Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 42

"But I don't want a long day!" he complains. "I want it to be bedtime so the day's over!"

Dean pats him on the back with fake sympathy. "Life is hard, Cas."

"Tell that to the starving kids in Africa," Gabriel mutters.

"That could be an issue because I'm not going to Africa anytime soon," Castiel tells him.

"Very funny," Gabriel deadpans.

"I know, right?" Castiel replies with an exaggerated grin. "I should quit the music business and become a comedian!"

"I like how you say that as if there's any possibility of you not writing music anymore," Dean teases.

"I never said that. I could write it and keep it to myself," Castiel defends his hypothetical position.

"Have you met Lucifer? He'd find it and release it himself," Gabriel reminds him.

"And it'd be online so you wouldn't get money from it," Sam adds.

"Actually, that'd be kinda fun," Castiel says thoughtfully. "Cuz I don't need the money and I wouldn't have to do anything I didn't already do when I was younger. I should do that!"

"I think you're forgetting that you have other arrangements," Dean reminds him. "Like, oh, I don't know, that tour in a couple months?"

"Ooh, while we're on the subject, I'll be right back," Castiel announces before sprinting out of the room. He runs to his bedroom, almost slamming into the newly awake Michael before the older boy slides out of the way, and finds his backpack. After spending a minute or so digging through it, he grabs the envelope and quickly returns to the living room.

He slides a finger under the flap of the envelope, something he's become an expert on from opening so much mail in his lonely home. He pulls out some small papers and, after reading the words written on it, hands them out.

"It's about time," Gabriel huffs in exaggerated annoyance as his eyes skim the slip. "Do we have to go to this one or do we have choices?"

Instead of answering, Castiel hands him another one.

"Awesome," Gabriel says, mostly to himself. "Three concerts, hellz yeah!"

"I figure you'll probably only come to the first one like always, but I decided I'd give you choices," Castiel replies with a shrug.

"Do I get to go to the one in Mass?" Dean asks.

Castiel nods as he rummages through the ten people's worth of tickets. He hands Dean five — two for his shows in Massachusetts and three for Sioux Falls, which is always his most popular destination and consequently where he plays more shows.

"Awesome," he says with a grin. "I've never been to a concert. I'm psyched, man."

"You better be," Castiel replies. "And you're in the standy area so get there early if you want to be right by the edge of the stage."

"How early would that be?" Dean asks.

"An hour? Maybe? I don't know. I'm usually backstage procrastinating everything I should be doing at that point."

"An hour?" Dean repeats in exaggerated horror, mock gaping at him. "You expect me to get there an hour early? I may love you, Cas, but not that much."

Castiel scoffs. "Oh, great, thanks."

"No, kidding," Dean assures him, pressing a kiss to his forehead. "I'll be out there waiting before doors open. Promise."

"And I'll be backstage watching," Castiel replies. Because it's not like he has anything to do before a concert besides watch who's there. Except, like, the twenty billion things he usually does the five minutes before he goes on. What? He's a procrastinator. Deal with it.

It's funny, actually, how he would never procrastinate when he was in school, back when there was no push for him to do assignments immediately, but now that he has more deadlines and millions of people watching his every mistake, he puts everything off until the last minute. Okay, maybe "funny" is the wrong word for that. Perhaps the right phrase would be "incredibly stupid," but since when did Castiel ever to be claim otherwise?

"Earth to Castiel." Dean's voice snaps him out of his thoughts. "You alive in there?"

"Yeah, sorry. Just lost in the dark abyss that is my mind."

"So, the usual?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Castiel agrees with a nod. "Wait, so, what'd I miss?"

"Absolutely nothing," Gabriel replies. "Nothing fun ever happens here 'til Lucifer's up."

Dean wears a teasing smile as he jokes, "Let's hope Lucifer doesn't wake up for a while, then."