Buck put another case of beer in the fridge to prepare for the football party they were having as JD began to pull the chips out of the grocery bag he had helped Buck bring in. "Hey, JD, thanks for throwing my clothes in the laundry for me."
"No problem, I was doing laundry anyway so it wasn't a big deal to throw in another load. But you get to pull them out of the dryer; they'll be done in about 15 minutes. I need to get cleaned up." JD said as he made his way to his room. They were hosting the weekly football bash for the team, a usual occurrence, and Buck had just returned from running errands. The others would be bringing food and beer as well, but he just didn't trust Ezra's choice in those fancy, foreign imports. The only foreign imports that Buck tended to be partial to were the blond kind from Sweden.
Buck began to straighten up the place, knowing how Ezra and the others would always complain about the place being a mess. After all, the guys had nicknamed the place the CDC. Hell, we just vacuumed two weeks ago! Not even a dust layer to sneeze at, Buck thought as he moved a few of the magazines to the stack by the couch and shoved some junk inside the door of JD's room.
He had just gotten everything arranged for a snack bar in the kitchen when he heard JD getting out of the shower. "Hey, Kid. The guys are going to be here any minute. I'm going downstairs, grab the door if you hear them."
"Can do," JD headed to his room with a towel tied around his waist, unceremoniously tripping over the junk Buck had shoved in the door. "Dammit, Buck!" JD groused, knowing that his roommate couldn't hear him. "Why can't you put this stuff up in your room?" he continued to rant as he stepped over the pile of junk, wary of his now painful stubbed toes and opened a drawer of his dresser and fished for clean boxers. Finding it empty he remembered that he had already brought his load of whites up from the laundry room. He thanked his lucky stars that he had done so, at least he wouldn't have to go commando. Digging through the pile of clean laundry that was next to -and interspersed with- the pile of dirty laundry, he found what he was looking for and started to get dressed. "Hey, where's my shirt?"
Digging through both piles of clothes once more, JD could see no sign of the shirt he had planned to wear. Once the clothes were scattered all over his room, he started to look through the pile of clothes on the floor of his closet. No shirt. He looked under his bed. Again, no shirt. Finally, giving up, JD pulled on a Tantric t-shirt with a frown, wondering where his new tee was.
He was headed to the bathroom, with that question on his mind, to comb his hair, when he heard a knock on the door.
JD opened it to reveal Chris and Vin, each carrying a pack of beer and a bag of chips. "Hey, JD. Josiah and Nathan were just getting here as we pulled up. Where's Buck?"
"Laundry, why don't ya put that stuff in the kitchen. Is Ezra here yet?"
"Nah," Vin drawled from the fridge. "You know him. It'll probably be closer to game time when he gets here. What's up with the hair?"
Chris just laughed as JD suddenly felt the top of his head. "Huh? Oh, I was on my way to comb it when you knocked. Can you get the door when Nathan and Josiah get here?"
As he headed back to the bathroom he could hear Chris letting the next two members of Team 7 into the apartment. Just as he finished combing his hair he could hear Buck's angry shout as he ran up the stairs. "JD!"
The youngest member of the team reached the door just as Buck threw it open. "Hey, Buck, something wrong?"
"Something wrong? You're asking me if something is wrong? Trust me, I don't really appreciate your idea of a practical joke."
"Huh?" JD's confused look was mirrored by the four other teammates present.
"You may think that it's funny, but I don't." Buck reached into the basket of laundry he was carrying and pulled out a pair of boxers to shake at JD. "They're pink, JD. PINK! You dyed my clothes pink!"
"I did?" JD backed away from the doorway as his roommate entered with a menacing look on his face.
"Well, it's not my fault. You're the one who threw my laundry in for me."
"Well, maybe you should have done it yourself."
"Maybe I should have!" the irate agent shouted back. "But that gave you no reason to dye my clothes pink!"
"Mr. Wilmington, I do believe that the color of the clothes in question is more of a peach or puce than pink," Ezra drawled from the open doorway behind him. He didn't flinch at all as the agent turned his glare on him.
Looking around as he tried to keep his cool, Buck realized that all the others were there as well, and trying their hardest to not laugh outright. Until they saw the look on his face, then Chris just doubled over, laughing as hard as he could.
"This isn't funny, Chris," Buck growled, trying not to laugh himself. Looking around, he could see JD hiding behind a chuckling Josiah. Nathan was just shaking his head and even Vin had cracked a smile.
"Now what am I going to do?"
"Perhaps explain to all your lady friends that you're trying to get in touch with your more feminine side." The Texan drawled, barely cracking a smile. That comment sent the rest of them into throes of laughter once again.
Glaring, Buck set down the laundry basket in his arms and began to dig through it. It wasn't long before he spied something he didn't recognize and he pulled out a darker dyed t-shirt and held it up. "What the hell is this?"
It was a deep buckskin color, with a design on the back. Looking closer Buck could see that it had an American flag and said 'Great American Dirt Shirt.'
"There it is!" Immediately JD jumped from behind Josiah and grabbed at it, but Buck pulled it away before he could reach it. "Hey, that's my dirt shirt. I was looking for that."
They all just looked at the youngest member of Team 7 like he had gone crazy. Buck, however, was the first to recover. "Your what?"
"My dirt shirt," JD just sighed at Buck held it out to look at it.
"It don't look like dirt to me."
"Buck, it's dyed in dirt." JD explained, ignoring how the others looked as though he had gone crazy. "I found them on the internet. These people hand dye t-shirts in a clay-mud mixture from all over the South, then silk-screen them and sell them. They're really cool."
"And the clay makes them this color?" Josiah asked as he took the shirt from Buck, intently studying the design.
"Nah, the iron oxides in the clay are responsible for the color. But they're really cool."
"Uh-huh. And they dyed my whites pink." Buck raved again.
"Actually, Mr. Wilmington, I believe I pointed out that is not a true pink. It would be better defined as peach or puce."
"Ezra, I did not ask you!" Buck glared at the con man, only to start laughing. "I can't believe this is happening to me. Dammit, Kid, how did that shirt get in with my laundry?"
"I don't know, I thought it was with my dark colored clothes. It was completely by mistake. I'm really sorry though. But bleach should get the stains out."
"Fine," he began to carry the basket of laundry up the step to his room. "Just don't be helpful and offer to do my laundry again."
"No problem, Buck." JD grinned, "On thing, though."
"Yeah?"
"You should be glad I got that shirt. I could have gotten the Texas Bull Shirt."
"And what's so bad about that one?" Buck asked with a sigh, thinking that nothing could be worse than having pink or peach or puce - whatever color it was - underwear.
"Well, they advertise that they put real dried cow chips in the mud when they dye those!"
The End
