Secrets Told

I'm soooo sorry about the insane wait for this chapter! Between school starting, being really sick twice, and turning 21, I had a really hard time writing anything! This chapter is very inspired by the last few days of my summer vacation during which my boyfriend and I did pretty much nothing but watch tv with his dog all day. Ah, the simple life… Anyway, this will be the second to last chapter; I think I'll start on the prequel first and hopefully get up the first chapter along with the last of this one.

Also, I have a new story up called Evolution. It's a Palletshipping fic and five chapters long but I only have the first one up right now so that I can get some feedback before posting the others. Second one should be up soon.

Thanks as always to licoricejellybean and Defiant Vixen!

Chapter Nineteen: Uneasy

Tracey slowly opened his eyes as sunlight poured in through the window when someone pulled the curtains open. A sudden silence filled the air as the television was turned off but he paid it no heed while he snuggled against the warm fabric of Gary's shirt. Realization of his sleeping position made him open his eyes once more to peer around the living room in slight surprise before remembering the night before. It had all started the previous morning when he had opened the package of late Christmas presents from his family in the Orange Islands to find a copy of the first season of Third Rock From The Sun – which he had loved watching with his family as a child. May and Gary had been surprisingly excited by the present, having watched it as children as well, and had insisted on watching it all day long and well into the night.

A sigh escaped him as he attempted in vain to stretch his muscles, accidently elbowing his sleeping boyfriend in the stomach, causing Gary to groan and mutter for Tracey to go back to sleep. Tracey sighed again and settled back into Gary's arms, ignoring his want to change into fresh clothes and get some breakfast. They were both sprawled out on the couch, Gary lying on his back with Tracey's head on his chest as the older boy rested against the back of the couch; he still had one arm wrapped around Tracey's shoulders while the other hung over the edge of the couch, still reaching towards where Umbreon had been lying the night before. A glance around the chilly room showed a sleeping May curled up in one of the arm chairs with Marill.

Now that he was awake after spending so many hours in the same position, Tracey found himself to be quite uncomfortable and unable to drift back to sleep. He'd had enough after a few minutes and got up, climbing over his boyfriend to stumble to the floor; Gary woke enough to glare sleepily at him before rolling over and going back to sleep. Tracey shook his head at him, wondering if it was possible for him to be any lazier.

"For god's sake, Gary, get up," he complained as he stretched. Gary had been particularly lazy lately, spending more time sleeping and laying around than anything else. Granted, part of it had to do with it being too cold to go to the beach, and another part had to do with several of his friends being out of town for the holiday, but Tracey suspected that something was up – Gary had simply been too quiet lately.

"You'll have to use Marill to get him up this early," a quiet voice muttered from behind Tracey and he turned to find May stretching.

"I'm very tempted," he replied with a smile as he glanced back at Gary, doubting that he was fully asleep. He wouldn't order Marill to use his Water Gun attack on his boyfriend in the living room but he doubted Gary knew that. If he did know that, he was unlikely to remember it in his sleepy state.

"Please don't," Gary groaned into one of the pillows on the couch, causing both Tracey and May to laugh.

"Do it, Trace," May giggled with the little water mouse perched in her arms.

"Shut up, May!"

"Play nicely, kids!" Professor Oak called from the next room. May and Tracey exchanged grins as Gary stood with a huff and stalked off towards his bedroom.

May giggled again and shook her head. "Someone's grouchy today," she observed.

Tracey nodded and watched as she headed in the direction of the stairs, most likely heading upstairs for a shower. Now alone in the room, he sighed and left for the kitchen where he found Professor Oak sitting at the table with a cup of coffee and a copy of that morning's newspaper. Greeting the professor quietly, Tracey absentmindedly placed a few slices of bread in the toaster and gazed out the window at the snow-covered ground while the bread toasted. He was so lost in his thoughts that he hardly even noticed when the bread popped out of the toaster a few moments later.

He was worried, there was no getting around that. A quiet Gary was usually a bad sign as it normally indicated illness or something worse and his odd quietness over the past week or so wasn't the only strange behavior. Normally, Gary was a bit lazy on occasion but overall was unable to sit quietly without anything to do; lately he had been downright lethargic. No doubt there was something on his mind and Tracey wondered almost desperately what that thing on his mind was. Part of him was worried that the teenager had grown unhappy or bored with the relationship, no matter how unlikely that seemed, while another part was afraid that Gary had somehow slipped back into that suffocating depression he had experienced before they began dating.

"Gary's in one of his moods, isn't he?" Professor Oak asked suddenly as Tracey sat down with his plate of toast at the table.

"When hasn't he been this week?" Tracey replied tiredly.

The professor nodded slightly as he set down the newspaper on the table. "Point taken. Do you have any idea what's going on with him lately? He only acts like this when there's something serious going on in his head."

Tracey shrugged helplessly and pushed his plate away from him, having lost his appetite. "I don't know," he sighed. He racked his brains for anything that had happened lately that could possibly be bothering Gary and couldn't think of anything major. Suddenly, something popped into his mind. "Actually… I'm not sure how likely this is but it is serious…" The professor gesture for him to continue and Tracey gave another soft sigh. "A few months ago, Gary mentioned that he would love for us to get married one day." Professor Oak looked surprised but Tracey continued. "I told him that we both needed to mature a bit more and then when we were at Lake Valor for my birthday, we were talking and I said that he had matured a lot and that I'd really like for him to go down to the Islands with me." He shook his head suddenly and returned his attention to his half-eaten breakfast. "Never mind, I'm just jumping to conclusions."

Professor Oak peered at his assistant thoughtfully before smiling slightly. "Actually, when you're dealing with Gary, jumping to conclusions will usually give you the right answers." Having said that, he stood and placed his coffee mug in the sink and headed in the direction of the stairs, intending on getting to the bottom of his grandson's strange behavior.

As he made his way up the stairs, he was surprised by just how quiet the house was. He had grown used to the constant noise that seemed to accompany Gary's presence in the house – the bickering, the loud music, the television and video games, the constant footsteps on the stairs – and it was simply odd for the house to be this quiet, especially since it was now nearly noon. Of course, he figured Gary had decided to hide out in his bedroom but the hallway in front of his bedroom door was silent. A bit thrown off by this odd fact, he knocked quietly before opening the door and stepped inside the dark room, easily making his way over to the window to pull the curtains open. Glancing around the now sun-brightened room, the professor was surprised to see how clean it was; it had gradually turned quite messy after the drama involved with coming out had passed, as it normally did whenever Gary was happy, but it was now nearly spotless again and this worried him. The cleaner the room, the more unhappy Gary was.

Gary was lying in bed on his stomach, still wearing the black pajama pants and t-shirt he had worn the night before and was apparently sound asleep. Smiling gently, Professor Oak made his way over to the bed and gazed down at his grandson for a moment before shaking his head; sometimes this laziness irritated him but, right now, he found it slightly amusing. Regardless, he was still mildly worried.

"I think you've had enough sleep by now, Gary," he spoke up.

"How would you know?" Gary groaned softly a moment later.

"Because you slept half of yesterday and nearly all day the day before. You've probably had more sleep in this past week than you did last month!" The only response he received was an irate sigh that was muffled by the pillow that Gary had buried his face in. Seeing that this wasn't working to get his grandson out of bed, he tried a different approach. "Where's Umbreon? I'm surprised she's not up here."

"Probably annoying Tracey."

The professor smiled at the response; it was the exact one he had been hoping for. "Ah… Speaking of Tracey, I think he's a bit worried about you."

Gary rolled over at that. "You're just trying to get me out of bed," he declared, though a slight glimmer of an emotion the professor couldn't quite place showed that he didn't entirely believe that.

Ignoring the statement, the professor pressed on. "I can't exactly blame him for that, either. I mean, you've been sleeping all the time, you've been quiet; I somehow doubt you've even been out of the house in the past week… Well, except for that snowball incident – May was quite upset that you messed up her makeup."

"What are little brothers for?" Gary asked pointedly as he sat up with a slight smirk forming on his face.

"How did I know that would be your response?"

Gary rolled his eyes as he replied. "Because you know me too well," he said dryly.

Professor Oak nodded and sat on the edge of the bed, allowing a small smile to curve his lips. This was another reply that he had been hoping for. "True, and I know you well enough to know when something is wrong… And knowing you like I do, I would say that something is wrong." He silently held Gary's challenging gaze for a minute after saying it, hoping that the teen would drop his stubborn nature without too much prompting.

"I've just had something on my mind," Gary replied dismissively, crossing his arms over his chest. The way he avoided his grandfather's eyes indicated that whatever was weighing on his mind was something rather important.

"Does this something have anything to do with Tracey?" Professor Oak asked. He figured it would best to just get straight to the point instead of simply hoping Gary would provide him with the right responses to bring up the subject.

Gary groaned softly and leaned back against the wall behind him with his eyes closed. "Everything in my life has something to do with Tracey in some way or another."

"That's quite serious. Your father said something like that about your mother and they ended up engaged three months later." The professor remembered perfectly well that it had been closer to a year between the two events but, of course, Gary didn't know that. He wasn't lying; he was just stretching the truth a bit.

"God, Grandpa… It's too early for this conversation."

"It's exactly twelve-oh-three, it's not morning anymore so it isn't early."

"It's early in my book," Gary pointed out as he stood up and crossed the room to pull some clothes out of his closet.

"Oh, to be young and have no sense of time," the professor replied dryly. He smiled as he heard a soft laugh from the closet. "Seriously, Gary, it's pretty obvious that you two are pretty in love with each other."

Still fishing around his closet for a pair of clean jeans, Gary rolled his eyes. "We've only been dating for two years," he replied simply, stepping out of the closet and heading towards the hallway. He shook his head slightly as his grandfather followed him.

"It's only been two years but the relationship has already stood up to being kept a secret – that's the hardest part."

Gary sighed as he stepped into the bathroom, which was still steamy from May's recent shower. "What is your sudden obsession with this?" he called through the door as he undressed.

"Ah… No reason."

"No reason," Gary echoed in disbelief as he turned on the water. He heard his grandfather repeat the response and shook his head; there was something in his voice that said he was hiding something but Gary had no idea as to what it could possibly be. Somehow his grandfather had caught onto something that had been coming to mind more and more often as of late. "In that case, can I please take a shower without having to yell through the door at you?"

The professor left the hallway and made his way towards the lab without another word, knowing that the conversation was now over. Within the bathroom, Gary's mind was spinning. How had his grandfather managed to figure out what was on his mind? Did Tracey suspect something? And had he really been acting so unlike himself that he had managed to worry both his boyfriend and his grandfather? He loved Tracey, of course, and they had been living together for years now. They had maintained a healthy and loving relationship so was it really that surprising for marriage to enter his head? After all, same-sex marriage had been legal in Kanto for several years now.

His family supported the relationship and his friends, with the exception of one who had never come around to Gary's sexuality, had all but accepted Tracey into their fold. Even Tracey's friends were supportive and as far as he knew, Tracey's family in the Orange Islands was excited for the boy. So what was the problem? He was young and had his whole life ahead of him – so what if he wanted to take all the adventures the world could throw at him with Tracey at his side? But this was exactly the issue that was constantly causing his stomach to knot uncomfortably; he was only nineteen and, on top of that, he was taking college classes that would soon enough require him to move to Saffron City in order to complete his degree. Whatever came after that was free game for fate as he had no true plans.

He stood under the cascade of warm water for a long while, slowly relaxing even as he mulled over the many things going through his head. Finally, when the water was starting to turn cold, he came to a decision. His grandfather was older and smarter than he was, though he hated to admit the latter, and the man was certainly able to understand what he was going through. Maybe some advice or even some support would be helpful – if anything, getting this off of his chest would make him feel more at ease.

Gary stepped out of the shower with a small groan; he hated serious conversations involving the sharing of feelings. Ignoring the slight apprehension he felt, he dressed quickly and headed down to the lab where he knew his grandfather would be, whether or not there was work to be done.

Sure enough, the professor was sitting at his desk, looking over a science journal with undisguised interest. He barely glanced up as the lab door opened and closed behind Gary and he barely gave any indication that he was aware of his grandson's presence even when Gary stood before the desk impatiently. Gary cleared his throat loudly, causing the professor to hold up a finger for him to wait a moment, which in turn caused the teen to roll his eyes and cross his arms over his chest.

"You're the one that wanted to talk," Gary pointed out.

"Indeed. You know that Professor Birch's team found out that Sharpedo –"

"I helped with that study," Gary cut him off crisply. "Look, do you want me to talk or should I just go back upstairs and sleep some more?"

"Does this have to do with our conversation from earlier?" Gary nodded slightly and the professor took it as a sign to continue. "Then talk; I'd like to know what it is that's been bothering you lately."

"I'm thinking of marrying Tracey," he blurted out, mentally kicking himself for being so blunt.

The professor smiled and leaned back in his seat to gaze critically at his grandson. "I figured it was something like that."

"How?"

"Never mind that," Professor Oak replied dismissively. "I think Tracey would be up to that particular challenge; after all, he's already mastered living with you and breaking up fights between you and May. I'm sure he could use a new challenge."

Gary shook his head at the comment. "Is that all you have to say? I mean… That's kind of a big thing to be thinking about."

"It is a big thing and it's not something to be taken lightly. But I know you: you don't do big things without thinking about them and neither does Tracey. All I can really say is that I'm happy for you."

"So…?"

The professor grinned at the hesitant question. "So you have my blessing on the condition that you go to the Orange Islands with Tracey this summer and meet his family. Whether you ask him before or after that is up to you."

A small smile curved Gary's lips as he nodded his head. He already felt much more at ease.