All the WAG's of the ICT decided to meet the boys in Mumbai, with their kids Ritika was adamant that they all stay at Vi and Anushka's farmhouse because of not spending enough time with Vamika. Vamika was enjoying all the attention and gifts she was being showered with but she missed her Dada, her Dada was with her for a long time but he left and Mama and her only saw him on TV.
The boys were super excited to be back home and they were all looking forward to play with Vamu. Dev kept bouncing in the seat next to Vi and looked out the window of their tour bus every five minutes, Rah who was annoyed at being forced to sit behind them with Siraj kicked Dev's seat from behind and said,
"Can you stop?!? We'll reach in another 15 minutes Padikkal."
"Oh bug off Rahuliyaa, you're just jelly I sat with Bhaiyaa before you could!"
"You insolent little-" Rah was cut off by Virat before he could finish,
"Don't start both of you! Devu stop provoking him and Rah, come on yaar, baccha hei ye, chod na, I've sat by your side in the tour bus for years before this."
But how do the other kids remain quiet when it comes to sharing their bhaiyaas, Siraj started complaining, "Par aapto iske saath hi saara time spend karte ho matlab hamara koi value hi nahi! It's not fair Virat bhaiyaa!"
And the hooligans continued moaning and screaming at the unfairness of it all and everything proceeded to descend into pure chaos when Yuzi made a comment,
"Yaar chahe kuch bhi hojaye, Vami ka favourite tho me hi hu!" That was it. Even the senior members of the team started arguing while Dev just sat back in his seat satisfied at the shit he stirred up in the bus, while Virat couldn't even get a single word out in his defense because of all the accusations being flung at him from everywhere, finally, FINALLY, AB took pity on the overwhelmed Vi and said,
"Enough!! Listen everybody here knows, I'm Vami's god father which makes me the favourite. So settle down you lot!"
"Now you listen here! I've known Cheeku the longest which automatically means his daughter is my god daughter. I'm her Bade Papa, you can't be the god father that's not how it works."
Virat finally snapped and said, "Jeez! None of you are Vamu's godparents and Devu you're grounded for the foreseeable future and don't think Nushkie will let you off. Kane is Vami's godfather,I've known him longer than I've known any of you and yes Jaddu even you, I met him when I was 16 and gosh even Smudge didn't fight this much when he found out, he sulked for a bit but he understood, Joe sulking and ignoring the three of us for weeks together is understandable, we don't play much in England and he doesn't play T20s either so he doesn't get to see us much, do what you want of that information, but good gods this is why I didn't want any of you as her godfathers." Watching their crestfallen faces, he calmed down a little and placatingly said, "That doesn't mean you can't be her uncles. I'm sure Vami loves each of you in her own way okay? When we get home you can all ask her yourself."
The driver was relieved to see the road leading upto the farmhouse because the madhouse behind him needed to leave and he was all too happy to help the boys take their stuff out and screeched out the driveway before anybody could blink. The front door banged open and the kids raced out screaming some variations of "Dada!" , Dev and the other kids on the other hand made a mad lunge for the front door, shoving and pushing each other screeching when someone would skid all in a hurry to reach little Viratee. Vi, AB, Dale ran after them screaming at them to slow down or they'd get hurt, and the rest of the team ran inside holding their kids as well not wanting to miss out on the action. What happened next was enough to put a lot of people in a sada hua mood for the rest of their stay in Mumbai.
"Unka B!!" Vami's hands started waving enthusiastically towards AB as he laughed and swooped her up high over his head, talking baby talk while Mahi bhai glared at a smirking AB, and it then shifted to a softly smiling Virat who was watching his daughter with his best friend, Vami looked at Dale and the squeals got louder. Yuzi to add ghee to fire said, "Well, now we know who the favourite uncle is! It's really not fair bhaiyaa you talk to AB sir on video call for hours every week, so obviously she loves him more." Unfortunate for Vi that all this was being recorded by Yuzi for his Chahal.TV content, so being the peace-wrecking trio that Rah, Yuzi and Harry are decided to post this on Yuzi's official instagram after everybody had gone to bed.
"Virat Kohli answer your phone this instant!"
"VIRI HOW COULD YOU! TRAITOR!"
"I KNEW IT I KNEW IT I DON'T MEAN ANYTHING TO YOU!"
"SKIP HOW COULD YOU! I WAS HER FAVOURITE UNCLE! YOU TOLD ME THAT YOURSELF! I'M GONNA KILL DEV!"
"VIRAT WAKE THE HELL UP! IF YOU'RE OUT HAVING A NICE WALK WITH AB AND YOU'RE IGNORING ME I'M NEVER TALKING TO YOU AGAIN!"
missed video call from ❤️❤️Kane❤️❤️
missed video call from 🦘Smudge🦘
missed video call from ☕ Zampa 🦘
24 missed calls from Stoinis, Gayle, Maxi, Yuvi paa, Ash, Jinks, Shikhi, Shreyas ,Starkey.
13 missed video calls from 👽Fab 4❤️
The incessant buzzing woke him and Anushka up from a blissful sleep and when he saw all those texts from Kane, Steve, Joe, Zampa, Maxi and so many more from Yuvi paa, few crying emoji messages from Shrey and angry threats from Jinks. He looked terrified and contemplated running for his life cause he still couldn't figure out what crime he had committed for them to send him death threats of some variations. Anushka just laughed looking at her husband's condition. Even Shubman and Ishan had sent him texts along the lines of DHOKA DHOKA. The culprits behind this explosion were peacefully sleeping with their girlfriends/wives in the guest rooms. And by the time breakfast rolled around, Vi's inbox was getting filled with more and more threats especially from a certain Kiwi captain, and he was too scared to even open his chats.
Yuvi barged into the house with Shreyas in tow, "Cheeku/ VIRAT BHAIYAA!!" was hollered and it successfully resulted in waking up the actual kids from their slumbers and the house descended into chaos as each of them ran upstairs to get their children. Dev GLARED at Shreyas who glared right back at him, Vi came down with Vami resting her head on his shoulders sleepily and looking around the room, she immediately spotted her Shrey chachu and was wide awake almost jumping out of Vi's hold to get to her chachu who with a proud grin took her and proceeded to stick his tongue out at Dev who sulked and walked away. Yuvi smiled at the exchange but quickly remembered he was angry at his baby brother and glared at him,
"How DARE YOU SAY THAT ANGREZ IS MY NIECE'S FAVOURITE UNCLE?!?Himmat kaise hui tumhara huh?!? Ha aur Mahi uska Bade Papa thodi he, me hu uski Bade Papa! Cheeks how could you!"
"Yaar! How did so many people find out? Mei kya ab underground chalejau kya?"
"Oi Yuzi ne Instagram me post kiya tha...kal raath!"
"YUZI!!!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU! RAHUL HARRY BOTH OF YOU TOO!"
Before he could go upstairs the house phone rang this time and thinking it was his mom calling he answered it,
"Oh! So you're alive and awake. Oh I got this number from Mrs. Saroj, lovely lady by the way, unlike her asshat of a son WHO DOESN'T EVEN BOTHER ANSWERING HIS MESSAGES OR CALLS! "
Vi hung up immediately listening to Finchy raging on the other end.
"Ab tho wo theeno margaye!" This time he did run after the three idiots, took their phones and dropped it into the pool as agonized screams rang out from the backyard followed by splashes, the ladies just sat there at the dining table with their heads in their hands wondering how they married children. Ziva, Aggu, Vami, Sammy cheered and clapped watching the drama unfold.
The rest of the day, the team lazed around just spending time together.[Virat did later call Jinks, Shikhi, Ash, Shubh, Ishan and explained the entire context and then to placate them talked to them all on video call with Vamika who was overjoyed to talk to all her chachus].When Virat was certain another fight or argument wasn't gonna break out again, carefully pulled himself free of Dev, Shrey, Rah and Siraj who had dozed off watching a movie and tip toed away to the swing in the backyard as the sun was setting beautifully over the horizon casting a orange red glow in the sky, he took his laptop with him and set up a video call with 3 other boys he knew he owed an explanation to, and to his fortune(or misfortune) the former Aussie and England captains joined the call almost immediately and Kane joined as well and the first thing yelled at him in perfect unison was, "Don't talk to me!" Vi laughed a full-belly laugh and smiled adoringly at the three people who understood him better than most(exceptions could be made) ,"Okay baba I'll go and tell Biscuit that he can remain Vamu's favourite uncle-" he acted like he was going to get up when the wailing began, "Vi! NO!"
"Dude...I miss you guys so much...it's so unfair, I don't get to play against you all much because of the T20 WC coming up and ICC is so concentrated on having only T20 series now. Humph." Joe pouted on his end of the line, looking every bit the child he is and the other three stifled their laughs,
"Aww come on mate you'll see your wife again soon, heard you're going to play the IPL next season! And who knows you might just end up in RCB." Smudge couldn't resist himself from teasing Joe over the interview in which he said he'd marry Virat.
"You don't talk at all Steven, you heartbreaker, the scar of The Ashes still burn all right?"
"Hey it's not my fault, besides you wanna blame someone? Blame Marnus, he's the one who gave you the tough time! Buttler dropped him twice and then there was that no ball, he's the luckiest son of a bitch alive seriously!"
Virane just sat back laughing at the twos antics. Kane cut in -ever the peacemaker- "Alright, alright it's done alright no point picking at old wounds yeah? Look at me and Viri, you put us up against each other and well you know how it ends, but see we're still here not fighting about our games. Now apologize to each other yeah? And get back to arguing who the best uncle is."
"Now now Kandy, when did I ever say I was over the loss at semis and WTC? Don't put words in my mouth."
"Honey, do you want to sleep on the couch when you come home?"
"No my love! Right boys, your mom and I love you both very much, equally, so no more fighting."
All 4 burst into fits of laughter. With the atmosphere much lighter they talked animatedly about anything and everything. Finchy who was passing by Steve's room ran into the frame and glared at Virat, "You bastard! If you don't bring my niece to the games when we come to play in India, I'm never talking to you ever again!"
"Jeez Finchy, you will meet her yeah? She's sleeping right now! How did you even get mum's number, I mean the onl- SMUDGE!" Steve stifled his snort and said, "Hey I value my life too much alright?"
Finchy walked away after having a pleasant conversation with the others and the 4 elapsed into a content silence.
"Boys....there's uh..something I need to tell you. I think it's time I stepped down from test captaincy. This has been on the back of my mind for some time and I know it's the right thing to do, maybe ODI and T20I as well, but I'm sure about stepping down as Test captain."
"Kandy...is this..are you doing this because YOU want to do it or is NZCA forcing you to do this?"
"Well they aren't very impressed with my inconsistency and the pressure has been reaching it's peak now, but it isn't that bad. I just.. Joe, Vi the both of you understand this, I'm not able to give my 110% okay? And maybe once I give this title up, maybe I can get my head back into the game. And maybe I'm selfish enough in not wanting to always bear the weight of my team losing at every knockout stage. I can't do this anymore!" Kane almost sobbed towards the end, but controlled his emotions.
Joe could relate, after all he had a similar conversation with them when he decided to step down as well. Virat stepping down came as a shock to them all, it was an impulsive decision on his part and not even Biscuit pleading with him to think it through wavered him, and while he misses it sometimes he knew it was the right thing to do, his mental health couldn't take it anymore. Steve, till date, still beat himself up over the sandpaper gate scandal and even he knew just how precious and prestigious test captaincies are,
"I understand Kane, I wasn't giving it my all and I started feeling like a burden to my teammates so I gave it up. And if you think this is what's right...then I'm happy for you."
"Yeah mate, it's your call don't let anyone manipulate you into doing this yeah? Like Viri said, I'm happy for you."
"Listen, I didn't give up captaincy because we lost the Ashes or because I wasn't giving my all, I gave it up because it was what's best for my team, and Kandy if you think you're doing this for yourself and your team then you're making the right decision."
Listening to the support he got from his friends, Kane felt overwhelmed with emotions, with a wet chuckle he said, "It's truly the end of an era huh? OUR era comes to an end when I finally make the announcement after the WC."
"Hey! None of that now, we'll always be us no matter what happens. Always and Forever right?" Steve said feeling emotional himself.
"Always and forever." The others said in perfect tandem.
Vamika's squeals broke the silent air and Virat looked at the dark sky and the time and realized they had been talking for over 2 hours then, he said, "Wait, I'll bring her out here. Steven call Zamps, Stoinis, Maxi and Finchy as well yeah, they can see her as well."
Smithy did just that and Virat came outside with Vamika and all of them gushed and talked to her for a few more minutes as Vami flailed her arms and animatedly told them in baby talk the happenings of the day and the other grown men nodded and laughed along with her gibberish.
Vi caught Kane's eyes and mouthed a ,"Always and Forever" and Kane mouthed that right back.
To the world these 4 might be Fab 4 but to their teams and to each other, at the end of the day, they were human, and sometimes the expectations of the public get too much and even they feel the need to put brakes and pass the wheel to others, and that's exactly what they're doing now. The world can try to pit them against each other, try to tear them apart, fate can play it's hand at destroying their bond, but they'll always, always remain the friends they've always been. Nothing and nobody can take that away from them.
A/N: An admittedly cringey chapter but yeah, more of a filler, next chapter's mostly gonna be about the SA and the Aus T20i series with a lot of fluff and angst. Personally, I don't think I can fully accept Tim Southee as the NZ Test Captain and I feel like Kane might actually hand over ODI captaincy to Latham as well. So, I feel really luck to have witnessed to rise of this fantastic quartet and to me nobody will ever fill the shoes of these 4 after they retire.