Lani POV:

A few fashionably late minutes later, Shouto and I returned to the photoshoot.

His hair looked a little less neat, and maybe his cheeks were a little more flushed than they should've been. But, his duality was impressive. That typical stoic look was already back on his face, a big difference from the one he was sporting in the dressing room.

"Finally." Momo huffed under her breath once she saw us, closing her phone and tossing it on a chair. "I don't understand what could have taken so long."

I hummed nonchalantly, trying to ignore the mess of cum inside my panties as I walked. I need a bathroom....like yesterday.

"Have you ever tied a pirate corset?" I brushed past her with a shrug. "It's no easy task-"

"As a matter of fact, I have, Miss Hidaka." Momo interjected, rising from her chair a bit abruptly now. "Which is why it would have been better if I'd been the one to accompany Shouto in the dressing room instead of-"

"Ah, Shouto!" The photographer walked over with a smile. "You're back—and you're glowing! Wow, that hair and makeup team is good. You also look way more relaxed. Feeling a little more comfortable and less camera shy?"

I pressed my lips together a bit knowingly. Yeah, Shouto was glowing and he was definitely a lot more relaxed. But, the hair and makeup team had nothing to do with that.

A good orgasm is the best makeup one can wear—put that on a fridge magnet, why don't ya.

"Oh. Um...yes, I guess so?" Shouto said, clearing the last remnants of hoarse arousal out of his throat. "I feel good....really good. Actually-"

I quickly coughed and intervened before he could say too much—because knowing Shouto, he would, giving his shoulder a friendly pat, "Hohhh, man! Nothing a good pirate shirt can't fix. Am I right?" I shot the photographer a wink.

"Finally! Someone who understands the vision!" He snapped his fingers. "I wanted to give Shouto a wooden leg, too, but production was totally against it."

"Can't imagine why." I mocked with subtle sarcasm, fidgeting a bit at my desperate need for a bathroom cleanup. "Anyways, now that everything's all situated, I'm gonna make a quick restroom run. Lady stuff, you know."

I gave Shouto a subtle glance, feeling a little more at ease with everything concerning him and Momo today. It just took jerking off his cock in the dressing room and walking around with his cum inside me. Yeah, I'm not high maintenance or anything...

He nodded and gave an instinctual glance between my legs, immediately looking down when his cheeks began to tinge pink. "Do you....want me to come with you?" He uttered quietly.

His fingers barely shifted, causing me to quickly back up when I realized he was about to place his hand on my shoulder. Momo's eyes were locked on the two of us, as well as the rest of the people from the shoot. Shouto and I couldn't afford to be lenient with any extra touches.

"Ahhh, heroes these days. Such a gentlemen, you know." I mused lightly, giving him a subtle wink before giving the photographer a parting wave. "I'll come back later!"

"Go take care of your business, Lani. I promise you our little star is in good hands." He smiled, quickly ushering Shouto back towards the set. "Let's get him on the pirate ship, guys! Oh—and unbutton his shirt a little more!"

I shook my head and departed from the bustling set, only getting a few steps before I felt my phone buzz in my pocket.

Text Message From: Eiichi
Mizuchi wants a word with us. Now.
12:13pm.

It's about the banquet
12:13pm.

Tension immediately filled my body, getting another harsh dose of reality. It seems I made more than one mistake at the banquet the other night.

So many loose ends to tie up.

*

It wasn't my preference to dip from the photoshoot and leave Shouto alone. But, with another few hours to go, I know my presence wouldn't be missed. By everyone else anyways. I'm sure Momo's getting her party shoes as we speak.

Not to mention, being a slave to the Mizuchi doesn't leave much room for personal autonomy. If they say jump, you jump. If they say walk in a handstand through a room full of fire, dressed as a clown, well, you better get that clown wig on. And I have.

I wasted no time walking into Gentle Dragon Pharmaceuticals. I've been coming here a lot more for my liking lately. Usually, all my deals come through the phone, and the drugs are either given to me by someone in a remote meeting place, or left in a specific part of the city for me to grab.

In person meetings only take place when there's a really important sell coming up. But, mostly....

...they just take place when the dealers are in trouble.

On the surface, the banquet sell was deemed successful. But, it didn't go forgotten by me that I'd been caught by Eiichi for cutting the pills in half....and also losing a few strays in the bathroom.

I rubbed the back of my neck tensely and headed towards the elevator, sighing quietly in annoyance when I saw that familiar head of blue hair waiting for me.

Eiichi simply looked at me, not giving me that usual smug grin of his. For some reason, that only made me more concerned. If he's worried, I most definitely should be.

We said nothing to each other as he hit the hidden elevator button, and our silence continued as we walked inside the empty chamber, riding at least three floors down without a word.

I gave him a side glance for his unusual silence. You know things are bad when I'd feel better if he cracked a joke at my expense right now. But, I know him—at least, to a point, and I can tell he's just as uneasy as I am about whatever we're doing here.

We're stuck together unfortunately, and if one of us gets in trouble, we both go down together. Unless...

Eiichi went behind my back and somehow made a deal with the Mizuchi to sell me out.

The idea dawned on me like an instant epiphany, causing my blood to freeze and my senses to instantly heighten in alarm.

Hm. Yeah, that seems like the more likely scenario, doesn't it...?

Of course it does. I don't know why I didn't think about it sooner. You can't trust anyone in this business. Partners are supposed to be loyal, but nah, they turn on each other all the time. And Eiichi is anything but loyal...

Suddenly I found the paranoia slowly sinking into my veins, absentmindedly watching the floor numbers on the elevator get lower and lower towards the basement. Narrowing my gaze, I slowly slid it towards Eiichi, only looking at him in my peripheral vision.

What did you do...?

Inhaling deeply, I quickly gained my composure, stirring the manipulation muscles in my brain. I only have a precious few minutes right now to figure out my survival. I need to find out what's going on before we reach the Mizuchi headquarters. Perhaps then...I can think of a last minute way to save myself.

However, Eiichi's seen me use the mind games before, even if not usually against him. That might make it more difficult to get information out of him.

I cleared my throat and tried to turn on my artificial charm, something that's become a lot harder to use since Shouto's come into my life.

Shouto makes me too genuine. Who ever could have thought that would be a bad thing...

"So..." I broke the tense silence, keeping my voice lax and uncaring. "Might as well tell me what you've done that landed us here in detention today."

Eiichi's uncharacteristically serious attitude didn't change, boring his copper eyes at the steel doors. We rode the next floor in silence until he leaned forward, flipping up a little button up on the elevator before revealing a microphone.

I furrowed my brows as he toggled with the speaker turning off a switch so the sound wouldn't carry anymore. It was like a dam of tension broke in him when he did that, exhaling heavily in what seemed to be relief before turning to me.

"Why do you assume that I'm the one who fucked something up?" He spoke more casually now, narrowing his eyes at me with the same paranoia I held for him. "Your track record's a lot dirtier than mine."

"Which I keep very clean on the surface, thank you very much." I retorted, causing him to laugh dryly.

"Oh, c'mon, babe." His voice was came out a little more smug. "You're not very careful when it comes to hiding your tracks. Cutting pills in half....making out with heroes in public bathrooms."

Ah. Fuck...

My heart jumped in panic, and my eyes widened before I could put on my poker face. Eiichi's always had assumptions about Shouto and I, but this? Nahhh, it was a completely different story now. Ohhh, the blackmail he has me. To think of all the shit he could do.

Not to mention, if he saw us making out....who else could have seen?

Yeah, the situation was looking bleak as fuck any way you spin it. Regardless, I went with my usual tactics—deny, deny, deny. Why? Because I'm desperate and that's the only thing I have left.

"I don't know what the fuck you're talking abou-"

"Shh." He cut me off calmly, giving his head a musing shake. "Don't even waste your breath. You're a liar by trade, sweetheart. It might work on your little boy toy. Hell, it might even work on the Mizuchi. But it doesn't work on me. Ya can't out-lie a liar."

I sighed through my grit teeth, knowing he was right. As much as I didn't want to admit it.

Eiichi knows more dirt about me than I'd like. Between the knowledge of me cutting up the drugs, and my personal involvement with a hero, these are two particular pieces of information that would be deadly to me—and also Shouto.

And now, I'm more positive that his knowledge of these things is somehow involved in the reasoning of why we're here...

"What did you tell them, Eiichi?" I stated lowly, feeling a bead of sweat run down the side of my head as the elevator dropped another floor. "If I've just walked into a setup for my own execution, I at least have the right to know."

"What did I tell you about assuming things?" He chastised with a click of his tongue, face going a bit smug at my clear concern.

Obviously, he was enjoying this, and I refused to give him the satisfaction of feeding into it, saying nothing.

He chuckled at my stubborn silent treatment, turning towards me with question, "What would I get for ratting you out to them, Lani? The honor of watching you get shot in the head? Nahhh. That seems a lot less useful than some of the other things I could get—from you-"

The stress made me lose my shit a lot quicker than usual, shoving him in the chest hard enough for his back to rattle the walls of the elevator. "You can get your dick wet from someone else." I seethed. "Wouldn't be the first time."

"God, you're a psycho bitch." He laughed a bit strained, fixing his jacket and standing up straight. "You think too highly of yourself. I'm not talking about sex."

Oh? Now I was really intrigued.

He knows I won't fuck him, and he also knows I'm insanely broke. Sex and money are like the two biggest blackmail crimes out there. Anything else...

...would just be more personal.

I huffed in agitation, noticing we were almost to the basement floor of the building. "What else could you possibly want?"

He bore his eyes at me, but somehow the rest of his face remained blank. It almost looked like he was trying to convey something to me. Something I wasn't understanding.

"Your quirk." He said almost admittedly.

His eyes trailed away from mine slightly, the same way someone would do in almost....a sort of embarrassment. But, I didn't understand. Not what he wanted, and not what kind of weird behavior he was displaying. This hasn't ever been Eiichi.

"Huh?" I retorted impatiently, seeing we only had two more floor levels left to talk privately.

He glanced around the empty elevator with his own thoughts, furrowing his brows a little troubled as he came closer to me. "I know you can fix...broken things..." He uttered quietly.

His mouth twitched slightly like he wanted to say more, but he hesitated, then stopped there altogether.

I looked at him in utter confusion, scoffing in annoyance for whatever that was. "Wow. Great analysis. Guess you do know one single thing about me."

Eiichi scoffed now and immediately shut down, biting down on his bottom lip in masked frustration. "God, you're an asshole. Forget it, Lani. You think you're the only one who doesn't wanna be here, and it always cracks me up."

I didn't bite back this time because I didn't expect such an...honest comment from him. It was only then that I realized....

I didn't know how Eiichi got here either. How he went from being a world class, rich athlete to...this. Seems like a pretty drastic change now that I think about it.

He leaned back against the elevator door before hissing abruptly and grabbed his leg in pain. With a wincing groan, he immediately pulled out a pill bottle from his pocket—one that was more than three quarters emptied. He tipped it to his open mouth, popping what looked to be one too many narcotics if I was reading the label correctly.

Then, with hands I only noticed now were shaking, he pulled out a little tube of white powder, shaking a little onto the top of his hand before snorting the line.

"Hah. The only way I can get a little peace and quiet from your constant nagging." He tried to brush off my watching eyes, wiping away the residual white powder from his nose.

I couldn't deny I was surprised. Even if a cheating asshole, Eiichi was always considered a relatively straight arrow when it came to everything else. He rarely had alcohol. Couldn't handle it—hence the cheating. And he never fucked with drugs, not even recreational shit like marijuana.

He was always incredibly aware of what he put into his body because he didn't want to jeopardize his chances of getting kicked off the Olympic snowboarding team.

I guess I only realize right now....his thinking on this has changed quite a bit.

"You always hated drugs like that." I pointed out of the coke still dusted on his nose. "Said it interfered with your training, or whatever."

He pressed his lips together, and it was for the first time I realized he was actually in pain. But, he quickly masked the look behind a smug smile and shrug. That's the thing about Eiichi and I. We're too alike. That's part of the reason we never worked. We never trusted each other enough to let each other in. To get too close and try to make each other better.

"Mm. What training?" He dismissed, unfazed as a trickle of blood oozed out of his nose now.

I bore my eyes at him and he mirrored my expression. We were both speaking silent words, but unlike Shouto, I couldn't understand Eiichi's. I couldn't hear them, almost as if I'd pressed mute on the television remote.

The only thing I realized at this moment, was that Eiichi...is just as scared to be here as I am.

Neither of us reacted as the elevator dinged, facing forward with our own individual masks.

We walked side by side this time through the empty headquarters, making a beeline towards the back of the basement. The same two dealers who forced us to sell at the banquet were already waiting for us. They simply stared at Eiichi and I in silence, creating unnecessary tension with their glares like we'd done something wrong.

But, I knew the tactic well and so did Eiichi. Both of us wore the same blank face, keeping our composure as we waited for the men to quit fucking with us.

The one with the platinum blonde hair narrowed his eyes at me specifically now, finally breaking the silence once he sensed he'd get nothing from us.

"Seems you two were incredibly successful at the banquet." He drawled out gruffly, eyeing the two of us for confirmation.

Eiichi and I let out a quiet breath of relief for the compliment. Hopefully that was a good indicator we weren't getting our heads lobbed off. Today.

"Told you we'd find a way to get it done." Eiichi nodded, fidgeting a bit uneasily on his feet. "Wasn't easy though. A sell that big can't happen again."

The dealers looked at me and I simply nodded in agreement, causing them both to smirk smugly.

"Funny you should say that." The older man alluded, shoving his hands in the pockets of his suit. "Because The Handler thinks differently."

My heart dropped at the implication. It was something I should have expected, and it's how I've continued to stay trapped in the never-ending cycle that is the Mizuchi. They give you an impossible task to see if you can complete it. From there, you only have two options, complete it, or fail and die.

"Your determination and grit at the banquet inspired The Handler, and they've decided to set their sights on some new potential....consumers for the drug." The blonde dealer said, reaching into the pocket of his coat.

He pulled out a stack of pictures before handing them to Eiichi and I, causing my brows to furrow as I took a look.

Unease immediately weighed in the pit of my stomach as I slowly sorted through the pictures, seeing they were from the banquet. Specifically, from the speeches the fresh heroes made on stage. None of the heroes on these pictures were ones I knew personally.

"These little bastards made quite the noise at the event." The dealer explained. "They hold more influence over the community and other heroes than anyone else combined right now. Especially...."

He pulled out another picture and handed it to us, making me almost drop dead on the spot...

I felt sick to my stomach as I studied the picture closely, hoping I was hallucinating, hoping that if I looked at it long enough, I could will it to change.

But, Shouto, Bakugo, and Midoriya continued to stare back at me, with the dealer sealing my fate with his next words...

"These three...are your next target for the drug."

I stared at the picture blankly and crinkled it in my hand, feeling my anger getting the better of me.

This has gone too far now. I've been the Mizuchi punching bag for too long. At some point, I must draw the line.

"No. No fucking way." I growled, tossing the crumpled picture to the floor.

Eiichi inhaled sharply and quickly picked up the picture, glaring at me with a silent plea to shut up. "Lani." He reprimanded quietly before giving a light, nervous chuckle to the dealers. "Hah! Uh—what my partner means to say is that-"

"These three are the most loyal heroes of Japan right now." I cut in again, feeling my heart rate skyrocketing at the sight of Shouto's crumpled photo face staring back at me. "T-They would never-"

Eiichi nudged me again, and I knew I was saying too much—probably showing too much as well. But, that's what Shouto does to me. He makes me show too much, he makes me vulnerable, and overall he's my weak spot.

I never wanted him to get involved in this. Involved with me.

Even aside from the risk of him finding out the truth about me, this is just incredibly dangerous.

"They're also the most popular of the fresh heroes this year." The dealer argued, walking a few steps closer to me now. "If we can get them to consume the drug and tell others about it, we'll be set for life. And you.....can get out of this business."

I faltered in surprise at the words. It was the first time such a possibility has ever presented itself.

The 'me' from a month ago would have been thrilled. The task was simple, use a hero for my own benefit to save my ass? You bet I would've done it.

But, this was Shouto. And as much as I don't want to admit it, I've changed into something softer because of him. That will only be to my detriment.

"It's impossible." I grit through my teeth in frustration, watching the blonde dealer smirk knowingly.

"That's what you said about the banquet. But, you got it done."

I let out a shaky breath, forced to hold my tongue. The truth was, I couldn't say too much for fear of looking suspicious. The more I fought 'em on it, the more attention I'd draw to Shouto and his friends.

"Handler wants a sell by the end of this month." The dealer said, causing me to scoff with a dangerous amount of attitude.

"Or what?"

I knew I'd gone too far, but I didn't care when the dealer tilted his head, slowly approaching me. He hovered over my frame, boring his gaze at me, yet I met his with the same fervor, until he spoke his next threat...

"Or all deals are off. We'll put your brother's head on that table over there and make sure it's the last thing you ever see." He whispered.

....well, that's certainly a valid threat, isn't it.

My stomach felt nauseous at the thoughts, forced to back down now.

Like I said, I have too many loose ends for someone in this business.

"We'll make it happen." Eiichi jumped in after a few tense moments of silence, giving the dealers a nod and smile before dragging me away.

It wasn't until we were back in the elevator with the doors closed that I tore my arm out of his grip. It was petty and powerless of me, I knew that. But, it was also the only form of control I had over the situation.

Whether it's the hero commission or the Mizuchi, I never seem to have control.

Eiichi's jaw tensed as he kept his eyes on the steeled doors once more, mirroring my tension with his own. "Be angry all you want, I don't care." He said curtly, his face pale and clammy from the impending stress. "You'll still do it. Or I will. And as you know, I don't like to waste pills by cutting 'em."

I shoved him back with a scoff, feeling unease building in my system. I didn't have much say in the matter, even in giving him an attitude right now.

Eiichi didn't rat me out about cutting the pills, or my personal involvement with Shouto. I'm surprised, but also not quite as it now puts me at his mercy. Something I know will come back to bite me in the ass at some point.

It also doesn't change the fact that the two of us certainly can't take much more of each other. We're a team, but not by choice.

It's all about who cracks first. And when that happens, we're both toast.

A headache pounded in my temples as I leaned back against the wall, mulling over the impossible tasks set before me...

Sell Shouto the pills or get my brother's head lobbed off.

How the fuck did I get so unlucky?