All alone at the breakfast table, George nabbed tons of food and crammed it all into his mouth. The more he ate the more his belly swelled, and when he was done his belly poked out from under his now-raised shirt. Touching his face, he realised his cheeks had filled out too. "Now I'd better go to the bathroom and see how much I've gained."

Away he went, smiling at the thought that his actions would take the heat off John.

Getting the weighing scale out of the bathroom cupboard, he stood on it and watched the needle whizz eastwards. He let a low whistle escape his lips - he was almost twice his usual weight now.

Patting his round belly in delight, George got off the scale and got some measuring tape to see how large his waistline was now. "Whoa! My big, fat waist should definitely get people to move their attention from John to me."

Then he went out of the bathroom and waddled to his room to change.

Meanwhile, something very different was going on in another room.

"You have to apologise, Paul." Ringo insisted. "You know how John is about his weight."

"It's time for him to get over that." Paul replied, completely unruffled. He sat on the sofa, watching the television. "After all, he's a famous bloke now. I'm not going to feed his ego by apologising for something that was intended as a joke."

Ringo was silent for a moment. Then he said, "Was it? Was it intended as a joke? Or are you just jealous?"

Paul snorted his opinion of that question. "Why would I be jealous of a guy with that physique?"

"Well, you're not the most fit person in the world either."

Then Paul grunted in response. "Fine, I'll tell him I'm sorry - but only to get you off my back."

Ringo smiled. "At least you'll do it."

With ill grace, Paul thought, making a face. I mean, come on. Look at how famous he is - why the devil should he give a damn about anything I say? He's obviously doing it for attention.

Yet, no matter what thoughts flitted through his head, Paul never went back on his word. He walked off to John's hotel room to find him and apologise.

"Paul?" George emerged from John's room.

Paul blinked. "What happened to you?" he asked, his eyes on the other's figure.

"Um...it's nothing, really." the other Beatle replied, dismissively. "John adjusted my clothes a bit - they were getting too small on me."

"You're telling me that! You look even bigger than him now." Shaking his head slowly at the spectacle, Paul pointed to the door. "Is John in there?"

"Yep - sitting on his bed. Are you going to apologise for what you did last night?"

"Yeah." Paul replied. "I guess it was a dick move. But didn't you feel left out when John got all the attention?"

"Left out?" George's eyebrows rose. "We're bloody famous. Why should any of us feel left out?" He suddenly gave the other Beatle a hard look. "You are jealous, aren't you?"

Paul scowled, admitting nothing. "He needn't rub his success in our faces as much as he does."

"That's a lie  - John would never do that."

"My, my! Someone's very protective of Johnny boy all of a sudden."

George's cheekbones flared with colour. "He's me mate, isn't he? Mates stick up for each other."

The inflection in his voice wasn't lost on Paul. "I am supporting him."

"You've a funny way of showing it." the other Beatle muttered, as he walked down the hall towards his own room.

 I don't know why Paul's being such a bully. We didn't say anything bad when he went to judge other singers on some show, George thought. He's jealous of John. I'll have to find some way to help Paul as well.

"George?"

Turning around, George saw Brian approach him with a confused look on his face. "Why were you and Paul arguing?"

"It's about last night - Paul's still being rude about John. I think he's jealous that John now has two bestsellers."

"I see. I might talk with him later." Brian replied, then noticed George's newfound weight. "George?"

"What?" George frowned. Brian's eyes had widened to almost comic proportions.

"What happened to you?"

"What...happened?" He followed Brian's gaze to his middle. Then the penny dropped. "Oh - this. I decided to binge. Y'know, to cheer John up."

For a minute, the other man was silent. Then, "That's so sweet of you. I never would have thought of doing that for poor John."

"Well, I hope it works." George replied. "He didn't sound so enthusiastic about it when I spoke to him earlier. He thought I was having him on."

"Poor John." Brian sighed. "It's horrible seeing him so depressed."

"He's really sensitive about his weight, Brian." George added. "He told me that he was always made fun of because he was a chubby boy when he was younger. I hope he doesn't try starving himself - I don't want anything to happen to him."

"Neither do I. I hope your plan works - John needs us to be there for him."

Meanwhile, in John's room, the Beatle was lying on his bed. 'Fat Beatle' was playing in his head like a broken record. "I'm just a fatty. Even my own bandmates think so." Trying to bite back tears, John turned over and covered his face with his pillow. "It needs to end. I don't want to be remembered as the Fat Beatle. Fat and a crybaby."

Looking into the mirror on the opposite side of the wall, John sighed as he saw his reflection. George has been acting off. He...he said he couldn't leave me in the bathroom hurting. Then he gets some pudge. Is there something going on with him that I don't know about? It could be just him making fun of my fat. Or does he have some kind of plan going on? No...that's just stupid.

Hearing a knock on his bedroom door, his eyes narrowed. "Who is it?" If it's another bloody reporter sneaking around, I'll...

"It's me." came a very familiar voice. "Paul." it added, as an afterthought. "I've come to apologise."

John's face twisted into a frown. He wasn't one for holding grudges, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to forgive all ills just yet. "This isn't a brilliant time, Paul." You really hurt me. That was on the tip of his tongue and he just couldn't voice it.

"It's as good a time as any."

John sighed. Damn Macca's persistence. "I'm really not feeling too good."

"And how is holding a grudge going to make you feel better?"

The guy had a point. "All right." John replied. "You can come in."

The door opened, admitting an immaculately dressed Paul.

John felt a stab of self-consciousness as his eyes travelled up and down his bandmate's trim form. There was no pudge on Macca - not even an ounce.

Paul got straight down to business. "Look, I'm sorry if my joke got a little out of hand. I thought you'd find it amusing - laugh it off like you usually do."

It was a good enough excuse, but something didn't ring quite true.

"Paul, you know how I am about my weight. I feel like such a pig now." John sighed.

"I know, I know. But I was only messing about - it's not like it made the papers or anything."

Grunting at his friend, John got up and showed him the article from the paper. "You were saying?"

"Oh..." Cue faux surprise. "I didn't know it would lead to this. I just wanted to have a laugh."

"Well you did - you made those damn reporters laugh at my expense!" John snapped. "Why did you do that, anyway?" his  voice changed, "Paul, we've never kept any secrets before so why start now?"

"Look, John - it's about last night. You were the star of the show, the big guy with all the attention. We were just sitting behind you, doing nothing but feeding your ego."

Something was definitely off in his tone. John realised what it was now. "You're jealous." It was a statement - not even a suggestion.

Paul's expression seemed to harden. "Why would I be jealous?"

"Because you aren't in the limelight all the time?"

"That's a lie, John."

John felt exasperation course through his system. "Look, Paul - we're best mates. Why can't you be honest with me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about." Paul backed away, towards the door. "If you want to start talking sense - you know where to find me."

"Paul-"

But the door was shut by then.

Sighing, John lay back down in bed. "He didn't have to be so defensive towards me." he mumbled. "He didn't make me feel better either - people are still going to report about me..."

Eavesdropping from outside, George felt sorry for his older friend. Don't worry, Johnny. If my plan works no one will ever bother you anymore, he thought. Why is Paul being so stubborn, though? Whenever we had any arguments before we always made up at the end of the day. Paul must really want to have more attention than John.

"George? You know it's rude to eavesdrop, right?" Ringo joked.

"Huh? Oh, hi Ringo. John's still feeling horrible in there." George responded, moving away from the door. "Paul apologised, but I don't think he meant it. He's still jealous about John being the centre of attention last night. I wish there were some way to get him to let it out."

"Yeah, but right now I think he needs some time alone. We can't just push him to apologise repeatedly or he'll lash out at us again." Ringo cocked his head suddenly. "Why does your shirt look tighter than usual? Did it shrink in the wash again?"

"It's my plan to help Johnny feel better." George confided. "I began to binge."

Ringo's eyes widened, till they resembled shiny blue pennies. "That's a brilliant idea George."

George unaccustomed to receiving so much praise in one day, blushed. "Oh, it's alright, I guess. I'm not entirely sure it'll work. I mean, John's a stubborn chap. Sometimes he refuses to see what's staring him in the face." His expression turned mildly wistful.

Well, well, I wonder what's going on here, Ringo mused.

"Brian seemed to think it was a good idea, though." George babbled.

"Well, Brian's absolutely potty about John, isn't he?"

"He is?" The youngest Beatle's face took on an expression of almost comical astonishment.

"He is." Ringo nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if he decided to tag along. Y'know - inflating himself, too."

The idea of Brian trying to join in (no matter how well-intentioned the other's actions might turn out to be) sent a sharp surge of jealousy scudding through George's system.

Almost instantly, he felt ashamed of it. I shouldn't be mad at Brian joining in. It might help cheer John up quicker. But then again, I want to be the only one to make John smile again, he thought to himself.

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Well, folks? How did Rita and I do?