Romeo and Juliet AU with Akashi please, don’t worry about not doing it as exactly as the original one, I won’t ask for that, only the general story line. About their family, can you put in some canon extras (GOM, or other minor charas that are not frequently requested here), and for the ending, rather than both Akashi and reader dying, can you make them run away together instead? Thanks and hopefully this is okay. ^^
Long overdue, I’m so sorry if this doesn’t turn out satisfying since I took a really different, more lighthearted route with slight comedy (and a vague ending, sorry anon)!
This is a modern day Romeo and Juliet AU, where Reader and Akashi are both adults in a family of rich people. The companies that their parents own are rivals. I hope everybody enjoys it!
Female!Reader ahead
Business parties are an absolute bore, as you’d rather stay home and spend time doing your hobbies instead of faking interest for hours on end—until six months ago, when you started attending these events without a single peep of complaint or any specific signs of enthusiasm. Your parents didn’t question why the sudden change, perhaps due to the fear of having you retract back into your shell again.
Family appearance is important to them, which is why attending these parties are absolutely necessary: to show every important people that you are a happy family that get along together very well, all smiles and warm words, but it’s all for show. Your parents aren’t that bad, but regrettably a lot of the things that they do or expect you to do are to impress and maintain their social status.
“Being rich isn’t easy,” you start, sipping your drink as Momoi observes from across your seat, “everybody’s nice to you just to get on your good side or to use you to their advantage.” You pause, only to send a skeptic look at your pink-haired friend while she innocently drinks her latte from a straw. “You’re not doing that, are you?”
She laughs hard. You’re clearly joking, because you’re smiling at your own joke—Momoi’s family has been working in your family’s company for four generations, and relations are still tight today. She calms herself down after a mere few seconds of laughter because she’s got something in mind that she’s been dying to ask about.
“But no seriously,” she begins, leaning forward with both hands clasped like a journalist ready for her scoop of the year, “Mom told me she saw you at the partnership party last week and I was like, no way, again? What’s gotten into you?”
You groan quietly, cheeks involuntarily flushing at the answer you haven’t said out loud. Momoi takes this as a sign of major happenings behind her back that she didn’t know before, and is very eager to find out now.
“Come on, __________!”
“Can I trust you not to tell this to anybody?”
“Of course, who do you think I am?”
“Not even to your mom, okay?”
“…’kay.”
“Satsuki!!”
“Alright, alright, I won’t, I swear to anything that can be sworn to.” She says, offering you a handshake. It’s a sign of a deal she can’t break. “Now shoot.”
It takes you a full five seconds before you open your mouth to answer.
“It’s a guy.”
“I knew it!!” She shrieks, and at that moment all the innocent café customers turn their head to your table with faces that are either shocked or highly irritated. Momoi sends them an apologetic look before quickly looking at you, eyebrows scrunched.
“Tell me more.”
“The thing is,” you sigh, cupping your forehead tiredly, “he’s… he’s the heir of a rival company, and if anyone ever finds out I am royally screwed.”
You don’t think Momoi remembers that her latte exists anymore upon her knowledge of this piece of scandalous news—the poor drink sits at the edge of the table, near the window, forgotten and cold.
“Wait a second. Are you talking about the Akashi family?” Your companion replies, lowering her voice down to a whisper at the mention of the surname. You can only nod, looking at her with your palm propping your chin up. The next second is basically her jaw dropping.
Momoi mouthes oh my god and you form a silent I know with your lips, enough for her to read. She grips your other hand on top of the table with both of hers, purposely shaking it lightly in… excitement? Is that what you see in her eyes?
Well, you can’t blame her—the thought of Akashi is also enough to put you into a level of excitement like Momoi’s right now. The only difference is that you’re good at covering up. More like you have to. It’s the kind of secret that will hurt a lot if anyone, especially your parents, finds out.
“How did it happen?” Momoi asks breathlessly.
“Evening.”
You turn upon hearing a male voice behind you, breaking the spell that had you staring at the bubbles in your drink in hand for minutes. It’s dim out in the balcony, and a little bit cold too, especially with you in your dress, but the lighting is just enough to let you see the visitor. That red hair captures attention even in the darkest of rooms, you think, because it also lets you know who he is.
“Evening,” you reply, sipping your drink as he walks until he’s standing next to you. “You know, I know who you are. Might not be a good idea for you to be seen with me.” The sentence is uttered with zero hostility, and Akashi, obviously, takes note. You smile, something that’s sad and cynical but at the same time uncaring and somehow undeniably attractive. He smiles back.
“Well, I know who you are, too,” he says, “and I know what you’re going to say.”
There’s a slightest raise in your eyebrows though you keep quiet.
“‘Fuck what people think’, right?”
Your lips fall open and you let out a small surprised laugh at the fact that Akashi Seijuurou, heir of the Akashi Group, your family’s biggest business rival, just used a cuss word. He chuckles, eyes crinkling charmingly at your baffled expression—you shake your head when you recover, leaning against the balcony.
“I take it that I’m more or less correct.”
“I didn’t know the Akashi family have telepathic abilities. No wonder they’re so successful.”
“I could say the same to yours,” he replies smoothly, “nobody can resist a deal with that kind of charm walking around.”
You look at him in the eye, feeling your cheeks heat up slightly and praying that he can’t see before shifting your gaze towards the golf course that stretched beyond the building, drink still in hand.
“Straightforward, aren’t we?”
He sighs a bit, turning to mimic you, scanning the stretch of green below, his hands laced together as he looks at you from his place by your side. It takes great courage for you to make eye contact.
“Why?” You ask.
“I don’t know, to be honest,” he answers casually, something you’re surprised (and is that delight brewing in your stomach?) an Akashi man could do, “I feel like I wanted to get to know you better.”
You give him a skeptical, cautionary glare, one that you’ve learned to do since you were young and learning the true nature of people.
“This is not something along the lines of I’m-flirting-with-you-and-getting-you-drunk-to-get-some-company-secrets, right? Because that’s gonna turn out awful.”
Akashi makes a face as he stifles a laugh, which kind of makes you want to laugh too, but then you realize by the sound of it that he might actually be more similar to you than you think. A young man from a rich, well-known family… adding his excellent looks and charisma to that, how many girls have gotten in line just to satisfy their desires? He must have trust issues to a certain degree as well.
“No it’s not, though I don’t judge you for asking.” He answers. Did he just step in closer to you, or is it too much champagne already in your circulation?
“I suppose it’d be nice to have a friend that understands. My friends are nice, but I envy them from having a normal life,” you say, looking down at the golf course. There’s a rowdy cheer in the banquet hall and in the back of your mind you note that the party’s not going to end soon—something you never thought you would be grateful for.
Akashi rests his face on a palm, surveying your face with great interest and somehow managing not to look like a creepy dude. Maybe it’s just thanks to how good-looking he is? The earlier thought of how many girls have chased after him creeps back, and you take a wild guess in your head, distracting you from the conversation. Twenty wouldn’t be an exaggeration. He can certainly take twenty girls to bed: at the same time or one by one, doesn’t matter.
“Tell me.”
“What?”
“Tell me what you talk to your friends about.”
It takes only three seconds of silence until you tell him. About things: about the sad rich life, about trust, about boys and girls that love and hate you. About you. As the night turns darker, your connection to his becomes stronger, what with him telling you about him: about his family, about youth, about the fact that he rarely talks about everything he’s talked about to anyone except you. About how he sees a friend in you.
So you exchanged numbers.
“And then?” Momoi demands, like a child unsatisfied with her bedtime story.
“And then,” you fall into a pause, trying to find the right words. “We started texting each other. Occasional turned frequent. We met secretly during parties, making sure no one saw or noticed us.”
“And then??”
“And then what?” You ask back. “It’s been like that for six months.”
“Yeah but like you’ve kissed him, right??”
Instead of answering, you bury your face into your palms, and Momoi instantly knows the answer is affirmative. Why does she have to be so perceptive?
“That guy used to be my friend in middle school!” She says and you have to let out a small gasp. “Back then he was so much like a prince charming too, I tell you, but then he turned cold,” she pauses, “like you.”
You pout.
“I guess that’s the defense system of the rich,” she jokes. You swat her hand but laugh along anyway. “I know that he’s a good person underneath, but I never thought he’d open up so fast to you. Dare I say he loves you,
__________!”
“I’m in love with
__________,” Akashi Seijuurou declares several miles away. His adviser, Midorima, does a double-take from his notebook to the heir’s face with an expression that only says one phrase: are you crazy?
“Are you crazy??” The green-haired male exclaims, snapping his small thin notebook shut so hard that it’s audible. “__________, the daughter of the group you are trying so hard to beat within the past couple of years??”
“Is there any other
__________ you know of?” Akashi asks, ignoring his companion by attending to his necktie. A glance through the mirror tells him that Midorima is both dumbfounded and… just dumbfounded.
“Why tell me.”
“I figure you need to know.”
“You made that clear, but why.”
Akashi stands up, grabbing his suit jacket and wears it, putting an arm in one sleeve.
“I’ve been secretly meeting her during parties for six long months. It’s a given that one of these days I want to sneak out.”
Midorima’s mind is spinning, he’s lightheaded, he’s dizzy, maybe he’s going to die from a heart attack in a few seconds, but he’s rational enough to acknowledge that these are merely effects of several secret breaking news revealed to him within such a short period of time. Not even years of his advisory training can help him solve this situation.
“Oh, and Midorima? Don’t tell a soul.”
Midorima’s eyes narrow at Akashi.
“I mean it.”
And with that, the redhead is gone, leaving Midorima alone in the hotel room as he slowly makes his way towards a chair to sit on. He needs to breathe.
The kiss that Akashi leaves on your lips makes you want more in its tenderness. He has you in public, exposed to the eyes of anyone who wants to look, arm around your shoulder as you sit side by side on a secluded couch in a bar at the edge of town. The two of you agreed for the first time to meet up outside of those ridiculous parties (he honestly doesn’t know how he could last half a year), each offering some sort of excuse to your parents as you’ll be out late. Yours was a sleepover at Momoi’s place, and she is more than happy to cover for you, especially since she doesn’t live with her parents anymore. Akashi’s was simply a gathering with friends.
Which is not entirely untrue, but the way he’s kissing you and putting his hand on your knee is more than just friendly.
If journalists were to be around, tomorrow’s headline will be all about two big companies’ children, one heir and the other a daughter, caught making out with each other and obviously can’t keep their hands to themselves. Which is also not entirely untrue—you’d like to think the two of do not act like you’re so sex depraved.
“God, I want you,” Akashi growls, begging you to think otherwise. Somehow you’re on his lap, a comfortable position for you to go on and pull him into another searing kiss, but there’s something in the back of your mind that’s been bothering you. Being the perceptive person he is, Akashi notes your silence and peers into your eyes questioningly.
“How long are we going to keep this a secret?”
The redhead senses this coming from you. He admits that he also has been asking the same question himself, but he supposes that you might as well talk about it sooner than later. With that, he helps you shuffle back to the seat next to him, his arm still around your shoulder and playing with your hair.
“Do you see a probability of your parents accepting our relationship?”
“To be honest… I don’t really know,” you reply, leaning into his touch for comfort. “But by the looks of how they’re working hard to, you know, outdo the Akashi Group, it’s sort of logical to assume they won’t. I mean, my mom’s been worrying about my dad overworking”
He hums.
“Right?”
“I see where you’re coming from.”
“What do you think they’ll do if they find out?” You ask, voice nothing above a whisper. Akashi’s eyes are half-lidded, an expression of thinking.
“I fail to see how this escapes my logic,” he begins, his tone a little bit more serious and suddenly you’re focusing everything into what he is saying, “but from a business point of view, our relationship, especially if taken to the next level,” at the mention of that your heart flutters—
“…is like a merger.”
Akashi can see the realization seeping into your expression.
“Of course it would have to be a horizontal or market extension merger to be fair, but what I mean to say is that it’s definitely a good possibility.”
“M-hmm.” You nod, dazed.
“Do you think so, too?”
“M-hmm.”
Akashi looks at you like he expects you to say something.
“How do you think they would feel about a merger, though? There are chances that one of us might be at a disadvantage, and I don’t know if our parents are willing to take that risk.”
“Risk is the basis of progress in business, sweetheart,” he says, going back to stroking your hair, “like investing and developing new products. Those are risks. You need to take it to reap the harvest.”
“But how do we convince them to take it?”
Akashi smiles, lifting you up by the waist to situate you on his lap again, pressing his lips to your forehead. You can only hide your face in his neck, and he chuckles.
“It’s simple—we build a business proposal.”
You might not entirely understand his vague answer, though the rough ideas floating in your head (including another kind of proposal) are quickly thrown out the window at the sensation of his lips meeting yours for the umpteenth time that night. You don’t know if Akashi really has the solution to get you out of this secret relationship without doing any harm, but the way his tongue asks for entrance is too sweet to ignore.
You tell yourself you can think about it tomorrow.
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