"John!" A woman's voice said from behind the boys. Paul felt immediate chills and he turned around, his pants rubbing against the pavement. He took a nervous glance at John who was shuffling to his feet, standing up after pressing his palms into the ground. Little pebbles unpressed from his skin as he brushed them against his pants.

"Mimi" John pushed his glasses further up his nose and smiled. "This is Paul" John gestured to Paul so he stood up.

" hello" Paul gave a small wave and Mimi looked him up and down

"Hello, Paul" she gave a small smile and turned back to John then at the food on the porch. She sighed and picked up the remnants of the food and threw it in the bin. John seemed to watch her with an irritated frown.

"We're having proper food for dinner, did you invite Paul?" Mimi rubbed her hands together seemingly trying to get rid of any grease, although Paul knew it would just rub into her skin. Paul looked over John curiously, waiting for an answer.

John looked over at Paul and shrugged " I'm sure Paul is busy, right Paul?"

Paul knew that he was suppose to agree with that, 'yes I sure am busy' but Paul was actually sort of interested so he gave John a teasing look and spoke.

"Actually I'm sure my dad would love to be off the responsibility for dinner for me tonight" Paul gave a polite smile and followed behind Mimi. John bumped Pauls shoulder.

" you don't know what you've gotten yourself into" John shook his head as they walked into the house, Paul looked around for any embarrassing pictures of John. Mimi was setting up the table and John sat down, putting his hands behind his head. Mimi glared at him but then looked at Paul expectantly.

"I could help..."Paul offered and Mimi shoved him a few dishes that he set on the table according to the previous one she set. Paul laid a plate in front of John who tilted his head up and smirked.

" practicing to be a housewife?" John teased and Paul hit him in the back of the head with a plate while Mimi wasn't looking. Once Paul was finished, he sat down next to John and thanked Mimi for the food she set before them, she nodded.

Paul spent the awkward dinner complimenting Mimi's food to which she replied with a minimum amount of speech while John picked at it and occasionally poked at Paul with his fork. It was quite charming Paul rolled his eyes.

Mimi began cleaning the dishes and again Paul helped her, collecting them and placing them carefully in the sink. Mimi sat down next to John as Paul did this.

"He's quite younger than most of your other friends" she turned to John.

" sure is Mimi" John chuckled and shoved the last bit of food into his mouth. Mimi cringed and Paul collected the plate from right under Johns chin. Mimi watched him walk off.

"He's just another Pete Shotton, John." Mimi glared a little and John turned to face her with a confused expression.

" he's got manners though, Pete never had those" John chuckled again. Mimi shook her head and went to speak again

"Oh yes he's very well mannered, too well mannered" she turned her nose up a little " he's from Speke you know?"

"So?"

" such a social no-go area..." Mimi tried to explain but the idea was passing through Johns ears. Paul returned and stopped in front of the table, Mimi stood up and walked past him back into the kitchen. Paul frowned after her and then sat down in front of John.

"Should've been busy!" John laughed.

"She doesn't like me?" Paul frowned. John smiled and put his hand on Pauls shoulder.

"She doesn't like any of my mates"

'She doesn't like any of Johns mates....and I'm one of them' Paul grinned.

"I should go, didn't actually tell me da I was here so..." Paul shrugged and John chuckled.

"I'll walk you to the door" John quirked his eyebrow and pulled Paul up after him to the doorway. "Let me get a good look at ya before you go" John rubbed Pauls arms, who tilted his head curiously.

"Mimi might ban ya from our household" John explained.

"Uh-huh" Paul frowned.

"You'll charm her in no time Paulie" John pulled back and unrolled his sleeve and put a cig in Pauls hands. "Have a smoke for me, will ya?" John asked, aching for a smoke of his own.

"I will, thanks for the milkshake and for the food" Paul smiled.

"No issue" John watched Paul walk off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ringo was smudging his pencil across his paper and was about to dot his I when the phone began ringing downstairs. He set aside his papers and hopped down his stairs. He picked up the phone

"Hello?" He asked.

"Ritchie!" George's voice was sharper than usual and it almost hurt his ear, he pulled back a little.

"George?" Ringo was more than just happy that he and George were on good terms again,

"Paul ditched me, for John! John! Are you hearing this?" George was angry and Ringo could defiantly tell.

" George, where are you?" Ringo asked, concerned. The line was silent for a couple minutes before George answered.

"The diner..."

"I'm coming over there" Ringo hung up the phone and grabbed his jacket.

George was perched against the counter and when Ringo entered, he urged him over to him. Ringo sat down on the next stool over. "Geo?" He asked softly to the pouting boy.

George had his head perched onto his palm "Paul abandoned me for John" he said sadly. Ringo frowned, he'd finally seemed to dismiss his jealous feelings and now seeing George pretty much distraught over his mate abandoning him, it hurt him.

" I'm sure he didn't mean to, Paul is very fond of you" Ringo made eye contact with George. "Who wouldn't be?" Ringo ruffled George's hair.

George rose a little "I'm not six Ritchie" he chuckled and swatted his hands away.

"Could've had me fooled, sitting here all pouty" Ringo smiled and ordered them some food. George slurped the last bit of his drink down and laughed.

The waiter came back over and handed Ringo the food, he set it before George and himself. "So what exactly happened?" Ringo picked at the food.

"Well, Paul and I were pouting together and eating, so a regular day." George explained and Ringo nodded.

"Of course" Ringo urged him to continue.

"And he'd just got done telling me that he hated John but then John came in and bought him well us food and he left with him!" George scoffed. "Least I'm not all over a guy just because he buys me food" George scoffed again.

Ringo smirked and looked up at George, who was leaning over Ringo to pick at the food. George looked down and met his eyes, he blushed. "Huh, sorry" George plopped back down onto his seat.

"No no you're fine" Ringo smiled and purposefully did not push the food any closer to George. That's when George widened his eyes a little.

"Oh no, I shouldn't have said that" George covered his mouth.

"What?" Ringo asked, cluelessly.

"Well, I said that Paul was all over John, maybe Paul didn't want you to know he was queer" George was explaining this to Ringo who hadn't really registered the earlier comment.

"Well, George I don't like to brining this up again but I did think you and Paul were, uh you know so I think it's safe to assume that I might know that" Ringo smiled.

" oh yeah. Maybe...." George reached over for food again. "Still feel bad, Paul might've wanted to tell you himself. Paul and I have been through such hell about being queer before we even knew it ourselves" George shrugged.

"Yeah, sounds awful." Ringo frowned understandingly.

"Sorry to bum ya out"

Ringo looked up at George, who was biting at his lip with his pointed tooth and hovering over him to get to the food. There was a single strand of hair jetting out near the tip of his nose.

"You could never bum me out" Ringo said, half wondered. George blushed again and looked down at Ringo.

" your eyes are really blue" George knew that that was an incredibly dimwitted thing to say but it just blurted out of him. Ringo could see that George was very embarrassed having said that so he raised him another comment.

"Your bottom eyelashes are really long" Ringo smiled. George laughed and sat back down onto his seat.

"That was even worse then mine!" George continued to laugh wildly.

"That was the point, needed to ease your embarrassment" Ringo finally pushed the food in between them.

"Very sweet of you" George leaned closer to Ringo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"George?"

George didn't turn to meet Pauls eye. He just sat with his back turned to Paul on Pauls bed.

"Geo?"

Still nothing at all, no movement. Paul sighed and hopped off his bed and onto the floor to kneel in front of George.

"My darling George, no one means more to me than you! I'd never ever purposefully abandon you!" Paul tapped George's knees. George sighed and urged Paul to stand up with him as he thrust his school bag over his shoulder.

"But you did! For John Lennon!" George stomped a little as he walked down Pauls stairs and out the door. "And you won't tell me what's going on! I'm your best mate, aren't I?" George stopped walking and turned to Paul.

" there's nothing going on, I just wanted to know what he wanted to do so I went." Paul grasped at his school bag strap over his shoulder.

"So where did he take you?" George crossed his arms.

"To his house, we ended up having dinner with his aunt" Paul leaned on a wall and chuckled.

"His aunt?"

"Yeah, she hates me" Paul laughed again and this time George joined him.

"She does?"

"Uh-huh...but John said she could get use to me" Paul said that with a far off happy sort of look and George sighed, he knew in this moment exactly what Paul was feeling.

"Tell me about him then?" George began walking again and Paul brightened.

"Really?"

"Leave out all the parts where he's an arse, which could be very hard but sure" George shrugged and Paul launched into his spiel.

"Well, he's a poet-"

"No!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George and Ringo were waiting outside of Pauls classroom before lunch, George was watching people in the hall passing them with a plethora of dirty looks. George clutched his books tighter to his chest. " ugh" George whined.

"You could just ignore them" Ringo tried to help him.

"S'hard. They all just stare- Paul!" Paul exited the class near the end of that sentence. Ringo and George met up with Paul and they began their walk to lunch. Paul already began to launch into his discussion of how awful his class was that George and Ringo were 'uh-huhing' endlessly.

They sat at their regular table and Paul already began to watch John from across the room, he was sitting at his usual table with that Shotton guy and Stu with some bird. John did not have his glasses on, so it was safe to say he couldn't see Paul staring at him. Although Ringo and George could definitely see it.

George still didn't appreciate this, John was not a good guy in his eyes and Pauls sudden liking for him wasn't good. George kicked Pauls leg from under the table. "Ow!" Paul whined and Ringo chuckled.

"Stop looking at him" George handed Paul his half of his sandwich.

" very sorry, my lovely, I only have eyes for you" Paul joked but then harshly swallowed his food as he remembered Ringo was here and he probably shouldn't make jokes like that anymore. Ringo noticed Pauls sudden nervousness and gave a sad smile.

" it's fine, I don't want to ruin a whole part of your friendship" Ringo explained. George smiled at him.

" if it doesn't bother you than thanks, it's a very fun part of our friendship" George poked Ringo.

Paul looked at them curiously and then decided to speak his mind.

"When are you two going to start dating?" He asked and then shoved his sandwich in his mouth. George and Ringo froze.

"I mean you know each other well enough now don't ya? Ringo, how many siblings does George have?"

" three" Ringo answered.

"George, what about Ringo?" Paul asked.

"He's an only child"

"Do I need to go into a bonus round or are we good?" Paul giggled. George and Ringo blushed at the same time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John was very smug as he was talking to this bird, she had her hair around her shoulders and was introduced to him by Astrid.

Astrid was apparently sticking around, her own hair was flowing down her back and her hands were clasped in Stu's hands. She was nice. John was very bitter about it. But thank god he couldn't hear her and Stu's babbling over this birds constant giggle. If he was honest, she wasn't very good company but her giggle was very pitched and overpowering. Though eventually he did get sick of it so he excused himself to the loo. As he was walking, he caught Pauls eye which was weird.

He realized he could have a little bit of fun with this new found friendship with Paul and company. He waved Paul to come follow him. He watched Paul excuse himself and hop up to follow him.

Paul met John in the bathroom, John was perched on the sink and waving his legs back and forth. "Hello Paul"

"What is it?" Paul walked up and leaned on another sink

"Dunno, thought I could use a little bit of friendship" John tapped Pauls nose. Paul chuckled

" Astrid? It's her right?" Paul switched his weight to his other foot.

"What about her?" John spat and Paul stared at him.

"She bothers you, you still like Stu and that's why heartbroken John wandered off to the loo" Paul teased and poked Johns knee.

"Hope you're not this annoying to all your friends" John slapped his hand away but smiled a little. Paul batted his eyelashes a little and John caved.

"Alright maybe that's why...so this friendship thing better fix something" John punched Pauls shoulder.

Paul didn't really want to help John for the same selfish reason that was bothering him for a while now. So he shifted his weight back and forth and searched for a new conversation that he was sure he was just being hopeful about.

"Maybe it's time for the emotionally attached John to find himself a new guy" Paul pitched his voice and bent his knee teasingly and John rolled his eyes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George turned to Ringo as soon as Paul excused himself for the loo. His words were bouncing around in George's mind and he had to talk it over with Ringo.

"So Ritchie?"

"Hmmm?" Ringo turned to him with the same amount of nervousness.

"About what Paul said-" George began but Ringo interrupted.

" I think he was right" Ringo tapped George's hands. George blushed and looked around the lunchroom.

"Maybe?"

"Maybe"

They both giggled a little and looked into each other's eyes.

"Alright" George smiled.

"Alright"

They giggled again.

"Um maybe we could go to the diner after school as a um" George tried to start but he got embarrassed.

" date? I'd love to!" Ringo shook George's forearms. George couldn't be more ecstatic but he really needed to have a talk about this with Paul. But he was still in the loo so George just decided to enjoy the moment.

But then he began to over stress the moment. Would Ringo kiss him again? He'd really like that but would this promise a relationship? What if he wasn't ready? What if Ringo was? George tried to let this go and rolled his shoulders back and ignored the passing stares of their classmates. Ringo leaned closer and George couldn't wait to tell Paul all about this.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Paul?" John asked and Paul looked up with wide eyes.

"Hmmmm?" He hummed instead of answering, he looked up through his eyelashes at John who was rolling his lips together.

"I'm gonna go drink in the courtyard with Stu" John hopped off the sink and started to walk off. Paul knitted his eyebrows together and went to follow him.

"You're gonna go drink with Stu?" Paul huffed,

"Yes, he's snuck in the good stuff!" John was grinning from ear to ear

"Sure that's a wise thing to do?" Paul asked and John sneered

"No but I'm thirsty and rearing to get drunk!" John thrust himself out the door, Paul pouted and went back to lunch, hoping that Ringo had finally asked George out
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"And then I asked him out and he said yes so-" George glared at Paul as he realized he wasn't paying attention to him. Instead Paul was looking at John and Stu, sat on the side of the schools wall, with a half empty bottle. George watched Stu get up to meet Astrid around the corner, leaving John alone.

"You can go talk to him if you want. I have a date to panic over but you're meeting me afterwards for chips ok? We'll talk all this over then" George rubbed Pauls arm and walked off.

"I'll be there!" Paul called after him and then walked away to find John. John looked up and then back down at the bottle.

"Half left if you want!" John chuckled. Paul plopped down next to him.

"You ok?" He asked, John didn't look so happy in fact he looked kind of sick

"Not really no" John cocked his head and watched Stu go. Paul wanted to reach out and brush the hair from Johns eyes but he knew that was too personal. Though that didn't stop John from leaning over and kissing him hard on the mouth.

Paul pulled away, heaving for breath and he pushed Johns shoulder "the hell John?!" He wiped his mouth.

"What?" John shrugged. "Listen Paul, I've been thinking....lets be a little more than friends" John slurred,

"Oh Johnny, I'll be mad at you later when you sober but for right now I'm just gonna walk you home and hid myself from Mimi" Paul chuckled. He didn't appreciate the teasing of John, the kissing was so so so good but knowing that it meant nothing to John other than to distract him from his Stu turmoil, maybe it wasn't so good.

" you could charm her like you've charmed me" John stroked Pauls chin and Paul didn't really wish to stop him. This was causing too much inner turmoil so Paul grabbed the bottle and chugged it down fast. John even put the tip of his finger on the bottle to help Paul tip it.

Paul finished some of the bottle and then helped John stand. "Let's get ya home, John"

The lads walked to Johns home once John began cooperating but he leaned way to close for Paul comfort. Once they got to Johns porch, John stopped and held Pauls face

"Goodnight Princess" he mumbled sweetly and kissed Paul in a much sweeter way. "Listen to the buddy holly album and think of me" John tapped his nose in his small drunken sway and then stumbled inside.

Paul sighed, he felt sick to his stomach.