(Not) Just a dream (OR, the ICT steals a groom)

Look away... sometimes

Shubman was exhausted.

It was nearing midnight, and he'd been up at the crack of dawn that day, and he'd been forced to sit in the parlour for hours, then in front of the priest for hours and hours, and he'd been made to practically fast all day into the bargain.

To crown it all, his team had spent an uproarious day near the back of the hall, far enough for Shubman to miss out on their jokes, but not far enough to miss Jaddu and Hardik's bursts of laughter. It was some consolation that Ishan, out of loyalty towards Shubman (and possibly out of guilt at having chipped the edge of his ring by throwing it into the fountain), had refused to partake in their team's fun. He'd sat in the front row with Shubman's parents and sister, close enough to make funny gestures when Shubman and Shresta felt sleepy and encouraging ones when Shubman felt pissed.

Shubman didn't think Shresta had felt pissed at any point. He felt uneasy that he had. Sure, the ceremonies were monotonous, but you were supposed to take it, chin up, not longing to get off and escape with your best friend.

That was a major reason why he was exhausted: his mother had not allowed him a single detour with Ishan the whole day.

He wouldn't even have gotten a breather now if it had been left up to his teammates, who wanted a karaoke right after the ceremonies ended, but luckily for Shubman, Bhuvi and Jinks had arrived by then to join forces with Rahul to make them shut up and not torture Shubman any further.

Finally free for a night before the stuff resumed tomorrow, Shubman was very much inclined to go and camp in Ishan's room. But that would mean he would get no sleep, because Ishan sure as hell would play some awful song or want to rewatch the same dialogue of a movie or web series twenty thousand times--

And the heavens knew Shubman needed the sleep to live through tomorrow.

As soon as he'd lay down, he thought the room was glaringly empty.

Damn it all.

Shubman groped for his phone and found it on the floor. He sent a cryptic text to Ishan, without any stickers to impress the seriousness, 'Come to my room without your phone, laptop or speaker.'

Ishan texted back instantly, which made Shubman feel a whole lot better.

Not what he said, though.

Ishan: I come, my speaker comes by default

Shubman: Then don't come

Ishan: *twenty of*

Before Shubman could start retaliating to the spamming, his phone rang: 'Virat Kohli started a video call from ICT WhatsApp Group.'

"Hello all," Virat boomed. "To celebrate the last few hours of our Shubi being a bachelor--"

"Virat bhaiya!" Yuzi shouted. "Be quiet, be quiet, be quiet! That was my job! Wasn't it my job, Kul?"

"Whose job was it, Kuliya?" demanded Virat.