Genre: Action/Adventure/Romance

Pairing: Primarily Raven/Beast Boy

Summary: Beast Boy and Raven have never gotten along, but when Beast Boy accidentally finds himself able to travel through parallel dimensions, he learns what life would be like if Raven meant something to him. Raven/Beast Boy.

Disclaimer: Teen Titans is not owned by me. And neither are the titles of any songs I happen to use. "Across the Universe" is originally sung by the Beatles, and there is a nice cover of it done by Fiona Apple.

Author's Notes: Hm...new idea. I broke up with my boyfriend, which is just the greatest feeling in the universe, let me tell you. Anyway, in one of my more desperate moments, I wondered what it would be like if I woke up one morning, ran into him, and pretended like nothing had happened between us for the last year or so, and this story was borne. The writing's not my best work, but I think the idea's interesting.

5/16/05: I've been looking over my notes, and I think it would be also best if I proclaimed which universe the characters happen to be in, hoping to bar any confusion. This will start the next chapter. I'm trying to make the story reader-friendly, but I know you're all critical thinkers and can probably discern which Ravens and which Beast Boys I'm talking about.

As always, REVIEWS and CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM welcome.

A World Without You

Chapter One: Across the Universe

They were at it again.

It was impressive, Robin thought, how many arguments they could have in one day.

This morning, it had been over Beast Boy's breakfast prank—causing Raven's kettle of herbal tea to explode all over the kitchen. There had been two mini-fights during their afternoon in the park: one when Raven halted their football game to call a foul on Beast Boy's team, and the second, when Raven accidentally forgot to pack the picnic basket with tofu hotdogs. Then, there was the fourth one during dinner when Beast Boy spilled water over one of Raven's books.

This fifth time, they were arguing over which channel the television should be on. Beast Boy wanted the comedy channel; Raven tried to put in a convincing argument for—as she called it—the "nothing channel", better known as "turning the TV off."

Neither would compromise.

So, in the ensuing battle, Robin had taken the opportunity to steal the big-screen TV away from them both. He didn't think they would mind. In a minute, Beast Boy would storm out of the room to pout, and Raven would disappear through the floor.

"Well, fine, I don't have to put up with this." Beast Boy said, finally as he stormed out of the room.

Raven huffed and a black portal on the floor swallowed her up.

Robin grinned.

He was good.

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Robin brought his cup of coffee closer to his face, taking a sip and savoring the flavor before swallowing. Drinking the bitter stuff allowed him to think straighter. It certainly wasn't as if anything else in the Tower was going to get him to think clearly.

Raven and Beast Boy especially.

"How many times must I tell you to stay out of my room!" Raven yelled. Several objects encased in Raven's trademark black orbs sailed past Robin's head and hurled themselves at the green changeling. Starfire had to dodge a hairbrush when Beast Boy ducked in front of her. Beast Boy continued his race for survival around the Titan kitchen.

"Sorry, Star!" He called, ducking a book (which hit Cyborg). Beast Boy earnestly faced Raven. "I only went in to apologize for yesterday! I was sorry about accidentally cooking your stupid tea leaves!"

"So, they're 'stupid' now, are they?"

If Raven wasn't careful, she would accidentally toss the refrigerator at the changeling.

"Look, it's not my fault the door to your room was left open and I happened to read the first page of your diary!"

"It's not a diary. It's a creative journal." Raven seethed.

"It was good, whatever it was."

"That 'whatever' you speak of was my poetry!"

Beast Boy yelped as he was trapped in a corner with Raven advancing on him. A frying pan successfully smacked the object of her ire, and he dropped to the floor in a heap.

Beast Boy groaned. "There, Raven! Are you happy? I think I've lost my ability to think."

"Funny. You never seemed to possess that ability before."

"Hey!"

"Tell me, Beast Boy, how does one 'accidentally' read a creative journal?"

Beast Boy was spared the pain of having to answer and incur more of Raven's wrath when the blare of the alarm galvanized all the Titans into action.

"Titans, GO!"

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Vortex was his name, and he didn't seem to have any particularly special powers other than irritating Raven.

"Azarath Metrion Zin—" A particularly strong gust of wind tossed Raven aside as if she were a rag doll.

So maybe he did have other powers, but they weren't very good, Raven admitted. Mid-toss, Raven flipped upright, skidding to a stop on the asphalt about half a block away from the fight. She had just regained her balance, when she was caught in the gust of wind again, and started hurtling towards a blue ovular mass the size of a standard door.

Okay, so maybe he could open complex vortexes to parallel universes, Raven was forced to amend, as she struggled to regain some sort of control.

Vortex was trying to escape by opening the portal. Anything not secured well within a city block would fly in with him. Raven had seen several pets fly through already as well as a red mailbox and an unfortunate bird. She plastered herself against a building, and with her limited view, tried to place the other Titans to see how they were doing.

The plan apparently was anchor oneself to anything that would stay secure.

A few feet away from Raven, Robin had dug one of his birdarangs into the steel beam of a construction site to anchor himself. Raven noted that Starfire was secured quite well in the Boy Wonder's grasp. It was cute. In the disgusting romantic sort of way.

Cyborg and Beast Boy were closer to the portal than the other three. Cyborg had a tight grip on one of the trees in the city; the portal's suction did not seem to bother him in the least. Beast Boy wasn't nearly so lucky. He had a grip on a streetlamp that was close enough to the portal to start bending towards it.

Raven saw him lose his grip, and he hurtled quickly towards the blue doorway. Raven lashed a black arm from where she was, grabbing him. There was no point. The portal, as much as she hated to admit it, was too strong, and her grip on Beast Boy also faltered.

Beast Boy crashed through the portal before anyone could so much as blink.

Behind him, the portal closed.

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When Beast Boy woke up, he was in bed, and the lights in the room were turned off. He had a hell of a headache, and he sat up in his bed, trying to figure out how he had gotten there. The portal was the last thing he remembered, and he was pretty sure he had gone through it, but since he was in Titan Tower, Raven had probably caught him.

The door sliding open startled him out of his thoughts, and he turned to see Raven at the doorframe, carrying a mug that was steaming.

"I brought this for you." She said, kneeling down beside him. She had set the mug beside his bed, and the smell of chocolate coming from the mug caused his stomach to rumble. "Are you feeling okay?"

He chuckled nervously. "Hungrier than I thought, but fine, I guess."

She gave a small laugh and an affectionate smile, and he was suddenly very confused. Raven laughing? That, and he couldn't figure out for the life of him why she was here in the first place or what she was doing.

He was even more confused when she started to brush stray hairs away from his face, and he didn't know what to do when she gave him a very friendly kiss on the forehead. And, 'friendly' didn't even begin to describe the kiss she gave him next, a kiss on the mouth that made his cheeks burn and his heart thud. The chocolate was entirely forgotten.

"Take care of yourself." Raven said, pulling away from him. She left his side and gave him one last smile before she left. "Sleep well."

"Yeah." He echoed, throat dry.

The door closed, and sleep was the farthest thing from his mind.

A/N: I always love starting new stories; the story always seems so promising. Anyway, as I've said before, I really would like to improve and shape my writing style, so any REVIEWS or CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM would be great (or email me at: lovelywhiteviolets at hotmail). Thanks!