A/N: Ash2029 and I were talking about how Virat of today would react if he came face to face with his 2012-13 menace Virat. So here's an OS on that.
"You've gone soft Vi."
"Ayein?"
"Jad's right you wouldn't have let that Sandwich get away with that mock run out taunt."
"Burger."
"Haan haan wahi some food item."
"You know even Starkey did that to me at the World Cup. It's all fun."
"Yeah. For your friends. It never used to be fine though. I miss that version of you."
Ro admitted out loud and Jaddu nodded in agreement. Virat stared across the table at his brothers, his hands tightening around his warm coffee cup, it'd be a lie if he said he didn't miss that I don't give a fuck version of him, but he'd matured, got married, had a kid, he needed to set a good example, sledges were fine, he'd do that, but after the Naveen-Gambhir fight and the lecture he'd gotten from all his big brothers he wouldn't want to repeat it. Vamika will only read stories of him when she grows up and she can't know of all the things he's done.
Chuckling he told those two,
"Those are things of the past. Can't be caught picking fights on field especially with Shubhi and Yashasvi looking up to us."
Virat couldn't shake a few memories which popped up unprovoked in his head later that night, a memory of Punter holding him back as he and a young Davey had gotten into an argument over something really stupid, in fact he didn't recall what it was, all he remembers is Punter's warm hand pulling him back asking him to calm down, Ishant had been there by his side telling him to let out that inner Delhi boy,
"You're on 99 kid, leave it and get back to your crease."
Punter had sounded oddly..proud almost telling that to him, he'd grown up watching the villain who'd terrorized his team for years, he had felt fear grip him when the man had scored a century at the quarter finals at the world cup and Virat had thought, that was it, they weren't going to win. He respected THE Ricky Ponting but that did not mean he'd take whatever they dished out so he had snapped back,
"Keep him in check not me. I know what I'm doing here."
Had he looked back he would have seen the intrigue and admiration in Punter's eyes.
Shaking his head, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.
The next morning, the kids had dragged Ash and Jaddu out for a morning run, Virat and Rohit were spending time with Vamika and Sammy and not wanting to disturb them the others decided to descend on the spin duo. As they entered the lobby, raucous as always, they heard a familiar voice arguing with the receptionist, confused they turned to look in the direction of voices,
"Sir! I'm sorry I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Listen. Just tell me where the captain's room is. MS Dhoni. It's not that hard. He's the national captain for god's sake."
The kids frowns deepened even more but Jaddu and Ash looked ashen, they all watched fascinated as "Virat" turned around and looked at them, his eyes skipping through all of theirs to meet Jaddu's and Ash's
"You know what miss. Thank you. My friends are here."
"Abe gadhe, tabse call kar raha hu tujhe. Why do you even have a phone Jaddu and what the hell happened to your face!"
"Virat?"
"Yes?"
"No YOU'RE ACTUALLY VIRAT?!?"
"No. I'm Manish Pandey. WHO ELSE CAN I BE?!?"
