Chapter Text
kane williamson had won the first match of the icc world test championship but sure didn't feel like it. and anyone who just tuned in the channel would think that the black caps had lost the match; thanks to the awful lopsided grin plastered over their captain's face. even though the other squad members were beyond ecstatic, the cameramen decided that they'd rather focused on the blond's sham smile which wouldn't reach his smouldering blue eyes.
what could have possibly gone wrong?
it wasn't exactly an easy campaign for the soft kiwi boys; they weren't table toppers unlike their opponent captain's team. kane didn't overlook this fact; there was conscience hollering around in his head telling him that they weren't the chosen favourites to home the royal mace. but he couldn't bring himself to smile. not after seeing the opponent captain's smile fade away.
the black caps were already in line for the post match presentation wearing their sharp blazers and their best hair. the opposition were beside them, most of their heads were hung low and some of them were engaged in tedious conversations. kane who was standing within an arm's reach with the indian captain, couldn't look at him. the virat, kane knew growing up, was never complete without his radiant smile. it felt like he was the sole reason that virat lost his smile, and was afraid that he’d lose his virat, or whatever bits and pieces of him was his own.
for what it’s worth, virat didn’t burn down southampton. not even, he saw himself cuss out his frustration. he appeared very calm when compared to his teammates. knowing kane williamson for the respectful saint that he was, he was sure he wouldn't look him in his eyes with all the guilt he was hogging within him for winning the mace. all virat wanted to do was to look him into his blue eyes and say that it was okay to feel happy; and that if he were to lose the mace to anyone in this world, he was rather happy that he lost it to him.
it was very untypical of virat. the virat he knew would never feel okay after losing. his mom always advised him that he has to accept the losses and not to put up a tantrum in the dressing room afterwards. maybe he had started to accept it and had grown to appreciate the good cricket played by the opposite team. or maybe thought that just to stop feeling things he wasn't supposed to feel.
even though he knew that his boys had fought through all the odds just for that mace, in the ten seconds he walked towards it, all he could think was how majestic the mace would look in the pair of tattooed arms rather than his hairy petite pair.
and that's how much selfish kane williamson was.