ICT ONE-SHOTS (FRIENDSHIP)

The possessive elder brother (Virat-Jassi)

Rohit and Virat were walking on the terrace few days before the Sri Lanka series, talking peacefully, when Virat randomly felt like needling Rohit.

"You're a jealous insecure prick, you know that?" asked Virat.

Rohit narrowed his eyes.

"Did you?" persisted Virat.

"I'm not," said Rohit.

Virat grinned cheekily and muttered something like forgot Rahul and ABD already?

These days Rohit couldn't believe he had felt Rahul was becoming Virat's best friend once, so he fired up and said, "It's normal to be...jealous--" Rohit said the word with great difficulty. "--when you're sticking to ABD like a leech!"

"Ha!" said Virat triumphantly. "I do not feel jealous when you're sticking to anyone like a sloth!"

Rohit seemed to take awful offence at being called a sloth.

"That's clearly because you don't love me at all, and I do," he said stiffly.

Virat looked like he was about to start laughing, and Rohit added, "I bet you'd feel jealous too if it was about anyone you love."

"No, 'cause I'm not abnormal like you," said Virat at once.

"If you had been just as abnormal as Rohit, you'd have been at least 10 times more normal than you are right now, Virat," came a snide voice behind them.

They jumped out of their skins and saw Jaddu walking right behind them.

"When did you come?" asked Rohit in horror.

"And what did you say!" demanded Virat.

"I came with you when you came," said Jaddu with a wide grin. "And Virat, I said that if you had been just as abnormal..."

Seeing that Jaddu was quite capable of repeating the entire thing again, Virat broke in, saying, "And you've been tailing us?"

"He's gradually becoming a ghost from a human," said Rohit ominously. "Though what you said was quite correct, Jad."

"I know," said Jaddu peacefully.

Rohit sent Virat a sideways glance, struck with sudden inspiration.

"And do you know Mahi bhai sent Jaddu a snow toy yesterday similar to the one they had seen during the last IPL?" asked Rohit.

Virat stared.

Jaddu stared.

"A snow toy?" asked Virat.

"Yes, didn't he?" asked Rohit, looking pointedly at Jaddu.

"He did," says Jaddu solemnly. "We go to look at snow toys every year twice, Virat-- Mahi bhai and I."

Virat seemed to be processing this in his head.

"Are you jealous? Are you jealous?" cackled Rohit in delight.

"I'm not," said Virat, quite truthfully. "Why would I be?"

Rohit was stumped. "Because... because Mahi bhai didn't send you a snow toy?"

Instead of answering, Virat took out his phone and called Mahi bhai and put it on speaker.

"Cheeku?" said Mahi bhai, his voice taking on that special tender tone it always did while talking to Virat.

"Mahi bhai, will you send me a snow toy?"

"A... what?" asked Mahi bhai.

"A snow toy!" said Virat loudly. "The kind you sent Jaddu!"