Fame Crazy (Sequel to Strings Attached)

Chapter 186

A few weeks later, it's finally time for the dreaded Grammys. Contrary to popular belief, they aren't all fun and games, surrounded by the glitz and glamour of crowds of celebrities. Per usual, the first thing he sees when he steps out of the limo is a wall of paparazzi yelling at him to look at them.

Most people walk by, making eye contact with the cameras for a moment, either smiling or straight faced, but looking very professional. Part of what has earned Castiel the unofficial title of "weirdest celebrity" is his reaction to cameras, which is to make funny faces at them. He's seen a lot of people hating on him for it, but his fans find it funny, and it's much more fun than just walking down the red carpet like it's the fires into hell, so he does it anyway. He'll do some serious pictures later. For now, it's have fun or go home.

Dean is home watching the show live, and Castiel knows he can't take out his phone during the show, so he bought a cheap Bluetooth pedometer that connects to his phone, so he can see when someone - usually just Dean, which is fine - texts him, to provide some entertainment through the boring night. Dean spam texts him stories and funny jokes as they wait for the show to start, and, throughout the event, he keeps glancing down to see a new text from his boyfriend, which is nice.

Castiel wins a lot of awards - not only more than he ever has at one show, but more than anyone else during the night, too. His own awards aren't the most interesting ones, though. He's more focused on the "Best New Artist" category.

It's not until they announce that it's the next award that they're giving out that Castiel realizes that he's actually sitting next to one of the nominees - 15-year-old Jack Kline, the one Castiel likes. He has his metaphorical money on the kid winning. He definitely deserves it. That just makes it more disappointing when Bela Talbot wins.

Jack joins the rest of the audience in clapping for her, but Castiel can see the disappointment he's hiding. Castiel has done the same thing on many occasions. Logically, Castiel knows that he should stay quiet and not cause any drama, but, despite knowing that people will overreact about everything he does, Castiel decides to talk to Jack.

"Just so you know," Castiel says quietly, "if you had already been an established artist, any of your songs would have topped the charts easily. Don't get discouraged. Give it a year or two, and you'll definitely be leaving here with a Grammy."

Jack just looks at him for a moment with wide eyes, and it takes Castiel a moment to realize that he's new to the whole celebrity thing. He still gets starstruck meeting celebrities like Castiel, and probably will until he realizes that most celebrities are actually pretty annoying and not much different than a normal person.

Recovering his composure quickly, Jack says, "You think so?"

"I've seen a lot of stars come and go," Castiel says. "By now, I can pretty much tell who has what it takes, and you're one of the few who I could see still being around in ten, fifteen years."

"Really?"

"Definitely," Castiel says.

"Well, thanks!" Jack says with a grin. "That's really cool, coming from someone who really has been around for, like, ten years."

Not quite, Castiel says to himself. He sill has a couple more years until that, and he can't bring himself to forget the "Castiel is over party." This was all decided months ago, but after that twitter phenomenon, he's not sure what to expect with his next album. Maybe he won't make it to ten years of relevance.

Instead of saying that, though, Castiel just shrugs. "What can I say? Takes one to know one."

Castiel and Jack chat periodically throughout the night. He's starting to like this boy for more than just his music, which is really saying something, because Castiel rarely likes pop stars for their personality or their music.

Eventually, the announce the winner for the best music video, and Castiel is surprised to win yet another award. He goes up on stage, but instead of giving another boring acceptance speech, he decides to switch it up a bit.

"I know that the video technically says that I did stuff," he begins, "but I've never been this not involved in one of my music videos before. I just told people to show up. I think the real winner here is my brother, Lucifer, because he really put the whole thing together." He waits for the audience to stop cheering - they got really excited at Lucifer's name - before he continues, "So I really don't think it's fair that I accept this award. How about I call Lucifer up and let him do the honors?"

The audience seems to love that idea, so Castiel pulls out his phone, ignoring the million texts he's gotten from Dean and calling his brother on speaker. It rings for a few moments... And a few more... And a few more...

"It's gonna be really awkward if he doesn't pick up," Castiel remarks.

Right when Castiel is about to give up, Lucifer answers, "I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be at the Grammys so either I'm bad at dates, or you got abducted by aliens - or both."

"Neither," Castiel says, though he's sure his brother can hear the laughter from the audience through the phone anyway, which probably gives it away. "Hey, guess who just won a Grammy."

"Don't you already have, like, fifty of them?" Lucifer asks.

"Actually, it's not me who won," Castiel tells him, which isn't technically true. "You did!"

"I wasn't aware that I was a musician?" Lucifer says uncertainly. "I must be a really productive when I'm sleeping if I somehow managed to sleep-create something Grammy-worthy."

"No, idiot, it's for the 'Yasss' music video," Castiel says, rolling his eyes. "And since you put the whole thing together, have your moment of fame and say stuff."

"Ooh!" Lucifer says excitedly. "Okay, well, first, I'd like to thank the Academy, because I'm a cliché, and I'd like to thank Castiel for letting me, and I'd like to thank whoever tweeted at me that that whole thing was happening, and whoever usually directs Castiel's videos because they weren't there and I got to fill in, and my siblings for dealing with me their whole lives, and Gilbert Baker, who invented the rainbow flag, and, most importantly, my guinea pig, Mark, because he hasn't tried to bite my fingers in a couple days. Boom. Talk about a legendary speech."

Obviously, the audience seems to love that. Castiel just stands up there until Lucifer is done doing his thing, and takes the award to give to his brother next time they see each other. What does Castiel need with one more Grammy, anyway?

As Castiel sits down again, Jack asks, "Is he actually that weird and random on a daily basis?"

Castiel nods. "Always has been. Probably always will be."

"Huh." There's a brief pause, then Jack adds, "Oh, tell your boyfriend congrats on the Super Bowl."

"Sports fan?" Castiel guesses.

"Commercial fan."

Castiel chuckles. "Aren't we all? And I'll tell him you said that, but I don't think he really cares. He just wants to play the game. I don't think he cares if they win or not, and I don't think he cares that other people do care if they win or not."

"How can he not care if he wins the Super Bowl?"

Castiel just shrugs. "He's weird like that."

A/N Idk I just like Jack