Vishwakarma Puja in Anga had been celebrated as splendidly as possible with the lower post war budget. It was fine, it was good, but Vrishaketu still felt so empty thinking of his father and brothers.

Indeed the celebrations had managed to uplift his mood a little, but including his grandparents, his family of thirteen had been reduced to only four now and ... that void hurt despite the festive mood.

(At least they had for the most part succeeded in uplifting the Kingdom's spirits a little. Even though the people remained drowned in memories, they were good ones, full of love and laughter.

But now that the festival was over, hopefully Anga would not once again deteriorate to its previous state of gloom.)

He had thought for a while that having Uttara around would help since as much as he loved everyone else, they were well... kind of old so... and honestly, having a friend around helped.

But well.... that didn't happen because someone couldn't make up their mind.

Thinking of Rajkumar Arjun made all sorts of emotions bubble up in him. Emotions that were more complicated than they had any right to be. It was supposed to be simple. He was supposed to completely hate the man who had killed his fathers and brothers.

And he did! Right?

But the man had been so insistently nice and kind despite all his barbed comments that somehow, somehow  his burning hatred had been reduced to a simmering annoyance. 

In fact when his mother had suggested that Rajkumar Arjun might be coming along with Uttara, after the initial moment of outrage, once he had considered the benefits of having his friend come along, he had grudgingly accepted that Prince Arjun might as well come along.

Such a thing would have been impossible six months ago. Now he wondered if his father would be disappointed that Vrishaketu had accepted and would have even tolerated his greatest enemy's presence in his Kingdom.

No, he decided. Their--His, he corrected with a pang, Pitashree had been strict but he had rarely ever been disappointed in them, even if they had done things that were bad and had probably deserved to have their father disappointed in them. When they had done something wrong, he had scolded them, berated them with that whip sharp tongue of his so that they would never repeat it again(they used to get warm hugs later so those made up for the cutting words), but he had very rarely been truly disappointed. Those few times he would just go silent and those were always the worst. But Vrishaketu didn't think this was a severe enough infringement to warrant disappointment especially since Rajkumar Arjun hadn't actually ended up coming at all. But... if Uttara ever came, so would he... But no. His Baba had loved his best friend so much and hadn't really liked Gandhar Raj, so  he of all people would absolutely understand tolerating someone else for his best friend's sake.

And what the hell was wrong with Rajkumar Arjun anyway? Why on Earth had he suddenly so desperately pleaded to mother to come to Anga and then suddenly declined? He had said something about not planning things out but ughhh!

Of course Vrishaletu felt disappointed because this meant that Uttara didn't get to come and because despite everything he had accepted that Rajkumar Arjun was going to come and had not made any protests and had even gone to invite the older man himself by giving him the time of departure, the sudden change of mind felt like a slap to the face.

He should never have accepted, he thought angrily. Everything would have been fine then and not so very complicated.

What had happened to change his mind, he wondered. Had it truly been a matter of not planning things out properly and later realising or being made to realise that his presence at Anga instead of Indraprastha at the first festival after the War would be somewhat inappropriate?

Or... was it something else? Had he suddenly thought the Vrishaketu would not agree anyway and convince his mother of the same and probably throw a couple of sharp comments his way as well? And so he had decided that well, no point in going to Anga or trying to do.... whatever it was that he had been trying to do all this time anymore?

It being the first made more sense but Vrishaketu couldn't help but feel like it could equally be the second.

It would be good in the second case, right? Rajkumar Arjun would no longer annoy him.

Why--why did it feel...odd then? 

Have I grown too used to the badgering? Has it truly become so normal to me since the war?! He thought in dismay.

No, of course not. 

Besides, knowing Rajkumar Arjun, he wouldn't really be the type to stop the badgering. Right? So maybe he should just go along with it...?...

What was he on about? Why did he care?!  In fact it would be great if Rajkumar Arjun finally came to his senses and stopped bothering him.

Wait. Why was he even wasting so much time thinking about Prince Arjun?! 

'Like Father, Like Son', the words his grandmother had spoken months ago,  in regards to  him and Baba getting bothered with Prince Arjun in some way or the other, flashed through his mind and he violently shook his head to clear it of nonsense.

This was just getting ridiculous now. He was going to just... stop thinking about Rajkumar Arjun now and make a list of all the stuff he was going to talk about with Uttara.

_______________________________________________________________________________

Visiting Indraprastha with his family had been good for him. Uttara had been very grumpy but she had eventually come around. And over there, away from the concerns of governing a kingdom, just for a while he could pretend that everything was fine if he didn't think about his children. Given that he had always spent most of his life with his brothers and that due to the exile he had been able to spend such less time with his children... it wasn't impossible to not think about them for a while.

Then he had felt so terribly guilty about avoiding thinking about his children for a while and that was when Madhav had popped out of the ether and forced him to not feel guilty, saying that it was hardly his fault and that people coped in different ways and that his sons wouldn't want him to be upset all the time. He still did feel guilty though.

But with Madhav there, he couldn't be upset for long. Madhav always managed to lift up his spirits if only for a little while.

Now he couldn't believe that he had argued so much in favour of not coming, but still.... he was worried about the whole situation with Vrishaketu.

When he had told Madhav about it, he had just hummed thoughtfully and then smiling brightly very unhelpfully he said, "Eventually, everything will be alright."

Well, Arjun didn't care abut 'eventually'!! 'Eventually' could be years later.

All he hoped was that all the progress that had been there between them did not get lost because Vrishaketu thought he had refused an olive branch.

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"Oh my god!" Vrishaketu exclaimed. "I was gone for two weeks as usual, how did you swell up so much more already?!"

"Don't be rude." Uttara scowled, sitting with her feet up on the padded settee of her outer chambers. "I'm almost seven months along. As my best friend, you should be waiting on me hand and foot."

Vrishaketu grinned with an exaggerated bow and picked up a bowl of fruit kept on a nearby table.

"Would you like me to feed you some grapes, Your Majesty?!" He asked, swinging the grapes over her face. She batted him away with a laugh.

"Put that down and come sit beside me."

"And where would beside you be, given that you're occupying all the space on that settee?" Vrishaketu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh just sit on the ground, you're not pregnant!" She snapped.

"Alright, alright, you don't need to be so touchy." He said, kneeling on the ground beside her. "Now what?"

She took his hand and placed it over her belly. "Just wait for a while, now." Uttara said with a grin.

And lo and behold, there it was: a little kick!

Vrishaketu actually shrieked. Uttara laughed at him.

"Doesn't that feel weird?" Asked Vrishaketu. 

"After being pregnant for seven months? No. Everybody was so happy when it first happened!" The relief in Uttara's voice was palpable and the smile on her face, blinding.

And why wouldn't it be? Yes, it was known that apparently Vasudev Shri Krishna had used his powers to bring the baby back to life but this was the definitive proof.

Vrishaketu smiled at her, feeling so utterly happy for her right then. 

"Well at least you look appropriately happy for becoming an upcoming kakashree." Uttara commented.

Vrishaketu blinked. "Shouldn't it be Mamashree technically, since I'm your friend? And you're kind of like my sister."

The smile suddenly slipped off Uttara's face for a moment and Vrishaketu realised that what he had said must have reminded her of her brothers-- the ones who should have been her son's actual Mamashrees.

"I'm sorry." He said instantly. "I didn't mean-- I don't want to--"

"No its alright." Uttara sighed. "Everything is going to bring up memories for all of us."

"I'm still sorry. I should have thought--"

"What was there to think about? You said what you felt." She pursed her lips. "And... Vrish.... its not about what it should be, I meant that you will quite literally be his kakashree. You would have been Abhimanyu's first cousin."

Vrishaketu abruptly stood up, colour draining out of his face.

"I..." He stuttered, "I had not considered that."

"Do you just forget about it sometimes?!" She asked in disbelief.

"I don't make a habit of thinking about it." He snapped back.

"Well, what does it change?" Uttara demanded. "You will still be his kakashree, right?"

Vrishaketu swallowed. What did it change indeed? If he accepted that he would be kakashree to  Uttara's son.... and related to him not just in name but actually by family.... it would mean acknowledging that Abhimanyu would have been his first cousin and that would mean..... acknowledging that Rajkumar Arjun was his.... and no. Just no.

He might admit that he didn't hate Rajkumar Arjun anymore and under duress he might even admit that he didn't even dislike him too much anymore because the man was just too annoyingly nice to him for him to properly despise him even.

But ..... accepting that Prince Arjun, let alone the other Pandavas, especially Yuvraj Bheem who had mocked his father's birth at every opportunity he got, were his uncles?

Just. No. Absolutely not.

But... he wouldn't really mind being a kaka to this little life coming to this world(even though he felt too young to be any kind of uncle) especially when it was his best friend's son.....

Besides Uttara would be terribly upset and wouldn't speak to him for a long time if he said no. And he would feel terrible saying no. What was the baby's fault anyway?

"Nothing." He said at last. "If you think Kakashree is the right thing, then kaka it is."

Uttara smiled at him. "It does." She said. "And I would love to have you be my family. Like officially."

And well, he wouldn't mind that either even though he wanted nothing to do with the Pandavas. Could he accept one part of this family as his and not the rest? Then he realised he was doing it anyway what with Pitamaha Dhitarashtra and Pitamahi Gandhari and all his Kuru Kakis. So now he was just going to include Uttara and her future baby into this.

It felt different from the rest though. Probably because he hadn't known her before--before. Also probably because everybody else was from the Kaurava side of the family and this was not. Besides this was getting far too close to Rajkumar Arjun for his liking but he was just going to have to ignore that part. Besides, family was who you chose it to be.

So he just nodded to her words with a small smile.

And then she was making him sit down and tell her all about the festival in Anga and telling him all about the festival in Indraprastha and complaining about despite how she loved the festival in Indraprastha, she was still so annoyed by her father in law's indecisive behaviour and then he joined right in.

When he would look back on this day years later, he would see that this day was in fact the first crack. Of course it was. He accepted someone from the Pandava side as his family for the first time.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Arjun wondered if he should have to come to seek out Vrishaketu. He didn't know if their relationship had progressed enough for him to actually go the boy's room and chat.... but he was going to take the chance especially since if it had, he wouldn't want it to regress after this whole Vishwakarma Puja debacle.

So he knocked on the doors of his chambers and once he was allowed inside he found Vrishaketu sitting on one of couches of the outer chamber.

"Rajkumar." Vrishaketu greeted and then didn't say anything else that would give away how he felt.

Arjun felt a little frustrated at being unable to decipher his expression. Oh why didn't Vrishaketu clearly show his emotions like his own sons always had?! Well the answer was obvious, wasn't it? Arjun himself had always proudly showcased his heart but it had been the exact opposite with his eldest brother. And it was still so strange to even try to think of the King of Anga that way, Arjun thought with a pang. How did he expect Vrishaketu to think of him as his uncle then?

He took a deep breath before sitting down across from Vrishaketu before getting right into it and asking "How was the festival at Anga?"

Vrishaketu raised his eyebrows. "It was good. It seemed to uplift our people's mood a little at least." There was a pause. "Might have been a bit better for me with Uttara there, though." 

Arjun drew in a sharp breath. That was.... more straightforward than he had been expecting. But if the boy wanted Uttara there.... well he knew perfectly well that Arjun would have been there to. So did that mean he really would have accepted Arjun's presence there..... or was he assuming things too much again?

"Yes, sorry about that." Arjun said and then waited.

Vrishaketu's response here would determine everything going forward.

"Yes, me and Uttara have still not had our fill of complaining about your indecisiveness."

Arjun blinked. Was that.... a jest?

The boy continued, "And we will continue to complain until she doesn't visit Anga after the baby is born."

Arjun felt a small smile spread across his face. Not only had Vrishaketu seemed to jest with him, he also seemed to be extending another invitation to Anga at some point in the future. Or wait... he did realise that if he extended the invitation to Uttara, it also kind of got extended to Arjun also, right? 

To confirm he replied, "Yes, I will definitely bring her to Anga once she has recovered after her pregnancy."

Vrishaketu narrowed his eyes for a moment before dramatically sighing. 

"For Uttara's sake I will tolerate your presence." He said, waving his hand with all the air of a great and generous ruler.

The small smile on Arjun's face morphed into a fully fledged grin.

This was good. This was very good. This was such improvement. Vrishaketu himself extended another invitation to Arjun practically without hesitation. He could have danced. Maybe Madhav's 'eventually' would not be that far off in the future after all.

"Why are you grinning like that?" Vrishaketu demanded with a frown.

"Can't I smile?" Arjun said, trying to smother his smile and failing miserably.

"Not without reason, no!"

Arjun wondered if he should say it at the risk of it being too cheesy and forward. In the end he decided to go for it.

"You've made me smile." He said genuinely.

For perhaps the first time in their acquaintance, Vrishaketu looked completely gob smacked.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

(Vrishaketu remained sort of lost in his own world for the rest of the time Arjun was there in his chambers, giving vague responses, perhaps thinking about all the strange things happening in his and Arjun's relationship or perhaps wondering once more, why Arjun was so strange. But as a result of his absentmindedness, when Arjun asked him if he would accompany him to the archery arena the next day, he agreed. Or well, he would say that it was due to his absentmindedness if asked. Who knew if that was actually true? Certainly not Vrishaketu. He had no idea what was going on.)

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Okay, so I'm having very little time to write nowadays and updates will be a lot more sporadic.

Anyway, I've actually got the the main points of the fic plotted out from now on, now have to figure out to properly put it to words.

Does Vrishaketu's thought process seem okay, or does it seem too jumbled?

Also, I've gone with the version where Krishna revived Parikshit right after the Brahmastra thing and not after the baby his born.

Don't forget to leave votes and comments if you liked it.