Long before Lucy had joined Fairy Tail, long before Natsu had claimed her small apartment as his second home, there was another consistent invasion of privacy.

Cana opened the wardrobe wide, her eyes gleaming mischievously as she ran her fingers across the fine material. "Why does someone who never wears clothes have so many?" she questioned, pulling on the nearest crisp white jacket and debating which one she would try on today. This was a wardrobe that she knew well, it was a house that she felt as comfortable in as her own, but it never ceased to amaze her that her friend's stripping habit had done little to impede his fashion sense.

"Maybe he's just looking for one that'll stay on," Loke shrugged, his voice muffled as his head buried underneath the bed. He scanned the area for a while before once again pulling himself out, sighing as he glanced around the room. "Seriously, how can such a pervert not have any good porn?"

Cana laughed, pulling her arms through the jacket and watching her fingers disappear inside the long sleeves. "He did tell you that you'll never find any," she grinned.

"I did." Both Loke and Cana turned suddenly, realising that their friend had once again returned home and was standing in his doorway. They noticed the familiar knotted brow, the look of mild annoyance which had become all too familiar as his two closest friends continued to plague his life. He was also without clothes. "It was at the same time I told you to stay out of my place," he reminded them, walking through and trying to ignore they were even there.

"Yes, and I told you that I bring you booze," Cana announced, bouncing back across the room and dragging across the giant bucket of bottles. "C'mon! Ice me ice me ice me!" she grinned, making the final heavy push and kicking the beverages in front of her friend, looking excited.

Gray tried to hide his smile, tried to glare at Cana for her and Loke's complete disrespect, but he knew that her heart was in the right place. After all, he had helped her perfect her own ice card only a couple of months earlier and he knew without a doubt that if she wanted to she could have cooled her own drinks. He suspected even Loke possibly could have if he had access to the correct rings, but Gray still found his powers confusing and rarely used in plain sight. Even when the three of them went on their missions, Loke's magic would typically remain unused. Gray agreed to casting his ice this time, knowing that after the day he had had he could really use a cold beer, as he put his hands against one another over the bucket and twisted his magic around the bottles carefully in brilliant patterns. Somehow Cana and Loke knew exactly when he needed the company and the alcohol, particularly the times when he was reluctant to ask for it.

"Yey booze!" Cana cheered, picking up the nearest three bottles and throwing two of them towards her male companions.

Loke caught the bottle expertly, pulling off the cap with a hiss as he kept his eyes on the ice before him. "Your magic is getting stronger," he commented briefly, glancing at the intricate shapes and patterns that had been created in such a simple request.

Gray awkwardly scratched the back of his head, feeling exhaustion wash over him. "Yeah, Erza's been dragging me and Natsu into her new S-Class training," he said, twisting his aching shoulders. "She's been taking this whole 'S-Class' thing way too seriously."

"Well, it is pretty serious, you know," Cana shrugged as she fell back onto Gray's bed beside Loke, crossing her legs. For three years she had been struggling to become S-Class, and all three times she had failed. The first year, even she had to admit that she hadn't felt ready to face the sheer force of the trials. Two years ago Erza had swam into lead. Last year, Mirajane. This year, Cana was determined that victory would be hers but it was no surprise that Erza was trying to build her two favourite protégés into her rankings and had taken their training just as seriously as her own, if not more so. "I guess I need to start thinking about who my partner will be this year…" she mused to herself.

"Huh? You think they'll pick you after fucking up three times?" Loke asked.

"OF COURSE THEY'LL PICK ME AGAIN YOU UNGRATEFUL BASTARD!" Cana yelled at the top of her lungs, leaning back and throwing her legs into fierce kicks towards the secret celestial spirit and somehow not spilling a single drop of the alcohol. "You were the one that screwed me up last time!"

Loke ducked out of her way, pushing her back across the bed and feeling a little defensive. "They found my weakness," he frowned.

"Your weakness is half the population!" Cana hissed, remembering how Mirajane had so easily been able to bat her eyelashes at Loke. "Not that you did much to help anyway." She folded her arms across her chest, blowing a stray hair from out of her face.

"Whatever," Loke shrugged, though he knew that he would always hold back the true potential of his magic around his friends. If that potential still existed anymore. It was difficult to tell what he was capable of anymore, but at least every day walking on Earthland felt less painful and more bearable. He surrounded himself with pleasant distractions, mostly of the female variety, but magic was something he could never fully let himself become immersed in. "Why don't you put Gray's training to good use and pick him then?"

Cana looked up at Gray. "He fucked up the year before."

Gray almost fell off his seat. "What the hell did you expect me to do against Erza?!"

Cana sighed, looking away. She had to admit that she didn't know what more she could have expected. She was the S-Class candidate and her partner was only supposed to be a back-up. She knew that in the previous two years she had relied on her teammates too much because she didn't have the confidence that she had what it would take to be S-Class. "I'm gonna do it this year," she gripped her ankles tightly, a look of determination flaring in her eyes. "I'm not gonna fuck up anymore. I have to become S-Class, and I only have a month to prepare…" she said, pulling on her deck of cards and placing one particular card between her fingertips, staring at the crisp black and white scrawling.

The boys looked at each other and grinned. They had been in Cana's company for long enough to know she had the potential to be one of Fairy Tail's most powerful wizards, they had both witnessed her sheer power first-hand, and unlike Mira and Erza she could do it in a way that wasn't so terrifying. Her power had a comforting sense of warmth that they all knew the elites could benefit from. "You've got it this year, Cana, no sweat," Loke said.

Gray nodded and agreed, but noticed how she still refused to take her eyes from the single card resting between her fingertips. "What's that?" he asked.

Cana twisted the card in her hand, showing her friends what she had been spending such a long time trying to assess. The boys both blinked in confusion, leaning forwards and trying to read the tiny writing that was scribbled in front of them. It looked nothing like one of the cards that Cana usually had in her pack, but it still looked incredibly familiar. "Is that a guild mission?" Loke asked, pulling the card out of Cana's hand at her vague gesture and squinting as he tried to make sense of it. The faded white background and black writing were more familiar to them all than even Cana's cards. "It's so small… wait…" he tilted the card, realising that it moved slightly at his touch.

"It's a visual feed," Cana confirmed his suspicions, taking another small swig of the bottle in her hand. "The real mission is still on the noticeboard in the guild."

"This is an S-Class mission…." Gray breathed, looking back at Cana in disbelief. Now he understood why she had only taken an image of the paperwork and not taken the paper away. They would have quickly noticed the missing request and Gray hated to think what punishment would follow, though he still didn't understand the meaning behind the card. "Why do you have this?" he asked.

Cana looked back at them both, her eyes sharp as she watched her beloved friends with admiration, placing far more faith in their courage than her own. "I know that I have what it takes to be an S-Class mage. I know that by now I should be doing missions just like these already, but the last three years have failed and I know the reason why is because deep down I don't believe that I can really achieve this. If I can take this mission, if we can succeed in this, I have absolutely no reason to doubt myself. But I need my backup, right?" she grinned at them both, hoping that they wouldn't look at her as if she was some kind of child for needing this kind of encouragement.

Loke pushed back his glasses as they shimmered in the light. "You know we've got your back, always," he assured her.

She grinned, feeling instantly more relieved. "We can be like team shadowgear. But more drunk. And definitely more perverted," she told them, her eyes sparkling intently.

A smirk crossed Loke's face. "And with even more of a love triangle," he said, not even attempting to hide the way that he was looking up and down across Cana's body.

"See when you say things like that, that is exactly why half of the guild thinks we're fucking," Gray scolded them both, though he did have to see the humour in it. After years of Cana's company and months of Loke's, he had become somewhat desensitised to their blunt and highly sexualised nature.

Loke had also become used to this, obviously, as he briefly shrugged. "Is that a bad thing?"

"Girls aren't going to chase over you if they think that you're fucking me," Cana reminded him, almost sounding extremely serious. After all, Loke without having female company was poor company in general, and she suspected that the less women he had the more chance he would try and fawn over her, and while she loved the attention and found him incredibly attractive, there was a side to their relationship that she enjoyed being platonic. If you could call their three-way twisted relationship, with all of its awkward moments and flirtations, 'platonic'.

"True," Loke shrugged again, giving Gray a sidewards look and a smirk. "There's a few that would go for the 'yaoi' thing, though."

Cana put the bottle quickly to her lips to stop herself from making some kind of involuntary squeal, though she did murmurer something along the lines of "Totally ship that" into her drink.

Gray chose not to give either of them a response to that. He had learnt that he couldn't even deny his two friends when they were determined, and the last time he had claimed anything against their advances he'd found himself pinned down by both of them and the rest disappeared into an awkwardness he didn't want to repeat. He was by far the most innocently minded of the three, but by most of Fairy Tail's standards they were all as bad as each other. "So what's the mission?" he asked, leaning over and taking the card back out of Loke's hand and glancing at the mission in more detail.

Cana had to admit that when it came to the mission itself she didn't know all too much about, and waved her hand as she told him "Something about some demon attacking a town or blah blah blah. It was one of the lowest jewel on the board so I figured it must have been one of the easiest ones."

Gray's skin instantly went pale. He looked at the card, the image of the mission wavering in shaking hands as the unexpected flashbacks hit him. "We can't… we can't do this mission," he said slowly, reading and re-reading every word on the paper. He had hoped to see something that could convince him, something that could slow the way that his heart beat heavily in his chest, something to calm his breathing and stop his thoughts returning once more to that fateful night in the coldest reaches of Isvan. He was shaking too much to even read the words in front of him.

Loke and Cana looked at him, surprised by the sudden change in heart. "Huh? Why not?" Loke asked.

"You know I'm going to win the S-Class trials this year," Cana reminded him. "This is just a month early…"

"Then wait another month!" Gray snapped, pushing the card back to Cana with a cold look in his eyes they could usually so easily melt. "Just don't take this one. Anything but this one."

"Do you have any idea how hard it was to get this mission?!" Cana exploded, pulling the card back to her chest and glaring at him. "Gray I'm asking for your help. I'm not being an idiot here, I could just go and do this by myself but I want you guys to be there and back me up. I want to do this, I need to do this. You know how important these stupid trials are to me. I don't… I don't think I can take failing four years in a row…" she said, large brown eyes begging him to see her desperation.

He kept his mouth shut, lips twisting into a thin line as he couldn't bring himself to say anything either way. He couldn't let her go alone, but the idea of facing a demon terrified him.

"Why don't you do one of your fortune tellings, Cana?" Loke suggested, seeing the uncertainty in Gray's eyes. "Would that make you feel better about it?"

Gray frowned. "Aren't they sometimes wrong?"

"They're never wrong!" Cana snapped, a little offended that her magic would be so belittled. "Just some people are idiots and don't know how to interoperate them correctly. But let's give it a shot, shall we?" she beamed, already twisting her deck of cards between her fingers, twisting the occasional card around and making sure that the deck was fully mixed. As one great finale she threw them into the air, watching them scatter around them, spin wildly before folding carefully back into his hands.

Realising that she was mesmerising her audience, a grin crossed her face. It was good to see that she could impress the boys with more than just her breasts and her alcohol, and her card magic was something that she actually felt proud of. Fortune Telling had been what had helped her gain her place in the magical world and though she didn't practise the art as often as she used to anymore, she felt comfort from the cards as they slipped through her fingers. It always paid well, too, which was a bonus. There would always be some lonely spinster or desperate businessman wondering if there was a better future. "Alright, let's go," she announced, pulling the three of them into a triangle on Gray's bed and placing the mission card in the middle of their bodies. "Right, let's see, what will happen with this S-Class mission?" she asked her cards, breathing the question to them and watching as the pack glowed gently.

She spread the deck in front of her, looking at her friends and asking them "Pick a card each."

Gray and Loke looked at each other uncertainly, both leaning forwards and accidently both reaching for the same card. They glanced at each other, unable to put into words the coincidence that had happened, but frowning as they Gray backed down and reached for another card, allowing Loke to keep to his original choice. Cana looked at them both questioningly, unable to put into words the coincidence that she had just seen. She cleared her throat awkwardly as she instructed them to put the cards face down in front of themselves. "Those cards you have are your personal futures," she said, pulling on a card for herself and putting it front of herself too. "Which are apparently very aligned, but we'll see. Now, Gray, turn over your card," she told him, knowing that as he had the most reservations, he could be the first to volunteer.

Hesitantly, he did so. He didn't understand the symbol, but looked up at Cana for an explanation.

She took a deep breath. It hadn't been the good news she had expected, and she did the best she could to hide the disappointment in her eyes. She told herself that for Gray it may not ever be a pleasant adventure if he was instantly filled with doubts and so it was worth moving swiftly on. "So… This card… It means that there is an important lesson to be learned" she commented, remembering that the most negative of interpretations were from upside down cards and his was clearly facing the wrong way. "It will be a difficult lesson, however…"

"Cool, what's mine?" Loke asked absently, going to lift his own card.

"Don't touch that!" Cana scolded, leaning over and turning it over for the impatient celestial wizard. Another upside-down card. "This card is connected to the past. Usually it means nostalgia, or meeting someone from your past. But in this way, it means dwelling on something negative."

Loke and Gray both frowned, unable to look at each other. This had been the card that they had both been eager to grasp, and it fitted both of their guilt ridden history perfectly to the point where the very idea of dwelling on the past filled them with terror, having to try their hardest to not shiver.

"And mine…" Cana pulled on her own, twisting it over. "Oh for fucks sake!"

Loke blinked, not expecting her to curse her own beloved cards. "What is it? What does it mean?"

Cana sighed angrily. "Another upside-down card…" she murmured, remembering all she could about this particular interpretation. "Usually, when this card is the right way up, it means pride, a feeling of doing something well. Upside down…. Guilt. Regret…"

Gray and Loke both looked at Cana, lost. Though Gray may have suspected this mission would have gone terribly wrong, he took no joy in finding her fortune had turned into something so horrific. He frowned, not wanting to shout 'I told you so' from the tops of his lungs but still wondering on the details they had had the briefest snippets into.

"Just turn the deck around, Cana!" Loke exclaimed.

"I can't just turn the deck around, idiot!" Cana yelled back at him, holding her cards protectively. "Ok… the mission itself…" she said, still determined that despite all of the individual negativity so far there would be some goodness to be taken. She needed this mission, she needed to be S-Class. She couldn't even tell Loke and Gray how much she deeply needed to know that she was good enough to go into the higher rankings, to stand side-by-side with her father and finally feel his love. With a sigh she prayed to her cards, hoping that she would be a little more forgiving. Slowly, she put down her first.

"It's the right way up?" Gray asked cautiously, wondering if that meant what he thought it would.

Cana finally let out her breath. "Yes, it is…" she said, looking at it and remembering her teachings. "This means a long journey. It's not always a literal journey, sometimes it can mean a metaphorical journey, a development or… I don't know. Pass me more booze," she asked, making grabbing hands towards the ice bucket in the corner of the room.

Loke obeyed and leaned back, pulling out another bottle and passing her the cold drink as she pulled on the next card. Another upside down card. "This card is supposed to mean victory…" she said.

"So this is a loss?" Gray asked cautiously.

Cana hesitated, but eventually nodded, pulling on the final card. Another upside-down card. Death. "Yeah, OK. Let's not go on this mission. Another drink, anyone?"

"Cana here! I've taken over the summary of this fanfic to introduce to you, the wonderful, the amazing, Team Pervert!"
"We are not being called Team Pervert…"
"Aha a volunteer? Introducing our first member of Team Pervert, this is a man who is very much 'what you see is what you get', and ladies, we do like what we see, don't we? Our hearts break just a little bit every time someone tells you to put your clothes back on. Mr Gray Fullbuster!"
"Wait, wha-"
"Next up, don't be fooled by the layers and layers of clothing – trust me when I say they are far more commonly on someone's floor. After all, who can resist those 'take me to bed' eyes and the adorable way that he purrs in his sleep-"
"I do not purr-!"
"It's our wonderful Loke! Which brings me onto last but not least, little Miss Bewbs and Booze, Cana Alberona! (That's me, by the way)"
"And by boobs she generally doesn't mean her own."
"Isn't it Little Miss 'Can't Get Past the S-Class'-OW!"
"Enjoy the rest of the story, everyone."

Hey Fairy Tail Fans!

I really need to stop taking on so many projects at once haha

If you like a nice fun and happy Team Pervert, stop reading now. If you want to see everything go horribly wrong for them, go onto the next chapter. Just a warning :)

This writing style is a little different to what I'm used to so I appreciate feedback.