Safe Space. [Ro's bonds]

~Precious~ Ro yashu

Rohit jolted awake from his sleep breathing heavily. That same nightmare again. The one where The team does it and Rohit wins it for the nation. The one where he is holding that beautiful trophy but within just a few seconds it's all snatched away from him.

So close yet so far. The England test series was about to start in two days and Vi wasn't there to comfort him and Ro did not have the courage to go back to sleep. So, he just got up and went out in the corridor.

A young guy could be seen Shadow practicing in the corridor. Wait, was that Yashu? Rohit went forward and called him, "Yashu? Its 3:30 what are you doing here right now?"

Yashu was a little startled by the sudden interruption. He turned to look at him, "Woh, nothing. Leave it I'll go back" Yashu said as he tried to rush back towards his room. "Stop!" Ro called. "Tell me."

Yashu took a breath and said, "It's sort of becoming a habit. When I used to stay with my coach It used rain a lot in Mumbai and there wasn't any place I could practice at so I searched around and found an academy. The people there told me that I could practice till 6 in the morning. So I used to wake up at three."

Ro was stunned at the casualty in his voice. "That was when you used to live in the tent?" he asked "No not at that time, that's a different story."

Rohit kept staring at him. All of a sudden he wanted to hug Yashu and keep him forever. Poor boy, had to go through so much.

"And you? I thought it was hard waking you up?" Yashu asked

"Yeah I mean after the final, I- I have some troubles with sleep." Ro admitted and Yashu nodded in understanding. "Yashu?"

"Hmm?" He asked "Do you ever look back and think you've been through so much. I mean do you feel proud?" Ro asked because curious about how the little boy had coped with all that.

"I have never really looked at it as something special to be very honest. I believe that there is no alternative to hardwork. If anyone wants to achieve something they have to sacrifice a lot of things. And besides the age doesn't matter. You have been through so much in your career and life too. I'm sure you dont want to change it." He explained.

Ro couldn't believe that he had just gotten lectured by a twenty two year old. Ro mentally lauded his maturity. He then felt bad for him. It was unfair that he had to grow up so quickly.

He wanted to be the shelter for him that Mahi bhai once was for him. "Yashu you dont have any brothers other than Jassi, in the team, right?"

"No, I dont."

"Ok then aj se mein tera aur ek bhai aur tu mera aur ek kiddo, done?" He asked (From today I am your another Bhai and you are my another kiddo, Done?)

Yashu's eyes brightened as he nodded. Though he would never admit it he did feel left out when Ro was paying attention to others. And that moment of warmth in his hunger filled eyes seemed very precious to Rohit.

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The maturity Ro saw in Yashu was just a wall, an obstacle that one needed to break to be able to find the child inside him. And Ro had been successful to break those walls that day.

Yashu came in the room whining "Bhaiiiiii"

"Whattt?" Ro asked imitating his voice remembering how Mahi bhai used to do the same with him.

"Scold Shubi." He demanded "Why?" Ro asked amused at the complaint.

"He stole my shirt and hes not giving it back then he told Juru (Dhruv) about a secret about me." Yashu justified his complaint.

Rohit chuckled mentally and asked, "What did Jassi do?" "He scolded Shubi."

"And you want me to scold him again?" He took a pause and then said, "I mean think about it, Shubi will be upset that Jassi scolded him and if I scold him on top of that then the poor boy might cry. Also he wont have you to defend him."

Yashu wondered for a while about it. Then he asked in a whisper, "Do you think he's mad at me?"

Ro smiled at his innocence, "I think he thinks that you are mad at him. Go and talk to him, quick"

Yashu's eyes lit up in the same precious way and Ro patted his head as He rushed back to his room.

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Ro had forgotten his phone on the field during practice and after bothering everyone he finally went to the field tp collect it.

He saw Yashu was still practicing, "Yashu? You didn't go out with the others?" He asked

Yashu stopped and walked towards him. "Oh, Jassi bhaiya asked but I wanted to stay"

"To practice?" He asked confused.

Yashu remained quiet for a while and said, "Actually I saw- saw a comment saying that I- I was being arrogant and that- It would be my downfall-"

"So, you thought over working and exhausting yourself would help? C'mon Yashu." Ro said slightly raising his voice.

Yashu looked at the ground guiltily. No matter how unfazed he had acted that day with Shubi deep down he felt insecure sometimes. He was just a child after all.

Ro took a deep breath as he sat him down and explained, "Look, People watching from the outside have no idea about how much we really have to work hard to be here. Don't take to much pressure on yourself, Yashu. Just because you scored a double hundred on one test does not mean you have to do it in every match. Because that's not possible. You just live up to your potential. Everything else is not a factor."

Yashu looked at Ro's warm eyes and immediately leaned forward and hugged him. Ro hugged back tightly as if he was protecting him from all the bad things in the world.

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A/n : Pookies<3
Also pray for me guys tomorrow is science☠☠