Short oneshot. Five-year-old Alice makes a very daring statement.
"It's... Not bad," a little Alice Nakiri said, thoughtfully chewing on her pub grub of fish and chips.
The usual smile on her face was replaced with a more critical look. But quickly enough, her smile returned. "Still a pretty good effort, Ryo! Maybe just a touch too greasy! And ten seconds less in the fryer would have probably done a world of difference!"
"You little...!" Ryo fumed, slamming the dinner table with his fist at the criticism. Alice was no longer rattled by this, managing to keep the sweet smile on her face. "If you don't like the food, then why the hell do you keep coming back here??"
He grabbed onto the plate of fish and chips, as if to nab it away from Alice and take it back to the kitchen. But surprisingly, she grabbed him by the wrist, stopping him.
"Oh, come on now! I just said it wasn't bad! Don't get grumpy over some teeny bit of criticism," Alice said, giving him a bit of a pout at the last statement. "And besides... There's something I really like from this place!"
Ryo eyed the hand on his wrist for a bit, before looking up at Alice again. Something she liked from the pub? Could she actually really like one of his dishes? She would always go on about how it could've been done better...
"What is it?" He asked her.
Alice broke into a big, bright smile.
"It's you, silly!" she said, with a giggle.
"...W-What?!"
The pub patrons and staff who had been listening to this exchange all erupted into riotous laughter, and whispers of how kids were just too honest.
"I like you, Ryo!" Alice said, and Ryo almost cursed the way she was looking at him so earnestly.
"W-Whoah," he almost backed away in shock, not quite sure how to deal with this outburst of admiration. "I mean, you're cute and all, hon, but aren't we a little too young--"
"I like you, so come on and be my aide already!"
"...Oh." Ryo paused, stopping in his earlier tracks and realizing this latter statement was probably what Alice really meant. "...Of course that's what you mean."
Alice narrowed her eyes at him and pouted. "You seem very upset about something, Ryo-kun!"
"Whatever," he dismissed her notion, grabbing her plate of fish and chips. "The answer's no, hon."
"Well, as long as I have more food war--hey! Where are you going? I wasn't done with that!"
Ryo was heading back to the kitchen with her food. He stopped to look back at her briefly. "Where else? You said you didn't like it, so I'm gonna fix it until ya say you like it."
Maybe someday, he thought, Alice would genuinely say she liked him. Someday.
a/n: I am alive and I was watching cooking shows with fish and chips and then this whole scenario flashed before my eyes and it wouldn't go away and had to be written down...
also thank you for everyone who's still here!
I have some nsfw prompts/scenes written but idk if I'll ever add them to this fic as everything has been quite wholesome so far. Let me know if y'all would like some spicy chapters.