Secrets Kept

Summary: Secrets can eat you up from the inside, especially ones dealing with sexuality and relationships. Tracey is the only one that knows Gary's secret, mostly because he's part of it. This is the promised prequel to Secrets Told.

Rated T for safety for the moment, will probably change at some point.

Disclaimer – I own the storyline, the OCs, my interpretation of the characters, and nothing else.

Prologue

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A small laugh escaped Tracey as he found himself suddenly pushed against the wall behind him, his boyfriend's lips pressed against his own a split second later, cutting off that joyful laugh. Fighting down another laugh, Tracey rested his hands against Gary's chest and returned the kiss before playfully pushing the younger boy away from him.

"Playful today, aren't we?" he teased lightly, taking delight in the smirk his words elicited.

"Depends on what you mean by 'playful,'" Gary replied, resting his hands on Tracey's hips and leaning in for another kiss as he did so.

"You're not afraid of your sister catching us?" Tracey turned his head slightly to avoid his inquiry being cut off by his boyfriend's lips; the resulting disappointment on Gary's face was apparent.

"She's in the pool with her friends," he replied exasperatedly, once more leaning in to kiss Tracey, who once more turned his head.

"She almost caught us last week –"

"Trace." He stopped mid-sentence as Gary's voice interrupted him gently; staring up into those dark brown eyes, he could feel his apprehension fading. "May isn't going to catch us; stop worrying." With that, he pressed his lips firmly against Tracey's, kissing him fiercely and effectively cutting off the half-hearted protest.

A small grin curved his lips as Tracey appeared slightly dazed from the kiss. Regardless of being kissed senseless by his stubborn boyfriend, Tracey wasn't entirely deterred. This relationship had been kept a secret for well over a year, purely because of Gary's insecurities, and he wasn't about to have it uncovered now by the boy being careless and deciding to make out with the bedroom door open and his sister and her big-mouthed friends hanging out in the house. Granted, he had told Gary time and time again that they would both be happier without this massive secret weighing down on them, but he wasn't about to have everyone find out by May walking in on them and blurting it out to everyone.

He was determined to have Gary actually tell his grandfather and sister about this personally – it didn't seem fair to their relationship to have someone simply walk in on them. Keeping a serious relationship secret was no easy task and Gary certainly owed it to him to actually tell the people closest to them.

His determination was obvious and Gary sighed, understanding where this was going. "So much for our plans, huh?" he scoffed slightly.

Tracey watched a bit sadly as Gary turned and started to leave the room. Feeling terrible for killing the mood, he quickly followed, gently pushing Gary against the wall in the hallway just outside his bedroom. "Come on, Gary," he said softly. "You know I didn't mean to kill the mood. It's just that if you're so dead set on us keeping this a secret then you can't be so casual about it. Sooner or later everyone is going to have to find out, I'd rather it be because you told them when you were ready rather than because we were caught." A small sigh of his own escaped him as he noticed the closed-off expression on Gary's face. The boy always seemed to shut down whenever they talked about this particular subject.

"We've talked about this before," Gary replied quietly, not bothering to elaborate on this subject as his tone accurately described how he felt about it. Tracey already knew his stance on the topic as they had discussed it more than once over the years of their friendship and then the year and a half of their relationship. Coming out was not an option at this particular point in time – maybe he would do it soon, he certainly was frustrated with keeping quiet about it, but right now, no.

Right now, he was more focused on spending time with his friends while they were all in town for the summer before everyone started leaving Pallet for good. Coming out would certainly affect at least some of their relationships with him and the last thing he wanted to do now was ruin his summer by doing something that would negatively affect his relationships with his closest friends.

"I know, Gary; and that's all I'm saying about it." Tracey leaned forward and pressed a small, chaste kiss against Gary's lips, purely for the purpose of calming him down. He moved his hands to his boyfriend's shoulders, gently rubbing them, trying to ease the tension out of the boy.

Slowly, Gary relaxed, returning the kiss as he gently cupped Tracey's face in his hands. Tracey pulled away slightly and brushed his nose against Gary's with a small smile.

"I love you," he whispered, allowing his hands to slide down Gary's body until they rested on his hips, the tips of his fingers barely slipping under his t-shirt to rest on his bare flesh.

The feeling of Tracey's hands touching his stomach, even slightly, seemed to calm Gary even more as his hands moved to Tracey's shoulders and then to his back, where one hand slowly trailed up and down his spine. "I love you, too," he replied softly, resting his head against Tracey's shoulder after a short moment. "I swear, Tracey, when summer's over-"

"Whenever you're ready – " A sudden squeal cut him off just when he was about to remind Gary that the professor's attitude toward him hadn't changed at all when Tracey had admitted that he was, in fact, gay. Gary's entire body tensed and Tracey felt a sinking feeling in his stomach as May Oak's cheerful and excited voice spoke up from further down the hall. Despite all their work, the secret had been blown in the second that it took May to see them together and understand what it all meant.

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