Secrets Told

Thanks so much to Vulpixi Misa and Destry for reviewing! I should probably thank whoever put this up on the Palletshipper Paradise C2 for suddenly giving me more popularity! Lol, Thanks guys, it's greatly appreciated and I wish I could've gotten this chapter up sooner but unfortunately school takes precedence over my writing. More coming soon – this story isn't over yet.

Chapter Five: Negativity

Gary dropped into his desk chair with a frustrated groan; things were not going well. He had thought that his friends, for the most part, had taken his coming out rather well the day before. Now… Suffice to say not so well. What would have been a normal, carefree day spent surfing, swimming, and generally having a good time in the cool ocean water had turned into what he perceived as a miniaturized hell. It had started out nice with the group of teenage boys lazily floating on their surfboards in the surprisingly calm waters but had changed suddenly when his best friend has inoffensively brought up the previous day in conversation. It had started innocently enough with simple and honest conversation driven by the curiosity of Gary's two most supportive friends while the other two remained in an uncomfortable silence.

It all started to go downhill when his friend Wyatt tried to lighten the mood by tossing out a careless joke which, despite the way it made even Gary laugh, proved to be too much for the two teens that'd had a problem with the whole situation.

"I only have one problem with this." "This better not turn into a fight like it did with Mike." "You're gay, so you're not into girls." "And?" "So why do the girls all flock to you? I mean, it's not like they're gonna score or anything!"

Even now, frustrated as he was, Gary couldn't help but snicker softly. He himself had been willing to joke about his sexuality and laugh it off; he had a sense of humor, dry as it was, and was more than capable of taking a joke though some people simply couldn't laugh about it. It didn't exactly matter though as the conversation had heated up and eventually led to arguments between the group of friends, dividing them into three groups – Gary and the two boys that couldn't care less about his relationship with Tracey, the two that couldn't stand the thought of it, and the two that were supportive but needed time to come around to the idea and didn't want to be dragged into the whole mess.

Sighing quietly, Gary put his head in his hands – this is exactly why he had kept it a secret in the first place. The last thing he wanted to do was create a chasm between his friends and, unfortunately, that was precisely what he had inadvertently done. For the first time in a long while, he felt like curling into a ball on his bed and crying; of course, he wouldn't allow himself to push his pride that far away…

His friends would come around eventually and if they didn't… well then, fuck them. They weren't true friends in the first place if they could so easily toss aside years of friendship established during the heart of childhood. That was actually a truly hurtful thought. Couldn't his friends understand how hard it had been for him to even realize his sexuality in the first place? Let alone come to terms with it? What right did they have to feel as though they couldn't deal with it – he was the one that not only had to live with it but live with the reactions of everyone else as well!

Part of Gary had always wished he could simply forget about his sexuality – just push it aside, sweep it under the rug while he settled down with an attractive woman. But those thoughts always disappeared whenever he saw Tracey. Many people would say that live knew no bounds but with Gary, that simply wasn't true. Love was limited to one gender in his case – one person to be specific. That prevented him from ever forgetting it.

There was a soft knock on the open bedroom door that Gary ignored until a soft, familiar, and comforting voice spoke up. "How were the waves today?"

Raising his head, Gary found Tracey standing in the door way, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed casually over his chest. A soft expression in his brown eyes showed unvoiced concern that Gary appreciated as he watched him cross the room.

"Nonexistent," he replied flatly.

"I take it the beach wasn't as enjoyable as you hoped it would be," Tracey observed quietly, correctly reading Gary's tone and the closed-off air about him.

"No, it sucked."

Tracey nodded slightly, able to assume what had happened earlier. "They'll come around," he assured him. He cupped Gary's face lightly and leaned down to press a gentle kiss to his lips. A soft sigh escaped him as Gary's arms automatically wrapped around his frame.

The kiss was meant to be chaste, soothing, but it appeared to Tracey that his boyfriend was having none of that, not with the way he was dragging him down into his lap. Tracey parted his lips slightly as his eyes closed in contentment, allowing Gary's tongue to slip in and curl around his own. As his fingers slowly mussed Gary's already messy hair, he could feel the younger boy's grip tightening, dragging him closer against his bare chest. He wasn't about to complain about the nature of the kiss, he loved kissing an making out with Gary; there was more of a spark between them than there was between Ash and his Pikachu – which was saying a lot, considering how often the electric mouse still shocked his trainer.

Gary groaned softly as Tracey pulled away slightly to trail small kisses along his jaw and down his throat; he frowned when his boyfriend pulled away completely and stood up suddenly. "You taste salty," he explained apologetically as he smiled in response to the you've-got-to-be-kidding-me look that Gary was giving him.

Rolling his eyes, Gary stood as well, placed a small kiss on Tracey's cheek, and headed off to the bathroom to shower with his boyfriend following him. He hadn't gotten around to washing the saltwater and sand off himself or even changing out of his board shorts yet, having not had the willpower to do anything other than hide out in his bedroom when he had arrived home.

Tracey caught the bathroom door before it closed behind Gary and slipped into the small tiled room.

"Trace…"

"May left for the mall half an hour before you got home," Tracey informed him simply. He followed Gary's gaze as he glanced towards the small window in the room where, if not for the dark blue curtains concealing the glass, the boys would be able to see the lab. "He's reading up on Pikachu mating habits – he'll be more than occupied for the rest of the day, Gary," he assured him as he closed the door, locking it purely to abate the other boy's worry. He turned on the water in the shower and began to undress, pausing when he noticed that Gary was leaning against the counter, not following suit. "We are not going to get caught," he said firmly, turning and stepping under the cascade of warm water.

Recognizing defeat, Gary sighed and stripped off the slightly damp shorts before stepping into the shower with Tracey. "Happy now?" he whispered against the back of Tracey's neck as he pulled the older boy away from the water so that his back was pressed against Gary's chest.

Tracey smiled at the feel of Gary's warm breath against his bare skin and nodded silently. He turned in his arms, pressed a firm kiss against Gary's lips, and savored the way their moist flesh felt with no barrier between them. The kiss deepened and continued as the bathroom began to steam up from the warm water flowing around the two lovers. Gary could feel his anxiety from the day before and his annoyance from the earlier events of the day slipping away as their hands slowly mapped out the sensitive places on each other's torsos until a particular conversation from earlier snuck into the back of his mind and forced him to pull back.

"You're dating Tracey?" "I guess that makes sense if you're going to buy into the whole 'opposites attract' bullshit." "What's wrong with Gary and Tracey dating? Tracey's a nice guy!" "He's also kind of a geek." "Come on, guys; do you ever hear me complaining about your girlfriends?" "How does that make a difference?" "Are you kidding me? Just because I'm dating another guy –" "Doesn't mean that you're in the same boat as us with girlfriends." "Leave him alone, Mike – a relationship is a relationship!" "Just leave it, Darren; let's just forget I said anything about Tracey." "It shouldn't matter who you're dating, Gary!" "Yeah, it doesn't give them the right –" "Just forget it! I've had enough for today…"

Tracey frowned as he felt the sudden tenseness in Gary's muscles. "What's wrong?"

"After this morning… I can't really do this right now, Tracey." Gary bit his lip and avoided Tracey's eyes, unwillingly recognizing the uncharacteristic weakness in his voice.

Sighing quietly, Tracey wrapped his arms around Gary and rested his forehead against his boyfriend's shoulder. "It's okay," he murmured, feeling rather than seeing the small nod Gary gave in response. He pulled away with a sad glance up as Gary continued to avoid his eyes. Wordlessly, he stepped out of the shower, wrapped a towel around his waist, gathered his clothing, and left the bathroom, gently closing the door behind him as he headed down the hallway towards his own bedroom.