Tsuna had no concept of what time it was when he woke up again. The room was dark – but that could have also been because of the large drapes covering the windows – and everything was silent.
He yawned as he rose from the bed, attempting to stretch before noticing the drip and relaxing again, feeling half-woken up and a bit fluffy in the head.
He smacked his dry lips and looked around blearily, noting a cup of water and remembering it as the one that Byakuran had given him the last time he'd been conscious… whenever that was.
He felt like he'd slept for a century – it was a good thing.
After drinking the water, he realized that he had the incredibly strong urge to meet the call of nature, and thus squirmed in place for a minute, looking around, before seeing a likely door and crawling off the bed towards the drip. At first he had no concept of how he was supposed to do this, until he realized that the thing was on wheels and he could just move it as he walked.
Did he still need it, anyway?
When he got to the room, he gratefully noted that it was the bathroom and relieved himself with little issue.
After he emerged, he wandered slowly but surely through the small apartment – noticing for the first time that it wasn't some posh affair, but a modest, cheap-as-dirt living place in an okay part of town with a crappy view. It was also fairly apparent that the owner of said shanty wasn't home.
Tsuna frowned, having a difficult time equating this Byakuran with the lavish one he'd met ten years into the future. However, the two of them were most definitely the same… if completely different at the same time.
"Urgh… time travel sucks," Tsuna declared and wandered into the kitchen for some more water, taking a minute to grab his cup from the bedroom again.
While he was in the kitchen, he noted that there was a small pile of very-recognizable stuff sitting on the counter. Included in this pile of stuff was Gokudera's cell phone, and Tsuna realized for the first time that he'd been there at least seventy-two hours – quite possibly longer – and that he hadn't contacted anyone since.
Considering that he wasn't actually dying of some horrible disease – yet – that meant that he'd pretty much just gone AWOL for no apparent reason after getting the shit beaten out of him and having some sort of weird convulsions in a ballpark… people were probably panicking.
"Shit…" Tsuna sighed to himself as he got his water and then proceeded around the apartment looking for a phone.
There wasn't one. At least, there didn't appear to be phone wires in any of the jacks. Perhaps Byakuran only had a cell phone? Well… that was a pain. Gokudera's phone was completely dead.
"Damnit…" he sighed and grabbed the cell anyway, going back to Byakuran's bed and curling up on the sheets.
Speaking of bed… did Byakuran sleep on the couch while he was taking up the man's bed? Tsuna hadn't seen any sheets there, so did that mean…?
He looked over the bed he'd been nested in for the past whoever-knows-how-long and noted a second indent in the mattress.
"Oh…" Tsuna flushed bright red and smiled stupidly to himself.
Ever since he'd gotten… that idea… it wasn't really all that difficult to be around Byakuran anymore. In fact, it was almost easy, like breathing. The man took his breath away and gave him a different kind… but…
But what Tsuna didn't understand was how Gokudera had fit into all of this.
While it was true that Byakuran hadn't denied Gokudera's presence in whatever future life he'd experienced already, the man hadn't confirmed it either… not to mention he hadn't really confirmed Tsuna in there, but that was a give-in considering their current situation.
"So…" he said aloud, then shut up when he realized he was being crazy, and said the rest in his own head:
'We were lovers… all three of us.'
"Oh," Tsuna whispered and turned red again.
How did that even work!
His mind started racing through possibilities based on the images, videos and strange books he'd read and turned an even deeper shade of red.
Well… if the one guy was in the middle, then that would… and oh wow…
Tsuna was sputtering in embarrassment and there wasn't even anyone around to be embarrassed for, he was just being ridiculous on his own time.
Still… then that opened up one more question, one that he was pretty sure he already knew the answer to, but was annoyed and frustrated with the possibility:
What had happened to Gokudera?
Well… Gokudera had gone to the store to get things, things that he wouldn't have told anyone else about – but in his fit of raging stupidity (a common thing, Tsuna found), he'd left his wallet, cell and anything else that could have helped actually purchase said objects at home.
Tsuna hadn't realized until about twenty minutes later, when he changed back into normal clothes and went after the silly bastard.
But when he'd gotten there, Gokudera was already gone… and hours alter, when he'd found his boyfriend curled up on the ground in a mess, the objects that he was supposed to have picked up – ice cream included – were in a bag on the ground beside him.
Tsuna was only just now remembering that little fact, the bag having been half-open and thrown aside in Tsuna's panic to help his downed boyfriend, but the objects had been there.
How had Gokudera paid for those objects without his wallet?
Someone had helped him.
Tsuna looked over at the window to Byakuran's apartment and noted the location was scarcely three blocks from Gokudera's place, which meant that…
Tsuna crawled out of bed again and, dragging the drip, got back to the kitchen to note some of the brand names located on the things Byakuran had around the kitchen.
Yup… they were all from that little supermarket that he and Gokudera went to all the time – which is where the bag was from… and…
Tsuna rummaged under the man's sink for a second, finding a grocery bag from said store in the garbage that was the final straw. There was a receipt inside. It was for marshmallows bought on the night of Gokudera's attack.
"Oh boy," Tsuna sighed, closing his eyes and feeling a heavy weight on his heart.
Byakuran, you stupid bastard…
Gokudera, you stupid bastard…
Why did everyone have to make life so difficult?