Yashasvi was in a perturbed state of mind.

Not unhappy, mind you. He'd scored a double hundred, his second in two consecutive matches, and India had won by a resounding 400+ margin. Everything was great, so he was just a little perturbed.

"Why are you smiling like that?" Shubman asked, slipping into the seat beside him on the bus back to the hotel.

"Like what exactly?" asked Yashasvi.

"Like you're happy but you don't want to be happy."

"I don't like the way Rohit bhaiya talks about me in the press conferences," whined Yashasvi, no thought of pretense crossing his mind. "He keeps on saying I need to stay humble, I need to stay humble..."

"Hm..."

"He praises you in interviews. And he praised Sarfu bhai. And Siraj bhai and Jassi bhai. And everyone." 

"Hm."

"Hm is not an answer to that."

"Hm, I'm thinking why he'd do that..."

Yashasvi sat sulkily as Shubman pondered. When the latter found no solution, he suggested, "Want to go out for dinner?"

"Going out for dinner is also not a solution to that," complained Yashasvi.

"Hey, this place, Hardik bhai took me there once, it's got really nice live music, Gujarati style."

"I don't like Gujarati music," said Yashasvi, who was in a mood to be disagreeable.

"If you don't like Gujarati music, you aren't Indian," retorted Shubman. "Just get out of the country and go play cricket for England."

"I'll go," said Yashasvi quickly. "I'll go."

__________________

So the two of them freshened up quickly when they reached the hotel and went in search of someone to ask for permission. Since Rohit was sound asleep already, still in Test whites, they caught hold of Jassi.

"Jassi bhai, can we go out?" they asked in unison.

"Where?"

Shubman described the place, whose name he didn't remember. "Hardik bhai took me during last year's IPL," he added demurely, quite forgetting that would be a point against the place's favour.

However, Jassi raised a suspicious eyebrow and only said, "Yes, go. It's a nice place, I'm shocked Hardik took you there. Or," he added thoughtfully to himself, "even Hardik wouldn't dare to take you to questionable places, Shubi."

"Thank you, Jassi bhai! Bye, Jassi bhai!"

_____________________

The place was as nice as Shubman had promised, and Yashasvi wasn't quite as perturbed once they'd sat through three rounds of unbeat Gujarati music and eaten there way through five plates of sweets. When their stomachs were just about bursting, Ishan called, and was none too pleased to hear Shubman was out.

"Oh yes," he said nastily. "Oh yes, of course you are out with Yashasvi. Either you're playing with Yashasvi, or you're travelling with Yashasvi, or you're eating out with Yashasvi, why would you have a single minute to talk to me in a whole week?"

Yashasvi choked back a snigger. Shubman realized it'd been a bad idea to put the phone on speaker.

"No, no--" he said. "I can talk, Ishu--"

"I CAN BARELY HEAR YOU ABOVE ALL THAT MUSIC!"

Shubman dropped the phone. Yashasvi picked it up and tossed it over.

"We were--we were returning anyway," said Shubman hastily. "I'll call you back in half an hour."

"Good," said Ishan darkly.

"Must we leave now?" whined Yashasvi.

"Didn't you hear him?" asked Shubman severely. "We've got to run back. The live music is going to close in half an hour, anyway, come on..."

One of the girls who'd finished a round of songs, alighted from the podium and glanced across at the two of them. It wasn't the first time she'd looked. Yashasvi thought she must be staring at Shubman, but she smiled at him he caught her eyes.

 He didn't want a bit to leave right then.

"You go," he improvised. "I'll be back soon."

"What on earth are you going to do here alone? People eating alone look stupid, you know, plus I don't think you should eat any more of those sweets."

"Will you go before you cross the half hour limit you've given Ishan?"

Shubman jumped up like a spring and dropped his card on Yashasvi's lap. "Pay from mine, I'm older."

Notwithstanding the patronizing tone, Yashasvi wasn't complaining.

_________________

"Where were you?" Rohit asked in a most displeased manner when the youngest member of the team barged into the hotel past midnight, a spring in his step.

"Out-outside, Rohit bhaiya," said Yashasvi, his cheer draining away a little.

"Alone?"

"Um--"

"Yashasvi!"

"No, I was with a--a--an acquaintance." Yashasvi wished he could've pulled it off better.

Rohit bhaiya sighed.

"Yeah? Wouldn't happen to be a female acquaintance you met today, would it?"

"No, er, yes."

"And I don't suppose you went to a pub?"

"Not exactly--it was more a restaurant, Rohit bhaiya!"

Rohit gave him such a severe look, Yashasvi couldn't stick to it with conviction.

"I didn't drink," he said. "I didn't drink except one tiny glass. Less than the tiny glass you drank at the BCCI Award ceremony, Rohit bhaiya."

"Look, Yashasvi, how much you drank or how well you know the girl is not the point," said Rohit. "Why you did it is much more important to me. From whatever I know of you--a lot, I'd say--you didn't actually want to stay out that late with a stranger, drinking. It's more like...you think that's the cool thing to do. Right?"

"Er...er..."

"You know best how much you've struggled coming up the ranks, to this level. And people like you, in fact, are the most likely to let that success get to your head and ruin all the hard work you've put in so far. I could order you not to stay out late anymore, but I could do that only for this series, or when you're travelling with the national team. I can't order you to stay disciplined all year round. So--"

Yashasvi felt like he could've burst into tears right then if he hadn't been so scared.

"All I'd say is just think over it. Before doing anything, even before considering whether it is right or wrong, ask yourself why you're doing it. If you think it's just because you're suddenly rich and famous and have this whole new world open to you, my advice is don't go ahead. Of course, it's your choice whether you heed my advice or not."

Now Yashasvi's knees were knocking.

Rohit patted his shoulder once. "Go sleep now. Good night. We'll talk tomorrow."

Rohit watched as the kid dragged his feet all the way to his room, and was besieged by Jassi, who'd been within earshot.

"Rohit bhaiya," said Jassi reproachfully. "Why did you scold him this much? He hardly did anything."

"I know he didn't," said Rohit. "But this is how it begins, this acting cool thing, going against his nature and going out of the way to get into all the wrong stuff, Jassi..."

"That's not fair on him."

The elder-sibling urge to brainlessly defend their younger ones was ingrained so deep in Jassi, Rohit couldn't even reproach him in turn.

"Hardik did way wilder stuff than him," Jassi went on, defensively. "But he didn't let him affect his game, you never told him off so long as it didn't affect his game--"

"It got him banned once," said Rohit drily, "even if it didn't affect his game. I certainly wouldn't let Yashasvi walk down Hardik's path if I had the choice..."

"You never scolded Hardik so much!"

"Yeah, well, I was new to this handling idiotic kids thing, Jass," said Rohit, grinning. "I was a bit like you, defending Hardik whatever he does. But I've learnt a lot from all the experience."

Jassi grunted, possibly because he didn't have a retort.

"Good night, Rohit bhaiya. If Yash stays awake all night crying, it's your fault."

"He won't stay awake all night crying," said Rohit with a facepalm. "He'll be jumping down the stairs tomorrow morning again. I've never yet seen him walk, have you?"

_________________

Yashasvi wasn't crying, but he was staying up all night at any rate.

"Shubi," he said plaintively. "How d'you make Rohit bhaiya stop being mad at you?"

Shubman, who was still on call with Ishan, looked up, nonplussed. "Rohit bhai? He doesn't get mad."

"He's horribly mad at me."

"Oh my god," said Shubman wickedly. "What did you do to madden someone who never gets mad?"

Yashasvi slouched out, too pissed to say a word, and bumped into Kuldeep.

"What's wrong, Yash?" asked Kuldeep.

"Kuldeep bhaiya," Yashasvi said hopefully. "Does Rohit bhaiya get mad at you?"

Kuldeep frowned as he thought. "Not as far as I remember, no. He's not the kind to get mad, y'know."

Yashasvi's shoulders dropped further.

"Why?" asked Kuldeep. "Did he scold you?"

"Not just that--he looked like he doesn't want to talk to me ever again," Yashasvi said, conveniently forgetting Rohit had said they'll talk tomorrow, so deep was his gloom.

"That doesn't seem like him," said Kuldeep uncertainly. "What did you do?"

"Nothing much..."

"Even if he scolds, he'll come right afterwards to ruffle your hair, and you'd know he isn't really mad."

Yashasvi felt his hair. Surely they were too short to be ruffled. Not that Rohit bhaiya had tried.

"I'll ask Yuzi bhaiya," he sighed. "Surely Rohit bhaiya must have got mad at him sometime..."

"D'you want to come over to my room?"

"No, but thank you, Kuldeep bhaiya..." Yashasvi, wanting to be isolated with his tragedy, found himself a spot on the stairs and called Yuzi. "Yuzi bhaiya!"

"Hey, Yash! Why do you sound down on this celebratory day?"

"Has Rohit bhaiya ever got mad at you?" asked the boy who was too miserable for jokes.

"Rohit bhaiya? Mad?" Yuzi cackled. "You must have got hold of the wrong Rohit bhaiya, Yashu!"

At that point Yashasvi did burst into tears, and Jassi, who'd been sneaking around following the kid, decided that enough was enough.

"Yash!" He grabbed Yashasvi's arm, pulled him up and said into the phone, "Talk to you later, Yuzi."

Yashasvi sniffled, and tried to wipe his nose and eyes as Jassi propelled him to Rohit's room.

"What happened, Jassi bhaiya?"

Jassi threw open the door and went to shake their sleeping captain awake. "Rohit bhaiya! ROHIT BHAIYA!"

"Wh-wh-wh-what?" Rohit jumped awake with a shock and a sneeze.

"How can you go to sleep after making this kid cry?" Jassi pushed Yashasvi to him, like the latter couldn't hear. "Look!"

Rohit needed a while to collect his thoughts. He was so sleepy, he couldn't quite recall everything right away.

"Er, why are you crying, Yashasvi?"

Yashasvi dissolved into noisier sobs. Jassi glared at Rohit, who bemusedly grabbed the kid to sit down beside him and put an arm around him till he left, slamming the door behind him softly.

Rohit decided to figure out Jassi's bizarre behaviour later.

"What's up, kiddo?"

"You're--you're--are you angry with me, Rohit bhaiya?"

"No," said Rohit. "Am I?"

"You sounded angry," wailed Yashasvi.

By then Rohit had finally recollected everything.

"Oh. Oh! No, I'm not angry, I just wanted you to think over it a bit, Yashasvi..."

Rohit tried to pull the bawling kid closer, but was met with resistance.

"And you always call me Yashasvi! No one calls me by my full name unless I'm in trouble or unless they hate me, Rohit bhaiya!"

"I assure you I don't hate you," said Rohit hastily, and did some very quick thinking because he dared not bestow the nickname 'Yash' on anyone other than the brattiest of his adopted brats. "And I don't always call you by your full name, Yash...u--Yashu! See? Yashu."

"And," said Yashasvi in a tremendously injured voice, "and you didn't ruffle my hair to forgive me like Kuldeep bhaiya said you do, Rohit bhaiya! Is it because I have short hair?"

Rohit was stunned into silence for a bit, by when Yashasvi was wailing afresh about his short hair.

"No, certainly short hair isn't a problem, Yashu," Rohit said painfully, patting the boy's head quite hair a dozen times so he registered it above the bawling, and then tried to ruffle it for good measure, too. "I'm sorry I made you feel I was angry, kiddo. I just wanted you to think over what I'd said, that's all."

"I thought over it," sniffed Yashasvi.

"And?"

"And you're right." 

The last word was in a tone that made it clearer whatever Rohit might've said earlier, Yashasvi would've said it was right.

Rohit bit back a smile and patted his head some more.

"Great," he said soothingly. "Now I'm not at all mad anymore. Want to sleep here tonight?"

"Yes!"

The way the kids went from howling their lungs out to beaming, Rohit had trouble keeping up with them. But Sammy did the same, so he'd had plenty of experience.

So he tucked Yashasvi into bed and patted his forehead till he fell asleep.

Then he could finally return to his sleep, too.