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If someone were to ask one of the Moriarty brothers how it began, they wouldn't be able to answer. None of them knew ; it started so slowly, and then incresingly got more heated. The pranks became more elaborate, and happened more and more often.
Albert was a fan of sneak attacks ; his pranks were often quite sudden, but still quite clever. Louis, on the other hand, would play more diverse pranks, and relied heavily on his puppy eyes to get out of being incriminated. It was a skill he mastered quite easily and had absolutely no remorse in using against the adults at the Rockwell Manor, or at his brothers.
William, though, was the uncontested winner of this prank war. His pranks were clever, and he never got caught ; the only one who would know he was the prankster was his victim, and even then there was no proof, and no way of getting back to him.
Unfortunately for him, this only made him more of a target to his brothers, who knew one of his biggest weak points : William was a heavy sleeper.
This is why, one afternoon, Louis was quietly making his way to his brother’s bedroom, pen in hand, only to find himself face to face with his brother Albert, who was also sneaking into their brother’s bedroom.
“Er, brother Albert ? Are you here to see brother William ? I think he is taking a nap right now", whispered Louis, hoping Albert would leave first.
“If he is napping, what are you doing here ?”, replied Albert, an amused smile on his lips.
Louis thought back to all of the pranks William played on him, and all of the pranks he most likely also played on Albert. He showed him the pen he borrowed.
“William is a heavy sleeper, I'm going to see if he can sleep through someone writing on him".
“Is it because of that paint incident last week ? I should have known he was the one behind it. It seems we are both here to get payback", Albert grinned, mischief in his eyes.
“What did he do ?”
“Remember what happened with that dress, three days ago ?”
“So it was him ? Wait, how did he manage to get Lord Rockwell to go along with it ?”
“I have no idea"
They quietly got inside the room and closed the door behind them. Louis lost no time in climbing the bed to join his sleeping brother. Albert looked around the room, and ... there ! There were a few pens left on a table. He borrowed one before sitting on the bed, on the opposite side of Louis, who was already drawing a star on William's cheek. He chucked and started drawing a mustache.
Soon enough, William’s face and arms were a mess of ink, and the two brothers were searching for other ways to mess with their brother.
“Albert, what were you planning on doing before I joined you ?”
“I hadn’t thought this far, I was going to improvise once I was here. Let’s see ... I know ! How about we take and hide somewhere else in the room something ?”
“Alright, but we can’t move anything else but that thing, or else he will notice"
“How about ... We take all of his left socks, and hide them at different places ?”
“This might work !” Albert grinned and ruffled his brother’s hair, making the younger pout.
Once they were done, they left, as silently as they came in, mischievous expressions on their faces.
“And just what were you two doing in there ?” came the voice of instructor Jack from behind them. The two looked at each other before Albert suddenly grabbed his brother’s hand.
“Run !”, he said, before starting to escape the other way, while dragging his giggling brother behind him. Jack just shook his head, amused.
And if the two brothers could later be found fast asleep and cuddling on Albert's bed, well, they woyld tell you they deserved some rest after a busy afternoon.