First, sorry to vic elor for stealing their idea of Starfire going through her friends dirty pics. It's the only thing I extracted, I swear.

Starfire's POV

There were these hidden folders on the PCs of the others. I guess I have always been a fairly curious person, so when I realized my friends were hiding something from me, something they apparently did not want to share with anybody it trickled my curiosity. I doubt they knew I had any idea, nor did they know of each other's secrets, except maybe for Raven, since she knew almost everything that happened inside the tower. So, when one day Raven sat on the roof meditating and, as I had experienced, would not notice anything for the next few hours, while the boys were in town to buy groceries, I took my chance and went through the rooms of the others to download their "secret" folders. It went not without complications: I took me some time to find out what Robin's password was, while Cyborg's computer tried to attack me with ray guns when I entered a wrong one. The most difficult operation, however, was to get past Raven's defenses. The password was Azarathian, meaning while figuring it out I had to look every possibility up in a dictionary first. Finally, when I got past that, it took me hours to find the folder. I already considered I had been wrong about Raven having such a hidden secret on her PC when I found something called "holiday pics". Next to the title there was a photo of the five of us on a beach. I remembered that day very well, though it had been nearly a year ago. We had taken the day off to go swimming and blazing in the sun. Now I remembered that Cyborg had shot a lot of photos. Raven must have asked him to get them.

Still, I was quite sure it was only a cover. I tried to download it, but I just could not. She must have put some kind of save on it that I could not detect. Yet I had the ones of the others. I would have to take a look at her secret over in her room some time later.

I could not sit still at the table while eating dinner, my excitement and curiosity getting the better out of me. The boys were completely oblivious to it, but I could sense Raven could tell I was excited and wanted to get back to my room, though she chose not to comment it. Probably she was trying to figure out what I could be so excited about, but I could not say for sure, because she was as unreadable as ever. I had to make sure to get to her room later when she was out.

After dinner I made my way up the stairs to have a look at the secrets of the others. Part of me told me that I should not do this since after all it was their secrets, but I had come so far that I definitely would not stop here. So I sat down at my computer and tentatively opened the first folder, which happened to be Beast Boy's.

I was, let's say, surprised when I saw what was inside the folder. I smiled. After all, it was naïve to believe the others were not sexual beings, too. Looking at the pics and videos I realized Beast Boy had a knack for smaller, dominant girls, of whom quite a lot looked suspiciously much like Raven. It was not that much of a surprise to me, after all I had knew he always had had a thing for her. I was just not sure whether she reciprocated his feelings or not. I was curious about that but would wait till later as Raven's pics where still on her PC.

The next one was rather a surprise, since I had not expected Cyborg to have it in for a certain pinkhaired girl we knew. However there were some videos with girls slightly resembling her, plus some pics that definitely showed Jinx naked. I had no idea where Cyborg had gotten these from, if he had secretly installed some kind of camera or whether he had somehow gotten them from the internet. I had to remember to cautiously hear Cyborg out on how he liked her, if it was just sexually or also personally. Another thought struck me: Maybe they were already an item and she had given the pictures to him freely. I had to investigate on that subject later.

Right now, I went on with what I had taken from Robin's computer. He seemed to have a thing for tall redheads, though there were some other videos, too. I was not entirely surprised, I knew he had a thing for me even if I was not sure how I myself felt about him. Still it was nice to know he thought of me as attractive. But my fondness for his attention quickly turned to anger when further down I saw some of the other pics were showing me naked, even a small video of me doing it to myself. My first idea was to run into his room and beat him into a pulp, but then he would know that I had gone through his stuff which, I have to admit, was not totally decent, though now I was glad I did. So instead, the next thing I did was search for the camera that had to be somewhere in this room. It took me nearly an hour to find the damned thing. Seething with fury I stormed into the living room. Raven sat on the couch reading but tore her eyes away from her book at my entrance, since being an empath she had already sensed my anger, while Cyborg and Beast Boy, who were playing one of their unavoidable racing games, only raised the instant I screamed at the top of my voice for Robin to come down immediately. Eventually he came, nonchalant as ever, which only fuelled my fury further than it already was.

"You certainly have no idea what this is?", I asked him, stretching out my right hand, the camera clearly visible on the palm.

His eyes widened considerably at the sight of the little object in my hand. Then, after a moment, he regained his composure. "I have no idea what you're talking about", he declared calmly, but with a hint of uneasiness in his voice. Cyborg and Beast Boy still took some time figuring the meaning of the gadget Raven definitely had by now. Our whole set of dishes got shredded at the violence of her emotions. I was a bit surprised by the force of them considering the fact she always kept her feelings low, especially such disastrous ones like fury, but right now she was on the edge of losing control of herself. Even regarding how hard it was for her to trust anyone and thus how hard it was to for her see this trust disappointed I could not shrug the feeling she was acting to something else, too.

Since I stood with my back to Raven I could not see her, but I could feel the aura of her magic flowing around her. Robin gulped audibly.

"Now", Raven said in a dangerously calm voice, "Robin, maybe you would like to stay out of Starfire's room? Because if you don't, you can't run anywhere I can't catch you." To back up on her point Raven send out her power out to crush the camera on my palm, leaving behind nothing but a smoking piece of – something.

"Come on", she said, turning to me, then leading me up the stairs. "Oh, and Robin, you don't have to look for your PC, I will take care of it."

In the evening at dinner, though the atmosphere was still a little tense, everybody was back to their usual self. Cyborg and Beast Boy seemed a little awkward while Raven was back to her usual reclused way of live. Robin was pointedly ignored by them all. He looked very crestfallen so I turned towards him.

"No hard feelings! Still, it was not a nice thing to do. If I ever catch you so much as glimpsing at my privacy, I will flay you."

"Understood", he said, but sounded relieved. After that, the others started going back to normal with Robin, too, so we could finish dinner in peace.

"You shouldn't have let him off the hook already. He definitely would have been fine with a little bit more punishment. ", Raven said to me when we walked up to our rooms after ending our meal.

"I know", I said, sighing. "I just could not let him suffer like that."

"No, I know you can't do such", Raven said. "It's part of why I like you as a friend."

Now what was that? It was not actually usual for Raven to display her thoughts like that. I had no time to ask her, however, because before I could say anything she vanished inside her room, leaving me alone to ponder over her odd behavior. Not only had she lost her usual monotone voice a lot of the time but also showed her feelings twice, first by getting angry at Robin and then by telling me she liked having me as a friend. Plus, she had lost her temper enough to let the dishes explode. There were not a lot of things that could heat Raven's temper like that. There was Trigon, her demonic father, but since he had been defeated it was unlikely. I was quite sure she would have told us if he came back somehow, too. Should somebody endanger her friends, she may would, but even if what Robin did was not nice and damaged her trust in him, her response to it was multiplied by something else. Since it was not hate which she only truly had for Trigon, it could only be love. I was certain now.: Raven was in love. I thought who it could be for. Most likely it was Beast Boy who had tried getting at her since Terra was gone. I knew she had not liked it at first (who could blame her, she must have felt second best) but her reactions to Beast Boy's attempts to get under her skin had eventually evened down. She no longer despised them but grew to accept them. Maybe more, I thought. I had to carefully prod her about that at breakfast tomorrow. And I had not come to ask Cyborg about Jinx, either. I would do that tomorrow, too. With that resolve on my mind I fell asleep.

The next morning at the dining table, everything was close to normal once again. Cyborg and Beast Boy fought over what to eat, while Robin stood between them and tried to cool them down. Raven sat in the corner with her tea.

"Beast Boy looks hot today, does he not?", I said in an attempt to get Raven to blush to confirm my suspicions. Raven nearly spilled her tea while shooting me a look that clearly read: You must be joking. Then she regained her composure and with her trademark dry voice replied:

"I had no idea you took a liking in the green guy."

I shook my head furiously. Now I was blushing myself. "No no no no no, I like him, but not in that way", I answered fast.

"Now what a surprise. Maybe you could like him in his dog form. He certainly is a lot cuter that way."

"Hey, now that is mean", I said, but could not stop myself from laughing. Cyborg, who obviously had heard part of the conversation gave me an irritated look but soon resumed his discussion with Beast Boy about what to eat. Raven allowed herself a little smile that made her look kind of cute. If I were a boy I certainly would be drooling all over her right now.

"So, Starfire, why is it you suddenly say something like that?", Raven asked, serious again.

"You are in love", I stated, by now totally sure of it. "I was just wondering with whom. I figured it had to be Beast Boy since he likes you a lot, but obviously I was wrong." She looked rather shocked to hear I had found out she was in love, but quickly relaxed when I mentioned Beast Boy's name as it showed I had no idea who it was really.

"So who is it", I prodded. "Cyborg? Robin? Aqualad?" Now she really blushed. "Aqualad?", I asked once again.

"What? No!", she answered quickly, in an appalled tone that went past her usual dry one and definitely showed I was wrong on that one, too. "Now stop asking", she mumbled, slowly calming down. We talked for a bit about other things, which, as it was most of the time, consisted of me talking and her listening.

I had planned to ask Cyborg about Jinx, but it happened I did not need to, because when we all sat down Cyborg hit his glass with his spoon and stood up. He looked slightly discomforted but still kept his ground. After clearing his throat he nervously announced:

"I gotta tell you something."

"You don't say", Raven replied, but quickly shut up wincing a little at my elbow in her rips.

"Do not make this any more difficult for him than it already is", I whispered at her.

"I and Jinx are together", he finally said. Everyone smiled and congratulated him. I tried to put up a surprised smile but failed. He of course noticed this and asked me:

"You knew?" I blushed and started stammering but before he could get any nearer to the truth Raven saved me.

"If you run around grinning like an idiot every time we meet her of course", she said matter of factly. I silently thanked every god above for sparing me the embarrassment of having to tell I went through his things.

All this time, I had not forgotten that I still had not had a look at Raven's secret folder. So when two days later everyone was gone once again, I went into her room. Since I already knew her lock-on password and where to look for it I quickly got were I wanted to be and opened it.

I was sure I had been wrong: it definitely were pictures from our last trip to the beach. I now remembered that Raven had had the camera for a certain amount of time in her own hands, so she must have taken a few photos herself. These should be the ones. The first one was one of all of us in our bathing clothes. I distinctly remembered how we all positioned in front of the camera: a nice man who too was at the beach that day had taken it. We were laughing for the picture. Even Raven displayed a small smile. The next ones were of me and Beast Boy building a sand castle. Then came some that showed me and Robin racing into the water, the sand dashing the air around our feet. Then came some of us all (except Raven, since she had been shooting the photos) in the water: me and Cyborg playing ball in the water, Beast Boy circling me as a shark (I had gotten a huge shock suddenly swimming next to a shark), Robin and I splashing water at each other. Some of me and Raven on an air mattress that Cyborg must have taken. The last ones showed me lying in the sand on my back, sleeping. It was only then that I realized that I was in a lot of the pictures. I went through them once again and discovered that, in fact, I was in every one of them. Now that was odd. Even though we were best friends I had not expected to be that appreciated. I liked the thought that I meant that much to Raven, still. The others were also her friends, or were they not? Utterly confused, I left Raven's room and went back to my own, just in time before the others reappeared, many unanswered questions on my mind.

When we watched the news on TV that evening, there was something about a parade with people who were waving rainbow flags. The moderator said something about a "gay pride parade" and that they were fighting for something he called "homosexual marriage" which quickly got the others agitated.

"I can't believe there are still people who think this could be right", Cyborg scoffed. "It just ain't! It's been a man and a woman always. And it mustn't be any other way."

"I don't care, honestly", Beast Boy said, shrugging.

"We have to do something against it. It's against nature and with that the will of god." Cyborg reacted loudly.

"What is it you are talking about?", I asked, tentatively, since they were rather heated.

Robin answered me. "They are talking about homosexuals."

"What are homosexuals?", I asked, curiously. It had to be something quite bad that Cyborg had such a problem with it.

"Homosexuals are misled people who think they are falling in love with someone of their own gender", Robin spat.

I was surprised. "Is it not illegal?", I questioned him. On Tamaran you are not allowed to kiss (or even do more) with somebody of your own gender. Obviously it was not quite the same on earth.

"No, it is not, but it should be. It's immoral!" I was shocked by the amount of venom in his voice, but I could not help thinking he was right. Back on Tamaran my parents thought me it was wrong to love someone of the same sex. They told me those people were misled, too. Still, the hate in Robin's tone almost made me shiver.

"I think so.", I said hesitantly.

"Think about it before you say something like that", Raven replied to my comment calmly. I could , however, sense her emotions were boiling, too. "And Robin", she turned to him with an icy look in her eyes "I doubt a guy who is spying on a girl in her bedroom has much say about morality." And with a huff she disappeared up the stairs, walking slowly and calmly, but I just knew she would have run up them had it not been for her dignity.