❝Lost in Translation❞

pairing: Kris/Kyungsoo, hints of Luhan/Xiumin

requested by: PineappleBANA

rating: PG-13

word count: 4,027

Wufan had never wanted to live a life that, according to Zitao, was more like a shoujo manga than reality.

But, if it concerns Do Kyungsoo, he's willing to go through anything. Even becoming a bishie.

They first met when all twelve of them were brought into the same room by management and the news was first properly announced to them: they were going to debut as SM Entertainment’s new boy group. Wufan was relieved to see Yixing, Luhan, and Zitao in the crowd, the rest of them more strangers than anything else. The four glanced at one another and grinned as management continued to speak, talking about the trial period and how long they expected their training to take until they could properly debut.

However, Wufan found most of the words going in one ear and out the other as happiness swelled up inside of him. Sure, maybe being an idol had not exactly been his dream in the future, but he found that the more he spent time practicing, the more he wanted it. And now he wanted this more than ever, the anticipation swelling up inside of him and unwilling to stop.

When he glanced up from his feet, turning head to look once more as Yixing and maybe murmur some sort of congratulations to him, he found himself locking eyes with another occupant in the room. The boy was beautiful, with large, doe eyes and a mouth more full than his own, and his eyes only widened further when Wufan first turned to him. The smaller boy’s cheeks turned red and he immediately stared down at his feet though Wufan couldn’t help but continue to stare: the feeling of anticipation was still inside of him, yet another feeling had blossomed. One that far surpassed that anticipation. Wufan wasn’t quite sure what it was and couldn’t quite continue thinking about it because Luhan was elbowing him hard in the ribs.

The tall male finally jerked back into consciousness, quickly enough to catch management’s parting words:

“Be sure to talk properly amongst one another during this pre-debut period. There may be twelve of you but you need to be one. I know some of you don’t exactly speak the same language but don’t let that stop you from interacting.”

And then they bowed, the twelve of them bowing back, before leaving the room and the boys all alone. Though not ‘all alone’, Wufan supposed, considering that there were twelve of them. That was a large number and it was enough to make him wonder if they would be able to all get along.

But then he turned he turned his attention back to the doe-eyed male, who surprisingly was already looking at him, and knew that everything would be alright.

However, he soon grew to realize that everything wouldn’t be alright. He had forgotten one major complication that stood between properly talking to the doe-eyed male, who he later found out was named Do Kyungsoo: Wufan didn’t know Korean. And, of course, by some cruel twist of fate Kyungsoo only knew Korean.

When he informed Luhan about his dilemma, however, he only laughed. “So what are you going to do, Romeo?” he asked, chortles escaping him every now and then.

Wufan narrowed his eyes at him, frowning. “I don’t know,” he finally mumbled, staring at his intertwined fingers as if they would give him the answer he needed. “I like him, even without having properly talked to him. But when the other members talk to him, he just...lights up with laughter and has this heart-shaped smile that could reel anyone within a ten mile radius in.”

Luhan raised his eyebrows, whistling lowly. “You’ve got it bad, Duizhang,” he commented rather uselessly.

“Okay, would you stop with that nickname,” he growled. “I am not your leader. You’re older than me anyway, so they’ll probably pick either you or Minseok as the leader of the group.”

“Not true,” he pointed out. “My little Minseokkie looks like a cute baby and I’m no better, if I am to speak objectively. You’re the one with the scary eyebrows and y leader face, so you’re definitely a shoe in. Plus, you look way older than us anyway.”

Wufan's frown worsened, if that was even possible. “Stop talking,” he said through gritted teeth, before rolling his eyes. “And, while you're at it, would you stop terrorizing that poor guy? He gets so scared whenever you so much as breathe in his direction nowadays. I’m pretty sure he’s not that into you.”

“Uhm, you don’t know anything, okay?” Luhan said, smirk melting into a deep frown. Even though he did look happy-go-lucky most of the time, an angry Luhan was a fearsome sight to behold indeed. “So don’t into personal matters that don’t concern you.”

“Why don’t you follow your own advice then?”

“You’re the one who came to me, moping like some sort of ugly puppy,” Luhan rebutted.

The taller male sighed heavily at the remainder, head sinking into his hands. “So what should I do?” he asked, embarrassed to note that his voice bordered a rather childish whine.

Now, if Wufan's life was a movie and he was the main character, this would be the time for Luhan to give him some sort of sagely advice that he could use and woo Kyungsoo over. The time for Luhan to finally prove that he was more than just a useless flower boy of a side character and did have the intellect any other man his age would.

But his life wasn’t a movie, and so, Luhan simply shrugged his shoulders. “Learn sign language?” was his half-hearted answer.

Wufan knew he should’ve gone to Yixing for advice instead.

Surprisingly enough, Yixing turned out to be an even worse advice-giver, which was made absolutely no sense. Wufan had always regarded him as someone smart, someone who had a good head on his shoulders when it came to just about anything—especially matters of the heart.

Yixing, however, couldn’t even pay proper attention to him as Wufan informed him of his problem. Every five seconds the younger boy who blink, turn to him, and go, “Huh?” Wufan would try to explain again, only for Yixing to say, “Huh?” once more. It was no frustrating that the older male had to force himself not to wrap his large hands around his friend’s neck and just squeeze.

When he finally managed to pay attention, Wufan finally thought they were going somewhere, only for Yixing to shrug. “Words speak louder than actions,” he said in his most wise voice, before furrowing his eyebrows. “Uh, is that how that Western saying went? Or was it ‘actions speak louder than words’? That sounds about right. Yeah. Let’s go with that.”

After some deep thinking, Wufan found himself asking Zitao what to do. Although, Zitao just ended up gushing about how cute it was that Wufan had a crush and that they had some sort of a forbidden relationship considering that they were trainees, along with how heartbreaking it was that they didn’t speak the same language.

He really hadn’t heard much after that as, by that time, he had already begun slipping out the door as conspicuously as possible, and that had been the end of that. He was pretty sure, however, that Zitao had mentioned something that sounded weirdly close to the term ‘shoujo manga’.

Which meant that now, in an act of desperation, he would have to try and get help from a Korean member of the group. A feat that sounded impossible considering the fact that he did not know Korean. But the tall male was willing to do whatever it took, even if he had to seek help from someone who could not understand him and vice versa. Oh, the things love makes lovers do.

When Wufan had at first thought of perhaps approaching Jongin or Sehun concerning his unfortunate situation, his hopes were unfortunately deflated as it was obvious neither of them would help him. They were like overprotective little brothers, constantly around Kyungsoo and practically hissed at anyone who even thought of approaching the doe-eyed male who was oblivious to it all. Many times, Wufan’s attempts to talk with Kyungsoo were thwarted by either one or both of these two, meaning that while they were close to Kyungsoo, they definitely were not looking to aid him or anyone else in winning the boy’s heart.

And so, Wufan decided to go to the tall Korean boy who surprisingly managed to match him height-wise. He seemed rather cheerful and upbeat, was like this whenever the two of them were around one another, and it was obvious that they were becoming fast friends. Except for the fact that, well, the boy--named Chanyeol, he believed--seemed to have absolutely no common sense. He acted as if Wufan trying to communicate with him was a game of charades, watching him open-mouthed for a few seconds before jumping around in excitement as if he finally understood and sprouting off incomprehensible Korean words.

Thus, he went to Baekhyun, who often seemed caught up in his own thing but looked approachable enough. However, it turned out that his attention span was shockingly shorter than Yixing’s, which he had been sure was a feat that could not be reached. All Baekhyun did was stare boredly at him as he tried to use as simple Chinese words as he could, trying to explain to him his dilemma, before staring off into the distance with glazed eyes.

Next up was Joonmyun, who was a kind, charming man a year younger than himself. They hung around next to one another often when all twelve of them were together, watching silently as chaos unfo