"Dammit, Castiel!" Anna yells as soon as she gets home.

Dean looks over at him and mouths, "Run."

Castiel glances around, but there's nowhere to escape to. Well, if he can't run, he might as well fight back.

"There you are!" She throws down her bag and marches over to him. "We had a plan! Go, hug, leave! Why the hell did you have to go talk to Ash?"

"Because I did," he replies shortly. "Hey, did you know Cain has a brother?"

"Yes, now stop changing the subject," she snaps.

"Do you know who his brother is?" Castiel continues.

"No?" She says it in a way that shows she obviously does know who he is.

"You do?" Castiel scoffs. "And you still dated him for four years?"

"Okay, first of all, there's no reason to assume Cain is anything like Crowley," Anna says. "Second —"

"Woah woah woah woah woah," Lucifer interrupts. "Crowley? Castiel's ex douche?"

"I'm not talking to you," she snaps before continuing, "But Crowley's not that bad anyway. His mom may be an absolute witch, but Cain and Crowley aren't."

"They — Crowley literally beat me to a bloody pulp!"

"No, his friends beat you to a bloody pulp," Anna corrects him. "You just targeted Crowley because you're still bitter about that fake date."

"What? No, I —" Castiel throws his hands up. "Fine. Take his side. See if I care."

He storms out of the house, ignoring Dean calling after him. Not wanting to risk anyone following him, he jogs away, hoping to be out of sight before anyone gets to the door. He knows the city pretty well, and he knows where he can go without getting hopelessly lost.

What's up with all the Crowley sympathizers today? Crowley attacked him literally every day at school. He embarrassed him in ways Castiel couldn't have even thought of on his own. He made Castiel's life a living hell, and he did it for fun. Why would anyone side with him?

Sure, Anna and Castiel aren't as close a they are to, say, Lucifer, but it's not like they don't like each other. As elementary school as it sounds, it kind of hurts his feelings. She acts like she doesn't just know of Crowley; it's like she knows him personally, like they've met before and they're friends. Would she really pick Crowley over him?

Then again, it's not like it's the first time. Dean was friends with Crowley for years. They were essentially co-kings of the hell known as high school for years. Before they were friends, Dean was essentially Crowley 2.0. He may not have hurt Castiel as often, but when he did, it was way worse. Even when Dean and Castiel started hanging out, he would still pick Crowley in a heartbeat for a long time.

But maybe that makes sense. Dean wasn't meant for someone like Castiel — some random loser off the street. Even now, Castiel may have stumbled into fame — and not very gracefully — but he's still essentially the same lame, boring person he used to be.

But Dean fought for everything he has. He's been playing football for probably twenty or so years so he could make it to the big leagues, and he still has to keep fighting for it. He may now mostly be famous for being Castiel Novak's boyfriend, but in reality, he's a lot more of a celebrity than Castiel.

Castiel has to stop jogging eventually, slowing to a walk as he catches his breath. He wipes the sweat off his forehead, trying to ignore the burning sensation in his lungs. Dean would still be able to keep running, he notices glumly. Hell, he probably wouldn't have broken a sweat.

He slides a hand in his pocket, relieved to feel not just his house keys but also some dollar bill in there. He probably has stray bills in all of his pants' pockets. This one happens to be a ten, which he's happy to note is definitely enough money to buy ice cream. It's either that or aimlessly walk around until he finally decides to brave the Crowley-loving world again.

So that's what he does. He tracks down the nearest ice cream parlor, where he orders a large mint chocolate chip ice cream and sits down outside to eat it, his back against the wall. He pulls out his phone, ignoring the texts and missed calls he has, and checks Twitter, as he does whenever he has a free moment, because what better way to make yourself feel worse than you already do than seeing exactly what people hate about you?

"Shouldn't Castiel Novak be releasing an album soon?"

Castiel silently answers "Maybe," before continuing.

"Still waiting for Castiel Novak's first single off his new album. I swear, if he's not planning to release it soon..."

Well, that could be problematic, seeing as he actually has no plans to release anything soon. Oops.

"Kinda glad Castiel Novak hasn't released anything. Keeps the haters away & brings fans together."

That's nice... maybe. At least he's not disappointing everyone.

"HOW AM I JUST NOW SEEING CASTIEL NOVAK SINGING ON SATANS CHANNEL?!"

Castiel chuckles. He actually got a fairly positive response to that video Lucifer posted. Obviously, he still got a bunch of people saying he sucks, but that's just the norm at this point.

He's still skimming through the mostly positive tweets mentioning his name when he gets another text from Dean.

Dean: Cas it's been over half an hour where are you are you okay

Castiel: I'm fine. I'll be back soon.

His finger hovers above the send button. After a few moments of hesitation, he deletes the message and exits out of messenger, not answering him.

He debates going back to Twitter, but he really wants to write his entirely unpublished book on Wattpad. He's pretty far in right now, and so far, it's been a mostly almost-happy, hopefully-kind-of-cute story. But he's still pretty upset over this whole Crowley thing, so he decides to take it out on his characters.

Sorry, Jake. Your sacrifice was necessary to proceed with this heartbreaking tale. RIP in peace.