Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 120

Castiel and Michael could have sat in front of their parents' graves for another hour in silence and neither of them would mind. The only thing that stops them is Castiel remembering that Dean should be here somewhere. He looks around, but the boy is nowhere in sight. When did he leave?

"You should probably go find your boyfriend," Michael says as if reading his mind.

"You can come with," Castiel invites him.

"No, I'm actually going to meet up with a friend in a few minutes."

"Is that your way of saying you're just going to stay here?" Castiel asks suspiciously, because "Michael" and "friends" don't usually go together.

"No," he says immediately, but seeing Castiel's skeptical look, concedes, "Okay, yes, but I am meeting up with a friend, so I'm not staying here for the next few hours, if that's what you're thinking."

"What friend are you going to meet?" Castiel asks, not caring that he sounds like an overprotective parent.

"Jay," Michael says as if it's obvious. "What other friends do I have?"

"Oh, don't tell me you're gonna go to the bar and get wasted," Castiel mutters.

"What? No! Business is slow on weekday mornings so I'm going to keep him company," he explains. "I'm not drinking."

"Oh, okay." Castiel pauses as something dawns on him. "Wait, don't you have classes on Mondays?"

"Oh, no, I graduated on Saturday."

Castiel gapes at him. "You — what? How did I not know this?"

"Cuz it's no big deal," Michael replies with a shrug. "I've been through a graduation before. College graduation was basically the same as high school graduation but the kids were eight years older and less annoying."

"But that doesn't mean we shouldn't have gone," Castiel protests. "That's the whole point of a graduation is the show off how much of a bawse you are."

"I don't really have anyone to show off to," he replies. "You guys already knew I was in med school. There was no reason to bore you with the ceremony."

"That is so not true," Castiel tells him, but he knows there's no point in arguing. If Michael doesn't think graduation is important, Castiel won't be able to change his mind. It's not like he could turn back time for them to go, either. It's a fruitless argument, really. "But you do need a graduation party."

Michael rolls his eyes. "Fine. When Anna graduates, throw her a party, and I'll invite Jay and pretend it's kind of my party, too."

Castiel chuckles. "So enthusiastic," he jokes.

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, you should probably go find Dean and make sure he didn't just leave you here. I'll see you later."

Castiel hesitates, not quite sure he wants to leave his brother here. It can't be healthy, coming here as much as he does. But he knows how important their dad was to him, and he doesn't want to pull Michael away, so he reluctantly agrees.

"Alright, but don't stay here too long." He gives his brother a quick hug before getting up to leave, calling over his shoulder, "And I swear to god, if you come home drunk —"

"I won't," Michael assures him. "I'm at least a little responsible."

"You better be."

Castiel meanders through the graveyard to find where Dean left the impala. Unfortunately, after nearly half an hour with Michael, it's not burned in his brain anymore. He eventually does find the car sitting on one of the paths in the graveyard, and, sure enough, he finds Dean inside it. He has his head down on his forearms, obscuring his face as he leans against the steering wheel.

Castiel taps on the driver's side window, which gets his attention immediately. His head shoots up, and when he sees that it's just Castiel, he gives his boyfriend a tired grin.

Castiel slides in the passenger's seat. "You good?"

Dean nods as he starts up the car and begins to drive away. "Yeah. I'm just not used to waking up at this ungodly hour. It's like high school all over again."

Castiel chuckles. "Well, we can go home and you can go to back sleep, how 'bout that?"

"Are we picking Misha up from your place first?" Dean asks, thinking of the dog they just ditched with a very willing Lucifer.

"Up to you."

Dean pauses, then shakes his head. "Too much time. I just want to go back to bed."

"You could've stayed home, you know," Castiel reminds him. "I do have my license."

"Yeah, but then you'd have to drive home alone, and where's the fun in that?"

"I could have handled half an hour alone if you wanted to sleep."

Dean just shrugs. "Welp, too late to do anything about that now."

Unsurprisingly, as soon as they get home, Dean kicks off his shoes and dramatically flops into bed. Castiel chuckles at that, watching his boyfriend with an amused smile.

"Come sleep with me," Dean whines. Realizing how that sounds, he adds, "But not like that. Unless you want to but probably not."

Castiel laughs. "I think I'm gonna pass on that one. I'll probably be here when you wake up, but if not, I probably went somewhere with Misha so don't wait up."

"M'kay." Dean buries his head in his pillow, blocking out the light the best that he can.

Castiel leaves Dean alone in their room and grabs his song notebook, a pencil, and his guitar. Maybe he can get something done while Dean's asleep. Here's hoping.