After a week of contacting all kinds of people, the famous and not-so-famous, they finally got a spot on TV. It wasn't glamorous and it wasn't going to be movie level flashy but it was a step and that was all they really wanted. It was called 'Hipster Queens' and he had no idea what he was in for.
Cas was willing and Desirae was starting to get nervous. He couldn't back down, he wanted the world to know about him and know what his existence meant. The advances in science and medicine becoming less like fiction and more reachable than before. He couldn't let Desirae live the rest of her life in hiding either, she was a child and he knew she'd get scared. Talking about it was one thing, going out into the world was another.
He promised her that he would step out first, he would do everything on his own first and they would see the reaction. If she felt comfortable she could join him whenever she was ready. That was what he'd told her when they got a spot on the some show none of them had heard of. Though they hadn't really been keeping up with television that much, Netflix and YouTube were their medias of choice.
Dean kissed him before they separated, Dean and the others were audience members, close to the stage for support. Cas held onto Dean for a few more seconds, taking in what comfort he could siphon, and then let his boyfriend go.
"You'll be amazing," Dean reassured him with a gentle smile, Cas wanted to believe it so he did.
"Thank you, Dee." They kissed again and Cas let him go.
Desirae was dressed in that hoodie, her tail wrapped around her waist and looked more like a strange lump than anything else. She fidgeted with the long sleeves and looked up at him, worried eyes threatening waterworks at the slightest push.
Cas knelt down and hugged her, "Take your time," he whispered and she nodded against him.
"Okay," she sighed, "I'm sorry I'm not going up with you like I said I would…"
"It's alright," Cas ruffled her hair lightly, "Just enjoy the show."
Jet reached down for her hand, "C'mon sweetheart, let's get to our seats."
Rae took his offer and glanced back toward Cas as they exited the backstage area. Cas took a deep breath and moved into his 'dressing room' space. It wasn't much, just a spot for make-up application and a chair to sit in. He put his coat on, covering his wings and taking a long, slow breath. He sat down on the chair and leaned on his elbows, face in his hands as he let it all settle. He was fine, he'd come a long way from the start and he could handle anything the world threw at him.
Dean was in the audience, literally ten feet away from where he'd be sitting and available for comfort. Michael was there too, watching and willing to do anything to keep him safe. Charlie would see the slightest inclination of discomfort, she'd defend him if he needed it. He had to show Desirae it was okay, he had to test the waters and make sure she could join him.
Castiel stared in the mirror, watching and studying the new pieces of himself he knew he hadn't had when he was a teen. There were more reflective aspects to his eyes, deeper creases that defined old stress and highlighted his experience. His facial hair grew in faster than it used to, it left a darker tone to his skin even after shaving that made him look much older. His lips were chapped and his cheeks seemed fuller.
He'd grown up in those four years. His body was forcefully changed so not being the same was expected, but natural growth still happened. His nose was bigger, his chin more prominent and he was pretty sure he'd gotten taller.
The small crowd of people waiting to see him outside wouldn't know those things about him. The people that would see the video all around the world wouldn't know him at all. As far as anyone else was concerned he was lying until he could prove himself. That was what he had his wings for, that's why his eyes could glow, but he'd never intentionally show the monster he could be. With his memories he could control himself, but that didn't stop his capabilities from existing as they were.
"Castiel Novak?" Someone called into the back area.
"Yes?" he got up and stepped out of his dressing closet, fingers clinging to keep the jacket closed.
"You're almost up, come and wait over here." The guy motioned for Cas to follow and gave him a quick rundown as to how the little microphone on him worked. As they hooked him up he was told things he wasn't allowed to do, like cursing and stripping naked. Cas didn't question that, he was pretty sure a small talk show would absolutely need to state this to every one of their guests.
Nervous and lost in his own head, Cas barely heard his cue. He looked up at the sound of his name and looked at the stage hands. They motioned for him to go so he started to walk, his stomach curled into knots and his chest felt tight.
As he stepped onto the set he realized that the 'Hipster Queens' were two mid-twenty people, one male and one female. They were definitely dressing the part and clearly using the title as a shtick, but he didn't see it as a joke. He took that as some form of comfort and sat down in his appointed chair.
"Castiel welcome to the show!" The woman reached across the space between them, it wasn't all that big. "My name's Anna Milton, this is my brother Gabriel."
"Hey new guy," Gabriel offered a quick nod of acknowledgement.
Cas shook Anna's hand, still unsure of how to move on camera. "Nice to meet you both, thank you for letting me on your show."
"Well after that email who wouldn't?" She laughed and sat back again, very relaxed and comfortable being recorded. Cas envied that, though he used to be the same way. Something he'd have to get a handle on, apparently.
"Speaking of that email, you mind explaining why you're here, Cas?" Gabriel was just as comfortable, maybe more. Anna had an air of professionalism to her, Gabriel not so much.
"Uhm, well there's a few reasons I suppose, but I wanted to tell my story." He started and found himself freezing up, his fingers tangled around the most fabric they could get to and his jaw felt clenched constantly. He took another long breath and glanced at the audience, hoping to see Dean.
They were right in the front, smiling and offering supportive gestures like a thumb up. Desirae waved and he fought the urge to wave back, it was close but he managed to keep that down. The important thing was that they were there, they were all with him. Dean mouthed something then that Cas didn't get for a second, but the second it dawned on him he could only smile. It's okay, Cas.
"And… what's your story?" Anna asked curiously, Cas knew that the words 'human experiments and cloning' were involved with that email so of course they'd be excited for that scoop.
Cas readied himself and looked at them more confidently, "Well, the email that got me here mentioned experiments, cloning, and people, more or less. It started a little over four years ago, I just graduated and was going to work my summer job to try and save enough to go to college."
As he spoke he watched their expressions, letting the words come as they pleased to tell what he needed to. The experience was a deeply connected world that he'd never forget, it could put him on auto-pilot and still come out coherently. The more he said the less he felt tied to it, stating the horrors so obviously and calmly felt relieving. He was taking his nightmares into reality to show them in the world's light. To him it made things seem far less overwhelming, he could see aspects of it more objectively and take away the unknown fears.
To the hosts it wasn't so uplifting. Cas could describe his torment with a straight face but in so much detail that those listening could almost feel it themselves. Maybe they could, he wasn't sure if he could connect to people when they were awake. The room was heavy, he could see it on others' faces but couldn't feel it himself. Knowing that made him glance Dean's way, a smile shared between them.
"That's a lot to take in," Anna said a little more solemnly after the retelling. "You're telling us that you're hiding a pair of wings under that coat of yours?"
"Or that you have clones hanging around in government custody?" Gabriel added, his eyebrow raised casually though Cas could tell he wasn't nearly as chill as before.
"Yes, that's right." He decided to approach their doubt calmly, like he'd intended from the start. "Would you believe me if I showed them to you?"
The Miltons looked at one another for about a second before they nodded and looked back at him. "I'd believe it more, yeah." Gabe replied with a nod.
"Would you mind?" Anna was very sweet, Cas liked her.
"Not at all." He stood up, decided to do them a ratings favour and turn toward the camera a little more before dropping his coat. His wings stretched and shook out a little bit, he couldn't wait to stop using that thing to hide them. Cramming them into small spaces was quickly becoming his least favourite thing. Though having that as his biggest issue in life was such a blessing, he couldn't even bring himself to complain.
The audience that wasn't his family gasped in awe when he moved them. Having them spread out was impressive but being able to use them was more proof than that. Cas adjusted them to be comfortable and looked at Anna and Gabriel, "How's this?"
Anna blinked a few times and then looked to her brother to continue speaking, she was at a loss for words. Gabriel laughed and ran his hand through his hair, "You're for real?" He asked and Cas nodded again. "Holy shit, can I touch one?"
Cas looked toward Dean and the others quickly, a nervous habit. "I… I would be more comfortable if you didn't touch them." He was worried they would think that his wings were fake if he said no, but he really didn't want to give himself up to be touched. If he did it at the start it might become a thing, he didn't want that.
"Alright, that's cool," Gabriel nodded absently, still staring at the extra appendages.
Anna followed Castiel's glance to the audience, "Are those your family, the ones you talked about?"
"They are, yes." Cas fidgeted a little more, feeling exposed and unable to push his nerves back.
"Can we ask them to come up here?"
Cas hadn't detailed Desirae's situation, he didn't talk about her much to save that for her to share. That was probably the only reason he hesitated to say yes. He turned back toward the others, Jet was looking at Rae and something was shared between them that made both smile.
"If they want to come up," he said then and looked back to Anna and Gabriel.
Dean was up there first and went right to Cas' side. The other staff helped move on extra seats and fit them with microphones too, more of a background thing as the hosts continued the show.
"So this is all real?" Gabriel reiterated as the whole team walked on. "This is the team?"
"Well we're missing a good friend, Bobby Singer." Cas felt a little bad that Bobby wasn't there with them. Though maybe he'd had enough of the crazy adventures for a while.
"More like a father of the group," Dean added after getting his mic on. "But yeah, it's all real."
Jet lifted up his arm and moved the hanging sleeve, "This is still pretty fresh otherwise I'd show you the scars."
"Think we're good on that one," Gabe winked with a smile, though Cas could see a little bit of gross-out discomfort there too.
"You must be Jet then," Anna looked at him and he nodded. "And judging by your closeness, you must be Dee."
"Dean," Dean corrected her, "Only Cas calls me that."
"It's better that way," Michael agreed.
"Cas, could you introduce everyone? After a tale like that I'm sure our audience would love some clarification." Anna smiled and looked to the crowd that clapped in response.
"Oh, of course." Cas looked at everyone around him to make sure he knew where they were all seated, "Well you already guessed Dee and Jet. That's Sam, Charlie, Mike, Nikki, and Desirae." He knew that any information involving Rae was a bit hazier, and that his story didn't totally line up around her. He was sure they'd ask about it, but at least he had everyone with him.
"You've got quite the crew," Gabriel remarked, he looked impressed. "Maybe next time we can get ol' Bobby up here too."
"We'd have to ask him," Cas was pretty sure Bobby didn't want to be on TV.
Desirae looked up at Jet and stood on the couch beside him to whisper in his ear. Cas glanced over, he hadn't quite heard her but Jet whispered something like 'Go ahead whenever you want sweetheart.' She then moved over to where Cas and Dean were sitting, climbed up to his ear and whispered to him too.
"Can you tell them?" She was far more shy than Cas had expected but he realized he should've known better. She was still very small, after all.
"Yeah," he smiled and looked back at their hosts, "I didn't tell you part of the story because it wasn't mine to tell, but Desirae think she wants you to know now."
Anna and Gabriel both leaned forward, ready to hear whatever it was.
"Jet found Desirae in one of MacLeod's cages, she was abducted from an orphanage before she could remember. She's enhanced like I am, used in experiments similar to mine and was even given my DNA. Unlike my clones she was her own person before any of that happened, so she's developed differently than I have from the same tests." Cas held her hand supportively, she was shaking and speechless but didn't tell him to stop. "She has some of my innate knowledge and acts more adult, knows more than a child her age normally would, and can function like an older kid. She's as much a young adult as she is a child, so when she decides to share with you don't be surprised that she can use full sentences. And lastly, like I said earlier, many of us were spliced with different animals; she got a snow leopard. So, you know, I'm still the only one with wings."
Desirae smiled a little and glanced up at him thankfully, he watched her then as he realized she'd stopped trembling after he took her hand. She looked at the Miltons, "I was the one who translated some of Cas' growling before he could talk."
"That's a big task," Gabriel's expression seemed to soften a bit when he saw the small kid on set.
"It was pretty easy, he didn't say anything that complicated." Desirae took her hand away from Cas' and started pull the sweater off over her head. Before Cas could think to help Jet was already beside her making sure it came off properly without taking anything extra with it.
The audience's reaction was a mixture of 'that's really cute' and 'holy shit that's real too?' as Rae shook out her ears and let her tail fall again.
"Oh my god," Anna covered her mouth, "You're so cute I might scream."
"She likes cats," Gabriel explained, trying to dismiss his sister's sudden rush of joy. "Cas you think you can fly a little for us? I'd love to see that."
"I can take you for a short flight, if you like." Cas offered and Gabriel started nodding immediately.
"That'd be awesome."
"It's a lot of fuckin' fun," Jet attested with a grin.
With a little extra set up and personal cameras, they moved everyone outside to get the show. Cas decidedly led Gabriel to the door with his wing instead of his arm, a controlled touch made when he wanted it was an acceptable form of contact in his opinion. He watched the shorter man's eyes light up when the realization dawned that those wings were legitimate.
Cas made a point to get his back on camera, he wanted people to see that those wings came through his skin and connected with muscle tissue and bone. He didn't want to have that questioned, it would be but he wanted to give as little reasoning for it as possible.
With permission from Jet and Desirae, Anna got to carry Rae out into the parking lot and loved every second of it. Both Sam and Jet stuck close to her side but they let it happen because Desirae was comfortable enough to do it, therefore they could stand to pretend they were too for a while.
Cas was pretty sure he'd never admit it, but he loved the sound people made when he picked them up and took off. He didn't care if it was adrenaline from terror or excitement, it always made his day. Gabriel wasn't quiet either, his scream turned into a cheer as Cas took flight with him. He loved flying so he didn't care how many times he would have to display that ability.
"This is so awesome and terrifying at the same time!" Gabe laughed, his fingers digging into Cas' skin a little bit.
Castiel could hear the shouts from below, people clapping and awestruck again. It wasn't every day they got to see something like Cas, especially on a low budget show that couldn't have possibly gotten the money together to fake a stunt like Cas. He looked at Gabriel with a smile, "Thank you again, I really appreciate you guys picking up our story."
"Hey," Gabriel's confidence that high up was a little impressive, "Thank you for bringing this to us. You're gonna be a big deal, Cas."
He wasn't sure if that was comforting or scary, but he was looking forward to the challenge.