Project "homophobia is gay"

Party Time

"A... gay bar?!"

I didn't know what was funnier in that moment.
Frank's face or the way he was pressing his hands against the car window, looking at the neon signs in front of us.

"Yepp," was all I said to that, a grin on my face.

"You can't be serious!" Frank exclaimed, his eyes clearly searching for something that told him that I was just kidding.

"No, I'm actually serious. Are you coming?" I asked as I turned off the car engine and unfastened my seat belt.

"I can't go inside! What if people see me?!" Frank sounded rather panicked so I turned my body around to place a hand on his shoulder and pulled him off the window.

"If anybody sees you then you'll be just another guy in a bar. Nothing more and nothing less," I rolled my eyes because I was already getting tired of Frank's behaviour.

I just hoped that he wouldn't be on edge all night long...

"But this is a freaking gay bar. And if anybody from school sees me there they'll think that I'm gay!" Frank threw his arms up in frustration.

"Okay first of all I can promise you that you won't see anybody from our school here because we're literally an hour away from our hometown. Secondly, if you see anybody you know here, then you should ask THEM what they're doing in a gay bar. And last but not least, for the really unrealistic case people see us, you're just going to tell them that I forced you to go because of the project," as I was talking to him I grabbed a bag from the back seat and pulled out a small camera that I attached to the collar of my black shirt together with a small microphone. You know... the ones they always have on TV.

I gave Frank another microphone along with a recorder so I could overplay the video material with his voice later.

Frank was silent when I grabbed his shirt and put the microphone on the same place as I did with mine. Then I gave him the small recorder that was connected with the microphone through a cord and told him to put that in his back pocket and take good care of it.

"But first we have to make a quick sound check," I told him and showed him how to turn on the recorder.
Five small lights turned on instantly to show that it was working.

"Say something," I demanded.

"And what?" as Frank spoke the small lights turned green, only the last one was red.
I grabbed Frank's microphone and pulled it down a bit.

"Again," I said and Frank let out a huff.

"You suck," he said and this time all lights stayed green.
Perfect.

"You suck too," I grinned, "and now get your shit together and follow me"

Frank wasn't really looking convinced but he got out of the car anyway.

"It's gonna be fun, trust me!"

Frank just shrugged and walked close behind me into the big building with the giant neon letters.
When we opened the first door we could already hear the loud music blasting through probably insanely powerful speakers. I was probably going home with an immense headache...

Frank and I didn't bring jackets because it was actually warm outside so we didn't have to make a stop in front of a big window where a woman was already waiting for us to give her something to take care of as long as we were dancing.

Before we entered the official dancefloor and bar there was a small table that had four kinds of bracelets on it.

"Take one," I read the sign that was hanging above the table.
Frank and I took a closer look and saw that next to the bracelets were small papers.

"Boys," was writing on the paper next to the blue glowing neon bracelet.
"Girls," said the one next to the pink glowing bracelets.
"Both," the orange light of those bracelets almost hurt in my eyes.
"Taken," was a green glowing one.

"I think that helps other people see what you're looking for," Frank said as he studied the bracelets.

"Yes I think so too," I said and quickly grabbed a blue bracelet, "That's actually pretty cool so you can see who is straight and who isn't"

"It's a gay bar," Frank said, "just go for the boys"

"Not everybody who's here has to be gay," I said, "you're here too and you're straight"

"Point taken," Frank sighed as he grabbed a green one and attached it to his wrist.

"You have a girlfriend?" I asked, curious because I never thought Frank Iero to be the kind of guy who was made for relationships.

"Nah," he shrugged, "I just don't want to hook up with somebody tonight"

I frowned.
As far as I knew Frank wouldn't let the opportunity of a one-night-stand go to waste...
But that was none of my business.

With my own bracelet on my wrist I opened the last door and I almost wanted to shut it again as the loud music was almost making my ears bleed instantly.

Frank pushed me inside and closed the door behind us. We stood there for a few moments.
Everything was dark except for some lights on the bar and the colourful glowing bracelets of the other dancers.

My eyes needed some time to get used to the dim light and Frank seemed to be kind of overwhelmed too. He didn't seem to have a problem with the loud music though, which was probably because he had a lot of experience with loud music.

"So... What do you think?" I yelled over a song that was currently playing.

"It's... interesting," he yelled back.

I decided that staying at the door was no fun so I walked up to the bar, Frank following.
I needed a drink, then I would be having a good time tonight.

"You want something?" I asked Frank when the bartender came over to take my order.
"Beer," Frank simply said.

I held up two fingers to the guy behind the counter. He nodded and pulled out two bottles from under the counter. I handed him some money and took the bottles to give one to Frank.

He drowned half of the bottle in one go and when the glass left his lips again, there was a grin on his face.
"Way better," he said and seemed more comfortable.

If it helped him, then it would probably help me too, so I copied Frank's actions and took a few big gulps from my beer.

As the alcohol slowly entered my system I relaxed a bit and looked over the crowd.
There weren't many people.
Enough to keep the dancefloor flooded but there were still a lot of free tables and couches on the side where you could just sit and talk, because the music wasn't that loud there.

"Ready to have some fun?" I asked Frank, still grinning.

He looked a bit unsure, but nodded, giving me a small smile as I took his hand and pulled him over to the dancing people.