Hey everyone! In honor of it being less than a week until I get to see Starkid live, I wanted to give you all a quick little RPF fic. So this is based on the Gotye prank video posted on the Judas Redux channel, which if you haven't seen it, go watch it immediately because it's hysterical. It talks about how there was no confrontation on Liam's part - well, in this fic, there is...(so I guess this is a tad bit AU?) Anyway, hope you enjoy! Read and review! Hugs and butterfly kisses, ravenclawdancer4999.
"Okay, so we're set to go?" Lauren uttered under her breath, referring to the prank of epic proportions they were going to play on Liam. The plan was simple; the group, led by Julia, would effectively convince Liam that they were going to use Gotye's "Somebody That I Used To Know" as the final music of the show, coming in at the end of his final monologue. They would then proceed to watch Liam lose his mind and figure out the best way possible to break the prank.
"Locked and loaded," Joey grinned evilly, "Everyone knows what to do."
"Alright, I set an hour aside for this, so don't screw it up," Julia warned. Everyone nodded subtly as Liam walked into the theater.
"Okay, so now that everyone's here, we're going to run through tech for the last line of the show," Julia explained, "Clark, Pierce, and I figured out some music to fade out the end of the show. Liam, get into position for your monologue." Liam complied, hopping up on the stair unit and sliding into a sitting position. He brought his focus on to his character, delivering the speech flawlessly. Taking a deep breath, he heard the thumping of music. It was, familiar, almost too familiar.
"But you didn't have to cut me off-" Gotye's voice echoed through the theater. The lights went down almost immediately, masking the look of shock that inevitably found its way on to Liam's face. They were using a pop song? That pop song?
By the time the lights came back up, everyone in the theater was murmuring to each other, whispers filling the room. Surely no one would go along with this?
"That song is perfect," Reed remarked, "I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner."
"It's just so appropriate for the end of the show," Ali agreed, "Major snaps, Julia."
"I can't take all the credit," Julia said bashfully, "Clark and Pierce played it for me and it just hit me that we should use it in the show."
By this point, Liam was eyeing everyone suspiciously – something about this didn't seem quite right to him. Just then, Dan stood up from his seat. Liam knew he would never go along with something like this and silently prayed he would end the madness. Unfortunately for Liam, Dan did no such thing.
"I love it," he nodded. Liam's jaw dropped – if Dan thought it was good, than this must not be some sort of joke. "I think it highlights not only the way the show ends, but how good a song it is. It's incredible, it's extremely powerful."
"Exactly," Brian added, "It's a beautiful image, with the lighting and the rain."
"Clark, Pierce," Alex smiled, "You two are officially brilliant."
"Just a moment of inspiration, I don't know," Clark replied.
"That's awesome," Aaron remarked to Reed, who nodded in agreement.
Everyone continued to discuss how great the song was for the next two minutes until Julia finally cut in, after fervently praising Clark and Pierce.
"Awesome, how are you guys feeling about that?" Julia asked. Liam silently begged someone, anyone to say that they weren't so sure about the song selection. Much to his dismay, their opinions remained 100% positive. "What about you Liam?"
"What?" Liam blanched, realizing Julia was addressing him directly. "Oh, yeah. It's great." He knew the lie was a feeble one, but surprisingly, everyone appeared to believe him, which made him even more suspicious. Julia would never make that bad a decision, would she?
"Can we run that one more time?" Julia requested, "I just want to make sure all the elements are coming together the right way." And so, Liam and the tech team ran the scene for a second time. A third time. A fourth time, and so on.
Liam felt as though he had been offered crazy juice and was being forced to drink. Had everyone lost their mind?
"That is awesome," Dan commented after the fifth run through.
"Clark!" Lauren beamed, bounding over to give the pianist a hug, "It's such a good song the way it is – you didn't even need to change it! So good!"
"It is really calming," Dylan observed.
"I think that song was, like, such a hit," Dan said, continuing his conversation with Pierce.
"It is really calming," Julia agreed with Dylan, "Very calming."
Liam felt like screaming and asking everyone what they had been smoking to make their judgment so impaired. But he couldn't just come right out and tell Julia it was a horrible idea – she was the director, not Liam. He had dealt with his fair share of rude actors and knew just how much it sucked, which was exactly why he couldn't disrespect Julia that way.
"Liam, you feel good about that?" Julia questioned.
"Yeah, yeah," Liam responded quickly, trying to suppress his unhappiness.
"It's something about the matching of your last line to the first part of the song," Julia noted, tapping her fingers thoughtfully, "It just doesn't seem quite right, can we start it just a bit earlier?" So Liam and the tech team did the scene yet again.
"Cool," she nodded.
"Yes!" Lauren exclaimed.
"So beautiful," Brian added.
As soon as he had the chance, Liam started to casually approach different members of the cast and ask them their thoughts on the matter He hoped that maybe they might change their tune if he asked out of Julia's earshot. But none of them did.
"So, what do you guys think about the choice of this song?" Liam asked Joe and Aaron quietly, "I don't know if I like that choice."
"I think it's great," Joe replied earnestly, Aaron nodding in agreement. Immediately, Liam backed off the subject and excused himself from the conversation.
"I think Julia may be making a big mistake here," Liam confessed to Nico a few moments later, "Doesn't she know how many times the song has been parodied?"
"I'm sure she does, Liam," Nico shrugged, "If you have a problem, you should tell Julia."
"No, no I couldn't," Liam shook his head, retreating quickly, "I don't want to overstep my boundaries."
"What do you think of the choice of the Gotye song?" he asked Alex, Jessica, and Brittany a minute later.
"It's really edgy, totally inspired," Brittany enthused, "What, you don't like it?"
"I'm just a bit, unsure," Liam admitted.
"She must have a very specific choice in mind," Jessica said calmly. As they walked away, he pulled Dylan aside, who he thought might actually be honest with him.
"Do you think this is a really cheap move?" Liam murmured, "The Gotye song, I mean? I don't know, this just doesn't seem right. Who do I talk to?"
"You're really going to have to talk to Julia," Dylan shrugged, "If you want my opinion, if it's artfully done, the show will be fine."
"Really?" Liam stammered, completely mortified by the response, "Because I don't-"
"Liam," Julia called, interrupting his train of thought, "We're going to run the cue again."
"Okay, Julia," Liam sighed, reluctantly moving back toward the stair unit. He slid back into a sitting position and waited for his signal to start.
Meanwhile, Dylan was relaying his conversation with Liam to Joe in its entirety. Joe, who had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing, chanced a look at Liam and saw that he looked absolutely miserable. He clearly hated what was going on around him, but was too nice to say something that might be considered disrespectful.
"What's going to make this prank really great is if we can get him to make a public stink about it," Joe murmured, picturing the outburst Julia could give if Liam approached her about it.
"I think I can make that happen," Dylan grinned mischievously, glancing back over at Liam, "Watch and learn." Wasting no time, Dylan strode across the room and went up to him. Liam looked up at him.
"What?" Liam questioned, a small part of him hoping Dylan had come to his senses and saw what a bad decision they were making.
"You should really say something to Julia," Dylan replied quietly, but firmly.
"No man, it's the middle of rehearsal," Liam answered, looking dumbfounded that Dylan would suggest such a thing.
"If it's really bothering you, which I can tell that it is, you should say something," Dylan urged, "The longer you wait, the worse you're going to make it for yourself. Julia's not going to get mad at you for having an opinion, so just tell her now before we spend any more time on this."
"…I'll think about it," Liam conceded, "Just get out of here, I think we're about to start again."
As Liam was forced to do the scene again and again, he thought about what Dylan had said. Was it really so wrong of him to have an opinion of the decision? Julia had been really stressed out that week, maybe she was so eager to finalize the technical elements that she wasn't thinking clearly. Maybe she really did want people to be honest with her and Liam would be doing the right thing to tell her what he thought.
Julia's requests only seemed to get more ridiculous each time they restarted the scene. She asked if Clark could start the music earlier, so it came up underneath Liam's last line. Each time, she wanted the music to start earlier and earlier, eventually just drowning him out completely.
"I really think it needs to come up fully under the last two lines," Julia remarked on the fifth time through, motioning for everyone to restart, "What do you think Liam, how do you feel about that?"
"Um, it comes in a little suddenly," Liam answered, trying to keep his tone indifferent, "I don't know if it's just me, but it seemed like it came in a little suddenly."
"Yeah, I think I like it coming in earlier," Brian nodded. When no one was looking, Liam drew a deep breath, his lips pursed tightly as he tried to calm down before the next round of torture.
"Why don't I just sing the song?" he commented sarcastically, thinking that no one was paying attention.
"Yeah, do you want to do that? Do you feel that impulse?" Julia asked abruptly, looking positively enthralled by the idea. "What if we had you hum it a little bit?" That had not been the reaction Liam was going for.
"Sure," Liam agreed, feeling as though he was about to throw a chair across the room.
"Just hum the last little bit after you say your last line," Julia instructed, "Just go for it, try it."