immediately. He'd recently read a journal focusing on baby Pokémon, so the information was easy to recall. "However, there have been reports of a few sightings of them in the White Forest in the past decade."

Dawn grinned. "I'm so glad my boyfriend's a genius. You make it seem so easy."

"It's all thanks to Professor Rowan." Mr. Diamond said, waving away Dawn's praise with a flick of his wrist. "He could never have discovered that information on his own."

Lucas winced at the harsh words, but didn't take it personally. He was long used to the feeling of being a disappointment to his father that he didn't even take it to heart anymore. "Yeah, sure dad." He said instead, keeping his eyes on his plate.

"You're wrong."

Silence fell over the table at those words. Lucas could feel his eyes widen as he looked at Dawn, her face hard as she looked at his father.

"Mr. Diamond, Did you know that Lucas is writing a dissertation on two-stage evolution Pokémon in his spare time, between running errands for the professor?" Dawn frowned at the older man's questioning stare. "No? It's too bad, because I think you could learn a lot from your son. Lucas is very smart, sir."

Lucas wouldn't have known what to say after that, even if he could make his mouth move. Dawn turned her face from his father and reached for his hand underneath the table. While her expression remained upset, the gentle way she held his hand comforted him.

The sound of utensils scraping plates started up again, awkwardly. Lucy broke the silence by changing the subject.

"What's it like in Snowpoint City, Dawn?"

"On a scale from one to ten, how bad was tonight?" Lucas asked as they walked down Route 201 hand in hand. They had left the house as soon as they'd finished dessert, the atmosphere still tense between Dawn and his father.

"It wasn't bad at all." Dawn said, smiling up at him. "I had a lot of fun tonight."

"Really?" He asked, surprised enough by her words that he stopped walking. "But what about that whole thing with my dad?"

The corners of her mouth turned down at that. "I didn't like how he was treating you. You shouldn't have to put up with that, Lucas."

"I'm used to it." He said out of reflex. He knew that it was a mistake when her eyebrows came together. "No really, it's fine. I don't mind it anymore."

"Well I do." Dawn shook her head. "I couldn't stand to just let him say that to you. You're amazing, and if he doesn't understand that, then he's missing out."

He smiled, touched. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "Yeah. And aside from that, I really did have a great time. Because I got to spend it with you."

He could feel himself blushing. "Dawn, I—"

She cut him off by pressing her lips to his. Her cheeks were tinged pink when she pulled away, but her smile was confident. "Let's go. The sun's already set."

"Okay."He couldn't help but smile back. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and started walking again. Her fingers were warm in his.