Rohit could count on his fingers the number of times Hardik has called him bhaiyya. The boy never lacked any respect. Instead, Rohit could proudly say that he was among one those few people who held an important place in Hardik's life. He probably was in the same category as Krunal, Bhuvi, Rahul, Jassi, and Rohit's own best friend Virat when it came to 'people who can handle Hardik' or 'people who can get the boy in line'. Maybe Mahi Bhai has slightly ranked ahead of Rohit in that category! Yet, MS could get a 'bhai' out of the boy but Rohit would struggle to even hear 'bhaiyya' from Hardik. He could pinpoint every moment in his life where the boy willingly called him bhaiyya.

~~**~~

Not even their first meeting guaranteed a 'bhaiyya' from Hardik. Well, not right away, you see! Rohit still remembers the first time he spotted Hardik in the MI camp. It wasn't hard to see the boy who had a slight swagger to his persona. Right next to him was Jasprit and everything about that kid screamed humility and shyness. Two contradictory personalities, that soon caught Rohit's attention as well.

"Hi, captain" Hardik spoke, with an arm outstretched towards him to shake.

"Hello Rohit sir" Jassi greeted.

"Please not sir... Anything except sir!" Rohit pleaded.

"Can I call you Ro?" Hardik straightaway asked while Jassi glared at him, instead suggesting, "Can we call you Rohit bhaiyya?"

"Of course kid" Rohit smiled, ruffling Jassi's hair as he shook Hardik's hand.

"Great so, I'll call you Ro" Hardik smiled.

Rohit had moved away slightly when he overheard the two boys.

"Couldn't you say Rohit bhaiyya?" Jassi scolded him softly.

"He didn't mind" Hardik retorted back.

Jassi shook his head at Hardik, conceding defeat. He couldn't argue with the boy.

"You don't mind right?" Hardik asked him once they got to practice.

"Mind what?" Rohit asked, confused.

"That I call you Ro" Hardik stated.

"Of course not!" Rohit smiled at him, whispering, "I've been called worse."

"But I do consider you as my bhaiyya though, okay?" Hardik made it clear.

"I know kiddo" Rohit clapped him on the back, watching as the boy went to bug Jassi again.

Did that count as Hardik calling him bhaiyya? Well perhaps!

~~**~~

The first game in the Indian colors and you concede 26 runs from your first 8 balls! Hardik believed that his career was over. There was no way he would be called upon again and yet MS was handing the ball again. He redeemed himself and made sure India was through with a victory. As the team stayed behind to get over the formalities, Hardik had disappeared inside but there was one person who noticed when he left.

"Hey congratulations" Rohit whispered when he found the boy in the dressing room, face buried in his hands. "Hardik?" he called out when the boy didn't answer him.

"Mahi bhai is going to kill me. He only gave me the ball because there was no other bowler. That's it! That's the end of my Indian cricket career" Hardik lamented.

"You don't think that, do you?" Rohit asked, sighing when he caught sight of Hardik's tearful face.

"It's over" Hardik sniffled.

"Hardik, no kiddo! Trust me, if Mahi bhai thought you weren't good at that then he'd take the ball himself or give it to a part-timer. If he called you back, then he trusted you to bring us the win." Rohit explained, sitting by the boy's side.

"I didn't disappoint him or you? Or anyone, right?" Hardik asked and Rohit couldn't help but wrap an arm around the boy's shoulders.

"Of course not." Rohit squeezed his shoulders.

Hardik heaved a sigh of relief, a smile tugging on his lips as the others walked in, clapping him on the back.

As he got up to join the rest, Hardik turned around smiling at Rohit, "Thank you bhaiyya!"

Rohit smiled back, watching the boy disappear in the crowd of celebrations.

Wait a second, Hardik said bhaiyya?

~~**~~

The third time that it happened was a moment that Rohit was glad to have stumbled on. It gave him a different insight into what a mystery Hardik was. They had just lost the Champions Trophy and Rohit wanted nothing other than to sleep for days and forget this loss but curse his luck, he just couldn't fall asleep. He had been stumbling through the hallways, thinking about bothering Jaddu when he heard the low sniffles. Pushing open the door, he found Hardik sitting on his haunches, clutching his phone in his hands. Taking a deep breath, Rohit slowly walked in.

Hardik hadn't even noticed when Rohit sat next to him but he did lift his head when he felt his phone being tugged out of his hands. He looked up at Rohit and was soon burying his head in the man's shoulder, clutching tightly at the back of his shirt.

"Come on kiddo. There will be many more International trophies to come for you. You're still so young" Rohit tried to explain to the boy, who shook his head but still didn't pull back from him.

"It's not... I mean I should have done better to win... But... Jaddu? I shouldn't have shouted at him. God! He's so much senior to me... Now everybody on Twitter is cursing him... He must be so upset... And it's all because of me" Hardik sniffled.

"Oh baccha... We've all been there" Rohit sighed, "We've run each other out. We've shown our displeasure on the field and unfortunately, these cameras, news channels, social media; they're all vultures, waiting to pounce on whatever we give them. You're going to have many such moments and they're going to be a good learning curve for you."

"I don't like it. I seriously didn't mean to show him any disrespect" Hardik looked up at Rohit with pure regret in his eyes.

"I know. That's what you need to tell Jaddu though" Rohit smiled at the boy.

"Krunal said to apologize" Hardik sighed.

"He is right" Rohit nodded.

"I will. I just wish that we had won. It wouldn't have been so difficult to do so then" Hardik confessed.

"I wish so too kiddo" Rohit sighed.

"But we'll win it next time. I'll win it for you next time, bhaiyya" Hardik spoke with such a determination that got Rohit smiling as well.

He pulled the boy in a hug, mumbling, "I know we will."

When Hardik didn't let go of Rohit after a while, the man couldn't do anything other than rearranging the boy in his arms as he fell asleep to his mind trying to get his attention. Hardik called you bhaiyya!

The next morning, Rohit was grinning at Jaddu until the man had enough and confronted him.

"Hardik is going to apologize to you" Rohit blurted out.

"For what? The runout?" Jaddu asked.

"Yeah, he feels guilty that people painted you as the villain" Rohit explained.

"Well, he didn't help them with that reaction" Jaddu pointed out.

"Jad... Just smile at him and say that you've forgiven him" Rohit glared at his friend before adding, "I know you've already forgiven him."

"I have but you're supposed to be on my team, you know, as my good friend" Jaddu raised an eyebrow at Rohit playfully.

"Well, I'm also someone's bhaiyya" Rohit sighed.

"Aww, Hardik's Rohit bhaiyya?" Jaddu cooed, earning a playful slap to his head.

"Behave Jad," Rohit said and walked off, winking at the nervous-looking Hardik.

When Jaddu smiled and pulled Hardik in a hug, Rohit mouthed a 'thank you' at Jaddu. Well, Rohit bhaiyya had to look out for his younger ones, didn't he?

~~**~~

The aftermath of the Koffee with Karan show was more than was let out in the public eye. The next six months had been complete hell for Hardik but thankfully, he had people looking out for him. It had been in the early hours of a morning when Rohit stumbled into his kitchen to get some milk to appease the crying baby Samaira. He could hear Ritika softly cooing to the baby when his phone suddenly rang. Ritika was going to murder him for taking so long but Hardik calling him at 3 am was worth the concern.

"Rohit bhaiyya, you there?" came a very drunk Hardik's voice.

"Tell me Krunal or somebody else is with you right now" Rohit sighed, pinching the bridge of his forehead.

"Nobody wants to be with me!" the boy hiccupped.

"That's not true..." Rohit raised an eyebrow, wondering where this conversation was going.

"I called Rahul and he cut my call. He had told me that he needed space, you know. But it still hurts when your best friend doesn't answer your call. I called Krunal and it's saying 'not available'. Because he is in a tournament. I know he would have picked up if he wasn't playing but still, it hurts that he isn't here right now. I called Mahi bhai and his phone is off. Funny! This one shouldn't hurt because Mahi bhai very rarely picks up but I don't know why it is still hurting" Hardik sniffled.

Rohit had to take a deep breath before he redirected Hardik to the actual conversation, "Where are you?"

"Some cheap bar! They said it will hurt less if I took a drink but it didn't stop hurting so I continued to drink... But bhaiyya, the hurt didn't go away. It is still hurting" Hardik stated.

"What hurts, baccha? Are you injured?" Rohit asked, mentally screaming at whoever told Hardik to drown his sorrows in alcohol.

"My heart hurts... Is it even possible?" Hardik chuckled sadly.

"Oh kiddo..." Rohit breathed out, "Can you tell me where you are right now?"

"Parking lot... There are lots of cars. Which one is mine, bhaiyya?" Hardik asked.

The very thought of Hardik being drunk, emotionally hurt, and trying to drive, scared Rohit out of his mind. He handed Ritika the bottle of milk, quickly telling her what was going on as he grabbed his keys and walked out.

"Alright kiddo. I'm on my way right now. Can you find a safe place and sit down?" Rohit asked.

"Safe place? There's no safe place, bhaiyya. Wherever I'll be, that will be the most unsafe place. You know why? Because I make people feel unsafe. I'm not a good person, bhaiyya" Hardik tried to explain.

"That's not true baccha. That's not true" Rohit blinked back tears as he focused on driving to the kid as fast as he could.

When he found the kid, thanks to GPS, it was well a pitiful sight.

The kid was sitting in the parking lot, probably having thrown up by the side, in tears and desperately trying to call Rahul, Krunal, and MS.

"Hey" Rohit softly called the kid out so as not to scare him.

"Rohit bhaiyya?" the kid looked surprised. "You came?" He asked, confused.

The poor kid probably thought he had imagined Rohit's voice so far.

"Come on, up you get" Rohit helped the boy up and to his car.

"I'll dirty everywhere" Hardik pointed out. Rohit couldn't tell if he was talking about the vomit-stained clothes or to himself but it certainly stung to Rohit.

"Let me worry about that, alright?" Rohit said as he secured the boy safely in the seat before rushing to his side.

As soon as he got in, Hardik reached for him, a hand squeezing Rohit's forearms as he asked, "You're here?"

It was as if Hardik couldn't believe that Rohit came for him.

So Rohit spent the next ten minutes driving single-handedly and changing gears with just one hand as he kept one hand on Hardik's knee, occasionally squeezing to let the boy know that he was right here.

Thankfully, Ritika didn't question him right away when he walked in with a stumbling Hardik glued to his side. He wrestled the boy in the shower and got him some clean clothes before tucking him in their guest bedroom.

"Don't go anywhere, bhaiyya" Hardik whispered, curling his fingers in the bottom of Rohit's shirt as his head touched the pillow.

"I'm not going anywhere baccha. I got you" Rohit promised as he pressed a kiss to Hardik's head.

Clutching her sleeping daughter tighter, Ritika could only gaze sadly at the broken kid who desperately clung to Rohit.

The next morning, MS had called Hardik back and the happiness on Hardik's face was worth Rohit sacrificing his sleep to recount the story of a drunk Hardik to MS early in the morning.

"Mahi bhai called me" Hardik smiled at Rohit.

"Oh, he did" Rohit acted surprised as well.

"Yeah! He did. Hey, Ro! What happened last night? I don't remember much" Hardik asked.

And he was back to Ro instead of Rohit bhaiyya!

Rohit smiled at the boy as he sat down to tease him slightly but he just couldn't bring himself to tease the boy and instead, diverted the topic easily to Hardik meeting Samaira for the first time!

~~**~~

Hardik had a bit of luck with injuries or you could call it bad luck. He had been injured during the New Zealand series when the ball hit his palm during the last over while he still had a few balls left in the over. As the team fielded, he sat on his haunches, trying to breathe through the pain when a familiar face hovered around him.

"Your hand is swollen already," Rohit remarked.

"I'm good bhaiyya. I can finish the over" Hardik winced, trying to get back up quickly as he panicked over finishing his over when the wave of pain hit him again.

He curled his fingers around Rohit's wrist, breathing harshly and unknowingly squeezing Rohit's wrist.

"Just breathe, baccha. You're fine" Rohit coaxed him, with one hand squeezing Hardik's shoulder while his other hand was being squeezed by the poor boy but Rohit didn't seem to mind.

"I'm fine, bhaiyya," Hardik repeated.

Rohit gave the boy a good look before allowing the boy to use him to pull himself up.

So the injured fellow called him bhaiyya when he was blinded by pain! That's fair! Rohit wasn't going to comment on that! But what about when Rohit got injured?

It happened during the IPL 2021 against KKR. During the match, as they struggled to get a breakthrough, Rohit took it on himself to bowl when suddenly he felt his ankle roll as soon as he went to bowl the first ball itself.

As soon as he felt the first tug of pain, Rohit stopped and sat on the ground, undoing his laces.

"Are you okay, bhaiyya?" Hardik had run to him, crouching down next to him as he asked.

"Ankle" Rohit winced.

The medics came by and helped Rohit while Surya sat with Hardik, cracking jokes with Rohit.

"Bowling is for professionals, right Hardik?" Surya teased Rohit.

"Yeah... Yeah... Shut up" Rohit smiled when he suddenly noticed that Hardik hadn't added anything.

"You sure you're okay, bhaiyya?" Hardik asked, clearly concerned.

"I'm good." Rohit nodded, before adding "We're good."

Rohit got back up to finish his over and Hardik found himself breathing much better.

That evening Jassi and Hardik both wanted to check up on Rohit and that's how Rohit found the two boys bickering at the foot of his bed over who came first to see Rohit.

"One's married and the other one has a kid of his own" Rohit shook his head at Ritika.

"Oh please," Jassi snorted, before asking as he sat down, "How's your foot?"

"Better" Rohit assured them.

"You need to be careful bhaiyya" Hardik sighed as he sat down, running a finger over Rohit's ankle to check on the swelling.

"I will" Rohit smiled at the boy.

He somehow missed the point over which the two boys started arguing but he certainly wasn't backing down when Hardik teased him.

"Somebody was trying to be a big bowler" Hardik teased.

"Oh Jassi, Hardik called me bhaiyya" Rohit pointed out.

"No! When? I said Ro" Hardik utterly refused to hear anything.

"Yes you said Rohit bhaiyya... When you walked in and then when you were checking his ankle. You said Rohit bhaiyya" Jassi pointed out.

"I didn't" Hardik huffed, glaring at Rohit.

Rohit grinned back.

He was allowed to tease the boy, given that Hardik started it, okay?

~~**~~

So yeah, it takes Hardik to be scared, nervous, emotional, drunk, or hurt for the boy to break out of the shell he had created around him and be that soft little kid that he truly was. And yeah, it also takes Rohit being injured for the boy to call him bhaiyya apparently! So, what was the list again? Scared, nervous, emotional, drunk, hurt, or worried about his Rohit bhaiyya!

Rohit cherished this kid, no matter what. Even if he jumbled between Ro and Rohit bhaiyya but whatever Hardik called him, Rohit took that role very seriously. He was there for the kid no matter what!

~~**~~

A/N

Can you tell how much I love the Rohit-Hardik bond? No?

To all of you sending your requests, I'll try my best to write something for you.

Until then please keep reading, voting, and please do comment!