The night Corym got slapped in front of the whole school, he felt numb. His best friend, Liam, encouraged him to go to a club that night, to stop thinking about what had happened. 

“I don’t understand, Corym, why is this one affecting you so much more than the others?”

“I don’t know, I don't know. Just- ugh, stop asking me,” he sighed heavily. 

“Did you like her?” 

“What? No, why would I have called off the second outing if I liked her?”

Liam shrugged. “Just asking. You ready?” 

Corym didn’t look into the mirror as he left with his friend. He didn’t take any time to scan the crowd. He wasn’t sure what songs were playing, what other friends may have been there, or what kind of drink Liam handed him. 

He certainly didn’t know how he ended up in the corner of the establishment, lost in a desperate kiss with someone whose name he never even asked for. Someone he hadn’t met until that night.

Yet again. 

The moment he realized, he pushed himself away from his partner. 

“Don’t go,” he insisted. “I’ve always wanted a story involving one of you drowfolk.” 

Corym inhaled sharply, finally understanding his mood. 

“Oh, you want a story involving me?” Corym asked with a smile, using everything he had learned from years of senseless flirting. “You want to go tell your friends about me tomorrow morning, exchanging gold on a bet you made earlier this evening? Let me guess, to impress them?” 

“You make it sound so… debasing, love.” 

Corym giggled - actually giggled - before exhaling deeply. “Oh darling, I only wish for one thing, and that’s to see the looks on your friends faces when you tell them what happened tonight.” 

Of course, he could act. He leaned in closer to his partner, reaching his arms around his neck as a ruse, before remembering what his mother taught him about incapacitating anybody unsuspecting. He curled a finger around a strand of hair and pulled sharply, causing the man he was with to yelp out a string of swears. Corym then considered his options - a slap was too simple, too petty. He had no energy to cast a spell and no simple poisons at his disposal. Instead, he simply jerked his knee upwards, letting his ‘partner’ fall to the ground in sudden pain. 

Corym knelt next to him to whisper into his ear. “You even get close to another one of ‘us drowfolk’, and what happened now will be a comforting memory, you understand?” 

The drow stood and straightened his outfit before leaving the party, dozens of people staring at him. He laughed and raised both of his hands, middle fingers displayed to the room. It didn’t take long for Liam to follow him out into the dingy backstreet. 

“Stars above, Corym, you didn’t miss him. Are you okay?” 

Corym looked up at the stars - a constant source of comfort for him, exhaling deeplhy. “I’ll be fine, yeah. I just… I decided something tonight.” 

“Are you going to tell me what it is, or shall I walk away slowly and let you have a dramatic moment good enough for a play?” 

Corym rolled his eyes and playfully shoved his friend away. “Shut up. I just figured that I don’t want all that anymore. The parties, the strangers. I'm done with having attention because I'm ‘exotic’ or whatever I’ve heard them say.”

“Wait, are you saying you’ll never date again? What?” 

“Do you really think we can call what I've been doing 'dating'? Maybe one day, when I meet someone I care for, I might actually consider properly taking someone on a date. But for now, no more of all of that,” he pointed vaguely towards the party. "I don't want to keep sleeping around just so people think I'm popular and stop hating me for what I am. I'm done, Liam. I'm so, so f*cking done."

Liam narrowed his eyes. “You’re being serious.. You’re not even slurring your words, you’re totally sober”.

“More than you are.” 

“... noooo, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

That night, as he was falling asleep, Corym felt different. For once, he looked out at the stars through his window, and fell asleep with a smile.