Secrets and Camera Flashes

Chapter 43

A/N bet y'all didn't expect to see regular updates any time soon, huh?

There are three (3) text conversations after this, all at the same time. The easiest way to look at this, it would seem, is to look at each chat individually.

Let's start with Dean and Castiel, because they're the two we're really here for. Of course, because they're the two most important people in the fic, we're gonna look at this through both their perspectives at once, just to make it a little more confusing!

Dean: Hey man, I'm sorry for bringing up the idea of you spending the holidays with us. I couldn't tell what was real and what was a cover story, so I wasn't sure if you really did have a friend to spend Christmas with, and I didn't want you to have to spend it alone.

Dean spent a long time drafting that text. He knew he had to apologise. It was pretty obvious that Castiel was not looking forward to this, and he was the one that mentioned it. He doesn't want Castiel to think he just didn't notice.

Meanwhile, Castiel is sitting home alone and contemplating whether his life is worth living or if he should change his name and his face and move to Alaska. Getting a text from Dean makes him think he should hold off on that for a while. It was really sweet of him to follow up on that mess.

Castiel: I appreciate that. I could tell you were a little confused, but it was nice of you to try to help me out when you figured it out.

Dean: Of course I did. I didn't want to force you into something you didn't want to do. I'm sorry it didn't work out, though. You can always fake sick in a couple weeks if you really want to get out of it.

Castiel can tell Dean's thinking long and hard about these texts. He never texts with this much grammatical skill. Hell, the guy barely even uses periods on a normal day. Since nothing good can come out of complaining, Castiel decides he might as well try to make the guy feel better, if only because the grammar here is slightly disconcerting.

Castiel: It's fine. Charlie seems really excited, so she'd probably drag me along even if I was sick. She'd probably thank you if she could.

Dean raises an eyebrow. So this is about Charlie? Did he not want to give Charlie the option of meeting them? She seemed overjoyed at the idea, and Castiel seems to maintain the position that she wasn't faking it, so it definitely looks like Castiel was the only hesitant one. He's not sure why that would be if it wasn't for Charlie, so he has to ask.

Dean: What's up with Charlie, anyway? You've never mentioned her.

Again with the punctuation. Disgusting.

Castiel: As far as most of the world is concerned, she doesn't exist. She usually tries to stay out of anything celebrity-related. I figured she'd say the same thing about Christmas, but apparently not.

Huh. So maybe Charlie was supposed to be his escape plan. That makes Dean feel a little bit worse, in all honesty. He really made Castiel go all the way to Plan Z, and it still didn't work.

Dean: I'm sorry. I hope your Christmas isn't going to be too bad this year.

Damn, Dean really isn't getting the point, huh?

Castiel: It's okay, Dean. I promise. I think it'll be a lot of fun.

Dean: So you really don't mind?

Castiel: Of course not. I'm a little wary as to how Charlie's going to fair when she's in the same room as both you and Jo, but otherwise, I can't wait.