Worth it

Tea Time

"What...is this?", Ronaldo gave a confused look at the steaming cup that had been wordlessly placed in his hands.

"Uh, tea, duh?", Lars sneered, settling back in his spot on the couch after having been absent from the living room for several minutes after insisting he'd be back in a second.

"Well, of course it's tea," Ronaldo muttered, looking at the hand painted tea set Lars had set out, "But why did you give me it? I didn't even ask for tea."

Scowling, Lars groaned, picking up his abandoned video game controller, "Why are you asking so many questions? Can't you just be dumb like always and say thank you?"

"Hey," Ronaldo frowned, "How do I know it's not poisoned, or that you peed in it?"

"Dude, I literally just poured it right in front of you!", Lars screeched irritably, "I poured my own cup right after it! Just drink your goddamned tea!"

Ronaldo sighed, "Fine," and took a sip. He winced slightly, a little overwhelmed by how strong it was, "It's um-", he coughed, "A little bitter. Do you have any sugar or-"

"It's meant to be bitter, that's how you're supposed to drink it," Lars rolled his eyes, passing over the little sugar carafe, and continued mashing buttons, blasting at enemy soldiers, "Pick up your controller again, I'm getting my ass kicked here."

"Oh, right right," Ronaldo mumbled as soon as he'd stirred in a desirable amount of sugar, and took a sip, finding it satisfactory, and got back to playing the game, only picking up his cup every so often. After a bit, his cup was empty, and before he could even say anything, Lars was already refilling it, balancing his game controller on his knee.

"So...what's with the tea again?"

"None of your biz, just take it as it's given," Lars mumbled, staring at the screen.

"What is it some deep dark secret?", Ronaldo teased.

"No, " Lars whined, still focused on the game, "It's just...embarrassing."

"Tea? Embarrassing? Por Quoi?"

"Egh," the other groaned, pausing the game, "If you laugh, I'll murder you," he warned.

"Go on~", Ronaldo coaxed, smiling smugly.

Lars folded his arms, and lay back on the couch, feet facing his friend, "I have a system when I get home from work. I take my shoes off, put on house slippers, chill until 6:00, and then I make tea. I make enough for my dad to have when he gets back from work at 6:30, and if I have someone over, i.e. you, I make enough tea for them to have too. Then it's 7:30 dinner, 8:30 shower, 10:00 evening tea, and then I just screw around until I wanna go to bed...usually 3 AM," he mumbled, and sat up, pouring himself another cup of tea.

"And this is every day?" Ronaldo leaned back, watching his friend breath in the steam from the tea.

"Every day," Lars mumbled, and took a long sip, "Except weekends. Then I have tea when I wake up."

"What is it with you and making tea?", he asked with amusement.

Lars gave a shrug, rolling his shoulders back, "It just relaxes me, man. The whole process, getting everything set up on the table, getting the water boiled and stuff...I guess there's somethin' therapeutic about it for me."

"You break into conniptions over Animal Crossing, but putting a pot of tea in the microwave soothes you," Ronaldo snorted.

The other looked quite offended, "Microwave? What are you implying?"