After Mathias had finished talking with Lukas about his attitude, which didn't end up going well, he had returned to his room with the expectation that Willem would end up being there. Only he hadn't been.

Hours had dragged on. Mathias knew that Willem should've been back to the dorm by then. It wasn't like him to suddenly just disappear or change his schedule, especially without any sort of notice. He knew that Willem had needed to speak with Annabel and help her with some of her assignments, but he also knew that Annabel had a date with her boyfriend so she wouldn't have been able to keep her brother for that long.

It was eight o'clock when he tried calling Willem's phone the first time. No answer. He started pacing around the room at nine. He called again. Still no answer. At ten o'clock, Mathias was on the edge of his bed, legs bouncing anxiously. He called three times that hour. No answer any of the times. By the time midnight had rolled around, Mathias had called a total of thirteen times and left over twenty texts in increasing franticness.

It was one in the morning when Mathias bundled up in a hoodie and sweats and left the dorm to look around the campus. There had to be some sort of sign of Willem somewhere. There had to be some sort of logical explanation for him not showing up that night.

Maybe he ended up finding a girl that he took a fancy to and was staying the night with her? No, Willem wasn't that type of guy. Plus there had never been a moment during the time that Mathias had known him that Willem had shown even the slightest interest in dating anyone, much less going further than that. Maybe he had a family emergency? No, that didn't seem likely either because Willem would've let him know if something was wrong. Maybe he went out and got drunk at a bar? No, definitely not; Willem was very anti-alcohol and had gotten into several arguments with people who tried to pressure him into drinking.

Beyond those thoughts though, lay the darker what-if's that began to creep in with the rising amount of hysteria and sleep deprivation added to the amount of caffeine he had consumed.

What if Willem had gotten mugged? What if he had gotten stabbed and dragged into a dark alleyway? What if he was dying? What if he had been kidnapped? What if there had been some sort of shootout and he got caught in the crossfire? What if he had been hit by a car and was in the hospital? What if he had amnesia and couldn't remember who or where he was? What if he just mysteriously disappeared without a trace? What if he never got to see Willem again? What if--

The weight of a heavy hand landing on his shoulder caused Mathias to bite back a muffled scream, even as he dropped his ninth cup of coffee and watched it decorate the sidewalk like a blood splatter. His hands instinctively shot up to guard himself as he whirled away from the other person, squinting in the darkness to try to make out the other's features.

It was only after a few moments later, once the sound of his blood pounding in his ears had quieted, that he recognized the familiar voice calling his name.

“Mathias. Mathias, relax. Hey, it's just me. Calm down. Deep breaths, Matt.”

It took Mathias a few seconds of inspection to decide whether or not he was merely hallucinating or if the tall figure standing in front of him truly was Willem. He decided he didn't care either way, very nearly flinging himself into Willem's arms and squeezing him tightly.

“Oh, thank the gods that you're okay…” Mathias mumbled, feeling dizzy with relief. “I looked all over for you and called and text you, but there wasn't any response, and I had waited for you to come back to the dorm but you didn't… I thought you were gone…”

The words caused Willem to sigh, his own shoulders drooping tiredly. A hand came up and rubbed Mathias's back. “I'm sorry…”

Those were the only words that the taller male could get out as Mathias pulled back slightly, looking up at him. Mathias noticed the dark shadows under Willem's eyes, the tightness of stress, the fatigue, the different colored paint splatters that were stuck to his skin… That was when Mathias noticed that Willem was still wearing the same clothes that he had left the previous day's soccer practice in, not counting the addition of paint flecks to the rumpled clothing as well.

Suddenly Mathias felt very stupid as he stood there sheepishly under Willem's gaze. “You...never left the art department, did you?” It felt so obvious, and yet he was in such a panic that he didn't even think to look there. All he could think about was the fact that Willem's pattern had changed and that he was scared of losing him.

Shaking his head, Willem coughed deeply into his elbow, shoulders slumping. “No, I hadn't. I ended up working on a project but passed out on the table after a while.” Mathias could feel the tremble of Willem's hand as he continued rubbing his back, almost absentmindedly. There was a pause. “What time is it?”

Reluctantly dropping his arms from around Willem, Mathias pulled his phone out of his hoodie pocket, glancing at the time. “Just a little past four in the morning.” He had been waiting and looking for Willem for over eight hours… Mathias glanced up at him, but his roommate's expression looked dead and emotionless. An unsettling feeling wound its way into his stomach, making him anxious. “I tried calling and texting you,” Mathias tried, attempting to coax some sort of reaction out of him.

Willem just stared at him. “Oh.”

Something was wrong. Mathias could feel it.

“I'm pretty sure my phone died, because I didn't hear anything. I'll check it later.” That was better, but there was something still...off with the way that Willem was acting. Or maybe Mathias was just overreacting because of his fatigue and worry. Maybe it was just making him look into things too deeply and out of perspective. They were obviously both exhausted after all.

“Right. Yeah. Didn't think about that. Sorry,” Mathias mumbled with a sheepish chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. He was definitely starting to crash from the caffeine and adrenaline wearing off.

Before he could say anything, Willem spoke up. “Let's head back to our room,” he muttered, resting a hand on Mathias's shoulder. “We could both use the rest…”

Mathias let out a sigh of relief, a smile tugging at his lips. “Yeah.” At this rate, he was just glad to have Willem back. “Let's go,” he said, kicking the murdered coffee cup off the sidewalk and leading the way back to their dorm building with Willem right by his side.

It was actually really nice, all things considered with how stressful the night had been. Being able to take a moonlit stroll in the early morning hours when the crickets and fireflies were still out… The morning breeze gently rustling the leaves of the treetops and bushes… It was relaxing and only made him feel that much more drowsy as he leaned against Willem's arm for support. They had taken early morning walks together before, but those times were usually filled with chatting. Mathias had never really taken the time to appreciate the surrounding nature as he did in those moments.