╲⠀╲⠀╲ ╲
⠀⠀╲⠀╲⠀☆⠀ ╲⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
⠀☆⠀╲⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ★
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april 1859
"It's the day. It's the day. The day. Is here.."
Paul incessantly paced back and forth in the lounge room, hands fidgeting behind his back, mumbling under his breath, doing his best to blink away the exhaustion clinging to his eyelids.
He hadn't slept a wink the night before, tossing and turning on his mattress in nervousness and excitement into the wee hours of the morning. It must have been 5 or so in the morning when he finally succumbed to the depths of sleep - the result of that being Paul sleeping late into the day, (2pm if you want to be exact) Jim annoyed at him as he had tried to wake the boy up - but it seemed the boy's brain had been determined to continue sleeping.
The day was crawling by with as much slowness as a bloody snail, Paul having no idea what exact time John was expected to arrive, and whether he would be able to escape Mimi's clutches at all before the night fell. So, he did his best to fill up the time with eating a long brunch, working out with the crops on the farm and feeding the sheep, the like. He didn't have to do work at the wood chopper's that day, thank god.
But Paul didn't know if he could wait that much longer; he was ready to just up and run to John's gigantic manor and wait for him outside so he could kiss him until his lips went numb as soon as he got off the carriage. He felt a little bit like a housewife waiting for her husband to come home from a business trip or something. The thought made him chuckle.
The sun was sinking down below the horizon at that point, the sky turning into a deep honey. His father and brother had tried to pry the reasoning for his skittishness out of him, but he hadn't budged, saying he just hadn't got much sleep that night and was feeling weird. He had even caught Jane staring at him pacing and muttering from the bottom of the stairs, which led up to the Asher's part of the house, but she had just blushed furiously and hurried out of sight. Flopping onto the couch, Paul let out a sigh and rubbed at his aching forehead harshly before tapping his fingers against his knee impatiently. When the hell is he gonna come? How do I know when he's gonna be here? He groaned, resting his head in his hands before standing up, itching to just sprint for a few kilometres or smash his head with a pot or something stupid like that.
What he decided on was to leave the house and make his way into the forest, hopping over the fence with ease, following the beaten path down to his secret spot. Well, not so secret anymore, as John knew about it. Not that he minded, though. He could envision many wonderful days spent with his boyfriend here in the future. It was pleasantly warm, and he relished being able to wear just a shirt with rolled up sleeves and some trousers, not bothering with anything else. It was so soothing to feel the cool grass under his bare feet - once he made it to his spot, he settled into the dip and reached under the exposed roots of the tree to find the box. The key he had hidden in one of the exposed roots, a perfectly-shaped little hole having been created long ago by some bug. Slipping out the rusted key, he slipped it into the lock and opened it up.
Everything was still there, thankfully. He looked through some of the pictures with a fond grin, rummaging through the items. But suddenly there was a crawling feeling on his finger; a little beetle was scrambling his way up his finger, and his gaze softened, putting down the box to look at the creature more attentively.
It seemed to stop at his knuckle, its antennae's feeling around curiously before crawling up onto his palm.
"Hi, little creature." Paul whispered as he held it up to look at it closer, grinning down at it. It almost looked like it was peering back at him, one of its antennae's brushing the tip of his nose. He scrunched it up involuntarily at the feeling and chuckled a little. It continued feel around on his hand, crawling up and around his fingers as if it was exploring.
"I'm gonna name ye George Jr. After me friend. 'cause yer a snoopin' little cheek jus' like 'im."
"Good name there, Macca."
"Huh?" Paul looked up in shock at the familiar voice, heart stopping all of a sudden, eyes wide. Was it the person he'd been waiting for for days?
John smiled warmly, still wearing overly expensive attire, auburn hair - turned to a fiery red in the fading light - ruffled and unkempt, probably from running all the way there; shining eyes dancing with joy, lips pulled in a wide grin. So it turned out yes, it was.
"H-how long 'ave ye been standin' there?" Paul asked incredulously, letting George Jr run off into the grass before standing up abruptly, staring in absolute awe at his really really fucking beautiful boyfriend.
"Since ye said 'hi little creature.'" John shrugged nonchalantly, shoving his hands in his pockets, but Paul could see his suppressed grin, eyes sparkling with a lovesick look; knowing that he was itching to move closer to him.
After a few seconds of tense silence between them, the only sounds being the breeze rustling the trees, a blackbird flying past next to them with a chirp, leaving a jet black feather at their feet, as if it somehow knew; Paul couldn't take it anymore.
"C'mere, ye bastard." He held out his arms, beginning closing the space between them - but John was faster. Within a second they were both on the ground, Paul sandwiched between the ground and John, only one of them was smothering him in kisses. Letting out a loud laugh, he wrapped his arms and legs around his boyfriend and connected their lips deeply, tilting their heads to avoid their noses bumping - but they weren't very successful in holding it for very long due to them both breaking out in fits of laughter and grins. Paul threw his head back as John presses kisses to his throat, which was vibrating with his laughter, bunching the older's coat up in a strong grip.
"Oh my god - I missed you-" John breathed out between kisses, connecting their lips again hastily, desperate for contact after their few days apart.
"Fuck, I missed you more-" Paul grinned up at him before letting out incredulous laughter, gripping onto the sides of John's face. He then proceeded to press kisses to every part of his face; his chin, cheeks, nose, ears, eyebrows, eyelids, forehead, jaw, hair, everywhere he could reach. John's glasses were slowly slipping off his nose, cheeks flushed and lips slicked red, body shaking in laughter.
Paul's breath caught in his throat as he stared, eyes wide, grip slipping at the foreign feeling that was rising in his chest, so strong it almost choked him. How could one person behold such beauty?
"Take a picture. It'll last longer." John smirked playfully.
"I would, but I don't 'ave a camera.." Paul giggled again, feeling like a schoolgirl with a crush on the boy that never talked to her before in his life in her class. Except Paul was a guy, and John was his boyfriend. And also a prince.
"Well, that's a good birthday present fer ye to add to me list..." John pretended to trail off, as if he was saying it half to himself, but he sneaked an excited look Paul's way.
"Whaaat?? Don't spoil yer present fer me, git!" He whacked the other boy on the shoulder with an indignant glare. Which didn't look very intimidating, as he was still struggling to hold back his grinning laughter.
"Wasn't! Don't worry, the rest is...secret." There was a certain look in John's eyes, a sneaky hand travelling up Paul's thigh and squeezing it with a smirk - in response Paul flipped them over, stray leaves and twigs stuck on the back of his shirt and hair, gaze darkening as he leant down to nip at John's jawline, hot breath billowing against his ear. The prince shivered involuntarily, cheeks flushing and blood beginning to rush to his nether regions. Woah.
"Gonna give me a birthday blowjob, eh, Johnny?" Paul took John's earlobe into his teeth, and John would have found it incredibly hot except for the fact that he had used the phrase "birthday blowjob".
A childish snort escaped his lips and he quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, grinning sheepishly up at his boyfriend, who was beginning to suppress laughter himself at what he said.
"S-sorry, that sounded really funny-"
"Shut up! 'm tryin' to seduce ye here." Paul huffed in annoyance, whacking his chest halfheartedly as he straightened, resting on John's lower stomach and crossing his arms.
"Well, it's workin'..." John blinked up at him innocently, eyelashes fluttering, hands coming to rest on the doe-eyed boy's hips.
"Good.." The boy smirked before moving to connect their lips in a firm, heated kiss.
Later that night, the couple laid on the top floor of the barn; various blankets and a thin mattress laid out with a singular pillow below them. They were cuddled up tightly with their limbs tangled together, one of them snoring away peacefully, head resting on a bare chest, auburn tussled hair tickling Paul's neck.
The doe-eyed boy was wide awake, lying there underneath the thin blankets as he clutched tighter on John's bare, sweaty back after a good ol' sesh of rendezvousing.
Even though he expected to feel perfectly content after the time spent with his boyfriend, Paul couldn't help but still let the thoughts lurking in the back of his mind begin to crawl to the forefront and begin to spread all across his body like a horrible virus.
For example, the arranged marriage thing came up in his mind that Jane mentioned. The thought of him getting married was quite terrifying, actually. He didn't even like Jane. She annoyed him a bit with her clinginess, though she had a good heart through it all. It used to not annoy him when he had a crush on her, but since Certain Things got in the way (cue loving glance towards John) it faded and she began to get on every single nerve in Paul's body. He kind of knew how John felt now. Except John genuinely liked Cynthia and they stayed friends after the prince breaking it off with her anyway.
Paul was sure that Cynthia was a lovely girl. But he was still skeptical about meeting her; he felt like if John just so much as looked at her he would fall for her again. He knew that John did like her at some point. He could see it when he talked about her, this certain look in his eyes; the softening of his expression, small sentimental smile. Ringo and George had mentioned previously that his boyfriend had been quite smitten for her. He had the same look whenever he talked of Stuart, too. And this other dude - Eppy or something? Paul couldn't remember the name - he was talked about with the same look. It made his heart sink to think about John's precious partners, but he couldn't talk anyway. He was smitten for Jane himself at one point. He tried to shake the feelings off, though. He should trust John, he had said himself that he liked Paul and only Paul. He has to believe what he says or else a wedge could come between them; the younger simply had to trust him and know that John wouldn't go back to his old lover, even if they were going to get married in less than a year.
Looking down at his boyfriend's sleeping figure, he let out a soft sigh and buried his head in his hair, breathing in the scent of tobacco and mint and letting his eyes flutter close. John was all that mattered at that moment. He would do his best to get rid of the thoughts that plagued his mind and just enjoy their time together as much as they could.
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"Hey, babe, wake up.."
John spoke in a gentle voice to coax his boyfriend from his slumber and to the waking world, resting a hand on his cheek and caressing a thumb against his ear. He was already dressed and ready to leave, deciding not to wake Paul - who looked very deep in his sleep and not looking like someone who wanted to be woken up yet - until the last moment to tell him he was going.
The sun was breaking through the barrier of the horizon and spreading light across the sleeping city of Liverpool at that moment, the reasoning for the prince being up so early being that the prince was supposed to begin more wedding plans; it was really getting real now, and he knew the rest of the year was going to be extremely taxing and chaotic, juggling his own wedding plans, prince duties, Paul, his friends, keeping up a facade, etc all at once. But, if he was able to spend time with Paul, that would be enough to keep him going.
"Mmh..." Speaking of, a certain dark-haired boy was beginning to wake, sticky eyelids peeling open and staring at John in blurry confusion. "S'wha.."
"Welcome to the world, son. It's a boy!" John
joked with a chuckle, leaning his head on the younger's chest and smiling warmly up at him, probably looking like a cheesy lovesick idiot; but honestly he didn't care.
Paul giggled, lazy smile creeping across his face as he leaned forward to connect their lips, much more awake now. The morning breath wasn't so great on either of them, but kissing was more important than that.
"Hi, love." His voice was husky and deep with sleep, the sound vibrating in Paul's chest and through John's head like an electrical current. I could literally wake up to that every day from now on, the prince thought to himself as he caught his bottom lip between his teeth.
"Hi. Yer cute." The words slipped from his mouth before he could stop himself and he felt his cheeks flush, gaze darting to stare at the ends of Paul's hair that were sticking up. "Sorry-"
"Shut up. Yer cuter." Paul grinned - ever so cutely, he could never not grin cutely - even wider and purposely bumped their noses together before connecting their lips briefly again. "What's got ye up this early? 'm usually the first one to wake up."
"Oh, yeah." John completely forgot about the reason he was awake and dressed and not still wrapped up in the younger's enticing embrace due to being all wrapped up in said person's adorableness. "I- 'ave ta go back 'ome, a lot of stuff is planned today. The next few weeks too fer tha' matter."
"Ah. Okay," Paul paused before sighing despondently and nodding, toying with John's hair and smoothing it out a little as it still looked like sex hair. "tha's fine. See ye tonight? Or tomorrow at least?"
"Yeah, 'course. Not durin' the day fer this week, unfortunately... won't be able ta get away. But I'll do me best to come every night, is that okay?" He locked eyes with Paul with a small smile before pecking his lips again, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers.
"Good. I'll be waitin'." Paul smirked small, watching as John slowly stood up before he pulled Paul up with him and into a hug, burying his head in the crook of his bare neck.
"I won't disappoint. See ye tonight, love." John pulled away and smiled at his boyfriend, kissing him one last time before making his way down the ladder and out of the barn, which had basically become their haven away from society since they started dating.
Coming out into the light, John saw a tall, thin man out in the cotton fields, large brimmed hat protecting him from the sun as he went around watering them. It must be Jim!
Freezing in terror, John stood there for a few seconds, trying make the best decision to avoid being spotted within the few seconds before dashing madly straight for the chicken pens, going to hide behind it. Once he was there, he peered around the corner to see if there was any reaction. None. So, he spotted the forest to the south of the house and went straight for it, sprinting as fast as he could before disappearing into the trees. Once he did so, he sighed with relief, knowing he was in the clear before going off out of the forest and to the streets; making his way back home, hands shoved in pockets and coat collar turned up to hide his face from recognition.
Speeding quickly home to avoid any spotting or interaction, he finally made it, going around the side gate as usual so the guards wouldn't dob on the prince having been out all night and coming back at dawn. He wondered - were they even allowed to sleep, or did they just have to stand out there all damn day? Or were there shifts or something? He couldn't tell, they all looked the same with the uniform.
Waiting for him at the manor was, of course, his auntie and his fiancé, one looking impatient and the other bored but happy to have someone to talk to other than the queen of Liverpool.
He greeted them with a somewhat comprehensible grunt, knowing it would piss Mimi the fuck off - and it did, obviously.
"Do not greet people like that, John. We are not pigs." She scoffed before beginning to walk along, not gesturing for either of the to be married couple to follow; but they knew better than not to anyway. "There a lot of people here for the wedding plans, John. Be on good behaviour or else."
He looked out the front windows to see that there were many carriages parked in the front gardens, and as they walked into the largely empty ballroom (it was being used for the displays as it was the biggest area in the manor), showing that there was a bunch of people already there with displays of clothing, tables, veils, wedding archways, cakes, orchestras - pretty much everything that was needed for a gigantic, expensive, unnecessary, unwanted royal wedding. He stared at everything in almost horror at how much there was; and that that was probably only 20% of it.
"Let's begin on the archways, shall we?" Mimi clapped her gloved hands together, looking about as delighted as John had probably ever seen her in his life - which wasn't saying much, as it was almost identical to her normal grumpy expression.
So, over the next few days, it was all wedding plans for John. They picked out a few archways for optional ones to have; then went to a bunch of the 'finest' churches and checked them out before picking one to have it in; he was measured so they could start making up a suit for him; flower arrangements they were to have at the church were picked.
Even though that was really not that much in the long run, it was a lot within the span of a few days.
John had managed to visit Paul every night, one of the nights the younger coming to John's and staying there, both cuddled up together in the middle of the prince's gigantic bed. Even though it was a bit frustrating they couldn't be together during the daytime, especially after being apart for a few days, they managed. Seeing each other at all was better than nothing.
Now it was nearing the end of the week, and one of the days John managed to cut short for himself as Cynthia was getting measured to get a dress made and he didn't have to be there. So he had organised a late afternoon outing with George, Ringo and Paul.
"Johnson Lennon! Good ta see ye, mate." Ringo pulled him into a tight hug with a booming laugh, John hugging back just as tightly with a grin. It was always lovely to see Ringo; his cheerfulness and overall agreeable personality always brightened up the prince's day.
"Me full name's not Johnson, y'know." John chuckled as they parted. The four of them had met up in a main street in one of the busier streets in the city, the auburn-haired boy all dressed up in a disguise again to avoid detection. Ringo, George and Paul had all come together at the same time.
"What is yer full name then?" George queried before pulling John into a hug of his own. After he had hugged them all (a little too lingering for Paul and Ringo had to cough loudly to remind them they were in public) they began to walk down the street at a slow pace, just enjoying the view.
"I dunno. There is no full version to John, is there? It's just just 'John.'" He shrugged nonchalantly, hands in coat pockets.
"Johnson, though. That must be it?" Paul looked genuinely curious.
"Nah. Never been called Johnson in me life."
"Must be just you then." Ringo quipped with a grin.
"Who cares? 'm never gonna stop callin' ' im Johnson Winston Lenson from now on. 's just too good of an opportunity ta pass up." George Grinned Evilly For The Thousandth Time.
"Ta, thanks, Geo. Really 'preciate it." John just raised an eyebrow, but couldn't help but grin.
"Guys, pack it, would ya? 'm hungry, let's go to th' chippy." Paul pointed to the chip shop with a sparkle in his eyes before making a mad dash for it.
John stood still and watched for a few seconds with a yearning in his chest. Wow, Paul is fucking cute.
"Oi! Stop eyefuckin' yer boyfriend an' get yer butt in 'ere!" Ringo called from the entrance to the shop. The three had already gotten inside during the time John was standing there motionlessly, gaze locked on the spot Paul was in 10 seconds ago; he had caught a few looks from the passersby and it prompted him to quickly run after them inside the chippery.
After all of them got inside, they made their way through the tables and crowd to the front cashier desk. It was a modest place; not very big with only a few tables and bar-style tables up against the windows and walls, mainly made of dark wood. It was mostly a take-away place so most costumers would just order their food, take and leave to go sit at the docks and eat or something. The kitchen was visible from the cashiers, the chips being cooked on pans in deep oil on stoves. The store had a cosy and friendly atmosphere, loud laughter and chatter combined with the sizzle of hot oil making a perfect cacophony of sounds in the prince's ears, sounding almost like music.
"Hey, can we get four small chip packs please? And a chip butty, two Negus's, [a/n; georgian era drink made of wine, hot water, lemon, sugar, and nutmeg] an'..." Ringo trailed off to look at Paul and John, basically asking what they want for drinks.
"Oh, Negus fer me too." Paul spoke with a polite nod.
"Curacoa [a/n; drink made of clarified spirits and orange and sugar] fer me." John added.
"Okay, tha's 20 shillin's." The cashier smiled at them, and John went to fish money from his pocket that he had brought for this occasion, insisting on being the one to pay despite his friend's protests (they were secretly relieved, though.)
"Let's jus' 'ang 'ere then continue walkin'." George leant against the counter, and the rest of the group all gathered around him to wait.
"I actually don't think I've ever been to a chip shop.." John crossed his arms as he looked around the place in awe.
"What?" Paul's eyebrows raised almost off his head in shock. "Never been to a chip shop? Are ye mad?"
"Wha'? Not exactly me fault," John furrowed his eyebrows but chuckled anyway. "I mean, George or Rings coulda taken me to one, but they never did..." He glared at them accusingly, albeit playfully.
"Hey! Don't blame us, man!" Ringo and George raised their hands in defence, the youngest of the group grinning cheekily as he spoke. "We never knew ye hadn't been to a chippy either."
"Well, ye've both known me fer a while. How could ye not at least guess that I 'aven't?"
"I dunno! Wha'ever. Yer 'ere now, innit? Enjoy yer first chippy trip!" George shrugged before smirking.
"Speakin' of chippy, 's here." Ringo piped up as he saw the cashier coming back with their chips and drinks to hand to them. Taking them with a thank you, the four began to leave, munching away happily on their chips.
"Yum, I love these!" John exclaimed with childlike wonder, and Paul watched him with a little giggle, holding up another chip to feed him. John shyly smiled and basically made heart eyes at his boyfriend and let him have a sip of his drink.
"Eww, stop bein' so lovey dovey!" George made a fake gagging noise as him and Ringo booed them jokingly, throwing chips at the couple, who turned to glare at them and stick their tongues out.
"I would say stop wastin' yer chips as ammo is more important, don't ye think?" John popped another in his mouth.
"Hey, their loss, right?" Paul pretended to cheekily whisper to him, both giggling like schoolboys and beginning to stage whisper "george is an evil git" and "ringo is an idiot" and "let's steal their chips when they're not looking and run away".
It was a good night.
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author's note.
_____________
yooo! sorry for the delay aaag
writers block is an absolute
bi t t chhhhh anyWaYs aAA
hope u enjoy this!! a little fluff
for yal (: not much else to say
except hope yal enjoyed and
i love u all so much fr !!!!!!
byeee <3333