Title: Lexicon of two tongues
Author: naanima
Fandom: Dong Bang Shin Gi/동방신기/東方神起/Tohoshinki/and whatever other name you want to call them by.
Rating: Gen
Summary: Recently Changmin thinks more often in Japanese.
Author's Notes: All mistakes are mine, all praise should be directed to perseid who beta'd.



Lexicon of two tongues

Recently Changmin thinks more often in Japanese. He dreams in the foreign tongue, the sounds sharper and harsher. He writes lyrics in hiragana, katakana and snatches of kanji, and catches himself speaking in Japanese when he should have spoken in Korean.

The first time he slips into Japanese he doesn't realise it until the silence reaches him, his family looking at him with blank faces. He apologises for his mistake; his mother smiles quietly and moves on with the conversation, asking him whether he was hungry.

After, he takes more notice; he yells when he manages to clear a level in one of JunSu's game, proclaiming his victory loudly and christening himself 'Changmin-sama'. JunSu yells back about his prowess as the King of all video games, and challenges Changmin to a match of Epic Proportions. They slip in and out of Korean and Japanese amongst loud shouts of triumph and despair as their pixelated characters meets unfortunate ends.

He and YooChun scribble hiragana all over each other's compositions: corrections, congratulations and little put-downs, and write over each other's lyrics; half in hiragana, half in hangeul, and bits of hanja/kanji thrown into the mix. Later they read their scribbles aloud in Korean and Japanese, trying to remember the meanings they were aiming for. Half of the time they just make up new lyrics as their layers of characters becomes text of a long forgotten language.

JaeJoong slides into Kansai dialect in the middle of conversations with Changmin, trying out new words, manipulating his tongue until he can get the sounds just right. Changmin waits until JaeJoong finishes and then mercilessly correct JaeJoong's errors, praising himself as a genius and mocking JaeJoong's attempts at scholarly activities. It often dissolves into uncontrollable laughter and hands slapping against shoulders.

Changmin sometimes still forgets words in Korean and Japanese. The first time it happened, Changmin's mind went frighteningly blank, words, grammar, sentence structure escaping him like water through sieve. YunHo had sat next to him, quietly talking to him until the words flowed back into Changmin's mind, static to sounds then to individual words. Changmin still can't remember what language YunHo had been speaking in.

The first time he called them without saying hyung it was an accident; YooChun had smiled and then went off to laugh with JunSu about some new scheme the two were cooking up. JaeJoong had gone on a tangent about maturity and how it had to be the extra muscle training. JunSu had despaired at the lack of respect he was receiving before being dragged back by YooChun whispering into his ear. YunHo had stood by silently looking at all of them with some bemusement before attempting to restore order to their household.

After the second and the third time with no discernable response at the lack of hyung, Changmin stops saying it altogether, letting their names roll off his tongue, something that's not tied down to obligation or honour.

The five of them slips between two tongues with ease; sentences stringed along in a mix of Japanese and Korean, writings in a composition of different characters. They create a rhythm of their own, a private language that is sure and intimate.

- endo -

perseid, I had actually forgotten I wrote this until today. I am an idiot. The ending still sucks, but I am giving up on this one because I can't think of anything better.