Location: Early morning, by the Sea Stairs @nickalphonsus
Mik woke up to the usual cacophony of birds chattering, sun peeking through the open windows of their hut. He felt good, he felt great even, his shoulder wasn't aching as soon as he woke up, so that had to mean he was on the mend, and that the hard ass floor hadn't completely ruined him. His eyes still closed, Mik reached out to torture Nick with a far-too-hot early morning cuddle-
-But the mat next to him was empty. Mik squinted his eyes open, still half asleep, confirming that the hut was empty. All at once his heart kicked into gear, panic setting in, discombobulated memories of Nick missing, Nick reappearing, Mik shouting at Nick and burning his wrist- the timeline was fuzzy, they all felt like they had happened yesterday from how they had him sitting bolt upright, his heart thumping fast in his chest.
They had a system... Mik scrambled to his feet, searching for the coloured stone that would tell him where Nick had gone. Yellow for friends, blue for fishing, green for the farm, brown for the beach, except... There was nothing. "Nick?" Mik called out, unable to see the gorgeous, magenta clouds streaking across the sky. What good was the sunrise if he couldn't find Nick? Why wouldn't he have said where he was going? Was he taken, the truce with Emre already shattered? "Nick!" Mik repeated, louder this time, taking off to jog and look for him.
He was sweaty and out of breath when he finally found him, having run right along the beach towards the sea stairs. And there, bobbing in the water was a head of dark brown hair. Nick, floating without a care in the world. "Nick!" Mik came to a stop, panting and catching his breath, slightly dizzy from the sheer speed at which he'd set off. "What are you doing?" he asked, because there had to be a good reason for Nick to get out of bed early and to leave without telling him.