I didn’t think that I’d figure out a key to healthy relationships by watching an episode of Teen Titans. And yet, while riding home on the bus one evening this week, I discovered something that had always been on the tip of my tongue, just waiting to burst out, about what makes a relationship—platonic or romantic—truly work. Yes, all while watching “Spellbound.”

In “Spellbound,” the character Raven is called “creepy” by the character Beast Boy—to which she responds that she’s “not creepy, [she’s] just different.” No one wants to be called creepy, obviously, especially by someone that they hold dear in their heart (as a friend or something more).

Enter Malchior, the wizard trapped in the thousand-year-old book that Raven has been reading. Malchior talks to Raven through the book, enchanting her with his charm and wisdom. We’ve all been there—you know, with the person who we believe hung the moon, someone who we think will take us far beyond our cages.

Raven finds out from Malchior that he can only be freed by a very powerful spell, and so she does everything in her power (and with Malchior’s help) to free him. Why? It is because Raven is smitten by the powerful wizard.

And who could blame her? He doesn’t think she’s creepy at all (“certainly not”). He believes in her abilities. He’s called her “sweet”. He’s even called her “beautiful”—which we can easily see is not a remark she’s used to hearing based on her reaction. I remember being called “beautiful” by someone I trust and love for the first time. It was electrifying. Words like “beautiful” don’t show up in everyday conversations very often for everyone. And to be beautiful in someone’s eyes is no small feat.

Yet in the end, we see that Malchior is using her for her abilities; he turns out not to be the hero of the book, but the villain. Raven gave him what he wanted... because he gave her what she wanted. She wanted to feel loved, to not be alone anymore. I know I could certainly relate to that. Our hearts are so easily swayed when we think we’ve found what we’ve been looking for.

Here’s the thing about what Beast Boy had said and what Malchior had disputed: Raven is creepy. She’s dark and disturbingly powerful and often stays away from others. Her quietness is only matched by her temper. She’s creepy. She’s different. And still, according to Beast Boy at the end of the episode, it doesn’t mean she has to hide and lock herself away in her room. “You think you’re alone, Raven,” he states, “but you’re not.”

So I realized that Beast Boy was right to call Raven creepy (though not quite in the way he did it at first). Being a good friend or a good significant other doesn’t mean that you need to shield your other half from the truth. It doesn’t mean that you tell them what they want to hear. Rather, it means that you tell them what they need to hear.

We all need validation in our lives. But validation doesn’t equate to sugarcoating or lying about something to placate a person and hide them from reality. We can show a person that we love them without keeping them in the dark.

And we need not accept a person despite their faults; we must accept the person who has faults. Acknowledging that they are human—imperfection and all—should mean more than fooling yourself or the person in your life that they are faultless.

There is beauty in imperfection. Learn to embrace that.