Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 66: Fluey

"So my mother made a comment when I was helping them with dinner last night..." Shayne starts, lying in bed beside Courtney early Saturday morning. He had been staring at the ceiling, although he twists his head to glance towards her when he doesn't continue.

"Oh?" Courtney prompts, eyebrow raising, "about?"

"Effectively offered me money again if we were thinking of buying a house or something. And I mean, I told her we haven't even really thought about it, because like... I haven't, honestly. But it did make me think," he admits, and Courtney nods slowly against the pillow.

"I also hadn't thought about it, because here is fine for just our own needs and whatever but... I mean, we haven't even done the joint bank account thing so I can't even speak for your financial situation but... I could certainly afford more," she admits, "I don't exactly have a whole house deposit saved, though."

"Is it weird that we haven't done the bank account thing? I've honestly just kinda forgotten about it," Shayne admits, and she laughs.

"Look, we are engaged, it's probably weird. Probably helped you hide that ring purchase though, huh?" she teases.

"Oh, for real, it was actually the first time it crossed my mind- I was kinda glad we hadn't thought of it yet," he laughs lightly, "but I mean, I'd be cool to just combine everything, if you wanted to. Because like... yeah, I honestly was totally fine with where we were here until yesterday, but it would be cool if we could have enough space to have people over, and maybe buying seems like something we should... look into. I also don't exactly have a whole house deposit saved, but I've got a bit."

"You do earn more than me, fucking wage gap," she teases, "or, y'know, the fact that you have multiple jobs and I have one. I mean- I just assume we probably get the same from Smosh, I've not compared contracts with anyone..."

"Damien and I get the same, it'd be pretty suss if you didn't since we're all hired under the same role," he nods, "but yeah, Goldbergs I get less than I do at Smosh but... a bit, still. Enough that I could probably manage a house deposit with only a little bit of help from my parents, so if you were... into that idea?"

"I don't mean to be cagey, I'm getting jokey because I actually quite like the idea of buying a house with you," Courtney smiles softly, "so, yeah, let's join everything together and see where we are and what we can comfortably achieve? I want the space to have people over and things, too. It'd be cool if we could stay in this general area though, it is convenient."

They combine their accounts later that week – it takes all of a single trip to the bank, given they were already with the same bank anyway – and find that, yeah, they can definitely start looking for a house. They compare their contracts, too, pleased to find that they are almost word-for-word identical. They don't rush into house-hunting quite as quickly, though, instead content to look ever-so-casually, not in a rush, prepared to wait until they find the right thing.

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"I feel like fucking death," Courtney grumbles, the Saturday morning exactly a week later. Their week had been relatively quiet – a couple more catch ups with the family before Chris, Julie and the kids returned to Seattle, only one-and-a-half days of work since everyone was just cruising before their office returned to its almost full capacity the following week, and a handful of errands like the bank thing. She really doesn't have a reason to feel as shitty as she does.

"In what way?" Shayne asks, hand gripping softly against her shoulder.

"Fluey. I'm fucking exhausted even though I slept all night, I feel hot and kinda sore and just... ugh," she mumbles, flopping lazily over to bury her face in her pillow.