Title: Perfect Strangers
Author: aquaxeyes
Rating: T for language
Full Description: It's been two years since Serena Moore has heard anything from her old high school crush, Darien Matthews. When he finally makes contact, she is forced to face his version of the truth and her feelings for someone she thought she knew. But will this long overdue confrontation prove they're perfect together or perfect strangers?

Author's Notes: I would like to thank rosebudjamie, hit60, raye85, SmTwilight, Miss Katharine, sere, SerenityDeath, supersaiyanx, RoyalLovers1418, Calindy, skye668, Godschildtweety, blackacess, Edward4ever1992, iloveebfanfics, tonieboo0013, sarahr85, sailorjupiterox, Immortal-Oracle, Gabbyttita and Macala Armstrong for giving me feedback on part five. Your reviews have given me the motivation to keep working on this fic and not give up! (Makenai!)

'Kay as a side note.. well, I know I shouldn't be doing this, but I have to market my latest story, Thirteenth Times a Charm, out to you. If you watch Smallville and like Clark/Chloe or Chloe/Oliver pairings, you should give it a shot. I wrote it as a Spring Break challenge, and yes, it is actually--gasps--complete. I feel that, since joining FF, my writing skill has adapted and become better than I could have ever anticipated, and this story reflects it. Hopefully, you will, too! Okay, done marketing my story now haha.

You'll notice there are less thoughts in this chapter, which I'm hoping to keep reducing until the end, because I want the rest of what's going to happen to be a surprise!

This fic is on 37 favorite lists and 71 alert lists and has had over 7500 hits. Hell, yeah.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story.

Part Six. The Icebreaker.
"It's what you did that I can't seem to stop reminding myself of."

Darien waited for her to reappear from her room with the bunch of expensive-looking flowers he just realized she came in with to reply. "I disagree."

He stared at Serena, looking so fragile in those baggy clothes. It was hard to believe she was saying things that were much stronger than her appearance. 'I can't figure her out.'

"We're roommates," he said, quoting her, "We need to learn how to get along. And getting along requires getting to know one another. And getting to know one another means we have to talk. We have to find middle ground."

"It sounds wonderful," she said sarcastically, "It really does, but the last thing I need is something that will only stress me out."

"I don't see what's so stressful about trying to have a civil conversation with me."

"Civil?" Serena squeaked. 'Is he serious?' "You want to talk to me about civil? You constantly insulted me to my face, Darien, and when that wasn't enough, you embarrassed me. Yes, that's right, you embarrassed me. Do you know what that's like?"

He shook his head, trying not to wince at how true to life her words were.

"I'll tell you," she said, her voice completely heated with anger. She knew she should stop, but she couldn't. "It's like growing up and thinking back on something you did that never did sit quite right, that something being the fact that Raye tore into me and no one defended me. Not Andrew, the guy that supposedly liked me, and definitely not you. In fact, you felt I deserved to be.. punished or something, and said the cruelest thing I've ever heard. And although I'm past the embarrassment at least, looking at you and not being able to stop replaying that day over and over in my head makes the spitefulness nice and fresh again. You couldn't possibly imagine how much it's killing me inside to have to share this apartment with you." Calmly, she stepped into the kitchen to find one of her vases and fill it with water.

Darien was speechless. She said it was killing her! "Are you that repulsed by me?" he suddenly asked.

Serena paused midstep in returning from the kitchen, flowers already in the vase. What kind of question was that? He was more than attractive enough--'Oh, stop it Serena Jane.' "No, I'm not "repulsed" by you. It's what you did that I can't seem to stop reminding myself of."

'So it isn't me. It's what I did.' He wasn't relieved by that, but it was something that he could live with. It was one thing to hate a person, another to hate what that person did. That meant there was a chance that he could still be forgiven. In time, of course.

He simply nodded at the flowers. "Those from Morgan?"

"Not that it's anyone's business," she said, carefully avoiding directing that toward him, "but the mayor sent them. Chad also dropped by and apologized for what happened in person."

'Good.' "How thoughtful of him."

Serena angled her head as though she didn't believe him and placed them on the table. Done, she turned to him. "I thought so, too."

"Funny," he said, picking a flower to touch delicately, "You can forgive a man for almost copping a feel but write another man's apologies off as careless and unthoughtful."

Serena drew up, ready to say something, but Darien was right. She could forgive Chad for doing something stupid.. 'while he was drunk.' It wasn't the same. With Darien, she had a history. She'd had a huge crush on him. And what he did to her wasn't alcohol-induced or based on plain stupidity. He knew what he was saying to her. He chose to say that she wasn't good enough for him.

But that was the thing. It was high school. Boys and girls and excited hormones. Serena was not the same, wistful romantic she was back then. She'd grown up, hardened. Able to tell if someone was being honest or deceitful, at least to a further extent. She no longer lived in that cloud in the sky, ignorant of what people were capable of. That being said, she couldn't really expect Darien to be the same, right? He had to have grown up, changed just a little.

Darien waited for an awful comeback. One that was spiteful and made him want to punch himself in the face. Because it was true, he'd been a jerk. That was something he had to live with every day, literally now. Serena had come back into his life by moving into his apartment. There was no avoiding the living, breathing proof of the horrible person he was in high school. And he wouldn't argue with her because she was right.

They stood there, staring each other down. Finally, Serena said, "Good night."

Darien tapped his alarm clock silent, yawned and stretched. Two minutes later he was up and finished with making his bed. Normally, he would do a few push-ups and crunches, but he decided to save the routine for tonight. He walked to the bathroom, making sure it wasn't occupied before he went in. He grabbed a spare towel and set it on the closed toilet before stripping down for a shower.

Serena slammed her fist into her alarm clock, scowled and turned over. Five minutes later she repeated the action. Five minutes later, she checked the time and, realizing she'd punched her alarm clock one too many times, jumped out of bed. She stared at the mess and decided she'd make her bed when she came home. Staggering out of her room, she yawned and proceeded to rub the sleep from her eyes. It wasn't until she was standing in front of the bathroom mirror that she dropped her hand from her face and registered the shower radio being turned on.. accompanied by off-key humming.

Her jaw almost hit the bathroom counter as she stared at the outline of Darien's naked form through the lightly etched shower glass. Bar of soap in hand, he was rubbing at the washboard design of his stomach."Oh god!"

The bar of soap clattered to the bathtub floor. Darien swung the door halfway open. "Serena?! What the--" He stopped, realizing half of him was as exposed as the bathtub.

But it was too late. She already caught a naked leg and arm, both of which were pleasantly muscled. "Gah!" she shouted back, trying not to let her imagination run wild. She grabbed the nearest object and pressed it to her face, trying to take deep, cleansing breaths.

"What are you still doing here? Get out!" he yelped, hiding behind the door.

"Okay, okay!" she answered through the towel, running out of the room.

Darien sunk back in the stall, relief almost immediate. Not that he'd hadn't ever shown a girl his naked body, but it was Serena Moore. 'Geez.'

Only then did it hit him, and he slid the door open once again to confirm that it was true. Serena had taken his towel.

"SERENA GET BACK HERE!"

Serena shook her head as she beat the eggs she'd cracked into a bowl, trying to erase the thought of naked Darien from her mind. He was naked! Her hand picked up the pace, and she blew some hair out of her eyes. 'No, Serena, do not go there. Do not give Darien Matthews a chance to jump back into your hot books. GAHHH!' So trapped was she in the 'GAHHH!' part of her thoughts that she didn't realize Darien entered the kitchen until he was reaching across her to place two pieces of toast in the toaster. She jumped, spilling a bit of egg on the counter. "Nice," she heard behind her.

Darien knew that he shouldn't have said that, shouldn't have baited her. After all, she did come back and throw the towel in the bathroom.. and straight into the toilet. Really. He should've been thankful--no, no grateful--that he had to yank the dripping-with-mystery-water towel out of the toilet bowl, hold it against his body and run straight to his room so he could find a dry towel, the only one being a sweaty gym towel at the bottom of his laundry pile.

"Thanks, but just so you know, I'm docking that from your share," she said, pointing the fork at the scattered egg.

"Oh you're making me breakfast? Thank you, honey, but I usually skip breakfast," Darien said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

'Ass!' "You know, I'm not a morning person, and those smartass comments of yours are really making me regret not taking a video camera with me while you were singing alongside Sara Bareilles in the shower."

"I wasn't singing," Darien flared, "I was humming, and don't think that because you're not a morning person I'm not going to take the last cup of coffee--"

Serena whirled around, looking at the travel mug in his hand. "You wouldn't dare!"

His grin was snide. Tipping his mug in mock salute to her, he said, "I'll see you tonight."

'With my coffee, I don't think so!' She lunged at him, catching him by surprise, and the coffee from the mug sloshed out. They both yelped as brown lukewarm liquid splashed against both their shirts.

"Look what you did!" Darien cried out, his eyes murderous.

"Me?" she snapped, unrepentent. "You tipped the mug!"

"I did not! You lunged!"

"Did not! You jumped back!"

"Great!" Darien said, glaring even as his eyes searched for a paper towel, "Now I'm going to be late for class!"

She looked down at her ruined shirt. "So am I!"

He recalled the times in high school that she'd barge into class late, looking like she'd just ran a marathon. "That's not unusual for you," he muttered, looking around for something to clean himself off with.

Serena's eyes narrowed. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said," he replied absent-mindedly. "Grab me a paper towel would you?"

'Don't do it! Okay, do it, but be resentful.' "I'm not your slave," Serena said, turning around to scan the counter.

Darien lifted his head to the heavens, his eyes straining to find inner peace on the ceiling. "God, Serena, for one split second, could you please stop turning everything into an argument?"

She paused. "Maybe if you learned some manners--"

"I'm not just talking about right now," Darien said, using his hands for emphasis. "I mean this entire morning. It's like everything I do--drink coffee, take a shower, oh, and breathe--seems to offend you. Or maybe you think I'm out to get you. All I know is that damn paranoia of yours is killing me!"

For once, Serena was quiet. Finally, she found a paper towel roll and quietly handed him a sheet. He dried himself off. She watched him. Quietly.

When he was done, she crossed her arms, indicating their conversation wasn't over. "Fine," she said, "I'll concede to the fact that I'm still stuck on self-victimization mode."

'She just now realizes this!' "How gracious of you," he seethed, patting the coffee stain on his shirt.

Serena's mouth went a bit dry as she saw his form under the snug piece of wet shirt. 'No one else would look that good with coffee on--NO! Nonono..' She turned her head, trying not to let the sight heat her face up. "I can't help it," she said, hoping talking would distract her mind, "Defense mechanism. Every time I talk to you I lose all rationale."

He paused. 'Did she really admit that?' "Why are you telling me this now?"

'Because you just distracted me with that whole big wet-shirt-clingling-to-your-body thing.' Serena turned back to him, hoping her face had gone back to its usual pale tone. 'Why is he still attractive to me?' "Because I.. I.." 'I'm not crazy. I don't just hold grudges. I want to forgive you, but that little part of me is telling me to hold back.'

Darien watched as her face went blank. 'Is she going to answer me? Does she even have an answer?' Her eyes flickered, and he realized that maybe she wasn't ready to admit that she was wrong. Boy, did he understand that feeling.

He cleared his throat. "I have to go," he murmured.

Serena stared glumly at her dinner. A week had passed since that first awful morning with Darien. A week since her realization that Darien and she weren't high school seniors anymore. Despite her last conversation with Mina, despite her trip down memory lane with her old journal, she knew that holding the past against him wasn't going to lead anywhere. That was not the way to heal. With ex-boyfriend Ben, she didn't make it a point to relive the painful details leading to her broken heart. She chose to put those in the backburner and get on with her life.

'Darien shouldn't be an exception.'

The only problem was, after that morning, Darien had avoided her like the plague. He woke up earlier and was out the door before she even got out of bed. When she came home, he was already locked in his bedroom, light on until after she turned in for the night. It wasn't right. Call her crazy, but Darien cooping himself up in his room wasn't her idea of sharing an apartment.

"It could be worse," a voice broke into her thoughts.

She sighed, finally picking her knife and fork up and cutting into her steak. "Yeah," she said, absent-mindedly, "He could've been chasing me down with water balloons." 'Though that would be infinitely better than what he's doing now.. pure isolation.'

Haruka and Michiru switched glances, a motion Serena caught but didn't bother to comment on. "I was actually referring to the overcooked meat," Haruka said, stabbing hers viciously, "but if you like well, well done, you should tell Michiru I didn't screw up."

Serena popped a piece in her mouth, forcing herself to chew smoothly. "She didn't screw up," she said through munches.

"Believable," Haruka muttered, glaring at her sliced piece.

Michiru excused herself for a second and came back with some sashimi for her and Haruka to share. When she was finished with one slice, she turned to Serena. "I take it things have not blown over with Darien?"

Serena shook her head readily. "We've lapsed into a highly passive-agressive impasse."

Michiru gave her a sympathetic smile. "Been there."

Serena had to force herself not to laugh in front of Haruka, especially when Haruka had that struck-by-a-bus look on her face. "What did you do, then, to get things back to normal?"

Michiru shrugged and geez, did anything look bad when she did it? "I found mutual ground, but with you and Darien, that may be more difficult to do."

Serena nodded, then a thought struck her. "Maybe not."

Darien ran a hand through his hair as he approached the door to the apartment. He couldn't believe how long he'd held out, trying to stay away from Serena. Give her space. Although it sounded like that wall she'd built around her was shaking a little that one morning, he didn't want to push his luck. The last thing he wanted was to do something that would change her mind and make her think he was the bad guy again.

'Well, guess I gotta go in sometime. I can't camp out in the hallway.. or could I?' He sighed as he opened the door and walked in. And stopped short at the sight waiting for him in the living room. "No way.."

Serena was sitting cross-legged on the floor like a little kid, staring at the TV screen. His eyes flickered at the screen and he realized they were staring at a video game. Final Fantasy VI, to be precise. He looked down and saw that she was, indeed, holding a controller, linked to a Super Nintendo system.

She jumped up in surprise at the sound of his voice and turned around. Just like how she'd been sitting, she looked at him like a guilty child. "Sorry," she said breathlessly, giving the system a glance, "I meant to ask you if I could hook this up to the TV, but really, we haven't talked since you know, and you know.. you know?"

Serena bit down on her lip, hating herself for being caught off guard. She didn't think Darien was going to be home this early. Seriously, she thought she'd have a couple hours to play before he happened upon her. Hence the rambling. But she didn't stop there. Oh, no. That look on his face, utter intrigue, made her gesture to the game and say, "Would you like to..?"

Still, he said nothing. He was probably too stunned that she still had her console. 'I'm such a nineties kid.' "I can restart it--"

"You don't have to do that," he said, finally finding his voice.

"No, it's all right. I just started a new game, and I forgot how much you can miss in the first few minutes," she said and slid the restart button up. The screen blacked out, but the game didn't start.

"Here," Darien said, kicking his shoes off and setting his stuff down. He walked over to the console, turned it off, and ejected the game cartridge. He turned it over and gently blew into it. When he glanced up, he realized Serena had been watching him with an amused face. Putting a grumpy one on his, he stuck the cartridge back and flipped the start button. The screen came to life.

Serena sat back down, leaning against the coffee table. He mirrored her action.

Wordlessly, she handed him the controller. "No thanks," he said, "I'm okay with watching."

'I bet you are.. eww, mind out of the gutter, Serena Jane.' "Why don't we both play?" she countered.

Darien furrowed his brow. "We can't."

"Why not?"

"There's no way to do that."

"Dude," she argued, "there is. Plug the second controller in, and I'll show you."

Two hours later, Serena and Darien were battling Vargas. Or rather, Darien was battling Vargas as Sabin. "Dammit," he cursed, watching Sabin forfeit a turn, "I cannot get this blitz combo right."

"That controller sucks," she said. "You really have to make sure you're pressing left, right, left."

Darien shook his head. "I thought it was right, left, right."

"That's where you went wrong," she said. "Try left, right, left next."

He did, and saw Sabin pummel Vargas and consequently beat him. He turned to Serena, completely forgetting the dialogue on the screen.

"What?" she asked.

"This entire time, I thought you were lying about knowing how to play this," he began. "I thought you Google'd Final Fantasy just to sound cool in front of me in high school."

Serena rolled her eyes. 'Was Google even around back then?' "Me? Lie about video games? Why? Stuff like that doesn't make you cool, it makes you nerdy."

He laughed and paused when something came over her face. "What?"

"Did I.. just make you laugh?" she asked.

He frowned. "Yeah," he said, sounding just as bewildered. 'I'll be damned. We're actually getting along.'

As if she'd read his thoughts, she sighed and turned to him, propping her arm against the coffee table. "Darien, enough of this. This apartment is half yours. You don't have to treat me like a ticking time bomb."

He raised his eyebrows. She knew what he was doing? So much for being subtle. "I just--I know how you feel about me--"

"Really?" she asked, skeptical.

"You hate my entire being," he said.

Serena stared at him, trying to figure out if she could agree with him. Alas, she could not. "I don't," she said, finally realizing it for herself.

"Yeah, right."

"Do you really want to question me right now?" she asked. That shut him up quickly. Serena gave him a weak smile. "What you said and did back then.. well, people have done worse to me. I guess I just focused on that so strongly because high school in general is such a critical time for a teen growing up."

"So what are you saying?" he asked, still confused.

"I'm saying that I'm over dwelling," she said. "You and I, we're older. Maybe not so much more mature, but I know we both have done things we've later regretted. I'm not going to be that person that holds it against you."

Darien blew out a breath he didn't know he was holding. So. She was calling a truce. It wasn't exactly forgiveness, but it was better than leaking venomous barbs and I-wish-you-ill eyes. "Thank you," he said.

They continued to play Final Fantasy VI for four hours.

"Serena," Darien said, pounding on her door. "Serena, I know you're ignoring me. Open this door!"

Silence.

He cursed under his breath. A whole month had passed since their truce. A whole month of learning how to live with each other. In that time he learned that breakfast was an essential meal that he shouldn't skip out on, Haruka could get to their apartment in under eight minutes if Serena had an emergency, and having a bartender as a roommate was amazing. He hadn't known how many alcoholic concoctions he'd been missing out on until she'd stocked the cupboards full of ingredients and began her practice at home.

Everything was fine up until two days ago, when Serena locked herself up in her room and refused to leave except to use the bathroom. At first, he thought that maybe he'd done something to piss her off, but when her mom called him just now, telling him that Serena wasn't answering any of her calls, he knew something else was up. He promised her mom that he would investigate, so there he was, standing in front of her door, phone in hand in case he needed to call 911.

He heard a slight rustling of bed sheets, but no footsteps to the door. 'Okay, time to whip out the big guns.' "I have a message for you," he said in a singsong voice, "from your concerned mother. She says you'd better let me in, Serena Jane Moore, or you won't be getting any apple crisp this weekend."

Three seconds later, the door clicked, unlocked, and opened to reveal a very pale-looking Serena. He looked at her head to toe. She was in loose pajamas, but he could see how thin she'd become in only two days. Hair disheveled, she stared at him with puffy eyes like she hadn't seen light in hours. "God," he uttered, "are you all right?"

Serena looked at him in shock. She couldn't eat something and keep it down for the past forty-eight hours, and he wanted to ask if she was all right? "Fantastic," she said, stumbling back to her bed. She dove in and her whole body screamed in pain.

Darien shook his head. He totally deserved that. Obviously, she was not up to par. "What's wrong?"

She turned over on her back and glared at him from the opening. "I'm feeling like shit," she said, sniffing and grabbing for a tissue. "I can barely breathe through my nose, it hurts to swallow, and my head hurts. Like a bitch."

"Do your teeth hurt?" he asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

"Because," he replied, starting to dial a number on the cordless phone, "You need drugs."

She laughed bitterly. "You would say that," she muttured.

He ignored her, waiting to speak until the person on the other line picked up. "Hi, Mrs. Moore, it's Darien." He paused. "Yeah, she's relatively okay. She just has a sinus infection--"

"Just?" Serena asked incredulously.

"Yes, you could get antibiotics, but they're mostly ineffective, plus it would be such a hassel for you--"

"Taking care of your child is never a hassel," Serena hissed.

"Okay. Thanks for trusting me. Good night."

She counted to three before speaking again. "Darien, if you just told my mother to abandon me--Darien!" she shouted once she realized he left.

He returned less than a minute later, armed with a banana, water bottle, and a bottle of pills. She stared at him. "What is that?"

"Water and Ibuprofen," he said, handing them to her. "That should help with the headache. The banana will help keep it down."

"I doubt it," she said, but took the pills and ate the banana. When she was done, she looked up at Darien. "What are you still doing here?"

"Waiting for a thank you."

"Of course," she muttered. She grabbed a tissue and blew her nose dramatically. She wiped her nose a few times before saying, "Thank you, Darien, for making my day suck a little less."

He sighed. "All right, if you insist."

"On what?" she said, wiping her nose again.

"I guess I'll stay and make sure you don't throw up everywhere."

"Ha!" she said, "I was doing fine before you stuck your nose in--"

"You forget, you opened the door."

"And you decided to diagnose me. Last I heard you weren't in pharmacy school yet."

Darien rolled his eyes. "Be thankful. Had I been clueless about what's wrong with you, you would be laying there, wishing you could rip your face off."

"Don't delude yourself," she said, hoping he would take the cue and leave.

"In the state you're in, you're the only one that's anywhere near delusional."

She scoffed, glaring at him from under the covers. "I don't need you," she sniffed.

"Yes, you do."

She looked like she was about to protest, so Darien cut her off. "I'm going to take care of you, Serena," he said, pulling her computer chair up and taking post by her bed, "So suck it up."

End Part Six.

A glimpse at the next chapter. Part Seven. The Truth.

"Serena.."

"Seriously. I want to know. What kind of bet did you make with Andrew?"

"It wasn't a bet--"

"Okay, the "arrangement"," she said, quoting that word with two fingers on each hand.