Phantom Lord

"I can't believe we let that bastard get away," Gajeel scowls as he stomps through the front door of the hotel they're staying in. "We were so fucking close. Then that idiot boy scout had to—''

"Gajeel-kun. He was seven years old. Of course he would panic," Juvia interrupts, giving him a small, disapproving pout. Of course she would say that. She's stupidly defensive of kids.

"Still. What business did a seven year old have being there anyway? Wandering around in the middle of a creepy-ass forest. Seems really shady to me," he grumbles.

"He was camping. He's a boy scout remember?" Juvia exasperatedly says. Her hair, which is usually perfectly curled at the ends, is falling over her shoulders in limp waves, bits and pieces of twigs sticking out from the top. Her face is all covered in dirt and her dress has a small tear at the side. All in all? She looks like shit. Not that he looks any better. He probably looks much worse. He's the one who fell into a pit full of dung and nearly had his leg chopped off by a rabbit trap.

Today was a really shitty day, okay?

"Whatever. All he did was get in the way of everything! Now we're stuck in this dump for one more night."

"At least we'll have time to see the whale festival!" she cheerfully replies.

"Yeah, that would be cool," Gajeel gruffly admits. He's not going to say it out loud but watching whales and hearing them make weird screechy noises sounds kind of fun. "But that would also mean we have to deal with that asshole reporter for one more day."

"He's really not that bad Gajeel-kun," Juvia says as they start signing in and getting their room keys. Usually they just share a room to save up on money but this time around, their client paid for their accommodations. And there's no way he's about to miss a chance to have a night's sleep without Juvia constantly stealing his covers.

They were hired to find their client's accountant who ran off on him. It might not sound like a big deal but this accountant guy stole nearly half his money.

They managed to track him down in the woods but then the boy scout got in the way and he ended up in a pit with a bloody leg and Juvia got thrown into a nearby tree. The man they're after may be an accountant but fuck, can he put up a fight. It was also raining which really made everything all the more inconvenient. But he's not telling Juvia that. She's his friend and he doesn't want to upset her. He's not that much of an asshole.

"He wrote that I had a secret love child!"

"Well…that bundle you were carrying did look like a baby—''

"It was a cat! A cat. And I only wrapped it in my jacket because it injured its paws," he defensively retorts.

"Aww. You rescued a baby cat?"

"Shut up."

"That's so cute," Juvia says, looking genuinely pleased.

"Stop talking," he says through gritted teeth. "Point is, that story was bullshit."

"But you were spending a lot of time with that Veena girl—''

"Cause it was my job to guard her! You don't honestly believe these things, right?" he says, narrowing his eyes against hers.

"Of course not," Juvia squeaks, her voice unnaturally high. He gives her a look, not really believing her. She has an insane imagination that doesn't really need much fuel.

"When I'm through with this mission, I'm going to punch that little shit right in the—''

"Oooh Gajeel-kun!" she suddenly grabs his arm and starts shaking it.

"What?" he says, annoyed at being interrupted.

"They have a sauna!" she excitedly says.

"Really?" He could use a sauna right now. That and a good chunk of iron. He takes the pamphlet that Juvia hands to him and blanches when he sees the price. "No fucking way!"

Juvia pouts at him. "Why not?"

"There is no way we're paying this much to get steamed!"

"But Gajeel-kun," Juvia says. "Juvia just got thrown into a tree—''

"Well, I got thrown into a pit and had my leg chewed off by a rabbit trap—''

"And she's tried—''

"I'm tired too—''

"Which is exactly why we need to get a sauna room!"

"You can always steam yourself with your Sierra form."

"It's not the same. Pleeaaase. He's paying us a lot anyway," she whines as she shakes his arm even harder.

Gajeel looks away, trying to avoid her gaze so she doesn't see him mulling it over. His entire body is sore and a sauna does sound nice. They've been working very hard on this mission all day and they weren't even able to get any sleep last night—they had to take an overnight train to Lupinus. And they were really close to catching that slippery little fuck.

"Fine. I'll get us a sauna room," he gruffly says.

Juvia suddenly launches herself at him and tackles him into a hug.

"Waaaah! Thank you so much Gajeel-kun!"

"Ow! Fuck! Get off me, woman!"

"But Juvia wants to thank you!"

"You don't need to!"

"But I do!"

"If you don't get off me, I will nail you to a tree!"

Crazy woman.

"You only rented one sauna room!" Juvia says, furious. Her hair is up in a messy knot and she's got nothing on but a towel wrapped around her body. They've just come out from the changing rooms where he saw a jacket that was vaguely similar to what the boy scout was wearing. It made him angry all over again and he had to eat a bar of iron to calm himself down.

"Well, that's what I said right?" he nonchalantly says as he opens the door and enters the room. The walls are paneled with wood and encircled with benches. At the center is a pit filled with hot rocks while two buckets of water stand at either side of it.

He pours some water over the rocks and gives a long sigh as steam fills the room. "Ahhh. Now this is more like it."

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia irately hisses to him from the outside.

"What? What do you want?" he responds in an equally annoyed voice. He ticks a brow up when he realizes that she's still standing outside. "What the hell are you doing there? Close the door or all the steam will escape!"

"Juvia is not going in there," she retorts.

"Why not? I already paid for it."

"Gajeel-kun. We're both…naked."

"No, we're not. We're both wearing towels," he points out.

"You know what Juvia means!"

"Stop making a big deal out of this! We share a room on most missions for fuck's sake!" he says, exasperated. He's seen her in her underwear once or twice and it's the same for her. They've even slept on the same bed—it's cheaper and they're both always trying to scrimp on money. He's confident enough in their friendship to know that they could be close without it becoming all weird. He honestly doesn't know what her deal is.

"You should've gotten us two rooms!"

"We can't afford two sauna rooms. We still have the train ride and the whale show."

"But—''

"It's not like there's anything worth seeing anyway," Gajeel says as he looks her up and down with a derisive expression on his face.

"Hey!" Juvia cries, incensed.

"Come on. It's probably better for us to share the same sauna anyway. I mean, wouldn't you want to talk and stuff?" he says as he adds more water to the pit.

"Juvia…guesses. It would be pretty lonely if we had separate sauna rooms," she contemplatively says as she chews on her bottom lip.

"Just get in here," he tiredly says before she can say anything else.

"Fine," she says as she steps inside and closes the door from behind her. "But you better not peek."

"You better not peek," Gajeel shoots back. Then, just to mess with her a little bit, he adds, "Unless you want to."

"A-As if!" Juvia retorts, flustered. He just laughs and she shoots him a nasty look.

She takes a seat opposite from the door and with a gesture of her hand, a stream of water rises from the bucket and spurts into the pit. More steam starts curling from the center.

"This is nice, isn't it Gajeel-kun?" she says as she leans back, contented.

"Yeah."

"A nice break from all the work we've been doing."

"Mm-hm."

"Juvia wonders what the whale show will be like."

"Would you stop talking? I'm trying to relax," Gajeel says.

"Juvia thought you wanted to talk."

"I only said that so you would get into the fucking room."

Juvia's cheeks puff up in the way that they usually do when she's angry. "You're so mean!"

Gajeel rolls his eyes. "Hey, I got us a sauna room didn't I—''

"Wait."

"What now?"

Juvia stands up and edges closer to the door. She peers through the tiny, glass window at the top. "Juvia thinks she saw someone…"

"What? What are you talking about?" Gajeel says as he leans forward.

"Juvia thought that she saw Honshu."

"Who's Honshu?"

"The accountant. Remember?" Juvia exasperatedly says.

"Oh. Right." He was never really good with names.

"Come on. We have to see if it's him."

Gajeel snorts. "Please, Sprinkler. What are the chances that he's sleeping at the exact same hotel as us?"

"Juvia really thinks it was him," she insistently says. "His hair is really hard to miss."

"You must've seen a guy who had a similar hairstyle. I mean I saw a jacket that was similar to what that idiot boy scout was wearing and—wait. Juvia?"

"Yes?" she says, turning to look at him.

"Where were we when the kid suddenly showed up and ruined everything for us?"

"East of Chosun Forest," she replies.

"And he claimed that their campsite was in…"

"Hahoe Clearing. That's…nearly two miles from where we were," Juvia says, a look of realization dawning on her face.

"That's a pretty far distance to get lost from," Gajeel comments as he gets up and moves towards the door. He and Juvia get out of the room and start wandering through the hallway of sauna rooms. Juvia's babbling on and on about something—probably their mission—but he's not really paying attention. He's trying to figure out why they didn't notice that the kid's alibi was shady up until now. Granted, they were both injured and exhausted and just dropped him off at the nearest police station the first chance they got. But still. They're usually sharper than that.

"Gajeel-kun, slow down. Your leg is still injured," Juvia says.

"I'm fine," he mumbles as they continue to peer into the tiny windows. The steam makes it difficult to see into the inside and they look a little weird just standing outside the doors. Once or twice, a passing chambermaid gives them a strange look but at this point, he really doesn't give a fuck about whatever they're thinking.

"Wait a second. Juvia thinks she sees him," she says as she places a hand on his arm. She's trying to discreetly peer into the window of one of the doors.

"Where?" he says as he looks over her shoulder. When he sees Honshu and the boy scout, he feels a stab of white hot anger. "That little bastard."

"Gajeel-kun—''

"He's been working with Honshu this whole time."

"Gajeel-kun—''

"I told you. I knew it. I knew there was something shady about that little brat—''

Something hard socks him on the face and he flies backwards.

"The fuck?" Gajeel mumbles, a little dazed. A sharp pain shoots through his injured leg.

"Juvia was going to tell you that he saw us. Now come on! They're getting away!" Juvia says as she rushes after Honshu and the kid, hands firmly on the towel. Gajeel groans before standing up and limping after Juvia. A few people emerge from the other sauna rooms, curious about the commotion they're causing.

When they're only about three meters apart from the two, he and Juvia exchange a look. They've known each other long enough to know what to do next without telling each other anything. Gajeel creates a small, iron kunai knife and throws it in between Honshu and the kid. He misses (on purpose) but it was enough to cause a distraction. Honshu momentarily halts while the kid stumbles.

"Water lock!" Juvia cries out as a burst of water erupts from her hands and encases the two of them.

"Nice," Gajeel says, a little breathless. "Great job, Sprink—''

He abruptly stops when he realizes that Juvia's towel has fallen off.

"Um…ugh…ugh…Juvia…"

"Hm?"

"Er…your…I mean…you're kind of…well…" In his embarrassment, he takes a step forward and before he can react, he accidentally slips on a puddle of water.

"Fuck—''

"Gajeel-kun—''

Juvia gives a cry of surprise as Gajeel topples over her, sending the two of them rolling on the ground. When they stop, Gajeel blinks his eyes open to see Juvia's horrified face, just inches away from his, breasts pressed up against his chest.

Holy fuck.

Holy fuck.

This cannot be happening.

This cannot be happening.

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia shrieks, her body instinctively flickering into her Sierra form.

"Ow! Fuck! Turn that thing off!"

"Juvia can't!"

"Why are you on top of me!?"

"Why are you naked!?"

"I'm what?" Gajeel says, becoming more and more mortified with every second. Juvia is quickly struggling to get up, but she's flickering in between her water and solid form, making it difficult for her to stand. Oh fuck. Is this what incest feels like? Because it's not very pleasant. He can literally feel his eyes burning. Or maybe that's just the steam coming from Juvia's body.

"Stop staring!"

"Stop shoving your breasts into my face!"

"Juvia isn't doing that on purpose!"

"You shouldn't have splashed water all over the floor!"

"How else was Juvia supposed to catch them?"

The sound of a camera shutter stops Gajeel before he can respond.

"Wait," he says, cringing. "Was that a camera?"

New Power Couple Alert! Phantom Lord's Top Mages Caught in a Steamy Affair!
The Passionate Love Story Behind Gajeel Redfox and Juvia Lockser's Years-Long Secret Romance
by Jet Perez

Last Monday, Phantom Lord's top mage Gajeel Redfox and member of Phantom's elite S-class group Element 4, Juvia Lockser were caught in a naked embrace at the sauna bars in the Kolon Hotel, Lupinus Town. Sources say that the two were in town for a mission but were plagued with arguments.

"Yeah, they were having a really bad argument. They even took separate rooms," Connor Merton, front desk clerk, stated. Sources in Phantom Lord found this strange since the two have been known to share a single room on missions.

They seemed to have reconciled however given that they shared a sauna room later in the evening and were seen in a scandalous public display of sexual intercourse in the sauna bar.

"It was disgusting. There were children in here. I told them to stop but they just went right on with it," said Honshu Kai, former accountant to candy shop tycoon Axle Magnum and recent convict of theft. "My son saw the whole thing. It's going to take years of therapy for him to unsee that."

Kai, as well as several other guests at the Kolon Hotel, wish to take legal action against Phantom Lord for the outrageous display of public indecency shown by their mages. Kai especially demands compensation, stating that he cannot afford giving therapy treatment for his son while he's in jail.

Sources from the guild itself have reported that many have suspected Redfox and Lockser's affair for years. The two of them met each other as children, forming a bond that developed from friendship into romance.

"Juvia came in when she was about twelve or thirteen. They had a childhood friend romance kind of thing. She was the first person to kick Gajeel's ass and stand up to him. I think that's what attracted him to her. He likes competent women," a source stated.

"She's the only one he goes on missions with. And it's the same for her. Well, she goes with Element 4 sometimes but it's more of a contractual, obligatory thing," another source said.

Their romance was derailed for many years by Redfox's violence and anger issues and Lockser's crippling depression but the two were reported to have started dating about three years ago. However, the guild's strict rule against interwork relationships and highly competitive atmosphere coupled with Lockser's relationship with boyfriend, Titan Nose's Bora of Prominence and Redfox's relationship with heiress Veena Delacour have forced the two to keep their affair a secret. Bora and Delacour both have no comments although the former did express an interest in a tell-all interview.

If Redfox and Lockser do proceed with going public, they stand to be one of Fiore's most powerful couples. Gajeel Redfox is one of the country's few Dragon Slayers and is considered as Phantom Lord's most powerful mage, passing the S-class exam at the young age of fourteen years. Juvia Lockser, a water mage, also wields a rare type of magic and is said to have been a child prodigy, having been self-taught and mastering advanced levels at the tender age of thirteen years old. Both have been accredited with bringing down twenty-seven dark guilds under the Balam Alliance.

The two's public display of passion however, makes it very clear that their love for each other could no longer be hidden and that they refuse to let anything stand in the way of their relationship.

Next Issue:
-Gray Fullbuster's secret to a perfectly sculpted body! PLUS: What he looks for in a woman, revealed!
-Exclusive preview of Blue Pegasus' Ichiya Kotobuki's sexy new photoshoot!
-Sorcerer's Weekly's Most Wanted Bachelor Siegrain: Secretly gay?
-Mirajane Strauss's Disastrous Calendar Shoot: Is she getting too old?

"I am going to kill that son of a bitch!" Gajeel says as he tears Mage Magazine into two. From where he's standing, he can feel everyone's eyes on him and hear some of them laughing. When he catches one of his guildmates staring at him, he immediately narrows his eyes into a fierce glare. "I do not have violence and anger issues! And I thought I already made it clear that I never had a thing with Veena!"

"And Juvia does not have crippling depression! Just because she makes it rain all the time doesn't mean she's suicidal!" Juvia says as she looks at him. His face flushes and they instantly both look away. Fuck. They can't even handle looking at each other anymore.

"I can't believe that sleazy prick got a picture of us!"

"At least they had the decency to blur everything out," Juvia grudgingly amends. In all fairness, their faces aren't very clear since the picture just looks like one, giant, fleshy blob.

"That's because he knows I'm going to kill him if he does." Gajeel scrubs a hand through his face. "My reputations going to be even worse off than it already is, especially after that whole love-child thing! Fucking tabloid, gossip-whore dicks!"

"You? What about Juvia? Everyone's going to think that she's some sort of cheating harlot," Juvia mutters. He can tell that she's super pissed even though her voice is even and unaffected and her face is calm and controlled. She usually acts and looks like this whenever they're in the guild hall. It still boggles him how she can turn into a completely different, less crazy version of herself when they're with their guildmates. Sometimes, he wonders if she has a switch or something.

"What's Bora-kun going to think of her now? Do you really think they reached out to him? He wouldn't answer any of Juvia's lacrima calls!" she says, her voice lacerating. "What if we break up? What if he hates me and never wants to speak to me again?"

"You've been dating for five days," Gajeel points out. And he's not too sad about them possibly breaking up. He's never really liked her boyfriend that much anyway. He seems like a grade A asshole.

She ignores his comment. She twists her own copy in her hand, trying to keep up her indifferent facade. "But this just a gossip rag right? Nobody takes this seriously, right?"

"You take it seriously," Gajeel says.

"Juvia does not!" she defensively retorts.

"Anyway, what I really want to know is who the Phantom Lord 'sources' are. I bet it's Boze. Or Tutu. Who do you think it is?"

"Who cares? Juvia just wants to know if Bora-kun believes this or not."

"Maybe I should just beat up everyone I suspect. Just to be sure," Gajeel thoughtfully mutters, completely ignoring anything that Juvia's saying.

A flicker of passions maps across her face. "Juvia knows! We'll sue! We'll bring them to court and expose the truth and—''

"Um, guys?"

The two of them turn to look at Sue who's discreetly trying not to give them a weird look.

"What?" Gajeel gruffly says.

"Master Jose wants to see the two of you," she says, looking nervous.

Gajeel and Juvia exchange a look. A meeting with Master Jose never ends well.

"What do you think he wants?" he urgently whispers as he gets off his seat and places his drink on the counter.

"Juvia doesn't know. Maybe he wants to congratulate us for a job well done?" she whispers back as they head towards his office.

"Or he'll punish us for damaging Phantom Lord's reputation," he says, blanching at the thought. Master Jose isn't the most understanding man on the planet and he's usually quick to hand out harsh judgments without further contemplation. He prides himself on being the master of the top guild in Fiore so failed missions, destroyed property or public displays of embarrassment will immediately warrant a brutal reprimand that goes beyond scolding.

A look of worry cracks through Juvia's calm demeanour.

"Just let me handle this, okay?" he says. Juvia's a master at keeping herself under control in tough situations but he knows that deep down, she's a lot more sensitive than him. He can take it better than her. Juvia opens her mouth to protest but he cuts her off with a stern look. She sighs and nods her head. Gajeel takes a deep breath and wrenches the door open.

"Sit," Master Jose says in a bland voice. The two of them nervously take their seats.

"I suppose you two have an idea why you're here," he begins. He takes a copy of Mage Magazine out and slowly pushes it towards them. The two of them nervously blink at it.

"Master, before anything, I'd just like to say that everything in that article is absolutely false and the photo was taken completely out of context," Gajeel begins.

"And before we explain, we would also like to express our sincerest apologies for bringing shame on to the guild," Juvia interjects.

"And if you plan on punishing us, please give whatever punishment you plan on giving Juvia to me—''

"Gajeel-kun!" Juvia gasps. "Not again!"

"I'll make sure this will never happen again. Ever," Gajeel finishes, lightly swatting her arm so she'll be quiet.

Master Jose doesn't answer them. In fact, he seems to have not heard a word of what they've just been saying. He's leaning against his chair, a thoughtful look mapped across his features as he lightly strokes his thin moustache.

"You know…I'm not exactly sure where to start," he begins. "I knew that I would have to have a talk about this with you two, with all of you in the guild actually, at some point. I do see you as my children you know, even though it may not seem like it at times."

"Um…okay?" Gajeel says, confused at the weirdly fatherly tone Master Jose is using.

"I guess I knew this would happen eventually given how you two seemed to always work so well together. You two can't be children forever. You're bound to start having these…urges," he says as he takes a piece of mint from a nearby bowl. He starts unwrapping it, his face still contemplative, nostalgic even. "I remember it like it was yesterday when I recruited you Juvia. You only came up as high as my chest. And Gajeel! You were so skinny back then! Ahhh yes. And that fight you started with her was so exciting, especially when you started losing. Those were the times, eh?"

"Juvia supposes so," she says, bewildered at the behavior of their normally stern, maniacal master.

"And for the record, she didn't beat me," Gajeel interjects, unable to help himself.

"I just want you to know that despite our guild's strict rule against interwork relationships, I fully support your relationship. It doesn't seem to be a detriment to your capacity as guild mages," Master Jose says. Gajeel's eyes instinctively narrow in suspicion. If Master Jose thinks that Juvia is important to him in any way, he will not hesitate to exploit it and use it against Gajeel. He's already half-suspicious that this little talk of theirs has something to do with their Master subtly threatening them or something.

"Um…me and Gajeel-kun are actually not together—''

"Do you two know how pollination works?" he suddenly asks.

They both nod.

"No? Well, I guess I'll just have to teach you," he says.

Juvia raises a hand. "Um Master? Actually, we said that we do know how pollination works—''

"A flower starts out as a bud, small but full of potential and promise!" Master Jose continues, seeming to have not heard Juvia. "But with time, the bud blooms into a beautiful flower, filled with pollen, ready to bring more flowers into the world. The flower however, cannot do it alone. It needs the help of the bee who must pollinate the flower's seeds with its stinger—''

"I'm pretty sure bees don't pollinate flowers that way," Gajeel interjects.

"It must be gentle and patient," he continues, completely ignoring Gajeel. "Always observant of the flower's feeling and wishes, making sure to obtain a little something called consent—''

"Wait. Why would a bee need a flower's consent? Flowers don't talk. And the pollination process is a natural occurrence so it doesn't need anyone's permission to happen," Gajeel says, becoming more and more confused with this talk. From the corner of his eyes, Juvia has inexplicably turned into a violent shade of red. He gives her a questioning look but she's stubbornly avoiding his gaze.

What's going on?

"—before it thrusts into the flower again and again until both reach this point of pleasure and ecstasy—''

Fuck.

Is that what he's talking about?

"Master," Gajeel interjects.

"What?" Master Jose says, annoyed at being interrupted.

"I know what sex is," he mumbles, his face turning red as he says the words.

The three of them all sit there in awkward silence.

Gajeel tries to fight the urge to stab himself in the chest with Master Jose's pen. This has got to be the single, most embarrassing, mortifying thing that's ever happened to him—even more than when he fell on top of Juvia naked.

In an effort to break the tension, he mumbles, "Well, I don't know about Juvia though—''

"Juvia also knows what sex is," Juvia quickly clarifies, shooting him an annoyed look. "She has a boyfriend."

Then, she hastily adds, "Not that we've ever done it."

"You have a boyfriend?" Master Jose looks mildly surprised.

"Er…yes."

"He's from Titan Nose," Gajeel adds.

"So you two aren't together?"

"Er…no. Not really," Gajeel says.

"Oh. Well, I guess I should move on to protection then since you both clearly know how the process works—''

"We also know how condoms work," Gajeel says. He can't believe he's even talking about this with his guild master of all people. He will never live this down.

"Oh. Okay. Just didn't want Juvia to suddenly turn up pregnant," Master Jose says with a small laugh. Juvia forces out a small smile. "Wouldn't want to lose one of our top mages now would we?"

"No, of course we wouldn't," Gajeel says as he attempts to laugh.

"Well, if that's the case," Master Jose leans back against his chair. "Dismissed."

"So...you're not mad about the article?" Gajeel asks. Master Jose probably isn't but you know. He just has to be sure.

"No, of course not. This magazine writes nothing but brainless trash," Master Jose dismissively says.

"But then why—''

"You two were naked and on top of each other," he says.

"Oh. Right," Gajeel mutters. "Well…goodbye."

The two of them awkwardly rush out of the room where they meet Sue, dutifully doing some paperwork on a nearby desk. "Hey, how'd it go?"

Gajeel and Juvia lock eyes with each other. Almost immediately, they spring apart as if scalded, faces both red.

"Nothing," they quickly say as they both walk opposite ways from each other.

He seriously won't be doing any missions with her any time soon.

Author's Note: So, I'm horrendously late for Gajuvia Brotp Week but better late than never, right? This is shameless ridiculousness as will probably be most of the oneshots for the other prompts. I don't think it's possible for Phantom Lord to have a rule against co-workers/co-guildmates dating. Some companies actually have that rule. I have this headcanon that PL is a guild that's similar to Sabertooth. It's a legal guild and their members are note technically evil but they are more pragmatic and work-oriented when it comes to achieving their missions. I want to explore that maybe in later oneshots. Anyways, I don't think it's much of a stretch for Jose to think that relationships will be a detriment to their jobs.

As for the timeline of when Juvia joined PL, people might have qualms with it but I do think she went to PL at a fairly early age.

I also have this headcanon that when Juvia was in Phantom Lord, she was still kind of like the Juvia we knew, except she just showed that side of her around Gajeel. Like, you could see it in her fight with Gray, that her bubbly personality peeked through at certain moments. To be honest, she really didn't strike me as gloomy when I first saw her, more of cool and collected. I think she just seemed that way when she first appeared a.) acting like how she usually acts won't get her any respect among her guildmates and b.) she's genuinely miserable when she's around them and can't seem to connect with them.

Also, shout out to xloudxloud's amazing fic Punishment and Amnesty's Accidents Happen for serving as inspiration to most of my headcanons for this fic and for PL in general.

This fic is also dedicated to kurohyacchan and Doctor. Uta (if they're reading this) as a thank you for the lovely, kind messages they left in my inbox. ^^

Anyways, thank you so much for reading and tell me what you think if you have the time! :))