"how's our champion doing?!" jeno asked, jumping on the seat next to donghyuck as he wrapped an arm around him.

"well, i'm doing well." donghyuck replied, a smile appearing on his face at the sight of his friends.

"you played so good, really." chenle said, bouncing on his feet.

"don't flatter him too much. he knows so." jisung rolled his eyes playfully, nudging chenle's arm.

"come on!" donghyuck whined. "let me have my moment of glory!"

"as if having the whole school to your feet this morning wasn't enough to satisfy your superiority complex." renjun snorted, earning a punch in the shoulder from donghyuck.

"ouch!" renjun exclaimed, holding his shoulder.

"hyuck, don't hit renjun!" jaemin said protectively, pulling renjun in his embrace and rubbing his sore shoulder.

"he was mean to me!" donghyuck replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"he was telling the hard truth. which is different." jisung pinpointed.

"careful there, you're going to get hit too." chenle stated, his eyes on renjun who was engulfed in between jaemin's arms – something not so usual for them.

renjun, jeno, jaemin, chenle and jisung knew about donghyuck rivalry with mark.

they often teased him about it. and even if donghyuck couldn't bear mark's perfectness, he couldn't help but laugh with them about it.

i mean, everything was so much better when you laughed at it.

so, yeah. they kept laughing about donghyuck's superiority complex.

they kept laughing about his vain efforts to beat mark.

they kept laughing about everything he did to be better.

they just laughed together, because it felt good. better than anything actually.

and honestly, it made donghyuck feel special.

when he was with his friends, donghyuck wasn't the bratty kid he usually was.

as soon as his friends came into view, his bad boy façade dropped, to set place to a much more sympathetic boy, who still had snarky remarks and sassy comments, but who knew how to move and to appreciate the value of friendship.

he didn't feel the need to be better than them. they weren't mark.

he was just happy with the way things were.

"so, what have you guys done this weekend?" donghyuck asked after their laugher died down. "except watching me beating everyone's ass at soccer, of course."

"renjun and i went to the mall. we just wanted to grab something to eat, and we ended up buying so much stuff." chenle explained.

"sounds so much like you." donghyuck chuckled.

"i mean, as long as he has enough money to buy it..." jisung shrugged it off.

"we met mark there." renjun added, catching donghyuck's attention. the tanned male raised a brow when he noticed renjun was still between jaemin's arms.

"oh god, spare me the details. i don't want to hear about him anymore." donghyuck's eyes rolled to the back of his head, as if they had been programmed to do so every time mark's name was pronounced.

"he was with a girl." chenle added. "we don't know who she was, she had her back facing us and she was a bit far..."

"great for him. as i told him, he can put his dick where he'd like. we're not love rivals." donghyuck explained.

"such a sweet way to say you don't care." jeno chuckled.

"i can become an insulting machine when it comes to him." donghyuck told.

"yeah, we've witnessed it a few times already..." jaemin nodded.

"oh, crap!" renjun suddenly exclaimed, catching the attention of the other boys. "i had completely forgotten we were supposed to bring our projects to the art teacher."

"oh, shit!" chenle gasped as well. "he's going to kill us!"

"guys, sorry, we're coming back shortly." renjun grabbed chenle's wrist and pulled him away.

"and i'm going with them!" jisung declared, running behind his two friends, leaving jeno, jaemin and donghyuck alone.

"jisung really can't do anything far from chenle." jeno snorted.

"we're always turning about renjun as well, so don't make fun of him." jaemin raised a brow, walking to jeno and taking a sit on his lap.

jeno immediately wrapped his arms around the boy's waist, pulling him closer under donghyuck's eyes.

"are you not going to tell him about you two?" he asked.

jeno and jaemin had been together for a few months, and they both had agreed on one thing as soon as they had gotten together: renjun was their missing puzzle piece, and they needed him to be part of them.

but well, how could they tell that to a boy who wasn't even aware polyamorous relationship existed?

"later. we're just waiting for him not to know who to get with. and when he'll have to decide, we'll tell him he can have both." jaemin explained, as if it was logical.

"and how can you be so sure that he'll even like both of you and not know who to choose?" donghyuck raised a brow.

"how can you be so sure you'll ever be able to beat mark?" jaemin tackled back with a smirk.

donghyuck accepted the challenge with a nod, his lips curving into a smile as he snickered.

"it is physically impossible to be this perfect. he has to cheat. and one i'll have proved he's a cheater, i'll have won it all."

＃

"i'm back! sorry for the delay!" donghyuck yelled as he kicked his shoes off while entering inside his house.

"hi donghyuck! you hadn't told me you would be back so late!" he heard his mother replying as a delicious smell unconsciously led him to the dining aera.

"come on, it's barely seven..." donghyuck spoke, stopping in his tracks when he saw that the table had been set up with more effort than usual. the usual table sets had been traded for a beautiful red tablecloth, and he had noticed his mother had placed the silver cutlery on the table. and last but not least, there were five plates around the table, when they were only four in their family. "huh... why is the table set like that?"

"we are meeting your sister's boyfriend tonight. he'll be there in thirty minutes, so go and get ready for him."

donghyuck sighed, looking at the fifth plate. "right... she has a boyfriend." he mumbled. "i'll have a quick shower."

donghyuck walked out of the kitchen, heading towards his room. passing through the corridor to get there, he stopped in front of his sister's open door and looked inside the room.

she was standing in front of her mirror in a pretty red dress, while applying makeup.

"you hadn't told me your boyfriend was coming over." donghyuck told simply, leaning against the door frame.

"i don't have to tell you everything." dahyun replied, not glancing at her brother.

"right." donghyuck rolled his eyes. "how long have you two been together?"

"six months."

"and you didn't tell me?!" donghyuck gasped.

this time, dahyun raised a brow, looking into her brother's eyes. "as i said, i don't need to tell you everything."

"yeah, yeah." donghyuck shrugged it off. "and now you're introducing him to mom and dad."

"yeah. we're doing great, and i already met his mother. she was super kind." she continued, back to concentrating on her make-up.

"ooh, taking huge steps." donghyuck wiggled his brows. "so, do i have to expect marriage soon?"

"shut up!" dahyun tsked.

donghyuck looked at her, a small smile appearing on his face as he noticed how beautiful she looked wearing that dress.

"no, really. i'm happy you have someone. i'm sure he's someone amazing. i mean he makes you happy, so, he has to be." he spoke truthfully.

"he's perfect. you'll see." dahyun giggled.

"oh, perfection is something hard to reach you know."

"yeah." dahyun nodded. "but he is. i can assure you."

"if you say so..." donghyuck shrugged.

"now, go have your shower. i don't want you to stink in front of him, and he's going to be there soon."

＃

donghyuck pushed the door of his room open long seconds after hearing the doorbell ring.

he didn't know why he was stressing that much at the idea of meeting his sister's boyfriend.

dahyun was eventually going to find someone, so it was norma!

and she was donghyuck's sister, so she had to have a good taste!

plus, if she had a boyfriend that loved her with this personality of hers, he had to be someone good!

so, there was no need for donghyuck to stress like that.

the tanned male took slow steps towards the living room as he heard his mother complementing the boy that he was nervous to meet.

he took a deep breath, trying to calm his stressing heart before putting on a smile and finally stepping inside the living room.

"oh, here is donghyuck!" donghyuck's father declared as the boy slowly lifted his head to catch a glimpse of dahyun's new boyfriend.

and let's say that when dahyun had told him her boyfriend was perfect, the thought of the most perfect student that donghyuck couldn't bear hadn't even crossed him mind.

but, well, it should have, because mark lee was standing right new to his sister, with a red blush colouring his cheeks as he waved at donghyuck shyly.

"h-hi..."