Lani POV:

I spent the walk from Shouto's room to the kitchen trying to get back on my A-game.

When the former number one hero wants to have a chat with you...ehh, even if he's kinda washed up and crotchety now, it's best to be prepared. I don't know what Endeavor wants to say to Shouto and I. But, I do know I talked a lot of shit at dinner, then walked out and hid in Shouto's room for the last hour.

Certainly not the first family impression I was hoping to make. The man probably thinks I'm a certifiably insane secret criminal—and hey, he'd actually be right about that.

But, there's no way I'm gonna let him know it. While I may have had a teensy moment of weakness tonight, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still a star level schmoozer with a high amount of emotional constipation. When it comes to bouncing back and charming with words, Endeavor's no match for me....hopefully.

Shouto gestured for me to enter the kitchen first, causing me to clear the strain out of my throat and quickly pick my head up. Admittedly, I was a little surprised to see his entire family already waiting for us—and by that, I just mean Natsuo and Fuyumi will apparently be taking part in this chat as well.

A family affair. Lovely.

But, even with the interrogation of the number one hero and his two children about to begin, the vibe feels totally different now that Momo's family had left. Things felt less tense, less judgmental, and just overall....a lot more chill. I appreciated that.

Shouto appeared at my side a few moments later, causing Fuyumi to lean forward in her chair and stare at the two of us harder. She had her youngest brother's unnerving look and I smiled a bit stiffly, shuffling to the side to create a little bit of distance from Shouto...which he quickly closed a few seconds later.

Ugh, this guy.

"Lani, you're back." She smiled, quickly shooting up from her chair with a concerning amount of haste. "We were getting worried. Are you alright?"

Regret and embarrassment crept up the back of my neck at the reminder of my panic attack, quickly waving her off with as much dismissal as I could muster, "Ah, me? I'm totally good. Must've been those cupcakes I brought. Maybe that good ol' red 40 really did do a number on my—"

"—You're busted." Endeavor cut me off lowly, crossing his arms and glaring at me now.

....oh. Well, that escalated quickly.

Silence consumed the space, and I couldn't hide that, visibly, he kinda caught me off guard there. "Huh?" I said, my smile going stone cold in worry.

Right down to the nitty gritty, huh? Endeavor's certainly a man of few words. Guess I can appreciate that.

But, what I can't appreciate is his vagueness, wondering what exactly I'd been busted for. There's a plethora of dirty smudges on my record at the moment, and really, it could be anything. I wasn't about to be an idiot and expose the shit he didn't know about.

So, instead, I simply chuckled, giving him a chill, musing smile before Fuyumi thankfully chimed in. "Dad, I told you to be subtle..." She groaned quietly, rubbing the back of her neck.

"What are you talking about?" Shouto scoffed before Endeavor slammed his hand on the table way too dramatically.

"Give it a rest, Shouto! I knew the whole time."

"He didn't..." Fuyumi mumbled in annoyance.

Endeavor let out a smoking breath through his nostrils, narrowing his eyes at the two of us suspiciously before coming out with it not-so-subtly, "Alright, spill it. How long have you two been dating?"

Shouto's eyes widened but I kept my poker face, looking at the group disinterestedly while internally shitting myself three times in a row.

Well, fuck. That's a problem, isn't it?

Not an easy situation to be put on the spot. I don't know how they know—or maybe they don't even know at all and they're just speculating. And...are Shouto and I even dating? We haven't put a label on things. But then again, dating and being in a relationship are two different things—god, and now I developed his bad habit of internally overthinking...

Look, whatever. So what the old number one hero just made an incriminating correct accusation against Shouto and I? Big whoop. I've always been good at denying. I can easily get us outta this one.

I laughed off the accusations a bit cockily, waving Endeavor away, "Oh, please. We're not dating."

"We're not?" Shouto asked cluelessly, shattering our cover with two simple words.

Well, there goes that. Rip.

"Shouto!" My poker face broke, throwing my hands up at him in frustration.

"I knew it!" Natsuo said proudly.

"No you didn't! I'm the one who told you first!" Fuyumi chimed in, causing me to blink in surprise at all the accusations going around the room.

"Wait....huh?"

Fuyumi chuckled sheepishly at being caught, "Well, we've kind of been....speculating it for months after seeing you and Shouto together in the tabloids." She grinned, giving Shouto a knowing glance. "We know our baby brother better than he thinks, and it was obvious to us there was something going on. He doesn't look at anybody like that."

And while I should be freaking out right now and thinking of ways to get myself outta this one, my ego couldn't help but be stroked by her words.

I crossed my arms and bit down on my lip mischievously, giving Shouto a gloating smirk, "Hah. Is that so?"

Shouto's always such a stoic guy, sometimes it's hard to know when he's been affected by anything at all. But to hear it from his sister—and in such an embarrassing way, well c'mon, I had to take the opportunity to give him some shit.

And it was sooo worth it as I saw a very subtle shade of pink tinge his cheeks before he scoffed and looked at the ground. He's been embarrassed by his family twice tonight, and that's more times than I've seen him embarrassed in all the time I've known him.

"I.....she's being dramatic." He practically mumbled, barely looking at me before finding the wall to be incredibly interesting. "I'm just...looking. It's just my face."

"That is not just your face, Sho." Natsuo chuckled, leaning back into his chair musingly as his brother's cheeks flushed redder. "Never in my life have I seen your face turn that color. Lani clearly has you whipped."

"Whipped?" He blinked a few times in confusion.

A harsh grunt interrupted the fun, causing Shouto and Natsuo to simultaneously roll their eyes as Endeavor walked over. "Hold it." He said sternly, hovering over me with an intimidating aura. "I dunno if I like my son dating some raunchy porn writer."

I grinned a bit impishly and held my hands up in lazy surrender. I'll be the first to say Endeavor doesn't scare me. Not only has Hawks aired his dirty laundry and told me some fucking hilarious stuff and blackmail about the guy, but I deal with scarier shit than him for breakfast. No offense to him. Kind of. I mean, if he took offense to it, I wouldn't be upset.

"Ah, ah." I held up a finger. "Porn with plot if ya wanna get technical with it."

"Really?" Fuyumi gawked, seeming a little too interested. "Hey, are you on booktok—"

"If I take relationship advice from dad, she'll just end up in a mental hospital." Shouto chimed in bluntly, causing Endeavor's jaw to hit the floor.

I whistled at such a harsh, savage dig from Shouto. I didn't understand it in its entirety, but I could already tell Endeavor wouldn't recover from that one any time soon.

"He's got that right." Natsuo chimed in casually before Endeavor yelled in utter turmoil.

"S-Shouto?!!"

"You've done enough damage as it is pairing me with the Yaoyorozu family." Shouto cut in, crossing his arms with an amount of sass I wasn't even sure I possessed. "I'll date whoever I want to now. So don't start getting weird and butting into my personal life. It's annoying, and I'm an adult."

I slapped a hand over my mouth and chortled at his brattiness. I knew he possessed it, and I knew he possessed a lot of it. But, not to this extent. Getting to see him in his natural element like this, telling off the number one hero and making tears well in his eyes? Priceless. The publicist in me wants to snap a picture of it and tell everyone. The criminal in me wants to laugh and point at him until Endeavor cries harder.

You know....I'm starting to think Shouto and I might have more in common than I originally thought. He's got a little kick to him. I like it.

Endeavor was speechless as he looked between Shouto and I, starting to stumble on his words as his youngest son's glare burned a hole through his head, "W-Well—do you even know anything about her, Shouto? She......she could be a mass murderer for all you know!"

"Not a murderer." I reassured the group laxly, giving a little shrug. "Eh. Well....yet—"

"—You're talking as if he doesn't put away mass murderers for a living, genius." Natsuo retorted to his father, more interested in texting away on his phone.

Shouto pinched the bridge of his nose, "Just because she's not a hero doesn't mean she's a mass murderer—"

"—But a hero is so much more suited to your lifestyle, Shouto-" Endeavor argued before Shouto had enough.

"I never liked Momo."

While the words were quite obvious to me, it was shocking to see how groundbreaking this revelation was to his family. I was a bit taken aback by their widened eyes and dropped jaws. Did they really think Shouto and Momo were compatible this whole time? Was it because he lied about having feelings or her? Or....

Did he just...never tell them anything about how he was feeling at all?

Shouto sighed expectantly at his family's reaction, grimacing at trying to verbally describe his emotions. "Um. Momo and I's relationship.....was very.....forced for me. I...I wasn't ever happy. And I didn't enjoy talking to her...or being around her....or hearing her talk.....or having intercourse with her." He said before the whole room quickly cut him off.

"Okayyy!" Natsuo called out loudly, covering his ears in case anything else slipped out.

"Goodness..." Endeavor grumbled, face palming into his hand.

I pressed my lips together and gave Shouto's shoulder a soft squeeze, hovering just a bit closer. "Ah, you can stop it right there, buddy. I think they get it." I whispered near his ear, causing him to nod.

The chaos quieted down a bit as Shouto's family took in his words. The difference between them and how the Yaoyorozus listened to him was astronomical. I was happy to see Shouto had a family that cared enough to try and understand.

Truly. It's hard to find.

Fuyumi sighed, giving the two of us a sad smile, "Wow. I feel bad. I....I didn't know all that, Shouto."

"Yeah, that's the first time I've heard anything about your relationship with Momo from your own mouth." Natsuo said.

Shouto rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't really know it myself. Lani....um...I guess she kind of...helped me figure it out." He barely glanced at me before looking away once a smile involuntarily tried to creep onto his lips.

Fuyumi watched closely, clasping her hands together as she found more certainty. "Oh? Well, Lani won me over the moment she walked through the door."

"She won me over the moment she called Momo and Shouto siblings at the dinner table." Natsuo snickered. "I always knew those two didn't click."

"Right. Just like you know everything else." Fuyumi rolled her eyes before glancing at her unusually silent father. "U-Uh—regardless, the most important thing is Shouto's happiness, and I've never seen someone bring out this side of Shouto before. It's....it's a good side. Right, dad?"

Unconvinced, Endeavor let out a stubborn 'hmph' and crossed his arms. But, it didn't go unnoticed by me that he seemed a little less upset than before.

I shuffled his way, poking the bear with a stick as I gave his arm a small nudging taunt, "Yeahhh? C'mon, 'dad'."

He bared his teeth and sneered, lightly shoving me away before pinching bridge of his nose. "Ugh, you remind me of someone else I can't stand." He grumbled, but the sternness in his voice had dwindled. "Must be that hero commission attitude, or somethin'."

I furrowed my brows in question, looking to the rest of the group for a grumpy man translation, "Hey, is that a yes?"

"Even if it wasn't, his opinion is irrelevant." Shouto scoffed with a cross of his arms.

Endeavor gripped his chest like he'd been physically shot, trying to remain in one piece from Shouto's constant attacks as he walked over to his youngest. "I want what's best for my son." He said, attempting to place a hand on Shouto's shoulder—and only patting the air as the brat quickly ducked out of the way. "But, also....he's always been a good judge of character. I....admire that about him, and he's a better man than me."

Shouto watched him with unaffected eyes, giving a dismissive shrug, "Obviously."

With a heavy sigh, Endeavor lowered his head, glancing at the bottle of expensive French wine from the Yaoyorozus longingly before succumbing to reality. "If Shouto approves, then I do as well."

Fuyumi gasped in excitement, running over to her dad before throwing her arms around him. "Yay!" She exclaimed, barely softening the gruff features of ol' Enji's face.

"Man the press will go crazy with this one though." Natsuo whistled, gesturing to Shouto and I. "You two will be eaten alive when people find out."

"Cannibalism is illegal so I don't believe that would happen." Shouto reassured cluelessly.

I grimaced a bit and rubbed the back of my neck, unable to deny the unease that settled in the pit of my stomach. What started out as a tightly lipped secret between Shouto and I is now growing into something dangerously bigger.

Kai figured it out easily. So did the Todorokis. It's only a matter of time before the Yaoyorozus catch on. Or, worse....

The Mizuchi. Yuna.

For a secret like this to get out....it wouldn't just be scandalous. It would be deadly.

"Uhhh, so....that's the thing. No one really knows, except you guys." I chuckled a bit nervously. "To the public, Shouto's in a relationship with Momo. Well....to the hero commission as well. He's actually under contract to stay with her for a year, so it's important that this doesn't get out."

"Hah." Natsuo shook his head musingly, continuing to text away on his phone with half interest. "Good luck with that. I doubt princess Momo will wanna keep that going after how tonight ended. Shouto's never kicked anyone out of the house before. Well, you know, except dad."

"True." Fuyumi nodded, stroking her chin in thought. "But, still, the Yaoyorozus don't know the truth about you two. So, you have our word that we'll keep it that way."

I nodded, reflecting on the damage that had been done tonight. I wasn't here to see how Shouto handled ending the dinner, but from the way Natsuo, Fuyumi, and even Shouto himself spoke about it, it sounds like it went pretty poorly.

After tonight, I truly don't know where Shouto and I stand with the Yaoyorozus—more importantly, the contract. If Momo pulls out, we'll all get sued, and that's not something I can afford. Literally.

Not to mention, Momo is unfortunately my job security right now as well. If she pulls out of the contract, Yuna will most definitely fire me and hand over the job of Shouto's publicist to someone else. Someone who won't have his best interest at heart.

But, I guess, that's for another day.

"Thanks." I sighed, giving the group a tired smile.

Ugh. Never a dull moment since hero season started, huh. Let's just hope it pays off in the end...

Fuyumi grinned from ear to ear as she plopped back down into her chair, gripping the top of it tightly as she looked at Shouto and I, "Soooo, now that we have that out of the way, let's hear the meet!"

Shouto and I simultaneously tilted our heads in question, causing me to grit my teeth in annoyance for how much he's rubbed off on me.

"The meet?" I asked, quickly straightening up my posture.

"You know, the meet story!" Fuyumi clarified. "How did you guys meet? How did it happen?"

Shouto wasted no time, seeming as if he's been waiting to tell someone about this for ages, "She stalked me at school. Obsessively." He overdramatized bluntly.

My jaw dropped in offense, giving him a light nudge in the side. "Please, you wish. Says the guy who called me that same night begging me for help—"

"—I didn't beg—"

"—He was practically crying over the phone—"

"—I wasn't."

"Youuu were."

Shouto and I glared at each other before the corners of our lips turned up, both of us uttering a quiet simultaneous laugh. I melted against him instinctively, watching his eyes softening as our shoulders touched.

"I love it." Fuyumi beamed under her breath, eyeing her youngest brother's smile with an overwhelming amount of glee.

"Hmph." Endeavor muttered, watching closely as Shouto's smile grew just a little bigger. "She's alright."