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This was not part of the plan.
Sammy was supposed to be here for moral support, but Jess had gone into labor the week before and now he had a beautiful little girl to look after. Apparently, a new baby was a good enough reason to skip this stupid early childhood conference, but an extreme, crippling fear of heights was not.
Now Dean had to fly from Chicago to Orlando by himself. Three hours in a flying metal death trap, suspended in the air by witchcraft, probably.
This was not an ideal situation.
Dean figured that sense he found himself in this incredibly shitty situation, he definitely deserved a drink. He began the long trek through O'Hare International Airport to the Chili's closest to his terminal. Chili's wasn't exactly known for their spectacular beer selection, but then again, neither were airports.
He plopped himself onto a bar stool and motioned to the bartender for a drink. While Dean glanced around the area, he found himself looking at what may have been the most attractive man he had ever seen. A couple seats away sat a guy that looked around Dean's age, perhaps with a few more worry lines etched into his face. The man had dark hair that made him look freshly ravished and a disheveled tie and coat to match. The seemingly perpetual stubble and the I-just-had-sex look weren't what really caught his eye, however. The guy had the deepest, most piercing pair of blue eyes Dean had ever seen.
Eyes that were now staring right back at him. Shit.
Dean quickly averted his eyes from the man, but it was already too late. He had caught the man’s attention, a man who was already making his way toward Dean’s side of the bar.
Shit.
Thankfully, the man did not appear to want Dean’s head on a stick. He walked over with a friendly and open disposition, perhaps even flattered by his staring. Dean quickly straightened (ha) his posture and readied himself for Sex Hair’s impending arrival.
“Hello,” the mystery man greeted with a vaguely confused expression, “would you mind if I joined you?” God, his eyes were even bluer up close.
“Yeah, sure- wait I mean no, I don’t mind.” Great he was already making an ass out of himself. Luckily, the man either chose to ignore Dean’s awkwardness or was too awkward himself to notice. “What brings you here?” Jeez, what a stupid line.
“I’m here hunting monsters, what do you think I’m doing here.” The guy offered with a small sarcastic smile. Dean liked them mouthy. “I’m actually on a flight to Orlando to visit my brother.”
“I’m heading to the same place actually, 7:45?” Please let Blue Eyes be on the same flight as him. He would feel about a million times better knowing the stranger would be in the same terrifying situation as him. “I’m Dean by the way.”
“Yes, that’s the one. I’m Castiel.” What a strange name. But, without knowing much about him, Dean could tell the name suited him.
“Castiel, eh? Where does that come from?” Dean couldn’t help but genuinely want to get to know this guy. He seemed nice enough, and they still had about an hour to kill before their flight. His beautiful face was just a bonus.
“My parents were very religious. All my siblings were named after angels. There is me, Gabriel, Balthazar, Lucifer, and Michael. I’m the baby of the family,” Castiel said with a small amount of humor in his voice, “Personally, I think Castiel is preferable to both Balthazar and Lucifer.” Dean offered him a small chuckle.
“I can certainly see where you’re coming from there,” Dean took a sip of his drink, “I think our flight is boarding soon, wanna head over together?”
“Sure.”
The walk to their terminal was spent making pleasant conversation. Dean couldn’t help but be drawn into the blue –eyed man with the angelic name. He found that their conversationally flowed almost as easily as it did with Sam. This was a particularly astounding feat and he had known Sam for practically his entire life, but after only an hour of small talk, felt the same ease with Cas. The amicable conversation almost distracted Dean from the impending doom of his flight alone.
Almost.
Dean could feel himself get more and more tense as they approached the gate. Even Cas, beautiful, hilarious, wonderful Cas could not distract his from the rotating statistics and horror stories of pilots knocked unconscious and evil flight attendants.
Cas interrupted his inner struggles, “Dean are you all right? You seem distracted.” Cas asked with a curious head tilt that made Dean’s insides melt. Man, this was bad.
“Yeah, um, I’m just really kind of terrified of flying?” Dean mumbled out in a fast confession. It wasn’t that he was embarrassed of his fear; he just really wanted Castiel to see him as someone to rely on.
“Oh Dean,” Cas said in an exasperated tone usually only Sam could manage, “that is nothing to be ashamed of. Everyone is afraid of something. I think your fear of planes is a lot more logical than my fear of clowns.”
Dean couldn’t help but laugh at that, albeit guiltily, “You and my brother both man. Hey where are you seated?”
Cas glanced down at his boarding pass, “21A.” Fate was really on Dean’s side today.
“No way I’m 21B. Looks like we’re gonna be plane buddies too.” Shit that sounded weird. But Castiel offered him a small grin, so everything appeared to be okay.
As they were finally boarding their plane and looking for their seats, Dean could feel his nerves rising even higher. He began breathing heavily and his hands were shaking incessantly. His nerves were slightly lessened by Cas’ comforting touch on his forearm, but there was no way the small amount of contact is going to effectively help Dean through the take-off.
As the plane’s engine began rumbling and the vehicle gained speed, Dean panicked even further. He hand gripped Castiel’s tightly without his mind’s permission. If the other man cared about the strong grip in his, he wasn’t making his complaints known.
After take-off, Dean’s iron grip lessened, but both men seemed reluctant to let go of each other completely. They sat in a comforting silence between them, with their own thoughts occupying them. At some point about an hour into the flight, Cas began to doze off, causing his head to rest on Dean’s shoulder. Dean let it happen, and let go of their loosely gripped hands to drape his arm around the smaller man’s figure.
The small peace was short lived however, as the plane soon began to shake with turbulence as it began to land. Castiel rose his head from the other man’s shoulders and looked at his once again panic stricken face.
“Dean, please look at me.” Castiel asked softly, bringing up his hand to gently cup Dean’s face. He couldn’t help but notice how close together their faces were. After a moment of hesitation, Cas leaned in fully and captured Dean’s lips with his own. Their mouths moved together softly as Dean moved his hands up to Castiel’s shoulders.
He forgot all about the landing.