Work Text:
“Uffff!”
Aman suddenly expressed his irritation.
“Kya hua? Sab theek hain na?”
Kartik asked, turning his face away from his laptop.
“Nahin yaar, kuch sahi nahin lag raha! Sar mein bohot dard hain!”
“Itna kaam karoge....”
“Shhhh.....”
Aman silenced Kartik.
“Ek mail type kar raha hoon. Directors ko bhejni hain. Baat mat kar, galati ho jayegi!”
Aman continued to type in his laptop while Kartik made a grumpy face at him and got back to work too.
“Ahhhhhhh! Aur saha nahin jaata!! Karti.....”
Aman screamed after almost fifteen minutes. He clenched his hair in pain, so much so that he swallowed Kartik’s name in his throat.
Kartik jumped up from his chair and took a huge step to reach Aman at once.
“Aur nahin seh sakta..... Ahhhhhhh!”
Aman began pulling out his hair in pain.
“Kya hua? Achanak.....”
“Dard ho raha hain sar mein! Aaaagghhh!”
Kartik held Aman’s hand and found hair in them. He had pulled them so firmly that they came out right from the follicle.
“Hey bhagwan! Kya karun? Kahan jaaun? Aman ko dard se chhutkara kaise doon?”
Kartik, being a soft hearted person, could never see Aman in pain. Aman on the other hand leaned back on his ergonomic chair, grabbing his hair and shaking his head.
Just then it struck Kartik that Aman used to take aspirin for his tremendous headache. He ran to the living room and frantically searched all over the house for a bottle of aspirin but couldn’t find it.
“Kartik, dawaai drawer mein hain....”
Aman spoke in his pain.
Kartik then again came back to their bedroom and pulled out the drawer to find the bottle of aspirin lying there. He brought out one pill from the bottle and handed it over to Aman along with a glass of water.
Aman was a patient of sinusitis since his childhood. That too chronic sinusitis!
When Kartik was accepted by Aman’s family as their son-in-law, Sunaina had told him the story of how Aman caught this disease.
“Tu janta nahin Kartik yeh Guddu kitna shaytan tha bachpan mein!”
“Arrey mummy! Kya aap bhi?....”
Aman tried to stop his mother from narrating his embarrassing childhood tales to Kartik. As he knew for sure that Kartik would use them later to tease him.
“Tu chup kar! Kya mummy! Kartik ko haq hain jan ne ka!”
Sunaina instead stopped Aman and continued.
“Bachpan mein Guddu itna shararti tha ki kya bataun! Koi baat mana karo toh use toh woh zaroor karega!”
Sunaina had started.
“Haan, shararti toh Aman aj bhi hain!”
Kartik whispered softly into Aman’s ears. Aman glared at him!
“Haan Kartik beta, kuch keh raha tha tu?”
Sunaina asked.
“Nahin nahin mummy, woh kuch nahin keh raha tha. Kya kahega? Aap batao!”
Aman replied before Kartik could.
“Haan haan, ab toh ek doosre ke liye kahoge hi. Pati pati jo ho!”
Goggle joked on this note making Aman blush and Kartik wrapping his hand around Aman’s shoulder.
“Haan, toh hua yeh ki usbar Allahabad mein bohot thand thi sardiyon ke time pe. Bhaari chaddar orh ke bhi dopahar ko thand lagati thi. Aise mein ekdin subah, Guddu ko school jana tha, der ho rahi thi. Maine use mana kiya, ki thande paani se mat nahana, main garam paani lekar aati hoon. Par jab mein garam paani ka balti leke pahunchi, tab tak woh towel orh ke bahar aa gaya tha! Maine puchha nahaya kaise tune? Woh bola thande paani se hi! Soch! Utne kam temperature waale paani se nahaya usne. Uske baad hi toh ise sinusitis ki samasya lag gayi!”
“Tu insaan hain ya kuch aur hain Aman? Utne thande paani se kaise nahaya tune? Waise...”
Kartik uttered the first two lines loudly, but then lowered his voice.
“...sirf towel orh ke kabhi humare samne bhi nikla karo! Delhi ki thand humein bhi toh kam mehsoos ho!”
Aman’s eyes widened at this. His mother, chachi, Goggle, Keshav and a few other relatives were also sitting there and Kartik had to joke here. He glared at Kartik once again, pinching him in his thigh. Kartik put his head down and started to laugh and joined the others.
Back to the present day.
Aman couldn’t even swallow the aspirin as he was unable to sit up straight. The pain in his head was increasing more as he pressed it harder.
“Kartik!!!!!!! Aisa lag raha hain sar ke saare nas aj hi phat jayenge! Mar jaunga main is dard se!”
Aman said, screaming in pain.
“Tu ruk!”
Kartik put the medicine and the glass aside and stood behind Aman. He slowly eased his fingers into Aman’s hair and started to gently yet firmly rub his head giving him a massage. Aman at first couldn’t tolerate the touch but slowly gave in to the comfort.
Kartik gently pressed and moved his fingers across Aman’s head at various places, calming him down from his screams. Aman closed his eyes as he got slight relief.
“Ab woh samne paani aur dawaai rakhi hain, use kha le!”
Kartik continued to massage as Aman obeyed him and rolled his chair closer to the glass of water. He took the medicine and then closed his eyes again.
After about half an hour, that is at around 9pm, Aman told Kartik to stop. His headache, though persisted, was much better now.
“Okay!”
Kartik stopped immediately and then disappeared into the kitchen. Aman tried to turn back and look at him but couldn’t find Kartik. He therefore called out to him.
“Kya kar raha hain tu?”
“Aj tu ek aur shabd bolega toh main ghar chhod ke chala jaunga! Wahi ruk, main aa raha hoon!”
Kartik replied from the kitchen.
“Ouch!”
Aman heard Kartik shout after a while.
“Kya hua? Kartik? Tu theek hain na?”
Aman came running into the living room to reach the kitchen, but Kartik already came out with a bowl in his hand and a small, fresh burn on his forehead.
“Yeh....yeh kya hain? Kaise hua yeh? Hey bhagwan! Kartik! Kya kar raha tha tu?”
Aman asked worried but Kartik didn’t reply.
“Maine kaha na, ek shabd tu nahin bolega aj! Agar kaha toh main ghar chhod ke chala jaunga!”
Kartik held Aman’s hand but Aman released it hitting Kartik hard.
“Humesha mazak achha nahin lagta Kartik! Tujhe samajh mein nahin aati? Yeh kaise jali yahan?”
Kartik didn’t reply. He held Aman’s hand again and pulled him to the bedroom. He then made him sit on the floor and he himself sat on the bed to have an easy access to Aman’s head.
“Kya....”
“Shhhh...”
Kartik silenced Aman just as he had done before.
He then slowly started to dab something in his fingers from the bowl, rubbed it in his palms before massaging it into Aman’s head.
“Sarso ka tel! Yuck! Kartik!!!!! Chhi! Kabhi toh suna kar meri baat! Meri naak jal rahi hain iske boo se.....aaaah aaah aah ah chheeeeee!!!!”
Aman sneezed as Kartik smiled.
“Haye, chhikte waqt bhi kitna pyara lagta hain tu!”
Kartik commented.
“Muh bandh kar! Mujhe iski boo pasand nahin aaah chheeeeeeee!”
Aman sneezed again, louder this time!
“Aur pata hain mujhe kya pasand nahin? Jab koi meri baat nahin maanta. Tujhe kal raat mana kiya tha maine, ki balcony mein un thandi hawayon mein mat khara reh. 6°C temperature thi kal raat! Nahin suna tu! Aj subah se mana kar raha hoon ki itna workload mat le, thoda kaam doosro ko bhi karne de, tu ne yeh baat bhi nahin maani. Tu do do baat nahin maan sakta, aur main agar ek na maanu toh guna ho jaaye? Yeh toh nainsaafi hain Maharaj!”
Aman chuckled at the way Kartik spoke the last line, as if he was standing in some royal court.
“Achha theek hain, ragarte raho!”
Aman said, gritting his teeth.
“Lekin yeh toh bata mujhe tera chehara jala kaise?”
“Chehara kahan? Sirf forehead! Tu bol toh aise raha hain ki poora face jal gaya!”
“Haan haan wahi, kaise jala?”
“Woh, jis katori mein tel garam kara maine, us mein thodi si paani thi pehle hi, aur tel dalkar jaise hi oven mein bithayi, tel ki ek boond uchhalkar mere mathe par gira! Bass jal gayi!”
Kartik replied rather sheepishly, fearing Aman would scold him.
Aman indeed opened his mouth to scold Kartik but he stopped him.
“Dekh tu mujhe daant nahin sakta! Main abhi.....main massage kar raha hoon, aur ek kaam karte karte maine teri daant pe kaise concentrate kar sakta hoon? Aur yeh toh tu jaanta hi hain ki tere har baat aur cheez pe main concentrate karta hoon. Nahin?”
Kartik smirked as he looked down on Aman.
“Ab concentrate nahin kar paunga toh mujhe bura lagega na! Aur mujhe bura laga toh tujhe achha nahin lagega! Aur tujhe achha na lage, yeh toh main kabhi hone nahin de sakta. Isi liye....”
Aman sneezed again as the mustard oil started with its warm action.
And one more.
Not stopping, two more sneezes consecutively.
“Ewww!”
Aman spoke in disgust as Kartik handed him over a box of tissues.
“Tu sab kuch lekar ready hoke baitha....aaah chheeeeeeee!”
Aman couldn’t complete as his words were interrupted by two more sneezes which brought out a lot more mucus from both his nostrils.
Now chronic sinusitis is a disease, where a belt of mucus is formed around the skull like a thick blanket. So when there is a stimulation, like exposure to dust or cold or having heavy workload which excites the nerves around, that entire belt along with the nose has an awful pain. Sometimes, even the nose reddens and swells up.
But this disease has two home remedies. The first one, which is damn painful is pushing water up through one of the nostrils which washes down the mucus through the other. And the other is what Kartik was doing to Aman now. Take some mustard oil in a bowl, make it lukewarm and then gently massage all over your head. The strong smell of the oil causes you to sneeze out a lot of mucus.
Sticky, isn’t it?
So was it with Aman, who had used 22 tissues by now.
Kartik still massaged Aman, a small smirk playing between the two corners of his lips. He continued to dab his fingers into the mustard oil, rubbed it in his own palms and massaged gently through Aman’s hair in his scalp. The very sneezes that Aman made were enough to tell Kartik that the massage was working. The burn on his forehead was paining no doubt, but then, can Kartik Singh think of his own when Aman Tripathi is in some sort of pain?
So was the case with Aman. Kartik and anything related to him was of utmost priority to Aman in his life. But then, at the moment, Aman was feeling to weak to resist Kartik and tend his wound because of the pain. But he didn’t give up cause giving up, is not the nature of Mr. Tripathi.
“Le ab bohot hua! Khud ki halat dekhi hain Kartik?”
Aman spoke once his headache was much relieved. He could almost feel nothing of it now. He stood up from the ground, headed to the first aid box and brought out a tube of soframycin, an ointment very good for burns and cuts. Aman took out a cotton ball, went to the washroom and put it under the running tap to wet it. He came back to Kartik and stood in front of him.
Kartik watched Aman all this while, from taking the cotton out to going to the washroom until now as he stood in front of him.
“Jab tujhe kitchen ke kaam....”
Aman had started to speak when Kartik wrapped his arms around Aman’s waist and pulled him closer. Aman felt the jerk and smiled.
“Jab kitchen ke kaam karne nahin aate tujhe, toh kyun hero banne jaata hain wahan?”
Aman asked as he applied the ointment over the burn.
“Mujhe hero banne ki zaroorat kahan hain? Main toh hoon hi tera hero! Tera dhyan kidhar hain, tera hero idhar hain, o Aman!”
Kartik sang shaking Aman in his arms.
“Achha, arrey, ufff, chup! Bilkul chup!”
Aman scolded Kartik cause he knew or else he wouldn’t stop shaking him and the white ointment would be spread all over Kartik’s hair.
But it didn’t seem like Kartik wanted to stop.
He paused for a while, loosened his grip around Aman, looked down and then again tightened his hands around his waist. He made his puppy eyes towards Aman and looked at him.
“Chhal se jo toote koi sapna,
Jag suna suna lage, jag suna suna lage,
Koi rahe na jab apna!”
Kartik sang, with his puppy like eyes and folded lips looking up at Aman.
Aman had this burning desire within him to kiss off Kartik’s pink lips.
Kartik was always the best at understanding what went on within Aman. He therefore, changed the song, removed his puppy like cute face and brought in a smirk.
“Roop tera mastana,
Pyaar mera diwana,
Bhool koi humse na ho jaye...”
Let go headache, ointment and cotton! Aman pushed Kartik down on the bed. Who could resist this man?
Kartik fell down on the bed and Aman wished to pounce on him like a hungry wild tiger. But when he jumped on the bed, he found that he landed on the bed itself and Kartik sat above him.
“Presenting to you, the massage and the masseur of the century!”
Kartik spoke as he removed Aman’s shirt and also his and then brought his two fingers firmly down from Aman’s neck to his spine and stopped over his lower back. He started to rhythmically pluck his muscles there as he sang.
“Boy, you know I want your love?
Your love was handmade for somebody like me,
Come on now fall in my lead,
I maybe crazy don’t mind me.”
Kartik sped up the firm rub of his fingers over the muscles near Aman’s lower waist as Aman moaned.
“Say, boy let’s not talk too much,
Grab on my waist and put that body on me.
Come on now fall in my lead,
Come, come on now fall in my lead.”
Kartik twisted Aman on the bed and looked into his eyes. Aman’s eyes were overflowing with impatience. It was as if the eyes were telling Kartik to stop teasing him and start off fast.
But teasing Aman before they made love, was Kartik’s favourite. He loved how impatient Aman grew with time as he teased him slowly.
“I’m in love with the shape of you,
We push and pull like a magnet do,
Although my heart is falling too,
I’m in love with your body.
Last night you were in my room,
And now my bedsheet smell like you!”
Kartik next massaged the front of Aman’s neck and bent down to lick his Adam’s apple with his tongue. Aman moaned loudly as Kartik moved his tongue towards the nape of Aman’s neck and down to his chest. He sat up straight and massaged Aman gently on his belly, making Aman feel butterflies running a marathon in his stomach. He could no longer take it. He knew Kartik wasn’t prepared for Aman to act at the moment, so that was exactly what Aman did.
He pulled down Kartik by holding his neck in an instant and thrashed his lips over his. It was now his turn to feel the crevices of the body of his skinny boyfriend with his impatient palms.
Kartik, though not expecting this at the least, seemed to love something new and gave in to kissing Aman with equal fervour brushing his fingers up from his cheeks to his hair and pulling them firmly as Aman moaned in his mouth.
Aman felt the desire to feel Kartik’s moan too, thus he firmly pressed Kartik’s back with his thumb and forefinger. The loud moan that Kartik made in Aman’s mouth left him wanting for more. He flipped Kartik on the bed, as he rolled up above him and switched off the lights in the room. A dark room always created more ambience and somehow was the secret behind Kartik’s awesome energy.
They both laid down on the bed next to each other after an hour, gasping for breath, yet a smile adoring their faces.
Aman chuckled followed by Kartik.
“Everyday discovering something brand new,
I’m in love with the shape of you!”
Both of them laughed at this note as Kartik sang.
“Bohot tired lag raha hain aj!”
Aman said.
“Haan lagni bhi chahiye. Aj tu lost sa nahin tha! Your full attention was on me and my....”
“Shut up you idiot! I know you can continue all night long but I cannot. So don’t tempt me!”
“Oukay baby!”
Kartik smirked.
“Waise sar dard waapas ho raha hain thoda thoda!”
Aman said looking at Kartik who had attempted to get up, but paused after hearing this.
“Toh phir..... action replay?”
“No chance, I need to and want to sleep!”
Kartik frowned at the idea of sleeping. He left the bed and went to the washroom to clean himself, and to get a warm towel clean Aman.
When they were done, and were attempting to sleep after closing their laptops, both looked at each other as they lay on the bed.
“Aisi raate bar bar nahin aati Aman babu! In raaton ka qadr kijiye!”
Kartik said, being a bit poetic.
“Achha? Qadr toh aap humari bhi nahin karte! Hum kyun aapke raaton ka qadr kare?”
Aman replied.
“Gulab ka qadr samjhe ek kavi,
Uski prerana jo khilti hain wahan,
Aao mere gulab, aj purn kare yeh geet,
Na jane kal tum kahan aur hum kahan?”
Kartik’s impromptu shayaris never failed to win Aman’s heart. He moved closer to him and hugged him closely, snuggling his head into Kartik’s chest and wrapping his legs around Kartik, as if Kartik were his side pillow.
Kartik gently held Aman’s small head with his palm and closed his eyes. He felt Aman rubbing his nose on his chest and this made Kartik smile.
They fell asleep in each other’s arms, in just that perfect way.
It felt as if two koalas were hugging each other, or rather like two ducks which had spread their wings over each other for a comfortable embrace; like two climber trees which grew entwined to each other, or like two gentle breezes who collided to each other and fell in love, not with their form but with their very existence, with their very soul. Seemed like the hug depicted the union of the two breezes, which came from two different directions and met all of a sudden, as if following destiny, as if following love.