NEO CULTURE TECHNOLOGY
MAD CITY BASE
9:07 AM, MONDAY

"Again, why do I have to take care of her?" Xiaojun grumbled, his thick eyebrows furrowed as he stared far into the white ceiling of the clinic.

Kun crossed his arms, "You don't want to?"

"I mean- I..." Xiaojun paused, not knowing what to answer. Usually, he would have declined by now, but he couldn't. It was as if something in him was preventing him from shoving away such opportunity. However, a part of him also couldn't accept it.

These days his mind has been nonstop thinking about Keiko and it was already driving him crazy. He couldn't seem to get the thought of her away, something in her made him feel so attracted in some sort of way.

Not being able to respond to Kun's question quick, the older shrugged, "Fine. I'll just ask whoever's free today." and without another word, the executive left leaving Taeil snorting at Xiaojun.

"Kid, you lost your chance."

Xiaojun grunted and fell back onto the white sheets, "Shut up."

"I'm already telling you, Xiao. You like her."

"I know."

"Then go for it." Taeil suggested calmly making Xiaojun sigh loudly.

"If only it were that easy. Did you hear what Hendery said yesterday? Getting Keiko to like you back is impossible!"

Taeil sniggered, turning around in his swivel chair to face the young boy. "You'll never know unless you try."

"I- I don't know..." Xiaojun mumbled, looking down onto his lap.

"Hmm, why do you like her?"

His question made Xiaojun go back deep in thought. Exactly – why did he like her? Was it because of her attitude? How brave she can be? How beautiful she actually looks? All of those were clouding up his mind.

Xiaojun fiddled with the hem of his lab coat, "Should there be a reason to liking someone? What if I didn't like her for any physical features...?"

Taeil froze for a bit before humming. Facing back at his desk, he told him, "Then what?"

"I just... like her." he mumbled lowly, letting his eyelids dip close. "Just- forget about it. These are probably just quick feelings. They'll go away."

Taeil glanced back at the boy who was now dozing off from work by taking a little nap. He shook his head, focusing once again on his recent experiments. "I don't think they'll go away nor are they 'quick' feelings." He mumbled softly.

.           .            .

"Why the fuck- Keiko put that fucking fork down!" Hendery yelled out, a hand hovering over his gun secured in his holster.

"I'm not even going to–"

Kun cleared his throat loudly, "Can't you two get along, please?"

They both gave him a short stare before replying almost in unison, "No."

Kun deadpanned at the response, "Why are you two even mad at each other?"

Hendery points out a finger, "She shot me and would nearly stab me!"

"The bullet just grazed you!"

The boy stuck out a tongue, "Same thing!"

Keiko looked at him in disbelief before crossing her arms, "Your reason is invalid."

"No it is not, missy."

"Don't call me missy."

"You–"

A hand slaps over Hendery's mouth to keep him shut, his words becoming muffled under Kun's hold. "It's only for a day. Please refrain from trying to kill each other, okay? Hendery, no gun. Keiko, no knives."

"Boring." Both mumbled under their breath, yet audible enough for Kun to throw a glare at them.

"I have a mission to attend to, I'll see you two later." Kun patted the top of Keiko's head, "Have fun!"

"Well, I guess I have no choice then." Hendery shrugged and dragged the nearby chair to take a seat. "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know... can't you just... go?"

Hendery rolled his eyes, "If I could, I would. But they'll kill me if I don't look after you."

"I'm not a kid, I don't need a babysitter." Keiko uttered and hopped off her bed.

"But you're a target– basically that endangers your life sooooo..." Hendery drags his words, tucking his hands into his pockets. "You have no choice but to go with it."

Keiko sighed, "Whatever." She murmured, going through her closet, picking a plain oversized hoodie. "Let's head out."

"What...?"

"I am not going to stay in this cramped room all day with you." Keiko stated, "Let's go to the city or whatever."

"Hey- you know we can't just go out! The executives will kill us!"

Keiko gave him a smug grin, "Who said we're letting them know?"

Hendery gaped at her words, finding it thrilling yet at the same time unnerving. He never really went against the executives or any higher-ups as that would only cause a feud that would be hard to resolve. Not that he had anything to go up against them anyways.

Hendery rolled his eyes, standing up from his seated position before ruffling his own hair, "Fine. But if they go crazy when they find out we're gone– I'm blaming you." He pinpointed before pushing her out the room, "Now let's go, I'm hungry."

. . .

"No fair! You won again!?" Hendery gasped out loud as he stared at the flashing screen of the arcade game. The two have been going around doing window shopping mostly and now they have stopped at a favorite destination – the arcade.

Keiko stuck her tongue out childishly at Hendery, mocking his defeat, "It's okay, let's just accept that I'm a better at shooting than you."

"No way! The gun must be broken." Hendery professed, eyeing the blue toy gun that was connected to the game. "I'm the fucking sniper! I can't just lose."

"Too bad. You just did." Keiko grinned and walked away form the game with Hendery trailing behind her.

"What do you want to do next?" Hendery hummed, eyes scanning across the dozens of arcade games to choose from. Suddenly, he felt a light vibration just by his thigh, knowing that it probably came from his phone.

Fishing out his phone quickly, he unlocked it and he was met with popping messages. "Uhh... I think we should get back now..." he mumbled and looked up after checking his messages. They were mostly from Doyoung and Kun who was frantic upon realizing their absence.

It had been more than nine hours since they left the base and Hendery couldn't believe they had just notice it now.

On their way home, Hendery plugged his phone into the car's media in order to play some music. "Keiko?"

"What?"

"I'm still blaming you–"

"Traitor."

"I am not a traitor!"

"Admit you had fun today."

Hendery was tongue-tied, her sentence catching him off guard as he drive their way back to the base. His nose crinkling a bit, eyes focusing directly on the road as he didn't want to face her. "...Well, maybe I did have a little bit of fun..."

"See!"

"But it was your idea!" Hendery argued back making her huff and irk back.

"Fine, loser."

"I am not a los–"

"I mostly won over you at the arcade, so technically, you are."

Hendery rolled his eyes at her comment, not bothering to retort. A few minutes had passed and the girl spoke once again.

"We're gonna get scolded once we get back, but at least we had fun." Keiko reasoned as she shrugged her shoulders, "Don't you have fun?"

"I do... just... not like this." Hendery murmured softly. It was true, that 'fun' had a different meaning towards them. Usually, they'd find fun out of their missions as it had become a regular thing to do for them, but this was a different fun.

It felt refreshing to feel away from all the mafia stuff he had been working with for years. He would even oftentimes forget that he had a way different life contrasting to the one he had right now.

Keiko noticed the change of tone in his voice and only hummed to the soft tune of the music. She knew something was up.

"I'm guessing you never really went out to do stuff aside missions?"

Hendery glanced at her before shaking his head, "We do. We go out sometimes when we are free, but I don't know... wait- I'm supposed to hate you- what the—"

A laugh emitted from Keiko, reverberating through the whole car as Hendery only gave her an annoyed look. "Whatever, Kei."

"You're not that bad, Henderson."

"It's HENDERY."

"Henderson."

"HENDERY."

"Henderson."

"You know what? I'm not even going to say anything."

"Henderson..."

"I- Keiko- argh Xiaojun wasn't wrong to call you brat."

"Mhm, whatever you say, Henderson."

—

a quick hendery x keiko moment

i'm still manifesting jeno x keiko moments but i'm stuck at how they are going to interact :0