summary: just a friday night football game between two enemy schools, definitely not a breeding ground for teenage love
word count: 1442
okay a majority of this is based on my experiences at football games (not the love part tho, like i'd ever find love pfft-) so sorry if it's a bit confusing, especially the marching band part :) basically roman is a football player, patton is a cheerleader, and remus is just chilling :) in the other school, virgil is in JROTC (color guard), logan is in marching band, and janus is, again, chilling :)
tw// a little bit of cussing, mentions of really gross stuff in the food, that's it :))
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Roman smiled as his best friend, Patton, ranted about tonight's football game, talking over the other excited teenagers on the bus. "And it's gonna be epic because we're both the best schools in the district! I'm confident that you'll win it for us though because you're the best player in the city."
Roman chuckled and shrugged. "What can I say? I'm great at what I do." The bus pulled to a stop and the coaches explained the rules for everyone before letting them all off the bus. Patton grabbed his bag, pulling Roman into a tight hug. "You're gonna do great! I'll be cheering you on the entire time." Roman smiled and waved to Patton as he skipped out of sight, going to the field with the other cheerleaders to practice.
~~~~
Logan rolled his eyes as he finally spotted Virgil, running from the entrance as fast as he could. "I'm sorry, Lo. The traffic was bad and I couldn't find parking-" Virgil said between breaths, Logan just shoved Virgil's JROTC uniform into his hands. "This is why I told you to stay after school with me but you 'needed rest'. You're lucky the band directors trust me enough to be waiting here while everyone else is warming up, otherwise you'd be screwed."
Virgil rolled his eyes, "Yeah, yeah." He took hold of his uniform and said a quick 'goodbye' before rushing to the bathroom and getting changed.
~~~~
Remus didn't really want to be here but his parents insisted on it and his friends always hung out here so he came. He was never a huge sports fan, the only things he really enjoyed at these games were the marching bands and the sunsets he got to witness in real time.
"I'm hungry, you guys want anything?" His friends all shook their heads, leaving Remus to go to concessions by himself, great. He made his way down the bleachers and to the concession stand, the smell of hot dogs and nachos filled his senses.
He scanned the menu, or the piece of cardboard made by the elementary school that sponsored the concessions, and tried to decide on what to get. It was fall, naturally cold and windy, so he would not be getting the snow cone. Maybe an horchata?
"You'd be better off getting a bag of chips or some candy." Remus jumped at the voice, turning to see a boy suddenly standing next to him. He seemed to be the same age as Remus, he wore a beanie and a leather jacket, and half of his hair was dyed blonde while the other was black. He didn't face Remus though, instead staring straight ahead at concessions.
"Why is that?" Remus finally replied. "I can tell this is your first time coming to a game here." Remus scoffed, "What makes you think that?" "You and your friends are wearing Riverside clothes, you're on Wayside's bleachers." Remus's eyes widened, he just assumed his friends knew where to sit since they "always" hung out here. Clearly "always" meant "never" to them.
"The elementary school across the street does concessions themselves, it's terrible. At least if you buy something they haven't touched, you'll be safer from the possibility of boogers and saliva being mixed into your food." Even for Remus, that was admittedly gross.
He nodded and bought a pack of Sour Punch Straws, turning back to the boy who accompanied him on his way back to the bleachers. "Thanks, for saving my butt back there. I usually don't care about stuff like that but that's super disgusting." He shrugged, not saying anything. "So, what's your name?" Remus asked a little awkwardly, this boy was really cute and even if he didn't see him after tonight, he'd still need a name to match the boy he'd fantasize about for weeks.
The boy smiled and held out his hand, finally facing Remus. "Janus Blair." Remus took his hand with a smile, bordering on a flirtatious smirk. "Remus Prince." "Well, Prince Remus, I assume this is your stop. If you need me, I'll be under the bleachers." Remus blushed a little at the wink Janus gave him before leaving the stands. Remus made his way back to his friends, to awestruck by Janus to even mention they were sitting on the wrong side.
~~~~
Virgil marched out from the left side of the field, holding the American flag "proudly". Honestly, he hated living in this shit show of a country, everything was so corrupt and filled with hatred. But, he needed the community service hours and JROTC promised that, plus his dad respected him more after he signed up, no more coming home to "Are you sure you're gay?" every day after school.
Once he was off the field, he gently laid down the flag, knowing there were serious consequences for dropping it, and went to watch the game from the sidelines. Logan would be performing soon so he wanted to watch him, not from the stands though since he'd have to follow the individual dot.
Someone tackled someone, you know, football stuff, and one of the players from the other team took off his helmet with a wide grin on his face. Virgil would've spit out his water if he was drinking any. All of the players were the same straight douchebags at Wayside but this guy was something else. Number 5, perfect brown hair slicked back, eyes that sparkled under the stadium lights, even from across the field, Virgil could tell he was beautiful.
Roman flourished under Patton's praise, telling him how good he did. It was halftime now so the players were taking a break, the marching band getting ready to perform. Roman looked over to see how badly he'd beaten the enemy team but instead met the gaze of a boy in an army uniform. Must be ROTC. Roman thought.
The boy didn't tear his gaze away but his eyes widened, resulting in possibly the cutest face Roman had ever seen. That title was previously held by Patton but this was something else. He needed to get out there and win so he could impress this boy.
~~~~
Patton noticed Roman was barely listening to him anymore, instead staring in awe at one of the ROTC boys from the other school. Patton huffed playfully but still smiled, he enjoyed seeing his best friend smitten. The marching band got into position, ready to perform, so Patton focused on them instead.
They moved with grace and unity, Patton had to remind himself to move back every so often, nearly ramming into one of the players on multiple occasions. Even though they were facing the stands for Wayside, the show still looked amazing from behind.
A row of clarinets approached Riverside's stands and kept their backs to the Wayside bleachers, one clarinet in particular caught Patton's attention. He seemed really focused on the beats, lightly tapping his fingers to keep the beat while catching his breath. Patton found this desperately adorable.
Logan knew his cue was coming up so he looked up and put his hands into position. He spotted a boy in a cheerleading uniform, wearing a skirt instead of pants, and with two tiny bows on opposite sides of his hair. The boy looked flushed, probably from all those flips and cheers. Logan felt a small smile tug at his lips, waving at the boy with his pinkie before turning on cue and playing his part.
After they finished, Logan was able to rest in the stands with the other band members, only playing when someone scored. Virgil came up to stand by him and talk, telling the head officer he was "standing guard" in the bleachers. Janus approached them and sat on the bench beside them.
"Janus, you know some Riverside kids, right?" Virgil asked, Janus shrugged. "Yeah, why?" "Do you know anything about number 5?" Janus scanned the bench and spotted the quarterback, number 5. He smirked and turned to Virgil. "His name's Roman, quarterback, super nice guy, really popular. Why? Does Virge have a crush on someone?" He teased.
Virgil blushed and shoved Janus's shoulder. "No, shut up." "What about that cheerleader? In the skirt?" Logan asked. Virgil stared at him dumbly, "They're all wearing skirts, dumbass." Logan rolled his eyes. "I know that but I just don't want to assume their gender. The one who is more male presenting."
Janus immediately knew who he was talking about. "Patton, head cheerleader, he's also super nice and super popular." After a moment he added, "Those damn Riverside kids are making us crush on them, aren't they?" "Yep." Logan and Virgil replied.
~~~~
(ik i always put 'boy' and 'he' and stuff when the characters don't know each other, i just do that so it's easier for the reader to know that we're talking about boys and not nonbinary characters, but ik they don't actually know each other's identities, should i change it?? idk you decide if you want dhsksj)
okay there is going to be a part two tomorrow :)) i have been wanting to do this exact one shot for so long and i'm kinda happy with how it turned out. i honestly really miss going to football games and watching the marching band but corona is stupid :( anyways i hope you enjoyed bc i wrote this instead of doing my college work but it was worth it, love you all, stay safe, buh bye!
9/6/20