Mettaton was a bit of a snob, and he was willing to admit that. Hell, half the Underground knew that, and yet they still loved him. At first, he had thought it was admiration spawning from his vast array of talents. As it turns out, that was a good fifty percent of the reason why.
"You inspire and help people," Alphys had explained to him late one evening as she was fixing his coding. "Oh? How so?" he had responded, furrowing his brow. "Well, you gave everyone a person to turn to in the Underground," was her reply. "You gave everyone a monster to look up to and derive hope and joy from." Mettaton rather liked the sound of that, at it actually caused his soul feel warm the next time he stepped on stage, knowing he was the reason everyone was there and why they all seemed so joyous. However, there was one particular fan that he seemed to have inspired more than anyone.
When the robot first met Papyrus, it was overwhelming more than anything. Sans had told him beforehand that his brother was probably his biggest fan, with an entire MTT action figure play set to boot. Mettaton did find it rather sweet and flattering, if not a tad bit odd, seeing as he was an adult. Well, he tried to not let that get in the way of his judgement of Papyrus, but by Asgore's crown, he was a handful. When he wasn't talking about himself, he was rambling about how cool Mettaton was or how much he hated his brother's habits. Luckily, this robot was just beginning to master the art of nodding his head with the occasional "mmhmm" without really listening. Judging from Sans' expression, he was practically a pro veteran at it. It also got a bit annoying when Papyrus insisted on talking to him as he was leaving Toriel's residence. However, things got interesting when this bit of half-shouted blithering nonsense reached him.
"And so I, The Great Papyrus, invite you on a date with me!"
Mettaton had to stop for a moment, furrowing his brow as he looked over at Papyrus, mouth quivering. He couldn't help himself this time. He let out a laugh, covering his mouth as he did so. Papyrus blinked, tilting his skull. Eventually, the robot recovered.
"Sorry, Pappy, darling. You're… not my type."
Papyrus seemed to frown slightly, and Mettaton was preparing himself for either a flood of tears or more insistence from the skeleton. However, Papyrus just went about smiling again. "No matter! I'm sure you will be happy settling for second best!" he declared, before just walking away with a hum and a skip in his step. Of all his years of watching shitty anime with Alphys and cheesy break up lines from movies, never had he seen someone take a rejection so well. Perhaps he was just as dumb as he thought.
Months soon passed him by, and surprisingly to him, Papyrus left him alone. Sure, he could still here the skeleton's incessant chatter from a mile off if he wanted to, but he sort of just stopped bothering Mettaton. Sure, he gave a grand hello and even struck up a conversation every now and again, but that was the extent of it before he just left to go talk to his brother or Frisk. Guilt did begin to set in, and he wondered if he had hurt the poor monster's feelings that hard. Alphys did give him a bot of a scolding about sensitivity, so he decided to try and make it up to him. Alphys and Undyne's wedding were coming up, and he needed someone to bring with to the ceremony; he couldn't just go alone, of course. While his first pick wasn't Papyrus, it was definitely his final once everyone else was ruled out as a possible candidate. Sure, people such as Sans and Frisk were available, but he still had a reputation to keep up. Papyrus would be fine.
He had thrown a few hints towards Papyrus during the weeks leading up. There were a few flirts here and there, and eventually came to an invite. While the skeleton was quick to catch onto the flirts, he seemed genuinely surprised when he was actually asked to go with him.
"I just need a bit of help, Pappy," he explained.
"Really? You're coming to me for help?" the other replied. That was a bit off from what the robot had expected. The skeleton soon returned to that cheery state of his, as normal. It almost seemed on reflex to that discouraging statement.
Mettaton helped Papyrus dress appropriately, and for the sake of his friends, he didn't go too overboard with it. Papyrus seemed ecstatic to be going, and wouldn't stop talking about how fun it would be. When the day came, though, it went a bit differently than Metta thought it would.
As soon as they entered the ceremony, Papyrus left him to go talk to others before the reception started. Once it did start, however, Papyrus was sure to sit beside him. Afterwards, he seemed to be having a rather great time, talking to his friends and dancing with Frisk. Mettaton himself joined in on a few conversation, and that's when he finally noticed it, three-fourths into the reception. Whenever someone would mention Mettaton to Papyrus, or talk about how they came together, there was always a brief flash across his skull. It was barely noticeable, and appeared for just a split second, but it was definitely there. His sockets would shift away and his skull would turn slightly as his clavicles shifted upwards, almost in a tense fashion. Within a second, he would quickly go back to smiling widely and chattering on. He just bounced back like a ball. It was at these small moments that Mettaton realized just how uncomfortable Papyrus was. Just watching him avoid all eye contact with the robot was starting to make him drop out of the mood entirely.
Alphys and Undyne had just left when Mettaton approached him again. "Do you… want to leave?" he asked slowly. "I can take you home, if you'd like." Papyrus blinked in surprise and smiled with a proud look. "Ah, tired, I see? No matter! I, The Great Papyrus, will accompany you on this trip to my place of residence!" Well, he didn't refuse. After informing everyone else, they left, Papyrus humming a song as Mettaton walked in silence.
"I had a great time!" Papyrus finally commented, breaking the silence. The robot looked over at him suspiciously. "Did you?" he asked. The skeleton nodded rapidly. "Of course I did! Why wouldn't I?" he asked. Mettaton decided to be blunt with it. "Well, because I turned you down a few months earlier." He could see Papyrus' mouth twitch as he struggled to respond. "That is no matter," he boasted. "As it clearly shows, you do indeed have feeling for me! I knew this ever since I asked you out!" His sockets shifted away for half a second. "I knew you had feelings for me before I asked you out! I love this fact, as well as repeating it!" Mettaton stopped in his tracks for a moment, causing the other to stop as well. It was around this time that he was beginning to think Papyrus was the more mature of the two. The robot had laughed in his face, rejected him, and was just taking him to the ceremony like he was some arm piece. He didn't stop to consider that someone such as Papyrus knew how to feel embarrassment, and he felt like hell even thinking about that idea. And here Papyrus was, lying to his face to try and make him feel better.
Well, when life screws up a scene, there's always retakes.
"Hey, Pappy, would you like to go on a date?" he asked suddenly, unable to stop himself if he wanted to. The skeletons seemed genuinely surprised by the offer, but smiled widely. "I would love to, Mettaton!" That was the expression of someone who didn't believe the words coming out of their own mouth. Still, Metta grabbed his gloved hand and gripped it with a smile. "It'll be great. I promise." Papyrus once again agreed, and Mettaton promptly took him home.
A week later, they went out on that date. Papyrus took him to his favorite place: his house. Despite what one might expect, Mettaton actually had a good time. Papyrus was not only confident and a gracious host, but quite forgiving of all mistakes and encouraging in every aspect. He was just a thin frame of joy and inspiration, something the machine valued in himself. Sure, the date was a little bumpy, but both agreed things would get better as time moved on and they worked on themselves more, something Mettaton would never have guessed by just skimming the surface.