HijiGin - Bittersweet

Chapter 18

  After that incident, Hijikata and Gintoki had been avoiding one another and, when they do meet, barely exchange a few words of pleasantry before finding other things to do.

  Although both have been wanting to meet the other and talk about that night, neither of them could bring themselves to initiate the conversation, leading them nowhere...Until everyone around them got fed up with how they're acting, at least.

  "Ow ow ow ow ow! What are you doing, you old hag?! Gin-san's going to go bald if you keep pulling my hair like that!"

  Otose dragged a screeching Gintoki by the hair into the dining room. She let go and Gintoki immediately went to tend his hair, checking for wounds.

  Smelling the scent of tobacco in the room, he looked at Otose, but as he was doing so, he spotted a silent Hijikata staring at him.

  Surprised, his first thought was to hide and cower away, but another part of him was screaming at him to face him head on.

  So he did.

  "O-oi, since when were you here? You could've said hello or something."

  Gintoki tried to smile at the man but found it unnatural. His face heated up when he thought about that night, and he averted his eyes.

  "I wanted to do some paperwork, but that damn bastard Sougo knocked me out by putting something in my drink. Next thing I know, I'm here."

  Hijikata took another drag from his cigarette before crushing the butt into the ashtray. Sensing that Hijikata wasn't going to say anymore, Gintoki nodded nervously and decided to sit down on the opposite sofa.

  "Well, I'm sure you two will get along just fine, so I'll be taking my leave. Oh, and don't forget to pay the rent, Gintoki! I've been waiting for 3 months worth already!"

  "But I fixed the tap the other day, surely that's 2 months worth of rent!"

  "2 months? More like half a month, and that's me being generous."

  Gintoki was about to fire back but Otose shut the door and he clicked his tongue.

  "Damn old hag, making me work so much."

  Hijikata picked up a newspaper and started reading through it.

  "Even though I've never seen you work?"

  Gintoki clutched the fabric where his heart was located and feigned hurt.

  "Ah, how could you say that to Gin-san, Oogushi-kun. It's not very nice to say those kinds of things."

  Hijikata scoffed at that.

  "Yeah, and it's not nice toーwait, what did you just call me?"

  Bewildered, Hijikata completely stopped his activities and focused only on Gintoki, and the sudden, intense stare made Gintoki blush a little.

  "Uhh...Oogushi-kun?"

The next thing that happened surprised them both. Hijikata had hugged Gintoki. "...Eh?"

"...! Sorry, I–!"

Hijikata stopped and noticed that Gintoki's face had now heated up enough to look like a tomato. A cute one, of course.

"...ain."

"Sorry, what?"

Hijikata hadn't heard what Gintoki said the first time because it was barely a mumble. Plus, his head had been down from embarrassment.