ICT One Shot Collection

Always - Rohirat

"Do you think it's all my fault?" Rohit asks the man who was on the other side of the phone.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Virat shoots back.

"No.. I'm actually serious."

"Why would any of this ever be your fault, Ro?" Virat asks him as if he was surprised even by the thought.

"Because.. I don't know." The entire captaincy situation with Mumbai Indians has been on Rohit's mind for too long now. He hated whatever has unfolded.

"Because they call themselves your fans?" Virat asks him, understanding exactly what is on Rohit's mind. Like he always does.

"These people are my fans." Rohit said that word with disgust a bit too evident in his voice.

"They call themselves your fans. I don't think they truly are and even if they were, your fans do not represent you."

"They're chanting my name when Hardik is on the field." Rohit says, dejectedly.

"Do you enjoy it?"

"WHAT? Of course not. How can you even think for a second that I will enjoy people trolling someone I love so much?" Rohit asks, horrified.

"Exactly. Then stop blaming yourself like the kids."

"Did I do the wrong thing by not putting out some.. message or something?"

"See, I don't know about what others think, but I personally think that you don't owe anyone an explanation. Honestly, as long as you are fine with the decision, I don't think anything else matters."

"Of course I'm fine with the decision, why wouldn't I be? It's our Harry afterall and he comes to me with questions anyway, and I'm more than happy enough to help him with the decisions."

"Yeah, I knew it. So, I don't think this Thing is your fault, Ro." Virat states.

"I'm just not sure how this whole Thing will get sorted out. Am I not supposed to do anything here?" Rohit asks him.

"Oh yes that would be lovely. Please don't do anything and let us win the trophy." Virat jokes.

"You're an idiot." Rohit rolls his eyes.

"So are you for thinking that it's all your fault and calling me in the middle of the night to mope."

"Urgh, shut up. Fine, let's just say that it's not my fault. I'm asking if there's something that I can do to make Harry feel better?"

"He's not doing well?" Virat asks him. Rohit knows how much Virat adores Hardik. All of them do. Hardik was someone who knows exactly how to light up a room be it with his stupid jokes or by just being himself.

"He is pretending to be doing extremely well which in itself is showing how he's truly feeling." Rohit tells him sadly. Seeing his Harry who was always cheery now fake it broke him.

"You should talk to him, Ro."

"I did, actually. There's no problem between us at all." Rohit says honestly.

"Yeah, I know. But people on social media are assuming too many things about you two." Virat admits. Ever the undercover social media guy.

"I just had some minor disagreements with him about some of his decisions and Jassi seemed to agree with me. That's pretty normal, isn't it? Why do people have to make a big deal out of everything?"

"He is being rude to you, apparently."

"Just asking someone to field at a certain position is definitely very rude." Rohit says, voice laced with sarcasm and anger.

"Yeah, things are just being blown out of proportion. It makes no sense." Virat acknowledges.

"The whole team morale hasn't been that great with all this going on and I feel so guilty about it." Rohit says, sadly.

"With MI at the bottom of the table, I must agree." Virat laughs. It didn't anger Rohit that Virat was making fun of the situation while he was sad, he understood that it's just Virat's way of calming him.

"Yeah, wasn't that supposed to be RCB's job? Oh wait, you are right next to us." Rohit chides.

"I'm always by your side, Rohit." Virat says and Rohit knows exactly which face he's making as he says that.

"And there's a camera shoved into my face all the damn time." Rohit says, frustratedly also trying to get Virat back on track.

"I know, it's called the Hero Cam, I've heard. He-RO cam would've been a better title." Virat remarks.

"Crack your Dad jokes near Vamika and see if she's going to tolerate them because I definitely can't. They are terrible."

"That's actually a really good joke."

"No, it wasn't. And just in case you didn't know, you're on that camera too. The STAR cam."

"Uh.. I know." Virat says, embarrassed.

"King Kohli." It was Rohit's turn to tease him.

"Shut up. Anyways, where were we?" Virat says, desperate to change the topic. "Hardik, yeah."

"Yeah.. I can deal with the whole team situation but I just want my old Harry back again." Rohit confesses.

"It will take him a while to cope with all this but I think he'll make it. That boy is pretty tough, isn't it?"

"I hope so. These boos, calling him stupid names and slurs make me so angry." Rohit says.

"Same. Harry really doesn't deserve that. No one does." Virat agrees. "I've seen such insane trends on Twitter, it makes no sense to me."

"I don't think I've ever felt so bad about my own trolls as much as I do for Harry."

"I know. Same."

"Yeah, even I don't care much about this captaincy and all that but somehow everyone else seems to be bothered by it."

"I know. I've been there too."

"It's all just so complicated." Rohit sighed.

"Yeah, that it is." Virat agreed. Rohit imagined Virat nodding solemnly and that thought brought a smile to his face. Virat being serious sounds a bit.. funny.

"And have you heard that some of my 'fans' have killed someone?" Rohit questions.

"Ah yeah, I've heard." Virat admits.

"He was so badly thrashed, Vi." Rohit sniffed.

"I know, I know, Ro. Last year, some of my 'fans' did the same." Virat confesses. That issue didn't take as much spotlight as this one did.

"And it really does feel like it's all my fault."

"Yeah. It always feels like that, Ro. Your feelings are valid but not true, you don't tell your fans to do things like that, right?"

"No..." Rohit pondered over what Virat said, he was certain that he never made anyone do such things.

"Exactly."

"Why would people even go to such horrible lengths just to hate?"

"I don't have an answer for that, Ro. I've always wondered the same." Virat thinks about the times people he loved paid the price of his fame; the comparisons, burning of posters and every single thing that used to hurt the people around him.

"Will things ever get better, Vi?"

"They will or they won't, no one can say for sure."

"Has it always been like this?"

"Always."

A/N: Kushi137 said "Why don't people write Rohirat fics anymore?" and I realised how new Rohirat fics are being uploaded in very less numbers as compared to a few years ago.

So, I decided to write one myself. And also due to the entire situation on social media and because of some Rohirat 'stories' I came across, this was to cleanse my mind.

Thank you for reading this story. Share your thoughts in the comments! :) <3