Calibrations

Japan 2009

It was the night before the Summer Sonic Festival was supposed to start, and while the rest of the band was busy rehearsing, Gerard was at the hair salon. "Are you sure about this?" the hairdresser, a petite woman with a heavy Japanese accent, asked him as soon as he was done telling her what he wanted.

"I'm sure," Gerard said.

"But are you sure?" she asked.

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."

The hairdresser shrugged and said, "If you say so." Then, she started working on Gerard's hair. "I will have to bleach this and then dye."

"That's fine," Gerard said. "I bleached my hair a couple of years ago, when we were working on The Black Parade."

"You are one of the American musicians, yes?" the hairdresser said as she started bleaching Gerard's hair.

"Yeah. My band is here for Summer Sonic."

"Which band are you in?"

It was refreshing, meeting someone who didn't recognize him immediately. "My Chemical Romance," he said.

"Oh, the friend of my daughter likes your band a lot," the hairdresser said. "And you will go on stage with hair like this?"

"No, I'll be back here tomorrow to dye my hair black again," Gerard said.

"So why are you dyeing it now?"

Gerard sighed and said, "This is a big day for me. I'm coming out to my band."

"I see," the hairdresser said. "I will make sure that your hair is perfect."

"Thank you," Gerard said.

The hours went by, and Gerard's mind raced. Most of it was normal - ideas for comics, ideas for the new album - but there were some nagging thoughts in the back of his head, telling him about all the horrible things that could happen if the other band members knew that he was dating Frank. There were so many reasons why he had kept it from them for so long, and now, he was about to give his secret away. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was making a mistake.

He knew that he had no reason to be worried. They had already been through so much together, and if they were going to turn their backs on him, they would have done it a long time ago. Besides, Mikey already knew that he was bi, and he didn't think that his brother would care that he was dating Frank. He doubted that Ray or Bob would react badly either, and even if they did, he always had Frank. No matter what happened tonight, he would always have his kind, talented, impossibly beautiful boyfriend, and he couldn't be more thankful for that.

"Your hair is done," the hairdresser said. Gerard looked in the mirror, and for the first time in a long time, he liked what he saw. There was a stripe of red, a stripe of orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Every color in the rainbow.

It was perfect.

Gerard thanked the hairdresser, gave her an extra large tip, and then headed to the rehearsal space. As soon as he got there, Frank ran over to him. "Gerard!" he exclaimed as he embraced his boyfriend. "Where were you?" All of a sudden, he noticed Gerard's hair. "That's rad," he said.

"You like my new hair color?" Gerard said. He didn't hear any music - the band must have finished rehearsing, but he didn't think that they'd left yet.

"I love it," Frank said. "Then again, I think I've said that every time you've dyed your hair. You always look amazing."

Gerard blushed. He was thirty-two - really too old to be getting so flustered - but it had been like this ever since he and Frank had gotten back together. Being with Frank made him feel young again, like the two of them were recapturing a lost spark. He thought back to when Lindsey said that he couldn't be happy without Frank, and he was starting to think that she was right all along.