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Sunday Morning
“Before I started this, you told me you would have my back - no matter what,” Rob said in a hushed voice.
“I know and I’m sorry. But this is getting out of hand and I just can’t do this anymore.”
“You don’t get to walk out on me now, that’s not how this works. I won’t let you.” Rob said firmly. He placed a hand over yours, trying to calm you as he could probably sense your anxiety in the moment.
“P-please, Rob. We can’t keep doing this. This isn’t what I agreed to.”
“You agreed to help me, no matter what. We agreed to help each other.”
“But, not to this extent. I didn’t know it was all going to turn into this!” You freed your hand from his, waving both arms about wildly to emphasize the complete and utter disaster you were both finding yourselves in.
“Regardless of what you expected, this is where we are. There’s no turning back now.”
“We’re going to get caught, you know that, right? They’ll all know it was us.” You tried to make him realize that eventually, all of this was going to catch up with you. There were a handful of your fellow actors and friends at this convention, it would only be a matter of time before they began to weed each other out as the suspects, leaving you and Rob as the only possible answer to the chaos that was now rapidly unfolding.
“We’re too far in this to back out now,” he reminded you.
“You told me it was just going to be one day,” you sputtered, “one day and then we’d stop. What is wrong with you? How did I let you talk me into this?”
“It was only supposed to be one day, but I am so tired of how much they all mess with me. I’m always the butt of the joke, the one they pick on. Don’t tell me that you don’t get sick of it too.”
“Sure, I do… but don’t you think we’re handling this all wrong? Don’t you think this has gone too far?”
“No.” Rob stated, face red out of what was almost something like anger. You hadn’t realized until now how deeply offended Rob had been by the constant joking and pranks that the others had put him through this weekend. For some reason, they had gotten worse, leaving Rob in a constant state of panic over every little thing. You assumed it had a lot to do with Halloween coming just around the corner; the usual practical jokes and teasing had increased in the green room and on stage, almost all of those being aimed directly at Rob and yourself. You had already endured multiple embarrassments on Thursday; fake spiders in your bag, cheese still wrapped in plastic in your sandwich at lunch, even Skittles mixed in with your bowl of M&Ms. All of it had been cruel; but you knew that Rob received even worse. You actually had to stop him when he began to tell you that someone had managed to get into his hotel room and covered the toilet bowl with plastic wrap.
All of this was your own faults really. The two of you had always been picked on; on set and at conventions. It was as if you were just easy targets and everyone knew it. You hated how gullible you were, and you were sure Rob hated that about himself as well.
“Rob…” you trailed off for a moment, thinking hard about the situation that the two of you had gotten yourself into, “I’m afraid we’ll get caught. When we do, they’re going to be even worse to us.”
“They haven’t caught us yet, especially since we’ve pitted them against each other,” Rob replied. He turned to you, giving you a sly look, those blue eyes sparkling with anticipation.
“Rob, we can’t. This one is just… too advanced for us. We’ll never get away with it.”
“We’ve got to try.”
“You’ve lost your mind,” you muttered, suddenly fearful for his next move.
“Oh, it’s going to be so good though,” he grinned.
The Friday Before
“This is so stupid…”
“What? This is a great idea, I saw it on Pinterest.”
“You have a Pinterest?” You asked, raising a brow at him as you worked.
“That doesn’t matter. What matters is that this prank is hilarious. Kim is going to be so grossed out.”
“Well, if brushing your teeth is gross, then yeah, I imagine she’ll be horrified,” you said sarcastically as you continued to scrape the cream filling from the Oreos, handing the chocolate cookies over to Rob who was refilling them with toothpaste.
“It’s gross because she won’t expect it, no one wants a mouth full of toothpaste when they’re biting into a cookie.”
You sighed heavily, “you know, I really thought you were going to be ruthless with this whole thing. Toothpaste cookies are hardly an epic prank.”
“This is only the beginning,” he promised, “I’ve got more ideas, and I assume you’ve done your homework?”
“Yeah, I have. Mine are… different than your ideas. But yours are cute.”
“Cute? I’m trying to be cruel here.”
“Oh honey, you need to try a little harder. Perhaps starting with the harmless pranks is best though.”
Rob scowled at you, “I thought this was pretty mean.”
“Well, since you’re forcing me to do this, I’ve made sure to come up with some ideas that are way worse. You really aren’t capable of being mean. No wonder everyone picks on you.”
Rob frowned at you as he finished filling the last of the Oreos. You worked together, replacing them into the container carefully, hoping that your work wasn’t sloppy. When you both decided you were okay with how it turned out, Rob gathered the container and the empty toothpaste bottle and you both headed out of your hotel room.
Once inside the greenroom, you carefully looked around, hoping that no one would be there. It was early in the morning on Friday; you and Rob made sure to get an even earlier start on your prank so that you could beat everyone else to the convention area. The only people present were a few security and volunteers; all of which Rob very discreetly paid off to pretend that they didn’t see anything. You made your way to the food table which was already filled with snacks and drinks; carefully placing the oreos front and center. If there was anything that Kim couldn’t resist, it was the creamy chocolatey goodness of an Oreo cookie. She was your first target. Decided upon by Rob after he found out that she had been the one to put shaving cream in his shoes yesterday.
“For good measure,” Rob whispered as he grabbed some of the water bottles from the table, reaching into his pocket to retrieve what looked like a small pin. You watched him curiously as he took the pin and began to poke small holes in the sides of each water bottle.
“What are you doing?” You asked finally.
“When one of those jerks grabs for a drink, they’re going to be surprised when they get all wet,” he laughed.
“Wow,” you replied, “you really are evil. Let me guess, Pinterest?”
“Shut up,” he said as he kept working. When he was finished, he replaced the water bottles and you were actually sort of amazed that there wasn’t already water leaking everywhere given how many holes he has poked into each one. You nodded your approval as you both quickly gathered your evidence.
By now, your heart was racing at the thought of being caught. Rob had taken a little too much time setting up his water bottle prank, and you wanted to get out of there before anyone could realize that you had been there before everyone. You scrambled now, grabbing the empty bottle of toothpaste; you still didn’t understand why Rob had even brought it to begin with.
“Hurry!” you whispered, “Anyone could show up at any minute.”
You started for the door, power walking as your anxiety picked up.
“Y/N! Wait!” Rob shouted, grabbing you by the arm. He took the toothpaste bottle from your hand and ran over to the table where they had all been sitting yesterday. Rob held the bottle up for you to see, giving you a cunning look before slipping it underneath a jacket that had been left on the table.
“Is that… is that Billy’s jacket?” you asked.
“Yeah it is,” Rob chuckled, “and he’s about to be suspect number one.”
Rob raced back to you, grabbing your hand and pulling you toward the door, both of you smiling as adrenaline pumped through you.
You returned to the green room later, as the others started to arrive. You only hoped that you got there before anyone fell victim to your pranks. You wanted to keep yourselves as the least suspected, but you didn’t want to miss out on their reactions. The band was there already, along with Rich; so you sat on the couch and began to thumb through your phone as Rob grabbed a guitar and began to strum on the other side of the room. You made sure you distanced yourselves, trying to seem inconspicuous.
Kim finally entered, followed by Briana; both talking excitedly to each other. Your breath caught as they made their way to the food table. You glanced quickly at Rob who met your stare briefly before going back to ignoring everyone.
You watched nervously as Kim inevitably grabbed for an Oreo. She and Briana were still chatting as she brought it to her mouth, taking a bite. Your breathing stopped, waiting for her reaction.
“What the hell?” Kim shouted, spitting the cookie out into a napkin, “is that toothpaste? Did someone put toothpaste in the Oreos?!”
She glanced around the room, eyeing each of you accusingly. You froze for a moment, waiting as she continued to scan the room for the culprit. She stopped suddenly on an unsuspecting Rich.
“You,” she said slowly, pointing directly at him. Rich looked up at her, mouth agape despite the bagel that he had just shoved into his mouth.
“Me?” He asked, pointing to himself, eyes wide in disbelief at her accusation.
You forced yourself to not laugh, instead focusing on the fight that was unfolding in front of you.
“Yeah you,” Kim replied, “who else would come up with a dumb prank like this?”
Your eyes darted to Rob who was now looking up from his guitar, that scowl present on his face as he seemed hurt that someone thought his prank was dumb.
“Hey, it wasn’t me, okay,” Rich defended himself, “I wouldn’t touch your stupid Oreos, I’m not an idiot.”
Kim scoffed at him, reaching for a bottled water to probably wash the taste of toothpaste and chocolate out of her mouth. She grabbed it by the lid, moving it to her other hand where she then placed a firm grasp on it. You sucked in a breath as she did so, waiting. Before Kim could even think about taking the lid off, water began to squirt everywhere, soaking the front of her shirt as well as Briana’s who happened to be standing too close to her. You smiled slightly, impressed that Rob had taken the time to poke that many holes in the bottles.
“What the hell?!” Kim screamed again as she tried to understand what was going on. By the time she realized what was happening, most of the water was gone, and covering her and Briana.
“Really?!” Briana shouted, looking down at herself in disgust, “now I look like I’ve pissed myself.”
“That’s a good look for you,” Rich chuckled, still shoveling the bagel into his mouth.
“You think you’re so clever,” Kim spat back.
“It wasn’t me!” He defended himself again.
“Really guys?” Billy chimed in finally, rolling his eyes as Rich and Kim exchanged words. “This is stupid. Really bad pranks…” he continued as he moved toward the table. He reached for his jacket suddenly, laughing at Kim and Briana’s misfortune.
“Haha,” said Briana, “you wouldn’t think it was funny if it were you.”
“Whatever,” Billy mumbled. As he lifted his jacket off the table, the empty toothpaste bottle remained on the table, directly underneath where his jacket had been.
“What’s that?” Rich asked curiously. Billy reached down, picking up the bottle and examined it.
“It’s toothpaste…” he mumbled.
“Aha!” Shouted Kim, rushing toward Billy. “An empty toothpaste bottle! You are terrible at this, you’re not supposed to keep the evidence.”
“I-It wasn’t me,” Billy stuttered, now looking scared as Kim glared at him.
“Yeah right, I’m sure you just happen to carry this around with you.”
“I was framed!” Billy shouted. “That’s not mine, I didn’t do it!”
“Just watch your back, Moran,” Briana threatened, eyeing him now, “you’ll get what’s coming to you.”
Just then a handler entered the room, letting Rob, Rich, and the band know that they were due on stage. They each hurried for the door, eager to escape the glares of Kim and Briana. As Rob walked past you, he shot you a sly wink causing you to smile uncontrollably. Your plan had worked beautifully. Before you would even realize it, Kim would be hatching a plan to get back at Billy. You and Rob had gotten away with it completely, no one even suspected the two of you. When they all left the room; Kim and Briana following since their panel was first, you sat back with a pleased grin on your face, thinking of ways you could prank the others and who you would frame for each trick you played.
The rest of Friday went smoothly. You had managed to find Rob at one point when you both were actually not busy with something. The others were slowly starting to get back at each other. Kim had replaced Billy’s ketchup at lunch with hot sauce. Billy, who was not one to mess around, acted as if nothing was wrong when he bit into his lunch. Everyone was aware that something was wrong though when he turned beet red and he began to sweat. He chewed his food though, eyeing Kim as he powered through it. You had to hand it to him, he really wasn’t going to let her win this one.
When you and Rob finally had a moment, you snuck off together to plan your next prank. This was one that you had come up with to get back at Rich for the way he had made fun of you yesterday.
“Did you get the stuff?” You whispered to Rob as you both hid in what seemed to be a storage closet.
“Of course I did,” he answered, digging through his bag. He handed you a handful of small hand sanitizers and a couple bottles of glue. “Do you know how hard it is to find clear glue?” He asked as he watched you work.
You began to open the hand sanitizers, dumping the contents into a bag. When you were finished, you began to fill the bottles with the clear glue that Rob had managed to find for you.
“If there’s one thing Rich hates, it’s germs,” you began, “we’ll see how much he likes his hand sanitizer now.”
You sealed the bottles and put them back in Rob’s bag. Rob watched you, a pleased grin spread across his face.
“You sure you can get these to Rich’s table without him knowing?” You asked.
“I have my connections,” Rob explained.
Unfortunately, you had missed out on how your glue prank for Rich had gone. It was set up during autographs, which you weren’t a part of that day, so it would have seemed odd for you to be in the room when you didn’t need to be. You waited in the green room as everyone else finished up their day, listening to conversations over how so and so was going to get so and so back, and how so and so did such and such to them. You felt yourself glowing with pride, knowing that it had been you and Rob to set off such a staggering string of events so far.
When Rob was finished for the day, he whisked you off to his room before Karaoke, eagerly filling you in on the details of your prank on Rich that he had had the pleasure of witnessing.
“Ugh,” you pouted, “I wish I could have seen his face.”
“It was perfect, the second after he shook that first hand and went for the sanitizer, I could barely breathe. You should have seen his face, it was classic.”
You and Rob giggled together as he replayed the entire thing; watching Rich’s face when he realized something wasn’t right, him waiting for someone to come back with something to clean his hands with, Rich glaring at the other actors in the room as he tried to figure out who had done this.
“We’ve got one more we can do,” Rob continued, “tonight at karaoke.”
“No,” you replied, “maybe we should chill for the day. We’ve managed to get away with a couple of really good ones, let’s not push our luck.”
“We’re going to get Matt tonight,” he argued.
“Not that one,” you gasped, “we decided not to go there…”
“We have to do it, it’s too good.”
“Okay,” you agreed finally, “then we need to chill out.”
Karaoke
You watched Matt as he dressed for karaoke that night. Rob stood next to you, slipping on his white and red striped vest and putting that ridiculous hat on his head. You adjusted your corset as you watched and waited. Matt quickly put the giraffe costume over his clothing when you all realized you were cutting it close to having to be on stage. You looked at Rob as Matt finally put the giraffe head on and hurried out the door. Rob smiled at you and grabbed your hand, giving it a tight squeeze as if to let you know everything was going as planned.
During karaoke, you almost forgot about the events of today. You were having so much fun, singing and dancing with your friends and fans. It wasn’t until you noticed Matt looking displeased as he occasionally messed with the giraffe head that sat atop his own head that you remembered that Rob had said he was pulling one more prank tonight. You felt another wave of adrenaline pump through you when you realized that Rob had pulled it off. It was only a matter of time before Matt found out what was going on.
After karaoke, you all found you way back to the green room. Matt immediately pulled the giraffe head off, swearing as he did so.
“What is this?” He cried out. Everyone looked at him as he began to grab at his hair, pulling his hands away and seeing that they were covered in something sticky and red.
Briana walked up to him, sticking a finger in his hair. She studied the substance on her finger for a moment before sticking it in her mouth.
“Mmm, strawberry jelly,” she answered.
“That’s disgusting!” Matt shouted, “It’s in my hair!”
“It’s a good look for you,” Rich laughed.
“You think this is funny? Someone literally put strawberry jelly in my costume, who was it?”
Everyone stared at Matt, clueless as to who may have actually done it.
“Rich!” Matt shouted.
“Why does everyone think I’m doing this stuff?” Rich shot back.
“It seems like a very… dick move,” Rob added, smiling with pride at his own joke.
The others groaned in response, but you made sure to let Rob know that his joke was very good.
“I’m gonna figure out who did this,” Matt promised as he removed the rest of his costume, throwing it to the floor, “and whoever it was is going to pay.” With that, he stormed out of the room, leaving the rest of you in disbelief.
Saturday
Saturday morning was mostly filled with private discussions over who had been pulling the pranks. It really was working out in your favor though. From what you overheard, each of your friends were blaming each other; not once was there ever a mention of you or Rob’s names. You and Rob did your part, mentioning the possibility of Stephen maybe trying to prank Matt since he had been in on blaming Billy for the Oreo prank, which Stephen didn’t believe Billy did. There was immediate discussion on how to get back at Stephen and you and Rob felt pleased with your results.
However, you and Rob still had some tricks up your sleeves. Today, you had planned to get Briana and Chris. Briana was a given as she often gave you and Rob a hard time. Chris was just a bonus. He hadn’t really done anything to either of you, but you were so drunk on power by now that you decided to prank as many people as you could, of course making sure that you framed someone else for it.
You had left the empty strawberry jelly jar in Stephens bag that he kept in the green room; waiting for him to give himself away. It was torture really not making it obvious, but you both knew that eventually, Stephen would screw up and get himself caught. That didn’t come until about halfway through the day though. Stephen had been digging through his bag as you all sat around taking a break. Unfortunately for him, he pulled the jar out to examine it with Matt sitting right across from him. Matt saw it immediately.
“It was you?”
“This isn’t mine,” Stephen explained, tossing the empty jar to the floor, watching as it rolled to Matt’s feet.
“What did I ever do to you?” Matt asked, face red and angry.
“Nothing,” Stephen replied, “I didn’t do anything. I don’t know how that got there.”
“Watch your back man,” Matt threatened as stormed from the room yet again.
In the aftermath of Matt’s threats toward Stephen, you and Rob got to work for your prank on Chris. You weren’t sure how Rob had managed to gain access to one of Chris’ cameras, and you really didn’t want to know. All you did know was that Rob had it and he was now carefully coloring on it with a black marker. It really was the oldest trick in the book, but you let Rob have this one. He seemed awfully proud that he had thought of it.
“These cameras are super expensive,” you reminded him. You bit your lip, unsure if this one was a good idea at all.
“Relax, it’s only marker, it’ll wash off.”
“Chris is also super tall…”
“He won’t know it was us,” Rob replied almost nervously, “I’m not afraid of him.”
“Okay, but if this one backfires, you leave me out of it.”
“Traitor,” Rob said with a laugh. When he was finished, he carefully replaced the camera into it’s bag and left it on the table.
“He really just left it sitting here?” You asked when you realized Rob was leaving it.
“Yeah, what an idiot.”
Once you left the scene, you began to work on your prank for Briana. This was one that you weren’t quite sure of. Sure, you had come up with it, knowing that it would be pretty epic; but eventually you felt uneasy about it.
“She always brushes her teeth after eating,” Rob explained, “at least the woman has great dental hygiene.”
“Yeah, but maybe this one is going too far. Also, we’ve already done one tooth related prank.”
“No, this one is going to be even better.”
“Rob, I really think it’s time to hold back,” you said. For a moment, you really felt like these pranks were getting out of hand.
“Y/N, you came up with an amazing idea, you’d be selling yourself short if we didn’t do it.”
“Fine,” you replied as you grabbed Briana’s toothbrush from Rob. Rob looked around the room, making sure no one was around as he watched you open the cap to the food dye you were holding. You carefully placed a few drops of the dye into the bristles of the toothbrush before quickly placing it back where you got it from. Rob grabbed the dye from you and moved across the room to place it under Rich’s hat that was now left at the table.
“Rich’s turn,” Rob said with a smile. He grabbed your hand again and led you to the couch. “Now we just wait,” he said as the two of you sat down, pretending to look busy as you waited for someone else to join you.
You had been delighted to witness the prank you had pulled on Briana that day. As usual, she ate lunch and made her way to a bathroom to brush her teeth. You really had to hand it to her, the woman enjoyed having clean teeth. You and Rob and some of the others were treated to her screams a while later. She came rushing out of the bathroom, waving her toothbrush at each of you.
“Are you fucking serious!” she yelled, mouth covered in a lovely shade of blue. You covered your own mouth, trying to stifle a laugh at the sight of her.
“Oh my god,” Billy breathed out, “this is amazing.” He pulled his phone out, aiming it right at Briana as he snapped pictures of her.
“Who is doing this?” She demanded. Her wild eyes glanced around, stopping briefly on you and Rob as you sat, pretending to be shocked at the situation.
No one answered her, there were only muffled laughs and shaking heads.
“Someone is responsible,” she continued.
Suddenly, an argument broke out again. Everyone began to blame each other, and they were doing so very loudly.
Rich, who was ready to escape the fighting, reached for his hat suddenly. He put it on his head, leaving behind the small bottle of blue food dye that Rob had left under his hat. Kim immediately noticed it on the table.
“Rich!” she shouted, grabbing Briana by the arm and shaking her, “look, he has the dye!”
“Oh my god!” yelled Rich when he saw the dye sitting there, right where his hat had been, “it wasn’t me! Who framed me?”
“Hey!” Mike shouted. Everyone stopped arguing, focusing their attention on him as he prepared to speak. “Has anyone noticed that there are, like, a handful of people here who haven’t been pranked?”
You swallowed hard, kicking yourself as you realized that you and Rob had forgotten to cover all of your tracks.
“Yeah, you’re right…” Rich hummed, “I mean Robbie and Y/N have been pretty fortunate.”
“Hey,” Rob started, “don’t you think Y/N and I get enough as it is? I mean, we’re always the victims, we’re always getting picked on.”
“You’re right,” Rich said, “someone is targeting the rest of us now. Borja and Chris have been pretty lucky as well.”
“Actually, someone did put peanut butter on my bass earlier, I just didn’t make a huge deal out of it like the rest of you are,” Mike replied.
“Fine, Chris and Rob and Y/N,” Rich corrected himself.
“Hey, it’s not me or Rob,” you said, “I mean, when have we ever pranked anyone? Like Rob said, we’re usually in your shoes.”
“True,” Rich replied, “also, there’s no way you two could ever come up with good pranks.”
You were grateful when the attention shifted from you and Rob finally, everyone going back to accusing each other.
Later that day, you received word of Rob’s prank on Chris. It had been during Misha’s ops when Chris finally grabbed the camera that Rob had sabotaged. About halfway through the ops, Misha finally noted that Chris’ face was suddenly covered in something black. Just by him holding the camera to his face, the marker that Rob had used has rubbed off, coating him in a fine layer of black. You got to witness it later when you ran into Chris in the green room. Unfortunately for him, the marker wasn’t washable. He walked around the rest of the day like that, glaring at everyone since he didn’t know who exactly was responsible.
You and Rob had pulled your pranks for the day, sitting back and enjoying the moments of sweet revenge that no one could possibly pin on you. Your plan to frame the others for everything had worked well, and there was only one brief moment of anyone suspecting you. Luckily, you and Rob were the sweet and innocent ones of the group; any suspicion had been quickly squashed when the others realized neither of you were capable of such cruelty.
When the concert rolled around that night, you both obviously decided against doing anything else. Rob had too much to focus on and you didn’t feel comfortable pulling any pranks on your own, especially not on concert night. For the first time during the convention, everyone seemed to be somewhat at ease that night. No one argued or tried to get back at anyone. This left you feeling slightly powerful; knowing that you could easily cause a stir if you really wanted to.
After the show, Rob had found you again. He walked with you down the hall, talking quietly about what he had planned for tomorrow.
“Rob, I really don’t think it’s a good idea,” you stated again. It seemed as if everything was getting a bit out of hand now. Everyone was mad at each other and they were all basically targeting each other anyway. “I mean, come on, I think we’ve messed with them enough.”
“We had the big prank planned,” Rob pouted.
“I know, but is it necessary?”
“Hell yeah it’s necessary,” Rob said, “just think Y/N, think of all those times any of them picked on you because you’re smaller that them, think of all those stupid pranks they pulled on you just because you always fall for them. This is our chance, our one shot at finally getting back at those fuckers.”
“Haven’t we done that though?”
“All those other pranks… that was kid’s stuff,” he replied, “we have to hit them with the big one now. We have to get Jared and Jensen… we have to get them all.”
You sighed heavily, knowing that you wouldn’t be able to talk him out of it. The man must be feeling the same power trip that you had felt earlier, only for him, it was on a much more extreme level. Regardless, you had promised to help him through this, knowing that you wanted your own revenge just as much as he wanted his. There was no backing out now.
Sunday Afternoon
Sunday was going to be a difficult day. You and Rob had decided to mellow out on the small pranks, knowing that you were about to attempt one so big, even you were unsure if it would work despite how powerful you had been feeling. Rob had offered you a pep talk right when you panicked and tried to back out. He had been right, you were in on this together and there was no turning back now.
You had a small window of time now. Jared and Jensen were on stage doing their panel; the girls were doing photo ops; the band remained on stage with the J’s, and Rich was waiting for his turn in photo ops. The green room was empty and Rob had once again paid off a couple of volunteers to keep the room cleared while you worked. It seemed impossible at first; a prank to this extent surely couldn’t be set up in such a short amount of time. Regardless, you and Rob got to work. You worked together, stacking cups of water in front of the main entrance until the entire doorway was blocked. You knew that based on the way the door opened into the room, this wouldn’t do anything else rather than get the floor wet; but it was merely a distraction. You had some help earlier in the day from some fans during your meet and greet. During this time, they helped you set up the contraption just above the door that would hold water balloons. All it would take was a tug of the rope and all the balloons would come crashing down.
“Okay, we need to get the balloons into the net,” you explained to Rob in a rushed voice. The water cups had taken up a lot of time and you were now rushing to finish before anyone made it back.
“Climb up there and I’ll hand you the balloons,” Rob replied.
“Why do I have to climb up there? You know I’m afraid of heights.”
“Come on Y/N,” he argued, “I’m too shaky, I’ll just end up dropping everything.”
“Oh Jesus,” you rolled your eyes as you hesitantly climbed the ladder. Rob began to hand you already filled water balloons and you carefully placed each one into the net, hoping that nothing would set the trap off while you worked. While you checked to make sure the contraption was secure, Rob moved aside to prepare the buckets of flour. They too needed to be rigged up to ensure that they were set off as the door opened. You glanced around in amazement for a moment. Impressed that you and Rob had actually almost pulled this off. It was by far your most elaborate prank, and you were pretty proud that you had done it together. You almost wanted everyone to know you were the culprits, but you knew you had to set up and rush out the side door to actually avoid getting caught. If anyone knew you were responsible, you and Rob would never hear the end of it and you would probably be harassed even more.
While you focused on the water balloons, Rob began to carefully place Pop-Its around the room; under rugs, under couch cushions, scattered around the floor even in plain sight.
“Hand me that bucket,” you instructed Rob. You meant to set that one up before moving to the other side of the door for the second bucket. Just as Rob picked it up to bring to you, someone burst through the side door. You looked up in fear, afraid that you had been caught. It was one of the volunteers that Rob had paid off.
She stood at the doorway, eyes wide and in a panic. “Guys!” she shouted, “I’m so sorr-”
Her words were cut short as the door just below you swung open.
Everything happened all at once. You remember seeing Rich, Kim, Briana, and the band below you as you grabbed onto the ladder. All of the cups of water that you had set up went flying. Water was everywhere already; flying across the room, tumbling down to soak the floor. Already, your plan had been foiled. Even worse; the door was opened with such force, it immediately slammed into the ladder that you were still standing on. You tried to steady yourself, letting go of the rope holding the balloons in place. As you did so, all of the water balloons came crashing down on top of the six of your friends as they rushed into the room to see what the commotion was. You still worked at steadying yourself as you felt the ladder sway beneath you, and just as you thought you had evened out, Rich panicked a bit more than had been expected. He stepped back in disbelief as the water balloons fell on top of him, immediately soaking him, he swore a bit before bumping into the ladder as he tried to regain his footing.
You felt the ladder sway beneath you again, heart stopping when you realized that this was not going to end well for you. You tried to steady yourself again, but Rich turned and grabbed onto the ladder, pushing it even more. The combination of a stunned Rich trying to steady himself and your weight at the top of the ladder ultimately resulted in the whole thing toppling over. You could no longer even try to balance yourself out with Rich grabbing blindly at the thing as you held on for dear life.
As you fell to the ground with a thud, pain shot through your foot as you landed. In the distance, you could hear the constant popping sound as the six others scurried about the room; now stepping on the Pop-Its that they weren’t expecting to have scattered across the room. You glanced up from your spot on the floor; almost blinded by the pain in your foot with the ladder lying on top of you; watching the chaos unfold as your soaked friends danced around, shocked by the constant popping sounds that occurred no matter where they stepped.
There were curses and screams; the entire room filled with noise and panic. You glanced over to Rob who was standing in one spot; still holding one of the buckets as he too watched your prank take an unexpected turn. It seemed as if the entire scene went on forever, but in a mere matter of minutes, the room calmed down; Pop-Its were all but popped, all of your friends were now staring in shock at each other as water dripped off of them. Suddenly, there was complete silence. Eyes landed on you as you remained on the floor, groaning in pain; then eyes glanced over at Rob who hadn’t moved from his spot. Before anyone could say anything, Rob walked over to where Rich, Kim, and Briana stood. He stared at them for a moment before lifting the bucket up and tossing it’s contents all over them. The three stood there; mouths agape, now covered in wet flour.
“W-What the hell just happened?” Briana stuttered, still in shock as she tried to make sense of everything.
“It was the ultimate prank,” Rob muttered, “until it wasn’t.” He turned to you then, moving toward you quickly, “Y/N, are you okay?”
“No, I’m not okay!” you shouted, “my ankle… it really hurts.”
Rob bent down to move the ladder off of you before holding your foot in his lap as he sat down to check on it.
“You set up this as a prank?” Rich asked.
“Yeah, you weren’t supposed to come in, not yet anyway. You were supposed to walk in with Jared and Jensen.”
Just as if he had summoned them by saying their names, Jared and Jensen entered the room; stopping in their tracks as the looked around, assessing the mess that laid before them.
“Whoa, what happened?” Jared asked, now looking at the six others, half of whom were now covered in a sticky flour paste. He and Jensen began to laugh at the scene before them, at least until they noticed that you were lying on the ground, obviously in pain.
“Uh, I think Rob and Y/N just pulled the ultimate prank on us,” Kim said, as she moved toward you as well.
“No, we failed,” you replied, “our timing was way off, you weren’t supposed to know it was us.”
“Why the hell were you on a ladder?” Rich asked as he knelt next to you. The man looked guilty beneath the flour paste when he realized that he was the one that sent you crashing to the ground.
“Rob was too scared to do it,” you answered, flinching as Rob started to remove your shoe when he noticed your ankle swelling.
“I wasn’t scared, I just knew you’d get it done faster.”
“Wait,” Briana said, “was it the two of you this whole time?”
Rob took a deep breath, “Yes, we did it all.”
“Really?” Asked Rich. He looked at you both in surprise, almost impressed. “I didn’t think either of you would have it in you honestly.”
“Wait, did you pull pranks and then frame everyone else?” Billy asked.
“Yes, we pitted you against one another and watched as you tried to get back at each other. It was perfect really, no one suspected us. We just watched as we turned you against each other.”
“Wow,” Jensen said finally, “I-I’m truly impressed. I heard all about everything that happened this weekend.
“All of that was really you two?” Jared asked, amazed when you both nodded at him.
You smiled at Jared and Jensen, happy that someone was at least taking note of how wonderful the prank really would have been had you finished it just a few minutes before.
“This one was meant mostly for you two,” Rob said glancing between Jared and Jensen.
“Us?” they replied in unison.
“Yeah, I mean, come on,” Rob began, “you guys are always pranking me and Y/N; you’re always making fun of us and picking on us, it was time to get you back,” he looked around the room at the others who were just as guilty as Jared and Jensen, “to get all of you back.”
“Well, you certainly didn’t succeed with us,” Jared said, “but I have to give you props, this is an amazing set up.”
“Really?” Rob asked, now grinning as Jared complimented the two of you.
“Heck yeah,” Rich added, “seriously, all of those other pranks over the weekend… really good. We never even suspected you. You both really covered your tracks by framing each of us.”
“Well, that was Rob’s idea,” you said.
“Amazing,” Stephen added, “you really got us.”
Suddenly, from the back of the room came the sounds of clapping. You all looked over to see Mike, smiling as he stood there, still soaking wet as he started a slow clap. The others joined in eventually, slow clapping for you and Rob until it turned into a burst of applause. You grinned at Rob, well, it was more of a grimace since your ankle and foot still hurt. He beamed at you for a moment and you both enjoyed your moment as you realized that your friends were proud of how you had managed to prank them unknowingly all weekend.
“Really,” Jared said as the clapping ended, “this prank would have been epic if you hadn’t got caught. Hell, it was still epic.”
“Too bad you missed your real targets,” Jensen chuckled as he moved toward the couch. You held your breath when you remembered what Rob had put under the couch cushions, watching as Jensen plopped down on the couch, a smug look on his face. Just as he landed, the handful of Pop-Its that Rob had placed under the cushion went off. Jensen yelled, jumping from his seat in a panic.
You all laughed hysterically, even more impressed that you had still managed to get one of the J’s. Your laughter only made your ankle hurt worse and you cringed as pain shot up your leg.
“Really though,” Rich said, directing his question to Rob, “why the hell did you put Y/N on the ladder? She’s afraid of heights and now she’s broken.”
“It seemed like a good idea at the time…” Rob mumbled.
“Hey, do you think that maybe we can forget about all of this and someone can get me to a hospital?” You asked.
“Of course,” Rob replied. He and the guys moved around you, ready to carry you from the room to get you checked out.
“How are you going to explain this one?” Jared laughed.