(Archived) Poth Short Stories and One-Shots

The Day of Japes - Chapter 2

Well, lookie here...

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*be-*

Palette's sockets shot open, his hand darting for his phone as the first tone went off. Deftly silencing the alarm, he listened for a moment before smiling to himself.

There was complete silence... perfect.

Scrambling out of bed and easing the door open, he crept into the hallway toward Goth's room. Pressing his skull to the closed door, the skeleton confirmed once more that his roommate was still fast asleep before tiptoeing down the hallway into the kitchen. 

Palette had about fifteen minutes before Goth's alarm would go off, so he had to work quickly.

Pulling open the cabinets, he grabbed the sugar canister and salt shaker along with a plastic bag; he dumped the sugar into the bag, replacing the empty canister with salt. After returning the 'sugar' back to the cabinet while hiding the bag, he pulled out the flour along with a spare milk jug he had tucked away in the back. Pouring a generous amount of flour into the jug, he filled it the rest of the way with water, capped it, and shook the contents until it took on a cloudy white consistency akin to milk. 

Placing the jug in the fridge, Palette checked the clock on the stove; it showed he had about two minutes left. He wiped off the counter to clean up any evidence of his misdeeds, darting back to his room just as the coffee machine clicked on and slid to a halt in front of his door just as the telltale blare of Goth's alarm signaled the start of the day.

Opening his door and waiting for the thud of footsteps, he audibly shut the door once more and made his way to the bathroom. Goth's door opened as he passed by and Palette let out a convincing yawn, "Good morning."

"Morning...," Goth mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his barely open sockets as he plodded after the taller on his way to the kitchen.

Palette let the sleepy skeleton go by while he snagged a towel from the linen closet, slipping into the bathroom and turning on the shower to heat up while he undressed; the coffee machine took about five minutes to finish brewing, so he would have to be quick if he wanted to see his companion's reaction properly. He stifled a chuckle as he hopped into the shower, imagining what kind of face Goth would make upon taking their first sip of morning coffee; the smaller monster definitely wouldn't expect an April Fool's joke first thing in the morning, so it was guaranteed to catch them off guard.

Lathering up the loofah, Palette hastily scrubbed his body down before stepping under the warm spray, then repeated the process with his face. As he opened his sockets, he caught a glimpse of something black falling toward him a mere second before it landed on his face; the sight of spindly legs in the corner of his vision immediately had him clawing at his face with a panicked yelp.

His movements managed to dislodge what he could now identify as a spider. He backed away rapidly, gasping as his foot slipped against the slick surface of the tub and flailed out his arms in an attempt to catch himself moments before a sharp pain blossomed in his skull as stars lit up his vision.

By now, there were muffled noises coming from behind the bathroom door, but Palette couldn't seem to focus. His skull and ankle were throbbing and he felt a weird combination of hot and cold; he wished the world would stop spinning so he could figure out where the spider went... maybe he landed on it? That would be nice... one less problem to worry about...

"Palette? Did something happen?" Goth called out, a hazy shadow appearing behind the shower curtain. 

Palette weakly called out, "I... I fell...?"; his dizziness was getting worse and his body didn't seem to want to cooperate at all, which only made him more anxious as his vision began to tunnel.

The curtain moved and Goth's eye light drifted down to look at him, rapidly contracting as the shocked skeleton shouted, "Oh m- Palette?!"

"'sit bad?" Palette slurred, not liking how tired and achy he was feeling.

"Hold on!" Goth yelled, snatching the towel from the counter and scrambling to turn off the showerhead; they reached into the tub with their left hand, the towel grasped tightly in their right as they began to cry, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen!" 

He felt himself being lifted up; the movement sent a wave of vertigo through Palette and his consciousness flickered out before he could even say a word in response.

---

"... and when I came to, I was in a hospital room with a concussion and a sprained ankle," Palette said as he inspected a package of balloons, "you already know the rest".

"So that's what happened," Dream sighed, browsing the various party items on the shelf, "I figured it was a prank gone wrong since he kept saying it was his fault and he was a horrible monster, but you were fine and poor Goth was already such a mess; I felt it would only make things worse if I asked."

"Yeah...," Palette grimaced, remembering how torn up his roommate was about him getting hurt. After the smaller tearfully confessed to taping a fake spider to the bathroom ceiling, every apology was met with reassurance that he wasn't mad; he knew Goth didn't mean any harm and he didn't want their friendship ruined because of a prank gone awry, "Goth got a bath mat for the tub and we both agreed not to use jokes that involved scaring each other after that."

"Then what are you going to use those for?" Dream asked, pointing out the balloons, saran wrap, and tape in his son's basket.

"I'm not popping any of them, if that's what you're asking, "Palette chuckled as he explained, "I'm going to pile up a bunch of balloons in front of the windows, holding them in place with saran wrap to make it look like the apartment's filled with balloons." If he knew Goth, the smaller would probably want to use them for balloon volleyball or something afterward.

Dream nodded in acceptance as they made their way toward the registers, "So what happened with your coffee prank?"

"Oh, Goth caught the flour water since it had a day to settle, but I got him with the salt," the younger skeleton grinned, recalling the disgruntled look on Goth's face, "It was a day late and he couldn't find where I hid the sugar, so I felt bad that he didn't get his usual coffee two days in a row, but he said he considered it karma for the accident."

Paying for the items and saying his goodbyes, Palette headed home to set up his prank while wondering what Goth had planned; since his companion hadn't done anything yet, he guessed they either had something lying in wait at home or they were bringing their prank home with them later tonight.

In all honesty, he was glad for the agreement they made in the hospital that day; after all, April Fools Day is only fun if they can both walk away laughing in the end.

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Word Count: 1,219