Shinigami Marching Band (Black Butler)

Chapter Three ~ Performance

Taking the cue to start up the band, the undertaker counted them off and began conducting. The first song portrayed the wonder and excitement of one's first waltz through whimsical woodwinds and a quicker tempo. It involved our main character, Grell, looking around and playing the shy card with his work and expression. The second song depicted the bachelor/ bachelorette's waltz, constantly searching for someone that will be the perfect partner. That song had a lot of ups and downs and confusion and had Grell running around seeming lost. The last song was the lover's waltz, finally finding the perfect dance partner and falling in love. Grell had finally found William and followed him about the field. The music was very slow and romantic and portrayed all the implied love behind it. That third song held the fated duet, and was also technically unfinished. It was missing the last few sets of choreography. They all knew where they were going but the colorguard had no work yet and the band had no visual movement.

So as the show went on and the duet was rapidly approaching, Grell made the mental decision to only toss the five instead of the six. He didn't want to risk dropping his rifle, his 'precious baby' that had already been so graciously dropped by his teammate once today. So as he passed William, merely one set before the duet, he whispered to him "five". That was their keyword so William would know what was happening with the dancework.

When the time came, Grell tossed his toss and William held his note. Their dancework went wonderfully, William even more captivated than he was in warm up. If anyone had been distincly watching their performance at a close range they would be able to see that it was much more than acting on both parts. Grell was safely in William's arms and their waltz began. They stared at each other lovingly, moving perfectly in synch. Both would claim it was merely acting if ever asked by one another, but they knew in that moment it was real, and many others did too. Though a good portion of the others did not approve of even a small attraction between the two or only knew because of a rude rumor. William completely swept Grell off his feet, making him feel as though he was dreaming. They got closer and closer as they danced until they were nose to nose and toe to toe. Then their counts were up, Grell spun out of Williams arms and the show continued. As the song came to a close, the two realized something for the first time .... Their ending sets were right next to each other. They had another duet. And they were the ending effect that would set the meaning for the whole show.

After the show they headed back to the band room to change into casual wear. They would be attending the rest of the football game as spectators with the rest of their classmates. William changed into black skinny jeans, a tight black v-neck long sleeve shirt and a dark navy blue zip-up sweater. Grell had thrown on his black skinny jeans as well, but with a red sleeping with sirens t-shirt and no jacket. The redhead also still had his show make-up on that consisted of black eyeliner and a light lip gloss. He had attempted to remove as much of the gloss as possible, which left him looking like an emo/goth/metal stereotype. It didn't help that he had also taken his hair out of the ridiculous braid so it was now flowing loosely around his torso in soft waves.

William, Ronald and Grell met up in the stands and sat together. None of them were big football fans but it was nice to be out and somewhat social sometimes. Ronald was plenty social but not big on sporting events. He was much more accustomed to parties and raves. William and Grell would often get dragged to these parties with Ronald to keep him from getting drunk. Luckily they didn't serve alcohol at the football game or Ron would be begging adults to buy him something.

As the game picked up again Ronald got bored and went to go get nachos, leaving William and Grell alone. They sat there in awkward silence for a while, side by side, close enough that their knees would bump each other every now and then. They were both purposely trying to stay still which caused them both to be just a tad bit shaky. A gust of wind blew through and made Grell shiver. He now sorely regretted not bringing a jacket. William noticed the shiver and instinctively inched closer without thinking.

"Gosh, it's chilly out." Grell muttered, not noticing that William had scooted towards him. William let out a small noise in agreement, nothing more than a soft grunt.

The brunet sat and wondered about what he could do to help that wouldn't seem awkward or too strange. He wanted nothing more than to pull Grell close and hold him tight. He knew he shouldn't though because it would be misleading. He knew that Grell liked him and he knew the rumors that were being spread about Grell, he still had hardly any clue about the rumors that included him. He was confused about his own feelings towards Grell though. It's not that he didn't like him, so much as that his mind wouldn't accept the fact and somethin in his mind wouldn't allow him to think of the redhead that way. Every time a thought such as that surfaced it was like his mind reprimanded him for it and yelled at him.

The fans cheering over a touchdown for their school snapped William out of his thoughts and he knew what he was going to do. He began to take off his favorite navy blue sweater and wrapped it around Grell's shoulders. The ginger turned his head and stared at Will wide-eyed and curious, with a light blush dusting his cheeks. Ronald had watched the whole scene as he had been walking back up the steps, nachos in hand.

"Looks like the love birds are getting cozy, maybe I should go sit with Adrian." he winked as he sat back down on the other side of Grell.

"What?" Grell asked, still shocked about the jacket around his shoulders. "What're you talking about Ronnie?"

"Oh c'mon. You both have been gawking at each other all night, plus there was the show and the warm-up, and now this." Ron said, once again pointing out, not for the first time, that they acted like a couple at times. This was not helping the rumors and Grell and Ron knew that, as opposed to clueless William who had no clue everyone was sure of sexuality when he wasn't.

"I just didn't want him missing any competitions because he caught a cold or something." Will lamely rebutted trying to cover up the subconsciously affectionate action.

"Uh huh, okay, 'or something' is more like it. It'll happen sooner or later and everybody knows it." Ron said rolling his eyes at William and Grell. Grell shot him a menacing glare, knowing that Will hadn't heard the rumor about them being together. He was afraid that Will would think he had started it or something of that nature. Ronald leaned over to whisper in Grell's ear. "Calm down. By the way, that's his favorite sweater." Grell blushed a brighter red and pulled the sweater on instead of just keeping it wrapped around his shoulders. He bunched his hands up in the excess sleeves and smiled to himself happily.

"Knox, stop that! Shut up, eat your damn nachos and watch the game." Will snipped. Ronald may have been their best friend but he was also a pain in the ass a lot of the time and frequently made things awkward for the 'lovebirds'.

Grell hardly heard Will's comment to Ronnie, he was too busy being lost in thought. He was hugging himself in the jacket, taking in the scent of William that seemed to be everywhere at the moment. He turned to William and hugged him tightly from the side, burying his face in Will's shoulder. William turned slightly and hugged the redhead back. He could see Ronald over Grell's shoulder grinning and mouthing the words 'kiss him' over and over like a chant. Will flipped Ron his middle finger and mouthed back 'fuck off'.

Grell nuzzled into William and whispered into his ear a very soft and sweet "Thank you Will." before pulling away and scooting close so he could lean against William. He rested his head on the brunet's shoulder and sighed contently. "Is it fine if I lean here?" he asked awkwardly, realizing that he had just done so without consent.

"Yeah, that's fine." Will knew that Ron would give him crap about tonight for at least another week. Ron loved creating new ways to tease the two, he was also always trying to get them together. Grell was obviously already on board with Ron's plan. William, however was more stubborn and at times a bit moody or confused or even in denial. Wiliam had phases of understanding and not understanding himself and at times it made him seem insane the way his mood could switch. That's usually when Ronald decided that William needed a little push. Tonight was one of those times, unfortunately, and Ron knew just what to do. He pulled William's arm around Grell, trying hard to keep a straight face as William glared at him angrily. Ronald was so close to busting out laughing at Will's reaction. It was like he wanted his arm there but was pissed that Ron did it for him.

Grell snuggled in even closer to William when he felt his arm wrap around him. Just the slight weight of the grip on his waist made him feel like he had butterflies in his stomach. They stayed like that for the rest of the game, neither of them having any need to move.

End of chapter, let's see where this goes huh?