"So which brother are you ignoring to the point of being scolded?" Hugh leaned over the counter watching as the familiar figure rounded the corner, and disappeared beyond the view of the glass windows. No longer in sight, he turned his attention back to his fellow barista.
“All of them?” Ben blew out as he shook his head. He busied himself with cleaning up while there was a pause in the action, his hand still gesturing though with whatever in it as he kept talking. “Currently though, the one she’s married to. I’m sure she’d hassle me about the rest but…” A dismissive wave. “I’m pretty sure good ol’ Houston is still swearing off phones and computers.”
"Oof - the In-Law talking to," Hugh gave Ben a quick grin. "Thankfully my brother's girlfriend completely ignores me. Which is probably his fault, actually. I'm sure he's told her something terrible about me."
He paused, shrugged, and moved to grab the tub with the clean in-house mugs to stack up on the shelf. "Is there a reason you're ignoring him though? Like, with Ezra it's always, he's being a dick, or if I contact him, he will be a dick, and why would I bother. But she seems nice anyway?"
“We knew each other before the ‘in-law’ thing so…” Ben shrugged. “Double whammy, y’know? I remember when we hung out, but also, I’m married to your brother so…” He made sure to have both hands empty as he actually mimed a punch punch combo. “She’s worried about both of us.”
He waved a dismissive hand before getting to washing. “He means well, but it’s just…” He gestured at the coffee shop. “Why are you wasting your life. You can do better than this. You’re smart why are you there. Y’know.”
Hugh did, in fact, know. This was the constant litany from his Dad, and subsequently because Ezra liked to be perfect in every way that Hugh was not - also from his older brother. He let out an exhale and turned a cup over. "Yeaaah," and then in a hint of solidarity, he pulled on an impression of his Father. One that was probably spot on, if a little unfair - such were the perks of being an actor. "Do you know the odds that you will be able to make a career out of the stage? Are you planning on serving coffee all of your life?"
He shook it off, popped the last cup of coffee onto the shelf, and stepped back over to the serving counter to lean over it, and with no current customer, he turned to look at Ben. "Family is hard. I think. I don't know. Mine always has been anyway. I try to keep track with my mom. And my sister sometimes."
The impression got a laugh out of Ben. After wiping his hands off, he pointed at Hugh and nodded. “Yup. That right there. At least the tone. Our lovely worrying coffee patron might kick his ass though if he ever went on that acting rant. At least she’d have my back if I ever went that route.”
Tossing a towel over his shoulder, he sighed as he leaned against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest. “It’s hard for us too. Maybe it would’ve been easier if Mom and Dad hadn’t…” Another puff of a sigh. “After they died, everything just seemed to build up until-” His arm uncrossed long enough to bump his fists together. “I’ve got friends to help give me updates on our other brothers.” He made a face. “Uh… friends that the one in Portland doesn’t know about… For their sanity. Considering, I mean, I’m closest, so there’s that easy access on hassling, but I think he goes after me too because I’m the easiest.” He waved his hand at the coffee shop. “‘Why don’t you get a real job and settle down like me instead of taking another dead-end job?’ He has a hard time seeing that his path maybe isn’t the only right one.”
"People prioritize different things and it'd be nice if they could get that," Hugh gave Ben a sympathetic smile. Like for him, the barista thing was a means to an end. It made decent enough money, particularly when combined with the money he made from the regional theatre roles he did find, it was flexible AF, and since he was good at it - and he'd gone with a locally owned business - the owners only complained a little bit when he was like, yeah, I can only work ten hours these weeks. They were bizarrely more supportive than his parents sometimes were. But he could also see taking a job like this more full time because it was steady, tiring, but not so exhausting creatively that you couldn't do something else after. Not everyone needed a position in an office, or something like that.
"I could try to offer advice, but I don't feel like I really can, cause, you know." He waved a hand to indicate the conversation they'd just had. "I don't know if checking in would make it worse or better. Maybe texts?" He wrinkled up his nose. "It's hard to text too much of a talking to." He grinned.
Ben laughed as he shook his head. “Oh, man, you don’t know how we text,” he managed to get out in the midst of the laughter. “Our family is very-” A dramatic hand gesture. “-verbose. Even when texting. It’s just having to ignore twenty pings in a row.”
He reached out to bump a fist lightly against Hugh’s shoulder. “This helps though. Just knowing, right? That other people get it, even if family doesn’t. Considering…” He shrugged as he looked around the shop. “I like this place. Yeah, the work is work and all, but you get to meet good people. Hear their stories. Help them out. It helps keep everything in perspective, y’know? And maybe help in that whole figuring things out.”
Hugh laughed at this. "You know I can manage the twenty ping text string really well, so fair."
The bell over the door rang, and Hugh glanced up, the laughter fading into a quick smirk. "Speaking of 'helping them out', pretty sure Taylor would love it if you helped her out," he said in an aside with a wink, before he raised his voice loud enough for the young woman with blonde hair who had just walked through the door. "Your usual Taylor? How'd that stats test go?"