Mats is in the middle of a phone conversation, looking very serious and not at all like his usual cocky self when Thomas enters the dining room, trying so hard not to look like he’s freaking out but frantically looking under every single table.
It’s not so unusual of Thomas to act like this, considering he’s always losing his (and Manu’s) belongings and then tries to find them before his significant other notices and reprimands him for being a slob. Also, it’s not so unusual of Thomas to loudly complain about the situation as well. What is so unusual is that him to keep yelling Joshua’s name, which is completely useless given the fact that the young player isn’t in the room to begin with.
At this point Mats is beyond annoyed at his fellow teammate, which is rather out of ordinary cause Mats is always the one who’s relating to Thomas the most, since he’s the messiest one in the team anyway. Just because he hides it pretty well doesn’t make him any less of a mess than Thomas, but at this point, given the situation he’s in, he can’t help but being slightly angry at Thomas. In addition to that, his friend decides to choose that moment to tap on his shoulder, demanding Mats’ attention.
Mats just mumbles a “I’m sorry, wait a second, okay? Mülli says something. No, no, no… Don’t hang up,” to the person he’s been talking on the phone, and then turns to Thomas.
“I’m on the phone, Thomas. What do you want?” he says, slightly pissed off.
“Have you seen Jo? I can’t find him,” says the younger man, looking way more alarmed than he should be.
“No, I haven’t,” he brushes him off and goes back to his phone call. “Benni, are you there? Benni?”
When he gets no answer from the other side of the line, Mats sighs and drops his head to the table in front of him, clearly disappointed at how his conversation is ended.
He doesn’t even realize that Thomas took a break from fussing until he sits down next to him and pats him on the shoulder. “I didn’t know that Benni and you are on speaking terms again,” he says softly.
Mats huffs some more. “Well, Mülli, as you can see, referring this as ‘being on speaking terms’ would be the exaggeration of the century.”
Thomas only smiles at that bitterly and definitely doesn’t comment on the current situation of Hömmels in order to maintain his friendship with both parties, just like he and Manu have decided the very first day they got the news of their break-up. He acts accordingly to their decision once again, and lets the comfortable silence take over the room.
After a few minutes of them sitting side by side, Mats decides to stop being a drama queen for a few minutes to be a good friend and ask Thomas what’s been worrying him. “What was your question again?”
With that, Thomas remembers his panic from a few minutes ago and immediately stands up, dragging Mats with him as well. “I lost Jo. No, don’t roll your eyes at me like that, Hummels. I really lost him. Manu’s gonna kill me.”
“Do I even wanna know the backstory of how exactly did you manage to lose a 23 year-old?” Mats asks suspiciously, then remembers the bike ride Thomas and Joshua went on a few hours ago. “Wait, no, nevermind. Don’t tell me. I don’t wanna share this responsibility with you.”
“Manu’s gonna kill me,” Thomas whines. “He’s gonna kill me, and then Jule no.2 is gonna complain to Marco about how I lost his bae and then he’s gonna kill me too.”
“Don’t forget about Bernd, he’ll kill you too,” Mats adds with a smug grin on his face, he’s enjoying his friend’s desperation way too much.
Thomas groans at the older man, and just drags Mats with him in his quest to find their teammate before Manu realizes that neither he nor Joshua is nowhere to be found.
“It’s official, you’re a dead man now,” Mats declares after half an hour searching every single place Jo could be in, including the forest near the training facilities. “I’m gonna miss you, buddy. Don’t worry, we’ll take good care of your fatherless horses.”
Thomas is about to smack Mats on the head as a response when his other half walks in on them, looking completely relaxed. “What are you two up to?” he asks while he’s pecking Thomas on the cheek. “If it’s anything that’d make Jogi angry, I wanna be a part of it.”
Mats lets out a bark, and just motions to Thomas to answer the question.
Well, considering they failed miserably in their mission, it’s best to let the team captain know that one of their teammates is missing. It would probably cause Thomas a very big trouble, but at this point, there’s no other option to even consider.
“Babe, don’t be angry,” Thomas starts explaining. “Really, it’s not that big of a deal.”
Manu raises his eyebrows at that, considering Thomas’ history, any explanation starting with that sentence usually never ends with something that big of a deal. “And?” he asks.
“I lost our child,” Thomas says regretfully. “I mean, Joshua. I think we should call the police, cause it’s been hours.”
The goalkeeper’s face is unreadable for a moment, and for a moment he only stares at his boyfriend with wide eyes. Then, he lets out a laugh. “He’s not lost, idiot. He’s been in our room for hours, complaining about how he’s heartbroken and sad that he doesn’t have Julian the Bumblebee with him here.”
“Oh thank god,” he lets out the breath he’s been holding. “I thought he’s being eaten by bears or something.”
Manu pulls him in for a hug with that, because his boyfriend’s distraught about the situation is clearly visible. After checking their surroundings and seeing that none of the Jogi, Olli & Co. is to be seen, he leans for a kiss.
After a few minutes of chaste kisses to here and there, Manu lets go of the younger man in order to not push their luck. “Let’s go back to our room, we still have an hour till dinner.”
“It’s a great idea, love,” Thomas answers. “And I hope you’re thinking what I’m thinking to spend our precious one hour productively.”
Manu chuckles softly, “Of course I am thinking the same. What did you expect?”
***
On their way to dinner after an hour of productively spending their free time, Manu suddenly remembers something.
“But wait, Mats knew that Joshua was with me. He was in our room when Jo came.”
Thomas stops walking all of a sudden, and squints his eyes at Mats who’s sitting together with Boa and Toni at the other end of the lounge. “MATS JULIAN HUMMELS!” he yells after a few seconds, “You’re a dead man, I swear to god, you’re a dead man.”
