On Loving Paul [McLennon]

Drunk

It August of 1965 and Paul, John, George, and Ringo were at a bar celebrating their upcoming film, Help!, having just finished being filmed. John and George were already drunk as hell while Paul and Ringo were just a bit tipsy.

Everything was going well. Ringo was winking at girls while George and Paul would smile and politely reject the, whenever they approached them. Then there was John who, whenever a woman would approached him, he'd shove them away and rudely ignore them.

When the band was staggering back to their hotel, Ringo and George mildly drunk and Paul quite sober while John was still absolutely hammered, all four of them were laughing obnoxiously and he flung an arm across Paul's shoulders.

"We should tell Ringo!" He laughed.

"Tell me what?" Ringo giggled.

"John," Paul hissed worriedly. "Don't."

"That we're dating," John grinned and rested his head on Paul's shoulder as the Beatles made their drunkly down the street.

George's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Ringo snorted. "Alright, sure. Good one, Johnny. I think we need to get you into bed before you pass out. You had to much to drink, my friend." He shook his head, chuckling a bit more.

Paul was stiff as a board. He grabbed hold of John's hand to try and grasp his hand, he shook his head viciously. "Don't do it, John. You're drunk." He breathed. "Don't do anything you'll regret in the morning, Johnny."

"I'm not joking!" John shouted angrily, ignoring Paul completely. He shoved Paul's hand away and stormed toward Ringo, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. "We ARE dating! We have been since 1957!! Before we even met you! So don't you go telling me who I'm dating of who I'm not dating!"

Ringo's mouth fell agape as John let go of his shirt. The drummer slowly turned to look at Paul. "P-Paulie? Is he telling the truth, Paul?"

Paul blushed. "I - uh - well, you see, Ringo - uhm - yeah. Yeah, he is telling the truth. We've been together for over eight years."

John smirked triumphantly, totally unaware of what he had just done in his drunk haze.

"Come on, John." Paul huffed. He grabbed John's hand again and dragged him down the street toward the hotel while Ringo just stood there, frozen in disbelief, and George stood there with him.

"It's not that big of deal, you know." George shrugged his shoulders. "Eppy is gay. What does it matter if Paul and John are?"

Ringo slowly looked up at George. "OH. MY. GOD. GEORGE!! YOU KNEW, DIDN'T YOU! YOU KNEW!! YOU FUCKING KNEW ABOUT THIS! EVERYONE KNEW EXCEPT FOR ME!!"

"No, you're not." George cringed. "Mike knows and Stuart knew and I know. That's it. John's mum never knew and his aunt doesn't know and - look, I swear you're not the only one. Ringo, it's a long story."

"Well, I've got all the fucking time in the world," Ringo spat. "Because we aren't moving from this spot until you tell me everything you know."

"It's not my place to say," George frowned. "Why does it even matter? Eppy is - "

"I don't care about what they are,George!" Ringo screamed. "I came that I wasn't told! That clearly I'm not to be trusted because Paul and John couldn't trust me enough to tell me or didn't have enough faith in me to think that I would accept it! I don't care and I they didn't take that into consideration!"

"Well, you can't exactly blame them for trying to keep it under wraps!" George cried.

"They told you!" Ringo yelped. "And Mike! And Stuart!"

"No, they didn't!" George shook his head. "Stuart figured it out! Mike walked in on them having a moment! I walked in on John kissing Paul's forehead and saying 'I love you'! I didn't even tell them that I knew for two years!"

Ringo frowned. "But why didn't they trust me?"

"It's not that they don't trust you, Ringles." George sighed. "It's just that they have let it slip to three people already and it's very very dangerous in this day and age."

Ringo nodded. "Yeah. I suppose you're right. Let's get to the hotel, I need to make sure there are no misunderstandings. I don't want them to think that I hate them for this or that I'm going to judge them for it. I can't lose John and Paul over something like this."

George smiled. "Alright, then. Off we go."

~~~

When George and Ringo entered the hotel room they found Paul sitting in a chair tapping his foot and anxiously ringing his hands together. John, on the other hand, was passed out on the couch.

"H-hi," Paul leapt to his feet. "Listen, about what happened back there, Ringo, it's really - "

"Don't worry about it," Ringo interrupted. "Look, Paul, I'm not judging you. Seriously. I couldn't care less. What I care about is that you felt like you couldn't trust me enough to just tell me."

"Ringo," Paul shook his head. "It's not like that at all. Of course we trust you, it's just that we were trying to keep it as close to home as possible. Only three people have ever known outside of the two of us and we never intended for that to happen - no offense, Georgie - and yes, George knows - "

"Paul," Ringo interrupted again. "George explained everything. Don't worry about it."

Paul smiled and released a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Ringo."