Strings Attached

Chapter 85

It's Friday. That's always a plus. The week has been pretty uneventful, with the exception of Charlie freaking out a billion times over Castiel's possible super star future. It's not very strange, though. Charlie freaks out over stuff a lot.

Castiel is walking to second block when he hears Alastair call his name. They haven't acknowledged him outside of gym and lunch in months. Castiel attempts to get away from them, but even though he submerges himself in the crowd, Alastair is still able to pull him out.

"Don't ignore me when I'm talking to you," Alastair growls, a mischievous smirk on his face.

"Ooh, look what the cat brought in," Crowley chuckles as he joins them. "I'm sure my teacher won't mind if I'm just a couple minutes late."

He pushes Castiel into the wall behind him. At least it's not a locker, Castiel observes. Those hurt a hell of a lot more, with the uneven surfaces. Crowley pins him up with both hands on his shoulders.

"Ugh, it's been too long, right, angel?" he says with a smirk.

He slams Castiel into the wall again, causing him to whimper before he can stop himself.

This clearly pleases Crowley, though. "You having fun yet? I know I am."

Crowley messes with him for a while. He gets slammed into the wall, kneed in the gut, and gets an elbow jammed in his rib. Finally, Castiel can't take it silently.

"Stop," he squeaks.

"What's that?" Crowley asks with a grin. "Keep going? If you insist." So he does, and Castiel bites his lip to keep from saying anything. "You know," Crowley says between blows as if talking over a cup of coffee, "This isn't entirely on me. I mean, you're the one that makes it so easy. Maybe you should take the blame for once. I'm not the bad guy here, angel. Well, not the only one, anyway.

"Don't you wish you could just do something about it?" he teases. "I mean, you have the newspaper under your thumb, but really, you don't have any power here, or anywhere. You're no one. You know that, right?

"Like, I heard this song in the radio. It was a pretty good song, actually, but that's not the point here. But this song had these really deep and meaningful lyrics, right? And they just make you want to listen to them. And, the reason I bring this up, the person who sings this has the same name as you. Small world, huh?

"But see, this person, this 'Castiel Novak' has the power to change things, to make things better. But you, my small angel child, have nothing. No leverage, no fanbase, no one to listen to you at all. Which just means that I get to have more fun with you." He drops his hands and pats Castiel on the chest. "This is gonna be so much fun. See you later, angel."

And the worst part about that last line is that Castiel knows it's true.

~~

"Cas?"

Castiel glances up from his guitar. It's lunch time, and Castiel is hanging out in the band room for the first time in forever, purely because he doesn't want to have to deal with knowing Crowley knows where he is. Dean stands in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed and looking way too casual and cool and perfect and okay, Castiel, calm down.

"Hey," Castiel greets him briefly before returning his attention to the guitar.

"Whatcha doing?" Dean asks, walking up to him and taking a seat next to him.

"Experimenting."

"Sounds fun," Dean replies. "This for a new song?"

Castiel nods, looking up from his guitar but still playing mindlessly. "Yeah. It's not going very well, though. I've barely got anything done so far. I'm not sure I'll finish this one."

"Can I hear what you have so far?" Dean asks hopefully.

"No," Castiel says quickly. "Um, I mean, not until it's finished." Castiel just needs to look at Dean to know that he doesn't buy it.

"Come on, why not?" Dean asks. "I'm sure it's awesome. Why can't I hear it?"

Seeing no point in hiding it from him, Castiel tells him, "Because it's kinda personal. All my songs are. That's why I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of performing them, or showing them off. It's like, they're my songs, you know? I sound stupid right now, don't I?"

"Not at all," Dean assures him. "I get it. I mean, I can't relate, because I don't write music, but I get it. But at the same time, I'm your boyfriend, so I think I should get special privileges and you should show me it anyway."

Castiel quickly looks away from the puppy dog eyes that would easily make him give in. They aren't quite Sam quality, but they're still irresistible.

"No."

"Please?" Dean pleads. "I wanna hear your songwriting process." He gives Castiel a winning smile, which is just as hard to resist as puppy dog eyes.

Castiel sighs. "Fine. But for the record, I hate you."

Dean grins. "Fine by me. I'm sure I can change that later." He throws a wink at Castiel in case his meaning hadn't gotten across.

Castiel just chuckles and looks down at his guitar. Does he really want to do this? Why is he asking that? Of course not. But he hates making Dean sad, so he will anyway. The thing that makes this more awkward for Castiel, and almost not worth it, is that the song is about Dean.

Castiel begins strumming the chords he's thought of, but they may not be the final ones. "I may be reckless/ and I'm a mess but/ you stay anyway./ This is treacherous/ but you leave me breathless/ and I can't get away."

He hesitantly lifts his face to meet Dean's, and he can see the approval on the older boy's face.

"I like that," Dean tells him.

"Meh," Castiel replies. "I don't like the last line, but I can't think of something else to change it to. But I'm thinking that'll be the start of the chorus, if I eventually make a song out of it."

"I'd buy that in a heartbeat," Dean tells him.

"That's because you're my boyfriend, and you're morally obligated to," Castiel replies.

"Or because I like your music," Dean suggests. "And, side note, you're a pop singer?"

Castiel shrugs. "I guess? I don't — I don't really know what they put me under. We never really got around to discussing that. Wait, how do you know what genre it is?"

"That's what iTunes sorted it into," Dean tells him.

Great. Dean bought his song, too. It makes Castiel feel sort of awkward for some reason. Maybe it's because people are spending extra money on him that they really shouldn't be. It's not like Castiel is very good.

"Wait," Castiel says, something dawning on him. "Pop singer? So Charlie was right."

"How so?" Dean inquires.

"Looks like I'm more Taylor Swift that Bon Jovi after all."