Ishu ke Issues

Chapter 5

Sunlight creeped in through the slightly ajar windows, waking Ishan up from his sleep. As he opened his eyes he found himself buried under the weight of Arjun’s right arm and leg. He tried his best to push him off , but failing, he woke Arjun up, who was a deeper sleeper than he expected. When Ishan finally managed to free himself, he left a note for Arjun, “Sorry, I had to leave before you. I did try to wake you up. Call me when you’re awake.”

Flashback to the previous night

Ishan felt so stupid. He shouldn’t have gone for that hug. Yes, he was known to be clingy but Shubman didn’t seem like the type to be touchy with his friends. What if he took it some other way?
He couldn’t help it though. Shubman seemed so sweet that day. He felt he had seen a version of him no one else has.
Also Ishan had been noticing Shubman a lot recently. He wasn’t unaware of those long, intense stares. What did they mean anyway? Ishan had no idea.
He buried his face in his pillow when he felt his phone vibrating. It was a text from Arjun.

“Hey, when are you coming over? I’ll order some food!”

Ishan threw on a white oversized t-shirt and his black shorts and went towards Arjun’s room. Honestly he had no idea why he has been so friendly with him. He thought of what Shubman had said. But there was no way he liked Arjun or the other way around. It’s just that their vibes match a lot and Arjun had been nothing but a nice guy. Ishan had absolutely no reason to refuse him for hanging out. When he got there, Arjun had already laid down the table.
They watched “Exhuma” while enjoying their Chole Bhature. Then Arjun insisted they should drink. Ishan knew it was a bad idea but when did he ever learn his lesson?
Both of them ended up drinking until they passed out.

Tilak had made up his mind. He was going to confess to Ishan. He was going to tell him everything. How he had fallen for him the moment he had laid his eyes upon him. How his world revolved around him. How he was everything Tilak thought about. How Tilak had always belonged to him. How he had always loved him.

Love.

He probably shouldn’t use that word yet. It might just scare him away.

Ishan deserved a person who is as brave as himself. He was ready to go all out if that’s what it takes to make Ishan his. Also, if there was indeed something going on between Ishan and Arjun, he might as well put it out there before things got even more serious.
He stepped out of his room and waited for Ishan.

“Tilak! I just saw your text. You wanted to talk about something?”

He felt a blush creeping up his cheeks and looked down. Why was he always like this in front of Ishan?

“Yeah- I…well I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to go out with me today? Maybe to the shopping mall or something? We don’t have practice until evening so…”

“Yaar Tillu tu soulmate hai mera! I was thinking of going to the mall too! I need to buy some clothes before the New Zealand tour!”

Tilak chuckled and was about to thank him when Ishan spoke again.

“Let me call some of our friends as well. The more the merrier!”

Tilak’s smile disappeared.

“No Ishan I meant-”

“Ishan!”

Tilak’s words were left incomplete as Arjun interrupted them.

"You left this in my room last night" He said, handing Ishan a silver bracelet.

"Oh yes! Thank you Arjun. By the way, Tilak and I were making plans for going shopping, do you wanna join us?"

"I would love to!"

"Great! See you guys in 20 minutes! I'll go and make some calls."

Tilak was dumbfounded. He was so stupid. How could he let one more chance go like that?

After persuading almost everyone, Ishan could only get Yashasvi to join them. How come everyone was so busy today?

"What do you mean you can't tell me Mayu? Am I not your bestie anymore? I still tell you everything!"

"For God's sake Ishan stop being so dramatic. I'm just caught up with some work. "

"Watch me abandon you once I start being busy."

"Yes I'm so waiting for your It girl era Ishan. I'm hanging up. "

Ishan is definitely not going to open the door for him tonight.

Wait, should he call Shubman too?

It was a chill hangout among friends so why not?

Did Shubman consider him a friend yet?

Fuck it. He's just going to call him.

‘Surprised’ would be an understatement to describe how Shubman felt upon seeing Ishan’s name on his phone when he received a call. He took a deep breath before picking up.

"Hello?"

"Morning Shub. I was calling to ask you if you're free this morning? We could go shopping if you'd like?"

Shubman was taken aback. He still wasn't over yesterday. Facing Ishan after the night he literally jacked off to him felt like a nightmare.

"Y-yes. Yes I'm free. "

"Great! See you in 20 minutes then! You can ask Abhi to join too."

Ishan hanged up leaving behind an extremely confused Shubman.

He was going to be the end of him someday.

Shubman was in no mood to dress up. He took 15 minutes trying to get his thoughts together (eg: how to look at Ishan without getting an embarassing boner again?) and the remaining 5 minutes to look at least decent before going down to meet Ishan.

"Shub! Oh, Abhishek didn't come with you?"

"I haven't really seen him since this morning."

"Damn. What is it with our best friends ghosting us all of a sudden."

Shubman smiled tightly. He still wasn't able to shake off the awkwardness that lingered.

"So, should we leave now?"

"Won't you wait for our friends?"

"Friends?"

"Yes! Tilak, Arjun and Yashasvi are going with us as well!"

Shubman just stared at him in response.

"Last day you talked about how you don't really have many friends so I think it'd be good for you to mingle a bit you know?"

Shubman nodded.

"Yeah. So kind of you."

"Wait- no are you mad I didn't tell you first? Or..."

Ishan leaned in a bit and brought his mouth close to Shubman's ears. His breath lingered deliciously on his neck. Shubman could feel him smirking.

"...did you expect a second date already?"

           ____________________________

First of all I'm so sorry for the late update. As most of y'all might know, the situation in West Bengal right now is really upsetting and honestly I wasn't in the mood to post all these days. I haven't been active on twitter either. And after that I got sick (I literally had fever on my birthday and STILL had to go to college). Anyway, bohot ho gyi trauma dump. Y'all please stay healthy and stay safe. <3