Luck
Little idea here that's been bouncing around my head for a while, mainly because Dia's such a loveable little guy. It's also good for me to try and write something like this because the style of writing in Train of Thought comes very naturally to me, because it was basically one long thought process. Whereas in this there's a lot more focus on character interactions and different tones of conversation so the writing has to reflect that. Also Diamond's manner of speaking, even when thrust in a very serious and formal situation, is very informal, whereas Ruby's is much more eloquent, which is the kind of thing I would do. So I had to constantly rewrite sentences to make them more fitting to Diamond's style of talking.
I used the second name of Kongoseki, which is one way of saying Diamond in Japanese.
Also, I'm aware that I'm inconsistent with his name when I use it outside of conversation. I used Diamond when it's a more serious situation, and Dia for lighthearted situations.
-x-x-
Dia's heart pounded in his throat as he walked along the ludicrously lengthy path from the entrance of the Berlitz estate, where a delighted Sebastian had welcomed him. Dia was surprisingly well-dressed, in a smart shirt; jacket and trousers which had that distinctive 'first time worn' look to them, with his hair freed from his hat and brushed down smartly. There was a notable look of panic upon his face, and his hands clenched tightly on the bunch of flowers he carried at his side. Despite all of this, there was a smile playing at the corner of his lips, but tightly controlled, almost as if it was afraid to escape and curse its own luck for being there. He tried to steel himself, Don't mess this up, he chanted in his mind, This could be one of the best evenings of your life. He then laughed in the recesses of his thoughts. If, by some miracle, tonight actually went according to plan then it would be rather unnecessary to call it 'one of' the best.
As he approached the looming front door he stopped walking momentarily, took a deep breath, and then made an attempt at banishing the panicked look from his face. Won't do to start the evening looking like this will it? Looking more ready than he felt, he walked up to the door and rapped the knocker three times. At which point the door slowly opened to reveal Dr Berlitz standing impassively in its way.
How Diamond managed to maintain his relatively calm face, never mind consciousness, will be a mystery for the ages. "Good evening, Master Kongoseki," the older man greeted, with a rather serious look upon his face.
"Good evening, Sir Berlitz," Diamond managed to reply, somehow managing to avoid stuttering. Cyrus was nowhere near as scary as this guy, he thought ruefully.
"Overbearing as it may seem, I must ask you." His face became, if possible, even more serious. "What are your intentions towards my daughter?"
Diamond felt like a rabbit in the headlights, he mind was spinning so fast that he wasn't even sure if he looked like one, as the part of his brain that he had dedicated to 'don't look nervous in front of Platina' had been caught up in the swirling mass of 'Oh my god I'm going to die.' He tried to cling to what Pearl had said to him before he left. "Dia-no, I mean Diamond. You managed to convince two legendary gods of destruction to join your side by talking. You'll do fine." He took a deep breath and said, "Sir Berlitz, do you remember how I met your daughter?"
Sir Berlitz nodded, silently indicating for Diamond to continue. "Back then, even though it was an accident, I was still her bodyguard. The most important thing to me was to make her safe. I trained and became stronger, not just to save the Lake Pokemon, but to do my job as a bodyguard. I still feel the same way," he said, with a smile growing on his face, his worries melting away as he poured out his heart to the stern man. "I did everything I could to make sure Platina would never be hurt and I understand how worried you feel about her. I know that my feelings towards her and yours aren't the same, but I understand. And I promise that I will never let her get hurt," his smile took on a softer tone now. "If I hurt her, then everything would have been pointless."
The two stood in silence for a moment, before Sir Berlitz once again hardened his gaze and said, "Thank you, that's more reassuring than you might think. But there is one more thing I must hear your thoughts on. As you know, my family is the wealthiest in Sinnoh, how does this affect your thoughts towards my daughter?"
Dia just smiled and said, "It changes nothing. It doesn't matter to me how much money you or your daughter have, she's still Platina. I don't want to use this for her money, and I've already paid for everything this evening." He smile turned rueful, "I know I'm a commoner and I know I will never be able to support Platina the way you have, and I know I'm probably not your first choice of suitor for her." His smile faded slightly, "And I know I'm probably not hers either." His gaze then steeled, "But I know that if somehow I am, then I will do my best for her, and if I can't give her all the money in the world, the best I can do is support her and make her happy." His smile returned in full force, "And nothing would make me happier than that."
At this, Sir Berlitz's stern demeanour cracked and a smile formed on his face, "After hearing that my boy, I wouldn't be so sure that you're not my first choice. Or hers." His smile mirrored Dia's earlier beaming, as the boy blushed slightly, "I know this is probably a little too formal, you are, after all, only fourteen, but you may have my blessing to court my daughter." He turned and muttered an instruction to a nearby maid, who rushed off, then returned a few minutes later with Platina. And once again, a small part of Dia's mind was impressed at how the rest of it had managed to maintain consciousness. She looked; well there was no other word for it, beautiful. Her hair lay draped around the shoulders of a gorgeous blue dress, the deep colours contrasting the bright smile on her face. Dia noticed that although the dress was exquisite, it had a rather simple quality to it, and he realised this must have been because she hadn't wanted to 'show him up' by completely out-dressing him. He probably would have been touched, if he wasn't using up all of his available concentration on things like breathing or standing or holycrapjustlookather.
Platina's face lit up when she saw Dia and her father turned to her, the smile still on his face, "Goodbye, both of you. Return here before 10 o'clock." His tone indicated that the repercussions to breaking this one rule would have made Cyrus look like a bidoof.
Dr Berlitz then walked back into the house, leaving the two teenagers on his doorstep. Dia's mind whirled with potential greetings as he turned his attention to her without wanting to seem like staring but wait I invited her on a date surely I'm meant to look at her and ohgodwhatdoIdo- "Hi," he managed to spit out, ending the train of thought in his head, and raised the lilies in his hand.
Platina gasped and took the flowers from Dia, "You remembered they're my favourites! They're beautiful, thank you. Do you mind if I go put them inside?"
"No, go ahead," Dia answered, mostly on automatic. His brain was allowed a few seconds of respite before the goddess, I mean, Platina came back out of the mansion. "So," she said, "Where are we going?"
"Lake Verity," Dia replied, At least I haven't forgotten the plan. "Shall we?" He asked, with an uncharacteristically expressive flourish towards the path leading to the gates, more to soothe his own nerves than anything else. Platina laughed slightly at his antics, before taking his hand and setting off along the path, and thereby completely removing any chance Dia had of being able to form a coherent thought within the next several minutes.
They walked in a comfortable silence along the path for a few minutes, before Platina asked, "So Diamond, how have you and Pearl been doing with your comedy?"
Dia breathed a sigh of relief inside his head, at least here was a topic where he wouldn't be able to make too much of a fool of himself, "Great, thanks!" He said, his smile growing more profound by the moment, "We managed to get a regular slot on Saturday mornings in Jubilife, we're hoping to get a spot on TV some time."
"That's great!" Platina replied, "I'll have to come and watch your next show!"
"Really?" Dia asked, turning to look at her in surprise, and a dark thought leapt into his mind, If she turns up and I get nervous and mess up, Pearl will kill me.
"Of course! You two are really funny!"
"Thanks!" Dia's smile threatened to split his face in two.
They chatted back and forth about anything and nothing, and to Diamond the twenty minute journey to Lake Verity seemed like an eternity of bliss, but as usual it was never long enough. The sun was already setting as they passed through the canopy of trees that marked the Lake's entrance. Just as planned. The path opened up into a vast expanse, and the sunset was mirrored for miles upon the crystal clear waters of Lake Verity. Platina's eyes shone as she looked out at the beautiful scene before her, and Dia took in the uniquely perfect version of a scene he'd witnessed many times. He squeezed Platina's hand and said, rather shyly, "I thought you'd like it."
"I love it," Platina whispered in awe, "It's so beautiful. I can't believe I lived so close to this yet I've never even seen it!"
Dia just nodded, not trusting his mouth to speak when the words "beautiful" and "Platina" were dancing traitorously across the tip of his tongue. They allowed the perfect moment to continue for a few more minutes, before Dia broke the silence. "It appears," he said, with a playful edge to his voice, "That somebody has carelessly left a picnic blanket lying over by the lake. I guess we're in luck!"
Platina giggled and said, "Well I'm sure that this mysterious blanket-leaver who is most definitely not a talented chef or comedian won't mind if we borrow his blanket?"
Dia laughed, a small blush forming on his face, and walked with Platina over to the blanket. Ok, everything's gone well, no, better than well. Everything's gone far beyond what I could have possibly dreamed so far. Don't fail me now guys. They sat down together on the blanket, hands still interlocked, and Dia, his confidence and playful side buoyed by her reaction to the lake, asked, "Would milady like dinner?"
"Yes, please," Platina responded with a smile, "It's been far too long since I've tried some of your cooking."
Dia blushed, "The food in your mansion is probably better than whatever I can make."
"Nonsense!" Platina said, raising her free hand to emphasise the point, "That cake you made for me at the contest was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten!"
They both smiled fondly at the memory while Dia fought to hide his slowly growing blush. "OK, Lax!" he called, and his Munchlax walked out of the trees surrounding the lake holding a silver-coloured dish, before setting it down in front of the two teens and allowing Dia to lift off the lid.
Platina gasped once again when she saw the contents, a delicately arranged selection of salad and berries, with two dishes of the same cake Dia had made for her years ago to the side and a pot of steaming tea with two cups. "Thank you!" She exclaimed, before she picked up the knife and fork beside her plate, Dia felt a momentary pang as she let go of his hand, and tried a bite of the berry salad. She sighed contentedly, "It's absolutely delicious!"
"Thank you," Dia said, strengthening his smile in response before settling in to eat along with her. He ate slowly, remembering to show manners and courtesy. Pearl had drilled it into his head earlier but he'd already realised that it was common sense not to eat like a pig when you were on a date. Platina poured herself some tea, before looking quizzical for a moment, "Diamond, how did you manage to get warm tea out here?"
"Pearl lent me Chimhiko for the evening, I told him to start warming the tea once we arrived." Pearl had immediately offered to help Dia to plan as soon as he found out that his surrogate brother had finally managed to ask Platina on a date. Truth be told it was mostly Dia's plan but he didn't mind letting Pearl think that he'd helped out a lot. After all, it was only because of Pearl's 'encouraging' words, "Shut up, it's obvious you like each other, I don't care how common you think you are!" that he'd mustered the courage to ask Platina on a date, although he'd managed to imply that it was a just-as-friends thing, "Because we haven't really spent a lot of time together for so long." Thinking back on it, the fact that he'd asked her on a date with just him and not Pearl under the pretence of reminiscing probably didn't imply just-as-friends at all. Damn. Then he realised that Platina hadn't asked why Pearl hadn't been invited- OK stop reading into this right now Diamond.
"That was nice of him," Platina responded, "I always loved how we three looked out for each other."
"It's what friends do, right?" Dia said, patting her hand lightly, showing far more confidence than he was feeling. Something else must be doing this. He thought, Whatever you are, don't push my luck; it's already stretched far enough! Although he could have sworn he saw Platina blush faintly.
They continued to eat their salads quietly. "Do you mind if we save the cake for later? I'm a little full now," Platina said, with a guilty look on her face.
"No problem!" Dia replied, before reaching out to hold her hand again. Where am I getting this from? He thought absentmindedly.
Platina took his hand, then she leaned into his shoulder, causing Dia to blush even brighter than the slowly disappearing sun. Diamond tentatively raised his arm, then carefully draped it around Platina's shoulders, and at that moment Dia felt higher than he'd ever believed possible. "I can't believe how lucky I am," he whispered, staring out over the darkening lake.
Platina looked out over the lake for a moment, then turned to look at him and said, "No, Diamond. You're not lucky. I am."
Diamond's heart stopped. His breathing, which had been threatening to vanish all day, finally gave in as Dia sat stunned by what he had just heard. His mouth flapped uselessly for a moment, then he managed to gasp out, "How are you the lucky one? I managed to meet and incredible person like you, follow you on your journey and do so much, all because of an accident!"
Platina sat up, and looked straight at him, smiling fondly, "No, Diamond, I'm the one who is lucky to have met you. And I want to thank you. Before I met you, I had no experience of what people were really like. I was a little princess and the only people around me were maids and butlers and family. When I went into public I never talked to 'commoners' and I never wanted to. I had this belief that commoners were just 'common'. I'd read hundreds and thousands of books, and none of them were ever about commoners. Even the non-fiction books were about scientists who had made great discoveries, or great heroes of battles from the past. None of those books were ever about 'commoners'. But then I met you. And you showed me that the world is not about the scientists, and the heroes, and the wealthy princesses. The world is not about what you are. The world is about who you are." Her eyes shone, and Diamond remembered how bad she had said she was at expressing her thoughts, and wondered how she had then managed to talk in such a way that put all of his words to shame. "You and Pearl changed my entire definition of the world. I was no longer a princess; I was a person, just like both of you. And even though you treated me like a princess," Dia blushed brightly, "It wasn't because of what I was; it was because of who I was. It was because you treated me with care and respect because that is who you are. If I had not met you I would have been escorted by two bodyguards who would have continued treating me like a princess because I was Miss Berlitz, heiress of the Berlitz fortune, not 'Missy', their friend. And because of you, I learned to understand people. I realised that even though you're a 'commoner'," and she spat the word, showing her distaste at its mere existence, "you're both the most common and uncommon boy in the world. You're what a common person should be. You're friendly; you stand up for what you believe in, no matter the obstacle; you treat those around you with care and respect; you're braver than I ever could be; you're honest. You can't swan around with pseudo intelligence like I can, but you always had what I had to learn from you: wisdom. You have everything that a human should have, but that we all lack the conviction and strength to truly follow through." She looked him straight in the eyes now, "Diamond, it's a shame you're not truly a commoner, because if people like you were common, then the world would be a far better place."
Diamond stared, eyes almost brimming with tears, at Platina's honest and caring eyes. "Platina…" he started, his voice cracking under the emotions he felt, "I-"
"Shhh," Platina hushed. "It's ok, like I said, I understand you now. I know that going to a girl's house with flowers, being accosted by her father, then taking her to the most beautiful sight of her life, and giving her a meal you prepared yourself isn't the kind of thing a boy does when he's just a friend." She smiled widely and said, "Diamond, I heard what you said to my father earlier, I was hiding in the entrance hall."
Diamond's heart stopped again, This is it, I'm dead.
Platina laughed at his expression, "Don't look so scared!" she exclaimed, then she took both of his hands in her own, "Diamond, going on a date with a boy, holding his hand, cuddling him while looking over the sunset and then making a speech about how wonderful he is isn't the kind of thing a girl does when she's just a friend."
Please, please, please, please, please don't let this be a dream, Diamond begged.
"Diamond, I like you too."
Then she kissed him, and Diamond's brain stopped functioning.
Some time later, and frankly it could have been years and been too short, she pulled away, and the small part of Dia's consciousness which then returned wondered when their arms had been wrapped around each other's backs. He wasn't complaining, as he held in his arms the girl he'd never even dreamed he'd be lucky enough to have. "So," she said, her blue dress and hair framed by the light of the newly risen moon, "How about that cake?"
-x-x-
Argh it was so hard trying to get them in character you have no idea. I'm quite proud of Platina's speech, that came out a lot better than I expected.