"You're sure you've got this, Cas?" Dean asked as Cas adjusted the Impala's leather driver's seat. Dean breathed deeply to calm himself. He didn't often let anyone drive the impala, and he'd never let anyone who had never driven before get behind the wheel. He'd put too much work into his baby to let others drive it willy-nilly.
"I can do this, Dean." He assured with a small grin. Cas adjusted the rear-view mirror like Sam had told him to do and breathed deeply before clicking the seatbelt into place. He mentally ticked off all of the things that the manual he'd read 12 times told him to. It felt like his new life was thrusting situations on him constantly that he wasn't prepared for. Sam assured him that it was a perfectly normal human experience, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He laughed softly at a sudden wish. If his brothers and sisters in heaven could have their grace taken from them for a while and experience humanness, then they wouldn't be so quick in discounting the children of god they were supposed to love.
"I mean, we can always steal a car for you to practice in." Dean offered. Cas glared at him, "Temporarily. Of course. I just don't want you crashing her." Sam slid into the backseat and grabbed Dean's shoulder, giving his brother a reassuring shake.
"Don't worry. He's got this. Just sit back and relax. Plus, the highway's deserted. If he manages to run us off a perfectly straight road then we'll know he's not cut out for driving." Dean nearly grabbed the keys out of the ignition at the mention of crashing his baby, but Castiel was quicker. He turned the key and shot Dean an "I dare you" look. Dean grumbled something about getting ganged up on and waved for Cas to get going.
Cas pushed down on the accelerator only to hear a loud vroom and receive an exasperated look from Dean and a loud laugh from Sam.
"It's in park, buddy. D for drive." Dean said. Cas chastised himself briefly. He'd read that in the manual, but the nerves he felt were overriding his own common sense. He breathed deeper before putting the car into drive. Park, Reverse, Neutral, and Drive. He could do this.
The drive was smooth, only a couple of close calls with the side of the road and a single passing car made Dean reach reflexively for the wheel, and Cas stopped as smoothly at a lonely red light as can be expected for a first time driver. After less than an hour, they reached the edge of a small Iowa town with a big ghost problem. Dean told Cas to pull to the side of the road. He may be okay for long stretches of desolate road, but Dean wasn't going to take any chances. He traded places, but stopped in front of the car as they passed one another.
"You did good. You can ride shotgun." Dean punched Cas's shoulder and patted the Impala's hood before taking his place behind the wheel. Cas felt unusually excited by driving. He loved people, but he had to admit that not very many things he experienced as a human were remarkable. The road ahead, and himself behind the wheel was the closest feeling of freedom he'd had in his human life. It was good.
They pulled off the shoulder and after a few comfortably silent moments Dean spoke, "You did much better than Sam's first time. I swear he almost peed his pants." Cas jumped involuntarily as Sam reached up and shoved his brother, making the car swerve dangerously over the road. Cas wasn't sure, but he definitely felt like roughhousing while driving was not mentioned in the manual.