Break

Chapter 7

They end up calling in via discord on Shayne's laptop, the computer sitting up on the moveable table as they sit close beside each other on the bed. They'd talked in indecision for a little while about how they'd place themselves: Courtney wanted Shayne beside her, and both of them on the bed was really the only way that worked for a camera angle that was close enough for Courtney to be comfortable with, given she only really wanted to show herself from shoulders up where she looked mostly normal, bar the couple of still-visible bruises now mostly around her hairline.

Both of them on the bed, however, did look very close. Affectionate. Couple-y.

"I guess we tell them that too," Courtney had decided, eventually.

Emma comes in again when she comes to put the do not disturb on Courtney's room around 2:40, and they get her help to find some tape and paper to place over the signs behind the bed which have the logo of the hospital she's at.

"It's probably over-precautious, but... we're always careful," Courtney explains, and she nods in understanding.

They'd already spoken on the phone to a few of Courtney's closer friends at Smosh earlier in the day, including some of the people to be on stream, but they still call in ten minutes early to make sure everything is working. They have thirty seconds of just Layne, who gives an excited hello before quickly moving back to getting the setup right to have their call on the TV screen on set, before the camera they're seeing on the other end of the call is turned around to the set, too.

Courtney isn't surprised – nor is she annoyed – that a few extra people have jumped into the Twitch set to say hi.

"Courtney!" Damien is the first to speak, excited and energetic as he smiles widely.

"Hey, everyone," she tells them, with a smile and half a laugh as everyone choruses their returned greetings. She pushes back the urge to wave, sitting on her own left hand to remind herself to keep her arm with the IV still attached out of sight.

They chat for a while, Saige the first to ask how she's going. She answers, of course, gives them all a little more detail about her worsening headache and how she's kind of in a waiting period for anything else to happen, and the fact she's going to need a fair bit of physio to get moving normally again. She turns the questioning back on them, too, though, asking them how work is and what they've been filming. They do need to actually plan the start of the stream a little more closely, though, and soon the additional people reluctantly move back to their workspaces so they can make sure everyone is on the same page as to what happens in the first five minutes of the stream.

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"Helloooo gamers and welcome to Smosh's Friday stream!" Damien intros the stream when Layne signals they're live, his voice dramatic and covered in excitement he clearly can't find a way to hide. The others give their greetings, too, and it makes Shayne and Courtney both smile softly as they watch from their discord call, themselves muted and off the screen for now.

"Hey guys, if you're new to Smosh Games on Twitch, welcome! We stream Monday, Wednesday and Friday and since today's Friday we're going to be playing some games!" Saige gives their usual introduction - they'd given them all to her, when she was on stream, because she had a knack for getting it right every time -, before her own smile turns a bit brighter and a bit knowing, "but first, we got a little surprise for all of you."

"Ooooh, surprises!" Noah hypes it up, a little, before they throw to Ian to explain.

"Guys, we've got someone else who's gonna be live with us from somewhere else for just a few minutes, and this has gotta be my favourite guest appearance ever on Smosh," Ian starts, leaning forward in his spot and clasping his hands in front of him, "everyone say hi to our two favourite blondes, Courtney and Shayne."