|: Wind Beneath Their Wings :|
A/N: Just a lame OS on Vivesha. Those who remember them can enjoy. Others can happily ignore.
Major inspiration for this story are Bunny and Naina from 'Ye Jawaani Hai Deewani'. No, I'm not ashamed to say that I absolutely LOVE them!
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"He's gone to some other part of the city. It might take him at least a couple of hours to get back." The civilian informed the Inspectors in an absolutely disinterested tone, before slamming the door shut on their faces.
They had come far away from the bureau on the outskirts of the city for a part of investigation.
"Ohh damn!" Vivek frowned in irritation as he learned the information, and glared daggers at his companion. "Tasha, I had told you not to drive like a madwoman! Seems like you wanted to have a freaking competition with the wind, with that Goddamned speed of yours! Now, what do we do for the next 2-3 hours?!"
Tasha, who had been caressing her nape to release the stress from driving, narrowed her eyes dangerously at her colleague. "Yeah, right! As if I saw a dream about the property owner vanishing for such a long time!" Her tone changed into a more patronizing one. "Besides, you know ACP Sir! He demands all the information as quick as flash."
The Inspector rolled his big hazel eyes in exasperation. "God knows why ACP Sir sent you with me for this bloody investigation! Oww!" He complained, as Tasha threw a pebble at him. "Dog!" She muttered under her breath, loud enough for him to hear, and he stuck his tongue out at her in return. "And I don't even want to think what awaits us when he has to wait for 3 long hours for a small piece of information!" He shuddered at the thought that crossed his mind.
"Look-" Tasha started, but was abruptly cut off by the shrill ringtone of her best friend's phone. "Aah, think of the trouble!" Vivek gave an agonized expression, as he read the name on screen. Precisely before answering it, a wise thought struck him, and he put the phone on speaker mode. Well, he obviously feared his lovely ear from getting damaged!
As soon as the call was answered, needless to say, they were bombarded with a long series of queries. "Vivek! What have you been doing there? Have you got what we're looking for? Just gather whatever the hell they tell you and get back soon, will you?!" ACP Pradyuman's tone grew demanding with each word, and Vivek and Tasha exchanged utterly frightful looks.
"Umm.. S-Sir, actually.." Tasha stammered in a meek tone, but the Assistant Commissioner was too impatient to let her finish. "What? What is it?" He wanted to know. "Sir, we enquired about the property owner. But, people here are saying we can meet him only after 2-3 hours." Vivek momentarily screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the bomb that was going to be dropped on them. Which, unfortunately for them, was exactly what happened. "What?! 2-3 hours?!" ACP Pradyuman shouted over the phone, causing the Inspectors to wince. He was about to utter something unflattering, when thankfully Tasha interrupted him.
"But, Sir, we also found out that the property owner had apparently duped two other civilians, too, and ran off with their money, before tricking this Mahesh. We-" She informed, but Vivek violently cut her off, pushing her away from the phone. "Sir, Tasha didn't inquire properly. It's three people he conned, not two!" He flashed a proud grin at his colleague, who returned him a dark scowl, punching him in the shoulder. "Sir, Vivek never pays attention to the details. There are three people including Mahesh. So, in all, there are three victims." Tasha finished in a hush.
"Sir, no, there are four in all! Don't listen to Tasha!" Vivek's tone was indignant. "Shut up, Vivek! You don't know anything." Tasha defended vehemently. "You shut u-" Vivek poked at her nose, and was about to fight back, when they were nearly thrown back a few inches away from the phone by the howl that emerged from it. "Vivek! Tasha! Enough, you two! We'll find out exactly how many people were cheated, thank you! You please, for heaven's sake, gather all the necessary information as fast as you can. And I want your heads back in the bureau before it gets dark! Get that right!" With that, he disconnected, and the poor Inspectors heaved an evident sigh of relief.
Vivek pushed the phone back into his pocket, settling down on a rock. "Now what?" He asked, placing his chin on his palm, giving his best friend a thoroughly bored look. "Well, obviously, we can't go back to the bureau and return back! It's too far." Tasha, who had been standing with her hands on her hips, supplied in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I know that, idiot! Stop giving those pointless suggestions." Vivek replied flatly, to which he earned a small kick on one of his ankles. "Let's go and sit in the car for some time." He suggested, once he was done rubbing the hurt ankle, and Tasha gave him an utterly disgusted look. "Ugghh! That's what normal people do, not me!" Her face contorted crookedly, and her big brown eyes narrowed at her best friend. "Besides, I'm not going to waste three hours staring at your face and chatting some nonsense with you!" She sneered at him, and the latter instantly rose to his feet, gritting his teeth, and pulled her wavy hair in a swift.
"Neither am I interested in staring at your face, alright? And talking nonsense, yeah?" He teased, pulling her hair even more, causing her to bend down with the weight. "Ouch! Ouch, my hair! Leave me, you pig!" She wailed, and the when the attempts to free herself went in vain, she finally dug her nails in his wrist, causing him to pull his hand back in a jerk. "Monster!" He snapped, caressing the wound. "Wait till Freddy Sir hears about this!" Tasha spoke in a mock-threatening tone, setting her hair carefully. Vivek gave her a look. "I'm going for a walk. Follow me if you wish. Or else, feel free to jump in some bore-well!" Tasha flashed a smug grin, and started walking, Vivek running behind with a dark scowl pasted on his face.
After hitting each other playfully thrice, thinking of all the abuses not even included in the dictionary and pulling each other's hair, they had reached a considerable distance away from the car on the mountain pass. "I didn't know you were practising for the Marathon!" Vivek panted, struggling hard to keep up with Tasha's pace, and she punched him lightly on the cheek. "Really, Tasha? Walk slow, will you? Nobody is chasing us!" Vivek spoke primly, and Tasha bent down to catch her breath.
Vivek snorted, looking down at her. "And you call herself a CID officer! Tired after walking for hardly a few minutes!" He sniggered, but started running the next instant as he was chased by his terribly fuming best friend. When she finally succeeded in catching him, she reached for his neck and started shaking it violently. "And who was asking me to slow down my pace? Shameless freak of a so-called CID officer, is it?" She growled, pushing him down by the neck. "Ok, ok! We both are out of stamina. Happy?" Vivek whined, and gripped her hand to free his aching neck.
All of a sudden, something caught Tasha's attention, and she left her best friend's poor neck, even before he struggled to free it from her grip. "Vivek, look! A tea-stall!" She pointed to a tiny stall on the roadside, her eyes widening in excitement, as though she was being gifted a brand new car.
Vivek eyed her warily from head to toe, wondering whether she had gone insane. "What's so interesting in that?" He really wanted to know. Tasha rolled her eyes in exasperation. "You'll always be sad, gloomy rat, Vivek!" She made a face at him, before running off toward the stall. Sighing deeply, Vivek followed suit.
"One special ginger tea for me, and... never mind. Give any boring kind to this guy here!" She pointed to Vivek, who punched her in the back. "Two ginger teas, please!" He ordered the man, who seemed more than happy to serve them his 'special' roadside tea. "Such an awesome tea in an awesome weather!" She praised the stall owner, taking a sip from the plastic cup, before turning to her best friend, who was nodding in agreement. "With a not-so-awesome company." She teased him, who flashed a thoroughly offended look. "At least the tea is much better than what you make!" He returned the favour, and paid the stall owner.
"How dare you! Just you wait..." She barked, but he had already started running for his dear life. "Run how much you want, crackpot. You'll never be as fast as I am! And your tea sucks, not to mention!" Vivek giggled in spite of himself, as they ran in circles resembling school kids playing on the deserted road. "You are banned from having any eatable at my house, from today onwards! And that includes your favourite gingerbread pudding my mom makes just for you!" She snapped, chasing behind him, her fists thumping the air.
When they could no longer run, they held their stomach tight to steady their breath. Wasting no time further, Tasha pounced on the opportunity, and throttled his neck yet again. "Die!" She grumbled, but winced in pain as Vivek pulled her hand, pinning them to her back and pushed her forward.
They continued walking in the same posture for a good ten minutes giggling and teasing their way through, until Tasha took the advantage of the moment when Vivek's grip loosened, and pulled him ahead in a swift. "Now, you'll know the effects of manhandling a girl!" She gritted her teeth, as she pushed him forward in the same position in which he had held her. "Ppfftt! You're a girl?" He scoffed menacingly while still being held by her, but cried in pain when she gave him a hard kick on the knee. "Are you actually mental?" He scowled, facing her when she finally released him. "Yes! Any doubt?" She raised her eyebrows at him, and he shook his head. "Absolutely not!"
"I'm tired and bored of walking!" Tasha claimed, and Vivek's reply was almost instant. "By no means am I going to carry you back to the car!" His tone sounded horrified, and Tasha gave him a flat look in return.
"There's a cart there!" Tasha pointed to a sand cart, the second thing which had caught her interest on the deserted road. "So?" Vivek asked. He pondered over what how a sand cart could help them. "I'll sit in that, you push me from behind!" Tasha spoke in a way as though it was the most valid statement she had made in her entire life. Vivek's jaw settled nicely on the floor. "Have you lost it, Tasha? It belongs to someone!" His tone was incredulous. "So what? We'll leave it ahead. And taking the precaution to not cause any damage to it is your responsibility." Having said that, she started climbing on to the cart.
After staying fixed to where he was, and realizing there was no point in arguing, Vivek decided to fulfil her demands, saving the 'pulling his own hair out' part for later, and pushed the cart.
"Wheeeeeee" Tasha hooted in exhilaration, her hands swinging in the air, as Vivek pushed the cart from behind. He chuckled in amusement watching his best friend's childish tactics as he started enjoying the small adventure.
"It's the small things you do and make me do, which teaches me to live, Tasha!" Vivek supplied in a dazed tone, noticing how adorable her hair looked when breeze flew through them.
The fact that some of them were tickling his wrists made him admire them all the more.
Tasha's eyes twinkled with an explicable gleam, as she looked back at Vivek and grinned from ear to ear. "You do like me, Vivek!" She smirked, her eyebrows dancing up and down. "No, I don't! Every second, I dream of strangling you with my bare hands!" Vivek teased in a mock-sarcastic tone, and earned a soft punch in his stomach in return.
"Stop! Stop!" Vivek nearly jumped back a few inches in repulse to Tasha's sudden reaction, and the cart screeched to a halt on the bumpy road. "Leave it here, we can walk towards the car." Tasha shrugged indifferently, without bothering to thank her companion, and Vivek had opened his mouth to utter a highly demeaning curse, but settled with wordlessly pulling his hairs instead.
Hesitantly obeying his colleague's command, he began walking, taking occasional wary glances at her alongside, wondering what more degree of lunacy could possibly get into her head.
Whatever prayers he might have said silently on spending the rest of the journey in normalcy went vehemently unanswered, as a couple of water droplets softly teased his cheek, running down to his chin and fell down to his foot. Squirming in confusion, the Inspectors raised their palms horizontally, only to take a few more droplets- rain droplets, precisely- on them.
It didn't take long. Neither for the drizzles to turn into crashing thunderous rain, nor for Tasha to switch back to her 'abnormal' mode.
Vivek gave a clearly audible sigh, shaking his head as he soon witnessed Tasha jumping like a psychotic little peahen, who had been waiting for the rains on tenterhooks. It took them exactly twenty-seven seconds to get drenched from head to toe. All this while, Tasha danced insanely, forgetting her identity as a CID officer, and Vivek stared at her, half amused by her tactics, half admiring them, a weird grin flashing on his face.
When the solo dance got too boring, Tasha yelled to be audible through the roaring rain. "Hey sadist, want to play a game?" She asked. Vivek grimaced in confusion, obviously unable to comprehend the purpose of the question.
"Let me explain. We jump as high as we can, and taste the rain-water. Whoever jumps higher, wins! What say?" She asked. "Sounds interesting." Vivek agreed.
If ACP Pradyuman or any of their colleagues had seen the two Inspectors fooling around in the rains when they were supposed to investigate a homicide, they would have completely abandoned them from being associated with the CID.
Vivek and Tasha put all the energy they had to jump as high as they could, taking turns in overpowering the other. They laughed and gasped and giggled and panted and again laughed, as the tasteless rainwater touched their tongues. The activity was enough to put a two-year-old infant to shame.
"Oww! Cheater, get off!" Tasha yelped, struggling to take Vivek's hand off her head, as he forcefully held her down, while he himself jumped a considerable height. Needless to say, the game came to an end, Tasha's eyes glinted dangerously at her best friend, amidst the raindrops spread on her pretty face, and Vivek's eyes shone mischievously, a smug grin pasted on his lips.
"That's cheating!" Tasha pouted, gathering some rainwater, and throwing it on him, and he followed suit. "Everything is fair in war, baby!" Vivek retorted in a slick demeanour.
Soon enough, the game was turned into a long fight of hurling water on each other. When it got too monotonous, and with all the stamina drained out, they finally stopped, bending down to catch their breath, and laughing sheepishly, as they regained their composure and remembered their actual purpose of visit, and most importantly, their true identities.
"In case you've forgotten, we're here for an investigation. And we should focus back on the same!" Vivek spoke in haste, glancing at his watch- which was thankfully working in spite of getting wet- before his colleague could come up with any new ways of going bonkers. "Yes, I'm aware of it, thank you! You're driving now, though!" Tasha scowled, pointing a finger at him, and he scoffed rather primly. "Of course, I am! I don't want any accidents, at least till we reach safely back to the bureau!" He retorted. "If ACP Sir would be kind enough to let us stay in the CID!" He added warily. Tasha ignored him.
"By the way, one can never fall short of adventures when being with you, mad lady!" Vivek rolled his eyes exasperation as they were making their way back to the car, and the 'mad lady' gave a mirthless laugh. "It's all about living life, Vivek. About stealing those few minutes- rather seconds- from your mundane routine life to enjoy these small adventures. About how you see and make your life an adventure. And most importantly, about the right companion with whom you choose to share those adventures." Tasha smiled meaningfully at Vivek, and he couldn't help but nod in agreement.
"And I hereby confidently conclude that I am with the right companion. As I have always been." Vivek smiled, mildly shivering as a couple of rain droplets made their way from his sleeve down to his palm.
"Sentiments echoed, mate. Because with you or Tarika, I can just be me. Without having to worry about anything!" Tasha grinned quivering, as the wind and the wetness sent a chill down her spine.
They preferred to walk the rest of the way in a perfectly sane mannerism, as the wait of three hours had finally come to an end, leaving them with no option but to resume the investigation.
If only the Assistant Commissioner would exempt them from getting flayed alive-
As they surreptitiously tiptoed into the bureau wetting the floors with the dripping rain water, they were greeted at the entrance by the dominating figure of Freddy, who was standing with his hands on his waist and eyebrows scrunched together, glaring at them with his signature deadly looks. He was certainly not pleased with his subordinates' condition.
Vivek and Tasha's heads descended further down upon seeing the vexed expression on their senior's face.
"Great! Just great!" The veteran Inspector exclaimed in a theatrical manner, flailing his hands in the air as he faced them. In those few seconds, the expressions on his face changed from being angry to annoyed to sarcastic and finally ended up with concern. "First, you guys have absolutely no shame to return back so late without informing anything. Second, you actually had the guts to play around in the rains in the middle of a freaking murder investigation. And third-" He took a brief pause before he ploughed on, in a slightly helpless tone. "If I'm guessing right, you gits are expecting me to cover up for you in front of ACP Sir!" He folded his arms, studying them as a school teacher deciding what punishment to give to a notorious student.
He took a deep sigh, waiting for either of them to answer. Finally, Vivek mildly nodded his head, his eyes still glued to the floor, as though counting the number of mud stains on his brand new sports shoes.
Tasha, however, was the first one to raise her head, as she looked at Freddy with the most innocent puppy-dog eyes she could muster. "Sorry Sir!" She pouted like a five-year-old kid, and Freddy gave a mild chuckle.
"Go! Go home and change. I certainly wouldn't like it if you guys miss coming to work because of some stupid cold and fever!" His tone softened, as he patted Vivek's shoulder, and sent them off. "And make it fast, will you?" He shouted over their backs. 'These two will never grow up!' He mumbled to himself, shaking his head in exasperation as he got back to his desk.
Outside, as soon as they stepped out of the bureau, Vivek and Tasha looked at each other, and after being unable to hold it any longer, burst into peals of laughter. They laughed for a good ten minutes, until their sides ached.
Being crazy and carefree wasn't always bad. They had always been capable enough of finding fun even in the lamest of things. All they needed was a push from the right companion to get the craziness out. To be the wind helping their wings to take off. And they knew exactly what they were. The wind beneath their wings.
~~ The End ~~
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A/N: Those who think Vivesha are wrong in any way, sorry to disappoint, but this is exactly how I feel best friends should behave.
Clarification: Vivek and Tasha are just best friends here. They do love each other, but haven't acknowledged it.
Review only if you like, don't make me give you a piece of my mind unnecessarily! Thank you for the consideration. _/\_
