[FIC] What's in a name: Shindong

Title: What's in a name: Shindong
Characters: Shindong
Rating: G
Wordcount: 474
Summary: Supporting others started with supporting yourself first.
A/N: I wrote the first drabble (which was Leeteuk's) on the 8th of May and since then have gradually written the others as well. It is one drabble a member. There are no plotlines, this is basically my positive fangirl view on what goes on in their minds I guess, and I just really enjoyed writing these out, although it sometimes was a major battle.

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Supporting others started with supporting yourself first.

He had learned this throughout life, had learned not to try and make someone else feel better when you weren’t jumping for joy yourself. Because how convincing could ‘Don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay!’ be when you yourself looked like nothing’s ever going to make you smile again? Therefore, he had always tried to accept his own life and all the things that came with it, in order to be able to help others.

In the beginning it had been hard. Before he started to talk back, he had regularly been laughed at, teased or bullied for his slightly fatter looks and had not often known how to keep smiling despite all the happy faces around him. Even the encouragements of his friends and the repetitive advice of just ignoring the annoying people didn’t help him to keep from feeling bad. That was until some wise words were spoken to him by one of his members.

No one else but you has to live with your body so who cares what the others say?

During the weeks and months that passed after he had been given that advice, he started to realise how true they were and started to regain his confidence. He might not have had the perfect bodyline or the gorgeous abs, but he was happy with what he did have and he felt consoled thinking of his personality that was better than that of most people. Once he achieved that conviction, everything took a turn for the better

Other people’s thoughts didn’t bug him anymore from then on.

No matter what was said to him, he kept on smiling. There were always jokes for him to throw around and silly actions for him to do. He never failed to bring up the right things at the right times to make others smile or laugh. Because of that, he soon became the greatest source of laughter in the band and probably one of the most trustable members among them. Although he sometimes acted a little childish, he knew when to stop messing around and become serious again. It was a trait not many people possessed.

Giving other people the smile on their faces back was the most important thing for him. To see others become happy and shine was what made him happy too. He was always proud when he realised the smiles and the laughter were provoked by him, no matter if the person was a close friend or a stranger. And at times where he himself had a hard time, there was a group of fourteen people ready and willing to bring the smile back on his face too, something he was forever grateful for. And no matter how many people smiled because of him, nothing beat seeing the members smile too.