Chapter Text
The first thing Jihoon felt as he floated out of his subconscious and back into the world, was warm. He felt the heat of the sun streaming through the window, and the coziness of the sheet around him, but more than any of that he felt the very particular warmth of the person laying next-to-and-more-so on top of him. A small smile grew on Jihoon’s lips as his eyes fluttered open and alighted on Jisoo’s face, one side of it smushed into the pillow. He couldn’t help it, he’d woken up next to Jisoo hundreds of times, but there was something so absurdly romantic about waking up next to his lover in Paris that just tickled him pink. Because that’s where they were, curled up in bed in their small but homely apartment right in the 8th arrondissement of the city of love, halfway through their month-long stay there. No matter how many days they stayed there it never felt real to Jihoon, and he took a minute to happily bask in the picturesque nature of it as he listened to Jisoo's soft breathing. It wasn’t long before the breathing caught and snorted a few times, and Jisoo’s eyes fluttered open. For a few seconds the pair just stared at each other, dopey smiles on their faces as both of their brains came back to life, but then Jisoo blinked a few times and frowned.
“Ugh babe what happened last night? I remember the restaurant but neither coming home nor where I picked up this lovely headache.” Jisoo said in a gravelly voice and blinked a few more times, the pain evident on his face now.
Jihoon snickered. “Feeling a little worse for wear are we? You had a bit too much fun at the club last night, I’m not surprised you don’t remember any of it.”
Jisoo’s eyes widened at this, perhaps a few memories trickling back into his head, and just nodded in acceptance as Jihoon giggled even more.
Jihoon leaned in to kiss his forehead, “Don’t worry about it babe, it wasn’t that hard to get you home and you were very eager to show me a good time when we did get here.” with a wiggling of his brow for emphasis.
Smiling lazily at the praise, Jisoo let his head fall back into the pillows “I’m glad to hear it, but I was planning to go out and pick up breakfast!”
But Jihoon was already moving as he said that, sliding out of bed and reaching for the dresser “I got it, I didn’t drink myself quite as silly as you and its a lovely morning.” Once he finished pulling on his clothes and grabbing his wallet, he turned to find Jisoo smiling and making grabby hands to pull Jihoon in for a kiss before he walked out the door.
“Love you” Jisoo breathed before letting Jihoon playfully push him back into the warmth of the bed.
“Yeah yeah, make you take some aspirin before I get back you doof.”
Jihoon would never admit it, but sleepy hungover Jisoo with last night’s makeup still smudged around his eyes would always be his favorite Jisoo. He couldn’t help his thoughts trailing back to last night, and just how crazy Jisoo had driven him with the way he was moving his hips and flashing his eyes at Jihoon under the lights of the club. You’d think after all this time that he would be desensitized to way Jisoo got when he’d had a few drinks and there was loud music playing, but there was just something about the Paris atmosphere that made Jisoo so much more…potent? seductive? Something like that. Whatever it was, Jihoon was more than willing to go grab a few croissants and some coffee the morning after. As he descended the slightly creaky stairs and stepped out into the warm sunny day, Jihoon’s thoughts turned from Jisoo himself to their trip so far.
He and Jisoo, rather a pair of nomads with how much they liked to travel, had been to places all over the world. Cities both old and modern, mountains, forests, deserts, jungles, you name it, they followed their curiosity there. After all they had seen, Jihoon thought that Paris might turn out to be a little overrated and underwhelming, but to say the least he’d been proven wrong. There was so much to see in the city that somehow felt both so old and so timelessly beautiful: art museums, gardens, palaces, monuments, architecture, more history than a pair of nerds like Jihoon and Jisoo could consume. They’d done all the big things (that you couldn’t help but love no matter how touristy and full of people they were): they’d been up the Eiffel Tower late at night, climbed the Arc de Triomphe, exhausted themselves at the Louvre, oohed and ached at the Opera Garnier, window shopped down the Champs Élysées, even taken day trips to Giverny and Versailles. But as Jihoon looked back on his memories of the last two weeks, he found that many of his favorites were of the small things. He smiled as he thought of the sun in Jisoo’s hair as they quietly walked down a cobbled street, of how much they laughed at people’s reactions to their abysmal french, to sharing ice cream and a crepe as they strolled through the Tuileries Garden. He thought of all the tiny cafes that they would sit at and people watch, of spending hours lounging by the Seine as Jisoo sketched in his notebook, of taking silly pictures copying the poses of statues at the Rodin Museum, of always getting confused when they tried to pay for things in Euros. Their time in Paris hadn’t been without its occasional challenges and struggles, but even those had felt easier to manage than usual. It almost felt, Jihoon thought as he pushed open the door to their favorite bakery, like they’d been floating on a cloud of happiness since they’d been there.
Jihoon called out “Breakfast’s up!” as he reentered the apartment, and soon they were sitting out on their small balcony, admiring the sunny day as they ate their pastries. Jisoo had his laptop out and was writing an entry in their travel blog, and looked up as Jihoon broke the comfortable silence.
“So did you plan out our day already?”
Jisoo smiled, “As a matter of fact, I did. I was thinking we can go to that library you were talking about this morning, then stop for a quick lunch, and then for the afternoon - I can’t believe we haven’t done this yet - Notre Dame.”
Jihoon smiled back from where he was sitting sideways in his chair and playfully nudged jisoo’s free hand with his foot. “Sounds perfect”
The library was just as beautiful as Jihoon had hoped; he and Jisoo spent the remainder of their morning perusing shelves and sifting through books in the comforting silence of the weathered old building. Light filtered through the tall windows and shined on Jisoo’s furrowed eyebrows as he searched for a particular book, and Jihoon smiled softly to himself before reaching out and deftly intertwining their fingers.
After a quick lunch at a cafe, they made their way to the center of the city where they found the Ile de la Cité, an small island tucked in the middle of the two banks of the gleaming Seine. Buildings rose up on either side of the river, and standing proudly on the edge of the island was Notre Dame: a stunning cathedral with stone towers, gargoyles, and magnificent stained glass windows on its tall facade. Jihoon had seen it countless times in pictures and videos, but they really didn’t do it justice. Jisoo and he shared awed looks, and couldn’t help joining the crowd of tourists in taking many pictures of the sight before them. They continued to linger outside, strolling around the square simply admiring the building from every angle in silence until Jisoo tapped Jihoon’s shoulder.
.
“Psst, look up there, to your left. There he is.”
Jihoon wanted to question who “he” was, but he let Jisoo guide his eyeline until it fell upon a particularly bored-looking gargoyle among the masses of other, slightly more intimidating ones that adorned the face of the building.
Jihoon’s face cracked into a smile. “I’ve seen that before! Isn’t that gargoyle famous?”
Jisoo nodded happily. “Yep. The others are trying to be all scary and impressive but that one’s showing what it must actually be like to be stuck up on a building all day and night.”
Jihoon laughed in agreement. “The artist must’ve had a sense of humor.”
Satisfied with the outside, the pair finally made their way into the dark, cool interior of the cathedral. Jihoon heard Jisoo’s gasp of breath as they gazed around them at the massive space. The ceiling soared up hundreds of feet above them, and the altar seemed a great distance away from where they were standing. The only light in the space came shining through the many stained glass windows along the walls, and it threw patterns of blues and reds and greens onto the intricate architecture extending all around the room. The couple had such a weak spot for stunning old buildings like this, and had been to see so many, but the sense of wonder they felt at seeing one for the first time never lessened. They took their time walking down the center aisle and along the walls, sometimes hand in hand and sometimes separated. Their eyes drunk in the details, the paintings, the statues, and occasionally one would lean over to whisper some fact or observation to the other. For a while Jisoo simply sat in one of the pews, and Jihoon smiled to see how content he looked to just drink in the beauty. Jihoon loved spending time in places like this, and he especially loved it if he got to spend that time with Jisoo. Neither of them were particularly vocal people, preferring to communicate through touches or looks, or sometimes even just mutual understanding, and old buildings like these always felt like places where no words were needed. When they finally managed to tear themselves away and stepped out into the sunlit day, all they exchanged was a look and a soft smile, before clasping hands yet again and setting off.
As they strolled along the paths of the island, not in any particular hurry, Jisoo said out of the blue, “Hey isn’t one of these bridges famous for being a place where couples hang locks or something? I feel like I read about that somewhere.”
Jihoon nodded in agreement, “Yeah I think you’re right, want to go find it?”
They walked to the outer edge of the island, and followed along it for some time until they spotted a bridge that seemed particularly crowded. Sure enough, when they got closer they could see that the fencing extending across the water was adorned with hundreds of metal padlocks. When they managed to get close enough, they were greeted with locks of all shapes and sizes, all colors and all ages. Some had initials scratched on them, some had been left empty of identification. Some were rusty and falling apart, some looked as if they were put there yesterday. Jihoon always claimed that Jisoo was the more sentimental of the two, but looking at this visual representation of so many instances of love, he couldn’t help but feel moved.
“This is really sweet…it’s a shame we didn’t think of this before, we could’ve-“
But when he turned to look at Jisoo, he found him standing there with eyes sparkling and a lock in his outstretched hand.
Jihoon laughed in surprise and delight “Oh my god you sap, you did not…” He couldn’t help but slap Jisoo on the arm and Jisoo only laughed in response, and was still smiling when Jihoon pulled him in for a kiss.
“I can’t believe I didn’t catch on to that, ‘hey Jihoon I think there’s this bridge…’” Jihoon teased as he took the lock from Jisoo's hand. It was just your average combination lock, a little grimy and rusty, but Jihoon could still see the faint “J+J” scratched on the bottom. His eyebrows furrowed at noticing that, it couldn’t be…
“Wait is this…this isn’t…is it?” Jihoon queried and Jisoo laughed again. “If you’re asking if that’s the lock from the locker we shared in high school, we still have that old thing, Jisoo are you really this much of a sap, then the answer to all those questions is yes.”
Jihoon stared at the lock in disbelief. He and Jisoo had shared a locker in their senior year of high school, the year they begun dating, and Jihoon remembers using a pocket knife to etch their initials on the bottom, but he had no idea that Jisoo had kept it all these years.
“Do you like it?” Jisoo asked when Jihoon still didn’t respond, and Jihoon found to his horror that if he tried to talk he might choke up. Instead, he walked over to the fencing and found a small open spot amongst the mass of locks. 11-22-12-30 his hands twisted the dial as if by their own accord, somehow remember the combination after all these years. He clicked the lock onto the fence with finality, and as he turned to look back at Jisoo (who was looking a little misty-eyed), he couldn’t help but be struck by how damn long they’d been together. High school not only felt like ages ago, it /was/ ages, ago, an entirely different part of their life. They’d been through so much together, so many highs and lows and Jihoon couldn’t believe he was lucky enough to still have such a wonderful partner by his side. Jihoon had so many things to say and he didn’t think he had the ability to say any of them, so instead he quickly returned to Jisoo and wrapped his arms around his neck. Jisoo brought his own to Jihoon’s waist, and they stood there for a long time in the middle of the bustling crowd, letting their embrace say what their words couldn’t.
That night when they’d returned to their apartment and the stars were twinkling just outside their window, soft music played off Jisoo’s phone as they cleared up from dinner. Jihoon was just rolling up his sleeves to wash a plate in the sink when suddenly Edith Piaf’s voice came honey-sweet over the speaker, and Jihoon only got a glimpse of his lover’s mischievous eyes before he was being swept out of the kitchen and into Jisoo’s arms. He protested and laughed and called Jisoo an insufferable sap for the second time that day, but his legs betrayed him and quickly fell into rhythm with Jisoo’s as they gently swayed around the room. His arms were warm and grounding at the small of Jihoon’s back as he crooned a bad imitation of the words, “Peu m’importent les problèmes, mon amour puisque tu m’aimes”, and Jihoon couldn’t help but grin and play with the hairs at the back of Jisoo’s neck. When Jisoo gave up trying to imitate the french, Jihoon pressed a simple kiss to his lips and layed his head on Jisoo’s chest. They continued to sway and waltz and spin around the room long after the song was over, letting the atmosphere of love and comfort carry them deep into the night.