Duo emerged from the white towel with a happy smile on his face. The other men in the locker room were trying to decide whether to ignore the crazy Gundam pilot or openly stare at his odd behavior. Heero's glare motivated them to finish and go elsewhere.

"I told Sally how I hated the towels in here," Duo replied as he bunched the towel up in his hands and smelled it again, grinning like a cat with catnip. "They smell like industrial cleaners, which never really gets rid of the old sweat or that Preventer bad water smell."

"It's the old pipes," Heero explained as he took the towel and gave it a puzzled sniff. It smelled like flowers, clean water, and a home that wasn't shared by nearly a hundred male Preventer agents, some less than hygienic. "So," he said as Duo took the towel back and draped it over his head, breathing in deeply, "That doesn't explain why you have Sally's towel."

"I stole it," Duo admitted. "She had her gym bag on her desk, open, and the fluffy, nice smelling thing, was right on top. I had to have it."

"Duo..." Heero sighed.

"I'll give it back," Duo promised." When it stops smelling."

"You do realize that sounds mental?" Heero pointed out.

"It's home," Duo corrected. When Heero looked puzzled, he came out from under the towel and explained, "It's what I always imagined a home would smell like... with a mom and all that," he added in awkward embarrassment.

Half draped in the towel, Duo brought a corner to his nose and smelled it again. His expression had turned a little sad. Heero said tentatively, "Maybe a home would be good. We both have been living in the Preventer dorm far too long, and neither of us like it."

Duo suddenly eyed Heero with another kind of pain. "A home just isn't a home when you're alone."

Heero swallowed hard, looked everywhere but at Duo for a few moments, and then said hopefully, "We could... find one... together?"

Time seemed to stop, along with the movement of men and the sound of the showers running. Duo pulled the towel off of his head and held it tightly to his chest. "You mean that?"

Heero nodded as he reached out and took a corner of the towel. He used it to tug Duo a little closer to him. "We can have our own, nice smelling, towels."

Duo replied softly, "I'd like that... to be with you, I mean, not just the towels."

"Then... let's do it," Heero urged.

"Maxwell?! Where the hell is my towel? I know you took it!" Sally's voice shouted from the half open doorway of the locker room. Wolf whistles greeted her entrance. "Oh, grow up!" she shouted at them.