Anthony loved Ari very dearly. She was his best friend, the one he trusted and loved the most, the one that managed to make him feel better even on the worst days, and though he wasn't exactly sold on the concept of it, perhaps even his soulmate.
Of all the people the tall blonde had meet, Ari was the closest one, in his opinion, to being perfect. She was smart, beautiful, one of if not the kindest person Anthony had ever met, absolutely selfless, and just utterly amazing. Sure, the dork had a bit of a temper and occasionally had trouble letting things out of her control, but those imperfections were a part of Ari and Anthony adored her, so he wouldn't get rid of them for the world.
Though there was one thing, just one, that Anthony would never understand about Ari. Surprisingly it wasn't something big, not like some sort of huge secret, in fact, Anthony probably wouldn't have noticed it until the others called her out on it, but the minecraft nerd always found it a little odd.
• • •
Anthony strolled into the kitchen, shocked to see Rose and Raven were awake with Ari and Livy (he used that word loosely since both siblings had bags under their eyes and looked like they might fall asleep waiting for the coffee to brew). Livy and Ari were up and wide awake as usual, and his brother was probably just waking up any minute now.
The nerd walked up to his girlfriend, giving the brunette a chaste good morning kiss before sitting down at the table, grabbing a piece of toast, and waiting for the water to boil so he could make some tea.
It was mornings like this that brought a soft smile to Anthony's face since it was a rarity to find peace within the walls of the chaos house. If he could choose, Anthony would just sit and bask in the full but quiet kitchen, the low hum of the coffee making and soft clatter of plates and utensils. It felt like home, well, what home was supposed to feel like. He hadn't realized he'd missed out on what a real home was during his past until he finally found one with the rest of the group. His true family.
But the reality is silence never lasts long in that house and today was no different.
"Ari, what the fuck?" Rose's voice broke through the still air. All eyes turned to her as Ari gave her a reprimanding gaze.
"Language."
"What are you doing?" Rose ignored the comment as she pointed at Ari's cup.
Ari's eyebrows knitted together as she looked down at her cup, surely she hadn't done anything wrong. "Making coffee? Is that a trick question—"
"You put the milk in before the coffee?"
"Yeah. Doesn't everyone?"
The kitchen fell into dead silence as all the chaos gremlins stared at Ari, Ari looking back with confusion edged onto her features. The quiet pause lasted for a few more seconds and just as Raven opened her mouth to speak, Rufio deemed it the best time to walk into the kitchen. The young boy tiredly rubbed his eyes, heading straight for the coffee machine but halted halfway there, finally realizing the silence around him wasn't the usual kind.
"What did I miss?" Rufio questioned after a beat, eyes flicking around to the others with a bemused gaze.
"Ari puts the milk in before the coffee." Raven pointed an accusing finger at the girl whose brows knitted together even more.
"I don't see what the big fuss is about, it's still coffee." The musical dork added defensively, still feeling like she had to be missing something.
Rose quickly piped in. "It's the principle, that's like putting milk in before the cereal—it's utter chaos."
"How ironic coming from you, Rose." Anthony mused into his mug, making Livy and Raven snicker but an offended look across Rose's face.
"Well, Ragno, your girlfriend is a psychopath," Rose stated and Anthony lowered his mug.
"Just because someone does something different than you doesn't mean it's wrong." The tired nerd countered with a challenging raised eyebrow.
"That's wrong, but I digress—don't defend Ari just because you love her," Rose argued.
"I do love Ari, but I'm defending her because it's just coffee in the end after all." Anthony reasoned and Rose huffed, annoyed by the fact he always took the high road instead of humoring the shorter girl in a pointless argument.
"Maybe Ari isn't that far off," Rufio added before any disagreements could continue, looking up from where he had been diligently searching on his phone, "I found a few articles saying milk before the coffee is best." Ari quickly looked over the kid's shoulder, following his gaze to the summary of one website.
"Look, here it says 'Based on the research conducted by Dr. Stapley of Loughborough University, it has been confirmed that putting the milk in before the hot coffee is the correct way to make a brew.' So I'm scientifically correct." Ari quoted with reverence, a triumphant smile finding its way onto her lips.
"Rufio! I thought you were on my side!" Rose gave her brother an incredulous look, but Rufio only gave a sheepish shrug.
"I'm on the side of science."
"Just because that's what science says you should do doesn't mean you should do it."
Livy's brows furrowed before chuckling, "that doesn't make sense—"
"I know!" Rose huffed, frustratedly throwing her hands in the air. A few more comments were thrown around but after that, the kitchen returned to its routine morning atmosphere. Rose even perked up from her glowering as Livy started talking about a new book she'd almost finished.
That was what Anthony and the others assumed would be the last of it, besides the occasional remark by Rose or Livy to Ari when she would make coffee "the wrong way". Though the whole thing did get Anthony intrigued, he wondered if the order of when you poured in the milk actually made a difference, maybe Ari was onto something.
So, on an earlier-then-usual morning in mid-march where the frost from the night before still hung on the windows, the tall boy made his way down to the empty kitchen. He put on a brew like he always did and began to take some ingredients out for making breakfast, humming a tune he forgot the name of under his breath.
Anthony swiped the pot off the machine just as it began to finish and grabbed his mug—a yellow one with the words "My Tommy" in black print that covered the entire surface, a present from Ari on his birthday, he set the mug down gently with a smile. Then the blonde retrieved the milk from the refrigerator and after contemplating for a moment—a moment he failed to hear a certain brown-haired girl shuffle into the kitchen—he poured the milk into the mug first, followed by the steaming coffee.
"What are you doing, babes?" Ari's voice said suddenly from behind him, making the blonde jump and almost spill his drink. The startled boy whirled around to see his girlfriend standing there with a knowing look on her face and Anthony knew he was busted, completely caught in the act.
"Nothing! Just—getting coffee." He said, too quickly to be anything less the suspicious.
"Mhm." Ari hummed, an amused and teasing smile on her face as her gaze went back to the mug in his hands. She moved towards him, wrapping her arms around Anthony's, and pulled him closer. "You like it."
"I—no, I don't."
"You think it's better."
"It's okay—" the brunette effectively cut him off by affectionately cupping his cheeks, a mesmerizing smiling playing at her blush pink lips.
"My dear, you're going to have to get much better at lying before I'll even begin to believe you." Ari punctuated the statement by leaving a chaste, sweet kiss on Anthony's lips, leaving the nerd speechless and just a little spacey. No matter how many times they kissed, Anthony couldn't see himself getting over that momentary dazed state afterward—not that he wanted to anyway.
"Just admit that I'm right."
He tried to protest, he really truly did, but with those entrancing green eyes gazing into his own and the warm, familiar feeling of Ari's body resting comfortably against his, Anthony knew there was no use protesting.
"For you, my Tubbo, anything."
