For the Tumblr prompt platonic Ward and Simmons + coffee vs. tea
Simmons, distracted with Science, reaches for her mug and pulls it to her mouth without looking. She spits it out instantly and looks down at the offending mug with vehemence. Ah, Ward's coffee. Not her tea. "How do you drink that? It's foul!"
Ward looks offended. He rescues his mug from her grasp and takes a gulp of the black liquid inside. "Tastes fine to me."
"It's coffee," she says in a tone that implies the word itself explains everything. She holds her mug out to him. "This is what civilized people drink in the morning."
He lifts the mug to his lips to take a sip and grimaces. "It tastes like dirt."
Jemma looks horrified.
"Dirt? Dirt?" she squeaks indignantly. "For thousands of years, people have been drinking and brewing and perfecting tea. It's not just a beverage; it's an art form! People have spent their entire lives in pursuit of making the perfect tea! Countless hours have been spent studying and improving tea!"
"If it's so perfect, how come it needed to be improved?" At this point, Ward was just winding her up. He'd had no idea she—or anyone—was this passionate about tea.
She squeaks. "Everything can be improved. It's a basic tenant of our evolutionary development!"
He's been biting down a grin for a while now, but he can't stop the laugh.
She stops abruptly. "Ah, you're mocking me."
"I'm sorry. I just had no idea that you felt so strongly about tea."
"Of course not," she replied haughtily, "You wouldn't understand."
She sweeps out of the kitchen then, muttering something under her breath about "uncultured American."
-end-