Supernatural in Real Life

Chapter Five

I wake up way earlier than I usually do. I could do the normal thing and go back to sleep, but instead, I head out to join the group. There a flaw in that plan though-there is no group. The only person awake is Jared, who's eating an apple like the healthy person he plays on tv. I debate going back to my temporary bedroom until more people are awake, but I lose my chance when Jared turns around.
"Hello!" he greets me.
"Hi," I reply awkwardly. I don't think I've said anything to Jared since the meet and greet, when he was super awesome actor, not super awesome hunter.
I stand in the doorway until Jared offers me a seat next to him. Not feeling any less awkward, I sit down. If you haven't noticed, "awkward" is pretty much the theme of my life.
"How are you?" he asks, trying to make conversation.
"Good."
We sit in an uncomfortable silence. Jensen takes a bite of his apple.
"Want one?" he offers.
I shake my head. "I'm more of a junk food eater."
He chuckles. "Yeah, I hear that a lot."
"I'm sure you do."
"So, how are you adjusting to the supernatural lifestyle?"
I shrug. "Not sure if knowing the show makes it easier because I already understand how it all works, or if it's harder because I don't know what actually happened and what hasn't happened."
He nods. "Yeah. That happens a lot. Fortunately for you, it doesn't really matter. You've just got to sit tight until we figure out who wants you dead, kill them, and then you can go on with your life."
"Finally, something I can do!"
He chuckles softly. "I'd hope you could do that. If you can't do nothing, I'd actually feel really bad for you."
"Well, it doesn't necessarily mean I can't do anything," I say. "Maybe I have to do something."
He nods thoughtfully. "That's possible," he agrees.
"What's possible?" Jensen asks, walking into the room seemingly wide awake. How is that possible so early in the morning?
"Were talking about how it's possible you're a Trickster," Jared says without hesitation. "You only eat junk food."
As if to demonstrate, Jensen grabs a chocolate muffin. "Yes I do, and I'm proud of it!" He holds up his muffin. "You want one?"
"Sure," I say. He grabs another and sits down next to me, dropping the muffin in front of me.
"I've got to say, I was very disappointed in the lack of pancakes today," I say.
"You think we have pancakes all the time?" Jensen replies. "No way. Misha makes them maybe once every couple months."
"But pancakes are life!" I say. "How do you survive?"
"It's a hard life," Jensen says.
"Why's it a hard life?" Misha asks, entering the room as well. Do they just wait for someone to say something so they can ask about it?"
"We're complaining you don't cook enough," Jensen tells him.
"I'm going to assume that's a compliment?" he says, unsure.
"Take it for whatever you want," Jensen says.
"Mornin'" Richard says, joining us.
"Do you guys, like, set an alarm? Is that why everyone's waking up now?" I ask.
"Wait, you guys haven't been up for hours?" Mark asks, joining us as well.
"More like minutes," Jensen says.
"I've been up for hours," Jared says.
"Well, yeah, but you're weird."
"Can't deny that," he laughs.
We all hear the door open, and I notice everyone reaching for their weapons. Crowley walks into view, and everyone relaxes, letting go of their weapons.
"Where were you?" Mark asks.
"Out," he replies vaguely.
"At, like, six in the morning?"
"I'm a demon," he reminds Mark. "I don't sleep."
"Wait, so you do this every day and I've never noticed?" Mark says incredulously.
"Yeah. You're just never awake when I get back."
"I've never noticed, either," Jensen says.
"He's usually back sooner," Jared tells them. "He's not lying."
"You have an entire life without us?" Misha asks, pretending to feel left out.
"Oh, I'm so sorry," he replies, sounding completely emotionless. "Next time I'll bring you with me. Only no I won't."
"Like dis if you cry everytim," Jensen says.
"Double tap," Mark says.
"Retweet," Jared says.
"Reblog," I say.
"Are you one of those tumblr trolls that goes around posting Supernatural pictures on every single post?" Misha asks.
"I would, but I have no idea how to use tumblr," I admit. A/N Seriously, how do you use tumblr?!?!
"See, Jared? I'm not the only one that doesn't get tumblr!" Jensen exclaims.
"Dude, you don't know how to use Snapchat!" Jared reminds him.
"Can't use that either," I admit.
"Instagram?" he asks.
I nod. "I get that one."
"So you're not a complete failure like Jensen over here," Mark says.
"You don't know how to use Instagram?" I say in both surprise and amusement. How does someone not know how to use Instagram?
"I was starting to get the hang of it until they switched the layout!" Jensen tells me. "And then they added the... Uh..."
"Stories," Jared tells him.
"Yeah, those," Jensen says.
"Even I can use Instagram!" Crowley exclaims. "And I'm 300 years old!"
"Wait, but you have an Instagram account," I remind Jensen. Because I've been following it for years.
"But I run it," Jared tells me.
"I tried to get him to run mine too," Mark says, "but he wouldn't do it."
"I don't think you want me to run your account," Jared says.
"As long as I stay on your good side, it's all fine."
Rob suddenly appears in the doorway to the room, and I know he wasn't there a second ago. It takes me a moment to remember he's God, and he can teleport, just like the angels.
"Good morning," he greets us, joining the group as if he'd been here the whole time.
"'Mornin'" the guys all say. I don't say anything, partially because I don't really know him but don't really like him, and partially because I'm socially awkward.
"Are we missing anyone?" Mark asks. "I feel like we're missing someone."
"Uh..." Jensen quietly says names as he looks around, counting on him fingers. "Me, Jared, Misha, Mark, Mark, Rob, Richard, Bailey...Don't think so."
"Ruth would be so offended right now," Misha says.
"Oh yeah!" Mark says. "I forgot Ruth was here!"
With the way the morning has been going, I expect her to come out now and make a comment on this, but she doesn't.
"She sleeps late," Richard tells me. I guess my look wasn't very discreet.
"'Late' is the biggest understatement of the year," Crowley says.
"How late is late?" I ask.
"Like, nine in the morning," Mark answers.
"How is that late?"
"How is that not late?" Crowley says.
"I wake up at nine on a daily basis!"
"You woke up before six today!" Richard reminds me. "What do you mean, nine? What timezone are you in?"
"Okay, I wake up at nine on a daily basis while I'm at my house in my own bed," I correct myself.
"What, our place isn't good enough for you?" Misha says, pretending he's hurt. "
"Considering it's not even really your place, I'm not sure why that's a bad thing," I say. "Have you guys even been here before?"
"Well, no, but..."
"Exactly! So I have no problem with saying I would much rather be at home."
"Okay, that one is offensive," Misha says. "You can't even pretend it wasn't."
Thinking back in it, I see his point. "Okay, I'd rather have my own bed here." Honestly, as much as I love these guys, I really do wish I was back home. It was kind of cool at first, being noticed by my idols as more than jut a random fan, but I'm getting pretty sick of being holed up in here. I know I can't say that, though. It's not their fault, anyway. They're just trying to make sure I don't get hurt.
"That's better!" Misha tells me, sounding accomplished, as if he actually did anything.
That's the end of our group conversation. I notice the Marks have already started chatting, and the Kings of Con, Rob and Richard, are having their own conversation. J2 started talking a while ago, which leaves me with Misha. I've got to say, if I have to talk to someone, Misha is high on the list. I haven't really had a chance to chat with him, but I've seen him at conventions (on video, since I've never been to one) and I've seen him with his friends, plus I met him at the meet and greet. He seems like a cool guy.
"Hey, have you seen your Instagram comments?" I ask him, hoping it doesn't sound too stalkerish. I'm sure he expects that his fans would follow him on Instagram, but I feel kind of awkward about it. Still, I needed something to talk about, and that's the first thing that popped into my head.
"Yep. I have two types of comments. 'Happy Anniversary,' and 'Bear on my tongue,'" he says with a grin. "I heard someone started an apocalypse!"
"You have checked!"
"Of course I did! It's my Instagram. Celebrities also want to know what people think. I don't spend all my time showing off my trench coat collection."
I laugh. "You haven't mentioned it online, though," I remind him. Okay, that might have sounded stalkerish.
"I'm afraid if I do, people will assume the joke is over. I kind of like people starting apocalypses for me. Way more than I like me starting apocalypses for other people."
"Oh yeah, this is your second fan-started apocalypse!"
He nods. "Which is two more than the others have," he brags.
I laugh. "You must be so proud."
He nods enthusiastically. "Oh, yeah. It's hard to get people to love you so much. The cool thing about Supernatural is that I play everyone! A socially awkward angel, a normal human, a magic human, a god, the Leviathan, a hippie, a homeless person, the devil, and I play Misha Collins in one episode! That's the best role, by the way. So there's someone I play for everyone to relate to, and for everyone to love!"
"But there's also someone you play for everyone to hate."
"No way! No one can hate me. I'm too perfect!"
"And modest, too," I joke.
"If you're looking for modesty, there's Castiel that I play. He's super modest! See? It works every time!"
I laugh. "Does it ever get weird to think you've played your friends on tv?" I ask. "You know, you played Cas and Lucifer." For a moment, I kick myself for calling Lucifer his friend. That usually starts something that kills the conversation, but this is the longest flowing conversation I've had since I met the guys.
"All the time," he tells me, not mentioning what I thought was a huge mistake. "I'm petty used to being Cas by now, because I kind of am Cas, ya know? But it was harder to play Lucifer because even though I've seen Lucifer and his portrayal on the show, I've never really spoken to him. All I really know about him I learned through Cas, so probably isn't the best source of information. People say I went to ask Mark how he'd portray Lucifer for some scenes, but really, I asked Lucifer what he'd do in some scenes."
"How'd Cas handle that?" I ask. I'm sure he wasn't too thrilled about Misha going to see his least favorite person for something as simple as that.
"He wasn't thrilled, but as long as we didn't mention him at all, he said he wouldn't interfere," Misha tells me. "As much as Cas hates Lucifer, he likes the show more. Well, he likes me more, and I like the show, so he likes the show too."
That was not what I was expecting. I know Cas likes Misha-he kind of has to, at least a little-but he absolutely despises Lucifer. I would have thought he'd be afraid Lucifer would turn Misha against him, but I guess their bond is too strong for that.
"That's nice of him," I say.
Misha nods. "Yeah, Cas is like that. The show makes it seem like I just met Cas before the boys did, but I really met him when I was a lot younger. I don't talk about it much, but when I was younger, I was suicidal. I was poor, homeless, and depressed, and I just gave up and decided to end it all. That's when Cas found me, and, long story short, he's the reason I'm still here. He talked me out of it, I became his vessel, and whenever I fell back into my depression, he would make sure I couldn't do anything stupid. It's a good thing, too, because now I'm loving life. Cas is just amazing like that."
I didn't realize Misha was suicidal as a kid. I knew he was homeless, which is why him playing Steve, who was just homeless human Castiel, was so sad. I didn't even think about how his childhood would affect him mentally. I didn't really picture the real life Cas as the type to stop a suicide unless he already knew and loved the person, either. I guess Misha was right. Don't judge an angel by their brother's opinion of them.
"That's part of the reason I love the Always Keep Fighting thing we have going on," Misha continues. "It really hits close to home. Metaphorically speaking, of course, since I didn't really have a home. I know it does for Jared, too, since he was depressed too. It seems to be a common theme among the Supernatural fans. And yes, I am a fan of my own show. I watch them all when they come out. The wait each week it horrible!"
Somehow, he turned that depressing conversation into something lighthearted and funny.
"I'm sure it is," I say sarcastically. "It's not like you know what happens for the whole season."
"Although it's nice to go through Twitter as it airs because I get to see how people like each episode if they're live-tweeting it. Plus I have no idea how I do in each scene I'm in, so it's always nice to see that. Except for when it's not. Other than that, though, it's great!"
I laugh. "Are you ever nervous to see how it looks?"
"Not really, because it's already done. I do sometimes regret looking at people's responses to it, though, because those can be harsh."
"Well, they don't expect anyone important to be reading them," I say.
"I'm not important enough to be called important," he replies. "There are people that will rip their eyes out for insulting the show, and that's who they should be looking out for. While they still have eyes, ya know?"
I laugh. Suddenly, my phone rings, which is pretty embarrassing because it's playing Carry on my Wayward Son on full volume. I pull it out and see it's Avery calling me. I excuse myself from the conversation, and quickly head into the halls where I can answer my phone and tell Avery everything without feeling self conscious because the others are listening. When I'm out of earshot, I answer with a "Hello!"
"Hello, Bailey," I hear.
But the voice isn't Avery's.