It's a party, so just have fun!
Flowey turned the cardboard mask over and over in his vines. The line-work and coloring was rather crude, and the eye-holes roughly cut out, but he'd made it all by himself so he took pride in that. The mask depicted a character he once used to role-play as, which seemed fitting, as this was a day for pretending, right?
"FLOWEY, BEHOLD THE MAJESTY OF MY NEW 'BATTLE BODY'!" Papyrus appeared from his closet clad in a set of white and blue costume armour, complete with a red cape and yellow trim. He propped his leg onto his bed and flexed his bony arms dramatically. "DO YOU LIKE IT?"
Watching from his pot on Papyrus' bedside table, Flowey smiled and pulled his mask over his face. "I know not this 'Flowey' of which you speak, for I am the God of Hyperdeath!" He proclaimed, curling his vines into an exaggerated evil pose. He let them fall loose and pulled the mask back down again. "Hee hee hee. It looks great, just like I said it would!"
"NYE HEH HEH! OF COURSE IT'S GREAT, YOU HELPED ME MAKE IT! TOGETHER WE ARE GREAT MY VERY COOLEST FRIEND!" Papyrus brought his leg down from the bed and looked excitedly at the door."THE GUESTS SHOULD BE ARRIVING SOON, COME ON, LET'S MAKE A GOOD FIRST IMPRESSION!"
He grabbed Flowey's pot and charged out the room and onto the landing. The living room below had been set up meticulously with balloons, food and puzzles. Papyrus had even placed a few spikes around and although they made the place LOOK like a deathtrap, they weren't in any positions likely to harm anyone; it was all just part of the aesthetic.
"sup bro, everything set?" Sans, who still donning his dirty old hoodie greeted Papyrus lazily from the coach as he descended the stairs.
Papyrus, as usual, was not impressed. "SANS, OUR GUESTS ARE GOING TO ARRIVE AT ANY MOMENT! PLEASE MAKE YOURSELF PRESENTABLE!" He passed Sans without a second glance and placed Flowey down on the table beside the door. The table was laden with party food, mostly spaghetti but also a few choice items picked out by Sans; hot dogs, burgers... unhealthy, but at least there were edible to other monsters.
Papyrus hopped from foot to foot and peeked eagerly out the window. It was a Saturday, so a few monsters were out and about but non seemed to be heading for the house.
"I'LL GO OVER EVERYTHING ONE MORE TIME." Papyrus announced after a minute of nothing.
"ok." Sans responded. He'd not even made an attempt to budge.
Flowey watched him and Papyrus's movements out the corner of his eye; It was funny how such close brothers could be total opposites. After a few moments Sans lifted himself from the coach, climbed the stairs and disappear into his room. Flowey had sometimes wondered what the skeleton had up there to generate all the strange light spilling out from under the door, but Sans had never invited him inside. When Flowey had asked Sans about it, he'd just redirected him with a pun; that part of his personality was really starting to tick Flowey off.
Knock, knock, knock.
"THE GUESTS HAVE ARRIVED!" Papyrus flew past him so quickly his petals fluttered in the draft. "GET READY!" He instructed, then put his hand on the door handle.
The door swung open, and the familiar toothy grin of Undyne greeted them in the doorway. "Heya Paps! I'm here for the PARTY!" She was wearing a shiny black long coat, her hair was spiked and slick with gel and holstered on her back looked to be a massively over-sized sword.
"U-undyne i-i'm not sure about this anymore..." A quiet voice spoke from just out of view.
"Come here, it'll be fine!" Undyne soothed her companion before turning back to Papyrus. She looked slightly uncomfortable now. "I mean WE'RE here for the party, I'm Alphys' plus one. I'll be honest... I was a little surprised you didn't give me an invite."
Papyrus frowned. "YOU NEVER GOT ONE? FLOWEY SAID HE'D ASKED EVERYONE IN-"
"I thought you'd already invited Undyne!" Flowey interrupted. Really? In all the times he'd hung out with her he never once mentioned his party?!
"F-Flowey...?" Alphys appeared from around the door frame and peered nervously inside. She was dressed up in a cutsie pink dress and a set of fake pink cat-ears. The moment she locked eyes with him her skin flushed pale. "H-hello. Undyne told me about you, but I n-never thought we would actually meet in person."
"Howdy..." Her eyes remained fixed on his, and he watched her intently. Eventually she turned away to flash another pleading glance to Undyne who responded with a reassuring smile.
This was going to be difficult... possibly the only monster in the entire underground who could help him now, and she was a complete shivering wreck around him! The conflict in his mind was only going to make this more awkward; she was definitely hiding something.
"PLEASE COME INSIDE, I'VE SET OUT AN ARRAY OF PUZZLES, PASTA AND OTHER PARTY-BASED PASS-TIMES FOR YOU TO PERUSE!... NOT THAT THIS WILL BE TIME YOU'LL BE WANTING TO PASS!"
"I was starting to think you'd never ask!" Undyne grabbed Alphy's arm and practically dragged her through the door and into the house. She stopped in the middle of the room and looked around. "Is it only the four of us?"
"Yo. It's Papyrus... right?" An armless kid in a suite of cardboard armour with a blue-painted stick taped onto one side and a patch covering one eye stood in the doorway. "I got an invite for a party and..." They trailed off as they spotted Undyne.
"YES, PLEASE COME INSIDE, I'LL GO PUT ON SOME MUSIC!" Papyrus hurried to a CD player sat in one corner and turned it on, filling the room with energetic music.
"YEAH MUSIC! Let's DANCE!" Undyne punched the air to the rhythm.
Alphys grabbed the ends of her coat and tugged at it gently, drawing her attention downwards. "Uh, U-Undyne, i'd really rather not..." The smaller monster looked even smaller than usual.
Undyne let her posture slack and she rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "Oh... that's okay Alph, dancing's for dorks anyway. What do you wanna do?"
"W-well I..." Alphys looked frantically around the room before stopping on an object at the far end of the table. "P-Papyrus, where did you get one of these from?" She picked up a cube made from multicolored tiles and held it out to the skeleton.
"THAT'S ONE OF SANS' PUZZLES. I THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE TOO EASY, BUT HE INSISTED THAT I USE IT! ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS TURN EACH SIDE THE SAME COLOR."
"I-I know..."
Undyne raised an eyebrow. "You find this easy?"
"OF COURSE! HERE, LET ME SHOW YOU!" He tore the cube out of Alphys' hands and began pulling off the colored stickers and replacing them onto different sides.
"Papyrus... that's not how that works!" Undyne laughed and attempted to snatch the cube away from him.
Papyrus pulled it out of her reach. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN? THIS IS A PERFECTLY VALID STRATEGY FOR SOLVING THIS PUZZLE!"
"Yo."
Flowey almost jumped, the armless kid was standing right beside him; he'd not even noticed them approach. "Howdy."
They leaned against the table. "I thought there would be other kids here to talk to..." They grumbled, staring across at a plate of unpleasant-smelling spaghetti.
Old memories of being dragged along to grown-up gatherings by his parents briefly flicked through Flowey's mind. It was a lifetime ago, but he understood how boring it could get. "You can talk to me."
They didn't seem very convinced, they looked across to the others who were now fighting over something on the other side of the room... well two of them were. "Yo... You hang out with her right?" They indicated towards Undyne. "... What's it like?"
Flowey thought over all the times he'd spent with her and Papyrus, one particular word came aptly to mind. "Fun."
"Wow really?!" They suddenly lit up with excitement.
Flowey rolled his eyes. "Why don't you go over there and talk to her yourself?"
The kid practically fell over themself. "What? No, I can't do that! She'll think i'm a total loser!"
"Suite yourself~" He singsonged, watching the kid's miniature freak-out with mild amusement from the corner of his eye; the mere THOUGHT of approaching their idol was sending them marching in circles.
After a couple of seconds they calmed down again. "Can I see you're mask?"
Flowey had almost forgotten he still had his mask around his stem. "Sure." He pulled it back over his face.
"Cool, did you make it yourself? I tried making my costume on my own but..."
"Hello, may we come in?" A small group of monsters stood at the door, all Snowdin locals, some young and some old.
"COME INSIDE!"
"Hey everyone!"
"Yo... Sis! You told me you weren't coming!"
Papyrus, Undyne and the kid hurried to greet the newcomers inside, Alphys cowered in one corner and Flowey just watched. This party was turning out to be more popular than he'd anticipated... the crowding was starting to make him feel uncomfortable.
Don't be silly it'll be fine, parties are fun! ... Or at least they used to be fun back when he had his best friend with him.
He cringed against the thought and bit his lip, this wasn't the best of times to be thinking like that...
"Hey everyone!"
"Are we on time?! Like, PLEASE tell me we're on time."
Two more monsters, both wearing heavy makeup appeared at the doorway. One resembled a cat and wore a long costume snout while the other resembled an alligator and wore cat ears, similar to the ones Alphys had but purple.
"If we aren't it's totally your fault." Accused the gater.
The cat spun on her indignantly. "How is it my f- ALPHYS! Oh my god I've missed you girl!"
"WE'VE missed you girl!"
Alphys, who was still standing in one corner snapped around to face the two girls as they rushed towards her. "H-hey... Bratty, C-Catty, long time no see."
"Hey Alph, can you get us Mettatons autograph?!" Asked Catty.
"Why do you never talk to us anymore?" Asked Bratty somberly.
Alphys fidgeted and started to sweat. "I-I've been busy... excuse me."
She pushed past the girls and ambled towards Undyne who was lifting a bunch of kids on her arm. She said something in a voice too low for Flowey to make out, but her posture and expression pretty much said it all... hmm. The thought occurred that, with the party so full and everyone distracted with one thing or another, perhaps now would be a good time to try and talk to her? Or maybe not, that could just make the situation worse...
Pfft, like the risk ever mattered? There was only one way to find out! The thought of finding a way to get his soul back filled Flowey with determination.
SAVE point set.
"Hey, Alphys?" He called across the crowd, she immediately turned to face him. "Can you come over here? I want to talk to you."
She looked around, but no one offered her any way out. "I-I... okay..." She stammered and hesitantly picked her way around the other monsters. She placed her hands on the table softly. "Y-you wanted to talk to me?"
"You're the Royal Scientist, right?"
She couldn't even hold eye contact. "Y-yes..."
He wasn't sure how much he could get from her while she was like this, he probably shouldn't be too direct... "Cool, I bet there's a lot of fun sciency stuff you get to do! Can you tell me about some?"
"Well I-I..."
"She built a robot!" Bratty and Catty appeared from either side of Alphys, causing her to cower reflexively. Great...
"Yeah, didn't you know? She built Mettaton!"
"He's like, totally my robot husband..."
"Actually he's, like, MY robot husband! he just doesn't know it yet."
Bratty leaned in close and whispered loudly. "She built him just to impress Asgore."
"That's not true!" Alphys retorted, her face flushing with red.
The gater monster giggled watching her old friend turn scarlet. "Don't deny it! You always thought Asgore was a SUPER cutie!" Flowey held himself back from gagging.
"Yeah, a robot with a SOUL... that's wicked impressive!"
Flowey's full attention jumped to the cat monster. "Wait, what did you just say?"
"HELLO BEAUTIES! IS EVERYONE HAVING A GOOD TIME?" Geez, now, really?! "BECAUSE YOUR TIME IS ABOUT TO GET EVEN BETTER!"
It was as if that robot timed his entrance to intentionally be at the least convenient moment that he could... or to maximum impact. Flowey wouldn't put it past him to eavesdrop for the sake of dramatic effect...
"OH MY GOD!"
"METTATON! SIGN MY EVERYTHING!"
The two girls along with half the monsters in the room began crowding around Mettaton. Alphys took a step back, still looking a little embarrassed while Undyne simply shook her head.
Papyrus' jaw, on the other hand, was nearly hitting the floor. "METTATON, I AM YOUR BIGGEST FAN! IT'S SUCH AN HONOR TO HAVE YOU HERE AT MY PARTY!"
The robot rolled over to Papyrus, took his hand and held it up to his screen. "And what a party it is!" He dropped the hand and turned back to the crowd, arms wide. "IT'S SO FANTASTIC TO BE AMONG ALL MY ADORING FANS!"
Flowey watched with amusement and mild disdain, he would never understand what people saw in that robot...
"Pfft, can you believe this guy?" Undyne scooted in and rested her elbow across the table.
"Oh my, who do we have here?" Mettaton was approaching them now.
Undyne sneered. "I'm not interested in joining your fanclub."
But Mettaton simply waved her off. "Not you darling, the one in the pot!"
Flowey blinked. "W- me?"
"Yes darling you. What is your name?"
"Flowey." ... Where was Mettaton was going with this?
"Flowey the flower, how very... descriptive." The robot pinched Flowey's mask between his thumb and forefinger and pulled it down his face, then brought his hand up to his screen thoughtfully. "Yes... you have just the face i'm looking for!"
Flowey scowled, no matter how big a star Mettaton was, he didn't like being treated this way. "... For what?"
"Why, to be the co-host of my newest show of course!"
The scowl eased off a bit. "What sort of show?" He asked tentatively.
Appearing on one of Mettaton's shows could turn out to be fun... and seeing as Mettaton was created by Alphys, it could also be a good opportunity to get closer to her. Yes, this sounded like a good plan... what was the harm in trying?
"ATTENTION ALL PARTYGOERS!" Papyrus stood in the kitchen entrance with his arms held behind his back. Everyone turned to face him. "ACCORDING TO THE VERY USEFUL GUIDEBOOK I HAVE BEEN FOLLOWING, EVERY PARTY REQUIRES THE SLICING AND SHARING OF A CAKE! AS SUCH I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS HAVE PROCURED ONE OF THESE STRANGE CULINARY CONCOCTIONS FOR EVERYONE'S EATING PLEASURE!" He held out a large cake covered in white icing, it was already sliced into several segments with a decorative bone placed delicately on each.
Flowey briefly wondered where Papyrus had gotten such a nice looking confectionery; he highly doubted that the skeleton could have baked it himself, but the decorations looked like something Papyrus would have added.
The skeleton leaned down to offer slices to each of the kids, then an odd banging sound drew Flowey's attention away - the door beneath the brothers' oversized sink was moving.
Bang... bang... Clatter, SMASH!
The door flew open and a small white dog dived out in the wake of an avalanche of bones! It bounded towards Papyrus who pulled the cake away just in time, but sent his cape swinging into the dog's path instead.
"YOU PESKY- AHHH!" The dog grabbed a hold of the cape and charged for the open door. "SANS! HELP!" Papyrus cried, arms flailing. The cake splattered across the carpet as the dog pulled him to the ground and proceeded to drag him out of the house. "SANS! UNDYNE...!"
Several monsters rushed to help. Flowey did all he could to keep himself from bursting out laughing... but failed. "Pfff... He he hehehahaha!"
A gentle rapping of fingers against wood announced that Mettaton was still waiting beside him. The robot took a look outside where Papyrus had left a zigzagging trail in the snow. Flowey attempted to stem is laughter as Mettaton turned back to him.
"I'll give you the details after the party." He said. "I highly recommend that you consider my offer." With one final tap, he left the table and wheeled outside to join the others in the snow.
"welp, guess i better go help him."
Flowey spun around, Sans was stood behind him wearing a paper dinner plate strapped over his face. He'd pretty much disappeared for the entirety of the party. "How long have you been standing there?"
Sans shrugged, "a few minutes, give or take." He put his hands in his pockets and began trudging after Mettaton.
Flowey watched him go, unsure how the skeleton was even able to see out of that weird and lazy costume... what was it supposed to be anyway? "Wait... what are you dressed as?"
"me?" Sans stopped and turned around. He pulled up the paper plate to reveal a layer of bread underneath. "i'm a sanswich."