The City of Lovers
the city of lovers
dbsk/snsd - changmin/yoona - g
6620w~
in the city of lovers is where it all begins
a/n: dedicated to douc and aoza, who both have kind of hooked me on a pairing that i never thought i'd ship in my life. they are perfect, in their own behind-the-scenes kind of way. excuse the mess, though, it's my first time writing a one-shot that revolves solely around the two.
Yoona takes her first step off of the airplane - the air conditioned, serviced, private jet that SM seems to only reserve for things they deem 'important' - and she feels like she has stepped into a different world.
Maybe she has, she doesn't really know, but France is truly the country of desire, because the air is warm and the wind is cool and she could just stay here for the rest of her life. The remaining girls file out, one by one, Tiffany in the front and Seohyun at the back, followed by the rest of the groups, and Yoona lets them all pass her as she enjoys the outside air.
He is the last one to step off of the plan, his hat almost riding the wind as he attempts to keep it atop his head. "Yoona," he says, and she turns around, squinting at him though the bright sunlight.
"Changmin." He smiles at her, and she doesn't really remember when they were as close to becoming more than just artists who work together, occasionally engaging in small talk when Kyuhyun is in the middle. But she smiles back anyways, and then walks ahead to go join Seohyun and Yuri and Donghae in this really awkward line that she manages to squeeze herself into.
Yoona doesn't realize it then, but France is the country of beauty and Paris is the city of lovers - she already knows one, and that leaves the other, and Yoona doesn't realize it then, but it ends up being in front of her all along.
DAY ONE
It is Leeteuk’s idea to go touring, and it is Eunhyuk who goes by everyone’s hotel room, banging on the door and demanding that they wake up before the managers catch them sneaking out. Yoona remembers the look on Seohyun’s face after hearing that, but she is too busy getting ready to remind her that they aren’t breaking the law, just having a bit of fun.
All nine girls head out, and are the third to join, following the Super Junior members and a tired Boa. SHINee is next on the list, and after them comes f(x). Yunho and Changmin are the last two make it down the stairs, Yunho looking dead-tired and Changmin nonchalant, as always. Yoona smirks to herself and wonders if any thoughts ever go around in that big head of his, but then Sulli pulls her from the back and tells her they need to get a good spot at the front.
The day goes by too quickly for her to really enjoy, a quick breakfast at a corner café, Yunho ordering for a group of 32 that could eat for 64, and shopping at malls and tourist shops and amusement parks and all the things she could do in Korea except in France, where it is warm and bright and fresh in the air. She remembers early in the day, a group of little kids playing at the park, all of them holding colorful balloons. There is a squeal, and all the balloons are released - it is a sight to see if one were there, and Yoona recalls watching in awe like she’s never seen something like it before.
Her arm brushes Changmin’s, who is suddenly next to her, and even though she is looking at him, he is looking at the sky with the same expression she held seconds before. The rest of the group passes them, but Yoona only really remembers the sky, and the colors, and Changmin next to her, like even if they have never spoken before, it is a simple bond anyways.
Yoona doesn’t really know how all of them manage to stay awake for the late dinner that night, except for maybe Sunny’s overexcitement about everything that is able to move, and Yesung’s strange comments that leave every one of them a bit puzzled as to how he managed to ever stay out of a mental ward.
Heechul has contacts in France, and they end up eating at some five-star restaurant in the dead middle of Paris, between the bustling streets and the shining lights and the musicians playing at the sides of the street, Yoona’s personal favorite.
Dinner comes around and their group takes up around half of the restaurant, yet Yoona still somehow manages to be squeezed in between the two people that she really believes should never, ever be put together ever in their lives.
Changmin seems to be perfectly fine with the arrangement, as does Kyuhyun. They squeeze next to her and high-five each other, Changmin with this stupid smile on his face and Kyuhyun with the evilest look one could possess in his eyes. She doesn’t even bother making eye contact with either of them before yelling across the room, “Victoria, wouldn’t you love to trade spots?”
Victoria, in the middle of Taeyeon and Amber, snorts like it is the most obvious answer ever.
The meal ends up stretching a lot longer than necessary, because the simple dish she orders is taken every single time by Kyuhyun and Changmin’s battling forks. By the third order, she decides she isn’t really hungry and just watches as they eat her meal. It’s kind of funny - but mostly really annoying - that both of their dishes go untouched.
They leave the restaurant, and Yoona watches as Kyuhyun links arms with Seohyun. She scoffs, and almost gasps (mostly to herself) when her own arm is taken. Changmin laughs, “I’m not that scary, am I?”, and she rolls her eyes.
“What are you doing, anyways?” Yoona doesn’t bother pulling her arm away, because Changmin is much stronger, and he knows that and she knows that and everything with him is just a useless attempt at nothing.
“Just strolling along,” he replies. “And you?”
Yoona snorts and rolls her eyes, but they both notice the smile at the corner of her lips.
“Shouldn’t you be making fun of Kyuhyun?” she asks. “He seems to be enjoying himself with Seohyun a little too much.”
“Aw, look at protective unnie over here.”
“Shut up, I’m not protective,” she retorts. He scoffs - sure, yoona, sure you aren’t - and they continue walking ahead. It is quiet between the two of them for a minute, but the rest of the chattering ends up drowning the thoughts out of her head. Yoona chuckles at the conversation Krystal and Onew are having ahead of them, something about switching groups.
“What?”
Yoona shakes her head and lets out a deep breath. “Nothing.”
She feels Changmin’s arm tighten around her, and suddenly she is being pulled ahead so they are walking next to the awkward Kyuhyun and Seohyun. She notices a blushing Seohyun look over at Yoona in confusion, and she shrugs, because neither of them really knows how Changmin joined her in the first place. “I think we’ve gotten too close,” Yoona tells Changmin, trying to bring her arm back.
Kyuhyun snorts and glances at Yoona like she’s a child. “Better get used to it,” he tells her. “He’s not planning on leaving anytime soon.”
It ends up being true, because Changmin never leaves her side that night, his arm linked through hers, unconsciously warming her up in the breezy Paris night. They don’t really talk, but sometimes Changmin will laugh and point to some sign that neither of them can understand, and Yoona will laugh, and then they will both laugh even though nothing is really funny except the stupid looks on their faces, and how all of this is could just be in a dream that never really happened anyways.
DAY TWO
Yoona is woken up at six in the morning the day after. Seohyun shakes her slightly, whispering that if she doesn’t get up then, she’ll be sure to hear the wrath of tiffany. Yoona hears Tiffany yelling at Sooyoung - and no one yells at Sooyoung - and shoots up out of the bed, scrambling to the bathroom before she becomes the next target.
It turns out to also be the day before their first performance, which none of them except Onew really knew. No one yells at Onew, either, albeit for completely different reasons.
SNSD is the fifth to rehearse, after f(x) and before Super Junior. Their stage set-up takes over an hour on its own, and Yoona watches from the side as the Girl's Generation posters are rolled down to cover the walls of the stadium. The Boys blasts through the speakers - the managers seem to think that playing music as loudly as possibly will cover up for the fact that they've been dragged out of bed so early - and she sees Heechul and Key engage in a battle of SNSD's Newest Member. She laughs to herself, when someone bumps shoulders with her.
"Hey." Yoona turns around, only to see Changmin with a stupid grin on his face. His greeting is too casual, but there's nothing really formal about her messy hair and his sweaty clothes and their tired bodies, so she smiles back at him.
"What's up?"
It goes about almost like they aren't right there rehearsing the same concert when he says, "Me and Yunho just finished going over our performance songs."
"You guys haven't rehearsed yet?" The music cuts off, suddenly, replaced with Mr. Boogie, and they both turn around to see the sound system workers scramble to fix whatever went wrong.
Changmin turns back to her and shakes his head in mock disappointment. "If you'd been paying attention, Yoona, you would know."
She scoffs, raising her eyebrow. "I'm sorry to inform you that I haven't exactly been awake this whole time," she tells him. He laughs and crosses his arms, leaning back against a wall as they turn to watch the rest of the set-up. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon look like they’re wrestling, and Yoona is kind of afraid that they are going to fall off of the stage, but only kind of, because Tiffany seems to be moderating them on her own. It feels too warm inside of the stadium, and she really just wants to run outside and enjoy the fresh air. Yoona sighs to herself, leaning back next to Changmin.
“Don’t you just want to run away?” she asks, suddenly.
He snorts. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Because, it’s so pretty outside. I don’t want to be trapped in an arena trying to rehearse while the rest of the world is enjoying the city.”
Changmin looks at her, a confused expression written all over his face. “What are you even talking about?”
“This is my first time performing in Europe,” she mumbles, closing her eyes, “and I just want to enjoy it before I do my job. Did you know France is the country of beauty?” Yoona opens her eyes and sighs, shaking her head. “Then why am I not allowed to experience it?”
It is silent for a minute, and Yoona is afraid that she’s suddenly made it really awkward, but then Changmin starts laughing, so hard that he’s clutching his stomach. She hears a snort slip through the laughs and turns to him in fury. “What are you laughing at?”
“Your face,” he chokes out, pointing at her. “Who knew you could be so serious?”
Yoona lets out a frustrated groan and refrains herself from kicking him. “Why do I talk to you anyways?”
He sighs and pretends to wipe a tear from his eye. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
“I don’t know either - hold up,” she says, interrupting herself. “Isn’t it you that always to me? I don’t think I’ve ever started a conversation, actu-”
Changmin looks like he is about to protest, but then Yunho comes out from the corner and notices the two looking at each other in disgust, and sighs. “Changmin, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” he says as he pulls him off, and Yoona wants to ask him the same thing before he is dragged away.
When Changmin is finally gone, Yoona sighs to herself and wonders why she lets him talk to her, anyways. It’s not like he’s that amazing. He’s just… Changmin.
DAY THREE
It is the day of their first performance, yet for some reason, Yoona is not scared. She feels like the concert will go well, for all of them if not just herself.
The announcer’s voice booms through the auditorium, and she wonders whether she could try it out one time. She laughs to herself - nah, that would never happen. Her voice is too squeaky for that.
Yoona opens the door from their dressing room and rams straight into Changmin, who makes a pained noise. “Jeez, Yoona, where the hell do you work out? You, like, broke my abs.”
“You’re nonexistent ones?” she mumbles, still smiling.
He shoots her a dirty look, scowling when he notices the expression on her face. “What are you laughing at?”
She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms, ignoring the looks the staff members give them as they walk past. “Not you, that’s for sure.” Changmin stares at her for a second, and then snorts, almost as if he can’t believe that Im Yoona really talks like she does. He ends up laughing, and she kind of smiles to herself, and they walk together backstage to listen to Boa perform a song that Changmin knows the lyrics too and Yoona doesn’t, so she ends up awkwardly watching as he does strange dance moves that only look right on females and their back-up dancers, not awkward male idols.
“Are you not nervous?” she asks, as he trips over his own feet.
Changmin looks up at her in the middle of a spin, catching himself before he falls over. “No, why would I be? It’s just a performance.” Yoona shrugs, and rolls her eyes when he grins at her. “You’re scared, aren’t you?”
She scoffs, crossing her arms as he stares at her with this stupid grin on his face. “Of course I’m not scared, you idiot. It was just a question.”
“Sure it was, Yoona. Sure.”
“Why are you always doubting me?” she whines. The music cuts off, and Boa yells through the microphone her speech she had recited to the group the night before about France. Changmin laughs, punching her in the arm.
“I’m just kidding,” he tells her. “Don’t be a baby.”
“I’m not a baby, jerk.”
“Sure you aren’t, Yoona.”
“Changmin!”
He throws his head back and bursts into this loud laughter that would be heard through the entire stadium if Boa didn’t have such a loud, echoing voice on her own. Yoona whines and wonders why she’s spent the two days with someone who makes so much fun of her, anyways. “I’m kidding,” he finally gets out after he stops laughing, even though she can still see the turn at the corner of his lips. “And if you ever do end up feeling those ‘pre-stage chills’-” Yoona shudders at that, because they all know that feeling, “I’ll be in the dressing room.”
Changmin winks at her before strutting off, humming Hurricane Venus under his breath. Yoona mutters under her breath and smiles to herself, before Yuri pulls her off the stage and tells her they need to be practicing.
DAY FOUR
Yoona finds herself unable to sleep the night before their second performance, so she ends up waking that morning at six, looking for the only floor café that is open at the time. It, coincidentally, is on the floor right above hers, where the recreation center is.
She takes the stairs, wondering if maybe she’s hit that point in her life where insomnia takes over. Yoona snorts, shrugs off the thought. She isn’t that old, if anything.
The café is warm and dim, and there is only one worker, an older woman that is reading a book next to the window. Yoona quietly approaches her and scans the menu for a second, even though she already knows what she’s going to (what she’s allowed to) order. “Can I have…” she begins, and then realizes this is Paris and not Korea and the lady in front of her is European and not Korean. Yoona smiles, and then starts again, hoping she doesn’t sound like one of those awkward foreigners that is only coming to France to make a fortune.
The lady is sympathetic, pointing out all the foods before putting in the order. Yoona smiles at her and makes sure to pay in cash, leaving a generous amount in the tip box.
The food comes only ten minutes later, and she can see the steam rising in little clouds. It smells delicious, she thinks. The lady working smiles at her, when the elevator door rings and they both turn around to see a confused man glancing around the area. Yoona scoffs when she realizes who it is.
“Are you following me around or something?”
He turns around, and her guess is correct, because Changmin gives her this stupid grin and bounces over to where she is. He takes a seat - she doesn’t remind him that he was never invited to join her - and takes a sip of her coffee. “What are you doing up so early?”
“I could ask you the same,” Yoona retorts. He raises his eyebrow, and she twirls her eggs around the fork in her hand. “But, I couldn’t sleep. And you?”
“I was going to work out. You know, keep in shape,” he says, flexing.
Yoona snorts and snatches her coffee back from him, forgetting to wipe the straw before taking a sip. “Stop trying to convince yourself.”
He laughs, grabbing the plastic cup from her hands. “This is really good. What flavor is this?”
“Not yours,” she mutters, motioning for it. He pulls back out of her reach and pops off the lid, chugging it down. “Changmin!” She lunges for it, almost toppling over him, when they hear the older woman cough. They both look over, and Yoona glances down, sitting back in her seat.
“You’re gonna get us in trouble,” Changmin scolds mockingly.
She makes a face at him. “I’m gonna hit you,” she threatens.
They sit in silence for a while, Yoona eating and Changmin staring outside into the city, his fingers tapping on the table. It takes her only a couple of minutes to finish, and she leaves to return the plate back to the lady.
When she comes back, he is rummaging through her bag, pulling out items and trying them on. “Give that back, you twit,” she mumbles, grabbing for it. “Why are you always taking my stuff?”
“Because it’s yours and not mine.”
Yoona rolls her eyes. “That makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?” Changmin pulls out a thick scarf and wraps it around his neck, and she refrains herself from hitting him because he looks better in it than she does and that is not the way things work between the two of them. “Can I have my stuff back?”
“Nope.”
“Changmin!” Yoona grabs for it again, resulting in knocking over the chair next to him, as well as nearly falling on top of him. There is another cough, and this time, the woman looks agitated more than anything else.
“I think,” Changmin begins, handing Yoona her bag back before getting up from the chair, “we should leave.”
“I think so too.”
They both smile slightly at the lady, before nearly running out of the café. When they leave, Changmin is giggling and Yoona kind of thinks he looks like an idiot. “You are always getting me in trouble, you know that?” she says. He gives her a cheeky smile, and if he wasn’t so him, Yoona would have major trouble stopping herself from hitting him.
The two walk together downstairs, Yoona to her room and Changmin to his. His room is the first on the left, but Yoona’s is all the way down the hall, and she pretends not to notice when he follows after her. “See you later,” he says, when she’s at her door and putting in her card.
Yoona turns back and gives him a slight smile. “See you later.”
He breaks out into a grin, gives her a salute, and steps back. “Yeah. Later.”
“Later.” She pushes open the door, still looking back at him even though she steps in. The hotel room is still dark, a clear indicator that the rest of the girls have yet to wake up.
“Yeah.”
They stare at each other for a while, Changmin still with that dumb grin on his face, Yoona trying not to smile too widely. Then the bathroom light switches on, and she blinks, back into reality. “Later,” she says, and Yoona closes the door, concealing Changmin’s face.
She falls back against the door and wonders why it takes so long to say good-bye to someone she never said hello to, anyways.
DAY FIVE
The last concert goes by faster than expected, and before Yoona knows it, Krystal pops by the SNSD dorm and delivers the nine SMTOWN t-shirts, tight fitting and ripped just as they’ve asked. Yoona watches as the girls fix their shirts and sighs to herself, not bothering to fix the hair she knows is all over the place and the make-up that is running down her face, along with the sweat she’s exerted all through the night. The stadium is literally bouncing, the loudest it has been compared to the past two nights. She hears Yunho yell loudly - it’s his signature yell, the one that signals the beginning of the end.
Seohyun and Yuri take her by the arms, obviously much happier than she is, and drag her out to the stage. Super Junior files behind them, all of them wearing their childish hats. Yoona reaches over to Donghae, trying to grab the fish on his head - he steps back and sticks his tongue out at her, and she ends up chasing him around the stage area.
They’ve all got microphones, but only the singers are singing. Yoona sees Taeyeon and Kyuhyun belting out a long note, and she wonders if they’re just competing and none of it is actually part of the song.
“Hey, why so glum?” Yoona looks up to see Changmin staring off into the crowd, waving to the fans. There is sweat running down his tan skin, and she resists the urge to reach out and wipe it all away.
“Who’s glum?” she mutters, crossing her arms.
He laughs and nudges her, hard enough so she almost falls over. “Are you trying to kill me or something?”
“Why would I do such a thing?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you.”
“That’s not what you asked.”
Yoona looks up at him, and he is still smiling, and she wants to bend down and tell the fans that the guy they are cheering for is actually the devil in disguise. “I don’t like you,” she says.
“The feeling’s mutual.” Yoona snorts and bumps him, resulting in a competition of trying to push each other off the stage. Boa walks by and throws her arm around the both of them, then, and they both force awkward smiles as the senior that’s been training longer than all of them combined pretends not to notice the game that’s going on.
It gets nearer to the end, and Yoona can sense it. The music is louder, the cheering is harder, the performing is much more intense, and the water she has in her hand is nothing compared to the amount of sweat they’ve all got. She presses her lips to the mike and shouts a line that belongs to Taeyeon.
Changmin meets up with her again towards the last couple of minutes, popping up out of nowhere. They near the corner of the stage and take a seat awkwardly, surrounded by glittering lights and screaming fans. “I’m gonna miss this,” she says.
“What?”
“I’m gonna miss this,” she repeats louder.
He leans in closer, covering his other ear. “I can’t hear you.”
“I’m gonna miss this!”
“Miss what?”
Yoona sighs. “Sight-seeing, performing, just… Being here.”
“Huh?”
The fans screams are pulsing in her ears, and her beating heart is too fast for her to be comfortable. She shakes her head, “I’ll just tell you later.”
“What did you say?”
The members are lining up, one by one, so Yoona stands up and grabs Changmin by the hand, pulling him towards the line. “Thank you for coming,” Boa yells into her microphone, blowing up all of their ears. Yoona smiles and bows to the fans, and she doesn’t remember feeling happier than this. Changmin tugs at her hand, and Yoona looks over to see him with an eyebrow raised.
“I said,” she begins, “I’m gonna miss everything.”
He bends down, and Yoona stretches up, her lips near his ear. His breath is hot and his skin is warm and she feels uncomfortable so close to him, but for reasons other than she’d want to think. The lights turn off, then, and they both trip, and Yoona feels something brush against her cheek. She doesn’t know if it’s what she thinks it is, but she pulls back anyways. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispers.
She stumbles out of the stage area and rushes back to SNSD’s dressing room. Jessica asks her if the last performance was really that breath-taking, and Yoona just nods, speechless. She says yes, but she isn’t sure if that’s exactly the cause of her heart pounding in her chest.
It beats rapidly, and she presses her hand over it, wondering if pretending will slow it down any.
DAY SIX
The week isn’t completely over, and their managers decide to spend the last interactive day for a fan-signing event. Yoona has always been awkward around fans, whether they are hers or not, but she decides any extra in Europe is a day well spent.
The groups arrive at the fan-signing area - an outdoor arena - hours before to prepare, though Yoona doesn’t really know why seeing all of the members have done this before. There are multiple tables set out, and Yoona spots Tiffany’s trademark Sharpie sitting out. Next to it is a dark blue one, and she can’t remember if it was that one or the red one that belonged to Seohyun, because she was always in the seat next to her.
Their music is playing loudly through the speakers, and she resists from jumping into dance mode and stepping as a genie. The staff members are rushing around in a frenzy - something seems to be missing (something is always missing) and she nears her own manager.
“Is there anything you want me to-”
“Changmin!” Changmin…? She turns around to see him being pulled by the manager and thrust into Yoona’s personal space. “Take Yoona with you, and you two go get the snacks from the hotel. They should be in our room.” He shoves a pair of keys into her hands and pushes them forward.
Changmin whistles and twirls the keys in his hand, one hand in his pocket. “So much for enjoying this break,” he says.
The managers have been towing around a massive, heavy duty truck, one that is out of place compared to the expensive, brand-name cars the senior idols are sporting in the parking lot. Yoona spots Yunho’s rental sports car and smiles. “Hey, do you have Yunho’s keys?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Let’s take his car.”
“Yunho’s car?” Yoona nods, getting a loud scoff in return. “Yeah, and be murdered, okay. He keeps track of the mileage on that thing. Besides, all those boxes of food are not going to fit in his car.” He throws an arm over her shoulder and pulls her towards the car, and Yoona finds it oddly comfortable with his skin against hers, “Nice try, anyways.”
When they arrive at the hotel, it takes them over an hour to pack every box into the truck. Yoona feels like a labor worker, and she’s suddenly glad she wore sweats with the sweat running down her neck. Changmin looks perfectly comfortable, but she still manages to notice the way his muscles bulge every time he picks up a box and carries it to the car in ease.
He catches her, once, eyeing him in the elevator. “Checking me out, I see?”
“What? I am not, you’re all disgust-”
“Sure, sure, Yoona, okay.” Changmin flips his hair and winks at her, when the elevator dings open and he’s already five steps ahead of her.
She laughs to herself and follows after him, and they pack the last box into the truck that looks like it’ll fall over at any second.
They drive around for a couple of minutes, Changmin taking random turns and twists to see if it’ll lead them back to the arena. Yoona plays on her phone and pretends to ignore the fact that they’re totally lost, when she suddenly gets a call in the middle of Angry Birds.
“Hello?”
“Where is Changmin?” It doesn’t take her more than a second to recognize the voice, and she laughs.
“Why?”
“He isn’t picking up his phone. Put him on,” Kyuhyun demands - Yoona smirks and holds the phone against Changmin’s ear, who glances her.
“Hello?”
Yoona hears a line of swears run from the other line, and she covers her mouth to keep from laughing at Changmin’s shocked face. “You’re an idiot, you know that? You were supposed to have an opening performance!” she hears.
“I didn’t know that!”
“Yeah, okay, sure. Get the hell over here before I tell the fans you died.”
“Kyu-”
“Don’t Kyu me, I have to fill in for you and I didn’t even warm-up.” The lines goes dead, and Yoona takes the phone back, staring at Changmin. He sighs and scratches the back of his head - he still doesn’t seem to know where he’s going, so she texts her manager for the arena address. He replies seconds later with numbers and letters that she doesn’t understand - she’s a girl, after all - and sticks it in Changmin’s face.
They pull into the parking lot twenty minutes later, only for a load of staff members to begin unloading the truck. “I can’t believe I was supposed to perform,” Changmin suddenly says.
Yoona pats him on the hand. “It’s okay,” she says. “You’ll get another chance.”
“In Paris?”
She shrugs. “Sure. Let’s just come back next month.”
He snorts, turning to look at her. “Really?”
“Seriously!” She hears the lid to the trunk slam shut and turns to Changmin. “In the meantime…” Changmin raises an eyebrow, and she smiles, folding her legs up on the seat. “Why don’t we go exploring? There are over 30 other people to keep the fans busy, no one will notice if we’re missing.”
“Kyuhyun knows we’re-”
“Don’t act like he didn’t enjoy the solo. We all know him.”
Changmin stares at her, and she reaches over slightly, pushing the gear into drive. The engine starts again, and they look at each other for a minute before he sighs. “Whatever you say.”
They leave the arena and find themselves in a city that neither of them knows the name of, wandering around aimlessly and taking pictures of strange signs and pretty sights that both of them can awe over later. “You know,” Changmin says, in the middle of eating ice cream that belongs to Yoona, “we should do this more often.”
“Sneak out of schedules and wander around in foreign countries?”
“That’s not what I meant, but it sounds better than what I was thinking.”
“What were you thinking, then?”
Changmin turns to her, lips covered in ice cream with a wide smile on his face. “Nothing.” He links his arm with hers, and then drags her along to some café, claiming that he’s heard it has really good food even though they both know he hasn’t ever heard of it before.
They sit across from each other at a small table in the corner of the café, their legs interlocked under the table, sharing a plate of pot-au-feu that Yoona has never had before and Changmin says he’s had once before at a celebratory dinner after TVXQ’s first win. She sees the reminiscence in his eyes and smiles, “Well, here’s to another memory, then.” She taps her glass with his, waiting until he looks up at her to take a drink.
He smiles and picks up his glass, taking a sip.
“To another memory,” he says, and Yoona doesn’t think she’s ever felt happier than right then.
DAY SEVEN
Their last day in France does not go unnoticed. Fans crowd the hotel building, cheering from the ground for their unnies and oppas to come out and greet them one last time, perform for them one last time, be their idols one last time. Yoona finds it kind of funny, their generation of SMTOWN, how everyone is so big and so small at the same time - like they could all end at once, with the sudden deterioration of TVXQ and the slowly dying number of Super Junior, what used to be the biggest in the world.
Taeyeon and Tiffany are trying to get the girls to pack, but the effort goes useless as they all want to enjoy their last hours in the France, the country of beauty. Even Jessica, who would normally be sleeping, is staring out the window in a trance, not even bothered by Hyoyeon’s antics. Yuri and Seohyun are reminiscing over the hundreds of pictures taken throughout the week, while Sooyoung and Sunny take the free time to savor all the French delicacies they’d eaten over the week.
Yoona doesn’t know whether she has the energy to do anything, and she doesn’t feel like testing it out either. She leaves a note on the window of her room - be back in a bit ♥
She finds herself in a thin cardigan and a baseball cap over her messy hair leaving the hotel, inside of an elevator that plays cheesy music she never really thought she’d ever hear.
It stops three floors in the middle, and a taller man gets on, also in a baseball cap. Maybe it’s a trend in France or something, but he looks kind of familiar holding herbal tea that she’s sure is not the trend. “Changmin?”
He looks up at her, and they stare at each other for a few seconds. Changmin is the first one to smile. “What are you doing here?” he asks, clearly excited.
She rolls her eyes, “You’re following me around, aren’t you?”
“You always jump to conclusions, Yoona,” he says, shaking his head. “Not a good habit.” The elevator comes to a stop, and the door opens to reveal a flood of people looking busy as hell. Yoona glances down and whispers excuse me, hoping her accent doesn’t reveal herself. The crowd parts, but she hears no footsteps behind her. She turns around to see Changmin still in the elevator, sipping his tea. “Hey, you coming?” He straightens up, and then darts out of the elevator, holding his hand up to the people.
“I didn’t know you wanted me to accompany you.”
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want.”
“Who said I didn’t?” Changmin grabs her hand and pulls her out of the hotel, not even slowing down when she squeals about getting caught. He’s laughing, though, and soon enough, she starts laughing too, and it all kind of gets better after that.
They slow down only after Yoona could run back for a straight two minutes and still not see the hotel. Yoona runs fast, and she knows that and Changmin knows that, and maybe that’s why he’s taken her so far away.
The two slip into a small shop at the corner of a random street - Yoona breaks apart from Changmin and wanders off to admire the figurines. She hears Changmin laugh behind her and feels her lips turn up. “Go find something manly, and stop bothering me, you loser.” His laugh only grows louder, but he walks away anyways, and she later hears him squealing over some (hopefully) masculine item. “You ready to go?” she asks, approaching him.
“Yeah, but I’m kind of - what are you holding?”
Yoona lifts up a small snow globe; inside is a small model of the Eiffel Tower, in front of which two dolls are holding hands, the sparkles settled at the bottom. “It’s my souvenir before we leave,” she answers. “Did you want one?”
He takes it from her and twirls it around in his hands, before walking away. “I’ll get this.”
“Changmin, what are you-” But he’s already bought it by the time she snatches it from him. “I can pay for myself, you know.”
He smiles and ruffles her hair, before grabbing her hand. “I never said you couldn’t. It’s an early birthday gift.” She snorts and hits him, and they walk out of the store still hand in hand. The streets are dying out, and they should probably be getting home, but Yoona kind of likes being free. She’s not really familiar with the feeling.
“You know, Changmin,” she suddenly says, gripping his hand tighter. He looks over at her with an eyebrow raised. “I don’t think we should be doing this.”
He smiles, and tucks their hands into his jacket pocket, sighing. They both know what she means - nothing really is allowed in the company, except singing the lyrics they’ve been given and dancing the moves they’ve been shown and repeating the words that have been said to them over and over again, drilled into their heads for the rest of the world to see - but he smiles anyways. “Yeah, the managers are gonna kill us for sneaking out.”
Yoona snorts. “The managers? Tiffany is gonna kill me for sneaking out. Why hasn’t Yunho called you yet, anyways?”
“He’s probably off partying with Boa somewhere.” Changmin shrugs. “Besides, I don’t even have my phone with me.”
“That’s okay, I’ll just call…” Yoona lets go of his hand, searching through her pockets for her cell. Changmin stares at her as she throws out her pockets. “I didn’t bring my phone either,” she suddenly whispers, her eyes widening.
She looks up at Changmin and he shrugs again, taking her hand. “Well, the subway system is probably shut down by now. I guess all we can do is run home.”
Yoona tucks her bag in to her jacket, zipping the pocket tightly before sighing. “Okay, let’s do this.”
It takes them half an hour to get home, and by then, Yunho is already dead asleep in TVXQ’s hotel room, and Yoona is awaited with a long lecture when they get back to Korea. Changmin and Yoona split apart at the elevator door, but not before Yoona tells Changmin that they should visit France more often, and Changmin kisses Yoona and tells her Seoul is a romantic city too. He struts off to his hotel room, and she stands there in awe wondering what, really, goes on in his mind.
Seohyun pulls her into the room, then, and sneaks her into bed before Tiffany can blow her top - but Yoona is never really able to fall asleep, anyways.
When they arrive home, Yoona can’t say she didn’t miss Seoul’s chilly winds and breathtaking scenery, and a city not as busy as Paris.
But she ends up learning that while Korea is its own country and France is another, and Seoul is her city and Paris is not, they can become one through something else.
Paris is the city of lovers, but Yoona never really needed a city to love, anyways.
dbsk/snsd - changmin/yoona - g
6620w~
in the city of lovers is where it all begins
a/n: dedicated to douc and aoza, who both have kind of hooked me on a pairing that i never thought i'd ship in my life. they are perfect, in their own behind-the-scenes kind of way. excuse the mess, though, it's my first time writing a one-shot that revolves solely around the two.
Yoona takes her first step off of the airplane - the air conditioned, serviced, private jet that SM seems to only reserve for things they deem 'important' - and she feels like she has stepped into a different world.
Maybe she has, she doesn't really know, but France is truly the country of desire, because the air is warm and the wind is cool and she could just stay here for the rest of her life. The remaining girls file out, one by one, Tiffany in the front and Seohyun at the back, followed by the rest of the groups, and Yoona lets them all pass her as she enjoys the outside air.
He is the last one to step off of the plan, his hat almost riding the wind as he attempts to keep it atop his head. "Yoona," he says, and she turns around, squinting at him though the bright sunlight.
"Changmin." He smiles at her, and she doesn't really remember when they were as close to becoming more than just artists who work together, occasionally engaging in small talk when Kyuhyun is in the middle. But she smiles back anyways, and then walks ahead to go join Seohyun and Yuri and Donghae in this really awkward line that she manages to squeeze herself into.
Yoona doesn't realize it then, but France is the country of beauty and Paris is the city of lovers - she already knows one, and that leaves the other, and Yoona doesn't realize it then, but it ends up being in front of her all along.
DAY ONE
It is Leeteuk’s idea to go touring, and it is Eunhyuk who goes by everyone’s hotel room, banging on the door and demanding that they wake up before the managers catch them sneaking out. Yoona remembers the look on Seohyun’s face after hearing that, but she is too busy getting ready to remind her that they aren’t breaking the law, just having a bit of fun.
All nine girls head out, and are the third to join, following the Super Junior members and a tired Boa. SHINee is next on the list, and after them comes f(x). Yunho and Changmin are the last two make it down the stairs, Yunho looking dead-tired and Changmin nonchalant, as always. Yoona smirks to herself and wonders if any thoughts ever go around in that big head of his, but then Sulli pulls her from the back and tells her they need to get a good spot at the front.
The day goes by too quickly for her to really enjoy, a quick breakfast at a corner café, Yunho ordering for a group of 32 that could eat for 64, and shopping at malls and tourist shops and amusement parks and all the things she could do in Korea except in France, where it is warm and bright and fresh in the air. She remembers early in the day, a group of little kids playing at the park, all of them holding colorful balloons. There is a squeal, and all the balloons are released - it is a sight to see if one were there, and Yoona recalls watching in awe like she’s never seen something like it before.
Her arm brushes Changmin’s, who is suddenly next to her, and even though she is looking at him, he is looking at the sky with the same expression she held seconds before. The rest of the group passes them, but Yoona only really remembers the sky, and the colors, and Changmin next to her, like even if they have never spoken before, it is a simple bond anyways.
Yoona doesn’t really know how all of them manage to stay awake for the late dinner that night, except for maybe Sunny’s overexcitement about everything that is able to move, and Yesung’s strange comments that leave every one of them a bit puzzled as to how he managed to ever stay out of a mental ward.
Heechul has contacts in France, and they end up eating at some five-star restaurant in the dead middle of Paris, between the bustling streets and the shining lights and the musicians playing at the sides of the street, Yoona’s personal favorite.
Dinner comes around and their group takes up around half of the restaurant, yet Yoona still somehow manages to be squeezed in between the two people that she really believes should never, ever be put together ever in their lives.
Changmin seems to be perfectly fine with the arrangement, as does Kyuhyun. They squeeze next to her and high-five each other, Changmin with this stupid smile on his face and Kyuhyun with the evilest look one could possess in his eyes. She doesn’t even bother making eye contact with either of them before yelling across the room, “Victoria, wouldn’t you love to trade spots?”
Victoria, in the middle of Taeyeon and Amber, snorts like it is the most obvious answer ever.
The meal ends up stretching a lot longer than necessary, because the simple dish she orders is taken every single time by Kyuhyun and Changmin’s battling forks. By the third order, she decides she isn’t really hungry and just watches as they eat her meal. It’s kind of funny - but mostly really annoying - that both of their dishes go untouched.
They leave the restaurant, and Yoona watches as Kyuhyun links arms with Seohyun. She scoffs, and almost gasps (mostly to herself) when her own arm is taken. Changmin laughs, “I’m not that scary, am I?”, and she rolls her eyes.
“What are you doing, anyways?” Yoona doesn’t bother pulling her arm away, because Changmin is much stronger, and he knows that and she knows that and everything with him is just a useless attempt at nothing.
“Just strolling along,” he replies. “And you?”
Yoona snorts and rolls her eyes, but they both notice the smile at the corner of her lips.
“Shouldn’t you be making fun of Kyuhyun?” she asks. “He seems to be enjoying himself with Seohyun a little too much.”
“Aw, look at protective unnie over here.”
“Shut up, I’m not protective,” she retorts. He scoffs - sure, yoona, sure you aren’t - and they continue walking ahead. It is quiet between the two of them for a minute, but the rest of the chattering ends up drowning the thoughts out of her head. Yoona chuckles at the conversation Krystal and Onew are having ahead of them, something about switching groups.
“What?”
Yoona shakes her head and lets out a deep breath. “Nothing.”
She feels Changmin’s arm tighten around her, and suddenly she is being pulled ahead so they are walking next to the awkward Kyuhyun and Seohyun. She notices a blushing Seohyun look over at Yoona in confusion, and she shrugs, because neither of them really knows how Changmin joined her in the first place. “I think we’ve gotten too close,” Yoona tells Changmin, trying to bring her arm back.
Kyuhyun snorts and glances at Yoona like she’s a child. “Better get used to it,” he tells her. “He’s not planning on leaving anytime soon.”
It ends up being true, because Changmin never leaves her side that night, his arm linked through hers, unconsciously warming her up in the breezy Paris night. They don’t really talk, but sometimes Changmin will laugh and point to some sign that neither of them can understand, and Yoona will laugh, and then they will both laugh even though nothing is really funny except the stupid looks on their faces, and how all of this is could just be in a dream that never really happened anyways.
DAY TWO
Yoona is woken up at six in the morning the day after. Seohyun shakes her slightly, whispering that if she doesn’t get up then, she’ll be sure to hear the wrath of tiffany. Yoona hears Tiffany yelling at Sooyoung - and no one yells at Sooyoung - and shoots up out of the bed, scrambling to the bathroom before she becomes the next target.
It turns out to also be the day before their first performance, which none of them except Onew really knew. No one yells at Onew, either, albeit for completely different reasons.
SNSD is the fifth to rehearse, after f(x) and before Super Junior. Their stage set-up takes over an hour on its own, and Yoona watches from the side as the Girl's Generation posters are rolled down to cover the walls of the stadium. The Boys blasts through the speakers - the managers seem to think that playing music as loudly as possibly will cover up for the fact that they've been dragged out of bed so early - and she sees Heechul and Key engage in a battle of SNSD's Newest Member. She laughs to herself, when someone bumps shoulders with her.
"Hey." Yoona turns around, only to see Changmin with a stupid grin on his face. His greeting is too casual, but there's nothing really formal about her messy hair and his sweaty clothes and their tired bodies, so she smiles back at him.
"What's up?"
It goes about almost like they aren't right there rehearsing the same concert when he says, "Me and Yunho just finished going over our performance songs."
"You guys haven't rehearsed yet?" The music cuts off, suddenly, replaced with Mr. Boogie, and they both turn around to see the sound system workers scramble to fix whatever went wrong.
Changmin turns back to her and shakes his head in mock disappointment. "If you'd been paying attention, Yoona, you would know."
She scoffs, raising her eyebrow. "I'm sorry to inform you that I haven't exactly been awake this whole time," she tells him. He laughs and crosses his arms, leaning back against a wall as they turn to watch the rest of the set-up. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon look like they’re wrestling, and Yoona is kind of afraid that they are going to fall off of the stage, but only kind of, because Tiffany seems to be moderating them on her own. It feels too warm inside of the stadium, and she really just wants to run outside and enjoy the fresh air. Yoona sighs to herself, leaning back next to Changmin.
“Don’t you just want to run away?” she asks, suddenly.
He snorts. “Why would I want to do that?”
“Because, it’s so pretty outside. I don’t want to be trapped in an arena trying to rehearse while the rest of the world is enjoying the city.”
Changmin looks at her, a confused expression written all over his face. “What are you even talking about?”
“This is my first time performing in Europe,” she mumbles, closing her eyes, “and I just want to enjoy it before I do my job. Did you know France is the country of beauty?” Yoona opens her eyes and sighs, shaking her head. “Then why am I not allowed to experience it?”
It is silent for a minute, and Yoona is afraid that she’s suddenly made it really awkward, but then Changmin starts laughing, so hard that he’s clutching his stomach. She hears a snort slip through the laughs and turns to him in fury. “What are you laughing at?”
“Your face,” he chokes out, pointing at her. “Who knew you could be so serious?”
Yoona lets out a frustrated groan and refrains herself from kicking him. “Why do I talk to you anyways?”
He sighs and pretends to wipe a tear from his eye. “I don’t know, you tell me.”
“I don’t know either - hold up,” she says, interrupting herself. “Isn’t it you that always to me? I don’t think I’ve ever started a conversation, actu-”
Changmin looks like he is about to protest, but then Yunho comes out from the corner and notices the two looking at each other in disgust, and sighs. “Changmin, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” he says as he pulls him off, and Yoona wants to ask him the same thing before he is dragged away.
When Changmin is finally gone, Yoona sighs to herself and wonders why she lets him talk to her, anyways. It’s not like he’s that amazing. He’s just… Changmin.
DAY THREE
It is the day of their first performance, yet for some reason, Yoona is not scared. She feels like the concert will go well, for all of them if not just herself.
The announcer’s voice booms through the auditorium, and she wonders whether she could try it out one time. She laughs to herself - nah, that would never happen. Her voice is too squeaky for that.
Yoona opens the door from their dressing room and rams straight into Changmin, who makes a pained noise. “Jeez, Yoona, where the hell do you work out? You, like, broke my abs.”
“You’re nonexistent ones?” she mumbles, still smiling.
He shoots her a dirty look, scowling when he notices the expression on her face. “What are you laughing at?”
She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms, ignoring the looks the staff members give them as they walk past. “Not you, that’s for sure.” Changmin stares at her for a second, and then snorts, almost as if he can’t believe that Im Yoona really talks like she does. He ends up laughing, and she kind of smiles to herself, and they walk together backstage to listen to Boa perform a song that Changmin knows the lyrics too and Yoona doesn’t, so she ends up awkwardly watching as he does strange dance moves that only look right on females and their back-up dancers, not awkward male idols.
“Are you not nervous?” she asks, as he trips over his own feet.
Changmin looks up at her in the middle of a spin, catching himself before he falls over. “No, why would I be? It’s just a performance.” Yoona shrugs, and rolls her eyes when he grins at her. “You’re scared, aren’t you?”
She scoffs, crossing her arms as he stares at her with this stupid grin on his face. “Of course I’m not scared, you idiot. It was just a question.”
“Sure it was, Yoona. Sure.”
“Why are you always doubting me?” she whines. The music cuts off, and Boa yells through the microphone her speech she had recited to the group the night before about France. Changmin laughs, punching her in the arm.
“I’m just kidding,” he tells her. “Don’t be a baby.”
“I’m not a baby, jerk.”
“Sure you aren’t, Yoona.”
“Changmin!”
He throws his head back and bursts into this loud laughter that would be heard through the entire stadium if Boa didn’t have such a loud, echoing voice on her own. Yoona whines and wonders why she’s spent the two days with someone who makes so much fun of her, anyways. “I’m kidding,” he finally gets out after he stops laughing, even though she can still see the turn at the corner of his lips. “And if you ever do end up feeling those ‘pre-stage chills’-” Yoona shudders at that, because they all know that feeling, “I’ll be in the dressing room.”
Changmin winks at her before strutting off, humming Hurricane Venus under his breath. Yoona mutters under her breath and smiles to herself, before Yuri pulls her off the stage and tells her they need to be practicing.
DAY FOUR
Yoona finds herself unable to sleep the night before their second performance, so she ends up waking that morning at six, looking for the only floor café that is open at the time. It, coincidentally, is on the floor right above hers, where the recreation center is.
She takes the stairs, wondering if maybe she’s hit that point in her life where insomnia takes over. Yoona snorts, shrugs off the thought. She isn’t that old, if anything.
The café is warm and dim, and there is only one worker, an older woman that is reading a book next to the window. Yoona quietly approaches her and scans the menu for a second, even though she already knows what she’s going to (what she’s allowed to) order. “Can I have…” she begins, and then realizes this is Paris and not Korea and the lady in front of her is European and not Korean. Yoona smiles, and then starts again, hoping she doesn’t sound like one of those awkward foreigners that is only coming to France to make a fortune.
The lady is sympathetic, pointing out all the foods before putting in the order. Yoona smiles at her and makes sure to pay in cash, leaving a generous amount in the tip box.
The food comes only ten minutes later, and she can see the steam rising in little clouds. It smells delicious, she thinks. The lady working smiles at her, when the elevator door rings and they both turn around to see a confused man glancing around the area. Yoona scoffs when she realizes who it is.
“Are you following me around or something?”
He turns around, and her guess is correct, because Changmin gives her this stupid grin and bounces over to where she is. He takes a seat - she doesn’t remind him that he was never invited to join her - and takes a sip of her coffee. “What are you doing up so early?”
“I could ask you the same,” Yoona retorts. He raises his eyebrow, and she twirls her eggs around the fork in her hand. “But, I couldn’t sleep. And you?”
“I was going to work out. You know, keep in shape,” he says, flexing.
Yoona snorts and snatches her coffee back from him, forgetting to wipe the straw before taking a sip. “Stop trying to convince yourself.”
He laughs, grabbing the plastic cup from her hands. “This is really good. What flavor is this?”
“Not yours,” she mutters, motioning for it. He pulls back out of her reach and pops off the lid, chugging it down. “Changmin!” She lunges for it, almost toppling over him, when they hear the older woman cough. They both look over, and Yoona glances down, sitting back in her seat.
“You’re gonna get us in trouble,” Changmin scolds mockingly.
She makes a face at him. “I’m gonna hit you,” she threatens.
They sit in silence for a while, Yoona eating and Changmin staring outside into the city, his fingers tapping on the table. It takes her only a couple of minutes to finish, and she leaves to return the plate back to the lady.
When she comes back, he is rummaging through her bag, pulling out items and trying them on. “Give that back, you twit,” she mumbles, grabbing for it. “Why are you always taking my stuff?”
“Because it’s yours and not mine.”
Yoona rolls her eyes. “That makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?” Changmin pulls out a thick scarf and wraps it around his neck, and she refrains herself from hitting him because he looks better in it than she does and that is not the way things work between the two of them. “Can I have my stuff back?”
“Nope.”
“Changmin!” Yoona grabs for it again, resulting in knocking over the chair next to him, as well as nearly falling on top of him. There is another cough, and this time, the woman looks agitated more than anything else.
“I think,” Changmin begins, handing Yoona her bag back before getting up from the chair, “we should leave.”
“I think so too.”
They both smile slightly at the lady, before nearly running out of the café. When they leave, Changmin is giggling and Yoona kind of thinks he looks like an idiot. “You are always getting me in trouble, you know that?” she says. He gives her a cheeky smile, and if he wasn’t so him, Yoona would have major trouble stopping herself from hitting him.
The two walk together downstairs, Yoona to her room and Changmin to his. His room is the first on the left, but Yoona’s is all the way down the hall, and she pretends not to notice when he follows after her. “See you later,” he says, when she’s at her door and putting in her card.
Yoona turns back and gives him a slight smile. “See you later.”
He breaks out into a grin, gives her a salute, and steps back. “Yeah. Later.”
“Later.” She pushes open the door, still looking back at him even though she steps in. The hotel room is still dark, a clear indicator that the rest of the girls have yet to wake up.
“Yeah.”
They stare at each other for a while, Changmin still with that dumb grin on his face, Yoona trying not to smile too widely. Then the bathroom light switches on, and she blinks, back into reality. “Later,” she says, and Yoona closes the door, concealing Changmin’s face.
She falls back against the door and wonders why it takes so long to say good-bye to someone she never said hello to, anyways.
DAY FIVE
The last concert goes by faster than expected, and before Yoona knows it, Krystal pops by the SNSD dorm and delivers the nine SMTOWN t-shirts, tight fitting and ripped just as they’ve asked. Yoona watches as the girls fix their shirts and sighs to herself, not bothering to fix the hair she knows is all over the place and the make-up that is running down her face, along with the sweat she’s exerted all through the night. The stadium is literally bouncing, the loudest it has been compared to the past two nights. She hears Yunho yell loudly - it’s his signature yell, the one that signals the beginning of the end.
Seohyun and Yuri take her by the arms, obviously much happier than she is, and drag her out to the stage. Super Junior files behind them, all of them wearing their childish hats. Yoona reaches over to Donghae, trying to grab the fish on his head - he steps back and sticks his tongue out at her, and she ends up chasing him around the stage area.
They’ve all got microphones, but only the singers are singing. Yoona sees Taeyeon and Kyuhyun belting out a long note, and she wonders if they’re just competing and none of it is actually part of the song.
“Hey, why so glum?” Yoona looks up to see Changmin staring off into the crowd, waving to the fans. There is sweat running down his tan skin, and she resists the urge to reach out and wipe it all away.
“Who’s glum?” she mutters, crossing her arms.
He laughs and nudges her, hard enough so she almost falls over. “Are you trying to kill me or something?”
“Why would I do such a thing?”
“I don’t know, that’s why I’m asking you.”
“That’s not what you asked.”
Yoona looks up at him, and he is still smiling, and she wants to bend down and tell the fans that the guy they are cheering for is actually the devil in disguise. “I don’t like you,” she says.
“The feeling’s mutual.” Yoona snorts and bumps him, resulting in a competition of trying to push each other off the stage. Boa walks by and throws her arm around the both of them, then, and they both force awkward smiles as the senior that’s been training longer than all of them combined pretends not to notice the game that’s going on.
It gets nearer to the end, and Yoona can sense it. The music is louder, the cheering is harder, the performing is much more intense, and the water she has in her hand is nothing compared to the amount of sweat they’ve all got. She presses her lips to the mike and shouts a line that belongs to Taeyeon.
Changmin meets up with her again towards the last couple of minutes, popping up out of nowhere. They near the corner of the stage and take a seat awkwardly, surrounded by glittering lights and screaming fans. “I’m gonna miss this,” she says.
“What?”
“I’m gonna miss this,” she repeats louder.
He leans in closer, covering his other ear. “I can’t hear you.”
“I’m gonna miss this!”
“Miss what?”
Yoona sighs. “Sight-seeing, performing, just… Being here.”
“Huh?”
The fans screams are pulsing in her ears, and her beating heart is too fast for her to be comfortable. She shakes her head, “I’ll just tell you later.”
“What did you say?”
The members are lining up, one by one, so Yoona stands up and grabs Changmin by the hand, pulling him towards the line. “Thank you for coming,” Boa yells into her microphone, blowing up all of their ears. Yoona smiles and bows to the fans, and she doesn’t remember feeling happier than this. Changmin tugs at her hand, and Yoona looks over to see him with an eyebrow raised.
“I said,” she begins, “I’m gonna miss everything.”
He bends down, and Yoona stretches up, her lips near his ear. His breath is hot and his skin is warm and she feels uncomfortable so close to him, but for reasons other than she’d want to think. The lights turn off, then, and they both trip, and Yoona feels something brush against her cheek. She doesn’t know if it’s what she thinks it is, but she pulls back anyways. “I’ll tell you later,” she whispers.
She stumbles out of the stage area and rushes back to SNSD’s dressing room. Jessica asks her if the last performance was really that breath-taking, and Yoona just nods, speechless. She says yes, but she isn’t sure if that’s exactly the cause of her heart pounding in her chest.
It beats rapidly, and she presses her hand over it, wondering if pretending will slow it down any.
DAY SIX
The week isn’t completely over, and their managers decide to spend the last interactive day for a fan-signing event. Yoona has always been awkward around fans, whether they are hers or not, but she decides any extra in Europe is a day well spent.
The groups arrive at the fan-signing area - an outdoor arena - hours before to prepare, though Yoona doesn’t really know why seeing all of the members have done this before. There are multiple tables set out, and Yoona spots Tiffany’s trademark Sharpie sitting out. Next to it is a dark blue one, and she can’t remember if it was that one or the red one that belonged to Seohyun, because she was always in the seat next to her.
Their music is playing loudly through the speakers, and she resists from jumping into dance mode and stepping as a genie. The staff members are rushing around in a frenzy - something seems to be missing (something is always missing) and she nears her own manager.
“Is there anything you want me to-”
“Changmin!” Changmin…? She turns around to see him being pulled by the manager and thrust into Yoona’s personal space. “Take Yoona with you, and you two go get the snacks from the hotel. They should be in our room.” He shoves a pair of keys into her hands and pushes them forward.
Changmin whistles and twirls the keys in his hand, one hand in his pocket. “So much for enjoying this break,” he says.
The managers have been towing around a massive, heavy duty truck, one that is out of place compared to the expensive, brand-name cars the senior idols are sporting in the parking lot. Yoona spots Yunho’s rental sports car and smiles. “Hey, do you have Yunho’s keys?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Let’s take his car.”
“Yunho’s car?” Yoona nods, getting a loud scoff in return. “Yeah, and be murdered, okay. He keeps track of the mileage on that thing. Besides, all those boxes of food are not going to fit in his car.” He throws an arm over her shoulder and pulls her towards the car, and Yoona finds it oddly comfortable with his skin against hers, “Nice try, anyways.”
When they arrive at the hotel, it takes them over an hour to pack every box into the truck. Yoona feels like a labor worker, and she’s suddenly glad she wore sweats with the sweat running down her neck. Changmin looks perfectly comfortable, but she still manages to notice the way his muscles bulge every time he picks up a box and carries it to the car in ease.
He catches her, once, eyeing him in the elevator. “Checking me out, I see?”
“What? I am not, you’re all disgust-”
“Sure, sure, Yoona, okay.” Changmin flips his hair and winks at her, when the elevator dings open and he’s already five steps ahead of her.
She laughs to herself and follows after him, and they pack the last box into the truck that looks like it’ll fall over at any second.
They drive around for a couple of minutes, Changmin taking random turns and twists to see if it’ll lead them back to the arena. Yoona plays on her phone and pretends to ignore the fact that they’re totally lost, when she suddenly gets a call in the middle of Angry Birds.
“Hello?”
“Where is Changmin?” It doesn’t take her more than a second to recognize the voice, and she laughs.
“Why?”
“He isn’t picking up his phone. Put him on,” Kyuhyun demands - Yoona smirks and holds the phone against Changmin’s ear, who glances her.
“Hello?”
Yoona hears a line of swears run from the other line, and she covers her mouth to keep from laughing at Changmin’s shocked face. “You’re an idiot, you know that? You were supposed to have an opening performance!” she hears.
“I didn’t know that!”
“Yeah, okay, sure. Get the hell over here before I tell the fans you died.”
“Kyu-”
“Don’t Kyu me, I have to fill in for you and I didn’t even warm-up.” The lines goes dead, and Yoona takes the phone back, staring at Changmin. He sighs and scratches the back of his head - he still doesn’t seem to know where he’s going, so she texts her manager for the arena address. He replies seconds later with numbers and letters that she doesn’t understand - she’s a girl, after all - and sticks it in Changmin’s face.
They pull into the parking lot twenty minutes later, only for a load of staff members to begin unloading the truck. “I can’t believe I was supposed to perform,” Changmin suddenly says.
Yoona pats him on the hand. “It’s okay,” she says. “You’ll get another chance.”
“In Paris?”
She shrugs. “Sure. Let’s just come back next month.”
He snorts, turning to look at her. “Really?”
“Seriously!” She hears the lid to the trunk slam shut and turns to Changmin. “In the meantime…” Changmin raises an eyebrow, and she smiles, folding her legs up on the seat. “Why don’t we go exploring? There are over 30 other people to keep the fans busy, no one will notice if we’re missing.”
“Kyuhyun knows we’re-”
“Don’t act like he didn’t enjoy the solo. We all know him.”
Changmin stares at her, and she reaches over slightly, pushing the gear into drive. The engine starts again, and they look at each other for a minute before he sighs. “Whatever you say.”
They leave the arena and find themselves in a city that neither of them knows the name of, wandering around aimlessly and taking pictures of strange signs and pretty sights that both of them can awe over later. “You know,” Changmin says, in the middle of eating ice cream that belongs to Yoona, “we should do this more often.”
“Sneak out of schedules and wander around in foreign countries?”
“That’s not what I meant, but it sounds better than what I was thinking.”
“What were you thinking, then?”
Changmin turns to her, lips covered in ice cream with a wide smile on his face. “Nothing.” He links his arm with hers, and then drags her along to some café, claiming that he’s heard it has really good food even though they both know he hasn’t ever heard of it before.
They sit across from each other at a small table in the corner of the café, their legs interlocked under the table, sharing a plate of pot-au-feu that Yoona has never had before and Changmin says he’s had once before at a celebratory dinner after TVXQ’s first win. She sees the reminiscence in his eyes and smiles, “Well, here’s to another memory, then.” She taps her glass with his, waiting until he looks up at her to take a drink.
He smiles and picks up his glass, taking a sip.
“To another memory,” he says, and Yoona doesn’t think she’s ever felt happier than right then.
DAY SEVEN
Their last day in France does not go unnoticed. Fans crowd the hotel building, cheering from the ground for their unnies and oppas to come out and greet them one last time, perform for them one last time, be their idols one last time. Yoona finds it kind of funny, their generation of SMTOWN, how everyone is so big and so small at the same time - like they could all end at once, with the sudden deterioration of TVXQ and the slowly dying number of Super Junior, what used to be the biggest in the world.
Taeyeon and Tiffany are trying to get the girls to pack, but the effort goes useless as they all want to enjoy their last hours in the France, the country of beauty. Even Jessica, who would normally be sleeping, is staring out the window in a trance, not even bothered by Hyoyeon’s antics. Yuri and Seohyun are reminiscing over the hundreds of pictures taken throughout the week, while Sooyoung and Sunny take the free time to savor all the French delicacies they’d eaten over the week.
Yoona doesn’t know whether she has the energy to do anything, and she doesn’t feel like testing it out either. She leaves a note on the window of her room - be back in a bit ♥
She finds herself in a thin cardigan and a baseball cap over her messy hair leaving the hotel, inside of an elevator that plays cheesy music she never really thought she’d ever hear.
It stops three floors in the middle, and a taller man gets on, also in a baseball cap. Maybe it’s a trend in France or something, but he looks kind of familiar holding herbal tea that she’s sure is not the trend. “Changmin?”
He looks up at her, and they stare at each other for a few seconds. Changmin is the first one to smile. “What are you doing here?” he asks, clearly excited.
She rolls her eyes, “You’re following me around, aren’t you?”
“You always jump to conclusions, Yoona,” he says, shaking his head. “Not a good habit.” The elevator comes to a stop, and the door opens to reveal a flood of people looking busy as hell. Yoona glances down and whispers excuse me, hoping her accent doesn’t reveal herself. The crowd parts, but she hears no footsteps behind her. She turns around to see Changmin still in the elevator, sipping his tea. “Hey, you coming?” He straightens up, and then darts out of the elevator, holding his hand up to the people.
“I didn’t know you wanted me to accompany you.”
“You don’t have to, if you don’t want.”
“Who said I didn’t?” Changmin grabs her hand and pulls her out of the hotel, not even slowing down when she squeals about getting caught. He’s laughing, though, and soon enough, she starts laughing too, and it all kind of gets better after that.
They slow down only after Yoona could run back for a straight two minutes and still not see the hotel. Yoona runs fast, and she knows that and Changmin knows that, and maybe that’s why he’s taken her so far away.
The two slip into a small shop at the corner of a random street - Yoona breaks apart from Changmin and wanders off to admire the figurines. She hears Changmin laugh behind her and feels her lips turn up. “Go find something manly, and stop bothering me, you loser.” His laugh only grows louder, but he walks away anyways, and she later hears him squealing over some (hopefully) masculine item. “You ready to go?” she asks, approaching him.
“Yeah, but I’m kind of - what are you holding?”
Yoona lifts up a small snow globe; inside is a small model of the Eiffel Tower, in front of which two dolls are holding hands, the sparkles settled at the bottom. “It’s my souvenir before we leave,” she answers. “Did you want one?”
He takes it from her and twirls it around in his hands, before walking away. “I’ll get this.”
“Changmin, what are you-” But he’s already bought it by the time she snatches it from him. “I can pay for myself, you know.”
He smiles and ruffles her hair, before grabbing her hand. “I never said you couldn’t. It’s an early birthday gift.” She snorts and hits him, and they walk out of the store still hand in hand. The streets are dying out, and they should probably be getting home, but Yoona kind of likes being free. She’s not really familiar with the feeling.
“You know, Changmin,” she suddenly says, gripping his hand tighter. He looks over at her with an eyebrow raised. “I don’t think we should be doing this.”
He smiles, and tucks their hands into his jacket pocket, sighing. They both know what she means - nothing really is allowed in the company, except singing the lyrics they’ve been given and dancing the moves they’ve been shown and repeating the words that have been said to them over and over again, drilled into their heads for the rest of the world to see - but he smiles anyways. “Yeah, the managers are gonna kill us for sneaking out.”
Yoona snorts. “The managers? Tiffany is gonna kill me for sneaking out. Why hasn’t Yunho called you yet, anyways?”
“He’s probably off partying with Boa somewhere.” Changmin shrugs. “Besides, I don’t even have my phone with me.”
“That’s okay, I’ll just call…” Yoona lets go of his hand, searching through her pockets for her cell. Changmin stares at her as she throws out her pockets. “I didn’t bring my phone either,” she suddenly whispers, her eyes widening.
She looks up at Changmin and he shrugs again, taking her hand. “Well, the subway system is probably shut down by now. I guess all we can do is run home.”
Yoona tucks her bag in to her jacket, zipping the pocket tightly before sighing. “Okay, let’s do this.”
It takes them half an hour to get home, and by then, Yunho is already dead asleep in TVXQ’s hotel room, and Yoona is awaited with a long lecture when they get back to Korea. Changmin and Yoona split apart at the elevator door, but not before Yoona tells Changmin that they should visit France more often, and Changmin kisses Yoona and tells her Seoul is a romantic city too. He struts off to his hotel room, and she stands there in awe wondering what, really, goes on in his mind.
Seohyun pulls her into the room, then, and sneaks her into bed before Tiffany can blow her top - but Yoona is never really able to fall asleep, anyways.
When they arrive home, Yoona can’t say she didn’t miss Seoul’s chilly winds and breathtaking scenery, and a city not as busy as Paris.
But she ends up learning that while Korea is its own country and France is another, and Seoul is her city and Paris is not, they can become one through something else.
Paris is the city of lovers, but Yoona never really needed a city to love, anyways.