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George approached Ringo from behind as soon as he saw him in the cafeteria, careful not to startle him. He knew the other boy always seemed to freak out at the smallest things, so when he tapped him on the shoulder, he did it with great care. Still, Ringo jumped.
“Hey, Rich, can I talk to you for a bit?” Ringo glanced over at the other people at his table, people George had met only a few times, and he only remembered one by name: Rory.
“Yeah, what’s up?” Ringo hadn’t made any effort to get up, so George nervously tapped his foot.
“Erm, could we talk out in the hall?” Of course, he had no intention of making Ringo uncomfortable, but he didn’t want to openly admit that he was having a party, and Ringo’s other friends weren’t invited.
“Oh, okay.” He stood up with a few crisps in his hand to make the journey. When they got to the hall, George began to pull Ringo’s invitation out of his back pocket, fumbling with the ones that still remained and dropping them all to the floor.
“Fuck.”
Ringo smiled softly, leaning down to help pick up the invitations, and as he did, he stopped to read one, slowly standing back up.
George saw the look of regret on his face immediately. “B-before you say no,” he started, knowing very well that Ringo always declined his invites to the pool. Especially when there would be more people there.
“George, I can’t swim! It really wouldn’t be fun for you to have me there and not even in the water.”
He sighed. “I guess if you really don’t want to, I can’t force you to come. That wouldn't make me a very good friend, would it?”
“You’re a lovely friend. I’m just not the kind of person you want at a pool party. Really.” Ringo politely handed him the invitation back. “Why don’t you go give it to somebody who might be a bit more fun?”
George wanted to protest. He knew Ringo would be fun regardless of whether he swam or not, but he also knew when he was being too pushy. “Hmm, alright.” He sulked back down the hall, and Ringo returned to the cafeteria.
-
A few days later, only John and Paul had said they’d come, and the long list of people that George had compiled as guests was chipped away. He should have done something else, like gone to the movies. Then, Ringo would come, and he could at least have the boy he liked the most with him.
He sat in class with a frown, and Ringo noticed his change in mood, scooting a chair over towards him after instruction.
“You don’t seem very happy today, love. What’s going on?” George shook his head. “Do you understand the notes? Because I can try to help you with them if you—“
“I really wish you’d come, Rich!” he blurted out, immediately groaning and hiding his embarrassed face behind his hands. “Sorry, it’s just that John and Paul are the only ones coming, and they’re gonna spend the whole time with each other, y’know. I’m gonna be the third wheel of my own birthday party.”
He moved his hands and looked up to see a conflicted Ringo looking him in the eyes,
“You wouldn’t even have to swim, Richie! I could sit outside the pool with you and we could just eat ice cream instead!” He huffed. “Please don’t let me pressure you into doing anything you don’t want to.”
“Will there be mint chip?” Ringo asked, and George hummed in confusion. “Mint chip ice cream. Is there gonna be any?”
“W-what? Sure, I don’t—“ He then smiled, and Ringo sighed.
“I’ll come, okay? But I won’t swim. You won’t be able to get me in that pool, yeah?”
George giggled. “Yeah! Yeah, of course! God, I’m so excited!!” He continued to giggle.
-
George watched the soda sizzle in his little plastic cup as John and Paul talked with each other, glancing at the clock again. Ringo was supposed to be here forty minutes ago. He shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up for something he knew probably wouldn’t happen.
“Let’s play a game,” Paul suggested upon looking at his friend. George only shrugged at his suggestion. “Come on, love, it’s your birthday. Cheer up a bit.”
“What’s wrong, anyway?” John asked.
“It’s nothing.” If he complained that Ringo wasn’t here, it would surely make the other two feel like shit.
“Yeah, right.” Paul rolled his eyes.
“Ringo’s supposed to be here, okay? He said he’d show up, so I’m just a little bit upset that he’s not here. But I’ve got you two here, so I’m sorry for not being appreciative of that.”
“Ringo Starkey?” John asked, and George nodded. “Time is it?”
“Like 2:15,” George replied. “I don’t see what that has to do with anything. He was supposed to be here at 1:30, so—“
“Love, he works Saturday mornings until two,” John muttered. “I usually work with him for a few hours, but I took off today.”
George glanced at the floor. “He didn’t tell me he had to work. Now I feel bad.”
“Let’s give him a few minutes. I’m sure he went home to change, and he’ll be here soon.” John gave George’s shoulder a gentle squeeze. “He’ll be here if he said he would, love, I’m sure of it.”
George blinked, and then there was a knock at the door. He smiled big and ran to open the door, finding a dishevelled Ringo in a Carl’s Jr uniform shirt, swinging around a bag in his hand. When George glanced down, he hid it behind his back.
“Hey!” George moved out of the way to let him in.
“Hey, I’m so sorry I’m late. I completely forgot to tell you I was working this morning. W-where do I put your gift?”
George felt something inside of him blossom when Ringo mentioned the fact that he’d actually put thought into getting him something as a gift. “Oh! Erm, the table’s fine. And do you need a swimsuit to wear? I could go get you one—“
“N-no, I’m not swimming. But I did bring some cooler clothes to wear so I don’t get too hot.” He shifted uncomfortably, starting on his way over to the table, then paused upon seeing the other gifts, wrapped up in pretty paper. “Mine’s not wrapped,” he admitted. “I got it this morning. I didn’t even think to wrap it. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, that’s alright! You can just keep it in yours for now if you’d like until we open them. D-do you want to get changed real quick so we can start heading down to the pool?”
Ringo nodded, holding tight onto his bag as he walked.
-
As soon as they all arrived, George unzipped the cooler and pulled out a quart of mint chip ice cream, setting it down on the pool chair he had claimed for himself.
“You actually got it!!” Ringo said happily. “I’m going to eat all of it, y’know! That was a big mistake!”
George rolled his eyes as Ringo set his bag down next to the cooler, resisting the urge to peek and see what Ringo’s gift was.
As the two of them got settled, John and Paul jumped into the pool, sending water up in the air and letting it come down to splash down on George and Ringo.
As soon as he saw his purple scales start to appear on his arm that got wet, Ringo began to panic, pulling a towel up over them to dry them off. But looking over at George, it was obvious that the younger boy had seen. He was just in too much shock to do anything about it.
When his arm was dry, he set the small hand towel down and smiled weakly at George.
“Christ,” George said in reply. “Christ, you’re… oh, fuck.”
“G-George, you can’t tell anybody. Please.”
“But you’re--”
“George--”
Then, John and Paul walked up behind them both and slung off of their shoulders, dripping water all over the both of them. George, though a bit irritated at Paul behind him for dripping the cold water on him, was more angry at John, dripping it all over a petrified Ringo, his skin turning into purple scales, and his heart beating so fast, he thought it would leap out of his chest.
As he felt his tail grow behind him, he was much too horrified to stand up and reach for a towel or something, so he only sat there until the body on his shoulders disappeared, and George hurriedly covered him.
Not two seconds later, though, Paul was screaming, and George picked up the thing closest to him and threw it at him.
“Paul, stop it!” John shouted, running over to him. “Shut up!”
“H-he’s going to eat me! John, he’s going to eat us!!”
“Love, stop! It’s just Ringo! He’s a vegetarian, for god’s sake!” John put a hand over Paul’s mouth even after he’d stopped screaming.
“God, Richie…” George muttered, holding the towel around him, hoping it would help change him back into human form rather soon. And it did, as Ringo turned right back into a human and looked over at what George had just thrown at Paul, seeing the bag he’d brought now sitting in a small puddle of pool water on the floor, and he covered his mouth to silence the tears that came next.
“I…” His voice choked up before he was able to finish his sentence, and he got up and ran off to the toilets. George glanced over at the bag, picking it up and seeing that inside was a book, now soaked, and upon further inspection, it was a book of Ray Charles tablatures. This must have been his present.
He started towards the same toilet Ringo had disappeared into, knocking gently at the one closed stall. “Richie? You okay?”
“No, of course I’m not, Geo. What kind of stupid question is that?” George mumbled an apology. “No, I’m sorry. Don’t apologise. I should be the one saying sorry for causing all of this.”
“You could have just told me, y’know. If I had known this was always the reason you never came to pool parties, I wouldn’t have kept inviting you. And I wouldn’t have pressured you into coming this time, too. And John and Paul never would have seen--”
“It’s not your fault.”
“It’s not yours, either! But seriously, why didn’t you just tell me the truth?”
“I can’t, George! You can’t just go around telling people things like that when you’re like me!”
“I’d like to think the world’s not that--”
“I can’t! W-when I was young…” Ringo took a deep breath. “George, when I was young, I lost my dad because of it. He was… he was killed, and… and so I can’t just go around telling people.”
“Oh, my god. I didn’t know. I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine. Look, I think I’m going to go home now.” He stepped out of the stall and glanced George up and down. “I do appreciate you inviting me.”
George nodded curtly at him, tapping his feet to cope with how close Ringo was right now. “Yeah, of course. And I won’t tell anyone, y’know. I’ll make sure John and Paul won’t, either.”
“Thank you.” He leaned forward, and before George was processing what was happening, Ringo’s lips were pressed up against his forehead. “I can’t tell you how much that means to me, George.”
“It’s nothing, love. Why don’t you get home, and I’ll go talk to John and Paul.” He ducked out of the toilets, and Ringo couldn’t help the relief he felt despite how terrible the situation had ended up.