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Courtney has been working at Smosh for over a year now and has managed to not drop at work.
It’s not that they’re against dropping at work, or that it isn’t allowed. Ian drops at work all the time, same as some of the Games crew, but those guys are ok with being little on camera and Courtney isn’t.
They’re scared that somehow they’ll be forced on camera, or something else uncomfortable will happen, but today they don’t have much of a choice.
As is standard in the industry, Courtney has more breaks during their day, even if they’ve never used one to drop before.
Today Shayne has the same break as them. It’s a bigger one as it leads into lunch, which is usually their favorite, allowing them to take a nap. But right now, Courtney knows that if they nap they’ll wake up little.
“Courtney?” Shayne says softly, pulling them out of their thoughts, “Are you ok?”
They shrug. They know Shayne is a caregiver and that he can probably tell that they’re on the brink of dropping, but that doesn’t make them feel much better.
Shayne is a nice guy, a chaotic but sweet man, but Courtney’s never seen him interact with littles, Ian tending to be little with Anthony or the Games crew instead of the Squad.
“If you need to drop, not necessarily right now, but anytime,” he adds quickly when he sees them start to stop him, “I’d be happy to keep an eye on you.” he reminds them.
“You don’t even know how old I am,” they counter when he comes to sit next to them on the couch instead of at his desk.
He shrugs, “Doesn’t really matter,” he answers honestly, “I just finished a little’s psychology class if that makes you feel better, but I’ve always just been good at it.” he brags jokingly, with a twinge of honesty.
Courtney sighs, hesitantly resting their head on his shoulder, “Will you protect me from the cameras?” they ask vulnerably as he hesitantly wraps his arm around them.
“They should know better, but I will.” he says firmly, “I’ll defend you with my life.” he jokes, grinning when a small giggle slips out of Courtney.
“So how old are you?” he asks curiously, gently rubbing their arm, “So I know what I should do.”
They shrug, “Somewhere between three and five, but age doesn’t mean much for me.” they answer, playing with the rip in their jeans.
“What does that even mean?” he asks with a chuckle, “Do you have a bag here?” he adds when he notices them playing with their pants, “A three year old will not want to wear jeans.”
Courtney giggles again, “You’ll figure it out, and yeah under my desk.” they answer, whining quietly when Shayne stands up to go grab it for them.
“I’m coming back.” he promises gently, grabbing the bag and sitting back down, “I assumed you’d want to change first, unless you don’t.”
“Oh, yeah, good thinking Shayne.” they compliment as they dig out a pair of soft shorts and one of her little brother’s hoodies, “I’ll be right back.” they mumble before rushing to the bathroom.
They change slowly in disbelief that they’re actually doing this. But they trust Shayne, so they pull the hoodie over their head and go back to their office, closing the door behind themself to signal no cameras allowed.
“Hey,” he says awkwardly when they return and they laugh, putting their adult clothes in the bag and looking at Shayne hesitantly.
He smiles softly and holds his arms open to them, “You don’t have to,” he says quickly, “But I know it’s better.”
Courtney hums and climbs into his lap, resting their head on his shoulder and closing their eyes as he slowly rubs their back.
“I’ve got you Courtney, just let go.” he murmurs kindly before humming a tune under his breath, giving them space to drop.
It takes a few minutes for their eyes to flutter back open, looking around the room curiously before looking up at a smiling Shayne.
“Hi,” they mumble quietly, fidgeting with the sleeve of their hoodie.
Shayne coos quietly, reaching over to the closest desk and swiping a fidget spinner to give to them.
“Hi little buddy,” he says easily as they spin the toy, “You have a vibe for me?” he asks, chuckling at their confused expression.
“You said you don’t do age, but can you like, let me know how I can be there for you?” he explains, carefully pushing their hair out of their face.
Courtney hums, “Not tiny, just small.” they answer, leaning and reaching to grab their bag, pulling it towards themself.
“That was helpful,” Shayne says honestly, watching as they sort through their bag, “Whatcha looking for, squirt?”
They giggle, “Squirt,” they say through their giggles as they pull out a small stuffed raccoon.
Shayne joins in their laughter, “Gimme some fin,” he says in a bad Crush impression and Courtney giggles harder, giving him a high-five.
“Noggin.” he continues and a giggling Courtney bonks their forehead with his.
“Dude!” they yell immediately, collapsing into Shayne with giggles, clutching the raccoon to their chest.
He smiles down at them as they giggle, proud of himself for getting them to relax so easily, “What’s your friend’s name?” he asks and they shrug.
“Ian give when start Smosh,” they explain, “Put in bag till now.”
Shayne hums, “Knowing what I do about little Ian, it’s probably supposed to be Rocket.” he tells them, twirling the raccoon's tail.
“Rocket,” they say easily, petting the toy’s head, “Rocket Raccoon.”
“Perfect.” he compliments, accepting their high-five when the door cracks open.
Olivia looks between the two in surprise as she opens the door, Keith and Noah following behind her. The boys look over and stop fighting, Noah pushing the door shut behind himself.
All three of them are neutrals with little to no experience around littles. Courtney was the first little Olivia met, even if she saw Ian drop before them.
Courtney looks between the three of them nervously as they all stare at the little, not knowing what to do.
“Stop staring,” Shayne says firmly, “You’re scaring her.”
This snaps the three of them out of it, Olivia stepping closer and sitting on the floor in front of them.
“Hey Courtney,” she says, speaking to them like nothing is different, “How was your break?”
Courtney blinks at her, “I drop.” they answer confused and Olivia nods.
“I know that,” she says easily, “But you’re still you, am I supposed to do something different?” she asks Shayne with concern.
He laughs as he shakes his head, “You’re doing fine,” he assures her, “This is new for all of us.”
Keith nods, falling into the other side of the couch, openly observing Courtney, “Never seen this shit in my life.” he says excitedly, shouting at Noah when he smacks him.
“Don’t swear in front of the kid,” he tells his friend, sitting in the beanbag, “That’s like, Littles 101.”
They fall back into another fight and Shayne pulls Courtney’s attention back to him and Olivia. “Is Olivia doing ok?” he double checks with them, more for Olivia than Courtney.
“Liv good.” they say firmly, leaning towards her on the floor for a hug.
Olivia blinks in surprise and hugs them carefully. “You’re cute,” she tells them as she looks over at the boys before looking back to them.
“Are you two eating here?” she asks, “Cuz I’ll eat here too if you want,” she tells them, “So will those two.” she adds, gesturing to Noah and Keith.
“I heard it’s pizza,” Noah says, seemingly giving up on his fight with Keith, “Do you still eat pizza?” he asks Courtney.
They giggle at him and nod, “Love pizza,” they tell him, bouncing slightly in Shayne’s lap, “Pizza here?” they ask him hopefully.
“We can eat in here,” he says easily, “I bet if you ask nicely, our friends will help bring us lunch.”
Courtney turns to look at the boys with puppy dog eyes, “Please help?” they ask sweetly, Shayne laughing at the expressions on their faces as they immediately nod.
“We got you, short-Court,” Keith says as he stands, looking over at Shayne, “What do you two want?”
They both tell the trio what they want and they go to the cafeteria to grab food for the group, leaving Shayne and Courtney alone again.
Shayne pushes their hair out of their face again, “Do you wanna pull your hair back?” He asks hesitantly, “So you don't get pizza in it.”
“Smart” they compliment, pulling a hair tie off their wrist and handing it to him.
He stares at it for a second, looking up at their hair. “I don’t really know how to do it.” he admits bashfully, “I’ll have to practice. How about we wait for Olivia to come back?”
Courtney takes the hair tie back and nods, squeaking in surprise when Shayne stands with them in his arms.
“Sorry!” he says quickly, “Forgot to ask if that was ok,” he adds apologetically as he attempts to put them down but they shake their head.
“Stay,” they whine, clutching onto his shirt, grinning when he shifts them onto his back.
They pull his beanie off with a giggle as they fix his hair, “I’m gonna set up a spot for us to all eat,” he tells them, ignoring them playing with his hair.
And he does just that, adjusting everything at the main table so they can all comfortably eat, all with Courtney on his back, messing with his hair and occasionally his face.
“How the hell are you doing that?” Keith asks in disbelief as the trio return with food and drinks.
Shayne laughs, sliding Courtney off his back and into a chair, “Caregivers are stronger than neutrals and littles.” he answers easily before turning to Olivia, “Can you put her hair up for me?” he asks hopefully as they hold their hair tie out to her.
Olivia nods, and takes the hair tie. Shayne watches carefully as she easily puts the little’s hair up. “That looks easy.” he mumbles to himself before turning his attention to her plate of food, “Do you want me to cut that?” he asks them kindly, eyeing their drink nervously, “And do you have a cup in your bag?”
Courtney blushes, looking over at their other friends before looking up at Shayne, “Don’t gotta,” they mumble, fidgeting with their sleeve, “And ya.”
“No sweat.” he says easily, cutting the pizza into smaller pieces before pushing it back in front of them. “Can I go through the bag?” he asks as he picks it up, waiting for their nod before pulling the sippy cup out.
He grabs their root beer and pours it into the cup and places it in front of them before finally joining the rest of them at the table, taking a bite of his food. “Stop staring.” he reminds the boys and their eyes snap to their own pizza.
“Sorry, this is interesting.” Noah says honestly, looking between the two, “I’m not trying to be rude.”
They smile nervously at him, “Is ok Noah.” they mumble, taking a bite of their pizza, “Still friend?” they ask cautiously.
Noah nods quickly, “Of course Court-bort.” he answers immediately and Keith cuts in, “You can’t lose us over something like this.”
Courtney sighs, Olivia pulling them into a side hug, “You’re stuck with us, Comill.” she assures them, “Even if we have no idea what we’re doing.”
Shayne laughs, holding his can up, “Cheers!” he calls, the other four holding up their cans (and sippy cup) up to cheers each other, “To little friends and learning!” he says genuinely, smiling as Courtney hugs him with their empty hand.
“To little friends and learning!”