kicks ✓ || namgi || k.th

008: accent

chapter 8: accent
location: chandler, arizona, day 1

Yoongi felt tears spring to his eyes. This was embarrassing.

"Iced americano," he said again.

The barista was not having it. "I still can't understand you, man. If I can't understand you, then you can't order."

Yoongi looked down at his feet. It wasn't his fault that he sounded like an idiot every time he spoke English. He understood it when it was spoken just fine. And he had passed his TOEFL with flying colors.

But there were still sounds that were hard to make. He did his best. Most everybody understood. Except for apparently this barista.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, and then, in clear cut non-accented English: "He said he wants an iced Americano. How many times will you make him say it?"

Yoongi breathed a sigh of relief. As a chaebol heir, Namjoon had been fluent in English and many other languages his entire life. Go figure it would be him who came to the rescue.

Namjoon paid for the order while Yoongi and Hoseok waited for all of the iced drinks. The other boys were still in the van. Namjoon had made a minor mistake when getting the van: it didn't have a working air conditioner.

"We will get this fixed here, before we leave this town," he told the boys once they were back in the van.

Yoongi passed out the cold drinks. "Thank goodness," Seokjin said. "It's so hot in here!"

"That and I bet the radiator won't last forever in this weather," Taehyung stated.

"Anybody actually want to do anything here?" Yoongi bemoaned as he sipped from his iced americano.

"I want to see a cactus," Jungkook said. "I've never seen a cactus."

"Well, I think we can do that. I've got our hotel situated for the night." Namjoon looked back at Yoongi. "Hey, you."

It felt awkward to yell over everybody else. "Yeah, man?"

"Do you want to work on your English? It's okay if you don't -"

"My English is fine! That dude was just an asshole." Yoongi hid his face. He hated comparing himself to Namjoon. Namjoon was practically perfect. Yoongi was just a hot mess.

"Well, okay. But let me know if you do."

Yoongi's face burned up as the van drove down the road, toward the hotel. He would never be as perfect as his friend. But maybe being in his presence was close enough.