Strings Attached

Chapter 93

A/N I just want to apologize to anyone who comments on this that I never reply to. I look at all my comments but my "people skills" are "rusty" so I never know what to say.

Dean and Castiel are hanging out the next day before Dean's game that afternoon. As if they didn't hang out enough before, now that Castiel is homeschooled, they've spent more time together outside of school hours to make up for lost time.

They're sitting together in the living room when they hear a whispered chant of "Destiel. Destiel. Destiel."

"Shut it, Lucifer," Dean snaps, more an automatic response than meaning anything by it.

"But Destiel! Destiel! Destiel!"

"Enough from the peanut gallery."

"But Destiel! Destiel! Destiel!"

"Can we just take a moment to admire this ship name?" Castiel asks. "I mean, whoever thought of that is a genius. Who was it that thought of that again?"

"Me!" Lucifer says proudly. "I thought of it and told Gabriel and we both agreed it was perfect."

"You weren't wrong," Castiel replies.

"Of course I wasn't," Lucifer says with a confident grin. "I'm never wrong."

"You say that a lot, and it's never true."

"Castiel!" Gabriel's voice rings through the house from upstairs. "Your song's on!"

"Are you going to say that every time you hear it?" Castiel yells back.

"Yes, I am!" Gabriel replies proudly. "I mean, you're on the freaking radio. For the second time today! And it's only, like, noon!"

"That's because Castiel is awesome!" Lucifer announces.

"I can't say you're never wrong," Dean tells him, "but you're not wrong about this."

"Aww, I ship it so hard!" Lucifer squeals.

"We're already dating," Castiel reminds him. "You don't have to keep saying you ship us."

"Magnus and Alec are dating, and I still ship Malec," Lucifer replies.

Neither of the other two boys bother asking who Magnus or Alec are. Knowing Lucifer, he'd probably go into a long speech about these two and how they're absolutely perfect for each other, and Destiel would be incapable of making him shut up about them.

Anna marches into the room and grabs Lucifer by the arm. She mouths "sorry" to Destiel before pulling Lucifer away. "Leave the two of 'em alone," she scolds her brother as she drags him out of the room.

Lucifer easily could pull his arm free, or just stand around while she attempts to pull him away, but he allows her to drag him out for reasons Castiel doesn't understand. He loves watching Destiel. Why would he leave? He doesn't realize the boy is watching from just outside the room, fanboying silently.

"Hey, Cas?" Dean says after a moment.

"Hm?"

"There's only, like, a month until I graduate. Are you gonna be there?"

Castiel shrugs. "I don't know. I never really thought about that. Do you want me to be there?"

Dean nods. "Of course I do. If I'm stuck at some lame ass ceremony, I'd like to at least have you there with me, even if I can't talk to you until the end."

"Why, so you can bore me, too?" Castiel teases.

"Yep!" Dean jokes. "No, kidding. But when I finally get to leave this hellhole, it's going to be one of the best moments of my life, and I want to spend it with you." He pauses. "And because when I get really bored — which I know I will — I can look over and see your beautiful face."

Castiel feels himself blushing slightly. "It can't be that boring," he protests, trying to distract from his embarrassment.

"Trust me, it will be," Dean replies. "Sitting around for hours just so I can go home with a piece of paper saying I did something that I already know I did is not high on my to-do list."

"Well, when you say it like that, now I don't know if I want to go," Castiel jokes.

"Then it's going to be fabulous," Dean corrects himself.

"Then you don't need me to come," Castiel replies.

Dean frowns. "There's no way to win with you, is there?"

"You've already won," Castiel assures him. "I'm just being difficult."

"I know," Dean replies with a smirk. "You never could resist the awesomeness that is me."

Castiel laughs softly. "That's true," he agrees. "But can you blame me? You're so perfect."

"I think you're confused," Dean replies. "You're the perfect one."

"No, you are."

"No, you are."

"No, you are."

"Oh my god, guys! Just kiss already!" Lucifer yells.

Instead of kissing, the two crack up laughing. They're too amused to be angry at him for ruining the moment. Besides, no one can be mad at Lucifer. It's a physical impossibility.

"I have to agree with Lucifer here," Dean says finally.

"Me too," Castiel replies.

"Great."

So for the next 200 or so words to make this a full chapter, they kiss. The author doesn't really know what to write here, so she's just using words. That's why there's an author's note, too. Because now the chapter is only about 150 words short, and that's good enough to make a full chapter.