This is my first hijigin/ginhinj fic (╥ω╥`)
Don't Eat Pudding on a Rainy Day!
Toshi had several reasons to take the curly samurai out for a walk. First, this workday was shortened due to the holiday the day before. Second, he had received his salary, which meant he could afford to spend the evening not sitting in a yatai with a wandering merchant and some down-and-out fellow whose only joy was sake in a saucer. No, not today. Toshiro wanted to spend the rest of the day in a nice izakaya with Yorozuya.
The weather had its own plans for the day: to turn the dust of Kabuki into mud, so that some amanto would slip on the dirty gravel and feel the weight of Madao for a moment. Gintoki took an umbrella because he had checked Ketsuno's weather forecast that morning. As for the office workers and laborers, life taught them nothing; it only showed them. Gintoki grumbled to Hijikata about how he was so shortsighted that he had to hide from the rain under the Shinsengumi uniform. The main streets were closed for the spring matsuri—a procession of monks. The best of the worst decisions was made: to shorten the route to the streets with izakayas through the temple. It’s worth mentioning that the temple is a divine fortress. On both sides, there was a dense wall of bamboo, with only one entrance and exit featuring two hundred steps on either side. Gintoki felt dizzy from the height he was about to climb. Don’t think that a war veteran would collapse from some stone tiles, but that pudding he had greedily devoured before leaving might just do it. After fifty steps, the pudding treacherously turned into a stone that he wanted to get rid of as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Hijikata cheerfully climbed step by step, while behind him trailed Curly with the dessert. At the top, where the temple was located, moss grew in spring, which monks cleared away daily. During the rainy season, the moss was accompanied by annoying slippery algae. By the time they reached the top, it seemed Gintoki had little luck left, and he stepped right on those algae. Skillfully dodging a bride bush, Gintoki threw Toshiro into white flowers.
"Why did you collapse in those white flowers?" Gintoki found this situation amusing, but his belief in superstitions nervously pricked at his heels."If you keep lying around, you won't become a groom, so get up. The chicken skewers won’t eat themselves!"
"Stop throwing people into bushes! Fool," said Toshi.
Gintoki's palms suddenly felt lighter, but water was trickling down his back, seeping into the most inappropriate places. Yorozuya realized something was missing. The umbrella. Hijikata managed to grab hold of the umbrella as he fell and crashed into a lush bush along with it. The Chinese umbrella, originally meant to shield from the scorching sun, now had a hole in it. The rain wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, so the Shinsengumi jacket had to accommodate two soaked heads underneath it. The winding descent reduced the risk of falling, and falling was the last thing Gintoki wanted to do. He engaged in a mental conversation, scolding himself for having reproached Toshiro at the beginning for his clumsiness with those words near the temple. "My tongue is my enemy." Hijikata was irritated. It was hard to think—the cigarettes were wet—so he had to admire nature around him. The sound of rain, like whispers, dissolved as it fell to the ground. The bamboo grove silently stretched upwards. Fluffy hydrangea bushes grew so close to the path that their buds gently brushed against hands, leaving damp drops on skin. The smell of rain-soaked earth mixed with floral aromas intoxicated the mind. Everything was so simple and sincere that it was hard to stay silent. Gintoki suddenly stopped. Hijikata didn’t notice this and was about to take another step when a strong hand grabbed his chin and turned him back for a kiss. Toshi froze in surprise. The weather really does affect people strangely. Frozen noses chilled their cheeks while both their heads boiled as rain fell on their makeshift "umbrella." Sweetness mingled with bitterness on their tongues. Somewhere in his chest, it felt pleasantly warm.
"Could it be that the pudding managed to get over there after the maneuver on the algae? What ridiculous thoughts at a time like this?!" Gintoki thought. They would have stood there for eternity if a drop from the bud hadn't startled a frog, and if the frog had been a good jumper, it wouldn't have landed right in the curly samurai's bosom.
Some notes 📝
*Yatai (屋台) is a mobile vending stall where fast food or souvenirs are sold. It looks like a cart.
*The "bride's bush" refers to spiraea. There is a belief that if you jump into a bride's bush, it will lead to a wedding. In Japan, spiraea is known as kodemari (コデマリ).
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