FIC - AngelOfThursday@Castiel
Title: AngelOfThursday@Castiel
Pairing: Sam/Cas
Rating: PG
Summary: for the Sastiel comment fic meme, Cas learns Twitter (and other things)
Even with his vast knowledge of the world in general, which remained with Castiel after the loss of his Grace, he still needed a lot of help navigating the practical application of his knowledge as it applied to life as a human being. Theoretical information would only get a person so far in this world - he found that out quickly.
Dean was the person who took responsibility for making sure Cas got the hang of activities of daily living such as getting dressed, taking care of personal hygiene, preparing simple meals and learning to drive (in ‘borrowed’ cars, of course). Knowing when the trash needed to be taken out, which items went into the recycling bin, and what was and was not safe to put into the microwave and garbage disposal were all things Cas picked up on quickly. Dean had an excellent way of explaining these tasks so that the former angel could easily understand them. Within weeks, Castiel had mastered target practice with a pistol, changing the oil in the Impala and even laundry (after a few failed attempts including the washing machine overflowing with soap bubbles and some clothes coming out a different color than when they went in). They were all such small things, but Cas still felt pride in learning so much in a relatively short period of time.
Day to day necessities weren’t the only things Castiel needed to know, though. He observed Sam and Kevin at length as they used their laptops for research, communication and even just entertainment. He still couldn’t find the humor his friends seemed to get from watching videos of cats jumping around and people trying to teach dance moves to their audience (not that he hadn’t tried, once, to follow the instructions from one of those videos to the great delight of his friends). He’d learned a bit about using the Internet for research before, and was getting better at narrowing his searches for more accurate results.
What fascinated him the most was the social aspect of Internet use. Kevin had his own page, he called it a ‘blog’, where he recorded some of his daily experiences and wrote about lessons he learned from observing other people or reading a book or an article. He also used two sites that were designed for communication, Facebook and Twitter. The two were quite different, but both were used to update one’s friends and family about their life and to just share seemingly random thoughts with whoever happened to be reading.
Sam didn’t have a Facebook account, but he did use Twitter on a regular basis. When Cas asked for more information about it, Sam didn’t mind trying to explain the concept. “You have people who ‘follow’ you on the site, generally people who are your friends or who think what you post is interesting or engaging or funny. I don’t have many followers, obviously, since I don’t know many people, but Kevin has a ton. Mostly people he knew from high school. There are so many things we can’t talk about, it’s nice to have an outlet for the small things that we can. You’re limited, though - 140 characters are all you can use in a single tweet (it was like Cas was learning a whole new language as well as a new skill) so you really have to be pretty concise. There are ways to attach links and pictures to your tweets, but I can show you that later. The thing is, if you don’t have any followers, no one’s gonna see what you post.”
“How do you get these followers, if you don’t really know anyone? You and Kevin are the only people I know who use this site, as far as I know. I’ve never seen Dean use it.”
With a laugh, Sam replied, “No, Dean has no interest in social networking.” Cas looked confused at yet another new phrase, so Sam explained, “Social networking just means using these kinds of sites as a way of communicating with other people. If you want to give it a try, we can set you up an account and Kevin and I will repost your tweets so other people will see them. You can also follow different accounts so you can read what they post - people and companies both use this as a way of getting information out to the general public.”
Excited about the possibility of having contact, even through ‘the web’, with new people, Cas eagerly agreed to try it out. An account was quickly set up for @Castiel, (AngelOfThursday) after a brief argument over whether or not the moniker was appropriate. Sam blushed a little, quietly explaining, “You’re still an angel to me, Cas.”
The words and tone filled Cas with an unfamiliar yet very pleasurable feeling. Sam was showing him affection in a shy and different way than he ever had before. It was nice. More than nice. Cas gave in on the name issue right away, and treasured the grin he got from Sam in return.
After working together to make sure Cas’ tweet would not exceed the maximum character count, Sam helped him post. It was just a random thought that was on his mind now that he’d taken a serious interest in staring up at the sky through their telescope, or even just sitting up on the roof and looking at the stars. Sam wondered, sometimes, what Cas saw that no one else could; what he knew that was unknowable to someone who’d been human all their lives.
AngelOfThursday@Castiel
Look for Sagittarius just after twilight tonight. Keep calling it Sagittarius if you like. It was never meant to be a picture.
“That works, Cas, but…you know there are some things you really can’t talk about too much, right?”
With a sideways glance, Castiel replied, “If you think I’m going to just start going on about demons and the end of days, you have nothing to worry about.”
In the end, Sam figured a lot of people posted vague and odd things on Twitter, so it probably wouldn’t matter what Cas said. He and Kevin retweeted it, and then Garth did, and minutes later, so did Charlie. Charlie had 2,581 Twitter followers.
Garthed@GFitzIV
Cas you got a Twitter? This is gonna be epic.
QueenOfAll@MyNameIsCharlie
You got a Twitter!! I bet Sam showed you. Totes following you now.
Angiegirl@AngelaSooners
@KTran@Castiel Kev, is your friend an astronomer?
TrifectaPhil@PhillyFanPhil
@WinSam1983@Castiel I will keep calling it Sagittarius, thanks.
From there, things just went on as normal. Cas didn’t spend a lot of time on Twitter, but enough that the things he posted got around and seemed interesting enough (for some reason) to result in him having well over a hundred followers. Though most of his tweets had to do with the stars, sky or other space-related subject, some were completely mundane. Even those seemed to get a fair amount of attention.
AngelOfThursday@Castiel
Coffee filters are maddening. Boxes are identical. Product consistency unreliable at best. My roommates are better suited to this task.
RWFanJen@JenPoses
@Castiel When I run out sometimes I use a paper towel, it works just fine.
@JenPoses Thank you, I will attempt that method.
Garthed@GFitzIV
@Castiel Why don’t you have a Keurig? Then everyone gets the kind of coffee they want, no filters.
@GFitzIV I asked Dean, he said because there are no women living here and to tell you hello.
@Castiel Dean’s a dick. Tell Sam to get you a Keurig, bet you ten bucks he’ll do it.
The next day:
@GFitzIV Thank you, Sam made the purchase right away and I enjoy it very much. He doesn’t seem to think a female is required to use it.
QueenOfAll@MyNameIsCharlie
@GFitzIV@Castiel Why am I not even a little surprised that Sam ran right out to get you a present?
@MyNameIsCharlie@Castiel Hahaha, IKR??
@MyNameIsCharlie@GFitzIV I don’t understand. What is IKR? And why would Sam be eager to get me a ‘present’?
@MyNameIsCharlie Oh, Cas.
@GFitzIV RT @MyNameIsCharlie Oh, Cas.
Sam was startled when his book was taken from his lap and replaced with a laptop displaying Cas’ Twitter page. “Sam, can you explain these messages from Charlie and Garth? I’m not sure how to respond and I don’t want to sound foolish.”
The look on Cas’ face was enough to push Sam into being truthful immediately. He was already at a disadvantage, with technology and with expressing emotions, and it would be cruel to give him a vague answer or to tell him to ignore it. Besides, Sam knew the issue wasn’t going to go away on its own.
“Cas, they’re - the implication is that I have romantic feelings for you, and that buying you gifts or running out to get something you ask for would be my natural reaction to having those kinds of feelings.”
“I don’t know why they assumed that was the case”, Cas said, that familiar fluttering in his belly and warmth on his cheeks returning as they often did when he was alone with Sam. “If I said anything to make them think that was true, I apologize. I’ll make sure they know-”
“No! Cas, please, don’t say anything. Don’t tell them...don’t tell anyone it’s not true. It is. I mean, it is true, and I’m sorry I haven’t found the right time to tell you before now. I do have feelings for you, it’s just that I didn’t want you to be overwhelmed, or feel obligated or uncomfortable or whatever. No expectations, all right?”
Cas just stared at Sam for a minute, realization beginning to dawn on him. All of a sudden the laptop was snatched up and placed on an end table, and shockingly, was replaced with Cas.
Cas. Sitting in his lap. Jesus Christ. Please, Sam thought, don’t let anyone walk into this room right now.
“Sam, I didn’t know that you…I feel it’s only fair for me to tell you I feel the same way. I’m not sure how it started, or what it means. I just know that it’s there. Don’t apologize for anything, it’s a relief to know this attraction is mutual.”
How they hell they got here, arms around each other, Cas’ ass on his thighs and their lips so close to finally touching, Sam had no idea. But it was fantastic and he wasn’t about to question anything. Just as they pulled away from that first soft and tentative kiss, their attention was drawn to the other side of the room.
Dean was beaming and Kevin was grudgingly handing him a twenty dollar bill. “The house always wins, Kev”, said Dean, winking at Sam and Cas and leaving the room.
Alone again, Sam asked, “So, you like using Twitter, I guess?”
“I do, it’s very enlightening. I’ve been having discussions almost every day with an astrophysicist who seems to understand the workings of space and the stars much better than anyone else I’ve discussed the subject with. Here”, Cas said, leaning over and pulling the laptop back in front of them to show the threads to Sam.
“Cas, you’ve got to be kidding me. Do you know who that is?”
“He is an author and scientist named Neil. A very intelligent man, though at times I’m confused by some of his cultural references.”
“Dude, that’s Neil Tyson. He’s the director of the Hayden Planetarium! He’s on talk and radio shows all the time, this is a celebrity!”
“Oh. I assume I should be flattered he takes the time to correspond with me, then. What is the Hayden Planetarium?”
Leaning in for another kiss, Sam said, “I’ll take you there. You’ll love it.”
Pairing: Sam/Cas
Rating: PG
Summary: for the Sastiel comment fic meme, Cas learns Twitter (and other things)
Even with his vast knowledge of the world in general, which remained with Castiel after the loss of his Grace, he still needed a lot of help navigating the practical application of his knowledge as it applied to life as a human being. Theoretical information would only get a person so far in this world - he found that out quickly.
Dean was the person who took responsibility for making sure Cas got the hang of activities of daily living such as getting dressed, taking care of personal hygiene, preparing simple meals and learning to drive (in ‘borrowed’ cars, of course). Knowing when the trash needed to be taken out, which items went into the recycling bin, and what was and was not safe to put into the microwave and garbage disposal were all things Cas picked up on quickly. Dean had an excellent way of explaining these tasks so that the former angel could easily understand them. Within weeks, Castiel had mastered target practice with a pistol, changing the oil in the Impala and even laundry (after a few failed attempts including the washing machine overflowing with soap bubbles and some clothes coming out a different color than when they went in). They were all such small things, but Cas still felt pride in learning so much in a relatively short period of time.
Day to day necessities weren’t the only things Castiel needed to know, though. He observed Sam and Kevin at length as they used their laptops for research, communication and even just entertainment. He still couldn’t find the humor his friends seemed to get from watching videos of cats jumping around and people trying to teach dance moves to their audience (not that he hadn’t tried, once, to follow the instructions from one of those videos to the great delight of his friends). He’d learned a bit about using the Internet for research before, and was getting better at narrowing his searches for more accurate results.
What fascinated him the most was the social aspect of Internet use. Kevin had his own page, he called it a ‘blog’, where he recorded some of his daily experiences and wrote about lessons he learned from observing other people or reading a book or an article. He also used two sites that were designed for communication, Facebook and Twitter. The two were quite different, but both were used to update one’s friends and family about their life and to just share seemingly random thoughts with whoever happened to be reading.
Sam didn’t have a Facebook account, but he did use Twitter on a regular basis. When Cas asked for more information about it, Sam didn’t mind trying to explain the concept. “You have people who ‘follow’ you on the site, generally people who are your friends or who think what you post is interesting or engaging or funny. I don’t have many followers, obviously, since I don’t know many people, but Kevin has a ton. Mostly people he knew from high school. There are so many things we can’t talk about, it’s nice to have an outlet for the small things that we can. You’re limited, though - 140 characters are all you can use in a single tweet (it was like Cas was learning a whole new language as well as a new skill) so you really have to be pretty concise. There are ways to attach links and pictures to your tweets, but I can show you that later. The thing is, if you don’t have any followers, no one’s gonna see what you post.”
“How do you get these followers, if you don’t really know anyone? You and Kevin are the only people I know who use this site, as far as I know. I’ve never seen Dean use it.”
With a laugh, Sam replied, “No, Dean has no interest in social networking.” Cas looked confused at yet another new phrase, so Sam explained, “Social networking just means using these kinds of sites as a way of communicating with other people. If you want to give it a try, we can set you up an account and Kevin and I will repost your tweets so other people will see them. You can also follow different accounts so you can read what they post - people and companies both use this as a way of getting information out to the general public.”
Excited about the possibility of having contact, even through ‘the web’, with new people, Cas eagerly agreed to try it out. An account was quickly set up for @Castiel, (AngelOfThursday) after a brief argument over whether or not the moniker was appropriate. Sam blushed a little, quietly explaining, “You’re still an angel to me, Cas.”
The words and tone filled Cas with an unfamiliar yet very pleasurable feeling. Sam was showing him affection in a shy and different way than he ever had before. It was nice. More than nice. Cas gave in on the name issue right away, and treasured the grin he got from Sam in return.
After working together to make sure Cas’ tweet would not exceed the maximum character count, Sam helped him post. It was just a random thought that was on his mind now that he’d taken a serious interest in staring up at the sky through their telescope, or even just sitting up on the roof and looking at the stars. Sam wondered, sometimes, what Cas saw that no one else could; what he knew that was unknowable to someone who’d been human all their lives.
AngelOfThursday@Castiel
Look for Sagittarius just after twilight tonight. Keep calling it Sagittarius if you like. It was never meant to be a picture.
“That works, Cas, but…you know there are some things you really can’t talk about too much, right?”
With a sideways glance, Castiel replied, “If you think I’m going to just start going on about demons and the end of days, you have nothing to worry about.”
In the end, Sam figured a lot of people posted vague and odd things on Twitter, so it probably wouldn’t matter what Cas said. He and Kevin retweeted it, and then Garth did, and minutes later, so did Charlie. Charlie had 2,581 Twitter followers.
Garthed@GFitzIV
Cas you got a Twitter? This is gonna be epic.
QueenOfAll@MyNameIsCharlie
You got a Twitter!! I bet Sam showed you. Totes following you now.
Angiegirl@AngelaSooners
@KTran@Castiel Kev, is your friend an astronomer?
TrifectaPhil@PhillyFanPhil
@WinSam1983@Castiel I will keep calling it Sagittarius, thanks.
From there, things just went on as normal. Cas didn’t spend a lot of time on Twitter, but enough that the things he posted got around and seemed interesting enough (for some reason) to result in him having well over a hundred followers. Though most of his tweets had to do with the stars, sky or other space-related subject, some were completely mundane. Even those seemed to get a fair amount of attention.
AngelOfThursday@Castiel
Coffee filters are maddening. Boxes are identical. Product consistency unreliable at best. My roommates are better suited to this task.
RWFanJen@JenPoses
@Castiel When I run out sometimes I use a paper towel, it works just fine.
@JenPoses Thank you, I will attempt that method.
Garthed@GFitzIV
@Castiel Why don’t you have a Keurig? Then everyone gets the kind of coffee they want, no filters.
@GFitzIV I asked Dean, he said because there are no women living here and to tell you hello.
@Castiel Dean’s a dick. Tell Sam to get you a Keurig, bet you ten bucks he’ll do it.
The next day:
@GFitzIV Thank you, Sam made the purchase right away and I enjoy it very much. He doesn’t seem to think a female is required to use it.
QueenOfAll@MyNameIsCharlie
@GFitzIV@Castiel Why am I not even a little surprised that Sam ran right out to get you a present?
@MyNameIsCharlie@Castiel Hahaha, IKR??
@MyNameIsCharlie@GFitzIV I don’t understand. What is IKR? And why would Sam be eager to get me a ‘present’?
@MyNameIsCharlie Oh, Cas.
@GFitzIV RT @MyNameIsCharlie Oh, Cas.
Sam was startled when his book was taken from his lap and replaced with a laptop displaying Cas’ Twitter page. “Sam, can you explain these messages from Charlie and Garth? I’m not sure how to respond and I don’t want to sound foolish.”
The look on Cas’ face was enough to push Sam into being truthful immediately. He was already at a disadvantage, with technology and with expressing emotions, and it would be cruel to give him a vague answer or to tell him to ignore it. Besides, Sam knew the issue wasn’t going to go away on its own.
“Cas, they’re - the implication is that I have romantic feelings for you, and that buying you gifts or running out to get something you ask for would be my natural reaction to having those kinds of feelings.”
“I don’t know why they assumed that was the case”, Cas said, that familiar fluttering in his belly and warmth on his cheeks returning as they often did when he was alone with Sam. “If I said anything to make them think that was true, I apologize. I’ll make sure they know-”
“No! Cas, please, don’t say anything. Don’t tell them...don’t tell anyone it’s not true. It is. I mean, it is true, and I’m sorry I haven’t found the right time to tell you before now. I do have feelings for you, it’s just that I didn’t want you to be overwhelmed, or feel obligated or uncomfortable or whatever. No expectations, all right?”
Cas just stared at Sam for a minute, realization beginning to dawn on him. All of a sudden the laptop was snatched up and placed on an end table, and shockingly, was replaced with Cas.
Cas. Sitting in his lap. Jesus Christ. Please, Sam thought, don’t let anyone walk into this room right now.
“Sam, I didn’t know that you…I feel it’s only fair for me to tell you I feel the same way. I’m not sure how it started, or what it means. I just know that it’s there. Don’t apologize for anything, it’s a relief to know this attraction is mutual.”
How they hell they got here, arms around each other, Cas’ ass on his thighs and their lips so close to finally touching, Sam had no idea. But it was fantastic and he wasn’t about to question anything. Just as they pulled away from that first soft and tentative kiss, their attention was drawn to the other side of the room.
Dean was beaming and Kevin was grudgingly handing him a twenty dollar bill. “The house always wins, Kev”, said Dean, winking at Sam and Cas and leaving the room.
Alone again, Sam asked, “So, you like using Twitter, I guess?”
“I do, it’s very enlightening. I’ve been having discussions almost every day with an astrophysicist who seems to understand the workings of space and the stars much better than anyone else I’ve discussed the subject with. Here”, Cas said, leaning over and pulling the laptop back in front of them to show the threads to Sam.
“Cas, you’ve got to be kidding me. Do you know who that is?”
“He is an author and scientist named Neil. A very intelligent man, though at times I’m confused by some of his cultural references.”
“Dude, that’s Neil Tyson. He’s the director of the Hayden Planetarium! He’s on talk and radio shows all the time, this is a celebrity!”
“Oh. I assume I should be flattered he takes the time to correspond with me, then. What is the Hayden Planetarium?”
Leaning in for another kiss, Sam said, “I’ll take you there. You’ll love it.”