Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 72

Castiel lies on his hotel room bed, Misha by his side. He's been in Sioux Falls for a few hours, but he hasn't been home yet. His hotel bed just calls to him.

It's weird for him, not staying with his siblings, but he knows Samandriel. He's one of the most empathetic people he knows. Seeing a dog like Misha in real life could break his heart, and he's not doing that to his little brother.

He hasn't told any of his sibling about Misha but Lucifer, and then Michael when he explained why he wasn't going to stay with them. Michael seemed to think it's a perfectly fine reason, and promised not to tell anyone. It probably confused Samandriel, Anna, and Claire when they realized he was staying in a hotel when they're right there, but he doesn't care too much. It's for a good cause.

Castiel must have fallen asleep at some point, because he wakes up to his phone ringing on the bedside table. He reaches over his dog to grab his phone. Lucifer. He doesn't quite know why he hesitates before he answers.

"Hey," Castiel greets him. He doesn't bother with his usual "It's Castiel," because he's way too tired for that.

"Where are you?" Lucifer asks. "You were supposed to be here hours ago."

"Taking a nap," Castiel replies.

"But you were supposed to come see us!" Lucifer whines.

"But Misha!" He puts the phone on speaker and holds it near the dog's face. "Psst, Misha, do something," he stage whispers.  Misha doesn't. Castiel rolls his eyes. "That didn't work."

"Why am I not surprised?" Lucifer says sarcastically. "Well, come visit us. We're bored."

"Tomorrow," Castiel replies. "I'm tired." And he doesn't have the motivation to get up for anything.

Lucifer sighs. "Fine. Come by tomorrow. We'll still be here."

"'Kay, bye," Castiel says, then hangs up. He puts his phone away and rolls over do he's facing his dog, who licks his face once. Castiel snuggles closer to the dog and closes his eyes. He might as well get some sleep while he can, even if that means pushing off seeing his family for a little while.

~~

Castiel wakes up to see two texts from Lucifer, one from soon after their phone call and one from a few hours later.

Lucifer: Bring your song notebook so we can pick your songs

Lucifer: Tweeted you

Castiel hops over to Twitter and checks Lucifer's account.

"Hell yeah! Let's force my little bro into a video!"

It also has the poll results, where 26% said yes, 72% said hell yes, 9% wanted Castiel to take over, and 3% said no to having Castiel in a video. It's a bit of a confidence booster, actually.

Castiel quotes the tweet, saying, "What did you guys get me into?"

He doesn't realize it's so early until until he checks the responses and sees people tweeting about how he shouldn't be awake right now, or he woke them up with the post notification. Checking the time, he sees it's only 3:48 in the morning. This is going to be a long day.

~~

"— can't afford it?" Samandriel's voice flows through the house the moment Castiel steps inside later that day.

"Why is it the employer's fault?" Michael challenges. "Wouldn't the money be better spent on raising wages or hiring more people?"

"But..." Samandriel pauses. "Okay, so I see your point, but what are the odds that the businesses would raise the wages anyway? They'd probably just keep the profits to themselves, same as before."