Ringo and George were sipping tediously at their drinks and laying against the walls of an alley.

"Only one drink remember, that's all I'm getting for ya" Ringo poked at George's chest and George grabbed his finger.

"I know I know. Thank you" George smiled and pulled Ringo's hand to pull him closer to kiss him softly. "Happy fourth date by the way" George mumbled against Ringo's lips.

"Oh yeah, happy fourth date" Ringo had been delightfully stress free as of late and that was incredibly pleasing to George.

While George leaned in to kiss him again, he kicked the trash bin. "This is so romantic" he rolled his eyes and sat back against the wall.

"I'm sorry, we don't have a lot of options" Ringo shrugged apologetically. George looked around and sighed.

"Yeah, I know. Not many accepting places for two queers to make out"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Paul's eyes were closed and he wasn't even in the middle of a preoccupying thought for once. He was pressing the back of his neck against his railing and scratching his bare ankles against the concrete.

He'd savor the moment if he could but before he even had the chance, John plopped down next to him. Paul didn't open his eyes though, he just let John stick his face between Paul's face and shoulder.

"Johnny" Paul hummed the name and slowly turned his face so that if he wanted to, he could look John in the eyes.

But Paul's eyes remained closed, he was for the most part, emotionless. Johns pleasant take in of air is what told him that the action wasn't a mistake. But John was bored so easily.

"Give me something here Paulie" he urged Paul to give him some sort of reaction. "I'm having a serious lack of energy, darling" John poked at Paul's cheek.

Paul finally batted his eyelashes and opened his eyes.

"Aye, sleeping beauty! What can we do to wake ya, huh?"

Paul smiled flatly and waited for whatever John was about to plunge into.

"Have a row with me, we haven't had one of those yet!" John leaned back proudly at that suggestion. Paul leaned forward with a confused expression.

"John we've had nothing but rows for how long?" Paul wanted to count on his fingers again. John could tell that Paul was about to pull his hand out of his pocket and stopped him.

"Right, right." John chuckled.

"What's dragged ya out of bed this early on a weekend?" Paul asked, slightly bitter about not having heard much from John for the past two days.

John suddenly turned a bashful shade of pink. "Got to take ya to meet Julia today"

"Julia?-"

"My mum, she insisted to meet ya"

"You talk about me?" Paul smiled and John rolled his eyes.

"Didn't think you could be more full of ya self"

"But here I am, proving ya wrong" Paul stole glances around the street and kissed John softly. John had curled one of his hands through the railing and was hanging over Paul with amusement.

"You'll have to come by Mimi's though" John giggled as Paul scrunched his face up.

"She's making me a fancy dinner, she doesn't trust Julia to feed me right" John laughed at that but something told Paul that that had once been a rough spot with him.

"Ok, sign me up babe"

"Babe?" John chucked and pushed his glasses up.

"I was trying something new!" Paul defended the name. John thrust up to the top of Paul's porch and sat on the edge. Paul looked at him from his seat on the stair.

"Your da here?"

"No, he and Mike are out" Paul decided to head up too. He sat at the opposite head of the railing. They shared a mischievous glance and simultaneously crossed one leg a top the other thigh.

Paul was just interested in how long it would take before John broke and came over to his side. John was rambunctious and he just said no one was home. Not that Paul was interested in whatever was turning over in Johns brain but he was curious.

John did move off the railing first and laid his hand in Paul's lap. "Lets go inside"

"I don't want to have sex, John" Paul informed him with strong eyes.

"Were not gonna have sex!" John put his hand to his chest to act in offense. Paul giggled.

"No?"

"No! We're eating bread rolls and pouring champagne in the indents"

"Indents?"

"Of the bread!" John pulled Paul inside his home and took off for Paul's kitchen.

"That sounds gross John. And I don't know if we have champagne or bread rolls" Paul chuckled as John pushed him to sit on the counter. "Where'd you even get this idea?"

"I spilled my drinks as a child, drove Mimi nuts and it pooled in the rolls, dunno just remembered it" John laughed and pulled out bread rolls.

Paul looked down at the soggy bread and laughed. "Oh I love this" Paul pushed the bread to John, who was downing his champagne.

"Da was probably saving that" Paul frowned and John waved his hand.

"S'fine. Here" John poured Paul some champagne. Paul was use to seeing the sparkling liquid in fancy flutes but John poured his in an old glass. Once Paul was sipping, John pulled him to Paul's couch.

"Stranger and stranger" Paul laughed and balanced his head on his palm and stared at John.

"Curiouser and curiouser" John tapped their glasses together and sipped.

Alcohol and John was a good pairing, Paul decided. They left the remains of Johns odd creation on the table and were stealing glances from the bottoms of their glasses.

Paul was as paranoid as ever, his nature hadn't all abandoned him.

"I'm liking this" John put his glass down on the water ring on the table as Paul shuffled closer to him. John grabbed Paul's hands and brought him in for a kiss.

"Mmmm me too. " Paul nodded, rubbing their noses together. "Oh thanks for those albums with your darling drawings all over them" Paul grinned and tipped his small glass into his mouth and over Johns nose.

"I'm glad you enjoyed them" John put the tip of his finger on the bottom of Pauls glass and tipped it down from his mouth. He put his hand on the back of Pauls neck and rubbed his hand through his hair line.

"How does your mind work?" Paul found himself asking, John had finally found a question that he loved to answer.

"In many ways, different ones. No filter. But I'm dissatisfied by translation from thought to mouth a lot of the time" John was explaining this with his glasses daring to slip off his nose and his fingers toying with the end of Pauls sleeve.

"But that doesn't stop ya, will it?"

"Oh never!" John sat back with a grin, Paul leaned his elbow on the back of the seat and put his hand through his hair.

"And yours?" John copied Pauls action.

A lot of phrasing and rephrasing flowed through Pauls head and as if the the thoughts weighed his head down, he tilted it to the ground. He wasn't sure there was a way for him to say what he could barely think of. He took a sip of the champagne, John wasn't seeming to rush him.

"Musically" Paul wanted to phrase that as a question, as if he himself wasn't sure of that answer and John might be. But by the second syllable, he decided he was sure and with a shake of his head, he got to the third syllable.

"Musically, how?" John smiled and finished his glass, stretching his arm out to the small table to set it down. Paul was almost sure he'd heard the splash from the water ring.

"I try to put things into a tune and I suppose I section off or preserve emotions I have for songs I think I'll write or at least try to. I say emotions lightly. It always comes back to love, doesn't it?" Paul asked that to himself. He was probably expressionless, he couldn't tell himself but that's how he was feeling.

"Well that's a lovely way to think, innit? Thinking the world as a love song, I could never think that way" John was heavily into this conversation.

"The fresh perspective is nice, little sick of it me self" Paul shrugged and threw back the last of his drink.

"Well don't be, your songs would never be the same" John took his glass from him and set it next to his. Paul blushed, and shuffled a little closer.

"You don't seem to be fond of love songs though" Paul tilted his expression to the side.

"Love songs are grand, in moderation. Write em myself, don't I?" John poked Paul's arm.

Paul nodded, he definitely hadn't seen or heard a love song from John. Not even a song, just poetry. But he nodded as if it was natural to just know what John was talking about.

John put his arm around the back of the seat and smiled. "Should go before the old da returns, huh?"

Paul nodded with a closed mouth smile "think that's for the best"

"Come round to Mimi's at six, then we'll go to Julia's after" John kissed Pauls cheek and pulled back "look at ya!" The inklings of a love song were edging Johns brain. John didn't quite shout that comment but he seemed indifferent about it as he got up to leave.

Paul took the glasses in his hands to put them away and little waves of champagne sloshed around the bottoms but he looked back John first. "What about me?"

"Nothing Paul, I'll see ya at six"

John was out the door quickly after that and Paul brought the glasses to the sink. As he put each one away, he sipped the last bit of of liquid out of them before laying them on the bottom of the plentiful dish ware. He took one glance at the soggy bread and laughed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Aye Mimi!" John yelled as he threw himself into his home. He tilted his head to the side and raised his ear up, quiet.
Though John knew better than to get his hopes up and he was right to.

"John" Mimi turned round the corner, dishrag rubbing its way in her hands. "Where were you?" She asked in a casual tone.

"Inviting Paul to dinner later, than to Julia's"

"Paul?"

"Yeah, brought him over the other day, didn't I?" John tried to get her to remember him as if he didn't know it was just one of her tactics to show her distaste of people.

"Oh yes, him. You know you two are very different"

Mimi moved about the kitchen as she said that, reaching for dishes and double checking things that didn't really need the added attention. John perched his elbow on the counter and smiled.

"Different how?"

"Oh well, Pauls very...kept to himself, you are so outspoken that, at times it's inappropriate."

John laughed, that was true...very true. But Paul seemed to enjoy that, it amused him so and John found that delightful. He was tracing the movements Mimi was making as the smell of food poured over him.

"Like Chalk and Cheese, you are" Mimi commented to herself, it wasn't an 'under the breath' sort of comment but it wasn't directed at John. The expression though, John thought fit him and Paul perfectly. He started repeating it back in that 'under the breath' tone and tapped his finger with each syllable.

Mimi side eyed him from over her shoulder as Johns tone went louder.

"Chalk and Cheese, Chalk and Cheese" John was now on the surface of hurling himself about the room with a goofy sort of grin on his face. The whole action flew right over Mimi's head, it was ridiculous, she thought.

"You can go upstairs John, dinner will be out later" Mimi said with a dry expressionless face and John smiled then turned on his heels and flung himself upstairs.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Paul was a little nervous, the dinner with Mimi was uneventful. It was mostly stiff words from the woman and John muttering things under his breath to make Paul laugh at inappropriate times. But now came the meeting with Julia. Johns mum seemed very vital to him, he'd been building her up to Paul the whole walk there. The walk was short but the stories were in depth and long.

Oh but Julia was bright and red and cheery, she was dancing in a yard of grass in the back of her home. She seemingly couldn't decide between a record player or a radio. She'd switch from one to the other every few minutes. The sun was still out at this time but as the season came to an end, that would be over. But for now the rays were bouncing off the shine of her hair. She was everything of what John had described and when she caught sight of John, her eyes lit up.

John let her hug him and once she pulled off, he tilted his head to Paul. Julia could very well be judging Paul in the inner workings of her mind but you'd never be able to tell. Her face was still projecting a glimmering smile when John introduced them.

John was more interested, it seemed, in watching Paul speak to her rather than joining in. Something in his eyes looked like jealousy, or maybe not...Paul wasn't sure. It made Paul somewhat nervous again. But Julia was so very excited about Pauls music stories and what he could and could not play that it kept his mind away from most of the nerves.

Paul had the habit of waving his hands about to gesture while speaking, out of the corner of his eyes he'd seen John mocking him. Exaggerating the twists and turns of his hands, whereas Mimi would dismiss or discourage it, Julia provided nothing but a cheery laughter. The more Julia would laugh, the more John would do it and Paul would bashfully put his head down or laugh. But once Julia began speaking of her own playing, John dialed down a little.

"I've been teaching John here, the chords for 'Maggie Mae'!" Julia reached over and squeezed Johns knee. Paul leaned forward in his chair, the legs digging further into the dirt and grass.

"Oh I'd love to hear!" Paul knew that would embarrass John but it made Julia somehow brighter. She insisted on getting the banjo and showing him, she excused herself. John watched until she'd gotten into the home and turned to Paul.

"She likes ya" was the comment that came out, Paul couldn't tell if it was bitter or just a simple observation but it was said. Paul went to bite at his nails in reflex but realized he was sitting on his hands.

Julia returned with said Banjo, she plopped down on her seat, opposite from the way Mimi would gracefully seat herself. She jetted out her arm, horizontal from her elbow and wildly began to strum.

As if it was an instinct, she began to mutter a few teachings and tips to John.

"Strum from the wrist" she informed, and smiled. Her wrist was strumming wildly and the music poured out.

John leaned to Pauls side "strum from the wrist" he repeated back with a small chuckle, implying every dirty sense into the expression.

"Be serious John" Julia said without much bite and John leaned back away from Paul. It was then that Julia began to sing the tune.

When she finished, she set the instrument down and looked to the lads. Paul took the time to compliment her.

"That was wonderful"

It made Julia grin and blush a little bashfully, she flung her wrist into a dismissive wave. "Johns gonna get there, know he is." She nodded in such a sure way. But when Paul looked to John, his face was blatantly frustrated.

"Excuse me for a moment" Paul politely leapt from his seat and walked into the home to where Julia had previously pointed out where the loo was. He'd hoped that give John sometime with his mum to straighten out whatever he's was angry about.

But a mere couple minutes brought John bursting in the loo after Paul. Luckily, Paul was just standing at the sink.

"John!" Paul jumped when the door opened. John shuffled inside and leaned back on the door.

"She abandoned me ya'know?" John said that in such a cocky angered voice that Paul wasn't sure how he could tell what he was feeling.

"Alright" Paul swallowed. How was he to respond to that? He didn't know.

"The move was suppose to be temporary but there I sit, stewing in Mimi's place. But poor Julia, right? Without a son but without-what? the strength to get me back?" John shook his head angrily.

"Do you not want me to like her, John?" Paul bent his knees a tiny bit, trying to understand what John was trying to do here....in the loo.

"Well you damn well didn't have to charm her like ya did, McCharmly" John spat. Paul was sure they could turn this into the row John had asked for earlier in the day but he thought about clueless Julia in the yard and knew better.

"We can have this out later if ya want but your mums out there waiting, ain't she? Least you can do is give a goodbye to her and we'll be on our way, yeah?" Paul shoved past John and went for the door. John didn't say anything, he just followed him.

Julia was on her feet, trying to keep that cheery grin smeared on her face. Even as John spoke and answered in the shortest of replies and muttered a goodbye. She twirled her thumbs together and as Paul said his goodbye, she stared at John. Paul accepted that and followed after John as he went for the gate.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

George liked watching Ringo speak because he acted things out when he did, George was always told that he was quiet and didn't speak in any exciting tone. So watching Ringo speak always made him laugh. Plus whenever Ringo tried to tell a joke, he'd mess up the punchline somehow. George had already experienced this around six times today. But Ringo would always launch back in to piece it together again, but that itself was funnier than the joke so George would already be laughing.

"How'd ya sleep the other night? We got back pretty late". that was George's first mention of the kidnapping incident from a few nights ago.

"Oh I don't sleep" Ringo said that as if it was casual and George rolled his eyes. "I'm an insomniac" Ringo said flatly and George crossed his arms and leaned on a wall. "And when I'm not an insomniac, I sleep"

George laughed, he wasn't sure what Ringo was on about but it was funny.

"That was a fun night though" Ringo chuckled and George nodded.

"Think so too, John and I had a small discussion, said he owes me a drink actually"

"Course you'd make peace with the promise of a drink" Ringo poked his shoulder and George laughed again.

"Did it for Paul too, you know? I don't want to lose the git" George smiled.

Ringo put on a serious expression and George crossed his arms. "You know I'm not asking this to rage ya up George...know that please. But, are you sure that you never had feelings for Paul?"

George wanted to be angry again and go into that defensive tone that he'd gone into so often now. But he didn't, maybe it was rude not to put thought into a question that Ringo was so focused on, besides had he really ever put thought into that question.....

So George put thought into it. He thought about all the times he'd spent with Paul, he spent a lot of time with Paul actually. He thought about how all the joking about being boyfriends made him really happy. And how whenever Paul did something for him and bought him some albums, he'd think about it for a few minutes with something that could be qualified as gushing.

Oh god

George slowly slipped down the wall and Ringo sat down across from him.

Oh god

"Maybe I've had" George said with mostly shock and less emotion and instead of being angry or jealous, Ringo just seemed to understand.

"Do you still?" He asked and George smiled

"No, don't think so....everything I got now is for you" George leaned forward to speak closer to him and he knew that what he said was true.

Ringo grinned and kissed him. "I'm glad, so so so so glad"

"Just a little jarring, ain't it? I didn't even know it when I felt it....I'm not telling him cause it doesn't seem important enough" George shrugged.

"Must be an odd thing, realizing that." Ringo almost leaned back but George pulled him closer.

"Don't get hesitant on me now, Ritchie!" George put his forehead to Ringo's and then kissed him.

He was defiantly happy with how everything turned out. George nearly pounced  on Ringo.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The hell John?!" Paul tried to keep pace with John. But the lad was moving so quickly.

Paul was almost chasing him down the street, his arms were crossed and he was stomping away from Paul.

"Get off me case, Paul!" He yelled back.

It was when John turned the corner and Paul followed that Paul grew apprehensive.

Stu was sitting on a porch, probably his own and smoking. It looked like he'd been waiting for John and that irritated Paul. John casually took a cig from Stu and sat down next to him. If that Astrid bird were here, maybe Paul would have been less annoyed. Was he gonna throw a fit like a bird, right in front of Stu?

"Shit, John! What's wrong with ya?" Paul stopped in front of the porch and Stu looked up, very amused.

"Smoke and a show!" Stu clapped and Paul didn't think he could get angrier.

"Quit your whining, Paul. Let the big boys have their smoke, huh?"

Oh he thought he couldn't.

"John? Can't we talk?"

John turned to Stu, as if he was getting ready to explain something to him and Paul wanted to stop him but he wasn't quick enough.

"Paulie's being a jealous little bird, ain't he? Worried I might pounce on ya or something and he might loose his shot with me!" John broke out into laughter.

Paul took a heavy breath, John could be bitter but he wasn't gonna take this from him. "Fuck off John"

"Sure you didn't mean, 'Fuck me John' ?"John curled his lips and cocked his head to Stu. And he laughed. His. Ass. Off.

Paul looked at Stu, he was laughing all the same and watching John doing the same thing. Paul might've wanted to run off in such a bird way but he just held his hands up and nodded.

"Alright, well I'm going then" Paul shrugged and slowly walked away from the scene that was currently clogging up his throat and making him want to puke. His head was spinning and he was nauseous.

He realized that he was counting his footsteps and tried to stop but it was the only thing keeping his mind off of John.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

John watched Paul calmly walk off and it only made him angrier that he wasn't running off like he'd usually do. The funny little run would have given him a small high or pleasure that he'd been able to make him so troubled.

He looked right at Stu who was laughing so hard he could choke or something.

John twirled his thumbs around each other and sighed. Paul was still tugging at his brain annoyingly.

He lit a smoke and and shook his head.