Wish we were 28... still (A RohiRat Fanfiction)

Good people

Since, in spite of the presence of several guest rooms, the three of them chose to crash in the very room they'd been talking in, and since Rohit was the host, and he'd slept away the whole day anyway, he'd chosen to take the couch and leave the bed to Virat and Jinks.

Normally, even after sleeping a whole day, Rohit wouldn't suffer from insomnia at night. Today, he did.

His mind was just too full.

Who would have thought, five years back, that he would be replacing Virat as national limited overs captain? Who would have thought such an enormous decision would be forced on their shoulders from external sources? And who would have thought the two of them would be fighting to wound each other over such a decision, because each considered himself worse off?

Certainly not Rohit.

Nor Virat, he knew.

When did things get so complicated?

A creak from the direction of the bed told him he was not the only one awake in the early hours of morning. He squinted. A silhouette rose from the side Virat had taken.

"Virat?" he whispered.

"How can you wake up at such a small noise?" Virat hissed back. "I was being as silent as possible for Jinks' sake, not yours, and he didn't wake up but you did."

"Speak a bit more and he'd be awake anyway," whispered Rohit drily. He got up and led Virat out of the room, also for Jinks' sake, saying, "You're very poor at waking me up when I'm actually sleeping--unless you use water."

"Well, why were you not actually sleeping? Finally ran out of sleepiness, did you?"

Rohit was pretty used to ignoring Virat's ceaseless jibes, so that's what he did as they walked down to the kitchens--it'd turned out Virat had woken from thirst--and flopped down on the sofa. Virat didn't seem inclined to return upstairs, either.

In the living room, the walls were decorated with a wide jumble of memories, ranging from Rohit and Ritika's wedding pictures to Samaira's first drawing submission in nursery school to Rohit's favourite cricket memories.

The trophy lifting picture from the Border Gavaskar trophy 2020-21, as everywhere, took centre stage.

Rohit looked away from Jinks and himself there to Virat only to find Virat's eyes fixed on the same picture.

"You know," Virat said, not shifting his gaze. "This...this change. It's not just about us. It's about the whole team--all of them are going to go through the--the whole--process."

"I know," said Rohit.

"Did you talk to any of them at all?" Virat sighed. "I didn't."

"I didn't either. They must all have called...Jassi, Kuliya, Ash, Jaddu...but more than them, it's about the four of us directly involved."

Virat was quiet, but Rohit knew he was thinking the same.

"Jinks came," Rohit whispered. "Rahuliya called. But you and I--we were simply stuck in ourselves. We never bothered to check on them, or even each other, we were just... Why d'you think it's always like this, Vi? Why are they always the ones sacrificing themselves for us--and why do we let them--every time?"

After a beat, Virat whispered back.

"They're good people."

It couldn't have a clearer phrasing.

"Yeah," said Rohit. But then he turned to his companion, who was back to gazing at the pictures on the wall, and couldn't truthfully leave it at that. "So are you."

"Not without you," said Virat.

"Not as good as them," added Rohit.

"Hm..."

They contemplated in silence before Virat had to add the way he always did, with a positive twist, "Well, we can only keep trying, and hope someday we'd be worthy of their love."

Rohit grinned.

"I don't think we are ever going to be worthy of Jinks, though," he said. "He's an angel, and he'd put up with us so long, we can never cancel it out."

"True."

"Virat?"

"What?"

"You realize--there's a World Cup next year? That too on home soil...Why did they have to do this shit right before a home World Cup? It's all going to be so messed up."

"Messed up--why?"

"I don't know the first thing about national captaincy," said Rohit, bluntly. "And what's worse, I'm too old to learn."

"Rohit," said Virat. "You set new records for the world every year. The too-old-for-something concept doesn't work on you."

Rohit snorted.

"Also, don't forget I'm there to teach you," said Virat brightly. "I've picked up a lot of learnings about national captaincy--mostly from failures in knockouts, but learnings nevertheless."

"Will you stop talking like an idiot?" demanded Rohit.

"Will you stop talking like an idiot?" shot back Virat. "Hey, Rohit, imagine--the worst thing that happened in your career was not being there for the 2011 World Cup, right--?"

"Close enough," muttered Rohit.

"That was the last home World Cup we played," said Virat, voice rising. "And this home World Cup--you're going to captain the nation--and just suppose you were not there then so you could have something even better, even rarer!"

"Run a little faster ahead," said Rohit, with some scorn. "And what if we don't win?"

"Research says pessimistic people lose sleep in their old age," said Virat, irritated. "Want to risk it?"

Rohit swallowed a laugh. "Shut up with your stupid facts." After a while, he added, "But Virat, what if we actually don't?"

"Then we would in the next one," said Virat without thinking.

"The T20 one?"

"No. The ODI one."

This time, Rohit actually laughed.

"Sure," he said smoothly.

Virat scowled. "What's funny?"

"I won't play that long," said Rohit.

Virat blinked.

Rohit quickly added, "But you would, I'm sure, kiddo. I will cheer!"

Virat's nose was scrunched up.

"I won't," he said, a mix of gloom and disgust. "I would leave cricket, too."

"No,you wouldn't, and I'd build a Taj Mahal for you."

"It's not funny."

"What, your cheesy lines? They are funny--"

"IT'S NOT FUNNY, RO!"

Rohit jumped out of his skin.

"I WON A CUP WITHOUT YOU AT THE BEGINNING OF MY CAREER, I WON'T WITHOUT YOU AT THE VERY END."

"Stop shouting, people are sleeping," said Rohit.

"Well, you just keep my words in mind, all right?"

"All right. At times you're just too dramatic to handle," said Rohit, before his voice choked.

Virat's eyes softened as he looked at Rohit trying to stay composed.

"Clearly," he said. "Too dramatic to handle at times."

Then he squeezed Rohit to him with all his strength.