Secrets Told

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Chapter Seven: Luck

The Friday afternoon was warm and bright with the sun high in the sky. Many people had headed indoors to escape the heat of southern Kanto, yet one teenager was still outside on his grandfather's ranch, playing with two of his pokemon. Gary laughed as he dodged Umbreon's latest leap in his direction; mussing her sleek fur, he spared a glance over at his Houndoom when it growled playfully at him and side-stepped a playful leap from his dark fire-type pokemon. A playful shove sent the horned canine into a low stance that Gary snickered softly at.

Houndoom growled again and made another leap at its trainer, Gary side-stepped and pushed the pokemon yet again, wincing as one of the curved horns grazed his forearm. The scratch hurt but it wasn't particularly painful, so he paid it no heed until Umbreon stopped playing and barked loudly at him. That was when he felt the warmth on his arm; a glance down confirmed the gash that his pokemon's horn had left.

"Great," he muttered sarcastically as he inspected his latest wound. "Grandpa's not gonna be thrilled about this…" Professor Oak was, it seemed to Gary, unceasingly lecturing him on being careful around the lab and ranch. The two canines followed him across the lawn and into the lab where he headed straight towards the backroom where he knew the first aid supplies were. "Hey, Trace," he greeted calmly as he passed his boyfriend typing away on one of the computers.

"Hey, Ga – what did you do this time?" Tracey jumped up and quickly followed as he noticed the blood flow that Gary was trying to stem without him noticing.

"Nothing big, don't worry."

"Don't worry? Gary, if I have to give you more stitches –"

"I don't need stitches! Besides, I can do it myself," he reassured Tracey as he rummaged around one of the cabinets for a bandage.

Tracey pulled him away from the cabinet and instead pressed a towel against the gash while trying to ignore the mild irritation and incessant worry he felt over the teenager. It seemed as though the boy couldn't be left alone without getting into some sort of injury, though this was one of the more mild ones he had obtained recently, Tracey noticed. Stitches would be best, if he could get his boyfriend to sit still long enough for the procedure; then again, promises of intimacy tended to work best for that matter.

"Gary, this is pretty deep," he observed as he ushered Gary into a chair near the counter. "I think it needs stitches."

"Tracey…" Gary sighed and fidgeted with the towel that his boyfriend was holding against his arm. "It's bad enough that Ash is coming, I don't need Grandpa freaking out if he sees stitches in my arm –"

"I won't tell if you won't –"

"Trace."

"An extra hour in your bed," Tracey added as he pulled out a large first aid kit which Gary eyed warily.

"Done; hurry up before he gets back from lunch."

Tracey laughed as he grasped Gary's arm and began cleaning the cut. "I love how I can get you to agree to absolutely anything so long as I offer you sex… You're such a typical teenager."

Gary leaned forward and grinned mischievously. "Except typical teenagers aren't totally in love with their gorgeous – ow! Holy fuck; a little warning maybe?"

Tracey smirked slightly at the yelp that he had caused with the stitches he had started without warning. "You were saying?"

"I was trying to say that I love you but now I'm not so sure. And I definitely need to ease off the sarcasm with you; you're starting to get mouthy. Can't have that."

A smile worked its way across Tracey's face despite the way he focused at the task at hand. He had always marveled at the way they managed to joke around in situations like this; the fact that Gary somehow managed to maintain his usual sarcastic sense of humor even in most stressful situations around the lab simply made Tracey love him even more. Even someone as calm and laid-back as Tracey had to admit that it was often difficult to keep a level head while working in a place where dangerous situations could easily and quickly arise and then, just as easily and quickly, take a sudden turn for the worse; the ability for someone to keep their head was a highly desirable character trait. Of course, he wouldn't be with someone who wasn't levelheaded – being friends with someone as hyper and impulsive as Ash was trying enough, Tracey couldn't see how he could possibly date someone like that. "Back to what you were saying before this?" he prompted.

"Before you stabbed me, you mean? I was going to say that I decided I'm actually straight and I don't want to date you anymore."

"How long before you come whining back to me? You can play tough around everyone else but you don't even try to fool me."

Gary chuckled softly and leaned up to kiss Tracey's cheek as he finished up the quick job of stitching the relatively small wound. "I was kidding; I was saying that I love you." He fell silent as Tracey cleaned up and bandaged the stitches with a warning about not letting the professor see it. He was hesitating to say what he had been thinking about telling Tracey for the past few days; he had slept little during the past few nights, instead staying up with insomnia due to the jumbled thoughts he had been trying to sort out.

His feelings for Tracey had always been strong, to the point that he had refused to hang out at the house with his friends, lest they notice the way the two interacted. He had quickly become smitten by Tracey after a limited amount of time spent as friends, which had surprised him greatly as he had thought himself to be one of those people who simply never found love. Not that he viewed that as a particular tragedy; he simply hadn't felt the urge to seek it, nor had he even had an interest in it. Of course, he'd had crushes here and there while raging teenage hormones provided an unending supply of smutty fantasies that kept him mostly satisfied; a boyfriend, or lover of any sort, for that matter, had been the last thing he had anticipated. That had changed unexpectedly when he found his thoughts constantly drifting to a particular male and this is what had driven him to depression – a sudden lovesickness that had caught him utterly off guard and had often left him lying in bed for hours with strange thoughts circulating his mind. Desperation for lusty encounters coupled with confusion along with the wish to simply be able to be like his friends had only fueled this and left him feeling lost, helpless, and completely alone.

Tracey's kind and helpful disposition helped and worsened the situation at the same time. While his friendship soothed fears and worries, those chocolate eyes drove him absolutely crazy, those pale lips haunted his fantasies, those long fingers left him aching for caresses that no one he knew could possibly provide – though normally cool and collected, he found himself often snapping at friends or his grandfather, brushing off promises to his friends and sister so that he could brood alone in his bedroom… He had been a completely different person and while his friends constantly fought with him and his family annoyed him nonstop, one person had offered a sympathetic ear and one person had unwaveringly stood by him even if he pushed him away.

The relationship had started after the drunken occurrence that took place in his bedroom while May's birthday party took place downstairs, conveniently occurring while the professor was away on business, but he viewed it a bit differently. That spark had been there all along, the caring had been there from the start, and, no matter how much Gary pushed him away, Tracey kept coming back until he had finally given in to him. Then Tracey had stayed and even agreed to keep the whole ordeal secret for over a year despite how much it pained him. Gary had tested him and pushed him to limits that others would have allowed to break, and yet, he stayed and managed to love him more and more each day.

The boys knew each other entirely; no secrets were unshared nor words unsaid – they were perfectly open and honest with each other and Gary would have it no other way. This week had been a bit different, however, as Gary had been waiting for the moment to say what he had been thinking, not to mention the fact that he needed to work up some courage to even say it.

"Trace?"

Tracey glanced up as he put away the first aid kit in one of the cabinets, recognizing an obvious amount of trepidation in the way his name was softly pronounced. "What is it?"

Gary slowly stood and leaned against the counter next to Tracey. "I've been thinking a lot this past week," he began hesitantly. Tracey smiled at the words and leaned back against the counter as well.

"That's always a dangerous thing," he teased; Gary ignored the quip.

"I was thinking about everything between us and… It's just," he broke off with a small sigh and averted his eyes.

Already thrown off by the surprising way Gary had ignored his small joke, Tracey frowned, slightly worried by the abnormal nervousness. "Gary, I think you might have lost more blood than you realize; maybe you should sit down for a bit," he suggested quietly.

"I'm fine, Tracey," Gary muttered wearily, sinking back into the seat that he had previously abandoned.

Still frowning, Tracey followed him to the chair and kneeled in front of it so that they were closer to eye level. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing – really, Trace… You know me; I'm not good at the whole sharing feelings thing." Tracey nodded in understanding, for that was definitely true. It had taken Gary absolutely forever to admit how much he loved Tracey and, in the end, the other boy had resorted to coaxing it out of him on their one year anniversary. "I love you –"

"I love you too," Tracey automatically replied, his hand moving up to touch Gary's cheek.

Gary shook his head, gently brushing away Tracey's hand. "No, Tracey. I mean, I really love you and I can't imagine being with anyone else other than you."

"Gary…" Tracey was shushed quickly as Gary placed a finger against his lips.

"I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I don't really care who knows that – I'm done with hiding this, I don't care what anyone else thinks."

"Gary, what are you saying?" Tracey asked a bit uncertainly. He couldn't help furrowing his brow in slight confusion; he felt that he knew where this was going but there was no way Gary could possibly be thinking what he was… His heart rate had nearly doubled what it had been a moment ago, his head was spinning.

"I just told you, Trace," Gary whispered. "I want to be with you… I want to marry you one day – not any time soon!" he added hastily at Tracey's shell-shocked expression. "I just meant… maybe in a few years? When we're both older and we can have our own place?"

Tracey released a small sigh of relief as Gary reiterated his earlier words. Gary had voiced the exact thing Tracey had thought he was getting at and though he heartily agreed with the words, he was relieved to hear the swift correction. "That's good," he replied softly. Gary's face fell slightly at the words and Tracey mentally kicked himself as he pressed a small kiss against his lips. "I want the same thing but I just want you to think about the implications, Gary… You're still a teenager and you just came out about this less than a week ago and you weren't even willing to do that then. I mean, it's been less than two years."

"I know," Gary agreed quietly. "That's why I said when we're older." He met Tracey's eyes searchingly, wondering a bit as to what the answer would be if he had asked… "Well? What do you think, Tracey?"

Tracey smiled and cupped his face in his hands. "Of course. I'm just not ready for that yet and if I'm not ready then I doubt you are. You understand."

Gary nodded and agreed with him, realizing that he had, perhaps, brought the topic up too soon after the dramatic turn of events over the weekend. He stood and pulled Tracey up with him to return the soft kiss the other boy had placed against his lips a moment before. "That was kinda hard," he admitted almost shyly as they pulled apart from the kiss.

With his hands resting on Gary's chest, Tracey couldn't help but grin at the statement as he could feel the rapid heartbeat that caused Gary's breath to come much faster than it normally would. "I'm not surprised," he replied simply. His grin faded to a small content smile as he pulled Gary into a loving embrace, not wanting to let go until he absolutely had to while his boyfriend's arms wrapped easily around his frame. They had been standing like that for all of perhaps two or three minutes when they heard Professor Oak's voice call their names from the entrance of the laboratory.

"In the back, Grandpa," Gary called back as they pulled away from the embrace when they heard footsteps approaching the small room they were standing in.

"Please don't tell me you broke any bones this time," the professor sighed in exasperation as he approached the room.

"Not today."

"How many stitches?" Professor Oak asked without missing a beat. He knew his grandson better than most people and many people in the small town knew how often the teenager managed to get into trouble. Having mended most of the boy's injuries over the years, the older man knew exactly what it meant to find Gary in the back room of the lab.

"Seven," Tracey responded calmly as his boss appeared in the doorway.

The professor immediately snatched his grandson's arm and examined Tracey's handiwork for a moment before speaking. "Seven, huh? A lucky number, Gary. Ash is on his way over from Delia's, by the way." It seemed as though he were utterly oblivious to everything that had happened in the room other than the first aid treatment, which was rather unsurprising, seeing as he had failed to notice the blooming relationship between his two lab assistants for over a year. He turned and left the two boys in silence as he headed towards one of the computers in the lab.

Gary quirked an eyebrow as he pondered what his grandfather had just said. "Lucky," he echoed softly in slight disbelief.

"You do realize that we'll have to tell Ash about this, right? You guys are sort of friends now, after all," Tracey reminded him.

Gary nodded distractedly in response; he would need all the luck he could get when it came to telling Ash, he was certain. Perhaps Tracey's positive response to everything he said, combined with the lucky number of stitches was a good omen of some sort. After all, one could only hope for the best in any situation.