PAPER RINGS | MAIRI ONESHOTS

QUARANTINED

mattia was getting tired.

a boy could only be alone for so long before he started to feel almost insane being cooped up with his family. the italian boy wasn't used to being without his friend group for more than a few days, let alone months. the whole ordeal was getting old.

and his parents could definitely tell.

that's why, when his mom came down on that cloudy wednesday afternoon to tell him that he was going to be able to see his friends, he immediately jumped out of bed to get ready to meet his father in the car.

mattia had a few minutes to see his friends, (and no getting out of the car!) as his mom had told him as he headed out the door. the boy scrambled to text his friends, telling them he would be by to say hi, even if only for a moment. he was going to be visiting alejandro, roshaun, and kairi, of course. mattia wished he could hop out of the car and hug every single one of them for the rest of eternity. stupid corona.

"you remember what your mama said?" mattia's dad asked as he hopped on the car.

"yessir. social distancing at its finest." mattia grabbed the thin blue mask from his father, slipping it on quickly and then buckling his seatbelt. his leg wouldn't stop bouncing up and down as they drove to ale and roshaun's, driving his dad almost bonkers. "i swear, you're on some type of drug all the time," his father would always grumble.  "just the adhd." mattia would usually reply in a joking manner.

visiting roshaun and alejandro was quick. mattia simply recorded them on snapchat, laughing behind the phone the whole time. he waved to them as they stood in their yards, having a quick conversation about random things. it was only probably a ten minute visit, but it was the fastest ten minutes of mattia's life. seeing them was more than enough, however. it made things feel a bit normal.

saying goodbye to them was rough. all mattia could do was wave and jokingly send them air kisses, promising a hangout as soon as all this quarantine stuff was over. he was convinced, however, that when all this was over, he wouldn't ever leave his friends sides.

the polibio boy was quiet on the way to kairi's house, lost in his thoughts. but as he saw kairi's familiar shape hopping down his front steps, he realized he was going to see kairi, his best friend. and not through a shitty phone camera and delayed screens; he was there for mattia to laugh with, to admire, to talk to in real life.

"kairi!" mattia's dad exclaimed, grinning as he slowed the car to a stop. he always loved the smaller boy. kairi helped to keep mattia on track, and always managed to make him happy. their bond was something mr. polibio hoped his son would never lose.

mattia recorded kairi on his snapchat, almost giggling behind the camera as the boys fluffy hair bounced as he headed over to the car. god, he wanted to hug him so badly. even just touch him for a second. that way, mattia would really know it would be okay. that this isn't permanent.

"you can get out," mattia's dad interrupted his thoughts gently, almost reading his mind. mattia carefully put his phone down and went to reach for the door handle, only to be stopped by his dad.

"give this to kai," he said, handing mattia one of the masks he already had on. mattia smiled, even if his dad couldn't see it, and jumped out of the car, slamming the door behind him.

"what are you doing," kairi asked as mattia got closer to him, a look of confusion on his face. "i thought your parents—"