The audience roared with delight as Mettaton strutted towards the back of the stage and gracefully spun around to give a final bow, closing out the night's performance and the last show of his tour.
"Thank you all, darlings! You've been a great audience. I can honestly say this tour has been nothing short of magical and I simply cannot wait until my next show. Until next time, beauties!"
Mettaton blew one more kiss towards his fans and with that, the curtains swung closed and he let out a deep sigh as he was enveloped in darkness. He loved performing more than anything, but it was definitely a relief to finally be able to take a break after taking on such an ambitious tour, giving shows every night for two weeks. As much as he loved what he did, Mettaton was looking forward to finally heading back to the lab and curling up to recharge in his own pink, sequined bed.
Mettaton carefully patted his styled hair, making sure it was still flawless, and then hitched his killer smile back on in case he ran into any of the crew backstage. Luckily, it seemed like everyone had already left to celebrate the end of the tour before beginning the long process of cleaning up the set.
His heels clacked as he walked back to his prep room and switched on the lights. Immediately he set his sights on the chair in front of his mirror and bureau and sat down, giving his feet a much-needed rest. He began gathering together all of his makeup to take back home, but he stopped as he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror.
Mettaton stared blankly at himself and brought his hand under his glowing pink eye as he examined the dark circle under it. Maybe he had been pushing himself a little too hard. He sighed in frustration, annoyed that he had to deal with these kinds of issues as a robot. Though, he supposed Alphys had just been doing her best when he asked her to create a body for him that was as humanlike as possible.
Reluctantly, he brushed aside his bangs, which normally covered the other side of his face, and immediately grimaced. He styled his hair to cover this half of his face for a reason. Alphys still hadn't finished building it. He didn't ask her why, but he had a feeling that she was worried he would abandon her after he finished it. And to be honest, he was worried about that too, so he didn't press her on the subject.
Continuing to examine the telltale signs of exhaustion that were starting to show despite his best efforts to hide it, Mettaton felt a strange rush of gratification. While his appearance meant everything to him and his stunning good looks were always a source of pride, since Mettaton had begun performing more often, he couldn't help feeling like he was doing something right when he worked so hard that his body started to crash.
Now, though, seeing the dark circles under his eye and his normally bouncy and shiny hair falling limply over his face, Mettaton felt a wave of dread creeping up on him. Chalking it up to simple fatigue, he ignored it went back to collecting his makeup supplies, setting an intention to prioritize catching up on beauty sleep once he got home.
Suddenly a wave of exhaustion hit him, and he leaned forward in his chair, covering his face with his hands.
No, Mettaton thought. You're fine. Just a little tired.
He exhaled sharply and jolted to his feet, stubbornly intending to get on with cleaning up. But his vision was swimming.
Mettaton fell to the floor as he broke down in tears. He was hyperventilating before he knew what was happening. He buried his face in his hands again and pressed his fist into his one working eye, hoping to stem the flow of tears, but they wouldn't stop coming. Sobs wracked his body and his hands were trembling.
For several minutes Mettaton sat there on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably and waiting for exhaustion to kick in. But it didn't. He was shaking and he was breathing too fast and everything was wrong and he had to do something about it and the only thing he could think of doing was something he knew he would regret…
Mettaton reached for his phone with a shaking hand and looked through his contacts, knowing he should probably call someone after what had just happened. But as he scrolled through, he only began to feel more overwhelmed as he realized that there really was no one he could talk to. No friends to confide in. Well, except maybe one.
He dialed Alphys' number and listened with dread to the ringing of the phone. It just kept on ringing and Mettaton only began panicking more as he started to think Alphys wouldn't answer, but eventually he heard a click.
"H-hello?" By the sound of her voice, Alphys had clearly just woken up.
"Alphys?" Mettaton's voice was shaky and hoarse and lacked its usual confidence.
"Mettaton? Um, you sound... H-h-hey, is everything okay? Mettaton!"
Alphys was shocked as she heard the robot sobbing. If she didn't know that this was Mettaton's number, she wouldn't have believed it was him. She'd never seen him cry before, let alone... this?
"Alphys... please, can you..." Mettaton gasped. "I need you to come... to the studio."
"M-Mettaton? What's wrong? Are you hurt? What—"
"Please, Alphys."
The robot sounded so defeated that Alphys was speechless. "Okay," she said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. "I'm coming right away. Just hold on, Mettaton."