I'm not sure if anyone could tell from the title – you probably only could if you listened to the song a zillion times or recently – but the song's 'I'm Only Me When I'm With You' by Taylor Swift. I know a lot of people aren't big country fans, but I love the lyrics to this song, and, if country doesn't make you puke, feel free to listen to the whole thing. I'll post a link to a YouTube video on my profile.

Disclaimer: I don't own Beyblade.

Enjoy!

"Friday night beneath the stars,

In a field behind your yard,"

Beneath the Stars

It was a cool, summer evening – a Friday to be exact – and it was a very special evening indeed. Laughter floated from the dojo as Tyson and his various guests mingled, keeping the party going into the night. Amidst the chitchat, party games, dancing, and general teenage foolishness, no one noticed two party guests slip out. (Truth be told, if their absence had been noticed, the dojo was too full to assume they weren't simply being overlooked.)

The pair, having driven off in the car Max had gotten for his sixteenth birthday exactly one year ago, now lay in the small expanse of grass the Tates called their backyard. Laying on their backs, looking up at the sheet of stars spread out above them, they got an upside-down perspective of being small, meaningless, and insignificant. This made them feel even closer together, for the beauty and splendor of the starry display is something every human being has set in them to enjoy, allowing for common ground that can sometimes not be found otherwise. Combine this with equal feelings of unimportance and the people in question become even closer. When already there though, the ground was made doubly common, as it was in Max and Mariam's case.

"One more year," Max said with a feeling of importance attached to his words.

"One more year until what?" Mariam rolled over onto her side and propped her head up on her hand.

"Until I'm an adult," he answered matter-of-factly, "and until it won't seem so weird to people that we're dating."

"Oh, you mean all those people who shake their heads with disapproving looks when they hear that you're seventeen and I'm twenty?" Max nodded and his girlfriend of two years rolled her eyes. "People talked when we first got together and they'll talk now. Ignore them and they'll get bored. That's what I do."

"I know," he sighed, staring up into the bedazzled sky. "I just wish they wouldn't. You've heard the things they say – it's terrible. They have no respect for us or our privacy. I just feel like our relationship should be ours; they should have no part in it."

"You're getting deep with old age, Maxie," Mariam joked. "Pretty soon you'll be telling me how people should be like stars and keep to themselves, giving each other their own chance to shine." Max raised an eyebrow at her. "Or something else corny like that."

"I don't think I could get quite that corny," he defended with an eye roll – one of the many mannerisms he'd picked up from Mariam.

"I'm not so sure, but we'll go with it since today's your birthday." Mariam used a tone that said Max was lucky she'd given up so easily. He was – Mariam wouldn't let an argument slip by with anyone but him.

"That's sweet of you, really." His sarcasm was another one of Mariam's mannerisms, though he'd adapted it to be more light and playful when he used it.

"Geez, don't get snippy as you get older either." Mariam laughed at her own joke, coaxing Max to laugh along, too by utilizing her incredibly contagious laughter. She was clearly adopting some of his mannerisms as well.

People may have more in common beneath the night sky, but love was what caused total personality swaps.

A/N: That seems like sort of an odd way to end it, like I could have gone on, but there really wasn't much to go on about. Oh, well. It's okay once you read it through a few times.

I've been trying, and failing, to balance drabbles, other writing projects, other updates, a puppy, schoolwork, and various other responsibilities. Sorry that these aren't being updated on a very nice schedule. This is probably how it will be so that I can get some other work done, but at least I'm not making you wait a month between updates anymore.

Oh, and Mariam didn't tell Max 'Happy Birthday' at all in this because they were hanging out all day. I'm sure a 'Happy Birthday' sneaked in there somewhere.

Review?