Holy shit.

That the first thing that goes through Castiel's mind when Anna finally comes home. She's so... Wow. Her crop top shows her overly prominent hipbones, her long legs smaller than what Castiel thought humanly possible. Her skin is pale, and her hair is looking... unhealthy, for lack of a more descriptive word.

"Hey, Castiel!" She says it with excitement, but she isn't as energetic as she usually is. Ordinarily, he'd brush it off, assuming it's a summer-just-started-why-would-I-sleep type of thing, but with everything else, he finds himself doubting that.

"Hey, kiddo," he replies, giving her a hug. He can feel her ribs through her shirt.

Should he talk to her about this? He told Michael he would, but he meant if he saw the behavior over a few days, not just how obvious her appearance makes it. Should he wait a little while and talk to her later, instead of coming in all know-it-all-like? Probably. Or maybe tonight, so she can sleep on it. Decisions, decisions.

"How're things going?" she asks him. "Are you super busy and stuff?"

He shakes his head. "Nope, actually. I don't really have to do anything for another month."

"So you're stuck with us for a month?" she surmises. "Awesome!"

He chuckles. "You say that now, but I'm sure you'll be begging me to leave in a couple weeks," he jokes.

"Probably," Samandriel says, flying squirrel-ing into the room. How do people do that? That shouldn't be possible. Claire follows, laughing at his ridiculousness. "We don't need no authority figure!"

"Samandriel speaks the truth!" Claire shouts.

"You two speak loudly!" Michael calls from somewhere that is probably his room but who really knows where Michael goes?

"Speaking loudly is fun!" They both call back at once. Laughing, they share a high five.

Michael walks over to join them all by the front door. "I was wondering why Lucifer wasn't yelling, too," he says, looking around.

"Yeah, where'd he go?" Castiel asks. "I swear he was just here less than an hour ago."

"He's been disappearing a lot," Anna tells him.

"Do you know why?" Castiel asks.

"Not a clue," Samandriel replies.

Looking over at his eldest brother, Castiel asks, "Why didn't you mention that?"

"He's twenty-five years old," Michael replies. "I'm not policing him. He probably just has a secret girlfriend. He never comes home with any injuries, so I don't think there's any reason to be concerned."

"I hope not," Castiel replies, but he isn't sure he believes it. Between the lack of Bee Movie and sneaking out — though it's more like just leaving because he's an adult, even if he doesn't act like one — there's definitely something going on with him. If only he could find out what...

~~

Gabriel returns about half an hour later with Sam, being all cute and stuff. They have their brief reintroduction, which isn't very entertaining but whatever.

"Hey, Castiel, guess what's happening tomorrow?" Gabriel says with a grin.

"What?" Castiel asks cautiously, unsure if he wants to hear this. Knowing Gabriel, it's likely to be fairly stupid.

"Deano's coming back tomorrow!"

"Cool," Castiel replies, his energy level not matching that of his brother's.

"Be excited!" Gabriel prompts, jumping up and down to add to the effect.

Castiel rolls his eyes, an amused expression on his face. "It's not that big of a deal. It's not like I haven't seen him in years. It's been, like, three months."

"Which is a fourth of a year," Gabriel adds. "And that's a long time. So get excited and stuff!"

"Yay." Castiel cheers with an exaggerated lack of excitement.

Gabriel playfully slaps him on the shoulder. "You're a horrible boyfriend. Just sayin'."

"That's the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," Castiel jokes, wiping away a fake tear. But, the sad part is, it's actually nicer than a lot of what people say about him.

~~

"Whatcha doin'?" Claire asks, flipping over the back of the couch and lying down next to him, her head hovering just above his shoulder.

"Looking at Twitter," he replies, not looking up at her as he does.

"You spend way to much time online," she teases him. "How're your fans reacting to your existence today?"

Castiel shrugs. "Meh. Same as usual."
"Is that a good thing or...?"

"Decide for yourself," he replies, tilting his phone slightly so she can see.

"Why r @CastielNovak's songs always in second person? Embarrassed that he's gay?"

Castiel quotes the tweet saying, "Not always, but I like writing to the person, not about them. Why would I be embarrassed about being gay anyway? Gays ftw!!!"

He scrolls through more mentions, skipping all the replies because he'd rather associate them with the tweet itself.

"Can the radio stop playing @CastielNovak because I'm 110% sick of it."

"Finally bought @ CastielNovak's new album and oh my god I love this so much!!!"

Castiel likes the tweet before continuing.

"Never thought @CastielNovak would stay around this long and I'm so glad he did!"

Castiel likes this tweet, too, and moves on.

"@ CastielNovak is my inspiration in life"

Castiel debates quoting it and saying how much of a bad inspiration he is, but he decides to just accept the compliment and like the tweet.

"People are being pretty nice today," Claire observes. "Didn't someone tell you to kill yourself last time?"

"I don't get a lot of tweets like that," Castiel lies. If he had a dollar for every time someone tweeted at him to drink bleach, he'd have twice as much money as he has now, and that's really saying something.

"I bet @CastielNovak has a secret boyfriend"

That would be true... Probably best to ignore that one.

"Listen to @CastielNovak's lyrics. He's had some bad shit in his life."

That's also pretty true.

"Enough Larry shit. I was Harriel! @CastielNovak @Harry_Styles"

Castiel quotes the tweet, saying, "That's a ship I can get behind ;)"

Before anyone says it's awkward to tweet like this about a straight guy, he's already cleared it with Harry Styles, who said it's fine. He hasn't asked Dean, but it's not like he can just suddenly stop Harriel shipping. People will start asking questions. And besides, Harriel is fun.

"Don't you already have a boyfriend?" Claire asks.

"Yeah, but I don't have a Harry Styles," Castiel replies simply.

"Why is everyone so obsessed with Harry Styles?" she asks. "I mean, he's not super cool. He's not very hot. Like, why?"

"Bitch, he's, like, the hottest person alive. Check your facts," Castiel replies in a jokingly defensive way.

"No, he's not, though. There are so many hotter people out there."

"You just have a horrible taste in guys," Castiel tells her.

"Oh, yeah," she mutters, softly enough that Castiel assumes she didn't want him to hear, so he ignores the curiosity and doesn't ask.

"Low key ship @CastielNovak and @taylorswift13"

"But you're gay," Claire says, confused. "Or are you bi and just haven't dated a girl before?"

"Gayer than a rainbow," Castiel replies proudly.

"Huh." Her tone is unreadable, likely just a result of her settled curiosity.

"@CastielNovak's music needs to die just like his popularity"

Castiel exits Twitter, explaining, "That's my cue to leave."

"I thought you said that type of tweet wasn't very common," she reminds him.

He shrugs. "Doesn't mean I don't get any." And he's determined to make sure she and everyone else he knows doesn't realize how many that is.

~~

"Anna."

Castiel beckons her to follow him, so she does, confused. Confusion is probably better than what she'll feel when she knows what he's doing, though. He leads her to his room, shutting the door behind them to avoid any unnecessary eavesdroppers.

"What's up?" she asks, leaning against the wall casually.

Struggling with how to begin, he decides to just go for it. "So you know I've been pretty screwed up in the head, right?"

She nods slowly. "Mm hmm..."

"So I kinda get mental illnesses more than most people you know," he continues.

"Where are you going with this?" she asks.

Well, no point in beating around the bush. "I'm just kind of concerned for you. Hear me out before you start complaining. I may have only been hear a day, but I know what you've been doing. I know the signs. You didn't have dinner, A." He'd mention that he knows she didn't have chicken nuggets because he ate the last of the package, but he doesn't want to tell her what to avoid to make it more realistic. "And I can tell this isn't the first time you've done this."

"Shut up," she snaps. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I do, actually. Mentally screwed up, remember? You're not the only one to fake a meal before. And I don't expect to be able to fix this myself, because I know how hard it is to deal with things like this, but I want to help. But you've gotta talk to me, okay?"

"I don't need help," she replies, her voice cold. "Why can't you guys just leave me alone?"

"Because I love you, and I can't," he replies. "Just tell me one thing. Why?"

"You don't know what you're talking about," she replies. "There's nothing to 'why?' because there's nothing going on at all."

"I know that's not true," he tells her, his voice gentle in hopes that he can convince her to talk. "Anna, why? What made you decide the scale was the way to measure your self worth?"

"I didn't!" she repeats.

"Was it Cain?" he asks. "Did he say something to you?"

"God, Castiel, I can't believe you," she snaps, storming out of the room and slamming the door behind her.

Castiel doesn't follow her. He doesn't have to. She made it very clear:
it was Cain that pushed her over the edge. Now how does he get her back?