Secrets Kept

If you saw that there was an update and jumped right to this chapter, go back to the last chapter! I combined the original chapters one and two over summer, which shortened the whole story by one chapter. This update is actually two chapters, so make sure you read the new chapter 17. The original 17 became the current 16.

Either way, just go back and read the last chapter. It's new too. : )

Hurray for Lion King references and stuff happening! Enjoy!

Chapter Eighteen

A few days passed without incident and Gary began to wonder if May had thought twice about having a party. Perhaps Tracey, or maybe even his grandfather, had said something but the prissy pain of a woman was actually helping in the lab. She had come down to the lab relatively early the morning after the boys had found the alcohol in the kitchen and helped prepare food for some of the pokemon, assisted Tracey with a few brief physicals on some of the smaller normal-type pokemon, and even helped Gary with some of the water work on the ponds and lakes.

Surprisingly, she did the same thing the next three days. She always disappeared after lunch but at least she was helping. Not wanting her to change her mind about lending a helping hand, neither Gary nor Tracey called attention to her afternoon disappearances.

The third day was different. It had been just the three of them in the lab the first few days, but her disappearance on the third day coincided with the sudden appearance of Gary's friends Adrian and Darren, each having an air of mischief to them. Gary and Tracey shared a silent, sneaking suspicion that they were here due to a promise of boozy fun later that evening. Still, neither boy brought it up and simply hoped that nothing went wrong and that May would still help out the next day. The professor was due home in only two days; they could use the help to keep the lab in good condition before the elder researcher returned to Pallet.

It wasn't long before one of the other teens let it slip that May's party would be that night, not that Gary had really had any doubt in his mind. He figured he should have felt annoyed about it, considering May still wasn't exactly pulling her weight in the lab, but he instead found that he really didn't care enough to be annoyed. So what if May wanted to get drunk with others from Pallet? Gary had his own life and his own things to do; it didn't affect him and he wasn't going to let it get to him. If he finished up his work in the lab early enough and truly felt like joining in, he might have a few drinks but nothing more. If he was being perfectly honest with himself, he didn't feel like doing much more with his friends when he was running nearly half of the lab on his own.

Of course, it was easy to feel this way in the early afternoon when everything had being going well. It didn't take long for his friends, even two of his closer and more mature friends, to get on his nerves by being typical teenagers. Then came the smaller annoyances – Pele the ponyta being especially stubborn and troublesome, the pH in one pond dropping just enough to make the golducks particularly irritable, one of the other ponds randomly testing positive for amoebas yet again, half of the feline pokemon refusing to eat because they had run out of their favorite food, and the abnormally high number of bites and scratches from a sick rattata who just didn't want to take his medicine – all minor irritations on their own but adding up to make for a rather frustrating afternoon that left Gary itching to join his friends for a drink long before he was even done for the day.

Finally, the end of the day came. Though he had only planned on having a single weak drink before heading upstairs to take a shower and relax for a bit, his friends somehow managed to get four shots' worth of liquor into him. By the time Gary made it upstairs for a shower, he had to brace his arms on the tile wall of the shower to keep himself standing. After a few short minutes, he gave up and simply sat on the floor of the shower, letting the warm water flow over him.

It was by no means the most comfortable place to sit but the warm water running over him felt soothing on his tired muscles. Gary leaned his head back to rest against the tiled wall and closed his eyes, relaxing as all of the little frustrations from the day slipped away. At least he was able to relax while taking a shower, Gary figured. He was being time efficient by killing two birds with one stone.

The thought had him nearly bursting out with laughter and he had to fight to keep the drunken laughs from escaping him. He knew he was quite drunk already; he didn't need everyone else knowing that just yet.

There was a knock at the door several minutes later. "You didn't fall asleep in there, did you?" an amused voice called.

Gary smiled faintly at the sound of Tracey's voice and shook his head even though the other teen couldn't see the gesture on the other side of the door. "I'm fine," he called back. In truth, he hadn't been far from dozing off, thanks to the combined effects of physical tiredness, alcohol, and the warm water.

He could hear Tracey laugh softly at the response. "I'm sure," he replied. Gary couldn't quite tell if he was joking and being sarcastic or if he was being honest. "Just don't forget about the lab tomorrow, okay?"

Tracey continued down the hallway to his bedroom, wondering exactly how the clearly already-drunk boy would handle the evening's party. Gary had been good since returning from his trip to the Orange Islands, drinking only minimally with his friends, but as far as Tracey knew, this was his first time drinking with his friends since Wyatt's accident. He would think that Wyatt not being there would have a positive influence on Gary's behavior, but it seemed that Darren and Adrian had already managed to get him drunk.

At this point, it was anyone's guess as to how the night would end. He just hoped his friend wouldn't do anything stupid.

… … …

Gary liked to think that he was incapable of doing stupid things. He liked to think he was too smart for that and while he was smart enough to keep from doing the amount of absurdly stupid things that his friends did, he was still stubborn to a fault and he was still a teenage boy – both traits that lent themselves towards a tendency to do stupid things.

Despite being somewhat drunk, he made a conscious decision to keep from doing anything stupid. Tracey had reminded him of his responsibilities, which in turn reminded him of what he was trying to: in a nutshell, convince his grandfather to let him drop out of school in order to return to research full time. This reminder was all he needed to pull himself back together.

He pulled himself up from the floor of the shower, nearly tearing the shower curtain down in the process, and shook his head to alleviate some of the fog that was clouding his brain. Forgetting how drunk he actually was, this movement nearly caused him to fall over and he had to grab at the wall to keep from actually falling. Sighing and cursing at himself, Gary turned the water as cold as he could bear it, reached for the soap, and set about washing off the sweat and dirt that clung to him from the day's work. Sufficiently clean, he slipped off to his bedroom unnoticed and dozed off in bed for nearly an hour before one of his friends came banging on the door, intent on getting him to rejoin them downstairs.

Feeling far more sober than he had in the shower, Gary joined them in the kitchen. May was already there, giggling with her friend Amanda, Wyatt's girlfriend, whom he had never even seen in the hospital visiting him. It didn't take long for May to convince him to drink more – she had always known exactly how to get under his skin and convince him to do just about anything. Ever stubborn, Gary figured he could have a few drinks – just a few – and keep his wits about him.

Unfortunately, sheer willpower would not be enough to keep him sober and he was soon enough even more intoxicated than he had been before going upstairs. Upon realizing that he had screwed up and gotten completely drunk again, Gary felt frustrated beyond belief and wanted to do nothing more than punch something. Still somewhat in control of his actions, he headed out to the backyard to cool down before he snapped at one of his friends for being immature idiots as their conversation had turned to crude sex talk.

Once outside, he plopped down on one of the lounge chairs by the pool and gazed up at the night sky, which was now dark and twinkling with the glimmer of stars. The stars were always visible and strikingly beautiful in Pallet. It was one of the many little things gave the small town a sense of appeal to him. Gary tuned out the muffled sound of music and conversation drifting from the house and lay back on the lounger, focusing instead on the quiet sounds of the night: the soft chirp of crickets, the occasional flutter of zubat wings, the distant noises of the nocturnal pokemon on the ranch...

The constant, quiet noises relaxed him just enough to let go of the self-loathing sort of frustration that had burned in him when he first stepped outside.

Raising his eyes to the stars, he automatically began seeking out the constellations he had memorized as a child. It did absolutely nothing to make him any less drunk, but it relaxed him more than he would have thought possible. He quickly became lost in simply staring up at the sky and was so absorbed in his thoughts that he never noticed the backdoor open as a figure stepped out onto the deck. He only turned his gaze away when one of the older girls leaned over him with a playful smile, her dark hair falling about her face messily.

"Hiya, cutie," she said impishly, still grinning.

Her brightness was contagious and Gary couldn't help but smile at her. "Hey, Amanda," he greeted his sister's friend quietly.

"Watcha doing?" She asked in a sing-song voice that would have normally made Gary roll his eyes.

In his drunk and relaxed state, Gary simply smiled and gestured wordlessly at the nighttime sky. Amanda looked up and peered around, seeming slightly confused before realizing what exactly he was looking at.

"Watching the fireflies?" she asked, sitting down on the edge of the lounge chair.

Gary frowned, confused, as he turned his gaze back to her once more. "Fireflies?"

Amanda smiled and rolled her eyes good-naturedly. She leaned forward teasingly and reached out to trail her fingers along his arm. "Yeah! You know: fireflies that got stuck up in that big bluish-black thing?"

Recognizing the movie reference, Gary laughed and shook his head. "Sure," he replied lightly, looking back up at the sky.

Still flirtatiously running her fingers along Gary's arm, Amanda asked, "Mind if I join you?"

Surprised by how forward she was being, Gary once more turned his attention back to her. "Are you sure?" he asked, searching her eyes for some sign of what exactly she was planning on happening. She was flirting with him, more so than usual (probably because she was so drunk), but she didn't seem to have any other motive for being outside with him.

Amanda smiled again and settled down next to him, peering up at the sky with a shrug. "It's boring inside," she said flippantly. "It's nice out here with you."

Unsure of what else to say, Gary remained quiet and continued to gaze up at the stars. Over the course of many long minutes, Amanda drew closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder as she also stared up at the sky. It was vaguely uncomfortable for Gary to lay this close to a female other than his sister, and it had been years since he and May had lain like this. The feeling of Amanda's soft, feminine curves pressed against his side made Gary's heart beat uncomfortably fast as he briefly wondered if he should push her away. She had stopped with the flirtatious touches and seemed content just lying with her head on his shoulder, so he relaxed. Several minutes passed in silence before Amanda spoke again.

"Didn't you know all of the constellations as a kid?" she asked lazily. Gary nodded his head faintly, still staying quiet. "Do you still know them?" Another nod and Amanda drew even closer, draping an arm across his waist. "Show me?"

Her closer proximity made Gary's heart rate spike yet again. She made no further movement so Gary took a deep breath and forced a smile as he began to point out the starry configurations in the sky.

Inwardly, he knew he should push her away or, at the very least, say something. Amanda was dating one of his best friends, regardless of the fact that he doubted she had even bothered visiting Wyatt in the hospital. On top of that, she was his best friend's sister and May's best friend. Even if he were straight and interested in her, there was simply too much working against it.

Still, there was a simple sort of comfort in feeling a warm body against his own. It was innocent on Gary's part, simply pointing out the various constellations in the night sky, but it was clearly significantly less than platonic for Amanda, whose fingers had begun trailing abstract patterns across his chest and stomach.

As he was pointing out the last of the visible constellations, Amanda tilted her head back to meet his eyes with a sly smile. "You know, I used to think it was cute how much you knew about this sort of stuff."

"Used to?" Gary asked, a touch a skepticism creeping into his voice. Amanda's hand stilled and rested dangerously low on his abdomen. Definitely uncomfortable with the downward route her hand was taking, Gary grasped her wrist and started to move it away; she however had a different idea in mind.

Slipping her wrist out of his grasp, Amanda instead intertwined their fingers as she sat up and leaned over him. "These days, I think it's actually pretty sexy," she murmured suggestively before pressing her lips firmly to Gary's.

In hindsight, he should have seen it coming, but he was caught entirely off-guard by her kiss and couldn't muster a single response as her lips moved against his own. She pulled away slightly after a moment to catch her breath and Gary took advantage of the moment to turn his head away from her.

"Amanda," he said evenly, intending on talking her out of whatever it was they were doing, but having no clue what to say.

As Gary tried to pull his hand back from her grip, she leaned in again and caught his lips briefly before pulling back once more to whisper in his ear, "Relax, Gary. It's not like anyone's going to catch us out here."

Whether or not he wanted to kiss her, her warm breath fanning across his flesh sent a shudder through him and he instantly knew that she had felt it. She gave a sultry little laugh and lowered her lips again, this time pressing warm kisses along his throat.

It didn't matter that it was one friend's girlfriend and another's elder sister, it didn't even matter that it was a girl who was kissing him – the hot kisses felt incredibly good and Gary couldn't hold back the soft groan that escaped him. He cursed softly and Amanda took advantage of it by pressing her lips against his once more, harder and harsher than before.

Losing all sense of reason, Gary kissed her back. It still didn't matter that it was a girl that he was kissing – the moist lips at his throat had fueled his hormones and his imagination had kicked in, bringing up the usual fantasies. It didn't make a difference who he was kissing, in that moment all that mattered was that their lips were moving furiously and her hands were moving across his body.

With his eyes closed and his hands determinedly staying away from her chest, his imagination could easily substitute someone else – someone male – into his idea of what was happening. That is, until her hand found his resting safely at her waist and grasped it, guiding it instead to her chest. Realization of the predicament he had somehow ended up in flooded through him and Gary jerked away as soon as his hand brushed against the soft, round flesh of her breast.

Catching herself before falling off the lounge chair, Amanda gave a noise that was part whine and part giggle. "Come on, Gary," she whined. "Stop playing around."

Gary shook his head faintly, still reeling from the events that had just happened. Had he really just made out with a girl whom he felt absolutely no attraction to whatsoever? What sort of person did that make him? Did it change his sexuality at all?

As for the last question, he doubted it. He had never felt attraction of any sort towards any female and that hadn't changed in the time he had spent with Amanda on the lounge chair. He hadn't kissed her – she had kissed him! And, at any rate, he had resisted her. Really, the only reason he had responded to the kiss had to do with how good it felt to have warm lips against his throat and someone else's hand running over his body. It wasn't her that he responded to: it was her actions. Once they were kissing, he hadn't felt turned on until his imagination had taken over and fantasies had filled his mind.

No matter what had happened, the fantasies were the same as ever. Still involving other males and still gay, gay, gay.

He was still gay.

Nothing had changed.

Considering how much he had struggled with coming to terms about being gay, Gary was oddly relieved that he still was. Nothing had changed and he was still himself. Kissing a girl didn't define his sexuality and his sexuality didn't define him. For a moment, everything seemed well with the world, until a particular fact occurred to him.

Although kissing a girl didn't define anything about him, kissing this girl could define everything in three relationships that were very close to him.

First there was May, Amanda's best friend and Gary's elder sister whom, despite how very much she irritated the hell out of him on a daily basis, he loved dearly. Then there was Darren, Amanda's younger brother and Gary's best friend – the boys had grown up together and were essentially brothers. There were very few things either boy didn't know about the other and they were particularly close. Finally, there was Wyatt, Gary's other best friend and the troublemaker that always seemed to stir up trouble – as he had especially done by dating Amanda.

Remembering these things made him feel disgusted with himself – was being drunk and desperate (and incredibly stupid) enough of a reason to excuse his actions?

He could still feel her lips on him and taste the alcohol that had been present on her breath. These sensations combined with the guilt and disgust he was already feeling and, in that moment, Gary wanted to do nothing more than undo everything that had happened since his sister's friend had joined him outside.

Since he couldn't just turn back time and reenact the whole night by making better – smarter – decisions, he did the next best thing he could think of: he turned around and went back into the house without another word.

… … …

All things considered, the party seemed to be going… Well, it wasn't interfering with Tracey's ability to relax before going to bed, and that was all that really mattered at this point.

Most of the action was taking place downstairs and the second floor was quiet, except for the occasional loud burst of laughter floating up from the people below. Tracey hadn't heard anything from May or Gary, so he assumed that no news was good news and took the opportunity to relax for the first time since the professor had left. A warm soak in the tub, an hour or so of laying back reading, and a long phone conversation with his sister had left Tracey feeling more relaxed than he had in a long while.

Though it wasn't particularly late, Tracey felt ready to turn in for the night – after all, he still at least another two early mornings before the professor returned and they resumed their normal hours to the lab.

Sighing contently, he stretched and stripped down to his boxers before crawling under the covers on his bed. Venonat hoped down from her place on the windowsill to join him while Marill crawled up from his place at the foot of his bed to snuggle with his trainer. After giving each pokemon a pat on the head, Tracey reached over to turn off the lamp on his bedside table. As he did so, there was a noise from the hallway – presumably someone heading into the bathroom.

Tracey ignored it and rolled over onto his side, closing his eyes and sinking into the pillows. From across the hall, water could be heard running in the bathroom sink and Tracey could feel Marill's ears twitch against his side. Venonat chirped curiously, her attention also piqued by the noise.

"Go to sleep, you two," Tracey murmured, gently patting the pillows to redirect the attention of the two curious pokemon.

They settled down against him once more and Tracey could feel Venonat relax as she slipped off into slumber. The water continued running in the bathroom and Marill's ears and tail continued to twitch. The blue mouse peered up at his tired trainer and squeaked softly, clearly wanting to go play in whatever water he could hear.

"Tomorrow, Marill," Tracey muttered, patting the mouse's rounded head. "You're not playing tonight."

Marill gave another small squeak, clearly disappointed, but finally settled and relaxed.

Another few minutes went by and Tracey could still hear the water running in the sink across the hall. Groaning, Tracey cracked an eye open. He could see the bathroom light from under his door, which meant that the bathroom door was open. He couldn't imagine why someone would be running the water for so long with the bathroom door wide open but chose to ignore it as he closed his eyes again and tried to tune the noise out.

From the opposite side of his bedroom wall, Tracey could hear the bed in Gary's room creak loudly. The sound was followed by the soft thump of something landing on the floor and steps crossing the other room. Tracey cracked his eyes open again in time to see the shadow of Arcanine's giant paws pass by his bedroom door. Marill stirred again as a soft rumble came from the fire dog – a sound that the canine usually made out of curiosity.

The fact that it was Arcanine in the hallway made Tracey open his eyes all the way and sit up partially. Arcanine was too large, too furry, and too warm to share the bed with Gary. If it was Arcanine climbing off the bed, which Tracey suspected it was, then that meant that Gary wasn't in bed like Tracey had thought he was. Then there was the fact that Arcanine was in the hallway, which would have meant that Gary had left his bedroom door open enough for the pokemon to the leave the room and Gary never slept with his door open that much.

Tracey tossed the blanket aside as he climbed out of the bed. "God, Gary, what did you do this time?" He groaned in frustration as he crossed the room to his own bedroom door.

As he opened the door, Arcanine turned and looked at him with a low growl that Tracey took as his version of a frustrated huff. Smiling faintly, Tracey ran his fingers through the thick orange fur on Arcanine's neck. "I know," he murmured in a placating tone. "How about you go watch the stairs, buddy?"

Arcanine snorted agreeably and headed down the hall before plopping down the top of the stairs, sitting rather like a gargoyle above the top step as Tracey turned towards the bathroom. Unsurprisingly, he found the culprit of the running water to be none other than Gary. What was surprising, or at least unusual, was to find the teen with his hair far more mused than normal, clearly drunk (again, Tracey noticed irritably), with the water running, and apparently in the middle of rinsing his mouth out with mouthwash.

"Gary, what are you doing?" Tracey asked, unable to keep the frustration from his voice. Hadn't his friend sobered up after taking a shower earlier? Tracey could have sworn that Gary had napped for a bit before emerging from his bedroom mostly sober to grab some food. Hadn't he returned to his room afterwards? Apparently not…

Gary spat out the mouthwash that was in his mouth before replying. "I did something really stupid," he blurted out.

"You appear to be in the middle of doing something stupid," Tracey retaliated, reaching across the counter to turn off the water. "What did you do this time?" he asked, reaching across the counter again to snatch up the bottle of mouthwash as Gary reached for it again. Surprised by how empty the bottle was, he held it out of Gary's reach, frowning as the other teen tried to grab it from him. "Gary, this bottle was just opened a few days ago, what the hell happened?"

He expected an argument, or, at the very least, the stubbornness he knew to expect from Gary. Instead, he was met with a defeated sigh as the young researcher sighed and leaned back against the counter with his head hung.

Almost immediately, the frustration and irritation left Tracey as he too sighed softly and ran a hand through his hair. "Come on," he said gently, pulling Gary from the bathroom and pushing him towards his room where Marill and Venonat were still curled amongst the covers on the bed. "I'm not looking forward to explaining the practically-empty bottle of Listerine to May tomorrow," Tracey said lightly, trying to lighten the mood as he closed the door.

Gary suddenly looked alarmed. "Don't tell May!" He exclaimed, seeming oddly fearful of his sister for whatever reason.

"Okay, I won't tell her," Tracey replied, frowning in confusion as he sat down on his bed. "What exactly is it that I'm not supposed to tell her?"

"Just don't tell her," Gary repeated, sinking down onto the bed next to Tracey.

"At this rate, I'm not going to have anything to tell her, considering I have no idea what is even going on," Tracey sighed and flopped back on his bed, wishing he could just go to sleep. "Did something happen with one of your friends?" he asked, closing his eyes for a moment.

"Don't tell Darren either!"

Surprised by the sudden outburst, Tracey sat back up. "Don't tell Darren what?" he asked, wondering what exactly Gary was going on about. First he was worried about May finding out about something, now he was worried about Darren… What in the world could have him so wound up?

Suddenly, something clicked in Tracey's head and his eyes widened. "Oh no," he muttered. "You didn't… It was Amanda, wasn't it?" Gary gave a miserable nod and Tracey sighed. "Please don't tell me you kissed her again."

Gary nodded miserably once more. "It was a little more than that," he admitted with a cringe.

Tracey's eyebrows rose in surprise at this admission. "You don't mean… You didn't sleep with her, did you?"

"No!" Gary exclaimed, standing suddenly and beginning to pace the room. "How could I? Even if I wanted to –"

"Gary, sit down," Tracey interrupted wearily, running a hand through his hair and closing his eyes briefly.

"She started it!" Gary declared, stopping his previous tangent and turning towards Tracey, who couldn't help but laugh a bit at the ridiculous comment.

"I figured that," Tracey said, sobering at the glare he received. "What exactly is it that happened? And don't tell me not to tell anyone; I haven't told anyone about you being gay yet, why would I tell anyone what stupid things you do while you're drunk?"

Gary, who had been once more about to beg Tracey not to tell anyone, finally took a deep breath and sat back down next to Tracey. "She kissed me," he explained. Next to him, Tracey tried not to roll his eyes – he had already figured as much. "We ended up making out."

"So you willingly made out with her?"

"Not at first… I actually tried getting her to back off at first, but then she started kissing my neck and it felt really good," Gary explained sheepishly. "When she kissed me again, I kissed her back."

Tracey sighed and lay back on his bed again. Gary hadn't mentioned any sort of encouragement or pressure from his friends so he had to question what really influenced Gary's latest encounter with the girl. It didn't seem to make sense. The first time Gary had kissed her had been the result of some sort of quiet encouragement from multiple people and Gary had panicked afterwards. This time, his friends apparently hadn't been around, he wasn't really panicking about kissing her (at least not now that he had calmed down), and Gary had actually been much more comfortable with himself lately…

It just didn't make any sense to Tracey. "The fact that she's a girl didn't turn you off at all?" he questioned. "I mean, you've been getting so much more comfortable with the idea of being gay. It seems really weird to be hearing about you making out with a girl because she did something that felt good."

Gary shifted uncomfortably on the bed and drew his knees up, resting his arms on them before replying. "That's the thing. I wasn't thinking about the fact that it was her. It wasn't that it was a girl; it was that it was someone. Imagination kind of filled in the blanks."

This seemed to make a bit more sense to Tracey. As he recalled hearing from Gary, the reason he had panicked the first time he had kissed Amanda was because he had imagined kissing a guy instead. If Gary was more comfortable with being gay than he had been, then imagining that he was kissing another guy would have likely been a turn on, rather than panic-inducing. Nodding slightly, Tracey sat back up. "Why did you stop?" he asked curiously. "If your imagination filled in the blanks, then why didn't you keep going?"

"Because guys don't have boobs," Gary informed him impatiently.

Tracey grimaced slightly – this was a bit more information than he had bargained for, even if Gary was just reminding him of basic female anatomy. For some reason, this situation was bothering him more than it really should have. It wasn't just the fact that he had to stay up later to tend to his worried friend: it was that his friend had kissed someone else – a girl at that. He knew that he shouldn't feel jealous, but he couldn't help it.

Gary's tone softened significantly as he continued. "Then I remembered who it was," he said softly. "My imagination couldn't exactly undo that. I felt pretty disgusted after that…"

"I'm guessing the mouthwash was your solution to that?" Tracey asked, smiling gently as Gary cringed.

"Not the best solution, was it?"

"No, it wasn't," Tracey agreed, shaking his head. He couldn't help but feel a bit relieved that Gary had calmed down and sobered up to this point. Not only had he stopped babbling about not telling May and Darren, but he was even able to realize that the situation wasn't quite as bad as he had made it out to be and that he had handled it in a very nonsensical way. "I can see why you didn't want me to tell May or Darren. I guess we should add Wyatt to that list too?"

Tracey regretted mentioning the other boy's name almost immediately as Gary suddenly bolted to his feet with wide eyes.

"I forgot!" Gary cried dramatically. "He's still in the hospital and Amanda's his girlfriend and – Tracey, I'm a horrible friend!"

"No, you're not," Tracey groaned, climbing to his feet. He rested his hands on Gary's shoulders and forced him to sit back down on the edge of the bed. When the younger teen refused eye contact, Tracey sighed and brushed his hand against Gary's cheek before gently turning his face up towards him. "You're not a terrible friend, Gary," he said softly. "You just did something stupid, that's all."

"Yeah, but –"

"Stop," Tracey placed a finger against Gary's lips. "You just did something stupid," he repeated but Gary looked doubtful and, if anything, even more upset that ever. "I've seen how you are with Wyatt, Gary. Even when your other friends were ignoring him and choosing not to hang out with him because of how ridiculous he was being, you stayed his friend; you're probably the main reason he still has both legs after that shark attack, and then you visited him in the hospital every single day until you had to go back to working in the lab. No one could possibly consider you a bad friend."

Gary smiled wryly, seeming not at all convinced. "Making out with your friend's girlfriend is an awfully shitty form of loyalty," he retorted, pulling back and looking away from Tracey. "Amanda's going to tell and Wyatt and Darren will both find out and they'll both hate me," he said miserably.

Tracey closed his eyes for a moment and shook his head slightly. No matter how maturely his friend had been acting only a moment prior, he was still drunk and it clearly would not be easy to talk Gary through this dilemma. Discomfort with his sexuality Tracey could handle, he had built up a fair amount of experience with those situations in the past year, but this sort of situation with his friends? Tracey had no experience with this sort of issue with Gary and, on top of that, he had never had to deal with Gary in this sort of state. Upset, he could deal with; hung-over, he had dealt with before; drunk, he hadn't yet dealt with, and it was proving to be challenging.

He looked back at Gary, intending on doing his best to try to distract him from these thoughts enough to get him to his own bedroom so that he could sleep it off and they could deal with the whole situation in the morning. That plan, however, disintegrated as Tracey looked back at his close friend. The pokemon watcher once again found himself at a loss when he saw how moist Gary's eyes were.

Sighing softly, Tracey reached out to cup Gary's cheek in his hand, slowly sliding his hand to run his fingers through the brunette's hair. "Gary, you have to let it go," he murmured gently.

Gary titled his head ever so slightly into Tracey's hand and closed his eyes, surprising Tracey more than ever when a tear streamed down his cheek. He usually controlled his emotions far better than this. Of course, Tracey had caught sight of tear-filled eyes on more than one occasion, though Gary would always defiantly blink them back, either turning away or feigning a sudden interest in something that required him to look away from Tracey. Actually crying in front of Tracey was a first.

As much as it caught him entirely off guard, Tracey moved to wipe the tear away without hesitation or even a second thought. "You're not going to lose your friends over this," Tracey insisted softly. He tilted his head a leaned in to press a gentle kiss to Gary's cheek. "You were kissed by one of the prettiest girls in Pallet and turned her down, not because you're gay, but because of her relationship to some of the most important people to you. If that's not loyalty, then I don't know what is."

A few more tears fell but Tracey wiped each of them away and followed each one with a soft kiss on the cheek. After the last tear was gone, Tracey smiled faintly. "You won't lose them," he repeated gently. "They might be mad at you for a few days, but you know I'll be here to help you pick up the pieces."

With that, he leaned in and pressed his lips lightly to Gary's, staying for a moment in a tender kiss that he hoped was as reassuring as a kiss could possibly be. As he was about to pull back, Tracey was surprised, yet again, when Gary returned the kiss, moving his own lips against his with a timidity that Tracey would have never associated with the teen.

Encouraged by the positive reaction, Tracey grew a bit bolder, raising his other hand to run his fingers through Gary's hair. He pulled away only slightly to reposition his mouth, locking his lips determinedly with Gary's. Gary responded similarly, resting one hand at the back of Tracey's neck as he kissed him back more confidently than before.

Though they had shared a number of small kisses – no more than pecks, really – they were both startled by the sheer rightness they felt with this kiss. Their lips seemed to fit together perfectly, their movements falling into a rhythm that was unhurried yet seemed to convey a level of passion that caught both off guard.

It felt right.

… … …