𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐩//𝐌𝐜𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧//

Twenty five

Paul 

the arcade wasn't as full as they'd expected it to be, considering it being the summer holidays and all.  half of the arcade was inside, and the other half was out on the actual pier.  the two of them started by going inside, challenging each other on the different machines and completely gambling their money away. but both of them were extremely happy. a smile permanently glued to pauls face as he watched john concentrate on the multiple games, and getting frustrated when he couldn't do it. "oh it's a fix anyway," he'd say.  "oh don't be such a sore loser johnny," he'd tease back making him smile but try his best to hide it.  whenever they got to a booth like hook a duck or some nonsense, john would slyly drape his arm over pauls shoulder which paul had no objections with, he loved being so close to him. you see john had a theory that the elderly booth runners would let him win if they thought he was trying to get the prize for the boy he loved, they're soppy for the romance the old ens he reasoned.  they moved onto one of the last booths on the pier, which was ran by an elderly woman and what appeared to be her husband by her side.  as if on queue johns arm crawled around pauls shoulder, but paul decided for this last time he'd play along with his theory. John insisted the reason why no one would let them win was because paul wasn't playing along which just caused paul to roll his eyes playfully.  paul held his hand that was balanced over his shoulder with his hand and john smirked down onto him as he did this.  they walked up to the the stall and were greeted by the old woman asking how many tries they'd like to have. the stall they owned was one of those where they had to throw the balls at the tin cans and knock down as many as you could. john politely asked for four goes.  he threw the first one and missed, then the second and third and only managing to knock one tin down between all tries. paul decided this would be his chance to play his part in this little game.  "aw love you're so bad let me have a go," he said grabbing the bean bags out of his hands, "your aim is awful i'll show you how it's done."  he stepped directly in front of john and threw one and hit it perfectly in the middle knocking down four cans.  "see babe, sometimes i wonder if that pretty head of yours even has a brain," paul put on a huge smile and kissed the bottom of johns jaw.  "oh look at them aren't they lovely?" they heard the old woman speak from behind the counter, both of their heads looked onto her as they smiled embarrassedly as this was the first time johns scheme had actually worked, "what are your names love?" she called out making john and paul walk over to her.  "i'm paul, and this is my boyfriend john," paul said in reply.  "lovely to meet you, i'm doris and that's my husband clive," she smiled fondly at the older man who was setting up the cans that paul had just knocked over.  "nice to meet you too, you have a great stall here," john said politely.  "thank you dear, it's not often you come across nice young people nowadays is it clive?" she laughed to her husband who chuckled out in response obviously listening to the conversation. "it's nice to talk to some polite ones for once. you two make quite the pair don't you?"  "thank you miss," paul replied leaning his head on johns shoulder, "he's quite the catch," paul looked up at john who was already smiling down on him. paul winked at him.  "oh come off it paulie, i'm the lucky one here," john placed a kiss on his forehead which made the older woman swoon and say,  "oh go on you two, i won't waste any more of your time, look after each other and you might end up like us two in the future," she looked lovingly at her husband who came over and kissed her head fondly.   "it was lovely meeting you doris and clive, we hope to see you soon," paul replied as john also said goodbye and they walked off still hand in hand.  "so your theory isn't quite true now is it," paul said smirking as they reached the far end of the pier which had railings which overlooked the harbour.  "well it's half true, i mean they took an interest in us nevertheless thinking we were a couple," he laughed back. Paul nodded in agreement, "and you put on quite the show for them didn't you babe," john smirked looking down at him.  "well it was the last stall why not give you the satisfaction of playing along," he smiled toothily along knowing he played along because he wanted to act like that with him and the theory was the perfect excuse to do so.  they both stared at each other for a moment, john moved a wispy piece of his hair that fell above his eye, out of his face and put his hand on pauls cheek. Paul leaned into it loving the thrill he got whenever he touched her.  "oh goodness paul-McCartney what are you doing to me?" he asked the rhetorical question as paul continued to just stare at him.  disrupting the moment the two of them were having a loud roll of thunder rung out from the sky.  "what the hell?" Paul spoke as it started to heavily rain on the pair who were most definitely not dressed suitable for the weather.  "ah shit come on, let's go before it gets to rough," john said as he grabbed his hand and pulled him through the mounds of people who were also trying to leave. John stole an abandoned newspaper on one of the outdoor cafe benches and opened it up to cover their heads as best they could before they reached pauls car. they both couldn't of gotten into the car quicker, laughing at the sight of themselves. Pauls teeth chattered as he started his car. john internally wished he'd brought his jacket so he could give it to him. instead he suggested they both go back to mimi's house as it was closer to the pier than pauls apartment. the time was getting onto ten past five when they pulled up outside and the weather had worsened terribly.  they both ran to the front door as john unlocked it and pulled paul in. mimi wasn't in, but john knew that as she'd gone to janices for a while, due to the weather he knew she probably wouldn't come back until it had all cleared up, but he telephoned her anyway to let her know that they were there - and she confirmed johns thoughts that she would stay at janices for the night if it didn't clear up before ten.  john put the fire on in the living room and gave paul a towel to dry off, "i can give you something to wear if you'd like me to put your clothes on the radiator for a while?" he asked. Paul agreed thanking him, he gave him a dark blue sweatshirt and some of his cotton shorts which came to below his knees. he took off his clothes in his bathroom and pulled the sweatshirt over his head, it was quite the lot bigger than his small frame, but he liked how it felt on him. it smelt of john which he loved. He took his hair out to let it dry as much as he could-it was a frizzy mess to say the least.  he walked out of the bathroom and walked into john who was stood in the kitchen making them a hot drink.  "uh thank you for this," he smiled indicating to his clothing.  John turned around to look at him and his eyes shamelessly checked paul out, the way he wore his clothes made his voice get caught in his throat. Paul cleared his throat and said, "where should i put this?" he took his clothes off him and draped it over the radiator in the hallway. Paul pulled the sleeves of the sweatshirt over his hands as he walked back into his living room to sit in front of the fire. john followed shortly behind with their teas. he passed paul his drink and then sat down in front of him. they both drank mostly in silence wanting to warm up.  when they were finished john placed the empty cups on the coffee table and resumed his seating in front of paul. Paul was on his knees and played with the hem of the sweater. he looked almost nervous. john stared at him. He could feel johns eyes burning into him so as an instant response he looked at him and covered his face with his hands and said, "stop staring at me."  john grinned at him and grabbed his hands from his face, "how do you manage to look so beautiful even after running through torrential rain?"  "i look horrible, my hairs all frizzy and it makes me look ridiculous," paul diverted his eyes to anywhere but at john.  "you're so silly paul. i don't really think you understand just how beautiful you are," he grabbed pauls chin to make him look at him, paul stared at him with a red tint rising on his cheeks.  "goodness john, what are you doing to me?"  Paul reiterated the words that john spoken to him on the pier.
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They're getting even more cuter🥰