#i still feel like the language barrier was downplayed a lot in the manga

[flyingwargle]

iwaizumi stands in front of his mirror, phone in one hand, the other running through his hair. he has his notes open, english words typed across the screen. he knows what each word means, how they're spelled, how they sound. when it comes to speaking, however...

he takes a breath and stares at his reflection with the same intensity as preparing for a jump serve. with a quick glance at his phone, he quirks his lips into a smile and speaks in english. "hi, my name is iwaizumi haji- wait." he frowns. given name first. he tries again. "hi, my name is hajime iwaizumi. it's nice to meet you."

the words feel awkward on his tongue. his vowels are too exaggerated, words slurred together. he clears his throat. "hi." his voice rises in pitch. "my name is hajime. it's nice to meet you." ugh. it's obvious that english isn't his mother tongue, but he sounds like he's barely spoken it, which isn't wrong, but that's not the impression that he wants to give, especially in america.

iwaizumi falls onto his bed with a groan. going to school overseas remained a dream until he decided to make it a reality during his second year of high school. aside from classroom learning, he attended a weekly english class, but stopped to focus on volleyball after losing the inter-high prelims. now that their last chance has come and passed, it's about time that he picked up where he left off.

and damn does it sound like he lost all his progress from before.

his other skills are solid. listening - he's been watching american shows with subtitles since middle school. writing - he's been translating his homework as practice since the start of high school, along with the comics that he started reading. speaking, however, is a different beast because of how few opportunities he has to practice.

he scrolls through his notes, where he's saved other phrases that he'll need for university life. is this the right classroom? do you know where the washroom is? can you please repeat that? he even has volleyball-related terminology, just in case he decides to try out for the team.

but something tells him that he'll be busy enough, especially with the language barrirer.

his phone buzzes with notifications, but he dismisses them and stands back up. facing the mirror, he takes in a breath. "good afternoon." draw out the vowels longer. pronounce the Rs clearer. "nice weather today." he has no idea when he'll use that, but it's good to have, anyway. he scrolls to practice other phrases. "excuse me, do you know where this classroom is?"

his arm falls to his side as he stares at himself. heat rushes to his cheeks, and he grits his teeth, tosses his phone aside. he practically yells at his reflection. "hello! my name is hajime! i'm from japan! it's nice to meet you!"

that's when his bedroom door opens and a sing-song reply in english responds to him. "it's nice to meet you too!"

"jesus christ!" iwaizumi jumps, glaring at oikawa, who shows himself in. "how did you get in here?"

oikawa gives him a look. "i've had a key to your house since kindergarten. did all that english make you forget?"

"no, i...why are you here?"

"mattsun asked if we wanted to join him and makki for ramen. you didn't reply, so i came over to ask."

iwaizumi deflates, falling onto his bed. "no, thanks. my mom is making dinner."

oikawa sits beside him. "okay, i'll let him know we'll come next time."

"...what do you mean 'we'?"

"you clearly need me to help you practice your english! your accent is awful, iwa-chan."

he grits his teeth. while he'd score higher on written and listening tests, oikawa passed the oral exams with flying colors. "aren't you going to argentina? don't you need spanish instead?"

"english is the language of the world. i'll need it eventually." oikawa waves a flippant hand. "besides, how much spanish do you know? exactly." he smirks at iwaizumi's silence. "so, let's stick with english."

"okay." iwaizumi fiddles with the edge of his blanket, suddenly shy. they'd spoken in english to each other before, but there would always be a topic and vocabulary to use. the real world has no such parameters, no limits as to what can be said or how. "what...what should we talk about?"

"anything." oikawa shrugs. "just like how we always talk, but in english." he switches gears, as seamless as his tosses. "what's your mom making for dinner?"

"she's...making curry," iwaizumi answers slowly. he can envision all the words in his mind, knows how to arrange them into sentences, but when he speaks, they become wobbly, hesitant. "her vegetable curry is pretty good."

"i know, right? i love how it's both sweet and spicy. my mom would never put apples in her curry." oikawa falls onto the bed, and iwaizumi joins him, both of them staring at the ceiling. "do you think you'll play volleyball in america?"

"i want to, but don't know if i can."

"why not?"

he gestures at himself. "i'm not tall enough. the other guys will probably be better than me. i'll be busy trying to understand my homework."

"you understand more english than me. i think you'll be fine. you can tell them you were the ace in high school!"

“that isn’t a term americans know, idiot.”

“wow, you know how to swear?”

“you’d be surprised, shittykawa.”

“mean! iwa-chan, that’s mean!”

he chuckles. “i picked it up from all those shows we watched.”

“oh, yeah. i forgot about them.” oikawa has a smile on his face. “you wanted this for a long time, huh?”

“yeah. i guess i did.”

they keep the conversation going, all the way until iwaizumi’s mom returns home and shouts for him to help. “coming!” he calls back, jaw snapping shut when he realizes he said it in english. oikawa gives him a look as he remains still, shocked. “oh.”

“see?” oikawa prods him, switching back to japanese. “you’ll be fine. your accent is still terrible, though.”

“shut up.” iwaizumi shoves him before he rises to his feet. he catches his eye in the mirror, watches his friend grumble and stand behind him. oikawa looks up at his voice. “let’s do it again tomorrow?”

“sure. we can even rope in mattsun and makki.”

“they’re so bad at english.” iwaizumi chuckles, remembering how they complained about the exams last term. he pushes the door open, gestures for oikawa to follow. “thanks. for helping, i mean.”

“any time, iwa-chan.”