GetComponent returning null with no errors

I am trying to set the difficulty based on the players chosenDifficulty, but when I use GetComponent on an instantiated object, it does not find the chosenDifficulty.

I have tried putting it into the awake & breaking it into both the awake and the start, but it just doesnt want to return a value.

There are no errors in the console & everything is referenced in the inspector.

I have no idea why this isnt working, any help is greatly appreciated.

Tnx.

1st script:

     using UnityEngine;
     public class Something : MonoBehaviour
 {
    public int difficulty;
     int chosenDifficulty;
     public Thing thing;
     public GameObject master;  // holder of Thing script
 
 private void Awake()
     {
         thing = master.GetComponent<Thing>();
         chosenDifficulty = thing.chosenDifficulty;
     }
 
  void Start()
     {
          difficulty = chosenDifficulty;
     }
   }

2nd script:

  using UnityEngine;
  public class Thing : MonoBehaviour
 {
 
     public int chosenDifficulty;
     public GameObject empty;     // holder of the something script
 
     // Start is called before the first frame update
     void Start()
     {
         chosenDifficulty = 32;
     }
 
     // Update is called once per frame
     void Update()
     {
         if (Input.GetKeyDown ("k"))
         {
             Instantiate(empty, Camera.main.transform);  
         }
     }
 }