Note: I love these two so much and to full-fill my need of more stories I wrote one.
Cross-post from AO3.
Enjoy~
Gintoki can tell that the smile is filled with pain, he's known Tatsuma long enough to know the signs that others don't see. He wonders why he's putting it on even though it's just the two of them sitting on the couch in his apartment right now.
"So, what happened next was Mutsu then took the man by the neck an-"
He gets cut off.
"Why do you continue to smile even though you're in pain?" Shit. Why did he say that so bluntly?
Tatsuma stops talking and stares at Gintoki, though it's hard to read his expression behind the sunglasses. The smile is still there.
"What are you talking about Kintoki?"
Gintoki can only stare at him. Does he really not know? Or is he just pretending to not know?
"You heard me. Or do I need to repeat myself?"
The laugh that reach's Gintoki's ears hurts, it hurts so much to hear it that he almost wants to put a hand over Tatsuma's mouth just to silence the sound.
"You're so funny Kintoki, there's no need to repeat yourself, as I'll never understand it anyway."
Gintoki swears he can hear his heart shatter. Though the sound is silent and Tatsuma continues to laugh. He needs to find a way to make it stop, it's starting to physically pain him now.
Reaching a hand up, Gintoki grabs the edge of Tatsuma's sunglasses and takes them off. If his heart was shattering before then now it just broke into a million pieces. Tatsuma's blue eyes aren't shinning, instead they're dull and life-less. Yet he continues to smile.
Setting the glasses down, Gintoki then reach's up yet again and this time he rests his hand against Tatsuma's cheek. He see's blue eyes widen in shock.
"Gintoki?"
He said his name. How long has it been since he last heard him say it?
"Tatsuma, it's okay to let the smile go," Gintoki says. "Because for now, you're not Sakamoto the Space Merchant, you're my idiot friend."
The painful smile finally falls off of Tatsuma's face, leaving behind a man who is far to kind for the world. Gintoki pulls his friend to him in a warm embrace and hands grip onto the fabric of his clothes as the tears that have held years of pain finally release.
Gintoki rubs his friends back as he cries into his chest. Who knows how long Tatsuma needed to be held, for someone to soothe his tears, for someone to take the pain of the universe away from him for just a little bit. Holding him tighter, Gintoki can feel his eyes get watery but he refuses to let the tears fall, as for once he wants to be the one comforting him and not the other way around.
After several minutes the tears finally stop, but Tatsuma doesn't let go of the embrace. Instead he leans up until his lips are almost touching Gintoki's.
"Thank you."
Soft lips meet Gintoki's in a gentle kiss and the tears he'd been holding back finally fall.