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George didn’t know why he agreed to even go on this trip in the first place. He was incredibly tired from not sleeping at all the first night, and his friends were worried about him. Well, Paul and Stuart were. John and Pete didn’t much realise or care.
But the second Paul was awake that day, he saw George already awake, sitting up in his bed with a book.
“You’re up early,” he laughed, but when the young guitarist glanced up at him, he saw how red his eyes looked. “God, did you even sleep last night?”
“A bit,” George lied, shifting on the bed. Paul opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted. “And before you give me any bullshit, it’s not my fault.” Paul raised his eyebrows in question. “Look, it’s always hard the first night somewhere, yeah?”
“I guess so, yeah.”
George shifted around, standing up from his bed. “Just don’t tell the others, okay? I’ll get some more sleep tomorrow.” Paul huffed, but nodded nonetheless.
“Whatever. If you can’t sleep, though, you’re more than welcome to come and get me. Don’t know what I’d do to be able to help, but… I don’t know… Never mind--”
“No, Paul, thanks. Really.” But he knew very well that wasn’t the problem at all, because going to Paul wasn’t going to stop him from wetting the bed. He also knew this might have been the perfect time to tell Paul about his situation. He was very close with the boy, and he might be able to help him out.
“Oh, well… erm, maybe we ought to get the others up, yeah?” He glanced around the room at John, Stuart, and Pete still asleep on their own beds. “Wonder what we’re even doing today.” George shrugged just as Paul started to shake John in his bed.
“Ugghh,” he groaned, rolling over to see Paul. “Oh, fuck you. What do you want?” He looked over at George. “God, has he gotten to you, too? This prick gets up too early for his own good. Don’t ruin yourself, Georgie.”
He sat up in the bed, and Paul rolled his eyes. “What are we doing today, John?”
“Macca, do I look like I know? The whole trip was Stu’s idea!” He then picked up his pillow and threw it at Stuart’s bed, causing Pete to sit up next to him.
“Lennon, can you just lay down and go the fuck back to sleep. You’re pulling the blankets off of me, you wanker.” He pulled the blanket back over his chest, yanking John down in the process.
“Paul woke me up!” John just sighed, wishing he hadn’t thrown his pillow, because he was much too warm to get up and go get it. “Whatever, I’m going back to sleep.” And he closed his eyes.
-
That night was a bit different for George. Paul woke up after being asleep for about an hour to find that the younger boy was still awake, and he sighed. “Geo, please won’t you get some sleep?”
Maybe if George said something now, it could all be taken care of. He wouldn’t have to sleep at all. Or maybe Paul would even help him find a way to prevent it. But he just couldn’t find it in himself to even speak up about it.
“Okay, I’ll try.” He laid down and closed his eyes just to get Paul to leave him alone, but he realised how tired he really was. He hadn’t slept a wink since they’d arrived, and it would feel so nice to just…
-
He awoke fast when he realised he was dreaming, but it was too late. A heavy scent radiated from underneath his blanket, and he could feel how cold and wet it was. A look around the room told him how fucked he really was.
All of his friends were asleep in the room, and if he didn’t clean this up now, they were sure to smell it in the morning. Thank god it hadn’t been. But he didn’t have a clue how he was supposed to deal with this alone… There was always someone there to help him, usually his mother, and he didn’t even think it’d be safe to go out to the front desk of the motel as just a kid. Especially at this hour.
Maybe he could tell Paul. He knew the boy wouldn’t be rude about it, but he probably didn’t want to go outside, either. And telling John or Pete would practically be social suicide. That left Stuart as the only option.
He got out of the bed and padded over to the boy’s bed, standing there for a few minutes debating his decision. Maybe it’d be better if he just figured it out himself. Then nobody would even have to know.
But before he could turn around and leave, Stuart’s eyes cracked open, and he jumped back. “Jesus Christ!” he shouted. “George, what are you--?” His eyes drifted down George’s body to see his soaking wet pants. “Oh, god…”
His facial expression was enough for George to just break down in tears, and Stuart was quick out of the bed, trying to shush him. “I-I-I’m sorry…”
“Hey, no, wait, it’s okay. It’s fine, just… be quiet!” he whispered, shuffling around George in the dark to get to his bed and immediately pulling the covers up to hide the wet spot. “George, can you help me get this off the bed?”
“I didn’t mean to…” He started to sob, and Stuart winced. “I hope your not too mad, I just don’t want the others to know.”
Stu sighed and walked back over to him, putting his arms around him. “Geo, I’m not blaming you or making fun of you for this, okay?” A sniffle. “But the others might, so let’s get this cleaned up as fast as we can, yeah?” He quickly pulled away and went back over to the bed. “Can you just help me with this real quick? I’m gonna go see the clerk and see if he has any spare sheets.”
“O-okay.” Stuart glanced around the room to make sure nobody was awake before he left the room, the cold air smacking him in the face. But he hurried to the room where they checked in, and opened the door. The man behind the desk squinted his eyes at him.
“You want a room? It’s a bit late, but I’m sure I could get you one—“
“Actually I just needed a fresh pair of sheets. And I was wondering if you had a laundromat…?” The man at the desk stared at him for a few seconds in silence. “Look, my friend… he had a bit of a rough night and wet himself, and he’d be devastated if our friends found out, so if you could just cooperate—“
“Laundromat’s just through that door. Sheets are in there on the shelf to the left.”
“Thanks so much.” He hurried into the laundromat and got a fresh pair of sheets and got back to the room as fast as possible. Thankfully, nobody else had woken up yet. “Geo, I got a set of sheets for you. You can put these on while I get the others in a washing machine.”
He handed them to George and leaned over to feel the mattress, how wet it was, and sighed. “What’s wrong?” George asked worriedly.
“Well, it’ll be dry by morning, but you can’t sleep on it.”
George looked down at the floor. “That’s okay. I’ll just stay up.”
Stuart saw how upset he looked at himself. “No, Geo, you can sleep with me if you want. Just try to clean up the mattress as best as you can and put the sheets on it so the others don’t suspect anything.”
“O-okay.”
And they managed to get everything cleaned up enough to get back to sleep, both in Stuart’s bed and asleep within minutes.
-
John and Paul had been together almost a year, and Stuart was still the only one that knew. He was pretty protective over them, because he knew how homophobic people could be.
So when the first words he woke up to were “hey, look at these fags,” he shot up in bed and looked over at them to see that John was still in bed next to Pete and Paul was in his own, as well. “Morning, Stu. Did you and Georgie have a nice night?” Pete got up out of the bed, and John sat up.
“Pete, what are you doing?”
“They made me share with you when I could’ve had my own bed all along!” He threw himself into George’s bed, and Stuart thanked God when it wasn’t still wet.
But John looked over at him and saw George clinging onto his side, a small smile on his sleeping face. His eyebrows shot up.
“Stu…?”
“It’s not…” He trailed off when George started to wake up. “He had a nightmare, and he didn’t want to be alone, okay?” He rolled his eyes and began to get out of the bed when he felt a wetness crawling beneath him. “Shit,” he breathed.
“What’s wrong?” John questioned, genuinely worried.
“It’s nothing…” But then George was fully awake, and he could feel it, too.
“Stu, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Stuart grabbed his hand underneath the blanket to get him to shush.
“Get up,” Pete then said, and Stuart stared at him. “Why won’t you just get up, huh? Are you even wearing anything under there?”
“Y-yes, but…”
“Yeah, right.” Pete laughed, getting up and walking towards the bed. George started to shake like a leaf when Pete froze. “It smells like piss in here.”
Nobody said anything, and the boy got even closer to Stuart’s bed. “Go away, Pete.” But he didn’t, and when he grabbed ahold of the covers, Stuart did, too. “Stop it! Let go of them!”
“Pete, leave ‘em alone!” John shouted, and that seemed to be enough for Pete to back off of them.
“Alright, fine. Nobody wants to see them naked, anyway. Couple of queers they are…” He huffed. “I’m gonna go get brekkie. Anybody want anything?” Nobody answered. “Very well, then.”
And as soon as he was out of the door, John was up and out of bed, shaking Paul awake, as well. “Look, Stu,” he started as he got dressed. “You know I don’t mind if you two…” He motioned between them with a smirk. “Just be careful with him, yeah?”
“John, I promise you nothing happened between us, okay?” He shifted around in the bed, and George’s face only got more red. “He had a nightmare and was too scared to be alone.”
He felt George start to shake again, and he squeezed his hand, letting him know he was gonna be fine. “Well, if you say so. I’m actually gonna go catch Pete. I’m kind of hungry. You sure you don’t want anything?”
“Do you want anything, George?” Stuart asked. “Maybe a muffin?” George nodded. “Just get us each one.”
“Alright.” He left the room, and George started to get up.
“Wait, George, Paul’s still in here…”
“I don’t care!” he huffed, tears running down his eyes. He stood up from the bed, and Paul looked over, expecting to see his bare legs, but instead met with a pair of soaking wet pyjama pants. His eyes went wide, and before he knew it, Stuart was staring at him.
“Geo?” he said. “Are you okay?” Much to Stuart’s surprise.
“I’m bloody fine,” the young guitarist mumbled, pulling off his pants as fast as he could.
“Does it happen a lot?” Paul asked, and George glared at him. “Just… last time you stayed at my house…” George remembered that horrible night. He’d had to wake up Paul to help him wash the sheets because they were sharing. It was the most humiliating thing having to go wake up his father and explain to him what had happened.
But Paul had always thought it was just a one time thing, and now here stood George with a sopping wet bed and a bright red face.
“George?” Stuart asked.
“Shut up!” He sobbed, now not wearing anything on his lower half and in one of the most embarrassing situations he’d ever been in. “God, just leave me alone!”
“Geo,” Paul said softly, getting up from his bed. “Love, it’s okay if it does happen a lot. That doesn’t make it your fault.”
“It’s gross! I’m sixteen, not five!” He started to dig through his bag for another set of clothes.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are,” Stuart said. “It’s still not your fault.” And then he pulled the sheets up. “Just get yourself cleaned up. I can deal with this, okay? I ought to go get your other pyjamas, anyway.”
Stuart started to take the sheets and George’s discarded pyjamas out to the laundromat, and George huffed after pulling underwear on over himself.
“You know it’s fine, right?”
“I don’t need you telling me, thanks.” As the boy started to cry more, Paul sighed.
“George, there’s no need to cry over it…”
“Easy for you to say! You’re not the one that still pisses the bed at sixteen!” He pulled a pair of pants on and a shirt over his head. “It’s disgusting, and I can’t even do anything about it.” More sniffles came from George, and Paul awkwardly shifted from foot to foot.
“Well, it’s fine, yeah? I don’t mind, and Stu doesn’t either.”
“I just don’t want John or Pete to find out. That would be awful!”
“We won’t let Pete find out, but I’m sure John would be fine with it, too. He’s not as mean as he puts off.”
“He’s only nice to you because he’s in love with you!” George huffed, and Paul said nothing back to him. “Just don’t tell anyone about this, okay?”
“I wouldn’t.”
Then Stu walked back in. “So how often does this happen? I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable or anything, but they’ll be back soon, and we need to talk about this.”
“I don’t want to! I just want you to leave me alone!”
Stuart glared at him, already starting to put the sheets back on the bed. “I mean if it happens often enough to need to get you something to wear--”
“I said to leave me alone!” George sat down on his own bed and started to curl up on himself. After a few seconds of silence, in which Stu was actually leaving him alone, he spoke. “I do wear something. I brought them with me, but I didn’t… I didn’t want to put them on, okay?! They’re big and loud, and I didn’t want you guys to make fun of me for it.”
The sadness in his voice was enough to make Stuart’s heart break. “Oh, god, George… we won’t make fun of you, okay? Just make sure you put one on tonight. I don’t want the others to find out, either.”
“O-okay, I will.”
-
And for the next few nights, he was able to put them on and hide them from John and Pete, thank god. Everything seemed to be going fine until one night when they were driving back to the motel, Stuart and Pete both in the front seat, and John, Paul, and George in the back.
Paul sat in the middle, leaning on John because of how tired he was. It was near midnight, and George had already fallen asleep on the left of him, so he and John were able to hold hands with each other.
Stuart was driving, and Pete had the radio up just loud enough where they couldn’t quite have a comfortable conversation, but it wasn’t too loud. Paul was so detached from everyone around him that when John nudged him, he jumped.
“Macca…?” he whispered.
“What?” John looked past him to George asleep against the window.
“I think he’s wet himself…”
Paul turned his head, and as hard as it was to see in the dark, he could definitely tell what had happened. “Oh, god… just…”
“Should we tell them?” John looked up to the front of the car, and Paul shook his head.
“Stuart already knows. But Pete can’t find out. George is really worried about it.” John tilted his head to the side.
“Wh… what are you talking about? Already knows…”
“Shit,” Paul cursed. “Just don’t say anything.” Paul sighed. “Hey, Stu?” he said a bit louder.
“What?”
“How long until we’re at the motel?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Like five minutes. Why?” At that perfect time, George started to wake up, and immediately gasped.
“Oh, my god!” Paul did his best to try to calm him down, but he sobbed anyway, and Stuart and Pete both glanced back at him. Stuart just for a second or two so that he could focus back on the road.
“What’s wrong, George?” he said, but Pete had already seen.
“He’s pissed himself!” With a laugh, Pete turned back around. “That’s disgusting,” he mumbled.
“Oh, god…” Stuart breathed. “Geo, are you doing okay? I can stop if you want to clean up a bit.”
Pete cocked his head. That wasn’t the reaction he expected. Stuart didn’t usually believe him so easily. “Wait… you didn’t even look at him, and you believed me…” Stu ignored him, but he kept going. “Oh, my god! Is that why you wouldn’t get out of bed the other day? Did he piss in bed, too?”
“Pete…” Stuart warned.
“Christ! Does George wet the bed?!”
“Pete! Not the time! George, are you okay?”
George was too busy freaking out to even answer, so Paul did for him. “He’s fine. Hey, hey, Geo, it’s okay, yeah? We’ll be at the motel soon, and you can clean up.” He hugged him, and John still stared, confused.
“I’m so sorry. Is it on you, Paul?” He shook his head.
“No, it’s not. You’re okay.” Paul looked at Stuart in the rear view mirror. “Can you just get there as soon as you can?”
“I’m trying.”
“So, you’re telling me that this whole time--”
“I said to stop talking, Pete! Leave him the fuck alone! It’s not his fault!” Stuart pulled into the motel parking lot, and they each got out, everyone except for George. Stuart walked around the car and opened the door for him.
“Leave me alone, Stu.”
“Do you want to go get dressed? I can take care of the seat.”
Although his words were meant to calm the boy down, they seemed to do the opposite. “I can do it myself!” George shouted. “Just leave me alone please! Go away!”
Stuart hesitated but turned and walked away anyway, leaving George a sobbing mess in the back of the car. When Stuart got in the room, Paul looked strangely at him.
“Where’s George? I thought he was with you.”
“He wanted to be left alone.” Paul started to walk out the door, but Stuart grabbed his wrist. “I suggest you let him be, yeah? He needs a minute.”
“Fine,” Paul mumbled. “But if he’s not in here soon, I’m going to get him.” For the next few minutes, none of them said anything, not even Pete, and George still hadn’t returned.
“Do you think one of us should just go check on him?” John suggested. “I mean, it’s the middle of the night, and we just left him out there.”
“I’ll go,” Paul said, and before Stuart could object to it, he was already out the door. It didn’t last long, because he ran back in not two seconds later. “He’s not out there…”
“What do you mean?” Stuart got up and ran to the door.
“You left him in the car, right?” Paul asked, and when they both checked, his seat was completely empty.
“Yes, I fucking left him in the car.” John and Pete then followed them outside.
“What happened?”
“He left,” Stu said. “Pete, come with me. John, Paul, go check around the back of the motel.”
John and Paul ran off, and Stuart and Pete started to search in all the stairwells until they found him curled up in the corner underneath one. They could both tell he was trying to be quiet, but his sniffles still sounded in plenty.
“George?” Stuart said softly, and the younger boy looked up, immediately coming face to face with Pete, eyes wide.
“Why’s he here?” He hid his face again.
“We didn’t know where you went,” Pete said. “We were worried.” George didn’t reply. “I’m sorry about what I said in the car. I was just being an arse.”
“You were right, though. It’s disgusting. It just… it never went away, and there’s nothing they could even do about it.” He started to cry even more. “I wish I could get rid of it. It always causes the worst situations.”
“Geo,” Stuart started, “I know it must be hard, but I just want you to know that it’s okay, yeah? I know that what Pete said was awful, and you don’t deserve to be laughed at for something that’s not even your fault.”
“You don’t have to just make me feel better. I really just want to be alone right now. I’ll clean the seat in a little bit.”
“You don’t have to. Look, why don’t you just come on inside, and nobody will bother you. I’m worried about you being out here alone.” George opened his mouth to talk, but Stuart didn’t let him. “It’s not just because you’re the youngest. Look, I understand that you’re not a kid, Geo, but it’s the middle of the night, okay?”
“Fine.” He stood up, cringing at how gross his pants felt stuck to his legs. Then he saw John and Paul running around the building, seeming to slow down when they saw George.
But he just rushed back to the room, not waiting for them to see him like this anymore. Nobody stopped him.
“I’m gonna clean up the car,” Stu said to the rest of them. “Just… none of you mess with him. Don’t talk to him unless he talks to you. He wants to be left alone.”
-
Stuart finished cleaning the seat and started inside, where George was sitting on his bed in the corner, refusing to turn around as he started at the wall. It was obvious that he was crying, but none of them said anything.
“... Stu?” came his soft voice a few seconds later, and Stuart walked over to his bed.
“You okay?”
“I’m sorry about your car.” Tears were spilling out of his eyes.
“Love, I told you not to worry about it, okay?” But George just curled in on himself, so Stuart hugged him, pulling him closer to himself. “Let’s just get to sleep, okay?”
Then George got up from the bed, eyes still bright red.
“Are you okay?” Stuart asked. George mumbled something of an affirmation, so Stu got up and went back to his own bed, and the guitarist left for the toilet.
“Stuart…” Paul said. “I’m sorry about all of this, too. He wouldn’t have been so embarrassed if I had just realised he was asleep, I could’ve--”
“No, it’s fine. He needs the sleep anyway. Besides, it’s all cleaned up now, and he’ll get over it. We just need to give him some time.” When George was back into the room, he immediately went over to Stuart’s bed.
“Could I share with you?” he said shyly, and when Stuart’s brows raised, he took a step back.
“If you want, of course.” A small smile appeared on George’s face, and he climbed into the other boy’s bed, his nappy crinkling as he did so.
“Thanks.” Stuart smiled at him.
“Yeah, no problem. Erm, goodnight, Geo.”
George mumbled something and closed his eyes. He could hear the other three snickering at them across the room, but at that moment, it didn’t seem to matter.