Did You Know Me? (Shubman Gill x Ishan Kishan)

Closure

Three months later, when the Gujarat Titans team travelled to Mumbai for their first leg match against Mumbai Indians, Shubman sent Sara his cursory text of, 'In Mumbai. You free?'

'Got to be somewhere tonight. I'll tell you about tomorrow,' came the reply.

For the first time, Shubman could detect that his disappointment was imagined up by his own self.

Was he that disappointed?

Honestly?

It was okay if they couldn't meet sometime when he was in Mumbai. She had her work and stuff, and he had his....they were adults, and he did not necessarily have to be teenagers over it.

Am I disappointed?

Maybe that was the question he had always needed to ask himself. The question he had refused to ask. Because he was so goddamn stubborn. Because he had once fallen for Sara Tendulkar so hard, he had refused to let go for years.

He turned to Hardik, who was in the lead. "Where is the MI team boarding?"

"Same hotel. Next building, I think," said Hardik.

Shubman started to take off when Hardik called, "Take your bloody luggage to the reception at least, Shubi! And wait for me, I'm going to go meet Jassi and Rohit too."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After lounging around and playing Valorant in Ishan's room the whole afternoon, Shubman said, "It's no fun playing against you, I feel awful every time I kill your character." 

"Don't use it as an excuse for losing!" said Ishan. "I feel the same every time I kill your character!"

"Let's call Hardik bhai and Surya bhai and kill their characters," suggested Shubman.

Ishan approved. So did Hardik and Surya, when they were called upon.

"Something seems to be off," observed Surya after two rounds of yelling and fighting. "We're in Mumbai. And Shubman is sitting with us in the evening, without checking his phone twenty times every hour."

"What does that mean?" Shubman demanded.

"I'll tell you!" offered Hardik. "When we're in Mumbai, there are only two options as far as you are concerned. Either you'd be out with Sara. Or you'd be pining away because she couldn't get time off. There is no third."

Shubman's cheeks felt hot as he sensed Ishan looking at him out of the corner of his eye. He had no idea why he wished Ishan would look away.

To be fair, he had completely forgotten they were in Mumbai over the afternoon.

Something had changed since his horrible fall-out with Ishan. Something about his whole perspective. It was the way everything, even the World Cup, had seemed totally worthless to him if Ishan wasn't present to share it with him...

He could no longer fool himself he was in love with Sara. Speaking to her certainly had seemed worthless too, during that time. If he'd even thought of her. Which he hadn't, obviously, because he'd been too busy being miserable every moment of the day about Ishan.

Just the knowledge that Ishan was there beside him, whether playing Valorant or pulling his leg or posing for selfies was enough. Just looking at his best friend made him smile, made him feel like he'd always be smiling.

"Well, I think there is a third option," said Shubman.

"Great progress," said Ishan, glancing from the screen to him.

Then Shubman realized he had been staring at Ishan for quite a bit of time, which made his smile fade. He looked away, all flustered.

"Yeah," he said. "You and I kicking their ass in Valorant."

Surya and Hardik hooted.

"Bring it on!"

When Shubman took his phone much later that night to tell his sister good night, he was startled to find text from Sara. That he was startled surprised him in turn because now he remembered she had said she's let him know if she was free the next day. 

'I'm really, really sorry, Shub. I have to go out of town tomorrow morning for the company. Next time?'

Shubman searched inside himself.

No crushing disappointment.

No feeling like he was a tragic hero.

'No problem...next time!'

Sara sent back a heart.

Shubman searched inside himself again.

No flutters.

No pining.

Shubman sent back a funny sticker and wondered if he'd finally found the closure he should've been looking for all along.