The next day, Virat bhaiya came to check on Shubman just after he and Ishan had woken up.

"Good," he said grimly, when he saw them together. "Come down for breakfast. I don't suppose you ate anything last night, Shubi?"

"You told me to go straight to sleep," said Shubman.

"And he definitely did that without any overthinking," said Ishan.

"How old are you, that you will have dinner only when someone explicitly tells you to?" Virat bhaiya chivvied them downstairs into the dining room.

"He's trying to grow up and take decisions on his own," put in Ishan. "Still in the trying part, but I'm sure he'll learn eventually."

Virat gave him a look.

"I see you're joking," he said, grim again. "It's good you two seem to have made up. Otherwise you'd have got a slap that would have taken all your jokes away, Ishan Kishan."

"I already got one," said Ishan, "from Shubi."

"That wasn't a slap!" said Shubman. 

"I have you free reign," said Ishan, benevolently, and slung his arm around Shubman as he frowned.

"Give it back to us," said Rishabh, winking.

Shubman was actually kind of glad to find the annoyingly patronizing look back on Rishabh's face. Since Ishan stopped talking to Shubman, he hadn't given that look once.

This was way better.

Since there weren't any adjacent seats present, "Move over," Ishan told Kuldeep, who was in the midst of biting into toast.

"Why?" said Kuldeep, mouth full.

"So that Shubi and I can sit together."

Rather pleased, Shubman looked up and found Rishabh's familiar know-it-all look again. Only this time, it didn't seem to be directed at Shubman.

Rishabh was looking at Ishan.

***

India won the first T20 against Bangladesh as comfortably as expected from the Number 1 T20 side.

Batting first, Shubman scored in the seventies and got out by the fourteenth over, which meant he'd given everyone hopes for a century. He certainly had given Ishan that hope.

Ishan was so busy ogling at Shubman returning to the dugout that he'd actually forgotten he was supposed to go next. A hard dig in the chest by Shreyas got him jumping to his feet and grabbing his helmet on his way to the pitch.

And from the pitch, between every two balls, he would keep looking at the dugout, just to catch a glimpse of Shubman.

It was distracting. But it was equally hard to resist.

It was potentially a hazard, being in the same workplace with someone you were...attracted to...and...and...in love with.

No wonder relationships inside corporate offices were frowned upon.

***

After the match, while Shubman had gone for a shower, Ishan's head wouldn't stop overworking.

Being in love with his best friend for years without realizing was not the ideal thing to do. The suddenness with which the realization had come, hitting him full on the face, was even less ideal.

It made him feel possessed with the need to do something about it.

If what he'd had with Shubman over so many years was love, surely what Shubman had for him was love, too? The more-than-best-friends kind of love?

What if Shubman's love was not of more than best friends'?

How was he ever going to find out, if Shubman gave no hint?

Shubman emerged from the shower. His hair was damp and swept to the side. Ishan's fingers twitched with longing to run through it. As slowly as possible.

 Ishan shook his head to clear it.

Should he just grab him and kiss him?

Bad idea.

Terrible idea.

What if he doesn't want to? What will happen next?

"What?" said Shubman.

"What?" asked Ishan.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

A little less obvious maybe, next time.

Shubman came closer, frowning.

"All right," Ishan heard himself blurting out. "I want to kiss you."

"What-what did you say?"

Ishan knew somewhere inside that he should stop talking, but now that he had started, he couldn't stop. "I've wanted to kiss you every moment of every day since...I can't remember..."

"And...and you haven't done it already because...?" Shubman sounded hoarse.

"Uh, I thought...I didn't think..."

"You didn't think I wanted to?"

Ishan took in the colour rising rapidly in Shubman's face, the way his eyes looked and how his breaths came harder than normal.

Oh god.

He wants to.

He wants to kiss me, too.

Ishan regretted he had waited so long to overcome the barrier the moment he got the confirmation. But it would be the height of stupidity to waste any more time regretting.

So he pulled Shubman's head down and pressed their lips together.

Shubman's mouth opened slightly in a small gasp. Then their tongues were fighting against each other frantically. Shubman gripped Ishan's shoulders, his shaking fingers digging in.

The nearest wall was behind Ishan. When Shubman had just started driving Ishan back, Ishan swung him around and pinned him against the wall instead with his own body.

Shubman gasped again as their hips pressed together.

"Ishan...oh, Ishan..."

Shubman's head was thrown back against the wall. His eyes were half shut and his cheeks and neck felt blazing hot under Ishan's fingers.

Ishan ran his mouth along Shubman's jaw and dipped to kiss his neck. Shubman let go of his shoulders and his hands slipped under the hem of Ishan's shirt and rose against his stomach and chest.

Ishan had never known desire so overwhelming. He felt light-headed with it. If it was possible to be driven insane by it, he would have been.

Maybe he had already gone insane with it.

The only thing keeping him sane was that he could feel Shubman's desire against his own between their thighs, as well.

Suddenly it was impossible to keep standing. Almost together, they started to drive each other towards the bed.

"Shubi, are we...are we crossing-"

"All the boundaries of friendship," said Shubman and added very aptly, "Like we care."

"Oh, yeah, like we care..." Ishan exerted the last bit of his sanity to bolt the door on the way.

This time Shubman acted first and pushed Ishan down on the bed hard and came on top of him, his thighs gripping either side of Ishan's waist.

Ishan jerked Shubman's head down to capture his mouth again. Shubman smiled before sighing into the kiss.

"You're so...so..." Shubman said, sounding all winded. "... perfect, Ishan. I've never... never seen..."

Shubman's moans into Ishan's mouth punctuated his words.

"...never seen anyone...so perfect..."

Ishan ran a finger down that irresistible dimple and tried to speak more steadily than Shubman. Just to get one over him.

"That's because you haven't seen yourself, Shubi."

But that was the last steady sentence he could say that night, because Shubman's hand had slipped down to unbutton his jeans, and then, he remembered only one name and could only say one name, over and over.

"Shubman..."

***

I whispered underneath my breath

But you heard it

Darling, you look perfect tonight