A/N: So, I have temp. discontinued Red Hands, it's just too much with work and school starting and just everything. I'll finish it at a later date, but for now it's on pause. Desna owns the Pradesh family and Mashima owns the Canon characters.


Waking up to a scream echoing down the hallway is not how I pictured our small prank coming to a climax. There were arms over my hip and under my neck that had decided to use me as a teddy bear, or something to squeeze too tight. I shuffled until I had rolled to face the handsome man, I pushed his hair gently out of his eyes and started tracing the lines of his relaxed face. The look he had while sleeping was not something that anyone but family got to see often, and even though I knew the totally calm look on his face was going to go away, I couldn't help but hope I could see it more often. Wine coloured eyes slowly cracked open and he sent a small smile to me.

"Morning Ash" His voice was husky with sleep and if that wasn't the greatest sound ever I don't know what was.

"Morning Shadow Man" I leaned forward and kissed his nose before rolling out of his arms and onto the floor.

"We have to move quick, Lucy just woke up" He looked confused for a second and then understanding dawned on his face along with his best devious smirk. I grinned at him and stretched my arms above my head.

"I can't really get in trouble with this one though, this was all you" I grabbed a pillow and chucked it at his face

"Rude Vander, I would never have done this without your ideas" I stuck my tongue out at him.

"How are you going to hide that you did it from Kaleb?" I paused, I hadn't remembered that. Well shit.

"Uhh" I grabbed one of his shirts from the cupboard and slid it on. I turned to face him with a frown,

"Uhh" Could I get him to help me?

"You know how to do it right?" He shook his head and laughed at what I assumed was the look of utter despair on my face.

"Maybe if I use his own magic" I started pacing along the end of the bed while Van sat up and watched me with a smirk.

"I can almost hear the cogs in your brain going into overdrive Red, come on lets go grab some food and watch the blonde explosion happen" I turned and he was already fully dressed, stupid shadowquip mage.

"Fine, but if shit hits the fan I'm dropping the hell out of there and you can take the blame" I grabbed his hand and tugged him down to the kitchen.

"Good morning Mr. Elan" I walked over and kissed his cheek

"Good morning Miss Asher, your caffe macchiato is on the counter"

"You spoil me, Mr. Elan" I smiled at the wonderfully accommodating man and grabbed a little plate with a crescent shaped pastry on it, I snuck a second one onto the plate and quickly grabbed my drink to escape to the table. Mr. Elan just shot me a wink and a grin.

"So" Bixlow exclaimed, walking into the room "What did you do Van"

I grinned and turned my face down into my cup so I could hide it. They always assumed it was Van and I was going to play that up.

"Yeah Van, what did you do" I had to bite the inside of my cheek to stop from smiling at the slight grump to his face at my comment.

"Not a damn thing Bixy" He stabbed some of his eggs and quickly filled his mouth, I rolled my eyes and started picking apart my pastry. This was going to be great.

Arman walked into the room with a questioning look on his face, grabbed a large cup of coffee and leaned on the counter.

"What did you do Van" I snorted into my cup and it sprayed foam at my face which caused me to burst into giggles. I'm pretty sure I still had foam on my face and I was almost falling out of my chair.

"what did you do Van?" Gajeel had walked in and I started cracking up harder; three for three, I looked up at the shadowquip mage and saw he had a small quirk to his lips.

"Va-Van" I choked out "What did you do" I started laughing harder. I couldn't stop it, I'm pretty sure I was over tired and it just made everything funnier. I had finally started to get my laughter under control, I could breathe properly again and Van had me drink some water to calm the hiccups that had started. I reached over and gave Vander's thigh a squeeze and his hand found mine and gave it a squeeze back. I shot him a bright smile and went back to my coffee and pastry.

Everyone that had been staying at the house, save two, were now eating at the table and I was just so ready for Lucy or Kaleb to walk into the room. I shoved the rest of my pastry into my mouth and took another drink when Lucy stormed into the kitchen. I swallowed thickly before I started to giggle at the glitter all over her hair and face.

"What in the world happened to you Cosplayer" Bixlow had a spoon balancing on his nose from trying to make Kastor smile.

"I don't know!" her voice was at a really high decibel, not yelling or screaming, but more like.. an angry kitten that's been soaked in glitter. What really made everything better was that Kaleb had walked into the kitchen to stand behind Lucy, his hair was so sparkly. I lost it again and had to lean into Vander to keep myself up on my seat.

"Vander what did you do to my hair and why can't I get it off" I actually fell off the chair this time, I landed on my backside and couldn't catch my breath long enough to get back into the chair.

"Why does every one assume it was me?" He morphed his face into an innocent look and not a single person bought it. I slapped a hand over my mouth and tried to control my breathing which was harder then it looked.

"Oh man, you seriously can't get it out?" Lucy looked angry and whether it was over the glitter or something else I didn't know.

"come on Luce, lets go get that glitter off your face" I was still snickering, but I was able to get up off the floor and grabbed Lucy's hand to lead her to a bathroom. We were just walking out of the doorway when I heard the question I'd been waiting for;

"So you and Lucy huh?" I peeked over at the blonde woman beside me and saw her face had turned a very bright red.

"It's okay Luce, he's an attractive man, seriously if I wasn't..." I paused and redirected the sentence.

"You like him?" it was a simple question, and it sent the talking over to her.

"Yeah, I really do. He's been so good to me since I got here, always being so patient and kind and he didn't push me into doing things before I was ready. I love him, it's like I've found the second half to my soul"

"Well damn, that's some seriously cute shit Luce" I grinned and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. I wanted something like that, but at the same time I didn't.

"He asked me to promise with him last night" She almost whispered and I stopped in my tracks to stare at her.

"No he did not" I was so stunned

"He did" She had a massive smile on her face and I couldn't help but copy it

"No freaking way, I'm so happy for you Luce!" I wrapped my arms around her waist and spun us around.

"Don't tell anyone yet, we're keeping it quiet until everyone is back in their respective homes, it's just a lot to deal with at once"

"Of course Luce, it's not mine to share, but I'll be stupidly happy for you even if you wait to tell the family" I grinned at her again and we continued walking to the bathroom.

"What about you and Van, when is that date miss Asher?" She had looped her arm through mine and was leaning her glittery head on my shoulder.

"I think he's waiting for the warrant to be repealed, but we're spending more time together, even more then we did before." I sighed and rested my head on hers.

"I like him a lot Luce, I have for a very long time. But I also know that he is most definitely NOT a one person man. I don't have an issue with him sleeping with other people, really I don't. I just want to know why he wants me when he could have literally anyone out there." We had reached the bathroom and I reached to lock the door, the room was steamy and I was hoping a soak in the bath with Lucy would be good for my slightly addled brain.

"How are you okay with him sleeping with other people Ash? I wouldn't be okay if I knew Kaleb was sleeping with other people" I slid Vander's shirt off and slid into the small pool of steaming water.

"I know I'm not ready to be getting intimate, I have too many things in my past to deal with to be having sexual relations with anyone. I know Vander is a highly sexual man, like, I've never met anyone with as high of a sex drive. Of course I wouldn't keep that from him just because I have issues. So long as if we're in a relationship in the future, he keeps clean and there are no pregnancies I'd be okay with it." I saw Lucy shake her head, I honestly didn't expect anyone to understand, it was a different way of looking at my situation. I knew that I didn't want to keep Van locked up, he was a gorgeous sexually healthy man, why shouldn't he have sex.

Honestly, we weren't even in a relationship, I didn't even think he wanted to be in one. It was literally one date that he asked for. I shouldn't even be thinking this, I knew that he wouldn't date me. I was pretty sure that I was incapable of being comfortable enough to have sex. My therapist was helping, but it was going to be a very long time until I was able. I sighed and flicked some water at my friend.

"You want some help with the glitter?" I shuffled my way back to her side and held up a loofah.

"Yeah, please" I grabbed some fruity soap and started wiping the loofah in circles on her shoulders and back.

"Thanks Ash" I smiled and patted her head

"You're welcome Luce"