diff --git a/vllm/v1/kv_offload/arc_manager.py b/vllm/v1/kv_offload/arc_manager.py
index 7f2246a69..d5a8930d7 100644
--- a/vllm/v1/kv_offload/arc_manager.py
+++ b/vllm/v1/kv_offload/arc_manager.py
@@ -90,7 +90,8 @@ class ARCOffloadingManager(OffloadingManager):
                 block = self.t1.pop(block_hash)
                 if not block.is_ready:
                     # block was just prepared to be stored, not really touched twice
-                    self.t1.move_to_end(block_hash)
+                    # keep it in T1 and mark as most recently used
+                    self.t1[block_hash] = block
                 else:
                     self.t2[block_hash] = block