Beyond The Walls
Summary: When Tracey finds out that Gary is returning to Pallet, he has no idea what to expect. He finds himself wanting to be closer to Gary and he's willing to fight through the walls to get to see who Gary really is.
Rated M for alcohol, sexuality (some slash, some het.), cutting, mentions of suicide
Disclaimer – I own the storyline, the OCs, my interpretation of the characters, and nothing else.
::NOTE – this is by far the worst (and shortest) chapter in the story, just serving as a starting point to briefly introduce the characters. Please don't base judgment off of this chapter.::
Chapter 1: The Arrival
When Tracey heard that Gary was coming back to Pallet for good, he didn't know what to expect. He'd briefly met the boy only a few times over the years and had gotten the same impression each time: arrogant, intelligent and incredibly good-looking. Tracey hadn't seen him in years, his grandfather, who occasionally spoke to him on the phone, had seen him only a few times since he had left for research and then for school. His sister May, on the other hand, spoke to him nearly daily; it was her who delivered the news that he was returning home for an indefinite amount of time. Professor Oak seemed happy and surprised upon hearing the news of his grandson's impending arrival from the Sinnoh region following several years of college and researching pokemon.
"Usually he just shows up for a few days without warning," the professor said to Tracey, "It'll be nice to have him back for more than a day or two. May will certainly be excited the next few days."
And he was right, the nineteen-year-old woman was buzzing with excitement the morning when Gary was to arrive and had invited over her five closest friends with whom Tracey had become well acquainted in the several years he had stayed with the Oaks. Tracey was shocked when he walked into the sitting room around noon to find the six girls laughing and talking about something having to do with the Indigo Plateau. Confused, Tracey inquired and was surprised to find out that all six girls had traveled with Gary early on his journey as a pokemon trainer throughout the Kanto region.
"I have to admit, I really don't know anything about Gary. I don't know what to expect when he gets here," Tracey said nervously.
"Well you must not know him if you're not calling him an asshole." Michelle said with a smile as the other girls laughed at her remark. Tracey couldn't help but feel nervous when she said this, athletic Michelle had befriended Tracey quickly when he became Professor Oak's assistant and he had never heard her say anything negative about another person.
"The thing you have to know about Gary is that he values honesty," May spoke up, "just be yourself, Trace. You two will get along fine, I'm sure. Just don't be too surprised if he's a bit cold to you."
For the next few hours, Tracey sat in the sitting room with the girls, sketching them as they reminisced about their travels with Gary. Tracey soon concluded that May's close friends were also Gary's close friends; not entirely surprising, Tracey supposed, considering Gary and May were only two years apart and the other girls ranged in age from Kate at seventeen, Gary's age, to May at nineteen. Most of the girls seemed to be close to the seventeen year old boy that Tracey hardly knew; crazy punk Anna seemed to be his partner in crime, despite Anna being a year and a half older than Gary. Michelle described to Tracey pranks that Anna and Gary had pulled on the others and May insinuated that the two were intimate on many occasions. Kate was only a few months older than Gary and was the only trainer out of all of the girls. Tracey suspected that she had a crush on Gary and felt sorry for her if it were true because sweet Kate with her wonderful giving personality, so much like May's, seemed so incredibly different from Anna's wild streak that he couldn't see how Kate would stand a chance with Gary while he had an insane best friend like Anna. Anna's prim twin sister Rachael was a musician who studied music in college; from what Tracey deduced from the conversations, Gary played several instruments and the two enjoyed sharing their knowledge and musical abilities. Only athletic Michelle, who had become Tracey's best friend, and beautiful, mysterious Bella, who was May's best friend, seemed as though they were not very close with Gary, despite being good friends with his sister.
It was when May and Rachael were telling Tracey and the other girls about a piano-playing contest that Gary had defeated the two girls in that Tracey heard the sound of a car pulling into the garage.
Bella smiled, "Sounds like he hasn't crashed the Camaro yet." She said with a soft laugh.
"There's a surprise," Kate replied with a grin.
Anna jumped to her feet with her waist-length black and green streaked hair whipping Tracey's face and ran to greet her friend. May grinned and said "I know what's coming now," as she stood and walked to the entrance to the room.
The other girls smiled at each other as they heard a door open and a male voice suddenly speak. "You go on first, Umbreon. Don't give me that look, you can bite Anna's ankle if she scares you that badly."
"You bastard, how did you know?" Anna's voice demanded from the corridor as the other girls got up and walked to the hall.
"Nice to see you too. I know you too well." Gary replied to the girl as he walked down the hallway with his haughty Umbreon in front of him. "Hey, ladies!" He called when he saw the girls waiting on him.
Tracey watched Gary and May embrace in the entrance before Gary hugged each of the other girls. He paused at Kate as she kissed him gently on the cheek. "I missed you," she said softly.
"I missed you too," Gary said with a smile before he turned to Anna and gave her a tight squeeze. "I missed you, you psychotic bitch." He said with a laugh as she playfully punched his shoulder and kissed him quickly on the lips.
The auburn-haired boy suddenly noticed Tracey and grinned, "I figured Grandpa would have you down in the lab helping him. Been a long time, huh Trace?"
Tracey returned the grin, "The professor's working on a report on pidgey populations between here and Viridian City he doesn't want anyone else in the lab."
Gary simply nodded in acknowledgement before turning to catch up with the girls while Tracey simply watched. Gary had changed quite a bit since Tracey had last seen him, nearly two years ago when the younger boy was only fifteen. He was several inches taller now and more muscular, he had grown out his hair, which now reached just past his shoulders.
'But he still looks the same over all,' Tracey thought to himself, admiring the way Gary laughed and talked with the girls. 'He's still got those piercing eyes and those incredible lips." He found himself thinking and suddenly imagined him suddenly kissing those lips that were currently smirking at May as Gary teased her about something.
Michelle came and sat next to Tracey on the couch a few minutes later with Gary's Umbreon at her side. "Don't worry," she said with a small smile, "he just doesn't know you yet. I think you two will get along fine in time."
"Oh. Yeah, I guess so," Tracey said, watching as Gary playfully flirted with Anna and Rachael.
Michelle followed Tracey's gaze and wondered whether he was watching the two sisters or the attractive boy that was joking with them. 'Sometimes I wonder about Tracey,' she thought to herself as she idly scratched Umbreon's ears, 'sometimes I'm pretty sure that there's something going on in his mind that doesn't involve girls.'
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