Birthday, a prince of tennis fanfic

Title: Birthday

By: ExquisitelyInked

Summary: How a normal birthday goes for Ryoma… OT6

Rated: T

Disclaimer: You know the drill… and anyway I don't think Takeshi Konomi-sama is obsessive enough about his own manga to come here and write fanfiction about his characters. And anyway, for old times' sake: I do NOT own Prince Of Tennis. There would be no competition between Rikkai, Hyotei and Seigaku if it was mine. Guess why. Yeah, yeah, the OT6 and everything.

By the way, did you know I share my birthday with Ryoma? Yes, yes I do. So cool! Oh. And by the way, I have absolutely NO idea where this came from. Have a good time. Please forgive the fact that Ryoma turns fourteen. Just... Just please. I tried to make this funny, too.

Ryoma was, in a word, sleeping fitfully. Okay, maybe those were two words, but they didn't mean Ryoma was calmly sleeping like Karupin. His eyes were fluttering open and shut – he was screaming and shouting his lovers' names.

No, obviously he wasn't having a nightmare. How could he? He had five clones of that-vampire-dude-who-watched-him-in-his-sleep to make sure he didn't have bad dreams… only wet ones.

He screamed a final time and shot up straight, hot, sweating, panting, and more than a bit uncomfortable. What a way to wake up in the morning.

He looked around. He was all alone. The clock showed ten o'clock in the morning (of course).

He groaned. It was his birthday today. He groped around on the bad for Karupin… who wasn't there. What happened to his loyal cat? Finally cheated on him with Tezuka?

'Karupin?' He called softly. If his lovers were sleeping in another room and they woke up, it'd be grandiose hell for the tennis freak. Yes, ostentatious hell, because no one can leave Atobe out of anything—alive.

Ryoma was very unlucky when it came to birthdays. The door banged open. 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!' Fuji yelled.

Ryoma jumped and made a mad dash for the bathroom.

'If you don't stop Yukimura won't make love to you!' Atobe shouted from behind Fuji.

Yukimura scowled and poked Atobe. 'I'd be with him even if he shuts himself in the bathroom. Haven't you heard of my great talking skills? I can make somebody come with only my voice.'

Atobe shook his head. 'Try it on us sometime.' Sanada suggested. Tezuka asked, 'Why are we all at the doorway? Syuusuke, move aside. You and your camera are taking up the whole door space.'

'Saa… sorry, sorry.' Fuji slid to the side. But not much—everyone glided against him as they entered.

Ryoma was standing there, frozen in place by Atobe's threat.

'Happy birthday, brat.' Atobe embraced him (very intimately embraced him) and then ruffled his hair condescendingly.

Ryoma cursed Atobe under his breath.

'Fuck, brat, ore-sama will murder you someday—' Atobe was dragged away by Fuji.

Yukimura was next. 'Hey, Ryoma—here's your birthday present.' He held out a mewling animal.

Ryoma immediately grabbed his cat. 'So that's where Karupin went!' He cried, pulling off the red ribbon tied clumsily to Karupin's collar and flinging it at the smirking Seiichi. 'Bastard, you knew I wanted that special edition Roger Federer tennis rackets and still you didn't—'

'Go buy them yourself, if you want them so bad—' Yukimura had been shrugging all this while, and he was frantically thinking of a way to placate the furious-at-not-receiving-a-gift Ryoma.

'Mada mada dane, you miser—' Ryoma yelled, but was interrupted by Yukimura's lips. 'My real present is much more physical…' He murmured. Ryoma's eyes narrowed. 'Yeah?'

Yukimura thought for a long while. That "real present" comment had come out of the blue. Now what should he say? Crap, damn his mouth.

'I'll let you top me,' He decided.

Ryoma looked like he'd gone to paradise (where grape Ponta rivers flowed with Ponta cans bobbing in and out and a thousand Karupins prowled the place). 'Thank you, thank you, thank you!' He jumped Yukimura.

'Ryoma – many happy returns of the day to you.' Sanada mumbled from beside Yukimura. 'Here.' He gave a king-sized box to the tennis prodigy. Ryoma slid off Yukimura and grabbed it. Opening the present and making Karupin-eyes at Genichirou (all the best tennis gear in Japan – Sanada was the Emperor), he said to Yukimura, 'Now that's who I call a real boyfriend.'

Yukimura sighed dramatically, turning around and bending to do his laces.

Ryoma choked. Tezuka shook him slightly then Sanada poked the small of his back.

'…Ryoma–It's rude to stare.' Sanada reminded. Ryoma pulled himself away and demanded his present from Atobe and Fuji who were sitting on the bed. Atobe suggested a live AV from him and Fuji. Ryoma refused. 'I think everyone except Syuu and Gen forgot my birthday, right?'

'No! No, of course not!' Yukimura laughed nervously. Tezuka tapped Ryoma, who turned around. Tezuka kissed Ryoma passionately. 'Happy birthday.' He said, in his deep husky voice. 'My present to you is me—for the whole day.'

'Just admit you forgot my birthday too, Kunimitsu. And you're kind of copying Seiichi when you say that. And by the way, let me remind you, it's you who goes around saying "Yudan sezu ni ikou" all the time.' Ryoma was pissed. Seriously, what a way to start a morning.

'Fine!' Yukimura threw his hands up. 'So we'll have a threesome. You, me, Kunimitsu. Happy?'

'No. You didn't remember my birthday.'

'Get off the topic already.' Fuji gave a perfectly wrapped present to Ryoma. It was a digital camera. 'Maybe you could develop the same photographic tastes as me,' He said.

Ryoma blandly remarked, 'Don't you mean "pornographic"?'

Fuji blanched. 'And maybe that.' He added.

Atobe was helplessly sitting beside Fuji. 'Please, brat. Ore-sama will buy you three islands in the Caribbean—'

'And sell them off the next day without me knowing.'

'An Atobe never does that.' Keigo declared.

'An Atobe never forgets his boyfriend's birthday, either! Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go home.'

'You're standing in your home.' Sanada pointed out. Ryoma said, 'My parents don't live here.'

'Yeah. They wouldn't be able to sleep at night.' Yukimura smirked along with Atobe and Fuji.

Ryoma just growled, and dressed suitably, he grabbed his two presents and Karupin and left the house and his lovers. 'Thanks for the worst birthday morning ever.' All the doors Ryoma passed through were shut with wrathful slams.

Tezuka pushed his glasses up his nose and said, 'We messed up, big-time.'

Strangely, the others needed to hear Tezuka in order to actually understand that.

'You don't look any older—or taller, brat.'

'Shut up.'

'Oi, oi, what did Sakuno get you?'

'Something better than what Tezuka, Atobe and Yukimura gave me. But I haven't visited her yet. Ugh, let her visit me. What am I, a gift collector?' Ryoma snarled, still pissed. He entered the house and was hugged by his mother.

'What did they give you?'

'Nothing, only promises of AVs.'

'I know—castrate them.' Nanako supplied. 'I did that to my last boyfriend because he wouldn't buy me that Ferrari I wanted for my birthday.'

Ryoma's eyes popped and he began to see his cousin in a new light. Nanjiro said, 'Stop lying.'

Nanako blushed and left the room. 'I was only trying to help…' Her voice faintly reached Ryoma. Nanjiro yelled, 'You better get a boyfriend first, then think about castrating him!'

Rinko scolded her husband. 'Nanjiro, stop being mean to Nanako. Just because she burned up all your porn magazines—'

'My niece is pure evil, Rinko, you'd better watch out for—'

Ryoma sighed in relief. 'Shut up, oyaji.'

'Here. Your b'day present.' Nanjiro tossed him something wrapped in shiny blue paper.

Ryoma tore the paper open. Then flung the present back at Nanjiro. 'I don't want Playboy for my birthday. Che.' Nanjiro shrugged and he began reading the thing himself.

'Just accept the present, dear. I'll tell him to give you something better tomorrow. Here, my present for you.' She gave him a beautiful floral arrangement made out of artificial flowers and a brand new blue collar for Karupin. Ryoma's eyes shone. 'Love you, Mom.'

Rinko smiled and behind Ryoma's back, she glared pointedly at a sulking Nanjiro as if to say, Hah. My present's better than yours. She could've stuck her tongue out, and it would've suitably accompanied the words. But she didn't, so it couldn't.

Nanako returned, holding a whole wardrobe outfit in her hands. 'In case you don't want to go to a party in your Seigaku tennis uniform.' She laughed and ignored the sharp stare the older male Echizen was giving her. Looking at the ceiling, she said loudly, 'I'll burn up all of your other magazines if I want to.'

Nanjiro roared. 'You - aargh, I'll call up all the boys in this town and tell them not to go out with you-'

'Nanjiro if she won't burn the magazines I will-'

Ryoma quickly left the ensuing war in the Echizen household.

Hmm, now where would Ryoma go next? Holding his presents and cat in his arms he started to walk back to where he lived with Atobe and the others.

No one really cared about his birthday. Not even him. He only celebrated this day in hope of getting tennis and Karupin-related presents, like the presents Sanada and his mom gave him today.

He was stumbling past Kawamura Sushi-ya when he heard his name being screamed from inside. 'ECHIZEN! You deaf height-complex person!' Momoshiro was yelling. Echizen turned and entered, dropping Karupin onto the floor. Almost the whole team minus Tezuka and Fuji were there, along with Horio, Kachiro, Katsuo, Tomoka, and Sakuno.

'God, it's great we found you. See, we were decorating this place for your birthday party and were gonna call you when it was ready. Happy birthday.' Momoshiro babbled on. Kaidoh poked Momoshiro. 'Shut up, Peach White.'

Wow. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Peach White and the Seven Regulars. Ryoma snickered at the thought.

Sakuno was shyly staring at him. 'Happy birthday, Echizen-kun.' She whispered then gave him a book on the biography of Andre Agassi. 'Hope you like it.'

'Thanks,' Ryoma said, and was surprised to find he meant it. The present was tennis-related, after all.

After that he was bombarded by gifts from everybody – cat ears from Kikumaru ("You can wear them until Karupin goes deaf, then Karupin can wear them, nya"), a Fila cap from Kaidoh and Momoshiro ("Too broke, sorry, dude. So me and Kai here cashed in together" "Fshuuu"), a vial of the strongest aphrodisiac that could be made by Inui ("I tried this on Horio and he gave 97.25% of the expected reactions… be careful to take only one drop at a time… and don't mention Horio in front of Tomoka anymore…"), free sushi coupons from Kawamura, and a first aid kit from Oishi ("You never know when a knife may come flying at your throat").

Horio and the other two gave Ryoma a bag full of Ponta cans. Ryoma would be eternally grateful (but he wouldn't show it). Tomoka gave him a gigantic banner ("Designed by all of the loyal members of your adoring fanclub").

The door tinkled open. It was Yukimura, Sanada, Atobe, Tezuka, and Fuji. Ryoma frowned. There was an atmosphere of discord amongst them. Then he noticed they were sitting at separate tables. Fuji and Sanada at one, the rest at the other. He frowned, handed his presents to Sakuno, and went over to them. 'What's up with you people?' He asked Tezuka's group first.

'Stupid peasants… thinking they're so saintly just because they managed to scrounge that tennis gear and camera for you at the last moment…' Atobe said, glowering at Sanada, who glared back. Ryoma's eyes widened. 'What the hell? Kunimitsu?'

'We … are in an argument.'

'WHAT?'

'Over you.'

'MADA MADA DANE, you idiots!' Ryoma screamed. Then he calmed down. 'What'd I do?'

'Nothing. They gave you gifts and we didn't. They were being smug about it and you appreciating them and everything… Sei snapped and lashed out at Fuji. Atobe started mouthing off to Sanada. I tried to calm them down but—'

'In the end you saw reason and sided with these stupid people.'

'Exactly. So please don't let me get my guard down.'

'God, stop fighting over me. Mada mada... I mean, I know I was picky and fussy about you people not giving me anything, but I was going to take you and Seiichi up on your offers!'

'And ore-sama?'

'I'd have a go with you after that.'

'Agreed.' Atobe's grin was gleeful.

'Will you guys stop fighting?'

'No.'

'Mada mada dane.' Ryoma went to join the Fuji/Sanada group.

It was deathly silent in the ride back home. Everyone was in the same limo, and yet no one was talking. Ryoma was pissed for the nth time that day.

'Drop it!' He exclaimed, finally losing his temper.

'Drop what? Your already broken heart because three of your beloveds didn't give you satisfactory presents?' Sanada growled.

'No!'

'Gen, maybe Ryo-chan is asking us to drop the non-existing gifts given to him by the other three.'

'SHUT UP, SYUUSUKE!' Ryoma couldn't understand why they were fighting... wait... Ryoma did have some advantage here... they were fighting over him and everything...

'Ryoma, you're still up for that offer, aren't you?' Yukimura asked. Ryoma immediately agreed. 'And up for Atobe's offer, too.' He added. The narcissist smiled arrogantly at the others. The score right now was 2-2, and was going to increase very, very soon. For both sides.

'Ryoma, why are you looking sad? Birthday not quite what you expected it to be, with adequate presents from the ones you love?' 3-2.

'Echizen, let's play a tennis match. It's better than taking photos of it with a digital fricking camera.' 3-3.

'Ryoma, better play with the expensive and high-quality tennis gear Genichirou, and not the other three, bought for you.' 4-3.

'Or better, don't play at all.' Sanada said, and he and Fuji high-fived. 5-3.

To be honest, Ryoma was frankly enjoying every minute of this. They were in his room. Ryoma was sitting on his bed, and Fuji/Sanada were sitting to his right, and Tezuka/Atobe/Yukimura were sitting to his left. They were glaring at each other murderously, and grabbing every opportunity to insult the other group. Tezuka wasn't really taking part in it, though, cleaning his glasses.

Ryoma laughed.

'Ryoma, we could go shopping if you want. Ore-sama will buy you the company that makes Fila caps. You can have as many as you want.'

'Keigo, that's a good idea.' Score: 4-5.

'Ponta company too.'

'Very nice.' 5-5. Ryoma snickered. He'd managed to call Inui over to keep track of the score. Inui was predicting that the Fuji/Sanada group would win with a margin of 22.7%.

Then the door opened. Sebastian, the butler, said, 'Master Atobe, Sanada, Yukimura, Echizen, Fuji, and Tezuka, your teammates from your respective schools are here.'

Didn't he get tired of speaking six names whenever he addressed one of them?

Then a horde of chattering boys pushed past Sebastian, knocking the poor man out of the door—

'ECHIZEN!' They all screamed as one and Ryoma jumped into Sanada's arms. No one could touch him that way. Over there in the corner, Inui marked off another point to the Sanada/Fuji group. 6-5.

'Inui, you peasant, you're cheating and making them win!' Atobe got up.

'There is only a 1.2335% chance of that.' Inui murmured.

Atobe's eyes narrowed. He went over to Inui—'Ore-sama will give you your personal laboratory complete with every facility if you make us win.'

Inui calculated the possibility of that. Finally he announced as everyone quietened down—

'The Buchou/Atobe/Yukimura group win, 113-6.'

Ryoma smiled grandly in an arrogant imitation of Atobe. 'I'll take you up on your threesome offer then. Happy birthday to me.'

Fuji stood up in outrage. 'Saa, Ryoma, you slut—'

Kikumaru bounced and glomped Ryoma—'Mou, why are you guys fighting, anyway?'

Tezuka blinked. Atobe was speechless. Marui and Yagyuu who were chatting were ignoring everything. Jirou had jumped onto the bed to sleep. Kabaji was leaning against the door and the rest were doing you know what. Oshitari, who hadn't said anything, mumbled, 'Yeah, Kikumaru, I could ask you guys the same question.'

Ryoma was stunned. And he'd been enjoying all this while... ugh. They'd forgotten they were fighting over Ryoma! How crappy was that?

Fuji didn't remember either, and Sanada was too busy running his lips over Ryoma's neck to bother answering. At least the fight was over. He didn't like fights... fights not concerned with kendo.

After a very ... spent three hours, Ryoma opened his eyes. It was ten o'clock. He was surrounded by his lovers... Atobe and Fuji on his sides while Tezuka lying on top of him (he particularly liked that) and Sanada and Yukimura were speaking to each other.

They noticed he was awake. 'Ryoma?'

'Yeah, Sei?'

'Happy birthday. We—as in Kunimitsu, Keigo and I—are sorry for the late present, but here it is. We contributed toward the money and Syuusuke and Gen picked it.'

Yukimura reached for the bedside table. He opened the drawer (the others had woken up too, and Tezuka was softly kissing Ryoma's lips) and brought out a small box-like object wrapped in gold paper.

Ryoma wondered whether it was REAL gold. With Atobe, you could never tell.

Actually, Ryoma knew it was gold. Real. With Atobe, you could always tell.

Yukimura took off the gold covering and then opened the box.

Embedded in the middle was a ... ring. With five diamonds cut into the platinum. 'One for each of us.'

Ryoma stared. Tezuka pulled out the ring and slowly placed it on his finger.

'I still want those special edition rackets.' He said after a while.

'Didn't Genichirou already give you those high-quality things?' Yukimura complained.

'So? There's a difference between the best tennis things in Japan and special edition Roger Federer tennis rackets. Che. Mada mada dane. You don't know anything.' Ryoma scoffed. 'And I bet Keigo bought the ring while you guys fumbled around.'

'I never fumble around.' Tezuka mumbled.

'Yes, you stroll around, Mitsu.' Keigo said.

'No, no, he marches around leading the Seigaku parade to glory.' Fuji pointed out.

'He marches? Doesn't he do ballet? Oh, man, imagine Kunimitsu Tezuka doing ballet in his tennis outfit. Ha.' Yukimura smirked, and then burst into laughter.

'Enough.' Tezuka said. He looked stone-faced, but his tone was that of a very, very pissed tennis captain.

'Enough.'

'First place for best imitation goes to Gen. Congratulations, Gen, you get Tezuka's glasses. Now have fun getting Kunimitsu to play around with you.' Keigo said.

Tezuka said, 'I was wondering where they went. Give them back, Gen, or Yukimura won't make love to you.'

'Ah, what the fuck? Why are you using me all the time?' Yukimura complained again.

'Oh, yes, Sei, you forgot to use those talking skills you were bragging about on us.' Sanada said quietly, dragging Ryoma over to him and giving the glasses to Kunimitsu.

'Hmm... later.'

The bell struck twelve in the night.

'Ore-sama guesses your birthday's over, brat. Happy ... how old are you anyway?'

'I – I don't know! Old enough to have five guys as my lovers.' Ryoma was suddenly frantic. He could not tell the others his age...

'Love you.' Fuji said to Ryoma.

The same thing was repeated four times to Ryoma.

And as everyone went to sleep, Ryoma whispered—

'I'm fourteen.'

I hope you liked it and thought it was funny and everything. Please review!