[FANFIC] ChenLay - Language Barriers

May 10, 2012 23:45

LANGUAGE BARRIERS
PG
[EXO-M] CHEN/LAY
FLUFF, ROMANCE
~2800W


*

i.

His name is Kim Jongdae. Nineteen years old. He has a voice of an angel, his mother says, but he rather calls it 'singing capability that happens to be slightly above average'. Even so, Jongdae likes the idea of being a singer. Pouring out vocals for people to listen to sounds like an enjoyable occupation. So he makes it a dream, a secondhand dream alongside with his other dream of being an architect. He participates in the audition SM happens to be holding. He is quite pessimistic, frankly speaking, not really seeing himself being under the same company as amazing singers his mother has always adore. But the minute he begins to sing, the judges smile, they know, Jongdae has big potential in him, no, they see big talent in him. The judges glance at each other with knowing smiles because they are sure, Kim Jongdae is going to make it big.

(But no one said it would be easy.)

ii.

Jongdae enters the company doors in slight awe. The walls are covered with artists' posters, a wide screen playing the stars' latest videos, people bustling here and there, a few looking just as lost as Jongdae while others with more experience make their way to their own practice rooms. Jongdae blinks in confusion, not really knowing where to head. He contemplates on asking, but who--

A trainee accidentally bumps into him. "Ah, sorry!" The boy says, walking past Jongdae. Jongdae's eyes follow the boy's figure as he scurries into a big room where most of the trainees seem to head to. Letting out a deep breath, Jongdae goes into that room.

iii.

Jongdae meets Joonmyun--the boy that bumped into him before--and the older boy is very nice and… welcoming, in a way. They have the same vocal teacher and have the same schedule of vocal training and Jongdae is somewhat thankful of that because Jongdae is not really the best person in socializing and Joonmyun is obviously a lot expert at that. He always approaches Jongdae in practices, talks to him, jokes with him… Thanks to Joonmyun also, Jongdae manages to make a few other friends. There's Baekhyun, the ever so mischievous yet kind guy, he's the one who makes jokes about their vocal trainer's weird expressions, the one who steals borrows Joonmyun's clothes and don't return them until over two weeks, the one who will ramble all day and all night about the weirdest things but still manages to make whoever listens laughs along and at him. There's Kyungsoo, the also timid but full of expressions guy, he's the one whose eyes will widen rivaling the moon when he's surprised, the one whose eyebrows will furrow until they nearly connect when he doesn't get it, but he's also the one who always asks if Jongdae has eaten or yet let it be breakfast, lunch, supper, dinner and he's also the one who first fetches drinks or meals for Jongdae and everyone else.

Jongdae first thought that his trainee days will be tough, difficult, harsh, hard, but there are these very nice people, very nice friends, and he thinks maybe it wouldn't be so tough, difficult, harsh, or hard at all.

(…he should've known that he was wrong. So wrong.)

iv.

Jongdae's debut is settled, he's going to debut in a twelve membered boyband that's divided into two subgroups, Korean and Mandarin. He is called to a meeting room and he sees Joonmyun, Baekhyun, and Kyungsoo there and his inner self silently go ‘yay’ upon knowing that they will be in one group but the company decides that he will be in the mandarin sub-unit and Jongdae curses because he has no damn clue whatsoever about Mandarin.

v.

The company tells them to practice and get to know each other but Jongdae finds it hard to mingle with the M group: there's Minseok who's really nice and well, he's probably the only one Jongdae can talk to, there's Luhan who's the only Chinese that would at least try to converse with him but Jongdae is uncomfortable with him because Luhan is a bit too cheerful, a bit too childish, and a bit too mature at the same time; there's Yifan who's too awkward that he creeps Jongdae out so Jongdae would rather not talk to him; there's Zitao who's the youngest and he would rather shut his mouth tight because he is still way too shy to even say ‘hi’, and lastly there's Yixing who looks more amicable but he doesn't seem like he can speak Korean well.

Jongdae glances at the other group chatting happily and he dreads on what's to come.

vi.

They move to the dorm the next day, and they are set separately between M and K. The manager tells them to choose roommates, but Jongdae can't room with Minseok because he's Korean and Minseok's Korean, and they're going to debut in China where Korean is not used, so they have to room with the Chinese members to get used to Mandarin. Minseok has called dibs on Luhan, and Jongdae silently scowls because despite everything Luhan is, Jongdae would prefer to room with Luhan than any of the others. He is grateful that Yifan chooses to room together with Luhan and Minseok in the three-bed bunk room, because really, Yifan is the last person he would want to be roommates with. He is left with Zitao and... that other boy (…what was his name again?), but Zitao is as quiet as Jongdae and rooming together will do no good to his Chinese studies so he chooses the boy-whose-name-I-forgot, declaring so as he places a hand the other boy's arm. The manager glances at the older one out of the two who merely shrugs in response, not the least bit against the decision. They share a room since.

vii.

His name is Zhang Yixing, Jongdae tells himself to remember, and Jongdae half regrets because it turns out Yixing isn't too verbal either. Jongdae learns Chinese and often fills their shared room with the echoes of his tongue-tied Chinese and sometimes Yixing watches and listens but they never talk about it to each other. Jongdae never dares to ask for help and Yixing never offers help either.

A week of sharing a room passes.

viii.

"Hyung." Jongdae calls. The elder boy who is none other than his roommate is still immersed in dancing in the tiny space that is left between the door and their beds. He seems to not notice Jongdae calling him.

Jongdae sighs. Forget that the most they have talked to each other is 'hi' and 'bye' and 'good night', he really needs the elder's help in this Chinese work he is stuck with.

"Yixing." He calls again, and the said boy glances at him, giving him a look that appears to be slightly offended. Jongdae purses his lips, they have been roommates for a while but it doesn't give him the right to call him so informally. He vaguely remembers the Chinese he studied in the first chapter in the book (he is up to the third chapter, but it doesn’t mean he's a total master of the first two), and vaguely remembers that there is an equivalent to 'hyung' in Chinese. He goes through the folders in his head, unaware that Yixing has turned off the music and is swallowing down a few gulps of water, when the lightbulb above Jongdae’s head finally flicks alive.

"Yixing ge."

Yixing flips to the source of the sound, he seems surprised and Jongdae's heart sinks a bit, thinking he might have said the wrong thing judging by the other's expression. But Yixing approaches him as he wipes the beads of sweat off his arm and neck with a towel. He sits by the end of Jongdae's bed and pulls his lips into a slightly curved line, letting out thick Chinese accent flaw his Korean.

"Ne, Zhong Da?"

ix.

They are in the practice room, their choreographer telling them to rest awhile while he talks to their producer about things they are yet to understand. Jongdae stares into blank space, Chinese chattering entering his left ear and exiting through the right, he still isn't used to it all and he still has no clue how to express his inner thoughts in Chinese besides 'wo shi Jongdae' and that line is useless because they all know each other's names.

"Jongdae-ah."

He snaps back to reality when Minseok waves his hand in front of him and Luhan is looking at him worriedly despite the stifled smile he has. Jongdae blinks.

"Were you listening?" Luhan asks (in that damn perfect Korean), but Jongdae blinks again before Minseok breaks into laughter and Luhan hides his behind his hand. He gazes in confusion at them and shifts his gaze at Yixing, silently pleading with his eyes to tell him what the hell is going on. Yixing returns the gaze and pats his hand comfortingly.

"It was nothing." Yixing says in accented Korean, squeezing Jongdae's sweaty fingers. "Just a joke Yifan said. It wasn't that funny anyway."

Jongdae isn't convinced that it was nothing.

(…and since when does Yifan crack jokes?)

x.

"Yixing ge."

"Hmm?"

"How do you say 'what do you think' in Chinese?" Jongdae pronounces every word clearly so Yixing who understand less Korean can understand him and catch what he means. Sadly, the elder isn't as nice as he is when he utters a few Chinese words in his usual speed. Jongdae sighs in exasperation.

"...What?"

"It's in the book, Zhong Da. Study harder."

Jongdae scowls. He should have known.

xi.

Jongdae--no, he is Chen now, and Yixing is Lay now, and the manager tells them to get used to their new names, because it would be useless to give them stage names if they don't intend to call each other by so, so Chen has to call his roommate Lay and Lay will call him Chen, as awkward as it is. Chen has gotten so used to calling Lay 'Yixing ge', he often let it slip before covering his mouth then calling him Lay. Luhan laughs at his mistakes sometimes but pats him on the shoulder and tells him it will need some time, don't worry. Chen nods, but he thinks it's unfair that he needs time but Lay only took barely a few hours to get accustomed to calling him Chen.

xii.

Chen wakes up in the middle of the night sometimes, at other times he doesn't sleep at all even, just stares at the ceiling, counting the days until they officially debut. He often hears Lay talk, at first he thought to him, but later learns he is sleeptalking. Sometimes (most of the time) he thinks he hears his name coming from Yixing’s soft murmurs in his slumber, but most of the time he shrugs it off and closes his eyes, trying to get some sleep he desperately needs. He isn't sure but surely there are many Chinese words with 'zhong' or 'da' or 'chen' that can form a sentence together, right?

...Right?

xiii.

Chen is practicing random notes, experimenting with his singing abilities, when Lay enters their shared room. The younger ignores his presence and sprawls on his bed, humming the same notes just softer because he fears he will disturb Lay or something. He closes his eyes, unconsciously singing the melody to the song he has just finished recording with Luhan yesterday. Feeling a figure looming over him, he shot his eyes open, coming face to face to Lay.

"Lay ge." He says, no, more like he questions, and the elder says a few words in Chinese quickly but with a certain softness and a small playful grin because he knows well Chen has no clue what the hell he just said.

"Ge ge." He warns, and Lay only pokes his cheek in response. Chen swats his finger away. Lay smiles.

"Keep up the good work, Chen. Jia you."

xiv.

Chen wants to give up sometimes. His group is about to debut but he is nowhere close to mastering Chinese. He often thinks that Chinese is too hard, Chinese is too difficult, Chinese is too complicated, and Chinese was certainly not he had in mind when he decided to be a singer. He often has an urge to go to their manager to demand him to be transferred to K, and let Baekhyun or Kyungsoo--no, D.O replace him or something, because he can't keep up with all this Chinese shit.

But then he sees Luhan laughing his head off to something Lay has said, even the quiet Tao giggles along and the composed Kris can't help the grin from spreading across his face. He watches Lay utter another line in Chinese and Luhan is slapping him, telling him to stop before he dies from too much laughter. Chen watches and he realizes again why he needs to learn Chinese.

He needs to understand.

He wants to understand.

(He wants to understand Lay.)

xv.

Chen is on his bed, leaning against the wall as he scribbles some Chinese characters on his notebook that is placed on his lap. Their debut is undoubtedly near, if the recordings and filming is any clue. Kai is probably off filming his tenth teaser or something, but he is in his room, trying to memorize all these characters before he runs out of time.

The door opens, and he glances to it, not at all surprised to see Lay shuffling in, looking tired as ever. He must have finished practicing the dance routine their choreographer asked him to master for his upcoming teaser (Sometimes Chen thinks it's unfair that Lay gets a teaser but he didn't and he only gets a three-second appearance at SM Orchestra while their Chinese tutor drowns him with more work). Chen's eyes follow Lay's figure as the elder collapses on his bed, grumbling a string of words muffled by the pillow. He remains staring at the elder's back, his stare lingers until the other boy turns his head to the other side, locking their gazes for a brief millisecond before Chen not so casually turns the other way, returning to the funny scribbles that are his failed attempt at writing Chinese. Chen misses that smile on Lay's face, and he makes a second attempt at writing another character when he feels sudden weight on his bed.

"Move." Lay says in better Korean and Chen shifts a little, giving space to the other although he refuses to look at him directly. Lay slumps on the bed, his breath tickles Chen's side slightly, his arm rests against Chen's thighs and he mutters a line in slurred Chinese, but this time, Chen catches it. This time, Chen catches every single word Lay says before the elder falls into deep sleep. He activates that mini Google translate in his head, flipping through the imperfect dictionary in his brain, translating word by word before assembling them into a full sentence he then construes.

Chen stares wide-eyed at his roommate, because finally, he understands. He understands but he chooses not to believe his ears because Lay did not just say what he thinks he (he wants to) hear.

You're so warm, Jongdae. I love you.

*

a/n: First EXO fic! And ChenLay is my OTP~ no matter how much they're unloved... sobs
Uhh, this is not my usual writing style so I apologize for any mistakes. I'm still experimenting with this style... I'll write a proper ChenLay with my normal writing style soon.
Oh, for those who don't know, "jia you" is basically similar to "hwaiting" in Korean.
Uhm. Constructive criticism is welcomed. But please be gentle, I only got to know EXO just recently and I'm not exactly sure about their characters .____.
Nonetheless, hope you enjoyed! Please comment and tell me how I did! Thanks!!!!

love,

me ♥

pairing: chenlay, fanfic, fandom: exo, genre: fluff

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