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“I thought Richie didn’t like heights,” John remarked as he met back up with his friends at the end of the Ferris wheel queue. He glanced at the drummer, who looked very nervous about it.
“He doesn’t,” George replied.
“But it's alright, yeah?” Paul said, hugging Ringo from behind. “Because we’ll all be with you.”
Ringo gulped, looking up at the top of the wheel. “I suppose.”
Paul smiled big. “Yay! It’ll be so much fun!” But as they got further up in the queue, Ringo only got more nervous. He really shouldn’t have let Paul convince him of this. And George saw how jumpy he was.
“Rich?” he said out loud. “You sure about this? We can always go do something else.”
“I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about me.” He laughed it off but as soon as George’s head turned, his smile fell. He really wasn’t looking forward to this at all.
He did his best to manage the feelings of panic that came to him, and before he even knew it, they were next in line. And then they were stepping into the four person cart. The employee gave them a sarcastic smile before slamming the door and starting the wheel, moving them up off the ground.
Ringo closed his eyes, refusing to watch as his friends stuck their heads out the sides to see the view. He knew he couldn’t take seeing how high up they were. All too soon, they got to the top, and Ringo was freaking out. To make matters even worse, the ferris wheel stopped, and they were stuck there as more people got into a cart at the bottom.
“Richie, the view is so pretty. You should look,” Paul said, not even acknowledging the fact that Ringo was scared to death.
“I don’t think he wants to see,” George supplied for him, but it sounded like his friends were having so much fun, and he hated to miss out on it. He opened his eyes and looked up, immediately seeing the tiny people on the ground that seemed so far away from them.
And he started to shake.
“Richie?” John asked. “Are you alright?” Ringo just continued to shake, but he couldn’t take his eyes off of the far away ground.
“Ringo,” George said to him, trying to get him to look away, but it wasn’t working, and the drummer was then crying, and as he shook, he felt a warmth start to spread from the crotch of his pants.
“Shit,” Paul muttered, but the others hadn’t seemed to notice, for Ringo’s breathing was becoming so erratic, he was struggling to just calm down a bit. “Erm, Geo…”
“Not now, Paul.” George got closer to Ringo and was able to turn his head away from outside the cart and he held onto him tightly. “You’re alright, Richie. It’s okay. We’ll be down soon, okay?”
“George…” Paul tried again, and George glared at him. This was all Paul’s fault, anyway. He had been the one that made Ringo feel bad for not wanting to come on the Ferris wheel in the first place. “He’s pissing himself…”
George’s eyes drifted over to Ringo’s pants, which were steadily becoming more and more wet. “Oh, god.”
“I’m s-sorry,” Ringo sobbed. “I don’t know w-what happened.” George just rubbed his back, glancing incredulously at John, who was too shocked for words. A twenty five year old was really pissing himself because he was afraid of a ferris wheel.
“It’s… fine. It’s fine, Rich. We’re just gonna get you off this thing alright?” He took his time comforting the older man as he spoke to John. “Can you get them to stop us at the bottom? We’re not going another time around.”
“I can try,” John replied, and all of George’s attention went right back to the drummer.
“Alright, love, we’re gonna get you off when we get to the bottom.” By this point, the puddle Ringo was creating had finally stopped spreading.
“I’m so sorry, Geo.”
“No need to cry about it. It’s perfectly fine.” When the cart jerked and started to move again, Ringo curled into George, who gladly let him.
As they got closer to the bottom, John started to grab the attention of the employee, who was quick to stop the ride and opened up the door.
“Is everything okay? Do you need me to call the medical—?” The boy stopped talking when he saw Ringo’s pants. “Oh, gosh. Erm, yeah, I’ll take care of it. Just… sorry.”
With a smile, George led Ringo off the ride and the man kept his head down to avoid any odd stares he got. John and Paul thanked the employee and followed them to the toilets, where Ringo ran in and locked the door.
“Richie,” George called, knocking on the door. “Love, let’s get you home, alright?”
“I don’t wanna go out there.” George could hear the sadness in his voice, and he felt the second-hand embarrassment inside of him. There couldn’t have been much things worse than the situation Ringo was in, and he would do anything to just trade places with him…
He ratted the door handle. “Rich, can you let me in really quick?”
“Why?” John and Paul looked at him strangely.
“Please, love. Trust me.” The door cracked open and George slid inside before closing it back. He immediately started to strip off his pants.
“What are you doing, Geo?”
“Switching pants with you.” He didn’t even stop when Ringo shook his head.
“No. I can’t let you do that. I’m the one who pissed in them, so I should be the one to walk out of here with them on.”
George gave him a weak smile as he handed over his jeans. “Love, that’s not fair. It wasn’t your fault, and I don’t mind. I promise.”
Ringo hesitated but ended up accepting George’s offer. “If you’re sure…”
“Of course I am.” Ringo handed the guitarist his own pants and the younger man put them on without complaint. When they were both ready, they left the toilets, and John and Paul just stared at George.
“What did you do that for?” John asked softly.
“Richie’s embarrassed, and I thought it might help. Let’s just get back to the car, yeah?” He had a hint of annoyance in his voice, Ringo could hear.
“Right,” Paul mumbled, glancing again at Ringo, who was quick to look away. As they walked to the car, George blushed at the flares he got, hiding his face by staring at the ground.
“Thank you so much, George,” Ringo whispered when they got to the car.
“It’s really nothing.”
“Did you want to trade back—?”
“No. It’s fine.” With a weak smile, he got into his car and Ringo into the passenger seat. John and Paul were already in the back.
“I’m so sorry about all of this. I didn’t know…”
“It’s fine, Richie,” Paul replied from the backseat. “Nobody’s upset with you.”
“Well, thanks for being so cool about all this.”
“You deserve it, love,” George said with a smile, and Ringo smiled back.