Title: Language Barrier
Summary: The Runaways try and learn some new languages. Team fluff.
Notes: Awful, ends weird, bad Japanese...Ugh. I'm sorry.
/:/:/
The first thing they do when they get to the LexCorp base where Lex Luther has brought them is sleep.
The second thing they do is use Lex's high-tech computers to download a language software. It's Virgil's idea, really. He seems to be the self-appointed leader, not that anyone really minds. Plus when he says the idea, Tye and Ed are all for it.
The boys had all wanted to learn a way to communicate with Sam at STAR, but with the hours of training and the fact that all the workers avoided them, they never had a chance.
Sam just nods and smiles like usual as they log onto one of the many computers they were given, but when she sees the site pop up and underneath the language course choice of 'Japanese' is the Japanese translation, she starts talking in excitedly.
Suddenly, Ed pulls her over to another computer and once again downloads the software, only this time in Japanese. Sam has to take over for him past the point of choosing Japanese as the main language, but she seems to understand what he wants and chooses English as the language to learn.
Virgil and Tye laugh, because obviously it makes sense for Sam to learn English, and why didn't they think of that?
And then they all sit there for the rest of the day, learning their respective languages, the three boys clustered around a computer and Asami on her own next to them.
/:/:/
After just that one day, they've gotten to the point where they can exchange pleasantries. At least, kind of. Sam will say 'Hello' to them and the boys will respond with what they assume, by the way Asami smiles, is badly accented Japanese.
It's become sort of a joke with the whole sumimasen thing, seeing as they all thought it meant 'Danger', when it really means 'Excuse Me'.
(Luckily the place that they're learning the languages from has a nifty little translator or else there would be no way they would be able to let Asami in on the joke.)
/:/:/
"There are so many damn ways to day hello!" Ed growls, and Tye and Virgil groan as a reply. Honestly, they thought when the site told them that 'Konnichiwa' meant hello, that was that. But there's a hello for the morning, afternoon, evening, meeting someone for the first time, the phone…
Sam, noticing the boy's frustration, taps Virgil on the shoulder and points to the computer, gaining all the boys attention. There, she had written, 'If Luther really wants us to do a team, maybe, we should learn directions?'
The boys look at each other. Smile. And then, together, respond with "Hai."
/:/:/
As the days go along, they try to use their newfound directions as often as possible. They'll be walking down a hallway and Virgil will point up and say "Ue" and Sam will respond with "Up". When they're eating, Ed will suddenly point to Sam, who is on his left, and say "Hirari", and Sam will smile and say "Left". They will be watching a movie and Tye will say "Tsudsukete" and Asmai will nod and say, "Together".
Of course, they're not without their slip ups. Ed will say "Tadashii" and Asami's eyebrows will furrow and she'll shake her head, saying "Tadashii na machigatta. Migi na teisei." And then they all rush to the computer room so Asami can explain to them the difference between tadashii and migi.
And Sam will have trouble with the fact that many words have two meanings, causing a long chat via translator.
/:/:/
Some days, Tye or Ed or Virgil will groan in frustration and yell some variation of, "How long is this going to take?"
And then they'll all stop and stare at the person who had the outburst, until Sam says, "No idea?", at which point they all laugh and get back to work.
/:/:/
Sumimasen: Excuse me.
Hai: Yes.
Ue: Up.
Hirari: Left.
Tsudsukete: Together.
Tadashii: Right. As in, you are right.
Migi: Right. As in, turn right.
Probably (definitely) not correct in word order, I just pieced together different words;
Tadashii na machigatta. Migi na teisei.: Right is wrong. Right is correct.