Pairings: Established Kondo/Hijikata Rating: T Summary: Snow might melt, but promises are forever. [AO3] This is pure and utter fluff.
for @hidetheremote
.*Gone, the Precious Snow*.
Edo 1858
With his slender hand caught in the grasp of a much larger one, Hijikata’s panting breaths appeared in visible blotches as he trailed the pace of Kondo’s hurried footsteps leading him through steadily falling snow. Their trip home from Hino had started with drab scenery washed over in cool gray to match the ambiance—nature’s lifeless colors setting the perfect backdrop to overhead bare branches that painted jagged black lines across an ominous slate sky.
At some point however, these bleak surroundings began a transformation. One wayward snowflake from above turned to several, and those several to many, quickly sweeping ivory blankets over dirt paths that had shoes ill-equipped for such weather crunching and leaving trails soon to disappear. The more the accumulation, the faster their pace became, until it was no longer Hijikata walking at Kondo’s side, but barely keeping up behind as he was now.
Why the rush? Hijikata hadn’t needed to ask; he’d known all too well Kondo’s penchant for putting the comfort of those he harbored affection for above his own—which meant such haste, and the tightness of his grip, were entirely with Hijikata’s aversion to cold weather in mind.
Therefore, as everything whited out around them and the entire universe hushed to only the whisper of soft huffs escaping chapped lips, Hijikata found it all too easy for Kondo to once again become the prime focal point of his thoughts and attentions; he was a much fonder fixation than the chill, by all means, and being alone with him like this while traveling was as exciting as it was pleasing.
—even if the air was brisk and needling, uncomfortable and loathsome: all of which it certainly was. But that Kondo was there with Hijikata, that he could feel the clutch of his hand, made everything bearable.