a/n: I adored this little one-shot that I wrote for an anon on Tumblr. So I decided to post it.
P.S. Tsukuyo and Gintoki are married in this one, and have been for years. Because I said so.
Cashier Boy
"You're beautiful, miss! You don't know how beautiful you are!"
She looks back, and the cashier waves back at her; a brave goodbye as she left the store with her purchases. For a moment she grasps an image: a teenaged boy, perhaps the age of seventeen at the most, with intense blue eyes and a youthful complexion. And this glorious creature had decided to say those innocent words to a withering beauty like her. Naturally, she grants the boy a smile back in return.
Gintoki never quite makes those sorts of remarks to her anymore, which sometimes makes her feel old, even if she is only thirty with two small children.
Still, his disapproval is clear when she joins him at the entrance of the supermarket. "Boys," he grumbles. "Measly, lecherous worms - "
"I thought he was lovely," Tsukuyo interrupted, her cheeks still tinged pink. "And anyways, it was a compliment. No harm done."
"And if he were forty and fat you'd knife him quicker than a slice of cheese," Gintoki retorted.
She was about to say something to that, before another thought popped into her mind. "Wait a minute. Are you jealous?"
"Jealous?" He laughed. "Of course not!"
"You are!" she accused him. "You are, you are!" Triumphantly she strolls off with the groceries, intending to make a hot pot for dinner tonight because she can. After all, someone beautiful has complimented her today, even if it was just a fool's jest.
But that little victory is short lived. Suddenly she feels a bit guilty for making - well, an accusation, even if it is a false one. And so she stops, and looks back, perhaps a bit more vulnerable than she would like.
Gintoki meets her gaze with a quiet amusement. He loves that uncertainty sometimes. It's a confirmation that means much more than any "I love you"s or sentimental bullshit. It means that she doesn't take him for granted.
"Would you have liked it I were?" he asked her gallantly.
They know each other so intricately, like a well tuned duet. She hears a mild rebuke and a gentle reminder that he would have loved her more deeply than any boy half her age. And perhaps there is a confession tucked in between the lines that admits that maybe he had been a touch envious. Because even if he doesn't say so, she is still the most beautiful woman he's ever met.
And so she smiles back and confesses, "No, of course not."
-x-
the end