Castiel doesn't go to bed that night because he's tired. Instead, he goes to bed to get away from social media, because although Instagram was mostly positive, it's a pain to reply to comments on it, and Twitter was too toxic for him. It seems most of stan Twitter has decided the new song sucks, and though that was kind of what he was going for, he doesn't really feel like going through the same tweet from hundreds of people, so sleep is a better alternative.

He does manage to sleep for a while, but he's awake again by six o'clock the next morning, long before Dean will get up. He could go to social media, but with his new "theme," he's not sure he wants to get started on that this early.

He slides out of bed as quietly as possible, careful not to wake Dean up in the process. He makes his way to the living room, where his guitar is leaning against the wall in the corner. It doesn't take long for him to be seated on the couch with his guitar in his lap, each string tuned roughly how it should be, though he can't be sure it's exact because he tunes it by ear.

Playing guitar is a nice way to wake up. After so many years, it's become second nature, and he doesn't have to focus on it at all. His mind is free to wander, and he finds himself thinking of everything from last night's new single to how he misses being able to look around at his awards as he plays.

Maybe it was a bad idea, letting his mind wander like that, because it comes up with the rather depressing realization that it's been exactly a year since Michael told the family that their father had been killed. Castiel had almost forgotten that, which would have been nice, avoiding the memory, but it's probably good that he remembered, if only for the mere fact that he didn't forget. He makes a mental note to stop by his father's grave today. Maybe he'll bring flowers to leave there.

Misha patters out into the kitchen, looks around, and walks over to Castiel in the living room. Castiel puts his guitar down and moves over, giving Misha space to jump up with him like he usually does, but Misha doesn't.

He looks up at Castiel expectantly, so he moves over farther to give the dog more space. When Misha doesn't jump up, he pats the cushion, and Misha reads his head there, looking up at his owner with just his eyes.

"Weirdo," Castiel whispers to him, scratching behind his ears as he continues going through his feed.

The first post of interest that he sees is a screenshot of an article about Castiel with the headline, "Has Castiel Novak finally snapped?" The rest of the article is hidden from the picture, but he can only assume it's about his new song and his attacks on Bela over Twitter.

The caption of the picture says, "I feel like this should be called 'Has Castiel finally decided he's done with people's shit?'"

Castiel gives the tweet a like, then moves on. The next few posts are pictures of him, some from the video, that are just really excited that he's finally coming back to the music world, and supposedly coming back better than ever.

There's another article he sees a few minutes later, titled, "Castiel Novak is trying to be something he's not, and it's making him look like an idiot." The caption is pretty nice, saying, "Castiel is whatever he damn well wants to be."

The next post is a picture of his tweet to Bela that said, "Oh, sweetie, I could leave for five years and still be more relevant than you. Still rock a dress better, too," which he realizes in hindsight looks very weird out of context. He swipes to see the post also has an assortment of pictures of him in drag, most of which he barely remembers. The caption says, "ROCK A DRESS BETTER I AM DECEASED! Also I never realized there were so many pics of Castiel in drag until I googled pictures of him in a dress."

Castiel comments on that, which is a pain with one hand because he's still half petting Misha, and says, "Honestly, I had no idea there were this many pictures, either. I'm beginning to wonder what I'm doing with my life..."

But he really does know what he's doing with his life. He's having a good time with an amazing dog and the best boyfriend he could ever ask for.

~~

Castiel spends a while on Instagram as he plays with Misha, eventually sitting on the floor so his dog will be able to rest his head on the boy's lap. It's a few hours later when Dean wakes up, and he looks slightly confused when he walks out into the kitchen, but seeing Castiel seems to clear it up.

"There you are!" Dean joins him in the living room, leaning against the wall nonchalantly. "It's weird to wake up and not see you or hear your guitar."

"Yeah, Misha was being a pain," Castiel tells him, as if Misha could possibly be anything other than perfect. He really deserves more time in this book.

"Clearly," Dean replies. "He stole my boyfriend."

"And now I can't move," Castiel adds. It sucks, too, because his leg fell asleep a few minutes ago, but moving it would wake up his dog. Actually, Misha might already be awake, but he doesn't seem to want to move. "Hey, by the way, I'm thinking of going back to New York a few days early if I can get a flight."

"What? Why?" Dean asks. "I thought you liked this place."

"I do," Castiel assures him. "But I kinda miss my other house." And he doesn't really want to deal with his siblings at the moment. Anna apparently hates him, and Michael and Samandriel fight more than anyone he's ever met. Not quite the happy family he wants to spend all his time with. "So I was wondering if you want to come with me," Castiel continues. "Just for a few days, and then you'd have to go to Mass, obviously, but a few days is better than nothing."

Dean has to think about this, but after a pause, agrees, "Yeah, sure. I'd always wanted to see your house."

"It's honestly not that cool," Castiel tells him. "It's just a house."

"No, this is 'just a house,'" Dean corrects him. "Rumor has it you live in a freaking mansion."

"N— well, kinda, but no," Castiel replies. "It's pretty lame, though."

"I guess I'll have to see for myself."