donghyuck wasn't surprised to see all the attention on mark as soon as he stepped on school grounds the next monday.

just like him the week before, mark was the centre of attention, being greeted by every single person, and being congratulated with each step he took.

he had brought his team to semi-finals, and even if he hadn't won them, he and his team had won 4th place in the championship.

so, sure, it wasn't the podium, but it was really impressive – mostly because it was the first time for their school participating in a national championship.

a small part of donghyuck was trying to console himself, repeating over and over again that mark hadn't been better than him. he had won 4th place, just like donghyuck had. mark wasn't better than donghyuck. both had done the same thing. both had participated for the first time in this championship while being team captains.

but mark had managed to end up 4th even with donghyuck's trick.

so, necessarily, mark was better than donghyuck.

"excuse me, i need to pass." he spat, making the crowd step back to let him pass by them. his anger was evident, so the students around didn't try arguing further with him and simply let him pass by.

donghyuck threw his bag to the floor and sat down at his seat in the classroom, placing his forehead on his desk and he let out an annoyed sigh.

why was mark always there to ruin his life?

the amount of noise inside the classroom increased, making donghyuck understand that mark had finally reached the classroom.

donghyuck knew better than letting out a snarky remark right now, so he simply used his hands to block the noise from getting to his ears and closed his eyes to have a bit of tranquility.

sadly, good things didn't last forever, because donghyuck felt a tap on his shoulder after a few minutes.

"yes?" he asked, lifting his head up and frowning at the person standing in front of his desk. "mark..."

"hi!" the older boy smiled at him.

"congratulations, i guess." donghyuck said nonchalantly, barely giving mark a glance.

"thanks a lot, but i would never have made it if it wasn't for your advice!" mark replied cheerfully.

of course, now that he had won, he would never admit that it was just because he was good.

it was simply because the opposite team hadn't played as well as they used to, because his teammates had been incredibly performant, and also because donghyuck had given him useful advice...

donghyuck's advice... let's talk about that.

the tanned male had never wanted to give mark any sort of advice. if it were up to him only, he would have given such shitty advice that mark would have failed even before stepping on the pitch.

but no, he had had to give him actual useful advice, because his fucking sister had required him to do so...

she had been waiting for him at the end of his class, and as soon as donghyuck had stepped out, she had begged him to stay with mark and her so that they could talk about the game and donghyuck could give mark some useful pieces of advice.

and so, donghyuck had had to accept, and spend a whole afternoon in mark's company to tell him how he never needed to give up, and how he should act like a great captain.

he had tried slipping lies a few times, but sadly, his sister was always here to correct him.

so, yeah. mark had apparently done so well in this game thanks to donghyuck...

could that actually mean that donghyuck was better than mark?

of course not... if donghyuck was really better than mark, then the advice he had given him would have brought mark and his team up on the podium.

so, he was still not better than mark.

"yeah, no problem." donghyuck replied simply.

"i don't know how i would have done without you." mark continued rambling. "really, seeing you next to dahyun in the bleachers motivated me so much. i really wanted to make you proud, and to show you i had listened to your advice."

donghyuck snorted.

how old was mark? 10??

why was he acting like a little boy who wanted to gain recognition from his parents with everything he did well?

"if you say so." donghyuck shrugged, paying no mind to mark's touching words. in fact, hearing him saying that made donghyuck even madder than he already was. how could mark say that he was happy seeing his main rival in the bleachers? if donghyuck had seen mark sitting and cheering on him while he was at the national championship, donghyuck would have surely been so mad that he would have made the soccer ball burst.

"anyway, it was a very enriching experience." mark kept talking. "and it was really hard sometimes. i'm sure you noticed how the floor became so slippery in the quarter-finals. i thought we were going to lose... we couldn't even score more than 7 points in the 3rd quarter! can you realise that?!"

"indeed." donghyuck said through gritted teeth.

"nobody knows what happened, but thankfully, we found a way to win despite the slippery floor. it was a beautiful victory!" mark laughed.

donghyuck sighed. "it sure was..." he told, trying to ignore his defeat at making mark's team lose.

"oh, and- "

thankfully for donghyuck, before mark could finish his sentence, their teacher walked in, asking everyone to go back to their seats, which mark did immediately – of course, he was a perfect student.

"okay, so, please, don't forget to stay healthy and get ready for the midterms next week. i know i'm repeating this every class, but last year, one of my students wasn't aware that he had midterms exams, and he didn't show up, causing him to get a zero and not passing the year. so, please, make sure you all are present and healthy on that day, because there is no possibility of repassing it, and you'll be given a zero if you don't show up to the test." the teacher explained, repeating the words she had already told them at the beginning of last class. "so, now that you have been warned, let's start with today's lesson."

and with that said, donghyuck opened his copybook, listening carefully to whatever the teacher was about to say.

this time, he was determined to have a better grade than mark.

＃

"oh, there's no chair left for me..." renjun pouted as he saw his five other friends already sitting on chairs.

"it's okay, jun, come and sit here." jeno told, patting his lap with a smile.

"oh, okay..." renjun giggled, his cheeks colouring bright pink.

"no, no, no." jaemin shook his head. "come on my lap. you already sat on jeno's lap yesterday."

"excuse me? he sits on your lap all the time." jeno protested, grabbing renjun's wrist and pulling him towards himself.

"you're kidding right?! he hasn't sat on mine for super long." jaemin snorted.

"and what about- "

"oh god, shut the fuck up you two, i was talking!" donghyuck rolled his eyes. he had been telling his friends about mark before renjun made his way to the group of friends, and unfortunately, the chinese's arrival had caught the attention of the two boys that were head over heels for him. "you know what, just put your chairs next to each other, and then renjun can sit on both your laps!"

the three males blushed as jeno and jaemin pushed their chairs to glue them together, sitting down again and inviting renjun on their laps.

"thank you, now can i continue speaking again?" donghyuck asked, looking at the three boys.

"yes, sorry for interrupting." renjun mumbled slhyly, his cheeks bright red now that he was sitting on jaemin and jeno.

"so, i was saying that i couldn't bear mark and his perfectness anymore." donghyuck continued rambling about mark – one of the only things he did when he was with his friends on school grounds. "this fucker dared coming to me and telling me that he had won thinks to me and the advice i had given him. i tried making him lose his fucking game, and he managed to win it anyway! he's so frustrating, i don't know what to do anymore!" donghyuck rambled. "he's super good at sports, he's a great captain and team leader, he has good grades, he's sympathetic with everybody, all the teachers like him, my parents like him as well... i don't know what to do anymore..."

"wait, what do you mean you tried to make him lose his game?" chenle asked, his brows furrowing in confusion.

"when i realised he was going to win quarter-finals, i put lube under their shoe soles to make them slip during the game and lose." donghyuck admitted.

"oh my god, you're so determined to be better than him, it's scary..." jaemin told, his eyes widened.

"yeah, but even with that, he managed to win the game! he found another fucking strategy, and instead of scoring one-point shots, and risking to slip, he changed their tactics and told his whole team to try mainly three-point shots." donghyuck explained. "how can he be this good in any circumstances?! i will never be able to become better than him..."

"well, judging by everything you're telling us, it's true that you'll never manage to be better than him if you keep trying." jisung sighed.

"i know..." donghyuck groaned, pulling onto his hair.

"and he does never cheat?" chenle asked.

"no! he's so fucking perfect!" donghyuck sighed in despair. "i observed him in class, and at the library when he studied... he's just so good at everything. naturally talented..."

"why don't you try making him fail then?" jeno asked, making donghyuck raise a brow.

don't get them wrong.

donghyuck's friends weren't like donghyuck, trying everything they could to be the top student.

but they knew how much donghyuck wanted that, and they also knew that those past three years, donghyuck had been awfully moody and sassy because of his and mark's rivalry.

so, all they wanted was their 'normal' donghyuck back. and this meant that they needed to help him getting better than mark, otherwise this could never happen.

"making him fail?" donghyuck repeated.

"just like you did during the basketball game." jeno continued. "you do something that will prevent him to be the best. and then, you'll be better than him."

"and how can i do this? it didn't work at the game..." donghyuck tsked.

"don't you have an upcoming test at school?" jaemin then asked.

"yeah, we have the midterms next week..." donghyuck nodded before blinked a few times. "oh..."

"yeah, this could be your shot." jaemin snickered.