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He always sits alone, and it bothers Gintoki at some point. He's always looking at the stars, but he's quiet when he does that so Gintoki doesn't mind that at all.
Gintoki says it bothers him when Tatsuma sits alone, but it's only been recently has he really been bothered. Only recent has Tatsuma's shoulders shook while he sat there, only recent could he hear his sniffs and watch him rub a sleeve on his face. He only ever does this when he thinks he's alone, but Gintoki's also alone at times, and in the dead silence of the night, he can hear everything.
He's trying to sleep, it's tiring. Tatsuma crying every night gets tiring. It's a full moon, and Tatsuma is staring at it. Gintoki decides that he needs to finally do something about it.
Tatsuma immediately wipes his face and gives a smile when he hears the footsteps of the other approach him, but Gintoki doesn't feign ignorance.
"Stop it."
"Stop what?" Tatsuma looks hurt, however, he knows what Gintoki is talking about. Stop crying. It's always a narrative that he was told as a child by his father. But he can't help that, and it makes him want to cry more. Gintoki just stares, and an idea comes to him, a sudden impulse he just can't ignore.
Gintoki walks up to him and grabs him by the arm, pulling him up. "Stop forcing yourself to be happy."
What? He just stares at Gintoki, wondering how to respond to that. Forcing himself to be happy...? Yeah, he did that. He's doing that right now, even with Gintoki's words.
Their hands clasp together, and Gintoki starts to swing Tatsuma, a dance they learned from a friendly couple of Amanto while visiting a town one day. The swing is so sudden, Tatsuma grows dizzy, but he starts to laugh and stops the spinning to respond. And so, they dance.
They dance until Tatsuma has to take a pause to breathe, and he's feeling too dizzy to continue, but he smiles and laughs and rolls around on the dirt, and Gintoki smiles back at him. Tatsuma settles down eventually, fatigue bearing down on him, and he falls asleep right there, only muttering a goodnight.
Gintoki drags his bedding over to sleep next to him.
He hears the other whisper, "Thank you."