Strings Attached

Chapter 7

"Who's your favorite?"

Castiel thinks about this for a moment. His favorites change frequently, but his favorite song doesn't. He might as well go with the artist that sings that. "Kansas."

Dean grins. "Nice choice. What's your favorite song by them? Carry on my Wayward Son?"

"Dust in the Wind," Castiel replies.

"That's good, too," Dean agrees. "I tried to figure that out on the guitar, but it didn't go very well."

"It's hard," Castiel agrees, but he doesn't really mean it.

"Can you play it?" Dean asks curiously.

"Not off the top of my head," Castiel replies. "If I had the music, I could."

"I guess that's why they invented the Internet, then," Dean replies, pulling out his phone.

"No, you don't need to —"

"I want to see if you can play it," Dean interrupts. "Because I can't. And don't sugar coat it if you can. I want to see how much of a master you are at this." He walks over to his guitars. "Acoustic or electric?"

"Acoustic," Castiel answers, only hesitating because he doesn't really want to do this. He wouldn't do it on electric anyway.

Dean takes the guitar and hands it to him. Castiel puts it in his lap, the incorrect position so it doesn't press against the small bruise on his rib from getting hit there. He's not even sure when that was. As Dean searches the song, Castiel tunes the guitar. It's mostly correct, but he adjusts it slightly anyway.

As he waits, he tries to figure it. He's heard if enough that he can sort of guess how it might go, but not very well. He's sure he'll figure out how to do it with the music, but at the moment, he can't play it by ear.

Dean shows Castiel his phone, which is open to a site with the lyrics, the name of the chord written above the words with the accent. "That good?"

"That works," Castiel says, his eyes on the phone. It's so small, he has to squint his eyes to see it. "Can I...?"
Dean seems to know what Castiel is saying, because he hands over the phone. He takes a moment to find the strumming pattern, then goes through the start, memorizing the beginning. Oh, that's not bad. He can play that.

He puts the phone down and gets ready. He plays the introduction slightly faster than necessary, because he'd like to be done with this soon. He glances at Dean's phone again for the part with the words, then stops playing to scroll down. Well. This is going to be interesting.

Castiel practices a couple of times silently before playing it again. This time, he actually gets to the words.

"I close my eyes, only for a moment and the moment's gone. All my dreams pass before my eyes, a curiosity. Dust in the wind. All they are is dust in the wind. Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see. Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind..."

Castiel looks up at the phone again for the break in the lyrics, silently playing this part. Castiel tries again from midway through where he just was.

"Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea. All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see. Dust in the wind. All we are is dust in the wind..." He plays part of the new part, but the guitar slips, and he loses his fingering. He sighs and pulls it back up.

"It would be easier if you held it correctly," Dean tells him.

"No, this works."

"That's going to keep slipping like that," Dean warns him. "I can get you a footstool thingy if that helps."