Misunderstandings (A Rohit-Virat Friendship Fanfiction)

Part 1

SET DURING INDIA'S TOUR OF ENGLAND 2018, TEST SERIES

<Rohit wasn't in the squad>

Always together, thought Rohit, narrowing his eyes at yet another photo of Virat and Rahul together. Surely, he wondered, Virat had other friends too? Why did they always have to be together?

He didn't care, of course. Virat could be friends with anyone he wished to be. But well...he hadn't spoken to Virat in a long time. That night he messaged him.

Rohit: Whats's up with you and Rahul?

Virat: Meaning?

Rohit: Why are you guys always together?

Virat: What the hell! Can't I be with who I want?

Rohit: Of course. Sorry to have asked.

Virat: No, why did you ask?

Rohit: ...

Virat: Rahul's fun to hang out with. Always on the go. You know him

Rohit's heart sank swiftly. There was no reason for Virat to be a jerk all the time, he thought fiercely. [Reference to the fact that Rohit is a extremely lazy person, never on the go!]

Rohit: Well, you and your team are performing real well these days-- always on the go

Virat: Do you always have to be such a sore loser! Just because you're not in the team, it's suddenly you vs India?

Rohit: Oh? And I guess we all know why I'm not in the team!

Virat: You total prat!

Rohit: You're a bad luck charm, you know that?

Virat: WHAT?

Rohit: India loses a lot when you play well!

Virat stared at his phone, shaking with anger. Then he video called Rohit. If he dares to decline it...

But Rohit accepted it at once, and both of them glared at the other's livid face.

"You don't deserve to be sportsperson-- really you don't," said Virat scathingly. "You're so unsportsman-like!"

"You sledge people sometimes--and if--" began Rohit, racking his brains for an equally cutting retort.

"But I don't go all moody and bitter at personal downs!"

"That's just because you're never dropped!" exploded Rohit, his voice shaking. Personal downs? Was this what he was so angry about? wondered Rohit.

No--definitely not.

"And as for your friend Rahul--" began Rohit.

"Leave him out of it, all right! If he hasn't performed in this series, you don't have to pass comments about it! His mistakes has been discussed with the coach; there's no reason for you to give your expert opinion on the matter!"

"I wasn't about to say anything about his performance," said Rohit, rather quietly, but Virat was in full flow now.

"He hasn't done anything to make you dislike him, has he? Except take your place!" shouted Virat.

"I didn't mean--"

"Oh, I know what you mean! It's the same thing as with Jinks again. You can never bear it when others outshine you, isn't it? Isn't it? Go on, deny it!" Without giving the horrified and stunned Rohit a chance to reply, he continued, "But Rahul is nothing like that, you know. He plays for the team."

There was a sudden silence, as Virat realized that maybe he had finally gone too far. Rohit refused to meet his eyes. As Rohit tried to find his voice again, Virat suddenly remembered why he had been so angry at Rohit in the first place, and that there was no reason for him to feel guilty.

"And he doesn't like Tweets directed at making fun of his captain!"

Rohit's eyes met Virat's now, his face white and furious.

"In that case-- if that's--if that's what you think," he said in a choked voice. "It's better you stay with him after all!"

Rohit's voice was trembling, and behind his defiant mask, Virat could just spot the hurt look in his 'best friend's' eyes. But blinded by his own anger that Rohit was refusing to apologize even after that cheap act, he said coldly, "That was what I would've done, anyway."

"Right."

Rohit disconnected the call, feeling a lump in this throat.

Virat had no right to make him feel like this, he thought furiously. He blocked Virat's number and swiftly unfollowed him on Twitter and Instagram.

"Some captain!" he muttered, his eyes burning with the unshed tears.

"It's the same thing as with Jinks again" refers to another of my stories, 'A Victory that Matters' which Is about a misunderstanding between Rohit and Jinks during India's Test tour of SA, 2018.