Scent of a Man (Ishman/Shubish/Ishdik/Shubman Gill x Ishan Kishan)

Scent of Our Time

Chapter summary:

How long will this fever dream last?

Note:

Hey guys! Don't mind me, I am just dropping the 8th chapter!

Okay, before you dive in, here are a few important details-

Timeline: I should have mentioned this in the previous chapters ; but being the dummy I am, I forgot to add this crucial information.

So, this story is set in 2020, during the actual India tour of Australia. I have tried to keep things as realistic as possible, including the squad of both teams and the match description- all of these had happened in real life. However, I obviously had to make a few changes-

1. Ishan Kishan is included in the squad, even though he was not in reality.

2. Hardik Pandya is single.

3. Sara Tendulkar went on a short trip to Australia.

Till now, these are the three significant changes so far, and I will update this list as needed.

Correction: In a previous chapter, I mistakenly mentioned Rahul Dravid as the coach of the Indian team. During the 2020-2021 tour, it was actually Ravi Shastri. I have corrected this information and apologize for the error.

Abbreviations: SCG= Sydney Cricket Ground

This is a rpf. So the characters are obviously not mine ( I wish they were tho :"), but the story is my creation. All rights to the story reserved.

That's it, I won't waste anymore time, please dig in! Happy reading!

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Scent of a Man

Chapter 8: Scent of Our Time

Finally, it had arrived, the day of the match.

Everything was in complete chaos with everyone running around and jumping from one place to another to get their things together. Some had a toast in their mouths, others were holding on to their shirts while running. It was undoubtedly hard to believe that it was only 5:30 in the morning. The whole thing felt more like a scene from a madhouse than a hotel hosting international players.

The match would start at 9:10 am, so the team had to arrive at the SCG before 6:30, and that was the reason behind this madness.

Ishan wasn't a part of this whole fiasco though. He didn't make it to the playing 11 as expected, considering how bad he had been performing for the past few days in the net. His only hope now was the Test series, because it was clear that Rahul and Sanju would get the preference over him in the T20 format too.

So he was just lying down on the bed, gazing at the ceiling, thinking about the past few days.

The sound of water splashing echoed from the bathroom.

Hardik was in there.

They had been spending the nights together since the party, cuddling and sharing kisses. Hardik was truly head over heels for Ishan which made him wonder how tough it was for Hardik to hide his feelings for all this time. Ishan could've never guessed Hardik was like him if not for this whole episode.

And that was exactly what made him doubt himself. Something felt off. Whenever Hardik came closer, Ishan could feel his heart beat faster, and he couldn't deny the intense amount of physical attraction he felt towards him; but the moment Hardik was gone, Ishan immediately went back to the starting point again, confused and lost about his feelings towards Hardik.

This was driving him crazy. If not love, then what was this?

And then there was Shub. Even after all this time, he still felt an unexplainable feeling of warmth creeping up to his chest whenever he remembered even just his name. Why was that?