Warning: Language

Do not own Hetalia.

Chapter Two:

Summer Drama and Romance

The life of a band director is hectic, especially the last few days of school and the beginning of the marching band season. They have to revise music and positions to assign, coordinates to rearrange, competitions to schedule, visuals to create, and emails to send out for volunteers. It doesn't sound like a lot at first, but each activity takes at the least three hours. If you add it all up, plus the time actually working with the students and adults helping out, it equals to as much as giving up your soul.

Nevertheless, band directors love their job! (Or so they keep telling themselves...)

Which was why Marcus Vargas didn't mind meeting with his best friend, Frederick Beilschmidt on a Saturday morning at his home in attempts to finalize competition dates and a few other loose ends. He had assured Marcus the house would be quite because his wife was away on a business trip in Germany, Gilbert was leaving to hang out with his friends and Ludwig was locked away in his room, doing his summer reading. His brother had offered to take him out, but no matter how much Gilbert asked if he wanted to go with him somewhere, Ludwig usually rejected him. They were really close siblings, but Frederick was sure the blond child was getting tired of dragging his brother's sorry ass out of trouble and back home.

Mr. Beilschmidt never had to worry about his youngest son and could entrust him with classified (band) information, Gilbert was a different story sadly. He couldn't keep his mouth shut even if he tried. It was a wonder he could keep his own secrets, but even those occasionally slipped. No matter his flaws, however, he loved his son. Gilbert certainly kept him on his toes, especially that Saturday morning.

The eldest teen was currently rushing around the house, finishing up his chores so he could get out of the house. He really must have wanted to leave because the albino rarely awoke earlier than noon on a Saturday, even more so the Saturday after the last day of school. "Toni's got a new video game he wanted to play with us that even Fran's excited and he never gets excited over a game!" He explained after questioned by his father.

Once chores were sloppily done and his shoelaces were tied, he jumped off the couch and headed for the door. Ready to get out, he ripped the door open only to find the tree Italians about to ring the doorbell.

"What's up guys? You here for the band geek meeting with vatti?"

Mr. Vargas and his youngest son nodded eagerly while Lovino's scowl deepened. He cursed himself for being too weak to stay at home alone. Ever since the death of Marcus's beautiful wife and their mother three years ago, the twins had never been the same. Feliciano cried more often and usually over the most trivial of things while his older brother had developed a bad streak of cursing and violence.

"Gilbert," his father's deep voice warned him from behind.

"Haha, I'm out, I'm out!" He let the trio in before walking past him to go to the driveway. "Oh! Yo Lovino! You wanna go over to Toni's place?"

Lovino poked is head out through the front door with a glare. "Why would I want to?"

Gilbert shrugged as he got into the driver's seat. "'S better than staying here, but whatev'." He looked back at the younger boy who was bitting the inside of his lip debating internally.

The brunet disappeared back inside before striding back out and into the passenger's seat.

"If we crash you potato bastard, I swear I'm going to haunt your fucking sorry ass in the next life."

"Yeah right," he laughed, pulling out onto the street. "I'm too awesome to crash! Passed the driver's test with flying colors! Born to drive I swear."

A less than polite conversation was held between the two throughout the short drive to Antonio's house. And they were still arguing about Gilbert's purpose on the Earth when they arrived at the Spaniard's home.

"LOVIIII~!"

Hairs stood on end like a chat when the boy heard his name come from the top of the house. He spotted the Spanish teen through the window before he disappeared and appeared once again through the front door. Antonio charged at the smaller teen before he was tackled down by Gilbert.

"¡Qué demonios?" English was forgotten.

Francis had caught the whole thing from the doorway and laughed along with the German on the grass.

"Sorry, it's a habit," he rolled off his best friend in tears. "Gotta defend my quarterback you know."

"And Lovi's your quarterback?" The curly haired brunet glared at his traitor of a friend.

The two remained on the grass, unmotivated to move anymore. "Hey, my body just took over! It was like one second you were Antonio going in for a hug and the next you were an member of the opposing team. Football kinda slams that into you, hahaha."

"Are you dumb asses going to get up or what?" Lovino glared down at them. Too slow to realize what happened next, he toppled over them when Antonio wrapped his arms around his legs. "What the hell? Let go of me, idiota!"

"You might az well give in, mon ami," Francis sat down next to Gilbert, tucking his legs underneath him. "'e won't let go until 'e'z zatizfied and zat might be a while."

Gilbert pushed Francis into the grass and chuckled as his friend flailed in an attempt to avoid grass stains. "You could always give him a kiss. He'll probably faint from happiness and then you can make your great escape. Yeah! Come on! Get to it or else we'll never get to play the awesome game!"

"N-no!" Lovino pushed away, but with little results. "Get. Away. From. Me. Tomato. Bastard! Let goooo!"

"Lovi~" This must have been one of Antonio's many dreams of the boy. There was no way the irate Italian would ever go to his home on his own will. Yet the more the Spanish teen squeezed, the more plausible it felt. It had been about four years ago when he fell in love with him in middle school and he had now finally been able to hold him. And there he was, blushing and adorably cursing, just like he'd always imagine.

~2~

Another pair of blond twins sat at their dining room table with swimming trunks on, waiting excitedly. The new pool in their backyard was completed the day before, but early that morning everything was officially set up. It had the appropriate amount of chlorine and the filters were running smoothly and the water was at a perfect temperature for the expected hot day. All the boys needed were the O.K. from their parents before jumping in and they received it as soon as he walked through the sliding glass door.

"Alright boys, have at it!" Their father stepped aside to let the boys through. He watched Alfred dive in the deep end while Matthew gently settled himself onto his inflatable inner tube. So similar were his sons, yet very different at the same time. Matthew was almost his spitting image when he was his age, while Alfred had more of his mother's characteristics and personality. And like his mother, Alfred was playful to the point of annoyance. Mr. Jones was already rolling his eyes at his eldest son's antics.

Alfred swam underwater to reach his brother before popping out and splashing the relaxed form. To their father's great amusement and Alfred's chagrin, Matthew didn't even flinch at the cool water's contact. Seeing them splash around made Mr. Jones wanted to join his sons in the pool, but had promised to go shopping with the Mrs. He could not escape this time, however for he had avoided it far enough. Instead, he opted to sit on the patio as he waited for his wife to be ready.

"Alright boys, no parties while we're out," he finally stood after a few minutes when he heard her in the kitchen. "You can have a few friends over, the maximum is five, but that it. Don't stay in too long."

"Five?" A feminine voice whined behind him. "Oh come on, honey. Five is not enough. They need to have a small party if they want to ever get girlfriends or boyfriends! As long as there's no alcohol, I'm fine with them throwing a summer party!"

"Boyfriends?" Mr. Jones looked from his wife to his sons who had stopped splashing and pointed at each other in alarm. "Well, I guess they can't impregnate anyone if they like guys... Do you?"

"Eh, well...," they began simultaneously, but were interrupted by their mother.

She giggled as she latched onto her husband's arm, "Boy do they! Well I know my Alfie does, but Mattie's a little more secretive. I think he's got two crushes! I'll tell you all I know about them along the way. Take care boys! Stay safe and no alcohol!"

They made their way towards the glass doors before their sons called back to them. "So how many?" Matthew asked while Alfred tried to drown himself from embarrassment.

"Close friends only!" Mr. Jones called behind him, listened to his wife rant about their son's love lives.

"So anyways," Mrs. Jones continues, "You know Richard Kirkland?"

"One of his boys?"

"Yep~!"

They new the coast was clear when their voices diminished as the farther they became and heard the car's doors close.

When Alfred hadn't surfaced, Matthew became worried and abandoned his tube only to have his brother shoot up a second afterwards. "Don't do that Alfred!" He splashed water onto his brother's face. "You really had me worried; you could have died!"

"Uh, that was the point Mattie," Alfred flopped onto his back and floated there. "Dad knows!"

The younger brother rolled his eyes, "Quit being melodramatic. So are we inviting Arthur and Francis or half of the band?"

"How 'bout the football team?"

"Then can my hockey team come too?"

Alfred stood up while Matthew reattached himself to the inner tube as they stared at each other while they contemplated. "Marching band it is," they both agreed upon.

"So you text Arthur and I'll call Franc-" Matthew never finished for at that instant, Gilbert jumped over their fence, followed by Francis, Antonio and Lovino through the gate.

"A little birdie told me you got a new pool!" Gilbert grinned as he made his way towards the siblings. "Why didn't we get in an invite?"

"Hey Gil!" Alfred lifted himself out of the water. "We were just about to text and call a bunch of people actually." He lifted his cell from where he had left it on the patio's table. "Are you psychic or something?"

He laughed and patted his quarterback's wet back. "Nah, I'm just awesome like that! So who should we call?"

Between the six guys they were able to text and call the entire band plus a few extra guests like Alfred's best friend Tony. A few texted back with a quick reply while others lagged behind. He was about to text Arthur an invitation when the French teen plucked the cell from him.

"Oh? Ziz mon lapin? Ohohon, there's ah 'eart next to 'is name~. I want to text 'im!"

To: Artie

Hey Artie! Wanna come to my pool party? All you gotta do is flash me your dick to get in ;D

"The Fuck!? Noo!" Alfred read from behind Francis and snatched his phone back. His face beat red at Francis's comment. "ARTIE'S GONNA KILL ME, THEN HATE ME FOREVER!" Immediately, he composed another message, but it was too late.

From: Artie

ALFRED F. JONES! YOU HAD BETTER HOPE I DON'T STRANGLE YOU THE NEXT TIME I SEE YOU!

To: Artie 3

Nonononononono! that was francis not me! he grabbed my phone, honest! we r having a pool party tho, u can strangle him here instead

"If I don't do it first," he growled up at his friend who was reading over his shoulder.

"You know you wanted it," the teen skips away from him. "You like L'Anglais, non? Il est mignon~." (He is cute~.)

After a quick translation, the host denied any feelings for the young Briton until the French teen was satisfied. Although Alfred was not satisfied until he pushed the teen into the book, fully clothed.

Gilbert and Antonio laughed their heads off, already in the cool water with their boxers as swimwear. Matthew and Lovino barely made it out of the house, with borrowed swim trunks for Lovino, to witness the quarterback's sweet revenge. Both Alfred and Matthew knew it was slightly out of character for the self proclaimed hero, but it had felt so good.

~2~

Feliciano and Ludwig were reading out loud, practically snuggled next to each other, when Gilbert's text came through. They-mostly the blond teen- had been reading for a few hours, sitting together in the teen's bed. Every now and then, the brunet would stop him and ask him questions about the storyline or something completely random that had skittered across his head. Normally, it would have annoyed Ludwig to no end from all the constant interruptions, yet the amiable manner the other possessed made it difficult for him to become angry with the teen.

"Do you want to take it from here?" Ludwig had stopped at good section to offer the Italian a chance to continue where he had left off. They were both in the honor's class, but sometimes he wondered how Feliciano had made it into the class.

"Only if you're tired of reading out loud," he looked up at his friend with a genuine smile. "I love Luddy's reading voice~. Sometimes, your voice drops just a little to fit that of a character or you might raise it. Other times you slow down or speed up to that perfect pace. It sets the mood and tone. Ve~."

A light blush appears on the slightly younger adolescent. He had never noticed the slightest change in his reading and would have denied it had the comment not been similar to what his mother always told him. "No, I don't mind," and thus he continued. However this time around, Ludwig was more self-conscious about how he read. At times he would exaggerate more, fearing to let Feli down, but then relaxed and reverted to his normal reading habits.

All was going well until Feliciano rested his head on Ludwig's shoulder as he followed along. Upon the intimate touch, the German tensed up and his heart rate increase. Luckily for him, Feli couldn't exactly feel his quickening pulse, however, he could feel the boy's facial expressions change from confusion to understanding to enjoyment. His constant smiling appearance could never get old for it was Ludwig's own enjoyment to see the lovable Italian so.

Slowly, inch by inch, they became closer and closer until a loud chime startled the boys apart from each other. It came from Ludwig's cellphone on his dresser next to Feliciano who reached for it, but not long after the first received text message that he found one of his own. Avoiding the other's gaze, they read almost identical messages from their brothers, inviting them to Alfred's and Matthew's spur of the moment pool party.

"Party~!"

"Do you want to go?" They finally made eye contact, but not without another blush.

"Ve~. Let's! I'll go ask papà!"

They excited the room only to find their fathers bending awkwardly with instruments in their hands. It was painstakingly obvious that they were planning their visuals for their marching band show, but if it was unpleasant for them, it surely wasn't a good idea to try it on a bunch of high schoolers. Unfortunately, judges in competitions seemed to like uniquely eccentric moves to perform during eight-count-holds. It were times like these that Ludwig had discovered one must be either mentally strong or have full acceptance of their insanity to be in marching band.

They ignored their impending doom and asked for permission to go to the party, which they received. It was only a short walk down the street to the Jones's residence after all, so instead of walking ten blocks to the Vargas home, Ludwig let Feliciano borrow an old pair of swimming trunks. They slipped off of his smaller frame quite easily, so Ludwig had to find thin rope to tie around him. Every time their skin made contact, one or the other could not repress a shiver. What these boys had was not a simple friendship, but a very complex relationship.

Instead of confronting it, although, they made their way over to their friends'. Feliciano tried not to skip along side his-he had to admit- crush, but he could not contain the butterflies still in his stomach.

~2~

"Lukas!" A loud, obnoxious Dane stood banging on the Bondevik's front door. "Luke! Lukie! Norge! Lukie! Luke! Luka- Oh, goddag herre Bondevik (good day Mr. Bondevik). I was wondering if Lukas, oh and Emil, wanted to go to Al's swimming party at his home. Totally safe, no alcohol unfortunately, adult supervision... Well Berwald," he cringed, "and Arthur will be there and you know how stick in the muds they are. Oh! And Alfred's a certified lifeguard anyways so that good too!"

"No," the cold eyes Lukas had inherited stared back at him. "They're packing. We're going to Norway, England, Ireland, Iceland, Romania, and Haiti for the summer with us and won't be back until the beginning of the school year."

Mathias dropped his jaw. "What? We have band these next few weeks then at the end of July as well! Lukas- and Emil- can't miss it or they'll be alternates and Lukas hates being an alternate!"

Mr. Bondevik shrugged, not really caring.

The teen could hardly believe it. He couldn't spend the summer away from his boyfriend. Wait, said boyfriend never mentioned anything about this mini world vacation to him.

"We just told them a few hours ago," his "to-be-father-in-law" set his hand on the door, ready to close it.

"Well... You can't. Band's really important! The trumpets depend on him! And it's Emil's first year! Freshmen year is crucial for the remainder of his band years." The tall blond wracked his brain to find a way to keep the boy in the States. "They can stay with me at my parent's hotel, free of charge!"

"With you?" It sounded like he definitely didn't want to allow his son with the adolescent Dane.

A sudden idea hit him, "And the rest of the trumpets. You know Band Camp: I was thinking we could do a section Camp right before Pre-Band Camp or something. He won't be alone then! And come on, Emil will be with us the entire time! Do you really think I'd do anything while he's around?"

"You know you're only digging your grave deeper," a new voice, that he knew and loved, entered the conversation. "I sent you a message a while ago about the trip."

Mathias gave an unintelligent, "Huh? Oh lookie! You did! What? And Vargas and Beilschmidt allowed it on such short notice?"

Lukas gave a nod.

"And you still wanna go?"

Another nod.

"And leave me?!"

Two more nods.

"Hey!"

A smirk appeared on his face.

Above them in his own room, stood Emil watching and listening to the scene below him. He was so glad he wasn't going to marching band this summer due to Kaoru's sudden interest in the sport. It seemed everywhere and everything he did, the boy was there as well.

"What about all the drill you'll miss! You might be made into an alternate! What if they were going to give you first trumpet?! Do you really want Antonio or Alfred to take that honor away from you?" Mathias saw the smirk twitch downwards and kept going. "Think of your brother! It's his first year! A crucial year for him to learn how to march and read drill sheets! Think about the children!"

WHACK!

A shoe smacked the Dane in the forehead, making him see beer mugs circle around his head. He looked up in time to catch Emil remove his other shoe to chuck at him. "Shut up Dane!"

A wicked grin appeared on his face. "Lukas! You gotta help me raise my new bunny!"

"NO! Don't listen to him, brother!" Emil leaned over the windowsill. "I'll give you bunnies and kittens, and puppies! I'll give you a hug if you refuse him!"

"Just imagine," Mathias looked up at Emil, "little Emie in a fairy costume. You know Artie's probably going to be section leader of the saxophones since Victor hates taking care of everyone and stays away from band drama. And if he's section leader, he'd probably have his way with having the section dress as fairies. Wouldn't that be cute? Or maybe you could even convince him to dress Emie in something cutely! Think of the possibilities!"

"Don't even!"

"Where the hell did the third shoe come from?!" He dodged it easily, but did not expect a dictionary at his head. "OUCH! Hey, is that a Icelandic to Chinese dictionary?"

Lukas had closed the door ignoring his brother and boyfriend to ponder his choices. It was so difficult with both of them making so many offers, but he doubted Emil would really get him any sort of pet. Mathias on the other hand, while he knew he had no bunny at his home, knew the boy would buy it without a second though had he really wanted Lukas happy. There was also the prospect of traveling to Haiti, the country of religion mixed with voodoo, and other countries full with magic and folklore. What would have taken a normal person days to decide, took Lukas only a few seconds. Decision made, he opened the door to find random objects raining upon Mathias.

"Just wait until Kaoru see's this!" The tall teen laughed despite being pelted by hard objects Emil could get his hands on.

~2~

Arthur was still red over the crude text message Alfred or Francis had sent him, whether from anger or embarrassment he did not know. Not even his two older brothers, Liam Scot and James, dared to mess with their little brother when they saw him storm out their front door. He simply had the look. It was that of an emotionless killer, something they knew full well their brother could be capable of, but did not ever want to test it out. Liam and Arthur were the two brothers with the shortest temper, but out of the two, Arthur instilled the strongest fear the most. Even the eldest brother would back down when Arthur was like this.

His normally beautiful, emerald eyes-usually filled with life and curiosity-were cold and dead. Aside from the blood in his face, his facial expression held no clue as to what was going through his head except for retribution. And he will get it. Arthur's strides were steady and long with purpose to get to either of the bastards at Alfred's home. Luckily he didn't live far from him and made it fairly quickly.

He encountered Lukas's blushing baby brother running away from the backyard with a rather large book in his arms. Mathias's laughter could be heard from the sidewalk where Arthur was, but he didn't allow himself to be distracted from his sole purpose of strangling the culprit who sent the message. It had to be Francis like Alfred had said and that's what infuriated him even more. He knew of his feelings for Alfred, yet still sent him that message through the lad's phone. Now he was to pay.

However, when Yao's younger brother soon appeared behind Emil and asked the Briton for the direction the pale blond had gone, he lost a little of his focus. Honestly, he wasn't quite sure, but it was either left or right, so he pointed right and continued on his way.

There Francis was, talking to Gilbert and Matthew when he spotted his irate classmate charging at him. "Ah mon ami if ziz iz about you zhowing uz your-"

He never finished because Arthur sped up to a sprint before, according to Gilbert, beautifully tackling Francis into the pool beside him.

Alfred witnessed it all before he dived in as well to break up the fight. He partially felt responsible for the Frenchman's text.

"Looks like the saxophones are gonna be the section with the most drama this season," the albino couldn't stop laughing as Alfred pulled a pissed Arthur out of the pool. He looked like a wet cat ready to attack again when the frog made his way to the surface by himself.

"Dude, Artie, are you okay? I may be a heroic lifeguard, but I can't rescue both of you guys at the same time! You made me worry for a bit there." Alfred stared down at Arthur who was drenched, fully clothed, and underneath him. A gin broke through his serious exterior before he poked the English teen in the cheek. "I'm pretty sure 'gentlemen' don't dive in like that."

Arthur smacked his hand away. "Git," he started, but couldn't continue because he noticed the circumstance he was in. There was Alfred, staring down at him with his crystal blue eyes as bright as the sky behind him and the pool beside him, half naked. All anger and thought fled his mind only to realize he was staring when water droplets from the younger teen's hair dropped onto Arthur's face. "I, eh, w-wouldn't have done such an ungentlemanly action h-had someone guarded their cellphone properly."

"Hey! He just took it out of my hands! And at least you're here, you wouldn't have come had you not a score to settle." Alfred looked no more than an excited five year old at his friend's appearance.

Francis whipped his wet hair back; he hadn't wanted to get it wet, but it was too late now. A smirk appeared on his face, however, when he saw how close the two were. It was too much to resist. "My, my, I zee you are going to pay ze admizzion price after all, but what about m-"

Alfred wasn't fast enough to contain Arthur. He dodged the American's arms, leaped at the Frenchman and into the water then went again.

Matthew sighed as he looked on at the scene and nodded. "This is not good. It was pretty chaotic last year with Francis, Arthur, and Lovino in the same section, but now our neighbor, Molossia* and the two freshmen who just ran out being in their section too."

"So glad I'm back! This would be too awesome for me to miss!"

* I know I have written Molossia, but I need a name for him. Actually, I need names for a lot of "new" characters and Hong Kong (if you want it changed). Micro-nations and other nations are going to appear, but I need names and even genders. I'm fine with giving them names myself, but I would love if you'd name 'em as well! Victor is Brazil, but if there's already a name for him or if its a her according to Fandom or whatever, please tell me! I'll have a list of characters and their information like grade level and instruments and such on my profile for you to refer to if you want. It took me for ever and you have no idea how much sleep I'm lacking so sorries for the mistakes! Even my two roomies fell asleep before me and I'm usually the first in bed.

IMPORTANT: Do you guys mind if I change the rating to M. It' won't be too... graphic? The band is perverted, just saying. It's teenager stuff, you know ;D