Toby and Cody darted through the dimly lit corridors of the huge mansion, their footsteps echoing off the cold, stone floors. The faint flickering of ancient chandeliers barely illuminated their path as they ran. Their breathless snickers filled the air.

"D-Did you see his f—fuh-face?!" Toby stuttered, his words catching on the laughter bubbling up inside him. He threw a glance over his shoulder, brown eyes wide with exhilaration, as if half-expecting Jeff to come charging after them.

Cody, still clutching his sides from the intensity of his own laughter, nodded vigorously. His green eyes sparkled with mischief behind the blue goggles perched on his head. "I thought he was gonna explode! The way he yelled—oh man, I haven’t seen him that pissed in ages!"

The memory of Jeff’s furious expression—his face flushed red, fists clenched, teeth bared in a snarl—only made them laugh harder. They had pulled off the perfect prank, and the satisfaction of having rattled one of the mansion’s most notorious residents was too sweet not to savor.

As they rounded a corner, Toby couldn’t resist adding fuel to the fire. "H-Hey, Jeff! Y-You’re just a...a b-big angry meathead!" The insult stumbled out between giggles, but it was enough to send Cody into another fit of laughter.

"You’re gonna get us killed," Cody managed to gasp out, though his grin betrayed that he found the idea more amusing than frightening.

Their gleeful escape, however, was abruptly cut short when they collided with something—or rather, someone—solid. The impact was enough to knock all three of them off their feet, and they tumbled to the floor in a tangle of limbs.

Toby, always quicker to recover, blinked up at the person they’d crashed into, his laughter trailing off as he recognized them. A smile spread across his face, softer than the mischievous grin he’d worn moments before. Without thinking, he nuzzled his face into the crook of their neck, a gesture of affection and familiarity that came as naturally as breathing.

Cody, who had landed slightly askew, scrambled to sit up, his face flushing slightly as he realized who they'd fallen into. "Uhm— sorry," he stammered, a rare moment of flustered awkwardness overtaking him. But he quickly regained his composure, especially when he saw the way Toby was snuggling against them.

Toby, noticing Cody’s reaction, murmured a quick apology as well. "S-Sorry. W-We didn’t mean to, uh, crash into you." He grinned sheepishly, ruffling their hair in a playful, affectionate gesture as he stood up and offered a hand. Cody followed suit, and together they pulled them to their feet.

As soon as they were upright, the boys wasted no time in eagerly recounting their latest adventure. "We just pranked Jeff!" Cody began, his voice bubbling with excitement. "It was brilliant—we rigged his room so that when he opened the door, a bucket of red paint fell right on his head!"

Toby, unable to contain his enthusiasm, wrapped an arm around their shoulders, pulling them along as they walked. "Y-You should’ve seen it! He looked like a—a tomato! A really, really angry tomato!" His words came out in stutters, but the delight in his voice was unmistakable.

Cody, on the other side, mirrored Toby’s gesture, slinging his arm over their shoulder as well. "He was so mad! We barely got out of there before he could catch us," he added, still grinning from ear to ear. "But it was worth it. Totally worth it."