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The long and short of it is that I'm considering abandoning this work, along with my other Undertale ones.The reason I didn't update for so long (two? three months?) was because my laptop had broken. I had to wait until a few weeks ago just to get it fixed- life without a laptop is super difficult, by the way- and by then, I'd sort of lost interest in Undertale.It's still a good game- if Deltarune chapter 2 were to come out tomorrow, I'd play it- but I'm just not as excited about it as I used to be, and that's never a good mindset to have when you're writing a multichapter work. Thank you to all of those that ever read, commented, bookmarked, or gave kudos to this work. For the while that I did write this, all of those things really motivated me! The problem now is that, besides my lack of interest, I also set expectations for these works that were way too high. I'd have to spend years on some of them- cough, cough, TWATM- and I'm the type of person to get a new hyperfixation a lot. I'm sorry if any of you are disappointed. I don't want to say this work is on an indefinite hiatus since I don't think it's likely I'll be updating it any time soon. ALSO. If you want to know how the works end, I'll gladly make a last chapter dedicated to that, and also any other questions you may have about it. Also- shameless plug- if you're interested in reading any of my other works, I've just written an irondad Carrie AU, so check that out, if you'd like. Thank you!
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Most people go through their lives rather un-chaotically, despite the whole process of childhood and disappointment and heartbreak and so on. Of course, if you were to ask any of these completely average people, they’d respond that, no, their lives are anything but peaceful. They’ve laughed, cried, suffered, all of it.Now, not to dismiss the anything but tranquil saga that is life, but in a certain place, in a certain span of time, there were a group of people who wished to say that their lives could be completely mundane, totally forgettable, nothing of utter importance.Yet, like most wishes we often make, they never come true.Quite ironically, these people lived in the most boring, unnoticeable town there ever was. In fact, this town was so overlooked, no one besides the residents of it knew it existed.It wasn’t in any maps, any books, anywhere online.This was the town of Ebott, and our story begins here. ***“Sans! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”Papyrus Gaster ran up to his brother, Sans, in Snowdin forest. The snow crunched under his feet as he impatiently crossed his arms and waited for a reply.Sans turned around, a bit lazily, and gave a non committal wave.“Sup, bro. What’ve you been up to?”Papyrus could hardly believe it. Here he was, after looking for his brother for hours, and all he got was a simple ‘sup?’Unbelievable!“Sans! I’ve been looking for you for hours! You weren’t at the hotdog stand, and when I called you, all I got was that… weird voicemail of yours!” Papyrus huffed, holding out his phone so Sans could see. The screen was set to his call log, and he’d called Sans twelve times.“Uh… whoops. Sorry bro, guess I got kinda wrapped up in what I was doing. Don’t diss my voicemail, though. I know you love it.” Sans winked.“I do not love listening to you apologizing for not being able to pick up at the moment, entirely in puns!” Papyrus did his best to act all disciplinary. For a moment.“Brother! I was worried about you! Please do make an effort to return my calls!” Papyrus fretted, as he examined his brother, looking for any signs of injury.When it came down to it, the two brothers shared a variety of similarities and differences when it came to their looks.They both had dark skin, wide smiles, and great bone structure, yes.Yet when you looked closer, Papyrus was definitely taller than Sans, with protruding cheekbones, proud grin, and clean clothes, the embodiment of cheerfulness.Sans, on the other hand, was short, chubby, had a tired grin plastered on his sort of saggy face, and wore the same blue jacket with an orange juice stain on the left collar everyday.Every. Day.Sans looked sheepish. “I didn’t mean to make you worry, Paps. But hey, I know how to lift your spirits-” Suddenly, as he lifted his mitten covered hand, his right eye began to a bright blue, and Papyrus’s scarf flew off his neck, into the air.“-unless you’re too tied up to watch.” Sans waved his hand in a few directions, and soon enough, the scarf was tied around Papyrus’s neck, into a neat little bowtie.Papyrus had to shut his hanging jaw closed. Sans was breaking the rules they’d so carefully made! “S-Sans! You know you can’t- out here- I mean, really-”“Relax, bro. We’re in the woods, who’s gonna see us here? ‘Sides-” Sans waved his hand around again, “-we’ll just say it’s one of my super cool magic tricks.”And, as if nothing had ever happened, the scarf was right back around Papyrus’s neck the way it had been before, and Sans’s eye had stopped glowing, now back to a dull blackish color.Ever since they were little, Sans had always had these special abilities. To move things with his mind around as he pleased, his only tell his glowing eye.It had all started when the two brothers, Sans at age twelve, Papyrus nine, had lived in Ebott’s local orphanage. The orphanage was no castle, that was for sure.The rooms were small and dimly lit, it was overcrowded, the air conditioning never worked, and there weren’t enough beds. Somehow, though, they’d survived. Sans had taught Papyrus how to read, write, do math, all sorts of things. They had played together all day, and comforted each other all night. Each night, Papyrus had wished that someone would adopt them, a nice someone.Or maybe, just maybe, whoever had left them there would come back. Say they’d made a mistake, that they did want Sans, despite his laziness, and him, Papyrus, despite his greatness and irresistible charm.Then, one day, things went wrong.It was nighttime. Sans was in the bathroom, brushing his teeth. Papyrus was shrugging on his pajamas, as he recited his nightly wish from heart.“Dear whatever-magical-mystical-wish-granting-forces-are-out-there, I wish that a nice mommy and a nice daddy or just someone nice will adopt Sans and I, so we can have a happy family with a nice house and nice food, of course, cooked by me, the great masterchef Papyrus! And if that is not possible, I wish that whoever left us here will come back and take us back home, to wherever we were before!” Papyrus recited, struggling to button his shirt.A snicker came from behind him.“Yeah right.”Papyrus turned around, only to be met with a group of boys. The one who had said this appeared to be the leader of the pack, a nasty looking boy with a mean smirk on his face.“Nyeh heh heh! Hello, friends! Is there something you needed? I,-” Papyrus began to say with his usual pep, until he was interrupted by the leader.“‘-Would love to help!’’” the leader mimicked in a nasally tone. “We get it. What’re you even doing, anyway? Besides not even knowing how to put on a shirt.”Papyrus felt his cheeks heat up. But he wouldn’t let them get to him. Maybe all they needed was a friend, and then they’d stop being so mean? “I am wishing, of course!”“I heard him!” One of the boys, a rat looking one, piped up. “He was wishing for whoever dumped him here to take him and his brother back!”The leader laughed, but it wasn’t a kind laugh, like when Sans laughed with him at the cartoons on the poor quality TV the orphanage had. It was mean. Very mean.“You think whoever dumped you here would want you back? They were probably so sorry when you were born, they asked the hospital to take you back! You can’t even laugh right!” he shook his head in mock pity.“I-I think my laugh has character! It’s unique!” Papyrus said defiantly. His laugh wasn’t a bad laugh, was it? He’d spent so long perfecting it!“You know what I think?” he leaned in close, just so he was almost nose to nose with Papyrus. “I think they left you here ‘cause you’re a freak. You’re ugly and weird and stupid. Don’t even get me started on your weirdo of a brother-”“Sans isn’t a weirdo! Well, he’s weird, but in a good way! Sans is a good person!” Papyrus did his best to stand up straight and tall, trying to look braver than he felt.Sans was his brother! Sure, his constant puns and his drinking ketchup straight from the bottle was weird, but Papyrus found it begrudgingly endearing, like a cat who couldn’t help but bring you mice every night.Sans’s traits were unique to him. No one else had them.And Papyrus’s were too.“He’s not.” the leader responded simply.“Well…” Papyrus began hesitantly, “Maybe you’re just jealous because you don’t think you’re unique! But that’s okay! We can help you-”And suddenly, the leader’s fist met his face, and white stars exploded all around him, along with the pain blossoming from his jaw. Papyrus staggered backwards, about to check if he was bleeding, until he was shoved by someone, he couldn’t be sure who.“You’re just jealous ‘cause you’re a freak!” Papyrus fell to the floor, stammering that he wasn’t a freak, that he was perfectly normal, but no one listened. Instead, they took to beating him, kicking him in the shins, punching his body, pulling his hair. His unbuttoned shirt slid off him, as he sobbed on the floor. It hurt. God, oh god, it hurt.The beating wasn’t the worst part, though. The worst part was what they chanted. “Freak! Freak! Freak!”Suddenly, a door swung open.Papyrus could hear the boys muttering, gasping, sounding confused.“What the-”“His brother-”“His eye-”“Don’t you talk about my brother that way.”It was Sans.Through his squinted eyes, Papyrus could make out Sans, in his sleepshirt, standing in the doorway, looking powerful. His right eye was glowing a brilliant blue, and his hand was raised.Suddenly, one of the boys went flying through the air, and hit one of the beds. That boy quickly hid himself under the sheets. More boys went flying onto beds, stumbling to the ground. None of them were hurt very badly, but they probably would be if this continued.“Sans!” Papyrus choked out. “Sans! Sans, stop! Sans, please!”Sans’s eye stopped glowing. He lowered his lifted hand, an effort that seemed to take extreme effort. He looked… shocked.“What’d I….?” Sans muttered, staring at his palms. “How’d I….?”“Sans…” Papyrus’s voice was barely a whisper.Quickly, Sans rushed over to him. “Paps! Paps, are you okay?”“I… I think so. I-I think my arm is quite hurt, though.” Papyrus winced as he tried to sit up. That wasn’t what was occupying his thoughts, though.What had his brother just done? How had his brother done it? How… why… what…“I’m gonna get you fixed up, alright? Just… just try to stand for me, alright?” Sans looked so confused, an expression Papyrus would only see on this day.Papyrus shakily stood up, but immediately fell back into Sans’s arms. “Alright…” Sans bit his lip, and hoisted Papyrus over his shoulder. They left the orphanage, Papyrus shirtless, Sans barefoot.Not to mention they were in the snow.They walked for hours.“Sans… how did you do that?” Papyrus managed to ask, his curiosity getting the best of him.“I don’t know, Paps… I just… I just got angry, is all.” Sans responded, sounding quite tired.“Sans… are we freaks?” Papyrus asked, and then began to sob again. He sobbed because there were no adults they could trust, because people thought he was weird, because they didn’t have a home.“No, Paps! They’re… they’re the freaks if they think someone as cool as you is weird.” Sans lightly patted his back, although Papyrus thought he sounded sort of uncertain as well.Hours later, they found Snowdin’s local inn, and payed to stay the night with the little money they had. The innkeeper was so concerned upon seeing Papyrus’s bloody and bruised face, that she took them to the hospital next day. Papyrus got a sling, Sans got a lollipop, and everything was fine.Sort of.Over time, the innkeeper just let them live there. Occasionally, Papyrus would see Sans practicing lifting things, small things at first. He’d make horrible puns on the objects he was levitating, and Papyrus would fake scowl.Then, Sans got a job at his own illegal hotdog stand, they bought the big, wooden house near the inn, and Sans got lazy and stopped using his powers (at least that’s what Papyrus liked to call them, it sounded so cool!) for anything but levitating some ketchup towards him, and Papyrus worked hard to make Sans work hard.All the while, though, Papyrus would sit on his racecar bed and try to make himself angry. Try to make something move, to be special like Sans. But it never happened.It was a little… irritating, to say the least. Sans got to be so special without even trying, and Papyrus couldn’t. No matter how hard he tried, nothing ever happened. Well- “Bro? You okay?” Sans snapped Papyrus out of his little flashback.“Yes, brother, I am completely fine! Just a bit hungry, is all.” Papyrus shook his head a little, trying to get back into reality fully.“What say you make me some of your world’s famous spaghetti, then?”“What say I do, brother?” And with that, the two walked out of the woods and to their warm, cozy house. ***The spaghetti dinner didn’t last long.“Nyeh heh heh! Eat up, brother!” Papyrus smiled brightly as he placed a plate of spaghetti and a glass of milk in front of his brother. Sans winked. “Well, how can I pasta up this opportunity?” “Sans! Not again!” Papyrus groaned, but deep down he was trying his best not to laugh. He hated to admit it, but Sans’s puns were so bad they were good.“Alright, alright.” Sans twirled his fork in Papyrus’s culinary masterpiece, and ate some. “Well?” Papyrus asked, a little anxiously. No, wait, not anxiously. Papyrus was never anxious! Of course Sans would love his spaghetti, he always did! Even if the people at the soup kitchen didn’t exactly love it, their palettes probably just weren’t as developed yet!“It’s awesome, bro. You’re getting better and better each day.” Sans ate some more, an Papyrus couldn’t help but feel proud. “Thank you, brother! I’m glad to see I’m improving, even if my culinary skills are already very great.”“No prob, bro.” Sans lazily wiped his mouth clean of sauce. “Say-”“Milk, Sans.” Papyrus said sternly, grabbing the glass of milk on the table and practically shoving it into San’s hands. “It’ll help your bones grow! It is also a great source of potassium, so drink up!”Sans shrugged. “Whatever you say, Paps.” As Sans drank his milk, Papyrus began to clean up the mess of ingredients in the kitchen he’d used to make the spaghetti with. Papyrus usually took on the role of housekeeper, one could say. He cooked, mopped, and cleaned up after Sans, which was no easy feat. Plus, he’d also appointed himself as Sans’s doctor, always making him eat healthy and do the bare minimum of exercise Sans would commit to.If he didn’t, Sans would probably just chug ketchup all day and watch reruns of Seinfeld.A clatter sounded behind him. Papyrus turned around. Had Sans dropped his plate? While he wouldn’t be mad- accidents happened, of course- he hoped it wouldn’t be broken. What if one of them stepped on the shattered remains and got hurt?Luckily, nothing of that sort had happened. Instead, Sans had placed his fork down on the empty, spaghetti-less plate he’d left behind. “Ah! I see you’ve left not a single bite again, thus showing how much you enjoy my cooking!” Papyrus put the dish he was holding aside. “Yep. Best food in the world. Anyways, I’m gonna be heading out in a bit, alright, bro? I should be home by tomorrow morning.” Sans stood up.Papyrus was… confused. It wasn’t unlike Sans to leave the house for periods of time, but usually not so late. Plus, when Sans did leave, he was usually going to his job, Grillby’s, or somehow, both. Plus, why would he be back so late?“Sans, it’s late! Where could you possibly be going?” Papyrus crossed his arms. “Are you going to try and see if you can fit in a barrel again? Don’t you remember how much of a hassle it was to get you out?” “Nah, bro. I’m done with my barrel days. I’m just gonna go see some friends for a bit.” Sans held his phone up. “Text me if you need anything, okay? See ya.”“Be safe!” Papyrus called out to his brother as he walked out the door. Hopefully Sans’s friends weren’t the type to let Sans get into any sort of trouble. ***The next morning, at approximately four A.M, Papyrus yawned, stretched, and got out of his race car bed to greet the day.Literally.“Good morning, day!” Papyrus said cheerfully, even though the sun wasn’t out yet. Then again, the sun hardly ever shone in Snowdin. It was just… snowy.In his meatball patterned pajamas, he left his room and went down the hall, towards Sans’s. He knocked on the door preciscely four times (it was his favorite number) but got no reply back. This wasn’t unusual. Sans was usually out like a light whenever he slept.“Good morning, lazybones! It is four A.M, meaning it’s morning, and time to start another day of productivity!” Papyrus exclaimed, as he opened the door a crack, and was greeted with…Nothing.Sans’s room was the same old dump it always was, same old lumpy mattress, same old socks strewn across the floor, same old self-sustaining trash tornado.Papyrus rolled his eyes and shut the door. As much as he wanted to clean his brother’s room, Sans insisted he liked the place messy, saying it had character.And having character was never a bad thing.“Hmm… perhaps he is downstairs, on the couch? It wouldn’t be the first time.” Papyrus speculated out loud to no one but himself, and bounded down the stairs.“Saaaans! You know falling asleep on the couch isn’t good for your back! I-”Yet, once again, he was met with nothing. Their worn out green couch was empty, save for the annoying dog that liked to come around at the most inconvenient of times.Wait-“Hey! What are you doing back here?! I specifically put anti-dog flaps in the door to prevent this!” Papyrus stamped his foot. Really, anti-dog flaps were just hunks of metal he’d put on the door, but he’d liked to think they helped. The fluffy, white little dog didn’t respond. Instead, he gave a little bark and grabbed the TV remote with his mouth.“Hey! Give that back!” Papyrus demanded, holding out his hand for the dog to deposit the remote in. Of course, the little thing wasn’t trained, so all he did was wag his tail excitedly and run off, somehow disappearing from the room completely.“Ugh! You- I-” Papyrus stammered angrily for about a minute or so, until he exasperatedly decided he’d have to buy a new remote today. Hopefully Sans wouldn’t miss it too much. Speaking of Sans…Papyrus grabbed his phone and sent him a quick text.*HELLO BROTHER! I NOTICED YOU WEREN’T HOME YET, EVEN THOUGH IT IS FOUR! I KNOW YOU FEEL THAT FOUR IS TOO EARLY TO BE UP, BUT PLEASE DO TRY TO GET HOME SOON! I DOUBT YOU’LL GET AS GREAT A BREAKFAST AS I AM ABOUT TO MAKE WHEREVER YOU ARE!Papyrus finished off the text with a smiley face emoji and sent in. Then, he got to work making a delicious breakfast off eggs and sausages. By the time he was finished, it was about to be six. Sans still hadn’t come home yet. Sighing, Papyrus ate his portion and put the rest in the microwave, for when Sans got back.*BROTHER! I HAVE MADE EGGS AND SAUSAGES! WHEN YOU COME HOME, THEY WILL BE THERE FOR YOU IN THE MICROWAVE!There was no response from his last text, but Papyrus told himself not to worry. Sans always replied to his texts, even if it did take him a while to do so.There was no point in sitting and waiting for Sans, since he had a very busy day! He’d have to shop for a new remote, do his daily work out routine, solve the horoscope, and more!So Papyrus got dressed in his favorite outfit, a bright red crop top with jorts, topping it off with his usual orange scarf and a smile.*IN CASE YOU ARE WONDERING, I AM GOING OUT TO BUY US A NEW TV REMOTE. THAT MEDDLING CANINE STOLE OURS AGAIN!And with that, Papyrus left the house, and went to the local electronics store.When he was faced with the decision of a remote that didn’t need batteries to function, or a cool see through one, he texted Sans:*DO YOU WANT A BATTERY-LESS REMOTE OR A SEE THROUGH ONE?Since Sans didn’t respond, Papyrus went with the see through one.When working out, he texted Sans a picture of himself holding a weight with a proud thumbs up.Sans didn’t respond.When trying to solve the horoscope, he texted Sans:*ACCORDING TO THE HOROSCOPE, GEMINI IS GOING INTO RETROGRADE! BUT SO IS SCORPIO… SUSPICIOUS!Sans didn’t respond.After he’d finished all of his daily tasks, it was already five P.M. So far, he’d gotten nothing. Not a single response from Sans. Not even a smiley face!Had he done something wrong? Was Sans mad at him? All these thoughts swirled through his head, but Papyrus did his best to put them away for now.Sans had probably just fallen asleep somewhere. Again. He would be fine, he always ended up getting home.Right?To ease his mind, Papyrus tried to watch some TV, using the new remote. Maybe Mettaton’s show was on! Unfortunately, it wasn’t. So Papyrus busied himself with changing the channels on TV over and over again, watching how cool it looked when the buttons of the see through remote lit up.When this got boring, it was six, so Papyrus spent his time watching some of Mettaton’s online videos. As usual, this comforted him- who could stay worried while hearing Mettaton’s soothing voice? Papyrus sighed- Mettaton was so confident, outgoing, and kind! “Remember, darlings, to follow your dreams! Don’t let anyone tell you what you want is impossible! Nothing is impossible, as long as you remember to stay true to yourself, and stay fabulous! Mwah!” Mettaton blew a kiss at the camera. Papyrus pretended to catch it, also pretending the kiss was for him.And in a way, wasn’t it? It almost felt like Mettaton was talking to him through his phone’s screen. It also didn't help that Mettaton was quite beautiful as well, just further adding on to his infinite charm.In the end, Papyrus watched every single one of Mettaton’s videos- again. It was all going well as he watched- in this video, all Mettaton did was rise his leg up and down gracefully- until Papyrus saw the time on his phone.It was eight.Where was Sans?*BROTHER! I AM GETTING QUITE WORRIED- YOU HAVE BEEN GONE FOR QUITE A WHILE, AND HAVEN’T RESPONDED TO MY TEXTS! PLEASE TEXT ME BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!Okay, okay, Papyrus needed to calm down. He still had Mettaton’s videos, right? Except he’d just finished the last one.Papyrus got up. Fast. He could still find something to do!At nine, Papyrus finished making dinner.At eleven, Papyrus finished cleaning the house, not missing a speck of dust.At twelve… at twelve… at twelve, Papyrus was sat on the couch, head in his hands. All he’d been doing after he finished cleaning was texting and calling Sans. There was still no reply. It was official.Sans had been gone an entire day, without even responding to his many messages once.Was Sans okay? This was definitely unlike him. Sure, occasionally Sans would be gone for a day or two, but he’d always, always texted and called Papyrus back.Another worrying thought nagged the back of his head. If Sans seriously was in trouble, Papyrus knew he could use his powers to protect himself. But… what if he’d hurt someone?Papyrus knew his brother wasn’t the type to hurt people on purpose. So this could only mean one thing.Sans was hurt.Throwing his coat on, Papyrus ran out the door while calling Sans. It went to voicemail.“Sup. This is The Hotline For Idiot Babies. It appears no one’s here to take your call, so… keep on idiot-babying, I guess.” Sans’s voice spoke.Papyrus spoke frantically as soon as it was his turn to leave a message. “Brother! Where are you?! I’m out looking for you now! Wherever you are, please be safe!”After quickly checking the hotdog stands- Sans wasn’t there- Papyrus decided to try and look for where Sans had been before. In the woods.While Papyrus had been in Snowdin’s woods multiple times, it was usually during the day. At night… it was something else. He stumbled hopelessly through the dark, tripping more than once over snow poffs.“Sans! Sans!” Papyrus called out, cupping his hands over his mouth.The only response he got was the mocking echo of his own voice back.“Hey.”Papyrus felt a hand on his shoulder, and practically jumped out of his skin. It was Sans.“Sans! Are you- where were-I” Papyrus looked at his brother with wide eyes. He didn’t seem to be hurt. In fact, he looked just fine. “Sans!!! Where were you?! I’ve been calling and texting you all day, and you haven’t responded once!” Papyrus clenched his fists. He loved his brother, but if Sans was just going to not respond to him all together and leave him to worry, they needed to have a little talk.“Uh, sorry about that, Paps. I meant to call you, I really did, but my phone sorta died when I was about to.” Sans held up his phone, which was indeed dead. “Probably shoulda charged it before I left the house, huh?”“Don’t ‘huh’ me, Sans! And don’t avoid the question, either!” Papyrus huffed.“I was visiting some friends, Paps. I really was.” Sans did sound like he was being honest, and like he was sorry, too. Papyrus started to calm down a little.“Brother! I understand you have things to do, but it would be nice if you gave me some insight on where you will be! In fact, you never tell me where you’ll be! I was just… I was just worried about you.” Papyrus looked down at their feet, his boots. Sans’s slippers.“Bro, I…” Sans let out a tired sigh. “I know. I should’ve told you. But… it’s really complicated.” “Sans, you know I love complicated! It’s in my top four hundred favorite things!” Papyrus gave him a small smile. “You can trust me, brother. Whatever it is you’re doing, I won’t be mad.”“You do love complicated.” Sans chuckled, but then turned somewhat serious again. “Alright, Paps. I’ll show you. But this… it’s gotta be a secret, alright?” Papyrus couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He wasn’t upset, though. Not now that Sans had decided to trust him! “Sans, you know how good I am at keeping secrets!”And it was true- Papyrus was good at keeping secrets. Keeping a secret was one of their rules, in fact. Like most talking animal shows, they were never to tell about the animal’s special abilities- in this case, the animal was Sans- or else they’d be taken away and experimented on. “I know. Just, uh, a heads-up. It’s kind of a long walk.”“Sans, you know I also love long walks! It’s also in my top four hundred favorite things!” ***Sans wasn’t lying about it being a long walk. For what seemed like hours, they walked through Snowdin’s woods, and then through Waterfall’s marshes, until they finally arrived at- “Hotland? Sans, you know Hotland is in my three least favorite things list!” Papyrus groaned.“I know, Paps, I know. But we’re already where we need to be.” They’d stopped in front of a large building. But it wasn’t just any large building. It was Hotland’s laboratory!“Sans!” Papyrus gasped excitedly. “Don’t tell me you’ve finally started to pursue your interest in science again!”“Then I, uh, won’t. ‘Cause that’s not what’s going on.” Sans rubbed the back of his neck. “Just… you’ll see.”Sans proceeded to walk up to the door. It looked like an automatic one, but it wasn’t opening like it should’ve been. Carefully, Sans spoke.“I’m the legendary fart master.”Papyrus stared at him in shock. “Sans!!! Why would you-”Suddenly, the door opened. “C’mon.” Sans gestured for Papyrus to follow him. Papyrus stared at the open door, which appeared to just lead into darkness. Was this some kind of prank? Yet… it didn’t feel that way. It felt like this was meant to happen, somehow.Like it was destiny.So, Papyrus and Sans walked in. ***At first, there was only darkness. “Sans, is there a light switch in here? It’s-”The lights flickered on, revealing the exact opposite of what Papyrus had been expecting. Deep down, he’d hoped it would be something extraordinary! Like some sort of puzzle filled with spikes, chains, and fire!Instead, all he saw was a messy excuse for a lab, which honestly looked more like a living space.“Sorry, Sans, I didn’t know you’d be coming back, so I shut off the lights- o-oh my god!” A voice said. Papyrus couldn’t tell who it was, but whoever it was, they sounded shocked.Suddenly, someone came rushing towards them from what seemed to be a sort of bathroom. “Hey, Alph. I brought my brother.” Sans gestured to him. “Papyrus, this is Alphys. She’s cool.”This someone, Alphys, looked stressed. She had blonde hair which was sticking out in every direction, glasses, and a white lab coat, which hid whatever she was wearing underneath.“I-I can s-see that!” she stammered, and then whispered in a not-so-whisper, “Does he know about-”Papyrus felt a bit sorry for Alphys. She looked so stressed and scared! That wouldn’t be a problem, though! Papyrus knew he was great at helping put people at ease!“Do I know about Sans’s special power? Yes! Yes I do!” he said, a bit loudly.Sans was laughing. Papyrus wasn’t quite sure why, until he saw Alphys’s expression. Her mouth was wide open, in an O shape. “U-Uh, wow! Okay, t-that’s good! I’m, uh, D-Doctor Alphys! Although you can j-just call me Alphys, I-I don’t know why I said doctor when Sans d-didn’t say doctor, I-” Alphys cut herself off and nervously shook his hand.“Wowie! Are you a scientist? You must be, for only a scientist could have such a great handshake! I am the great Papyrus!” Papyrus gave her a big smile. Hopefully she wouldn’t be so nervous now.“Y-Yeah, I guess y-you could say I’m a scientist. And t-thanks! About the handshake thing.” Alphys did her best to return his smile.“So, Alph. Papyrus doesn’t know about the, uh, thing yet.” Sans said.“Y-You told him about your abilities, but not what you’re doing with them?” Alphys snorted, “O-Okay. Um… Papyrus, do you have any abilities?”Papyrus had to force his smile now. “No, I do not! I do have a question, though. How do you know about my brother’s? I thought they were a secret.” Papyrus gave Sans a little glare. Alphys looked a little… disappointed. Papyrus began to feel that way, too. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t do what Sans could. Alphys did answer his question, though.“Uh… w-well, this is probably going to be hard to explain, but… I-I have abilities, too. So do quite a-a few other people, in fact.” Alphys pushed her glasses up her nose and looked at him, waiting for a response. “WHAT?!”Papyrus couldn’t help it! This was too much! Other people had abilities too?! All these years, he’d thought Sans had been the only one, yet now he was just finding out there were more people like Sans? And Sans had known this for quite some time??? “Paps, calm down. Alphys is gonna explain everything, okay?” Sans put a hand on his arm. Papyrus had so, so many questions. But before he could ask them, a voice rang out from the bathroom. A familiar voice.“Alphys, darling, what is going on up here? I had to come up from the true lab just to see what all the racket was!” Papyrus covered his mouth with his hands.Coming from the bathroom was his idol. His celebrity crush. His inspiration!Mettaton.Papyrus didn’t even bother to ask why Mettaton was coming from the same bathroom Alphys had minutes ago, what the true lab was, or why Mettaton was even here. He just stood there, paralyzed in shock, feeling starstruck.It was Mettaton! Mettaton was there, right in front of him! Papyrus felt himself sweating and shaking. What should he do?!Mettaton stopped as soon as he saw Papyrus. “Oh! Alphys, why didn’t you tell me we had company? You’re Papyrus, aren’t you? I’ve heard so much about you, darling. It’s so nice to meet you in person.” Mettaton walked towards the three and winked.Mettaton? Had heard?? About HIM??? And not, only that, but Mettaton knew his NAME! “H-Hi, MTT. We were just, uh, giving Papyrus a rundown of the… program.” Alphys explained.“Ooh, fabulous!” Mettaton flipped his hair. “Well, let me introduce myself, darling. I’m Mettaton, and I’m one of the main representatives of the program. How are you, darling?” And with that, Mettaton shook his hand.Papyrus found his mouth to be dry. Not only that, but it seemed to be glued shut, along with his mind being totally empty. His idol, the most famous person in all of Ebott was shaking his hand?! And it didn’t help that he looked beyond amazing, too. With his shiny, sleek black hair, long eyelashes, flawless, practically-glowing-but-in-a-way-that-isn’t-weird skin, his pouty lips with perfectly applied lipstick, and the way his gorgeous, dreamy eyes seemed to throw off bits of light whenever he blinked (well, eye, since his signature bang always covered his left one) Papyrus knew he’d need to make an amazing first impression to impress him. But what should he say? Should he try to be all cool and rebellious? Sexy and suave, like him? Papyrus hadn’t noticed that he was still shaking Mettaton’s hand. It had been a minute now.“Er, honey, while that’s quite a nice handshake, I think that’s enough.” Mettaton looked at him oddly, as if he were some sort of thing in the zoo. Papyrus felt his face go all hot and red.“HELLO-I-AM-PAPYRUS-I-KNOW-WHO-YOU-ARE-YOU’RE-METTATON-I-WATCH-YOUR-VIDEOS-RELIGIOUSLY-AND-THINK-YOU’RE-VERY-SEXY-I’M-YOUR-NUMBER-ONE-FAN-AND-I-LOVE-YOU!” Papyrus blurted out. Then everything went black.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mettaton had been having a perfectly average day before Papyrus had made him fall hard.He’d started filming the latest episode of one of his shows (So You Think You Can Act? Well, Honey, You’re Totally Wrong!) had a good dinner, and had sparred with Undyne in the true lab.Then, when he’d gone upstairs to see what all the noise had been about, and had met the rather… eccentric Papyrus, he’d fallen hard.Literally.At first, when Mettaton had seen him, he’d immediately recognized who he was. He and Sans looked quite similar, despite their heights and demeanors and all.And when he’d heard they were explaining the program to Papyrus, Mettaton had felt pretty excited. It had been quite a long time since anyone new had joined- in fact, he’d pretty much been the latest member. So it would be nice to see some new faces.Even though he literally saw new faces everyday. And, yes, Papyrus looked cute. Of course, Mettaton hadn’t developed a crush on him, it was more like he was just pleasing to look at.Not more than himself, of course. But then again, who could be? He was literally perfect, flawless in every way, shape, and form.And so shy and awkward, too. That little adorkable combo worked for him. Until Papyrus had kept shaking his hand with an iron grip.Then, after Papyrus’s whole admittedly awkward spiel about loving him (not the first he’d heard, but somewhat flattering nonetheless) Papyrus had gone all pale.And that was when Papyrus hit the ground.Mettaton let out a screech, because when someone has an iron grip on your hand and falls to the ground, that means you fall too. You fall hard.Mettaton felt himself hit the tiled floor, losing his breath as he landed on his back. Normally, someone would hope that they hadn’t broken their back, but all Mettaton hoped was that this wouldn’t affect any shows he had coming up.“O-Oh my god! Papyrus, Metta!” Alphys was white as a sheet as she helped Mettaton up. “A-Are you okay? H-Here, come with m-me to the check up-”“I’m fine, Alphy.” Mettaton took a deep breath. His back ached quite a bit, but he could stand, so that was something, wasn’t it? “I think who you really need to be concerned about is Papyrus over there.”Sans was already knelt on the floor next to his brother. “It’s okay. He just fainted. He’s breathing, so, yeah.”Mettaton raised an eyebrow. “Oh, Sans, I can just see how worried you are. It’s seeping through your pores.”Sans laughed a bit. “Don’t worry. He’s fine. He’s just… a really big fan of yours. He wasn’t lying about the video thing.”“Thank the stars. I thought he was sick, honestly!” Mettaton sighed in relief. “Alphys, darling, you’re the scientist. What should we do?”Alphys was wringing her hands nervously. “Uh, w-we have to lift his legs h-heart level, first.” So Sans and Alphys did this. Mettaton was all for legs, but this was odd, so he let them do their jobs.Besides, he sort of needed to process what had just happened.That was his thing. Ever since… the incident, Mettaton had always taken the time to just breathe and think things through, when he got the opportunity to, at least.He was… relieved. At first he had thought one of them had gotten to Papyrus, but that was a bit hard to reason out, so then he’d assumed Papyrus was sickly, which he could relate to, somewhat.But upon finding out Papyrus was just a fan… Mettaton felt so relieved! People literally went nuts over him all the time, it was honestly quite stupid he hadn’t figured it out sooner.Papyrus, however, was...strange. After being famous for some time, Mettaton had become sort of desensitized to super fans, meaning that they didn’t shock him as much. Now he just appreciated them. Yet fainting was another level. He was fabulous, yes, but fainting could kill someone.Kill them with fabulousness.Mettaton had to push that little joke out of his head, knowing it wasn’t funny given the situation. He tried his best not to judge people, but… he was judging a little.Then again, maybe Papyrus had just been nervous. Maybe he’d been in shock from what they’d been telling him before. Either way, Mettaton had a feeling he’d be seeing a lot more of Papyrus, so all he could hope was that all their interactions wouldn’t be like that.Mettaton walked over to the kitchenette (which he’d made Alphys put in when he’d moved in) and began to look through the cabinets for a glass. “Is he up yet? We should probably get him some water, shouldn’t we?”“I don’t think he’ll be up for a while, MTT. He’s kind of… asleep???”Mettaton couldn’t help it. Waves of worry crashed over him. Had one of them gotten to him? Was this his fault?“Alphys… I-”Alphys smiled kindly at him. “Don’t worry. It’s- it’s completely normal to faint when shocked. I mean, he didn’t even know other people had abilities, so y-you were kind of the cherry on the OMG sundae.”“Wait. He didn’t know other people can have abilities? Sans, darling, I know you’re lazy, but forgetting to tell him something like this is quite extreme.” he said, crossing his arms. How could Sans deprive his own brother of such vital information? If Mettaton hadn’t had his cousins, and met Alphys after all of what happened, he’d probably be… in not such a good place.That being said, Sans needed to start opening up to his brother.“I just didn’t wanna get him mixed up in all this, y’know? Paps is a pretty… focused guy. He’s literally got his whole life planned out.” Sans sounded tired. “I mean, he even freaks out when I lift a spoon around him. And I’m his brother.”“I-I get what you mean, Sans. Plus, it’s not like what we do is, uh, exactly safe.” Alphys snorted. “I suppose,” Mettaton rolled his eyes. It was kind of hard to argue against them when they both had pretty good points. “Anyway, I think I’ll make poor Papyrus a smoothie for when he wakes up. A glass of water is so… un-glamorous.”“Mind making me one?” Sans slid onto a stool next to the kitchen breakfast bar. “Fine. But just so you know, they’re orange, so don’t go near any piranhas for the time being.” Mettaton got out another glass and began to prepare the smoothies.“I should, uh, probably get Undyne to put him somewhere? U-UNDYNE!” Alphys yelled, cupping her hands over her mouth.Undyne’s voice came from the true lab. “YEAH, BABE?!”“CAN YOU, UH, COME UP HERE? SANS’S BROTHER FAINTED, AND WE NEED SOMEONE TO CARRY HIM TO A BED!”“GET METTATON TO DO IT!”Mettaton groaned. Was Undyne seriously that lazy? Besides, he’d just gotten a manicure, and no way was he going to mess that up. “I’M MAKING SMOOTHIES, DARLING! I CAN’T, AND WON’T!”A few seconds later, Undyne burst through the “bathroom” door. “Alright, where’s the body?!” She was very sweaty, so much so that she looked as if she’d just been to a waterpark with her clothes on.“Must you say it like that? He’s very much alive, and on the floor, mind you.” Mettaton glared at her. If what she’d said was a joke, it wasn’t funny, at least not to him.“Geez, did you make him faint or something?” Undyne rolled her eye, obviously joking.Everyone was silent.“You ACTUALLY made him faint?!” Undyne stomped over to where Mettaton was standing. “Look, dude, if Asgore finds out-”“He was a fan of mine! How is it my fault he got starstruck? And, honestly, can you blame him?” Mettaton said defensively. Of course Undyne suspected the worst. But then again, hadn’t he?“Yeah, yeah, you’re famous. We get it.” Undyne said, but something in her voice told Mettaton she was relieved that it had been just that- him being famous. “Let me get one of those smoothies, alright? Sparring takes energy! All of it! Every ounce!” And with that, Undyne tossed Papyrus over her shoulder and walked into the hallway, presumably to put him on someone’s bed.Nicely enough, as soon as she came back, Mettaton had finished his smoothie-making. He was proud of his work, of course, like always. He couldn’t stand to make something he wasn’t completely and totally one hundred percent proud of.The smoothies were a nice orange color, in glittery MTT brand martini glasses, topped off with those little mini umbrellas.Undyne sat on the stool next to Sans. “Show off, much.”“Of course I am, darling. Why wouldn’t I be? By the way, sweat is not a good look on you.” Mettaton winked, taking a sip of his own smoothie.Alphys meekly raised her hand. “I-”Mettaton smirked and handed Alphys a glass. “Don’t you worry, babies, I made you all lovely MTT brand orange smoothies. Now drink up, because I have a feeling we’ve got a long day ahead of us.” ***Papyrus stood in the audience, hands pressed against his chest.The audience to what, he wasn’t quite sure, but it must have been something thrilling, for everyone in the audience looked excited.On the stage in front of them, through a thick layer of fog, a someone stepped out. This someone was dressed head to toe in black with a stylish leather jacket, and with their hair done up in some puffy eighties hairdo. It was Mettaton.“This song,” Mettaton took a pause, seemingly surveying the audience. “Goes out to a very special someone. Someone who has been with me to hell and back. Someone who I know is totally and utterly devoted to me.” His makeup was literally half done! Half of his face had on lipstick, mascara, blush, the works, and the other half was as bare as… well, a bare face could be.Papyrus felt his heart pounding. Mettaton looked like some sort of all knowing entity. Someone to be respected. He found himself wanting to hop up on stage, ask who that song was for, yet his feet felt like they were glued to the ground, his mouth stapled shut.“Ohhhh, Mettaton~” The audience swooned collectively.Music started to play, and suddenly, Mettaton was holding an electric guitar, on his knees playing it. He looked so concentrated, so intensely into his performance, that it felt wrong for anyone to even be there. This was something so sacred, how could Papyrus have come here? He felt like crying, he was so sorry!Mettaton yelled someone’s name. While Papyrus couldn’t quite process what name it was, he was sure it was his. It just felt right! “Come dance with me!” Mettaton yelled, after repeating the name one more time. The guitar was gone, somehow, and Mettaton was in the audience, dancing. The audience had made a clear path for him, for both of them.Papyrus didn’t feel himself run, yet suddenly, he was in front of his idol. He wasn’t even sure if he was dancing, but Mettaton was- and so well, too. “Do you know what I think?” Mettaton threw his arms up in the air, still dancing. “Do you?!”Papyrus couldn’t respond.“I think,” Mettaton laughed, throwing his head back, “I think you’re so very-” ***Papyrus sat up, drenched in sweat. Wherever he was, it was dark, and slightly cold.What time was it?His head hurt. Papyrus groaned softly and raised a hand to his temple- it felt like it was throbbing. What had happened? He could vaguely remember going with Sans somewhere, and-Oh.Oh no!As the memories came flooding back, Papyrus buried his head in his hands, wincing. Had he really made such a fool of himself in front of his idol? Had he really told Mettaton he watched his shows religiously- and that he loved him?Papyrus took three very deep breaths. Okay. Okay! He could salvage this! Yes, Papyrus was a master at salvaging things, from Sans’s ability to somehow dirty laundry even more, to a burnt pasta dinner.He began to make a plan. One to somehow save everything. Yet nothing came to mind. How? He always had great ideas, always!Well, at least he’d never have to face Mettaton again- even though the thought saddened him. Papyrus went to open the curtains of his room- until he realized two things.There were no curtains, and this wasn’t his room.Papyrus was pretty sure of it, at least, simply because the sheets of the surprisingly plush bed he was in were some sort of deep pink, and his were blue.Through the darkness, he could make out a nightstand next to the bed, which had some elegant looking glass on top of it, filled with some orange liquid. Papyrus could only come to the conclusion that the drink was meant for him- and most of his conclusions turned out to be right!As he lifted the glass to his lips and took a sip, it felt as if he’d regained his lost energy. This drink was amazing! It was sweet, but not as sweet as the syrup Sans liked to douse his pancakes in whenever they went to Grillby’s for breakfast. Suddenly, a crack of light came from beside him. The door to the room was opening. “Sans? Is that you?” Papyrus asked hopefully. If it was Sans, then that would mean that everything was slowly going back to normal. Sans would explain everything, and Papyrus wouldn’t feel as confused.Instead of Sans, however, a woman walked in the room. She had crimson colored hair tied back into a tight looking ponytail, an eyepatch over her right eye, and a tough looking expression.“Papyrus,” she spoke, “You’re awake?”“Yes, I am! Wide awake! Also, how do you, erm, know my name?” Papyrus started to pull the covers off of himself, not wanting to seem all sleepy and childish. Whoever this woman was, she was clearly important! “Sans told me.” she walked closer to the bed, but chose not to get too close, evidently, hesitantly lingering near the nightstand.“Are you a friend of his?” Papyrus asked tentatively. At this point, how could he be sure who did and didn’t know Sans? Sans was more popular than Papyrus had thought!In a way, it made him feel… weird.“I guess??? We work together, although I guess you know that, since you’re his brother or something.” “Sans works?! I knew he owned illegal hotdog stands, but this is- I- but he’s so-” Papyrus stammered, searching for the right words to match how he felt. Out of all the new information that had come to light recently, this was somehow the most shocking.“Lazy? I know, right?! It’s like, stop taking naps on top of the fridge and go do your freaking job!” she groaned. Finally! Someone who understood how frustrating his brother’s laziness could be! Some people found it charming, but Papyrus just found it to be something that made life more difficult. “Once,” Papyrus whispered conspiratorially, “I found him asleep. In the snow. During a blizzard!”The woman laughed. “Being lazy isn’t a good thing, but that’s some power! Sleeping in a blizzard! That’s one hundred percent extreme sleeping! That should be a freaking sport!!!”“Nyeh heh heh! Sans might actually win an extreme sleeping contest! Granted he doesn’t fall asleep somewhere else and forget about it.” Papyrus said. Extreme sleeping did sound very… extreme! “‘Course he would. He’s Sans! And I’m Undyne.” Undyne gave him a big grin, revealing pretty sharp and yellow teeth. “They took you here to learn about the program, right?! Well, since you’re awake, there’s no time like the present, huh?! Get up!”“Okay!” Papyrus stood up. Finally, he was going to get some actual answers instead of just being led around like a toy duck on a string!“You’ve got something on your face, by the way.” Undyne gestured with her index finger to the corner of her mouth. Papyrus wiped away at the same spot on his face, only to realize he was scraping off dried drool.Gross!Looking back, he saw a faint drool spot on one of the pillows. “Actually, Undyne, there’s a-”“C’mon!” Undyne called to him, already walking out of the door.Papyrus had no choice but to follow. ***It was shocking to see that the bathroom Alphys and Mettaton had came out of earlier wasn’t a bathroom, but an elevator.It was even more shocking to see that, when they got out of the elevator, the bottom of the lab was some sort of training arena with other lab like things around. It looked sort of like a gym! If gyms also had lab tables, tons of scientific equipment, and a lot of dust.“This is the true lab,” Undyne spoke, arms crossed. “Basically, we train here, and Alph does her science experiments here too.”“Why-” Before Papyrus could ask the load of questions he had, Undyne cut him off.“Woah woah woah, not so fast. Follow me.” she walked towards one of the many room. Inside was an examination table. She gestured for him to sit down. “Oh! Are you giving me a check up? Well, I’m happy to inform you I’m in great health!” Papyrus beamed proudly at Undyne, who snorted.“Hell no, I’m not doing a check up on you! That’s for Alphys! I kind of… need to give you an interview??? Sort of like a can-we-trust-you thing. Mettaton usually does it, but he’s out.” Undyne rolled her eyes. Secretly, Papyrus was a bit relieved. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Mettaton! Well, it kind of was. He’d made a total fool of himself in front of him! Mettaton was sassy and classy- and probably thought he was weird, too.“Alright.” Undyne took a deep breath. “Name?”“Papyrus Gaster!”“Age?”“Twenty nine!”“You live with Sans, right? In Snowdin? Got a job?”Papyrus’s confident attitude faltered. “I’m… searching.” The truth was, no one seemed to want to… hire him. Apparently he came off as too eccentric, or odd. Sans had offered him a job at his hotdog stands multiple times, which Papyrus kept turning down. It was illegal!“Did you know anything about the program before you came here?” Undyne leaned in a bit closer to him, seemingly scanning his face for signs of lying.“Nyeh, no! I came here to learn about it, though, I suppose?” Papyrus shrugged.“That’s good.” Undyne muttered. “So. Any abilities?”Papyrus looked at his feet, which were dangling off the operation table. He’d been hoping Undyne wouldn’t ask this question. Would he even be allowed into the program, whatever that was, if he didn’t have any abilities?“N...No. I don’t have any powers, if that’s what you mean. But…! I can make excellent spaghetti! And puzzles! And… and…” Papyrus stopped speaking once he saw the look on Undyne’s face. It was slightly troubling.“So, like, no abilities? Like, ever? None like your brother’s? Or any different ones?” Undyne asked him incredulously. Papyrus just shook his head.“Well… are you any good in a fight?” Undyne scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “Or at least fast?”“I work out!” Papyrus brightened a bit. This he could do! “I work out every day! Although… what time is it?”“It’s one P.M. You fainted at midnight.” Undyne said, sounding and looking completely neutral, which hopefully wasn’t a bad thing. “You were out for a long time.”“Oh.” Papyrus sighed. This threw off his schedule completely! Unless he could fit making breakfast and lunch, solving the horoscope, making puzzles, cleaning the house, and working out into the next few hours.“Anyway. Have you ever been in a fight?” Undyne seemed to be staring at him directly in the eyes now.“Well… I’ve been in one that was initiated, yes.” Papyrus answered, recalling the orphanage incident.“Did you fight back?”“...No. I don’t believe in violence.” Papyrus said, and truthfully, he didn’t. “What?!” Undyne’s eyebrows were so high up they’d be on her scalp with anymore raising. “Then how would you defend yourself?! Or anyone else?!”“With kindness! Anyone can be a good person, if they just try! And that is because everyone has good in them!” Papyrus gave Undyne a smile. He thought back to the mean kids in the orphanage. If they had just tried, then…Undyne took a step back. “Wow. That’s…”“Undyne, daaaarling! I got your message! You said you needed me?” Mettaton’s melodious voice sounded through the room as he entered, tapping away on his phone.Papyrus stiffened. He felt the same way he had before. Speechless and still. Once again, Mettaton was emitting rays of beauty and charm.“Where were you?!” Undyne glared at him. Mettaton didn’t look up from his phone.“Shopping, darling. You should try it some time.”“Listen here, you-”“Oh, my!” Mettaton finally looked up from his phone. “Papyrus, darling, you’re awake! How are you feeling?”Papyrus was shocked, and not only because Mettaton was addressing him directly. How was Mettaton so… calm? Papyrus was sure he’d screwed up the one chance he’d had to impress his idol, and yet…“Good! I’m good. Very good.” Papyrus croaked out.Mettaton smiled. “Glad to hear it, darling, Everyone was ever so worried about your little mishap yesterday. Now,” Mettaton turned to Undyne. “Have you finished the interview?” “Yeah. Still haven’t told him anything, though.” Undyne shrugged.“Fabulous! Fill me in.” Mettaton repositioned the sunglasses on his head. Papyrus somehow managed to tune the two out, distracted by something more than their conversation.Their outfits.Undyne was wearing what appeared to be a black and dark green jumpsuit, with a black jacket over it. Something that looked like some sort of armor or metal chestplate rested under the jacket, over her chest. Bandages were wrapped over her knuckles.Mettaton, however, was in a black turtleneck jumpsuit, slightly similar to Undyne’s. Yet, on the hips of it, were black frills with pink lining, so that whenever he moved, it looked as if pink and black flames were engulfed around his hips. The jumpsuit appeared to be sleeveless, although it was hard to tell, since he’d thrown a black, non-superhero, fashionable cape into the stylish mix that was his outfit. And finally, there was his classic high heeled boots, which perfectly fit his shapely legs. While the two outfits were quite different when you came down to it, one thing was definitely the same about them. The two of them both had on heart shaped lockets, Undyne’s green, Mettaton’s pink.Their fashion power was through the roof! Soon enough, Undyne walked out of the room, leaving Mettaton and Papyrus alone.“Well, darling! I certainly hope Undyne was civil to you. She can be a bit… hot headed at times.” Mettaton spoke, wasting no time. Apparently he wasn’t going to bring up yesterday’s incident.“S-She was fine! Yes! Fine!” Papyrus stammered, staring at the floor with an intense expression. All in all, he’d liked Undyne! She seemed like someone worthy of hanging out with- and he would, he decided, when he impressed her with his charm!Unless they decided not to include them in whatever this was.Of course, she hadn’t seemed happy with his last answer, but…“Fabulous. Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty stuff, shall we?” Mettaton pulled a seat over in front of him, and sat in it, legs crossed. He looked as if he was sitting on a throne. Which was impressive, considering it was just one of those foldable chairs.“So,” Mettaton flipped his hair, “You’re aware of abilities. I’m sure you’d previously thought your brother was the only one who possessed them.”“Y-Yes, I did. Apparently that was not true!” Papyrus raised a hand to start biting his fingernails, and then stopped- what would Mettaton think?“I’m sure you’re very confused. All of us were, though. I’ll try to simplify it all. Wouldn’t want you fainting again, now would we?” Mettaton winked, as if this were an inside joke between them- Papyrus supposed it could be, if Mettaton hadn’t decided he was completely weird.“So,” Mettaton took out a bottle of black nail polish from his purse, “The program. The program is dedicated to discovering people with abilities- there aren’t many, but we try- and teaching those very people how to control them. Alphys can explain the science of them to you, since another part of the program is also conducting experiments on these very people.”Mettaton was delicately painting his fingernails now, leaving the middle nail of each hand untouched. Papyrus opened his mouth to ask why he did this, but then closed it. He didn’t want to be rude!“We also use our newly found knowledge and training of our abilities to investigate suspicious occurrences here in Ebott. There aren’t many, but when there is, it’s always a massive help to use our abilities to our advantage.” Mettaton then took out a bottle of glittery pink nail polish from the purse, and painted the middle nails this color. “In fact, we plan to attempt to use everyone’s abilities to find a way out of Ebott, if possible.”A way out of Ebott?! That would be, well, great! No one knew what was out of Ebott, really. Just little hints, magazines that had fluttered into towns and such. Being a part of whatever world that was, though…!Papyrus was in awe. Firstly, how did Mettaton manage to keep the bottles in there without them spilling? Secondly, the program sounded so… heroic! Papyrus pictured all of the people he’d seen so far- even his brother- as a team of superheroes! At least, that’s what it sounded like they were.“Are you following, darling?” Mettaton asked, neatly tucking the bottles back into his bag. It took Papyrus a moment to realize Mettaton was talking to him. He’d been so entranced! All this information was clearing up so much! Why Sans often stayed over at other places, what the program was, of course…“Yes! I, the great Papyrus, follow your words!” Papyrus said, maybe a bit too quickly.Mettaton raised an eyebrow. “The great Papyrus?”Papyrus felt his face heat up. He was great! Apparently Mettaton didn’t think so, though, and really, who could blame him? “Y-Yes! Erm, it was probably not that great of me to… faint yesterday. So please, allow me to formally apologize! It was just on account of…” For the first time in his life, Papyrus struggled for words. “... the fact that I was so shocked about everything happening! And, well, I have watched your videos and shows for quite a while now, so that was even more of a shock as well, and what I said was very-”Mettaton raised his index finger to Papyrus’s lips. Papyrus couldn’t help that he blushed, at this very moment. It was so… intimate! Besides, he could still smell the freshly applied nail polish.“Don’t bother with those words, darling. Stones falling out of your mouth won’t do you any good. All they do is clatter to the ground with needless noise.” Mettaton removed his finger from Papyrus’s lips, making it a little easier for Papyrus to focus. “Besides, I’ve seen much worse. One time a fan vomited on her mother because she was so nervous around me.”Papyrus gasped. “Oh, no! That sounds horrible! Did any of the vomit get on you? Was she okay?”“No to the first, yes to the second. She was very embarrassed, though.” Mettaton leaned back in his seat with a shrug. “Really, though, there’s been worse than her, too. So don’t worry, darling, you’re in the clear.”Papyrus was astonished! Mettaton seemed so… casual about all these crazy fans he apparently had to deal with. It probably wasn’t a big deal for him, though. After all, he was Mettaton! Who wouldn’t faint or throw up or worse at the sight of him!Besides, Mettaton was Mettaton. Mettaton didn’t freak out! He was composed!“It must be very... interesting to be famous! And even more so with the program!”“It’s been a journey. Quite the fabulous one, might I add.” Mettaton smiled his glamorous MTT-Brand smile, and Papyrus almost gasped. Seeing it in person was somehow even better than on screens! “Although, honey, the program is private. So, if you do get in, don’t be telling people about it. Don’t let those stones fall where they’re not supposed to.” Mettaton covered his mouth with his hand, as if to keep stones in.“...Although I do not doubt my capability to get into things… what happens if I don’t get in?” Papyrus asked, feeling a little awkward. The program seemed so amazing! Yet it also seemed centered around those with abilities, and Papyrus just wasn’t one of those people.“If you don’t get in, you’d go back to normal civilian life, I suppose. No one has ever not gotten in.” Mettaton said.Papyrus felt himself getting sweaty, a feeling which he hated. But he couldn’t help it! He didn’t want to be the first to not get in! “Oh…”“Don’t get me wrong, darling. Civilian life can be glamorous. Not as glamorous as my life, but glamorous nonetheless. Besides, it’s not as if the program is our whole life, even if it is a huge part of it. If we didn’t look normal, how would we blend in as well as we do? I’m sure you didn’t suspect me to be part of something like this. Or your brother.” Mettaton did have a point. But still… “I wouldn’t consider you normal, though.” Papyrus spoke. Mettaton stiffened. “Pardon?”“N-Not that that’s a bad thing! I just meant that you don’t, well, blend in. You’re a celebrity! Which is quite the accomplishment! So, therefore, no blending in!” Papyrus stammered in apology.Mettaton put a hand to his own mouth once again. “Stones, Papyrus. That is flattering, though. I suppose you’re right- some of us don’t ‘blend in’ blend in- we just stand out in what’s considered normal. Like Asgore.”Papyrus’s eyes nearly fell out of his sockets. “Asgore?! Y-You mean, Asgore Dreemurr?! THE Asgore Dreemurr?! The-”Mettaton looked amused. “The mayor, yes. He has abilities, too. He’s actually the founder of this program.”“You, Sans, Asgore… is there anyone else with abilities?!” Papyrus counted three people on his fingers.“Well, there’s Alphys and Undyne, as I’m sure you know. There also is Toriel, but she doesn’t exactly live here… in the main parts of Ebott, I mean.” Mettaton clarified. “Like I said, there isn’t many people like us. If there were, the program wouldn’t need to be private.”“I suppose you’re right! Although, wouldn’t it feel more rewarding if the program was public? Imagine how much support you’d get!” Papyrus spread his arms wide. People always loved superheroes, so why not the people in the program?Mettaton gave Papyrus a smile. It was the sort of smile he got from people when he said something wrong, or something they deemed silly. One might call it patronizing or condescending. Papyrus preferred to view it as… not patronizing and condescending.“Oh, Papyrus. People are judgemental. They’re not as open minded as you. Besides, keeping the program private allows us to work more efficiently. Can you imagine the press if it got out that Asgore or I were here? We’re already famous enough.” Mettaton chuckled. “Oh.” Papyrus realized that Mettaton was probably right. He seemed to know what he was talking about. “...Does the program have an official name?”Mettaton shook his head. “No. For some reason, it never occured to Asgore that ‘the program’ is a bad name for a the program. He is quite bad at naming things, though.”With that, Mettaton stood up from his chair, walking towards the door. Papyrus felt a confuse, and just a tad bit anxious. Had he bored Mettaton? Had he said something wrong? “Um… excuse me, Mettaton, but where are you going?”“It’s more of a matter of where the two of us are going, darling. I thought I’d give you a little tour, as a break from the chit chat.” Mettaton beckoned Papyrus forth with his finger. “Come on, darling. These legs need stretching!” ***While Papyrus knew the tour was supposed to be a break, it only brought more questions to mind. “Do you have uniforms?” Papyrus blurted out as they left the room.Mettaton stopped in front of him. “Of course we do, dear! Do you really think I’d let the program keep on without adding fashion to the mix? I had everyone’s designed. I’m wearing mine right now!” Mettaton gave a little twirl, prompting Papyrus to clap. “I noticed that you and Undyne both have heart shaped lockets! Are you two best friends?” Papyrus asked, as Mettaton started walking ahead of him. Mettaton gave his signature laugh, the one that made everyone’s hearts- including Papyrus’s- beat even faster than ever. “Oh, hardly. Undyne’s nice enough, really, but we just wouldn’t suit each other. Like green and brown in the same outfit.”“Nyeh! I agree! About the outfit statement, I mean. So why do you two have the lockets?” Papyrus had to speed up to walk next to Mettaton.“It’s sort of a symbol for the program, I suppose. We all have them. Alphys’s is yellow, Sans’s is blue, and on and on,” Mettaton waved his hand dismissively. Then there was a silence.Mettaton seemed perfectly fine with it, yet Papyrus felt uneasy. He couldn’t stand silence! Usually, he had to fill it up with something- music, TV- but there seemed to be none of that in the true lab. So he asked yet another question.“Where do you live?” The, upon realizing that sounded a tad too stalkerish, “Not in a weird way! I was just wondering, since the scenery in your videos seems to take place primarily in two seperate places!” Papyrus mentally slapped himself. That sounded even weirder, like he analyzed every video he watched! Well, he did, but just to get a feel of whoever was filming! He liked context!Mettaton just smiled. “I’m impressed you noticed. Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret, Papyrus.”A secret? And so early into their acquaintanceship too! Hopefully this was a sign that it would blossom into a friendship! A friendship with his idol, oh, how splendid that would be! “Wonderful! I am very great at keeping secrets!”And, considering all that had happened in his life with Sans, he really was!“That’s great to hear. Well, the secret is that I don’t have just one place I live in. I live here, and at the very top floor of the MTT Resort. I’m sure you’ve heard of it.” Mettaton said, feigning a hushed tone. “In fact, Undyne and your brother have spare rooms here as well.”Papyrus was surprised. Mettaton lived here as well? As well as Sans? And Undyne? Well, that explained what Sans meant by sleeping over at a friend’s house. “Is your room down here?”“No, actually, it’s upstairs. They put you in there to rest. Speaking of that little time period, I hope you enjoyed my MTT Brand orange smoothie.” Mettaton winked, with a little toss of his hair.Papyrus gasped. “I knew it tasted familiar! It was very glittery, after all.” It took Papyrus a moment to realize that if he’d been in Mettaton’s room before, then the pillows he’d drooled on…Oh. Oh no.Papyrus didn’t need to fill the silence that came next. It was already filled with his worrisome thoughts. What if Mettaton found out, and thought he was disgusting? Mettaton was perfect, he didn’t drool or faint!Papyrus had to take a few deep breaths, and tried to concentrate on something else. Like… how long this hallway was. How dusty the air was. How weird yet cool it felt to be walking next to his idol. How eye opening it was that his brother wasn’t the only one with abilities.How he might not get into the program due to his lack of abilities.Finally, they reached the end of the hallway. Of course, their walk wasn’t over yet. They passed by weird lab equipment and flowers, which Mettaton explained Doctor Alphys used for her experiments. They passed by hospital beds, which Mettaton explained were for patients- although there didn’t seem to be any.They passed by a weird shut door with growls coming behind it, which Mettaton simply ushered Papyrus by.“I’d take you to the doctor’s checkup station, but I’m sure you’ll be seeing plenty of that later. I do wish there was more to show you, but really, this place is a labyrinth of empty rooms.” Mettaton crossed his arms. “I suggested we glam up the place, but apparently dark and gloomy is the rule here.”“Well… at least there are vending machines! And potted plants! It’s like the dentist’s office, only creepy!” Papyrus said brightly. Really, he thought all of this was quite interesting! Even if he was a bit scared.“I know, I know. I suppose I could show you the training center, although I prefer to stay away from it. Undyne’s always skewering training dummies there, and it gets quite intense. “I don’t mind! I work out myself, so I’m sure that it will be of interest to me, skewered training dummies or not.” Papyrus really did want to continue the door- Mettaton seemed to find it boring, yet he found it fascinating!So the two walked some more, passing by the power generator of the elevator, some room with VHS tapes, a big skull looking thing, and more!Until they reached two doors. Or rather, one door, and a cell next to it. The bars of the cell seemed like they’d been scratched, along with the cell walls. Inside it, there wasn’t anything except for a ratty blanket and a pillow. It was a bit unsettling, especially when he noticed a big red stain on one of the cell walls.Papyrus shuddered.“I must admit, I feel as if this place used to be a prison. You know, with all the growling, the dust, and that cell.” he gestured towards it. If it were up to him, he’d clean the place up! It was even worse than Sans’s room.Mettaton’s eyes widened. He seemed a little surprised by something. All he could do was stare at the cell.“Um…” Papyrus waved his hand in front of Mettaton’s face. “Mettaton, are you okay? You seem surprised! Except not the good type, like when Sans actually picks up his socks.”Whatever had surprised Mettaton, he seemed to get over it quickly. “Oh, I’m fine, darling. I just remembered that I have a photoshoot in an hour, which unfortunately cuts our fabulous little tour short.”Papyrus felt a pang of disappointment in his chest. He’d been having fun! Of course, he knew Mettaton probably had quite a hectic schedule.“Well! I hope you have fun at your photoshoot, then!” Papyrus said, a bit awkwardly. Mettaton gave him a small smile. “Oh, I will. You should probably go see your brother. It’s getting late.” “Toodles, darling!” Mettaton blew Papyrus a kiss, and walked off into the distance.“Wait!” Papyrus shouted, “I, um… how do I know if I’ve gotten into the program?” Yet Mettaton had already walked away, his heels making little click noises down the hall.Papyrus stood there, his mind filled with thoughts and questions, the sheer feeling of being in such close proximity to his idol.He took a deep breath. He had a feeling this was only the beginning.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Honey, I’m home!” Mettaton burst through the door in a fabulous looking red suit, complete with a yellow necktie and orange briefcase. “Late, late, late! Always late! What type of a cousin are you if you can’t even come home on time?!” Maddy hissed, arms crossed. Maddy wore a puffy-sleeved pink dress, and a white apron covered in red stains. While not Maddy’s usual style, it wasn’t the biggest difference in his cousin. Maddy was sporting long, pink pigtails, and seemed to be wearing very thick mascara.It looked lovely. The audience laughed.“You know work is difficult! I am doing the best I can to support you, and you can’t even be happy for me! What kind of a cousin are YOU?!” Mettaton slammed the door shut, causing a sob to echo from the corner of the room.It was Blooky, wearing a simple looking hospital gown. “Please… stop fighting... ““Here’s dinner! Not like you’ll have time to eat it!” Maddy thrust a plate of stones into Mettaton’s hands. Mettaton dropped the plate, and it disappeared into nothingness. It was just too heavy.The audience laughed some more.“Help me…” Blooky whispered, causing the audience to practically shout with glee. The non visible audience entities pointed and shook, in total hysterics.Mettaton backed away as slowly as he could. This was bad. He could sense it, and-Maddy. Maddy Maddy Maddy.“Maddy!” Mettaton stumbled over to his cousin, who was visibly displeased. “Oh, Maddy, where are you? Tell me where you are! We’ve been so worried! I… I’ve been so worried!” It was hard to speak over all the laughter. Mettaton took his cousin’s face in his hands and stroked Maddy’s cheek.Maddy opened her mouth- somehow, Mettaton could just feel this was the correct pronoun, the one Maddy wanted- and let out round, gray objects.Stones.They plopped onto the floor, making unsatisfactory clunking noises when they hit the hard tiles. Blooky was sobbing.Suddenly, stones were everywhere. Whizzing past the three cousins, hitting Blooky square in the face and knocking them out, a single trickle of blood coming down from their forehead. Maddy forlornly walked offstage, leaving Mettaton alone.“Stop!” Mettaton yelled, tears streaming down his face as he screamed the words he’d screamed so many times before. “Stop that right now! I’m sorry! I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m-”One of the stones slammed into his face, and everything went white. ***Mettaton woke up, drenched in his own sweat. He didn’t have time to process how utterly gross that was- instead, he made a beeline for the bathroom.The MTT Resort bathrooms were always kept fresh and clean.For Mettaton’s own private bathroom in the resort, it was fresh and clean times a thousand.Literal rose petals decorated every pristine surface there was, from his jet black bathtub to the sink’s counter. Soaps, shampoos, conditioners and lotions of every caliber were lined up against the edge of the bathtub- all MTT brand, of course. The shower literally had crystal instead of glass for the doors, tinted a light pink.Mettaton, however, didn’t run for any of these.He ran for the toilet. Lifting up the seat as fast as he could (Mettaton was no seat keep, he left it down) he retched, and then proceeded to vomit into the toilet. It felt horrible- it burned, and it just kept coming.Finally, when he felt better, or at least like he could stand, he shakily walked over to the sink. With his shaking hands, he took a glass from the sink counter, filled it up with tap water- he hated having to do this, but there was no other option, and his mouth tasted positively horrible- and tilted the glass to his lips, swishing the water around in his mouth, and spitting it back out into the sink.Only then could Mettaton face his reflection in the mirror.His face looked pale, which was no surprise, he was always pale. Yet it was that weird pale where it looked faintly green, which was never a good sign.Mettaton sighed. His hair was a mess. Good thing work didn’t start anytime soon, presuming it was seven, the time he usually woke up.Of course, that was when Mettaton’s phone started to ring.Mettaton walked over to the bed, where he’d left it- he was in no hurry, the only people who should be in a hurry were the ones vying for his attention.Upon seeing the caller ID, Mettaton groaned. It was his assistant, Katrina. It wasn’t that Katrina was a bad assistant, per se, it was just that she often times burst into tears, easily startled and upset.Mettaton answered the call. “Hello, Katrina. Didn’t I say that you are not to call me before ten? I need my beauty sleep, after all,” Mettaton hummed into the phone, settling himself onto his king sized bed. And it was quite comfortable, with its velvety sheets and plush pillows. After this dreadful phone call was over, it would feel absolutely fabulous to just nestle into the sheets and-“Hi- I, uh- sir. It’s, actually, uh, eleven twenty five.” Katrina stammered, her voice sort of clipping together due to the phone’s poor audio system.“What?!” Mettaton immediately sat up, straight as an arrow. “Why didn’t you tell me?!” This was infuriating! He always made Katrina text him at ten, just to ensure he was awake and getting ready for whatever the day had in store. “Honestly, Katrina, I really don’t know why I’m paying you if you can’t even do one simple little thing right! Listen, darling, you know how tight my schedule is, so I would assume-”Katrina started to sob. Then, in a shaky voice, she said, “I-I-I’m sorry! I t-t-texted you, but maybe they d-d-didn’t go through, I-!” Once again, she broke down in more sobs.Mettaton took a deep breath. Katrina most likely did text him. She wasn’t incompetent, just emotional. “I’m sorry, darling. I’m sure you texted me.”“I-I-It’s my fault, I-”“You’re fine, darling.” Mettaton said, firmer this time. He was getting just a tad bit annoyed at all of her tears. “What’s first on my schedule today?”Katrina sniffled. Mettaton cringed in disgust at the sound of all that snot.“It’s, uh, a photoshoot, for that MTT Magazine cover. It was supposed to be at eleven, but-”“WHAT?!” Mettaton shrieked. He distinctly remembered telling Katrina that he wanted the shoot to be scheduled for one, so he’d have time to attend a meeting with some of his investors. Oh, was she going to get it! Mettaton structured his schedule very carefully, and one little mishap could lead to a whole day wasted!Katrina squeaked. “I-I’m sorry, I forgot to-”“Reschedule it!” Mettaton hollered into the phone. “Make it be at three, or something! Do you even realize how much time this whole conversation has wasted for me?!”“I didn’t- I don’t-”“Get. It. DONE!” Mettaton screeched, hung up, and threw his phone across the room. It hit the vanity, shattering both itself and the mirror.Mettaton buried his face into one of his many pillows and screamed. Double bad luck. Double the time wasted.“FUCK!”It was so unfair! There could never be a night where he didn’t get nightmares, never a day where someone didn’t screw something up, never the perfect life he wanted so badly.Mettaton stayed there, buried in his pillows, for a moment. He was too tired for tears, yet too angry to stop having this pity party.Suddenly, he felt it. The room was colder. And not just a regular cold, an odd sort of clammy type of cold. As if he’d been dunked in a bucket of ice water.Slowly, he lifted his head up.“No,” Mettaton whispered. “Not now. Please, not now.”Out of the corner of his eye, in the corner of the room, was one of Them. A shimmering, hazy spot of the room, dim, but there. It didn’t move. But it was there. Mettaton was trembling all over again.Everytime after one of Them came, Mettaton always convinced himself he’d get used to it. But then, when one of Them came back, all he could do was stay where he was, paralyzed in fear.Why in his own hotel room? Why at this particular time? Why him?Alphys said that They most likely fed off of fear, stress, sadness, anger, any negative emotion. And seeing as it was quite hard to stay perfectly fine all the time, They came around quite often. Mettaton’s hands shook as he recited the phrase he’d said so many times before. “Begone, begone, begone.”Like usual, it didn’t work. And now It whispered, but with no words, thoughts that Mettaton already knew, and never wanted to think again. Memories that were his, and memories that weren’t his, visions of such horrid things, he nearly wanted to jump out of the window, but he couldn’t, oh, he couldn’t, he was stuck, stuck, stuck, trembling with fear, helpless, as usual, why did this always have to happen, why him, why him, why hi-“Erm, Mettaton, sir?” Mettaton snapped his head towards the door. Immediately, the room temperature became, well, room temperature, there were no more shimmering things, no thoughts and memories he wouldn’t allow. Some member of the waiting staff was in the doorway, hand still on the doorknob. He looked anxious.“Why didn’t you knock?” Mettaton brought himself to say. His throat felt dry and hoarse. “Sorry, sir, it was just that some guests heard rather loud noises coming from your room, and we-Mettaton clenched his fists. His breath still felt as if it had been knocked out of him. “Just… it’s my hotel. I’ll do what I please. Get someone to clean that up.” He gestured to all the shattered glass on the floor.The man nodded, a bit too eagerly. “Right away, sir.”Thankfully, the man left, leaving the door open. Mettaton took a deep breath. It was going to be okay. How could it not be, right?Besides, this one had been particularly malevolent. Most just… shimmered in the corner of the room, spreading a mildly bad aura around. Not too dangerous, if you didn’t get too close.Feeling resigned, Mettaton walked over to the mess. Through the shattered glass, his phone laid on the ground, thoroughly cracked. Amazingly, though, when he tried to turn it on, it still worked. Mettaton smiled- nothing Alphys made could be broken that easily.Including him. *** “Alright, Mettaton, let’s see that gorgeous smile of yours!”Mettaton was dressed in a 50’s style housewife dress, with his hair all curly, makeup done perfectly. In his hand, he held a pair of pink high heels.It was his photoshoot, obviously.Mettaton smiled, eyes shining like diamonds. “Beautiful!” Someone yelled out.As usual, his heart felt like it was soaring. This was what he needed. To be as radiant and fabulous as he was, loved by all. “Give us a new face!”Mettaton already knew what would drive them all wild. He opened his mouth and widened his eyes, pressing a hand to his cheek, as if to say, “Oh my god!”They loved it.Out of the corner of his eye, Mettaton spotted someone waving at him frantically. Mettaton rolled his eyes- who wasn’t trying to get his attention?Oh, wait.It was Alphys.“Take five, all of you!” Mettaton called out, tossing the shoes on the floor. Technically, someone else should be calling the shots, but as far as literally anyone was concerned, Mettaton ran the show.Feeling a bit annoyed- no, wait, feeling perfectly average, as he had to- he walked over to Alphys. “Hello, Alphys, darling! Is there a reason you’ve dropped by? I was kind of in the middle of something, you know?” Mettaton crossed his arms, scanning Alphys up and down.Really, he loved her to death, but sometimes she could be a bit… clueless.“O-Oh! I know, I’m, uh, sorry I had to drop by, and that I, um, interrupted. It’s just that, I’ve got some news, is all!” Alphys stammered apologetically, nervously fiddling with her yellow heart-shaped locket, which matched his.“And this news is…?” Mettaton asked expectantly, gesturing for her to keep on.“Right! Uh, you remember Sans’s brother?”“I do recall him, yes.” And Mettaton did. He’d been a bit of a sweetheart, despite him being rather… clumsy, frantic, anxious, and odd.A clumsy-frantic-anxious-odd sweetheart.“Well… he got into the program.” Alphys spoke, keeping her voice down. “And seeing as you’re, like, the social representative of the whole program, we thought you could maybe, uh, go tell him?”Mettaton groaned. “Alphys, can’t you see I’m busy? I have things to do, honestly!” Mettaton gestured to the whole photoshoot setup. Yes, he was the social representative for the company- he was good at it! He smiled, and he dazzled, and made people feel way less freaked out than they should have been. Essentially, the program wouldn’t be much of a program without him.Mettaton was easily the most famous, charming member of the program.Yet he was also the busiest.“Ple-Please, MTT! It’s your job, and besides, you seemed to really make an impression on Papyrus!” Alphys begged, hands cupped together. “I make an impression on everyone. I’m Mettaton.” he sighed. It was an inconvenience, yes, but…“Okay, darling. I’ll do it. And I’m sorry for getting mad at you. It’s been a… day.” Mettaton took a deep breath and gave Alphys a small smile.“I-It’s okay! We all have days.” Alphys said kindly. “You look really good, though. Was this inspired by those out-of-Ebott movies you love to watch?”Mettaton grinned, and shook his hips a little. “Oh, you found me out! Honestly, I wonder if out-of-Ebott people dress like this. Either way, it’s going to be fabulous!” ***Back in the Gaster household, Papyrus was in his room, sweeping. Ever since his visit to Doctor Alphys’s place, life had become so… different! For one, everything was making sense now. Everytime Sans had to go out, he’d sheepishly grin and say, “Program business, bro.”It was quite odd to think of Sans being someone so important! Not that Sans wasn’t important, he just never showed any interest in being! Speaking of Sans, it had been a little awkward when they’d came back home after their visit. Papyrus hadn’t known what to say- even though he had so much to!Yet it ended up being as it always had been- Sans cracking bad jokes, Papyrus generously making dinner for him- perfectly the same!Despite the fact, of course, that whenever Papyrus asked any questions about the program, Sns would always say he wasn’t allowed to say anything unless Papyrus was actually in it.Which, in turn, made Papyrus anxious. Would he get in? He didn’t have any powers, yet he could still do something! Oh, how he should have sold himself better! He had so many redeeming qualities! Like… being able to make spaghetti!Yet it was hard to find words around Mettaton. There had been so much new information to take in, and it didn’t help that his favorite sexy idle was even more sexy and favorite-y in person!Oh, why couldn’t he be like Sans?Just as Papyrus was about to finish up, he heard a sharp knock at the door. “I’ll get-”The sound of someone- presumably Sans- opening the door stopped him mid sentence. Hopefully Sans wasn’t greeting whoever was at the door with whoopee cushions or bad jokes, although it was probably inevitable.He heard a bit of chatter, and then the door opening further.“C’mon in, Metts.”Mettaton?! What could Mettaton possibly be in their house for?! Papyrus dropped the broom he was holding, and winced when it made a loud clattering sound against the floor. Mettaton’s melodious voice could be heard from downstairs. “What was that?”“Eh, probably nothing. I’ll go get Paps, though- he’s up in his room.” Wait- was Mettaton there for HIM?!And then Sans was at his door, as if in a flash.“Hey bro-”“Sans! Why didn’t you tell me Mettaton was coming?! I would have swept more! The house is a mess! He’s probably judging us! He’s probably used to super fancy-”“Bro, bro, bro.” Sans held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “I didn’t know he was coming either. He just stopped by on his own.”Papyrus started to pace the room. “Your socks are probably still out there! Mettaton-I-you-!”“The house is fine, Paps. Plus, he’s here for you. I don’t think he’ll care about the house.”So Mettaton was here for him! Confirmation at last! “Do you… do you think he’s here to say I got into the program?!” Papyrus suddenly looked up at his brother, who had that weird sad look he sometimes got.“You really want to get into this, huh?”“Of course I do, Sans! Being part of the program would mean being part of something bigger! Did you… did you at least offer him something to drink?” Papyrus asked, feeling a bit desperate. If anything, Sans could at least help by having some manners!Sans gave him a sheepish grin. “Uh… no. I could use one, though.”“Sans!” Papyrus groaned. “He’s… he’s probably thirsty too!”“Actually,” Sans grinned, “He’s only thirty.”It took a minute for Papyrus to get it. “Sans!”“Aw, c’mon. You’re smiling.” Sans winked. “I am and I hate it! Now, there’s no more time for stalling! Mettaton is waiting!” Papyrus took a quick look at his reflection in the mirror.“But you’ve, uh, already met him. It’s not like this is your first impression or anything.” “It’s my second impression, which is even more important! The first impression is a trial run, the second is a subscription! Or something along those lines.” Papyrus insisted, and bounded down the stairs.Mettaton was sitting on their lumpy green couch, tapping away at his phone. Papyrus felt sweaty.“Erm, Mettaton! It is I, the great Papyrus! Although I am sure you could already tell.” Papyrus blurted out, nervously rocking back and forth on his toes.Mettaton looked up, and smiled. “Hello, darling. It’s so great to see you again. How have you been? Fabulous, I hope.”“Yes, I have been! Fabulous, I mean. Would you like something to drink? We have water, tap water, orange juice, milk, lemonade, soda-”“Ketchup.” Sans interrupted.“Sans! I’m sure Mettaton does not want to drink ketchup!” Papyrus stomped his foot on the ground. “Unless he does! In which case it is the best drink in the world, and we should get him some.” Papyrus added as an afterthought.Mettaton laughed, and Papyrus felt his heart nearly leap out of his chest. It was the laugh Mettaton used on TV, the one when someone had said something funny. Which therefore meant he’d said something funny enough for Mettaton’s probably very high standards! How flattering!“Oh, water will be fine, darlings.”“I’ll get it.” Sans walked into the kitchen, leaving Papyrus and Mettaton alone together. “Sit next to me, Papyrus dear. We have quite a lot to discuss.” Mettaton patted the seat next to him. Papyrus obeyed.“I’m sure you know why I’m here. I’ll give you a little background, though.” Mettaton began, crossing one of his legs over the other. Papyrus tried hard not to look at them, and also tried hard to block Mettaton’s view of Sans’s sock behind them.“I’m the social representative of the program. When they need someone to go in disguise to observe someone who may have abilities, talk to them up front, make deals, interviews, etcetera, I’m the face they choose. Which is reasonable, since I do have a beautiful one, and, really, who wouldn’t want to talk to me?” Mettaton flipped his hair back. It sparkled in the light.“I don’t think anyone would not want to talk to you! You’re Mettaton!” Papyrus agreed.“Exactly. So, I came here to tell you you’ve been accepted into the program.”Papyrus felt his heart beat even faster, but less due to nervousness and more due to joy. “Wowie! I-I don’t know what to say!”“Well, you can start by saying yes. And that you’ll come over tomorrow for a few tests. Both physical and mental, mind you. You’ll also have to meet with Asgore, and sign a few documents- don’t worry, it’s all standard.” “Asgore?! I didn’t know I’d get to meet with him as well!” Papyrus gasped. This was all so much! Which must mean he was extremely important now!“Oh, everyone does. Sometimes we do just for fun.” At that moment, Sans walked in, a glass of water floating in front of him, his eye glowing blue. “Water you guys up to?”“Sans! You- don’t do that!” Papyrus immediately rushed over and grabbed the water out of the air. It was a habit, hiding this.“Oh, it’s fine, darlings. If you’re going to be in the program, you’ll have to get used to everyone’s abilities.” Mettaton stood up. “It’s been so fabulous talking to you both. I’ll be seeing you!” Mettaton winked, stuck his leg up just a bit, and walked out, having dismissed himself.Papyrus dropped the glass, water spilling everywhere.“I did it, Sans! I really did it!”Sans put a hand on his shoulder. “Yeah. You did, bro. You really did.”
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How it was supposed to end:MTT and Papyrus would get together. Undyne would have the power to heal quickly and regenerate (inly ONCE), Alphys the power to see things that others are doing in her head like security cameras, Blooky and Maddy the same as Mettaton's, Asgore the power to sort of relive the past, Toriel the power of fire, Asriel the power of controlling/entering other's dreams.It would also be revealed Papyrus has the same power as Sans, just weaker, a late bloomer, if you will.Frisk would enter Ebott, and would start a genocide route. They would all die, per in the game, and it would be revealed Asriel's spirit was still around, but without emotion and in visions of a flower in dreams. Frisk would have the power to reset, and after they'd kill Flowey, they'd strike a deal with Chara. It would be revealed that the cast (MTT, Papyrus, etc) were living in endless resets, all of them genocide. The last chapter would start the way the first chapter did, signaling they were all doing the same thing over and over again, with no hope of stopping and no remmeberance, only slight feelings of deja ve as Frisk kills them again and again. The End.