A/N: If this one seems a bit longer, it's by design. I know I promised daily updates, but I will be away for 4 days starting tomorrow, so it's highly probable that I won't be able to post new chapters. In order to somewhat make up for the lost time, I will post two chapters in one day when I return. Until then, please make do with this.
Gintoki didn't know that when he slept next to Hijikata, he often had nightmares and talked in his sleep.
The first time it happened, Hijikata awoke with a start from a dreamless sleep only to find Gintoki tossing violently on the futon next to him. He had kicked off the blanket, his naked body terribly tense, fists grasping at the sheet.
Hijikata touched his shoulder, trying to wake him, and felt beads of cold sweat on his palm.
Before he could understand what the hell was really happening, he felt Gintoki curl in on himself under his touch and suddenly break out in a string of broken phrases half-drowned in pleading moans.
It was nothing like Hijikata had ever heard before. Granted, he hadn't heard that many people talking in their sleep, he was a Shinsengumi after all, not a tooth fairy. But he did notice quiet murmurs escaping Yamazaki when he occasionally dozed off on the job, usually something inconsequential about badminton, and of course everyone and their dog around the Shinsengumi headquarters heard Okita counting Hijikata's dead bodies in his sleep on a regular basis. But this was something else entirely. What in the world was this useless freeloader lamenting so pitifully? Hijikata caught the word 'sensei' several times and then he thought he made out 'Takasugi', but that might have been just his police instincts kicking in.
His first instinct was to shake Gintoki awake, but the thought of doing even a small bit of violence to this curled up childlike body seemed unbearable. In his growing confusion Hijikata did the only other thing he could think of. Quickly sliding back onto his futon next to Gintoki, Hijikata tugged him close, wrapping Gintoki in his arms, covering him with his whole body, struggling to at least still the other's trembling. He stroked soft slightly damp hair, wracking his brain for whatever soothing things he could come up with to whisper to him. It took a while, but finally disturbing sounds stopped pouring out of Gintoki's mouth and Hijikata could feel his body loosen and relax.
Hijikata never went back to sleep that night. He stayed like that, wrapping himself securely around Gintoki until he saw Gintoki slowly stirring awake. Hijikata let him go then. He rolled over to his side of the futon and lit up a much needed cigarette. Better not freak him out so early in the morning, and to avoid unnecessary questions, especially to avoid unnecessary questions. He wouldn't want Gintoki to find out. A very persistent voice in his head told him that Gintoki would never want Hijikata to see him that way.
It was this realization that stirred Hijikata in a strange way. The fact that he had seen some deeply buried, very intimate part of the man, whom, despite their having spent more than a few nights together, he really didn't know much about. Maybe that was just another sign of his police sense rearing its head. Maybe…
Hijikata inhaled the smoke deep into his lungs and watched the features of Gintoki's face that now returned to their usual irritatingly slack expression. It seemed that the crisis, whatever the hell it really was, had passed. For now. Hijikata didn't know if the nightmare would make another cameo appearance. But if it came back to torment Gintoki again, he would be there to greet it.