Welcome to the Pride Parade [Frerard AU]

Part I: Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 – RESTAURANT OF MEMORIES

I pressed snooze on my alarm against my better judgment, but figured that there were so few school days left that-

Wait. There were no school days left. So why had I set my alarm?

My hand hovered over the Off button. Just by looking at it next to On reminded me of the mindset I had been in when I set it last night. I had a date to prepare for!

I really didn't know what preparing for a date entailed; I'd never done it before. Who could I ask who had experience with this kind of thing? Ray would tease me, and while he'd mean for it to be friendly, I'd be too embarrassed to even process his input. Mikey wouldn't take me seriously enough And I wasn't about to ask my mom for dating advice. It seemed to me like I was on my own for this one.

I nearly tripped over the outfit I'd set out the night before, something a little more formal. Always good to make a good impression. Right?

First things first, Gerard, shower. And put on your clothes last-minute, just to be sure they're as good-looking as possible by the time noon rolls around, I silently instructed myself, trying to come up with ways to prevent anything wrong from happening.

The slacks I had on were most likely the only pair of slightly-nice pants I owned. I had added a belt and a black t-shirt last night, but because it didn't felt like enough, I threw on a leather jacket. Would Frank care that I was wearing black on black? I considered changing my entire outfit, but would I find anything nicer in my closet? I wasn't really sure. I'd never actually been to The Cubicle, but I knew of it because it seemed like everyone else in the world had been there at some point or another. Was it a tux kind of place or a jeans kind of place? All the same, I added a tie to the outfit. He was used to seeing me in a tie thanks to our school uniforms, so surely I'd be comfortable in this one.

Since when am I a what-do-I-wear kind of guy? I found myself thinking as I laid out my clothes on the bed. Frank had no idea what he was doing to me – now I was the one triple-checking that my red tie was straight. I'd never worried about my appearance before. At school all we ever had was that one uniform. Frank had seen me out of uniform before, though. This probably wasn't a big deal. So where in the world were these nerves coming from?

I stared at my reflection a second longer, deciding the tie was too much. I tugged it off.

By the time I'd actually finished getting ready, I still had hours to kill. So, naturally, I spent an unhealthy amount of time in front of the mirror thinking up just about every single thing that could go wrong.

First date. First date. What do people talk about on first dates? Just about themselves, right? I could do that. But what would happen if we ran out of things to talk about? I was never good with breaking silences. I liked to think that we knew each other well enough to keep that from happening, and I loved the idea of not only filling silences but making the conversations mean something, but I wasn't at all prepared with conversation starters, let alone ones that we would remember after the date ended. I didn't just want to talk about the food the entire – food! I cut my thought off as I came to the realization. I didn't even know what they served there! I wouldn't let myself be that person who stared at the menu for the majority of the date. Not that I was a picky eater, but how was I supposed to focus on a menu when I had an impression to make? I mean, it wasn't like Frank didn't already have a certain impression of me, but... what if Frank was allergic to something that I ordered? What if he was strictly vegan and would be offended if I ordered meat?

I sighed at my reflection and decided my priest-like attire would be sufficient for the next couple of hours, if nothing else. With that I tore my eyes away from the mirror and forced myself to think about something else.