thinking of patpran kuch kuch hota hai au.
pat and pran are the rival best friends, the two diametrically different guys who everyone knows about. where one goes the other follows. there's not an hour where they're not competing in something. they're a set. for better or for worse.
enter ink. she's a transfer, she's classy, strong doesn't take bs. pat seemingly falls like a tower of cards. pran feels like fading into the background.
ink and pat get along like a house on fire. pat thinks it's chemistry. pat waxes poetry about ink uncomfortably to pran while pran thinks his insides should stop squirming. he's not jealous of pat right? ink is nice but really he prefers to be friends. so why does he feel like dying when pat keeps talking about her with stars in his eyes?
pat tells pran he's gonna propose. pran scoffs as is customary for them, then ruffles Pat's hair in encouragement. Pat's eyes flicker for a second, searching before he grins. pran breaks a little inside.
pran recieves a letter saying his mother has fallen ill, and that he should make haste back home. he tries to find pat to tell him but eventually gives up.
pat is busy being in love with ink. why would he care.
ink spots him and asks why he's at the admins office. he tells her the truth, not thinking of what he's wishing for. he's leaving the next day, bags all packed and ready.
he's boarded the train and standing at the door, wondering why he foolishly wants to hear pat's voice again. they were friends, maybe best friends. they competed.
but as luck would have it pran fell in love with pat. and pat was in love with ink.
the train gives a warning whistle when he hears a voice, all too familiar voice, yell over the station din. his grip tightens on the door handle as he spots him.
pat. who's running to him, where he stands in the door of the train, which is now inching away.
"why didn't you tell me???!! pran why...?"
pran shrugs, feeling vindicated and worse. he smiles, hoping his heartbreak is hidden.
he sees ink just behind pat, and in a look of understanding that shocks even him, she nods like she knows all his secrets.
as the train moves away picking speed, pran trains his gaze on Pat's face, whose expression looks like a battlefield of emotions. right before then bend, he thinks he sees a shine in those eyes he loved so much.
he wonders if pat would miss him enough to shed a tear.
so. pat really needs to take a break. his mom tells him. his sister tells him. his sister in law tells him. gods above even his neice tells him. and pat may not listen to anyone, but he'll listen to his neice cause that's how much he adores her.
"right uncle?" prana looks at him with glittering eyes and a conniving dimple in her cheek.
"fine. what's your idea?"
"take me to summer camp!"
"the one you've been trying to convince your moms to let you go to?"
"yes!" her pout, puppy dog eyes combo could rival pat's own, as pa loves to remind him, chastising him for teaching her daughter the vile ways of bribery.
well it seems to be pretty popular, considering the number of harried parents scrambling after their kids. prana stays obidently by his side, small hand in his. she really reminds him of -
"okay okay can I please get you guys to form a line? can you do that for me?"
there's no way, there's no way-
prana's giggling gives away the fact that pat has been played, he's been hoodwinked and bamboozled-
pat turns, a war of emotions in his chest. he's so beautiful. he's also blinded by the very obvious ring on his finger. pat feels like he wants to break.
