Chapter Text
Jinyoung is a quiet, good little boy.
He has two older sisters, Minju and Yujin, both calm and studious, smart and thoughtful. He doesn't know if it's a family thing, or if he somehow modeled his behaviour on theirs with how much time he spends with them, but he often hears his mother proudly say to whoever wants to listen that she has the nicest and most well-behaved kids of the whole town. Which is probably true, considering the number of punk kids around, ignoring even the slightest form of good manners and knowing nothing about staying still or looking clean.
Anyway.
Jinyoung likes to read (he has a library card, because his mother says that books are expensive, and Jinyoung reads a lot) and he collects pretty stones and sea shells. He loves watching movies too (and eating popcorn while doing it, of course), he enjoys music, video games, board games, building legos and puzzles. He's fascinated by lizards and dinosaurs. He's curious, and an avid learner.
He doesn't actually hate all the things boys his age usually enjoy. He would quite like playing soccer, if his schoolmates weren't so rowdy, and the game more often than not ended in a general brawl. Not to mention the fact that they all cheated shamelessly, and Jinyoung couldn't even understand the point of playing a game if you couldn't stick to the rules of it. He isn't much of a gracious loser, but he is definitely not a cheater. He likes to play outside too, but he isn't fond of being dirty. And the thing he definitely dislikes the most is fighting. He always wonders what kind of twisted satisfaction kids find in punching, hair pulling, scratching or kicking each others. He thinks it's primitive, childish and completely pointless. (and probably needlessly painful, too).
Jinyoung is a good kid, if the compliments he receives from his parents and teachers alike are to be believed. (He does believe them, though. He knows he's a good boy, and he likes it. A lot.) He doesn't like much to be yelled at, and likes even less being lectured. He values his peace more than anything else, hence his good behaviour. And it always makes his day when someone praises him.
But it isn't enough to take his mind off of the things he lacks the most.
Friends.
Living in a small town has its perks, sure. And Jinyoung does love Jinhae, his familiar streets, the small shops downtown he likes to go to with his mom, the small footpaths that lead to the shore he knows like the back of his hand, and above all, he loves the ocean the most. He knows he is lucky to live in such a safe and beautiful place, to be able to walk in the sand, bare feet, and to spend hours looking at the lazy waves and listen to the quiet, hypnotizing lull of the tide. But living in a small town is also a bit of a curse for a young boy like him, because years after years, even if he changes classes, his schoolmates stay the same, and he has no real opportunities to meet new people and make new friends.
So, Jinyoung is a lonely child.
It pains a bit his mother and sisters (his father insists that he should try harder to mingle with the other kids, and to stop being so stuck-up, but Jinyoung doesn't like them, they're a bit mean and a bit stupid and he'd rather be alone than share his precious free time with them) so they try their best to not let him down. His mother always waits for him when she has some shopping to do, or some gardening, and her son is always happy to keep her company. The owners of the shops downtown appreciate him a lot, because of his good nature and polite smile.
He also trails along if he feels like it when his sisters go here and there. He's taken a liking in following them when they go to the movies or just hang out with their own best friends, who're nice enough and rather fond of him because he's cute and doesn't talk much.
But the thing he absolutely adores above all, the thing he's been head over heels for ever since he's seen it for the first time, is when his sisters and their two best friends gather in the room their father renovated in their basement as a play-room, and dance. They put on some k-pop music videos on the old TV there, and they learn choregraphies and moves, singing along and giggling like the teenagers they are. Jinyoung likes it, the sound of bass loud in the speakers, the synch in the moves, the gracefulness of the girls, how freeing it seems to be.
So he watches, and watches, mesmerized, sitting on the carpet, his head on his knees, and he yearns to be able to join them.
He doesn't dare asking, though. The girls are always kind and sweet with him, sure, but who knows how they would react ? They would probably make fun of him or something, and he's a bit fed-up with people making fun of him already (just yesterday, at school, Daeho called him a nerd and a mommy's boy and his dumbass friends laughed hard at this, even if it wasn't that funny to begin with, but hey, Jinyoung has already figured out that they are morons. Also, they always mock his ears, calling him a monkey, and Jinyoung can't do anything about it because, eh, he can't really change his too big ears, even if they're indeed not the good size, right ? )
So he just keeps silent, but he always, always drops everything he's currently doing to dart to the play room everytime the girls there put some music on.
And at some point, some day, he doesn't know why or how, but somehow his eldest sister, Minju, must see the longing on his face or something, and as they're in the middle of a music video, she turns to him and extends her hand. « Come on, Jinyoungie, dance with us ! »
Jinyoung, embarrassed, his cheeks and (much too big) ears burning red, shakes his head stubbornly. But Minju insists, and Yujin and their friends join her, and before he knows it, he's hauled on his feet and in the middle of the room, and finally, he lets himself go and begins to move between his sisters. He knows the steps by heart, having watched them so many times, and as the end of the song is nearing, the girls are cheering him on, and he finishes the last moves alone, perfectly on time.
Minju and Yujin look so proud he's a bit flustered, and they all catch him in a group hug, squealing at how good he was and how cool he looked. Jinyoung is a bit stunned and a lot pleased, and it feels as incredible as he thought it would, to finally dance. From then on, Jinyoung always dances with his sisters, but he also does it alone.
Finally, finally Jinyoung found a physical activity he likes enough to not mind being sweaty while doing it.
Of course, he doesn't tell a soul about it, and his sisters keep the secret too. He's thankful for it. He doesn't think that people should know that he loves dancing that much. He doesn't think that it would suit his good boy image, when dance is never an activity that's offered to boys. He's still small, only 7, but he understands, in this smart little head of his, that society has standards and that sometimes you have to keep things for yourself if you don't want people to put their nose into business that are purely yours.
On the whole wall that's dedicated for him only in the play-room (his sisters have one wall for each of them too, where they 're allowed to pin and stick everything they like), Jinyoung begins to also put music posters and idols pics Minju gives him, amongst his Pokemon Cards and fave movies posters and cartoons. He's proud of his wall, it's nice to watch and he thinks that's how growing up feels like, maybe.
All in all, Jinyoung is happy about his life, indeed. He doesn't have friends, but his parents are nice and dote on him a lot, his sisters are sweet and fun to be around, he has a lot of things to learn, he's good at dancing and he loves it, his library card is very useful, and he can spend all the time he wants daydreaming at the beach, all of his senses soothed by the ocean.
His childhood will be something his future self will always be thankful for, and he will always have a fond sense of nostalgy about it, despite his lingering loneliness.
But Jinyoung can't help from feeling hollow sometimes, like a piece of him is missing, like there's something that should be here but isn't. Something his heart is yearning for.
Until he isn't that lonely anymore. At least, not all the time.
Jinyoung is almost 8 when his life changes.