Gintama Gel and Cigarettes

WARNING: This is light fluffy GinHiji, with a tiny slight bit of angst. Tiny. Small. You won't even notice. This is a gay fic. No likey, then sorry, the door's right there.

DISCLAIMER: All the characters here are the glorious by-products of Sorachi-Sensei. All worship Sorachi-Sensei.

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Gel and Cigarettes

Being bored was Hijikata's rarity. Perhaps even his luxury. Just lazing around the barracks in the late afternoon with a cigarette and nothing to do seemed strangely inviting. And being bored together with the idiot natural perm Yorozuya didn't seem like the worst idea.

Well, it wasn't the best idea. He could be watching a movie right now, or sweating in the sauna. Maybe at at that dango shop and inadvertently meet the permy head bastard. But thanks to that idiot Sougo, the Yorozuya caught wind of his day off, and told him to stay put in the barracks. "We're going to do something special," he said.

Hijikata honestly didn't expect the silver head to suddenly burst in with a bottle of gel.

To be honest, he thought it was something else entirely.

Something shiny flashed under the perm head's white yukata, and before he knew it, Hijikata was propping a small mirror on his hands towards himself, as the idiot Yorozuya kneaded through his hair.

The entire process wasn't silent, of course.

"Oi, idiot, you're pullin' too hard!"

"Ahn? I'm not pulling too hard, you're just too sensitive!"

"OI, WHO ARE YOU CALLING SENSITIVE?"

"My Oogushi-kun, of course!"

"QUIT CALLIN' ME THAT!"

"Ahn, see, you messed up your surprise!"

"WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR SURPRISE ANYWAY?"

To be honest, Hijikata didn't quite mean that.

"OH REALLY? WELL, WHO CARES ABOUT MESSING WITH YOUR HAIR ANYWAY?"

Quite the opposite, Gintoki thought.

"WELL AT LEAST I HAVE NATURALLY STRAIGHT HAIR, UNLIKE YOUR PERMY MESS!"

"OI, DON'T INSULT GIN-SAN'S PERM!"

And so ensued a fight, with both men throwing punches at each other, regretting having cast away their swords in a corner. The gel bottle, forgotten, spilled on the wooden floor.

Gintoki threw a punch at Hijikata, which he squarely caught. Hijikata attempted the same, for which Gintoki caught. Their fight turned into a power struggle, wrestling their fists against each other.

Gintoki stepped forward, slowly winning, and slipped on the gel. Surprised, Gintoki let go, causing Hijikata to bolt forward. In some sort of mad rush, Gintoki grabbed onto Hijikata's hair. His hand slicked with gel instead, earning a smirk from the bakufu dog.

Gintoki tasted bitter gel and sweet blood as his head came crashing on the leaked liquid.

"Gel doesn't seem like a bad idea," Hijikata pondered aloud, while unglamourously laid on top of the silver head. His left hand lay on the now-broken mirror, somehow landing no injury.

"Ahn, see? This is why Gin-san's ideas are the best!"

"Sure, permy head bastard." Hijikata retorted, before grabbing hold of the white mass of hair and slamming it on the wall. Gintoki's body, slicked with gel, easily followed.

"Itai, itai! Oi, oi, my hair is very precious! It's the trademark of a hero! Without it, I'll just be some side character like-" Gintoki paused, as he stared at Hijikata. To be precise, his hair. Gintoki stretched a hand, and started styling the other's hair again.

Hijikata had half a mind to snap right back, but honestly, he was more confused than angry. Gintoki had a rare interested look on his face, his dead fish eyelids a bit lifted. Hijikata let the perm head go, somewhat enjoying the soft fiddling of his hair.

~αβ~

Gintoki made happy noises as he finally finished his masterpiece. Holding up a shard of mirror, he let Hijikata take a look of himself.

Hijikata expected some half-arsed perm, but instead found something...rather nice.

His dark green hair was slicked back, v-bangs separated to their respective sides. It somewhat made him look older, and for some reason or another, it held some weird sense of nostalgia.

"So?" Gintoki asked, hanging over Hijikata's shoulders. The other sat cross legged on a clean bit of tatami mat.

"It's...decent." Hijikata managed, still weirded out by the deja vu. Gintoki made happy noises, boasting about his prowess in hairstyling. Hijikata relaxed his frown, perhaps even smiled, as the man went on about his silky smooth natural perm.

"Oi..." Hijikata trailed.

"Hmm?"

"Have I worn this before?"

"Yup."

"When?" Hijikata asked, confused. Gintoki smiled, and sat back down. Hijikata stared as the other wore a somewhat reminiscent and...sad look on his features.

"In another life."

"Oh?" Hijikata raised an eyebrow, as he lit a cigarette.

The sun began to set, the light blue sky encircled with hues of orange and yellow and a particularly familiar red. The sun burnt a dark orange as it submitted to its emerging predator, the moon. The silver orb was yet to be visible, but its minions instead rushed forward-the purple swirls of the night.

They watched the phenomena through a slightly open sliding door, resting against each other. Slick gel hardened on both hair and tatami mat, and cloudy smoke wafted amongst the sunset colours.

"It looks so cool on you," Gintoki casually mentioned, earning a not-so-well hidden blush by the other.

"'you' As in me or as in past life?" But of course, Hijikata had to be convoluted.

The sound of a camera taking a snapshot resounded throughout the room.

"SOUGO!" Hijikata sprang off to chase the young sadist, leaving Gintoki to his devices.

Gintoki threw his head back, drinking in the last strands of orange and red in the sky.

"Oogushi-kun," Gintoki pondered aloud. He thought back to the whole time thief disaster, when the run down buildings looked as broken as his lover.

"Gel and Cigarettes look so much more better on someone who didn't look as sad.".

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I haven't a clue how well I have done, just that I like my last line. Do leave me a review so that I can stop biting my nails in anticipation of praise/ranting. Oh, and a favourite if this actually managed to captivate you. Cheers :).


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Gintama, Angst, Romance