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Corona Chronicles

"Positive?"

"Positive", came the sheepish response.

"What did I tell you about that club visit on the weekend?"

"I know", the whine came through the phone.

"I thought we agreed: I am always right."

"Not always."

"Most of the times."

"...okay, maybe. But not always!"

Brett rolled his eyes, gripping his phone tighter.

"So, what's the story then? Feeling okay?"

"Yeah, literally no symptoms. Stupid virus."

"Be glad they caught you before you could pass it on to anyone else. Finally your anti-social behaviour is good for something."

"I am social!", Eddy protested and Brett noticed that they got to the point where the teasing started to become too much.

"Okay, okay", he admitted, "you can be social. Just not when you hole up in your house."

"You suck."

Brett couldn't help himself but snicker at that.

"What are you gonna do now then?"

"Stay at home of course."

"Are you not afraid of getting bored?"

"Nah, it'll be grand. When are you coming back?"

"Hm, I don't know."

"I thought your flight back was in two weeks or something."

"Yeah", Brett drew out the answer, "but I figured I might as well get the self-quarantine out of the way as quickly as possible."

"Oh shit, I forgot that you have to quarantine as well when you get back."

"Yeah. Too bad we're not stuck together. If we'd been in the same club, we could hang out now", he joked. Tried to joke. Did that count as a joke?

"Dude, that would have been ace!"

"Well, you were the one who had to go out by himself and get infected."

"I know."

Brett could imagine the face Eddy was pulling right this second.

"It's probably better if you stay longer in Taipei, considering you don't have to quarantine there and all."

"I guess", was Brett's vague response.

"Wish you'd be here though. Even if we can't see each other. It's nice knowing that you're close."

Well fuck.

/

"Quarantine?"

"I don't understand why you're surprised. I told you that this would happen."

"You could have stayed in Taipei! Why did you come even earlier than you had planned before this pandemic took control of the world?"

Brett shrugged his shoulder, completely ignoring the fact that Eddy couldn't see it.

"Do you have food at least? My god, you couldn't even grocery shop, could you?"

"That's what a delivery service is for."

"You can't eat take out all day."

"I meant the delivery service from Coles but thanks for assuming I am not a functioning adult."