Chapter One: A Decent Priced Blaizer, Some Kinks, and a Good Lay.

The streets of Shinjuku are bustling, the Friday nightlife overrun with businessmen going to party with their coworkers after a long week. The sky tower is a lit in the distance, it's purple glow illuminating the foggy, overcast sky. There's a sheen of rain over the top of every surface, the ground reflecting the lights shine as he walked down the sidewalk, cars zooming by, the sound of water beneath their tires. Another night.

Kondo is beside him, holding his jacket in the crook of his arm as he laughed about something Yamazaki had done earlier that day. Hijikata's barely paying attention, more focused on the crowd and his cigarette than anything. They're both off duty, Sougo promising to join them for drinks after he got off. He'd let Kondo pick the bar they were going to, not that he wanted to go out drinking tonight because he didn't, however, he'd made a pact the last time he skipped out and now here he was, trapped.

Tokyo's thick crowds are something he, a country boy, would never quite get over. They gave him a certain anxiety that a police officer probably shouldn't have, but nonetheless, carried anyways. Not that he didn't love the city, it was much more accessible and welcoming than his life back when he was younger, but there was always a bad to every good situation, and that just happened to be Tokyo's.

"Toshi, would you be a dear and call Sougo to see where he's at? His shift should've ended a while ago." Kondo says, stopping them to wait for the crosswalk signal to turn green.

"Augh, only if you stop calling me that…"

"What?" His superior laughs, "Toshi, or a dear?"

"Both, but a dear mostly. Makes me sound like your wife or something." He states, flipping the phone open after dialing Sougo, watching the cars pass by as it rang.

"He didn't answer, but you know him..." Hijikata says with a huff. "Bastard is probably already there."

"That's true."

The light flashes green, indicating they're safe to walk. A couple of young teens brush past them, jogging down through the other people crossing from the opposite direction, laughing and holding hands. Ah, that carefree energy. Seems like a lifetime ago the last time he wasn't only focused on work. Now that he thinks about it, that's probably why Kondo forces him out so often.

It's several more minutes of walking till they reach the bar, a rather upbeat and populated one, aka, not the type Hijikata was too happy to be visiting. It's loud even from the outside and if the drinks aren't good, he's not planning on making this a long-term expense. Sure enough, as soon as they push open the doors Sougo is the first head they see, chatting up some guy with an unruly head of hair and some red framed glasses.

Kondo smiles and waves at them, Sougo looking over directly at Hijikata with a grin and a few whispers to the guy in the glasses, who then chuckles and nods at whatever was said. He doesn't pay the two any mind, instead following over Kondo to the bartender to order drinks. God knows he needs them.

He orders something strong, forgetting the name of it immediately after he says it. His level of caring is at an unusual low, and he's not planning on making a lot of conversation as soon as he gets the glass in his hand. After they've gotten their drinks, Kondo leads them back over to the table by the entrance that Sougo and the mystery man were at.

Kondo shakes the hand of the guy, so that means Hijikata has to as well. They sit down after the greeting, Sougo finishing the rest of his drink and calling for another as a waitress walked by. Kondo says something to the guy, who Hijikata is just now noticing is wearing a pretty decently priced blazer. Must be some upcoming bigshot for a company or something, he decides. That's the only way someone could pull off red-framed glasses, with money.

"This is Sakata Gintoki, seventy-seven, single." Sougo looks directly over to Hijikata as he says the last word, which Hijikata vaguely catches through his peripherals from where he was staring out the window.

"Ah, pleasure to meet you, Sakata-san! I'm Kondo Isao and this is Hijikata Toshiro. I'm sure you're well acquainted with Sougo already." Kondo laughs and Gintoki smiles and nods as he takes a drink. "What do you do for work?"

Gintoki glances over to his left where Sougo was sitting, who then interjects before Gintoki could set his glass down on the table. "He's an entrepreneur. Successful businessman."

"I see, glad that's working out for you, Sakata-san! That explains the nice clothes!" Kondo remarks but Hijikata's not convinced. Sougo's acting weird, he usually doesn't talk for other people like that, especially on something that's personal to them.

"Entrepreneurs are what criminals typically describe their jobs as." Hijikata asserted, turning his head from the window to face this Gintoki character, leaning back in his chair. "Surely you're not an entrepreneur, correct?"

"No, I assure you, officer, I'm a law-abiding citizen." The perm says, eyes not straying from his own, smirk shy across his lips but definitely there. There's tension between them, maybe because of the way that Sougo is puppeteering their whole meeting, but he and this friend of the tan haired sadist are not getting along. "What do you do in the force?"

"I'm vice-commander."

"Ah, that explains your sense of smell."

"Sense of smell?"

"—He means the cologne you're wearing is fitting of a vice-commander, Hijikata-san." Sougo inputs, once more cutting them off from their own conversation. Gintoki takes another sip of his drink, eyes glancing around the bar idly. A man waves hello to him from across the bar, and Gintoki gives him a hello back with the raise of his glass.

"Popular here?" Kondo asks, trying to fix the falling conversation.

"I know my way around." That smirk is back on his lips again, and Hijikata knows there's something that he's missing here but he just can't quite put his finger on it. "Comes with the job, I guess."

"Ah, I see. I, too, know my way around." Kondo says with a wide grin, waving hi to one of the bartenders who gave him the middle finger back. "Ah, she's beautiful as ever~"

"You know 'Tae?" The perm asks, all attention now back on Kondo.

"I mean of course I know her, she's only the prettiest girl I've ever met." He says confidently, eyes not staying from the brown haired woman. "She's why I come here, after all."

Hijikata's eyes wonder back to outside, watching the people pass by the window through the light rain. He can't help but think about Mitsuba every time women come up in their conversations, the same guilt from years ago latching around his throat and rendering him unable to speak on the topic.

He knows that's why Sougo despises him so much, why he's always out for his life. He doesn't blame him, he broke her heart and she died full of regrets; unfitting for a woman of her beautiful character. Of course, that left Hijikata with his own share of death-bed woes, those he'll never be able to get rid of. Not that he would ever try, it's his own cowardice that led her to die in such a way, after all.

"What about you?" Gintoki says, looking at Hijikata, lips resting on his glass.

"Huh?"

"Do you have someone special?" Gintoki repeats, and Sougo sarcastically raises his eyebrows with a laugh.

Hijikata glares, bite in his words. "No, I don't."

"But you could." Sougo mutters.

"What are you getting at, you piece of shit?"

Of course, he doesn't get a reply, leaving the whole table in a mess of awkward silence for a moment too long.

"Toshi is too focused on work." Kondo inputs, "I try to get him out in hopes that he will meet someone but I'm finding that he might be unable to focus on anything but work…"

"And that's how I like it."

"I understand, sometimes I immerse myself in work as well." Gintoki says, eyes too focused on the vice-commander, that thing that Hijikata is missing taunting him once more. "But mine is a whole lot different than yours, taicho. More relaxing; makes it easier on me to forget about everything else than someone like yourself."

Hijikata narrows his eyes, drink running too low for his comfort. "That so?" Is all he says, and something dangerous flashes in Gintoki's smile. He's being led onto something― like a fish nibbling at the end of a lure, he's wanting to be caught; and Hijikata's in just the type of mood to play chase.

Sougo laughs at something unknown to everyone but him, and Kondo's too busy watching this "'Tae" girl to pay attention to what's unfolding before him. Out of the blue, Gintoki excuses himself for a moment, going over to talk to a group of men that had just walked in, people he seemed well accompanied to, judging by their body language.

Sougo looks Hijikata over, sadistic grin on his stupid face. "You're quite the talker tonight, Hijikata-san."

"Am I?"

"Yes, you're saying a lot of things you usually wouldn't to someone new." He pauses, swirling the ice around in his drink aimlessly. "What's the reason?"

Hijikata shrugs, watching Gintoki interact with one of the men. "Didn't know I was doing it in the first place, how am I supposed to answer that?"

"Dunno, I just feel like you'd have a better grip on yourself than this."

"Maybe it's the alcohol."

"Maybe," Sougo says, another sarcastic eyebrow raise following the word. "Or maybe it's something else."

"What are you playing at, bastard? I have better things to do than decode your stupid antics."

"Oh, it's nothing really.― He's coming back, Hijikata-san."

Sure enough, Gintoki is making his way back over to the table, four drinks in his hands. He's got a sauve, confident step to him, something that didn't sit right with his carefree attitude. This perm is a mystery, from his looks to body language to his attitude, none of his pieces aligned but they still fit together, a feat Hijikata couldn't unravel to save his life.

"I brought some refills, if you guys wanted any." He says, placing the glasses down on the table.

The group talks a while longer, all drinking with casual conversation. He learned that Gintoki once had a job as a bartender and that he took care of two younger kids, one of which was the brother of the bartender that Kondo was so infatuated with, who he learned was named Otae.

The drinks go by, one hour turns into two, then two and a half. They switch bars a few times, the lovely Shinjuku weather only raining on them once they're switching to the next establishment. He's getting close to drunk because jogging through the rain without hitting anyone or anything is hard; but at least he's not Kondo, who is already well passed out. Sougo is calling their supervisor a cab while Gintoki waits under the hangover of an expensive apartment complex and Hijikata buys cigarettes from the convenience store next to it.

Once he walks out, Gintoki's rolling up his wet sleeves, blazer thrown over his shoulder. Be it the alcohol or his own conscious thoughts, he wouldn't deny that Gintoki looks damn good soaked by rain and bathed in the warm lighting of the streetlights.

"Smoke?" He asks, a cigarette sticking out of the package for Gintoki to take if he wanted it.

"Sure."

"Sorry, I don't smoke the high-quality brands."

"That's not a problem." Gintoki chuckles, lighting it on Hijikata's open mayonnaise lighter. "I don't smoke often so one cheap cigarette isn't going to kill my upper-class bar that you all have seemed to set for me." The perm says with a grin and barely any slur in his words.

"Ah, that's good." Hijikata chuckles, the atmosphere between them pleasant. They've gotten along more as the night has progressed, a "birds of a feather" type of feeling.

Soon enough, a taxi finally pulls over and then it's time for Hijikata to say goodbye to an unlikely friend. It takes all three of them to get the deadweight that was Kondo into the taxi, and Hijikata goes to sit down next to him. But before he can, Sougo is in his place.

"Hijikata-san, you go along." He shoos Hijikata away with his hand, getting ready to pull the taxi door closed. "I'll take the gorilla home."

"Huh-? Why?"

"Because." And with that, the door is slammed in his face, and the taxi is off before his alcohol induced mind could catch up with what just happened.

"Well." Gintoki says, the sprinkling droplets wetting his unruly perm. He runs a hand through his hair, the water catching in the crooks of his fingers. "That's something."

"What now?"

"I mean, I'm not nearly as wasted as I wanted to be tonight and I have plenty to drink at my apartment, if you're comfortable with that." Gintoki says, gentle with his words. He knows he doesn't want to make Hijikata think that he's out to get him, being that he was the vice-commander of the Shinsengumi. Fortunately, Hijikata has a good bit of trust in the moment both in his self-defense and the man in front of him, and soon enough, they're nearing his apartment.

There's a level of tension between them, and through Hijikata's drunken mental haze he can't pin where it's coming from. It's not a negative tension, but something different albeit not unwelcome. It's a feeling he hasn't had in a while, and for a man like Hijikata, he hates when he doesn't have a full grasp on himself. Maybe he shouldn't have drank so much.

However, he's not going to stop now and Gintoki leads them up his apartment's stairs, punching the password into the closest door to the left. The rain is just beginning to get bad, and a crack of lightning illuminates Gintoki's damp face through the darkness as he invites Hijikata into his apartment.

It's not some huge, fancy place, no bigger or smaller than his own and it's well kept, something Hijikata is grateful for; he hates a slob. The perm excuses himself and disappears into a room, reemerging later with two dry shirts and a pair of pants for him to change into. Hijikata takes the faded blue one and the sweats, and Gintoki directs him to the bathroom, telling him to throw out his wet clothes so he could put them in the dryer.

When Hijikata finishes he flicks the bathroom light off, opening the door to the living room, where Gintoki was changing his shirt. Out of respect, Hijikata averts his eyes, but not before seeing the assortment of scars across the perm's back.

"Oh, you're out. You can take a shower if you want, I don't mind― just don't get sick." There's a airy chuckle behind his words, and Hijikata is a little slow catching it, for one reason or another.

"It's fine, even if I do it won't do much to me." He slightly slurs, walking over to the kitchen counter and placing his folded wet clothes on the edge for Gintoki to get later.

"Fair enough, what do you want to drink?"

"Anything's fine with me."

"Cheap beer?"

"Sounds great."

"Want something to eat with it?"

"Maybe later." Hijikata says, taking the can that Gintoki holds out to him and enjoying the fizz of the pressure being released with the tab. They make their way to the couch, the time nearing one in the morning, and Gintoki turns on some true-crime show for the background noise.

"What are your scars from?" Hijikata says, pulling the question from the blue. "―If you don't mind me asking…"

"Ah, no it's not a problem. I didn't think you saw them." He laughs, hand lifting up his shirt, pinky tracing one of the deeper healed gashes. "I was a rowdy teen, let's just say that."

"Lots of hospital visits?"

"No hospital visits. That's why I kept fighting, no bills hanging over my head." He laughs again, a lightness to what would usually be a sensitive topic, eyes fixed somewhere in the distance behind him. Hijikata takes another sip of his drink, tossing his pack of slightly wet cigarettes onto the table.

The rain is picking up, thunder and lighting cracking overhead. Their phones get an alert simultaneously, a blaring loud alarm followed by a warning for flash flooding in the area till early in the morning. "Well, looks like I'm going to be walking home tonight."

"No way are you walking home in this weather." Gintoki says, motioning down towards the couch. "This pulls out, you can sleep here, or take my bed; I don't really care. Whichever is more comfortable for you."

Hijikata nods, thanking him, finishing his can. Gintoki gets up to get himself and Hijikata another from the fridge, his own sweats hanging lowly around his hips. Hijikata feels bad, being the guest he is, and follows Gintoki to the kitchen to throw away the empty can.

"Do you recycle?"

"Always. The bin's right over there."

Hijikata does as he's told, saving the world one can at a time. Gintoki is at the counter, hands reaching up into the cabinet, shirt exposing his scared belly. Hijikata has a thing, and it's that thing accompanied with a good bit of alcohol that causes his thumb to reach out and trace a scar just above the perm's waistline. Gintoki freezes, body stopped from whatever action was taking place the moment prior, and he slowing brings one hand down to run through his hair. There's a sigh, too, somewhere in there, but Hijikata's also too frozen to pay attention.

"What's your angle, taicho?" Gintoki grumbles, voice low and rough. There's a bite in his title― sharp, stinging bite.

Hijikata retrieves his hand back to him, holding it carefully by his chest like a puppy with it's tail between it's legs. "I- I didn't mean to…"

"Things can be taken the wrong way when you're not careful, Hijikata-san."

Hijikata, against his better will and judgement, lets the liquid confidence start talking for him. Any sane man would have backed down, apologized, and maybe sat a foot further away than previously but not him, not tonight. No, Hijikata looks Gintoki directly in the eyes, the TV casting a ghastly glow onto his pale cheeks and says, "What if I want it to be taken the wrong way?"

There's a moment that passes between them, the air thick, weighted with the colorless voice of the narrator from the television and the constant downpour of heavy rain. Gintoki's eyes don't stray from his own and he stares resolutely back; Gintoki is looking for a falter in conviction, looking for Hijikata to take his words back with his body language, but tonight the vice-commander is more stubborn than rational. His hand is gripping the overhang of the counter like his life depended on it, his knuckles turning white and his hands shaking from the atmosphere building around them.

There's a hand that roams up the bottom of his shirt, fingertips lightly tracing skin. "Then I'd ask you if you're sure about what you're getting into."

Hijikata gulps, promptly nodding. His breathing is rigid, toes curling in his socks, the tile beneath his feet threatening to open up and swallow him whole. It's been long since he did something this stupid, but it feels too liberating for him to stop. The perm closes the cabinet door above them, that hand reaching down to grab Hijikata's hip; there's a breath that gets caught in the back of his throat but it's quickly forgotten once Gintoki's mouth is on his in the mix of a indelicate kiss.

There's the taste of cheap beer on their tongues, both of them fighting for control over the other. Hijikata lets go of the counter, fingernails digging into the perm's lower back. Gintoki's a good kisser, and judging by the faultlessness of his movements, he's going to be exactly what Hijikata needs tonight to let go and forget many moons of mounted tension.

He's already being swept away, moans getting caught in his mouth simply from the rough grip Gintoki has on his hips, while his other hand scratches gently on his stomach. There's no more thinking, only acting― so when his partner starts pushing them backwards towards the couch, he compliantly follows. Hijikata's back hits the cushions first, Gintoki's legs instinctively pushing his own apart, never breaking their mouths. A hand disappears from around Hijikata's waist and there's some fumbling on the coffee table for something, then the TV mutes and the air around them becomes static.

Before he knows it, his shirt is being tugged up and off his head, thrown off to the side, immediately forgotten. The drawstring on his pants is next to be pulled, and when Gintoki accidently ties it further into a knot he groans out of a combination of need and frustration. Their kiss breaks, Hijikata's breathing heavy and the perm disappears from the couch somewhere deeper into the apartment. Thankfully, he has enough brain power left in him to work on untying the drawstring, and once that's loose he slips off his socks.

Gintoki returns a moment later, a couple condoms and a bottle of lube tossed onto the table. He removes his own shirt and makes sure his already too loose pants were undone properly this time. Back between the vice-commander's legs, he bites at Hijikata's bottom lip, pulling his cock out and wrapping a rough hand around it. Whatever was left of restraint and sanity goes flying out the window, because the noise that he makes is obscene and he knows Gintoki is eating it up― the low, throaty chuckle that the perm makes going straight to the heat building in his gut.

It's wrong, it's so wrong, but the way he feels like he's just floating his way through this encounter is the devil on his shoulder, calling him deeper, further into a night of promiscuity. He hasn't fucked in at least a year, let alone ever had someone this good; so he arches his back a little higher, grips tuffs of silver hair a little rougher, and lets himself be carried away.

Gintoki kisses his way down Hijikata's stomach, leaving a bite mark every now and then and before he knows it, a skilled mouth is replacing an equally skilled hand. It's this sudden change of temperature that makes him tremble the most, eyes rolling back in fervor, broken words falling incoherent through his lips. Gintoki smiles around his length, lust silent yet just as prevalent as with the man before him. It's taking all of his willpower not to flip Hijikata over and have his way with him, and Hijikata is fully aware of that. Gintoki's eyes speak for themselves, half-lidded, darkened at the meal before him. The vice-commander is in no way a weak man, but in this moment he feels hunted― a prey at the vicious, unyielding hands of a predator.

It's this realization that threatens to push him over the edge, and the mouth around his cock must know too, because it's the way that his tongue curls before taking all of Hijikata in, blinding him before he could warn the other he was near. Gintoki doesn't seem to mind it however, lips coming off of Hijikata's dick with a wet pop, swallowing. His pants are tugged the rest of the way off, and he orders Hijikata to flip around and to get on his knees.

Once more, he obediently does as he's told, the lid of the lube being flipped open before Gintoki douses his fingers in the clear liquid. A finger teases his entrance as he places the bottle to the side and he lowly mutters "relax", hand wrapping back around Hijikata's cock to help take his mind off of the situation. Slowly, he pushes a digit in, letting Hijikata get used to its feel. Soon enough, he's got three fingers in and by command of his restless bottom, that's all he needs.

After sliding on one of the condoms, Gintoki lathers a good bit of lube on his own length, making sure to take care of the vice-commander the best he could. "Ready?"

"Mmmf, get on with it already― I'm not som-!" The perm doesn't wait to hear the rest of the sentence to respond, because he pushes in carefully, filling up the officer before him. He traces the outline of Hijikata's shoulder blade with his thumb, scratching skin as he drug his nail down his back.

There's another sexy, deep chuckle that makes Hijikata want to come then and there and the perm whispers, hand reaching back up to pull Hijikata's head back with his hair. "Fuck― someone's greedy..." He draws his hips back slowly, snapping forward once he knows Hijikata can take it. More incoherent mess falls from Hijikata's lips, most words falling short and turning into a drawn out moan.

Gintoki picks his pace, somewhere in between fast and not fast enough, and it throws Hijikata's mind through a loop of wanting more, more, more. He's loud, he knows he's loud because there's two fingers that get shoved in his mouth, to which Hijikata bites just shy of drawing blood. Everything is moving too quick, the room spinning with intoxication from both alcohol and euphoria. Somehow, he manages to mutter out the word harder, his partner happily complying, flipping Hijikata over onto his back and lifting him up off of the couch.

He's sweating like a pig, they both are, and in the jumbled mess of his mind he finds it impressive that Gintoki is able to hold him up as easily as he is. He wraps his arms around Gintoki's neck, pulling him down so he could kiss him once more, their teeth hitting together with each thrust but neither one of them seemed to mind.

Hijikata's going crazy, between the mouth attacking his own to the dick ravaging his prostate, he knows he doesn't have a lot of time left― especially because he's not had sex this good in his life, let alone any sex at all in forever. His nails dig into Gintoki's neck, and when he feels the perm pull away from him, he opens his eyes to see the titillating scene of Gintoki grinning, bottom lip bitten between his teeth. He catches his gaze, deep red eyes staring unmoving into blue, that smile threatening to push Hijikata off the edge again. He's in something dangerous; that look that Gintoki is giving him, a sadistic and utterly sinful look that's enjoying the show spread out in front of him.

Almost as if he knew Hijikata was seeing too much, he bucks his hips in just the right way― Hijikata arching his back entirely of the sofa, clawing down the shoulders of the man on top of him. His vision is engulfed by stars, his body out of his control as he writhes under Gintoki's touch. It's the best type of agonizing, his mind floating on air yet his muscles weighed down from oversensitivity. Gintoki groans as Hijikata cums, the jolting around his own cock too much for him to take any more of.

He must have passed out because the next time he opens his eyes he's got a warm wet cloth cleaning him up, and Gintoki's pants are properly tied around his waist.

"Go back to sleep, you deserve it." He laughs, folding the cloth to a clean side before wiping the officer's stomach. Hijikata just groans in reply, still caught in his high. He lets his eyes close, enjoying the feeling of the rag across his sensitive skin, his breathing finally evening out. Gintoki whispers something else to him, but Hijikata's far too gone to hear it.

Somewhere in the mix of his consciousness and sleep, he feels himself be picked up and laid back down on something softer, a feat that would usually render an alarm in his head if he didn't have a odd amount of trust for the man performing it. So for tonight only, he lets himself be cared for, falling easily asleep to the smell of an unfamiliar bed.