AN: Yes, another story from me! I've been reading a lot about life as a pro-NHL player. Turns out, they play pranks on each other a lot. Perfect fodder for a Nosedive story! I'll probably add to this as more pranks come to mind. This one is based off an actual prank the Pittsburgh Penguins did on each other. Check Youtube for "Penguins Hotel Prank" if you want to see the actual inspiration.
"You coming to dinner tonight, bro?" Wildwing asked as he leaned on the door frame to Nosedive and Duke's room.
The youngest member of the Mighty Ducks team lay on the hotel bed, stripped to his boxers, remote in hand.
"You guys go on ahead. I'm gonna stay here and watch some cartoons."
"I think I'll stay behind too." Duke, dressed in his swim trunks, towel in hand, held the door open. "I'm gonna hit the pool. We can get room service."
"Okay then. See you guys later." Wildwing waved to his teammates as he joined Grin, Mallory, and Tanya in the hallway. They were going to try a new Italian restaurant that had opened in Manhattan. The one good thing about road trips was the constant variety of foods they could try.
As soon as the room door closed, Duke vanished back into the bathroom.
Nosedive counted to thirty before jumping up and checking the hallway to see if they were gone.
"Coast's clear!" He grabbed his clothes and started dressing.
Duke found his lock picks and beat Nosedive out the door. The youth hopped after him, still pulling on a boot.
The former thief crouched in front of the door to Tanya and Mallory's room, studying the lock. He chuckled to himself.
"These things are too easy." He grabbed a butter knife from a room service tray sitting in the hallway and stuck it in the side of the door, wiggling it around a little bit before it popped open. "Didn't even need to take the maids card or use my picks."
"All right-ski!" Nosedive cheered quietly as they entered the room.
As they expected, Tanya had bits of electronics scattered on her bed. Her duffel bag was partially opened, clothing sticking out haphazardly. A notebook with lots of scribbles lay on the night stand.
Duke grabbed Tanya's things and started stuffing it all into the lavender satchel hanging on a chair back, cleaning up the mess. Nosedive investigated the bathroom. Mallory had all of her toiletries laid out neatly on one side of the sink, each one placed precisely the same distance from the other. Without a second thought, the teen grabbed her pink and purple striped toiletry bag and swept everything into it. He checked the tub to see if they had run the water yet.
"Tubs good!" he called.
"Great." Duke came in, carrying both of Tanya's bags. He tossed them in the tub while Nosedive went back into the room and grabbed Mallory's neatly arranged things. They pulled the shower curtain closed, hiding all of the personal belongings.
"Wait a sec." Duke's one eye gleamed with mischief. He pulled all of the towels off the rack and put them on top of the girls things. The little soaps, soap dish, and coffee maker followed suit. Nosedive removed the roll of toilet paper from the holder and threw it over the shower bar. They pulled the curtain closed once more. It hadn't taken but a couple of minutes to make the bathroom look completely bare.
"So, couch first?" Duke suggested.
"Sounds good to me!"
The two pranksters went to work, removing every single piece of furniture from the room. They hauled it all out into the hallway and started putting the room back together outside. Duke's eye for detail helped recreate the room set up perfectly.
"Ehh... Almost there." He removed the paper lid from one of the glasses sitting on the table. After filling the glass with water, he put the lid back on, concealing the water line.
Nosedive wasn't even trying to hide his laughter as he fluffed the pillows on the bed. Spotting an outlet on the wall, he plugged in the alarm clock radio from the night stand and turned it on to a station he knew neither girl tolerated, talk radio. The lamp was plugged in and turned on as well.
They surveyed their work for a moment and gave each other a high five before heading back to their room.
0000
"Shh-shh-shh," Duke tried to hush Nosedive giggles. They were hiding around the corner from the elevator, waiting for the rest of their team to return. Fortunately, their room overlooked the hotel entrance, so they were able to see when the other ducks returned from dinner and knew they had a couple of minutes to get into their hiding space. This corner provided the perfect observation point and escape route.
The hotel door dinged as it opened and four ducks walked out. It only took two steps before Mallory spotted the room set up in the hallway.
"Is that ours?" Tanya asked. "Please, DuCaine, not 622," she prayed to the sky.
Wildwing tried to hide his smile. He had kept the mask in a bag at his side instead of wearing it. Without its cover, his amusement at the practical joke was plainly visible.
Mallory looked at the number on the room service menu left on a side table.
"It's 622," she sighed as Tanya groaned.
"Nosedive!" She pounded on the door to Nosedive and Duke's room. "Get your tail feathers out here and fix this now!"
Wildwing burst out laughing when another door further down the hall opened and a sleepy woman stuck her head out to see what was going on.
"Oh, you think this is funny?" Mallory turned to Wildwing. "Then you can fix it! He's your brother anyway."
Grin had the key to his and Wildwings room in his hand and was trying to slip past the irate right wing to get in. It was best to avoid Mallory when she was this worked up, even if the trick was a good one. Before he realized what had happened, Mallory snatched the key card from his grasp. She grabbed Tanya's wrist and pulled her into Grin and Wildwings room and slammed the door.
The door re-opened just wide enough for her to stick her head out.
"You can have your room back when you fix this." She threw her key card out the door before slamming it closed again.
Wildwing and Grin looked at each other, then started laughing. The captain picked up the key from the floor.
"Guess we'd better get this cleaned up if we want any sleep tonight."