A/N: I'm posting chapters 70 through 75 all at once, so make sure you read them in order.

~Loads of time skips out of laziness ~

Castiel stands in the wings backstage, fidgeting with his hands nervously. He's just waiting for the all clear to go on. He adjusts the microphone of his headset, just to ensure that its in the right place. He takes deep, calming breaths and looks at the plain black curtain in front of him,

Finally, he hears, "Starting in five, four, three, two, one."

The music starting is his cue to walk on. The stage lights turn on, something he used to think he'd never get used to, but by now, he barely notices it. The audience cheers, loud enough to nearly drown out the music coming from his headset.

As soon as he stepped onstage, his nerves disappeared. They always do. Waiting for his first concert of the tour is always the hardest part. It will only get easier from here, just as it does every year.

~~

Castiel walks off the stage with a purpose, but the second he's behind the curtain, he drops the over-confident ruse. He knows he should probably take off the stage makeup before he breaks out, but his first priority is to go check on Misha.

He makes a beeline for his tour bus, and as soon as he opens the door, his dog jumps up on him. Castiel chuckles and scratches the dog behind the one ear he has for a few minutes. Misha leans against him with all his weight, something he does increasingly more the longer Castiel's had him.

After a few minutes, he finally goes to the bathroom to wash his face, because he can't kneel down with the dog out of fear he'll lick the stage makeup, which he's assuming isn't safe for pets.

Welp, one concert down, way too many left to go.

~~

*SpongeBob narrator voice*
A few weeks later

Castiel stands in front of the restaurant with his arms crossed, looking out into the street boredly. Come on, where is he? He checks his watch impatiently. They were supposed to meet here two minutes ago. It's as soon as he looks up again that he sees him walking over, putting a smile on Castiel's face.

"Balthazar, hey," Castiel greets him with a brief hug.

"Hey, Castiel," Balthazar replies with a grin. "It's been a while."

"Yeah, really," he agrees.

They head into the restaurant together and get a seat and order their drinks and all that restaurant stuff.

"So, what've you been up to lately?" Balthazar asks him as they wait for their food.

"Not much," Castiel replies. "Just my tour. Jim mentioned the possibility of a world tour next year."

"You thinking of doing it?"

"I don't know yet," Castiel admits. "I mean, I know tickets would sell out fairly quickly and it'd probably be good for my career, but it could be up to a year long, maybe more, and I don't know if I could do this for a year straight. I'm kinda sick of it already."

"You're not allowed to be sick of it until Monday, after you played my concert," Balthazar replies.

"I'll try to hold out 'til then, just for you," Castiel assures him.

"You better. I didn't pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket to your laziness."

"You didn't pay at all. I literally just handed you the tickets."

Balthazar waves a hand dismissively. "Technicalities."

They chat for a while as they wait for their food and, because it's Balthazar, it results in lots of laughs. Finally, food comes and they eat and chill and all that stuff. Castiel gets the bill because god knows he can afford it.

"So," Castiel says as they're leaving the restaurant, "What's new in Maryland since last year?"

"Not much, actually," Balthazar tells him. "I think we've pretty much covered everywhere in the last four years. Unless you're looking for more food, but we just ate, so that's not gonna work."

"So now what do we do?" Castiel asks. "I came here under the impression I was going to spend the day with you, and I'm not giving that up."

"Hmm..." Balthazar takes a moment to think about it. "Actually, there's this fairly new club. It doesn't really get popular until nighttime, though. We could go back to my place for now and you could see the family, and we could go check it out later."

"That works," Castiel agrees.

~~

"Castiel!" Hannah says excitedly when she sees him, giving him a big hug. "I thought you weren't coming here 'til tomorrow!"

"Well, surprise!" Castiel replies. "Is your mom home?"

"She's at the grocery store," Hannah tells him. "She'll be back soon. And Ambriel and Hael are in their rooms, but I'm sure they'd come out to see you if they knew you were here."

"I got this," Balthazar says. He clears his throat, then yells, "Castiel's here!" He holds up a finger and mouths, one, two, three...

As if on cue, Ambriel steps into view. She walks downstairs and gives Castiel a hug, not dropping the phone in her hand. Great. Teenagers these days.

Ambriel is going into ninth grade now, and Hael twelfth; the same age as Anna. Hannah's going into eighth grade, which isn't much younger than Ambriel, but she's always been treated like the baby, so she didn't grow up as fast.

"You're early," Ambriel observes.

"What can I say? I suck at following schedules."

"I'm gonna go get Hael," Hannah announces, running up the stairs.

While they wait, Castiel turns back to Ambriel. "And what's new with you?"

"Not much," she replies with a shrug.

"Are you ready for high school?"

She shrugs again. "Meh. We're allowed to use phones and we don't have to use lockers, so it sounds like it's gonna be good."

"Always good to have an optimist around," Castiel replies.

"Did you like high school more than middle school?" Ambriel asks.

Castiel hesitates, then says, "I had it rough in school as a whole, so I just wanted out. You seem to be doing much better than I did, so you shouldn't have a problem."

"Were you friends with the drama-y people everyone keeps warning me about?" she asks.

"For the most part, my only 'friend' there was Gabriel, and even we didn't talk much."

"You're joking."

"What?"

"You have to have had friends," Ambriel tells him. "I mean, look at yourself. You can't go from grade-A loser to Ed Sheeran 2.0 like that."

"You can if you have incredibly good luck," Castiel replies. "But you shouldn't have that problem. You seem way better off than I was."

"Hey, Castiel," Hael greets him, interrupting their conversation. "Quick favor to ask. My friend Andrea is always bragging that she's dating a guy on the Patriots — it's some long distance thing, I guess. I don't know. I need a selfie with the two of us to make her jealous because she may have been dating Benny Lafitte for almost a year now, but I've known Castiel Novak longer. 'Kay?"

Castiel chuckles. "Sure."

They take a selfie, in which Hael looks way better than him because he doesn't know how to selfie.

"Awesome! She usually does her streaks at about six so I'll post it at five so I'll make sure she sees it."

"Why don't you just send it to her?" Castiel asks.

Balthazar shakes his head at him, silently telling him not to get involved with her high school drama.

"Because that's too obvious!" she says as if he should have known. "If she knows it's meant for her, she'll think it's totally staged but if I post it on my story, it seems way more casual like we're just best friends. I know you weren't exactly Mr. Popular in your day, but come on, Castiel. Try to keep up."

Castiel raises an eyebrow but doesn't question it.

"Can I get a pic too?" Ambriel asks.

She has Balthazar take a picture of them hugging, which she posts on Instagram, so it doesn't disappear after a day.

"You want one too?" Castiel asks Hannah.

"Nah," she replies. "I don't want to piggyback off your fame. I'm more than your little cousin, ya know? And if people like me more cuz I know you, I don't think they're the type of people I want to hang out with."

"Nicely said, Hannah. Nicely said."

~~

"And welcome to the Bronze," Balthazar says that evening as he and Castiel step into the club, the girls behind them.

"And what does one do in the Bronze?" Castiel asks him.

"Most just hang out and chat."

"And there's karaoke," Hael adds. "And you can't just skip karaoke."

"I think I've done enough singing lately," Castiel replies.

"No way!" Ambriel protests. "You have to sing something!"

"If I had known there would be karaoke, I would've ditched," Castiel tells her.

"But —"

"You wanna sing, go right ahead," Balthazar says. "Castiel does it for a living. It probably gets real old real quick. If he doesn't want to sing, he doesn't have to sing."

Ambriel groans in frustration. "Fine. Be stubborn. I don't care."

"Why do you care?" Castiel asks. "You'll be at my concert on Saturday anyway. It's not like you won't hear me perform."

Hael and Ambriel share a look, and it's Hael that speaks.

"How about if someone sings one of your songs, you have to sing something?" Hael suggests.

Castiel sighs. "Fine. But no ones going to sing any of my songs. And it doesn't count if you sing one of them."

"We don't play like that," Ambriel assures him.

"I'm gonna go find my friends cuz they said they were gonna be here, but I'm holding you to this," Hael tells him before walking away.

"Same," Ambriel adds, doing the same.

"Same same," Hannah says. She looks around, then seems to find who she's looking for, and goes off to greet them.

"Well, that didn't take long," Castiel observes.

"It never does," Balthazar replies. "Pretty much every high schooler hangs out here.  I would've been surprised if they didn't have at least one friend show up."

"We past the club's age limit?" Castiel jokes.

"Well, we're definitely on the older side," he replies. "We're like the teenagers using the Webkinz website."

Castiel laughs. "Oh, god, I feel out of place now."

"The difference is, the Bronze is way more fun," Balthazar adds. "Besides, there are some kids from the local colleges that hang out here sometimes, so we're still kinda in the age group. Just the older end of the spectrum. No one's gonna question it."

"Good, because I hate sticking out."

"You always stick out," Balthazar reminds him. "You're Castiel."

"Exactly. I can only talk to fans for so long. I'd rather hide in the shadows than stand in the spotlight."

"You better hope no one sings one of your songs, then."

"They better not," Castiel replies. "It'd be more fun singing a random song than the same ones of mine though, so at least there's that."

"Are concerts really that bad?" Balthazar asks.

"They're not bad," Castiel tells him. "They're just not very fun anymore. Definitely not worth the planning that goes into them."

He puts a hand over his cut subconsciously, covering the fabric of his jacket as well. He's basically been wearing a jacket nonstop for about two months now to hide it from the public eye. For concerts, he wears his trench coat, and by the end of the night, he's roasting to death. Summer is not meant for jackets.

"But at least you get to come down here once a year," Balthazar reminds him. "I get to see you more than just Christmas."

"Yeah, now you're stuck with me for a week and a half straight," Castiel reminds him. "Lucky you," he adds sarcastically.

"I'll take whatever Castiel time I can get," Balthazar replies. "You still gotta introduce me to Misha, by the way."

Castiel had texted him about Misha about a week after the dog came home with him. It's the reason Castiel isn't staying with his cousins, and instead is in a hotel within walking distance of their house. He doesn't want the technology-obsessed girls accidentally showing people that he has a dog. Misha is still a secret, and though secrets don't generally last long for someone in the public eye, he'd like to see how long he can hide his dog from the world.

"We could go back to my place after this," Castiel suggests. "I'm sure he'd be thrilled to have guests."

"I'm definitely taking you up on that," Balthazar says. "Hannah and I have been trying to get our mom to get us a dog for months, but she's still saying no, so I'll take any dog time I can get."

"I bet Misha's thanking you," Castiel replies. "I'm not entertaining enough for him."

"Misha needs Lucifer."

"No!" Castiel says immediately. "No no no no no. I can't imagine what he'd do to the poor dog. With his new YouTube channel..."

"Have you watched his videos?" Balthazar asks.

"'Course I have. He's my brother. I'm never too busy for Luci."

"I think he's my new favorite YouTuber," Balthazar says.

"Same. My god, he's weird, but it's awesome," Castiel laughs. "I feel like he should make a vlog channel and keep his normal channel, so we get even more Lucifer."

"'Literal Satan' and 'Satan is a Vlogger.'"

Castiel laughs. "Yes! Someone needs to tell him. I'm definitely going to text him later and tell him to do that."

"You have to," Balthazar agrees. "It's only fair. The world needs more Lucifer."

"I don't think it's possible to have too much Lucifer," Castiel agrees. "'Literal Satan' was a blessing from above."

"A blessing from below," Balthazar corrects him, earning a laugh.

Castiel pauses when he hears the familiar intro he's grown tired of. He looks up at the "stage" to see girl about Anna's age with the microphone. She dances around the stage confidently as she sings, strutting around in her short shorts and crop top like she owns the place. It's surprisingly fun to watch.

When it's over, Ambriel walks over to Castiel and Balthazar. "Welp, your turn," she says with a grin. "Go. Sing. Now. No backing out."

Castiel rolls his eyes. "My god, you guys are weird. Fine, I'll go, but I'm 110 percent done singing my own songs."

If there's one thing Castiel is proud of, it's that he's never succumbed to the trend of adding raps to perfectly good pop songs. He doesn't rap. Period. So what better song to sing than Black Widow by Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora, which is almost entirely a rap?

The first thing he noticed when he stands on the stage is Balthazar, who's smirking at his song choice. The second thing is Hael and Ambriel, who both have their phones out to record this. Of course this was for social media fame. Of freaking course. He sees the girl who sang his song standing with Hael, and he has no doubt that Hael told her to. Wow. They're good.

Castiel actually has a lot of fun singing that song. The rapping is a challenge for someone like him who doesn't usually talk fast, but he manages. He gives his cousins each a high five from the stage; Hael and Ambriel for their videos and Balthazar and Hannah because they're his cousins and he's kind of obligated to.

The applause when he finishes is insanely loud, though whether it's because he was good or because people realized who he was, he doesn't know. He rejoins Balthazar where they had stood earlier, and his cousins come join them with their friends soon after.

"You killed it!" Hael tells him, giving him a high five.

"I kinda sorta kept up, which can is better than I expected, at least," Castiel replies dismissively.

"That's way different than your usual songs," Hannah observes.

Castiel shrugs. "Well, I'm not a rapper. Clearly."

"Are you kidding?" One of Hael's friends says incredulously. He recognizes he as the one who sang his song earlier. "That was awesome! I would totally buy that on iTunes."

Castiel chuckles. "Thanks."

"This is Andrea, by the way," Hael says, then adds, "and, obviously, this is Castiel."

And, of course, this starts a whole freak out thing with just about everyone and he's stuck taking pictures with people. Greeaaat.

~~

"Moving On Already?

Less than two months after breaking up with Patriots quarterback Dean Winchester, Castiel was spotted hitting the streets with a new boy on Tuesday."

Castiel sighs. He doesn't even bother finishing the article. It's about him and Balthazar the day before, with numerous photos of the two of them that kind of freak him out. He can expect this in New York, but Maryland? The paparazzi followed him to Maryland?

Castiel decides to take care of this quickly by tweeting the link with the words, "Not my boyfriend. Just my cousin. I'm a single Pringle rn."

He scrolls through old photos on his phone to find a family picture from when he was fourteen, one when he was seven, and one with a barely walking Castiel and a little baby Balthazar. He screenshots and crops a picture to add from the day before, filling the 4 picture limit of his tweet.

"Just like old times. Huh, @BalthHatesTheTitanic?"

He barely has time to put his phone down before Misha jumps up on the bed with him. He lies down next to him, his head on Castiel's arm. Castiel smiles to himself. This is living the life.