A Perfect Fit

Alex and John were an unlikely couple from the get-go. No one really expected them to last much longer than a few weeks when they’d gotten together on tour. It was supposed to be a tour romance, nothing more. Afterall, they spent the majority of their time on tour and home for each of them was practically on different sides of the country. Alex and John were happy to just take everything in their stride and take things day to day. They couldn’t see how things would work out, until one day when they had no choice but to see how things would work out. When the tour had ended and they’d gone back to their homes, they’d realised that what they’d had was more than a fling, more than a tour romance. Their feelings for each other remained long past the last show of the tour and they’d missed each other. Alex had wasted no time booking a flight to Arizona, but they’d tried to downplay everything with their friends at first. Alex had simply needed a vacation, he just so happened to choose John’s hometown and staying at John’s apartment was completely unplanned. That was nearly 3 years ago and apart from tours, they’d rarely been apart since.

A year into their relationship, when John and Alex tired of coming off tour and not just being able to see each other without one of them getting on a plane, John had bit the bullet and made the move to Baltimore. It made perfect sense, now they could see each other whenever they weren’t on tour. For John, it didn’t matter where he lived, home was where Alex was and that’s all that mattered to him. He could always fly out and visit his family and friends. When he was with Alex, it didn’t matter if they were in Baltimore or on a tour bus travelling from one venue to another, he was at home.

Living with Alex was great but it wasn’t always the easiest thing in the world. In fact, John had learned that it could sometimes be the most frustrating thing he’d ever done. There were times that he and Alex seemed like two polar opposites, two people you’d never assume would ever get on, much less be in love with each other. Then, there were other times when they were completely in-sync with each other, times where they were practically the same person. The two of them could sit for hours having the most intense conversations or they could turn it around and have the most juvenile conversation known to man while spending all night playing X-Box. Yet, despite their similarities and all their differences, John couldn’t help but be completely head over heels in love with Alex. But love can only get you so far and sometimes John questioned how he put up with the loveable fool that was his boyfriend.

Learning to live with Alex was definitely an experience for John. For starters, Alex had a tonne of stuff, like far too much for any one person. Everywhere John looked there was something he’d never seen before. Alex was constantly picking up little trinkets and souvenirs from his travels without ever thinking of where he was going to put them all. He could never throw anything away. For a while, John got a kick out of calling Alex “his little hoarder” and eventually, he was able to persuade his boyfriend to throw some of the junk away and keep everything else on the shelves in their music room or the office. He could also be super messy and he often left things until he couldn’t avoid doing them any longer. As long as the dirty clothes made it within a metre radius of the hamper, it was all good in Alex’s books. When Alex was writing or trying to get band stuff done, then there was no talking to him. He’d only notice his mess when he realised he’d gone through every coffee cup in the house and there weren’t any clean ones left. This usually led to bouts of obsessive cleaning which normally resulted in John being dragged from bed at some ungodly hour so he could help.

Another thing that John had learned was that their house was the focal point where all their friends gathered. John could never be 100% sure who was going to be in his home at any time. Privacy was never guaranteed and unless their bedroom door was locked, anyone was liable to walk in. John had gotten his first taste of that the weekend after he’d officially moved in. Alex had thrown a “welcome to Baltimore” party for his boyfriend and the next morning the couple had woken up with Jack and Rian passed out in their bed and cuddling them. There definitely hadn’t been 2 extra people in their bed, earlier that morning when John and Alex had gone to bed and it wasn’t the only time that someone had drunkenly wandered into their room to sleep.

Then, there was the first Christmas that they’d spent together. They had both come off long tours that finished only 2 days before Christmas. The Maine had been in Europe while All Time Low had just finished the first half of their North American tour. Rather than flying out and spending Christmas with their individual families and extending the period of time they wouldn’t see each other, the couple had decided they’d do their own thing. They’d spend Christmas day with Alex’s family, purely because neither of them wanted to go to the effort of cooking Christmas dinner themselves. Then, a few days later, they would fly to Arizona and spend New Year’s with John’s family. It was the best of both worlds really, except Alex had different plans about how they would make their own Christmas memories. John had visions of the two of them chilling in front of the open fire, watching cheesy movies or playing whatever video game Alex was currently obsessed with. John’s plans involved lots of food, good wine and just enjoying being able to spend time together. Alex’s plans may have involved alcohol but they also involved matching elf onesies and a onesie Christmas party. Jetlag had already been kicking his ass and John was longing for some weather that wasn’t cold, rain or snow when Alex had told him all about their plans. John had point blank refused at first. He’d really, really tried to resist Alex’s charm. But then, Alex had threatened to withhold sex and told him he’d look like a dork because he’d be the only one not wearing a onesie at the party. Now, because of John’s inability to just say no, photos of him dressed in a matching elf onesie with Alex now existed. Photos, which had been uploaded to twitter and instagram and were now all over the internet. Photos, which his band mates and brothers have never let him live down.

Alex was the kind of person who had to voice his opinion as soon as something popped into his head. It didn’t matter if it was the middle of the night and other people were sleeping. If he needed to ask a question, he was going to ask it. Having John beside him in bed was always an advantage for those oh-so-pressing conversations at 4am about whether or not John would rather live on the moon or mars or whether or not aliens existed. One of them being in tour didn’t stop him Alex either and John had been woken up countless times with phone calls asking him the most random questions. The latest phone call had happened at 5am and involved a drunken Alex asking whether John would prefer to be a pirate or a ninja. John’s answer of pirate resulted in a follow up question of Batman or Spiderman and when John had chosen Batman, Alex had simply mumbled his approval before hanging up. That was it, no “goodbye” or “I love you”, just a “good” as if the status of their relationship depended on John’s answer. While Alex’s life or death questions were funny and often cute, John just wished they came at normal times of the day or at least when he was conscious.

These were the kind of things that John found himself thinking at times like these. Times when Alex had attempted something, only to have it go terribly wrong. Like the time they’d run out of dishwasher tablets and Alex had flooded the kitchen because he thought that it was ok to use dish soap instead. Times like when Alex attempted to do his own laundry, even though he could never get the settings right. These were the times that John wondered how someone some competent and mature in some aspects of his life could lack the basic life skills to work the washer or the dryer. It completely baffled him at times.



“Gaskarth, what the hell did you do to all of my jeans,” John growled, finally succeeding to pull this pair, the fourth he’d tried on, up past his thighs. He had tied the button and had gone to fix the bottoms only to realise he could barely bend in the too tight jeans and that they now stopped mid calf instead of at his ankles. “I thought we talked about you doing laundry, Lex, especially mine.”

“I dunno Babe, they make your ass look pretty fine from where I’m standing,” Alex replied, a cocky smirk on his face as he leaned against the doorframe of their bedroom, making sure he had the best possible view of John’s ass in the skin tight jeans “Wear boots and no one will notice that they’re a little short. You’re too tall anyway. Plus hey, look on the bright-side; at least I didn’t mix colours and whites again and...”

Alex stopped short when John held up what once had been a bright white t-shirt but was now some grimy grey-blue colour.

“Yeah, well at least they’re not pink,” Alex muttered, remembering the first time he’d tried to laundry and had washed his red skinny jeans with a pile of John’s shirts, including the new Ralph Lauren button down his mom had gotten him for Christmas “I’m sorry, Babe, they mightn’t be all ruined though. Look at it this way, it’s a good reason to go shopping, that’s if we ever manage to leave the house.”

The couple had been planning on heading out for lunch when John had decided that he needed to change into something other than the ratty sweatpants he’d been wearing since returning from tour. That’s when he’d realised that Alex had done laundry. To be fair, Alex had only tried to do a nice thing for John. He’d gotten it into his head that it would be a great idea to wash all of John’s clothes after John had come home from tour. It had been a nice gesture, but Alex and washing machines, or dryers for that matter, never got along very well. Now, John was left with 4 pairs of jeans that had been shrunk and were un wearable, unless John liked the idea of either not being able to move in them or getting frost bite on his legs because they were too short. He was just about to give up and go find a pair of Alex’s jeans that fit him when he spied his favourite pair of jeans on the floor beside the closet. He’d been wearing them on his flight the other day and they had managed to escape Alex’s attention when he was doing laundry.

John picked them up and was about to see if they passed inspection and were wearable when he noticed the holes they now sported. While ripped jeans were definitely in style right now, John doubted that rips along the ass were acceptable. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that what used to be John’s favourite jeans had become Alex’s dogs new chew toy.

“Oops,” Alex announced when John held up the jeans, with a look of defeat on his face “Now that I think of it, I’m pretty sure you lost your jeans somewhere between the hallway and the stairs the night you came home. I mean, we were pretty excited to see each other. I guess Bazzy or Pey needed something to keep them occupied while they were locked out of our room. Why don’t I find you a pair of jeans to wear, Babe?”

John nodded in response, as he attempted to peel the pair of now cropped jeans he was wearing from his legs. He was failing miserably at getting the jeans over his ankles and found himself hopping on one foot trying to pull the other off which ended in him falling back onto their bed.

“I hate you, Gaskarth, I really do,” he muttered, as he finally succeeded in removing the jeans and a new pair were tossed his way “Seriously, I deserve some sort of an award for being your boyfriend and putting up with you.”

Alex didn’t pay any heed to his rant and instead pulled a plaid shirt from John’s side of the closet, deciding it would go well with the jeans.

“Coming from you, O’ Callaghan, I hate you is just as good as I love you,” he answered, leaning forward and pecking his boyfriend on the lips “Now, all I need is for you to stop being so weird and follow me on Twitter and I’d have the trifecta.”

John couldn’t help but laugh at Alex’s response to being told “I hate you”, it was just another aspect of their relationship that made theirs different to some others. They could say that stuff and know that the other person didn’t mean it. It was a term of endearment with them.

“Never gonna happen, Princess. I like that big fat zero next to my following count and the blank timeline when I log in. Makes a difference from your cluttered mess,” John pointed out, stealing a kiss before slipping his feet into boots and grabbing his jacket “Now c’mon, thanks to your amazing laundry skills, I now need to buy new clothes because the only 5 pairs of jeans that I like are all ruined.”

As always, Alex was quick with a response to John’s comments. John loved that about Alex, he was always so quick with a retort. John’s jeans mightn’t fit him anymore, but he and Alex were a perfect fit.

“Oh boo-hoo, why don’t you go write some cryptic tweet, that no one else will understand and whine about how I’m such an amazing boyfriend,” Alex mocked, falling into pace beside John and linking their fingers together “I sometimes wonder why, but I love you, you fool.”

“Love you too, Lex.”