Let's play a little game: Markhyuck

『 one: the start 』

"I swear to god I've never met someone so fucking annoying."

Renjun sent donghyuck a withering glare, which he openly reciprocated, as he made his way over to the spot where Mark, and Jeno were sitting.

"Steady on Renjun, your gonna bust a blood vessel at that rate."

"Shove over."

He pushed his way in between Jeno and Mark sitting comfortably on their bench. They'd claimed the spot in the school courtyard a few years back when mark introduced them to his older friends Johnny and yuta, who had since left the school, their names still scratched into the old and slightly worn wooden table surface.

It does seem odd, the need to claim a bench as your own, but as Renjun had arrived at the prestigious boarding school situated in the placid countryside far out from the nearest city, the first lesson he'd learnt was that any private school was going to be full of obnoxious and privileged rich kids, and that meant you claim the shit you want and you do it quickly.

And so the bench was theirs.

Once, some first year kids had tried to steal it, and that was the first time Renjun had seen mark get aggressive. It was not unusual for the schools environment, but very strange for mark, who was so bubbly and unintimidating. He'd said something along the lines of 'every now and then conflict is unavoidable. Better make it quick and then you won't have to fight again.'

It was an odd mindset; but it was one that most people around here had adopted. Renjun didn't like it, he didn't really think mark or Jeno did either, but they accepted it.

There were some people however, who refused to be a part of this culture. Admirable you could say, or annoying.

Renjun tended to believe the latter.

Donghyuck liked to go against the grain. It wasn't necessarily solely because he felt the need to be different or unique, he just really despised the entire system. The unspoken and unwritten rules. The fact that depending on who you were and where you sat, you had varying degrees of control over said rules.

Donghyuck sat in the centre of the courtyard, cross legged on the grass under the sun, smiling and rocking backwards in laughter as Jaemin smothered Jisung with affection or as Chenle irritated Jaemin or as Jisung never stopped talking. That was their spot.

Initially, you weren't exactly supposed to sit on the grass in the courtyard. The school liked things well kept; the caretakers and gardeners worked endlessly to keep the place breathtakingly perfect. So sitting on the grass that was mown once a week to keep pristine was strictly against the rules.

Donghyuck had a way of bending rules. He had befriended the gardeners. He told them about all the flowers he loved and how pretty the petals were and how the gardeners had created an exquisite array of colour; and they had developed such a soft spot for him that he could practically walk all over them. He helped them with planting the flowers and in return they let him trim some to put in a vase in his dorm room. He sung them songs as he walked through the gardens on the weekends, and so they let him try the fruits from the orchards before everyone else. He chatted to them whilst they mowed the lawn and so they let him sit on the grass.

Most people loved Donghyuck. He was a ray of sunshine. He was bubbly and chatty and if you were new or nervous he'd always try to joke around to distract or cheer you up or to get to know you. Donghyuck was born captive to the system, his parents were successful Broadway performers and had wanted their son to pursue those same passions, and so he was sent off to the Lunar Boarding School of Arts and Performance, surrounded by the other wealthy children from famous families every day of his life. He'd met Chenle, the Chinese child star who could captivate a stadium full of people with his elegant and mature voice and piano playing; he'd met Jisung, the son of a famous dance academy owner; he'd met Jaemin, the heir to his parents national restaurant chain and the ambassador of their many global charity ventures.