Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 149

It's just past five o'clock that evening when Dean and Castiel finally get home. Castiel had insisted they pick Misha up from his family 's house, but Dean just brushed the idea off every time he mentioned it. Castiel had threatened to leave the car in the middle of the drive to get his dog, but Dean must have known he wouldn't follow through, because it didn't work.

Dean pulls into the driveway, accidentally pressing the horn for a quick moment as he slides out of the car. He glides around the other side of the car to meet up with Castiel.

"I don't know if I can wait until 8:30 for your new song," he tells him.

"I don't know if I can wait that long to watch the video," Castiel replies. He hasn't seen the edited version yet, though he's seen individual clips after he filmed them. "This is really random, but I just want to take a moment to admire how nice it is outside at night in the summer."

"A big humid, though," Dean adds. "C'mon, let's go inside." He doesn't wait for a response, taking Castiel's hand and pulling him towards the door with unnecessary energy. Castiel just smiles slightly in amusement and follows him.

The second the door opens, Misha runs up to them. Castiel crouches down to pet the dog, and it's not until Dean tries to pull him away that Castiel realizes how suspicious this whole situation is. What's the rush? And wasn't Misha supposed to be with Lucifer?

His questions are answered when the two of them enter the living room, and as the lights turn on, a bunch of people jump out into view from behind the couch and out of the doorway, screaming, "Happy birthday!"

Castiel bursts out laughing. "Oh my god, what even...?"

"You love it, don't you?" Lucifer asks excitedly, pointing his vlog camera that was trained on Castiel to the wall for a moment.

Maybe "the wall" is the wrong term. It's really an array of sticky notes, placed perfectly in lines of different colors, creating a giant rainbow over the entire wall.

"This is the weirdest thing I have ever seen," Castiel laughs. "How did you even do that? We've only been gone, like, eight hours."

"Hard work and dedication," Gabriel replies. "And Lucifer being way too enthusiastic about it. Mostly that."

"It's true," Lucifer admits. "I got a bit excited. But in my defense, it was a lot more fun than it looks."

"And it was hard to keep them straight," Charlie adds. "So they're only kinda straight. But they're still straighter than us, so that works."

Castiel bursts out laughing at that. "Nicely played, Charlie. Nicely played."

"Come read it!" Claire says, gesturing for him to come closer.

Confused, he does so, and realizes that some of the sticky notes have writing on them. They're scattered across the wall, so he'd have to walk back and forth to find and read all of the notes that were written on.

Castiel squints his eyes, trying to read the note at the top left corner, where he can see something written in pencil. "I can't — I can't read that."

"Read 'em later, then," Charlie suggests. "Chat with us first. It's been way too long."

"Agreed," Castiel replies. "How's life?"

"Pretty good," she says, but her smile implies that it's better than she claims. "See this wonderful person?"

She takes someone by the arm and drags them into view. It's a girl he's never seen before, with darker skin and long curly hair. She gives him a small, somewhat shy smile.

"I told you I'd make sure you met Gilda," Charlie says. "Well, voilà. Castiel, this is my girlfriend, Gilda. Gilda, this is Castiel, but you already knew that because everyone knows that."

"Well, it's nice to meet you," Castiel tells the girl.

"You too," she replies.

And awkward silence.

"They're totally shipworthy, by the way," Lucifer says as he walks by them and into the kitchen.

Castiel chuckles, then says to Gilda, "You already have approval from the only person whose opinion really matters."

"Not that it's hard to get," Charlie adds. "Lucifer just instinctively knows who's cool and who's not, and he pretty much likes everybody."

Castiel glances at Anna when she says that. Cain is probably the only person Lucifer has ever not fallen in love with immediately, and Castiel still has no idea how things are going between them, because they seemed to have broken up, but things were fine last weekend at the graduation party. Anna has been on her phone since the party started, and Castiel can't help but wonder if it's Cain she's texting.

"Ooh, hey, Castiel!" Charlie says excitedly. "I found a really good fanfic on Wattpad that I keep forgetting to send you, so remind me to do that."

Castiel nods. "Can do. Were you in this one?"

She shakes her head in disappointment. "No, but you were this cool badass angel who shattered all the lights as he walked by and I won't spoil anything else but it was awesome and you'll love it!"

Castiel chuckles. "Sounds interesting? I'll try to remember to remind you to send it, but that's probably not gonna happen, knowing me."

Charlie shrugs. "I'll send it to you eventually either way."

"And I'll hopefully get around to reading it within a year," Castiel replies. When things get busy, he totally spaces on Wattpad books. He can't imagine how much he has to catch up on next time he checks in. No one ever seems to understand the struggle of having to balance a life with fanfiction.