Eliott sighed, closing the door behind him. The walk had been uneventful and useless.

People were not bold enough to go out even though the city was the same as it was the day before. It felt like they were walking in the middle of the night even though it was only 4 pm. It was colder but still reasonable to Eliott’s relief.

Turning around, he expected to see his friends seated in the kitchen or the living room, waiting for them but he only saw Ashley leaning on the wall, looking right at him.

He frowned.

“Ash’? What happened? What’s that face for?” he asked, becoming more worried as the second passed.

Ashley stayed silent, signaling them to go into the kitchen with him.

“Ash’ you’re worrying me. Please answer.”

Chris frowned and they exchanged a look. The house was far too calm. Usually, when they were at least two, music was blasting from the speaker and they were talking or playing. But Ashley was the only one downstairs.

No sign of George.

“Where’s George?” inquired Chris, his voice lower than the usual, filled with worry.

What had happened?

Again, Ashley stayed silent and sat at the kitchen table, seemingly waiting for something to happen.

Chris opened his mouth again to repeat himself but their friend gestured him to stop. He mouthed "three, two, one..." and closed his eyes.

And they heard it.

The cry of distress that echoed through the house, followed by a loud thud as something fell on the floor.

Eliott frowned. George's voice was something you could not mistake for something else. His Spanish accent was only hearable when he was in great emotional distress.

"What happened Ashley?" he asked again, refusing to wait any longer.

"His dad texted him about 20 minutes ago... it sounded like he said farewell to him... And George has been trying to call them since. No one is answering."

Chris opened his mouth, probably to ask more but Eliott was already in the staircase, rushing up to see his best friend. That was the least he could do. He jogged to his door and softly knocked on it, waiting for George to open. Nothing. Sighing, he opened the door and let himself in the student's bedroom.

"Georgie...?"

The room was plunged into darkness. The only light source seeable was George's phone, the white light reflected on his face.  And dear God, what face. George's brown eyes were red from his crying, his moles looking like little holes on his visage. His cheeks were puffy, his nose a bit red, and his long dark hair supposedly tied up in a ponytail was more outside of the ponytail than inside it.

He looked like a mess. A pretty sad one.

"Hey George..." murmured Eliott as he sat down near his best friend. "What happened?"

His eloquent best friend did not utter a word, simply shoving his phone in Eliott's face. The jock read the messages, frowning a bit more at each word.

"Please stay where you are. It is not safe anymore here."

"We love you, Georgie."

What did Mr. Sepulveda mean? What dangers could be that bad that their son had to stay here? Yes, they lived far away but George had made the trip a hundred times already. It was not something new. And he had already driven during night time. More than once.

"Oh, Georgie... You've tried to call them?"

George nodded, letting a desperate sigh come out of his lungs. Eliott made his way into the bed, letting the younger cradle into his arms. He wrapped his arms around him and sighed heavily.

"No one's answering?"

"No..." mumbled George, his voice hoarse from crying. "The line's dead..."

Eliott felt his heart crack, hearing his friend’s voice so beat up and cheerless. George was always upbeat, smiling. That was his way of coping with the world and all the shits that he experienced. No crying. No shouting. Just a smile and a hint of disdain.

“What if…?” he stammered, “What if something horrible happened to them?”

“Shush… I’m sure they are just fine. They just want you to be safe and not take any risk.”

George stayed silent for a moment.

“I’m going to their house,” he abruptly declared, rising from Eliott’s arms, “If they need my help, I have to there for them.”

Eliott sighed. Of course.

Of course, the thought had crossed his mind. No one said no to George without having in mind that he could do the opposite. And that he would do it without hesitating once.

“No George. They asked you to stay with us, do as they told you, please.”

But he could have talked to a wall, the result would have been the same. Light suddenly turned on, spontaneously blinding him and he winced as George leaned on his torso to get up properly.

“C’mon George!” he pleaded.

Too late. His best friend's unbeatable mood was back and he was grinning like a madman, putting a pullover on.

“What?”

“Stay here.”

“Listen, buddy, I know that you love me n’ shit but this is my family. My only family. I have to make sure they are okay.”

He smiled dryly, grabbing his bag to shove diverse objects in it. Eliott sighed, getting up. He had no choice. He jumped over the bed and ran to the door, almost slipping and crashing into the opposite wall.

“Guys!” he shouted in the corridor. “Initiate operation Baby proof!”

George shot him a cold glare, instantly dropping his bag to run out his bedroom.

“Don’t you dare, you asshole!” he hissed, his Spanish accent getting stronger as the anger grew inside of him. “Not now, Eliott, for fuck sake!!!”

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There was a moment of silence and then he heard the jingle of the car keys being taken away and George immediately cussed like a madman.

“Hijo de puta!!! You can’t do this to me!” he screamed as he pushed his best friend to run down the stairs.

Once again he was rushing, not minding if he fell or not, his anger stopping any rational thoughts from entering his brain. Following a bit behind, Eliott heard the Spanish angry blob insult the daylight out of his roommates, heavy and rushed footsteps indicating an intense chase around the kitchen table.

“ENOUGH!” roared Chris, belting the younger one, blocking him from catching Ashley or the keys.

“Piss off!” shouted back George, sinking his teeth into his friend’s arm but Chris did not budge.

“You are going to fucking calm down before I fucking tie you up to your bed! Understood?”

Eliott raised an eyebrow.

“Kinky.”

“Shut up, Eliott, it’s not the moment.”

“Language, all of you!” shouted Ashley, angrily.

Eliott let out a sharp laugh, catching the keys that Ashley threw him from the other side of the kitchen.

“Let him go, Chris.”

George shoved his friend’s hands away from him, glaring at the team. The silence lingered for a whole minute, no one daring to move or talk.

“Eh.” George shrugged before exiting the room. “Bold of you to assume that I need my keys,”

They exchanged looks, not sure if they needed to be worried or not about that information. It was more than likely that George was going to try and carjack his car but they didn’t know if he was dumb enough to break the window. He could be pretty stupid sometimes but they had never experienced such a dramatic situation so… they just had to wait and see.

As the door slammed behind George, they all ran to the nearest window, scooting to let the others see as they tried to spot their dumb friend. With his green hoodie and his flashlight, they had no problem finding him but George seemed to have some problems finding his car. It wasn’t even that dark outside, with the lampposts lighting up the streets… Was he drunk or something? Or maybe simply blind as a bat. They watched him facepalm into the letterbox then hit Chris’ car before finally finding his own.

Eliott sighed, relieved that he didn’t kill himself on this ten meters trip. He was capable of dying on such a short distance, so he had all his reasons to be worried. They looked at George who was now just watching his car, probably thinking about what he should do next. Typical once again. George acted before thinking.

Eliott remembered one time where he assumed that some guy was talking shit about Chris and, without a warning, just beat the shit out of him before actually asking if he was the one that said that. Turned out it wasn’t and George ended up fighting against three members of the basketball team and ended up in the hospital, again.

But it didn’t change anything and he did that again a year later.

George was optimistic. A stupid one, but he believed that actions were more efficient than words. Hence why he was always smiling and the first to jump into action no matter what. It was a good trait as well as a bad one.

George looked at his car for a moment, tried to open the doors then obviously sighed. He was shaking, his hoodie not warm enough to protect him from the cold.

“Dumbass…” sighed Chris, unlocking the younger’s car. “Let’s see how you will do this.”

“Language Chris. Also… don’t you think that he knows how to start it without the keys?”

Eliott looked at Ashley with a faint smile.

“As good as he is with aero-spatial engineering, he is really bad at carjacking. He will come back here in ten minutes.”

Ashley didn’t look quite convinced but shrugged anyway as the two others just went back to their place, sitting at the kitchen table.

“While he is doing this, tell us what else you learned during the stream,” asked Chris, his chin resting upon his hand.

Ashley turned his head over them, a nervous smile on his lips.

He was an awkward guy, always looking away whenever someone met his gaze. He was cute though with his huge doe eyes, his short curly black hair, and his freckled face where the scars of his acne were still visible. The typical shy guy who turned out to be a lot more confident on camera.

And he was.

Even though he was more comfortable with his friends, he seemed to be afraid to lose them, especially George who was the most extraverted one here. He had issues with abandonment.

“We talked with GenS. George offered him to come over and he said that he would think about it. They talked about the temperatures going down too… George seemed worried about that even though the winter is not that cold.”

He paused, glancing out the window to see how the latter was doing.

“I sent a message to Ridox and Ezra to invite them over too.”

“Damn, we’re gonna shelter all of our friends?” complained Chris with a sigh.

“George seemed to think that it was a good idea to be plenty. The more the merrier and things like that.”

“George is an idiot. We can’t host them all here.”

Eliott shrugged.

“Yes, we can. I would be more relaxed if I knew that our friends were with us.”

“Ridox lives in Italy, how the hell is she going to come here? Same for GenS. Europe is too far away and it’s too risky to ask them to come over.”

“You don’t have the higher ground here, Chris. Those are George’s friends before being yours or mine.”

Ashley cleared his throat, waving to get their attention.

“Hm… You don’t have a choice anymore, to be honest… Ridox was already in the States so she’s on her way to pick up Ezra and come here.”

“Fucking perfect.” Chris sighed, ignoring Ashley’s rebuke, looking even more upset now. “I hope that Maria’s ready to share her personal space with four men.”

“She is. She knows that Eliott’s crushing on a law student, that you are dating someone and that George is not interested in her.”

“What about Ezra and you?”

“For God’s sake, Chris, you know damn well that Ezra is gay!” exclaimed Eliott, throwing his arms in the air. “Can you stop being a dick for a second? If Ridox wants to come here, she will, end of the question.”

“Language, Eliott!”

Ashley promptly turned his back to them, falling silent again, avoiding the tension that had gotten so thick in the room that you could almost cut it with a knife.

The door abruptly opened and slammed as abruptly, making the three of them jump. Ashley had said nothing about George coming back, was it him? They all stared at the kitchen doorframe with apprehension, ready to throw something at the face of the intruder.

George emerged from the corridor, his face reddened by the frostbite, his asymmetrical earrings safely held in his hand. The metal was probably too cold for him to wear it.

They relaxed, putting down whatever they had in hand.

“So how did it go?” sneered Eliott with a wide grin.

“Oh shut up.”

George slumped into a chair, resting his head on the table, the quiet “Language” muttered by Ashley fading into silence.

“I just hope they are alright…”

Eliott gently rubbed his hand on his back, looking down on his best friend.

“I bet they are. They just want you to be alright.”

“But I’d be alright if I was with them! I’d make sure they are safe!”

“George. They are safe. But they are too far north, the road is probably dangerous. You better stay here, we will go to them when we can.”

“Mh… but what are we going to do?”

Chris cleared his throat, looking up from his phone.

“I think you should check what I’ve sent you.”

Eliott frowned, getting his phone to take a look at the message. He frowned a bit more. Chris had sent us a Twitter link?

“What the heck man. It’s not the time to be on Twitter.”

“Just… shut up and look.”

George glanced at his friend’s phone, watching the Twitter app charging before his eyes. Chris had sent them a link to someone’s account?

“Who’s @perthroandersen?”

“Her name’s Signe. She’s an artist that I follow and she’s, you know, the serious type of person.”

“So what?”

Chris sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose to not lose his temper again.

“Just look at the damn thread I’ve sent you, please.”

“Language,” muttered Ashley.

They did not argue longer, finally concentrating on the damn tweet.

I know what’s happening. And I know what to do.