The book of snippets

Two birds

A 5+1 Abir Kunal fic

Cause I'm downright mad...

1.

Abir is six when he does it the first time. Kunal is 4 months old. All baby babble, flying food and thumb sucking included. Abir doesn't know what it means, just knows he loves listening to Nanko, loves looking at him, loves feeding him and loves loves loves playing with him. It makes him miss his dad a lot less.

He wishes him good morning and good night every day. Nanko doesn't say it back, he is sleeping or he just stares at him, he is just a baby and Abir really really likes his his baby brother's eyes, they are bluish green or gray, he can't tell yet, Abir has never seen anything like them, their dad probably had them, Abir doesn't know, but he likes them, so he doesn't mind.

That morning however Nanko woke up crying, and didn't stop. Maa and Maasi were worried, they took him to hospital. Naanu told him it was okay, that babies do this sometimes. But Abir was scared.

They come back soon, Maa and Maasi are relieved, a stray ant had managed to bite him probably in the garden before any of them could spot it. They clean his crib, his nursery and are sure that the ailment is gone.

Abir however isn't convinced. He should have seen the ant, should have stopped it.

Nanko is waving his hands and cooing as Naanu is making faces at him when Abir announces, "Main aaj nanko ke saath sounga!"

They're all surprised. There is no need Maa says, Maasi parrots and Naanu tells him he can sleep with him in the afternoon tomorrow.

But Abir is stubborn and Maa relents.

Maasi sleeps with them like she usually does...

"Aaj hum bohoth khelenge nanko" Abir declares happily poking kunal with a finger. Nanko grabs it with both his hands and Abir is ecstatic.

Maasi smiles at them, "Khel lena par jaldi so jana Abir, chote bachon ke liye neend bohoth zaruri hoti hai."

Abir tickles Nanko and the baby babbles happily with grabby hands at him.

'I won't let that ant bite you again, I won't let any ant bite you' Abir promises laughing at him, 'I will always protect you.'

After all, he decided to sleep with him to stay vigil, 'I'll always do it nanko...'

2.

Abir is 10 and Kunal is 5, the second time he does that. Nanko had started school. Abir will never admit it but he missed that little baby who clung to his legs to stop him from going to school.

But this is more fun, he can play with his little brother more now, they finish their home work together and Kunal always waits for him to play with him. They now have a sister too, she's two years old, still just toddling around both of them, he can't wait for her to grow up, he wants to gang up on Nanko with her.

He just hates it when Nanko calls him biiir, the way he called him before he started to calling him bhai. He likes bhai way more. He thinks Kunal knows that, so whenever Abir teases him, Kunal calls him biiir.