Beyond The Walls
Chapter 38: Curiosities Part 1
The rest of the drive to Pastoria passed uneventfully while Gary and Ash talked civilly and avoided a repeat of their earlier bickering. Gary was far from surprised when he didn't see his grandfather's van or Chelsea's Geo when he pulled into the driveway at the house. The garage door to the house was open and revealed a dark green station wagon and Andrew's black Nova: apparently Chris and Andrew were home. As the two teen boys climbed out of the car, the front door to the house burst open and a girl a few years younger than them came running down the steps.
"Gary!"
He looked up at the excited voice and smiled at the girl. "Hey, Abby! How's it going?" Gary asked as Andrew's younger sister threw her arms around him, she pulled away after a minute and grinned up at him.
While Andrew and Nick were unmistakably siblings, it was harder to see the resemblance in Abby with her curly brown hair and pale eyes that contrasted greatly with the straight blonde hair and dark brown eyes that her brothers both possessed. Abby looked past Gary to see Ash standing next to the car with Pikachu sitting on his shoulder and Gary was surprised when she greeted him cheerfully.
"You two know each other?" he asked incredulously.
"We met a few times while we were training here in Sinnoh," Ash explained quickly.
"Yeah, he kicked my ass in the competition in October –"
"Been hanging out with Andrew this week, I see," Gary observed from her language. Both Abby and Ash ignored him while they continued chattering about the competition.
"That was an awesome battle! Your arcanine was almost as hard to beat as Gary's –"
"You evolved Dante?"
"Oh, sorry, Gary, I forgot about you for a minute there! Yeah, I waited until he reached level forty-eight and learned Flare Blitz just like you said to do."
"That's great. Can we go inside now?" Gary asked as he pulled his bag from the backseat of the car so that Umbreon could get out without having to climb over it.
Abby giggled at his annoyance and greeted the dark pokemon. "Yeah, be careful though – I think Andrew's sick."
Gary frowned and tossed Ash's backpack to him over the roof of the low car. "What's wrong with him?"
"He's reading," a male voice spoke up from behind Abby. Gary looked up to Chris standing with his hands resting lightly on her shoulders.
"Oh my god! You should probably take him to the hospital!" he exclaimed with mock concern and hurried into the house, leaving the others in the driveway laughing. Gary fought back a grin as he burst into the living room and saw Andrew sprawled on the couch with a copy of a Harry Potter book. "Andrew! Are you ok?" he asked worriedly as he placed a hand on his friend's forehead.
Andrew laughed and swatted Gary's hand away with the thick book. "Get off of me, you fucking idiot!"
Gary walked around the couch and shoved Andrew's legs off of it before sitting down. "What the hell are you doing reading that shit?"
Andrew returned his attention to the book. "It's not shit, which you would know if you would actually read it instead of insulting it. I'm serious!" he added as Gary gave him a doubtful look. "Fine, read the first three books and if you don't like the third one, I will leave you alone about it."
Gary groaned at the thought of reading the books that many of his friends had been obsessed with. Kate and May had devoured them greedily, Shawn had read them, Charlotte and Chelsea used to have full-on debates with Missy and Ashley over the books, Michelle and Bella had re-read some of the books several times over, and even Anna had constantly been on his case to read them.
"I know, Gary – it's not by Michael Crichton or Orson Scott Card so it must suck horribly!" Chris said sarcastically as he led Ash between the amplifiers, tables, and stacks of stuff to the smaller couch that was perpendicular to the one Gary and Andrew were sitting on.
Abby followed the two boys in and sat on top of a particularly large bass amp belonging to Chelsea. "You guys can really tell that you're moving out in a week," she said sardonically.
"Oh, shut it, brat," Andrew muttered, not looking up as he turned a page.
"Did you get to the part where Snape kills Dumbledore?" Abby asked in a saccharine voice that made Ash snicker.
Andrew finally raised his eyes. "I am going to kill you," he hissed at his sister, who merely grinned. "After I finish this chapter though," he added before returning to the book.
Gary and Chris met each other's eyes and shook their heads as Chris sat on the recliner that was squeezed between a bookshelf and the small couch. The bickering between the fifteen-year-old pokemon trainer and her oldest brother was no different than that between other siblings. While the boys were in school, Abby had come around to visit fairly often, once every month or so for a few days, which she was able to do because she was training in Sinnoh.
The fact that she and Ash had become acquaintances wasn't really that surprising. They were both powerful trainers – especially Abby, considering her age and amount of experience in relation to Ash. Gary actually wouldn't have been surprised if they had run into each other in Hoenn at all. They had both been in the region around the same time, although Gary suspected Abby had competed in the Ever Grande Conference the year before Ash. He supposed it didn't make that much of a difference whether or not they had met before, considering they were now yapping away as though they were great friends while Andrew read and Chris flipped on the television.
Gary sighed softly. He was bored already. He had always hated it when Andrew made the rare decision to read for recreation. Whenever he did that, he would do it in huge six hour blocks until the book was done. Granted, it was one of the few ways to get him to shut up and sit still but it was still boring when it happened. Everyone was doing something except for Gary.
He looked around the room and was a bit surprised to see it largely unchanged since August. The walls were still the pale yellow they had been back when Andrew's grandparents lived in the house and they had been largely covered in posters as soon as the four teens took over the house. The large couch and recliner were still the ugly yet comfortable brown atrocities that had always been there, the smaller couch was still the modern red leather one that Chris had found on the side of the road in Beth's rich neighborhood and it still contrasted horribly with the other furniture. The huge coffee table was still blue and covered in books, cds, and empty cups. The bookshelf still looked ready to collapse at any time, but at least someone had finally gotten around to fixing the broken shelf – probably Chris. A few more amplifiers had found their way into the room while the video game modules of Andrew's had somehow disappeared. One of the few things that had changed was the television – it was far larger than the old one which had probably been relocated to one of the bedrooms.
"What's happening with the house since everyone's moving?"
"Nick's moving in," Andrew said flatly.
Gary couldn't help but notice the frown that crossed Abby's face at the mention of her other older brother. He didn't say anything, figuring the two boys had most likely gotten into a fight at their family's Christmas get-together; something that always seemed to happen. "Is he getting the whole place to himself?"
Andrew groaned loudly, snapped the book shut, and tossed it onto the coffee table. "No. Ben, Dave, and Logan are moving in too," he said, sounding irritable.
"What's up with you? Pissed that I'm annoying you when you want to read?"
"He's pissed because Nick's been a bitch lately."
"Language, Abby."
Gary and Chris had to fight back identical smirks as Andrew chastised his little sister. "What's going on with Nick?" Gary asked curiously once he was sure he wasn't going to laugh at the glare Abby was shooting at Andrew.
"Beats the hell out of me," Andrew snapped. Gary frowned at him.
"He's being a homophobe –"
"Abby!"
"What? It's true!"
"I am not gay!" Andrew's response made Gary frown as he remembered their conversation in his bedroom the day after his birthday.
"I didn't say you were!"
"You insinuated –"
"You insinuate that you're bi all the time! What do you call making out with Gary?"
"Don't drag me into this, please. I get dragged into it between him and Nick enough as it is," Gary interceded wearily.
"And on top of that, you pretend to be gay around the family!" Abby exclaimed, ignoring Gary entirely.
"This is starting to get interesting," Chris commented languidly.
Ash looked uncomfortable as Gary closed his eyes and tried to tune out the argument that continued for several minutes. Finally Andrew threw his hands in the air and stormed off to his bedroom while Abby left for the kitchen in a huff, leaving the three boys that remained in the living room extremely confused.
"What was that all about?" Gary asked Chris, opening his eyes as he heard Andrew's bedroom door slam.
Chris merely shrugged his shoulders with a small sigh. "Andrew's been moody since I got back, I don't know what's going on with him. He's probably just stressed out from being around his family for a week and you know how he is when Nick starts acting like that –"
"Yeah, but if he wouldn't play it up all the time, then Nick wouldn't act like that."
"Gary, this is Nick we're talking about. Remember the time Charlotte beat the shit out of him for calling her a Cradle of Filth fangirl? He still calls her that just because he thinks it makes him appear tougher than he really is," Chris said reasonably.
"Even though Charlotte still kicks his ass for it all the time," Gary muttered under his breath. A few minutes of awkward silence stretched on between the three teens until Gary sighed loudly as he quickly grew tired of the dismal comfort level in the room. "I'm hungry, is there anything in the kitchen?"
Chris shook his head. "I got in from Blackthorn late last night and Andrew and Abby have only been here to sleep and shower for the past few days. I was waiting on Chelsea to get back so we could go to the store together. Will you stop sighing? You just got in, you can't be that miserable already!"
Gary stood with a groan and made his way between the many items cluttering the crowded room, muttering something about going out to get food as he walked to the kitchen to drag Abby along for the ride.
… … …
"What's going on with your brothers lately?" Gary asked as he drove down the road with Abby slumped miserably in the passenger seat with her arms crossed. She hadn't been very willing to come along for the drive but she seemed to listen to Gary more than she did to either of her brothers.
She let out a long breath and stared out the window. "I think they're just stressed out about Mom; I bet Andrew already told you all about that."
Gary frowned: Andrew hadn't said anything about his mother when they had spoken over the phone several times in the past week. "He didn't. What happened this time?"
"She got arrested for drunk driving and now she's in rehab again." Abby said it calmly and matter-of-factly but Gary sensed that she was upset by it. It certainly explained Andrew's moodiness. He usually hid it well but he had been very bitter towards his parents as long as Gary had known him and his mother going to rehab for the third or fourth time in the time in three years was certain to only make him even more bitter.
"I'm sorry," Gary muttered in response.
"Don't be. It's her own damn fault."
Apparently Andrew wasn't the only bitter one as of late. Gary nodded slowly as he thought about the things that had been said between the two siblings in the living room.
"Gary?" Abby asked tentatively after a few moments of silence.
"Abby?"
"Is Andrew… Is he gay?" she asked hesitantly.
Gary sighed and leaned his head back against the seat as he pulled up to a red-light, unsure of how to answer the straight-forward question. "I don't know, kid. I'm not sure if he even knows right now."
Abby, to her credit, took this as an appropriate answer and nodded to herself as she took it in. "What about you?"
Gary cast a small glance her way and frowned; it was actually one of the many things he had thought over in the last week. "I like girls, Abby," he fought the urge to roll his eyes as she blushed slightly. One of the reasons she listened to Gary more than she did to Andrew was because of her crush on her brother's best friend. "I have a girlfriend now."
Surprisingly, Abby seemed to perk up at this. "Do you two have sex?"
"Abby…"
"Never mind, I'm being nosy. What's she like? Am I going to meet her? What's her name?"
Gary smiled at her excitement. "You're trying to change the subject," he called her out. "Talk to me, what's going on with Andrew and Nick? You said something about Andrew pretending to be gay," he prompted.
"You're trying to change the subject too!" she whined in response before deflating slightly under the stern glance she received from Gary. "I can't believe you don't know about this – you're his best friend! He pretends to be gay to piss off Dad and Nick pretends to be some goth Satanist to piss off everyone else. It really sucks because everyone except our grandparents already think my parents are an embarrassment to the family and they already hate Andrew enough because of running away and the drugs and everything like that – now they hate him more because of the way he acts. And now none of the cousins want anything to do with me because they think I'm some psychotic combination of those two idiots."
Gary stayed quiet as he listened to her curiously. He had to admit that he was somewhat concerned about his friend now. Andrew was the type of person who was never afraid to be himself, no matter what the circumstances were. Sure, he could force a smile and be polite despite his out-spoken and rather mouthy personality but he would never pretend to be something he wasn't unless there was some specific reason behind it, some sort of ulterior motive. Whatever the reason behind Andrew's strange behavior, it was beyond Gary.
"How does he act gay, Abby?"
"Well, it's not like he's all flamboyant or anything… except when he does his Jack Sparrow imitation. He just pretends he doesn't like girls at all, like he's not interested in them at all."
Gary sighed softly. "That Kate Beckinsale poster in his bedroom begs to differ," he muttered, less worried now that he knew the extent of the pretending.
"The Orlando Bloom posters don't!" Abby argued.
"Well, you know how much he likes Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean," Gary pointed out with a shrug as he pulled into the parking lot of a Subway near the university.
"And how much he loves The Odyssey," Abby added sarcastically as she climbed out of the car once Gary parked.
"If you're talking about the Troy posters, it's actually The Iliad, not The Odyssey; and one of those posters has a pretty girl on it –"
"The others have Brad Pitt on them, Gary! My brother isn't straight, I know that – I just wish he would stop pretending to be something he isn't." At the sad tone in her voice, Gary stopped before the door to the small restaurant.
"What bothers you more, Abby, the possibility of Andrew being gay or him pretending to be?" he asked softly, certain that he was honing in on something important.
Abby lowered her gaze to the ground as she thought for a few seconds before raising her eyes to meet his solemnly. "I don't care if either of my brothers are gay. I just want them to get along and be happy."
"And if Andrew is gay?" Gary pressed.
"Then I hope he finds a boyfriend like you – no offense to your girlfriend, but I was hoping you two would start dating… Then maybe you could become my brother-in-law one day."
Gary raised his eyebrows at her blunt comment, unsure of how to take it. He settled on honesty even though he was certain Andrew would be annoyed with him over it. "Andrew thinks he might be gay, Abby," he said flatly. "He apparently wants a boyfriend and there's a guy I know that he likes – you'll meet him, don't worry about it. I'll talk to him later but I think you should tell him what you told me."
Abby nodded silently and Gary sighed as he pulled the door open.
His mind was spinning as they ordered subs for everyone who would be at the house when they returned; he still couldn't figure out the reasoning behind Andrew's behavior. He knew that Andrew was fairly certain he was more gay than bisexual, that was a given. Gary had always suspected that the boy was more attracted to his own gender than the alternative. Each of Andrew's relationships with a girl had failed and thinking back on it, it seemed almost as though Andrew had intentionally sabotaged each relationship. At the end of each relationship, instead of being upset, Andrew had always seemed somewhat relieved.
The first relationship had been with a sweet girl named Emily and she'd actually reminded Gary of a combination of Kate and Michelle. It lasted a few weeks before there was a party to celebrate the end of the boys' (and Chelsea's) second semester in the university. After two shots of vodka, Gary could distinctly remember one of their usual playful kisses that were intended to annoy Nick… who happened to be standing next to Emily at the time. A fight had ensued and the end result had been a breakup which led to the first steamy make out session between the two boys. Andrew didn't seem the slightest bit sorry over the failed relationship even if he had been a bit remorseful when Emily indicated that she didn't want to be friends with him afterwards.
The second relationship had been with Lauren, who had once been best of friends with Charlotte, but their relationship had turned sour years prior when Lauren cared more about herself than her friend's wellbeing. The only reason the girls were still 'friends' was because Charlotte was too nice to cut the friendship off. During a party at Beth's house, something Andrew had said spurred a fight between the two girls and, while Andrew had backed off, Gary was quick to come to his friend's defense against Lauren. He had been quite drunk and still couldn't remember the harsh words that had apparently come out of his mouth at the time. Either way, something he said had insulted Lauren enough for her to dump Andrew on the spot. That relationship had been the only one that Gary was positive Andrew had sabotaged considering a conversation he had overheard between Andrew and Charlotte only a few minutes after the sudden breakup.
"Just as planned, huh?"
"A bit better than planned actually, thanks, Andrew. I couldn't take it with her anymore; you know she only cares about herself."
"No problem."
"Did Gary know about this?"
"No. I don't think he would've gone along with it if he did."
"… I think I owe you a drink after this."
"Actually, I'm going to go hang out with Gary…"
Andrew had found Gary sitting with Chelsea and Missy and had summoned him over, only to lead him upstairs to a spare room where they quickly began kissing and groping. It was the first time Gary had ever touched a boy other than himself. He didn't mention the conversation he'd heard and Andrew didn't seem to care either way.
The third relationship, which had been the last Andrew had pursued in school, was with a girl in their classes at the school. Her name was Bianca and she was well known around the school for being highly promiscuous. She wasn't the brightest student and had asked Gary for help studying for a microbiology exam. Andrew had known about this arrangement and Bianca had even said that Andrew recommended she ask Gary for help. Andrew had never mentioned his secret girlfriend and Bianca's payment had been sexual in nature, leading to an interesting conversation between the two boys later that night.
"How did the study session with Bianca go?" Andrew asked with a small smirk.
"Not bad… She's still not going to do well on that exam, though."
"Not bad, huh?" Andrew echoed. "Did you fuck her?"
"God, no. I don't need Chlamydia this close to finals."
"So what did you guys do if you didn't have sex?"
"We made out."
"And, let me guess, she gave you a blow job?" Gary nodded silently. "How's that tongue ring of hers?"
"Awesome," Gary replied flatly.
"Isn't it? That's one of the reasons I'm dating her."
Gary gave him a strange look. "You're what?"
"I'm dating her."
"Why the fuck didn't you tell me this?!"
"It's not a big deal…"
A few hours later, Andrew had wandered into Gary's bedroom just after the latter had gotten out of the shower. He'd pulled the damp towel away from Gary's waist, pushed him back on the bed, and slowly trailed his mouth down his torso after slyly announcing that he and Bianca had called off their short relationship.
Gary had been too preoccupied by Andrew's mouth on him to put any thought into the fact Andrew had not only kept the relationship a secret from his best friend but was now pleasing that best friend in the exact manner his ex-girlfriend had earlier that day. It was one of the first times Andrew had done that particular act on Gary and it was still several weeks before Gary worked up the nerve – or had enough alcohol in his system – to return the favor.
It was interesting how crystal clear it all was in hindsight and didn't his grandfather always tell him that hindsight was twenty-twenty? Gary and Abby remained largely silent on the ride back to the house, both listening to the metal radio station that Damien and Lee worked at while lost in their own thoughts. Despite his suspicions over the course of two and a half years of friendship, Gary had doubted Andrew when they talked the morning after his surprise birthday party. Now he found himself certain that Andrew was right and the boy shared the same preference as Tracey.
He still wondered why Andrew acted differently around his family then he did around his friends. Perhaps he cared so little about what his family thought of him that he felt comfortable enough to show a side of him that few people saw while he hid it from his friends out of concern over their thoughts. Gary didn't care much for this idea. It didn't seem entirely likely as Andrew was overtly bitter and spiteful towards his parents and cousins while he cared deeply for his friends.
Maybe he did it purely to piss off his family, as Abby had said. But even this seemed somewhat unlikely since Andrew never went out his way to make someone he didn't care about feel a certain way. Or perhaps he was acting like that around his family as a test of some sort; to judge how much his family would accept him should he actually turn out to be gay before being open with everyone else over it. Gary made a note to bring this up whenever he got a chance to talk to Andrew about his conversation with Abby.
It seemed as though the next few weeks, or even months, with Andrew would be interesting and Gary wasn't sure whether or not he should be nervous about this. The whole situation had certainly sparked his curiosity as he wondered how this would affect whatever relationship was between the blonde boy and Tracey.
… … …
::Author's Notes::
Two new reviewers! Awesome!
I threw another OC at you guys – sorry! Abby is a bit important in this fic since she's close to Andrew and kind of helps him out in a rough place. She won't be in here very much but she may make another appearance at some point! Not saying anything else on that topic at the moment… it deals with the way part of the story develops in the future. : )
So far two of my reviewers have said that they are looking forward to Changes and I promise it's going to be up soon – right now I'm just a bit stuck on everything that happens in chapter 26 of this fic and putting it into Ash's POV without it being a total repeat of BtW. It's also a bit difficult for me to get into Ash's head to write as him when I've gotten so used to Gary and Tracey's characters! Anyway, it's coming along, and once I get past the first few chapters of it, it should be ready to post.
Snailsgomoo – Thanks for the review! I glad you liked how I did Ash's character, I was actually a bit worried about how that came out. Thanks for voting on the poll and I hope you like Changes when I get it up.
Arch-trainer – Thanks as always! That's awesome that you've taken inspiration from this story, I've actually gotten inspiration from TTSOMT as well – that fight between Andrew and Gary was definitely influenced by the one between Gary and Tristan! I totally feel for you with classes, between microbiology and my education field experience class, I'm going to be pretty busy this semester. Fortunately for me, no chemistry or anything math-related this semester. Good luck with your classes!
Kasandra – Thank you! And yes, this story will most definitely have more chapters (other than these ones, of course). I can't imagine leaving it unfinished after I've gotten so caught up in it!