Title: The Imperial Palace Chapter 10

Setting: Strip Club AU.

Rating: M~

Reason: I'm stressing over university and I decided to write this in order to escape the mountain of never-ending homework.

Pairing: Platinum Pair.

Warnings: Uncreative content, possible OOC-ness, Yagyuu is a dad, Niou is a terrible influence, little children are annoying brats, etc.

Disclaimer: Prince of tennis is not mine.

~o~o~o~

Over the course of several weeks, Niou often found himself returning to Yagyuu's apartment.

Yagyuu didn't mind. Or rather, Yagyuu was too gentlemanly to shoo him out. However, that didn't stop Yagyuu from pursing his lips at Niou and giving him disapproving stares whenever Niou fell asleep on the couch or left an empty soda can on the table. For Niou, coming to Yagyuu's place was advantagous as it meant wasting less money on food and not having to worry about washing the dishes afterwards.

All in all, Niou was in a comfortable situation... as long as Yagyuu didn't turn on the nagging parent voice.

"I am convinced that I would have a heart attack if I ever see the inside of your apartment, Niou-kun," said Yagyuu as he casually folded his laundry in neat piles. He looked disdainfully at the chocolate wrappers Niou was leaving on his couch.

Niou nodded in agreement. "Yeah, you probably would. My apartment is not a pretty sight."

"I can only imagine," whispered Yagyuu. "But do tell me why you are always here?"

Niou shrugged. "I have nothing better to do," he said. He realized Yagyuu was folding some of his clothes as well. Good. It meant less laundry for him later.

"That is not good, Niou-kun," said Yagyuu in a scolding tone. "You should get a job instead of idly wasting your time doing nothing. Then you could start saving up for your future instead of relying on me or your parents-"

"Yes, mother," said Niou with a roll of his eyes.

Yagyuu's apartment was too neat, too organized. Yagyuu had a large TV that he never watched and a laptop that he never used except for work purposes. The only thing Yagyuu seemed to do for fun was take those large books off the many bookshelves and read their dull contents. Man, if Niou was a recently separated man living in his own downtown apartment, he was pretty sure he would be having parties every night. And he would have a pinball machine.

Maybe he could convince Yagyuu to get a pinball machine…

"So what are your plans today, Niou-kun?" asked Yagyuu. He was done the laundry, all sorted into neat color-coded piles. The gentleman sat down next to Niou, shoving his feet off the couch.

"I'll be vegging," replied Niou. Yagyuu gave him a confused look. "Vegging, as in sitting around doing nothing like a vegetable."

"I see," said Yagyuu. He wasn't sure if that was an actual word or not, but he said nothing about it. "I also don't have plans for anything productive today."

That set off a lightbulb over Niou's head. The silver-haired young man gave Yagyuu a sly smirk. All of Yagyuu's red alarms went off in an instant.

"I know of a great way in which we can be unproductive together," purred Niou. He pulled himself up to straddle Yagyuu, his hands going up to play with Yagyuu's perfectly combed brown hair.

Yagyuu's mouth quirked. "Again?" he asked. "You are always so eager for it. We just did it yesterday."

"Yesterday was so long ago," whined Niou, licking his lips right before attacking Yagyuu's neck with bites. "I'm young. I need sex."

"Are you implying that I'm old, Niou-kun?"

"Nope. Your sex drive just needs a little boost. Your wife did no good to it," said Niou. "How many times did you used to have sex with her anyways, like once a month?"

Yagyuu paused before slowly admitting, "Once every six months, if I was lucky."

Niou pulled back and regarded Yagyuu with pity. "You poor, poor man," said Niou. "I don't know how on earth you survived that."

Yagyuu could only chuckle as Niou pressed in and invaded his mouth. Niou's kisses were always so passionate, so full of life, energy and enthusiasm that Yagyuu was always left breathless by the time they pulled apart. Niou then grinded his hips down and Yagyuu groaned, feeling Niou's already hard arousal.

"Bed," murmured Yagyuu.

"Aw, and here I thought we were finally giving the couch a go," said Niou. He patted the couch invitingly. Yagyuu narrowed his eyes.

"Bed or you don't get any. Your choice," said the gentleman.

Niou rolled his eyes and stood up. "Fine. Way to ruin all my fun, Yeahgyuu."

Yagyuu shook his head at Niou's childishness. He didn't see what was so adventurous or comfortable about the couch. He was pretty sure Niou had just been too lazy to want to move to another room. And also because it was now Niou's turn to make the bed and wash the sheets once they were done. Afterall, Yagyuu couldn't have Niou just loitering around his house all the time without making him do a bit of chores. He had even been thinking about making Niou wash some dishes too. Niou had to start pulling his own weight in this house.

Niou jumped on the bed the moment they entered the bedroom. Yagyuu smiled and joined him. He crawled up until Niou was under him and then they were kissing again. He pressed Niou back against the mattress, sucking on his bottom lip while his hands wandered down the silver-haired man's body, undoing buttons and brushing the exposed bits of skin. Niou made soft noises and Yagyuu swallowed them and suddenly he was very eager for this as well.

And then the doorbell rang.

They stopped, both of them looking in the direction of the door. Yagyuu raised an eyebrow and wondered out loud, "Who could that be?" He wasn't expecting anyone today. He was tempted to ignore whoever was at the door and pretend he wasn't home when the bell rang again, more insistent this time.

Sighing, Yagyuu rolled off of Niou. "I'll be right back," he said. Niou nodded and watched Yagyuu leave the room.

Niou heard the sound of Yagyuu clicking open the lock to the front door. Niou listened attentively, lying back with his hands behind his head. He was surprised when instead of Yagyuu greeting his guest, all he heard was a harsh tone.

"What are you doing here?" Niou heard Yagyuu say. Yagyuu sounded almost angry.

A woman's voice answered him. "I have an emergency at work. You're going to have to take him for the afternoon."

"Has it occurred to you that I might have plans?" said Yagyuu.

"You are a father with responsibilities. Your plans can wait," replied the woman. "I take care of him all week. The least you can do is be grateful and take him for an afternoon."

Ah, fuck, the kid and the wife were here, thought Niou. And it was totally not awkward that he was hiding in the bedroom. Niou just hoped Yagyuu wouldn't invite them in for tea and ask him to join the table. But luckily, from the sound of things, Yagyuu and his wife were definitely not on good terms. Niou didn't dare look outside the room to peak, just in case he would get spotted.

He heard Yagyuu sigh. "Fine," said Yagyuu. "Hiro-chan, come in. You'll be staying with dad for today."

"I'll be back later tonight," said the wife. And then the door shut and there was silence once more. Niou wondered vaguely what on earth a 3 year old boy would be able to do in such a neat and not-kid-friendly apartment. Niou couldn't recall seeing any kid toys anywhere.

He heard Yagyuu mutter something and then there was the sound of the television being turned on. Funny, Niou never thought Yagyuu would be the type to let his son watch cartoons. Niou had simply assumed those two read dictionaries together in their spare time. Either way, all this hopefully meant the kid would be distracted enough so that he and Yagyuu could finish their business together.

Yagyuu crept back in the bedroom soon after, carefully locking the door behind him.

"Hiro-chan's watching television," said Yagyuu. "He'll be distracted for a while."

"Nice of you to let him watch TV," said Niou. "You told me it would rot my brain the last time I was watching my show."

"You were watching reality shows. My son watches the discovery channel. There is a difference." He hastily joined Niou on the bed, running his hands back up that thin chest. "We have a bit of time now if we hurry."

Niou smirked. "Good, because I wasn't ready to let you go just yet." He gripped Yagyuu's firm behind as they began kissing heatedly again. Their movements were hectic, both of them struggling to tear their clothes off as fast as possible. Yagyuu got an elbow to the face on the way but soon they were rutting against each others' naked bodies in earnest.

"We have to be silent," whispered Yagyuu. Niou merely nodded and flipped them over so that Yagyuu lay on his back.

Niou then began kissing his way down Yagyuu's body, pausing to kiss at hard nipples and nipping at jutted hipbones. He roamed one hand down to Yagyuu's behind, brushing a finger up against the gentleman's entrance. Yagyuu stiffened. "Niou-kun…"

Niou looked up at Yagyuu's unsure face. "I know, Yagyuu. I won't do it today," promised Niou. "But when will you let me take you?" Yagyuu shivered at the words, at Niou's husky tone. "I want you so bad, Yagyuu."

Yagyuu didn't have time to answer as Niou dipped his head down a second later and swallowed his length whole. Yagyuu bit the back of his hand in an effort to keep his moans locked in his throat. The suction… the heat, it was all so good. Niou's finger didn't withdraw, teasing Yagyuu's hole with pressing touches but never fully slipping inside.

Niou paused for a second. "Here, I'll show you that it's not so bad, okay?"

Yagyuu made an impatient wanton noise and Niou chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm on it," Niou said and lowered his mouth over Yagyuu's arousal once more. This time, Niou's finger moved in, slow and burning, and Yagyuu's mouth opened in a silent moan. Niou worked on distracting the gentleman with his mouth as his finger dug in deeper and searched. Yagyuu was well on his way to losing it, feeling his climax coming closer… and closer…

"Dad!"

Yagyuu jerked, gasping at the sound of his son calling him from the living room. He quickly looked at the door, assuring himself that it was still locked tight.

"W-What is it?" Yagyuu called back in a shaky voice. He looked down at Niou's head between his legs and nearly moaned out loud. "I'm a bit busy right now, Hiro-chan."

"But dad, I have to pee."

Yagyuu looked at the door then back at Niou. The silver-haired young man swiped his tongue along Yagyuu's head. Yagyuu groaned.

"Okay, hold on a second, Hiro-chan," said Yagyuu. He pulled Niou off of him and rolled out of bed. He grabbed his clothes in a hurry and thought that leaving that bed was now officially one of the hardest things he had ever done in his entire life.

He looked back at Niou apologetically. "Sorry, this will only take a second."

Niou rolled his eyes and sprawled himself out on the bed. "Yeah. And I'll be here." He said to the now empty room.

This was exactly why Niou didn't understand people's needs to have kids. The brats were damn good cockblockers.

Niou decided that he was probably not going to get much action at this rate so he got off the bed and fished around for his pants. If he wasn't going to have sex, then at least he was going to do something half as enjoyable: eat all the junk food Yagyuu had in his fridge.

He exited the room and made his way to the fridge. Like he saw before, the majority of the things inside were healthy things like eggs, yogurt, fruits and vegetables. But if Niou looked way in the back, he could see his hidden stash of coke bottles. His next stop was the pantry, where a bag of chips was hidden behind a box of whole grain cereal. Niou snatched it the moment he saw it. He was sooning going to have to convince Yagyuu to get him more unhealthy snacks.

The door to the bathroom opened then and Yagyuu stepped out, flanked by a tiny version of the gentleman himself. Yagyuu's son stopped in his tracks, staring with wide brown eyes at Niou. The boy really did look like a smaller, way younger version of Yagyuu, minus the glasses.

Yagyuu cleared his throat. "Hiro-chan, this is our guest, Niou-kun," said Yagyuu to his son.

"Hey, nice to meet'cha, Mini Yagyuu," said Niou.

The kid kept on staring at him without saying a word until Yagyuu gave him a sharp look. It was only then that he squeaked out a small "Hi" before going to hide behind his dad.

Yagyuu hushed his son back to the living room area, setting him down on the couch. The television screen showed some cheetahs running after a poor antelope while some boring man's voice talked over it, explaining something about cheetah wildlife. That poor kid was going to grow up on shows like this. Niou felt almost bad for the boy.

"Niou-kun, must you walk around the room without a shirt on?" Yagyuu was back at his side and glowering.

"Must you walk around the house with a hard-on in your pants?" Niou retorted, pointing down at Yagyuu's crotch area. He smirked and popped his soda bottle open while Yagyuu was busy looking flustered.

"Fine. I'm going to my room and change into something more… appropriate," said Yagyuu. "Watch Hiro-chan for a few minutes, and please don't eat on the couch." Yagyuu stepped towards his room and looked back at Niou as if worried.

Niou snorted. "Relax, I'm not going to do any permanent damage to your son in only a few minutes. I'll make sure you can go jack off in peace."

Yagyuu gave him that look for an additional few seconds and then disappeared in his bedroom. Niou turned around and saw that the kid was staring at him again from over the top of the couch.

While totally ignoring Yagyuu's eating on the couch comment, Niou went to do exactly that, bringing his coke and chips with him as he sat down next to Yagyuu's son. The boy said nothing, sneaking occasional glances at Niou as if he were curious.

"Do you always watch this crap?" asked Niou, pointing at the TV.

The young boy nodded meekly. "Dad said not to eat on the couch."

"Well, your dad is a stick in the mud," replied Niou.

"I didn't see mud on daddy."

"Nevermind. Forget the mud," said Niou as the boy looked confusedly at him. Geez, he had forgotten how literal kids were about everything people said.

He extended his chip bag over to the boy. Hiro-chan hesitated for an instant before taking one and carefully eating it so that there were no crumbs or other pieces of evidence that would give away the fact that he ate on the couch. Then, Niou picked up the remote. "Mind if I change the channel?"

Hiro-chan shook his head. Niou thought for a second that the boy was quite adorable for being a cockblocking little shit. He quickly changed the channel to the sports channel.

"What's that?" asked Hiro-chan, pointing at the TV.

"Tennis," said Niou. "What, you never watched tennis before?" The boy shook his head no, his eyes mesmerized by the sight of players rallying back and forth on the large grass field. One of the players shot the ball sharply to the left and got the points, winning a set.

"Who's that?" Hiro-chan asked, pointing at the white-capped player who had just won the set.

"Echizen Ryoma. He's probably gonna win," said Niou, putting his feet up on the coffee table. "He always wins. He's won like everything in the last four years."

"Why?"

"'Cause he's a damn good player."

"Oh," said Hiro-chan. "How do you win?"

And so Niou began a lengthy talk about the rules of tennis and how it was about hitting a small green ball with racket in an attempt to make the opponent unable to get it. Then Hiro-chan asked about the scoring system, the lines on the court, the equipment, and rulebreaking until Niou was beginning to wonder when Yagyuu was going to come back out of his room. Yagyuu's son was like some insatiable sponge who fed off of new information, always asking "Why?" whenever Niou said something.

"…then there's the Wimbledon, and the U.S open," said Niou. Hiro-chan opened his mouth again but Niou shook his head. "No more questions, I'm tired. Go ask your dad when he comes back. Now eat your chips."

Yagyuu finally returned right when Niou was in the midst of shoving the chip bag in Hiro-chan's hands.

"Hiro-chan, that's not healthy to eat. And I see you are still half-naked, Niou-kun," said Yagyuu.

"I see it took you a good ten minutes to finish," grinned Niou. "What, did your hand get tired?"

Yagyuu cleared his throat loudly to hide his flush just as his son bounced off the couch and ran excitedly to tell his father of his newest discovery.

"Dad, can we go play tennis?" asked Hiro-chan, his eyes sparkling excitedly.

"Tennis?" Yagyuu looked confused until he looked up at the television just as Echizen Ryoma finished the match, giving the tennis player yet another victory and grand slam title under his belt. "But Hiro-chan, we don't have any rackets or a tennis court nearby."

The small boy's face fell in disappointment. It was the most heart-breaking thing Niou had ever seen.

"I have rackets," said Niou. "I can bring them next time I come over, no problem." The words were out before Niou had even thought them over, but at least they had the desired effect. Hiro-chan's eyes were as bright as a puppy's.

"Really?" said Hiro-chan. "Can we, dad?"

Yagyuu frowned, looking at Niou uncertainly. "Are you sure that's…?"

Niou shrugged. "It doesn't bother me. My rackets are just collecting dust at my house anyways," he said. Yagyuu still didn't look convinced. "Oh come on, sports are healthy. He won't break a leg from running around with a racket."

Yagyuu sighed. "I suppose you're right. We'll arrange a date some other time," he said. Hiro-chan looked completely ecstatic about the news that he would soon get to play tennis. "But for now, I noticed it's nap time for you, Hiro-chan."

"I don't want to sleep," said Hiro-chan with a pout. "I'm not tired."

"Maybe not, but you still have to," said Yagyuu. "You can sleep on my bed. It's really big, you know. A grown-up bed."

That's all it took to have Hiro-chan scampering off to Yagyuu's bedroom. The kid got excited way too easily in Niou's opinion. Tennis and big beds were nothing to be overwhelmed about.

Yagyuu was about to follow his son to his bedroom when he stopped and turned back to Niou. He gave Niou a kiss, short and sweet.

"Thank you," muttered Yagyuu.

"It's nothing," replied Niou. "No big deal. I just agreed to bring rackets over."

"Yes, but I still wish to thank you," said Yagyuu. "It's a shame we got interrupted today, but I assure you I will make it up to you soon." Their lips met again, inducing a hot lingering spark between them.

"I'll take you up on that another day then," said Niou.

"Yes, that's what I thought," said Yagyuu, meeting Niou's smile. "And I would also request that you put your shirt back on as I told you before. Last time I checked, you were not some frivolous stripper."

Niou rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said and went off to Yagyuu's room to retrieve his clothes before Yagyuu's son fell asleep.

~o~o~o~

Niou ended up leaving Yagyuu's house quite late. After Yagyuu's son had finished his nap, Niou had been in charge of keeping him company while Yagyuu made supper.

Supper was nice and relaxing. Niou didn't often get to eat home-cooked meals as he didn't know how to cook and visiting his parents was usually not worth it even if it meant a decent meal. Because of that, Niou didn't even complain that the desert was not to his liking (fruits are not deserts).

Hiro-chan had played a bit afterwards, asked more questions and read a picture book with his father before a phone call warned Yagyuu that his wife was on her way to pick up Hiro-chan again. And while Niou had been okay meeting Yagyuu's son, he wasn't looking forward to ever meeting the gentleman's wife so Niou had decided that it was time to leave before she got here.

So there he was, slowly making his way back home. Even if it was growing late, he had no desire to go back to his own small, dark apartment. He would have been up for sleeping on Yagyuu's couch if he didn't have school early the next morning. He would have also not minded skipping class, but he was half-sure that he had an exam tomorrow so… skipping was probably a bad idea.

Niou internally groaned, leaning against a near street lamp. Yet another reason why he didn't want to go home. Then he would have to actually study. And sitting down in a silent room to read and memorize answers was not his idea of a beach party.

He looked around as if hoping to find something to distract him. The only thing that was around were the many clubs and bars layering the street. Niou frowned. He would get a drink but having a hangover during an exam didn't sound like a good idea either.

Plus it wasn't like he had any money to waste…

Suddenly, a light went off in Niou's head. That's right… he had no money. But he could earn some. He remembered that Yagyuu had been bugging him to get a job earlier today anyways. His last job in the coffee shop had been awful, but Niou simply decided that he wouldn't get a part-time job that involved dealing with people who hadn't had their morning coffee yet.

Niou was very excited now. The street had countless places to apply to! Niou could practically just pick one… he knew many people around here, and maybe some might be willing to get him a job somewhere!

In his excitement, Niou had forgotten about the crucial fact that he had absolutely zero bartending experience. His enthusiasm depleted when he remembered that he was better at drinking the drinks than actually knowing how to make them.

"Crap," said Niou out loud. Well, so much for getting a bartending job. Maybe the universe was trying to tell him to go home and study like a good boy.

Or maybe…

He turned and saw the bright flashing lights of the Imperial Palace. That was where he had met Yagyuu, he thought with a smile. Honestly, being a stripper was not his first choice and there was no way his parents or Yagyuu would approve, but hey, it was worth a shot. Life was about new experiences and Niou was definitely up to try something new, especially if the end result was spare money in his pockets.

And that was how Niou ended up walking inside the open doors of the Imperial Palace and asking the nearest dancer if they were hiring.

He was sure this wasn't what Yagyuu had in mind when he told him to get a job and make some money, but Niou had never been the type to follow perfect instructions anyways.

~o~o~o~