JAX ; broken english
summary ; you dont speak the same language as the rest of your friends in the digital circus. jax makes fun of you, but you don't really understand anything he says since he refuses to try and actually speak with you. then, you learn a bit of english to thank him for being an amazing friend, and something in him breaks
warnings ; language, bullying (no escape au / pomni is around much longer than in canon)
disclaimers ; i hc jax as blasian / sorta important, i wanted to give reader a definite language so i went with korean (google translated) but it is kinda important given backstories and shit, otherwise i would say imagine whatever language you want 😭 but truly if youd like to change anything while reading i wouldnt care less if its to make your reading experience better, i just wanted to make this have a little more edge i guess lol, inspired by @frickingnerd post of jax with a foreigner reader, so check her out!!
word count ; 2.1k
masterlist
The first question they all asked was how and why someone who didn't speak English got trapped here. The Amazing Digital Circus. You not speaking their language made them assume you didn't share a country, meaning whatever trapped them here was much larger than they'd previously suspected.
All they remembered was a headset, old 90's era computers, run down buildings and snippits of their outside lives, and they were trapped here, minds wiped, surrounded by neon colors and patterns and shapes that didn't mix well with their eyes. They'd all spoken English, every single one of them. Maybe some had spoken other languages, but they were all fluent in English. Kinger's raise of concern whilst hiding in his fort was what really ticked them off.
"How would they reach Korea? They should've destroyed it all... they were never even sold. How..."
If Kinger is genuinely concerned, they should be too.
Who, as a foreigner, would explore abandoned buildings? Who would buy VR headsets off sketchy Ebay profiles and think they'd be totally fine? They didn't think you were dumb. If so, they'd be hypocrites. But something was different when you showed up.
Caine was acting majorly different, like he was surprised and excited yet... expecting of the arrival of someone who didn't just speak English. But then he realized he wasn't programmed to or translated into Korean. He only had English, Spanish, and French under his bowtie. So, he let you run wild and free after giving up with the whole 'talking obnoxiously loud and using weird hang gestures to communicate' thing.
Zooble seemed stressed enough, like they were raising four kids and working three jobs. Gangle clearly just wanted to be quiet and left alone, but secretly started drawing you in private and trying to communicate. She asked a lot about Kpop stuff, life in Korea, how you lived, that kinda stuff. She's into anime, which is typically a Japanese thing, but, hey, maybe she wishes to expand her horizons when she escapes.
Kinger is an oddball, for sure, unless he's submerged in darkness. He lets you hide under his cape when adventures get scary and draws with you to communicate. Ragatha does that, too. She's so nice, but also, so awkward. It sorta hurts. She clearly wants to be your friend, but she struggles drawing what she wishes to speak to you about.
Pomni is like your number one defender. She can handle Jax, the asshole of the group. She's clever and cunning. She's found her ways, universal sign language, doodles, and teaching you basic English words, to communicate with you. She wants to know more. She wants to know everything. Maybe you know something she doesn't, something that could lead to an explanation... or even a way out.
She and Ragatha have both tried to weave you away from Jax.
Jax acts like your friend the way he does with Gangle. He belittles you, makes fun of you, straight-up talks shit to your face. But, you didn't pick up on most of it. You didn't speak the same language. He never went out of his way to actually try and communicate with you. You just saw him as the funny, tall, purple rabbit. He laughed a lot, and people laughed a lot when he was around, whether it was with him or at him.
If you had to pick a favorite of your new friends, it'd be Jax. He always made you laugh, even if you didn't understand half the words leaving his mouth. They'd work their way into your ears, and you'd hear some belittling, mean comment turn into a compliment, or a joke, sarcasm at best. You thought he genuinely liked you and saw you as a friend. He liked picking you up and throwing you around, whatever that meant. He protected you from ghosts that one time, he actually defended you against Caine when he made a weird comment about you... nevermind that.
Jax seemed like the ideal friend. You didn't pick up on the occasional glares and snarky remarks from others could've been them looking down on him. From what little conversation you could actually have, given Pomni and Ragatha were determined to help you learn English, you thought he was nice. That's where you went wrong, blindly trusting these people you were trapped in this Hell with. You were blindsided by a language barrier and your misunderstanding of social cues and body language.
But still, either way, you'd trust him with your deepest darkest secrets, trust in him to have your back, go to him when you needed a laugh. You're totally oblivious to the things he says about you, and as Pomni and Ragatha watch as you grow more attatched to him, their hearts pang.
They fear this is a canon event.
After months of learning bits and pieces of English from Pomni and Ragatha, you'd also gained the confidence to properly talk to Jax.
Now, he was sort of easing up on his acts of bullying with you. Your body language was changing, and he feared you were slowly starting to understand. Not because he fears the repercussions of his actions, but because he doesn't want you to hear what he's projecting onto you. His bullying and comments come from inside, he's very much aware, but hurting your oblivious self may be too much for him to handle. He can fight with Ragatha and Pomni all he wants, he'll be fine, but he can't imagine what it'd be like with you. For some reason, you're just a fraction's worth different.
All you wanted to do was to thank Jax for being an amazing friend to you. He's probably the most reliable person in this place, and that's saying something since Pomni and Ragatha are literally right there. He'd stick with you during adventures, he'd try his best to actually translate for you, given he spoke bits and pieces of Korean. He doesn't speak very well, but it's understandable enough.
Deep down, he wishes he'd actually listened to his dad more as a kid. He should've properly learned Korean. He only spoke in Korean with him at home, creating a barrier, a divide, that he never really healed from. God, why is his father always right? He didn't realize even if he had never planned on going to Korea or reconnecting with his father's estranged family, that learning the language could be important. Ever since the day you showed up, that thought had been boiling inside him. It angered him. He was angry at himself for being so stupid and selfish.
All this time, he could've been properly talking to you, even if he would end up insulting and belittling you. At least you wouldn't have felt so outside of everyone else. He understands not fitting in, but you're on another level. You can barely understand what anyone is saying to you, 24/7. You can't talk to anyone unless you're rambling, happy and aware that no one can take you seriously, and you can say whatever you want.
Jax would pick up on common words from time to time, but he'd typically ignore. What's he gonna do? He can't fix this mess. Plus, he's only ever picking up on filler words and things like 'clown', 'doll', 'fairy', 'food', 'sleep', and 'chess'. Pomni would constantly beg him to help in translation, but he never would, even in dire situations or any occasion where understanding each other would be actually important, like the Chinese Room.
You didn't think pressing either button would be a good idea because Caine never leaves, he's always watching and listening. He would notice when you all wound up in his office, looking for escape. But no, you had to fight about it before Jax pressed one of the buttons. You sort of wish you wound up in Shrimp Town.
That's when you sort of started realizing who Jax was. He acts before he thinks. He's slowly succumbing to insanity, to put it bluntly. But you're putting that on the backburner for now.
Caine had given you a break after a long and exhausting adventure, which could be correlated to medieval torture. Gangle and Zooble retreated to their rooms while Kinger hid in his fort. Ragatha and Pomni lay sprawled out across the colorful couches, honk-shoo'ing their way into dreamland.
You're all alone, just sitting out by the Digital Lake, feet just grazing the edge of the water. You're trying to find the words to say to then attempt to translate them, but you were sort of struggling. You're not good at feelings, and you're not good at English either.
"Jax."
He perks up. He nervously glances at you, then double takes, before properly looking over at you. The way you say him makes his stomach churn, but, like, in a good way. He's never heard you say it. You only call him '나른한 토 (naleunhan tokki)', lanky rabbit.
"말을 잘 못함 (mal-eul jal mosham)" you mutter.
He raises an eyebrow, half understanding what you said. You lead him here under the guise of needing to speak, and he's fearing he's about to be told off for all the pranks and the comments and the jokes. He thinks he's in trouble. A pit begins to grow in his stomach.
"Thanks you..." you speak, taking pauses every few syllables to try and remember how to pronounce certain sounds in different contexts, "For being friend. Jax so nice, awesome, funny... make me laugh, lots."
His ears begin to turn down as his pupils grow double in size.
"Like you." you softly, and very nervously, smile. "Good friend."
The pit in his stomach has swallowed him whole.
"Uhm..." muttering only a filler word takes the breath straight from his lungs. It's shaky and unsure, he doesn't know how to process this. "Uh..."
After everything, literally shoving you into dark, confined spaces, tossing you into scary situations, making fun of you, mocking you, you're thanking him for being your friend. Why are you so nice? Did you really never get it? Why are you being nice to him? Ragatha and Pomni constantly tried telling you to stay away from him. Why are you doing this?
"Of course, Y/n..." he nods, "I-" he cuts himself off right there when he looks up to see your smile. There's an uncharted wonder in those eyes of yours, and that smile makes him want to explore it. The way he says your name makes your heart flutter a bit.
Then it hits him.
He likes you.
And here he is, listening to you thank him while all this time, hes been straight up bullying you. And now, every thought he's ever had about you is running through his mind at a hundred miles an hour. His pupils start to fizz and swirl in a frenzy. You take notice, but you aren't sure of what to do.
What will happen when you truly understand English? You're gonna end up hating him for all the times hes fucked with you or made snarky jokes about you. You aren't gonna want to be his friend anymore, let alone date him. He can't have a second of grace. But in all honesty, he can admit, it's his fault. Maybe that's character development?
"괜찮으세요? (gwaenchanh-euseyo?)" you question, sliding your hand across the sand toward his.
He nods, understanding the phrase. "I'm... fine."
"Are... sure?"
He nods. "Yeah."
You hold up a thumbs up with a raised eyebrow to confirm, still unsure if he's really okay. His whole mood just seemed to shift.
"If I just listened to my dad," he exhales, "I could've been speaking to you this whole time."
"Dad... Korean?"
He nods. "Never wanted to learn... until now, when it's really important, I guess. I kinda hated him."
Your brows turn down. "What about..." you pause for a moment, struggling to think of the word, so, you give up and say it in Korean, hoping he'll still understand, "엄마? (eomma?)"
"She didn't speak Korean, not that well." he shrugs, "She's African-American."
"Oh..." you nod, "Sorry."
He shakes his head. "Don't be sorry." he mutters the next, "I should be sorry."
"Huh?" you ask, not picking up on what he said well.
He shakes his head and waves it off, returning to his normal sarcastic, dipshit-y manner. "Anyways. You wanna go harass Caine?"
You tilt your head to the side, unfamiliar with some of those words. He sighs, then grabs your hand. He wants to enjoy this while he has it before you actually realize how much of an asshole he's been to you all this time. You can semi-communicate now, that's all he needs.
He pulls you up off the sand, leading you toward the fairground. "Let's have some fun"
"Fun?"
"Like... I think it's..." he sharply exhales as he thinks, "재미있는 (jaemiissneun)"
"Oh. Yay!"