Castiel waits backstage with his arms crossed, bored out of his mind. No, he's not playing a concert. That was over the weekend. He's waiting for Lilith to finally call him on. He'd much rather be at home than talking to some no name talk show host, but he doesn't really have a choice in the matter. At least he gets to go straight to Sioux Falls from here.

Finally, Castiel gets the cue to walk on. He plasters a smile on his face and looks out at the audience as they cheer. He gives Lilith a brief hug for show, but he can't find it in him to relax into it like he does with Jody. They sit down in chairs opposite of each other, angled towards the audience. Castiel pulls his trench coat sleeve down slightly out of habit to hide his cut.

"It's great to have you on the show," she tells him when the screams have died down a bit.

"It's great to be here," he replies. He's been lying long enough that he knows everyone else believes it.

"You're in the middle of a tour, right?"

He nods. "Yeah. I just played my last concert here a few days ago, actually, and I'll be heading back to my hometown of Sioux Falls after this for that concert."

"Sounds like fun," she replies. "Are you going to be making any guest appearances in your brother's new YouTube channel?"

The way she's asking these questions makes him cringe on the inside. He's not sure exactly what's wrong, but it just a sounds off to him. He ignores the feeling.

"I don't know. I don't think my personal opinion matters too much. He'll probably force me into one whether I want to do it or not."

"Well, I'm sure we're all looking forward to watching it if he does," Lilith tells him, earning a cheer from the audience.

"You should watch his videos whether I'm in them or not," Castiel suggests. "It's 'Literal Satan' on YouTube. I spent the first eighteen years of my life listening to his nonstop joking, and I'm still not sick of it."

Yes, he just shamelessly promoted Lucifer's YouTube channel. Granted, it's not on live tv — it airs this weekend — and they could theoretically take it out, but he doesn't see that happening.

"So I've heard," she replies, which Castiel takes to mean she doesn't watch it. "But back to you. One of the things you're known for is how you write your own songs. Can you describe the songwriting process a little bit?"

Her entire show reeks of inexperience. Can they just hurry this up?

"There's not really much to explain," Castiel tells her. "I really just sit down with a guitar and a notebook and write something." He could have made an actual answer out of this, but that involves effort he doesn't feel like putting into this.

"So there's no type of preparation for it?" she asks.

What type of question even is that?

"Not really," he replies. "I can basically write anytime, anyplace, as long as I have a guitar and something to write with. I'm sure I could do it without the guitar if I wanted, but it's how I grew up writing."

"That's cool," she replies. "And, as with most songwriters, you write songs from experience, right?"

"Not necessarily," he replies. "I've written songs from the perspective of characters in books or movies that I like, too. It's an interesting experience, trying to put yourself in someone else's position; trying to feel what they feel, if that makes sense. But yeah, I do write a lot from personal experience as well."

"How do you see your next album shaping up to be?" she asks. "Should we expect some new songs about New England Patriots quarterback Dean Winchester?"

Castiel pauses, making sure not to snap at her. He hasn't mentioned Dean to the public at all since they broke up. He's carefully avoided the topic when online, talking to fans, and in interviews. For the most part, it's been pretty easy. This is less so.

Finally, he says calmly, "I'm not discussing my relationship with Dean Winchester at this time."

"Just one question?"

"I'm not allowed to talk about that," Castiel lies. Jim would probably let him if he wanted to. It was never technically forbidden. Jim just assumes Castiel won't, and he's right. They both know Castiel doesn't like talking about things until it works with his schedule, and when it comes to things this personal, that usually ends up being never.

"I'm just curious, how long were you two dating?"

Between his lack of sleep due to packing late and his general increased irritability from tour and not returning to Sioux Falls on time, he finds keeping his cool is much harder than usual.

Without really thinking about what he's doing, he says, "If you won't respect my wishes, I see no reason to respect your show. I'm out." He walks off, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd. He doesn't look back, making a beeline for the limo waiting for him. He can make it to the airport early. Better sitting around on his phone for an extra hour or so than stuck with Lilith.

~~

Castiel clears security fairly quickly, which means he has nearly three hours until his flight leaves. Great. He sits in the terminal with his carry on — a backpack with his song notebook in case he thinks of any good lyrics, his wallet, and his laptop and charger that he wouldn't trust with anyone. Misha is far too big to bring in the cabin with him, so he's going in with the luggage. Castiel was probably more worried about it than him at first, but they've both grown accustomed to it by now.

He pulls out his cell phone, unsure what else to do for the next few hours. Per usual, he starts with Twitter.

"@CastielNovak rapping Iggy Azalea is still my favorite thing."

Castiel smiles to himself at that. The video somehow got around, probably due to Hael, Ambriel, and their friends spreading it like wildfire. Thankfully, people have backed off the whole "dating Balthazar" thing.

"I'm going to @CastielNovak's Sioux Falls concert and I'm so excited!"

The Twiterverse is being awfully friendly today.

"So glad @CastielNovak's bro started that Literal Satan channel. @YourFavSatan is the best!!"

He can't deny that. Lucifer's channel has been doing pretty well lately. He's already up to three million subscribers, but only about half a million views per video. A lot of people probably subscribed for Castiel, and some probably don't have time to watch every video.

"The only thing @CastielNovak was good for it getting @YourFavSatan's channel out there."

Castiel frowns and ignores that. He gets tweets like that a lot. Lucifer's channel sure changed the game.

It's a few minutes later that he gets a text.

Lucifer: Tweeted you

Castiel gets texts like this from his siblings a lot. It's the only way he can see their tweets at him in all the spam. He hops over to his brother's Twitter. His follower count has been climbing steadily, and Castiel can't help but feel a pang of pride at his brother, following his dreams and having a bit of fun while making people smile.

The most recent tweet reads, "Who wants to see @CastielNovak in a video this week?" It's a poll, and the answers are, "Yes!!!" "Hell yes!!!" "Castiel should take over your channel completely!" and "No. I also hate rainbows and kittens and will die alone."

Castiel votes yes, mostly just to see the answers so far. It's amazing how many people have voted already. He tweeted it under two minutes ago, and there are hundreds of votes. 46% say yes, 49% say hell yes, 3% say Castiel should take over the channel, and 2% hate rainbows and kittens.

Castiel retweets the tweet, then decides to text Lucifer because he's bored.

Castiel: What if I don't want to be in a video?

Lucifer: That matters because...?

Castiel: I could just refuse to do anything.

Lucifer: But my whole career kinda rides on you rn

Castiel: You don't need a career.

Lucifer: Hey! #SatanLivesMatter

Castiel: *rolls eyes*

Lucifer: No but really, you don't have a choice. I have the rest of the family in videos. I just need you

Castiel: You're lucky I like you. I'll do it.

Lucifer: *throws party*

Castiel: *is awkward wallflower at party*

Lucifer: *forces you into social interaction*

Castiel: *sobs in corner*

Lucifer: *throws rainbow glitter at you*

Castiel: Confetti! It's a parade!

Lucifer: *facepalms*

Lucifer: Jk I like parades

Lucifer: *rents high school marching band for parade*

Castiel: You can't rent a high school marching band.

Lucifer: bisch watch me

The two text for a while, until Castiel receives a text from Michael just over an hour later. Michael rarely texts him, and this is just a link, so he quickly heads over to check it out.

It's a link to a YouTube video someone from the audience took of his short time onstage with Lilith. He knew it would go viral, but how did someone get it up that quickly? The video, titled "Castiel Novak gets mad at Lilith," includes his walk off, which in hindsight wasn't a very smart idea but he doesn't know what else he would have done. He sure as hell couldn't have given in; he isn't a pushover, and he wants it to be known that no means no, no matter how high and mighty you may think you are.

Castiel: ... oops?

Michael: You realize that's going to reflect horribly on you as a person, right?

Castiel: Meh. People will get over it.

Michael: Will they? You've been pretty off lately in the public eye, with your fight with Dean. Twice that quickly? You need to watch yourself.

Castiel: Jim's gonna give me the same speech as soon as he sees it, so you can shut it.

Castiel switches back to his chat with Lucifer.

Castiel: Sorry. Got distracted. But Superwoman is waaaaay better than Niga Higa!

Lucifer: STAWP IT! YOURE HURTING MY SOUL!!!!!

Castiel: I just speak the truth, Luce. You can't handle it, that's your problem.

Lucifer: If I ever make it in the YouTube world and meet them at vidcon I'm totally telling Ryan you said that.

Castiel: As long as you tell Lilly too.

There's a pause, something that doesn't happen much when he's talking to the over enthusiastic Lucifer. Finally, he gets a response.

Lucifer: You better apologize to Mikey when you get here.

Castiel: ?

Lucifer: He told me what you said and you have to apologize to him

Castiel rolls his eyes and opens Instagram to see what his friends are posting instead of responding. He'd really not in the mood not a serious discussion right now.