Milkshake Hearts

Chapter 9: Not The Slightest

It does take them a moment to settle back into working together under their new arrangement. In theory, very little changes around the office – bar a little teasing from their co-workers, and an awkward statement at a joint meeting with the Mythical team members who shared their office space explaining it was open at work but very much not public – but shoots feel a little different. Shayne starts their first silly Pit shoot since they got together trying his hardest not to focus on Courtney too much, but Sarah tells him it looks like he's actively avoiding her, and he has to fall back into carefully managing how much he does. For her part, Courtney has an easier time acting as she usually does – she's more touchy with him on camera anyway than he is with her – but she calls him a pet name more times than she can keep track of, forcing them to cut and re-shoot sections.

"I'm so sorry, ugh, I swear I'll get better at this – it won't happen again," she rushes out to the producers the fourth time she lets a 'baby' slip when she's making fun of him for something, and they don't seem to mind, but it still makes her feel awkward and unprofessional. There's a little voice in her head that goes back to the Defy rules against cast relationships and tells her this is why they existed, but she quickly shakes it off, slipping back into her camera persona for the sketch.

It's easier when they're shooting videos with the whole cast, including the no-longer-here-but-still-kind-of-involved crew from Games. The dynamic between the whole lot of them is a good buffer for any changes in their personal dynamic, and they have a handful of larger group shoots themed to go amongst the Summer Games content they had shot in Nevada a month earlier.

Courtney is quietly pleased for the apocalypse TNTL – it's the perfect opportunity to bring out Boneless – and she makes Shayne promise his own bit will be at least mostly not-shirtless.

She still can't help but almost immediately spit out her water when he walks out with a dark-green military-style jacket on, a stupid walk, and judging by some of his movements, very little underneath.

"I think I saw shaft," Damien jokes for the camera, everyone else laughing the comment off.

"I should have put shorts on, should've put shorts on," Shayne hums as they walk off set after the cameras stop rolling.

"Yeah you should've, dude," Mari responds, before they all wander back off to wardrobe to change back into their usual clothes and ditch the apocalypse vibes.

————————————————

Kari invites Courtney to a last-minute dinner catch up the Wednesday evening, two days shy of what she guesses is technically her 2-week anniversary with Shayne. It's been a while since the two of them caught up, and Courtney is just a tiny bit excited to share her new development with her closest sister, so she accepts the invitation despite the fact it's mildly inconvenient because she has a whole lot of sketch shoots on Thursday and she still needs to learn some lines.

"How's work been going, everyone good?" Kari asks her as they settle down to their meal in a small eatery not too far from their Dad's place.

"It's been pretty good, just going along pretty well. We've all kind of settled into the new parent company deal now, it's definitely feeling a lot more normal and stable than it did a few months ago," Courtney explains. She glances around them to check who is nearby as she talks, finding that the only people seated remotely within earshot of them are an older couple who she assumes are not Smosh viewers. She figures it's safe to tell Kari her news, then, she just isn't sure how to bring it up.

"Nice, nice, haven't been drawn into any big internet dramas or anything?" Kari jokes, and Courtney rolls her eyes.

"No, no internet dramas at all for us. Although..." she trails off, hoping Kari takes her hint that she wants to talk about something in her own life.