Alice had her eye on Ryo the entire time while they were growing up.

Alternative summary: Alice has teenage hormones.

Ryo Kurokiba was not built like many guys his age, and it was something Alice always noticed about him.

"How'd you get these?" A young Alice asked curiously, almost out of the blue, lightly tapping on Ryo's shoulders. It had been the first time she saw Ryo in a sleeveless shirt, surprised to find such toned shoulders and arms underneath. He was always wearing sleeved shirts in the pub.

"Get what, Miss?" Ryo asked, not knowing what she meant by the inquiry."

These," Alice said, walking behind Ryo and holding onto his shoulders, squeezing a little, as if about to give a massage. "There's not many kids our age with... those."

"What, you mean muscles?" Ryo asked, both taken aback and amused. "...Do you like them?" he asked, with a bit of a grin.

"S-Stop teasing!" Alice slapped his back lightly, but her cheeks warmed up from the teasing tone in the young boy's voice. She was grateful Ryo couldn't see. "I'm just genuinely curious!"

"I haul seafood and carry heavy pots and pans on a daily basis, miss," Ryo finally answered. "Anyone is going to build some muscle from that."

"Hmm..." Alice put a thoughtful finger to her lip. "You should be able to carry me without problems, then!"

"Well, if you're not much heavier than a sack of--whoah!" Ryo was surprised at a sudden weight on his back, and it took him a few seconds to realize that Alice had jumped onto him, arms around his neck and legs around his waist. Ryo shuffled his footing for a few seconds and tried to balance Alice's weight, but he quickly found a stable footing, easily able to carry her on his back.

"Oohh! So impressive, Ryo-kun!" Alice oohed in amazement, clinging onto him tightly. "You really are quite strong!"

"Told you," Ryo said, feeling a bit smug. He wouldn't admit it to her, but he liked it whenever the girl would praise him.

"Maybe I should make you carry me around from now on! This beats walking!"

"Uh, no," Ryo suddenly regret this display of strength. "You're having way too much fun, miss. Now, let go."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Alice--"

"Okay, okay!" Alice knew that voice by now, knew when Ryo was trying to warn her that she was pushing too close.

Ryo let her down on her feet, and Alice couldn't help but feel that for some reason, she felt safer in his arms.

Alice had been to many beaches, and Ryo had almost always went with her. She would see him without his shirt on those few times in a year--because otherwise, it was just too cold to be shirtless most days in Scandinavia.

Every year, she would give him a glance--discreetly, of course--and then look out into the vast beach with other guys his age. Oh, sure, some guys looked cute, but no one just had a body as nice as Ryo did.

"Miss. It's rude to stare."

Alice snapped out of her daze, noticing she'd been staring at the direction of a blonde guy who'd been playing ball at the beach. He was good-looking enough, but he just didn't have Ryo's chest, or his abs, or--

Alice shook her head, trying to will away thoughts of Ryo's abs. Hard to do, when said abs were just right beside her.

"I can't help it, Ryo. Those are some nice abs."

"...Huh." was all the sound Ryo made, looking out at the boy Alice had been eyeing.

Alice facepalmed internally. She did not mean that guy's abs--she meant Ryo's, of course. But telling him that was probably a lot more embarrassing. She lift her head up, trying to find a way out of this awkward situation.

"Oh my god, Ryo! He looked at me!" Alice squealed, as things got a lot more awkward, and she now found that they blonde boy had his eye on her. She quickly hid her face Ryo's shoulders. "Is he heading over here?!

"I thought that's what you wanted," Ryo said, deadpanned.

"N-No! Ryo! It's too embarrassing! Make him go away!"

Ryo sighed and shook his head. Alice pouted, and inched closer to him under their beach umbrella, clinging onto his arm, as if looking for an escape.

She expected him to grab a swimming cap or that red bandana--that berserk persona was always so efficient at driving people away.

What she didn't expect was for him to put an arm around her waist, and draw her in closer to him, bringing her head down to the slope of his shoulder and chest.

"O-Oh," Alice said, quietly. She didn't dare move, though, and just stayed still, her face turning red as she felt Ryo's strong arms around her, his toned chest against her cheek, and if she just held her hand out--

She put a hand out to his chest, and then slowly dragged it down to that well-built abdomen.

She wasn't sure if she imagined it, but she thought she heard him take a sharp inhale, almost a gasp.

They stayed still, until Ryo finally said, "There. He's gone now, miss."

"O-Oh! Phew!" Alice said, snapping out of that daze she was in yet again, almost hurriedly inching away from Ryo. Any longer, she thought, and she might just shamelessly start rubbing her hands all over him. Why did he have to have such a nice physique? "What a relief!"

She looked off into the beach, noticing the boy from earlier was indeed gone--and probably turned off from that borderline PDA between her and her aide.

Well, good riddance, Alice thought.

Ryo was now looking around the cooler they packed, for a drink. It suddenly felt hot for no reason.

"Hey, Ryo?"

"What is it, miss?"

"For the record, your abs are much nicer."

It suddenly felt very hot for no reason.

Ryo took a can of ice-cold soda to his cheek.

a/n: this is for those prompt requests of shirtless Ryo or Alice sees him working out or something, this is the best I can do.Contemplating a part two with more adult stuff??