#( ՞ ܸ. .ܸ՞ ) i feel so shyyyy when i get new mutuals

[rosurie]

@wreckowafer I think she’s neat ദ്ദി ( ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ )

[aroseandapen]

Expectancy--Knocking (Part 4/?)

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Based on this post by unflavoredskelly

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Rating: Mature Pairing: Papyton Word Count: 5031 (Cumulative: 21,138) Summary: After some drunken night shenanigans at a party, Papyrus ends up pregnant… by Mettaton. Unfortunately the latter can barely even remember who the skeleton even is. Maybe by spending time with Papyrus, Mettaton can rediscover the charm that his drunk self had been so taken with to begin with.

Mettaton was surprised that he didn’t get a flood of text messages the moment he got hom. His phone remained quiet for the rest of the night and a good part of the morning. It wasn’t until the clock hit noon, when he was rummaging around in the fridge for something to snack on, that he was suddenly inundated with messages, as if everyone he knew had been watching the clock for a reasonable time to text him.

Lovely.

[Received from: BLOOKY!!]: How did your date go? If you feel like talking about it, no pressure. [Received from: BLOOKY!!]: oh my god i mean hangout not date oh no i’m so sorry

[Received from: Burger Cat]: yo boss how’d ur hot date go? ur gonna tell everyone all the juicy details, right?

[Received from: Shyyyy~]: Hello, Mettaton, did your time with the other monster go well?

[Received from: Alphy]: so?? how’d yesterday go? papyrus posted like a million things on undernet. he seems super excited, so i guess it went great?

Flicking through the new messages, Mettaton heaved a sigh. He leaned against the fridge door, cold air rolling out and forcing the fan to work overtime as he held the door open without a second thought. Did this have to come all at once? Juggling all four conversations and explaining the very same thing to each monster sounded exhausting, and Mettaton didn’t know if he had the energy for it.

He had to reply to them though. At least three of them would be anxious if he left them hanging for any length of time.

The first text he drafted was to Burgerpants, more than annoyed with the text he’d received. He didn’t bother to hide it either, and sent a (in his opinion) polite version of ‘fuck off’, with a snippy reminder that it was not a date to begin with, let alone a hot one.

(He almost threw his phone at the impertinent ‘lol, sure boss’ Burgerpants responded with. Ugh. Sometimes that monster shredded his nerves. Fortunately Mettaton had a bit more grace than to do something so unseemly such as throwing his phone.)

His texts to the other monsters gentler, despite the drag in his soul as he resigned himself to several conversations about the same exact thing. He assured Blooky that it was fine, that he understood that it was just a slip-up and he wasn’t upset at them for it. To both them and Shyren he kept it short, letting them know that it was a lovely time and thanking them for their interest in something that Mettaton had fretted about up until the day of their hangout.

Alphys’ text made him groan. Of course Papyrus would tell the world all about how he hung out with a celebrity such as Mettaton, starting with all of his Undernet friends. Asking him to keep it a secret would be unfair. There was nothing to hide anyway, especially when Papyrus’ pregnancy developed into the later stages. Better to let people find out while he could somewhat control how the information spread. Especially since, after spending time with the skeleton, Mettaton could see their acquaintance continuing.

Perhaps even into something more.

Mettaton hadn’t expected much when he’d gone to the skeleton’s house. From his first impression, he’d seemed childish, and as Papyrus showed Mettaton around the his house, he thought that his first impression had been spot on.

Papyrus had a pet rock.

There were rock monsters, sure, and he’d met a couple of them in his time, but it was clear at a glance that said ‘pet rock’ had been nothing but an inanimate object that Papyrus’ brother had probably picked up off the street. It wasn’t a pet. It was just as it appeared—a regular rock.

Yet Papyrus believed wholeheartedly that the rock was a living creature. There was no doubt in Mettaton’s mind that he dutifully fed it every day, and thought it was a real living creature. Which was endearing, if Papyrus had been a small child. But he wasn’t. He was just a dull-minded adult monster, Mettaton had thought.

And yet…

Looking through Papyrus’ closet had triggered something in him. He remembered back before he had a corporeal form, when he was undiscovered talent on his cousin’s snail farm and dreaming of his day in the spotlight. Mettaton had poured himself into creative hobbies. He spent hours of every day making his own movie posters, jotting down song ideas as they occurred to him, and even imagining an entire choreographed routine that he could perform one day—if he had legs, at least. Back then he had been so determined to make it happen, and until then did he enjoyed the act of creating.

Papyrus was quite the unabashed artist. Although the shirts had shown poor craftsmanship and the designs didn’t work well with the shirts that they had been plastered on, Mettaton had to admire the attempt. And as for the skeleton… well, he said it himself. One shouldn’t be afraid to experiment, and should proudly express themselves despite what others might think of him.

And for all his awkwardness around Mettaton, Papyrus really was wholly and proudly himself. Just as Mettaton had always aspired to be.

He could admire that in a monster.

Mettaton found himself wandering aimlessly around his house, lost in his thoughts. The more he looked back on his visit with Papyrus on Saturday, the more he began to think that he might have underestimated him. Perhaps he did seem childish, but he was honest and earnest, and even if he was obviously trying to impress him throughout their time together, not once did it seem that Papyrus was trying to hide parts of himself from him.

At least, that was the impression he ultimately left with.

It was enough. Before Mettaton knew it, he was seriously considering taking Papyrus on an actual date. He was interesting, and he wanted to see him again. So Mettaton had asked him, and Papyrus was all too thrilled to agree, bringing a smile to Mettaton’s face as well. Such unconstrained cheer in one skeleton was infectious.

Mettaton found himself looking forward to their date. Although they likely wouldn’t end up in the sort of relationship that a pregnant monster might expect from the parent to his child, Mettaton could see his continued involvement in both Papyrus’ and their child’s life.

His phone buzzed again, dragging him back to the present. It buzzed again, and again, and then kept buzzing before he had a chance to check. Mettaton furrowed his eyebrows. Who on earth…?

He pulled out his phone, the Undernet icon displaying several notifications. Someone seriously wanted his attention.

StrongFish91: HEY YOU! YOU ASSHOLE. StrongFish91: ANSWER YOUR UNDERNET MESSAGES DAMMIT StrongFish91: HEY!!! StrongFish91: HEY StrongFish91: HEY StrongFish91: HEY

Mettaton groaned at the string of messages. Why was Undyne contacting him at all? They were friends on Undernet, true, but only for Alphys’ sake. It seemed rude to friend Alphys and not open his account to her girlfriend as well, no matter how much he disliked that vicious woman. The feeling thus far had seemed mutual, and for the most part both Mettaton and Undyne pretended that the other’s account didn’t exist.

Until now, apparently.

Despite the lovely greeting she’d sent to him, Mettaton was reluctant to respond. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation, and if he wasn’t up to the four simultaneous conversations of his friends, Mettaton definitely did not want to go through the hell that was his every interaction with Undyne. Not today.

StrongFish91: Come on dude, it’s important.

He highly doubted it.

Regardless, it seemed unlikely that Undyne would give up and leave him alone if he decided to ignore her. The woman was stubborn as she was strong and passionate about the monsters that she once protected. Better to get it over with sooner, rather than wait and deal with an increasingly impatient monster.

Mettaton opened the chat.

MTT: What do you want, Undyne?

Her response was swift, and he didn’t even have time to put his phone down before the messages flew up on his screen.

Strongfish91: About time Strongfish91: I have a bone to pick with you, you over-glorified EZ Bake oven. Strongfish91: Bone pun intended.

Mettaton’s face dropped, so unamused with whatever she was on about that he was tempted to send a selfie to her just to get his emotions across. She would hate that, which made it perfect.

MTT: What do you think I did now? MTT: Also how is that a pun? I don’t have bones.

Strongfish91: YOU don’t have bones, but you’re screwing around with someone who has a lot of them. Because he’s a skeleton. Who happens to be MY friend. Who I’ll wreck your metal ass for if you hurt him at all. Strongfish91: I swear I will, don’t try me.

Oh right. Alphys had mentioned that Papyrus had been talking about their time together on Undernet. Apparently Undyne was a friend of this CoolSkeleton95. Lovely. He rolled his eyes. There was no doubt in his mind that she would make good on her word, but he didn’t need her telling him how to run his own relationships.

MTT: We just hung out. As friends. And I happened to like him enough that I asked him out on a date. I’m certainly not ‘screwing around’ with anyone here.

StrongFish91: You really better not. You should know that Papyrus really likes you (for some reason that I can’t fathom, considering you’re all hot air and boring television shows), so you better not be playing with his feelings here.

Mettaton decided not to comment on her opinions on him and his work. There was a time and place for that debate, and it wasn’t that moment. He couldn’t resist shooting back a sarcastic comment, though. As if he was oblivious to how Papyrus felt about him.

MTT: Oh really? He likes me? I couldn’t tell from how he managed to get pregnant with my apparently mutually wanted child.

There was a long silence from Undyne’s end. Huh. He’d expected her to send something back about how ‘ew gross, don’t tell me about your personal life you weirdo’, which she was just asking for by attacking him in the first place. But there was nothing… and the nothing continued for so long that Mettaton grew bored of staring at his phone waiting for an answer. Was she so disturbed by the imagery of him having sex with her alleged friend that she blocked him on Undernet and refused to speak to him ever again?

Unlikely, but a robot could dream.

Either way, it seemed that the conversation was over. He pocketed his phone. There was a cake in his fridge with his name on it. Too many calories weren’t good for the soul, but he thought that he well deserved a little sweet treat in his trying time.

His phone vibrated.

“UGH!” Was it too much to ask to be left alone for just a few minutes. Once again he pulled it out to see who it was bothering him this time.

Oh glee, it was still Undyne.

StrongFish91: WHAT!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK StrongFish91: YOU GOT HIM PREGNANT?!?!?!

Oh. Had she not known? Oops.

MTT: I guess so.

StrongFish91: WHAT DO YOU MEAN ‘I GUESS’???

Telling her that he didn’t remember his night with Papyrus at all would likely end poorly for him. If he thought that Burgerpants was infuriating, Undyne would be a direct danger to his health. Her skeleton buddy could tell her about it if he wanted, but Mettaton wasn’t about to dig himself a deeper hole with a monster that he didn’t even like.

MTT: I mean obviously that is the case. Since I just told you that’s what happened. He didn’t tell you?

StrongFish91: NO!!! WHAT THE FUCK. He didn’t mention it at all. StrongFish91: I swear I’m going to noogie that sneaky little nerd into dust.

MTT: I hope that you won’t actually kill him. We have a date coming up.

StrongFish91: Of course I’m not going to actually kill him, he’s my best friend. I can’t believe I had to find out about this shit from you, I swear to god, what the hell Papyrus. StrongFish91: I swear you better treat him good or I’m going to kick your ass right back Underground. I’m not obligated to protect all monsters (including arrogant, weirdo robots) anymore so I’ll do it.

MTT: I don’t doubt it. Can I go now? I’m starved, and it looks like you have a lot to talk about with your best friend.

StrongFish91: Ugh, whatever. I don’t know how a robot can be starved anyway. StrongFish91: Don’t think this is over though, you better not break his heart. StrongFish91: Later

MTT: Thanks for the ‘charming’ talk.

And he breathed out a sigh of relief. Finally that ordeal was over. Talking with Undyne was always stressful, and now he had to deal with her as the best friend of the monster he happened to be going on a date with. Who knew that a pregnant skeleton could bring so much excitement into his life. Not even the good kind of excitement.

Mere minutes passed before someone knocked on his door. That must be Undyne. Even if she’d gotten her point across on Undernet, it’d be just like her to still show up at his house to continue threatening him in person. And if he didn’t hurry to answer the door, she would probably break it in and that was the last thing he wanted. He’d seen the damage that she could cause in person.

Mettaton let out a heavy sigh, letting the fridge door fall shut as he made his way to the front entrance. Could a robot celebrity not get one day all to himself, undisturbed? At least the hangout with Papyrus had been a nice break, but he could use some time alone to recharge both his literal and metaphorical batteries.

He pulled the door open with his fake smile prepared, ready to face the aggressive force of energy that was the former Captain of the Royal Guard. “Yes?”

But Undyne wasn’t there.

What? He blinked, disoriented as he had to turn his head down to look at who’d been knocking at the door, his visitor nothing like the tall fish monster that he had been expecting.

A skeleton stood on his doorstep—shorter than Papyrus, and even more familiar. Ah. Papyrus had mentioned his brother. Several times, in fact, both complaining about his laziness around the house and gushing about this or this thing that he would do that made up for all his previous offenses. He was sure that this was his brother.

Mettaton didn’t expect that he already knew him.

“You’re, ah…” He wracked his memory, trying to pinpoint exactly where he knew the skeleton from. It was… Well Papyrus had mentioned his name, hadn’t he? And he had… worked for Mettaton as… right. “Sans, correct? Papyrus’ brother?”

Sans had been one of the acts to perform at his restaurant back Underground, though not a regularly scheduled one. As Mettaton understood that he had other jobs to deal with, but Sans was generally willing to cover up an empty slot or take over a canceled act as long as the pay was good. And under Mettaton’s watch, the entertainment he hired would always get good pay.

“heh, right. i’m surprised you got it on the first guess,” he said in such a way that left Mettaton unsure of whether he should be offended or not. “yep, that’s me. sans. sans the skeleton. brother of papyrus, who is also a skeleton.”

Of course.

Mettaton crossed his arms, dropping the forced smile in favor of a puzzled look. “Yes, Papyrus had quite a bit to say about you when we were spending time together—I didn’t get the pleasure of seeing you at all during that, though.”

Sans shrugged. “just givin’ my bro some space so he could have a bit of ‘private time’ with his baby daddy.”

He sputtered at that, circuits heating up. He hadn’t expected Sans to come and just bluntly lay it out in front of him like that. While it wasn’t wholly inaccurate… well, it was oversimplified! Obviously!

“Can I help you, Sans?” he demanded, stiffening. “Or did you just come to insinuate that we did anything but spend some completely-platonic time together?”

The lights in Sans’ sockets flickered out, leaving an unnerving empty grin for a full couple of seconds before they returned. Mettaton suppressed the urge to shiver. Even without his expression shifting by a millimeter, the brief change had been enough to make him feel uneasy. Which was silly. Mettaton had said nothing wrong to begin with.

“you can help me actually.” Sans’ grin grew just enough to feel unnatural. He slipped his hands into his pockets. “see, my bro told me all about how you guys hung out, and about how much fun he had in it.”

“Yes, and?” What was wrong with that? “Anyone would be delighted to spend time with a star such as myself, and I just gave Papyrus a great time. As he obviously told you about.”

“right. not disputing that. paps had a good time, i’m happy for him.”

“Then what—?”

Before Mettaton could finish his question, frustrated and fed up with how little sense his former part-time employee was making, Sans cut him off with a wave of his hand. Mettaton fumed, just barely biting back the urge to snap. He had half a mind to tell the skeleton to get off of his doorstep and leave him alone, but instead he complied and fell silent. Only because he wanted to know what on earth Sans was getting at.

“my bro really likes you. obviously. otherwise he wouldn’t be pregnant with your kid right now. he really likes you, and the fact that you’re spending time with him means a lot more to him than he’ll ever admit. he’ll probably jump off a bridge if you asked him to.” Sans paused. “no, really, that’s not an exaggeration, he’d do it. please don’t ask my bro to jump off a bridge.”

Uh-huh. “I won’t.”

“good,” Sans said with a firm nod, as if there’d been some reasonable doubt about whether he’d actually ask Papyrus to jump off a bridge. Mettaton resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “anyway, though. paps? likes you a whole lot. and he’s sort of already accepted that you probably won’t like him back like he likes you. and that’s fine. whatever. you don’t gotta tell me, i don’t want to know right now. that’s between you n’ him.

“what i’m trying to say here is, don’t fuck around with him. he said that you asked him out on a real date here, and i just want to make sure that you aren’t going to be leading him on for… i dunno, whatever the hell you want, it doesn’t matter. paps’ll get over it if you end up just wantin’ to be friends or nothing or you just want to know the kid and not him or anything. definitely not saying that you’ve got to marry him or whatever, just… don’t mess with him. please don’t make him feel like a gullible idiot when he finds out that you don’t like him or that you just want to keep things platonic. don’t get his hopes up if you aren’t planning to actually go through with it, cool?”

Mettaton was pretty sure that Sans’ little speech was the most he’d ever spoken without a single joke slipped in. To berate him over something that he already knew not to do. A part of him was almost offended that Sans was implying that he wanted to lead Papyrus on for no reason. As if he didn’t have more standards than that.

But he understood where he was coming from. If someone approached Blooky, he’d have their head on a spike the moment his cousin felt like they weren’t the most precious and wonderful thing in the entire world to them. Just this once, he’d allow this (gross mis)judgement of his character slide.

“I promise you, I don’t intend to string Papyrus along. He’s a sweet monster. This is just one date. I’m curious to see if a relationship could work out, and if not? I’ll tell him that, and I’m sure that he can find someone just as lovely to him as I bet he’ll be to them,” he assured Sans, the tension melting from his shoulders. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Sans nodded, expression neutral. Mettaton wasn’t sure if he believed him or not, but Sans didn’t press him any further.

“great. thanks for the talk buddy. i’ve got a job to attend to now, so i’ll leave you to your… i dunno, making your lipstick-wine hybrid  or whatever it is you do when you’re home. do me a favor and don’t tell paps that i came here, ok? later, hotbox,” he said with a tilted grin and a wink.

“I—what?” Mettaton blinked, thrown by Sans’ sudden shift in demeanor from serious to carefree. But when his eyes opened again that split-second later, his front porch was empty. “What? Sans?”

Somehow the skeleton was gone, nowhere to be seen. O…kay then. Feeling more unsettled than he’d ever been in his life, Mettaton retreated inside his house. Alone once again. Well… hopefully. There was no telling where Sans had gone off to in the literal blink of an eye. He couldn’t rule out a bit of classic breaking and entering.

(Or, more accurately, just entering if there was no breaking of his things involved, he supposed. Unwelcome and intruding either way.)

He wasn’t looking forward to the next time he got a knock at his door.

----------------------------------------------------------

Or well, maybe there was one time where he would accept a knock.

It was the day of his date with Papyrus, and Mettaton was surprised at how much he was actually looking forward to it. He felt curious about how Papyrus would act in a romantic setting. Seriously, Mettaton imagined. After all, the hang out had been guided by some manual, supposedly, and Mettaton wondered if Papyrus would put the same treatment into an actual date.

So when that knocking came at last, announcing Papyrus’ arrival to take him to their planned venue, Mettaton found himself gladly going to answer it for the first time since before Papyrus’ fateful first visit.

And when he answered, that was definitely Papyrus at the door.

But… Wow.

Mettaton had no idea that a suit could look so good on someone made up entirely of bones, but he found himself raking his eyes down the broad chest to where the pants hugged his hipbones. He’d always thought of himself as someone who preferred the tall, handsome, and muscular sort of look.

Seeing Papyrus now, he’d have to rethink his stance on that one. All bones didn’t look half bad.

Said owner of the bones coughed, bringing Mettaton’s attention back up to his face, a nervous smile greeting him.

Mettaton’s mouth curled into a smile. “You clean up well, sweetheart.”

“AH! DO YOU THINK SO?” Was that an orange tint in those rounded cheekbones? Was he blushing? How cute. “OF COURSE, IT’S NO PROBLEM AT ALL FOR ME TO DRESS APPROPRIATELY, SO I DID NOT SPEND VERY MUCH TIME GETTING READY—CERTAINLY NOT SEVERAL HOURS, HOPING THAT YOU WOULD THINK THAT I LOOK GREAT! THERE WAS ABSOLUTELY NO DOUBT AT ALL!”

“Well whether you were trying or not, you succeeded.” He offered his arm out to the skeleton. “Shall we get going?”

Papyrus nodded vigorously as he took Mettaton’s arm, a huge smile on his face. “OF COURSE… D-DEAR.” His voice dropped with the ‘dear’, a charming blush on his cheekbones.

Mettaton pressed his free hand over his mouth as they made their way to his driveway, suppressing his laughter. He didn’t want Papyrus to get the idea that he was making fun of him, but it was too sweet how shy he seemed about using the same endearments that came so naturally to the celebrity.

Papyrus’ car was sleek and a bright shiny red, reminiscent of the bed that he’d spoken so fondly over when Mettaton had gone over to his house. The man certainly loved cars, and it was obvious in how well-kept this one was. Papyrus opened the passenger door for him with a flourish, and Mettaton slid into his seat with a nod of thanks. What a gentleman he was. He fastened his seatbelt, getting a good feel for the smooth leather seats as Papyrus got into the driver’s side.

“I’m almost disappointed that you didn’t show this to me when I came to your house, darling,” Mettaton commented, allowing his eyes to roam about the car’s interior. A cute little air freshener in the shape of a puzzle piece hung from the mirror, making him wonder where Papyrus had gotten ahold of it. He’d only ever seen trees and leaves. “It’s very nice.”

“THANK YOU!” Papyrus brightened up at the compliment, his previous shyness vanishing with a smile that seemed to light up the car around them. The skeleton glanced away to fiddle with his mirrors and start the car, but his smile didn’t fade a bit. “MOST OF MY FRIENDS AREN’T INTERESTED IN CARS, AND I DIDN’T WANT TO BORE YOU IN CASE YOU WEREN’T EITHER!”

It might be a little mean to point out then that what Papyrus had shown him was rather childish, and Mettaton would’ve much preferred to see such a nice car. Mettaton decided not to bring that little detail up, though, focusing on the present instead.

“Well, I may not know much about cars myself, but I think that yours is very cool,” he said. A short pause passed before he added, “Just like the monster driving it.”

And if he were honest, the more he thought about it, the more endearing it was to him that Papyrus could be so unabashedly proud of every interest he had.

Papyrus blinked at him, brief shock dominating his expression, as if he couldn’t believe that Mettaton had actually called him (and his car) cool. It vanished quickly, and his face broke back into his confident grin that looked most at home on the skeleton’s face.

“THANK YOU! MY BROTHER ACTUALLY FOUND IT AND HELPED ME BUY IT. I LOVE IT VERY MUCH!! AND ITS PASSENGER HAPPENS TO BE VERY COOL AND HANDSOME AS WELL.”

Mettaton found himself smiling without thinking about it. How precious.

They pulled out of the driveway, and Mettaton took another good look around the car—clean, not a bit of trash or clutter or scuff marks, to the point where Mettaton would’ve guessed that it was a new car. Yes. He could tell just how much Papyrus loved the car.

A comfortable silence fell between them. Papyrus relaxed into his driving, and Mettaton was happy to stare out the car window as they drove. For a monster who’d only been around cars since coming to the surface, as all of them were, Papyrus knew his very well, and the drive was just as smooth as any human who’d escorted Mettaton thus far. He was content to allow Papyrus to do his driving and bask in the comfort of his company and the soft music coming from the radio.

Although… he did wonder about something.

“How did your talk with your friend go?” Mettaton broke the silence, turning in his seat to look at the other.

Papyrus met his gaze, bemused, only pulling away to check the road again. “HUH? WHAT DO YOU MEAN?”

“Undyne,” he clarified, resting his chin in his hand. “She contacted me on Undernet the other day, and I may have accidentally told her about your condition—although I would’ve thought that you would’ve told the news to the person who claims that you’re her best friend.”

“AH, THAT! OF COURSE SHE’S MY BEST FRIEND! I JUST… MAY HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THE RIGHT TIME TO TELL HER?”

“Which was when?”

“I DON’T KNOW! BUT I GUESS WHEN SHE CAME BARGING INTO MY HOUSE DEMANDING AN EXPLANATION WAS THE RIGHT TIME TO COME CLEAN!” Papyrs was describing someone literally breaking into his house, and yet he didn’t seem at all bothered by it. A bright smile adorned his face, keeping up the cheerful tone of someone speaking fondly of another’s harmless antics.

Which Mettaton wouldn’t consider anyone, even a best friend, barging into his house ‘harmless antics’ at all.

“I apologize. That would be my fault.”

“OH IT’S NO PROBLEM AT ALL! NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE. SHE HAD TO KNOW AT SOME POINT ANYWAY!” Papyrus turned that dazzling smile on him, and it was Mettaton’s turn to avert his gaze.

“Still. I’m sorry about that. How did your talk go?”

“VERY WELL ACTUALLY! SHE WAS VERY SUPPORTIVE, DID NOT NOOGIE ME, AND DID NOT OFFER TO DUST YOU IN THE SLIGHTEST! AND I DID NOT HAVE TO TELL HER TO PLEASE NOT DO THAT BECAUSE YOU’VE BEEN VERY GREAT AND I’VE HAVE A VERY GOOD TIME SPENDING IT WITH YOU!”

“Ah. I’m glad to hear it.”

Something—probably the blatant way that Papyrus avoiding looking at him and shifted guiltily in his seat and his not so subtle claims—told him that the ‘did not happen’s of the conversation were actually what had happened. He let it drop. Papyrus could keep that ill-disguised secret for now. Mettaton didn’t want to ruin the mood of the date.

Instead he turned back to look out the window, quiet as he watched the scenery flit by. Papyrus fell silent as well, and Mettaton was glad for the lack of his usual urge to fill every inch of silence with some sort of chatter. Sitting like this wasn’t bad at all.

He was excited for the rest of their date.