Knight in Shining Glasses

A Gintama fic

by

EvilFuzzy9

When Shinpachi first got asked out by Otsu-chan after helping her beat that amanto idol group, the Edo starlet's most die hard fan had been struck absolutely speechless. He hadn't been able to believe it. It just couldn't possibly have been real.

Was it an extension of that ASKDAFAFA or whatever group's psionic powers? Did they still have him trapped in an illusion? Had Otsu's victory all been a fevered fantasy cooked up by subliminal sound waves?

Those were the things he began asking himself, standing there stock still and frozen, red as a beet.

Only his sheer devotion to the girl had been enough to finally snap Shinpachi out of his stupor, just long enough for him to shout out in a high pitched voice:

"Y-y-yes! O-of course, Otsu-chan!" he exclaimed with a great deal of nervous energy. "I...I...I...I would be honored to escort you!"

He bowed promptly, sweating bullets. His glasses were fogged up by the sheer heat coming from the teen's face.

Otsu giggled, and gave him a playful smack on the back.

"Tee-hee! So stiff!" She winked at him. "No need to get all nervous, autodidact~! Otsu-chan owes so much to you, megane bushido~!" She gushed in her cutesy idol-persona, tittering and using what she considered to be kawaii lingo.

But then her expression softened, and became more subdued. Her eyes glimmered faintly, a faraway look in them, and she was blushing faintly.

"It's been so long since I first started out..." she murmured. "I'd almost forgotten, what it had been like, back before I built up my fanbase. But... Shinpachi... seeing you out there, when they tried to convert you to their side... it reminded me."

Shinpachi looked up at Tsu, straightening back up. His eyes were wide, staring into hers.

"Otsu-chan..." he murmured.

She smiled at him warmly, brushing a stray lock of hair out of her face. "You... were there from the very beginning, weren't you?" she whispered. "Back when I was still singing in the street... when I was trying so hard to become an idol... you were the first... the very first person outside of my own family to ever cheer me on."

Tears trickled down her cheeks, though she was smiling.

"When I was at my lowest point..." Shinpachi breathed, remembering with crystal clarity the day she had saved his life.

"When I was at my lowest point..." murmured Tsu at nearly the same time, causing the other teen's eyes to widen.

"...you gave me the strength to continue trying, right when everything seemed completely hopeless," the two of them said at once, and they met each other's eyes.

"Otsu...chan..." said Shinpachi, looking at his idol with new eyes.

"Shinpachi-kun..." said Otsu also, smiling at the boy with tear tracks on her cheeks. "I'm sorry I forgot... I can't believe it took me this long to remember you..." She blushed cutely, bashfully averting her gaze. "My first true fan... the person who has helped me so many times... the man who picked me back up every time I stumbled... the boy who guided me back into the light with his pure, earnest cheers every time I started to stray from the path..."

She stepped forward, taking Shinpachi's hand in hers.

"I know it probably isn't proper for an idol to feel like this..." the lass whispered, gazing intently into Shinpachi's eyes. "But I can't help it... you're like my knight in shining armor."

She smiled, and leaned forward to plant a kiss on his cheek. It was soft and chaste, but still even that brief and modest contact was enough to send an electric thrill shooting up the Shimura lad's spine.

"Is... is this a dream...?" Shinpachi whispered, his eyes wide and staring vacantly as Tsu pulled back from the kiss.

Numbly, he raised a hand to his cheek, feeling where her lips had touched it. He shivered, a tingling warmth spreading from his gut as he felt the slightest lingering moisture from the idol's lip balm.

Tsu smiled at him, giggling sweetly.

"If it is..." she said warmly, "...then I hope it never ends."

Shinpachi blushed. His head was in a giddy haze, and his heart was thudding noisily against his ribcage. His entire body felt so hot and fuzzy.

Acting on instinct, without even thinking, the teen pulled Tsu Terakado into a tight embrace. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging the girl who had save his life. She did not protest this, rather indeed she returned the hug, and burrowed her face into the crook of Shinpachi's neck, nuzzling him gently.

Tears were streaming from both their eyes.

His shoulders heaving, and his diaphragm spasming, Shinpachi sniffled weakly.

"It... it's a date..." he managed to say.

He felt Tsu smile into his neck.

"I'm glad..." she murmured. "That makes me feel so happy."

Silently the two of them stayed like that for a while, just basking in one another's warmth.

A/N: Just something sweet and adorbs to counterbalance some of the kinkier and crackier stuff I've posted. I do feel like ShinOtsu has the potential to be one of the sweeter pairings, just because of Shinpachi's utter devotion to the girl. It's almost like a courtly romance, with Shinpachi as the loyal and adoring knight to Otsu's princess; he feels that he owes her a debt for that day, and so he supports her unceasingly no matter what happens, not even expecting anything in return.

Heck, I could probably WRITE something with that, a straightforward and unironic treatment of the ShinOtsu relationship as such. But in this, at least, the princess notices her knight's devotion, and becomes enamored. ;3

Updated: 3-5-14

TTFN and R&R!

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