Roomies Book Two: Quarantine (PolyLove)

Chapter One: Phone Calls

A/N:  This story takes place 8 years after graduation.  Ryan and Cameron are married and working as physical therapists.  Nate and Diego just got married.  They are all 26 years old.  It's February 28, 2020.  

Chapter One: The Phone Calls

"This is really important Cameron!   Really important!  Are you listening?" Miranda's voice sounded strained and slightly frantic.

"Uh huh." Cameron spoke into his cell, definitely not listening. His eyes were completely on his current patient, Mrs. Ziggs, an eighty years young woman trying to sit up in her bed. She'd been bedridden for a month, due to a stroke, and was just now, in this very moment, trying to pull her shoulders up. It was a huge hurdle and the first step towards getting out of the hospital that she hated with all her heart. Cameron had answered his phone on instinct, but his total focus was on Mrs. Ziggs and her struggle.

"Cameron, please! I'm not even supposed to be calling anyone. No one here wants to start a panic, but it's getting really serious. There are so many cases right where you live! You need to...."

"Sorry, Miranda. I have to go." And he hung up, tucking his cell back into his jeans pocket.

"Come on, Sara. You can do this!" He reached his hand behind her shoulders, giving some support, but not too much. She had to do this on her own.

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"Ryan! Ryan! Listen! I tried talking to Cameron! He freaking hung up on me! I need to tell you guys..."

"Miranda? Is that you? Look, I can't talk right now. I'll call you back tonight." And hung up.

"You fucking picked up the phone when I'm talking to you?!" the coach yelled, his face turning a very shocking shade of purple. "My star soccer player sprained his ankle! You need to get him up and moving before our next game! Do you hear me?? I don't care what you have to do! Shots, tape! Whatever! Just get him mobile and able to compete by next week!"

Ryan gritted his teeth, smothered his desire to scream back at the middle aged man. He glanced at the poor kid laying on the gurney. Just a baby, seventeen or something. His hands were covering his face, as if he could hide away from the embarrassment and pain of the situation. They were fresh from the hospital, with a ton of papers the coach had shoved in Ryan's face, all of which said Ramon needed crutches and should  stay off his leg for at least two weeks. Thank god Coach Winters was never like this, or any of Ryan's own lacrosse coaches. This man needed some perspective. But Ryan had faced situations like this so many times already in his short career. He knew how to handle it.

He sighed. And longed for this evening. Cameron was making tomato bisque tonight, and Ryan desperately wanted to go home, eat his freaking dinner, lay down with his head in Cameron's lap, and watch something stupid on Netflix. Just lay there, listen to the late February rain, watch the fire, and relax with Cameron's soft fingers running through his hair. Then later, have desperately hot sex. Even though his mouth made the right noises, calming the coach, reassuring the young soccer player, his mind was already at home, with his husband.

He completely forgot Miranda had even called.

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"You're exaggerating, Miranda," Jess chuckled. "I saw it on the news, but come on! It's nothing, it will blow over. Look what happened with the bird flu and SARS. I know it feels important, honey but..."

"No! No! You're not listening to me! It is bigger than either of those things. Seriously Jess! It spreads so quickly! And people are dying!"

"Well, ok. Thanks for letting me know, honey. I do appreciate it. I'll talk to you soon." And Jess hung up the phone, eyes immediately glued to the stack of essays in front of her. It was another lonely night, correcting papers in a cold house. She loved her students, and was proud of their hard work. But after a dinner of leftover pizza, some bagged spinach and an apple, her students' papers really lost any appeal they might have once had.

Jess leaned back on the couch and looked around her. The dark living room. The empty kitchen. She had moved Cameron's old record player downstairs, and was listening to some old Bowie. It was cold in the empty house, and her sad little heater hummed away, adding a deep bass note to the music.

"Fuck this." she said, and texted Mike to ask if she could come over and hang out with them.

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"Diego you need to listen to me! Please!"

"Miranda, you do realize that I'm on my honeymoon, right? This very second I am laying on my bed, in a beautiful hotel room in Hawaii. My gorgeous husband and I just got back from the pool. We had more than a few colorful looking, fruity cocktails. Something with coconut.  And chocolate.  And vodka.  Nate is in the shower. I'm lying naked on the bed. Can you guess what you are interrupting?" Diego laughed. Miranda always, always had horrible timing.

"Focus! Listen to me!"

"Miranda, there's pretty much nothing you could say that is important enough for me to continue talking to you. Nate just got out of the shower, he's walking towards me with nothing on, but a beautiful smile. So..I'll talk to you..."

"Cameron's life is in DANGER!!!"

"Ok." His voice was instantly deadly serious. "You have my undivided attention. Nate. Stop. It's Cameron, and it's important."

Miranda could hear Nate swear, as Diego turned on the speakerphone.  

"We're listening." Nate said, his voice equally concerned.

"Thank God!!! Finally!" Miranda sobbed into the phone. "I've been calling and calling and no one will..."

"Miranda," Diego cut her off. "The magic word was Cameron. What is going on?"

She haltingly told him, the words stumbling over and on top of each other. The skyrocketing numbers. The hospitals filling up. The decisions being made even as she skipped out of meetings to try and get through to loved ones.

"You need to come home now! They're going to stop all flights. We're going into lockdown so soon, it might be by the end of the week. And the highest numbers in all the state are right where Cameron and Ryan work. They need to stop, stay home! But I can't get them to listen!"

"We're on it. Nate is booking our flight home right now. Thanks Miranda. We'll take it from here. You be safe. Love you."  Diego locked eyes with his husband, who nodded and bent over his cell.

"Thank you! Thank you! Love you both. I'll try and get in touch as soon as you get home." Miranda's relief was evident despite being broadcast over thousands of miles away.

Diego hung up. Brown eyes met green. Nate jumped off the bed, grabbed a suitcase and madly began tossing in their clothes, still naked as a bluebird.

"Our flight leaves in an hour. Do you think we can make it?" Nate groaned.

"We have to." Diego was not about to be stuck an ocean away, cut off from his angel and Ryan during what Miranda basically described as an end of the world event. 

 "Hurry."

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Author's Note: 

 So, it begins. 

 Just a tiny taste to get you in the mood.  It's kind of scary writing this. I want to continue the story of our four men, and I thought what better way to have them come together than the start of quarantine. But, it actually brought back many very scary memories. And everything is still so in flux. I hope you are as safe as you can be. Enjoy this story as a distraction. It's going to be good.