Unfinished Business

Summer of Love (Starrison + Maureen and Olivia)

Okay, but, like...

Hippie George protesting in the Summer of Love, nearly getting caught by the police, booking it across the street for his fuckin life and jumping into the running motorcycle of a bored-looking Teddy Boy yelling for him to 'DRIVE! FUCKING DRIVE!'...

Which results in Present Day Starrison telling their grandchildren the silly yet hilarious story of how they met.

Yes, based upon that one Tumblr text post because that thing has Big Beatles Energy.

I don't actually see George as a rioter, he was probably protesting peacefully and then shit got outta hand... Probably by John's doing, whom I can actually see both protesting (as he did IRL) and starting a goddamned riot in the midst of it (because this is an AU where they're the dumb teens in the late 60s, not early 60s). Paul's probably hiding away at some corner, pretending he doesn't know either of them.

Ringo was just trying to make it through the traffic on his way to home from work or a gig, just fucken tired and sleepy and in need of maybe a joint. And then something hits him on the back and he has a (rather handsome) flowerchild viciously screaming at him to drive for Krishna's sake before they get caught, and his world gets turned upside down.

I imagine there's this big chase like in action movies, all badass and cool, someone's fruit stand definitely gets destroyed in the process, but being real I think Ringo would just do a couple rounds about the city and it'd be done, the police would be too busy containing the rest of the protest to truly chase after them (I picture John with, like, torches on either hand setting shit on fire, but I don't actually think it'd go that far. More like he gets handcuffed and tossed to a cell in less than 20 minutes and while Geo and Ringo have their drive Paul has to go bail him).

Anyways after stuff calms down a little, Ringo actually gets the chance to ask George his name and where he's heading to. And Geo probably answers with something deep and poetic like 'to the grave, just as we all are', and Ringo's like 'Okay do I drop you off at the cemetery then?' and George actually finds that super hilarious, laughs with a dorky snort and gives him his address. When they get to his house Geo pecks him at the cheek, says his goodbyes and jumps off the bike, but Ringo stops him and asks for his number at least. So George tells him to come inside so he can write it for him, and that's the beginning of a beautiful, secretive, crazy relationship.

(Long story short they get high and fuck. Multiple times. There's also wholesome stuff like playing music together and doing gardening and George teaching Ringo to play the guitar and Ringo cooking for George those indian dishes he likes so much, but practically all of that has to happen where nobody can see them because while homosexuality was decriminalized in England in 1969, it was still illegal to be gay in public. Yeah, rubbish, I know. I actually don't know when that was decriminalized, if it was, but same-sex marriage became a thing in 2014. So yeah, Geo and Ringo went some good 50 years or so just being boyfriends before anything else could go. I think they'd have a rather open relationship because hippies, open enough that they have children from women they slept with while still being together and they raise those kids in community. So yeah, they're actually grandparents before they're able to get married. Gear.)

Fun yet unnecessary afterthought:

After George gets Ringo into the whole Social Justice scene, they do protest together a lot of times. John and Paul also tag along, John mellows overtime and Paul gets worse.

Point being: Eventually, at some point, the four of them get arrested at once in a protest for gay rights, and are seriously freaking out because 'oh shit who'll bail us now?'.

Paul immediately thinks of Brian, their neighbour whom oh so kindly looks after them from time to time because he acknowledges they're human disasters and decided they needed a father figure.