AN: I do not own Teen Titans.

Chapter 1

The sun was blazing down relentlessly on the two young women in the car. Both had their visors pulled down, but that only protected their eyes. The rest of their body was sizzling beneath the harsh rays. But being in slight discomfort never stopped Kori from smiling and enjoying every moment of every day. She sat in the passenger's seat with her feet on the dashboard, painting her toenails a fresh pink. As she painted she hummed along to the radio and giggled to herself every now and then with pure joy of the situation. Raven, on the other hand, wasn't in the best of moods. Not that she ever was. She'd been driving for three days now and was quite ready to kick the redhead beside her out of the car while it was still in motion.

"Are we almost there?" Kori asked as she wiggled her freshly painted toes.

"Yes, Kori, we're almost there," Raven said through her teeth. Her friend had been asking this question for the past two hours and she was ready to throttle her.

"Oh, I cannot wait to get there," said Kori excitedly. "Is the house truly as beautiful as it looked in the photographs?"

"How should I know?" said Raven. "I haven't seen it in person. But I can tell you that if it isn't the people who rented it to us are going to have to answer to me."

The two girls had just graduated from Gotham University and decided to rent a beach house for the summer on the other side of the country, since they were planning on moving to Jump City anyway. Kori had graduated with a bachelor's degree in English, her second language, while Raven had graduated with a degree in English and History. The two had been put together as roommates when they were sophomores and somehow found a way to get along. Kori was outgoing, spunky, and sweet. Raven was quiet, smart, and a loner. The first few weeks were hell, but they soon got a good rhythm going and had clicked.

"Will we be on the sand?" asked Kori.

"We should be," said Raven.

"How close are we to the town?" asked Kori.

"Two miles away," said Raven.

"Can we go swimming when we get there?" asked Kori. "Should we be weary of sharks? Do you suppose the water is warm? Did we pack the waterproof sunscreen? Do we have goggles?"

Raven clenched her teeth hard as Kori's incessant chattering began to get the better of her patience. Finally she had had enough and cut her friend off from her next question with, "Isn't this your favorite song?"

"Oh, yes, it is!" said Kori who then happily began to sing along, much to Raven's relief. Well… not as much relief as getting Kori to stop talking to her.

About an equal distance from the beach house away in the opposite direction traveled another car, this one with three occupants inside and a surfboard tied to the roof. All three had a thick film of sweat covering their body, thanks to their air conditioner being broken. Even with the windows down, the three young men were suffering. Vic was driving, he usually was, while Dick sat in the passenger's seat and Gar was lying down on the backseat.

"How much longer?" whined Gar.

"Gar, I swear to God if you ask that again I'm going to rip you a new one," threatened Dick.

"I've only asked three times!" said Gar.

"In the last five minutes!" said Dick.

"Hey, shut up you two," said Vic. "It's hard enough to concentrate on the road with sweat dripping into my eyes. Damn you, Gar."

"For the hundredth time, I didn't break your damn AC!" said Gar.

"It was working fine until you touched it!" Vic accused.

"Well, maybe I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and it happened to breakdown while I was near it," said Gar. "That doesn't mean it had anything to do with me!"

"You break everything you touch!" said Vic. "I should've known better than to let you even sit in my baby."

"Would you stop calling your car that?" said Gar. "It's so creepy."

"You're just jealous cuz you don't have a car," smirked Vic.

"I told you, I'm not getting a car until I can afford one that doesn't run on gas!" said Gar. "I, unlike you, care about the environment."

The three young men were on their way to a beach house they'd rented for the next three months. Vic had just finished an apprenticeship at a popular car company and was planning on opening his own car shop in the fall, Dick was on vacation from training to be a police officer, and Gar had just graduated from Steel University with a degree in zoology. The three had met in college, when Vic was a junior, Dick was a sophomore, and Gar was a freshmen, and had been friends ever since.

"Are we there yet?" asked Gar with a sigh.

"That's it!" said Dick, who grabbed the folded up map they'd been using, turned around, and began beating Gar.

"Dude! Cut it out!" shouted Gar who tried to get out of the way of the lashings.

"Hey, both of y'all cut it out!" Vic shouted as he nearly lost control of the car. "If you guys get us in an accident I'll kill ya!" He swerved in and out of the road, on purpose, until Dick was finally forced to sit in his seat again.

"Aw, I've got paper cuts!" Gar cried.

"You're lucky I didn't give you worse," said Dick.

"Thank God," said Vic with a relieved sigh. "I think I see the house."

Meanwhile, Raven and Kori were closing in on the beach house they'd rented. Raven was holding onto the steering wheel so tightly her pale knuckles were turning white and her jaw was tight. She wasn't sure she could survive another minute being trapped in this car with Kori. And then, as if her prayers were answered, she spotted the house. She double checked the address, which she'd written down, and after doing the math realized that it was, indeed, the house.

"Kori, guess what," she said, her voice even.

"What?" Kori asked innocently.

"We're here," said Raven.

"We are?" exclaimed Kori. She looked ahead and saw the very large beach house. "Hurray!"

Raven slowed down as she approached the driveway and, as she did, a car coming in the opposite direction did the same. They both came to a stop and both had their directional on for the same driveway.

"Hey, did we hire maids or something?" Vic asked.

"I don't think so," said Dick.

"Then why are these chicks trying to pull into our driveway?" asked Vic.

"Is this the right place?" asked Gar.

"Yeah, 364 Scuttlebutt Road," said Dick. "Maybe they're lost."

Raven groaned and tapped her fingers on the wheel. "What do these guys want?" she said.

"Perhaps they are going to do some work on the house," suggested Kori.

"The house shouldn't need any work," said Raven. "Well, I'm not waiting anymore." She turned the car and pulled in. Once she'd turned into the driveway Vic followed and pulled in behind her. Both turned their cars off and everyone soon piled out. The two groups met between both cars and looked each other over, trying to figure out what was going on.

Kori was tall, thin, and sinfully pretty. Her skin seemed naturally tanned, something odd for a redhead, and flawless. Her long red hair hung free and danced with the wind while her sparkling green, innocent eyes looked at the three young men before her.

Raven was short, petite, and unaware of any beauty she might've held. She was as pale as the moon and seemed just as distant. Her black hair rested above her shoulders, straight as straw, and her violet/blue, untrusting eyes sized up the men that had exited from the other car.

Vic was a hulk of a man; tall, built with thick muscle, and very handsome. His skin resembled milk chocolate, which was just as sweet as he was. His head was shaved and gleamed brilliantly beneath the bright sun. His eyes were gray and were currently a little curious and confused.

Dick was tall, though not nearly as tall as Vic, with a beautiful build and above average looks. He was slightly sunburned at the moment on his shoulders and nose which looked a bit painful. His hair was jet black, which made his head feel very hot beneath the sun, and spiked in a signature way. His eyes were completely shielded behind dark sunglasses.

Gar was of an average height with a lean build and was dashingly handsome. It was just summer and he was already deeply tanned; he'd always tanned very well. His natural blond hair was spiked and dyed green, the same as his eyes.

"You ladies lost?" asked Vic.

"Are you?" asked Raven.

"Excuse me?" asked a confused Vic.

"Is there a problem?" asked Kori. "We have rented this house for the summer, correct Raven?"

"Yeah, this is the place," said Raven.

"Uh, I think you're mistaken," said Dick. "We've rented this house for the summer."

"That's impossible," Raven replied matter-of-factly. "We rented it. I'll get the paperwork." She went back over to her car and searched for the papers.

Dick, seeing what she was doing, did the same. Once they both had the proper documents they returned and exchanged information. Their friends crowded around them to see who was in the wrong.

"Uh, I hate to tell you this, but you rented it for next summer," said Raven.

"What? No we didn't," said Dick.

"Yes, you did," said Raven, showing him his own paperwork. "See? This is for next summer."

Dick looked it over and realized that the date was correct, except for the year. He really had rented it for the next summer. "Oh shit."

"Dude, are you kidding me?" said Gar. "How could you screw this up?"

"When I said next summer they must've thought I meant the summer after this one," said Dick, folding the paper back up angrily.

"Good job, Dick," said Vic, rubbing his sweaty forehead.

"Then we are correct?" asked Kori.

"Yes, we're the one's who're supposed to be here," said Raven. "Sorry about the mix up, guys."

"Sorry? What're you sorry about?" said Gar. "You've got a house to live in and now we're homeless!"

"Calm down, Gar," said Vic. "We'll figure something out."

"My apartment's not gonna be ready until September!" said Gar. "What the hell am I gonna do? And if you think I'm spending another five hours in that car with you two you're crazy!"

"Well we don't have much a choice now, do we?" said Dick.

"You're so gonna pay for this," Gar growled at his friend in the sunglasses. "You beat me up with a map and now you've spent our money on a house we can't even use for a year!"

"I'm sorry, okay!" said Dick. "I made a mistake, so sue me!"

"Oh, I will!" said Gar.

"Break it up you two!" said Vic, getting in between them.

"Please, do not fight," said Kori walking over to them. "Friends should not fight." She and Dick made eye contact and suddenly both felt something flutter inside of them. Poor Kori was quite caught off guard, it was a pretty safe guess that Dick was as well, and could barely form more words to talk. "M-Maybe you would like to rest for a little while? I am sure Raven would not mind if you stayed while you discussed what you are going to do from here. You do not mind, do you Raven?"

"I do, but I doubt my opinion matters at all," said Raven, pulling the keys to the house out of an envelope. "Come on boys, you might as well look around the house you're going to be staying in next year."

"Hey, who're you calling a boy?" said Gar.

"Shut up before they tell us to get off the property," said Vic with a harsh jab to Gar's ribs. "I've gotta pee like there's no tomorrow."