AN: Aki makes such a cute Alice! I couldn't resist. It ties in nicely with my Soulmate AU too :D
You would think that Akihito would eventually learn to not make bets with Asami. In his defence, he thought he had a pretty good read on the situation. In retrospect, his biggest mistake was not setting terms to the bet. A month ago a huge scandal had broken out in Tokyo. A big name actor had been publicly backing and organising the Cancer Foundation annual fundraiser charity event. Every year they had a huge themed event that all the big names of society would dress up to go to and make a good name for themselves for donating to charity. Vast amounts of money were donated every year and the entrance fee for those attending more than covered the costs of setting up and running such a large scale event. Unfortunately this year it had all gone pear shaped. The actor in charge of the event just vanished and initially everyone just assumed it was for publicity. That was what Akihito had bet with Asami. The businessman on the other hand bet that he had either lost the money or made off with it and wouldn't come back. For a month speculation ran wild as the actor still was not heard from. Then a shock announcement was proclaimed on the news. He had made off with the money. It had all been withdrawn from various overseas banks and the entire event was likely ruined. The man had stolen millions that had been donated to support those families who needed it and to further research to try and cure the various cancers.
The entire country was appalled and it was a topic discussed worldwide. The charity organisations CEO made a tearful and heartfelt speech apologising for the loss of the funds and advised that the event would in all likelihood be cancelled.
Until the very next day.
Akihito had learned that Asami always donated large sums of his personal fortune to the charity in Haruki's memory as she had spent many years of her childhood battling leukaemia and had spoken fondly of the doctors and nurses that cared for her. He had always donated anonymously and declined his yearly invitation to the event, preferring to avoid any publicity in case the event stirred up painful memories. After the shocking news of the actor's betrayal and the public outcry over the act, Asami did something that surprised even Akihito. He went public.
His soulmate publicly donated half of what was stolen from his own person funds and advised that Sion would be taking over the running and organising of the event that was due to take place in one months' time. Akihito had never loved the man more than he did in the moment when he found out what he had done. When he dropped in later that day to go out for lunch with Asami, he found Kirishima completely swamped with more work than one man could handle yet he was absolutely beaming with happiness. Apparently all of his family were regular supports of both the charity and the event, also in Haruki's memory, and the secretary was incredibly proud of his old friend for his actions.
The only down side to the entire debacle was that Asami could not turn down this years event invitation. His company was running the damn thing after all.
Which was how Akihito found himself being dressed up as Alice from Alice in Wonderland. Asami had cashed in the bet and made it so that he would choose Akihito's costume for the event. And apparently to make himself feel better about the whole thing, he had decided to shove the photographer in a dress. On the plus side the dress wasn't designed to try and make him look like a girl. Akihito was incredibly worried the Asami would try and shove him in a wig and give him fake breasts or something but thankfully there was nothing of the sort. It was kind of surprising but if anything it was fairly obvious he was male, just wearing a dress.
The top of the pale blue dress hugged his figure, accentuating his natural slimness and the lightly frilled white apron just showed it off even more. The dress did up much like a shirt with buttons all the way up to a small frilled collar at his neck and didn't give any allusions to a female figure. The sleeves were long with slightly puffed shoulders and ended in large ruffles that just sat over his wrists. The skirt part of the dress puffed out around him held up by large chiffon petty coats underneath and fell to just below his knees. Long over the knee stripped socks ended with cute little black shoes with small thick heels. They were similar to shoes he had seen small school girls in. The entire look was topped off by a large matching blue bow that was clipped into his short hair. All in all, he looked more like an overgrown child than a girl. It was the kind of dress that you would put a small child in, cute without sexualising anything. The kind of outfit that made Akihito wonder why on earth clothing had gender.
Satisfied with his outfit being in order, Akihito left the master bedroom and made his way into the lounge. He could hear a few different voices, everyone must have arrived while he was getting ready. He walked into the living room and stopped in wide eyed surprise. Akihito had known the theme for Sion was Alice in Wonderland, it was something Kirishima had organised and called in many favours to do so, but he was still surprised at the sight that greeted him.
Asami was in a similar suit to usual but the coat on this one had long old fashion tails and there was a gold chain connecting to his breast pocket and a small pocket watch hung there. A bow tie replaced the normal tie and large white rabbit ears protruded from his slicked back hair, the head band cleverly hidden by Asami's hair. Tiny round glasses perched on his nose, somehow suspended there even though they didn't have anything appearing to hold them in place. There was even a soft puffy rabbit's tail attached to the back of his jacket. He made quite a dashing white rabbit.
Kirishima stood beside him dressed as the mad hatter. He was also in a suit with long tails but his one was green with a large multi-coloured bowtie. A massive top hat in a darker shade of green sat on his head with its customary band and little piece of paper sticking out. Beside him stood a teenaged girl that Akihito didn't recognise but was clearly dressed as the queen of hearts if the elegant black and red dress was anything to go by. Large hearts were littered on the white sections of her bodice and all the card suits made an appearance across her puffed shoulders. A small crown nestled in her dark hair that was piled up elaborately on her head and in her hand was a sceptre with a large heart on the end.
Behind that stood both Suoh and Ueda dressed as the queen of hearts card guards. Their outfit was a little less traditional with armour seeming to be made out of card 'plates'. A large white breast plate was decorated as though it was a card with a skirt of overlapping cards that ended mid-thigh. Their shoulder plates also were made out of overlapping cards. Suoh was dressed as the ace of spades with it painted onto his chest and wore black pants while Ueda was the ace of diamonds with dark red pants. Both had large spears in hand topped off in the card suit that they were wearing.
All in all everyone looked amazing. Clearly the costumes had all been custom made for each person. Kirishima really had outdone himself.
"Uwah he's so cute!" The girl squealed and clapped her hands together as she stared at him. "Ryu-ojisan, how come you managed to get a cute boyfriend before me?!"
Akihito flushed and gaped. Who on earth was she? He was pretty sure Asami didn't have any family left yet she was calling him uncle?
"Don't be rude Mi." Kirishima chuckled before introducing them. "Takaba-kun, this is my adopted daughter Kirishima Miyuki. Mi, this is Takaba Akihito, Ryuichi's soulmate."
She continued to giggle at him in between mock pouting over her lack of a cute boyfriend. Akihito could only stare back, embarrassed and mildly bewildered. Kirishima quickly ushered everyone out the door and into the elevator.
Akihito reached up to Asami's fake glasses; "How are these staying there?"
"Glue." He replied with a small grimace.
"It's a special type of body glue that we use in modelling some times." Miyuki supplied. "I brought it with me just for this!"
"It looks cool, sitting there like that." Akihito turned and cast a look around again. "Actually, everyone's costumes look amazing."
"Don't they?!" Miyuki gushed. The secretary just gave a small, secret smile and didn't say anything.
A small ping sounded to announce that they had reached the garage and soon they were all piled into the limo. It was only a short distance to the grand hotel that was hosting the event, although it was made longer by the road blocks and traffic caused by the event.
All too soon they were pulling up to the curb with a red carpet leading to the entrance. The press were all crowded in behind the fence, straining to see which famous person would be exiting the limo and vying for a good spot to snap off a photo. Large TV cameras were trained on the vehicle as well, covering the event live for the world to see. Ueda had been in the front with the driver and stepped out to open the door for them. Suoh was the first to exit and took up position on the other side. Asami gave Akihito's hand a small squeeze before he stepped out onto the red carpet and suddenly there was a million flashes of light and voices yelling to try and get his attention. Akihito took a deep breath before taking the hand that he offered and letting himself be pulled from the vehicle. While they were now publicly known as soulmates, this was still the first time that they had been out in public like this.
The crowd grew even more agitated at Akihito's appearance and the constant flashes from the cameras were blinding. Asami wrapped an arm around his waist and gently led the way inside once Kirishima and Miyuki had also exited the limo. The photographer noticed that all the guards at this event were dressed in fake card armour much like Suoh and Ueda and must be Sion employees. They each had a different card number and suit on their breast plates and he had to admit that it looked great having everyone in theme like this.
Inside was filled with dazzling guests all dressed up in outfits of varying effort and elegance. The theme for this evening was fantasy and fairy tales and all attended were required to come in costume. There was fairy's, animals, princesses, pirates and even the odd monster. Those who made little effort in their costume really stood out. They were mostly older politicians and seemed to be sticking together. Akihito was surprised they even came at all but obviously they wanted the press that came with being seen at such an event. All the waiters and waitresses also must be Sion employees as they were all dressed in red and black with card suits printed across their dresses and suits.
The entire venue was decked out in Alice in Wonderland theme as well. There were arrangements of large grass strands and mushrooms on the tables and around the room. All the food was done in fantasy theme and the main table was done up as though it was a tea party with lots of interesting jugs and different styled tea cups. There was even an area with someone dressed up in a blue caterpillar costume reclining on a large mushroom with a pipe in hand.
Akihito glanced over at Kirishima who was looking extremely satisfied.
"You went to a lot of effort for this." Asami remarked.
The secretary nodded and admitted; "I always wanted to do something like this for this event. It's for Haruki. She would have loved it." He had a soft smile on his face.
Asami paused and then returned his small smile. "She really would have."
"Now, I believe there are a few people who want to meet you Takaba-kun."
"Me?!" Akihito stared at the secretary confused. Even Asami didn't seem to know what was going on and raised an eyebrow in question.
"Of course. This is wonderland and you are Alice. You are the star of tonight's events."
"Eh?! Wait! I didn't agree to this!"
Miyuki laughed and linked arms with him. "Sorry Ryu-ojisan but I'm borrowing your boyfriend for a bit! Come on Aki-chan, we have to go take photos with all the cute little kids who are here! They have so much going on in their lives, it'll be nice to cheer them up for a bit!"
Asami let his lover go with an amused chuckle and Akihito was dragged off by an overly excited Miyuki.
VFVFVFVFVFVFVFVF
The night was a whirl wind of meet and greets for Asami. A number of politicians seemed rather betrayed by him wearing a proper costume and he got many compliments on the theme although he passed all those off to a happy looking Kirishima.
Akihito was alternating between staying by his side and being dragged off for photos with various children, celebrities and politicians. Asami himself had also been dragged for group photos although he was in far less demand than his adorable little soulmate. Miyuki had been happily rubbing shoulders with some of her favourite actors and actresses and Kei had been surprisingly popular with his costume and was also hunted down for photos.
Ueda was been trailing Akihito all night and had admitted that he wasn't used to getting quite so much attention and was often wrangled into group photos with Akihito. Even Suoh was looking a little overwhelmed by the attention he was getting.
Asami was standing with a glass of champagne in hand and had moved away from his last conversation to stand with Kirishima for a few moments respite. They were standing close to where Akihito was sitting on the floor surrounded by children of various ages. He was gesturing wildly and clearly in the midst of spinning some tall tale. All the children were past or present victims to different cancers and it showed with the fairies with multi-coloured wigs or scarves wrapped around their bald heads. The often thin and sickly look to the faces and limbs. There was even a little pirate in a wheelchair. Akihito didn't seem to see any of that though. He didn't express sadness or pity or treat them any different to a normal child. He was the same exuberant person as normal and interacted with each of them with smiles and laughter. He truly was a remarkable being.
"You should start looking into adoption." He stiffened at Kirishima's words, surprised. "It's a very lengthy process so it's better to get started soon. Believe me, I know how long it takes." He turned to stare at his secretary with wide eyes and earned himself a laugh and a knowing look. "He looks good with children, doesn't he?"
Asami turned to look back at Akihito sitting in amongst the children who were all laughing and smiling at him. He did look good like that. It suited him.
"You shouldn't doubt yourself so much." He glanced back over to Kirishima and earned himself a small reproving look. "You both have a lot you could give to another person. You would both suit being parents. Maybe not separately but together. Together you would balance each other out and do well as parents." Asami was still a little too surprised for words. Kirishima must have noticed as he continued; "I'm more surprised that you haven't put a ring on it yet."
"I have thought about it." He admitted.
"And?"
Asami frowned. "Everything is going so well now but…"
Kirishima clapped him on the shoulder. "Have a little more faith, in him if not yourself."
The businessman nodded and the subject was dropped as another businessman approached them obviously hoping to strengthen some connections.
VFVFVFVFVFVFVFVF
The entire event was a huge success. They ended up raising more money than what was stolen and numerous photos and video footage of the evening made its way through the media. Both Asami's name personally and Sion had a massive reputation boost and Akihito won hearts across the country with the photos of him as Alice surrounded by sick children all looking so happy. A photo with the entire Sion staff and guests made the front page of Tokyo's biggest newspaper. Akihito and Asami stood arm in arm right in the middle.
VFVFVFVFVFVFVFVF
Six months later the man who stole all the money was arrested and deported back to Japan to be prosecuted and jailed. A large portion of the money was able to be recovered and returned to the charity.
VFVFVFVFVFVFVFVF
A small wooden photo frame leaned against a carefully maintained gravestone. It was the size of the palm of one's hand and held a single photo. Akihito sat on Asami's lap in his Alice costume fast asleep. Asami had his arms wrapped around his little lover's waist with his cheek pressed against his head and was also sound asleep. If one looked really closely, you could just make out the black leather interior of a limo behind them. Delicate letters were etched into the wood on the bottom of the frame.
Beloved Sister,
You may rest at ease now for he is well looked after.