A/N: Hey, it's been awhile! Sorry I've been so lazy about writing… I know this is kinda late but I just got the idea on April 1st haha. (by the way, Johnny and Dally are alive for this story)
It was April 1, 1966. That meant two things: 1- it was April Fool's Day, Two-Bit's favorite day of the year, and 2- Darry's least favorite day of the year. The house was almost always a mess as a result of everyone goofing around all the time, but things got even worse on April Fool's. Two-Bit was pretty much the prankster king with Dally in a close second since he loves to annoy people. The others, as in Soda, Steve, and yes, even Ponyboy and Johnny liked to pull pranks too, but sometimes it would backfire when Two-Bit or Dally ended up getting them instead. All of their shenanigans annoyed the heck out of Darry but he couldn't stop them, he just made them clean up after themselves because he sure wasn't going to do it. Unlike the rest of the gang, Darry liked to keep things neat.
Every year, they had a bit of a prank war, everyone trying to outdo each other. But this year, Two-Bit had an idea that needed the rest of the gang involved and on the same side. He got Dally, Johnny and Steve to come with him to the Curtis' house before the brothers woke up. He told them to wait in the living room while he waited outside the door of Pony and Soda's room. It sounded like they were just getting up. He could hear Soda's sleepy voice.
"Come on, Ponyboy." The door opened and Soda let out a surprised yelp, jumping back when he saw Two-Bit standing right there, grinning crazily like an insane person out of a horror movie. "Two-Bit, don't do that!" Ponyboy was up now.
"What- oh, I should've known," he said when he saw the "prankster king".
"Shhh, come here guys!" They followed him into the living room, wondering what on earth he was up to now. Darry was the only one not with them since he was still sleeping. Two-Bit paced in front of them as they sat on the couch.
"Okay, so as you all know, today is April Fool's Day, but we're gonna do thing a little differently this year because I have a brilliant idea-"
"You have a brilliant idea? Wow," Steve quipped. They all laughed and Two-Bit kicked Steve.
"As I was saying, this time we're all gonna band together and do everything and anything to mess with the great Darrel Curtis!" Soda and Pony looked at each other, not sure if they wanted to get on Darry's bad side.
"Uh, I'm not so sure that's the best idea there, buddy. Trust me, I know," Steve said, remembering the time Darry decked him for calling him "all brawn and no brain". Two-Bit frowned.
"Aw, guys it'll be hilarious!" Soda shook his head.
"It's your funeral."
"Come on, I know it's gonna be worth it. I'm not doin' it by myself, so who's with me?" Everyone was quiet for a second, and then Dally stood up.
"Ah, what the heck, man. I'm in." The rest of them reluctantly agreed.
"Darry's gonna kill us," Ponyboy muttered. Two-Bit reached for his bag of everything he needs to pull pranks.
"This is gonna be good," he said, rubbing his hands together and laughing evilly. "I already set something up to get us started. Just wait!" Suddenly, a really loud alarm went off and they heard Darry shriek slightly as he fell out of bed. He grumbled to himself in annoyance and turned the alarm off. Then, as he went to open the door, a bucket filled with water spilled on him and he was drenched. He stomped into the living room but Two-Bit was hiding.
"Where is he?" Darry growled. Two-Bit came out from behind him and threw him a towel.
"Good morning, Superman!" Darry pulled his shirt off and wrung it out over the 19 year old's head.
"I'm gonna go change. Don't try to pull anything else!"
Oh, this is just the beginning! The prankster king thought to himself, for he indeed had much more planned. He turned back to the rest of the gang, who were all laughing.
"That was pretty good!" Dally said. Two-Bit waved them closer.
"Okay, here's the plan. We're all gonna act all innocent, then when he least expects it, that's when we get him again."
And that's just what they did throughout breakfast and a couple hours afterward. Darry was suspicious for a while but then he relaxed. Sodapop decided it was his turn next. He eyed his big brother, who was just relaxing in the armchair.
"Hey Darry, I'm gonna get something to drink. You want anything?" Darry nodded, not suspecting anything.
"Sure, get me a coffee." Soda went into the kitchen and poured himself some chocolate milk. And he got Darry some coffee alright, but with an added surprise. He went back over and handed it to Darry.
"Here you go!" Soda grinned when Darry took a sip, giving a start when he noticed a spider in it. Well, a plastic one that is. He glared at his younger brother.
"That ain't funny." Soda snorted.
"Yeah it was! You shoulda seen your face!" Darry threw the spider at him.
"One time, Tim was drinking a beer and a bee crawled into it without him knowing so he ended up getting stung in the mouth!"
"Dar, that ain't even the same thing. It's just a plastic spider, and we're in the house, and I promise I wouldn't put any real bugs in your coffee." Darry shoved him and smiled.
"Whatever."
After lunch, next up was Steve. While Darry was out of the room, he set up a bunch of little plastic ants. He started on the counter, and then put them all in a line leading all the way into Darry's room. At the end was a giant plastic ant, about the size of a cat. Where Two-Bit got it from was a mystery. As expected, Darry discovered this and started following the trail. He was a little startled to find the giant ant in the middle of his room but then he rolled his eyes. He picked it up and walked over to where the rest of the gang were hanging out and cleared his throat to get their attention.
"Really?" He asked, pointing at the ant he was holding. Steve tried to keep a straight face but it wasn't working. "Randle!" Darry shouted, and everyone started cracking up. Darry shook his head.
"Where the heck did you even get this?"
"I know people you wouldn't believe," Two-Bit answered, picking up the ant and putting it in his bag.
"Go clean the rest of those up," Darry ordered Steve, crossing his arms.
"Fine, Mr. Fun!"
Ponyboy wasn't sure what to do, so he made a pretty weak attempt when they all sat down for dinner. Darry didn't fall for this one. He picked up the whoopee cushion from his chair and raised an eyebrow.
"Are you serious?" Pony blushed and Darry reached over and ruffled his hair. "Nice try, little buddy," he said, laughing. Soda was shaking his head and Pony shoved him.
"Shut up."
Not long after dinner, things were taken to the next level. Darry was going to do the laundry but Pony and Soda offered to instead.
"All you do is work, Dar. Go relax for once." So Darry reluctantly decided to take a nap. Pony looked guiltily at Soda.
"I feel kinda bad. Darry gets a day off and we annoy him all day. Maybe we shouldn't do this prank."
"Aw, he's having a good day. Don't let him fool you." This one was Dally's idea. Along with a bunch of Darry's white clothing, Dally threw in one of his red shirts. Since Johnny didn't have any ideas, Dally suggested that he should go draw on Darry's face while he was asleep.
"Are you sure this is a good idea, Dal?" Johnny asked, looking slightly nervous. Dally smirked.
"Oh, please. He'll look back on this and laugh. It's cool."
A couple hours later Darry woke up and went to see if the laundry was done. He reached in the dryer and his eyes widened as he pulled out a pink shirt, which wasn't the only pink shirt either. He narrowed his eyes as he went to address the gang once again.
"Anyone want to explain this?" he demanded, holding up the shirt. Everyone burst out laughing when they saw the drawings on his face.
"Didn't you know you can't put red clothing in with the white?" Dally asked smartly. Darry scowled and threw the red shirt at him.
"This is your shirt, thank you."
"Your welcome. Hey, I bet you look great in pink."
"You just ruined a bunch of my shirts, Winston. Money doesn't grow on trees."
"I didn't ruin them, I just turned them pink." Two-Bit was amused.
"Uh, you might want to take a look at your face, Darry." He handed Darry a mirror and everyone looked at Two-Bit strangely. "What? Don't judge me, I have a sister!" Darry huffed when he saw his reflection. There were random doodles all over his face including a stupid looking moustache.
"Which one of you did this?" He shook his head and grinned when Johnny raised his hand shyly. "Looks like you all got me."
"Apr-" Two-Bit started to say, but then to everyone's surprise, Darry pulled off a mask to reveal that he was not Darry at all, but Tim Shepard!
"What the-how the- what?" Sodapop stuttered.
"Yeah, it's really complicated so I ain't gonna try to explain. It wasn't me the whole day though. I think Darry's outside." They followed Tim out the door and as it turned out, Darry was standing on the roof holding a big bucket. He waited until Tim was out of the way and then dumped the contents onto the unsuspecting guys below. And there wasn't just water in there, but also some plastic ants and spiders. They all looked up and saw Darry laughing harder than they'd ever heard him laugh before.
"April Fools!" he exclaimed. Ponyboy picked a spider off his shoulder.
"We should've seen that coming."