"J-just for a week," Alphys pleaded, claws tapping nervously together, folded in the universal gesture of begging. "J-just to keep an eye on hi-him - n-nothing else! An-and he al-already t-told me he'd be f-fine with it, an-and that he-he'd feed you and ev-everything! H-his place is really n-nice!" She turned her attention from papyrus to her feet, mumbling to no one in particular, "H-honestly I-I'm kind of je-jealous…"
Papyrus was sat in the opposing chair from her, one leg folded over the other, elbow on his knee and rubbing his chin in theatrical thought. From the kitchen, the sounds of loud crashing and shouting drowned out the ambient noise of the television. Not that anyone had been paying much attention to it anyways. Sans and Undyne had drawn the shortest straws when it came time to pick who cleaned up tonight and did dishes, by the sounds of it Papyrus was probably going to be adding "new plates" to the shopping list again. It wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last. He didn't mind, though, as he always tried to look on the bright side. Bright side! The fact their dishes were constantly being cycled through made for a very interesting cupboard!
"I am not against the idea," Papyrus mused, once the arguing in the kitchen had quieted down enough that he didn't have to shout to be heard, "However I am confused on why you are asking such a task of me instead of yourself or perhaps one of Mettaton's cousins."
"U-uhm, w-w-well...act-actually you were my uhm…" Alphy's voice got a bit quieter, "L..last choice?" She flushed when she said that aloud, hands flying from her half finished plate of spaghetti and cupping around her muzzle, "Oh-oh no, th-that sounded m-mean."
"Oh, not at all!" Papyrus reassured her, setting aside his own empty plate. "I understand wht you are saying! As much as I would like to cultivate a deepr friendship with Mettaton, I do not know him as well."
It was hard to pinpoint exactly when Papyrus had gone from head-over-heels superfan to respectful admirer of Mettaton. If anyone had to guess, it probably was somewhere around the time Alphys had brought him to spaghetti night and he'd cried over how soft their couch was, and how nice they were that they invited Undyne and Alphys to dinner like this every week. Why couldn't he have friends that invited him over to dinner every week? (Alphys had informed the skeleton brothers that Mettaton...hadn't been exactly sober...To which Sans responded something along the lines of "if I were into blackmail-")
Of course, Papyrus still adored Mettaton to pieces, there was no denying that! But now that he knew the monster behind the illusion a bit more as - well just that, a monster - it was easier to treat Mettaton as a very successful acquaintance rather than a flawless idol he nearly had a panic attack around if he so much as shared the same air as him. Though, unfortunately he hadn't really seen Mettaton in a while. He'd stopped showing up to spaghetti night some time ago. Ever since moving out of Alphys and Undyne's he'd been...rather distant, actually. Papyrus wanted to just chalk it up to the fact that it was harder to keep in contact with him now that he didn't share a house with a mutual friend. Either way, the fact he still couldn't really call Mettaton a "friend" persay still made him a bit nervous around him. Being around someone so prestigious still gave Papyrus a bit of a headspin.
"It-it's just that-" Alphys continued, picking at a piece of stuck shed on her nose to keep her hands busy, "I-I wish I could, bu-but I can't. I-I pr-promised over time at th-the lab this week, m-months ago. Napsta sa-said they were ou-ot of town to m-meet with a record la-label...and uh," She bit her bottom lip. "H-honestly? M-Mads kind of scares me. Sh-she isn't really the "cheer up" ty-type." She finally got that piece of dead skin off her muzzle, trying to sound more sincere as she went right back to begging. "H-he likes you! He-he really does! I just-just r-really don't want him t-to be alone right nn-n-now...I'm-I'm worried about him."
"I see." Papyrus said thoughtfully, and then bobbed his head, having made up his mind. "In that case, I would be more than happy to stay with Mettaton for the week! This is very exciting, it will be like an extra long sleepover!"
Alphys let out a long sigh of relief, deflating into the back of the couch like a pile of lizard goo as all the stress left her body in one fell swoop. She took off her glasses and rubbed at where they pressed on her nose. "O-oh thank god. N-next I was going to h-have to ask Undyne an-and I don't ev-even want to thi-think how that would g-go...Thank you, Pap, it-it means a l-lot to me."
"No "thank you"s are required! I am more than happy to!" Papyrus got to his feet, picking up his plate as well as taking the time to pick up Alphys's. "I will just have to inform Sans o-"
The both of them flinched as a loud, sustained yelling rang out from the kitchen, followed by a flash of blue light, and what sounded like crunching metal.
"Ah. Apologies, Alphys, I should check on that!" New sink! Next on the shopping list.
——
When Mettaton had moved up to the Surface, the MTT Resort had closed down. There was no sense to keep the lights on with nobody really living in the Underground anymore beyond a rare few. The Underground wasn't completely abandoned, it was hard to just leave an entire society that every monster had grown up in in the dust like that. But most had made a new home for themselves on the Surface - so again, it just wasn't worth the effort to keep the business going Underground for a select few people.
However! Not long after monsterkind had migrated to the Surface, and Mettaton had gotten his big break with the humans, had he used his considerable funds (apparently gold was extremely valuable to humans, who knew?) to buy a plot of land on the coastline and rebuild the resort from the ground up - right here on the Surface! It was an instant hint for monsters and humans alike. And! He'd even upgraded the facilities, added a few amenities. Now on top of the restaurant and burger joint that had been present on the original; it had a pool, two bars and a few other things Papyrus hadn't really read up on. Well, considering he wasn't going to be able to take advantage of any of it while he was here.
Nice as the place was, Papyrus's sole destination was the penthouse on the very top floor, which is where Mettaton called home. Alphys had called the front desk ahead of time, and passed on to Papyrus that he was able to just go up whenever he got there. Papyrus shouldered his small duffle bag and double checked to make sure his car was locked before walking into the lobby of the building. Oh - hey! Mettaton had fixed the fountain! Oh..were those fish? Was that healthy for the fish? When did he get fish?
Papyrus heard a cough behind him, and he was forced to turn away from the fountain fish. It seemed Mettaton had rehired all his previous staff as well, the same hand monster was working as the receptionist, and she was giving what Papyrus could only assume was a judgemental look. Say what you will about him, Mettaton was a good employer. (Unless you happened to be a ginger cat, that is.) She pointed him in the direction of the private elevator that led to the top floor, Papyrus giving her a thumbs up, and soon enough he was on his way up. As the elevator's doors closed, he hadn't noticed he was jittering until just then, and he wasn't sure if it was out of excitement or nervousness.
The elevator's interior had a glass backing facing the shoreline below, and was lined with pink carpeting. It was probably the most scenic elevator ride Papyrus had been on in his entire life. He decided to distract himself from his nerves by watching the beach below, the beachline getting smaller and smaller and the ocean getting bigger and bigger as he went higher into the air. California was nice...but he missed the snow sometimes.
He didn't have much time to feel homesick before the elevator dinged at him, doors sliding open to the landing. The elevator hadn't opened up into Mettaton's house directly, which didn't come as much of a surprise to him, but instead a foyer of some sort. It was a vaguely square room, not much to it besides some couches, windows, and a potted plant that looked like it had one foot in the grave. Papyrus felt a bit sorry for the thing, and wondered if Mettaton would be opposed to him taking care of it. He also noticed the room was eerily...silent...It was very jarring compared to the ambient noises of hotel patrons and chattering coworkers in the lobby below. Papyrus's loud footsteps on the carpeted floor were nearly deafening as he walked off the elevator. He found the entrance fairly easily, or at least he had to assume it was the entrance. If the pink stained double doors decorated with rose gold said anything.
He looked, and couldn't find much in way of what could've been a doorbell. So, he opted for the classic knocking. Papyrus tapped his foot as he waited for the owner to open up…
And waited…
And…
...Waited…
This was taking much longer than he was expecting.
He'd been standing here for at least five minutes. Was Mettaton not home? That would've been odd, he knew he was coming. Papyrus was about ready to knock again, maybe Mettaton hadn't heard him? Before the door finally opened up.
"So sorry about the wait, darling. I- oh!" Mettaton blinked in surprise when he saw Papyrus waiting for him in the doorway. He was holding a fluffy pink wallet and a fistfull of bills, his hair tied back in a messy ponytail with a bright pink scrunchie. Papyrus had never seen him wear his hair like that before, and for a moment was entranced by the oddness.
"Apologies, darling, I thought you were room service." Mettaton reached behind his head and pulled out the scrunchie, looping it around his wrist for safekeeping. Papyrus felt guilty when he realized he'd been staring, and really hoped Mettaton hadn't fixed his hair because of that. "I wasn't expecting you until later - oh dear, if I'd known I would've ordered you lunch."
"It's quite alright!" Papyrus reassured him, "I finished sink shopping earlier than I had expected and thought I would go ahead and come over early too!"
The words "sink shopping" gave Mettaton pause, but he chose not to ask. None of his business, didn't want to know, nope. "Ah, well...okay then!"
Mettaton moved out of the way to let Papyrus in, walking away and towards the living room. "Make yourself at home, dear. Uhm...Pardon the mess, I really need to pick up around here more often."
The entrance opened up into a small, sparsely decorated foyer, not too dissimilar to the one on the other side of the door. Beyond that, it opened up into Mettaton's living room. Papyrus looked at the place in slight awe; the living room was marvelous! Wide, tall windows made up the outer wall, stretching all the way into the second story above and also all the way to the other end of the house. THe interior design was, unsurprisingly, done head to toe in pink. Baby pink shag carpet, pink furniture and pink painted walls; to the side of the windows was a pink grand piano with pink sheet music. Pink pillars stretched high into the open air above and pink sheer curtains were drawn to the sides. The outside natural light provided most the lighting in the room, only helped slightly by a large contemporary chandelier with dim bulbs that hung low over the living room. Papyrus sat his bag down on a couch and went to look out the windows. It overlooked the cityline rather than the ocean, which Papyrus found interesting. He thought the whole point of buying this property in specific was it's ocean view. But, there was probably a difference between the rest of the hotel and Mettaton's personal apartment. He had to assume this entire place was built exactly to Mettaton's whims, and maybe he liked looking at the city more than the ocean.
As Papyrus was admiring the view, Mettaton was busying himself with tidying up the living room. Food wrappers littered the floor, and a tub of half-melted ice cream Mettaton seemed to think twice about throwing away. He straightened up the throw pillows and picked up some stuffed animals and cat toys that were scattered about.
"You can sit down, darling." Mettaton instructed, his arm looping multiple times around his ever increasing trash pile as he continued to walk around the room. "Just, again, pardon the mess."
Papyrus nodded, shifting aside a teddy cat that sat on one of the fluffy couches with great care and an "excuse me, sir!" before he took his seat next to it. He continued to just, look around the place for a minute. At this angle he could see the second floor better. A staircase and a small balcony walled off by waist-high glass separated it from the rest of the house. On that small balcony area Papyrus took note of a couple of chairs and a liquor cabinet, but not much else. Then again, he couldn't really see much of it from just the bottom floor. He had to assume the guest rooms were up there, so he'd probably be seeing more of it eventually.
As lovely as this place was, he couldn't help but think this was quite a lot of space for one person and his cat.
"I've never been in a penthouse before!" Papyrus said aloud, just trying to start a conversation since it had been getting a bit too quiet for his liking, "Alphys said it was nice, but wowie!"
"Not many people have." Mettaton said in return, trying to keep his balance as he ushered his final tally to the kitchen's trash can.
"It's very exciting! And slightly worrying. It's so nice I'm afraid of messing it up!" Papyrus turned his head in the opposite direction of the stairs, now he was facing a fireplace (turned off) and above it what was very likely the largest flatscreen TV he'd ever seen in his life (also turned off.)
"Oh, don't worry too much about it." Mettaton reassured him, "You could tear this place apart for all I care, it's not like I couldn't just fix it. I know I've accidentally kicked a hole in the wall one too many times."
There was a large crash, like many glass things being broken at once, and Mettaton finally exited the kitchen, no longer bagged down with an armful of garbage. He didn't address the noise at all, just gave the room a once over with his eyes and said "That should be good." before plopping himself down on one of the other couches. He reclined backwards on it, kicking his feet up on one armrest and resting his head against the other.
"I'm so sorry Alphys imposed on you like this, darling. I told her to just wait until Blooky got home." He huffed, the small burst of air blowing some strands of hair out of his face, "She worries too much, I swear."
"As I was telling Alphys, I'm not bothered!" Papyrus reassured him. "I am more than happy to spend time with you! Even if I'm unclear on exactly why. I have not seen you in quite some time!"
Mettaton hummed and nodded, casting his gaze anywhere but Papyrus and looping his hands over his chest. Papyrus was starting to get worried again seeing that kind of reaction. Had he said something wrong? Oh dear, he'd barely been here ten minutes and he'd already done something to upset Mettaton.
"She..said she just wanted me to have the company. But I know her well enough to know she meant babysitter." Mettaton snorted, rolling over onto his side. He took one of those throw pillows with him in the process, hugging it to himself so he could lay comfortably on his chest. "Anywho, guest rooms are upstairs. You can take your pick but the door at the end of the hall is to the master bedroom. It doesn't have any furniture in it so...uhm, not that one. The other two are free, though."
Papyrus nodded, pushing himself off the couch and finding his bag again, "Where's your room, then?" He found it interesting Mettaton didn't take the master bedroom for himself.
"Oh, the downstairs room," Mettaton nodded in the direction of the fireplace. Papyrus now noticing that to the right of it there was a slight dip in the wall housing a set of double doors, one of them was slightly ajar. "It's not as extravagant as the upstairs room but, I mean, I really never go upstairs. It just makes more sense to have my room down here too , doesn't it?"
So, Papyrus had been right! This was too big of a space for one person and his cat. He wondered why Mettaton had insisted on such a large house if he only ever used half of it regularly. Or maybe even less than half of it, Papyrus had yet to see the rest of this floor. But that wasn't really something he knew how to ask, so instead he just nodded an affirmative to what Mettaton was saying.
"Noted!" Papyrus responded, walking up the stairs at a brisk pace, he was halfway up when he heard Mettaton call out.
"Oh! Also, lunch should be here soon! Do you want me to call you down?"
Papyrus leaned against the glass-panel railing so he could call back a little bit clearer. "That would be very much appreciated!" He watched as Mettaton nodded, scooped his cellphone off the coffee table and disappeared into the kitchen with it.
You know, speaking of Mettaton's cat. Where was Smirnoff, anyways? Papyrus hadn't seen him since walking through the front door, which surprised him. He had only met Smirnoff a few times, but that kind of cat was...not one that you easily missed; to put it in the most kind way possible.
Papyrus had decided to take guest room one, which was located directly off the stairway landing and happened to have this floor's washer and dryer right next to it. How convenient! Not that he hoped he'd be needing it, hopefully he'd packed enough changes of clothes for the week. Honestly, he didn't know. He'd never stayed at someone's house this long before! The longest he'd ever stayed at someone's house was when he had a sleepover with Undyne for a three day weekend. But he knew Undyne, and that had only been three days. This was very much different!
Upon entering the bedroom, Papyrus was suprised to find it wasn't blindingly pink like the rest of the house. It actually looked like a rather normal bedroom. However, the carpet wasn't saved, Mettaton used the same baby pink shag all throughout the house. Other than that, this seemed like a fairly normal bedroom. It featured a double sized bed with a rather plain comforter, a small TV perched on a set of drawers in front of it. The bed had nightstands on either side, only one of them hosting a lamp. It also had it's own bathroom and closet. There were rather large windows in this room too, Papyrus inspected them and found that these ones overlooked the ocean far, far below. Maybe this was all just a side effect of it being a guest room, Mettaton didn't care too much about a room that wasn't his matching his aesthetic to a t.
Papyrus dropped his bag on the floor and sat down on the edge of the bed, only to jump right back up when he heard a bloodcurdling yowl come out from under him. The blankets shifted around, and a little white head popped out of the edge, licking it's chops angrily and glaring at Papyrus.
Oh! There was Smirnoff! How had he gotten in there? How long had he been in there? The door had been closed, and Mettaton just said he never came upstairs. Feeling bad about sitting on him, Papyrus leaned down to pet the white beast on the head, "Hello, Smirnoff! I'm sorry, I didn't see you there!"
The cat avoided the pet, ducking away from Papyrus's hand and growling. Continuing to glare at him because how dare. Or...at least Papyrus was assuming he was being glared at? It was kind of hard to tell.
Smirnoff was, as previously stated, a cat that was very hard to miss. Calling an animal Mettaton cared for so dearly 'ugly' felt like one of the most mean spirited things you could do to him, but he was certainly...unique? Smirnoff was a white Persian cat, with bugged out eyes that pointed in either direction and a crooked, snaggletoothed jaw. He looked very much like someone's grandma.
Despite his strange face, or maybe in spite of his strange face, Mettaton loved the thing to death. Papyrus very distinctly remembered Mettaton not shutting up about him for a while after the cat was adopted. Smirnoff had his own Instagram page, had featured on some of Mettaton's shows, and had his own merch. The cat was a mini celebrity all on his own. This lasted until Mettaton had gotten the suggestion that maybe cats didn't enjoy the limelight as much as he did, and all this attention might be making him stressed out. It was the only time anyone could remember Mettaton taking a suggestion without arguing about it first. So, now Smirnoff lived a fairly normal cat life. Or normal in the terms of belonging to a super rich robot celebrity. Mettaton doted on him endlessly, and probably spent a significant portion of his earnings buying him new toys, treats, and whatever a cat could ask for. Papyrus remembered a joke being made once that Mettaton took better care of the cat than he did himself.
He wondered how true that was.
Smirnoff finally realized he wasn't intimidating Papyrus as much as he thought he was and hopped out of the bed. The bell on his collar jingled as he shook himself out and slipped out the doorway. Not long after, Papyrus heard a high pithed gasp and a "Hi baby!" So he guessed Smirnoff had reached his destination.
After double checking to make sure his bed was truly cat free, Papyrus sat down again. Well, that had been quite exciting! But before he could get unpacked, he'd have to text Alphys and let her know he'd arrived safe and sound.
PAPYRUS
Today @4:05pm
I'M HERE!
Alphys
Today @4:06pm
Oh, you are? That was fast, I didn't think you'd be there til at least 8...
PAPYRUS
Today @4:06pm
SANS AND I FINISHED REPLACING OUR SINK EARLY! I HAVE GOTTEN THE HANG OF REPLACING IT BY NOW.
Alphys
Today @4:12
Oh, uhm. That's good. Uh...Undyne said to tell you sorry, by the way.
PAPYRUS
Today @4:13pm
NOT TO WORRY! IT WOULD NOT BE THE FIRST TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED. SINK REPLACING IS A VERY GOOD SKILL TO HAVE!
Papyrus stopped getting responses after that for some time. Right, Alphys was likely still at work. She had mentioned overtime, and he wasn't quite sure how late that meant. He dug his phone charger out of his bag and plugged it into the wall, deciding to get unpacked as he waited for her to get a chance to text him back. He hoisted the bag from the floor up onto the bed, unzipping it all the way and folding his clothes over his arm. He'd noticed the doors to a walk-in closet on his way in. He had kind of expected he was going to be sharing this closet to some extent, Mettaton seemed like the kind of person with so many clothes that he needed all the closet space he could get. Surprisingly, it was empty save for a few hangers and some linens folded up on the top shelf.
Huh, maybe Mettaton was using the empty bedroom to store his extra clothes? Or maybe the assumption of the overly large wardrobe was just plain wrong, which, again, would've surprised him. Though, some to think of it, Mettaton didn't seem to have a lot of outfits that weren't costumes for his various shows. He didn't really need to wear clothes after all, it was mostly just for fun. Ah well, not like Papyrus was going to complain about having a large closet all to himself.
It was much bigger than the closet he had at home! You could probably slide a small mattress in here and call it a room in of itself. Though he doubted Mettaton would ever be so low on space he would need to do that. Again, the penthouse was massive. He hung up his few changes of clothes on the provided hangers, and neatly folded up his pajamas - those could probably go in the drawers outside. Walking back out of the closet, he noticed his phone screen lit up and picked up the pace a little bit - hoping it was from Alphys.
Alphys
Today @4:30pm
I mean, still. Uh...how's Metta doing?
PAPYRUS
Today @4:35pm
HE SEEMS FINE! THOUGH, I DID JUST GET HERE. SO I CANNOT MAKE A FAIR JUDGEMENT BASED ON OUR BRIEF INTERACTION. I AM CURRENTLY UNPACKING!
Alphys
Today @4:36
That's good. Uhm. Hey, this is gonna sound...kinda bossy but could you uhm. Stay around him as much as you can? As in uh - try to...try to avoid just hanging out in your room. Is, is that too much? I'm sorry I hope that's not too much.
PAPYRUS
Today @4:38pm
NOT AT ALL! I AM SORRY FOR NOT STAYING AROUND HIM MORE, I WILL TRY TO BE QUICK IN MY UNPACKING! IT IS NOT IN MY NATURE TO BE ANTISOCIAL, I WILL ATTEMPT TO BE THE BEST HOUSE GUEST ONE CAN BE!
Alphys
Today @4:38pm
Okay, uh, good. I gotta go back to work, tell him I said hi, text me if you need anything. Also make sure he eats something. Thanks again, I really owe you one.
PAPYRUS
Today @4:39pm
GOODBYE ALPHYS!
Papyrus finished putting up his clothes and shoved the rest of the bag under the bed for now. He'd brought more stuff, but they could wait until bedtime to be put into their proper places. Enough time had passed that he was hoping the food Mettaton had order would be here by now. Sure he had eaten something before he left, but he was curious to see what kind of food rich people ate!
Making sure the door was closed behind him, Papyrus headed back downstairs. Ambient noise came from the TV situated above the fireplace as Papyrus made his way back into the living room, he saw that Mettaton was on the same couch as he had been before. The difference was this time he had a fluffy blanket wrapped around his shoulders and a styrofoam takeout box in his lap. Papyrus, following in the other's lead, took the seat he had been in before as well.
"Hello, Mettaton! You faled to call me down for food." Papyrus didn't mean it as chiding, he was just trying to make some small talk, but it made Mettaton give a guilty grimace anyways.
"Ah..so I did, Apologies darling. I just figured you were busy. Uhm-" He sat up a little straighter, reaching his arm out to tap on the lid of a matching styrofoam box that sat on the coffee table. "I added a plate of pasta onto the order for you. That's what you like, right?"
Papyrus looked to see what Mettaton was eating, it looked like a Caesar salad, and he was picking at it with a plastic black fork. So...not exactly what Papyrus had had in mind for rich people food.
"It is! Thank you, Mettaton, I appreciate it!" Papyrus picked up the box Mettaton had indicated to, opening it up and settling back on the couch. It was an alfredo dish, so not exactly his favorite, but he wasn't about to complain about it. "Oh! Alphys told me to give you a message; she says hello!"
Mettaton curled back up in his oversized blanket, staring down at his food. "She did? She could've just texted me."
"I believe she is still at work, and probably only had the time to talk to one person!" Papyrus pointed out, which didn't seem to change Mettaton's mood on the matter any. All he got in return was a small hum of acknowledgement.
...Maybe Mettaton just didn't want to talk right now, he was eating after all. Or at least Papyrus had assumed he was, but upon closer inspection it looked more like he was just stirring it around with his fork and staring at it. Papyrus turned his attention to the TV instead, playing on it was a cartoon with very colorful handsome men. He believed Undyne had called it "anime". Though in all of the animes Undyne had shown him, he didn't quite remember any of the characters being quite so - er - robust.
"What are we watching?" Papyrus asked, trying to break the uncomfortable silence.
"Jojo's Bizare Adventure, this is…" Mettaton frowned, reaching out of his blanet cocoon again to pick up the case of a DVD set off the table. "Part two! I get them confused sometimes. It's the only anime I like."
Papyrus nodded, "That sounds familiar, I believe Undyne told me about it once."
"Oh, probably, she's the one that introduced me to it actually," Mettaton huffed a laugh, putting the case back down and returning his hand to his lap, "In her own words "it has enough half naked men in it you'll have to like it." I mean, she's right. But it has an interesting plot too. I consider myself a media aficionado, after all. If I judged shows solely based on how much eye candy it had I don't think I would've gotten very far.
Papyrus nodded once more, happy that he had gotten Mettaton to talk about something. He had started to notice the star had ben uncharacteristically quiet since his arrival, and he was usually a notorious chatterbox.
"I like Dio a lot - he's not in this one - but god his later outfits really leave something to be desired. I mean, yellow is nice in moderation but goodness gracious he looks like some sort of banana clown. It especially doesn't work since he's a blond. Maybe I just have some sort of gay vampire bias. He's actually gay, you know! Well, actually he's bi, but-" Mettaton cut himself off suddenly, fiddling at something on his wrist. "Erm, I'm sorry. I must be boring you."
"No, no, not at all!" Papyrus reassured him, "I am just not sure on how to contribute since I am unfamiliar with the show. Dio sounds cool, though! Maybe it can be something we watch together while I'm here!"
Papyrus had looked over into Mettaton's lap to see what he had been fiddling with, and noticed what looked to be a white bracelet. Mettaton must've noticed him staring, because he quickly stuck his hand behind his leg to hide it from view.
He turned to Papyrus, putting his chin in the hand that hadn't been hidden away and giving him a half-hearted grin, "Oh, maybe. That sounds fun."
The strnage bracely wasn't the only thing Papyrus had noticed, "You haven't eaten any of your food." He pointed out, remembering Alphys's instructions about Mettaton and eating.
Mettaton's fake grin dropped, and he looked back at the food in his lap. "Hm...so I haven't. To be honest, they messed up my order." He flipped the lid closed on the box, and sat it down onthe coffee table. Now that his lap was unobstructed, he gripped both ends of the blanket and hugged himself tightly. "Do you want it? I don't really eat meat, I don't like the texture."
Huh, he hadn't known Mettaton was a vegetarian. You learn something new every day!
Though...if Mettaton didn't like meat - what were Glamburgers made of?
Papyrus picked up the box to inspect it. It had been stirred around for so long it was now mostly soggy lettuce with some bits of grilled chicken. It...didn't look too appetizing.
"Are you sure? I could pick out the chicken for you! Or if you are nervous to correct your order, I could make the call for you!" Papyrus really wanted to make sure Mettaton would eat, he wasn't about to break his promise to Alphys! Plus, you know, eating was important!
"It's fine, I've lost my appetite. I appreciate it, though. If you don't want it I'll just give the chicken to Smirnoff and throw the rest way...I hate to waste food, but oh well." Mettaton didn't look up from his lap. Now he had started to fold his legs into the blanket huddle too. Was he that cold? Papyrus didn't think it was that chilly in here, but then again, skeletons weren't too temperature sensitive.
Wait a minute, neither were robots. Or that's what Papyrus had assumed anyway.
Either way, Papyrus didn't care that much about Mettaton's slow descent into the blanket dimension. He was more worried about the losing battle with the salad, so he had a new idea! "I'll just make you an especially good dinner then!"
Mettaton's shoulders jumped, eye going wide in surprise, "O-oh! Oh dear, that's very sweet of you, hun, but you don't have to do that."
"I do not! But I want to!" Papyrus got up from the couch, stacking his own empty box under Mettaton's and heading towards where he'd seen Mettaton throw his trash away earlier. "I enjoy cooking, so really, it's no trouble at all!"
Mettaton tried to untangle himself from his self-made cozy prison to follow him. "Darling, you- AH-" he yelped as his heel was tangled up in the blanket, not ready to let it's captor go just yet. Mettaton fell over to the ground with a loud clang, and in the time it had taken him to fully unravel himself, Papyrus had already sorted out all the chicken from Mettaton's plate.
"No buts! I have made up my mind! Where's Smirnoff's food bowl?"
"Dining room, against the back wall. Tear it up a little bit for him please, poor baby has trouble chewing up big pieces. It's why I usually give him wet f-" Mettaton paused, putting his hand to his forehead and squeeing his eyes shut. "No, wait, nevermind that. We're still on the dinner thing. Papy, lovely, I appreciate the sentiment, I really really do. But I really-"
"What did I say about buts/" Papyrus said sternly, squatting on the ground to pour the pre-torn up chunks of meat into a shallow cat dish.
"I'm-I'm not trying to be stubborn!" Mettaton stammered, having finally caught up to Papyrus, and now just standing behind him and blabbering. "I just I - I just-" He sighed, "I...don't have anything in the house to cook."
Papyrus looked up from his task at hand, cocking an eyeride in suspicion "I feel as if you are making excuses to deter me."
"No, really. I'm being serious. I…" Mettaton's face brushed a light shade of pink, and he covered his mouth with his hand to try and hide it. "I kind of live solely off takeout and room service. I hate having to do the dishes and all that cleaning and - god, just, everything associated with cooking really. It's exhausting. The only thing you're going to find in my fridge is cake and ice cream."
Papyrus frowned. That was a...slightly more concerning fact of the day than the vegetarian one. "Do you need to buy groceries? There's still light in the day! I would like to cook for you at some point, even if not tonight."
Mettaton groaned, dragging that same hand down his face. "Ohh, not today, Papy, please. I just got home yesterday, I'm very worn out."
Got...home? When had Mettaton been away? Papyrus didn't recall a vacation, or tour dates of any kind. If that were the case he was for sure Alphys or a TV station would've mentioned it by now.
Papyrus was distracted from his thoughts by a scratchy growling noise originating from his foot. Or, more precisely, by his foot. He looked down to see piercing green eyes staring in his...general direction. Smirnoff licked his teeth as if to say "move or I'll eat you instead." Papyrus smiled apologetically at the feline, picking himself up and moving a short distance away. He hoped the grumble he heard from Smirnoff after the fact was of appreciation. A kitty cat "thank you", but he was probably hoping too much.
"What about tomorrow, then?" Papyrus questioned, not giving up on the notion of preparing a nice dinner for Mettaton at some point. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but the week had just started!
"Darling…" Mettaton began, "I appreciate you, I really do. It's nice you want to cook for me but, really. I just want to rest right now."
Mettaton started to walk back to the living room, picking up his blanket from the floor and folding it up. "You have to remember, darling, going out in public is quite the event for me. You don't have to worry about being mobbed by papaprazzi or by every fan wanting to say hi or get an autograph." He sighed, leaving the folded up blanket on the back of the couch for now. "I adore my fans, I do, but...Like I said, I'm tired."
The fact that Mettaton didn't want to go out in public was shocking to hear, to say the least. Last Papyrus remembered, Mettaton adored attention of any kind. Even if it came from pushy fans and sneaky picture takers! In fact, Papyrus had distinctly remembered an interview where Mettaton mentioned one of his favorite things about being famous was that people knew him wherever he went. And he also said that being stopped by fans was something that made his day. Sure he could've just been saying that for the cameras, but Papyrus really didn't think so. He'd seen Mettaton reacting to those kinds of fans first hand, and he was always very kind to them. Everything Mettaton was saying right now felt very, very out of character indeed.
"When is the last time you'e recharged?" Papyrus trotted up after him, his worry starting to bubble over into fretting. "Is your cable faulty? I'm sure Alphys has a spare! Perhaps a nap? Though that may mess up your sleep schedule at such a late hour, which is never a good thing."
"Papyrus - please-" Mettaton was starting to get just a little bit annoyed, and he was trying very hard not to snap at the poor skeleton. He knew he was just trying to help. "I'm fine, I've been asleep all day. It's-it's emotional tiredness. Mental tiredness. Don't you ever get socially exhausted?"
Papyrus set his jaw, thinking for a minute, and then shook his head.
"Huh." Mettaton frowned, "Well, I do. And the point is, I don't want to go out anywhere until I feel more up to it."
"Ah, well, alright then." Papyrus tried not to sound too hurt. "Uhm...what would you like to do instead, then? Maybe a board game, or you could continue telling me about your Jojos and his adventure!"
Mettaton pulled the scrunchie from before off his wrist and loosely tied his hair back into it, "You can keep watching it if you want to, I'm going to bed."
"Bed? But didn't you just say you've slept all day?" Papyrus was confused. Sure he had been the one to suggest napping, but he had also warned of ruining sleep schedules!
"Very observant." Mettaton finished tying his hair back, perching himself on the couch as he searched through one of the drawers of a side table.
"So..why are you going back to bed?" Papyrus still wasn't getting it.
"Oh, I don't know. I'm bored, it's late. What else do I have to do? Stare out the window and contemplate life for a while?" Mettaton's voice came out dull and dry, but he'd found what he was looking for in the drawer. He pulled out some makeup remover and rubbed off the little makeup he had been wearing. It was mostly just eyeshadow and mascara.
While he was doing that, Papyrus checked the time on a digital clock that was sat on that very same side table. Backlit pink numbers blinked back at him, "6:05". Did that count as late…? Mettaton used to host night shows that would go until 3am. Did he get tired that early now?
Papyrus looked away from the clock, just in time to see Mettaton throw his used wipe to the floor. The skeleton's eye twitched seeing Mettaton do that, but felt like calling him out on his messy behaviour was just going to make matters worse here. So he contained the neat freak in him for now, staying quiet as Mettaton got up the couch and headed in the direction of his bedroom. A gravelly meowing and a jingling noise signaled Smirnoff's arrival, trotting up to him with his fluffy tail held high in the air. He pawed at the superstar's leg and meowed, demanding to be picked up. Mettaton cooed, leaning down to scoop up his living mophead and cradling him against his chest, pressing a kiss to his head with an audible 'mwah!'
"The remote to the TV should be in the drawers. I don't remember which one. If you don't want to keep watching this, I have cable, some DVDs in the kitchen closet, and Netflix. Ugh, I really need to cancel that subscription though. It's so garbage nowadays." Smirnoff purred away as Mettaton leaned back against his door, apparently this was a topic he had many thoughts on. "They keep getting rid of a lot of their actual streaming shows, you know, the thing I buy the subscription for, to put in more of their "original series". And, I mean, I'm enamored with the idea of TV without network restrictions. Really, I am, goodness knows I've gotten migraines over the demands of network execs. But I just feel like that potential is being wasted on bad cartoons and superhero movie tie ins." He shifted Smirnoff into one arm so he could talk with his hands as he continued to rant, "I could never get into the superhero stuff, personally. Don't know why, I just can't. Except Thor! I liked Thor, but it had a very different tone than the rest of the universe. That's why I liked it. Stranger Things, that was a good original series. Or it was until that godawful third season. What were they even thinking? I forget who it was who tried to get me to watch that horse cartoon. I liked it at first, but it just...kind of hit a bit too close to home. I started seeing myself in the main character and started having thoughts of what if I end up like that one day and-"
Mettaton seemed to finally realize he was rambling, taking a very deep breath before he straightened back up again. "Goodness, got a bit carried away there, didn't I? But, anyways, I have that if there's anything on there you'e into."
Papyrus...chose not to ask.
"Do you have anything other than TV?" He asked instead. He wasn't sure TV alone would keep him occupied for the next few hours by himself. Plus, surely there must be other ways Mettaton spent his time?
"Er...I have ice cream?" Mettaton scratched his cheek, not seeming to understand the question. "You can help yourself to it, if you'd like, but the pint of vanilla is for cocktails. Probably leave that alone. I'd offer to make oyu one but, you don't drink, right?"
Papyrus shook his head.
"Yea, thought not." Mettaton shrugged.
"I appreciate the thought! But I did mean as in, other activities." Papyrus clarified. "Surely you have hobbies? Video games? Books? Perhaps knitting!"
Mettaton frowned, squinting as he thought. "I have uh..ANimal Crossing? I'm not really sure where it is though. And some dating simulators, but those are all on my laptop. Which I'd prefer you not touch, no offense. That's about it. I'm a bit too blind for books and tedious knotting, I'm afraid."
Oh - right, Papyrus had forgotten Mettaton was pretty much legally blind. To be fair - he didn't talk about it a lot, if ever, and coped with it so well you'd ever even guess it unless he told you. But still, there were other activities that didn't require finely tuned sight! Mettaton must have other ways to have fun that weren't television! But before he could protest further, the robot rubbed the heel of his palm into his eye and gave out a small moan.
"Listen, love, I'm sure you can find something to entertain yourself. Room service menu is on the table if you get hungry again. Good night, darling."
Mettaton slipped through the doors, careful that they didn't open too wide, probably so Papyrus couldn't see inside. It didn't matter either way, it seemed to be very dark in there. The door was left slightly ajar, presumably for Smirnoff to go in and out. And even then, all Papyrus could see from inside the room was pitch black.
Welp. Looks like he was on his own until bedtime. Papyrus went to bed at strictly 10pm every night to keep a good schedule.No earlier and no later! Which meant he had a few hours to kill, it was still somewhere around six'o'clock. This was going to be rather difficult, admittedly. Papyrus preferred to spend his time around other people, and usually at the very least he had Sans to talk to. Maybe he could call Sans? Actually, there was a high possibility Sans was asleep already. Unlike Papyrus, his brother's bedtime tended to be "whenever I'm tired", which happened to be always.
What to do, what to do...Well, first Papyrus tried to pay attention to the anime with the handsome men, which had still been playing in the background all this time. He truly did try to give it his full attention and get into it, wanting to show Mettaton he cared about his interests, but he found the whole thing very confusing and difficult to follow. During the time he had been watching it over lunch/dinner, he remembered the two main characters being a brunette man and his blond friend. But now those characters where nowhere to be found, replaced with four new main characters he didn't recognize at all. Also, they were talking about tarot cards? Didn't the plot have something to do with punching vampires before?
The more he tried to follow along, the more and more the contradictions were adding up and making him frustrated. He found it hard to enjoy himself due to it. He must've missed a lot of the plot, because he couldn't even piece together what was going on through context clues. Oh, there was Dio! Wasn't that the character Mettaton liked? ...No, yea, he was still very much lost on what was going on here. This must've been one of those shows you had to watch from the beginning to fully understand it, and Papyrus wasn't even sure how far into the series this episode was.
Papyrus decided to look for something else to watch, he was kind of curious to see what kind of DVDs Mettaton had. He had mentioned they were in a kitchen closet, yes?
...It just hit Papyrus how nonsensical the words "kitchen clost" were. Did Mettaton mean the pantry? Why was he keeping DVDs in his pantry? It's not like he was lacking closet space by any means.
He got up and headed towards Mettaton's kitchen. The whole place was rather dark at night. He guessed that during the daytime Mettaton just let the windows light the place up. There were a couple of night lights plugged in at various places, so the room wasn't completely black. But it was still darker than Papyrus would've liked. He searched the walls a little bit until he found a light switch. There, that was better!
Papyrus took the time to look around the kitchen a little bit now that he had the chance to. He had never known pink marble countertops even existed, Mettaton was very dedicated to making as many things as he could pink. Above the kitchen island was a rack that, Papyrus remembered from seeing photographs of houses much nicer than his own, was meant to hold pots and pans. But it was completely barren.
Tearing his gaze away from that, he tried to find where the pantry might be. He had guessed it was the accordion door in between the sink and the fridge. Opening it up, he found he was right! It was a fairly large space, big enough for Papyrus to walk into it a couple steps and not have to squeeze himself smaller to avoid knocking things down. Large as it was, though, much of it was also barren. All he found on the shelves were a few dust-coated wine bottles, a half empty box of instant noodles, and a couple boxes of cereal. That was to say; no DVDs. So..this hadn't been what Mettaton meant after all.
Papyrus was careful with the door as he exited, worrying about slamming it too loud and waking up Mettaton. Not that you could really slam an accordion door, but there was no harm in being cautious.
Alright, now he had to think. Logically there was another closet in this kitchen somewhere. Now he just had to figure out exactly where that was. Another logically; the door had to be in the wall. So he would probably have more luck following along the wall. Very smart, Papyrus! Good detective work!
As he looked for the mysterious closet, he couldn't help but notice how it wasn't just the pan rack and the pantry, but the whole room was very disturbingly empty. Even model houses had stock furniture, at least. But Mettaton had just plain nothing. Honestly it could pass off very easily for a model house, considering it didn't look lived in at all. The living room had clutter and litter and gave evidence that someone was occupying this household. The energy that came with a house thoroughly lived in was not easily missed, but this room...this room didn't have it at all. This whole space just felt eerie and wrong.
The door, right, Papyrus was looking for a door. Well he didn't find any in the wall facing out to the kitchen, but he did find a small walkway that connected the kitchen area to the longer hallway that stretched from the back of the house all the way to the other door that led to Mettaton's bedroom, by the front entrance. On one side of the walkway it was easy to see it was a bathroom, not a closet. Directly opposite of it though was another door. Papyrus opened it to find, yes, there was a closet here! Quite an odd place for a closet, especially consdering he saw the doors to aother coset just down the hallway.
Like all the other storage spaces Papyrus had encountered thus far, this closet was a walk in. This one was much smaller than his closet in the guest room, and bigger than the pantry. Papyrus reached up to find the light chain, and when it was turned on he found stashed inside it a specially tailored leather jacket and a large pink sweater. And, a black shelf with DvDs! Though it was extremely unorganized, and looked like everything had been stuffed on there haphazardly.
Papyrus had the urge to sort it out, it would give him something to pass the time with. And he couldn't imagine Mettaton getting upset about such a thing. Before he went ahead and did that, Papyrus got down on his knees to see if anything actually stuck out to him. Let's see...there were a lot of romance movies, a lot of things in black and white, and some Broadway shows and musicals. It as all the kind of stuff Papyrus had guessed Mettaton would be into, the large amount of horror flicks and slashers was a surprise though. Well it was a surprise until Papyrus reminded himself that Mettaton's weapon of choice happened to be chainsaws.
None of these were really to his taste, though, unfortunately. He much preferred action movies, mysteries- cartoons! None of which he could find in Mettaton's stash. Except another disc set of those Jojos and their wacky adventures, the cover of which featured a character that was neither in the cast of the two vampire punching men or the tarot card people. What was even going on in this show to have so many main characters…?
Papyrus sat it back down on the stack and got into a more comfortable sitting position, he had decided to sort through the shelf after all. At home the DVD shelf was sorted into alphabetical order, so he decided to do the same thing here. First he pulled everything off the shelf and put it on the floor, noticing now that it was empty that the wood was sagging from the weight of all of that. Hm...maybe furniture shopping was in Mettaton's future. But it was what he had to work with right now, so he'd take it.
As Papyrus sorted through his manageable piles, he found a few music CDs mixed in there. They were all Marina and the Diamonds, no surprise there. He decided to sit those on top of the shelf to return to Mettaton in the morning, he was probably missing them. Another oddity he found was that some of these CDs seemed to be extremely old, their cases damaged and the discs themselves having numerous scratches. Why did Mettaton have these? Those got sorted in normally, after he could decipher the title of the movie through the water-damaged label. He found a total of two tapes, as well. One seemed to be a bootlegged recording of Heathers on Broadway, the other simply had the word "debut" written in red ink across the label. Heathers got put in with the DVDs, the other one he...wasn't quite sure what to do with. He decided to put it with the CDs.
Those were really the only interesting things he found while sorting the collection. Once he was done, Papyrus sat back and admired his work. The shelf was still warped, but he liked to think that having the DVDs sorted like that took some stress off of it. Well, probably not, but that wasn't going to stop him from thinking that. At least it was nicer to look at now, and easier to sort through. Papyrus's knees popped as he got up off the ground, exiting the closet and going back into the kitchen. He decided to check the time on the stove.
7:10pm.
So...not exactly as much of a time waster as he was hoping it'd be. Papyrus sighed, looking around the kitchen to try and see if there was anything else he could do. Dishes was out of the question, the only thing Mettaton had in the sink was a coffee mug. Maybe he could take out the trash? If he remembered correctly, it was very full. Yes, that seemed productive and time wasting.
Papyrus didn't have to search very hard for it, the kitchen light glinted off the overflowing candy wrappers and what was probably a concerning amount of glass bottles. He wasn't sure what kind of glass bottles they were, and he kind of hoped that Mettaton was just very into old fashioned soda bottles. But the few that weren't shattered to pieces he could make out labels that bore a certain white cat's namesake.
Papyrus shook his head and made a tsktsk noise under his breath, smushing as much of it down as he could. Everything sounded louder at night. That included shards of glass being pushed around apparently, as the repeated clinking and clattering noise that broke the stagnant air made him flinch. He had decided to bring it to the front door, and after some thought decided that it would probably be best if he sat it outside the front door. Just in case Smirnoff suddenly decided he had a knack for dumpster diving. Sure, the cat was asleep with Mettaton right now, but that didn't mean he might wake up later. The last thing Papyrus wanted to do was wake up to shards of glass scattered all around the house and likely a bleeding kitty.
Papyrus propped the door open with his foot, dropping the bag just by the entrance. He'd probably ask Mettaton where it actually went in the morning. The outside foyer was even more eerie at night. It was nearly pitch black, out here Mettaton didn't even have night lights set up. The only lights the place was granted came from the city outside. Papyrus looked around the room for a moment, just taking it in. The creepiness, that ever looming sense of wrongness. Oh! He had almost forgotten about that potted plant he was concerned about earlier. Maybe he should bring it in while he was thinking about it.
It was within his reach, but just barely. He wasn't too keen on being locked out, he had left his phone upstairs and he didn't know how heavy of a sleeper Mettaton was. Keeping his foot wedged in the door, Papyrus stretched out as far as he could, fingertips barely brushing the pot. He wiggled them to try and inch it closer, but ended up just pushing it away. Huffing, Papyrus got on his knees so he could stretch farther. This time he managed to catch it by the rim, giving out a little "aha!" as he dragged it closer to himself. He lifted it up to cradle it to his chest as he got back to his feet, kicking the door closed on his way back in and setting it on the floor inside.
Only once he had double and then triple checked that both the lock and deadbolt were done up did Papyrus turn around to pick up the plant again. He was startled when he finally realized that he'd had an audience. It was sat on it's haunches at the end of the hallway, the dim lighting of the chandelier glinted off jagged teeth, and colors danced across his white fur from the TV screen. Unnatural green eyes looked as if they were glowing in the darkness.
Smirnoff was very spooky at night. He huffed and licked his teeth before getting to his paws again, slinking back into the darkness that was Mettaton's room. The fact the door was bright pink and covered in Hello Kitty stickers kind of ruined the effect, though.
Papyrus set his jaw and scratched the top of his head once Smirnoff was gone. Why was he so jumpy tonight? He guessed the loneliness was putting him on edge, or maybe the strangeness of the house he'd been noticing all day. Ah well, he'd just have to do something to wind down with later.
But first, he needed to continue on his little plant saviour quest. The skeleton picked up the pot again, hoisting it to his chest and looping back around to the kitchen. He placed it in the sink, running some water in it and then placing it in the center of the kitchen island. There! Looking better already, the dirt had been bone dry before-
Sans probably would've made a pun out of that somehow.
But, that aside, he thought the plant would be much happier there! It'd get plenty of sunlight from the windows, and it was in a place where Mettaton would a) see it every day and b) not have to go very far to get it water. There was still hope for the little plant yet! He hoped that Mettaton would remember to water it now that it was in a more convenient place.
Papyrus checked the time on the oven, seeing how much time that little excursion had wasted.
7:20pm
….Really? He was hoping that would've wasted 20 minutes, at least. Maybe 15.
Well, you did your best, Papy. He was going to just have to face it - there really was nothing to do around Mettaton's house besides TV watching. How could someone live like that? That was probably a rude question to ask, otherwise he would've added it to his "to question Mettaton about" list in his head. Which was starting to get very long.
Regrettably, the fact of the matter was, for the first time in years, Papyrus was going to have to go to bed early.
--
It was 8:30 by time Papyrus was cleaned up and ready for bed, dressed in his pajamas and everything. He had intentionally dallied a bit just to try and stretch out the time period before he actually laid down. Still he was really trying to get as close to 10pm as possible.
He sat down on the edge of his bed, picking up his phone for a moment to check his notifications. He'd left his phone on the nightstand while he was hanging out with Mettaton, not out of any sort of forgetfulness but because Mettaton was...weirdly sensitive. Papyrus had feared if he had paid attention to his phone very much while spending time with Mettaton, the robot would've gotten the wrong idea about not actually wanting to be there. That he rather be with Sans or Undyne right now instead of giving him company. The whole thought process sounded paranoid and crazy, but that really was how Mettaton's brain worked. So, he'd just left it up here. Not like he really needed his phone on him 24/7 anyways, so it wasn't really a huge loss.
After spending some time sorting through his notifications, many of which were from various puzzle game apps he had downloaded on his phone, he found he had 2 text messages. The first was from Sans, which simply said "have fun". Papyrus replied quickly to that with "GOING TO BED, GOODNIGHT SANS!". He doubted Sans was awake to see it, but it was the thought that counted. Usually he was there to say goodnight in person.
The second was from Alphys.
Alphys
Today @7:00pm
Hey! Not sure if you're busy, but I'm coming by tomorrow morning to bring Metta his meds. I already told him, just uh, didn't want to surprise you.
Mettaton took medicine? More and more new information on his favorite robot! And, well the only robot he knew. But that didn't take away the favorite status! He wondered what robots would need medicine for, or how robot medicine would be made. How would that work, he wondered? Was it a flashdrive Alphys plugged into his neck? Was he sick? Is that why he was acting so lethargic? So, so many questions...
PAPYRUS
Today @8:45pm
HELLO, ALPHYS! I AM SORRY FOR NOT RESPONDING EARLIER, I DID NOT HAVE MY PHONE ON ME. THANK YOU FOR INFORMING ME! I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU TOMORROW!
He wasn't expecting a response anytime soon, but it was rude to leave someone on read. So he left it at that and set his phone back on the night stand, finally slipping under the covers of the bed. He wasn't surprised that the sheets were very soft, and very pink. He knew Mettaton must've snuck pink into the room somewhere.
Today had been, he'd admit, a bit of a rough start. But, rough didn't mean bad! Or at least that's what he would keep saying to himself. This wasn't even a full day yet, it was more like a day zero than a day one. There was still plenty of time in the week to spend with Mettaton, and maybe make him a little happier? Between the listlessness, not eating, and the fact he'd admitted to sleeping 3/4ths of the day, Papyrus got the vibe Mettaton wasn't in the greatest of moods right now.
Something wasn't right, he wasn't sure what it was yet. But something wasn't right.