The next day is the community graduation party - a combined party for Anna, Claire, and Michael. The only person Michael's inviting is Jay, but they haven't heard whom the other two are bringing. Some of the extended family is supposed to come, too, but there were no real details on whom that includes. It's their first time back at the Novak house since they went off to LA, so seeing everyone again should be nice.

"You brought my doge!" Lucifer squeals as soon as they come in, kneeling down and hugging Misha lightly with one hand, his other hand holding his camera, angled down carelessly at the floor.

Castiel drops the leash. "He's all yours."

"Yes!" Lucifer unclips the leash and tosses it on the stairs. "Oh, and welcome back."

"Who is it?" Anna calls from... somewhere.

"Castiel and Dean," Lucifer replies loudly.

Anna doesn't seem to care, but Claire comes to see them when she hears who it is.

"Hey, long time, no see," she greets them with a grin.

"Way too long," Castiel adds. "And how are you?"

"Our of high school and feeling great," she replies. "Until college starts, at least, because that's gonna suck."

"Wouldn't know," he tells her. He never even had to finish high school - though he did technically graduate online - never mind college.

"How're things with you?" she asks. "Album all wrapped up?"

He nods. "Yep, mostly. It's all pretty rushed, but it's manageable."

"Is your song coming out soon?"

He nods. "Yeah, soon," he replies vaguely.

"Is that all I'm getting from you?" she guesses.

"Yep."

"Great," she deadpans. "Just treat me like any ol' fan. Really feeling the love here."

Castiel shrugs. "Sorry. I'm announcing it tonight at midnight, if it makes you feel any better. You'll find out soon."

"Sounds good," she replies.

Everyone makes their way over to the living room, where the rest of the family is lounging around. Make that families - Adam and Sam are both there, too, not that anyone's surprised.

"Guys, Castiel and Dean are here," Lucifer announces.

Anna ignores that in favor of her phone, but the rest of the families give them some sort of brief greeting, like a wave or muttered, "Hey."

"Been a while," Gabriel says. "And Dean?"

"Hmm?"

"You're still dead to me," Gabriel deadpans.

"What? Why?" Dean asks, confused.

"'Castiel is dead'?" Gabriel reminds him.

Dean bursts out laughing at that. "Oh, god, I forgot about that. That was awesome. I can't even lie and pretend I regret it."

"And I can't even lie and pretend I forgive you for being an ass," Gabriel replies.

"It's your fault for trusting the media," Dean tells him. "You really should've known. Don't you think that if Cas had actually died, someone would have told you, instead of waiting for you to text him?"

"Well..." Gabriel trails off, not quite sure how to counter that.

"You can't expect Gabe to think things through like that," Sam tells his brother. "He doesn't have that level of intelligence."

Gabriel mock glares at him. "Yeah, well I'm smarter than you!"

"Sure you are," Sam says in a jokingly sarcastic way.

"If I'm gonna have to put up with this 'til my friends show, I'm out of here," Anna tells them.

That quiets things down a bit. Castiel and Dean take a seat on the floor, each pulling out their phones in unison. Castiel opens his fan Instagram, not surprised by the 23 new followers since the previous night. It's unusual to see any less when he's MIA for a few hours. He goes through his notifications, following other fan accounts back. His follower count has really been climbing lately. It's insane.

He posts a few pictures he screenshots from other accounts with random captions, finding nothing of interest in his feed. There doesn't seem to be any new controversies or conspiracies, which is probably a good thing, even if it's boring. He still likes reading the captions, though.

"LITTLE CASTIEL WAS SUCH A PRECIOUS LIL BEAN FKSKDBSKDBSN!"

Apparently "precious" and "awkward" are the same now.

"All I want is a Caslor duet! Is that too much to ask for?"

Castiel thinks back to that song he and Taylor write about a year ago that never went anywhere. Maybe they should record that sometime. The fans would eat it up, that's for sure.

"I miss when Castiel would like our posts every now and then."

Oh, they have no idea.

"I feel like I've made most of my best friends through the CN fandom."

Castiel smiles to himself at that. He wouldn't have thought that was possible when he first started making music, but even in the month or so he's had this Instagram, he's made countless friends - under the pseudonym Cassius, of course. No one knows who he really is, because that would completely ruin the game.

"I would give my first child for Castiel to acknowledge my existence."

Naturally, Castiel has to acknowledge their existence, so he likes the post and comments, "Something tells me Castiel wouldn't have much use for your first child."

"If Castiel noticed me I would actually die omg that would be awesome. Too bad he doesn't have an insta."

He gets that type of thing a lot. Had he been using a public Castiel Novak account, he would have told them not to die in some sarcastic but funny way, but because no one knows it's him, he doesn't have a response to that.

"I really want to meet his Charlie friend because she sounds lit."

Castiel comments her Instagram user, saying, "Just go stalk @GirlWithTheDungeonsAndDragonsTattoo and try to start up a convo in the comments of her recents because she seems to be up for that." She deletes comments like "Love you!" and "Where's Castiel?!" but has been known to chat with other people who genuinely want to talk to her.

"Castiel is honestly a gift to the lgtb+ community."

He's sure that's how he got some of his fans. It's like people watching Shadowhunters for Malec - gays tend to flock together. Maybe that's just his experience, but it certainly seems true.

"How come no one ever comments on the kys option in all Castiel's Twitter polls? Like am I the only one who thinks that's sad?"

Castiel scrolls through the responses briefly, looking for someone who understands.

"Ikr and people actually choose it. Disgusting."

"I think he's just being weird when he does it. Everything he does has that weirdness factor."

"It kinda scares me because he usually listens to whatever we choose, and he did say he is/was suicidal so what if kys actually won?"

Seeing that no one quite understands his logic, he replies with, "I think he's just trying to give the haters something to respond with so he can get an accurate measurement of what his fans want without their input." Take out the "I think" and switch the pronouns to first person and it's what he would have said on a normal public account.

He's in the middle of spamming some other random fan account with likes and comments when he gets a text from Amelia the vet.

Amelia: Heard you went to Cali and back to SD but you haven't been back in NY for months. What am I supposed to do without my Misha fix?

Castiel: I'm probably coming back in a few weeks if that makes you feel any better.

Once Dean's off at Patriots training camp and Castiel is done filming his next music video, he'll probably go back home to New York for a while, so he'll get to see her again. Misha will be happy to see Dog again, that's for sure. They love each other.

Amelia: You better be. It's getting lonely over here without you two.

Castiel: Well, I'll be sure to bring Misha back to liven up the place.

"Who's Amelia?" Dean asks, looking over his shoulder.

"A friend," Castiel replies vaguely, not looking up.

"A friend meaning...?" Dean prompts.

"Someone whose company I enjoy?"

Dean facepalms.

"Just someone from New York," Castiel clarifies. "Her dog is Misha's best friend."

Lucifer clears his throat. "Excuse you, I'm Misha's best friend."

Castiel rolls his eyes, slightly amused. "Alright, Misha's best dog friend."

"Alright, carry on."

Castiel looks over at Dean expectantly. He seems to understand what he expects, because he says, "It's just not the same if I pull a Kansas on anyone but you."

Castiel chuckles. "I feel so special."

"Because you are special," Dean replies, putting an arm around him.

Castiel rests his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, a faint smile on his lips. How did he luck out in the boyfriend department so much?