I'll Never Get Tired of You

"Let's watch a movie!" Alice sings, pulling at Ryo's sleeve. Even though she offers it up like a suggestion, he knows it's a command in disguise. In fact, it's several commands wrapped up under the pretense of something fun. He'll have to buy the popcorn, find a movie, fix up the home cinema…

As if on cue, she begins to prattle on about the chores he needs to do. Everything has been the same as if Copenhagen hadn't happened, except there's a different feeling — a more mutual understanding of each other, even more so than before. "Yes, I'll do that, Miss Alice," he nods, the purple shadow under his eyes throbbing in acknowledgement that they'd probably be staying up late that night, watching some sort of horror movie. No one would think it looking at Alice, but she actually loved the horror genre. Something about the fear of the characters, she had said.

"Perfect!"

At the start of the movie, they had been sitting side by side on the couch, a bowl of popcorn between them. As the minutes ticked by, Alice shifts and sits perpendicular to him until her legs balanced on Ryo's lap, the popcorn wrapped around her arms, her eyes still glued to the screen. If she realizes the uncomfortable situation Ryo is in, she makes no comment of it, instead periodically offering him some popcorn (to which he silently declines with the flick of a wrist) or occasionally squealing, "Ryo, look, look! Why did she do that? Idiot!"

Personally, Ryo is not the biggest fan of movies. He prefers reading, walking, sleeping — anything other than sitting ,watching fake peoples' lives. So, he starts to watch Alice instead. Imperceptibly. Sneaks glances of her mouth warped into an "o" as she gasps at the "terribly stupid" protagonist. Notices the string of popcorn tumbling to the ground as she absentmindedly tips the bowl when the killer in the movie breaks into the house. And he sees her eyelids drooping, her hand draped over the side of the couch, as she falls asleep. In the middle of a horror movie, he laughs to himself.

Carefully taking the bowl so as not to wake her, he slowly edges her feet off of him and picks up the traces of food on the floor and tucks it away for the maids to clean up the next morning. Today had been a hard day for her, researching for hours on end to prepare for a shokugeki with Hayama (he grumbles at the thought of the man) in the next week. Now, Ryo watches the rise and fall of her chest. He knows not to wake her — she gets into horrible moods if suddenly awakened — so he crouches down and pulls her onto his back, wrapping her arms around him. Automatically, Alice's legs grip onto his hip. He has carried her piggy-back style to her room so many times that her body must be used to it by now.

"Miss Alice, what am I gonna do with you?" Ryo sighs as he steps upstairs.

"Ryo…" she mumbles.

"Miss Alice?"

"Ryo, I'm tired…"

"I know, Miss Alice, that's why I'm taking you to your room," he says, his lips slightly upturned.

"Tired…" He chuckles lowly and continues to walk, except slower this time. "Ryo…I'll never get tired of you."

Ryo stops. "What did you say, Miss?"

No answer except for the unhurried pace of her breath. Her hair tickles the nape of his neck, drawing goosebumps and a stir in his chest. Alice won't remember this the next morning, so this will just be a memory for himself.

Gently resting her on her bed, he pulls the covers to her chin. "Good night, Miss Alice," he whispers even though she can't hear.

What would he be without her?

Hi everyone! This is just a small fluffy chapter for everyone wanting some cuteness between Ryo and Alice! Don't worry, the next one is a lot longer and a little more dramatic - stay tuned! I also wanted to draw attention to my chapter names! This one is "I'll Never Get Tired of You." All of my chapters are words that people say to Ryo, who narrates each chapter; I wanted this to be told in Ryo's perspective to illuminate how he sees her and to give depth to a really interesting character! Also, I wanted to respond to a review from NinjaWolf101: Ryo x Alice is actually my favorite ship of Shokugeki no Soma and I had to write about them! Thanks for reading & leave a review if you want! :)