Hihi! This is a story written for Namjoonie's birthday!! I'm sorry I haven't been posting recently cos I've currently run out of ideas... >~< I don't think this came out as well as I expected it to...

Quick Question: Have you participated in a spelling bee before? What was the most memorable word (haha just curious)? Mine was "Aadvark" cos I hadn't any idea what it was at the time and I was like "How can a word have two vowels consecutively"

Enjoy and happy birthday, Namjoonieee!

**********************************************************

Seokjin watches out of the corner of his eye as Namjoon seems to be writing down the words from his list of English words that Seokjin has no hope of understanding even from his limited knowledge. These words are really beyond him.

Meanwhile, Hoseok is laying on his stomach, resting his head on his propped up elbows, watching Namjoon study for the upcoming Spelling Bee. It's sort of the national competition, and even though Seokjin has told him many times that he's definitely going to score top, Namjoon doesn't believe him and continues studying, using the list of past-year words to aid him.

"What'cha doing, hyung?" Jimin asks, plopping himself on top of Namjoon as he walks into the room with crayon all over his face and clothes. Namjoon tries to shrug him off but Jimin clings to him like a koala.

"Jimin-ah, let Namjoon-ah study," Seokjin says, and Jimin pouts, reluctantly getting off Namjoon. "And Namjoon, you should be getting some rest."

"But it's tomorrow, hyung," Namjoon whines. "I gotta get the grand prize!"

Seokjin sighs as he watches Namjoon flip through the pages full of English words that he's never seen before. What in the world does "constellation" even mean?

"Remember to come down for dinner later, Namjoon."

"Okay, hyung." It doesn't even take a genius to hear that half-heartedness in his answer. Seokjin sighs as he leads Jimin out of the room, leaving Hoseok to crawl up to Yoongi's bed to bother him instead. Seokjin has to make dinner for the entire family again.

**************************************************************

As expected, Namjoon didn't come down for breakfast. There were only six members at the table that dinner.

"Where's Namjoonie-hyung?" Taehyung asks, and Seokjin mutters, "Studying."

"Even you don't study so hard, hyung," Hoseok comments, making Seokjin nearly spit out his drink.

"W-Well!" Seokjin wipes at the corners of his mouth with a tissue. "There's more to life than just studying."

"Like making good food?" Jungkook holds up his bowl for Seokjin to fill it up again. Seokjin takes Jungkook's bowl and helps him do just that.

"Like making good food," Seokjin nods.

********************************************************

Once Seokjin makes sure that Jungkook, Taehyung and Jimin are sound asleep, he approaches his own bedroom and finds Hoseok knocked out on Yoongi's bed, Yoongi's leg swung across his dongsaeng. Seokjin sighs, walking over to adjust the blanket and he finds Namjoon still reading on his bed.

"Hyung, can you get me the dictionary?" Namjoon points to his study table.

"Really? Namjoon-ah, you should sleep."

"But it's tomorrow, hyung!"

"No buts!" Seokjin says, snatching Namjoon's book from his hand and stuffing it back on the table, along with his dictionary. "You need a good rest so you can do well tomorrow."

Namjoon pouts as he lies back in bed, pulling his covers up to his chin. Seokjin chuckles a little. His dongsaengs can be a little feisty sometimes.

"Aish, sleep well, Namjoon-ah," Seokjin ruffles his hair gently when he hears Namjoon's slight snores almost immediately. He climbs up to his own bed and reads a fairy tale before dozing off to sleep.

**************************************************

"Hyuuuuuuung!"

Seokjin sighs as he stuffs Namjoon's birthday present back into the box. and he crashes the lid onto it before stashing it under his bed. "What?!"

"It's today! The spelling bee is today!" Namjoon jumps up and down. "And there's no breakfast on the table!"

Seokjin stares at Namjoon blankly until Namjoon realizes he's been speaking in English. He changes back to speaking Korean: "Ah, hyung! I need to leave and there's no breakfast and you said I can't touch anything in the kitchen besides the table."

"Oh," Seokjin rolls his eyes. He glances over at the clock. From what Seokjin can gather from Namjoon's papers all over his desk, the spelling bee won't begin for another hour, and from all the street directories he's been reading, it shouldn't take that long either to reach the venue. Plus, it's an open-to-all competition, so Namjoon will probably be the youngest there.

Seokjin sighs, heading out to make breakfast.

******************************************************************

"Hyung! Test me on these words!" Namjoon holds out the piece of paper to Yoongi, who stares at it. He understands not a single word on this piece of paper, but Namjoon's puppy eyes has him squinting at it and attempting to decipher it. 

"Hyung, there're Korean meanings at the side," Namjoon says.

"But I wouldn't even know if you're right," Yoongi pouts.

"Doesn't matter," Namjoon grins.

Yoongi stares at it again, before giving up in trying to read the English words and just gives Namjoon the Korean equivalent.

"Cord." (Yoongi)

"C-O-R-D." (Namjoon)

"Flabbergasted?"

"F-L-A-B-B-E-R-G-A-S-T-E-D."

"Philosophy."

"P-H-I-L-O-S-O-F-Y."

"That doesn't look right," Yoongi furrows his brows.

"Eh?" Namjoon snatches the paper back and looks at it. "Oh!" He claps his hands together, squeezing his eyes shut. "Ah, it's a P-H-Y."

Yoongi goes on to test him the rest of the words. Other than a mistake made in 'Psychologist', 'Procrastinate' and 'Anterior', Namjoon is good to go. He thanks Yoongi and rushes off to find someone else to bother. Yoongi closes his eyes as he sinks against the couch and listens to his music.

**********************************************************

"Hyung." 

"Jimin-ah, I'm busy," Namjoon says.

"But hyung, you haven't been playing with me or Jungkookie," Jimin pouts, walking over and throwing himself onto Namjoon. "You've been staring at those words since forever!" 

"Sorry, Jimin...I'll play with you all later, okay?"

Jimin pouts and stays there, clinging onto Namjoon. 

Well, Namjoon doesn't have to end up wondering why he ends up spending most of his time teaching Jimin new words that Jimin will probably never remember.

"This is 'contour'," Namjoon points out the word, and Jimin narrows his eyes, creases appearing on his forehead. "And this is 'mundane', which means boring." 

"Mundane Yoongi-hyung?" Jimin suggests, and Namjoon laughs.

**********************************************************

"Alright, let's go," Seokjin has to take Namjoon by the wrist and lead him out to the car, where Hobeom is waiting.

"I never thought you'd sign up for something like this," Hobeom chuckles as they get into the car. Namjoon is barely paying any of them any attention since he's so focused on reading whatever's on his list. Hobeom sighs, and Seokjin shakes his head as the seven of them head into the car.

When they reach the venue, Namjoon is the first to get off. He takes his eyes off the paper for once and looks around the area. He really is the youngest there thus far. Everyone else seem to be either teenagers or middle-aged working adults.

Namjoon doesn't let Seokjin go even once, his tiny fingers wrapping around Seokjin's wrist as he leads Namjoon through the crowd of people to the registration counter. After confirming Namjoon's registration, he's given a piece of paper with his number and is instructed to head over to his assigned seat later in the hall.

"Relax," Yoongi mutters as he wraps an arm around Namjoon's shoulders. The younger is almost shaking as he clutches Seokjin's wrist in a death grip.

When it's time to enter, Namjoon takes a few deep breaths as is ushered in by the people there. Jimin and Taehyung wave hearty goodbyes as Jungkook cheers his favourite hyung on. Seokjin is prepared to wait outside while Yoongi takes the others to find some food stalls around the area--they're having a food fair, with traditional Korean food being displayed out for public consumption--since Hoseok and Taehyung are complaining about being hungry.

Seokjin sits on the benches outside and waits.

************************************************************

Namjoon is nearly lulled to sleep as the monotonous female robotic voice finishes with the instructions. He looks at the series of twenty-five blanks on a piece of paper provided for him at his seat and a black pen.

"First word. Gourmet."

What? Oh, gourmet. Namjoon scribbles it down as the robotic voice repeats it.

"Second word. Palpitate."

Easy.

"Third word. Duress."

"Fourth word. Bailiff."

"Fifth word. Discombobulated."

Namjoon steals glances at the people beside him. They're obviously not performing as well as he is...probably. They're on the tip of their pens, gripping the pen so tightly between their fingers that Namjoon swears it's going to break. This is a national competition. He's just got to shake off his competitors.

"Sixth word. Underground."

"Seventh word. Occurrence."

"Eighth word. Analysis."

Is that A-N-A-L-A-S-Y-S? Or A-N-A...ah! Namjoon scribbles down "A-N-A-L-Y-S-I-S" and he waits for the next word. The breaks between the words are getting shorter and shorter.

"Ninth word. Dyke."

"Tenth word. Organization."

"Eleventh word. Armadillo."

Is there one or two 'L's in Armadillo? Namjoon starts grinidng his teeth as he forces his brain to think.

"Twelfth word. Reprimand."

"Thirteenth word. Geography."

"Fourteenth word. Functionality."

Namjoon isn't so sure anymore. Though he hasn't got a single blank on his paper yet. Well, he's got morals--he's not going to peek.

"Fifteenth word. Psyche."

"Sixteenth word. Undermine." 

"Seventeenth word. Brainwash."

So it's a "brain" plus a "wash"? Okay, Namjoon's got this.

"Eighteenth word. Thistle."

"Nineteenth word. Hippopotamus."

"Twentieth word. Acquaintance."

"A-Q-U-A-I-N-T-A-N-C-E," Namjoon spells under his breath.

"Twenty-first word. Theorem."

"Twenty-second word. Draconic." 

"Twenty-third word. Leukocytes."

Namjoon's read that a lot in his book regarding the human biological system. Totally in the Immune system section. He can barely contain his excitement as he writes down the spelling. "L-E-U-K-O-C-Y-T-E-S."

"Twenty-fourth word. Octopi."

"Twenty-fifth word. Philosophy."

Something clicks in Namjoon's brain. He remembers that word. Philosophy...Yoongi-hyung tested him earlier. P-H-I-L-O-S-O-F-Y? Is that how it went? Wait a minute...

"That doesn't look right."

No? Then what? Namjoon racks his brain as the participants are given several seconds to check their answers. Namjoon grabs his hair as he tries to recall. How do you spell Philosophy?

"Oh, it's a P-H-Y."

That's it! He grins as he pens down the last word just when the bell rings. Coordinators walk around to collect the papers as the participants leave. Namjoon pumps his fists in to the air, very sure he's going to ace it.

Namjoon emerges out of the hall to find Seokjin waving to him and Yoongi piggybacking a laughing Jimin. He quickly runs towards them, practically glowing.

"Hyung! Hyung! I think I'm going to get full marks for this!" Namjoon grins, eyes shining.

"Ah, I always knew my dongsaeng can do it!" Seokjin ruffles his hair as he brings out what he's holding behind his back. "And you forgot that today's your birthday, Namjoon-ah." He hands Namjoon the pink box, complete with a sparkly pink bow. Namjoon lifts the cover of the box and nearly screams as he sees what's inside.

The Ryan stuffed toy that he always wanted ever since he saw it on an online shopping website (that Seokjin was browsing through) and he had pestered Seokjin to get it for him ever since. 

He brings out the bear and hugs it tight.

"Happy birthday, Namjoon-ah. Let's wait for your results," Seokjin grins as Namjoon embraces him.

"Hyung, the results won't be out until a few days later," Namjoon laughs. "Then I'll see whether I can get into the Zonal round. This is the Preliminary round." 

"Oh," Seokjin nods, face turning red. "Anyways, I've cooked your favourite. Let's get home and eat lunch."

*****************************************************

"Namjoon-ah!" Seokjin lays out the mail on the dining table.

Namjoon rushes out eagerly, "Is it my results, hyung?" Namjoon has been waiting for it for a while now. In his hands is the Ryan stuffed toy that he had gotten from Seokjin. (Actually, Yoongi pooled in his money too to buy that thing)

"I don't know. It's for you, though," Seokjin hands Namjoon the letter, in which Namjoon takes it and runs up to his room, slamming the door and waking up Yoongi in the process.

With trembling fingers, Namjoon peels open the envelope and takes out the paper from within. He shrieks as he dashes out of the room, yelled at by an irritated Yoongi while he jumps around Seokjin cooking dinner. "HYUNG! I GOT IN! I GOT IN!"

"Well," Seokjin smiles, taking the letter from Namjoon's hand. "When is it?"

"A week later," Namjoon grins, his dimples showing.

"Congratulations," Seokjin laughs as he hands the letter back to Namjoon. "You're my dongsaeng! You're definitely smart!"

Namjoon can't stop squealing as he runs back to his room (and he even wakes up Hoseok while he's at it).

That night, they have a feast.