ICT ONE-SHOTS (FRIENDSHIP)

The two sole times (Virat-Bhuvi)

I dunno why, but I'm obsessed with Virat and Bhuvi's friendship right now, triggered by how Virat is always the first one to hug him these days after a wicket, how Virat pulled him up after that brilliant caught and bowled... Oh, I love their bond insanely at the moment!!

The first time Virat made the mistake of yelling at Bhuvi was during an ODI in 2014.

Bhuvi conceded a no ball six in the last over of the first inning, and Mahi bhai didn't react, but Virat stormed up to Bhuvi in the heat of the moment.

"Those extra runs are going to fall on us, you know!" he shouted harshly.

Bhuvi's head was right down, and he said in a terrified voice, "I'm sorry..."

"Not just a six, bowling a no ball as well," muttered Virat nastily as he walked away.

Any other bowler would have lost his temper by then, and maybe Virat was expecting that at the back of his mind, too. But Bhuvi didn't.

Virat took his position and faced the pitch and saw Bhuvi returning to his run up point, his head still down.

And Virat began to feel bad.

After the inning ended, Virat hastened to fall in step with Bhuvi as the team was leaving the field.

Bhuvi glanced at Virat and the full force of his adorable eyes hit Virat and made him feel even worse, because Bhuvi still looked upset with himself, and not a bit angry at Virat.

"No hard feelings, Bhuvi?" said Virat.

"Of course not," said Bhuvi at once, sounding quite relieved.

Virat felt like a complete jerk at Bhuvi's reply, and from that day, he just found it impossible to yell at Bhuvi ever again.

Whenever things went wrong on the field, it was common to see Virat shouting and cursing his teammates. Bhuvi always remained the exception.

___________

Two years later, when Virat was in an all out isolation mood after his break up with Anushka, his team was naturally worried about him.

He had snubbed all advances so far and no one was particularly eager to try and talk sense into him.

"Jinks would've been useful here," said Jaddu one morning.

"But he won't be back for another week," said Ash.

"You go, Bhuvi," said Shikhar suddenly.

"Why me?" asked Bhuvi, horrified.

All the others, however, were impressed with the idea.

"He's not going to snub you," said Ash.

"Hopefully," said Jaddu with a wink.

Bhuvi stood up determinedly. Being fonder of Virat than most people in the team were, he wanted Virat to come out of depression as much as the others.

"I'm going."

___________

Bhuvi knocked on Virat's door. There was no answer, so he pushed the door open softly and looked in.

Virat was hunched on the bed, his gaze fixed on some random thing.

"Virat?" said Bhuvi timidly.