Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 174

A/N Yoooo I'm going to Disney World next week so I'll probably be a lil bit more MIA but I'll try to update at least once

Soon, the overly gay song "Yasss" is out and somehow charting at number one, and then it's album release day. He's been in California for a day or so, but has yet to leave the hotel, instead opting to hang back and surf Twitter ah Instagram for a while until he can finally buy his album.

He shows up at Target when it opens, and he's thrilled to find that by the time he located the CD section, there are already five people there picking up his CD, two of which are parents, probably just for the ride. He doesn't mention anything, just reaching past them to grab a copy.

One of the girls glances behind her, seemingly annoyed, but her expression changes the moment she sees his face. "Are you Castiel?"

He grins. "I am."

"Oh my god, oh my —" She gapes at him. "You're — this — but — oh my god! I'm actually talking to you right now! I've literally been dreaming of this moment for seven years and it's actually here! What even is life? I've been a huge fan literally since day one! I've never heard of a mainstream gay artist before until you showed up and it's amazing and I relate to 'Yasss' on a spiritual level and I love it and I love you and oh my god!"

Castiel laughs. His fans' incoherent ramblings are always entertaining to listen to.

"Can I have a hug?" she asks.

"Of course." He's always hesitant hugging little people, and this girl is short and thin, probably about Charlie's size, so she's no exception. He's almost afraid he'll break her, but so far, he has yet to break a human being from hugging them, and thankfully, if there's a first time for everything, this is not it.

Obviously, she makes enough of a scene that he suddenly finds a cloud forming around him, and, naturally, this means he's stuck doing meet-and-greets for a very long time. He signs album covers and lyric booklets for fans, but only once they've bought the album and shown him the receipt, because he refuses to risk signing a store's property. Vandalism is never okay.

One group of girls, probably in high school or college, show up after half an hour, coming prepared, each with an already opened copy of the album, and one has a piece of paper in the other hand. Apparently, they've already heard the entire album and can already comment on each song, but came back just because they heard he was there.

Castiel signs all the albums for them and chats for a few minutes, and just as they're about to leave, the girl hands him the paper.

"Since we know you follow people on Instagram, you should follow us!"

He can tell by the usernames that they're not fan accounts, they're personal accounts, and as a general rule, he tries to avoid following them. As he explains to them, "I don't mind following fan accounts because they're basically out there for anyone who knows who I am and I can go through and read captions about why life sucks or whatever, but I feel like following personal accounts comes off as borderline stalkerish."

"No, it doesn't!" she assures him. "I think it'll actually come off better because you're interacting with fans as friends instead of just letting us into your life but not really knowing ours."

Castiel shrugs. "Makes sense. Here, I'll follow you now so I don't forget or lose the paper, because I'm just stupid enough to do that."

He pulls out his phone and shields it from view as he types his passcode, but he makes a mental note to change his passcode again soon just in case someone managed to catch it. He opens Instagram to find that it's still open to his verified account, and the first post to show up is from Anna. He doesn't really look at it, just double tapping it quickly before starting to switch accounts, but he pauses, then asks, "Wanna do a you-should-come-to-Target promo video with me?"

Obviously, they're thrilled at the idea. He invited the clump of people standing back waiting their turn to meet him to join in, and records a selfie video for his story.

"Hey, guys! Look who I met at Target!" He pans the camera around to get everyone in it. "This is my new friend Hailey."

Given her turn in the spotlight, she says, "Don't forget to buy and stream the album on Spotify to get it to number one!"

"Nah, don't do that," Castiel says. "Waste of time. And this is Liz."

Liz waves at the camera. "He really is an actual angel, don't at me."

Castiel chuckles. "She's lying. Ignore her," he jokes. "And this is Em."

"Track six is the best and you should buy the album just for that!"

The video ends there, and he posts it on his story before switching to his other account.

"So you actually do run both accounts," Hailey says.

Castiel nods. "Yep. The only other person I would ever even consider letting use my accounts would be Lucifer, because at least it would be entertaining." He looks between the paper with their usernames and his phone, following all three of them.

"Not even Dean Winchester?" Liz asks.

Castiel scoffs. "The day Dean willingly decides to use Instagram for fun will probably be the start of the apocalypse. If he wanted to use my account, I would be scared."

A few minutes later with a different group of teenagers, this one three girls and two boys, which is cool, Misha comes up in conversation. One of the guys asks about a picture, and just because he's cute, Castiel decides to find one to show them.

He can see their curiosity when he opens his photos app, and part of him wants to shield the screen, but he doesn't want them to think he has something to hide. As he scrolls through his pictures, he remarks, "I honestly have no idea what types of pictures I have on here, so don't be surprised if you see, like, a random picture of a unicorn." It would probably be from Lucifer. "Ah, there's a Misha."

The picture he shows them is the dog lying on the floor right next to the couch, and he remembers sending it to someone to joke about the fact that Misha refused to actually sit on the couch with him.

"He's so cute!" one of the girls squeaks.

"He almost looks like a normal dog when he closes his eyes and lies down on the ear that's basically cut off," Castiel adds.

"Can you post it on Instagram so we can remember him forever?" she asks.

Castiel hesitates. "I don't really like posting pictures of him, just 'cause he's kinda broken and as much as he's healed, he can still freak people out when they're not expecting him to look like a pirate that forgot his eyepatch, ya know?"

They seem to accept that reasoning easily, which is nice. He doesn't like being put on the spot like that, and if they pushed, he probably would have posted the picture just because he hates disappointing people.

"What are all the Instagram pictures?" the cute guy asks.

"Just cute Instagram posts." He shows them one of the posts, which is just a long caption from a fan about what Castiel means to her. He swipes through briefly as he says, "I save my favorite posts to look at again later."

They seem to find that adorable, but for Castiel, it's really just mental self preservation. He's started going through them when he's upset or stressed, and it always makes him feel better. It's honestly the best part of having his Instagram account in general.