Castiel had been flying since he was a child. It had started with remote controlled aircraft, moved on to low range vehicles, and by the time he'd graduated Maximegalon university, he was the only pilot to ever qualify for his license while under the influence of three different types of hallucinogenic drugs. He, of course, lost his license two days later when he tried to fly during the come-down, but he managed to regain it through bribery, corruption and blackmail. Often while piloting.

This, then, was the third most terrifying course Castiel had ever had to pilot.

Dean watched with a queasy sense of awkwardness as Cas manipulated the controls. Regardless of how much time they had actually spent together, Dean was becoming more and more of the opinion that there wasn't really a time when that hadn't been the case.

Yes, Dean had been born and raised on Earth, blissfully unaware of the insanity that waited beyond his planet, but he often felt as though the "him" he was now was an almost entirely different person to the him he was then. This Dean travelled on space ships, had a babel fish in his ear, and, most importantly, spent most of his time with Castiel.

It was weird, to see Cas so different as he sat in the pilot's chair. Brow slightly furrowed with concentration, focusing on the looming meteorites, Cas seemed… sober. He seemed unnervingly, shockingly sober.

"Freaky, huh?" Gabriel muttered, glancing over at Dean. He pointed at the bridge doors, and made a gesture for him to follow. Dean wasn't scared.

Not exactly.

He could take Gabriel, if it came to a match of sheer brute force, but he had no way of knowing what strange alien devices the guy had.

He followed, reluctantly.

"He used to be like that all the time, you know." Gabriel said, as soon as the bridge doors had shut behind them. He stuck his hands in his pockets and wandered down the corridor. Dean, at a loss for anything else to do, followed.

"Who? Cas?"

"Yup. Serious, sober, down-to-earth… boring."

"What happened?"

"He spent too much time with me." Gabriel smirked. "Went to college, fell in love, got addicted to various… things…"

"Drugs?"

"And a super-intelligent shade of the colour blue."

"What?"

"Forget it, Monkey. Anyway. The point is, he's made life hard for himself. Don't be surprised if he gets a bit bipolar on you. I mean, not all couples can be as wholesome and balanced as me and Sam."

Dean opened his mouth to say something, but he honestly had no idea what. He closed it again.

"Don't take it personally." Gabriel shrugged, aiming a kick at the Nutri-matic machine. "It's not you. It's the general idea of Cas being in a position where he has the trust of another organic being."

"Me and Cas are fine." Dean said. Gabriel didn't buy it, and the swift raising of one eyebrow said as much. Dean insisted, "We are. We just… need to work things out."

"Yeah. Fine. Just don't expect me to be above saying I told you so." Gabriel took a mug from the vending machine, filled with what looked like the inside of a glow-stick. "Because I'm not."

The ship pitched drastically to the left, and Gabriel's neon beverage ended up all over the wall. The wall hissed angrily where the drink touched it.

"Nuts."

(-*-)

Cas slumped against the chair as they edged past the last meteoroid, and back into open space. It had been turbulent to say the least, and as he regained his ability to think about anything other than not getting hit, he realised he probably should have made sure everyone was strapped into safety harnesses before he'd performed some of the more acrobatic evasive manoeuvres. The bridge doors slid open behind him.

"A little warning would have been nice."

"We're all alive, aren't we?" Cas shrugged, turning a shaky smile on his semi-cousin. "Wait… are we?"

"Your boyfriend might have concussion, but he's still breathing, more's the pity."

"Screw you." Cas advised, hopping out of the chair and wandering past Gabriel.

"Someone really should." Gabriel returned, wondering whether Sam had gotten any new dents during that second aerial flip.

When Cas eventually found Dean, he was sat by the nutri-matic machine, clutching his head and swearing quietly to himself.

"Hey."

"Oh, am I allowed to talk to you now?"

"What?" Cas blinked, extending his hand to help Dean up. "Dean, I was a little busy before… you know, keeping us all meteorite free?"

"And that's very much appreciated. But don't feel you have to come talk to me now you're done."

"I've hurt your feelings." Castiel said, although Dean couldn't figure out if it was a statement, a question or a snide remark. "You humans really are impossible."

"Yeah, you could say that." Dean stood, ignoring Castiel's hand. "Tell me something, how is it I just ended up defining our relationship with your cousin, and you still think we're fine?"

"Semi-cousin." Cas corrected, grabbing Dean's hand. "If I told you this was how things worked in space, would you let it go and… you know, stop being an ass?"

"No…"

"We can go back to the medical bay…"

Dean really didn't want to think that human males were so easily led by the suggestion of sex that they could be convinced to drop any issue. But he'd had a really long day, and he happened to know for a fact that Castiel had read all of Balthazar's notes on human culture. Really, he didn't have a chance.

(-*-)

When the Impala eventually arrived at the small moon in the middle of nowhere, everyone on board was slightly more at ease with each other. Balthazar, however, was not.

"Where the shitting hell have you been?" He demanded, as the ramp descended. "I've been stuck on this bloody rock, with no one but this creep who refuses to answer my questions, and why is Castiel smiling like that, Cassy don't look at me like that, you know it unsettles me… oh god." Balthazar glared at Dean. "What did you do?"
"It's good to see you, man." Dean replied, clapping Balthazar on the shoulder. Balthazar sent petulant glares around, as everyone turned to Chuck.

"So what was so important that you had to kidnap Balthazar to get us here?"

"Well…" Chuck motioned for them to walk, through the rocky, dune-covered terrain of the small moon. "After you all left Krippketha, I had a look through the company's information files on the Earth marks one and two. I found some… interesting information."

"Interesting?" Gabriel repeated, quirking an eyebrow.

"Balthazar?" Chuck said, as they approached the crest of a particularly large dune.

"Yes?"

"You know I kept telling you everything would be revealed, in time?"

"Yes."

"It's time."