Chapter Text
When Ringo awoke, the first thing he could feel was the way George was clung onto the back of him, spooning him with his gentle touch. And for a moment, that was all that mattered to him. It didn’t matter how stressful their tour had been or how rude Paul had been to him.
But not two seconds later, he scooted in a bit closer to George, and his body froze solid. He stayed there as all kinds of feelings overwhelmed his poor brain, and before he knew it, he was sobbing and crawling away from the younger man.
George started to wake up himself when he heard the sobs. It wasn’t many times before in his life that he had that to wake up to, and it was honestly incredibly scary. But as his eyes slowly opened, he couldn’t see Ringo. He could hear him.
“Richie?” he called out before he was even completely conscious, trying to make sure his friend was okay. Then he sat up in the bed and felt something wet beneath him and on the front of his shirt and pyjama pants. And he noticed that the giant stain on the bed was circled around where Ringo had been asleep. Is that why he was crying?
He worriedly got up from the bed and walked across the hotel’s small room to the toilet, where the light had been turned on, and knocked on the door. More uncontrolled sobs came.
“Love, are you alright?”
“S-s-sowwy, Georgie.” George tilted his head. That didn’t sound much like Ringo. He’d seen the man upset, but never had he struggled with words like that. “I got you gross. And the b-bed.”
“Oh, the bed? Hey, that wasn’t your fault, Richie.” He waited anxiously for a response, and the one he got was not anything like he expected.
“W-was an accident.” That definitely wasn’t Ringo talking. Of course it had been an accident, but what kind of grown man would say it like that? “Go ‘way!”
“Wait, Richie… are you sure you’re okay? I mean, you don’t sound like it.”
“So sowwy!” George wanted nothing more than to open the door right then and embrace his friend. He sounded so upset over this. He tried the door handle, surprised when he found it unlocked. Then, he pushed open the door without even thinking how scary that might be to his friend.
When the door was fully opened, he saw Ringo climbing into the hotel’s bath tub, curling into a little ball, his clothes soaking wet.
“D-don’t hurt me, Georgie! Please don’t! Was an a-a-accident!” George’s eyes widened at his friend, who was now having some sort of tantrum about this. Why would he even think of hurting Ringo over this.
He got closer to the ground, not wanting to be so threatening. “Okay, okay, love, I won’t hurt you. I know it was an accident. I just want to make sure you’re alright.” Ringo looked up with teary eyes at him, seeming to trust him. “Are you okay? You’re not hurt or anything, are you?” Ringo shook his head. “Can you come here, Rich?”
Ringo started to stand up in the tub and climb out. As he approached George, the younger man stood up, as well, and welcomed him into his arms.
“Alright, there you go. You’re okay.” He put his hand up on Ringo’s head and kissed his hair. When the drummer started to sob again, George just held onto him, letting the crying pass. “Everything’s okay, love.”
“S-sowwy,” he said again.
“Nothing to be sorry for. Nobody’s upset with you.” He rubbed the boy’s back until he started to calm down. George noticed and pulled away. “Alright, Richie, what’s going on?” He kept his warm hands on Ringo’s arms to steady him.
“I d-didn’t mean to,” he started, and George had to fight the urge to hug him again, allowing him to explain it himself. “It happens sometimes w-when I’m l-l-little.”
“When you’re… little?” Ringo nodded shyly, looking down at the floor. “W-what’s that?”
“I-I…” He trailed off, frustrated, and huffed.
“O-okay, well, that’s okay, love.” He smiled weakly.
“S-sorry, it’s just… the tour is really getting to me.”
“Oh, love, you should’ve said something.” George really wanted to make him feel better. He was much too upset.
Ringo took a deep breath, burying his face in his hands.”I d-didn’t mean for you to-- Christ.”
“Oh, Richie, it’s fine. Really. Did you want to get in the shower?” Ringo shook his head, more tears coming to his eyes.
“Sh-shower’s scary.” George could see that he was becoming younger again.
“A-alright, erm, maybe a bath, then?” Ringo shook his head again. “Well, then, how do you suppose we clean up?”
“I w-wanna go back to bed, Georgie.”
“The bed’s not clean…” When he saw Ringo’s face, he immediately started talking again. “I can clean it all up in the morning. We can sleep on the floor tonight, though.” Ringo nodded. “Okay, let’s get changed.”
“Okay, c-can you not tell the others?”
“Aw, love, of course not. Not if you don’t want me to.” Ringo sniffled and hugged George again.
“Sowwy, again.” George smiled sadly.
“It’s quite alright, love.”
He had a few dry blankets set up on the floor by the time Ringo had gotten himself into a new set of pyjamas.
“G-Georgie?”
“Yes, love?”
“I’m sowwy about you PJs. I didn’t mean to get you all gross, too.” He crawled onto the blankets as George started to change himself.
“Oh, Richie, it’s alright. I promise. I’m not upset.” He got into the blankets next to Ringo and started to spoon him again. “Let’s get some sleep, alright?”
-
The next morning, Ringo was the first to wake up again, and as soon as he sat up on the floor, he remembered the events of the previous night.
“Oh, my god,” he whispered. “Oh, god.”
George’s eyes cracked open. “Richie? Are you awake?” He saw Ringo sitting next to him, and when he saw the tears rolling down his face, he sat up as well. “What’s the matter?”
“Last night…” George cocked a brow in confusion.
“What about it, love?”
“I just… I can’t believe I… oh, god. I’m sorry. That wasn’t something you were supposed to see.” Ringo, now frantic, felt a pair of arms wrap around his waist and drag him back onto the floor.
“It’s okay, Rich. Are you feeling any better?”
He nodded. “Yeah, I suppose.”
“Let’s just wait a little while longer before we clean everything up, okay? You’re warm.”
Ringo chuckled. “A-alright, Geo. Erm, thanks for last night, by the way. I didn’t… you were just really good about it.”
“No problem. Anything for Richie.” He snuggled up closer to his little spoon and smiled.