Strings Attached

Chapter 99

Someone begins chanting, "We love Castiel! We love Castiel!" over and over, and it doesn't take long for everyone to chant it together. Castiel looks out into the audience with an awed smile on his face, which he covers with a hand.

"Thank you guys so much!" Castiel says. "I don't think you realize how much this means to me. I love guys, too. All of you. I wouldn't be here without you. Great, and now I'm a cliché," he jokes, and the chants turn to laughter.

"Next question," Jody announces. "'What's the best thing to ever happen to you?'"

Castiel gestures out into the audience. "This."

The reactions he gets are anything from "Aww!" to laughter. He loves them both.

"'What do you do with your free time, when you're not recording music?'" Jody reads.

"A lot," Castiel replies. "Um, I chat with my friends and family. And shoutout to Charlie Bradbury for being, well, you. Oh, and for introducing for to Wattpad!"

"'Wattpad'?" Jody echoes. "What's that?"

"An app — and I think a website, too, but I've never been on it on the computer — where you can read and write books," Castiel explains.

"Do you haven an account?" Jody asks.
Castiel nods. "I do. It's 'CastielNovakIsReadingYourFanfics2001' (A/N idk f that's a real account or not) I don't write anything, but I do like reading things on there. Oh, and by the way, you guys completely mischaracterize me. I keep seeing stories where I'm the most popular kid in a high school. I was literally as far from popular as humanly possible."

"I have a hard time believing that," Jody replies.

"Trust me, it's true. Like, there were these three guys, and I'm not going to name names, but they once sent me to the hospital room with broken bones in both my legs, my arm, a bruised back and ribs, a concussion, um, temporary amnesia, and a black eye."

"Oh my god," Jody says. "Why?"

"Because they thought I told my brother that they liked to throw me into lockers," Castiel says. "I didn't, though. If I was going to tell someone, it would have been Lucifer, because he could have beaten the crap out of them."

"They're dicks!" someone yells from the audience.

"Yes, yes they are," Castiel agrees. "They're definitely dicks. But I know at least two of them are in jail." Alastair got in trouble for a brawl of some sort, and Azazel was arrested for arson.

"Well, that's good," Jody says. "They deserve it. Alright, next question. 'Who is your best friend that's also a celebrity?'"

Castiel thinks about this for a moment. "I honestly don't know. I've got a couple of 'em. Taylor Swift, Blake Lively, Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Shawn Mendes, um... Pretty much everyone at Wayward Records... I feel really bad if I'm forgetting anyone, but that's all I can think of."

"Squad goals!" a girl yells from the audience, earning a light laugh from Castiel.

"Next question," Jody says. "'Do you have any celebrity enemies?'"

Castiel shakes his head. "Nope. I'm not saying I like everybody, and I'm sure there's a whole club of people who hate me, but I don't have any enemies."

"Aren't you and Lucifer enemies?" someone yells out.

Castiel facepalms. "Oh my god, Gabriel," he groans.

Jody laughs. "Your family is awesome."

"Not the word I'd use," Castiel jokes.

Jody glances at the next question. "'Who do you want to thank for getting here?'"

"That's a nice question," Castiel observes. "Um... Well, obviously, Eric Kripke and Jim Michaels have helped me out a lot, and Taylor when we went on tour together. But I think there are two people I really have to thank for this; my brothers Gabriel and Lucifer. Gabriel because when I tried to throw out my song notebook, he took it back and kept it. And he was right. I do like looking back at my old songs. And, I don't know if I've ever actually told this story before. You heard it here first, guys. I had absolutely no intention of ever being a singer-songwriter. But Lucifer made a bet with me, about the weather of all things. If I won, he'd stop referencing The Bee Movie, and if he won, I'd call Kripke. And, well, he won, and then I ended up here five years later. So, thank you, Lucifer, for loving The Bee Movie."

The story gets some laughs, and Castiel isn't surprised. He has to agree, it's an unusual story, to say the least.

"I think we only have time for one more question," Jody says. "So... 'If you could say one thing to anyone, what would it be?"

Castiel frowns. "Great. I just said my 'thank you's and now I need something else? No, just kidding. I'm glad you asked. There is something I want to tell someone, actually, but I think it would work best in a song. It's not one I wrote, but it works great for the situation. I've never been a big country fan, but Lucifer is, so if you're wondering how I know this song, it's thanks to him.

"Anyway, this goes out to... Well, I guess he was technically my first boyfriend, which I'm not proud of. He told me I wouldn't make it here, but he was wrong about this and just about everything else he ever said about me, even if I didn't realize it. You know who you are, so I won't name names, but this is for you."

Castiel doesn't know the song on guitar, so he sings the Toby Keith song a capella. It's easily one of his favorite songs, and it fits perfectly with the current situation.

"'How do you like me now? Now that I'm on my way! Do you still think I'm crazy, standing here today? I couldn't make you love me, but I always dreamed about living in your radio. How do you like me now?"

The room erupts into applause. Castiel grins, laughing to himself. He and Jody both stand up.

"Castiel Novak, everybody!"