it's a waltz, this one

Thank you for this lovely ask! Okay, everyone’s idea of what’s romantic is different. Here are newer fics I loved &  that I think are romantic — but please, as always, feel free to mention others in the notes.

I hope you find something here you enjoy, anon! <3 And a happy Valentine’s Day to all who celebrate. May it be furry like Paul, red like John, smooth like the tresses of George’s hair, clear and blue like Ringo’s eyes, and precisely as filthy as you want it to be. <3

And Everything He Is, I Am Too by @lilypadd23 J/P as West Side Story — it feels so right. Yes, the ending, but even taking that into account — there’s nothing lovelier than seeing these two fall in love and banter and and give their hearts to each other.

Le Baiser by @dykebeatles. Paris 1961! Paul and John enter a photo booth, and magic happens.

You Know What I Mean / Like the Night Before by @teacups-andtime. John convinces Paul to be his figure drawing model…naked. Plus the morning after. They are young and in love and happy and…*sigh*...Paul makes his needs known. And John meets them.

Northern downpour sends its love by @oopshidaisyy. The first time John visits Paul at home, and spends the night. A lovely, sweet, exciting early days fic, both of them very much in character…!

The Night Meets the Morning by @heartsinthebasement. Paris once more! John and Paul discover what they want…from each other, from life. Nothing like a long, love-filled Paris fic

Ode to Paris by @milfpaul. Paris ‘61, the third! Darker, with the focus on John and Paul’s mutual obsession: “Yeah,” Paul says. “But we shouldn’t be brothers. We should be—you know—more.”

This Is A Love Letter to Concorde by SteampunkVampireWorm. I’m not sure how to describe this story. It’s about John and Paul in the 70’s, their meetings, their reconciliation, with one of my favorite romantic endings of all time. It surprised me from beginning to end, and I love it. The same writer also wrote a Valentine’s Day fic: John survives the shooting, Paul visits. This one, too, is strange and unusual and sexy (and, yes, romantic):  Happy Valentine’s Day

Where It Will Go by bunnoculars: After their shared trip in 1967, Paul is trying to fix the blue hole he keeps seeing. Paul and John, coming face to face with who they are. The beginning has a lot of angst, but the ending is simply magnificently hot and full of love…!

You make me wanna go out and steal by @bodhbdearg. A very funny and sexy heist adventure set in Paris, with Paul as escape driver for hire and John as a reckless thief…but they soon discover they have a few things in common!

One of the Beautiful People by @notgrungybitchin. Multi-chapter fic. Set in 1966. John and Paul never met at the Fete. Instead, years later, they cross paths as competing sugar babies in Swinging London. Incredibly hot and romantic—and a very interesting canon divergence AU.

Some less recent romantic favorites:

kings among runaways by @backbenttulips. Three times John and Paul ran away together.

just to make me misbehave by @dykebeatles. 1967. John and Paul “bookend” the Sgt. Pepper’s launch at Brian’s house with loving, sweet, delicious, abundant sex. This was actually the first story that came to my mind when I got the ask!

Plant A Seed by @eveepe. I must include my desert island smut-with-feelings. John fucks Paul in the slutty sailor outfit in Miami. It’s so deep and hot and languid and just a touch angsty (John POV), by above all romantic!

Thinking of Linking by @beatlessideblog. INYD extra: The Woolton Fete, from the POV of mastermind!Paul. 

Huddersfield, 1963 by @dovetailjoints. I’m so grateful there’s such a lovely fic about what transpired before the famous “boyfriends” picture. 

Wouldn’t it be nice? By @pauls1967moustache. This is a fic about John and Paul before and after John’s wedding to Cyn, and yet, it’s one of the most romantic J/P fics I know. I simply have to accept it.

I’ve Just Seen a Face by sleeprettydarling. Five times Paul saw John before July 6, 1957, and one time he didn't. The pining, the crushing! And the ending couldn’t be any sweeter. 

Have Courage and Follow Me, My Dear by @aceonthebass. THE Woolton Fete fic, imo.

here is my @beatleskinkmeme secret santa gift for @gerryrafferty! among your fav beatles moments is j+p paris trip so i drew a little fanart of that! hope you like it & have a happy holiday :)

Since the topic of when the Two VIrgins night supposedly happened comes up every now and again, here’s a post argueing the two dates and giving, in my opinion, the most plausible timeline for May 1968.

May 19th 1968 seems to be the most widely accepted date today (e.g. Wikipedia, Beatles Bible…) to put John and Yoko’s first night together. Since none of these websites gives any source or reason for the date,  I started trying to find out how people got there. I looked through quite a few Beatles books to try to find a clue where and for what reason it was first introduced. 

Surprisingly it wasn’t dated at all for a few decades. From what I could find, the first mention happened by Barry Miles in Many Years from now nearly 30 years after the Two Virgins night . Here’s a list of which books place the date when, sorted by publishing date: (I didn’t look at interviews, magazines or other sources.)

John Lennon. One Day at a Time, Anthony Fawcett (‘76): May 1968

The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner (‘77): May 1968

A Twist of Lennon, Cynthia Lennon (‘78): no date given, placed before the NY trip

Shout!: The True Story of The Beatles, Philip Norman (‘81), no date given

The Ballad of John and Yoko, The Editors of Rolling Stone (‘82): May 1968

John Lennon. In My Life, Pete Shotton/Nicholas Schaffner (‘83): May 1968

The Love You Make, Peter Brown/Steven Gaines (‘83): no date given

Lennon. The Definitive Biography, Ray Coleman (‘84); May 1968

The Beatles. Day by Day (‘87), Mark Lewisohn: no mention

The Lives of John Lennon, Albert Goldman (‘88): no date given, Cyn leaving for Greece “just two weeks after her return from India”

The Lost Lennon Tapes, Radio Show, a few weeks after NY and a few days prior to May 22 (Added in edit)

In My Life, John Lennon Remembered, Mark Lewisohn/Kevin Howlett (‘90): May 1968

A Day in the Life, Mark Hertsgaard (‘95): exact date is unknown, sometime in the latter half of May 1968

Many Years From Now, Barry Miles (‘97): May 19 1968 (they Jesus meeting on the 18)

The Beatles. Off the Record, Keith Badman (‘00): May 19 1968

John, Cynthia Lennon (‘05): no date given, placed before the NY trip

The Beatles. The Biography, Bob Spitz (‘05): no date given, places after the NY trip

John Lennon. The Biography, Philip Norman (‘08): May 18/19 1968 (also places Cyns Greece holiday and the NY trip at the same time)

The Beatles Diary, Barry Miles (‘09): May 19 (Cynthia’s return on 26th May)

Lennonology, Chip Madinger/ Scott Raile (‘15): May 3 “almost certainly”

Arguements and timeline behind the cut, because this got annoyingly long. 

Paul McCartney in The Beatles Anthology (1995)

Featuring such classics as...

"Note perfect... Raunchy... you're in"

"We're not going to America 'til we've got a Number One record"

"I couldn't have written it, cause I just dreamed it!"

"It's the bloody Beatles White Album, shut up"