"It's not too late to change your minds. We could swing by to pick you up in about ten minutes."

You laugh, balancing the phone on your shoulder as you finish wrapping the last gift. "No thanks, Alphys. We're happy to drive ourselves."

"Ok, well, see you there I guess."

"Yup! Don't drink all the punch without us!" You sigh as the line goes dead and let the phone fall to the floor. "I'll have you know that was our third offer to carpool in two days."

"DO YOU THINK THIS NEEDS MORE RIBBON?"

You narrow your eyes at the bright gift sitting in Papyrus's lap, blue ribbon over lime green paper. "I think it's pretty secure as it is, babe."

"YOU CAN NEVER HAVE TOO MUCH DECORATION, THOUGH."

"True. Is there anymore yellow ribbon? That might be a nice contrast."

"WONDERFUL IDEA."

You move your gift to the pile of finished ones and stretch for a moment. "Ugh, ok. I'm going to finish my makeup and get dressed. Are you nearly done?"

"ALMOST. DO NOT FORGET YOUR OVERNIGHT BAG."

"It's packed. I'll take it out to the car with the gifts." You skip to the bathroom and break out the eyeshadow, humming to yourself. Tonight you're driving to Mettaton's villa for the Christmas party, and unlike the rest of the guests, you and Papyrus will be sleeping over. It was quite difficult to deflect all the offers of lifts, as your monster friends seem to love piling in together. But you can't very well explain why you won't be going home with everyone else, can you?

Eyeshadow, delightfully smudged and dark. Eyeliner, intense. Mascara, coats of it. You want to look absolutely smouldering tonight. It wouldn't usually matter, if this was a normal tryst. But Mettaton may be the only man you've ever met who would notice your makeup during sexy times. Heck, he may be the only man who wears more makeup than you during sexy times.

You don't want your outfit to be too sexy. There will be at least one child attending. Instead, you pull on some black tights, a sequinned skirt, and one of Papyrus's sweaters. Cute, a little fancy, but still laid-back. Once you're satisfied, you slip on some flats and sling your handbag over your shoulder, and emerge to find Papyrus stacking the gifts in bags to take to the car.
He's gone for a smart casual look tonight- jeans and a button up shirt. He looks wonderful, and you make sure to tell him.

"OF COURSE I DO. THE GREAT PAPYRUS TAKES PRIDE IN HIS APPEARANCE. YOU ALSO LOOK QUITE PLEASING TONIGHT, MY DEAR HUMAN."

"Thanks, Papy. Want me to grab your bag?"

"PLEASE."

You find both overnight bags and head out to the car, then run back in to help put the presents away. Eventually, you manage to get out onto the road and on your way to the party.

Mettaton's place is on the coast, a quiet little property at the end of a two hour drive. With plenty of roadtrip music and teasing, the two of you make the trip without incident. There's already many cars there when you arrive, as many of your friends had left before you did. You're filled with excitement as Papyrus parks the car and you get out, laden with bags and gifts.

"You ready?" you ask him, bumping him with your hip as you walk to the front door.

He gives a nervous smile and takes a breath he doesn't need. "OF COURSE."

The door opens and you're greeted and pulled inside by Alphys and Undyne, who shout about you being late before taking away your presents and jackets and dragging you to the living room. You try to take in the house, quaint and airy and strewn with fairy lights and tinsel. It's modest, compared with some other houses owned by celebrities, but still large and expensive and definitely all Metta. Everyone is here- most monsters you can name, and quite a few humans you can't.

Mettaton himself is chatting with a ghost who seems to be in charge of the sound system, and you feel your breath catch in your throat when you see him. Black tights, red scoop-neck sweater, glittery blazer and green tinsel wrapped around his shoulders like a scarf. His usual pink/black lipstick combination has been replaced with red/black, setting off his outfit along with the smokey eye beats yours by miles- why didn't you think of glitter? He looks silly, but amazing. You've been dying to see him and you can't help but think back to your last conversation. Behaving is going to be a little harder than you thought.

Papyrus has been stolen away by Undyne, so you wander over to a table laden with drinks and pour yourself some punch, trying to put names to faces as you observe the other guests. Toriel, the ex-queen of all monsters, is helping Frisk, the ambassador, hang more candy canes on the Christmas tree. Asgore, the king, is sitting on the floor surrounded by younger monsters, telling stories from what you can hear. Sans is standing in a corner with his roommate, Grillby, and a few dog monsters. From the laughing and groaning, you can tell he's breaking out all his best puns.

Dispersed among the monsters, a few humans mingled. A small group with cameras and phones out are obviously some kind of reporters, and you're surprised that Metta let them in. Did he invite them? Strange. There's also a few very beautiful woman who are probably supermodels, one person who looks a little familiar- you're 99 percent sure that they're an actor- and a stylish young man who might be an agent or business partner. More humans than you were expecting, but then Metta does have a reputation to uphold. What better way than to socialize?

You decide to try and do the same. Making your way from group to group, exchanging greetings and small talk, you float around the room and eventually find yourself next to Metta, who greets you with a wink and produces a sprig of mistletoe from seemingly nowhere. With an exaggerated roll of your eyes, you pull him down for a quick peck on the lips and a whispered promise of more later. There's a smattering of applause from those who were watching, and you're pretty sure at least on the reporters got the kiss on camera, but hey, it's Christmas!

Attention disperses quickly, and you introduce yourself to Napstablook, the music ghost. He's sweet and shy and you automatically adopt him in your mind. Someone approaches to talk to Mettaton, and you excuse yourself to continue socialising.

Eventually you find yourself back at the drinks table, chatting with Undyne, who seems to have found some harder alcohol than what is now available. She pours a little vodka into your punch and demands to know all the juicy details about being married to Papyrus, and you try to satisfy her curiosity.

Frisk wanders over at some point, Sans in tow, and for a moment you think there's going to be a problem. But Sans ignores you, instead pouring a drink for his young charge and then grabbing one for himself.

Undyne high-fives the young ambassador. "Frisk! Learn any more bad words lately?"

They look around, making sure Toriel is out of earshot, before clearing their throat and fixing their gaze on both of you. "I learned that 'cunt' is more offensive than 'dick', which is pretty unfair if you ask me."

"What?!" Undyne clenches her fists, comically enraged. "That's fucked up!"

"I know, right?"

You nod soberly. "Humans are pretty shitty, sometimes. Most times. All the time. Sorry."

"Yeah, they are." Sans doesn't need to look at you for you to know who that's directed at. "A shitty species. Full of liars and cheaters."

You grit your teeth and take a big gulp of punch to avoid mouthing off at him. There's awkward silence from the others, until Sans wanders away, done with the entire conversation. You glance at Frisk, who is gazing up at you thoughtfully.

"Welp, I'm out. See you losers later." Undyne leaves you two alone, deciding the air is too weird now.

"Sans is mad at you."

You nod, scowling at the table full of drinks. All you want now is straight vodka, but Undyne refused to tell you where her stash is. "He sure is."

"He's proper mad at you." Frisk takes a step forward, looking up at you with a serious expression. "I've been on the recieving end of that before. You must've done something really bad."

You shake your head. "He thinks I have, but it's all a big misunderstanding."

"You better clear it up soon, then." Frisk looks away, and suddenly you get the feeling they know a lot more than they're letting on. "Violence may be against the law, but Sans doesn't always play by the rules. And he's got his murder face on."

How familiar must this child be with that 'murder face'? You're afraid to ask. "How... How did you, ah, deal with it? You seem to be speaking from experience, after all."

"Heh." Frisk takes a long drink, eyeing your cup with something like envy before shaking their head. "I have a lot to answer for, but I like to think I made up for it by getting everyone out. I'm not sure I'd go as far as to say Sans trusts me, but being a kid helps."

"Well there goes my grand plan for redemption." You down the rest of your drink and pat Frisk's shoulder with a wry smile. "Anyway, Merry Christmas, kid! Thanks for the talk. I'll figure this thing out, don't worry."

They let you wander away, and you drift around the room, absorbing the friendly atmosphere. You feel yourself light up when Papyrus appears in front of you, wearing his 'trying to be sneaky but failing' face. "Y/N! COME WITH ME, I WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING!"

You let him lead you to the doorway, rasing an eyebrow. "Oh? What's up?"

He looks shocked for a minute, then smiles widely, gesturing to the ceiling. "SEE FOR YOURSELF!"

You laugh at the sprig of mistletoe attached to the doorframe, realising your unintended joke. "Oops, looks like you caught me! Whatever shall I do?"

"ACCORDING TO YOUR CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS, I BELIEVE YOU ARE REQUIRED TO KISS ME." He pauses, stepping back a little. "IF YOU WANT TO. I WILL NOT FORCE-"

With a grin, you pull him down and press your lips to his teeth, cutting him off. He lets out a surprised noise, but wraps his arms around you and doesn't seem inclined to let go anytime soon. There's only so much passion you can put into a kiss when one party doesn't have lips, but he's found a workaround in the time you've been together- when you break the kiss, he nuzzles you gently, something you never fail to find absolutely adorable.

There's a smattering of applause and laughter as you break apart, and Papyrus flushes orange at the attention. You smooth out his shirt and step away, only to back into someone. Someone tall, and hard-chested, and wrapped in tinsel.

"May I cut in, darling?" Mettaton asks, twirling a lock of your hair with his signature suggestive grin.

You nod, matching his grin, gesturing for him to go forth. "Yes, you have my permission to kiss my husband."

Papyrus glows like a Christmas tree as Mettaton pulls him in, dips him low, and plants a kiss on his teeth. It's over as soon as it started, and Pap has to grip the doorframe when he's righted, dazed and with a red and black lipstick print on his teeth. While everyone cheers and cameras go off, Metta bows and steps back, beckoning everyone forward. "It's about time for dinner, don't you think? Everybody follow me to the dining room!" To Papyrus, he winks and murmurs lowly "Merry Christmas, darling."

You all trail into the dining room, and you stand off to the side with your monster bae, reaching up to wipe his teeth. "Here, babe, you've got a little something there."

"MY DEAR, I FEEL ABLIGED TO TELL YOU THAT YOU MAY HAVE SOME COMPETITION FOR MY AFFECTIONS," he states, still flushed and smiling.

"Aww, guess I have to challenge him to a duel now." You slip your hand into his, leading him to the table laden with food. "You'd probably enjoy that."

"WHY WOULD I ENJOY WATCHING YOU FIGHT?"

You raise an eyebrow, passing him a plate and holding his gaze, feigning an innocent look. "Who said we'd be fighting?"

"WHAT- OH!" He facepalms, trying to hide his increasing blush. "HUMAN!"

"That's me." You decide to let up on him, glancing around at the humans and monsters gathering around to grab food. Even with their own conversations, you know most of them heard your bantering. You need to remember to tone it down around others...

Undyne appears next to Papyrus, plate already loaded and with a glint in her eye. She slaps him on the shoulder, grinning widely. "You punk! Look at you, getting cozy with the toaster on Christmas! I'm so proud!"

You laugh and leave them to it, loading up your plate and looking for a seat. You really appreciate the effort Metta has taken to make this party a casual affair. With the dining table moved against the wall and set up like a buffet, chairs are grouped around the room, and cushions and beanbags are scattered on the floor. You decide to take a beanbag, settling down next to an orange lizard and a fluffy grey bunny, their striped shirts indicating how young they are. They chatter to you about anything and everything, and the time passes pleasantly with good food and cute kids.