--Ayush Anand B'day Celebration Thread!-- - Page 7

Here's To The Mess We Make

Summary: A series of drabbles on four different birthdays Randhawa has had.

A/N: The following shot ignores the canon plot of the show.

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His 8^th birthday was a blast.

Literally.

The rocket that he had shot with his best friend had diverted its path a little and had gone sailing through the air...right towards his extra large birthday cake that was sitting on a tall table at the garden. One never knows just how much of cream a cake really contains till it gets splattered onto the guests somewhat fancy clothes and the walls of the house of the Randhawa family.

Ranveer went clambering over the steps to the terrace to get away from his almost-purple-in-the-face grandfather, and only returned to ground zero once his mother had convinced her father to not lose his temper on Ranveer's birthday.

"You keep spoiling him, Leela...just because he lost his father at a young age..." Ranveer heard his grandfather grumble, and held back and victorious laughter. Hah! Escaped from the wrath of Nana...for the time being. The mess he had made was pretty big.

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"You sure you can take it?"

Ranveer glared at his best friend Jordan.

"It's just alcohol, of course I can!" Hah. What's the big deal in sipping that glass of scotch? Please.

With a crooked, smug smile, the boy - ahem, man - who was turning 18 that day, took one giant gulp.

And then spluttered at least half of the mouthful right into Jordan's face.

"What the hell is this?!" he croaked, momentarily forgetting that he was crouching behind the rusting well of an abandoned house at the end of the street he lived in.

"It's scotch, you idiot!" Jordan yelled back, and then both of them heard the gasp.

"You are in so much of trouble..."

Ranveer caught a glimpse of his sister's retreating back and jumped. "Crap. Catch her!" Ranveer exclaimed, but Jordan was already scurrying away. "Er...I was never here, bro - happy 18th birthday! Have fun getting slapped by Leela Aunty," was all Ranveer's best friend said as he took off, jumping over the barely-existing fence and towards his own house.

Growling, Ranveer ran after Sahana, asking her to stop. His 14-year-old sister, obviously, did not. Thankfully, the young man had long enough legs to have an edge over his tiny sister, and grabbed her just before she entered the house. He dragged the girl up to the terrace instead.

"Don't mention what you saw to anyone," he grumbled, all the while panting.

"If I don't tell Mumma, you will continue drinking," came the curt reply.

"So? What's it to you?"

"So, you dufus of a brother; you will come home drunk everyday and throw up, making a giant mess. Who will have to clean that all up when you are out cold like a dead buffalo? Mumma? Who will probably be busy yelling at her mostly dead-to-the-world son? Nope. Me, dear Bhaiya. ME. I am just ensuring I don't get extra work in the future," Sahana finished with a shrug.

Ranveer stared at his sister for a few long moments...and then laughed. He laughed, laughed, and then laughed some more.

"Okay, how about this," he finally spluttered once he had calmed down. "How about...I make a promise. I promise not to make a giant mess. No matter how drunk I am. No mess at all. In fact, I won't bother anyone at all. Deal?"

Sahana looked from his outstretched hand to his face, before shaking his hand.

"Deal."

She turned to return to the house again, and then paused.

"Bhaiya?" she called as she faced him again.

"Hmmm?"

"Don't make a mess of the house, or your health, okay?"

Ranveer smiled. "Okay."

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"Happy 27th Birthday, Ranveer! With much love and kisses, Sushmita," the card read. The card that lay on the floor, as if thrown carelessly away. The birthday wish from an ex-girlfriend didn't matter to the Assistant Commissioner of Police, not really.

What mattered is that this is, technically, his first birthday as an orphan.

Ranveer sat in the barely lit living room of his apartment, absent-mindedly flipping through the channels.

He had just pulled the plug on his sister, 2 weeks ago. Sahana, who had met with an accident almost a year ago, was on life support for the longest time, till Ranveer had no choice but to pull the plug and bid goodbye to the only family he had left. Well, he still had his nephew, just more than a year old now - but Ranveer was currently fighting nasty battle for custody against his nephew's good-for-nothing, alcoholic father; Sahana's ex-husband. What were the chances that Ranveer got to win the case? He lost his mother five years ago, and then his sister...will life really give him his nephew, now?

"What a mess." The words were barely audible as Ranveer let out a humourless chuckle. "What a complete, sickening, mess..." He kept pressing the one button on the remote control repeatedly, as if it would reset his life, but of course it didn't. So the remote when crashing to the ground, in an expression of its owner's anger and desperation.

And then the complete mess of a birthday boy finally broke down, head bowed, crying and praying to anyone to give him one chance to fight back in life. To give him back his nephew.

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"Happy Birthday to you...happy birthday to you...happy birthday dear Mama...happy birthday to youuu..."

Ranveer grinned as 7 year old nephew walked in carrying their favourite chocolate cake, accompanied by his fiance , Priyanka Singh Oberoi.

"Make a wish Mama, quick!" Nav insisted as Ranveer leaned forward to blow the candles. Ranveer wanted to tell his beloved nephew that he needn't anything anymore - all he ever wanted was with him right then at the moment.

But...to amuse the young boy anyway, he closed his eyes and blew the candles, and then cut the cake. Ranveer fed the two most important people in his life (an extra mouthful for Nav, of course), and then began cutting the cake into a few slices for each of them.

"Mama...before I give you a present..." came the little boy's voice, and Ranveer turned to him.

Navdeep stood before him with a giant slice of cake on the plate that he was holding, looking as innocent as any other 7-year-old would be...

THWAP!

And the cake landed on Ranveer's face.

"Happy 33^rd Birthday, Mama," Nav giggled.

There was a moment of silence, and then Prinku practically fell apart laughing next to Ranveer, clutching her stomach. With that, Ranveer started chasing his darling nephew around the small apartment seeking revenge.

Hours later, Ranveer and Priyanka stepped out of Nav's room, having put him down for the night. It had been a full-out cake fight some time ago, and while the three parties involved in the said fight were somewhat clean now, the living room was still a mess.

"Wow," Prinku sighed, looking around. Every furniture had at least one spot of chocolate cream on it.

"Yeah...wow. Too much of cleaning to do..." Ranveer looked at the mess, and then at Prinku, and both of them grinned at each other.

Minutes later, with a cup of steaming chai each, the lazy souls took their seats instead of cleaning -- Ranveer on a clean spot of the couch, and Prinku on his lap, snuggled against him.

"How does it feel to be a year older, O Wise One? Hearing the cracks in your joints yet?" Prinku teased, and Ranveer playfully rolled his eyes.

"33 is barely considered old...I am in my prime," he countered.

"You could barely keep up with Nav in the football game you just played in his Xbox."

"Whatever."

Prinku giggled and placed a gentle kiss on his cheek. "Okay, okay," she chuckled. "What did you wish for before blowing the candles?" she asked instead.

"For your father to not glare at me every time I am in front of him. It used to be amusing, but now it's just uncomfortable. If he continues this, I will make sure we will give him so many grandchildren to babysit he won't even have the time to acknowledge me --"

"Ranveer!"

Ranveer smirked. "I wished for nothing. I have everything I ever need or want right now."

Priyanka smiled. "Well, then, here's to many more birthdays together," she quietly said, holding up her cup of chai.

Ranveer's eyes roamed the apartment one more time. A gentle, fond, yet almost sad smile graced his usually stoic face.

"And here's to the mess we make."

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A/N: Title (and concept, by extension) inspired from the song Audition (La La Land soundtrack). I apologise for any blatant errors you might spot -- I was running out of time but badly wanted to get a birthday shot up, heh. Hope you enjoy this!

Happy Birthday Ayush Anand!!

Originally posted by: emina

Loved the fic Twerps..👏👏

It is so much fun to imagine ACP as a little kid😆