Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 129

Misha runs around the hotel room, sniffing everything in sight. Dean rolls his eyes and starts packing the suitcases away in the closet as Castiel laughs. He sits down on the bed and watches his dog trot around the room, a smile on his face. Ah, Misha. He's such a cutie.

"So, what songs are you recording?" Dean asks him.

"All of 'em," Castiel replies. "No sneak peaks, though. The album's top secret."

"Even to me?" Dean asks, frowning.

"Even to you," he replies.

"Can you at least tell me what your first single is about?" Dean asks. "Or at least what it's called?"

Castiel mimes zipping his lips.

"But Cas!" he whines.

"Don't worry," Castiel says with mock sincerity, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're gonna hate it."

"That's a joke, right?" Dean asks.

"If it makes you feel better, then sure," Castiel replies.

"Cas, what are you doing?" Dean asks suspiciously, figuring out that there's more going on with this album than just the songs.

"You'll figure that out soon enough," Castiel replies carelessly. "Don't worry. I'll fill you in after the single's been released, but you'd try to talk me out of it if I told you now, so I can't." Castiel shrugs. "Sorry."

Dean just shakes his head and flops down on the bed with him. "Great," he deadpans. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Is there at least a plus side to all of this?"

"I'm showing the fans that they already have what they want," Castiel tells him.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You'll see," Castiel replies. "It'll all make sense eventually."

~~

Castiel brings Dean with him when he goes to record. Obviously, being a professional football player, he finds no interest in the limo like Lucifer did, but he does seem to like the studio.

Castiel stops him in the corner of one of the rooms, just in front of an old acoustic guitar. He drops Misha's leash and lets him run free within the bounds of the room and picks up the guitar. A quick strum shows that it's far from tuned properly, so he quickly tunes it by ear, giving it a roughly accurate sound.

"This guitar is in a lot of my songs," Castiel tells his boyfriend, strumming it mindlessly.

"I thought you used your old guitar."

He shakes his head. "Nope. I bring that one to concerts, but it's too much work flying it between New York and California all the time. I don't want to risk breaking it."

"Seems legit," Dean replies.

Castiel isn't surprised that no one really seems to care that Dean is here. Some people come say hi as they pass in hallways, but for the most part, people realize who he is and leave him to go about his business. Misha get more weird looks, but everyone recognizes Castiel, so no one tells him to get the dog out of there.

Castiel knows most of the people in the building, and he gives most of them a brief greeting as they pass. Dean just watches him with a confused look, obviously surprised that Castiel recognizes so many people, but doesn't ask him about it until they're mostly alone.

"I've been working with them for years," Castiel reminds him. "Most of them have helped with either recording or performing my songs at some point in time. I've had a lot of people on tour with me. Between rehearsals and performing, I've had a lot of time to get to know them."

Dean nods, satisfied with the answer but not quite sure how to respond to it.

~~

The day is fairly productive. By the time Castiel and Dean head back to the hotel, the band has the music, and Castiel has told Jim about some song switches. He has a few new songs, two of which he's planning on releasing as his first and second singles off the album; the only two he'll put out before the album itself comes out.

He tells Jim that the album title stays secret from everyone but himself until after the release of the second single, because it will definitely give away the game. He also make sure they've scheduled the second release date in the middle of August, with the first single about a month earlier on his birthday in the middle of July. Needless to say, Jim wasn't happy to know that even he doesn't get to know what it's called, but Castiel refuses to change his mind. He has a plan, and it'll either be horrible or amazing — or maybe both. At the point, who knows?

But before any of that happens, though, the songs have to be recorded, which means it'll take time, because the band still has to learn them. To make things easier on them, he decides he'll play five of them with just the guitar — the song he played at the concert he ran off during was supposed to be acoustic, anyway, so he just had to pick four more. 20 songs is still a lot, but it's better than 25. If the band can pick up one each day, it will only be three weeks until they have the album, but he picks a different route. As the band tries to binge learn the new music, Castiel will film the new music video and does the photoshoot for the album cover. He'll just have to have the first song recorded first.

If all goes well, he'll have the entire album done in three weeks. Obviously, if no one knows the album title, the cover can't be completely finished, but they can use the picture without the name for the covers of the singles on iTunes.

"Cas, chill," Dean advises him that night as his boyfriend is muttering all this under his breath. "Everything's gonna go fine. Just calm down."

Castiel takes a deep breath and nods. "Yeah." He gasps as an idea comes to him, and he jumps off the bed and grabs his song notebook.

"You good over there?" Dean asks.

"Yeah, I'm great," Castiel replies. "I'm gonna put a letter in the lyric book like Taylor does and it's gonna be great."

Dean raises an eyebrow. "Right, okay. Do you always get this worked up over albums like this?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Castiel replies. "It's a whole big thing for me. Music is literally my entire life —"

"I thought I was your life!" Dean whines

"Okay, yes, you too," Castiel concedes.

"Okay, carry on," Dean replies.

"My wayward son," Castiel adds, this promoting a spontaneous sing-along.