[CONTENTID1]Half Priced Drinks and Hamlet[/CONTENTID1]

[CONTENTID2]"What do you expect me to say? I can't be happy all the time like you. That isn't me."[/CONTENTID2]

[CONTENTID3]It was raining when Yeseul got out of her lecture. She sighed and pulled up her hood, relieved she'd put on her boots that morning. Students were scattering left and right, eager to be out of the rain. Yeseul shoved her hands into her pockets, eyes on the ground as she walked toward the bus stop. This stop had a shelter, and since it was late there wasn't anyone waiting under it. Yeseul ducked inside, shuffling over to make room for the other students hurrying along behind her. 

One of them maneuvered his way over to Yeseul in the narrow bus shelter wearing, of all things, a leather jacket. His smile might have been charming to other girls, but it made Yeseul want to vomit. 

"I still can't get my head around the fact that Ariel is a male fairy," he said, adjusting the strap of his satchel. "That just doesn't make sense. Ariel's a mermaid! This play is totally ridiculous, right?" 

Yeseul pursed her lips, deciding not to reply. It just so happened that the Tempest was among Yeseul's favourite Shakespeare plays. She even had a tattoo with her favourite line on the inside of her right arm. 

"I think Romeo and Juliet is brilliant," Joonmyun mused, oblivious to Yeseul frowning next to him. Though, to be fair, she did frown quite a lot. And she was only getting more annoyed by the second. If Joonmyun didn't shut up soon, she'd probably hit him. "Now that's a good love story. Read it when I was thirteen, I think." 

Fortunately, the bus rolled up in that moment. Yeseul hurried past Joonmyun and sat down in the accessibility section, knowing he would never sit there. He actually took the part about it being for elderly and disabled people seriously. He'd told her as much one day, chiding her for taking the seat from somebody who needed it more. Yeseul had looked around the deserted bus and sighed for five straight minutes. It didn't even go outside the university district. 

Once she was settled, Yeseul put in her headphones and cracked open her copy of Metamorphoses. She still had to finish the selected section for their next class. While the bus continued on its route, Yeseul focused on her book. She highlighted important lines and scribbled notes in the margins as they popped into her head. Every few minutes, she glanced up to make sure she hadn't missed her stop. 

Joonmyun got off before Yeseul, and if he called out a goodbye to her (which seemed like something Joonmyun would do) she didn't hear it. When the bus approached her stop, Yeseul put away her book and pulled up her hood. She said thank you to the driver as she hopped out, boots smacking against the soaked pavement. 

Her apartment was only a few minutes from the bus stop. Yeseul practically ran there, not wanting to be any more drenched than she already was. In the lift, she took off her headphones and tucked them into her bag in exchange for her keys. The doors slid open on the fifth floor, in all its ratty carpeted, beige walled glory. Before she even opened the door to the apartment, Yeseul could hear them. Laughter reverberated off the walls louder than whatever program they were watching. Yeseul slipped in and took off her boots as quietly as possible. 

Their apartment had an odd layout, where one had to go past the bedrooms and bathroom to get to the main room. But Yeseul liked it, since hers was the first door, making it easy to go unnoticed. When Yeseul wanted to be alone, which was more often than not lately, she knew Baekhyun's comings and goings well enough that she could function in their shared apartment without seeing him at all. 

That was, of course, if he didn't try and seek her out. 

Yeseul only got as far as changing into a pair of sweatpants and plugging in her nearly dead laptop before her stomach grumbled. She wrangled her coffee black hair into a bun, knowing full well that going into the kitchen would mean seeing the boys. Sehun, she could handle. He understood Yeseul needed to be left alone sometimes, that it didn't mean she was depressed or upset, just that she wanted to be by herself. Baekhyun, on the other hand, had no sense of boundaries. Sometimes, Yeseul appreciated this particular characteristic. Like the time she'd gone on a lil spree and out for eighteen hours straight, only to wake up to Baekhyun drooling on her favourite pillow because he hadn't left her side the entire time. But he was respectful enough to back off when she asked. In the last few weeks, he'd been very careful to avoid a rift between them. If there was one thing Baekhyun hated, it was fighting with his friends. And since they'd started living together, Baekhyun was better at reading Yeseul's mood – even if she was trying to hide it. 

Chanyeol was the worst of all. Unlike the rest of her friends, who had picked up on the fact that she wasn't having a good start of the semester, start of September, start of being single again, who had the courtesy not to push her too soon; Chanyeol acted like nothing had changed. He grinned when she was cross and kept doing all the things he knew bothered her to no end. Yeseul was grateful at least one person wasn't treading eggshells around her; she just wished it wasn't Chanyeol. 

Yeseul sauntered down the corridor to the common area, taking a left into the kitchen. At first, it seemed like they hadn't noticed her. The chatter continued while she filled a bowl with last night's chicken tikka masala and put it into the microwave. But then Baekhyun's voice cut off mid-laugh, and Yeseul knew she'd been sighted. It was inevitable, really, what with the lack of wall separating the kitchen from the living room. The boundary between the two spaces was marked by a small round table and the four mismatched chairs that surrounded it. 

"Hiiiii, Seullie," Chanyeol droned. His head hung off the end of the sofa that he's likely be sleeping on later. Yeseul grimaced. She hated that nickname, and Chanyeol knew it, so of course he continued to use it. 

"How was the lecture?" Baekhyun asked, turning down the television. 

Yeseul leaned against the counter in front of the microwave, arms folded over her chest. "Fine." 

"Anything interesting happen?" 

"Unless you count Kim Joonmyun saying his favourite play is Romeo and Juliet, then no." 

Next to Baekhyun, Chanyeol snorted. The rest of them looked at him, surprised and confused looks on their faces. "Uh, I just ... was thinking about something else. Sorry." 

"Anyway," Baekhyun continued, throwing Chanyeol an odd look. "We're all going to the bar tomorrow night. Drinks are half price." 

"I'm working," Yeseul replied automatically. 

"Okay. Next time then?" 

The microwave beeped. "Maybe. I don't know." 

She knew she was being rude, but she was too tired and angry to care. Yeseul carried her food back to her room, fork between her teeth, and settled into her desk chair. She grabbed her headphones and plugged them into her laptop, having decided to watch an episode of Gossip Girl before she got down to work. 

While she clicked through Netflix, Yeseul checked her work schedule on her phone. She's worked a lot in August, but with university starting up again, her availability had declined. The cinema still managed to give her a decent amount of shifts; mostly late at night. She usually came home to Chanyeol passed out on the sofa and Baekhyun either up doing work or snoring away in his bedroom. 

There was a knock at her door. Already knowing who it was, Yeseul called out for him to come in. A second later, Sehun had slid in and shut the door gently behind him. He sat on the edge of her bed, picking at the wool blanket Yeseul's grandmother had made for her first birthday. It followed her through all the birthdays after that; all the different beds, rooms and homes. 

"Are you really working tomorrow?" he asked. 

"You think I lied?" 

"I wouldn't be surprised," Sehun said, pusing the hair out of his face as he looked at her. "If it was a lie, and you aren't working, you should come out. It would be good for you." 

Yeseul scoffed. "What, getting drunk?" 

"Yeah. When was the last time you were drunk?" 

"I don't know, for about half of August? Right now I've got other stuff going on." 

"Well, put it off for a night. It's not like you're working." 

Yeseul met his gaze evenly, accepting the fact that she'd been caught in her lie. 

"It's healing pretty well," Sehun said, changing the subject with satisfaction. He nodded at the little crown inked on her left foot. At the end of August, after months of talking about him tattooing her, she finally let him do it. Now she, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo and Sumin all had a tattoo Sehun had designed and inked himself, except for Baekhyun. "Does it feel alright?" 

"It hurt like hell when you were doing it, but it's fine now." 

"You didn't believe me when I said it would," Sehun replied with a grin. 

"I didn't think anything could top this one." Yeseul held up her hand so he could see the little equal sign inked on her right index finger. "But you've got a heavy hand." 

"No I don't!" Sehun protested. "Ask Chanyeol. I've done like six of his." 

"And he complains for ages afterwards. Kyungsoo is even worse. Honestly, Sehun," Yeseul sighed. Sehun was smiling at her, and it was unnerving. "What?" 

"You almost smiled just then." 

"Go away." 

Sehun raised his hands in mock defence and stood up, heading for the door. "Sumin says hi. She's sorry she hasn't come by to see you, but she figured you were busy." 

"Yeah," Yeseul nodded, not really listening. She liked Sehun's girlfriend. Sumin was like Sehun; quiet, caring, dedicated, not too intrusive. She was friendlier, though, and a little more outgoing than her withdrawn boyfriend. 

"So you'll come out?" 

"We'll see." 

Though she turned back to her laptop, Yeseul could sense Sehun linger by the door for a moment, watching her. He was probably contemplating wha