it's okay if it's you | ishman ✓

CH: 17

taking a deep breath he enters the room. ishan immediately lifts his head, a wide smile etching on his face.

he almost jumps on shubman, taking him into a crushing hug. "welcome back, meri jaan," he says, snuggling close to him.

shubman melts into the hug, finally feeling the warmth and touch he's been yearning for. for a moment, he forgets the hurt, the grudges, and just lets his body fit into the smaller frame of ishan.

"i missed you. god, i fucking missed you so much," he mumbles, moving his fingers through ishan's hair.

ishan pulls back chuckling. "it's been not even ten days. how are you ever going to survive without me?"

"are you implying i'll have to live without you?"

ishan smacks him playfully and helps him with his luggage. the scent of shubman's cologne soons fills up the room, lending a sense of comfort and familiarity to ishan.

"so what have you been upto?" shubman asks when they're done unpacking.

"nothing impressive. woke up early to practice and went back to bed, had cheat meals every two days, met up with some old friends. you know, the usual."

shubman purses his lips, hesitant. "you...you didn't facetime me after all, on new's year's eve."

ishan rubs his neck awkwardly. "im sorry, shubi. i was pretty much blacked out that day, my stupid friends dragged me from one party to another."

shubman idly drums his fingers against his lap, not looking at ishan. "you could have called me."

"you could have picked up when i did," ishan says with a slight defensive tone.

"i was busy."

"of course you were," ishan grunts. "a benched player like me wouldn't know."

shubman looks up. "so you've decided to speak finally. thank you so much, for letting me in on your personal reasons."

ishan realizes his slip-up, feeling bad for almost sounding petty. "what are you talking about?"

"i talked to vivan about it."

"why the hell would you do that?"

shubman scoffs. "oh, is that an invasion of your privacy now? i wouldn't have had to do that if you just fucking talked to me."

ishan feels agitation growing inside him. "shubman, it's up to me about what and when i want to talk to anyone about it."

"i could have helped you. why do you always try to deal with everything on your own? im here, i told you im here."

"i didn't want to shift your focus from the game, alright?"

"all i could think about in these ten days was you for fuck's sake," shubman can't help it if desperation seeps into his voice.

ishan sighs, closing his eyes. "look, i don't want to have an argument when you've just returned. let's get going for the meeting."

shubman tightens his jaw. "you're running away again. just like you ran away from the match."

fuck, he didn't mean that.

ishan glares at him. "say that again and you won't see me for another ten days."

"because you like it, right? when im not around? you must have fun with people who are not as clingy as me."

shubman wants to slap himself. shut the fuck up, he pleads to his mouth.