A/N GUESS WHAT? I'M NOT DEAD!

"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!" Gabriel yells, jumping on the edge of the pullout couch that Dean and Castiel made into their bed for the night in an attempt not to wake their two roommates up.

"Five more minutes," Castiel mutters.

Dean sits up with a groan, and Castiel takes it as a sign that he should probably get up, too.

"What time is it?" Dean asks.

"Time for you to get a watch," Gabriel replies with a smirk.

"Quarter of eight," Sam says. "You've got half an hour until we're leaving to get there before the park opens, so get up and get dressed — and don't you dare start complaining that that's not long enough, because you would have complained if we woke you up earlier."

Dean starts to argue, but then concedes, "Actually, yeah, that's fair."

They manage to get out the door within twenty minutes, and by the time the four of them make it to the bus stop, the only other people they know who are there are Adam, Samandriel, Charlie, and Gilda. The two boys are watching something on one of their phones, each with one earbud in. The girls are sitting on the bench next to them, talking about something Charlie is apparently very passionate about, judging by her wild hand movements.

Dean and Castiel walk up behind them, trying to figure out what they're talking about.

"— General Organa," Charlie's saying, oblivious to their presence. "Not Princess. She hasn't been referred to as a princess since Disney bought LucasFilms, so she can't be a Disney princess."

"Just because they haven't called her a princess doesn't mean she isn't one," Gilda protests. "She's still the princess of Alderaan —"

"Alderaan doesn't even exist anymore," Charlie interrupts.

"It hasn't existed since the beginning of Episode IV," Gilda reminds her. "Does that mean she wasn't a princess V and VI?"

"She was still a princess because she wanted to be a princess," Charlie replies. "But when she decided to take the title of general instead —"

"So, you're saying that just saying she's not a princess —"

"What are you two fighting about?" Dean asks with an amused grin.

"Is Leia a Disney princess?" Charlie and Gilda ask in unison.

Dean raises an eyebrow. "You mean Leia Organa from Star Wars? Princess Leia? Yeah, I'd think so."

"Exactly!" Gilda says proudly.

"But she's not!" Charlie protests. "She's a Disney general! She's not a princess anymore!"

Castiel shakes his head to himself. Nerdy arguments with Charlie never end quickly. They might be at this for a while.

~~

They make it to Hollywood Studios long before the park opens. Everyone except Anna and Cain meet up at the bus stop together, so they all get to hang together while they wait, but Castiel really only talks to Dean. That tends to be how the entire vacation has gone.

"What are we riding first?" Castiel asks.

"I don't know," Dean replies. "I was thinking either Tower of Terror or Rocking Rollercoaster."

"Heh, nope, bye," Castiel says quickly.

He could see the Tower of Terror from what has to be at least a mile away. It's huge, and you drop from all the way from the top. He would rather die than ride that. He doesn't know anything about the Rocking Rollercoaster, but he's definitely not riding another rollercoaster. There's not a chance.

"Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun!" Dean insists. "At least ride the rollercoaster. It's completely Aerosmith-themed. They play Aerosmith in that section of the park, they play it in line, they play it on the ride. It's like an Aerosmith world. You can't say no to Aerosmith."

"Watch me," Castiel deadpans. "If I wanted to listen to Aerosmith, I would pull out my phone. I've got every album. I don't need to ride a rollercoaster for it."

"No, trust me, it's worth it," Dean tells him. "There's even a video from them. You get to see Steven Tyler. He talks to you and everything. It's completely worth it."

Castiel narrows his eyes suspiciously. "Fine, but just because I want to see the video with Steven Tyler. And I'm only doing this once, and I'm not riding the tower thing, and I can't promise I won't kill you after this."

Dean grins. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear."

~~

"Holy shit," Castiel breathes. "That's — Dean, look at that!"

Dean just laughs. "I can already tell this is going to be my favorite section of the park."

The arch over the entrance has a car upside hanging over it, riding on the strings of the giant guitar that sits in front of the building the ride is in. Castiel can't help but gape at it. It's freaking huge!

"Inspiration for your next tour?" Dean asks with a teasing grin.

"What if the entire stage was shaped like a guitar?" Castiel says. "And, like, the body of the guitar is the main stage, and the fret board is this giant aisle with people on both sides so I can get closer to as many fans as possible, and then the headstock is another little stage and like I could disappear in the body of the guitar and slide under the fretboard in the little cart thingy like Taylor's Reputation tour that I opened for a few years ago and then I suddenly pop up at the headstock —"

"Please write this down," Dean interrupts. "Make a little diagram or something. I'm already really confused, and I can already tell that it's just going to get more and more confusing the longer you think about it."

Castiel chuckles. "Confusing now; amazing a year from now. But I see your point."

They get in line for the ride, but despite the sign telling them there's a 25-minute wait, they basically walk on the ride. They don't even get to watch the video with Steven Tyler because the doors are already open, but they do catch a few seconds at the end when everyone's already gone.

"I demand a refund," Castiel announces, mostly to distract himself from the fact that he's about to get on this huge rollercoaster that looks like it's all in the dark. He had enough of that with Space Mountain. Why did he agree to this?

"Well, we'll just have to ride it again," Dean says with a teasing smile.

"Never," Castiel says quickly. "I haven't even sat down and this is enough."

It seems like an exaggeration, but, he realizes as soon as he takes his seat on the rollercoaster, he really did have enough just by standing in line. With the restraint pulled down, he can barely see Dean sitting next to him, and his view of Sam and Gabriel in front of him is blocked by their seat backs. The restraint restricts his arms too much for him to reach over and take his boyfriend's hand, but he desperately needs the reassurance.

Castiel squeezes his eyes shut, holding the handles on the restraints as tightly as he can. The cart begins moving, a slow crawl to where they launch from. He can hear vaguely hear Dean laugh between the screaming of the narrator-type person before they start the countdown. He can't tell if there's something funny that Castiel is missing, or is he himself is the "funny" thing.

The cart begins to move backwards just a little bit, preparing to slingshot itself. Castiel holds on impossibly tighter to his restraint, pushing himself back into the seat as much as he can.

Three.

Two.

One.

And they're off. Castiel can't help but scream, and though he quickly clamps his mouth shut, it's not before he sees the flash of the camera, bright enough that he notices it even with his eyes closed. He can hear the music, and though he's sure it's supposed to feel loud, Dean would play "Love in an Elevator" in the impala louder than this ride is.

Castiel tried to focus on the song. He knows the words. He's been singing it since he was young. It's a nice distraction. It's even better when the song switches to "Walk This Way," an Aerosmith classic. He used to write the words out to practice cursive as a third-grader. Obviously, he had no idea what it meant, but he had heard the song and liked it, even before he got into classic rock.

He feels a pang of relief when the ride stops, but he doesn't open his eyes until it's moved up to where they get out, and the restraints lift up. Dean is laughing, and Sam and Gabriel seem to have enjoyed it, too, god knows why.

Castiel climbs out of the cart after them, hugging his arms to his chest as if he can stop them from shaking by holding them still. Dean is so wrapped up in his conversation with his brother that he doesn't notice Castiel hanging back until he tries to point out the picture, only to realize his boyfriend isn't there.

Instantly, Dean walks away, pushing through the crowd of guests hovered around the photos to find Castiel leaning against the wall a few feet away, still shaking.

"Cas?" Dean says uncertainly. "Are you okay?"

Castiel just nods.

Dean doesn't seem to buy it, because he steps closer and wraps his arms around him. "Hey, it's okay," Dean whispers in his ear. "You're okay. It's just a ride."

Castiel nods, because he's not sure how to respond to that. 'Just a ride' doesn't really help the fact that he was just blasted into a dark tunnel and flung in giant loops at what has to have been at least 60 miles an hour, but its the thought that counts, right?

"Cas, you're shaking. What's wrong?" Dean asks quietly, a sense of urgency in his tone.

"Nothing," Castiel mumbles. "I don't know. This just happens."

"Is it a panic attack?" Dean asks.

"I don't — I don't think so." But then again, how would he know? "It just happens. School presentations, before shows sometimes — it only lasts a few minutes. I'll be fine."

He isn't sure how long a few minutes is, though. He can still remember sitting on his hands so no once could see them shaking after his social studies teacher called him out over something in eighth grade. He genuinely can't remember what it was to save his life, and he's not even sure it was something bad, but he was still shaking when he got to his locker after class. It's been years since this happened, though. Who would have thought a damn rollercoaster would bring it out again?

"You're telling me you would start shaking like a freaking vibrator when you had to do a presentation in school, and in a month you'll be performing for a crowd of a quarter of a million people in England?" Dean says skeptically.

"That's a... nice... visual..." Castiel laughs, slightly unevenly.

Dean rubs his back soothingly for a few moments before stepping back. "Better?"

Castiel nods. It's true; he's stopped shaking as much, so he is doing a little better, but he doesn't know if he'll actually be back to normal for another few minutes. He'll just pretend he is. Dean won't notice, right?

"So, how about we don't ride that again?" Dean says with a small, playful smile.

"Yeah, good plan."

A/N So I had to write a story for my creative writing class and it meant I couldn't really write anything else and not having written any of my fanfics for a couple weeks really killed my motivation to actually do it but I'm bored so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯