When Rishabh made his Test debut in 2018, he drove Ash mad.

Ash had had his fair share of experience with wicket-keepers. His first and favourite...the wisest, the most helpful, the most calming, the most encouraging...had of course been Mahi bhai. After his retirement four years ago, there had been several ones, on and off. He'd never been able to get up to as many tricks with any of them as with Mahi bhai, but most of them did a decent job.

His dependence on his keeper had, over the past four years, definitely gone down a lot.

But Rishabh's arrival opened up this whole thought process, the constant consciousness, about his keeper's presence again.

And Ash did not mean it in a good way.

Rishabh kept cackling behind the stumps randomly, making the batsman and the slip fielders jump out of their skin. Occasionally, he made up puns on the names of the batsmen, and verses, and fitted tunes to it and sang-and wheedled his teammates to sing along.

"Virat bhaiya, sing with me-"

"Rishabh, I'm over thirty, I can't sing nursery rhymes!"

"What about when you become a dad?" wheedled Rishabh. "Practice now."

"Ask Rohit," Virat would say. "He already is a dad."

"I am not going to sing a Hindi version of Spiderman," said Rohit firmly.

Crestfallen but undeterred, Rishabh sang on his own.

Sometimes he sledged. They were never mean or cutting; they were in fact so ridiculous that sometimes the batsmen had to visibly stop themselves from laughing out loud. Last, and worst, came his encouragement for the bowlers.

"Come on Ash, come on Ash, come on Ash..."

He could go on for a spell of ten overs either and not run out of breath.

"Come on Jad, come on Jad, come on Jad..."

"For the devil's sake, Rishabh," Jaddu hollered. "Stop it!"

"Stop what?" asked Rishabh, apparently shocked out of his life.

"This-poetry-behind the stumps."

Rishabh looked so disappointed that Jaddu quickly added, "It's not you. It's me and my ghost. My ghost gets disturbed with that kind of poetry, you see..."

"Does your ghost travel with you to the stadium, Jaddu bhai?" asked Rishabh.

"Oh yes," said Jaddu. "He floats above my head as moral support-you can't see him yet," he added as Rishabh's eyes turned eagerly to the air above Jaddu's head. "You need to be introduced first, and that can only happen in our hometown."

"Oh!"

"I'll take you to Jamnagar sometime and see if he takes to you. He only reveals himself to certain people, that's the catch."

"Oh, I see," said Rishabh. "Will you please take me to Jamnagar right after this series, Jaddu bhaiya, please please please?"

"Certainly," said Jaddu. "In the meanwhile, try not to upset him by chanting under the stumps."

"Okay," said Rishabh, obligingly.

And he stuck to his promise faithfully the next over.

Ash gave Jaddu a dirty look when the latter's over ended and he had to bowl again.

"I can't believe he bought your cock-and-bull story," he hissed.

"I s'pose it's a gift I have," said Jaddu, modestly.

Before Ash could even begin to think of a story of his own, Rishabh had started his refrain.

"Come on Ash, come on Ash, come on, Ash..."

_____________________

In the initial few months, Ash was still hopeful he'd hit upon the magic solution to make the kid stop the refrain. It was becoming meme material, for heaven's sake, as Ash's daughters informed him. (Ash hated memes, especially if he was the target or in any way involved.)

"It's disrespectful," he told Rishabh once. "Calling an elder just by their name."

"Come on, Ash bhai," whined Rishabh. "Come on, Ash bhai. That just doesn't have the same rhythm to it."

"The opponents are laughing at us, Rishu," said Ash in despair, another time when they were travelling back to the hotel in bus.

"We'll soon be the ones laughing after you and Jaddu bhai are done with them in the fourth innings," said Rishabh, latching on to Ash's arm and tugging on it.

Exhaling deeply, Ash gave in to the tugging and put his arm around Rishabh so could snuggle into him.

____________________

A few years down the line, the kid still drove him mad, but he'd grown on Ash so much that one day when Rishabh had a slight cold during a Test and chanted a little less, it felt weird.

Ash shook his head violently to clear it of such nonsense.

"Is it just me, or does Rishabh talking less feel plain weird?" Pujji murmured to Ash between two overs.

"It's not just you," said Ash drily.

"Really?" Rishabh's pleased-as-punch voice rose behind them. "Really, Ash bhaiya, Pujji bhaiya! In that case, I'll forget my throatache and give my best again!"

"No, no," said Ash. "Honestly, give your throat some rest...it's been asking for rest for years, probably..."

"Not when you're bowling," said Rishabh solemnly.

From the next over, it began again.

"Come on, Ash, come on, Ash, come on, Ash..."

Sometimes, Ash thought he should just give the official title of most-encouraging-keeper to Rishabh. Unforunately, he suspected Rishabh already knew he was the unofficial holder of that title.

Incorrigible.

___________________

On the last day of 2022, when Ash was singing New Year carols with his daughters and helping his wife bake muffins past midnight, Rohit called.

Ash felt a chill of foreboding he couldn't place. Maybe due to the late hour...

"Where are you?" Rohit said. "Have you got the news?"

"No-which news?"

Rohit took a deep, audible breath.

"Rishabh had a car accident," he said. Now that Ash noticed, his voice was broken. "It's not looking good."

"What do mean by not looking good?" said Ash frantically. "How is he? Where is he?"

"He's in coma," said Rohit shortly. "He's in Delhi. I'm on the way...come as soon as you can...Shikhar will text you the address."

"Rohit-what do you mean by coma? What are the doctors saying?"

"I don't know, Ash. I'll keep you updated if I get any news-and please do the same."

Ash didn't remember himself putting down the phone. The next thing he remembered was Aadhya climbing on his knees and asking, "Who was it, dad?"

"It was Uncle Rohit," said Ash mechanically. "I have to go to Delhi."

"Why?" demanded Akhira.

Ash couldn't break down in front of his daughters, so he had was forced to do something he'd never done-he disloged Aadhya and ran out of his house without answering Akhira.

____________________

All through the cab journey to the Chennai airport, the unending flight to Delhi and the cab journey to the hospital-when there was no news to be got apart from the fact that there had been an accident, as it spread through their families and the media, as Shikhar kept texting in the group, 'no update yet'-Ash kept his tears locked inside and unconsciously muttered a refrain under his breath.

"Come on, Rishabh, come on, Rishabh, come on, Rishabh..."

____________________

His voice finally died away when he was inside the ICU.

Could a person this battered, even if as incorrigible to scoldings, as pig-headed, as indomitable, as brimming full of life as Rishabh, possibly make it out?

But it was Rishabh.

He had to make it out.

Nothing could beat him down.

He would make it out.

Ash covered his face with his hands, and failed to choke back his screaming sobs.

"COME ON, RISHABH. COME ON, RISHABH. COME-ON-RISHABH-!"

He didn't register Virat pulling him out of the ICU, making him sit down in the waiting room and drink a gallon of water; he didn't register when his screams went down again to a whisper, as constant and unwavering as Rishabh's refrain.

"Come on, Rishabh, please...please..."

____________________

A year and a half later, when Rishabh made his comeback in Tests against Bangladesh, played outrageous and heart-attack-giving shots in the first innings, and laughed and shrieked and chanted behind the stumps in the second innings, Ash knew that he'd know all along that this incorrigible kid had been bound to make it out, always.

Because he was a ray of sunshine to their team, and in addition, Ash's personalized teddy bear and unshakeable cheerleader.

"Come on Ash, come on Ash, come on, Ash..."

It was like he'd never left.

When they were going back for Tea, Ash grabbed Rishabh in a bone-crushing hug.

"You moron," he said. "If you ever take a single risk in your life again, I'll-I'll-"

Rishabh was confused, but didn't mind snuggling in the hug (he loved hugs).

"How will I take it?" whispered Ash. "Next time you even consider overspeeding, first think-how will I go on playing without your nonsense behind the stumps?"

Rishabh was silent for a very long while, and then spoke in a tearful voice, "I'm sorry, Ash bhaiya."

Ash blinked back his own tears and wiped away Rishabh's tenderly.

"Don't be. It was just a warning."

Rishabh buried his head back into Ash's shoulder.

________________

A/N: Nearly been two years, and thinking of that day still makes me cry.

Nothing should ever happen again to our prodigious, adored, sunshine-teddy.

I love Rishabh so much it hurts.