Gokudera wasn't really quite sure how it all happened… how the years had passed and how he'd so lost track of time.

They'd gotten married – Tsuna and Kyoko that was.

Kyoko knew that he and Tsuna were lovers, but didn't mind. Hell, after they were married, she'd joined them a few times. Within a very short period, she'd gotten pregnant and a Vongola Undicesimo was born. The boy was beautiful and Gokudera loved him as much as he loved the boy's father.

Byakuran had come in and out of their lives, appearing at uncanny moments to save their asses and the asses of their friends – the fight with the Simons being a very good example of this – and he'd often spend extended vacations with them, fucking them so hard that it made them scream and hunger for the next time.

Still, they never told anyone about him. Reborn guessed, Dino had a clue, and Gokudera was pretty sure that Hibari and Mukuro had figured it out over the years, but for the most part, it had remained their secret.

Gokudera wasn't really sure what had brought them all together that evening, just knowing that he needed to be cautious of time, as Tsuna had an appointment the next day that he couldn't be too sore for, as it involved a lot of sitting.

His hand was currently in his lover's and Byakuran was across the dinner table from them, smiling like the bastard he was while he jested at them both, teasing his words into innuendo that once-upon-a-time would have made him blush, but now only made him snort and snap back.

It was a comfortable sort of occasion and one that they'd been enjoying for some time. Still, there was an undercurrent at the table – of desperation and tension – that he didn't understand.

He squeezed Tsuna's hand tighter, but when Tsuna looked at him, there were tears in his eyes.

"C'mon," Tsuna said, pulling his hand and Byakuran followed them like a shadow as they passed into the next-door hotel and proceeded to a room Tsuna had booked earlier.

The three of them had fucked all night long, hours and hours and hours until they were spent and Gokudera realized how badly he'd failed at making sure that Tsuna would be okay for tomorrow.

Tsuna didn't seem to mind and just kissed him harder when he attempted to mention the appointment.

"I won't be making it, silly," Tsuna had told him, those tears ever-present in his eyes and Gokudera started to feel fear broiling in his gut. Tsuna never missed an appointment.

"Why?" he asked, and Tsuna rolled his eyes, looking at Byakuran, who looked away with a pained look on his face.

Tsuna didn't say anything, merely kissed him gently and tugged him closer, wrapping his arms around Gokudera's neck and holding him tightly. Byakuran came around behind Tsuna and they sandwiched the man, feeling him shudder between them.

"I love you… I love you both so much," Tsuna said, the tears finally breaking over as he started crying and Gokudera lay there feeling like the biggest asshole in the world. What the fuck was going on?

The next morning, Tsuna woke bright and cheery, not a single shred of tears in his eyes – as though the previous night had never happened.

At one point, when he'd been in the washroom, he heard Tsuna and Byakuran arguing about something in hushed tones, but when he came out, the conversation instantly took on a different tone about whether they should go to the zoo or the aquarium.

Tsuna had won out eventually, claiming that he wanted to go see the zoo that the entire group had gone to on that one wacky occasion.

The trip over was uneventful, with Tsuna tromping around in jeans and a casual shirt – looking for all the world like any other mid-twenties lay-about wandering around. Gokudera had gone back to his roots and was sporting a t-shirt under a dress shirt and jeans with enough chains to kill half the animals in the zoo. It felt weird being back in his teenaged clothing. He was pretty amazed it all still fit.

Byakuran, as he soon found out, didn't appear to change much over the years. He still wore white, was still a bastard and still seemed to be like a seductive shadow, just waiting for them to let their guard down so he could leap.

As they paraded through the park, they got their picture taken at a random vendor. Tsuna had gotten the negatives and held onto them for awhile. He seemed unsure about them, but eventually he turned to Byakuran and smiled a little wistfully.

"For that picture frame, hey?" Tsuna offered, and Byakuran's expression broke for a moment, seeming to crash to the earth in flames as he turned away, separating for them for a bit.

"What was that all about?" Gokudera asked in confusion, really not understanding what the fuck was going on with this weird day. Why the hell were they missing a very-important meeting for this? Reborn was going to kick their asses – and the kid was almost seven now too!

"Nothing… just give him a minute," Tsuna said, his eyes gazing off into the distance before refocusing and he turned to Gokudera with an incredibly serious look on his face. "You're not alone, Gokudera… no matter what, I hope you know that."

"Of course not, I have you," Gokudera said with a goofy smile – still unable to believe after all these years that Tsuna, the Decimo, was his lover.

"Not just me," Tsuna assured him, pulling him close and leaning his head against the taller boy's chest. "You have Kyoko and Yamamoto… and the rest of the Guardians, and Reborn and Dino… and Byakuran. You're not alone."

"What… what are you talking about?" Gokudera asked, but was taken off-guard when Tsuna gasped and pointed at something over his shoulder.

"Look! It's a Reptile Room! Those things are so fucking cool!" Tsuna exclaimed with child-like glee.

Somewhere on the way to the Reptile Room, Byakuran started following them again, but he looked positively green.

Gokudera felt a tingle somewhere in the back of his head, like he should know something… like something was wrong, like… like he should be remembering something.

"M-maybe we shouldn't go in there," Gokudera stammered, holding back, but unable to stop Tsuna's forward march. "I don't think it's a good idea."

"Psh… snakes are so cool. Didn't you have a snake on your belt that one time, in that really cool fight with the Varia?" Tsuna said as he stepped to the door and proudly showed off his badge to the guard at the door.

"That was a dragon…" Gokudera trailed off, his tongue going numb as the feeling of doom increased, falling over him like a curtain.

Tsuna marched inside, grabbing his hand tightly, even though the muscles in the Decimo's hands were trembling. Byakuran appeared at their side, his expression dire and his entire body shaking.

Gokudera felt tears burst into his eyes and he didn't know why.

"Tsuna?" he gasped, but that was about as far as he got before the Decimo's eyes rolled back into his head and the person he loved most in the world collapsed dead-away into a suddenly-sobbing Byakuran's arms, Gokudera's lifeless fingers were numb and outstretched in horror.

"Someone call an ambulance!" one of the zoo-keeper's staff screamed, but Gokudera's heart had already stopped beating.

Had it really been… five years?