🏎️

Emily gave the sign that they were rolling, and Shayne began his opening remarks, “We’re back once again with more insane Reddit stories. I’m Shayne, and today my guests are a very special duo, Anthony and Y/N.”

You waved excitedly at the camera, and so did Anthony.

“Hello, Smosh Reddit audience,” you said in an attempt at humour.

“A duo, possibly no one could’ve guessed,” Anthony said, smiling at you.

Shayne frowned, “I mean, I could’ve.” Which gave everyone a chuckle, “But no it is great to have Y/N here, first time guest, how are you feeling?”

You nodded as if in thought, “Pretty good thanks Shayne. But I will warn everyone here that I am very opinionated and not afraid to vocalise it.”

Shayne chuckled and so did Anthony, “Oh, I’m sure that there’s nothing on reddit that requires opinions.”

You snorted as Shayne gave a bigger belly laugh, “Oh absolutely not. Let’s hop in to it!”

The first story was about a guy who dressed up for a double date and it upset his friend. As Shayne finished the story, you face already gave away your thoughts.

Shayne caught your sour expression, “Y/N, you already look like you’ve got opinions?”

You laughed slightly and adjusted yourself, “Yeah I mean, first off, this OP is amazing, so genuinely sweet like, dressing up nicer than usual, making himself presentable – all green flags. But oh my days does Joel pissed me off. In my opinion, he is so clearly intimidated by OP’s efforts, and it’s making him insecure.”

Anthony nodded, “Yeah, and I mean that’s slightly reasonable, to feel insecure I mean, but that’s not OP’s fault, and Joel shouldn’t make him feel bad about putting effort in.”

You nodded enthusiastically at Anthony’s comments, “Exactly! You know, chivalry is a dying art and more men need to be like OP!” You gestured wildly with your hands while you spoke, accentuating your point.

“I’m almost wondering if the friend, Joel, wanted to use OP to make himself look good.” Shayne added and you rolled your eyes in agreement.

“It’s sad, and it won’t work. Like as a woman, a guy like putting people down to make himself appear ‘better’ is never attractive, and it actually has the opposite effect.” You continued.

Anthony turned to look at you with a curious look on his face, “Can I ask you, Y/N, as a woman would you be impressed by OP’s efforts?”

You smiled shyly, “1000%. It doesn’t have to be some grandiose gesture, but a guy putting in effort, like clearly shows, for me, that he is genuinely interested in me.”

Anthony nodded thoughtfully at your answer, and you felt compelled to continue, “My partner always makes sure to dress nicely for our date nights and you know, tries to listen to what I enjoy and then plans accordingly.”

Anthony turned back to look at Shayne, and you didn’t notice the slight look of dejection in his eyes at your relationship status reveal.

Shayne then read out the comments on the post, most of which aligned with your opinion.

The next few stories were more tame, until a story about men ‘just not getting it’.

Shayne read the story, and you could feel your temper rising at the complete disregard men have for women’s safety.

As he finished, Anthony chuckled slightly and looked at you, “I think imma leave this one to you.”

You tapped his hand, “Thanks Anthony, I got this.”

Shayne laughed, “You’re gearing up, like the avengers.”

You laughed and then became more serious, “This story pisses me off so bad because it’s so relatable. Like I know so many guys who are genuinely nice, but they don’t get it because they have never had to think about ‘where are my keys in case I need a weapon?’ or ‘I must check under my car in case there’s someone waiting to slash my Achilles’.”

You said the last part dramatically which made Shayne laugh slightly, and you smiled, “I know it sounds ridiculous, but I know someone who this happened to!!! Like it’s very much real.”

Shayne and Anthony nodded at your outburst.

“No, you’re so right. I mean I will never understand what it’s like, and all we men can really do is try not to make it worse.” Shayne said.

Anthony hummed in agreement, “Yeah no this guy in the story definitely made it worse. Like, if a woman is asking you to do this, it is because she is afraid and so it’s just common decency to help her out.”

You smiled brightly at Anthony, “Exactly!”

The shoot then wrapped up after one final story.

After being de-miked, you approached Anthony who was chatting with Shayne, “Hi guys, this was so much fun! Thank you for having me.”

Anthony smiled, tilting his head down slightly due to the height difference, “Yeah, it was so much fun. You have some really good opinions.”

You blushed and smiled bashfully, “Yeah, sorry if I was a little intense.”

“No, you were totally great!” Shayne said, and patted you on the shoulder.

You and Anthony made small talk as you entered back into the main office space, not noticing the curious looks from other cast members at your closeness.

You giggled slightly, “For real though, I am so stoked to be here, I’ve been such a huge fan for ages.”

Angela led you to a group of people, all of whom you recognised from watching the videos. You waved politely as introductions were made.

Shayne shook your hand and smiled awkwardly, “Hi, Y/N. It’s really nice to meet you, but I do have to be honest I am not entirely sure who you are.”

You laughed for real at that, “Oh don’t worry. I do some musical theatre acting.”

Chanse laughed, “You’re so humble. She’s a Broadway megastar.”

You pulled a face, “Well I don’t know about that, but I have been doing it for years.”

Lunch was Raising Canes, and you helped yourself to a few bits of chicken and fries. You sat down at a table with Amanda, Chanse, Court, Shayne and Angela. As you tucked in to your food, the others continued to ask you questions, which you didn’t mind.

“So when did you start acting?” Amanda asked as she sipped her drink.

“I was 17, I played Nancy in Oliver on the west end.” You said, which was met with impressed gasps and nods, “I know, I always say that I was incredibly lucky and my journey is extremely rare for most people.”

“What are you doing next?” Shayne asked.

You tilted your head and thought for a moment, “I’m not entirely sure, I have an audition for a new musical that’s going to off-Broadway, so hopefully that goes well.”

Angela suddenly perked up, “Can we get tickets?”

You laughed, “For sure, I’ll reserve the front row.”

After a few more minutes of talking, Kiana appeared to come and get you and Shayne for your reddit stories shoot.

You stood up and brushed yourself off, “It was lovely meeting you guys, thanks for making me feel so welcome!”

The group chorused a series of goodbyes, and you and Shayne followed Kiana to the reddit stories set.

Anthony was already getting mic’d up, so you gave him a wave which he returned with a smile. You greeted the sound guy as they attached your own mike. You happened to glance over to where Anthony stood and saw him lift his top slightly to help attach the pack to his jeans.

You felt your cheeks flush and you looked away quickly. Then, as if by magic, Anthony walked over to where you stood, to introduce himself.

He held out a hand, “Hi, I’m Anthony. You must be Y/N.”

You smiled, “Hi Anthony, you excited for this?”

He chuckled, “You kidding? Judging strangers on the internet is my jam.”

That made you laugh and you walked with him to sit down on the couch.

“Shall we begin?” Shayne asked aloud, and you settled yourself into the couch, ready to listen.

You had always been a fan of Smosh, so when you received an email asking if you would be interested in appearing in a special TNTL for Angela’s birthday, you immediately said yes. You flew from New York to LA on the Tuesday, landing late and going straight to the hotel. You always found LA nice, but it lacked the constant buzz and chaos of NYC.

Laying in your hotel bed, sweating, even only under the thin white sheet, you gazed at the ceiling and ran your bit over and over in your head. A ‘Masked Singer’ type sketch where you would sing happy birthday in a costume, and Angela would hopefully guess it was you.

Wednesday morning. You awoke at 7am, and dressed yourself in the clothes you had brought: white jeans, black boots and a black t-shirt that read ‘When in doubt, always blame a man’. You took an Uber to the Smosh Office, and texted your contact, Bailey, that you were outside. In the conversations back and forth in the months leading up to this day, you knew that you were a super-secret surprise guest and therefore they wanted to sneak you in somehow.

A few minutes passed, and then an excitable brunette woman emerged from the building, waving frantically at you to come over. You waved hello back and quickly walked over to the side door she was peeking out from.

“Hiiii, Y/N I am so unbelievably grateful that you could make it today!”, the woman, Bailey, said as she led you into an open-plan office.

You smiled back, “Are you kidding? This is so exciting!”

Bailey led you to an office and pulled down the blind to cover the glass door, “Okay, we have put some costume ideas in here for you, love the bit by the way, and someone will come and get you when it’s time. It should be like 45 minutes from now.”

You nodded and looked at the pile of mascot costumes that were piled on a sofa nearby.

Bailey opened the door and turned back to you, “Love the top, see you in a bit!”

You said thanks and sat yourself down on the chair behind the desk. You had no clue who’s office you were in, but it was very neat and organised.

30 minutes passed and you decided to put on one of the mascot costumes. You settled on Elmo, as he seemed birthday appropriate.

Sweating slightly from wrangling yourself into the outfit, you plopped back down on the sofa, and waited for your cue.

Eventually, someone you recognised as Courtney tapped on the door and opened it a crack.

They looked around the office, apparently not spotting you in your Elmo suit, “Y/N?”

You lifted up a hand to wave and Courtney did a small flinch in surprise, “I’m in here,” you said through laughter.

“Oh my gosh, I totally didn’t see you!” Courtney said, also laughing, “We’re ready for you now.”

You stood up, head bent at an awkward angle to see through the eye holes. Courtney burst out laughing again, “Can you see in that thing?”

“Well enough,” you said, but still took her hand to help guide you towards the Smosh Pit stage.

Courtney took you behind all the production crew, luckily managing to avoid Angela’s gaze, and situated you behind the divider.

Courtney bent down so you could see her more clearly, “Ok, our Director Kiana will announce you so you know when to come on.”

“Ok, I’m ready, see you on the flip side,” You said.

Courtney patted your shoulder and left you, “Angela is gonna freak.”

You took a few deep breaths, and listened out for your introduction.

“Okay! Our next guest is a mystery and you need to guess who it is through a Masked Singer style contest.”

A brief pause afterwards signalled your cue. Slowly, you emerged from behind the divider, bouncing side-to-side and began singing the happy birthday song.

Already, one person who you couldn’t see spat out water laughing, but the real show happened when you were two lines into the song.

Angela spat out her water on purpose, “OH MY GOD! I WOULD KNOW THAT VOICE ANYWHERE!” She looked at the camera, “NO FUCKING WAY YOU GUYS!”

Her outburst resulted in the others also laughing, and even you stifled a few laughs at the sound of her screaming.

You stopped singing and turned towards what you hoped was the camera, “Can I take this off?”

A chorus of ‘yes’ responded, and you removed the Elmo head, revealing your sweaty hair.

You grinned proudly and turned to Angela, “Happy Birthday!”

Angela immediately hopped up from her stool and tackled you in a bear hug, “I cannot believe this, I am a HUGE fan.”

You hugged her back, “You’re a fan? I’M a fan of all of you guys.” You gestured around at the crew.

You waved at the camera, “Thanks for having me guys!”

Kiana yelled cut and immediately everyone started coming up to you, saying hi and those who knew you gushed a little bit.

You waved over to Bailey, “Bailey! Thank you so much for inviting me for this.”

Bailey gave you a high five, “Thank you! This was awesome!”

Ian, who you knew from the pre-emails about the event, nodded at you approvingly, “I’m surprised you were so down to embarrass yourself.”

You looked at him in mock shock, “Embarrass myself? I look awesome!”

Ian just grinned. Angela was still looking at you half in shock and half in excitement, “Would you stay?”

You looked at her, “Stay? Of course! I’m hoping to sneak onto a reddit stories!”

You laughed at your joke and then stopped as serious, thoughtful looks came across everyone’s faces, “I was only joking, don’t worry!”

Bailey frowned and tilted her head, “Well actually, that might work. We have Anthony coming in later and we were just going to stick him with Ian again, but this might be fun! If you’re up for it.”

You smiled widely, “Are you kidding? I’d love to!”

Everyone agreed, and so it was settled. You stripped off the Elmo costume and watched the rest of the shoot from the audience, and you were pretty sure your laugh could be heard in a few bits.