I don't know what the hell you gonna do

When your looks start depleting

And your friends all start leaving

You're so plastic and that's tragic

~

Trigger warnings: contract killings, guns, strip club, mentions of human trafficking, language, alcohol, smoking

~

Shouta Aizawa sighed as he was taking his rifle apart, so he could hide it easier. He was in the back of his friend's car - if he could really call him a friend. Hizashi told him where to go, who the next kill was, what kind of job it would be. And when he was done they'd go and celebrate another successful kill.

That was, when Shouta was in the mood for that. Which he usually wasn't. He preferred to be alone, by himself, in his own space where he knew what was going on and where he didn't constantly have to feel like he had to watch out for some invisible threat. He always got nervous like that around other people.

Hizashi was the complete opposite - always going out to some places, always involved with shady people. He knew everyone, every owner of every single dodgy strip club in the entire city. Shouta could barely even keep the few places Hizashi dragged him to apart and he honestly wasn't very interested in spending his time there, but he'd do it for his friend's sake. Sometimes.

His mind wandered back to today's kill. It was some business man or something. Shouta didn't know what the reason was. He didn't want to know. He tried to know as little as possible about his targets. Made killing them easier. He had gotten him during his lunch break outside the office. One clean shot to the head from far away. No big mess, people barely even noticed until someone else came out and found him. By that time Shouta was long gone.

He rarely stuck around for a long time after a kill. He only stuck around if it was a situation where it would be difficult to get away inconspicuously. When he had to wait for the right time to make his move. He had always had a strange intuition for those sorts of things and sometimes he wondered if that made him an inherently bad person. That's when he knew he should probably call up Hizashi.

"Hey, Shou!" he heard a cheerful voice coming from the front of the car. Shouta looked up from the gun parts that he had carefully placed in a box. He saw Hizashi brush back a few strands of his long blond hair, as he watched him through the mirror. Shouta hated it when he didn't keep his eyes on the road while he was driving.

"Hm?" he hummed, not really in the mood to acknowledge him in any way right now. He had no idea how Hizashi had managed to drag him out again today.

"You almost done with being dark and brooding?" Hizashi wanted to know. Shouta groaned and shook his head.

"I'm never done with it, it's who I am." he replied. Hizashi grimaced theatrically before grinning at him again.

"Come on, Shou Shou, why are you always so damn serious?" he asked and chuckled. Shouta rolled his eyes.

"I kill people for a living, am I not allowed to be serious once in a while?" Shouta murmured and looked out of the window. Which was pretty hopeless, because the windows were blacked out.

"You don't have to let your job define you, ya know? Sometimes you just need to loosen up and live a little. It can't always be death, death, death, you know?" Hizashi commented and gestured wildly. Shouta frowned as his eyes kept wandering to the steering wheel that Hizashi was barely even touching anymore. Why did he trust this man to be driving again? He had no idea.

"Yeah, whatever. I do what I want. Can we just go and get this over with?" he wanted to know. Hizashi turned around with a big grin on his face, looking at him over the rim of his sunglasses.

"Oh, Shou, you're gonna love this place! I'm telling you, this is gonna be so much fun! We're going to-"

"Keep your eyes on the fucking road or we won't be going anywhere, except hell!" Shouta snapped at him. Hizashi quickly turned around and looked back at the road, before giving him an annoyed look and an eye roll via the mirror. Shouta closed the box that contained all the parts of his gun and stowed it away under the seat again, before sitting up straight and crossing his arms over his chest.

"So... you're not even a little curious as to where I'm taking you?" Hizashi asked, wiggling his eyebrows in excitement.

"Not really." Shouta replied. Hizashi's facial expression dropped, as his smile turned into an exaggerated sad frown. He's just doing this to get to you, Shouta, don't even react to it, he'll just think you actually care, you'll only encourage him- Shouta sighed. He couldn't keep this up.

"Fine. Where are you taking me?" he finally gave in and asked. Hizashi's grin returned quickly.

"It's a surprise!" he exclaimed and chuckled to himself, as he turned a corner. It was dark outside and there were neon signs lighting up some of the houses. So it was this part of town, huh?

"Are you fucking serious?" Shouta groaned. He knew it was something like that, he could have sworn he had fallen for the same thing at least three or four times before. But Hizashi always had that way of making him feel bad about something he had said. Maybe that was why they were still working together...

"Maybe. Okay, okay, I might tell you. On the way there. Because we're going to park up right here and walk for a bit." Hizashi told him. Shouta sighed. Walking? Really? He just wanted to have some drinks and relax... but Hizashi was stopping the car, so there was no point in protesting. They'd waste more time with Hizashi trying to restart the car (he really was a terrible driver) and trying to find a better parking spot.

Hizashi got a few things out of the glovebox and opened the door to get out. Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose and groaned loudly, before opening his own door and getting out of the car, as well. As he slammed the car door shut, he did have to admire Hizashi's immaculate taste when it came to cars. It was like he was collecting them, since he often picked Shouta up with a new car, and they all just looked absolutely beautiful. Hizashi may be a bad driver, but he had taste.

"So where are we going?" Shouta asked, as he followed Hizashi through the dark side streets, before they turned back onto the main road that was illuminated by street lights and the bright neon lights of brothels and strip clubs. Why was he even asking where they were going when it was so crystal clear?

"Ah, ah, ah. We get there when we get there." Hizashi said and pulled his coat tighter around himself.

"It's a strip club, isn't it?" Shouta muttered. Hizashi gave him an apologetic smile, as he shrugged. Of course. That's why he didn't want to tell him for ages. Why was he even friends with this guy?

"Hizashi, you know I hate strip clubs." he complained.

"Hey, come on, man. You need to relax. Unwind. Take your mind off things. Nothing's better for that than a strip club. Especially the ones where you can pay a little extra for a... special kind of deal." Hizashi said with a wink. Shouta just shook his head and sighed. Well, there was no point trying to change his mind now. Hizashi wasn't just going to drive him back home. It was easier to just get it over with at this stage.

"We've been over this a million times. Strippers just don't do it for me. I hate strippers." Shouta complained.

"And I don't get why. I mean... strippers are amazing! They're young, they're hot, they're sexy, they know what they're doing... you throw some money at them and they'll let you do whatever you want. They're amazing!" Hizashi said. Shouta just shook his head. He didn't know how Hizashi didn't understand this.

"They're so fake, Hizashi!"

"And? I don't see the problem with that." he just said and shrugged, before turning into another dark side street. Alright, so it wasn't just going to be a strip club, it was going to be a shady one, too? Fuck that.

"Whatever, I don't have a choice anyway, do I?" Shouta grumbled.

"Oh, come on, lighten up! I'm sure there'll be someone you like and that you can spend a few hours with. I'll even pay for you, man. Come on, let's have a fun time. You need to get laid." Hizashi exclaimed with a pat to his back. Shouta narrowed his eyes and mentally debated whether he should dignify this with a response.

"I don't need to get laid, I need to go home and sleep..." he eventually murmured dejectedly, before continuing to follow Hizashi across the street. It was always a mystery to Shouta how Hizashi was okay with getting people killed, but not with crossing the street when there was a red light. There had to be some weird psychology behind that, but Shouta didn't care enough to seriously question it.

They turned another corner which led to a dark alleyway. Shouta had no idea how any strip club would survive with being located in this dingy, dark side alley, but there was a neon sign on one of the houses - an outline of a woman's figure - that changed colours from red over pink to purple to cyan and finally to blue. Shouta had to admit that the colour scheme was aesthetically pleasing in a weird way.

There was a young girl standing in front of the place, leaning against the wall in a long dark coat, balancing on her thin black high heels, as she was smoking a cigarette and looking up into the night sky. She didn't even seem to see the two of them approaching. As they got closer, Shouta noticed how her blond hair seemed to be dull and broken, probably from dyeing it too often.

She looked fairly young, despite the copious amounts of makeup on her. She couldn't have been older than 18 or 19, but she already had this disillusioned look on her face, as if she knew everything that was wrong with the world. And Shouta wouldn't have been surprised if she did.

"This the place?" he asked Hizashi. Hizashi turned around and grinned at him, displaying that horrid mustache he had been wearing for a few years now in its full glory. Shouta cringed at the sight of it.

"Yup, that is exactly the place. Come on, I'm sure they'll have at least one girl you're gonna like." Hizashi replied, before stepping inside the narrow entranceway. There was a bouncer there, giving him a testing look, before glancing at Shouta as well and then stepping aside, before waving them both in.

"I doubt there will be, but I'll make sure to drain your funds this evening, so you'll never ever think of inviting me out for something stupid like that ever again." Shouta growled as they walked in through the heavy doors that were painted pitch black. Strip clubs just had to be extra, didn't they?

Shouta sighed when Hizashi reached out to take his coat off him. It was easier to comply at this point. Maybe they'd have good drinks at least... sure, they'd be especially expensive, but Hizashi was paying anyway. The least Shouta could do was make him regret it. He gave Hizashi his coat, waiting in the hallway and already hearing the same horrible bass lines coming from the inside.

He really, really hated strip clubs. It wasn't a case of one bad experience - it was a string of horrible to mildly disappointing experiences and Hizashi was the main cause of all of them. He would never even think of setting foot inside a strip club (well, maybe on one or two occasions) if it weren't for Hizashi.

He followed Hizashi into a wide, open room that was dark, except for some neon-coloured lights - it seemed like they were the same colours as the neon sign outside. At least they were consistent with the colour theme. Shouta could appreciate that. He plopped himself down on one of the soft black couches that had a small table in the middle for whatever drinks were being ordered.

It seemed like he had already lost Hizashi to the lady that was mixing drinks behind the bar. This was always how these things panned out - Hizashi dragged Shouta along to some place he really didn't want to go and then he'd leave him alone there for hours on end. Shouta had gotten used to it.

He was snapped out of his trance when a young girl - she looked even younger than the one he had seen outside - leaned in closer to him, apparently asking him something. She was wearing some weird, glittery outfit and was giggling girlishly. Really not Shouta's type whatsoever.

"Sorry, I wasn't paying attention." he muttered.

"Would you like a drink, Sir?" she repeated her question. Right. A drink. Shouta wasn't really sure what he should start off with.

"A double whiskey, no ice." he replied. A classic would always be a good choice, especially to start off what seemed to be a long night. Judging from Hizashi's enthusiasm, at least. The girl bit her lip.

"Uhm... which one? We have... uhm..." she started. Shouta's lips curled into a big smile. Hizashi would regret inviting him.

"The most expensive one you have." he told her. After all, it was on Hizashi, right? Hizashi wanted him to enjoy himself and an expensive whiskey was quite enjoyable. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Of course, Sir, coming right up." the girl replied and quickly went back where she came from. Shouta looked around the place. There was one girl dancing on a pole, but she really wasn't great. Or it was the music that kind of annoyed Shouta. There was a rustle in one of the curtains that Shouta assumed led to some sort of backstage area. He didn't really know how these kinds of places worked and he never asked Hizashi, just out of fear he might not like the answer.

Someone emerged from the black curtains. This girl seemed to be a good bit older than the rest of them and also seemed a good bit more toned down. Her high heels were black and she seemed to be able to move in them more naturally than her colleagues. She had just the right amount of curves and was dressed in black lingerie that looked just about as classy as it could possibly get in a place like this.

She turned around and revealed a worried and panicked look in her (e/c) coloured eyes, as they met Shouta's. It was such a genuine look, it almost knocked the breath out of him. He was as intrigued, as he was scared to know what that look was about. Of course he knew that some of these places were more legitimate than others and that Hizashi would probably not frequent many of the more legitimate strip clubs. He never really wanted to think much about any of this, but that look? It made him uncomfortable. Thankfully, she had only looked at him for a split second, before turning away again and making her way up to the bar, probably to begin her shift or something.

Shouta leaned back on the couch, his eyes wandering to the ceiling. How was he supposed to spend an entire evening here? He already wanted nothing more than to leave, but he had absolutely no place to go as long as Hizashi was still here. Of course he could just take the train home, but... his rifle was still in Hizashi's car and he really didn't want to go home without it.

With a sigh, he sat up and looked back at the dancer on the pole. She wasn't great at keeping the tempo. She was swinging around the pole too fast and she was still quite wobbly on her high heels. She had to be new - not used to this job yet, probably nervous. It was probably still quite early.

Shouta heard some sort of commotion and some hushed conversation behind him, but he was too lazy to turn around and have a look at what was going on. He really hoped that this wasn't Hizashi doing something incredibly dumb. And he also really hoped it wasn't about his whiskey, because he was looking forward to that quite a bit. It had been a while, since he had had a really good whiskey.

Shouta closed his eyes for a second. Looking through the crosshairs on a scope for long times really made his eyes dry and itchy. He should probably get something for that, but he hadn't gotten around to it. It was just such a hassle to get up at a regular time and go out to the shop like a normal person. Somehow all the killing had made normality seem like it was out of reach.

Shouta sighed again. Maybe he'd see the girl he had seen earlier dancing. Maybe he'd tip her an insane amount - simply because it was all on Hizashi. And he had to admit that he did kind of like her. She looked attractive. Classy. Like she knew what she was doing. Which probably meant she had been doing this job for quite a while, but Shouta didn't want to think about that. She was really his type and maybe Hizashi was right and it was time that he got laid again.

He sighed when he heard the trademark clacking noise of someone in high heels approaching him. He wondered whether it would be the same girl that had asked him about what drink he wanted earlier. He hoped not. Sure, she was pretty and cute, but she just seemed so incredibly boring.

"Sir, here's your drink." a different voice said. Shouta looked in the direction the voice came from and looked into a pair of familiar (e/c) coloured eyes.