…With the sun in your eyes. [Gintama]
GINTAMA and all characters/ideas/concepts/places therein are not mine, although the writing certainly is.
Title: …With the sun in your eyes.
Characters/Pairing(s): Shouyo, Gintoki
Rating: G
Summary: Not!father, not!son.
Warnings? N/A
Notes: The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for June 24, 2009. Happy Birthday, Pris! '^'
…With the sun in your eyes.
They used to make quite a sight in the village, whenever they came around for errands. Shouyo, headmaster of the school on the outskirts, was a man whose gentle disposition and kindly manners could not overpower the presence he commanded in a crowd, nor the bearing instilled in him by merit of his upbringing. Gintoki, the strange white-haired boy he had brought home with him from an excursion into the mountains, was his tiny shadow, never speaking, watching everything. What he watched most, though, was Shouyo himself.
It must have been easy for others to misunderstand the nature of their relationship at first. Fathers moved with their children - adopted or otherwise - at their side. Children were meant to be taken by the hand and led around, taught about the world through words and easy affection. What no one knew was the fact that Gintoki imposed this position on himself by his very nature, quick, as he was, to deny any discomfort and soldier on regardless of what he might have felt or actually wanted. How much distance he put between him and Shouyo showed just how much he valued the man who had saved his life.
Shouyo let this go on for about two weeks before taking matters into his own hands. His solution was simple and well-timed: he waited until Gintoki sat down to rest before bending down and offering his back. They traveled the rest of the way with Gintoki peeking just over his shoulder, ducking whenever he turned around to smile. In the days that followed, they walked to the village side-by-side, joined together by their hands. Whenever there was nothing to bring back to the school with them, Shouyo carried Gintoki home.
Gintoki, of course, was never going to forget what it was like in those moments, to lean against the back and shoulders of someone who mattered more to him than the world, smiling into the cloth of his kimono, smelling the sun in his hair.
Title: …With the sun in your eyes.
Characters/Pairing(s): Shouyo, Gintoki
Rating: G
Summary: Not!father, not!son.
Warnings? N/A
Notes: The title is taken from the 31 Days theme for June 24, 2009. Happy Birthday, Pris! '^'
…With the sun in your eyes.
They used to make quite a sight in the village, whenever they came around for errands. Shouyo, headmaster of the school on the outskirts, was a man whose gentle disposition and kindly manners could not overpower the presence he commanded in a crowd, nor the bearing instilled in him by merit of his upbringing. Gintoki, the strange white-haired boy he had brought home with him from an excursion into the mountains, was his tiny shadow, never speaking, watching everything. What he watched most, though, was Shouyo himself.
It must have been easy for others to misunderstand the nature of their relationship at first. Fathers moved with their children - adopted or otherwise - at their side. Children were meant to be taken by the hand and led around, taught about the world through words and easy affection. What no one knew was the fact that Gintoki imposed this position on himself by his very nature, quick, as he was, to deny any discomfort and soldier on regardless of what he might have felt or actually wanted. How much distance he put between him and Shouyo showed just how much he valued the man who had saved his life.
Shouyo let this go on for about two weeks before taking matters into his own hands. His solution was simple and well-timed: he waited until Gintoki sat down to rest before bending down and offering his back. They traveled the rest of the way with Gintoki peeking just over his shoulder, ducking whenever he turned around to smile. In the days that followed, they walked to the village side-by-side, joined together by their hands. Whenever there was nothing to bring back to the school with them, Shouyo carried Gintoki home.
Gintoki, of course, was never going to forget what it was like in those moments, to lean against the back and shoulders of someone who mattered more to him than the world, smiling into the cloth of his kimono, smelling the sun in his hair.