"I'm just saying, I think that he--" AJ's voice trailed off into stunned silence as Chris Sabin squeaked into the highly populated catering area. And squeak he did, because he was wearing a pair of black leather pants, pants that happened to highlight curves that had previously gone unhighlighted.

Once he was able to get his focus on Sabin's pants… face again, AJ saw that Chris was staring fixedly at the door across the room, but it was all too obvious that he was aware of the total silence that had fallen upon the room.

Only a few feet to the door, Sabin thought, perhaps a little desperately. But, like magic, conversation started up again the moment his fingers touched the doorknob.

"Not like him."

"Pretty hot…"

"I'd hail Sabin…"

"What's he doing?"

Chris rolled his eyes and shook his head; this was going to be the longest day of his life.

"I can't believe we're talking about this," AJ muttered. "Especially you," he added, pointing to Daniels. "Since when have you been so interested in Sabin's pants?"

"Maybe if you wore leather more often, I'd be interested in yours," Daniels returned blithely.

AJ flipped him off.

"Please," Raven snorted. "AJ wouldn't know fashion if I generously took the time to tie him down and dress him myself." He pointed to AJ's faded red sweatpants and black muscle shirt.

AJ flipped him off too.

"This isn't like him at all," Daniels shook his head. "He's certainly not the type to dress for attention." His expression became distant and thoughtful, as though he could figure out the answer using willpower alone.

"Of course not," Raven scoffed, taking a sip from his water bottle. "Sabin's just as couture-challenged as the rest of you. That reminds me,"he slanted a look back to AJ. "If you need someone to tie you down and--"

"I've gotta relace my boots tonight," replied AJ with a guileless smile.

"Your loss."

"I'll just bet," AJ and Daniels said in unison.

Sabin stomped into his change room, slamming the door shut and leaning against it as though to hold back an onslaught of curious coworkers. When he saw that his roommate was already inside, he practically leveled the main with a glare. "Petey, I swear to God if you say one word…"

Petey looked up from where he was taping his wrists. "Huh? Oh, nice pants."

Chris blinked. "That's it?" He asked, guardedly.

"I'm Canadian, we're bred for politeness," Petey shrugged and went back to what he'd been doing. "Besides, I've seen you in less over the years."

"Good point."

For the first time since he'd zipped these damn things up this morning, Chris allowed himself to relax a little. Taking a deep breath, or at least as deep as he could manage, Chris started to make his way to the next available set of lockers. In the confined space of the locker room, the pants seemed to squeak even louder with every step. "I dunno why I kept these damn things," he muttered under his breath.

"So what's with the pants?"

"Screw you!" Sabin snapped.

"Sorry, got plans tonight," Petey called out as Chris stormed off. Glancing to Sabin's side of the room, Petey started to count to twenty. When he reached nine, Sabin slammed the door open, grabbed his stuff, then took off again.

"Freak," Petey muttered, under his breath.

Clutching his bag in one hand, Chris tried to keep to the emptiest hallways in the arena, searching for an unoccupied change room. At the sound of another wolf whistle, Sabin closed his eyes, clenched his fists and tried not to beat the hell out of whoever it was. Slowly, he turned around and his eyes narrowed immediately. "Don't you even think about filming this, Shelley! Or I will shove that camera so far up your ass, all you'll be able to film is the inside of your mouth."

"Hey, easy man," Alex held up his hands in mock surrender, then pointed to the dark spot above the lens. "It's not on; but I totally had to see if the rumors were true."

"Yes, well they are."

Alex did his very best to keep a straight face, but his lips twitched ever so slightly. He spoke quickly to cover himself. "There's an empty room at the end of the hall," He held up his hand. "No filming, honest." He even set the camera down. As Sabin headed off down the hall, Alex pulled out his cellphone. "I never said anything about pictures," he murmured. He'd been looking for a new wallpaper setting on his laptop for months now.

Once he got into the change room, Sabin shut the door behind himself, breathing a sigh of relief when he saw that the change room was indeed empty. He locked the door and leaned against it, checking his watch. He had plenty of time to go before his match. Okay, the worst part was done with. Chris squeaked up to one of the benches and set down his stuff. He stripped off his shirt and folded it meticulously before setting it down.

Sabin sucked in a deep breath and started to tug the button free from the hole. It took three tries to get the thing loosened and by the time it popped free, Chris was panting lightly. He sucked in his stomach as much as he could, which wasn't really all that much, and managed to get the zipper down on his first try. He was thankful when breathing actually proved to be a little easier now.

Steeling himself, Chris curled his fingers around the top of the pants and started to tug them down, blinking in surprise when they didn't so much as budge. He put his feet together and leaned against the wall, trying again. Chris swore softly.

After getting directions from Shelley, Petey knocked on Sabin's door, frowning when he heard several colorful curses, many he hadn't heard since their first days in training. "You all right in there, Sabin?" he asked, opening the door and stepping inside quickly. He blinked at the sight that greeted him: Chris was laying on the floor, hips arched high into the air as he struggled to push down his pants. Petey watched him for a moment, until he was certain he could keep a straight face. He walked up to Sabin's side and smiled down at him. "You need a hand?"

"Just shut up and help me get these things off!" Sabin hissed, red faced and a bit breathless from apparent exertion.

"You always were a sweet talker," Petey drawled, kneeling down next to Sabin's head. "All right, I'll help you, with one condition." He took a deep breath, drawing out the suspense before speaking, "What's the deal, man?"

Sabin rolled his eyes. "It's laundry day, okay? Now just help me already!"

Petey lost the battle for self control and chuckled, shaking his head. "Only you." He muttered, scooting over to Sabin's feet and starting to tug. "All right, count of three, you push and I'll pull."

Meanwhile, Alex and Raven were walking down the hall, chatting idly. Their conversation ground to a halt as they passed by Sabin's change room. Raven took a step closer so that he could hear more clearly. Shrugging once, Alex did the same and frowned in confusion as he overheard Sabin and Petey talking.

"Have you tried lifting your leg a little?"

"Damn that's tight."

"Almost there."

"Hurry up, I've got a match."

"This isn't the easiest thing I've ever done, you know."

"Almost, almost there… yes! Finally!"

"Well you're welcome."

"Jackass."

"Bitch."

Raven arched his pierced eyebrow, then gazed down at the object in Alex's hands. "Is there any film in there?"

"Nope, sorry, man," Alex shrugged.

"Pity."

Long after his match was over Sabin found himself wandering the halls, chatting with anyone who had a few minutes to spare; but after a while he couldn't resist the lure of a hot shower. Rolling his eyes, Sabin made his way back to his change room, debating the merits of leaving the arena in his ring gear. Sure he would get recognized, but the last thing he wanted was to get into those damn pants again.

As his fingers closed around the doorknob, Chris Sabin looked like a man about to step into a war zone. He sighed deeply and walked into his change room. For a while, he did anything he could to avoid what needed to be done; he got the shower ready, fussing with the water until it was the exact temperature he liked before stripping down and stepping underneath the hot spray. Chris stayed in the stall until his fingers looked like prunes and Petey snapped at him that this wasn't the time or the proper way to ask for shower sex.

Sabin eventually shut off the water and dried himself off; then, wrapping a towel around his waist, he stepped into the main part of the change room and gathered his stuff. When he got halfway to his bag, he noticed something was different. "The hell?" Chris walked over to his bag and picked up the pair of faded red sweatpants.

Petey looked up from where he was packing up his things. "Huh? Oh, those; figured you could use a change. And I was tired of hearing you bitch."

"Oh," Sabin blinked. "Thanks."

"There's just one catch," the Canadian added. Before Chris could say anything, Petey tossed him a white bundle. "Wear that, and you're paying for dinner."

Frowning, Chris unfolded the shirt. Under normal circumstances, dinner would be the worst part of the bargain. "You've got to be kidding me," he said as he took in the Team Canada logo proudly emblazoned on the front.

"Well you're already wearing red," Petey said with a one shouldered shrug. "Might as well add the white to it and hell, Michigan's practically a province anyway."

"I hate you."

"As much as those pants?"

"You are such an asshole, Williams," Chris muttered, his voice muffled as he slipped on the T-shirt.

Petey closed the distance between them, stole a kiss from Sabin's down turned mouth, and then started smoothing out a wrinkle in the Team Canada shirt. "Well I could go get your stripper pants back, if you want."

"They're not stripper pants!" Sabin exclaimed, not quite squeaking. As they headed out of the change room, he took a deep breath, then sighed in relief as the pants barely rustled against his thighs. He took a moment to appreciate the silence before turning to Petey again, cocking his head to one side. "So what did you do with them?"

Petey smiled, just a little bit. "Let's just say it was a fair trade and leave it at that."

"Sabin!" AJ roared, his voice crackling down the hall like a thunderclap. "Get your scrawny ass over here right now!"

Because it had been a long time since he'd heard AJ sound so mad, Daniels stopped what he was doing and changed directions, stepping into the hallway where AJ's voice was coming from; he opened his mouth to ask what the problem was, but found he could only utter a choked laugh as AJ whirled around to face him, the now infamous leather pants squeaking furiously with the motion.

"This isn't funny," AJ snapped, trying to hike up the pants a little higher, but to no avail. "Have you seen Sabin?"

"No," Daniels shook his head, trying hard not to grin. "I imagine he glided out of the arena without any difficulties whatsoever." Christopher tried, he tried to hard to keep a straight face, but the look of childish outrage on the other man's face was making that impossible. "I know I said I'd be more interested if you wore leather, but I didn't expect you to take it quite so literally."

"Don't make me kick your ass."

"Could you lift your leg high enough?"

AJ started towards him, wincing as the loathed garment squeaked yet again. "I really hate you," he muttered, glaring at Daniels. "So much."

"Hey," Christopher shrugged, "It's not like you haven't laughed at me before. Why don't you wait in my change room and I'll see if I can find you something more … suitable to your tastes? I don't think we should let Raven see you like this, because he might think it was a come on."

But AJ didn't appear to be listening; his expression was dark as he leaned against the wall. "And as soon as I get these damn things off, I'm going to strangle Sabin with them!" He muttered, flexing his fists as though he could feel the younger man's neck between his fingers.

"If you can get them off," Daniels added.

AJ looked at him for a second, as if trying to see if he was kidding, then swore under his breath. "Damn it you're right." He sucked in a deep breath and stared down firmly as he tried to unclasp the button.

"Relax," Daniels shook his head. "Go into my change room, and when I come back, I'll help you get out of your pants."

"They're not my--" AJ blinked. "Excuse me?"

Daniels gave him a faint smile, with only the faintest hint of teeth. "I believe you heard me perfectly well, AJ," he said mysteriously as he disappeared back down the hall.

"Well damn," AJ muttered, shaking his head. He certainly hadn't seen that one coming. He pushed himself off the wall and started toward Daniels' room; maybe he wouldn't wind up murdering Sabin after all.

Squeak.

Nope, still gonna kill him.

THE END