Milkshake Hearts: The Oneshots

Upstairs

A/N: Set a few years after the end of Milkshake Hearts. As always: these are fictional stories about fictional characters.

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Courtney and Shayne had both wondered for years whether Nathan and Rosie's constant exuberance at spending time with them would fade as they moved from their energetic elementary school phases into middle, and then high, school. It hadn't seemed to, at least not yet: when Nathan (now 14 and halfway through Freshman year) and Rosie (now 12 and halfway through 7th grade) arrive at their house for Thanksgiving, they rush in ahead of their parents and grandparents and beeline for Shayne and Courtney, respectively, to hug them.

"Hey Shayne, Courtney!" Chris adds, his own voice bright as they all move through the entry into the open-plan living area where Brian and Josh are already waiting, both kids rushing to greet them as soon as they've let go of Shayne and Courtney, "the new house looks amazing! Thanks so much for hosting today."

"Not a problem," Shayne answers, patting his brother on the back in greeting, "and we're really loving the new place, settling into it now and we think we've got everything laid out how we want it."

It wasn't, technically, their turn to host: they had a roster of sorts for hosting family holiday gatherings, between their place, Rob and Dianne's, and Chris and Julie's up in Seattle. It was Chris and Julie's turn for Thanksgiving, but they were in the process of packing up to move, and Shayne and Courtney had just moved 6 months ago into their new, much larger, house that they were more than happy to show off to their family amongst hosting their Thanksgiving gathering.

(Brian and Josh were only not part of the roster due to the fact they really didn't have a suitable place: they were still in a tiny New York apartment, and they always maintained that they had no problem flying over to the west coast instead of asking the rest of them to fly to the east).

Nathan and Rosie immediately want to look around the new house, and Courtney steps in to give them a tour both inside and out – as much as she loves all the extra space they have indoors now, she knows the kids will get a kick out of big open backyard – as Chris and Julie settle in to catch up with Shayne, Rob and Dianne, Brian and Josh.

As much as it is November, it's LA, and the weather outside is still pleasant and sunny. It means that they can have their Thanksgiving meal early-afternoon out on the patio in the backyard, laughing and talking happily amongst the ten of them as they eat their food.

"You're a really good cook, Uncle Shayne," Nathan comments, after his second plate of food – he is a growing teenage boy, after all – and Courtney glances over to Shayne with a small, proud smile, watching as he blushes.

"Thanks, buddy," he answers, a little awkwardly. Part of Courtney wants to laugh out loud, but instead, she silently reaches out a hand under the table to squeeze his thigh as Julie and Rob jump in to agree with Nathan and get him talking about food. It was something that had seemed to happen almost accidentally, but Shayne had become quite the cook through the years, through chatting to Josh, Nicole and Trevor back when they all worked in the same building back at Mythical to his growing fondness, after Smosh had finished a few years ago now, for hosting dinner parties at their house to get all their closer friends from the Smosh days back together.

She knows they all appreciated it, too: as much as it had been work that pushed them together in the first place, their friends from Smosh were still some of their closest friends.

Courtney watches Chris and Julie both grin when Nathan and Rosie both openly volunteer to help clean up after lunch. As much as they were both growing into various teenage phases, they were still such good kids at heart, and Courtney nudges Shayne out of the way and tells him to go catch up with his brothers as she accepts the kids' offers, and alongside Josh and Rob, they smoothly move through wrapping leftovers to put into the fridge and stacking most of the dishes into the dishwasher.