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

A beginning

It might've been an hour for all they knew before Ishan pulled away from the hug slightly to touch Shubman's cheek.

"You can, um, stop me at any point, of course," he said, hesitantly.

"That makes me feel responsible," observed Shubman. "So...so I hope it's okay if I don't stop you at any point, too."

"Oh--yes, of course," said Ishan. "That's okay too, of course."

His brain had sort of froze again.

So though in the future, Ishan would always like to pretend it was all his initiative, it was Shubman who finally got impatient of their stalling, and leaned down and kissed him.

Well, leaning down is easier than standing on toes, Ishan reasoned with himself.

How is that relevant again?

At that point, his brain froze for real, and he couldn't think, and even if he could, stopping was the last thing he'd have wanted.

When they broke apart for air, Shubman's face was flushed and his eyes were wide with wonder. He looked like he'd found the key to a door into a world of magic, which was the exact same way Ishan felt.

Then they were kissing again. There was no hesitation this time.

Ishan didn't think there would be, ever again.

"You were right," said Shubman when they were standing with their foreheads pressed together, breathless, after a fair bit of time. "I think we were missing a lot of tricks."

It was not like they could stay not laughing for very long even under perfectly normal circumstances, so today, they tried different ways of holding hands and laughed pretty much the entire cab journey back to the hotel.

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Shreyas woke up in an overall-pissed mood. Partly because he knew his sister would be mad because he hadn't woken up to go and drop her, partly because she'd left the room an absolute mess as revenge and their team was travelling out tomorrow and he had to pack alone.

Packing always started with purposeless circles around the room, observing the mess, so that's what Shreyas was doing when he passed the window.

Catching sight of Ishan and Shubman in the garden, he paused.

"Yes." Shreyas nodded to himself, stoically. "Because best friends always stand gazing at each other, holding hands and smiling. OY, SHUBI! DID DI GET ON THE FLIGHT?"

Shubman seemed a little more startled than necessary. He looked up till he spotted Shreyas at the window.

"Yes," he called back.

"WAS SHE MAD I DIDN'T WAKE UP?"

"Very," said Shubman promptly.

Shreyas knew he would have answered that regardless of whether his sister had been mad, so he didn't know why he'd even asked. He left Shubman and Ishan laughing and withdrew his head from the window and rushed to resume the beginning of the packing process.

After he'd tripped thrice over the same pile of slippers and cursed at the top of his voice, he decided he needed to put on a calm song right now, a decision he was to regret soon, because he'd left his phone near the window, and when he went to fetch it and happened to glance out again--

Shubman and Ishan were still present and...

Okay. This. This they definitely could not pull off as best friends.

They simply could not pull off such blasphemy and make fools out of him and Rishabh and pretty much everyone else--

OH GOD.

MY EYES.

Shreyas rapped on the window and shouted.

"WHAT--ARE YOU GUYS--DOING!"

Shubman and Ishan jumped apart, looking horrified.

"WHY ARE YOU SPYING FROM YOUR WINDOW?" demanded Ishan.

"I was--I wasn't--THIS IS AN OPEN AREA, ANYONE CAN SEE! AND WHY WOULD YOU EVEN--YOU TWO--DO YOU TAKE US FOR IDIOTS? HAVE YOU GONE MAD?"

"WEREN'T YOU ALWAYS THE ONE TELLING US TO STOP BEING BLIND?" yelled Shubman.

"BUT I DIDN'T MEAN--" yelled back Shreyas, not sure how he'd ended up on the backfoot.

"FOR US TO ACTUALLY LISTEN? TOO BAD," yelled Ishan.

"DEAL WITH IT," yelled Shubman, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with his best friend.

Great.

Now these two would be ganging up on everyone even worse than they already did.

Shreyas made a rude gesture at them and withdrew from the window again, shutting it and triple-checking the bolt so he wouldn't even look outside by mistake.

My eyes, Shreyas thought plaintively, and texted Rishabh, the only person who would sympathize.

Shreyas: I saw those two idiots kissing

Shreyas: KISSING

Rishabh: Whoa, so we won!

Shreyas: Doesn't feel like a victory

Shreyas: Next time they say they're best friends, I will stab them

Rishabh: Well, stab them one and poison one, then they can have a Romeo and Juliet ending 🙂

Shreyas: Or I could drown one of them and let the other live so they have a Jack and Rose ending

Rishabh: Or...

As Rishabh and Shreyas debated which had the most tragic ending of all tragic love stories, the objects of their bloodthirsty discussion were blissfully unaware, strolling in the garden, swinging their clasped hands.

There was so much to talk about, for it was a beginning, and they certainly didn't think of endings.

But if they did, they'd just have wanted a Shubman-and-Ishan ending, exclusive and full of possibilities, all for themselves.

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A/N: This was the last chapter (and the most difficult one I've ever written probably). Maybe I'll give an epilogue later...