A quick note before you begin: Today, September 11, marks a very morbid anniversary for the United States. Today was a day of great pain, loss, and sorrow for many families and friends. People lost sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, grandchildren, and friends during the terrorist attack that knocked down the Twin Towers. This is also a day that perpetuated one of the largest stereotypes against people of the Middle East. If you can, please take a minute or even a few seconds of silence to remember the souls that were lost on this fateful day and please remember: the actions of some do NOT equal the actions of all.

A month had passed since the SHINee boys had spoken to Yuki about her experience in North Korea. In that month, Yuki continued her battle with her PTSD. She trained harder than she had ever trained before. She took up meditation and yoga. She constantly reminded herself why she was a spy for S.M.

In that month, Minho remained by Yuki's side. He understood that this was a battle Yuki had to fight on her own, but he wanted her to know that he was there if things got too hard, which, often, they did. 

There was a lot more to Yuki and Minho's relationship than most people understood. Often, other spies in S.M. questioned whether the pair were actually dating since they never really interacted in such a way publicly. The truth was that Yuki and Minho's love was a different type of love. It was their own type of love.

Yuki and Minho weren't very expressive people. Minho usually hid his feelings behind his cool, calm, and confident mask, while Yuki hid hers behind her stony expression. More often than not, the two were unreadable. These two weren't the type of couple who held hands in the hallways, went out on dates, or fooled around in hidden closets.  

It was only in combat that Yuki and Minho became the couple that everyone expected them to be.

They squared off in the middle of the open ring:  chocolate brown orbs meeting almost black ones. She moved slightly to the left, a move so subtle that no one should have been able to catch it. It was a simple, virtually untraceable move; one meant to give the person a slight advantage in both offense and defense. 

He adapted to the movement immediately, reading his opponent's mind with immense ease. The two were at a stalemate once more.

Combat. . . combat was easy. Simple. This was a place where no words were needed, where fists and strategies did the talking instead.

She charged first, tired of the subtle, silent attempts at gaining control. He countered her first attack easily, catching her first in his hand and using mere arm strength to flip her over with the intention of having her land flat on her back.

She twisted her form and landed on her feet noiselessly, switching his grip on her arm until she held the dominant position, twisting his arm and pressing it against his back. He crouched and spun, shifting his entire body towards her legs, trying to shake her off.

Her grip slipped and she flipped backwards, deftly avoiding his counter-attack.

They moved back and forth: attacking and blocking and attacking and blocking. 

There was no thinking necessary. Everything was automatic. They read each other easily.

Their blows were powerful, but soft. Their eyes were calculating, but approving. Their movements were sharp, but graceful.

They fought to win.

They fought to improve.

They fought to communicate.

Why would they use words to talk, when actions were so much easier? Why would they exchange kisses, when they could exchange blows instead? 

Minho and Yuki had never been conventional. They had been through things most couples couldn't even imagine. Their relationship had withstood tests that would have torn most people apart.

Words. . . how could words possibly be enough to explain them or the bond they shared? 

Minho raised his leg into the air sharply, sending it flying towards Yuki. The girl raised her forearm, effectively blocking the kick. Taking the chance, Yuki grabbed Minho's leg and yanked slightly, throwing him off balance. The girl wrenched her arms sideways, smirking. She knew what would happen next.

Minho cursed internally. The foot he had on the ground gave out. He had no choice but to turn his body over in order to avoid breaking his leg. Yuki's eyes sparkled in triumph. She was still holding one of his legs up and the boy was barely supporting his upper body with his arms. His other foot seemed to be having difficulty getting a grip on the floor. It almost looked like he was trying to do a push-up without his feet on the floor (A/N: Like the link except Yuki's only holding one foot). 

Minho was at her mercy.

The boy gritted his teeth. He was not losing like this. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. He took a breath and calmed himself, attempting to regain the balance of the foot Yuki hadn't thought to grab hold of. After a few tries, he succeeded. Thinking quickly, he allowed his shoulders to slump slightly.

A smirk graced Yuki's lips. 

Her grip on Minho's leg loosened the slightest bit.

With a grunt, Minho used the strength in his arms to push up off the ground. With his newfound footing and Yuki's loosened grip on his other foot, the boy managed to twist his body around. Even though he was still supporting himself on his arms, the boy's new position gave him more options (A/N: He looks like the given link except with one foot in the air). It was Minho's turn to smirk. One of his feet was already next to Yuki's waist. With another grunt, Minho propelled his grounded foot into the air towards the other side of Yuki's waist. The girl had no time to react.

Within half a second, both of Minho's legs had wrapped around Yuki's middle. He catapulted her to the side with almost no effort. Yuki flew across the ring, crashing to the ground painfully hard. She looked up, her eyes blazing. Having stood up and dusted himself off, Minho sent her a cheeky smile. She launched herself at him without thinking.

She threw a straight-forward punch. Minho twisted his body to the side, allowing the punch to breeze past his face. A devious smirk touched his lips as another idea struck him. The pair's eyes locked. Yuki's eyes narrowed as she processed the look on the boy's face. Minho allowed one of his fingers to lazily trail up the girl's bare arm. She blinked in surprise, feeling goosebumps rise where Minho touched her. The boy let out a low chuckle at the look on Yuki's face. His finger continued to move upward, passing the girl's shoulder and reaching her neck. He had her right where he wanted her. . .

Until Yuki grabbed his hand and yanked him forward. 

She had been expecting the boy to pull a cheap trick to throw her off guard at some point during the spar, so Minho's actions had not completely surprised her (though they did manage to fluster her just SLIGHTLY). In a split second, Yuki decided to fight fire with fire. She made sure she yanked Minho down far enough so her lips would practically touch his ear. 

Then, she blew lightly. Minho jumped in the air at the feeling, never having expected Yuki to retaliate in such a way. His eyes were still wide in shock. Yuki smiled teasingly and winked, crossing her leg over both of Minho's and jerking him forward, flipping him and making him land on his back. Without a second thought, Yuki straddled his waist so she could pin him properly.

She wasn't fast enough.

Minho succeeded in throwing Yuki off of himself and had just managed to stand again when Yuki charged at him full force. The boy was forced into playing defense, unable to find any holes in Yuki's offense. It took all of his concentration to keep her from landing a hit on him.

After a few minutes, Minho sighed. A smile graced his features. He caught Yuki's next punch and tugged, making the girl stumble forward. She grabbed his shoulder with her free hand to keep from falling. He s his free arm around her waist. Gently, the hand holding Yuki's fist tugged at the girl's clenched fingers until they opened, allowing Minho to interlock their fingers. 

The pair breathed heavily, exhausted from their spar, but neither made any move to separate. They looked at each other, seeming to have come to identical realizations.

A single thought crossed both of their minds. A thought that had taken twelve years of nonstop competing to realize. 

I'm never going to win, am I?

​They had met their match. The stalemate was never going to break. Both refused to lose, and, as a result, neither could win. 

Soo Man smiled at the sight in front of him, having arrived at the door of the ring just minutes before. He chuckled.

Combat was where they were the couple that everyone expected them to be. The elder man glanced at the position Minho and Yuki were in. Their spars were never fights. They were. . .

dances. 

The man turned and walked away without a word.

Their love was a different kind of love. A subtle kind of love. One that couldn't be expressed in words. It was in the way he would wrap an arm around her if he noticed other boys looking at her. It was in the way her cheeks would color whenver he looked at her. 

It was a love that could be felt, but couldn't often be seen.

She looked up at him and smiled.

He slowly leaned forward, his eyes expressing what he couldn't put into words. 

In that moment, there was no trauma, no pain, no fear, no worry. It was just them.

Their lips met.

Soo, the purpose of this chapter was mainly to give you all a better idea of the relationship dynamic between Minho and Yuki so that you guys could envision it better :) I hope it worked! Anywhoo, I'm really trying to get back to my old schedule of updating (every Friday) so I really hope I can follow through with that!

Let's welcome our new flurries, shall we?

Emma365 
 

kpopaddict_ 

Thank you so much for subscribing to S.M. Spies!! Please do leave some comments for me, as I love feedback! And maybe if you can, even UP-VOTE because I haven't seen one of those in a while! :P Thank you guys all so much for sticking with this story!

~Yuki ❄