Work Text:
August 1972
George Harrison and Richard Starkey, were just two well liked business men from Liverpool. During their youth, in their Teddy boy phase, the two men sought out a career in rock and roll. Both were part of different bands and played locally and abroad. George almost made it big with a band called The Beatles, and Ringo Starr, as Richard was called back then, had mild success with a little band called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Both groups had long broken up and the once young lads grew up and took on more responsible careers. However George swore to the very present day, the Beatles would have made it big if John Lennon and Paul McCartney had just let Ringo join the band.
Still all was not lost. After The Beatles made a single album, it made it big and nothing else they did would catch on. Yet that didn’t matter anymore, George Harrison earned himself a nice chunk of change and invested it wisely. He met up with Richard after the band split and the two discovered they were more than friends. Taking his earnings from his short lived music career, the former Beatle began his own gardening business where he was the head gardener. Richie his beloved in secret of course, ran the business end of the business while George did what he loved, creating beautiful living art.
The pair shared a three bedroom flat in their home town and lived as lifelong bachelors. Both enjoyed the ladies too, so they kept regular girlfriends who they saw only on weekends. However five days a week they shared the same bed. They each kept one of the smaller rooms as their own and locked the master bedroom when guests were over.
Whenever a nosy lady would inquire about the locked room, the men simply stated they didn’t want to argue over who got the larger sleeping space, and agreed to rent the third for storage. Quite a practical answer, that no one questioned. That along with the frequent influx of women coming in and out of the pairs home every weekend, these men looked like responsible yet, heterosexual bachelors. No one knew that behind the door of the master suite, was a four post bed, in which the two slept in together almost every night. The dresser had some night clothes but mostly sex toys. Their regular clothing was kept in their smaller rooms for appearance sake. They didn’t mind and we’re happy with their arrangements.
Occasionally the queer pair would run into other members of their old bands, in which they were open about their lifestyle. Pete the drummer from George’s old group, who Harrison had once cruelly plotted to replace with his lover, went to engineering school and had a nice flat in London. Paul ended up marrying a fan named Myrtle and they had six children together. The former bassist worked as a high school teacher at the school he himself once attended. John unfortunately was another story. He took the loss of the band hard and his marriage fell apart. He was always locked up for some stupid reason, usually minor theft or drunken and disorderly conduct. The once sexy rock star was pretty much the stereotypical town drunk.
However George made a deal with his former manager Brian Epstein and became his main gardener. Through the wealthy connection Harrison was able to meet many wealthy people in England and his company expanded throughout the region. The two men had earned themselves an equal footing with the very manager that once represented Harrison, in the business class section. Mister Epstein figured out their relationship long ago and agreed it was a mistake not using Rich as the drummer, but oh well. The three were still good friends.
Life was good, until one evening the two secret lovers were out for a stroll, with their cocker spaniel Penny. The fur of the copper colored pooch would shine like the very coin in the lamplight hanging from a post at the street corner. It was a beautiful summers night and the pair intended, after they were done walking their dog together, to listen to their Elvis records while having a drink and calling it a night. A romantic night. Then suddenly out of nowhere a loud indescribable noise shot up from one end to the street to the other towards the two men and their little dog too. Blue flashes of light sparked the ground and a strange gray car appeared. Two lines of where the wheels of the vehicle were aligned, were lit aflame. It was a terrifying sight to the two men who hadn’t seen the movie Back to the Future. Mostly because the first of the trilogy won’t be filmed for another ten years.
The strange vehicle which they would come to learn was called the DeLorean, opened it’s doors in a futuristic pattern that impressed the men living in the seventies. Suddenly a young man climbed out of the strange car. He wore denim trousers and looked like he was wearing a life preserver on his chest like a vest.
“George Harrison?” the young man called to them. “Ringo Starr? “ he called again, referring to the respected business man by his old rock and roll name of the early sixties. Christ it was ten years already! Rather flattering for the thirty-two year-old.
“Who wants to know?” Mister Starkey demanded, holding up his cane that he didn’t need.
“Look Ringo, “ the young man spoke again. His accent was distinctly American.
“its Mister Starkey to you lad.” The older man stated.
“you stay where you are!” Mister Harrison backed up, along with the most threatening growl Penny could muster pulling at her leash.
“I’m sorry.” The stranger stuttered. “I know it’s going to sound strange, but I’m from the future.” That’s when the two British men began to laugh.
“did Brian put you up to this?” George asked finding this lad to be an obvious clown.
“jigs up Bri!” Richard called out, but no one came out drunk and laughing. Come to think of it, it was a work night and none of the Jewish workers under their employment requested a holiday off. So clearly this wasn’t from the fellow business owner.
“I don’t know Brian.” The lad said. “ My name is Marty McFly and I’m from the year 1985.”
“You’re pulling our leg.” Richard replied, as the pair turned to walk away.
“I swear to you I’m not!” The youth insisted.
“then you’re mad! “ George cried.
“wait!” said another voice. It was older, raspy and also distinctly American. Then an old white haired man popped out of the vehicle, looking like a mad scientist from a crazy movie. “I have something here to prove we are from the future.” He pulled out a strange rectangular box made of plastic, from the pocket of his white jacket, and tossed it towards the pair of English men. George caught the little item and the couple examined it.
The little box had a strange picture behind the clear plastic container. They recognize the face on the album though he looked very different. Ziggy Stardust, Davy Jones when the two Britain’s met him during their brief music career, was calling himself David Bowie on a mini album they haven't heard before called “Tonight.”
“What is this?” George asked.
“its too small to be an 8-track.” The man formally known as Ringo Starr observed.
“because it is a cassette tape.” The wild looking old man declared. “open it and hand me what’s inside.” He insisted. George obliged and reached his hand out to give the strange object to the even stranger man. In turn the old man handed the odd device to the youth who instantly brought it back to the car. Then suddenly music was playing. It was definitely the singer they now knew as Ziggy Stardust, singing a strange song neither man had ever heard before. They would not know until many years later that the song was called “Loving the Alien.”
“Incredible!” Harrison responded bedazzled. Not only did the car play music it was so clear and it didn’t skip. Then looking at the fine print through the plastic box they saw the year 1984. Okay, now the pair were inclined to believe the strange Americans and the crazy looking car.
“alright.” The drummer from Rory Storm and the Hurricane’s replied. “we believe you.”
“what do you want from us?” the former Beatle inquired.
“well here’s the deal.” Marty began. “you two need to come with us inside this car and go back to the year 1962 and convince John Lennon and Paul McCartney to allow Ringo Starr in the band.”
“You all will end up being millionaires!” the eccentric elder explained.
“if Ringo’s the drummer, what happens to Pete?” the Gardener wanted to know. He and Pete have become good friends over the years. The queer couple often stayed with old Pete and his wife Lorraine, whenever the pair traveled to London. The two men from the 1980s just shook their heads.
“You toss him to the curb.” The white haired man said bluntly.
“but in the end the Beatles become forever cemented in Rock and Roll history.” The younger man backed up.
“sounds great and all.” Mister Starkey admitted, but George wasn't sold so quickly or easily.
“what about Rich and me?” Harrison wanted to know.
“Well you go on being the lead guitarist of The Beatles throughout the entire ‘60s and Ringo is the drummer.” Mister McFly explained.
“I get that,” George stated but he knew he needed to clarify further. “but who am I and Richard here in a relationship with, when we are big rock and roll stars?”
“I can’t reveal their names,” the elder spoke up. “but I can tell you, you each marry beautiful women.”
“Yeah!” the young lad agreed. “all four of you do. In fact George Harrison, you marry a real model.” He gave the two former musicians a smile when the youth relayed this alternative storyline to their lives.
“So we’re not a couple?” George pressed, knowing he was going to surprise both men with revealing such an outrageous revelation. But fuck it! It was the 1970s now and they were already queer parades in America, at this point they might as well just come out of the closet. His lover Richard was on the same page.
“wait?” Marty cried in shock. “you two are a couple?” The youthful American stared at them in the way the two once feared, but now suddenly, they had that fear no more.
“yes we are!” Starr said proudly, then looking over the eccentric pair from another time he asked the same question his lover asked before.
“in this alternative time,” the petite blue eyed man began. “are we just married to women or are we also a couple?” the two Britain’s stood firmly on this issue.
“I honestly don’t know.” The younger man from the future confessed.
“then we’re not interested!” Harrison declared.
“yeah!” his lover Richard backed up. “no amount of fame or fortune could be better than the love we share!”
“I feel the exact same way love.” George agreed wrapping his arm around his partner’s side, who repeated the same act to him. The two strangers stood in shock as the two regular businessmen turn to walk away with their little dog Penny.
“but… !” the young man stuttered.
“Marty!” The pair could hear the old man say without turning their heads. “they made their choice, let them go.” Was the last thing George Harrison and Richard Starkey ever heard from either one of them again. The lovers returned home, broke the lock off their bedroom door and decided they were no longer going to hide their love any longer. The whole world could know, as far as they were concerned. The two men didn't need to be rich or famous, they were happy and in love! That’s all they felt they ever needed.
Meanwhile back on the street, was the strange car and the eccentric pair from the future, were at a loss of what to say or do. Seeing the two famous rock and roll stars disappear into the darkness, after learning that they refused to help aid the timeline, and that the two were a couple, was just unbelievable. Marty McFly and Doc Brown looked at one another dumbfoundedly, each rattling their brains to figure out what to do next.
“The future is ruined Doc!” Marty lamented while kicking a piece of rubbish across the pavement. “I guess we’re stuck in a future with the Monkeys as the world’s largest rock and roll band.”
“Don’t say that Marty!” the wild doctor cried. “there has to be a way to restore the Beatles in their rightful place in history!”
“Want to see if we could reason with the other two?” The younger man from 1985 inquired.
“couldn’t hurt.” The old man agreed and the two got back in their DeLorean and went on a search for John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
Fortunately for the rest of us, they found success!