۶ৎ ׂ 𓈒 GET YOU — ZHAO YUFAN
۶ৎ ׂ 𓈒 Synopsis- You speak korean well enough to debut, but not well enough to feel fluent. James doesn't make it a big deal. He just stays close enough to make things easier. A word in Thai here a correction in Korean there, and suddenly nothing feels so overwhelming anymore.
۶ৎ ׂ 𓈒 Pairings- OT5 Cortis x 6th member!thai!fem reader
A/N This took me so long but im in a slump so i really hate it rahhh, but i had to post for yall. tysm so the person who requested this ik it took a while but ive been super busy and i did highkey change the plot alot but i still think its cute. ALSO JAMES BLONDE HAIR MEOWWW.
James speaking soft Thai video.
“When is the next promo?” you asked, layed across the hotel bed.
“Tomorrow,” James answered from the desk, barely looking away from his laptop.
“Nah, Tomorrow?” You asked, sitting up quickly.
“Yeah, tomorrow. I told you to write it in your calendar,” Juhoon said from the other bed, not even glancing up from his phone.
You’d been hanging out in their hotel room for most of the evening. It was bigger than your own room, and honestly, you preferred the company. The managers weren’t exactly thrilled about the only girl in the group spending so much time in the boys hotel rooms, which was stupid since you were all in the same group, but no one tried stopping you anyway.
“I don’t have a calendar,” you shrugged.
Juhoon snorted. “I’m not surprised. You’re so unorganised.”
You sighed dramatically, puffing your cheeks out.
James finally turned around in his chair to look at you.
“Why you so stressed about it?”
“I don’t know. My Korean gets really bad when I’m under pressure. In front of cameras it’s embarrassing, and I’m still learning.” You huffed, pulling a pillow into your lap.
“I can help you tomorrow if you forget something,” James said softly, giving you a reassuring nod.
“Translator,” he corrected, raising his eyebrows and pulling a weird face.
A smile slipped onto your face despite yourself.
“Ew,” Juhoon suddenly said.
He pointed between the two of you.
You never really understood what the others were always trying to imply whenever they teased you and James. To you, it was simple. He spoke Thai. You spoke Thai. He understood exactly how frustrating it was to stumble over Korean words in the middle of interviews and variety shows.
Of course you were close.
The others were reading too much into it.
"Why are you like this?” you asked Juhoon shaking your head in false dissapointment.
He shook his head dramatically. “I'm not like anything.”
James glanced between the two of you before turning back to his laptop, already looking fed up because he knew where this was going.
Juhoon pointed at him. “See? He knows what I’m talking about.”
“I promise he doesn't.” you sighed.
“The way he looks at you bro.”
James immediately groaned.
“Ha what?” you laughed in response to Juhoon.
“Jju you need to go to sleep you must be having hallucinations” James shot back.
Juhoon sat up straighter pointing at James. “He's defensive.”
You looked between them, completely lost.
“You guys are hella weird.”
“Says you,” Juhoon replied.
“But seriously. James is just trying to help.”
Juhoon gave you a look that screamed you can’t be this oblivious.
You rolled your eyes again and moved the pillow off your lap.
James let out a laugh from behind you.
“Are you both like actually stupid,” Juhoon answered immediately.
You sighed in annoyance while James just blocked out the conversation behind him.
“You’re like really annoying by the way.”
“You're in our room mind you.”
You huffed, your lips trilling in annoyance.
“I’m leaving anyway. Gonna sleep.”
Juhoon nodded slowly, closing his eyes as if he’d just won a debate you weren’t even having.
“Goodnight, Jju,” you said sarcastically, irritation still lingering in your voice.
You turned toward the door before glancing back at James.
“ราตรีสวัสดิ์,” you said, your tone noticeably gentler.
James looked up from his laptop and turned in his chair. Seeing you standing in the doorway, one hand already on the handle, a small smile spread across his face.
“ราตรีสวัสดิ์,” he replied.
His voice came out softer than it had been all evening.
The second the door clicked closed, you missed the look Juhoon sent James.
A long, exaggerated eye roll.
Makeup and hair didn’t take long, which was a relief.
The less time you had to sit around waiting, the less time you had to worry about accidentally messing up your wording or completely forgetting a phrase halfway through the interview.
You were scrolling through your phone when Martin, who was sitting in the chair beside you, suddenly looked up.
You already knew it was about to be some bullshit.
“What?” you finally sighed, looking up from your screen.
“Do you know where youre sitting for the interview?”
You shook your head, pressing your lips together.
“Nope I'm just gonna sit wherever they tell me to.”
“Bruh” He groaned throwing his head back dramatically, almost head butting the stylist.
“Why does it even matter??”
"Because I don't want you and James sat next to each other, flirting for the whole interview"
“You guys actually need to stop with that."
"Bro when you two stop, we will."
You sighed in annoyance "I just don't understand why you guys think that."
"Oh my god." He spoke covering his face with his hands, light enough to be sure he didn't ruin the makeup.
"You all sound like Saesangs."
Before he could argue back, a staff member appeared in the doorway.
“Everyone, we’re ready. Please come to the studio.”
You stood up, fixing your shirt as Martin and Sean followed beside you. The other members had been getting ready in a different room on the opposite side of the studio, so you joined the stream of staff heading toward the set.
The moment you stepped into the studio, your stomach tightened.
Rows of cameras were already pointed toward the chairs arranged under the bright lights.
You weren’t new to interviews. You’d done plenty before.
But Korean interviews always made your nerves ten times worse.
In English, you could speak easily, but in Korean, every sentence felt like a test.
You worried about your pronunciation.
You worried about using the wrong grammar.
You worried about accidentally saying something weird and not realising until everyone was staring at you.
The members slowly found their assigned seats while staff rushed around making last-minute adjustments.
You followed the others, trying to act normal as you could while you looked for your name on a seat.
Then your eyes landed on it.
And immediately you let out a sigh.
Because the seat next to yours belonged to James.
A small wave of relief washed over you before you could stop it.
At least if your brain completely stopped working, there’d be someone beside you who understood exactly what you were trying to say.
As you sat down, James glanced over.
“Are you nervous?” he spoke.
You nodded then tilted your head side to side.
“A little?” he repeated with a smile.
You scoffed. “That’s easy for you to say.”
He lowered his voice so only you could hear.
“If you get stuck, just look at me.”
“I bet you don’t even know what that means, bro.”
“Then I’ll just tell you the word that youre stuck on.”
That earned a genuine smile from you.
The tension in your shoulders eased slightly.
Just enough for you to breathe again as the staff began counting down until filming started.
“What’s good, I’m Martin.”
Introductions weren’t hard for you, you did them almost every day now, so it was easy.
“Today we are here with W Korea and we are going to be answering some of your guys’ questions,” Martin spoke confidently in Korean toward the camera.
A couple questions passed easily, mostly light ones, the group relaxing into it as the cameras rolled.
Then Keonho looked down at the next card.
“Ah, this next one is for Y/N.”
You straightened slightly in your seat and nodded.
“What is it like being the only girl member in a group full of boys?” he read out.
You smiled a little to yourself, already knowing this one would take a bit.
“Ahh, this is going to be a long answer.” You smiled.
A few of them laughed quietly.
You took a breath, thinking.
“Well at first it felt like I was not going to get along with them since they already knew each other for a while and I was a...”
You paused, the word disappearing from your mind mid-sentence.
Your brows furrowed slightly.
You glanced over at James.
“การตัดสินใจฉุกเฉิน?” you asked quietly turning to look at him.
“Last minute decision to join the group.” he told you gently, which didn’t go unnoticed by the members.
You pointed lightly at him.
“Yeah. A last-minute decision to join the group.”
A couple of the members hummed in agreement, already following your story.
“But honestly,” you continued, relaxing a bit more now, “it was harder in my head than in real life. I thought I was going to feel left out because they already had their own dynamic, but they actually made it really easy for me.”
“They help me a lot,” you added, smiling more softly now. “I learn a lot from them. So it didn’t take long for me to feel comfortable.”
Sean nodded. “She adjusted faster than we thought, honestly.”
“You were just loud and outgoing from day one,” Martin added.
“I have never been loud.”
“You were loud.” Juhoon agreed.
“The first day living in the dorms she started screaming because of a bug.” Martin added.
“You and James were screaming too bro. And it was a flying stinging bug.” You said matter of factly, like that made it any better.
Martin and Seonghyeon tried to hold in their laugh.
"ในภาษาเกาหลีมันคือ wasps" James told you, nodding his head like he was a teacher correcting a young student.
"Ohh sorry wasps" you nodded, before smiling at James thankfully.
You didn't see the looks the members were giving eachother beside you, which might've been for the best.
Keonho cleared his throat and smoothly moved to the next card before it could spiral.
“Who was the easiest member to warm up to?”
Martin immediately shifted in his seat, putting a hand on his chin dramatically.
“No it’s not,” Sean laughed.
“But for me, probably Keonho at first.”
“For me it was Seonghyeon and Martin.”
Martin immediately held his hand out for a dap up.
Keonho looked at it, then looked away.
The group laughed as Martin slowly lowered his hand.
“I think Martin was easy to talk to at first because he’s really like confident.”
The Woman behind the camera then looked down the line.
You thought for a moment.
“Probably James and Martin.”
Martin nodded immediately.
“And you, James?” the woman asked.
You smiled automatically.
The other members exchanged quick looks, though they were subtle enough to miss if someone wasn’t paying attention.
“Honestly, that surprised me at first.”
“When we all first met James he was really closed off, and then when Y/N joined he was more like weird”
"Thanks bro" James said in English, half sarcastically.
“Might be weird, but we real.”
Martin had already moved on to explaining, speaking quickly in Korean.
You caught bits and pieces of it, but not enough to fully understand.
Your eyes drifted to James.
A small smile appeared on his face.
"เขาบอกว่าเราเคยพูดคุยกันมากในอดีตและว่าฉันแปลก"
(He said we talked a lot, and that im weird.)
“Very detailed answer,” Sean said.
“He gave me the short version.”
“I bet he lied about what he said.”
Some of the camera crew laughed at the exchange.
After a couple more questions, the interview wrapped up.
Everyone thanked the crew, bowed to the staff, and made their way out of the building toward the waiting vans.
“Flying stinging bugs,” Martin mocked, trying, and failing, to keep a straight face.
“Bruh, shut up. I swear I'll beat your ass.”
The phrase had sounded perfectly reasonable in your head at the time.
Unfortunately, Korean didn’t work that way.
The members laughed while walking across the parking lot.
“Yah, Y/N,” Seonghyeon called. “Maybe you should get a Korean tutor.”
“It’s too late. She’s beyond help,” Martin added.
You smacked the back of his shoulder.
“James is basically my tutor anyway. I don’t need one.”
You laughed despite yourself.
The conversation died down as everyone climbed into the van.
Like usual, you ended up in the back next to James.
Most of the members immediately disappeared into their phones. A couple put headphones in. Someone near the front was already half asleep.
The van pulled away from the building.
For a few minutes, nobody really talked.
You stared out the window.
“ภาษาเกาหลีของฉันแย่ขนาดนั้นเลยเหรอ?”
(“Is my Korean actually that bad?”)
“ไม่หรอก เธอก็แค่ยังเรียนรู้อยู่”
(“No. You’re just still learning.”)
“ใช่ แต่มันน่าอายมากนะ เป็นสมาชิกคนเดียวในวงที่พูดเกาหลีไม่ได้สมบูรณ์”
(“Yeah, but it’s embarrassing being the only member in the group who doesn’t speak Korean perfectly.”)
James leaned back in his seat, absentmindedly spinning the bottle cap from his drink between his fingers.
His voice was quiet enough that it wouldn’t bother the others.
“แต่ลองคิดดูสิ ซองฮยอนกับคอนโฮก็ไม่ได้เก่งภาษาอังกฤษเหมือนเธอ”
(“But think about it. Seonghyeon and Keonho aren’t as good at English as you are.”)
“พวกเขาเก่งภาษาเกาหลี เพราะมันเป็นภาษาแม่ของพวกเขา”
(“They’re good at Korean because it’s their native language.”)
“เธอเก่งภาษาอังกฤษ เพราะมันเป็นหนึ่งในภาษาที่โตมากับมัน”
(“You’re good at English because it’s one of the languages you grew up with.”)
“ส่วนภาษาเกาหลี…เธอเพิ่งเรียนมัน”
(“As for Korean… you only started learning it recently.”)
Sometimes it was annoying how reasonable he was.
“เธอจำตอนที่ฉันเผลอพูดไทยกับผู้กำกับได้ไหม?”
(“Do you remember when I accidentally spoke Mandarin to a director?”)
You immediately looked at him.
A grin spread across his face.
You couldn’t help laughing.
The poor director had stared at him for almost ten seconds before realising James thought he was talking to someone else.
(“You looked so stupid.”)
James shook his head, smiling to himself.
For a moment, the conversation settled into a comfortable silence.
“จริง ๆ แล้ว ฉันคิดว่าภาษาเกาหลีของเธอดีขึ้นเยอะนะ”
(“Honestly, I think your Korean has improved a lot.”)
You glanced at him suspiciously.
He met your eyes for a second.
“ตอนแรกเธอถามคำแปลทุกห้านาที”
(“At first you were asking for translations every five minutes.”)
“ตอนนี้เหลือทุกสิบห้านาทีแล้ว”
(“Now it’s every fifteen minutes.”)
Then immediately shoved his shoulder.
James laughed, leaning away before you could hit him again.
For the first time since the interview, the knot of embarrassment in your chest loosened.
“แล้วทำไมฉันยังลืมคำศัพท์ตลอดเลย?”
(“Then why do I still forget words all the time?”)
“เพราะเธอแปลในหัวก่อนพูด”
(“Because you translate it in your head before you speak.”)
You frowned like he'd just spoken giberish.
James looked at you for a second.
Without thinking much about it, you held your hand out.
James took it and turned your palm up.
Using his finger, he traced a couple Korean syllables onto your skin.
You watched his finger move.
He tapped your palm twice.
Before he could, a voice came from the seat in front.
“What are you two doing?”
Martin was staring over the seat.
James didn’t even look at him.
Seonghyeon immediately leaned over too.
“Holding her hand like youre ina fucking K-drama dawg.”
James immediately let go of your hand.
“Yes, you literally are.”
“I was helping her with Korean”
“On her hand?” Juhoon asked from across the van.
“Still looks weird as fuck.”
“THANK YOU?” Martin repeated.
You were trying not to laugh now.
James leaned back in his seat with a sigh.
“You people are exhausting.”
A few chuckles went around the van before everyone slowly went back to whatever they were doing.
The moment the attention disappeared, you held your hand out again.
You wiggled your fingers impatiently.
A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
Shaking his head, he took your hand again.
This time, thankfully, Martin was too busy scrolling on his phone to notice.
