(3rd Person)

Matt rises up from his bed, completely sick of this whole Tom mystery. Great start to a new day, huh? Worrying about one of your friends who are too sensitive for their own good. Groaning, he glances up at his clock, ignoring his closed blinds doing a terrible job at blocking out the sunlight, only partially preventing the bright light from fluttering in. The sun peeked through, in between the slits of the blinds, leaving illuminated triangles and lines imprinted on the carpet of his room. Another morning, another attempt to bring Tom out of his room. Seriously, how long would the pastel boy mope?

Matt rolls out of his bed, pulling his sheets along with him. Standing up and kicking his blankets off, Matt yawns and makes his way to the bathroom to get ready for the day. Entering the cold, tiled room, Matt drowsily heads toward the sink and starts brushing his teeth. Thankfully, there were no mirrors in the bathroom. The others were very well aware of his fear, and decided that everyone just have their own mirror to bring around, lest they upset Matt.

Finishing up all that stuff that someone is too lazy to write about, Matt leans on the counter, placing his hands on the granite surface. His left hand lands on an object he didn't notice before. Grasping it, he glances at the object. Oh, it's his butterfly knife. He was playing around with it and practicing tricks with it yesterday. Must've taken it out of his pocket before taking a shower last night.

With a shrug, Matt pockets his knife in his shorts and walks off, back to his room to change. Quickly slipping on a sweater and a hoodie on top, Matt ties up his hair and flips up the hood. He changes his pants too, wearing jeans and transferring the knife into the jeans' pocket. Walking out, Matt gets started on waking everyone up.
"Tord, get up." Matt calls as he knocks. He hears immediate shuffling and goes on to Edd's room.

"Yo, Edd, get up." He says, knocking again. Barely hearing a groan, he knocks again until he fully hears Edd complaining. Perfect. Time for Tom's room.

He walks over to the, recently empty and quiet, room. Knocking gently Matt calls out to his pastel friend.
"Tom? Can you come out now?" Matt asks, unsure. "It's been a week..."
With no answer, not even a single sound, Matt sighs. He's been respecting Tom's privacy for this long, but this has gone long enough. He turns the knob which was unlocked, and peeks inside. It was...the same as usual. Except for one crucial detail.
There was no Tom.

Glancing around, scanning the room, Matt can confirm that, yes, Tom was not present in his room.
"Where...?" Matt mumbles, walking in. He notices that the usual mess of Tom's desk and on top of his dresser was nonexistent. His scattered pencils and art supplies were gone, the desk was bare. His dresser surface, which usually held his Tomee bear and other things, such as ribbons, was also empty.

"What the fuck...?" Matt, being the nihilistic ginger he is, opens up Tom's dresser, noticing how easy they were to open and how light the drawers were. Looking inside, the contents seemed to have been purged. Empty, nothing, bare wood in all of the drawers. He walks over to the blank desk. Sliding the drawer for that open as well, it was as empty as when Tom first got it. Matt's slight confusion turning into a more panicky confusion as he checks around the room. The bed was made, nice and neat. His ukulele was gone. There was no sign of a struggle, in fact, it looked as though he went on vacation, or moved away. Where the hell was Tom?

Edd and Tord, in the meanwhile, had been peacefully eating their fruit and cereal, Edd still being plagued with sleep and Tord trying to be as energetic as an insomniac could be. Edd sighs, plopping another grape in his mouth and chewing it, letting the sweet juice explode in his mouth. Matt slowly comes into the kitchen, scratching the back of his neck, his hood down.

"Hey...guys?" He asks in a concerned tone, having just come back from knocking on Tom's door.
"What is it, Matt?" Edd answers, taking note of Matt's voice.

"...Where'd Tommy go?"

—————

"Oh, no, no, no..." Tom mumbles, pacing around his room. He stares down at his carpet during his pacing, holding an oversized sleeve-covered hand to his chin.
"This is not good- nope, nope, nopity, nOPE!" Tom exclaims to himself. As he continues to pace in circles, fearful thoughts racing through his mind, someone knocks at his door. He stops mid-step.

"C-coming!" He calls out, rushing to the door, still in his anxious haze. Throwing the door open, he is met with his brother, Timothy.
"Hi, Timmy- what's up?" Tom tries asking casually, leaning against the doorframe. Tim sees right through his act, sighing. Tim rolls his sockets.
"Come on, I could hear you panicking from my room." Tim groans. "Who's the target?"

"Uh- He's..." Tom gulps. "He's one of my- my friends' neighbors..." He mumbles, trailing off a bit. Tim gives him the 'really?' look. Sighing and looking up at the ceiling with frustrated 'eyes' closed shut, he looks back down at Tom.
"Are you serious? That shouldn't matter, there has to be something more to this, bro." Tim crosses his arms.
"I...I'm scare he might..recognize..? Me..?" Tom asks with extreme hesitation.

"Uhuh, sure. You'll be disguised in some...skimpy thing auntie gives you. He probably wouldn't recognize you unless you left your eyes out in the open! So tell me, why are you panicking about someone that doesn't matter?" Tim interrogates with a stern look. Tom gulps, nerves wracking his body.
"Uh..." Tom hesitates again. "He's..a good friend of mine...and I really, really don't want to hurt him! Or try to 'seduce' him.." Tom mumbles the last statement with a shudder.

Him and Jon, even though they seem like rivals or enemies, they're secret best friends. Matt never liked him, so he forbade any of his friends from talking to him. He was always too uncaring. Just apathetic about everything except for his Tumblr account and his Wattpad fanfics. So, to actually get to know the edgy 25-year-old, Tom decided to talk to him without the others knowing. Through Jon's bedroom window. Breaking in while Jon was lying on his bed and staring at his phone. That was an experience.

"I don't want to hurt him! I want him to stay safe!" Tom whines in desperation. "He doesn't have to be dragged into this! Isn't there a way we can just...keep him safe?" Tom asks quietly. Tim stayed silent during the whole mini-rant, deep in thought. He loved his brother, unlike the rest of the family. He would do anything to keep him content at the very least. With a sigh, Tim finally goes to speak up.

"I have an idea, but it might not work."