Grown up (A Jassi-Hardik Friendship fanfiction)

Part 1

A/N: Well I'm not going to say 'No offense to Yuvraj Singh' because I do mean offense to him. If you are a Yuvraj Singh fan, I sincerely request you not to read this, because hating him is an unpopular opinion I have. Seeing how he runs downs our team's seniors all the time and always specially targets Harry, I could not not hate him.

This is just my way of venting, so please don't mind.

"You're going on a live with Yuvraj," Hardik mocked Jassi on the phone an hour before the live.

"Say Yuvraj paaji, Harry," said Jassi, though he did not sound very wholehearted. "He's Mahi bhai's age."

"You didn't," said Hardik, shocked.

"I didn't what?" demanded Jassi, because he had not done or not done anything to shock him like that as far as he knew.

"You did not just compare Mahi bhai and Yuvraj!"

"I didn't!" cried Jassi vehemently. "Of course I didn't, who compares Yuvi paaji with Mahi bhai?"

"And yet you're doing a live with him," drawled Hardik. "You're becoming a little suck up day by day by day."

"You don't say 'day' thrice in that phrase," said Jassi, rolling his eyes. "And I'm not doing it to suck up to him. I don't suck up to people!"

"You suck up to Bhuvi plently," said Hardik sulkily. "That's why he always takes your side!"

"You're far too thick to understand why Bhuvi bhaiya always takes my side, so shut up."

"You behave differently around the seniors from how you do with me," complained Hardik.

"Which is not even surprising. Now stop bothering me and go bother Rohit bhaiya or someone. My live starts in an hour."

"Yeah, yeah, go," said Hardik, trying not to sound annoyed. "Go and talk with that..."

Moron, thought Jassi, unbidden.

"********," finished Hardik, and Jassi didn't even tell him to mind his language.

His blood started to boil as always as he remembered Rohit bhaiya's live with Yuvi paaji few days ago.

~Flashback~

"Aapke time me jo team khelta tha aur aaj hum jo khel rahe hai...dono team me kya farak lag raha hai aapko? Kya achha lag raha hai kya bura lag raha hai?" Rohit bhaiya had asked.

Yuvraj paaji started with, "Abhi toh mai retire ho gaya hu toh jo marzi bol sakta hu..."

"As a team hum kaise improve kar sakte hai?" asked Rohit bhaiya.

Jassi hadn't thought anything risky in that question. The way Yuvi paaji continued, however...

"See, I'll tell you the difference I've seen in our generation and your generation. I felt ki humare seniors were very disciplined. There was a certain behavior we had to follow seeing how our seniors behaved, talked to the media.. And that is what we told you guys. But I feel ki ye tisri generation hai na, I feel the seniors are only you and Virat Kohli, who are playing three formats..."

What was Bhuvi bhaiya and Jaddu bhaiya? Didn't they travel with the team across all three formats? Yuvi paaji's disparaging tone did not go down well with Jassi.

"Rest of the guys are coming in and going, ye wo...I feel since social media has come there are very less guys to look up to..."

Wow, thought Jassi. He had never felt so. Even apart from Rohit, Virat, Bhuvi and Jaddu bhaiya (admittedly you couldn't look up to Jaddu bhaiya if you want to retain your sanity but he was a senior after all, their senior, and they loved him, and no one got to disrespect him. Not even someone who had won 2 World Cups for India), there was Shikki bhaiya and Ash bhaiya and Jinks bhaiya to look up to. Did Yuvi paaji even know what he was talking about?

"The sense of respect towards seniors has gone..." "Aap kisi ko kuchh bhi bol sakte hai..."

Ok, that was true, the last line at least. The juniors could say anything to the seniors, in fact Rahul could often be found scolding Virat and Hardik teased Rohit a lot, but for the life of him, Jassi could not equate that with 'disrespect'.

At that point Rohit bhaiya had said, "Samajh gaya, samajh gaya," which confirmed to Jassi that he was not enjoying this either, even if he could not contradict his senior in front of everyone.

"Because of parties and social media, the instance that happened with KL and Hardik, ye cheeze humare time pe hum soch bhi nahi sakte the kyuki humare seniors ki respect itni zyada thi."

Really? Did he mean to imply Rahul and Hardik did not respect their seniors?

And why was he bringing up that KwK thing again? When Rahul and Hardik had tried so hard to move on from it?

"Hum galti karte the toh humare seniors bolte the 'yaar aise mat karo'," continued Yuvraj.

"Ye difference aap keh rahe ho ki abhi nahi hai aisa?" asked Rohit bhaiya mildly.

But Jassi, who was feeling quite blinded by now, desperately wanted Rohit bhaiya to lash out viciously.

"Abhi ye ladke...they do what they want to, thori success ke baad hi...."

Now he was definitely targetting Hardik. Jassi shut his phone and tossed it aside.

If it had not been Yuvraj Singh (he could not even think 'paaji' now), he would have known that Mahi bhai and Rohit bhaiya and Virat bhaiya would do something. But clearly they couldn't...they did respect Yuvraj Singh, and loved him a lot too...they would not tell him anything even though he had directly lashed out at Harry, who Jassi was sure had been watching the live, and was not unaffected.

This was something he had to deal with himself.

~End of flashback~

Jassi wondered if his elder brothers might be upset with him if he did what he was planning to do. It was a very rare scenario, but not altogether impossible.

His live with Yuvi paaji started.

After the greetings and stuff, Jassi took the deep breath and said, "Aap mujhse kuchh bhi puchho, pehla ek sawaal ye hai, ki humne kab aapka mazak uraya? Maine dekha hai ap aaj kal ke young ladke ke bare me...humne aisa kya kar diya ki itna bura lag gaya aap ko?"

He knew Yuvi paa knew where this was heading.

"Aaj kal ke young ladka matlab..." began Yuvi paa.

"Young toh hum bhi hai," put in Jassi.

"Tu abhi bohot young hai," said Yuvraj.

I'm exactly two months younger than Hardik, paaji, thought Jassi, but he did not say that; he was not going to show direct disrespect to him, otherwise he would only be proving Yuvraj's earleir statements.

"Tu pehla ladka hai jisse mai baat kar raha hu."

As if the juniors were dying to talk to him on live.

Then Yuvraj continued badgering him about whom he could talk to apart from him, "Tu ek naam toh bol..."

"Yuvi paa ye personal preference hota hai na, ab aapka equation kinse achha hai wo mujhe kya pata," said Jassi, with a special emphasis on the 'personal preference'. "Mai yaha safe game khelne ke koshish kar raha hu...taaki me sabko respect du." Again, special emphasis on 'respect'.

"Mujhe ek naam toh mention kar jiske saath mai baat kar saku," said Yuvraj.

Jassi suggested Shubman's name, and Yuvraj said, "Wo abhi team me aya hai. Aise koi bol jo 3-4 saal se khel raha hai..."

Hah. If you needed proof he'd been targetting Harry, there was it!

"Yuvi paa mai bol raha hu sabse entertaining--aapko maza ayega...aap Hardik se baat karo," said Jassi in the politest tone he could manage.

"Haaa... mujhe pata tha tu yehi bolne wala tha," said Yuvraj.

That gave Jassi some satisfaction. And he changed the topic, since he had had his say; and let everyone know, after all, that he supported Hardik.

A/N: I did not make up a word in these two lives, it all really happened.