Chapter Text
“Relax,” George calls out, his legs dangling over the edge of the podium and sunglasses on. He surveys the rest of the band, running simple commands over and over again to ingrain them into peoples minds. The hot Florida sun beats down on his shoulders and back but he can’t help but smile at it all. Band camp was always one of his favorite times of the year, from when he was practically forced into it when he moved to America at 14. Being named drum major was one of the bigger accomplishments of his junior year. Now that he’s a senior and actually conducting practice, life is practically perfect. Except for one thing.
Dream.
The stupid guard captain, prone to pissing off George for no reason. Although, George can’t say that he doesn’t try to poke the bear in return. The two can’t be in the same room for more than 5 minutes without getting into an argument, even if there’s nothing to argue over. The only common ground they have is their mutual friend, Sapnap- this year’s drill sergeant and the only person who can keep Dream and George from getting into literal fistfights.
“Alright guys, let’s get a drink and then go back to running these commands. I know it’s tedious, but it’s necessary.” George tells the rest of the band, waving his hand at their water bottles all thrown precariously in the shade. Hot summer days in Florida weren’t the best for hours of practice, but they had to make do. His eyes scan over the different people, making a note of the freshman and trying to remember their names. As his eyes bounce from face to face, it’s inevitable that they land on Dream. They make eye contact for a split second, intensely glaring at each other from across the field until Karl draws Dream’s attention away with an enthusiastic shout.
“I can’t tell if you guys were glaring at each other or eye fucking,” Sapnap mutters, leaning against the legs of the podium and drinking from his water bottle.
“You’re the worst, Sapnap. I don’t know why Phil ever made you drill sergeant.”
“Because he’s smart. He knows that I’m literally the only thing that stops you and Dream from actually commiting murder.” Sapnap spins a mallet in one hand, pulling a brightly colored gock out of his pocket with the other.
“I hate it when you’re right,” George mutters, taking the items from Sapnap’s hands and placing them on the podium, “Toss me my water?”
“So you hate me all the time then?” Sapnap asks, chucking the bottle at George’s head. He catches it, fumbling to keep it from falling the short distance to the ground. Relishing at the cold of the bottle, he takes a sip before Phil walks up to him.
“Hey, George,” He waves lightly, messing with his hat, “What’s the plan for today?”
“I figure since it’s only like,” He glances at his phone, “an hour until our lunch break, I’d just run some more basics. Commands and marching and stuff. We can get into the music after lunch, since that’s when it’ll be the hottest. And once the lights go on after dinner we can start doing drill.”
“Ok, ok. Do you think that you could hold a captains meeting during lunch? Tell the others?” Phil asks, tilting his head slightly. George throws him a thumbs up at Phil before turning back to Sapnap.
“Mind telling the other three that we’re having a meeting? I’m limiting my contact with Dream during practice as much as possible. We’re only like 4 hours into bandcamp and he’s already being insufferable.”
“You literally haven’t even spoken to him,” Sapnap sighs, standing up straight and shaking out his wrists.
“Yeah. I know,” George replies. Sapnap groans but makes his way across the field to where Ant, Sam and Bad are standing. The four exchange a couple words, Ant nodding cheerfully before Sap heads over to where Karl and Dream stand, talking to one of the new freshmen. He watches Sapnap wrap an arm around Karl’s shoulders and say something to Dream, and George can practically hear his protest from across the field. Karl giggles slightly and the brown haired freshmen just looks confused.
“Alright guys!” George shouts, drawing the attention of the mingling groups on the other side of the field, “Let’s get back into it!”
The final hour until lunch practically flew by and soon enough, he was seated in the shade with Sapnap, Ant, Sam, Bad and -much to his dismay- Dream.
“Why’d you call a captains meeting?” Ant asks, taking stuff out from a paper bag. George knew that all four of them had decided to pack their lunches today and was grateful that they could just get the meeting over with. A few other members were scattered around but most of them had headed to the nearby plaza to fulfill their need for food.
“Phil just wanted me to go over the schedule for today through probably Wednesday. Obviously, we did basics today. Since it’s the first day, I wasn’t expecting to get anything besides that done. After lunch, we’re gonna head down into the band room to start running music. Dream, do you know if you have the gym?”
“Yeah, Phil told me we could have the gym to start learning work with Kristen. She’s got some stuff for us apparently.”
“Great,” George tried to make it sound as genuine as possible, but even he cringed at the way it came out, “Then, once we get back from dinner, we’re gonna be back on the field and learning drill. Our first block tomorrow will also be drill. And then just wash, rinse and repeat. With some fun stuff penciled in. Sounds good?”
“Yeah! That’s perfect,” Bad smiles brightly at the others, taking some goldfish out of Ant’s ziplock.
“Do any of you guys have any freshmen that might need a little help?” George asks, before taking a bite of his turkey and cheese sandwich.
“I think Ranboo might be struggling a little,” Ant says, “But that’s just because he’s really really tall. We all know how much Wil struggled at first.”
“Perc has no freshman. It’s literally just me, Punz, Techno and Foolish And technically Sap, I guess,” Sam states.
“Uh, Tommy’s fine. He likes to antagonize Wilbur, though.” Bad informs, continuing to eat.
“Isn’t Wilbur a woodie?” Dream asks with amusement, chuckling at the harsh look George sends him for talking.
“Yeah, he is. That’s what makes it worse,” Bad sighs.
“Eh, they’ll get over it,” Sapnap chuckles, leaning back onto his forearms.
“Anything else?” George asks, chewing on his lip slightly.
“You got sunburnt on your face,” Dream says, chuckling slightly.
“You should learn to shut the fuck up sometimes, Dream,” George scoffs, pressing fingers to his cheeks self conciously. Ant, Sam, Bad and Sapnap all groan into their lunches as Dream barks out a harsh laugh, “Nobody needs to hear your voice. Ever.”
“That’s rich coming from you, Brighton.”
“I’m from fucking London,” George grits out, ignoring the gleam in Dream’s eyes at the way he reacts to his prodding.
“Sorry, sorry,” Dream starts, but George knows it isn’t an apology, “Your country is just so boring that I confuse all the different cities.”
“Oh, fuck off-” George starts, but Sapnap slaps a hand over his mouth.
“So, Ant, what do you have for lunch?” Sapnap asks, attempting to salvage the conversation. But Dream bursts out laughing and George licks Sapnap’s hand, causing him to pull away in disgust.
“I’m going back to the podium. I’ll sit with Karl or something. I don’t want to deal with this insufferable prick any longer.”
“Don’t worry sweetheart,” Dream spits out, “I share the sentiment.”