who's laughing now?
Finally getting around to posting this. Forthistle90 & mosca , who wanted Meryl Davis being pretty and pissed off. Silly NHK shenanigans, PG for a swear word or two.
Maia’s grinning so wide that Meryl has to poke at her to stop.
“This will never work if you keep smiling,” Meryl says. She gives Maia her best arched eyebrow look, the kind she usually reserves for opening poses during competitions.
Maia’s smile diminishes, but the pink in her cheeks does not. “Okay,” she says. “Is this good enough?” She makes a face that makes her look like a little girl pretending to throw a tantrum, scrunched nose and all.
Meryl laughs. “No,” she says. “But it’s okay, just follow me.”
*~*
The plan is simple: mess with Alex and give him a taste of his own silly medicine. He spent the entire train ride to Nagoya pestering everyone with his hilarious and creepy powers of annoying. Mostly, he didn’t let Maia take a nap and told Meryl he put something in her coffee. No one should ever mess with Meryl’s coffee. Ever.
Jeremy’s in on it too, although he feels a little guilty. “The guys are going to hate on me later,” he whines, but Meryl knows that he’s kidding. He couldn’t not side with her.
The three of them walk down the hallway, Meryl leading, an imperious look on her face. She hopes that she looks like an ice queen. Or a bitch. Either look will do.
Maia lags behind Meryl and Jeremy. “I…don’t think I can do it,” she says. “He’ll know I’m lying.”
Meryl gives her the opening-pose look again. “You’ll be fine,” she says. “Besides, I’ll be doing most of the work.”
They make their way to Alex and John’s hotel room. There’s laughter coming from inside, and Meryl pictures the two of them playing video games or watching a movie and being dorks together. It’s an endearing image, and a part of her wants to smile, but she’s good at staying in character.
Meryl turns to face Jeremy and Maia and whispers, “You guys ready?”
They nod. Maia looks scared. Meryl takes a deep breath.
She knocks on the door with all her might, demanding attention, one hand covering the door’s peephole. She hears shuffling coming from inside.
“Yeah?” Alex asks from inside.
“Alex fucking Shibutani, open the door this instant!” Meryl yells. She wonders if the curse word was a little much, but decides that she likes the way it sounds.
“Uh…Meryl?”
“Open the DOOR,” she says firmly. “This is no time for your stupid games, Shibutani. You’re in deep, deep shit.”
Alex opens the door in a sweeping gesture. His eyes look like they’re trying hard not to bug out of their sockets as soon as he’s facing Meryl. Meryl beams inside; this must mean that she looks convincingly pissed off.
“Uh, Meryl,” Alex says. “What’s going on?” By now, John has made his way to the doorway and is standing behind Alex, a concerned look on his face.
And then Meryl performs. It doesn’t come as naturally as performing on the ice, but she thinks she does a pretty good job. She speaks to Alex in an icy monotone, demands to know how he thought he would get away with it.
“Wait, what did I do?” Alex asks. “I’ve been in my room all night, Meryl. Whatever prank someone pulled on you was totally not my fault.”
“Shibutani, don’t you dare lie to me. Maia’s told me all about your little plan. Steal my gold medal, really? Leave a ransom note like you’re a five year old playing cops and robbers? How stupid do you think I am?”
Alex stares at her blankly. “Someone stole your medal?”
“Yes!” Meryl shouts. “It was you, Alex! I know it was you. I asked Charlie and he just put on this mysterious look on his face that told me that he was on your side.
“Just tells us you did it,” Jeremy adds.
“Y-yeah,” Maia says timidly. “It’s not funny at all.”
“But I swear it wasn’t me. You shouldn’t be wasting your time on this right now! You should be like…alerting security!”
Meryl shakes her head. “Shibutani, don’t you dare think that I am going to believe for one moment that you didn’t steal my gold medal. I swear if you don’t return it to me, I will cut your ears off and feed them to you.”
“She’s serious,” Jeremy pipes in. Maia nods furiously.
Alex looks downright terrified. “I swear to you Meryl, I didn’t do it! Ask John! I’ve been here all night.”
“He really has,” says John, who’s kept quiet up to now.
“Please don’t cut off my ears,” Alex pleads. “I like my ears. They’re very useful, you know.” He attempts to move out of the room, but Meryl blocks him with fierce tenacity.
“Don’t you even dare run away from me,” she says.
“But….I didn’t do it! I swear! I didn’t even put anything in your coffee that one time - I just said I did! Why would I steal your medal?” He drops to his knees. “Please Meryl, please! Believe me.”
Meryl is fascinated by his reaction. “Why should I believe you?” she asks.
Alex is crying by now. “Because! I would never do something like that! Please!” He continues to sniffle and sputter and then, out of nowhere, stops. His eyes still looking at the floor, he says, “Hey Maia?”
Maia, hiding behind Jeremy, says, “Yeah?”
Alex is still looking down. “This would have worked better if you didn’t have that look.”
“What…look?”
Alex gets up, smooths down his pants and hair. He’s facing Meryl now. “I mean…you did a great job, Meryl, you looked scary and mean and a little crazy... but pretty at the same time. Gold medal for you. But Maia? You had that look in your eye, the one you get when you’re lying to me. So ha-ha the jokes on all of you. She totally gave you all away.”
Meryl groans. “Why…no, how are you so creepy in every single thing you do?” she asks.
“That,” Alex says, “Is my little secret.”
“Am I going to have to be afraid to drink my coffee again?” Meryl asks, defeated.
“Oh yes,” Alex says, laughing.