Scent of a Man (Ishman/Shubish/Ishdik/Shubman Gill x Ishan Kishan)

Scent of Him

Chapter summary:

Shubman and his new bodywash.
And Ishan.

**********************

Notes: This is a rpf. So the characters are obviously not mine ( I wish they were tho 😭), but the story is mine, so all rights to the story reserved.

My heartfelt thanks to my first reviewer, my translation buddy and my bff Ms. SB Heelshire; love ya gal! 🫶

That's all, not wasting any more time, please dig in, happy reading! 🤍

*****************************

Chapter 1: Scent of Him

He just came out of the shower, water dripping from his hair, towel wrapped around his waist. It was a long day for him, and the hot shower was the only thing that could get him through the rest of the day.
Shubman was still feeling down anyway. This was the first time Virat had scolded him in front of everyone. Well, he was not at all satisfied with how Shubman had performed at the net today; heck, even Shub himself was really annoyed. He really didn't know what had gotten into him today. It felt like his grip was totally unmanageable, and everytime Kuldeep bowled an in-swing, it got the wicket. Every damn time! Even when Shub knew what was coming! He could see the disapproval on Shastri's face, and everyone else looked distraught too. But Virat looked furious. And to be honest, he actually was. In the after-practice quick meet, Virat shouted at him for five minutes straight. He went on and on about how Shub's concentration was always on something else and how he would easily lose his place in the top 11 and blah blah blah. Shub knew what he was saying was true to the core, but at that moment, humiliation and disgrace were the only feelings he could feel.
Afterwards, he skipped lunch, didn't talk to anyone and went for a walk. He needed some alone time to process everything. But it only got worse. Even though he was wearing mask, sunglass and oversized hoodie; some people recognized him when he lowered the mask to drink water. So he had to spend a good hour giving autographs and selfies, wearing a big fake smile on his face. Don't get him wrong, he loves his fans and doing fan stuffs. But today was just not the day for doing these things. This whole publicity stuff exhausted him to his last breath. So when at last he returned to his hotel room, all he wanted was a long, steamy shower to wash away all his exhaustion, humiliation and sorrow.

He got out of the washroom only to find Ishan on his bed, watching some bollywood movie on the tv and munching on god knows what. He was not surprised though. He heard someone coming in from the bathroom, and he knew it would be Ishan because who else could it be? Who else would come to his room at night just to comfort him with chocolates? Besides, only Ishu had a spare key to his room.
Shub knew Ishu would come, and he knew he would come with chocolates. It was not only Shub's eyes glistening with tears at the practice, if you had noticed carefully, you would have found another pair of eyes full of sorrow, looking at Shub from a distance. Ishu knew better than approaching him to comfort at the hit of the moment. He had always known better. Ishan knew Shubman didn't like to show his weaker side to the rest of the world, so he always wanted to be alone whenever he felt vulnerable. He was scared that if someone tried to comfort him when he was completely defenseless, he might let his guard down and show that person how weak he had always been inside. He was afraid that he might lose the pretense of being the "perfect" boy if everyone knew how frail he actually was. That's why Ishu didn't approach him then. He wasn't even surprised to notice Shub not being present at lunch. But when the clock's hand went past 7 and Shub still didn't come back, Ishu got a bit worried. So when at last he saw the very familiar tall, handsome figure entering the hotel around 9 from his window, he didn't waste another second in his room.

Ishan noticed Shub coming out of the washroom.
"Areh yaar, yeh dekh main tere liye kya laya hu", he said in his usual cheery tone, pointing at the box of Ferrero Rochers lying beside him on the bed. Ferrero Rochers were Shub's favourite. So whenever he felt a bit down, Ishu came with a big pack full of those chocolates. It became a tradition soon after they met, and Shub couldn't even remember the reason why Ishu brought it for the first time, but he had been grateful to him ever since. Ishan always felt like a boy made of happiness, and he actually was. No one could resist his charm. Ishan radiated joy, confidence, and sometimes even love, Shub felt.

"Areh, wahi khara rahega kya? Match ke aage sardi wardi lag gayi to Chiku aake pel denge tereko", Ishan said again, not taking his eyes off the tv. Shub chuckled at his words and went for the wardrobe by the bed to get some clothes.

Ishan sniffed the air, once, twice, and then took a long breath. Closing his eyes for a moment, he exhaled slowly. And then looked straight at Shub for the first time since he came out of the washroom.
"Kya lagaya hain yaar? Badi aachi khusbu hain! Koyi nayi saboon hain kya?", he asked, looking directly at his eyes.
It actually was a new soap, well, not a soap, but rather a bodywash. Shub had always been a bit fanatic about fragrances and everyone in the team knew that. He actually bought this new bodywash today when he went out for the stroll after the practice. He had never seen that brand of bodywash anywhere before, and also it was the last one left at the store. And to his utter surprise, it was vanilla fumed; a rare fragrance in the soap section indeed. So he didn't give it a second thought before buying it. After getting back, he wanted to see how it smelled. And he was completely baffled to find out how heavenly the scent was. Part of the reason why his mood got uplifted a bit after taking the shower was this bodywash.

"Haan yaar, aaj hi liya yeh, sachhi mein achha hain?", Shub replied, without breaking the eye contact.

And then all of a sudden, Ishan did something unthinkable. He jumped out of the bed and went straight to the open windows. Closing the curtains, he turned back to Shub. It felt like Ishan hesitated for a moment before taking the first step towards Shub. But the hesitation in his eyes was completely gone when he closed the distance between them with the last step.

And then, lowering his head to the exact line from where the towel started wrapping around Shub, Ishu started taking a deep breath, closing his eyes. He slowly came upwards, from Shub's finely sculpted abs to his chest to his neck. Shub was entirely frozen at his place, and his heart was beating so loudly that he was sure even Hardik in the next room could hear the sound.

Ishu opened his eyes, and exhaled. His warm breath on Shub's neck felt somehow completely out of the world. It felt so good and so wrong at the same time.
Shub closed his eyes.

"Haan, bohot achha hain", Ishan whispered in his ear. Shub felt like his heart would stop beating.

And then, once again, Ishan lowered his mouth, and very slowly yet very passionately, planted a kiss on Shub's neck.

To be continued...
****************

Translation corner:

Ishan: Hey man, look what I have brought for you! (Areh yaar, yeh dekh main tere liye kya laya hu!)

Ishan: Dude, are you planning on standing there forever? I swear, if you catch a cold before the match, Chiku is gonna fuck you up! ( Areh, wahi khara rahega kya? Match ke aage sardi wardi lag gayi to Chiku aake pel denge tereko!)

Ishan: Yo what's that? It smells so good! Is it a new soap or something? ( Kya lagaya hain yaar? Badi aachi khusbu hain! Koyi nayi saboon hain kya?)

Shubman: Yeah man, just bought it today, do you really think it's good? (Haan yaar, aaj hi liya yeh, sachhi mein achha hain?)

Ishan: Yeah, it's really good. (Haan, bohot achha hain.)

****************

Notes:

Let me know what you think of this :) Even though I initially posted this as a short story, I am trying to make it longer now haha... leave a comment if you liked it, please!