4. Bill.
"I can't believe we're doing this."
"Stop being so grouchy." Luke reaches over to his little brother, only to yank his beanie down over his eyes, making Jimmy protest. "You agreed to come, so don't start bitching about this now."
Jimmy glares at his brother, and grumbles quietly to himself under his breath, not really wanting to admit that his brother is right. Sam had begged and pleaded with his older brother until Dean had, rather unwillingly, agreed to give them VIP access to the last show of his tour, meaning that six of them are now crowded backstage whilst Dean himself runs through final vocal exercises, Gabe munching his way through the dessert table as he leans on Sam's shoulder. They look to be the happiest out of all of them, Jimmy feels. He's not even sure why he actually agreed to this in the first place. Dean doesn't even remember his fucking name, after all.
Meg is pulling a face, sniffing at the view around her. "Look at this place."
"What's wrong with it?" Amelia asks, looking up from the book she's brought with her. She's decidedly as uninterested in the entire thing as Jimmy is.
"We've just been left here." She scowls. "Like vermin. Abandoned to run wild. My Castiel would never let his fans walk around in this squalor."
"Your Castiel?" Jimmy repeats, as Amelia lets out a groan at the mention of Castiel's name, yet again.
"Yes, Jimmy. My Castiel. My unicorn. My future husband. He has many titles."
"Future husband, eh?" Luke says, winking at his younger brother, prompting Jimmy to elbow him in the ribs. Luckily, he can't say anything else, for Dean has apparently finished his final vocal checks and wandered over to grace them with his presence, Sam and Gabe in tow.
"You guys havin' fun?"
"Oh, yeah, buckets," Jimmy says. He isn't as quiet as he intends, however, because Dean's gaze flickers over to him.
"Hey..." Jimmy watches as he tries for a smile. "Jim, right?"
"Jimmy."
"Close enough."
"Not really."
Gabe clears his throat, clearly trying to make some kind of silent point about manners. They've had this conversation already, Jimmy and he, multiple times, when he picked Castiel up from the recording studio and spent the entire ride home listening to his little brother ranting about how enraged he was at the fact that Dean couldn't be bothered to learn their names.
Jimmy takes the hint, and sighs. "Yeah, alright, close enough, I guess."
Dean raises an eyebrow, seemingly having picked up on his bad mood."You're, er, not really into this sort of stuff, are you?"
"You could say that." Jimmy exchanges glances with Gabe. "I'm more of an audience person."
"What sort of stuff do you like, then?"
"Huh?" Jimmy blinks; Dean repeats the question, more patient than he expected. "Why the hell would you want to know that?"
Dean shrugs, a smile on his face, a genuine one, not the fake politeness he had been putting on a moment ago. "Because I just do."
"Why? So you can make fun of me, or something?" He still hasn't forgiven the comment about the sweaters. In fact, he's even wearing one tonight, in order to prove a point.
Dean looks almost genuinely hurt. "You really think I'm that kind of guy?"
"Well, I don't know, do I? You didn't exactly speak to me last time we met, did you?"
"Suppose not." Dean looks like he's about to say something different, perhaps defend himself, but a glare from Sam stop him. Jimmy wonders what kind of conspiracy his brother and the younger Winchester are running, because they seem to be in cahoots with each other.
"Think we really got off on the wrong foot, man." He holds out a hand, almost like a peace offering. "We should start over. Hi. I'm Dean."
Jimmy looks at the offered hand for a moment or two, debating whether or not he should stick to his original first impressions and simply leave, rather than get caught up in all of these complications. But, then again, it's already complicated as it is; Castiel still has to spend time with the guy, so maybe it might be better for everybody if he's on at least partially good terms with the elder Winchester.
In the end, he takes the hand. "Hi, Dean. I'm Jimmy." The youngest Novak raises an eyebrow. "So, what's brought on this sudden change of heart?"
"You're a friend of Sammy's, aren't you? A friend of Sammy's is a friend of mine. Besides, you kinda remind me of someone I met. We were talkin' about you, actually; Cas was very complimentary of your, er, sweaters."
"Wait, wait -" Meg interrupts suddenly, eager at any possible mention of her unicorn. "Cas? As in...Castiel?"
"Uh -" Dean frowns, as if realising what a horrible mistake he's just made in mentioning the singer by any kind of nickname. "Well, yeah, but -"
"You met him?" Meg almost knocks Jimmy to the ground in her attempt to grab hold of Dean and look him directly in the eye. "What was he like?"
"Um, alright."
"Alright?" Meg repeats, incredulous.
"Alright?" Jimmy repeats, mildly offended.
"He was just normal, really. An ordinary guy." Dean shrugs.
Ordinary guy.
Jimmy makes a mental note of that. He could make a song out of that.
Meg, however, scoffs. "Ordinary? That's boring. C'mon, man, give me details. Is he as beautiful is real life as he is in pictures?"
"Er - well, I'm, um, not really the sort of guy you should be askin' -" Dean is suddenly looking anywhere but Meg's face, much to her annoyance, and Jimmy's bewilderment. "But, yeah - well, I mean, he ain't bad looking, but, y'know, not - I mean, I don't swing that way, so who knows how handsome of a devil he is."
"Handsome?" Sam quotes, only to have Gabe snicker. Jimmy fires a glare at him, but no one sees it.
"Nothin' wrong with admittin' that another guy looks good, Sammy," Dean responds quickly, before turning back to Meg, moving swiftly on from her question. "But, yeah, I mean, he's just a weird, dorky little guy who likes to sing. Kinda like me, I guess, except I'm super cool, and all that."
"Eh, debatable," Meg says, wasting no time with moving on to her next question. "What did you guys talk about? Is Castiel his real name? Because I've seen theories -"
"Of course it's not his real name," Amelia says from behind them, rolling her eyes. "It's a stage name, and a fucking pretentious one, at that."
"You think so?" Jimmy asks. Maybe it is a little over the top, but he had only been sixteen when he started out, and the idea of being named after an angel seemed pretty cool.
"Definitely." Amelia wrinkles up her nose. "I bet his name is something really plain and basic in real life. Like...Charlie, or something. Or Bill."
"Bill," Meg repeats, almost dreamily, looking like she's about to faint just thinking about the possibility.
Jimmy catches Dean's eye. Both of them are trying not to laugh.
I hope you're all enjoying this so far! Until next time, my little sock puppets... :) X
