Chapter Text
Group Chat: Aussies x Indians 🏏🔥
(members: honestly many, I can't write all of em.)
Ishan: OI BOIS LOOK AT THISSS 😂📸
Rishabh: bhai 😭😭😭 he's staring like Rohit's the last plate of biryani on earth
Virat: bro's got more focus than he ever had in his innings 💀
Zampa: LMAOOO caught in 4K 😭😭😭
Travis: oh piss off, mate. I was lookin' at the field.
Hazlewood: 💀💀💀 "Coach Head: analysing love at first sight since 2023."
Mitch: tell me you're down bad without tellin' me you're down bad, Trav.
Travis: you lot need hobbies. I was zoning out. I was literally zoning out. people zone out. it's called thinking. ever heard of it??
Ishan: yeah thinking about Rohit apparently 🤭
Travis: nah seriously, I was just lookin' at—
Sam: a wall, mate. you were lookin' at a wall. he was in front of it.
Travis: ...
Maxwell: caught in ultra HD cinematic IMAX 4K bro 😂
Shubman: wait wait—lemme drop THIS 📸
(Thank you my beloved @Jhanv123 for e mailing this cute pic to me, you're truly a constant!<3)
Virat: ayeee look at him!! man's simping harder than Arijit Singh on a heartbreak album 💔🎶
Mitch: I'm just sayin', Trav's lookin' at him like rohit looks at the trophy he never got.XD
Pat: and Rohit's got that oblivious main-character energy.
Travis: shut up. you all are bloody cooked.
Rohit: ...you guys are idiots.
Ishan: and?
Rohit: and Head's worse for looking that lost on field.
Travis: lost?? I was observin', skip.
Rohit: sure. next time observe the ball, not me.
Mitch: OHHHHH 💀💀💀💀💀
hazlewood: skip with the direct hit!!
Travis: don't start.
Ishan: still not denying tho 👀
Travis: fine. I deny it.
Shubman: then explain this 📸
Virat: "Planet Cricket: The Travis Head Migration Towards Rohit Sharma" started by my Ishi Kishi.
Mitch: 😂😂😂 "Observe the Aussie male in his natural habitat — pretending not to be in love."
Rishabh: head's literally behaving like a 2000s SRK character. next thing you know he's singing in the rain.
Travis: I'D RATHER KISS A CROCODILE.
Rohit: and I'd rather push him towards it.
Ishan: oh wow the tension 😏
Zampa: can y'all just admit it already? this is embarrassing for single people.
Travis: not happening, mate.
Rohit: yeah, dream on.
Virat: y'all say "not happening" like K-dramas don't start the same way.
Pat: just say "we're rivals" one more time, I dare you. rivals with benefits, maybe?
Travis: YOU'RE DONE. BLOCKED.
Rishabh: BRO 😂😂😂
Ishan: okay but seriously when are you two getting together?
Travis: never, mate.
Rohit: ditto.
Rishabh: that's what everyone says
Virat: you two are the reason fanfiction exists, you know that?
Rohit: block me from this chat.
Travis: gladly.
Ishan: they're flirting again 😭😭😭
Later that evening...
The group chat's quiet for once. Training's done. Everyone's off their phones.
Rohit's scrolling absent-mindedly when—
Ping.
A new DM from Travis Head.
Travis 🦘: gosh, I wish I could just admit it in front of everyone — that I'd let Rohit walk all over me any day. but that bloke doesn't even look at me properly half the time.
Rohit freezes.
He blinks and scrolls and re-reads.
And before he can even comprehend .
Message deleted.
Travis 🦘: oh sh— sorry mate, wrong chat. so sorry. forget you saw that.
Travis 🦘: please.
Rohit stares at the screen, lips twitching. His brain's short-circuited somewhere between walk all over me and doesn't even look at me.
He doesn't reply. He just... takes a screenshot. Because evidence this golden? You save.
Virat's hotel room — 10:34 PM.
The door flies open.
Virat: what now, bro...
Rohit: bursts in, phone clutched, face redder than an RCB jersey
"Don't. Say. A. Word."
Virat: mate, you're grinning like someone hit a double hundred and proposed at the same time.
Rohit: tries to glare but fails miserably
"He sent..... he sent something by mistake."
Virat: perks up instantly "Who?...Wait,he...Mistake or fate, bro?"
Rohit: "Shut up, filmy hero. Just look." shows the screenshot
Virat reads. Then laughs so hard he nearly falls off the bed.
Virat: "Walk all over him? Bro. That's... that's next-level."
Rohit: "He deleted it in like three seconds. He's probably dying of embarrassment."
Virat: "Yeah and you're dying of happiness. Look at your face, Rohit. You look like a kid Look at that grin."
Rohit hides his grin behind his hand. "You're insufferable."
Virat: "And you're in trouble, mate. Because he's gonna act normal— and you'll be the one staring this time."
Rohit: already smiling wider "Then I'll just act normal too."
Virat: "Yeah sure, Romeo."
(Rohit leaves the room, cheeks still pink, trying very hard to act like nothing happened but every step has a little bounce.)