Title: A Hat to a Hatter
Rating: PG
Summary: Definition Hatter – A person who wears a hat.
Spoilers: General spoilers for the whole series.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
A/N: A little nonsensical piece that ran away from me after I typed the first line. First Alice fic! Go, me! :P
***
Jack had been very insistent that he put on a suit for the formal ceremonies, mentioning the dress code several times in his missive to them, something about a shirt, pants and hat not being dressy enough for such an occasion. Hatter had been quite put off with his tone, the hat-less suit mocking him every morning as he went out the front door, the taunting getting louder and meaner as the day of the coronation neared. He was a Hatter for gods sake! He got his name from a damn hat, and he was not going to shame his family name by appearing in public without it. He'd sat staring at the suit every night, trying to come up with an excuse, a reason, anything that made sense at all, that would allow him to wear a hat with the suit, even if it was the tiniest hat in the world and barely covered his head. But eventually came up with nothing.
When the morning of the coronation finally dawned and Hatter had forced himself into that awful hat-less suit, he'd stood staring at his sad reflection. Even his hair seemed a little melancholy that day, flopping lifelessly over his forehead and feeling a little lost without anything to curl around. So it was that when Alice came through the front door a little later to pick him up, hiding a big package behind her back, she found him already waiting for her, standing by the door, clutching his brown worn-out hat to his chest, looking very much like a little boy being forced to give away his favourite toy. A large smile on her face, Alice had pulled out her package and presented it to him, bouncing on her toes in excitement, and feeling just a little breathless as she watched his eyes light up with wonder and his lips curl into a smile that was pure joy.
She'd gotten him a top hat to go with his suit.