When I had a cat in the 90s, we used to prank each other.
I'd wait until she was asleep, and curled like this. Then I'd place a feather right behind her back, and put my hand under a book or under a cover. Just enough that I could hold the feather, without her seeing my hand.
Then I'd use the feather to lightly scratch her back with the feather. The trick was making it so she barely felt it.
She'd wake up, roll over, and just see a still feather. Then she'd curl back up. Then it would wiggle. She'd look over, and just see a feather. She would investigate but my hand was long gone. But she knew it was me somehow.
So then when I'd sleep, she would attack my toes. And when I woke up because it tickled, I'd see her curled up, and "sleeping".
I miss her. Only cat that got the concept of pranks.