Courage

4: The Inspiration

Jurel's 50 - cinematic masterpiece. Devdutt, tera khoon kab khaulega? Ishan - tujhe jitna bolu utna kam hai!

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When Devdutt woke up the next day, it took him about 30 minutes to get out of bed. From the moment he woke up, the images from the previous night assaulted his senses. The games, the dance, the closeness – Dev didn't know what to make of it. Dhruv and he had never been close. For some reason, Dhruv had a permanent scowl on his face every time he looked at Dev, and Dev was always too busy to figure out why. He always thought, why focus on the negative when there's so much positivity going around? Until last night, Dev didn't even know Dhruv thought about him.

And now, all he could think about was Dhruv.

What was Dhruv talking about? Why did he call him sunshine? Why did he admit he liked holding Dev? Did Dev like Dhruv?

Devdutt clutched his hair.

He knew, had always known, that he wasn't exactly straight. It was an open secret with his friends and family, and there had never been any judgment from any of them, for which he was immensely grateful. But what was Dhruv's game?

Dev took a deep breath, and decided to start his day. No use pondering over what-ifs.

It seemed like no one had any thoughts of practice after the fun they had yesterday, because most of the players were lounging around, the coaches were nowhere to be found, and only a few were training. Devdutt looked around, and joined Yash on the crease. Yash waved at him when he neared, and they practiced for a while. Devdutt was glad for the distraction-free zone, but that didn't seem to be the case for his partner in training. Every few minutes, he noticed Yash looking at the stands and chuckling to himself. After ignoring it a few times, Devdutt could not contain his curiosity and turned towards the stands.

And froze.

Because there sat Dhruv, the consumer of his thoughts, with a gaggle of fans.

It was more like 2 girls, but Devdutt refused to ponder on it. He was.....laughing?

Devdutt was struck dumb. Dhruv laughed? That was new. He bared his teeth to resemble a shark, true, but this was genuine, human laughter. Dev didn't know he was capable of doing that. Add to it, he was making the girls laugh, and even the girls were hanging onto his every word. Dev was brought out of his thoughts with a tap on his shoulder.

"Now you see what I'm laughing at?"

Devdutt blinked the surprise away, but refused to say anything else. He continued his practice, albeit a little distracted.

When he got out on bold the third time in a row, sweat dripping off his forehead from the ill tempered sun, with the incessant laughter from the stands in his background, he was about to retire for the day, when a voice chipped in.

"You know, you could play miles better if you simply concentrated on the ball."

"Oh yeah? How'd you see, with all those fans blocking your view?" Devdutt countered.

Dhruv smirked.

"Jealous much?"

"Jealous much?" mimicked Devdutt.

Yash was watching the banter like tennis, but refused to step in.

Instead of rising to the bait, Dhruv stepped ahead and took Dev's bat. He took stage and awaited the ball. When he struck, the ball went flying into the stands. Devdutt watched in awe as Dhruv hit ball after ball with precision and focus. When he stopped hitting, he gestured for Dev to come closer.

He handed the bat back, and spoke.

"Close your eyes. Forget about anything else. All that's left is you and your bat - it's you against the ball - nothing else matters. Focus, and hit."

Devdutt stepped up - and closed his eyes. He did as Dhruv asked; he forgot about everything - his colleagues and the ground, Dhruv and his fans and his smirk - everything. He took a deep breath, and opened his eyes.

When the first ball came, he did not think. He remembered what Dhruv said and hit.

Devdutt kept hitting.

When the balls stopped coming, after what felt like ages, Devdutt blinked in surprise. He had never experienced such a feeling of concentration before - it felt surreal, as if he had become one with the bat and there was nothing else. He blinked a few more times, and saw a smiling Dhruv in his periphery.

"Feels good, doesn't it?"

Devdutt was hesitant to admit, but Dhruv's advice had worked. Before he could formulate a reply, Dhruv put a friendly hand over his shoulders, and said,

"Don't worry, I'll teach you how to be the best motherfucking striker on the planet."

Devdutt let his dimples speak.

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Over the next couple of weeks, as IPL progressed, Devdutt practiced a lot with Dhruv. He observed slight changes within himself - how he transformed into a completely different person when he stepped onto the field - largely, he was not too proud to admit, due to Dhruv's coaching. Everyone in the team, both players and coaches, often teased Dhruv about replacing the coaches now, but Dhruv simply replied with an enigmatic smile. That did not stop everyone from watching their training sessions animatedly; but it had no effect from Devdutt and Dhruv, who were slowly becoming inseparable - Devdutt spent a lot of time trying to break down Dhruv's wall, which, he was surprised to notice, weren't walls but simply how Dhruv was - a lone wolf. He was an extremely private person: earnest, simple, and focused. Devdutt spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to make Dhruv laugh. Dhruv, on the other hand, when he was not coaching Devdutt, talked to him about anything and everything. He was stumped to notice that for all his chulbule andaaz, Dev was an excellent listener, and had intelligent opinions. Devdutt took Dhruv to all the restaurants he wanted to visit and expanded his palate, while Dhruv took him on treks and all the lightly treaded not-so-touristy spots. They were sometimes joined by Yash, Sanju, Yuzi (when they went for chaats), who were surprised to notice how well they complemented each other. Yash often complained to Rinku that he was often left as a third wheel now, and Rinku had to promise him lots of sweets to calm him down.

As weeks passed, Devdutt started getting comfortable in Dhruv's presence, but he hadn't forgotten that night when Dhruv had picked him up, and said he liked holding him. Dhruv had chalked it up to Dhruv's shenanigans, but it stayed with Devdutt. Deciding on a payback, Devdutt formulated a plan.