[ a fic response to bollywoodrecord's "the city of love"  -- it is recommended to be read first! ]

Seohyun doesn’t know much.

She knows enough but she understands that there some things she can’t be sure of until she experiences them firsthand. And in France, she thinks, she could learn.

Paris is beautiful, in photos and in real life, but somehow it doesn’t help the unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach. Stepping off of the airplane had made her feel queasy instead of free, and this was unusual because who wouldn’t feel a sense of refreshment after being cooped up in a plane for half a full day.

“Seohyun.” Kyuhyun is beside her before she can actually see him, the sun’s rays blaring against her sunglasses as he adjusted his bag strap and gives her an amused grin. He’s been extra nice since the tour started and she can’t help but feel a little glad about that, though it still escapes her as to why.

“Kyuhyun-oppa.” She greets back and he nods before turning to where Minho stands with the rest of the SMTOWN’s Kyu-line members, leaving her to wonder why her heart would pause a beat when his head turns a little at her direction.

She doesn’t dare dwell on it and lets herself be pulled into a line with Yuri and Donghae and eventually Yoona down towards the ramp where their zealous fans are waiting for their appearance. She doesn’t spare a glance back because if she did, Seohyun thought she might not be able to look away.

DAY ONE

Her feet hurt by the time they settle down at a restaurant of Heechul’s suggestion late that evening. Seohyun had seriously considered staying in and curling up with a book that first night but with the insistence of her members, she relented on going for a tour with the rest of the ‘family’.

The members of Super Junior are noisy when they join them at the lobby, pestering BoA with their antics as the latter rolled her eyes repeatedly and swatted at them with a foldable fan in her hand. The boys from SHINee arrive next with f(x) in tow and it isn’t long until Yunho and Changmin arrive, dragging their feet behind them as they all began to move.

The day goes by quicker than she realized and soon she finds herself sitting in front of Yoona frowning as two boys fought over forks at either side of her. Seohyun tries not to laugh as her unnie sends her a pleading look (‘Help me, Joohyun!’), shrugging good-naturedly as Yoona began to complain about Changmin and Kyuhyun stealing her food from right in front of her.

Seohyun thinks, for a moment, that it would be nice to have a brother—but then Kyuhyun takes the biggest shrimp from her plate and she quickly dismisses the idea. Swatting him on the hand with her spoon, she scrunches her face at him and all he does is laugh.

She’s almost too shocked to move when Kyuhyun links his arm with hers on the way out of the restaurant, pulling her close to his side as their group walked along the suspiciously empty Parisian streets. She hears Yoona stifle a gasp from behind her and she turns to look back only to see her friend’s arm linked with the taller half of TVXQ.

“Did you two plan this?” Seohyun asks Kyuhyun once she turns her head back, pulling at her coat with her free hand. It’s colder in Paris at night than it is in Seoul and she thinks, perhaps, it’s why people (or couples) all around are always huddled together in an almost embrace. It gives off a sweet illusion of comfort and romance under the streetlights and she ponders for a moment that this might be the reason why Paris is called the ‘City of Love’.

“Not really,” he replies, looking over to her with the same smile from the airport, “Changmin’s been trying to saddle up next to Yoona all day. I was just giving him a hard time at the restaurant just now because I thought it was hilarious how strung up he’d be if I were sit next to her too.”

Seohyun wrinkles her nose, frowning. “Do you always go out of your way to torture your friends?”

“It’s not torture if it’ll help him in the end. Besides, I have my reasons too.”

“Like what?”

“I knew Yoona would stick close to you so I stuck close to Changmin. Win-win scenario really, since now I’m walking with you.”

Kyuhyun shrugs as he says this in a non-committal way and she thinks he couldn’t have been able to pull her any closer if he wrapped his arm even tighter around hers than it already is. She tries not to blush at the fact but when his eyes doesn’t hold the teasing glint it usually has when he’s being himself, Seohyun finds it hard not to let the warmth seep in her cheeks.

She’s almost too glad to find Yoona next to her a beat later, her hand easily grasping her jacket sleeve as their foursome continued to walk in an awkward line. Yoona looks at her with a question in her eyes and Seohyun can only shrug her shoulder in response.

She doesn’t know how to answer her unspoken question because she really doesn’t know how Changmin and Kyuhyun managed to come in between them. But by the end of the night, Seohyun thinks she doesn’t mind. She is in Paris with her best friends and a boy who makes her heart pause at intervals and her cheeks blush a rosy, rosy red. She thinks it’s a good way to end her first night.

DAY TWO

The second day in Paris finds her in jeggings and a loose grey shirt and sweating profusely during rehearsals. They’d been at it the whole day—dancing and singing and moving this way and that in preparation for their big Parisian stage debut. Seohyun thinks it’s a little funny how they could have fans in a European country. She could barely speak their language and yet somehow they love and sing along with them all the same.

Tiffany is asking Sooyoung about their routine when she notices Yoona step down the stage and she’s curious enough to take a few strides and crane her neck to see where her unnie was headed. Yoona stops in front of Changmin and grabs the water bottle from his hand, laughing as he says something and tips the bottle to her lips. She catches the way Changmin watches her friend, eyes lingering longer than necessary and somehow all of Kyuhyun’s words makes sense.

“I told you he has it in for her.” Kyuhyun says suddenly and Seohyun misses her footing on the ledge. He grabs her before she can fall and Seohyun’s heart doubles in beats as her members and the concert staff scramble towards her in concern. She sees Yoona break away from her conversation with Changmin to jog over to her, worry etched across her face and Seohyun regrets being the one to break the connection between them then.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” She says, steadying herself with her hands on Kyuhyun’s forearms and he holds her for awhile longer as her breath comes in puffs. His eyes are worried and she doesn’t want to ask or understand why so she turns away and smiles sweetly at her concerned audience.

“I missed a step while I was going down the stairs. I must be a lot more tired than I thought.” She excuses, moving away just enough from him to shoo her members’ worries away.

“Then you should go rest in the dressing room while we finish up. We don’t want our Joohyun to fall sick in Paris! That wouldn’t be fun at all.” Tiffany tells her, patting her cheeks with her hands in a motherly way before regarding Kyuhyun with a wave of her hand. Seohyun thinks none of them really noticed him until coming to her rescue and for a second there, she breathes in relief at that fact. “Hey, Kyu, would you her to our dressing room please?”

“No problem.” He replies and Seohyun manages to smile as he takes her arm. Neither of them says anything until they were completely out of sight, away from the crowd and their members and Yoona and Changmin stuck by each other’s side. Kyuhyun pats her head once she’s settled on the couch, taking a seat next to her without asking for permission.

“You could have seriously injured yourself, you know.”

“Hey, you surprised me!”

“You shouldn’t have had one foot of the ground then.”

Seohyun relents, her temper deflating. “I was curious.” She began, fiddling with her hands on her lap—her limbs inches from his on the plush couch they sat on. She spares him a look and her heart catches as their gazes lock a second too long before turning away. “I was curious because of what you said last night.”

“Yeah… I know.” He replies; his tone softer than usual and she laughs a little at that because she thinks she’s stuck at wanting to know if he meant it—about him and her and them—and not at the same time.

“Mind if I stay?”

He doesn’t have to ask, but she nods anyway.

DAY THREE

The first night of their concert, Seohyun finds herself blushing as Kyuhyun holds her hand in his during their performance. The feel of his hand is comforting, welcome and warm but it is different now than any of the other times before. Her heart leaps and pulls when his voice harmonizes with his and she thinks that they might be good together, both off and on and it makes her head whirl in confusion.

She’s barely out of the stage when she sways on her step and Yoona steadies her with a hand. Her doe eyes are wide with concern and Seohyun mutters about needing water to hydrate herself because of the heat in the concert hall.

“Feeling jittery, Seobaby?” Yoona asks and it almost makes her want to curl into her friend’s arms for comfort. She doesn’t know for sure from what she needs comfort for but she knows she needs it sooner or later and she tells her so immediately after a gulp of water.