~Always My Captain~

~Sneaky Suspicions~

Rahul's eyes were searching Virat from the past few minutes. He couldn't spot his Virat bhaiya anywhere and his friends were being no help. Mayank was talking to his wife and handling the luggage. Hardik was all but sleeping while standing beside him and even, Jassi was sleeping curled on the recliner kept in the lobby.

Shreyas was leaning on a wall with his arms wrapped around Shardul and Washy, Navi, Siri and kulcha were huddled around each other having hushed conversations and all Rahul wanted to know at that precise moment was his Virat's location.

Rahul tried looking around him again, running his eyes all over the place, trying to decipher whether his Virat was hiding behind some pillar or not? But he couldn't find him anywhere. Rahul was still searching Virat when they were all ushered towards the team bus even Jassi was woken very rudely by a staff member and it all but confirmed Virat's absence to Rahul, for no one in the entire world would have even tried waking a sleeping Jassi rudely in one Virat Kohli's watch. (Virat waking his besties rudely was allowed. People waking his kids rudely absolutely not.)

Rahul tried asking around for his Virat but he didn't get any solid answer from anyone. Even when the squad pic lacking the whole squad was clicked and another of them in a corridor with Harry trying to sleep with open eyes. Rahul somewhat saved Jassi from the torture of getting snapped in an absolutely tired state as they boarded the bus and left for the airport yet all Rahul could concentrate on was a misplaced Virat and half asleep friends.

They even made them board the jet before he could spot Virat and for a moment, Rahul was absolutely worried scared thinking " Were they going to fly off without Virat?" then realized it wasn't possible anyway. Virat is their Captain, how can they fly off to Australia without him? So, after settling in his seat beside a snoring Harry and Jassi, all Rahul could do was keep an eye on the entry point checking for his Virat.

He finally found Virat boarding the flight after sometimes followed by the Aus team and the first thought in Rahul's mind was "WTF!!!" followed by "What lead to this?" but of course, he couldn't ask it out immediately as the flight was about to take off and he was supposed to be bound to his seat. Rahul couldn't be out of his seat anymore quicker when they were finally in the air as he went towards Virat's seat to besiege his brother.

"Virat!" He called softly, noticing Virat flopped on his seat with eyes closed.

"Ugh...oh! hello kiddo" Virat greeted Rahul, a tired warm smile gracing his face spotting his Rahul leaning over his seat looking all concerned. The questions Rahul needed to ask about Virat's absence and then boarding the flight with Aussies was all but forgotten as Rahul got a proper look of Virat's face, mainly his red rimmed tired eyes which shined a little only because Rahul was there.

"What happened to you? Are you alright? Your eyes look...red!" Rahul asked sounding very alarmed, not able to actually tell Virat that his eyes looked like they cried. He was very worried about his absolutely fatigued, pale looking brother with red eyes seemingly looking like they cried.

"ugh...yeah, just a little headache kiddo. I'm fine" Virat tried to reassure Rahul but how can Rahul stay calm knowing his brother was having a headache?

"Is it paining a lot? Well, wait I'll massage your head. It'll make you feel better. Did you skip breakfast? How did you gain a headache?" Rahul asked, immediately taking his position behind Virat's seat massaging his head determinedly turning a deaf ear to Virat's protests of "it's fine. I'll sleep it off"

And some other absolutely stupid excuses according to Rahul. Rahul stood there massaging Virat's head until he was sure his brother had fallen asleep after that he took a seat nearby, fully using his newly appointed vice-captain status to keep the noise down. He wasn't letting anything disturb his brother's sleep and after few hours of good sleep. Virat's eyes looked fine and Rahul let the matter go.