Secrets and Camera Flashes

Chapter 49

"I can't believe you," Charlie huffs, and Castiel can tell by how dramatically she crosses her arms that she's not serious.

He raises an eyebrow. "What did I do this time?"

"You said Dean could share Jo's bed instead of me?" She narrows her eyes. "I see how it is."

"There is absolutely no way she would have gone for that," Castiel says. "Besides, I'd rather spend the night with you than Dean anyway."

A smile creeps up on Charlie's face. "I can't even pretend to be mad after that. Curse you and your propensity to be adorable."

Castiel shrugs. "It's a gift."

"Ooh!" Charlie flails around for a moment as she tries to find her phone, which, they find out after a few seconds, has fallen between the cushions. "Speaking of gifts, I couldn't give you this one in front of everyone but I have to show you the gift I sent to your place."

"Oh, hey, me too!" Castiel says, already reaching for his phone, too.

"C'mere!" Charlie pats the couch, and Castiel immediately takes a seat. She swipes through her photos for a few moments, then hands the phone to him. "It's, like, 13 pictures or something. You gotta swipe."

Castiel takes the phone from her, and, with one look, immediately hands it back. "Nope. Not doing this one today."

Charlie bursts out laughing. "Come on, look at it!"

Castiel takes the phone back and swipes through the pictures. The first one is the front page of a calendar, and she must have customized it because Castiel would be shocked if there was actually a calendar out there with Dean Winchester in front of a rainbow background out there.

Every single picture in the calendar, it seems, is also of Dean, but they're arguably worse than the cover. The first three are from the Calvin Klein underwear photoshoot that Castiel has seen more times than he cares to admit. The next two are pictures of him at the beach, and Castiel says a silent 'thank you' to whatever paparazzo took these pictures. The rest are just shirtless pictures, either from photoshoots or the paparazzi and, in one case, what looks like an Instagram selfie. The only exception is September, which is a picture of Dean teaching him how to play guitar.-- a "birthmonth surprise," Charlie calls it.

"I hate you," Castiel says, handing the phone back to her. "How long did you spend making this calendar I didn't want?"

"Way too long," she says cheerfully. "And it was totally worth it."

"You know I'm not going to use it," Castiel says.

"I know you think you're not gonna use it," Charlie says. "I have faith that you'll keep it, though."

"I won't," Castiel tells her. "The first thing I'm doing when I get home is getting that calendar and throwing it out."

"Sure you will," she says. "Sure you will."

"In other news, though," Castiel says, "I made you something that won't make you want to throw a phone across the room."

"Ooh, gimme!"

Castiel hands her his phone, which is open to a picture of a Captain Marvel Funko pop. She's wearing the costume/outfit/superhero getup people typically picture her in, with her long hair from before she cut it. The difference is that this Captain Marvel has vertical rainbow stripes in what used to be her blonde hair.

"Wait, hold on, this is actually adorable," Charlie says. She zooms in on the picture. "You made that?"

Castiel nods. "I mean, I colored it. I didn't make the whole thing."

Charlie scoffs. "You truly are a god among men, huh?"

"Well, I certainly won't deny that," Castiel says with a grin.

Charlie wraps her arms around him in an awkward side hug that doesn't really work on a couch. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"I was asking myself the same thing about you a second ago," Castiel says. "But in a negative way."

Charlie just laughs. "Yeah, that's fair." She stops hugging him and pulls her feet up on the couch, leaning against his arm comfortably. "Let's watch stupid YouTube videos or something 'til it's actually time to go to bed."

Castiel takes his phone back from her and exits the Photos app in favor of YouTube. "ASDFmovies?"

"Always."