If Jean thought the first game was chaotic, he was going to go crazy today. He didn't want to think what would happen if the football team made it to playoffs. The amount of school spirit that was washing over him everyday this week had felt like tidal wave after tidal wave and Jean, though he had been enjoying it as much as everyone else, had barely been able to swim out alive.

The first thing he noticed when he was dropped off at the school was that the school was completely decked out in everything blue, green, and white. Seriously, there was confetti, streamers, balloons, posters, and stuffed Eagles everywhere. And that was only on the outside.

The band hall was a complete disaster. More posters had been hung, wishing them luck in their practice competition tomorrow. There were cases and hat boxes everywhere. Jean could see several pieces of Over the Rainbow fluttering about on the ground and falling from lockers. Everyone was clustered in groups with mums or garters hanging off them with goodie bags at their feet.

Jean looked at his own garter that his mom had made him. It had a simple, small white flower surrounded by green and blue ribbon. Blue, white and green ribbons hung from it with different cheap charms that said drumline or homecoming. A small eagle charm that read freshman underneath it sat in the middle of the white flower.

Jean quickly traded bags with Reiner before spotting Marco and heading over to him, where he was kneeling at his locker. "Hey Marco," he grinned.

Marco looked up, a wide smile on his freckled face and brown eyes shinning as he stood up. He pulled Jean in for a hug, causing Jean to blush slightly before he pulled away. "Ready for today?" he asked excitedly.

Jean gave a half shrug, trying to play if cool. "Halftime will suck, but everything else will be pretty fun, right? There's also the dance to look forward to…"

Jean trailed off as he realized that Marco had two garters, one on his arm and one in his hand. He felt his heart sinking as he pointed to the garter in his hand, trying to keep the disappointment off his face, "Someone made you a homecoming garter?"

Marco's face turned red and his eyes widened slightly as he turned it over in his hand. "A-actually." He cleared his throat nervously, "It's for you."

Jean's eyebrows shot up in surprise and his mouth nearly fell open as he blinked his eyes quickly. "Really?"

Marco nodded, still not quite looking up at Jean, "You can wear it if you want, but I see you already have one so-"

"Dude," Jean interrupted him. He grinned at Marco, keeping his cool composure even if he was screaming inside. "I do have another arm. I would love to wear it."

Not only did they have matching shirts that the freckled beauty made him, but Marco also made him a fucking garter. A garter! That's huge!

Before Jean could reach forward to grab it, Marco grabbed his hand and slid it up his arm. He straightened the sleeve and slid his hand down Jean's arm slowly, not taking his eyes off of Jean.

Jean was at a complete loss. He just stared at Marco's hand and then turned his attention to the ground. He just hoped Marco hadn't seen the goose bumps he had.

Just tell him, there's no way he doesn't feel something.

Jean swallowed and looked up at Marco, who was still looking at him, a large smile on his face. Do it!

"I-"

"Hey band!"

"Say what?!"

Marco looked over at Jean's shoulder before grinning at him again and dropping his hand, "Ready for your first Homecoming Pep Rally?"

Jean sighed quietly, trying to hide his disappointment. Well, so much for that. He shot Marco a smirk, "I'm sure I can handle it. Just another pep rally, right?" He decided to not focus on how giddy the other made him feel. If he did focus on the butterflies assaulting his stomach, he may vomit.

Marco strapped on his drum and grinned mischievously, "Freshman. You do realize that the pep rally is outside in the stadium?"

Jean quickly grabbed his cymbals and got in line, "What? Why? What's that supposed to mean?" Eren bumped in beside him, but Jean paid him no attention as he was trying to get a response from Marco.

Marco winked, "You'll see." He turned and faced the drumline. "We're leading out of course, but everyone wants a performance. Cadence eight with the dance, you guys. Let's start this off right!"

Jean and Eren glanced at each other as the others cheered. Except Annie, who simply smiled.

Marco looked at jean, a sly grin crossing his freckled features. "You two ready?"

Eren shook his head and Jean shrugged. Reiner thumped them both on their back, "Of course they are."

Marco nodded and turned around, leading the entire band out. Once they were close to the stadium, because Marco wasn't kidding when he said it was in the football stadium, Jean could hear the monstrous roar coming from there. "Did everyone actually come?"

From in front of him, Reiner chuckled, "It is homecoming."

"Ready?" Marco asked them at the entrance of the field, grinning from ear to ear, his eyes obviously shinning with excitement.

Jean could feel his heart thumping ridiculously fast in his chest. He just didn't know if it was because of the size of the crowd, the fact that the entire student body seemed to be there and about to watch him perform, or the smiling, freckled section leader in front of him, giving him his widest, brightest excited smile.

"Charge!" Marco yelled.

The entire drumline rushed onto the field, banging on their drums and cymbals crashing wildly as they ran. The entire football field was clear except for the MCs and their equipment on the track in front of the home seats. The entire stadium seating was decked out in the school's colors. The guy in the mascot suit, Jean had no idea who it was this week, was on the track, hyping the crowd up for the pep rally, but turned to look as the drumline ran in screaming.

The drumline set up for cadence number eight as the band circled them.

Cadence number eight was a very popular cadence within the school. It was the loudest, the oldest, and the most fun to perform. It also came with a dance that the drumline always learned for any opportunity they might have to perform it, like this one. It was always a favorite. Jean did love it, but they were doing it now? In front of everyone?

Jean ran into the center of the band circle, Eren tailing him, both of them crashing their cymbals as they moved. He ignored the anxious feelings in his stomach and decided to just move like he was supposed to.

The snares and quads lined up around them, tapping out the rhythm as all the base drums laid their drums down so there was small space between each one. The base drummers then began pounding on their drums like they were some sort of ancient warriors. The quad players sat their own drums on top of the base drums, pounding away at their quads as the base drummers beat along beside them. The snares walked over, stacking their drums on the quads, like they had done on the bass drums, and began playing their drums.

Jean and Eren parted, standing at each end of the drumline, clasping their cymbals together rhythmically while adding some spins every few seconds.

The band, crowded behind them, were dancing with each other or their instruments.

The drumline slid with each other and Jean found himself laughing in excitement with the others. His garters jingled and hit his arm lightly every time his arms moved. They ran around the tower of drums, climbing between the drums and crawling under them. There was even one point where the quads were flipped over and they laid in the grass to play. Or when the drums were stacked high and the snares climbed on the bases' shoulders to play.

When they were coming to the end of their cadence, the MCs ran onto the field beside the band. "Give it up for the Wings of Freedom: the Mighty Eagle Drumline!"

Applause erupted around them as the band and student body began clapping at their performance. Jean grinned along with the rest of the drumline, smiling at Marco who was at the other end of the line, breathing heavily from the climbing and dancing he just did.

Man could that freckled guy move.

Jean traveled with the rest of the band to just behind the thirty-five yard line. They stood on the yard line, forming ranks, as they began to play the fight song.

The football, volleyball, cross country, and basketball teams, as they had finally entered pre season, ran onto the field, jumping and yelling and cheering as loud as everyone else was. They took their positions center field as the band began to fade out.

The MCs took this as their cue and away went Jean's first homecoming pep rally.

If he thought that the school was colorful during the week, he was mistaken. The halls looked as if they threw up school colors, it was louder than it looked outside.

But the spirit was everywhere and it was evident that everyone was ready for tonight. There was a mix of feelings that went along with it. Jean could tell how each class felt about tonight.

All of the freshman were loud and buzzed with excitement and joy. First homecoming and their first high school dance were tonight. This defined the high school experience and man, was it loud.

The sophomores and juniors were excited, but they were nostalgic, remembering their first one and excited for future ones.

And then there were the seniors. They were excited, louder than the freshman and more nostalgic than the juniors and sophomores. But there was a sort of melancholic air about them, the realization that this was their last homecoming of their high school experiences.

Jean wasn't one to dwell on how sad something was, he didn't cry. He was too man for that. But, he did feel something at the thought of the seniors he had grown to know leaving. This was it for them, and he was lucky to feel a part of this.

But aside from all that feeling crap, Jean was pumped. He couldn't wait for the game, despite the shit half time show they would have to do, and he really couldn't wait for the dance. Even if Marco had a roundabout way of asking him to the dance, he had asked him. The garter was proof!

Jean looked down at it, ignoring his math teacher lecturing on about more postulates. It was very simple, but cute in it's own way. There was a white flower in the middle, surrounded by blue and green ribbon, like his other one. But in the center of the flower, was a small stuffed bear with a pair of cymbals in his hands. Ribbons hung from the flower and had his name, instrument and class stickered and written on there. One ribbon that made him blush every time he looked at it was a blue ribbon with silver hearts drawn on it over and over again.

Once the bell rang, Jean exited the classroom quickly and hurried to the band hall. Thankfully, it was only a half-day and he wouldn't have to force himself to focus on any more of his classes.

Connie elbowed him as they walked down the packed hallway, "Freckles on your mind, man?"

Sasha giggled as she jumped on Jean's back.

Jean tried to grab her, without falling forward and messing up the garter on his right arm. "Damn it Sash, at least warn me!"

She wrapped her arms around his neck as he took hold of her legs. His backpack was pushed against his back, probably pushing against her stomach also, uncomfortably, but there was nothing in there worth worrying about.

He heard a grunt beside him and realized that Eren, Armin and Mikasa had joined them. Eren had jumped on Connie's back and was laughing at the way Connie was struggling to balance him.

"Go Jean!" Sasha yelled in his ear.

One look at the competitive spark in Eren's eye was all it took. Jean took off, Sasha bobbing on his back, as Eren yelled for Connie to run, too.

Everyone in the still crowded hall, laughed and pointed at the freshman racing to the band hall, cheering them on even if they didn't really know who they were.

In the end, Mikasa, who had Armin jump on her back, ended up winning the race, Jean coming in a distant second with Connie brining up the rear.

Sasha laughed, hopping off Jean's back and walking over to an exhausted Connie, thumping him on the back. "Maybe you should get some longer legs. You may have won."

Jean walked into the band hall, looking for an open seat to collapse into. If it was even possible, it was messier in the band hall. The booster club was all there, parents of band mates, gathering food and, what smelled like, prepared the barbeque pit outside.

Jean looked over at Sasha as she made an inhuman noise. The others laughed.

"Did you guys bring your clothes for the dance?" Eren asked, settling into the chair beside Jean. He leaned casually against Jean's arm, who simply grunted at his actions.

Connie sat down in a chair across from him and Sasha sat between his legs, her head resting against his knee. "We do, we left them in the culinary arts room though. We're going to change after the game in there."

"Ours are in the labs," Armin said. Mikasa sat down beside Eren and Armin sat in between her legs.

It was quiet for a few seconds. Jean looked at all his friends, all settled in a small circle, looking at the floor or playing with someone's hair. It was weird, but Jean couldn't help but feel very happy. Sure, his love life was pretty much nonexistent, though he was trying to fix it, but he had these really amazing friends that were making him feel better.

Jean grinned to himself. He couldn't really explain why he was so happy all of a sudden, but it was a great feeling.

He felt a pressure at his knee and, realizing he zoned out, he looked down to see Marco sitting in between his legs, like Sasha and Armin were doing, leaning against his legs.

He could feel his face heating up and his heart was racing, but he couldn't help how much happier he felt all of a sudden. This meant…

"Hey Marco," Connie greeted, breaking the silence. Everyone tittered his or her own hello as Marco's head lolled against Jean's leg in greeting.

Should he play with his hair? That would be weird. They aren't friends like Armin and Mikasa are. Even if his hair does look really soft, Jean wondered if it felt soft. His fingers were itching to do it as he stared at Marco's hair. Was he being creepy?

He could feel something tickling his ankle and realized that Marco was playing with the leg of his jeans. Jean tried not to hyperventilate. Really, now he was just being a spaz.

Before Jean could even move, the boosters were calling for the band to grab some barbeque that was now ready.

Sasha jumped up, pulling Connie with her. Armin, chuckling, got up and walked after them, Mikasa and Eren following him. Jean and, to his delight, Marco didn't move from their spot.

Jean grinned down at Marco, "Not hungry, Freckles?"

Marco shrugged, "I can wait, there are too many people in line right now. Too tired to move." He leaned against Jean's legs again, sighing against his knee.

"Are you alright?" Jean asked, frowning. He reached forward and tugged on a piece of his hair. Holy shit, it is soft.

Marco nuzzled his face against Jean's knee, "Mhm, I'm just a little tired. I'll be fine." Marco turned his head and gave him a sideways look, a small smile on his face, "You're still up for helping me tonight after the game?"

Jean found himself nodding at him, his fingers still playing with the end of Marco's hair.

Marco's smile widened and he tugged on the leg of Jean's jeans. "Let's go get some barbeque. The line's gone down and I want some before Sasha eats it all."

Did he even breathe? Jean found himself at the homecoming game, and it was over before he knew it. He screamed himself hoarse. He played his heart out. He danced his ass off. He banged his cymbals perfectly during the half time show.

The band was gathering their things together for competition the next day and Jean was helping Marco in the uniform room. Everyone else was just piling their uniforms in the small room and leaving as soon as they could to get ready for the dance. Selfish bastards.

Marco sighed, hanging a few more uniforms in the appropriate place after inspecting them. He looked over at Jean, "Thanks for helping, you can still go if you want."

"It's alright man. I already told you I'd help. You can stop saying that now," Jean grinned, tossing another plume in a hat box for the next day. He piled the box with the others and grabbed a few more, "How many more do you have to inspect?" Though he wouldn't leave now, he still wanted to walk into the dance with the guy. Hopefully they'd get there before it was over.

Marco scratched his head, musing up his hair even more and making him look adorable. Jean bit back a grin, and a sigh, as he waited for Marco to answer.

"Just the trumpets and I should be done," Marco replied.

Jean nodded his head before finishing the rest of the boxes. Maybe, in hindsight, he should have done a section's hats near the section's part of the uniform room, but Jean had a lot of things on his mind and didn't really think it through.

He stacked the clarinet's boxes on top of each other and picked them all up, attempting to make it in one trip. Jean peered around the boxes, in a very lame attempt to try to walk to the other side of the room.

"Jean! Wait-"

The boxes flew from his hands as he fell forward, tripping over Marco who had bent over to pick up a fallen pair of marching pants.

Jean leaned on his elbow and rubbed at his forehead in pain, not yet realizing he was draped over Marco's stomach.

The freckled section leader groaned, rubbing his head as a hat box tumbled to the floor from above him. "I should have warned you," Marco groaned, trying to sit up.

Jean grunted, "My fault."

He looked over and realized Marco was actually a lot closer than he originally thought. The other guy's eyes were still closed, scrunched up in pain as his hand roamed through his hair to see if he had any bumps. Jean could clearly see the curve of his lips and the wrinkles around his eyes from him always smiling. He could see all the freckles splashed across his nose and cheeks. He could see his long lashes and knew there were sparkling brown eyes under his closed lids.

Without thinking, without worrying about the repercussions of his actions or the fact that someone could be walking in at any moment to inspect the sound of the crash, Jean leaned forward and crashed his lips against Marco's.

Jean expected Marco to push him away. He expected Marco to jump up and look at him as if he was crazy. He expected him to flee the room and never look at him again. But he didn't get any of that.

Jean felt Marco's finger scratching against the shorter hairs of his hairstyle. Jean squeaked slightly in surprise, which he will forever deny when Marco tells everyone of their first kiss, but relaxed when he felt Marco's lips moving against his own.

Marco pulled away from him first, his fingers still in Jean's hair.

Jean opened his eyes slowly, slightly afraid of what he'd see when he opened them.

Seriously, he was being stupid. Because there was Marco, smiling at him with those shinning brown eyes.

"Not exactly how I pictured my first kiss or our first kiss, but I can't really find it in me to complain."

Jean couldn't say anything, he just stared open mouthed at him. F-first kiss? He knew he was going to kiss me?

Marco chuckled, leaning forward to place a kiss on the edge of Jean's mouth softly. "We better move, before Phixis gets here to see what happened."

As if the freckled guy couldn't be even more perfect, he also had perfect timing. Phixis came in just as the pair finished picking up the fallen hat boxes, "Everything alright in here?"

Marco nodded, smiling at the band director, "Yes sir, we just knocked over the hat boxes in an attempt to get out quickly."

Phixis nodded, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Hmm, well, why don't you two get going? I can check the remaining uniforms. Don't want to miss the dance now, do we?" If Jean hadn't known any better, he would have thought the band director knew something. But he didn't argue.

As Phixis and Marco talked about the uniform situation, Jean headed to a nearby restroom to change and catch his breath.

He closed the door behind him and looked at himself in the mirror. His amber eyes were bright and his hair was slightly messed up, probably from Marco running his hands through it. He also had a bruise above his eyebrow where he must have hit his head against a box.

Did Marco, Marco freckled butt Bodt, really kiss him?

Jean's face broke out into the largest grin that could have split his face in half. He was so excited he jumped up and down, his arms flying above his head as he did some ridiculous dance move.

"It'll be interesting to dance with you if that's how you move."

Jean froze, his face heating up as he turned around slowly.

Of fucking course Marco would be standing there, watching him embarrass himself until he found it appropriate to speak up. Which would be the time that was most embarrassing for Jean.

"I- uh…"

Marco chuckled, walking towards Jean as if he was a horse and could get spooked by a sudden movement. He tossed his clothes over the wall of a nearby stall. He backed Jean against the wall and Jean's heart jumped in his throat. Freckles clouded Jean's vision.

Marco's hand reached up to trace Jean's jawline and Jean could feel his knees knocking together. It was amazing how this guy could turn Jean into a puddle of mush.

Marco leaned forward and pressed his forehead against Jean's, his hand cupping Jean's cheek, "I really want to kiss you again, Jean."

So this was really happening to him.

Jean took the initiative again, slower this time around, and leaned in. His eyes fluttered shut as he pressed his mouth against Marco's, his hands coming off the bathroom wall to place them on the other's hips. Marco made a small noise of happiness, his other hand coming up to fist into Jean's shirt. Their lips moving softly as the two boys moved closer to each other.

They parted, breathing in slowly, as they tried to take in what was happening. Jean still couldn't really believe it. He had hunches, feeling that his freckled section leader cared about him more than he had admitted. Jean was on cloud nine.

"We better get to the dance," Jean whispered. He really didn't want to leave. Hell, he'd stay there all night if he could. But it was time to come down from that cloud. "People might come looking for us."

Marco groaned before pushing away from Jean. "You're right." Marco grabbed Jean's hand before he could walk around him. Marco's expression was one of uncertainty. He looked into those soft brown eyes that seemed to show a struggle beneath the surface. "I feel like such a prat for doing this so last minute, but better late than never, right? Will you go to the Homecoming dance with me?"

The smile broke across his face again and his cheeks started to hurt from the sudden strain. "Yes. Yes, that would be fucking brilliant."

Marco grinned, his expression softening at Jean's eloquent choice of words. "Great! So…um, I guess we should get dressed and head on over?"

Jean laughed, a smirk forming on his lips, "Sure thing Freckles."

They dressed quickly, hurrying back into the band hall to dump their clothes before heading to the gym, where the dance was being held. It was dark and cheesy strobe lights were poking through the dark near the DJ's stand. Balloons and streamers were everywhere, littering the floor and floating across tables. There were some banners still up and some new ones hung as the basketball scoreboard showed the final score of the homecoming game: Titans eighteen Eagles twenty.

There were several tables were set up on the edge of the gym and the bleachers were even pulled out for people to sit in. There were a lot of people dancing to the fast paced music that reminded Jean of the party he went to at the beginning of the school year.

He looked over at Marco, grinned and grabbed his hand before leading him to the dance floor.

Sorry this has been gone for so long! I did not intend it to be, but yeah, life got in the way a bit. I met a few new people, had some changes, but I've decided some things! First, this story is going to have four more chapters! Yay! Haha, but because it's about marching season, there isn't much to go about right? I have also decided that I am going to do a sequel, I just don't know when. But it will be about the second half of the year, because band is a whole year of fun after all.

I hope you enjoyed these two dorks finally getting together. I'm so glad it finally happened. Let's hope them the best, shall we? Thanks for sticking around! I hope you all had a great holiday and hope you the best for this year! If you want to hit me up, I have a tumblr for my writing (hpowlllover24) and I hope to see you soon!

Happy readings!