He glanced over and raised his eyebrows in surprise. Damn, the guy was fast. Duo had barely unfolded his gym uniform and there was Heero, already standing there in spotless white shorts and pulling the red tank top over his head. The bottom of it bunched up on one side and Duo grinned as Heero tugged at it impatiently, trying to get it unrolled from under one armpit.

"Nice look on you, there, Heero, but it's a shirt not a toga."

Heero's fingers grabbed the mussed part of his shirt and yanked it down, over his nipple and ribcage, and he didn't even bother to run his fingers through his hair or anything even though it looked like he'd just rolled out of bed. He crossed his arms and stared hard at Duo.

If Heero was trying to make a point, Duo could oblige him by doing the same. He deliberately took his time getting dressed after that, making sure that he smoothed out his shirt entirely, hanging it up in the locker with far more care than it needed, then taking off his boots and everything else before even reaching for his shirt.

Hey, if Heero got dressed shorts first and shirt second, then of course Duo had no choice but to do it the other way around. If that meant he had to stand there in his skivvies while Heero watched, well, it wouldn't be the first time.

Getting dressed with other boys, that was, not getting half-naked in front of Heero.

Put like that, Duo felt a little self-conscious, but he wasn't about to let Heero know that.

"Check these out, Heero," he said, just a little too loudly. "This here is your typical run of the mill school issue, you know. Looks pretty new, though, so I'll bet you anything that if we sweat, we'll look like we're still wearing these things when we're done."

Heero was ignoring him, but that had never discouraged Duo before.

"Ah, well, it won't matter to you, though. You're used to having shorts that look painted on. This will just be the real thing. Painted on, that is."

"I know."

"You do?" Duo shook out his shorts. "Because sometimes it's hard to tell. You don't volunteer too much information, you know."

"It's none of your business."

Duo had lowered the shorts in readiness of putting his leg through, but he looked up in surprise. "No? Well, then, let's just consider this interrogation a little payback for that maintenance you did a while back." He shoved one foot into the hole in his shorts. "A smart guy like you must remember."

Neither of them could mention the Gundams or where they'd met before, not here where anyone could hear them, but it amused Duo that one of Heero's eyebrows looked like it was twitching a tiny bit, even as he stood there with his arms crossed and eyes closed.

Duo finished putting on his shorts and pulling them up and clapped Heero on the shoulder. "Cheer up, Heero. You never know. Maybe you'll teach me out there on the court. Show me a little Air Yuy magic, right?"

He laughed and started to walk away, but he hadn't seen Heero's hand drop to grab the elastic of Duo's shorts.

Duo looked over his shoulder, down at Heero's white knuckles, at the part of his underwear that was revealed, and up at Heero's face. A muscle in Heero's jaw was ticking.

"We won't have red painted-on shorts." He let go of Duo's shorts with a snap. "We'll be taking showers after the game."

His eyes met and held Duo's gaze for a second but no longer because his eyes traveled all the way down to Duo's feet, still in his socks, and then back up.

There was a distinct smirk on Heero's face and a challenge in his eyes before he brushed past Duo.

"Well, hell," Duo said, to no one in particular. "Looking forward to it, Yuy."

Once his shoes were on, he practically sprinted after Heero, his laces slapping against the floor in a steady rhythm.

Looking forward to it? Ha. That was undoubtedly the understatement of the year.