Curry - G (Dingo, Meiru)

[Ming Yi]

This is a Dingo x Meiru (friendship, sort of) fanfic I wrote in July, but recently revised it. In any case, I hope you enjoy it. :D

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Curry

When Meiru asked to try making curry for some unfathomable reason today, Dingo expected that Meiru would be an okay cook. Well, to be honest and more direct, he had expected that she would be good with knives and be better than Netto, for the most.

Dingo had never seen or heard of Meiru making curry before, even though he knew that she cooked at home every once in a while. He offered to help and teach her in case she didn't know how, but Meiru said she already knew. However, throughout his observations and surveillance on Meiru's work, he discovered that she wasn't entirely great at chopping carrots. Whenever she sliced onions, all of them were at an irregular shape. She also had a bad habit of constantly licking the dipper to taste the curry minute after minute it was boiling over the stove.

Dingo absolutely didn't mind Meiru; in fact, she was one of the girls that he had ever known in his life that he actually tolerated. She got along with him very well, and they were very close. However, the boy couldn't help but grimace at her bad habits. Didn't she know that other people were going to eat the curry too?!

He watched Meiru as she repeated her routine, starting with the opening of the broiling pot. Before she could dip the same exact dipper she had tasted from, Dingo's hand whipped out and snatched her wrist. "Don't you even dare to do that again!" he admonished in a gruff voice. "That's disgusting, and other people are going to eat that!"

"Didn't someone say that food made with love tastes better?" Meiru teased, shooting a joking grin at him. "It's called a cook's kiss. In any case, Dekao-kun does it all the time and you don't say anything about it."

Dingo nearly retched. "De-Dekao does it too?! I never..." Catching his sputter at the last sentence, Dingo managed to prevent himself from straying from the topic. "Well, just because he does it doesn't mean you can too!!"

"If no one else wants it, that's more for me then," she replied simply.

Dingo was dumbfounded and couldn't find any other comeback to throw her sentences back at her. He rolled his eyes and ignored the remark. "Don't do that," he repeated in a sterner tone. "It's gross."

Meiru looked at him in half guilt and half surprise. She probably expected him to take it lightly, but his sour expression prevented her from any more verbal provoking. Defeated, she closed the pot and folded her arms, staring at her reflection on the lid. Dingo sighed in relief; at least Meiru stopped all of that.

"Dingo!" called Dekao from afar.

"Yeah?" the boy called back.

"Could you throw away the garbage? I'm needed to go unload stuff at the harbor for the restaurant, so I'm gonna be right back."

Picking up his feet, Dingo called, "Sure!" He quickly turned to Meiru. "Keep an eye on the stove," he advised before turning himself into the outside world carrying garbage bags to feed the dumpster at the back of the restaurant.

Dingo tossed in the bags one by one into the dumpster, until he heard a feminine voice that sounded like Meiru's cry, "Oh, no!" Curiously, he stopped to hear what was wrong, and the next second, he could smell something burning.

Without another word to that, Dingo hurried inside. Maybe Meiru had set fire in the kitchen (he doubted that would happen), or a Navi had invaded the stove system and set fire in the kitchen (probably it). All he saw was the stove set to OFF and Meiru opening the pot.

The curry was burned.

Dingo moaned. "All those ingredients!" he lamented, clutching his head. "What a waste of food!"

Meiru hung her head and smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry about that, Dingo."

"You should," grumbled the boy mournfully, still in morose over the waste of food.

"To be honest, I don't think the customers will like it anyway," spoke up Meiru apprehensively. "When I tasted it, it wasn't really good."

"Maybe because your saliva's in it?" Dingo shot back sourly.

Meiru growled. Rolling her eyes, she murmured, "I'm just trying to make you feel better, Dingo. Don't mess it up for me, please. What else should I do?"

What should she do? Dingo didn't really have an answer for that, but he knew something had to be done to make up for the curry Meiru had wasted. Maybe he could confine the girl to a week of mopping up the floors to make up for the wasted material. Dingo liked the idea, and knew that perhaps Mahajarama could agree to it.

He shook off that idea with a frown. Although it had irresistible benefits, he knew that Dekao wouldn't let his pretty princess mop the floors like some scullery maid.

But, first things first. With a low supply of curry and plenty of potential customers, Meiru's punishment would have to be dealt with later.

Dingo pulled himself together and grabbed the nearest kitchen knife. "You should stand aside and watch how a real curry chef makes curry. Bring me some ingredients for curry!" He stuck out a hand.

Nothing happened. Meiru still stood in her same spot dumbly, raising an eyebrow, perplexed. "Why?" she managed out in confusion.

Dingo's outstretched hand waved. "Just do it!"

"But—"

"We don't have time for that!" Dingo cut her off. "Someone's going to enter this shop, and if we don't have any curry, then..."

Meiru nodded, a more serious expression overtaking her face. "I see. I'll be right back!"

Immediately Meiru disappeared looking for the right vegetables while Dingo set out to retrieve pieces of meat. The girl came back with a bowl filled with fresh potatoes and onions just in time, right when Dingo was pulling out a new pot from the shelves. In one seemingly fluid motion, he peeled, washed, and chopped the vegetables one by one evenly, displaying what looked like little to no effort at all. As the onions were quickly processed into the pot, the girl looked over his shoulders with her mouth looped into an amazed "O."

Dingo caught notice of Meiru's close vigilance and frowned with a furrow of his thick eyebrows. "What are you doing there? I no longer need your help as of now."

"I'm looking at you cook," said Meiru as-a-matter-of-factly, refusing to take her eyes off the graceful movements of his hands.

Dingo couldn't help but scoff at her simple reply. He knew that she was just observing him just to learn something from cooking, but cooking mainly came from experience, not by watching. Instead of telling her that, however, Dingo found himself bluntly remarking, "You're better off scrubbing floors than cooking. I should have never let you cook."

His snide remark seemed to deliver a powerful blow towards Meiru, as her reluctant mood switched into anger. She clenched her fists, annoyed, snapping, "Because you won't give me the chance to learn!"

That was so not true, and he knew it. Dingo could feel himself fuming from frustration as set his knife aside, shouting, " I did so! I asked you if you needed help, and you said no!"

Surprised at this attack, Meiru was rendered speechless. Her flame seemed to have dwindled down, and she looked so hurt that Dingo almost felt that he had to apologize to her. He was about to, when his conscious kicked in. That's right, he reminded himself. What do I have to be sorry for? It's not my fault this stuff happened.

A voice broke into his reminiscing, tearing the boy from his thought bubble. Meiru's head was bent low as she swept into a half-bow. "I'm sorry," she murmured in a small voice. "You're right, Dingo. Maybe I shouldn't cook at all."

Taken back by this sudden victory, Dingo wished that he could spin the dials backwards on a clock, to reverse time, to take back what he said about Meiru. Hell, he was just irritated and was in a terrible situation; he didn't really want to hurt her. "H-Hey," he heard his wavering in the quiet atmosphere, attempting at an apology, but expressing regret verbally was hard to begin with. Dingo tried to find a way to word a sentence so that Meiru would understand that he really didn't intend to hurt her feelings. "I just... well, it's not like everyone can't learn from their mistakes."

Meiru's dull spirit gently eased off her shoulders as she stared up at him in a misty glance, hands still on her knees. Dingo turned back to his work and resumed slicing the onions, while Meiru just quietly stared.

Before long, Meiru noticed that the chef was pushing a knife at her presence. The girl was so puzzled and still speechless from the events before that Dingo had to break the silence again. "Well, come on, girl!" he urged, pushing a carrot in front of her with a slightly forced wobbly grin. "Start chopping! We're never going to be finished at this rate!"

Meiru didn't know how to respond, but accepted the tool. "Okay!" she responded, slowly imitating Dingo's movements.

It wasn't long until their friendly, teasing air flew up again. As Dingo tediously instructed Meiru of what to do, the humor in her improper ways caused Dingo to snicker again, and his jokes made her giggle.

"You're supposed to chop vegetables like this!" instructed Dingo the next time Meiru had a chance to pause by his side. "Not like this! Your bad habits are one of the reasons why your cooking's bad!" He made a hyperbole of what he had examined from Meiru's activities, from pretending to add too much curry mix to messily chopping the other vegetables.

Meiru only groaned, but there was a smile on her face.

10 minutes later, a grand dish of curry was set in front of both Meiru and Dingo. Dingo invited Meiru to eat it, and she did so, taking a bite.

"Well? Isn't it how a real curry chef should make curry?" he asked with a sly grin. "Isn't it better than your disgusting, spit-filled curry?"

"You're just jealous," remarked Meiru airily as she took another bite.

"Who was the one that said that her curry didn't taste good?"

"At least it had love in it!" By now, Meiru was cracking up, swallowing air than food.

Dingo tried to make a face, but he couldn't help but laugh. "You're just afraid to admit that my curry is better."

"I like your curry, but I hate you." Meiru playfully stuck her tongue out at him.

"And you know you wouldn't have it any other way." Dingo lifted up his spoonful of curry to his lips when a thought struck him. Dingo averted his gaze, studying the redhead next to him, who was eating delightly at the dish.

Dingo roughly cleared his throat, which captured Meiru's attention as expected. Between bites, he asked, "So, are you free for the next week?"

The redhead looked surprised at his question, but shrugged with an unsure, "Well, maybe, after I finish my homework and piano lessons. Why?"

A sneaky grin broke out on Dingo's face as he patted the girl's back. "Good. Be here every afternoon next week. You're going to be mopping floors."

At his words, Meiru dropped her spoon, shocked. The silver tableware clattered and echoed in tingles on the tiled floor. "EHHHHH?!" she cried loudly. "Why?!"

Dingo folded his arms. "You know perfectly well why. We can't let that ingredients go to waste!"

"But I thought the curry I helped you make made up for it!"

"Don't get your hopes up! You've wasted a lot of materials, more than what we've used for my curry!"

"Ehhhhh..."
_________________
I'll remember that day, and I won't let it go.

[Unknown Neo]

Heh heh. Very funny and kind of cute. Nice work Ming.