Pairings: AkaRyo, Others

AU, OOC-ness, etc…

Trading in Tennis Rackets for Wedding Rings

"Your friend Echizen is getting married."

"Haaaah?! What'd you mean Echizen's getting married?" Momoshiro Takeshi's voice was so loud in the small bar it probably could be heard from the next town over.

"Exactly what I've just said Momoshiro, Echizen is getting married." Sengoku Kiyosumi was perfectly calm as he repeated the exciting news. It been pure LUCK that he'd been in the area earlier that same afternoon and caught wind of the name "Echizen" and "wedding bells" and being the social butterfly that he prided himself on being he wanted to share his discoveries with the first person he came across.

That person was Momoshiro. DOUBLE LUCKY!

"To who? When? Where? How is it that I don't know any of this when I'm his best friend?-well one of his best-friends Momo amended after a moment- "But whatever that's not the point! He can't do this-he cant."

Sengoku peered up at Momo, his bright baby blues looking even brighter than normal.

"And why can't he Momoshiro?"

Sengoku really couldn't say when it happened…the transformation…the feeling had come up out of no where...one day the idea of chasing cute girls around in skirts just didn't appeal to him-he wound up turning down more women and tossing away more numbers and dinner invites over the past couple of years all so he could spend time with Momoshiro-kun. Yes just "time" he wouldn't ask or demand anything from the younger man though he certainly would like to.

Sengoku…having once been a major fan of the fairer set could easily act as straight as an arrow but sometimes a purr would slip into his tone especially when his crush had that lost-puppy look on his handsome athletic face.

"So…blue."

Momo quickly shook his head and cleared his throat. It was the booze talking…surely had to be the booze he didn't care what his "friends" eyes looked like up close. Didn't care that the older man smelled like baby powder and something uniquely and completely him. Didn't care that Sengoku had a stray tiny red-orange lash at the end of his cheek and that he kind of really wanted to (most definitely) wished to brush it away with his finger. It was the booze…it was messing with his brain. Well that coupled with…

"Because Ryuzaki is cheating on him."

"Cheating? What do you mean?"

'Gah! Sengoku! Damn it stop it! Stop torturing me with your eyes!'

Momo wanted to scream but didn't instead he downed his final beer for the night and sighed. He just couldn't believe what Sengoku had just told him. Especially not after what he witnessed earlier that same afternoon.

()

He'd been at his favorite burger joint minding his own business when two familiar figures caught his attention. Always happy to see a friend or rival or fan or classmate from the past Momo wasted no time in wolfing down the last of his meal and rushing over to the pair. Ryuzaki's granddaughter Sakuno had blossomed into quite the flower, though she would still never hold a candle to Tachibana's little sister Ann and Echi-wait that wasn't Echizen, Momo noticed a moment later when the shorter male took off his hat and revealed wild auburn colored hair underneath.

The former power player racked his brain for a few minutes trying to place a name with the owners face.

"You're or you were Shintenhoujji's Kin something or another right? The first year ace always challenging Echizen back in grade school?"

Toyoma Kintaro eyes lit up and without really thinking about it he let go of his girlfriends' hand and bounced up and down much like he had as a middle schooler. "Is Koshimae here?"

Momo still felt confused but shook his head. "Eh he he no Echizen isn't here uh-

Sakuno took it upon herself to bow, "It's nice to see you again Momoshiro-san."

Momo forced himself to smile at the pair on the outside while on the inside his brain was running wild.

'What am I gonna do? What am I gonna tell Echizen? How can this be happening? What should I do? Think Takeshi think!'

()()

"Momoshiro-kuuuun you know I don't like it when you space out on me."

()()

()()

FLASHBACK U-17 training camp

Perhaps it was just a matter of loneliness or loss or boredom. Maybe it was all three. Whatever it was Ryoma was not taking Tezuka-buchou's sudden departure from the U-17 training camp well. Not in the least. And he wasn't the only one who felt this way, of this the prince was certain. And so he made a decision and decided to fill the void in his heart or at least lighten the weight that he felt in his chest. But when challenging member after member on each opposing team and court wasn't enough Ryoma realized he needed something more. A different type of distraction.

()

"I have a proposal for you monkey king."

Said monkey was sitting underneath one of his specialized custom-made parasols, designer shades covering his insightful blue eyes, a cup of tea in his manicured hand. "What are you talking about Echizen, Ore-sama doesn't have time to play your childish games."

"It's not a game and for once it has nothing to do with tennis either."

There was a brief pause and then Atobe spoke once more, "This is about Tezuka." Not a question but a statement.

"Yes. No! Buchou has nothing to do with this." A lie. A big fat lie and unfortunately for the prince the king saw right through him.

()

"Alright brat, out with it!"

"I have this problem and I think you can help me out with it since after all you have the same problem."

It would be too bold of a move not to mention unwise to straddle the monkey king right out in broad day light although the thought was tempting. Simply teasing the older boy with the blunt end of his tennis racket was sure to be enough to get his point across.

Atobe was no fool and he was far from innocent. Hell the guy was originally from England right and the British were known for their healthy sexual appetites no matter the age so it should be easy to persuade the monkey king.

Ryoma knew he was attractive or well at the very least he knew he was cute, could even be considered pretty. Atobe liked pretty things so it should be a no brainer.

"Are you flirting with me, Echizen?"

Ryoma scowled as a blush rose to his face. "This has nothing to do with flirting monkey king!" he all but spat, "Why would I flirt with a person I don't even like?"

"I don't know Ryoma, why would you?"

Ryoma blinked and felt his face heat even more. Was Atobe trying to flirt with him now?

Crap. What now?

()

After a long uncomfortable silence the King finally broke the ice.

"Well if you have nothing further to add, you might as well leave. Ore-sama must get ready for his next match."

"Wait! No! You can't go!"

Ryoma inwardly cringed at the sudden desperation in his voice.

'What the hell is wrong with me? Why do I sound so whiny?"

Nothing played out the way Ryoma had planned it inside his head. He was supposed to come off cool and a little bit coy. He was supposed to convince the Monkey King to have sex with him so he could get rid of this weird annoying feeling that he felt ever since buchou disappeared.

But nothing was turning out the way the prince wanted.

Not even close. Not a smile or a laugh not even a look of carefully concealed pity. No traces of humor to the color the arrogant monkey king' usual tone as things officially clicked in his mind.

Atobe looked more than just a little bit uncomfortable, hell if he clutched his teacup any harder it would probably shatter. "Ore-sama cannot give you what you want, sorry."

()()

Being flat-out rejected by Atobe had hurt Ryoma more than he had ever thought possible.

But it wasn't the end of the world and there was one other possibility-one other person who could help him out and Ryoma was sure he would not fail again.

()()

Figured he already had an up since Tokugawa had no initial ties to Tezuka in fact he was quite sure the two hadn't even had a verbal exchange during his buchou's short time at the camp.

()

He found the dark haired older teen right where he expected to find Tokugawa and wasted no time in making his proposal, all but pressing the other boy into the wall. "I need release. I need it now. And I need it from you but before you say anything stupid like "What are you talking about Echizen?" "Did you get hit with one too many balls today?" or "some variation of the two I want you to know that if you do this for me, right here right now I'll never bring it up again."

Tokugawa, a teen…(although almost a man) of very few words was quick and to the point as he turned around to give his reply. "I am not going to have meaningless sex with a minor especially not a minor who reminds me of my kid brother."

Ryoma wasn't called a brat simply for his behavior out on the tennis court. The prince was not going to back down easily, even as the harsh glare of Tokugawa's deep set eyes burned into him. "Nobody has to know. We're just two guys with a common goal, what's the harm?"

He wanted to add that this kind of shit always happened in America but figured there was really no reason to since it appeared that Tokugawa was suddenly giving his proposal some serious thought.

"…"

"Look if it'll put your mind at ease you won't even have to hold me afterwards or whisper sweet nothings in my ear. All I need is a little release."

Injecting a slight purr into his sentence would make Tokugawa see just how serious he was, of this Ryoma had no doubt.

()

Sadly the prince was proven wrong yet again as a look of pity/annoyance flashed across Tokugawa's features and he walked away from Ryoma without a word.

Ryoma knew if he had any sense at all-hell if he felt anything like his normal self he would have left well enough alone and move on to another candidate but he could not would not.

()

And so the chase was on…although it really hadn't been much of a chase at all since Tokugawa wasn't running but-

()

Nothing was ever simple for Ryoma. Well nothing accept tennis. Tennis was easy. Tennis was fun. Tennis was taking was currently being put on the back burner…well at least until Ryoma was satisfied. In all honesty the prince wasn't really thinking or seeing clearly at the moment.

The sudden appearance of a 6'2 solid block of muscle man suddenly standing in his way certainly wasn't helping manners.

"You're in my way."

Byoudin Hoo the so called Pirate of the Tennis Courts. Ryoma was not impressed not in the least.

"Freshman prodigy or not, middle schoolers don't belong here, run along before you get hurt."

"I'm looking for Tokugawa-san (when in the company of strangers Ryoma always did his best to remember his manners) we were having an important conversation."

Byoudin grunted in a very beastly and unhuman like manner and rubbed his bearded chin. "Kazu doesn't have time to play with you today."

Kazu? What the hell? Since when was Tokugawa on first name basis with his rival?

It suddenly dawned on Ryoma and he felt a combination of horrified and embarrassment flood through him.

Determined not to lose face completely the bratty prince turned up his nose and sneered at Byoudin. "You look like a girl with your long blond hair. Does Tokugawa call you Goldilocks while you're doing it?"

Not waiting for a response, Byoudin's face turning an angry red was more than enough, Ryoma stomped off muttering "Mada mada dane," underneath his breath.

()()()

Ryoma felt someone shaking him roughly but did not stir from his sleep.

()()

It didn't dawn on the prince until the following week that he'd been going about things all wrong. Of course Atobe and Tokugawa had rejected him. The monkey king had his own obsessions with Tezuka-buchou and probably would have felt like he was betraying the bespectacled teen if he went and fucked Ryoma. And Tokugawa because of two reasons, the first being the large age gap and the second being that goldilocks haired pirate Byoudin. In short Atobe and Tokugawa had way too much damn baggage. Perhaps in the future, like 10 years from now it would be a different story but at the moment Ryoma realized he would have to take his sexual frustrations elsewhere.

He started with his own team mates, quickly running through the list and realizing that it would be a definite no go. Momo-sempai was too much of an in-deep-denial-idiot…if anyone was going to sway the power player it certainly wouldn't be Ryoma. Plus Momo-sempai was practically like a brother and Ryoma didn't do the whole "incest thing" it just wasn't him. Fuji-sempai was too much of a sadist and impossible to read. Oishi and Eiji-sempai had each other and trying to come between the Golden Pair was too much of headache to even consider. Inui-sempai had enough to deal with as he tried to balance his time and energy between Rikkaidai's own data specialist and Kaidou-sempai.

And the idea of Kawamura in any type of sexual setting kind of turned the prince's stomach. So he moved on to rival teams, the first one to spring to mind was Sanada but just as quickly as the idea had formulated in Ryoma's brain it died as a scary "Child Blessed By God" image popped up. Sanada and Yukimura had a thing anyone could see it. Whether it was that of master and whipping boy was yet to be seen but either way there was no coming between those two. The trickster and the gentleman were interesting enough but they were also too much of a mystery. And the sugar addict and half Brazilian pair just seemed like they were in their own little world. That left Kirihara…hmmm

Well when the devil ace didn't have a racket in hand and blood lust burning in his eyes he actually seemed pretty normal. Wasn't bad looking either. Kirihara had the kind of hair that screamed 'Yeah I just rolled out of bed and what?' It was lazy…it was carefree it reminded the prince of America. As much as Ryoma loved Japan sometimes he missed the easy going way of the States. Kirihara was horrible at the English language and didn't seem fond of Americans yet ironically he'd probably fit in quite well. If the sea-weed haired teen wasn't a tennis player he probably would be a skateboarder or a street performer. Rikkaidai was a pretty prestigious school, Ryoma wondered if they taught dance and if so did Kirihara know how to dance. In a lot of ways Kirihara seemed like a bit of a loner…did most of his practice alone…ate alone…walked around the camp alone…'the more I think about the more I'm convinced he's more like me.'

It kind of sucked that he hadn't interacted with Kirihara much. They only had a handful of conversations and 2 unofficial matches to date. Granted one of those matches were a bit of a blur to Ryoma but-

"Itai!"

"Hey watch where you're going dumba-oh Echizen it's you."

Heh, speak of the devil and he appears. Red suited him well. Really well. Way more than that bumble bee combo of black and yellow.

"I'm just gonna cut right to the chase, let's have a match. If I win you'll to take care of this "itch" that's been bugging me."

Kirihara's eyes flickered and he rubbed his non-existent mustache "A match? Sure you want to take that risk?"

Ryoma didn't have time to bicker or rant or whatever Kirhara was expecting of him. He had an itch that he needed to get rid of ASAP "Shut up and follow me to the courts."

()()

"Ryo, oi Ryo wake up!"

Ryoma groans and shifts over on to his side but he still deep into is dreams and Akaya can't seem to wake him. So he decides on a different tactic.

A devilish grin makes its way across the sea-weeded man's face and he rips the blanket away from the smaller man and effectively sends the sleeping prince crashing to the floor of their bedroom.

Ryoma wakes with a start, bright and wide golden eyes become even wider and then narrow as he glares up at his lover who has the audacity to snicker at his disheveled form.

"Morning, Ryo!"

Technically it is morning….3 AM to be exact and so it's still dark outside.

"Don't you morning me asshole! Why the hell did you throw me out of bed just now Akaya?!"

Akaya looks thoughtful but only for a moment before he responds with, "Well Ryo you were making a lot of strange noises in your sleep and I tried to drown it out but it just got louder and louder and louder and I had to make it stop."

"Idiot you could have broken my neck just now."

Feeling guilty and a little bit annoyed Akaya bounds off the bed and reaches for his lover, lightly pokes and prods the smaller man. He's no expert but he's pretty sure Ryoma is just fine…no broken bones hell there isn't even a bruise. Granted he only has the moonlight to go by but…Akaya's eyesight has never failed him before and he doubts it will start now. "You're not that fragile Ryo, stop acting like such a baby."

Ryoma's glare intensifies and he elbows Akaya in the ribs. "Yeah well at least I don't cry in public unlike you."

It's a low blow. Meant to hurt. And it does. But just a little bit and Akaya knows he kind of deserves it.

The former devil ace rubs his side and angrily protests "Hey! It's okay for a guy to shed tears so long as he has a good reason for it."

Ryoma rolls his eyes, "Whatever Akaya, bawling like a new born in front of all your colleagues just because you were passed up for a promotion is hardly a good reason. Face it you still have lots more to work on."

Green eyes burn red for a moment before fading away.

"Hit a nerve did I?" the prince is taunting Akaya and Akaya decides to retaliate by way of grabbing Ryoma by one of his beautiful well-muscled ankles and pulling him across the floor much like a bratty child would pull a stuffed toy or rag doll and twists the limb just hard enough to make his lover whine and cry out.

"Take it back, Ryo!"

"Yadda!"

()

And from that moment on happy couple begins a round of not-entirely playful but not exactly dangerous rough housing. Karupin's yowls and Inabauer's barking can be heard through the closed door but neither Akaya nor Ryoma notice…or choose to acknowledge it.

"Bastard! Let go!"

"Hehe where's all this energy coming from suddenly Ryo? Back at the restaurant you kept complaining about how tiered you we-ow! Damn it Ryo don't grab my hair!"

"I'll let go of your hair when you let go of my ear-I swear one of these days if I'm not careful you're gonna bite it off."

"Hehehe you seem to be confusing me with Fuji Syusuke, I would never go that far."

Not anymore. Akaya had come a long way since his demon days. Bathing his opponents red hadn't appealed to him in a long time. And for that matter neither did tennis. Sure it was still fun to rally the ball every now and then but that burning drive and determination he once had for the sport had dwindled greatly shortly after he entered his final year of high school. He couldn't really say why…maybe it was because all of his main rivals had ventured off to different parts of the globe or different professions? Or maybe it was because of the man currently pinned under him.

Suddenly all struggling and clawing stopped and Ryoma went still.

"What is it Ryo?"

Ryoma shook his head. "Nothing. It's nothing. Anyway get off me Akaya, you're too heavy."

()()

TBC

So? Thoughts? Comments? Anyway I have no excuse other than I ship Momo and Sengoku and couldn't resist. Also I ship lots of pairings and yeah Ryoma is not exactly as slut…he's just horny, lol. Quick note: Because the characters are quite young in the flashback (canon ages of 13-15, etc any scenes/features of sexy times will be very PG-ish….real lemon/limes will come later. This I promise. =)

Yes I realize I'm dragging things out but this is for a reason. I also know I tend to be losing focus on Aka and Ryo from time to time but no worries…next chapter will be plenty of Akaya and Ryoma…including but not limited to "their first time" and a brunch with the parents. See you then? I hope so!

THANKS FOR READING/FOLLOWING!

~SLY~