Disclaimer: I do not own Gintama or any of its characters.
Word Count: 4016
A/N: This is a 2 part GinHiji. They're just so precious, how can you not love them?!
Silence filled the inside of the small bar, save for the sound of glass hitting the counter after one of the men occupying it finished their drink. Gintoki swished around the alcohol in his cup, uncharacteristically quiet as Hijikata downed the last of his drink. Neither of them really knew how to react to their present situation: a depressed Sougo. It had officially been one year since Mitsuba passed, and Sougo sat at the far end of the bar, staring listlessly into the bottom of his glass. Every now and then he would sigh or take a sip of his drink, but he just wasn't into it. Meanwhile Gintoki and Hijikata were downing drinks as soon as their glasses were refilled both to numb the pain and to momentarily escape the awkward atmosphere.
The bartender finally put away the bottle of alcohol the guys had been sharing and leaned against the counter. "Hate to kick out payin' customers, but the bar's closin'."
Gintoki nodded in acknowledgement and drank his last bit of alcohol before standing up and grabbing Hijikata's sleeve. The world around him spun a bit and he leaned into Hijikata, causing the elder to grumble in annoyance. "Are you reeeally that drunk?" Hijikata asked, words slurring more than he would have liked.
Gintoki hiccupped and smacked the back of Hijikata's head as he stood up. "Shut up. Listen to you. You can't even t-talk right." Gintoki ironically stumbled over his own words, almost losing his balance when Hijikata shook him off. "Souichirou! Let's go."
Sougo stood up slowly, not even bothering to correct Gintoki. "Great, now I have to take care of two drunk idiots. Wasn't this night supposed to be relaxing and healing?"
"I'm not drunk," Hijikata insisted, stumbling towards the front entrance. Gintoki and Sougo followed soon after until the three of them made it to the patrol car parked out front.
"I'll give you a ride to Boss's place, but that's it. You can crash there for tonight, Hijikata-san," Sougo said, stepping into the driver's seat. For several moments Gintoki and Hijikata argued over who would get to sit in the passenger seat until they decided to settle it by flipping a coin.
Gintoki clumsily pulled a coin out of his pocket, allowing several others to fall out of his pocket and onto the ground. "Call it."
"Heads," said Hijikata confidently, followed by a soft hiccup.
Gintoki flipped the coin up in the air, catching it on the back of his left hand and covering it with his right. He smirked at Hijikata before removing his right hand only to shout a disgruntled "agh" when the coin turned out to be heads up. As he made his way to the back seat, he tossed the coin rather harshly at the back of Hijikata's head, earning him a death glare from the aforementioned man and a long sigh from Sougo sitting in the driver's seat.
"Just get in," said Sougo, starting the car impatiently. The drive to Gintoki's place took no more than several minutes, but to the two drunk ones in the car, it felt like a lifetime. The entire way, Sougo dealt with complaints about driving too fast and making them feel nauseous. It's a wonder he ever made it to Gintoki's without willingly driving the car off a cliff.
Sougo parked in front of Otose's, kicking both Gintoki and Hijikata out of the car and speeding away. "What a rude kid. I should give him a ticket for speeding," Hijikata muttered, making his way to the stairway that lead to Gintoki's apartment. "I feel bad for him though." He reached for the cigarettes in his jacket pocket and quickly lit one up—but not before first burning himself several times on accident.
As Hijikata and Gintoki made their way up the stairs, Gintoki sighed. "Yeah. It's gotta be rough—" hic, "—without his sister."
Gintoki approached the door and slid it open, kicking off his boots and haphazardly tossing his belt and kimono onto the floor. He was followed by Hijikata who left the entire contents of the upper part of his uniform scattered all over the floor, but neither of them cared enough to do anything about it.
"You can sleep on the couch. Or on the floor for all I care," Gintoki muttered sleepily, making his way to his room. However, he was stopped by a hand tugging on his black shirt.
"I can't sleep out here. The dog will eat me," Hijikata argued, taking another drag of his cigarette.
Gintoki shook Hijikata off and slid open the door to his room. "Good. I don't care." Why was the Vice-Commander of the Shinsengumi scared of a dog anyway? Sure Sadaharu was larger than your average dog, but he was sure Hijikata had faced demons much worse.
"No," Hijikata said, following Gintoki into his room.
Gintoki hung his head and sighed. "Fine, fine. Do what you want. Just leave me alone."
He stripped down to his strawberry boxers, not minding the fact that Hijikata was standing about a foot away from him. Pulling out his futon, he laid it out on the ground and fell on top of it, not bothering to get under the covers. Alcohol truly did wonders.
Hijikata found the spare futon not too much later and laid it out next to Gintoki's. He put out his cigarette and laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. "Mitsuba was a wonderful woman," Hijikata whispered aloud. In his current state of mind, he wasn't entirely sure if he had said it in his mind or out loud, but he soon found out when Gintoki responded.
"A strong woman," Gintoki replied, slowly but surely feeling himself sober up. He rolled onto his back and absentmindedly scratched his stomach. "Did you guys have . . . a thing?" He wasn't sure what else to call it. Gintoki wouldn't exactly call himself an expert on relationships.
Hijikata laughed a short, dull laugh. "I guess you could say that." He elaborated no more and let his mind wander to places he normally wouldn't allow it.
Gintoki simply hummed and rolled onto his side with his back facing Hijikata. If not for all the alcohol he consumed, he might have inquired more about this relationship Hijikata supposedly had with Mitsuba. It wasn't really his business, though, so it wasn't his place to ask. Gintoki felt somewhat sorry for Hijikata in the sense that it must really hurt to lose someone that important to you. Gintoki had never experienced that level of romance with another person, and he didn't really plan on it. How could he try to love and protect another when he can barely protect his friends around him? Time and time again injury and chaos ensues around him and he ends up alone. As Gintoki drifted off to sleep, he could only manage to at least wish Hijikata happiness in his mind.
Gintoki groaned as the morning light seeped in through the window. He moved to pull the pillow from under his head and cover his face with it until he realized there was an arm wrapped rather tightly around his waist and a head nestled into the crook of his neck. Not this again. He prayed it wasn't Sarutobi, and it wasn't long until he realized his prayer had been answered. As he opened his eyes, he quickly realized it wasn't Sacchan. No, it was Hijikata Toshiro.
A shrill scream left Gintoki's lips and he shot up in his futon, disturbing the person who was fast asleep next to him. "What's with the yelling?" Hijikata mumbled sleepily, peeking one eye open and quickly realizing that he was not on his own futon. His leg was still hooked over Gintoki's and he was quick to jump up, gasping aloud and staggering backwards. The blinding light coming in from the window only added to the mess of a situation, giving the both of them throbbing headaches due to their hangovers.
"What were you doing in my futon?" Gintoki asked angrily, cheeks heating up for reasons unknown to him. It's not every day you fall asleep alone and wake up next to someone. Though it did seem to be a not-so-rare occurrence for Gintoki. "And . . . cuddling me on top of that!"
Hijikata winced and covered his ears. "Stop yelling. And I wasn't cuddling you. I probably thought you were a pillow. Don't get too excited."
Soft laughter coming from the entrance to Gintoki's room quickly caught their attention. There stood Kagura with a camera and an evil look on her face. "I can't wait to show these to Shinpachi and Okita and Kondo-san and Yamazaki-san and—"
Kagura was cut off by Gintoki's yelling. "GIVE IT TO ME!" Not realizing he was still only in his boxers, Gintoki abandoned Hijikata and ran after Kagura. "Don't show that to anyone!"
Kagura giggled and locked herself in the bathroom. "Sorry, can't hear you! This is payback for being so noisy last night when you got home. I lost precious beauty sleep thanks to you. Sadaharu!"
Gintoki rattled the doorknob in an attempt to open the door. "Why are you calling the dog? Just give me the camera, Kagura!" He suddenly regretted buying her that camera for Christmas. The next thing Gintoki knew, his hand was inside of Sadaharu's mouth and he stood blankly staring at the oversized dog. "Why?" he asked in a monotone voice.
Kagura took advantage of the situation to slip out of the bathroom and meet Shinpachi who just walked through the front entrance. "Shinpachi! Shinpachi, look! I caught Gin-san and his boyfriend sleeping together!"
Hijikata walked up behind Gintoki and glared at Kagura from over his shoulder. "Who are you calling someone else's boyfriend?"
While Shinpachi looked at the picture with a very shocked expression, Gintoki covered his face with his hand. "Ah, forget it. Look I was drunk and in my own bed. This one's to blame for anything else."
Hijikata rolled his eyes and gathered his clothing from the floor of the front entrance where they were still scattered. He quickly put on his shirt and threw the rest of the clothes over his shoulder. "I'm guilty of nothing. To be fair, I thought I was at home with my pillow." After putting on his shoes, Hijikata stepped out of the apartment and waved goodbye to the members of the Yorozuya without looking back.
Gintoki sighed for what felt like the hundredth time and held his hand out for Kagura's camera. "Please?"
"Nope!" Kagura said happily, skipping over to the couch and laying across it. "This picture is all mine."