Ninja has never thought much about romance. Of course he wouldn't, he was raised to be a ninja. The only person he had been romantically involved with was all fake, a mission he was carrying out for MIRA. MIRA started as a national space company, but soon dominated the world. As people on bean world became more wary of impostors, MIRA's popularity and wealth grew, and they soon became somewhat of a international, and intergalactic government.
Not that Ninja cared much about that. There was no need to worry about impostors when you were the biggest threat you know. No, that wasn't why Ninja helped MIRA, it was simply because they had a lot of jobs to do, a lot of money to be given.
But that was years ago. Ninja had stopped working for MIRA, when they wouldn't stop trying to convince him to let them push him as a public hero for them. They were good employers, but not good for him in the long run.
Besides, it was more interesting now, going from place to place, client to client. Ninja wasn't just a contract killer, he spied, sabotaged, and lied. He could wield all types of swords, knew dozens of poisons, used bows, guns, and daggers. But those weren't the only tools required: he would use drills, grappling hooks, ropes, picks, anything to get the job done. His role was different from what ninjas would've done 500 years ago, but he liked to think of himself as carrying on their legacy.
That wasn't Ninja's whole life. By day he was a mysterious, who baked good biscuits and had a cat.
Despite his mysterious life, his neighbors trusted him. He was quiet, but baked them sweets and did them favors.
Ninja wasn't close to anyone. Other than his wonderful cat, of course. He was mostly fine with this; better to not get emotionally involved.
So, he never thought about romance. He wouldn't even be able to hide his true life, and if he did reveal it, no one would love him.
Well... he never thought about his *own* romance.
He suppressed his romantic wants by reading and writing romance novels. No one had ever read them before, but he was proud of them. It wasn't his area of expertise; he would probably be better off writing action or thriller, but that was his real life. In his fake life, he wanted romance.
Ninja was coming back from the gym one day when he noticed he had new neighbors. No big deal, the house had been empty for a while and he never greeted new neighbors.
But the beanie-wearing bean, seemingly living alone, caught his eye. Ninja watched him for a seconds. The bean, was carrying a box inside, and looked he could drop it any second. And he did, the box slipping out of his hands before he luckily caught it. Ninja pulled his head back slightly in surprise, and the blushing bean looked around for anyone looking. When his visor met Ninja's, he blushed harder, and moved swiftly inside.
Ninja let himself give a half-smile. It was cute, how awkward the bean seemed. Ninja felt a pang in his chest, but ignored it. Maybe he would get to know the new neighbor better, but probably not.
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His neighbor mostly stayed inside and occasionally had a yellow visitor over. From what Ninja could tell, he didn't seem to have a consistent work schedule, as the rare times he left the house was at odd and always differing times. Ninja had no doubt that's how he appeared to his neighbors, too, so he didn't judge.
The way they finally got to talking was something straight out of a romance movie.
Ninja groaned when he realized he got a letter not intended for him. Looking at who it was for, brought some solace: it was for his new neighbor. Ninja thought he was cuter every time he saw him, and had something of an affinity even after never talking.
Ninja knocked on the door, waiting with the package in his hands. He wasn't sure, but he assumed the bean was home.
Sure enough, he was. After a minute, the door opened, and he stood at the door with a toothbrush stuffed in his mouth.
Ninja frowned and the bean looked frazzled. "Oh- I thought you were- uh, a friend. ...Uh what can I do for you?"
Ninja held the letter in front of him, before he realized he had to speak. "It came to my house."
The other bean's face lit up in understanding and he grabbed it. He adjusted the toothbrush so it wouldn't fall out and opened the letter.
As he pulled it out, he made a sour face. "Ugh."
"What?" Ninja asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
"It's from my old workplace..." the bean sighed. "I left. Now they send me this... must be an accident. Didn't take me out of a dumb news letter."
"Where did you work?" Ninja said casually. He normally wasn't so extroverted.
"Oh, MIRA," the bean waved his hand like it was no big deal. Ninja's visor must have lit up, because he then continued, "oh it really wasn't anything special.. I went on a mission, though."
"I worked for MIRA," Ninja nodded.
"You did? Oh that's nice. What'd you do?"
"They hired me, occasionally, for odd jobs."
The bean nodded. "Oh, my names Player! What's yours?"
"My name is Ninja," Ninja smiled softly. Player was a nice name.
"It's really cool we both worked there... It was... nice, there were cool people. But I quit and moved to find a better job."
"I mostly worked alone," Ninja said.
"I don't really have a job right now," Player continued. "I know, I'm a bit of a loser."
"I don't think you're a loser."
"Really?" Player smiled.
"I think it makes you a winner that you left MIRA. You had the confidence to take a risk when you knew it wasn't working out."
"That's a nice way of looking at it," Player said. Ninja couldn't read his tone of voice but his face showed genuine interest.
Ninja heard a gruff voice call behind him. "Player!"
Ninja turned and saw the blond friend who was around the house sometimes getting out of his car. He looked back at Player, who smiled and called out "Veteran."
"Goodbye," Ninja said. He turned to leave, passing Veteran.
"Wait!" Player called out. "We should talk again sometimes. Maybe about our times at MIRA?"
Ninja was pleasantly surprised. "Ah... that's a good idea. Tomorrow at 5pm? Will you be busy?"
Player looked flustered. "Uh... geez, uh no! I won't be busy."
Ninja nodded. "Okay, I'll come to your house then." He walked away then, hearing the blonde- Veteran- giggling behind him.
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It wasn't until hours later that Ninja realized what he had set up was sort of like a date. He didn't mean it to be like that, he just wanted to be clear on when they would see each other again so it wasn't a surprise.
Well, if it was a date, it was fine with him, Ninja realized. He put on a nice suit- one he acquired for attending a ball where he did some spy work- and walked over to Player's house.
"Oh hey," Player said, blushing. "The house is kinda a wreck... sorry about that."
Ninja came in and looked around. The house was indeed messy, but it wasn't too big of a deal. He was more focused on the butterflies in his stomach.
"You're wearing something much fancier than me," Player let out a laugh. When Ninja didn't respond, he sighed. "Uhh what shall we do?"
"Do you have any video games?" Ninja asked.
Player's eyes widened. "Yes! I love video games."
"Shall we play some?"
Player nodded and led Ninja to the couch. "Do you want to play a racing game?"
"Sure," Ninja said, and Player handed him a controller. Player turned on the game and sat on the couch, quite far away from Ninja.
They played, and Ninja was struck by how bad he was at the game.
"Good thing we didn't drive anywhere for this," Ninja jokingly commented, noticing how often Player crashed his car in the game.
The other bean blushed. "Ya, I'm not the best at video games. But I'm getting better!"
Ninja chuckled and Player's cheeks got even more red.
Ninja passed the finish line, getting first while Player was far behind.
"You didn't do too bad," Ninja offered encouraging words. "I'm sure you'll get better with practice."
"That's optimistic, but... ya, you're right," Player said. He still looked sad, though, so Ninja scooted closer.
"Is that alright?" Ninja asked, referencing him getting closer.
"Ya it's fine," Player said in a hurried breath.
"Alright," Ninja said, looking back to the screen.
Player got another game starting, and cleared his throat. "So, uh, about MIRA. When did you start working for them?"
"A while ago," Ninja answered, immediately getting ahead. "I watched them grow."
"I was an astronaut for them. I only went on one short mission..." Player sighed. "I don't know what I'm gonna do with my life, but, I'm glad MIRA is no longer what that something is."
"That's understandable," Ninja said truthfully. "Their leadership is cruel and inept."
Player looked at Ninja surprisingly. "I never even saw anyone super high up... I heard rumors like that, though."
"They're cowards," Ninja said, again honestly, but Player cracked up.
"What do you do now?" Player asked curiously. "With your... high employment standards."
"...Just odd jobs. And believe me, my employment standards are not that high." Player laughed more.
They were about halfway through the race, and Player was in the top 3. Ninja was, too.
"It'd be cool to just be a game developer," Player said wistfully.
Ninja looked to him. "That'd be cool."
"Really?"
"Ya. For sure."
Player smiled, and a moment later, came in 1st place. He lifted his arms up in the air. "Yes! I won!"
"Nice job!" Ninja said. He had only played a couple games with Player, but this was unexpected still.
Player hugged Ninja, who tensed up heavily. Player pulled away. "Sorry man- that was outta nowhere."
Ninja took a moment to breathe again, but when he calmed down, he was happy. It was cute and contagious how happy Player was.
"That's fine," Ninja assured him. "I'm glad you won!"
"Thanks!" Player said, still blushing and clearly elated.
"See, you're no loser," Ninja said. "Things just take time and patience."
Player looked at Ninja like what he was saying was unheard of. He looked like he was in awe.
"...May I hug you?" Ninja asked. Player nodded and Ninja gave him a hug.
It lasted only a minute, but when they pulled away, Ninja could feel himself blushing. "Let's, uh, go back to the game."
Player nodded and swiftly started another. They then played for a while. Player never won again, but he got close a couple times. And he didn't seem to mind as much as usual.
An hour or so had passed when Ninja stood up. "I think I should go home."
"That's fine," Player said. "Thanks for playing with me."
Ninja turned to leave, but Player interrupted him. "Wait-Ninja? I was gonna say... thank you for not going easy on me and letting me win."
"I'd never do that," Ninja gave a sly smile. "Not anyone."
Player blushed. "Thanks. And thanks for coming."
Ninja just said "of course" before turning to leave again. Player saw him out, waving goodbye and watching him walk all the way home.
Player closed the door behind him when Ninja was completely out of sight. He giggled excitedly. He didn't know when, but he knew he wanted to do that again.