The weekend was over and Paul had to go to school. He could be dreading it, or constantly over thinking it but right now he was just going with it. He was throwing his stuff together and piling his books atop each other and not thinking about anything at all.

"Paul! Phone!" Mike called out from downstairs and Paul could easily get his hopes up that it may be John but it was George, it had to be. So he picked up his stuff and fled down the stairs. He bumped Mikes shoulder and took the phone.

"George?" Paul asked, phone under his chin.

"Paul?" George mumbled on the other line, mouth probably full of his breakfast. "Are you coming by mine before you get to school?"

"When don't I, George?"

"Well you need to hurry, Ringo's at school early cause he's stocking the stand and I want to see him before class" George was probably multi-tasking and shoving the last bits of his breakfast into his mouth as he was speaking.

"Your calling me to escort you to your boyfriend? Why are you even waiting for me?" Paul chuckled warmly.

"Because you're my best mate!" George chuckled. Paul rolled his eyes and and hung up the phone.

Paul waited in front of George's house and pulled his bag closer to him. George popped out of his house and nearly fell down the stairs.

"Ello Ello!" George smiled and Paul already began walking to the bus stop. "Something up with ya?"

Paul didn't feel the need to go into an explanation of why he might look expressionless so he thought he could push the explanation until they were at school. 

"No, nothing's the matter. So you and Ringo...?" Paul flung himself around the bus stop sign and waited for the bus.

"Oh yeah, uh-huh" George's smile was blushed and embarrassed. The bus pulled up at the stop and the lads hopped inside. They went and sat in the back and George pulled his bag onto his lap. As the bus bounced along the road, George watched Paul look out the window. He didn't look really upset but he didn't look happy either. "Paul?"

Paul turned around to face George. "Yeah?"

Pauls face showed that he knew exactly what George was about to ask again and it also showed that he didn't want to talk about it. But George didn't like the look of him at the moment and he didn't want to push it back any further.

"Just tell me what's wrong?" He thought if he phrased it as a question, Paul might find it less invasive and more caring.

"I don't really feel like hashing this all out right now George. Frankly I'm more than just embarrassed about it and I'd rather not discuss it" Paul shuffled a little closer to his window. George knew he'd have to let this one go but he wasn't happy about it and he'd definitely let Paul know that.

The bus parked out front of the school and they trudged off. Paul was walking to their locker without so much as a goodbye to George as he went for the stand.

Paul lit himself a smoke and dug through his locker like it might give him something to do with his extra time. Of course there wasn't much to busy himself with, so he stood there staring into the thing. He'd been doing so well on the not overthinking what happened but as he tried to find something to do, it all flooded on him.

Everything had gone so smoothly at first. Julia had liked him well enough, hadn't she? The problem was John, the problem was always John, wasn't it? He'd been nothing but a loudmouth lunatic since Paul had known him, why would he be dumb enough to think things might turn out differently? George might've been right all along about John but Paul hadn't listened to him.

What Stu thought of him didn't really mean an awful lot to Paul but yesterday was humiliating. And to top it all off, John was taking a piss out of all of it.
~~~~~~~~~
John was distracting himself from the mistake he was very aware that he had made, with Stu. Astrid had made herself supremely absent as of late, so he was taking every bit of time with Stu that he had.

"So what exactly happened with you and baby face?" Stu asked casually as he opened his locker and John leaned on the one next to him. He was playing with the hanging skin on his thumb and when Stu asked that he threw his hand down.

"Uh, well I needed someone to you know, have some fun with" John was trying to put this in words that Stu might understand. "And I thought maybe Paul would be interesting....you know, I can't explain this" John wanted to make it seem like Paul was the desperate one but when he tried to put it into words, well he couldn't.

"What was he chasing ya down the street for?" Stu was laughing again, picturing the scene that happened yesterday.

"I don't feel like talkin about it" John cringed.

"Aye, John. I'm your friend, aren't I? Tell me all dirty details, huh?" Stu shut his locker and punched Johns shoulder. John pushed his hand away.

"There are no dirty details. Paul and I had this nice unspoken, uh-"

"Relationship?" Stu laughed. John wasn't sure if Stu was taking this all as a joke but John was gonna launch on the opportunity to talk about it anyway.

"You could say so" John shuffled uncomfortably. "Took him to meet my mum, actually"

Stu was a little shocked at that statement, John was very touchy about his mother and taking some fling to meet her didn't seem likely to him.

"She liked him, of course she would...Paul is Paul and everyone loves him, apart from Mimi or you I guess. And it drove me nuts you know? Paul is such a charmer. And God he can play everything he touches, did you know that? And Julia was thrilled with that". John huffed and crossed his arms.

Stu laughed again, he lit a cig and handed it to John. "Pauls bitchy like a bird, am I right?" Stu asked and John gave a little shrug. "And you're right, I don't like him. But the queer romance drama is driving me nuts now so you should go talk to him not me" Stu began to walk off, John watched him go and was highly irritated.

John knew Stu was probably right in his weird way. So he decided to skip the talk with Paul and actually go to class.

John was curled up in one of the stupid little wooden desks against the window, the sun wasn't quite pouring in the classroom but it was a nice warmth. He could barely believe it himself that he actually had a pencil in his hand and paper in front of him. But the shock wore off there, because he wasn't actually taking notes or anything. He was taking a page out of Pauls book and swirling sweet words together into a middle eight.

Before he knew it, he had a full fledged song. A love song. The pronouns had been tricky and all but it was there and it was finished. The bell ringing had him stuffing it into his bag with mild disgust with himself.

The hall was loud and stuffed with people, which always annoyed John to no end. He could swear that he heard the tune of the damn song in every squeaking shoe or whisper. He just cracked his knuckles together and went to look for Stu.

Stu proved to be harder to find then John had thought he'd be. He was chatting with some other lads they hung around with. John wasn't in the mood to keep whatever conversation that they had going, in fact the idea was less appealing to him than sitting on a curb by himself.

John did not make himself known for even a quick greeting before he left the lads alone. He took off for the door, skipping the rest of whatever the school day might've brought him.

It was more than just raining outside, it was pouring hard. The rain pooled in the folds of Johns jacket as he strolled onward.

He plopped down on any curb and cupped his hand over his cigarette. He felt the raindrops tap against his skin every time he went in for a drag. He could barely see whatever part of Liverpool was in front of him through the steamy gray rain. Not that he minded too much, wasn't like he was missing anything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paul's school day consisted of constricting naps and smudged notes. This would usually be the time he'd write some sort of song, take advantage of his emotions and exploit them. But he was stopping himself, John didn't need anymore added attention from him.

He knew he'd never hear the end of it from George but he didn't wait for him at the end of the day. He didn't really second guess his thinking anyway, he just left.

His shoes were soaked through and he was shivering a little but he wasn't too bothered about it. He just strolled on, taking his time.

And there was John, leaning his body over itself, desperately cupping a cig to keep it from getting wet. Now Paul knew he could just take another street home, maybe it was the rain but he wanted to take that street to get home quicker.

He gathered any loose hold on his emotions to keep any unwanted desperate sounding arguments from coming out and walked on.

John was now sitting in his own little puddle, and as he shuffled to get comfortable, he put his hand down. The rain caught his cig and put it out.

Lots of annoyed mumbling and flicks of his wrist brought him standing just in time to catch Paul, walking down to the street. Something about the way Paul was just so willing to walk past him without saying something at all, annoyed him.

If he wanted to have it out again, he'd have to start it himself. He leaned on the stop sign, attempting to relight his cig.

"Aye Paul" he poked his chin up just when Paul was about to pass him. Paul visibly cringed but went to keep moving. John forgot about his smoke craving and went to follow next to him.

Paul was quiet for the first few steps but when John tapped into a puddle, he threw his head back like he'd just gotten sick of him now.

"What do ya want John?"

John wasn't sure, he could keep the row going like the rash part of him wanted to. Part of him just wanted to talk to Paul like before.

"Dunno" John went for the honest answer.

"You should make up your mind next time then, huh?" Paul picked up his pace a little. John didn't want to rush to keep up so he kept at his own pace, trailing a bit behind Paul.

"What's the fun in that?" John chuckled a little and watched a drop of rain trickle down the side of his thumb. Paul didn't answer, he just kept walking.

"Paul?" John sighed. Paul took a deep breath and stopped to turn to John.

"Just go away John! Stop following me around, yeah? Why don't you try to get back into Stu's pants?" Paul struck John with something he knew would throw him off.

"Aye!-The hell Paul!?" John crossed his arms.

"You're an arse John! You completely humiliated me, and you wanna act like what I just said is so awful?" Paul rolled his eyes.

"Humiliated ya?" John was confused but he didn't seem to be trying to understand.

"In front of Stu!" Paul huffed. He could see a little bit of aunt Mimi in Johns tactic of pretending he'd forgot.

"Since when do you care what Stu thinks? You hate him and he hates you!"

"It's not about that John!" Paul shouted in frustration.

"Then what's it about Paul?!"

"Stu's your best mate, ain't he?" Paul asked in a calmer voice.

"You could say so-"

"Ok, so I would have to be around the lad a lot if I was going to be with ya, and if it was still possible, you made me look even worse in his eyes! I don't need the added baggage, he hates me enough John."

John was silent, that kind of silence that was embarrassing because it was obvious that he realized he was wrong.

"But you said you were fine with keeping the whole bully ruse going" John knew that was the wrong sort of justification but he said it anyway.

"Not with your best mate John! You don't act that way with George and Ringo around, do ya?" Paul looked about ready to end the fight and John wasn't going to eagerly stop him.

Paul gave one last glare and then turned on his heels to go home. John didn't follow this time, he toyed with the damp cig that was between his fingers and thought over what Paul had just said.

He just wanted to be able to get along with Stu, to be with him. No one ever went through that much trouble to be with him that way.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
George was carving his initial into the damp wood of the Stand counter as Ringo was digging around trying to prepare early for the game tonight.

"You could help you know?" Ringo peeked over George's shoulder from his tiptoes. George flinched for a half second.

"Scared me" he laughed and pulled away from the wall and Ringo saw that George had carved his initials and he crossed his arms.

"What? I'm here all the time, I need to leave my mark" George laughed and looked at Ringo's less than amused eyes.

"Ok fine, how about this?" George turned back to the wall and carved an R.S under the G.H.

"What do you think?" George grinned and Ringo rolled his eyes but laughed.

"I'm thinking, I need help Geo" Ringo pulled George's arm to get him further into the stand. He finally got George to help him pull together some food.

"So how are you?" Ringo leaned over as George was digging through some cupboards. George shrugged.

"I'm fine, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well it's just, the other day you realized something that must've been odd for you to-"

"I'm quite fine, Ritchie. I told you that it wasn't even important" he shrugged again. The rain thumped against the counter, filling any holes in the wood.

"Yeah but-"

"I'm fine" George laughed.

"You aren't gonna catch up to Paul to walk together?" Ringo asked, looking up at the clock.

"Nah, he was pissy this morning, I'm assuming he left without me. But he'll be back for the game cause I made him promise.
~~~~~~~~~~

Paul remembered the game about twenty minutes before George had told him to meet him there. The rain had slowed down just enough that the threat of cancellation had to be dismissed.

George was waiting for him at the gate as he said he'd be. Once he caught sight of Paul, he frowned.

"Aye, you're still all droopy" He crossed his arms.

"M'not George. You know I just don't like games" Paul trudged next to George as they walked to the stand.

"No John? I haven't seen him or the company" George tried searching the stands again but found nothing.

"No John." Paul shook his head but before George could press further, they got to Ringo's stand. Ringo slid a tray of chips to Paul, who eagerly took them.

"Oh I love you" he grinned and stuffed his face. Ringo basked in Paul's gratefulness for a minute before turning to George as Paul walked off to find a seat for them.

"You know I think you should tell him"

"Tell who what?" George asked.

"Think you should tell Paul, I mean if my best friend had a crush on me, I'd like to know" Ringo shrugged.

George put his forearms down hard on the counter. "I've told you before, it's not even significant"

"I know and I believe you but I just think you should tell him." Ringo couldn't think of the proper justification for telling Paul but he felt that George should do it.

"I mean, I do tell Paul everything, don't I?" George sighed and turned his head back to find Paul.

"No secrets between you two at all?" Ringo asked, amused by that. George turned back.

"No, besides this...I don't think so" George shrugged. He drummed his hands on the counter and began to leave. But he quickly turned back and went to carve in the same spot again.

"Oi, Geo what are you doing?" Ringo came around the counter. George had just added a little plus sign between the previously carved initials.

"Fixed it" George smiled cheekily before going off to find Paul. Ringo stared at the carvings and sighed into a laugh.
~~~~~~~~~~~

Paul was almost asleep when George found him. He kicked hard at his leg though and he shot up.

"I was peaceful!" Paul frowned.

"I gotta tell you something Paul" George said as he took a seat on the damp stand. Paul sat up all the way and looked at him.

"You breaking up with me?" Paul asked with a sly grin. George laughed and took one of Paul's chips.

"Nothing like that no" he shook his head. "But you know how Ringo was insistent that I had feelings for you?"

"Uh-huh"

"Well" as George began his explaining, John, Stu and Astrid were coming up the stands without them noticing.

"I put some thought into it, and I think maybe I might've had some feelings for you actually. But I never really realized them and they aren't there now, so I wasn't even gonna tell ya" George took another chip from Paul.

"You had a crush on me?" Paul laughed and George shook his head. "Aw, I'm flattered George, really" Paul laughed hard.

"Aye! I would've been a catch for you" George punched Paul's shoulder.

"Oh sure, sure! But there's nothing there now?" Paul turned a little serious.

"No, it's a little odd...I know. I only just realized it, I'm sorry if it's weird for you" George rubbed his nose to avoid eye contact. "And I'm a little bitter that Ringo was right the whole time" he laughed a little and Paul teasingly pinched George's cheeks.

"Aw, little George is all grown up and has a boyfriend!"

"Fuck off Paul!" George slapped his hands away.

John hadn't caught the whole exchange between Paul and George. But he was now aware that George had admitted to having feelings for Paul. His mind was too heated to really care that they were past feelings. He glared at the back of their heads as Stu and Astrid settled down.

He tried to remind himself that George had said that he didn't have them anymore but it was just annoying him. Paul didn't seem to mind much, he and George continued on laughing. He had to get up and walk some steam off or something.

He left Stu and Astrid without much words. He flung himself behind the stands. He lit himself a smoke and his mind unhinged and thought about how Paul could have feelings for George too.

Paul left to go get himself a drink, leaving George behind. He got to the bottom of the stairs when he spotted John. He looked troubled. Paul rolled his eyes.

"John?" He asked.

John flinched back a little. "Hi Paul" John was keeping himself from launching questions at Paul like he had the right to.

"Aren't you here with Stu and Astrid?"

"Just came down to finish my cig and get a drink, what's it to you?" John spat.

Paul shrugged "dunno, shouldn't have asked I guess" Paul went to walk off but John grabbed his arm.

"I'm really sorry, Paul" the threat of losing Paul to George, no matter how ridiculous it was, had gotten to his head and he needed to get over himself and apologize.

"You should be" Paul wiggled away and started off again. This time, John watched him go. The air was getting chillier and he didn't really feel like going back up to the stands. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and slid down to the ground.

"John?"

John jumped back a little and turned back around to face Paul again. This time, he was holding two drinks.

"For when you finish your smoke" Paul kneeled down and set the drink in front of him. John smiled a little and took the drink in his hands.

"Ta"

Paul turned away and hoped back up the bleachers to get back to George. "So what happened to you and John?" George finally asked the question that he'd been wondering. "And also, where's my drink?" George chuckled.

"Nothing happened, he just...said some embarrassing things about me in front of Stu. And when he brought me to Julia, I think he got jealous that maybe Julia liked me better or something" Paul shrugged. "And also, I forgot" Paul laughed and didn't mention that he'd given the drink to John because if he was honest, John looked extremely troubled.

"You're such a jerk, I might just leave you one of these days" George wiggled his finger in Pauls face.

"Oh you'd never leave me" Paul smiled and poked George's shoulder.

"So where does he stand with ya?" George went back to talking about John. Paul frowned and thought about that for a moment.

"Nowhere, I guess. Whatever we had going is done" Paul leaned over himself, forearms leaning on his knees. George sighed.

"I'm sorry about that, Paul"

"S'fine. He looks like a mess too, so that makes me a little happy" Paul smiled a little.

John slurped down the rest of his drink when Stu hopped down from the stands and stood next to him. "Where ya been John?"

"Here" John rolled his eyes and waved his hands around annoyingly.

"Why?" Stu rolled his own eyes.

"No reason, I'm coming back ok."

Stu huffed and went back up to the bleachers. Astrid was perched on her seat, hair pulled back in a ponytail. He looked from her to George and Paul. The queer drama was really starting to get to him. John wouldn't even do anything but sit on his own and stew. He went right past Astrid and up to the two lads.

George and Paul immediately stopped laughing and froze and stared up at Stu. "Paul, I know your panties are in a twist but can you just go talk to John?"

Pauls face twisted with confusion.

"It either that or you just leave him alone and take the queer drama elsewhere. I'd like my mate back"  Stu crossed his arms. Paul stood up and George looked at Stu with an annoyed glare.

"I don't really appreciate the second hand ultimatum" Paul bit his lip and stared at Stu, challengingly.

"I don't really care what you appreciate, baby face"

John climbed the stairs with a huff only to find Astrid by herself, he looked at her to ask where Stu was and she she shrugged. Though out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Stu right in front of George and Paul.

"Shit" he huffed and climbed the steps, Astrid followed with her eyes and found Stu.

"Stu!" She yelled and climbed after John.

"Stu!" John punched him in the shoulder, catching Pauls annoyed stare.

"I can't take this anymore John!" Stu waved his hands around. The three lads watched Stu heat up in anger and all grew the same anxious feeling that he might yell something he shouldn't out loud.

"Aye, relax Stu. Paul and I are gonna leave each other alone" John whispered. Paul gaped his mouth.

"We barely even talked about it, John!"

"Yeah I know, you just yelled at me" John shouted.

Thus the screaming match started, seemingly only George and Astrid were frustrated with it. The two of them communicated with their eyes, each agreeing to pull their friends away. Astrid pulled Stu by the arm and as did George with Paul.

"Fuck off Stu!" George yelled over his shoulder. Astrid pulled Stu away from his act of charging.

John watched them take off in different directions and huffed. He was gonna have to go after one of the groups. He should probably go apologize to Astrid or something but he also wanted to apologize to Paul again. He looked at the back of their heads and rolled his eyes.