A/N- Before we start, please assume the timeline of this story to be around 2014, before Ziva was born. The ICT characters and their ages remain the same as they are currently.

It was a cold morning in Delhi, and all our spidey Rishabh Pant wanted to do was snuggle in his blanket, sleep and be lazy. Unfortunately, laziness is not an option when you live in a desi household, regardless of whether or not you are a renowned international cricketer. Not sooner than 5 minutes after he had climbed into bed he heard his mother screech from downstairs "Rishabh!! Get up now, if I catch you sleeping I'm going to beat you up. How slobby are you, your room is a total mess! Clean it now before noon or u get no lunch." Rishabh groaned in indignation before climbing off the bed and getting to work. He needed his lunch, and he knew his mom would definitely withhold it if he didn't clean up as she was a woman of her word.

He vaccumed the room, put dirty clothes in the laundry, folded the washed clothes and dusted the room furniture while grumbling in annoyance. He then finally settled down to clean his personal shelves consisting of his belongings like trophies, photographs, gifts, books, his childhood toys and drawings, writings and other such stuff. Like for most of the population, this was the most difficult part of cleaning for him- for it brought about pangs of nostalgia about his childhood and the good old days. He looked at the stuff in fond reminiscence and smiled. Pretty soon he had abandoned his cleaning mission and settled down on the floor surrounded by his old stuff, happily going through them and remembering cherished old memories one by one.

School time photographs. His first medal as an U-13 cricketer. His Delhi days. U-19 WC memories with his teammates and Rahul sir. He was happily going through it all when his gaze landed on the old scrapbook he had painstakingly made and titled- MS Dhoni- my hero. He grinned. As a young kid, he had idolised the man growing up and had held such a deep fascination for the long haired guy who came out of nowhere and took India by storm that between 2007-2011, the 2 World cups he had maintained an MS Dhoni scrapbook, filling it with every article and picture he could find about MS Dhoni, about both his personal and professional life. Going through it now, some sections made him relive his childhood days when Mahi Bhai would lead the team from the frontfoot, while others made him proud of himself for how far he had also come to be able to play beside his idol. While flipping the pages, he came across a section that widened his eyes and made him giggle. He couldn't hold back his laughter and doubled over. He decided that he wasn't ashamed of that section, it was a child's hardwork and research and still memories of how life was at a certain moment in time. Sort of like how historians document everything meticulously. With this firm reassurance to himself, he read the book some more but soon found himself laying on the floor and dozing off to sleep, hugging the scrapbook.

Mahi and Sakshi were visiting Delhi for a business event they had to attend. While there, they spontaneously decided to pay Rishabh a visit, like he always visited them. It was with this intention that they landed at his home and rung the doorbell. The door was opened by his mom who was delighted to see the couple. She liked Mahi both as a player and individual and was really thankful for his contribution in Rishabh's life. She warmly greeted them both and invited them in. When they asked about Rishabh she said "Oh he was cleaning his room..let me call him." But when her multiple screams of "Rishabh idhar aa" went unanswered, she facepalmed. "The audacity of this boy..he actually fell asleep again.."  Mahi and Sakshi chuckled and told her to relax, they would go meet him themselves. His mom happily agreed.

And that is how MS and Sakshi ended up at Rishabh's room, only to find the door half ajar, stuff spread everywhere and Rishabh asleep on the floor, hugging a book. They laughed at the site and went to take a closer look. When they saw MS's face and name on the cover, they both looked at each other with a fond and amused smile, shaking their heads at this kid's antics. Mahi made a move to curiously examine the scrapbook as it was about him by trying to pry it out of Rishabh's hands but to his surprise, Rishabh was guarding the book with his life and woke up at once screaming "Ahh bachao, chor chor CHOR!! " only to open his eyes and find Mahi and Sakshi looking at him weirdly as if he was a freak. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and when they still didn't disappear he decided that they were really there. He looked at them wearily. " Bhaiya? Bhabhi? Aap log yahan?" He asked. Mahi smiled at him and said "Hum to tujhe surprise dene aaye the, but tu to already sapno ki duniya mei khoya hua tha." He said pointedly gesturing at the scrapbook Rishabh was now trying to sneak behind his back. Sakshi laughed "Aww how cute Rishu, u r embarassed..it's ok.." Mahi grinned too "Han han sharma mat..tu hai mera fan to hai.. scrapbook pe sign chahiye to de isme koi badi baat nahi it shows how far u hv come. Waise mai bhi to padhu kya likha tha tune mere baare mei"

Rishabh looked at both of them wearily again and pushed the book further out of reach. No way he was going to show it to them. "Arre Bhai iski kya zarurat hai..thank u.. chodo ye sab purani childish baatein hai..chalo hum bahar lunch ko jaate hai ise mai kahi dur rakh deta hu " He made a move to shove the scrapbook to the highest cupboard when Mahi laughingly wrestled it out of his hands. Rishabh was horrified. "Bhaiya ye kya baat hui wapas Karo..mera hai personal hai maine likha hai aapke bare mei likha hai to kya hua right to privacy naam ki cheez hoti hai..arree" He whined. This made Mahi even more curious and he positioned the scrapbook further out of reach and then threw it to Sakshi who swiftly caught it and ran to a corner of the room, out of reach. Rishabh sighed in defeat and glared at Mahi. "Aage jo ho fir mujhe blame mat karna, mai avoid kar raha tha." Mahi and Sakshi were puzzled. What..?

Sakshi flipped through the book, it mainly contained all life details made public about Mahi, right from the early days of his career. News clippings, interviews, photographs, quotes, Rishabh's personal feelings about the man, painstakingly collected in a sequential manner. It was impressive for a 13 year old and they both smiled at Rishabh who still had an impassive look as if he was steeling himself for something. Sakshi turned the pages further and stumbled upon a section titled "Girlfriends and Love- Personal life". Sakshi's eyes widened and she snatched the book more towards her side to read clearly. Mahi looked nervously and indignantly at Rishabh who gave him a "I told u so, now don't blame me" look.  He glared at him and steeled himself as Sakshi read through the details mentioned about his rumoured past relationships with various famous actresses. Mahi peeked over her shoulder to see what she was reading. Well, no one could have blamed Rishabh for not doing good research, he thought with a huff. The kid had not left a single rumor out. He had pasted the articles, pictures, length of relationship and even his own personal not so favourable views on the rumoured relationships, which actually made him want to laugh but Sakshi's glare made him decide against it.

After 5 pages, the section ended with the headline and a paragraph "MS Dhoni is now married!- He married a girl named Sakshi Rawat on 4/7/10. No one knew about it except his family, till 2 months back media was linking him to someone else. What a mastermind! Wedding pictures are cute. I like the girl the best from all his relationships, she seems like a normal next door person, something MS is himself inspite of his fame. God bless them."  Sakshi had a hand on her heart and smiled tearfully at Rishabh who guessed what she read and grinned at her. MS couldn't help a smile either. Her eyes ventured further and widened when she read "Hey dear diary! Life update. Hope u didn't forget me. Anyway I am now in the ICT and play with Mahi bhai and others. They are all very nice. Mahi Bhai is the best. Today I met Sakshi bhabhi, and let me tell you she is the sweetest and kindest person ever. I was so right back then only ♥️"  Next paragraph read "All the other mentioned actresses are now married to other people. One of them is still single and I still don't like her. Anyway. Toodles."

Sakshi couldn't hold back her laugh at that and moved to hug Rishabh tight, who grinned impishly and hugged her right back. Mahi watched them with a fond smile, flipping through the book now for a closer look. Soon enough, he was smirking as it was all a bit funny afterall. Sakshi turned to glare at him. "What are u laughing at mister? I'm cool with Rishabh coz he was a kid and he actually mentioned liking me best. You, u are shameless. Huh. Such antics that a 13 year old made a whole section abt ur love life." Mahi was offended. "Hey!! I didn't do anything deliberately. U know how the media is and 13 saal ki umar mei ye, ye sab kar raha tha pata nahi kisi miracle se hi aage team selection hua hoga iska." Rishabh pouted "Mahi bhai free time mei karta tha practice ke baad." He clarified. Mahi looked at him incredulously, giving him a "that really isn't important rn to mention" look to which he just grinned back.  MS sighed and then smirked again. "Anyway kya yaar Sakshi..ab saalon purani baat pe jealous kya hona..tumhe to sab pata hi hai..kya kar sakte hai ab mai tha thoda handsome and cute to ho jaati thi ladkiyan attract. Tha kya ab bhi hun but happily married now." He added with a teasing laugh. Sakshi gave him an icy glare and hit his shoulder with her fist. He winced but didn't let it show. "Hey kya hai yaar..sabka past hota hai.." He smiled mischievously now "Ab tumhara nahi hai and mai tumhara first and last love hun ye alag baat hai. Isme upset hone ki kya baat hai tum itni lucky to ho."

Sakshi turned to look at him, her eyes flashing a bit. He immediately backed off, sensing incoming danger. "I'm sorry, I was just kidding..sorry if I went too far..I love u Saks.." he uttered feebly. Her eyes didn't soften. "Yes u did go too far. Mazak mazak mei hi sahi but u did. U r so full of urself right now. Making all these assumptions about my life as if I had none before I met you. Yea right. You know what, I have no interest in talking about this with you right now, or talking to you at all. Rishabh, baccha we came to meet u. I will see u tomorrow at the business function. I'm leaving for the hotel now. I will see u later Mahi." She made a move to leave the room when MS swiftly caught her arm. "Wait. Sakshi. I AM sorry. But.. umm..what do u mean life before me..I don't mean to sound condescending again or anything..but..was there someone..? U can tell me..u know I'm very liberal.." He murmured, nodding to himself. She gave him an incredulous look and almost laughed. "You have already assumed everything about my life Mahi. Anyway, my past is none of your business. Don't worry, we are cool." And with that she shook her arm out of his grasp and left, leaving behind a confused Mahi (who knew everything wasn't cool) with a clueless Rishabh to console him.