The Ultimate Paagalkhana

Meeting the Family

A/N: And pointers so that you don't get confused on the go. And sorry! This is not a Khalbir fic, don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of Khalbir but... wanted to try something new. This is an intro to the characters who Kartik considers a family and a sort of Q&A kinda thing so that it will be easier to understand. Not going into many details, just brushing through.

(Nick names)

Khalid: Childhood school buddies, kept in touch with Kartik after they moved. Later on joined RAW, Kabir's team, presumed dead in a mission but he survives and is currently mute. Bf of Rohan. (Bunny)

Rohan: Brother of Kabir, was at one point the neighbour of Kartik. Becomes partially blind due to an accident when Kabir was on a mission and Kartik was the one who supported him until he had to go off to college. Meets and later on dates Khalid. (Kala)

Kabir: Brother of Rohan, neighbour of Kartik, senior to Khalid and had a sibling/dad relation with him. Tries to support his brother as much as he can since the accident and is devastated at the loss of Khalid. (Secret Agent)

Vikram: Brother of Ronnie and is the college roommate. A bit on the cowardly side but can stand up to someone if they harm/badmouth the ones close to him. Joins the police force and settles down in Agra. (Darbu)

Ronnie: Brother of Vikram, hot headed person who is usually calm until someone rubs him the wrong way. Very over protective of Vikram. Meets Kartik via Vikram. (Billi)

Devika: College mate of Kartik, initially crushes on him before becoming besties, will do anything in her power to gain any blackmail material over him and is the Devil and mother hen of the group. (Devil)

Aman: The flatmate turned bestie turned lover of Kartik, who has yet to meet the haphazard family of Kartik's. Known Kartik for 3 years as of now.

Points to note:

1) Kartik has the habit of using nicknames to mention people so... even if they meet each other, they don't know that the other person in front of him knows Kartik. eg: while he talks to Kabir, he might mention Khalid with the nickname Bunny and therefore, Kabir doesn't know that Khalid is Bunny.

2) Khalid and Kabir have met each other but they don't know that the other knows Kartik. => Kabir gets the news that Nafeesa has passed away, he doesn't inform Kartik about it as he didn't know that Kartik knew her.

3) Yes, Kabir had talked to Kartik about how one of his teammates, Khalid had passed away and how it affects him... and Kartik could connect the dots and assumes Khalid is dead as he hadn't received any texts from him and due to the fact that he knew that they were on the same team.
That is until he receives a text from Khalid about how he miraculously escaped and is now mute... and creatively manipulates things so that Khalid is somewhat next door to Rohan, which is beneficial as Rohan will be able to guide Khalid through whatever he's going through as he has his own experiences...

4) Yes, Khalid is dating Rohan, but that happens only like a week or two before the scene where the story begins. => Rohan doesn't exactly get the chance to inform Kabir about his new found BF. Plus, Rohan being partially blind can't exactly describe Khalid and therefore he couldn't know that the Khalid is bro lost and the Khalid he was dating is the same. Doesn't help that Khalid is mute so... yeah.

5) About the reason why Aman doesn't know about this dysfunctional family who doesn't even know each other's original names for most part. It's simple, Kartik wanted to introduce them all at one point but due to their schedules and unpredictable jobs which often clashed, he had to postpone the meeting very often.
(I mean, with Khalid and Kabir being agents, Vikram in the police force and Ronnie the overprotective bro who doesn't want to leave his bro alone)
In the end, Aman only knows about Kartik's friendship with Devika and Rohan. (He'd met Rohan only once though and they didn't talk much about Kabir. And this is before Rohan meets Khalid.)

6) As to why I haven't made them meet beforehand... then where is the fun man? Plus, as stated above, schedule clashes.

Age:
Kabir - 35
Rohan - 32
Kartik - 30
Vikram - 30
Devika - 30
Khalid - 29
Ronnie - 28

A/N: So... Hopefully that will clarify the doubts for the upcoming chapters... any other clarifications can be asked in the comments and I'll be happy to answer them : )

Heads up about Chapter 2, it will most likely be only snippets of chat conversations or face to face convos. And the actual start of the story. Ik... this does seem a bit long shot but... hoping that I can work it out : ) (Fingers crossed I will get it out today...)

Hope you all like it! All comments and criticism accepted and appreciated! Prompts are welcome!

Thank you all for reading!!!!!!!!!!

Rasnak signing off :) ;)

UPDATED ON 23 MAY 2020