Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 164

"James Cordon, manager," he introduced himself, as if Castiel wasn't aware of the joke where he stole the manager's job.

"Shouldn't you be out... managing?" Castiel asked.

"I am managing!" James had said indignantly. "I'm managing the big acts of the night!"

"Really? Where's the big act of the night?" Castiel exaggerated looking around, and though he played it off as a joke, he definitely didn't feel like a big act. He was a three-hit wonder with just one album out, whose name no one had heard of a year earlier.

James had just said, "I think they're next door."

Castiel chuckled awkwardly, not entirely sure what to say to that. He was vaguely aware that he had started playing his guitar a bit faster at being put on the spot like that, so he consciously slowed his pace a little.

"But 'til I find them," James added, "Might as well stay here. How are you doing?"

"Pretty good," Castiel lied. "I'm a bit nervous." That was a big understatement, but he knew what it was leading towards. He had been given some sort of guidelines for how this would go, but no script, because he was supposed to add his own personality to it. It wasn't live, so they could refilm it if it sucked.

"What? Why?" James asked.

"I've, uh, I've never really performed in front of, um, this many people before," Castiel told him, his typical awkward self coming through with the "um"s and "uh"s. He had performed once on Jody's show a few months ago, others was maybe a tenth the number of people here now, and he was so nervous.

"Really?" James said as if he didn't plan for this. "Then this is pretty special. In fact..."

He just walked out of the room, leaving Castiel "alone," though the camera was still there. He looked into the lens and mouthed, "What is happening?" He already knew, but he was playing ignorant.

James walked back in the room with a giant cake, a pile of plates, and a bunch of forks, all sitting on a cart. He stopped it in front of Castiel, who burst laughing. He knew he was getting a cake, but this was better than he imagined. It was huge, for one, and the frosting was rainbow colored, because he's the gay icon. On the cake, it said, "Congrats on the first big performance! Hopefully you don't screw up enough that it's your last!"

"You like it?" James asked.

"Um..." Castiel just looked at it again for a moment as the camera man got a decent shot of it, waiting until the camera was back on him before he said, "Yeah, it's, uh... It's very inspiring. I really feel my, uh, my confidence, um, skyrocketing, you know, with this, um, this beautiful message of, um, of hope and encouragement."

"I knew you'd like it," James said. "Designed it myself."

"Well, you did a great job," Castiel told him.

"Well, since I'm here, can I have a piece?" James asked, already getting ready to take one.

"What? No!" Castiel replied without hesitation. "It's my inspirational cake. I'm gonna eat it all."

"But —"

"In the words of my favorite character in any movie," Castiel added, then said in his best Finding Nemo seagull voice, "Mine!"

"But —"

Castiel looked at the camera man as he added, "You can have a piece if you want to."

James scoffed. "Wow, Thanks, Castiel. I thought we were friends." He pouted and walked out of the room.

Castiel just watched him leave. After a few seconds, he picked up a fork and ate a small section of the corner of his cake without actually cutting off a piece. He smiled to himself. "I can taste the homosexuality."

The video ends there, but Castiel remembers James coming back off camera for a few minutes, and yes, he did get a piece of cake.

The show had gone fine, though people definitely seemed to pick up on his nerves, because he saw a few posts about it on Twitter the next day. After it ended, Castiel had met a few fans from the audience, and people he deemed actual fans and not just people who wanted to meet a celebrity he invited to hang out for a little while and eat cake with him in his dressing room.

They ended up eating most of it, though Castiel did bring a bit back to his hotel room that night, and he shared that with Chuck and Lucifer, who had both come with him, but not to the show itself. Lucifer was thrilled with the remains of the rainbow cake, to say the least.

The caption on the video says, "'I can taste the homosexuality.'"

Castiel chuckles to himself. It was just something random that came to mind, and he just spat it out without really thinking about it, and he was kicking himself for it for a while that night. Thankfully, it seems people thought it was pretty funny and not just plain stupid.

As Castiel scrolls to the next post, he finds another video from years ago. It seems like this account it going to be a blast from the past.

A/N 2 I apparently have great timing because Taylor Swift just released a music video for her song "End Game" with Ed Sheeran and Future so you should watch that because it's lit. Actually idk I've only seen the trailer so far because it comes out in six hours but by the time I publish this is will have come out.

A/N 3 OH MY CHUCK THAT VIDEO WAS ADORABLE SWEERAN IS THE CUTEST THING EVER ED AND TAYLOR CAN NEVER CHANGE SKFJDKSDHSKDH