"Damn it damn it damn it" Dean's muttering had been going on for ten minutes already, and the plane hadn't even taken off yet.

"Never again, never again. Damn it, damn it Sammy why'd you always have to wander off to the middle of freaking nowhere all the time?". The plane began to rattle as the engine started up. "God DAMN it!" He bit down on his tongue to try and stop the endless flow of nervous babbling.

"Dean, if it comes as any comfort to you, the risk of this plane crashing is very minimal. Of course, it does have to happen to someone, I suppose, but as I said it is still highly unlikely." Castiel sat in the seat next to him, his hands in his lap and a calm and collected expression on his face that made Dean want to punch him.

"Fuck, Cas, if you wanna help how about you just keep your mouth shut for the moment yeah?" His head was bent, his neck and shoulders aching as he gripped the armrests as tightly as he could.

The plane was shuddering along now, almost as quickly as Dean's heart, and he tried as hard as he could to take deep breaths. Then, with a jolt that made his stomach lurch, the plane took off. Dean couldn't tell whether he was screaming out loud or just in his head. He could taste blood in his mouth, feel the fear in his veins, and then a shiver went down his spine as Cas placed his hand on top of Dean's. Castiel rubbed the top of Dean's hand with his own, his fingers so gentle and smooth that Dean was captivated by them, forgetting his nerves and feeling only in the places that Cas touched.

Soon enough the plane stabilised, and Castiel drew his hand away. The cold air that hit Dean's hand as it became exposed made him sigh in disappointment. It had felt so nice.

A few minutes later the seat belt sign turned off, and Castiel unbuckled and stretched. Dean was still hunched over in his seat, too anxious to move, but he tried to at least move his neck so that Cas wouldn't think he was too afraid. But Dean must have moved too quickly, because he felt a sharp pain pulse through his neck and shoulder muscles, and he cried out. He must have pulled something- it throbbed painfully across his upper back.

"Dean? Are you hurt?" Cas's concerned voice came from behind Dean, who had stopped moving and was facing away from Cas with his neck stretched out.

"Nah, it's nothing, I just pulled a muscle or something in my neck. I'm fine." But his voice was strained, and Castiel could tell he was in pain. After a moment's hesitation he brought his hands up to rest on the exposed skin of Dean's neck. He heard Dean's intake of breath, sharp and shallow, and he began to massage as best he could the muscles on Dean's neck.

"Is this where it hurts?" He asked, moving in closer so that his nose was nearly in Dean's hair.

"Yeah, uh, thanks". Dean was in too much pain to fully realise how close Cas was to him. Castiel continued to press his fingers into Dean's muscles, moving down to his shoulders where he could feel the tension slowly easing as he worked.

His hands slipped beneath Dean's tshirt, and he felt Dean shiver. Castiel began to massage his back instead, lower and lower, and then back up again.

"Is it feeling okay? Is this helping? talk to me." He muttered into Dean's ear.

"It's great, Cas. Fucking perfect. Where in Hell did you learn to do this?" He had to stop himself moaning through his words- Castiel's fingers felt like bliss.

He could feel Cas's breath tickling his ear as he said "I don't believe that Hell has an area where you can learn to massage." Dean chuckled at Cas s attempt at a joke, shuffling even closer to Cas's warm body.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, attracting the odd stare, with Castiel moving his cold hands up and down Dean's back for way longer than he needed to- the pain had subsided almost as soon as Cas had started. Then Cas drew his hands away to a noise of displeasure from Dean, who was at this point so relaxed that he was nearly asleep.

Castiel held the back of Dean's shoulders and kissed the top of his head. He turned Dean around in his seat, smiling to himself when he saw that Dean's eyes were closed, and then took his hand before settling into a comfortable sleep himself.