Chapter 25: Fine

Turns out that spending the night with Sans and Papyrus was just what she needed. Soon after their nap on the couch, Lou woke up to find Papyrus watching them sleep. He seemed to do that a lot, just watch her and Sans sleep. She wasn't sure why, but she'd once caught him calling them cute when he'd thought they were still sleeping. That seemed like a pretty reasonable assumtion. He really liked cute stuff like that. Once she lifted her head a little the tall skeleton gave her a warm smile, asking how she'd slept. He looked a bit worn out. Must have been a difficult day at work. She told him she'd slept well, then asked her question from earlier, if they could spend the night together like the first few nights she'd been there. After an orange blush, he nodded and told her that would be great.

For dinner they made pizza bites using crescent rolls. Even Sans helped to make a few, seeing how it was simple and he could add whatever topping he wanted to the inside. Papyrus tried to put spaghetti in his, but Lou talked him out of it, saying they would probably get burnt or wouldn't soften. However, she had nothing against him using marinara sauce instead of regular pizza sauce. She was wary of Sans using ketchup as his substitute, but okay'ed the idea in a few of them, if only to see if it would actually work. Of course, they made a few with pizza sauce just in case ketchup didn't go so good. The human made a mental note to look up recipes with ketchup and some with spaghetti that she could start trying, seeing how the two loved those so much.

They settled in her room for the night. Sans' room was too messy and more private, and they had insisted that it was just too difficult to all squeeze into Papyrus' race car bed. Lou didn't mind, seeing how hers was a little bigger than she actually needed and it reminded her of the first night she stayed over. That memory always made her smile. She climbed in between them, giggling as Papyrus almost immediately pulled her into a hug. "Nyeh heh heh! You have been captured, human!" His arms were always impossible to escape from, not that she really wanted to right now.

Lou didn't really understand what it was with the 'capturing the human' jokes, but she kept telling herself to ask Frisk. She got the feeling it had something to do with their time in the Underground. Everytime she got the chance though, she usually forgot. Frisk once told her the basics, which was how she learned about Flowey being Asriel, but other than that no one really knew what happened down there except Frisk and the other monsters.

The human shrugged, pushing the thought aside as she gave each skeleton their good night kiss on the cheek. It always made them blush and her smile wider. It was cute when they blushed. "Night Papyrus, night Sans."

"night kid."

"Good night human!"

Mettaton practically screamed when Lou called him the next day to say she'd accept his offer for Friday afternoon. She didn't have class, she could probably ask Grillby if she could work the morning shift or something, and Gaster had convinced her that she may as well try it. Of course, she didn't tell him that last part. He insisted that she come down as soon as possible to pick out an outfit, or get fitted for one, and plan out what exactly she'd be singing. Blooky would be there too, of course. After all, he'd be doing this just as much as she was. She sighed, looking over at the wall. Looks like she'd be going on that make over with Mettaton sooner than she thought.

"Good thing I'm not busy today."

No sooner had she knocked on the door, the pink robot snaked his long arms around her and yanked her inside, shutting the door immediately and squishing her in a big hug. "Oh darling I'm so glad you said yes! This is going to be wonderful! Stunning! Absolutely fabulous!" He spun around, gently tossing the human into the air before catching her under her arms and holding her out in front of him like a toy doll. With how much smaller she was compared to him and how easily everyone picked her up, sometimes she thought she may as well be a doll. "Hmm...we simply must do something about that hair of yours, look how long it's getting! Keep this up and we won't be able to see your face at all, lovely!" The robot pouted one of his metallic lips as he continued to look her over.

Her outfit for the day was nothing special, a pair of jean shorts and an Avengers t-shirt. She had her purple jacket tied around her waist and a pair of black and white striped stockings. On her feet, her usual pair of worn sneakers. Now that she loked at them, she should probably get a new pair soon. These were on the verge of holes.

"We've got a lot to do before the show later this week darling. I don't know how you're going to memorize your songs in time."

"Well if we do songs I know, I have a lot of those down already." Lou cocked her head to the side, looking at him.

"Really? Fabulous! We'll have to make a list of those! For now, let's get that hair out of your face." Mettaton turned to go out the door. "I'll have Blooky meet us at the-"

"No."

"No? No what? No to Blooky?" He paused.

"No to the hair."

"What? Why? You've been needing a haircut for a while now, love." He rose a brow at her, still holding her up with his arms.

"I wanna wait until the show."

"Why?"

"...I want it to be a surprise."

"A surprise?" She could see the curiosity sparking in his eyes. "For who~?" Oh no, she'd done it now.

"For...the guys..." For a moment, she almost said everyone, but knew that he'd just see right through her. "I don't really want them to find out about this but...I figure it's inevitable, seeing how Papyrus always watches your shows and has them recorded sometimes. So...if you could at least keep from telling everyone that it's me, maybe just keep it to you, Blooky, Alphys, and Undyne? Th-that'd be great..." The human fiddled with her fingers, staring at her faded sneakers. "I figure getting a new hair cut before then would just make it...I-I dunno, probably not obvious but I just want it all to be a surprise."

Mettaton looked at her for a while, only causing her to fidget and squirm that much more under his gaze. "That. Is. So. Adorable!" He squished her against his chest, making the human squeak again. "Alright, we'll postpone the hair appointment for the day of the show, but that doesn't mean we can't have that little shopping spree you promised a month ago." The robot winked. "Dont you worry about a thing, Lou darling. I'll be paying for all of it."

"W-wait, we're doing that now?! N-no! I am not letting you pay for everything! I-I thought we were just going to talk about what to do today!" Lou turned bright red, wiggling in his arms. With that thought, she'd left her bag at home, and by extension, her wallet. Though the wallet was more of an accident. It was always in her bag, she usually always brought her bag, and thus hadn't even thought about it. Until right now.

"Too late! Blooky, darling! Hurry up! We're going shopping~!"

Lou was bright red the whole ride to the mall, thankful that she still had her hair in her face. She knew that Sans was working at his hotdog job today, so bumping into him was a high probability. I really hope that doesn't happen. If he sees me in some outfit that Mettaton puts me in I'll die!

Napstablook was more than aware of his friend's nervousness, and thought he'd help calm them down with some idle conversation. "So...you told Metta yes, huh? I-I'm kinda glad you did. I-it'll be nice to have a friend with me up there..." He gave a gentle smile, watching her peek at him and nod.

"Y-yeah...th-that'll be nice. It's good to know neither of us will be alone, right?" She smiled lightly at him, looking down and tugging at her shirt. She suddenly felt very silly in her outfit.

"Um...I've been thinking...n-nevermind." The small ghost blushed a little and looked away.

"What?" Now he had her full attention. Nervous jitters forgotten, her full focus was on her friend. "Tell me."

"Well...Metta has been suggesting it quite a bit lately and...um...I've been thinking of...maybe asking Alphys to make me my own body?" He looked down, becoming a little flustered. "I mean...maybe...I-I dunno...I-I like being a ghost but...I thought that maybe it would be nice? H-he and Mad both have physical forms so...I-I don't know, it's probably just dumb..."

Before he could try fading out, Lou pulled the ghost into a hug and nuzzled his head. How she did that he would probably never know. "You do whatever you think is best. You wanna have a robot body? You go ahead and find a robot body. Heck, I don't care what you are, Blooky. You're my friend and I want you to be happy." She smiled at him. "You'll be my friend no matter what, right? As long as we're still friends it doesn't matter to me in the end." The girl kissed his head, then let him go.

"O-okay." Napstablook cheered up a little. "I-I'll think about it a little more, then let you know. Okay?"

"Sounds good to me."

Mettaton was having way too much fun dressing Lou up in different outifts. Some were too close to something he'd wear himself and just didn't work, others were more her style but not the right size or 'uncomfortable' as she said. The style his newest human friend seemed to gravitate towards most was comfort. Looks still mattered in a way, but comfort was always the deciding factor. It could be the cutest top in the world, but if it was itchy or hugged her body too tight the girl would pull it right off and strike it as an immediate no. There were even a few things she'd picked herself, but set them aside after finding the clothes were a little too see-through or felt funny. "For a human who's fine with just about anything, you can be quite picky, darling." The robot chuckled as they put away a whole rack worth of clothes and came out with only a few shirts and some shorts.

Lou blushed red, fiddling with her hair. "S-sorry..."

"Oh that isn't a bad thing! Quite the opposite!" Mettaton smiled down at her. "You like what you like and don't like what you don't, nothing wrong with that." He flipped his metal hair a little, which made the girl blink.

It's metal, so how does it move?

"Just means you have your own fabulous flair!"

"I-I guess so." She rubbed at her neck. "To be honest, this is the reason I usually give up and go to the guys section sometimes. Girls clothes are just so...weird these days! Its either see through or super small or covered in so many holes I'm afraid it'll be a pile of string and fabric when it comes out of the wash! Oh, and don't even get me started on fake pockets. Whoever invented that bull crap needs to be shot." The girl huffed, rolling her eyes and pulling out a light blue blouse to give it a look. She needed more tank tops and undershirts to pair with some of her other clothes. Her white tank top had disapeared and she had no idea where it went or what happened to it. It was too small to be mistaken for one of the boy's clothes. Maybe it got dropped behind something in the house?

"Oh I understand completely, darling!"

"I-I don't really wear clothes...b-but I do like the hats...and some vests..." Blooky floated over by Lou, looking at the blouse. "Oh, y-you should try that one on...i-it looks nice."

"Think so? I'm worried it's got too much lace at the top..." She held it up to her chest, looking in a nearby mirror to get a better idea. "Hmm...I'll try it out. Thanks, Blooky."

"Oh! Speaking of clothes, what should we do for your stage costume? It has to be fabulous for your debut!"

"I-I'm going with my favorite hat."

"You mean the Dapperblook one? Oh I love that one! It's so cute!" Lou smiled, then made a thoughtful expression. "Um...I'm not sure. To be honest, the only thing I have to go off of is anime references or j-pop idols. I'm...not sure that would work...at least not with some of the songs I have in mind."

"Anime? J-Pop? Oh I simply must inform Alphys. Maybe she has an idea on something that could work."

"W-what?! A-Alphys?! ...she better not put me in a Kissy Cutie dress..."

"I'll make sure she doesn't, Lou darling."

Lou nodded, then moved on to a little mini skirt. As she held it up to her hips she giggled, softly blurting out a little song. "You got that long haired, slicked back, white t-shirt~ and I got that good girl thing, and a tight little skirt~ and then we go cra-shing down, we come back everytime! We never go out. Of. Style. We never go out. Of. Style~"

Her and Blooky giggled to each other softly as she lightly swished her hips side to side. Maybe she should get more skirts, they were fun!

Mettaton suddenly became ecstatic over the phone, rushing over to Lou and Napstablook. "Lou! Alphys said she has the perfect idea for a dress you could wear, and she said you might know what it would be."

"Oh god, what?"

"Some anime you showed her once, she said you'd know it." His phone dinged and he lifted it up. "Ah! She just sent me a picture. Here, look!"

Lou took the offered phone and looked down at the photo on the screen, her cheeks turning a little red. "Th-this?! R-really?!"

"I-I think it looks nice...y-you'd look good in it..."

"B-Blooky!"

By the end of the shopping spree, each of them had some new outfits to work with and were all giggling and smiling. Somehow, Mettaton had gotten Lou to try out some make up and get a few things, though it was mostly a new mascara and some lip gloss. To his dismay, she refused to get anything else. Her excuse was that she didn't know how to use it and just wouldn't use it even if she did.

Luckily, they never bumped into Sans, which made Lou feel ten times better about this trip. She loved seeing Sans and talking to him, she really did, but if he saw her in some of the clothes Mettaton had made her try that day? Oh she would have crawled under a rock and stayed there. Heck, she might even have made a trip to Mt. Ebott and gone to live in the underground herself.

The human waved to the robot and the ghost as they finally dropped her off later that night, having a list of songs to practice and a basic game plan for the show that Friday. Her face was a little red as she got up to the door. If the boys did end up watching this show, she'd never be able to live that down.