All that matters is that you're ok... (Ishman Fanfiction)

chapter 7

A/N - Short filler chapter, because I'm going through some family things right now. I'll try to update the next part in couple of days, but I'm not making any promises. I hope you guys understand 💙

“Yeh le, koi terese baat karna chahta hai,” (Take this, someone wants to talk to you.)

Ishan had just been brought back to the room after having an MRI. The bhabhis had left as soon as the match had gotten over, promising to come back with Sammy and Vami the next day. Sammy had apparently clung to Shubman the entire time she'd been at the hospital saying that she was doing her Ishu chachu's job, so now he had to name his firstborn child after her. Hey, he didn't make the rules.

He knew the entire team would march into the room as soon as they could make it from the stadium, so he had been waiting impatiently to congratulate them when KL came back to the room and handed him the phone. Virat was dosing peacefully on the sofa a few feet away.

Rahul Bhai handed him the phone and settled on the couch, somehow contorting himself to fit 2 fully grown men onto a tiny sofa with his head on Virat's chest. The elder just patted his hair once in acknowledgment and went right back to sleep.

“Ishan…” The voice on the end of the phone grabbed his attention, and he focused on the man occupying his screen. Hardik looked terrible, messy hair and huge eyebags, looking like he hadn't slept in days.

“Hardik Bhai? Aapko kya hua? Ghar pe sab theek hai na? Agastya, Natasha bhabhi, Krunal aur Pankhuri Bhabhi?” (Hardik Bhai? What happened to you? Is everyone ok at home?)

“Yeh kaise puch sakta hai tu? Ghar pe koi theek nahi hai. Humara chota bhai duniya ke dusre kone me hospital me leta hai, aur tu hume puch raha hai ki hum theek hai?” (How can you even ask that? Nobody is ok at home. Our little brother is lying in the hospital on the other side of the world and you're asking us if we're ok?)

“Bhaiya…”

“Don't Bhaiya me. Tujhe pata bhi hai tere vajah se Nats subhe se kuch khai nahi hai. Krunal ne to flight ke tickets book bhi kiye the almost, maine roka nahi hota to vo abhi vaha hota. Aga ko humne kuch bataya nahi hai, par mujhe lagta hai ki usse pata chal chuka hai kyuki voh tere baare me poochta rehta hai,” (Don't bhaiya me. Do you know that because of you Nats hasn't eaten anything since the morning. Krunal had almost booked the flight tickets, if I hadn't stopped him he would be with you right now. We haven't told Aga anything, but I'm sure he knows something because he keeps asking about you.) As he spoke, Ishan could see fresh tears escaping from his eyes.

“Itna irresponsible kaun hota hai yaar? Khudki jaan se kaun aise khelta hai? Tujhe kuch ho jata na Ishu, pata nahi kya hota hum sab ka,” (Who is that irresponsible yaar? Who plays with their own life like that? If something had happened to you, Ishu, I don't know what would have happened to us.) 

“Bas bhaiya, please ab aur mat daato, nahi to mai bhi rone lag jaunga. Aur aap pehle aakh pocho apne. Aapko nahi dekh sakta mai aise,” (Enought Bhaiya, don't scold me more now. And go wipe your eyes first. I can't bear to see you like this.)  Ishan wished Hardik was in South Africa at that moment, he needed to give his older brother a hug. 

Hardik's face disappeared from view, the man seemingly going to the bathroom to wash his face. He let the phone fall into his lap and took a deep breath. Seeing Hardik so emotional was making everything seem more real by the second.

He looked up and suddenly noticed someone standing in the doorway. What was it with his older brothers and standing in doorways to scare him? This time it was Rohit bhai. And then he realized, it was Rohit bhai there, in person.

“Rohit bhaiya? Andar aao na, waha kyu khade ho?” (Rohit bhaiya? Come inside, why are you standing there?)

As if he was waiting for his permission, Rohit walked in and stood beside his bed. He didn't say anything so Ishan also kept mum. Rohit just kept staring at him, eyes roaming over his body like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Ishan let him look to his heart's content.

After a few long moments, Rohit raised a hand and hovered it over Ishan's cheek, not touching the skin yet. Ishan took it upon himself to close the last bit of distance and lean his face into his Rohit bhaiya's palm. Through the contact he could feel the way the hand was trembling slightly. 

Ishan looked up and smiled at Rohit, his eyes trying to convey that he was fine. He didn't know why he wasn't talking, it seemed like there was a spell cast over the room and he was hesitant to break it. 

Rohit stood there for a few minutes. Ishan didn't hurry him along. Finally he pulled Ishan's head closer and Ishan gratefully buried his face in Rohit's stomach. 

Tension he didn't know he was carrying melted out of him at the embrace. He leaned almost his entire upper body into Rohit, the man taking the weight effortlessly. 

For the first time since the shooting, Ishan felt truly safe. Nobody could hurt him anymore, his Rohit bhaiya was here.

*

They moved from that position eventually, with extreme reluctance on Ishan's part. He made a face when Rohit pulled away, that drew a chuckle from the elder man. Ishan smiled back instinctively at the expression of happiness.

“Kahi nahi ja raha hu, yahi hu main,” (I'm not going anywhere, I'm right here.)

Ishan moved to the corner of the bed gingerly, mindful of the stitches he knew were holding his body together. He made Rohit sit on the bed and moved to place his head in his lap. The elder man tried protesting, saying sleeping like that would aggravate the wound, but Ishan wasn't in the mood to listen. He just wanted his big brother's presence. Rohit melted, obviously.

That's how the rest of the team found them when they came in half an hour later, Rohit leaning against the bed frame with Ishan head in his lap, one hand soothingly moving through the kid's hair.