Strings Attached

Chapter 84

A/N Every time I write the chapter number I have to do a double take because there are so many of them

Sunday, 11:56 am. Lucifer has the radio station that is supposed to play Castiel's song blasting through his speakers, and it has been for the last half hour. Those two aren't the only two waiting; all the Novak kids (much to Castiel's chagrin) are listening with them. Charlie is listening at her house, too, and Dean texted him not long ago saying he was excited for it, so Castiel makes the assumption he's listening as well.

Most people would be glad to have this many people supporting them, but not Castiel. He hasn't showed any of them, with the exception of Lucifer and Gabriel, the music he's written, and they're about to hear him sing one of his songs on the radio. That's insane, but also sort of nerve wrecking.

He's not worried about them not liking it. He doubts they'll hate it, though it's not as good as any of the other songs people listen to. He's just worried about what they're say about the lyrics. His music is like a diary for him, and he's about to show the world one of the entries.

"And now," the radio host announcer person says, "the debut single of Castiel Novak, 'Playing with Fire.'"

"Ooh, I know this one!" Lucifer says excitedly. Gabriel elbows him in the ribs and shuts him up as the song begins playing.

Castiel keeps his gaze on the floor the whole time, carefully avoiding looking at his siblings until it's over. Finally, he looks up to gauge their reactions. Gabriel starts clapping loud enough that it can probably be heard in China, and Michael, Samandriel, and Anna all tell him how awesome it was.

The one who usually has the biggest reactions doesn't seem to have any to this, though. Instead, Lucifer just pulls out his phone. Gabriel nudges Lucifer, except it's more of a jab in the rib than a nudge. Lucifer swats his hand away, eyes still trained on the phone.

"Luce, don't ignore the new singer guy," Gabriel whispers loudly.

"Hold on!" Lucifer replies, sounding annoyed at the interruption.

"Dammit, Lucifer!" Gabriel pulls the phone out of his brother's hand.

"Hey!" Lucifer complains.

"You'll get this back when you acknowledge Castiel's existence," Gabriel replies.

"But I wanna buy it!" Lucifer whines.

"Oh, that's what you were doing?" Gabriel glances at the phone, then hands it back. "Proceed."

After Lucifer buys the song on iTunes, he sets his phone down on the table and turns to Castiel. "That was amazing!" Lucifer yells.

"And there it is," Anna laughs.

"Thanks," Castiel says sheepishly.

His phone starts ringing, so Castiel digs it out of his pocket, expecting it to be Dean. Instead, it's Charlie that calls him, so he answers immediately.

"Hello," Castiel greets her.

"Castiel, you're amazing, oh my god!" Charlie screams, prompting Castiel to pull the phone away from his ear until she finishes yelling praises.

"Thanks," Castiel laughs.

"I'm telling you, you're gonna be the next Taylor Swift!" Charlie says.

"Bon Jovi," Castiel corrects her. "And probably not, actually, but that's nice of you to say."

"No, you're right," Charlie replies. "You're not gonna be like Bon Jovi. You're gonna be cooler because you're gonna talk to all your fans and they're gonna love you and you're gonna love them and you're gonna have a Casapocalypse and its gonna be awesome!"

Castiel laughs again. "'A Casapocalypse'?"

"Yeah!" Charlie replies. "Ooh, ooh, I know what you need to do now! You need a Twitter so everyone can chat with you and stuff!"

"I have one," Castiel tells her.

"What? And you didn't tell me? What is it so I can follow you? No, text it in the group chat and then everyone can follow you and you're already go be have a billion followers!"

"Um... Okay? I'll text you. Bye." Castiel hangs up before she can say any more completely random things like that. He's about to text the group chat when he gets a text from Dean.

Dean: That was awesome Cas

Castiel: Thanks! :)

Dean: I knew u could write songs but wow that was amazing

Castiel: It wasn't /that/ good.

Dean: I think u need to listen to it again so u can hear how awesome it is because it's the best thing ever

Castiel: Bon Jovi level awesome?

Dean: Definitely

Castiel: Now I know you're lying. I've got nothing on Bon Jovi.

Dean: Aaaaaaand ur wrong

Dean: Ur awesome Cas seriously

Castiel: Your lack of grammar is hurting my head.

Dean: Ugh, fine. "You're wrong. You're awesome, Cas. Seriously." Is that better?

Castiel: Much.

Castiel: Charlie is gonna kill me if I don't do something for her right now.

Dean: *Going to

Dean: If you're going to be the grammar police, I'm going to be a grammar Nazi.

Castiel: Okay, fine. Going to.

Castiel briefly switches over to the group chat.

Castiel: Hello! Charlie is making me tell you guys that I got a Twitter. It's @CastielNovak.

Charlie: Yaaaaassssssss brb

Suddenly, Castiel gets a notification that he has a new Twitter follower, "Girl with the Dungeons and Dragons Tattoo."

Charlie: Followed

Charlie: Follow me

Charlie: Can you follow me

Charlie: Or is this strictly business

Castiel: I don't know. I'll follow you anyway.

Castiel quickly heads over to Twitter and follows his friend back. He then gets a notification that he had another follower, "Impala67." Castiel chuckles to himself and checks out the account, just to verify that it is, in fact, Dean, before following him back as well. Then "I'm A Moose" follows him. Castiel attempts to contain his laughter as he follows Sam back.

Castiel: Sam, what's up with your username?

Sam: What?

Pause.

Sam: Hey, Castiel, go slap your brother for me, will you?

Castiel laughs. He turns to Gabriel, who is sitting next to him and slaps him on the shoulder. "That's from Sam," he tells his brother.

"Why?" Gabriel asks, not seeming to care that he just got a slap from his boyfriend, even if it wasn't his boyfriend who slapped him.

"His Twitter name," Castiel replies.

Gabriel grins. "He finally noticed? I did that, like, a month ago."

"Well, it doesn't look like he's on Twitter very much," Castiel observes. Neither Winchester tweets very often, judging by the dates on their most recents ones.

"That's cause he's always with me!" Gabriel beams.

Lucifer grins. "I so ship it."