(COMPLETE) Family Is What You Make It

Bean There, Expresso That

Virgil takes a walk and figures out how to stop his husband's stress

TW - None really, I include non binary characters so please tell me if I do pronouns wrong.

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"Yeah, yeah, I hear you Remy." Virgil sighed while carrying the pet carrier out of the vets that held his grumbling, meowing and hissing cat. Remy meowed louder as a response while Virgil walked down the street. It was a weekday and one of Virgil's few days off, so he had the responsibility of taking Remy to the vet after an 'incident' the previous night. "It was your fault for throwing up in Logie's coffee." He tried to supress a laugh remembering her husbands' reaction at his coffee cup filled with disgusting green gloop.

He was planning on just walking home straight away; however he was the only one home as the kids were all at school and Logan was at work. Because he would be alone at home he decided to take a longer route, ignoring Remy's howls and looking at all the small corner shops he'd never been to before. The only places he went to were the Starbucks he worked at, the editing company around a half hour drive away, and his home. It was rare Logan and Virgil would go outside for dates, before the kids they were happy with the privacy of their house. For anniversaries they went to a restaurant that they had their first date back in college. Apart from that Virgil rarely explored the place he lived. He's definitely explore more if he ended up moving.

That was when he saw a quaint little coffee shop he hadn't found before: Bean There, Expresso That. It was a small corner shop made of wood, hopefully not flammable, with vintage chairs and sofas. It seemed like all the furniture in it had come from a charity shop.

While spying into the coffee shop he spotted a man dressed in brown behind the counter staring back. Another person then opened the door and smiled at Virgil. "Do you want a coffee?" The person, with an orange beanie said, with a wide smile. Virgil paused for a second wondering how to speak.

"Do you allow angry cats in your shop?"

The person laughed and nodded stepping back so Virgil could walk in. It seemed to be only three people in the store: one behind the counter, one at the door, and another sipping coffee on one of the sofas. Remy's grumbles silenced as he sat beside the person drinking coffee. The three people seemed to have similar uniforms – black jeans, dark green shirt and brown apron.

"You going to get your cat out?" The person with black hair and drastic makeup smiled, placing their coffee on the table and smiling at Virgil. Virgil nodded and allowed Remy to sit on the couch, hoping the workers didn't mind. But Remy settled and they didn't seem to mind. "I'm Talyn by the way."

"Virgil." Virgil smiled, taking out his hand which Talyn shook. "Has this place just opened up?"

"We've been here for a few months." The orange beanie person said, walking over with a coffee they just got. "Joan." They smiled, sipping their hot coffee and stroking a relaxed Remy.

"You want a coffee Virgil?" The man at the front desk smiled, checking the money they had made that day. Virgil smiled and walked over, ordering a simple black coffee and some sweet treats so that he was giving as much money as he could. "Nice to meet you." The man smiled, holding out a hand which Virgil shook quickly. "Name's Thomas Sidas. I'm the manager here – it feels weird saying that."

"It's a nice business you got here, I love the rustic feel actually." Virgil reassured, sounding a little like his husband with the business terminology but it was the wording he was used to being a barista so understanding the coffee business.

"Yeah thanks, took a lot to set it up." Thomas got his own coffee and sat with his friends, letting Virgil join. Remy was happily enjoying strokes from Talyn and Joan.

"It must have cost a lot too, how much did it cost to buy the shop?"

"Eh – We did fundraising for it throughout high school." Joan shrugged, not looking from Remy. Virgil nodded, the group did seem quite young, maybe college age – but he was never quite sure. "It's not even open yet though. Still need to get all the business people."

"Business people?" Virgil echoed, slightly hopefully. He wouldn't mind mixing his interest in business with his love of coffee – and helping a small business off the ground would make him happy. "What do you mean business people?"

"Oh stuff like advertisers, accountants, all that. My Dad supplies them for now but – as you can tell it hasn't gone well." Thomas sighed, looking around at his empty coffee shop.

This seemed like a dream come true. Virgil's house was only down the road, it involved coffee, and his degree in media was applicable to advertising. The only reason he hadn't gone that direction before was that the businesses were very picky with people and expected marketers or advertisers to do a lot of travelling which would make him nervous. This place would be different though.

"I can do advertising, I'm qualified and looking for a job."

"Wait really? No way!" Joan almost screamed, reaching over to hug Virgil. Virgil laughed, flinching slightly but hugging back.

After a few more salary discussions and a few more cups of coffee Virgil made his way home. He only sat for a few minutes, flicking through channels on the television until he heard the door unlock.

"Sherlock!" Virgil screamed happily as he saw Logan's distinctive arm open the door, running up to his husband and giving him a kiss. Logan mumbled in surprise and then reciprocated the kiss, holding Virgil for a second and gazing at him lovingly.

"Papa!" Emile shouted with the same enthusiasm, lifting his arms up expecting to be held. Virgil did just that, minding Emile's tie so that he wasn't uncomfortable, and gave Logan another shy kiss. "Patton's on the bus and Remus and Roman are still in school – they're big! But I got to talk about the animals I learnt about with Daddy!"

"He knows lots of animals..." Logan sighed with slight tiredness, placing down with schoolbag and getting out the work he wanted to do at home, turning on his laptop with it on charge. "You seem happy Verge. Did Remy not scratch you at the vet or something?"

"Oh he did – but I have good news!" Virgil smiled, allowing Emile to play with his hoodie strings. Remy seemed to be watching from the living room sofa as if he knew what was about to be revealed. Logan raised an eyebrow expectantly, smirking a little. "I got a job here! We don't have to move far away!"

"I don't have to leave..." Logan mumbled after a silence, his eyes widening and expanding. "Oh thank God – tell me about it." And with another kiss Virgil's legs got weak and he was so grateful he didn't stress his husband anymore. He was going to help this coffee company, and help them keep their sons.