A/N: I ended up accidentally deleting my fanfiction folder and music folder on my computer. I had the mp3s backed up, but I lost all the nonsense I was writing. WHY? Bleh, so out of spite for myself and my recycle bin, here's another chapter. Actually, I meant to load this a few days ago, but FANFICTION DOT NET has been just terrible lately! Hope you like it!

Just Roommates

Chapter 6 - Mediocre

Beast Boy fearlessly stared his opponent down. It lazily gazed back, and, assuming it was now a staring war, Beast Boy narrowed his eyes. His foe was still undaunted. The green one squinted as much as he could, feeling his eyes dry out and tear up simultaneously. After not even a minute, he unwillingly blinked a few times. Beast Boy scowled at Raven's door and stomped away. The door's name plate seemed to twinkle triumphantly after him.

Deciding he had no where else to go, Beast Boy punched the bottom level button within the elevator and tapped his foot rather restlessly on the long way down. The doors slid open at the dusty cement garage, home of Robin's motorcycle and the acclaimed T-Car. Cyborg's feet poked out from underneath the latter, occasionally twitching or moving according to whatever he was doing down there.

"Hey, Cyborg, whatcha up to?" asked Beast Boy as he pulled up a comfy wooden crate to sit on. The half-robot's feet jumped a little and he pushed himself out from under the car. Hands still gripping the bumper, he frowned at Beast Boy with an unamused, oil-smeared face.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he replied flatly. "I'm tuning the T-Car." With that, he wheeled himself back underneath.

"Oh," said Beast Boy, absently bathing in a vibe of unwelcomeness. With some afterthought, he added, "Uhh..."

Right now he just needed someone to talk to. His first choice, of course, would be Starfire, but she was unusually absent for the afternoon. His second choice was Robin, who was spacey and jumpy, probably over curiosity of the lack of Starfire's presence. It would be terribly awkward discussing his problems with Raven, considering she was indeed his problem. So there he was, scratching his head and wondering how long Cyborg held grudges.

"You mad at me?" he asked honestly after a while.

"No," was the response from his muffled voice. Beast Boy shifted his jaw a few times for no real reason before continuing.

"'Cause, well, I kinda sorta maybe wanna talk to about something," he said before he could reconsider. Cyborg appeared again and sat up to face the Changeling. "Maybe," Beast Boy emphasized.

"You? Want to talk to me?" Cyborg replied skeptically. He motioned towards the rag on the crate next to Beast Boy.

"Uh, yeah," he tossed Cyborg the rag. "That's so surprising?"

"I guess not. What's up?" Cyborg mopped his face and hands with the scrap.

Beast Boy fiddled with his gloves and collected his thoughts like you collect water with chicken wire.

"Me and Raven got into a fight last night."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And today she wrote me an apology note. Is that weird or what?"

Cyborg heaved himself up and went about gathering tools from various locations around the garage. "So what'd you two fight about?"

"About us fighting!" Beast Boy threw his hands into the air. "She got all ballistic on me when I asked why she hated me, and then--"

"Wait, back up, you asked her why she hates you?" Cyborg interrupted, turning to face Beast Boy with an incredulous look on his face and several wrenches in his hands.

"Yeah, your point?"

"Uh, she doesn't hate you, man."

"Well, I know that now!" the green one blinked, "How do you know, anyway?"

"Dunno," Cyborg shrugged. "So she apologized, am I missing the problem part of this problem?"

"Because Raven apologizing to ME, of all people, is WEIRD," Beast Boy groaned, rubbing his temples. "And it's not like I can write her a letter back, that's so not my style."

Cyborg frowned again. "So she's weird when she's distant, weird when she's sarcastic, and weird when she finally apologizes?" Beast Boy would have gladly accepted a rendezvous with a steamroller over that sudden epiphany.

"No! I mean," he smacked his forehead, "Damn... I guess I don't really understand her, do I?"

Cyborg dropped the wrenches in his tool box and sat on a crate nearby Beast Boy's, slinging the dirty rag over his shoulder. After a pause, he said quietly, "So you want to talk to her?" Beast Boy nodded. "But you don't know how."

"Hey, I can handle this by myself, you know," he raised his eyebrows defensively, completely forgetting the principle of him being in the garage in the first place. Cyborg's face said, "Shut up," and he rubbed his hands together.

"Alright, in Rae's case, I think you have to through her off guard. She's a tough lady, you know, so you have to be suave," Cyborg sarcastically added, "Good luck."

"Should I pretend you're helping?" Beast Boy replied bitterly. "So you think I have to break Steel Woman, what?"

"I think you have to say somethin' that'll surprise her, you know, not give her wit a chance to punch you in the stomach, you follow?"

Beast Boy gave him an intense stare. "You want me to think of some totally awesome pick-up line?"

"You could look at it that way," Cyborg grinned.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It was approaching dusk and the lights of Jump City were slowly beginning to flicker on. Dylan's arm was draped around Starfire's waist as they walked together along the sidewalks, and although he was a head taller than she and considerably forward in his actions, Starfire didn't feel threatened by him. He had a cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth, and Starfire had demonstrated her powers by giving him a light. He was impressed, but Starfire wasn't. She thought the smoke that billowed out from his mouth was unattractive, mostly because of its horrible smell. It explained the stench from his clothes and wallet, though.

A few hours ago at the pizza place, he listened intently to Starfire's farfetched tales of Tamaran and her adventures with the Titans. He asked questions when appropriate, he threw in his own comments, but not once changed the subject to something about himself. She found him to be very charming but she still felt her new friend was a stranger.

"Dylan, why do you not tell me of yourself?" Starfire asked politely, trying to catch his eyes, which was pretty difficult with the sunglasses that seemed fused to the bridge of his nose. Dylan sniffed.

"I dunno, not much to say. What do you wanna know?" he said, exhaling smoke from his nostrils.

"If you insist... how many years do you have?"

Dylan burst out laughing. "You mean, how old am I?" Starfire nodded, slightly confused and mostly embarrassed. "I'm 17, and how old are you? I don't think you said."

"31," Starfire let a sly grin creep across her face.

"Tamaran years, you mean! You're not fooling me," with his free hand he pointed to Starfire in a mock-accusing way. She giggled.

"You are correct! I am approximately 15 of your Earth years, I suppose," Dylan nodded and took a long drag of his cigarette. Starfire raised an eyebrow. "My planet has two moons and our calendar is according to them."

"I get it, almost like double our years?" She beamed. "Alright, see, this alien stuff isn't so hard. Well, you're not too much younger than me, I see that as a plus," Starfire smiled and they walked another few blocks in a comfortable silence. Dylan soon parked them outside of a small apartment complex.

"Sweetie, this is my place. I'm gonna have to see you some other time, okay?" He put a hand on her shoulder. "Unless you wanna come up with me, I have the room."

Starfire shook her head. "No, but Dylan, I feel as though I barely know you but you know so very much about me. I was about to request that you come back with me and meet my friends," she gave him a pleading look and bit her lip.

"Aww, Star, I've got a lot to do tonight, can I get a rain check?" he pouted teasingly. Although she had no idea what he meant by, "Rain check," she couldn't help but laugh.

"Yes, of course." Dylan bent down and gave her a quick kiss.

"Thanks again for returning my wallet," he said, pushing open the complex door. Starfire thought that was an awfully simple goodbye.

"Will I really see you again?" she blurted out. Dylan leaned again the doorframe and smirked. After one final puff, he dropped the cigarette and squished it under his sneaker.

"Only if you want to."

"I want to."

"Alrighty then, I'll give you a call sometime," he gave her a small wave and a wink, then disappeared within the building.

Starfire touched a finger to her lips, blushing. Without caring if she drew attention to herself, she kicked off the ground and rushed some hundred feet in the air, scanning the horizon. Spotting Titan's Tower in the west, right in front of the setting sun and shining ocean like something from a postcard, she zoomed off toward home. She couldn't wait to tell Raven about her first kiss.

It later occurred to her that Dylan didn't have her phone number.

A/N: Sorry if this chapter seemed lacking... I had some major issues with it. ::shakes fist:: Review!