Because You do Matter (A Jassi-Hardik Friendship Fanfiction)

Part 1

The 5-0 whitewash in NZ was a genuine reason of huge celebration and the ICT had to video call every single one of them who wasn't with them right then.

Hardik was the most overexcited one as usual, yelling congratulations to Rahul for his multiple roles, to Jassi for his awesome comeback, to Rohit for batting like a hero, to Virat for sitting with Kane and getting his photo viral without even playing, to Yuzi for dancing...

"Stop," said Jassi finally, exasperated.

Hardik, remarkably for him, heard the instruction in the very first time itself and stopped.

Virat grabbed the opportunity and put in a few hifi terms about how Hardik should modify his fitness training to recover from the injury aftermath.

"It's tiresome doing those every day," complained Hardik.

Before Virat could start scolding him, Rohit said, "Exactly, isn't it, Harry?"

Seeing another Rohit bhaiya-Virat bhaiya fight coming on, and seeing that none of Bhuvi, Ash, Jinks bhaiya were in the team, Jassi said, "The more you do those tiresome stuff, the sooner you come back so... it's your choice."

"HAHAHAHA," cackled Virat, as Rohit sulked.

Jaddu started to laugh, and so did all the others, but Jassi was staring at Hardik, his brows furrowed. Because Hardik wasn't laughing as insanely as usual.

Jassi knew Hardik too well--far too well for him to not guess the reason.

An hour later, he was packing his bag in his room.

_______________

As Jassi was slinking through the hotel, he was praying none of the team--especially Virat bhaiya--had returned from the party, because if anyone saw him, they would stop him for sure.

Going to London on Sunday night when the ODI series started on Wednesday seemed didn't seem like a very wise idea to Jassi either, to be honest.

But...he wanted to see Hardik so badly, he missed him so much...it had been months and months since he had had Hardik around all the time--not months... years...

Jassi shook his head to clear it of exaggerations.

Cons of staying with a drama queen like Hardik 12 months a year.

______________

"Where's Jassi?" Virat asked Rohit at the party, because he had been hunting down everyone and telling them to return to the hotel by midnight.

"Dunno," said Rohit. "I haven't seen him around in a while. Maybe he went back to the hotel, he's not very fond of parties."

Their hotel was nearly 2 hours away from the place they were celebrating.

"He wouldn't leave without telling anyone," said Virat, starting to worry. He always worried when it came to his Jassi and Kuliya.

Rohit called Jassi, and his phone was switched off.

"Why would he switch off his phone?" said Virat.

Rohit was looking worried as well now.

"Come, let's ask the others...they might know something," said Rohit finally.

______________

Hardik, who was staying at an apartment with Natasha in London, woke up early in the morning by the doorbell ringing.

"Go and see who it is," mumbled Natasha sleepily.

Hardik pulled himself out of bed and opened the door and stared.

"Jassi?" he said weakly after a few seconds.

Jassi was grinning so widely that he looked like a maniac, but Hardik couldn't even comment on that, he was so surprised.

"Will you let me come in or not?" asked Jassi.

Hardik pulled Jassi and his bag inside. "But Jass...you were playing in NZ last evening...or was that your clone? Do you have a clone? Wait! Are you an imposter?"

"Harry, I'm extremely tired and sleepy; stop eating my brains early in the morning," said Jassi.

"That means you are an imposter," concluded Hardik, and he grabbed Jassi and shook him hard.

"I'm--I'm not," gasped poor Jassi, who was so tired that he couldn't even free himself. "Hardik!"

"Ok tell me, what's our favourite computer game?" demanded Hardik.

"Anagram Magic," said Jassi promptly.

Hardik stopped shaking him and Jassi sighed in relief, and in spite of the harsh welcome, couldn't bring himself to regret coming here.

Just seeing Hardik's idiotic face was such a mood uplifter.

"So tell me what's up," said Hardik. "You must've come here to give me some very important news, which could only be... are you engaged?"

"Hardik."

"JASSI, ARE YOU ENGAGED?"

"NO HARDIK I'M DEFINITELY NOT ENGAGED!"

"HARDIK!" shouted Natasha, sounding really pissed off. "Stop shouting immediately and tell your guest to stop shouting as well!"

Jassi snorted with laughter as Hardik sobered up quickly and said, "Shhhh! Mustn't disturb the lady's sleep!"

In that chaos, Hardik, who had severe attention disorders, forgot to pester Jassi about why he had come.

Hardik saw Jassi's red eyes and said, "D'you want to sleep for a while?"

"No," said Jassi, yawning. "I have to get back tomorrow, and sleep would be a waste of time."

"Good," said Hardik brightly. "Come and see our wedding card!"

"The team's going to be so mad you designed your wedding card without them," said Jassi.

"Well, Bhuvi helped," defended Hardik.

"Where did you get Bhuvi bhaiya?" asked Jassi. "Oh...at the NCA."

"Why d'you ask questions when you know the answer yourself?" teased Hardik as he led Jassi to a room full of wrapped gifts from floor to ceiling.

Jassi wondered if Hardik meant to find a wedding card from this mess, but surprisingly he produced one in a few minutes.

They squatted down in the little space on the floor that wasn't covered with gifts so that Jassi could pass his judgement on the design.

"It's good," said Jassi. "Quite obviously Natasha's choice."

"It was," admitted Hardik. "I wanted a leaf green one, but she said this peach one would be better."

"Leaf green," noted Jassi.

"Like...like this," said Hardik, pointing violently to a bright green gift.

Jassi glanced at it and rolled his eyes. "That's not leaf green. That's flourescent green...and I don't even want to imagine a wedding card of this hideous colour!"

Hardik started to protest, his voice rising, but Jassi said seriously, "Let your fiancee sleep in peace, Harry!"

Hardik suddenly smirked.

"I know why you're here."

"Why?"

"So that you get the opportunity to meet Natasha's hot female friends!"

"Wow, Harry," said Jassi admiringly. "How ever did you guess?"