Work Text:
~ Prologue~
December 31, 2006
Tick tock...tick tock...tick tock
Young 8-year-old Cynthia Swann was watching the massive grandfather clock at the entrance of the large mansion she was in. Her grandmother had been invited by a colleague to spend the New Years with his family and other work colleagues at his mansion in Rustboro City in the Hoenn Region, and the older woman had asked Cynthia if she would like to come with her. The young blonde was surprised by the news after celebrating a nice simple Christmas with her family in their small hometown, to now celebrating the upcoming new year in another region, and in a rather luxurious massive building she has ever seen in her life. Her parents thought it would be a good idea for their eldest daughter to see the world, experience new things and make good childhood memories. Her parents decided to stay behind due to making commitments with their friends, and her younger sister, Annabelle, was still an infant.
"Cynthia, dear. Come over here! There's someone I want you to meet!" An older woman's voice called towards the blonde.
Cynthia was dressed in a black high neck long sleeved knit dress with a belt around her waist, two hair clips with bows on both sides of her hair and black ankle strap flat shoes with a bow decor off to the side. She was originally going to wear white tights underneath her dress to protect her bare legs from the cold, but the region's warm climate allowed the temperature to be much warmer compared to her home region further up north. She turned towards her grandmother's voice to her right and walked into another room to what appears to be a large living room with an enormous wood-burning fireplace with a black marble surround and hearth and white marble mantel on top. A wide assortment of red chesterfield and cabriole couches, wooden mahogany chairs and tables and several other high end interior furniture in the room gave it a rich and homey feeling. The young Sinnohian girl widened her eyes at the sight.
"As always, you're wandering off to places you don't know. What a mischievous child you are." Chuckled an older woman with light grey medium length brunette hair, wearing a simple white dress with a black belt around her waist, and black heels. She was standing in front of two unfamiliar well-dressed adults: a man with short and spiky silver-blue hair, dressed in a navy-blue suit; and the woman had long light blue curly hair that cascaded down to her chest, and was wearing a matching dark blue dress to the man next to her. Cynthia shyly walked towards her grandmother, standing slightly behind her left side.
"Grandmother." Cynthia spoke softly and polite.
"Cynthia, I would like you to meet my friend, Mr. Joseph Stone, he's the CEO and chairman of the Devon Corporation, and his wife, Amanda Stone." Her grandmother gestured with her right hand and pushing the child with her left to encourage her to step closer to their hosts. "Joseph, Amanda, this is my eldest granddaughter I’ve told you so much about, Cynthia. Sweetie, introduce yourself." Her grandmother lightly patted her left shoulder.
"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Stone, my name is Cynthia Swann, and I'm 8-years-old. It's nice to meet you and thank you for inviting me and my grandmother to spend New Year’s with you." Cynthia placed her left hand over her chest and slightly bowed, lifting her dress up a little with her other hand.
"Aw~! What nice manners you have there, young lady. Certainly, Carolina here has taught you good manners." Mrs. Stone swooned at the sight and turned to look behind her, pulling someone shorter to stand in front of them. It was a young boy, slightly taller than her, with silver-blue hair, well-dressed with a silver diamond shape bolo tie over his white-collar button shirt, underneath a blue vest that matches his pants, and black dress shoes. "Cynthia, we would like you to meet our son, Steven. Steven, this is Professor Carolina Swann's beautiful granddaughter, Cynthia. Say hi."
The silver-blue haired boy's cheeks were slightly red when he made eye contact with the blonde-haired grey eyed girl standing in front of him. "Hello and good evening, Cynthia. My name is Steven Stone, and I'm also 8-years-old. It's nice to finally meet you and I'm happy that both you and your grandmother have decided to spend the end of the year with our family." Steven held his right hand to his chest and bowed. The action only caused his cheeks to turn more red.
“It’s nice to meet you too, Steven. I’m glad we came.” Cynthia smiled, realizing how much his light blue cerulean eyes matches his hair. She started to blush once he made eye contact with her again.
The adults smiled at the scene before them, sharing knowing looks and talking through their eyes.
“What a handsome well-mannered gentleman you are, Steven. You’ve also been raised well. I expect nothing less from Joseph’s son.” Carolina grinned.
“I’ll tell you what son, why don’t you show Cynthia around the mansion. We still have four hours till midnight and for the rest of our guests to arrive. Why don’t you two get to know each other. Afterwards, we’ll all get together again right before midnight in the main lounge room where we can all watch the LaRousse City ball drop.” Mr. Stone placed a strong hand over his son’s right shoulder.
“Yes father.” Steven took a quick glance at his father then back towards Cynthia and held his right hand out towards her. “Shall we go?”
Cynthia was stunned by the sudden gesture; she felt a strange sensation in her chest. A feeling she never felt before. She looked back at her grandmother, asking through her eyes for permission. The older woman softly smiled and nodded. “Yeah, we can go, Steven.” She held out her left hand towards him and he curled his fingers around hers and started to drag her out where she came from and up towards the main staircase.
“I have a good feeling about those two. They’re a lot alike.” Carolina smiled looking over her shoulder.
“Planting the seeds to see where things take off years from now, are we?” Mrs. Stone wrapped an arm around her husband’s left arm.
“Seems like a good start if you ask me, my dear.” Mr. Stone held up his free arm to signal to the butler to head to the front door after hearing the doorbell ring.
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"Okay everyone! Make sure you have your drinks, hats, headbands, noisemakers, or cameras ready shortly!! We have three minutes till midnight!" Mrs. Stone shouted to all the guests and staff gathered in the main lounge room. Men were wearing various colored hats that said, 'Happy New Year', and women were wearing various colored headbands saying the same thing. Everyone was holding a wine glass filled with alcohol, except for two young children who were holding two glass cups filled with fruit juice.
After spending all her time with the young Devon heir and seeing the room they were in filled with many adult strangers she didn't know, she knew she wouldn't be able to find her grandmother in this crowd. Cynthia didn't mind standing next to Steven; he became her friend during their short time. They shared similar hobbies of learning history and archaeology. Steven seemed to be more interested in the geology based on his massive stone collection in another room. And walking into their home library......she could spend the rest of 2006 in there and begin 2007 there as well. She wouldn't have mind Steven keeping her company and..... he was the only one around her age at the party.
"Hey kids! Why don't we take a picture of you two together. You two look like a good pair!" A photographer walked by with his expensive camera. The kids looked at each other, making sure the other was okay with their picture being taken. Steven was wearing a red New Year hat; Cynthia was wearing a silver New Year headband. "C'mon kids, get closer!! Put her arms around each other!" The photographer held up his camera to his eyes. Steven took another look at his friend as he stepped closer to her and placed his right arm around her shoulders. This encouraged Cynthia to lean closer to Steven to wrap her arm around his waist. "Alright! Perfect, smile!" He snapped a few photos. "Now hold up those drinks and say, "Happy New Year!" now!!" The two did as they were told with huge grins on their faces.
"Two minutes to go! Everyone have their kissing buddy yet?" Said one of the male guests.
"Kissing buddy?" Cynthia had a confused look on her face when she turned to her friend.
"They're talking about a New Year kiss." Steven touched his lips "It's a tradition that when you kiss someone at midnight when the New Year starts, it means having good luck going into the next year and another is you will have good luck in finding love. At least that's what my teacher says." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Ohhh....that explains why I see my parents kiss at midnight now for New Year’s."
"Do you want to have good luck in 2007?" Steven sucked in his breath and gulped.
"1 minute to go!!"
"Yeah, don't you?"
"Yes...sure I do..." The silver-blue haired boy's cheeks started to turn red.
"But..." Cynthia herself started to blush. "we're still kids. Maybe we're too young to do this New Year kiss." She pressed her knees together and started to look at her shoes to avoid eye contact. The strange sensation in her chest came back.
"It doesn't have to be a real New Year kiss; it can be a practice one." Steven looked away to scratch the back of his neck and saw the ball beginning to drop on the large TV screen.
"I think that sounds good." She looked back up at him and stared at his nervous eyes.
"10...9...8...7...6...." The adults were starting to chant, but two kids were avoiding everything around them.
Steven took a deep breath and nervously started to lean forward.
"5...4...3...2...1..."
Cynthia held her breath and closed her eyes.
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"
What she expected to feel a soft pair of lips pressing against hers, was on her left cheek. She quickly opened her eyes at the sudden action. It was also the exact moment when the same photographer from earlier took a picture of the kiss. "Aw~…Now that's very cute~!! Heir of the Devon Corporation's New Year's kiss." He turned around and started to rapidly take pictures of everyone kissing, clicking glasses to one another, and using confetti poppers.
Steven leaned back to look at her, his face turning brighter red. He took a deep breath. "When we're all grown up, Cynthia, I’ll give you a proper New Year's kiss."
"Is that a promise?" Cynthia's face turned redder and shyly held up her right pinky. Looking both nervous and hopeful in her eyes.
"It's a promise." Steven gave her a heartwarming smile and held up his right pinky to tie it around hers.
"Happy New Years, Cynthia."
"Happy New Years, Steven." Cynthia finally returned a smile.
They clicked their glasses.