Thousand Years | A Shubman Gill & Ishan Kishan Fanfiction ✓

Shubman and Ishan

A/n - Listen to Tere Naal Ishqa from Shivaay, before reading the chapter if you can, (or after reading works as well) that song is the essence of their love story for me.

January, Winter, 2024 AD, Mohali.

It was three past midnight. Shubman could not sleep. And recently he had developed the habit of staring at Ishan, memorising the details of his face until he fell asleep but today he felt a restlessness that even Ishan's peaceful face could not cure.

Getting out of the room with a book and a pen, Shubman walked towards the terrace of the hotel.

He sat down. It was pitch dark around him and so he searched for a spot that was slightly more illuminated by the moon and when he found one, he settled in the chair, thanking the heavens that the hotel had a rooftop restaurant.

He opened the book, a year planner the hotel had gifted each of the players as a token of hospitality, and started writing.

He searched for endearments to address Ishan with. Dear did not seem intimate enough. Hey Ishan sounded way too casual. In the end, Shubman decided that Ishan's name was beautiful enough to stand alone without a cheesy prefix. But his heart, his heart thought otherwise and whispered an endearment that overpowered Shubman to the extent that he ended up writing it without giving a second thought.

My Ishan, he wrote.

Shubman scrolled the slants of his handwriting and barred his heart out on the piece of paper.

As light emerged, stroking the blanket of sky with soft orange hue, Shubman finished writing. He sat there with the letter in his hands as he watched the sun rise in the sky. Today's morning came with possibility and dread.

The possibility of his best friend loving him back and the dread of their dynamic changing after Ishan read the letter.

Shubman knew he had to be brave enough to express. He could not stand another day in oblivion or denial, God knows the reason for this urgency, he thought.

And the creator did. He knew that Uttama had been waiting for a thousand years and hence Shubman could not bear to wait a day more.

*****

Once Ishan was well fed and finished having breakfast, bath and had done everything he did in the morning, Shubman cleared his throat.

Ishan looked at him. Shubman swallowed his doubts and handed a letter to Ishan.

"A letter! Par Aaj toh Mera birthday nahi hai!" Ishan joked and Shubman smiled. The joke assured Shubman that even if Ishan did not feel the same, he would use his humour and not let anything get awkward between the two. Yet, Shubman hoped, although in small amounts. But he hoped that he was not the sole one to be burnt by the agony of separation. Of distance. Of being just friends. Roomates.

Shubman smiled, "Birthday toh nahi hai. Par tu special zarur hai." And with that he proceeded to leave Ishan alone to read the words. But Ishan called after him,

"Reaction nahi dekhna?" he asked, confused. Shubman was fleeing as if the letter held a confession of a crime.

Shubman smiled a wistful smile, "Nahi dekh paunga." He said.

Ishan frowned, searching his brains for another alternative to prevent Shubman from leaving. It seemed unfair to Ishan that Shubman had made the efforts of writing a letter to him yet Ishan wasn't being given the chance to reach for a hug as soon as he would finish reading it.