Toby Fox owns Undertale and all associated characters.
Napstablook hovered before his computer desk, putting the finishing touches on his latest song before closing the app. The room he was in was mostly barren, save for the desk and computer it held. The ghost didn't own much, but he had enough to keep him happy, and that was good enough for him.
There was a buzzing noise from his computer, and in the middle of the screen, the ghost's videochat opened, revealing a picture of Mettaton striking a dramatic pose. Napstablook hesitated for a moment, then moved his mouse over to click on it.
The video quickly displayed Mettaton sitting in his dressing room, running a comb through his black hair. There was quite a bit of clutter around him, with various costumes and props discarded throughout the room, though the large mirror behind him and the space around it was pristine. Napstablook could hear various background sounds of people talking and moving things, but they were fairly muffled.
"There you are, Blooky!" Mettaton enthused, giving his cousin a wide smile. "It feels like it's been ages since we last talked."
"H-hi, Mettaton," The ghost said quietly, "How's the tour going?"
"Oh, it's fabulous as always. I finished putting the lyrics onto the last song you sent me, and the audience went absolutely wild! You just keep getting better and better, Cuz." The glamorous robot smiled. "I still like the Ex song best, though."
"I can't believe you still use that song as your theme…" Napstablook mumbled, going slightly transparent in embarrassment.
"Of course I do! It's wonderful! You know you're good at what you do, Blooky. As they say, 'If you've got it, flaunt it!'"
"You know that's not really my thing, Mettaton…."
The robot sighed, putting the comb down beside him.
"I know, Blooky. That's what I'm here for; I'll flaunt your stuff until the whole world knows how amazing my cousin is!"
"Oh no... " The ghost was now barely visible, just a faint outline in front of his computer screen.
"Blooky, you're fading on me again," Mettaton chided.
It took a couple moments, But Napstablook finally managed to fade back in, becoming visible once again.
"That's better. Now tell me how you've been doing! Since you stopped touring with Shy and I, I don't hear from you much, except when you send me new songs." A wide grin split Mettaton's face, the corners of his lips just missing the metal bars accenting his cheekbones.
"How's your son doing?"
"Oh no… you know he's not my son…" Blooky murmured, beginning to fade again.
"Of course not, you just keep the place clean, make sure he has food to eat, listen when he talks… none of the typical parent things. Have you told him that you're there yet?"
"No…" Napstablook mumbled. "He still thinks his parents are alive… He'd just be upset if he knew I was there… Oh no… and then he'd be mad at me… oh no…"
"Calm down, Cuz," Mettaton said gently. "You're overthinking things again. I've met Kid before, and there's no way that he'd be angry at you just for taking care of him." The robot huffed. "But, if you don't want to do it yet, I suppose I can't force you. Seriously, though, it was very kind of you to come and help the poor boy like this."
"Well... the Monsters who were taking care of him kept moving away…" Napstablook said quietly. "And I couldn't just leave him all by himself…"
"Of course not, but I'm still proud that you did it. Are you still living in the attic?"
"Yeah... he can't get up here… and I don't really have a lot of stuff anyways…"
"I know... " Mettaton chuckled. "All you really need is a computer and some decent speakers, and you're good to go." He paused for a moment, as if thinking, then asked,
"So… how is your charge doing these days?"
Napstablook was quiet for a moment before responding.
"I think he's been doing okay… he's been happier ever since he started dating Chara…"
Mettaton let out an undignified squeal.
"You didn't tell me about that!"
"Oh no… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to forget about it…"
The robot waved a hand absently, dismissing his cousin's apology.
"It's fine, but-" He stopped, and the ghost Monster heard another voice. He couldn't make out what it was saying, but it sounded fairly demanding. Mettaton turned towards the voice, irritation on his face.
"I am in the middle of a call with my cousin, what do you-" The voice spoke up again, more insistent this time, and Mettaton paused for a moment.
"What, already? I thought it wasn't coming in until next week!" The robot sighed. "Oh, very well. I'll be down in a moment." He turned back to Napstablook, a wry expression on his face.
"Sorry about that, Blooky, looks like I'm going to have to cut this short. I can never seem to get a moment's peace in this place. But I'm going to be coming back in a couple weeks once this tour is over, and I expect to see you around then, you hear?"
"Oh… okay… Bye, Mettaton."
"Later, Cuz!"
The videochat went dark as the robot left, leaving the ghost alone in the attic. He stared at the screen for a few moments, before checking the time. Kid would probably be home soon, he should probably get some food ready for the boy.
He floated away from the computer, and passed through the floor of the attic and into the rest of the house. It was a fairly large house, considering only two people lived in it, and one of them in the attic. Still, it was easy to keep in good condition, especially since Kid was generally at school or out somewhere these days, and that meant he had plenty of time to work on his music without fear of being overheard.
Napstablook's thoughts travelled back to Mettaton. He had to admit, it had been fun to tour with his cousin for a while, but the amount of attention being thrown at him had quickly overwhelmed the shy ghost. That was when he'd found out about Kid's situation and decided to help. Mettaton had been disappointed of course, but had made a serious effort to keep in touch with him. It felt good to know the robot wasn't going to abandon him again.
Napstablook phased through the wall into the empty kitchen, quietly humming a tune to himself. He floated over to the fridge door, opening it to stare at the contents inside. After a few moments, he selected some of the chicken from the night before and hovered it over to the oven, putting it inside and turning the heat to low. It was already cooked, of course, but he wanted to make sure it was warm for Kid when he got home.
The ghost spent the next few minutes checking to make sure everything was in order.. The house was furnished just enough to make it seem lived in, but other than the boy's room and the attic, only the kitchen and the living room were used much.
There was a loud thumping noise, and then the sound of clawed feet tapping against hardwood floor. Napstablook immediately turned transparent, though he remained in the living room, waiting.
"Yo! I'm home!" Kid called out, as he always did. There were a few minutes of silence, then; "I guess I missed you guys again. That's okay though, haha."
There was a pause, and the ghost could hear Kid walk into the kitchen. He followed, and soon witnessed the boy pull open the oven with his teeth and glance around inside.
"Nice, chicken! You guys are the best." He pulled out the pan with his teeth and placed it on top of the oven, not seeming to be adversely affected by the heat at all. He leaned forward and turned off the heat with his muzzle. Then he gripped the pan in his mouth again before scampering over to the couch in the living room.
Napstablook followed, watching as the boy, nestled himself into the old, brown couch, supporting his back against the armrests at the sides. He looked down for a few moments, the red glow from his visor lighting up the left side of his face.
"School was same as always," he finally said, tentatively digging into his food as he spoke. "But I asked Chara, and she said I can come to the Human-Monster relations meeting this weekend. You guys are okay with that, right?"
Of course, there was no answer, and after a moment he continued.
"It might be fun to see what it's like, you know? But it'll be best to spend some more time with her..." He took on a slightly worried expression. "She's been really tired recently, she always says it's nothing, and then smiles at me but… I dunno. We haven't done any training since Christmas. The last time we did it, she stopped halfway through and started staring at her hands."
He chewed on his lip.
"After that, she just wanted to cuddle for a while. Not that I minded," he added quickly. "But it's… not really like her. I wish you guys were around more… I want to help, but I don't know what to do."
Napstablook watched sadly as the boy finished the rest of his meal in silence. He felt bad for Kid, but he didn't know how he could help more than he already was.
Kid licked the last of the grease from his lips, then sighed and shifted the cushions, causing the remote to fall to the floor where his claws could access it. He pressed a button, and the TV sprang to life as he settled back further into the couch.
Napstablook waited for a few minutes after the boy went to bed before following after him, fading himself so that he wouldn't be seen if Kid was still awake. He phased through the closed door into the boy's room.
There wasn't much in there, other than the bed and an open wardrobe. There were a few books and comics scattered about the carpeted floor, and a side-table beside his bed with a lamp on it.
Kid was lying in the middle of his bed, already snoring softly into his pillow. In the few minutes he'd been in here, his sheets and blankets were already a tangled mess around him. Napstablook silently hovered over to his charge, and tentatively reached out with his magic, untangling the sleeping boy from the sheets and pulling them up to cover him properly.
As he pulled up the final blanket to Kid's chin, the boy twitched in his sleep, his lips moving up into a small smile.
"Thanks, Dad," he murmured, eyes still closed.
"Ohhhh…." Napstablook floated hurriedly out of the room, trying to become even more transparent.
If anyone could see him, however, they would note a small, happy smile forming, just for a moment, under the ghost's eyes.
Author's note: Reply to iamdaraptor: That's... quite a bit of stuff. I'll see what I can do to look into it, but between pumping out these (and future) chapters, as well as the other things I'm doing, I have very little spare time. I'll look them up when I can and let you know the similarities or differences as best I can but... don't be surprised if it takes a while.