Coffee, Black (But With Two Sugars)
Switzerland loved his morning coffee. In fact, he was entirely incapable of functioning without it. After all, a man like him deserved a good, strong cup of coffee in the morning, what with all the policing of the other, less responsible nations he had to do.
All right, if he was being perfectly honest, he hated the taste of coffee.
It was just...so bitter! It was black and burnt and tasted a little bit like how petroleum smelled, but he drank it black anyway because it kept him on his toes. Also, loathe as he was to admit it, coffee was always taken black in Roderich's household, as that was how both he and Elizaveta enjoyed their coffee, and he'd kept up the habit ever since.
And then Lili had moved in with him, and his morning routine had changed entirely. Vash was under the impression that there were two different types of morning people: those who genuinely, truly enjoyed the morning and those who rose at the crack of dawn because they had important things to do. He fell firmly into the latter category-in fact, he had yet to meet anyone who loved the morning. Until Lili. She loved to get up to watch the sunrise and go out and pick the wildflowers that grew so abundantly around their house still wet with dew. She loved to make simple breakfasts, brown bread with strong cheese and smoked meats, she loved making herself a small pot of tea that smelt of lemons and raspberries. And her habits slowly started creeping into his mornings as well.
It started off small, with a little bouquet of flowers in a vase on the kitchen table. They were always fresh, changed every two to three days, and when he had voiced no objections after a week, the vases started multiplying. Now they had two on the table, one on the counter, and three perched precariously upon the windowsill. A few weeks after that, he'd come shuffling into the kitchen to find a breakfast plate already laid out for him: two rolls with some excellent gruyere and a well spiced salami. Again he did not voice any objections, and this was likewise incorporated into his daily routine.
For several months there were other, similar changes. Although they both ate their breakfasts in silence-sometimes not even sitting down at the table together-Lili began to leave little bits of her sunshine about the kitchen and breakfast room. A newspaper, always neatly folded next to his cutlery. A sprig of lavender cut from the little herbal garden she had started on his napkin. His slippers freshly warmed. The handcrafted pyjamas, however hideous the shade of pink might have been. And for once, Vash, who was so resistant to change, just accepted the little deviations as part of a new morning routine. Likewise, he began to leave out little things for Lili. He picked up a handkerchief embroidered with primroses when he was walking back from a meeting with his boss because he remembered they were her favourite flower. Whenever the florist's market was having a sale on seeds and bulbs, he remembered to pick up a packet for her. He started to remember to check the tea cupboard before he went out to the supermarket to make sure she had tea for her breakfasts. And following after her brother, Liechtenstein accepted these new aspects of their morning routine without question.
The one thing that she never touched was his coffee. Perhaps it was because she knew that he was entirely dependent upon the caffeinated beverage in order to not be more trigger happy than he already was. Perhaps it was because she found the beverage repulsively strong, like England. Or perhaps she knew that her brother was still slowly adjusting to her presence in his household. It wasn't until they had been living together for nearly a year that she asked him why he took it black, and Vash had only shrugged, unable to think of a good answer.
The next morning, when he descended to the breakfast room, he found the steaming cup of coffee already set out for him, next to his place setting. Wary, he sniffed at it, then tasted. It was strong, there was no doubt about that-but sweet, also. And it really was much better this way. Lili was facing away from him, washing up her own breakfast dishes, and he decided not to interrupt her. But he smiled, and for once finished his entire mug.
Sugar in his coffee for a sweeter chapter of his life, he thought with a smile. And for the first time he invited his little sister to sit and talk with him over breakfast.