Rendezvous

D(e/i)stress

Click.

Inhale.

Breathe out.

There it is. Hijikata feels the tension slowly fade from his shoulders as his eyes nonchalantly scan the thin layer of smoke rising towards the sky and dissipating into nothingness. A cool wind blows quietly, rattling the railings of the school rooftop where the young man sat cross-legged, in a quiet corner. 

Hijikata wasn't addicted to cigarettes -- at least not at this point in time yet. Physically, he wasn't. There wasn't a particular reason why he did it. Like any other highschooler burnt out with schoolwork, club activities and nagging adults, with a dash of innocent curiosity and the adults do it and it looks cool, he does it because he thinks it calms him. Like a placedo effect kind of thing. It works, and to 19-year old Toushirou, that's all he needs to know.

Creak.

His head snaps in the general direction of the door leading downstairs to the main school building. He was purposely positioned at a blind spot from the door that led back to the main building downstairs. Quieting his breath, he puts out the cigarette in his hand with the bottom of his school slippers. He puts the unfinished stick in his Mayoboro pack and stills himself.

He can't see anything from this angle, but judging from the fact that he only heard the door creak open once, he knew someone was still there. Getting caught in the school rooftop that was clearly restricted was one thing, but getting caught there with a pack of cigarettes in his pocket would be no good. Especially if it were that old lady Otose or worse, the old man Matsudaira.

He hears another creak.

Pause.

Toushirou lets out the breath he was holding.

"Boo."

His heart dropped.

"Oh my, Oogushi-kun~"

Ah. Toushirou felt the fright turn into annoyance in a second. A headache was slowly brewing.

"Did you really think you could hide from Sensei like that?" The older man grinned cheekily down at him, one arm loosely on the wall above Toushirou.

"Sensei, don't creep up on me like that!" Toushirou bursted, visibly pink from embarrassment at this point. "I thought it had been old man Matsudaira or something..."

The teacher snickered. He plopped down beside Toushirou, wearing an exaggerated pout. "Hijikata-kun, I know Sensei has beautiful silver hair, but I'm very sad that you would compare my luscious locks to that perverted old man's dull, gray hair--"

"Who has beautiful silver hair? All I see is a mess of curls, damn permhead." Hijikata shot back. And perverted old man describes you perfectly too, he thought, narrowing his eyes as a migraine was starting to emerge. "Why are you even here?"

"I came here to see you, of course." The teacher said, with a sudden straight face.

If Hijikata hadn't known this routine well, he would have flushed all the way to his ears. He pulled out his previously put out cigarette stick, and moves to light it again.

Click.

Inhale.

Breathe out.

Too bitter. The second cigarette left a bitter, ashen taste in his mouth, literally. He mentally scolded himself for being so cheap that he didn't want to waste a stick. Instead of ridding him of the stress that was Sakata Ginpachi, his teacher, the overly bitter taste only worsened his mood. He could already hear the half-hearted scolding from the mophead of a teacher beside him as he took another bitter drag and let go with an exhale.

The scolding didn't come. Ginpachi was watching him side-eyed, a tiny bit disappointed at the lack of reaction from his teasing. He lowered his voice to a flirtatious, "What, you don't believe Sensei when I say I came here to see you?"

"Who would want to--" He stopped himself. Reminded himself not to engage. This was a pattern they both knew well: Ginpachi spurring him on and him taking the bait. The boke to the tsukkomi. 

Realizing he wouldn't get any easy reaction today from the student, Ginpachi leaned against the wall beside him. If the teacher was anything, he was persistent. Some people call him stubborn, but he preferred the term persistent. There was just something about Toushirou's obstinacy that he liked to test how much he could push. He decided to switch strategies.

"Give me one of those." He motions toward the pack of Mayoboro cigarettes laying in front Hijikata. He doesn't bother waiting for a reaction as his hand shoots toward the pack, his arm lightly brushing against the younger man's leg. He takes a piece and puts it between his lips, Hijikata barely having time to object as he grabs the back of his head and puts the two cigarettes together in an indirect kiss.

The teacher sucks in a slow breath, lighting his stolen cigarette bright orange as Hijikata, wide-eyed, turns bright red up to his ears. Ah, there it is.

Ginpachi pulls away, taking an experienced drag full of nicotine, feeling the familiar relaxation seep in as his student watches, red and stunned into silence. He blows a breath full of smoke brazenly towards the other's face, and this wakes Hijikata up. Ginpachi snickers, and quickly turns into full-on laughter while Hijikata grabs him by the collar of his lab coat, cursing.

He hated how easily he got caught up in his teacher's teasing. No matter how much he tried to resist it, the man would always find a way to get on his nerves one way or another. Sometimes it was by pissing him off, other times when he wasn't so lucky, it was by making him blush like this. He had never wanted to hear the school bell more in his three years at Gintama High School.