Chapter Text
Everyone has a bad month every now and then. Everyone has a week or two of their life where things don’t go well, no matter what it is. Mettaton knew this, except, he was expecting his worst weeks to look a lot different than this. To sum it up: he had been outed forcefully during school one day when a kid started to ask him why he dressed so weird for a guy. It didn’t piss Mettaton off at first, but by the tenth minute of “but why?”’s, he was pretty fucking salty. He ended up saying something along the lines of ‘maybe I was born a girl’ in a tone that was a little too snarky and rumors caught on quickly. After everyone started questioning what was going on in Mettaton’s pants, he shamefully admitted to being a girl (at least, biologically) and it got worse from there. The popular kids were too weirded out to talk to him (their wording exactly) and most people started to treat him different. He hadn’t been kicked out of drama, though, which was the only thing he really cared about. In all honesty, he was pretty upset about this all. His parents were loving and supporting, but he needed friends to support him, too. He refused to let anyone see that part, though. He’d be dead before people knew he was both sad and trans.
Today wasn’t any more shitty than normal. He ate in the bathroom for the most part because he couldn’t handle eating alone, and he sat up front in class so he could at least pretend like other people didn’t exist. His makeup was nothing less than perfect at any given moment.. In reality, he probably looked the best during these past weeks compared to any other time in his life. It was a little sad. The school day was over before he really bothered to notice, and then he realized it was raining. It wouldn’t have been bad if he had woken up to a full container of waterproof mascara, but he was fresh out of that this morning, and he had gone with something shitty and very much not waterproof. He sighed at this fact, knowing he’d have to face it one way or another. He went inside to see if there was an umbrella he could snag from the lost and found, and to his luck, there was one there. He felt as if this somehow signified his luck getting better, and he headed right back into the chilly afternoon with a small smile on his face. He was still getting used to walking home. He refused to take the bus, but his ride had stopped talking to him after he was out. It wasn’t a long walk, really, it was just something he’d rather not do.
Of course, just as he was beginning to think that maybe somehow things were going to get good, they had to get bad again. He was walking quietly, listening to his music and not bothering a soul when a car suddenly sped by him, effectively dousing him in dirty water. He was stunned, barely hearing whatever slurs were thrown his way as his makeup started to run. After a moment or two, it all caught up to him, and he sniffled quietly before closing the umbrella. He’d rather get clean water all over him versus the muddy water that was currently stuck to his clothes. He rubbed his eyes, trying to clean up anything running down his face as he trudged down the road. After a few minutes, he decided to just head into some shop and call his mom or something, because suddenly his determination had disappeared. Now he really did look sad, and it was probably the worst thing to happen so far. He slipped into a local coffee shop, recognizing it as the place that one weirdly-named kid worked at. His name was Papyrus or some other font. That was all Mettaton knew about him, that and the fact that the other boy was pretty cute. However, he sat down on one of the couches quickly in an attempt to keep himself unnoticed, not wanting to be seen by anyone who had any clue who he was.
“Oh, whose that over there? Oh my god, Mettaton?” Well, looks like that plan backfired pretty hard. He put on a smile, rubbing at his face one last time before glancing up. It was that cute kid he had mentioned before, with the font for a name. He looked a little distressed, as if some celebrity had just walked into his brother’s shitty coffee shop. Well, Mettaton couldn’t say that it wasn’t flattering, but he could also say it was the last way he wanted to be treated right now. He took a deep breath, trying to convince himself to keep it together. This poor kid didn’t deserve to hear about his shitty day and deal with the breakdown he was fighting off.
“Hello,” Mettaton managed, his voice shaking just a little. “Sorry to be intruding like this, just… I got a little wet.”
“A little? You’re soaked! I saw those guys speeding by and splashing water everywhere, did they do that to you?” he asked, coming over from behind the counter to examine how much water Mettaton was getting on the couch.
“Y-Yeah… Oh, god, I should get up. I’m so sorry. I just wanted a place to go that wasn’t cold or wet so I could call my mom,” Mettaton said, mildly panicking.
“No, no! It’s fine, really, these couches are older than anything in here and Sans covered them in this weird thing that makes them easier to clean- Anyways! Hello! I am Papyrus. Are you okay? I recognized you from school. Do you want a towel and maybe some hot chocolate?” he asked, speaking very fast and very loud. Mettaton was a little put-off by it, but he made no comments on that matter.
“A towel would be nice. I don’t know about the hot chocolate, though. I don’t have any money with me and… I bet you’re probably going to make me drink it for free or something.”
Papyrus nodded with a grin that looked like it might hurt his face. Mettaton replied with a sigh, but then gave his okay anyway and let the other boy run off and bring him things. He felt bad about making Papyrus do that, but he realized that he probably would have done it whether Mettaton said yes or no. While he waited for a towel, he tried to get himself as far away from the couch as he could without actually getting up, not wanting to cause any problems with the couch.
He was even more disgruntled when he saw another figure coming downstairs along with Papyrus. It was probably that older brother that apparently everyone loved, but Mettaton obviously didn’t know him. All he knew was that this was just another person who would be seeing him in his worst moments. Papyrus had a few towels and hurried over to Mettaton while the other person went to begin the hot chocolate. Mettaton got up and took a towel, drying himself off to the best of his ability while Papyrus cleaned up all the spots that he had gotten wet. He had a faint flush on his face from how flustered he felt, but Papyrus must’ve either not noticed or not cared. He eventually felt that he was dry enough to sit down again, and once he did he more or less curled in on himself and avoid making eye contact. However, despite his attempts to eradicate himself from the visible plane, the other teenager sat next to him and patted his shoulder.
“Don’t feel so down, Mettaton! I’m sure they didn’t entirely mean to cover you in water, and even if they did, who cares? They’re just proving that you’re better than them. You also didn’t really make that much of a mess. It would have been worse if we hadn’t been doing this all day, it’s been pouring out since school started!” Papyrus attempted to console the sad teenager beside him. Mettaton really did appreciate it, but…
Something about hearing those compliments from someone as nice and unheard of as Papyrus made it hurt even worse. For some stranger to still insist that he was better than anyone else made his heart ache in a weird way, and now he was struggling to not cry. He was sad, his makeup was gone, and his hair was a mess. He was everything that his definition of pretty wasn’t.
“I’ve spent all of high school trying to make myself seem like royalty, all for it to come crashing down because someone realized that I used to be a girl. Who even cares? God, now I’m sounding like my stupid cousin who’s pissed all the time, but it’s true! Why does my gender matter at this point? I’m so close to being done with all of high school, a-and… Now I can’t even fake being pretty,” he said, not realizing that he was unloading all of his issues onto this stranger who hadn’t asked for his life troubles.
“Well, I can see why you’re so upset. I can’t say I know how you feel in terms of gender, but I can imagine how coming out and being treated this way would feel,” Papyrus said. “We have all seen it before, haven’t we? Someone comes out and loses all of their awful friends, and in the end they wind up with a wonderful life. Maybe this is a part of your story arc?”
Mettaton wasn’t sure if Papyrus knew how into theater he was, or if he was maybe just a secret genius with finding ways to motivate people, but either way he felt a little better almost instantly. Maybe he was right? How was Mettaton supposed to know if this was just all part of some kind of plan and better things were just on their way? He didn’t! He smiled faintly and glanced over at Papyrus, trying to shape his hair into drying into it’s normal state.
“You’re good at comforting people,” he said softly, giving him a soft, yet warm smile. The other boy seemed very excited about this compliment.
“I really try! Now, I think it would be a wonderful idea if you maybe came upstairs and got a blanket to keep warm. It’s very dangerous to be wet and cold, you could get sick!” Papyrus insisted. “Also, I may or may not want to hear more about what happened to you. As you have vaguely confirmed, you don’t have many friends. That would be rude of me to point out, but I am offering to fill the position of your first wonderful friend!”
Mettaton was a little confused by the offer, not sure if it was creepy or cute, but hearing what came after the offer convinced him that Papyrus was actually the start of the good things in his life. He’d never met anyone this genuine and sweet before today, and he knew that he would have never met Papyrus in his old situation. He nodded in response, realizing that his new friend was waiting patiently for him to answer.
“Darling, that sounds like the best thing I’ve been offered this whole week,” he said softly with a very Mettaton™ smile. The other teenager looked like he had just been given the best news of his life, and that only changed when his brother came over with two cups of hot cocoa. Mettaton put on his most polite smile, realizing that it was suddenly very important for him to make a good impression.
“Here ya go, kids. How’s it going, uh, Mettaton? I think that’s what your name was, right?” Sans asked with a smile, looking surprisingly tired. He seemed like he was sick, but not the contagious kind of sick. He handed them their drinks and sat down across from them in one of the chairs.
“Yeah, that’s me. And… Um, what would be your name?” he asked, sitting up straighter as he tried to get more comfortable with this situation.
“I’m Sans, his older brother,” the shortest of the group replied, leaning back and covering a little cough. “Don’t mind me, I’m always sick. You two should go upstairs and get comfy. I’ll take over the shop.”
Papyrus nodded and shot up, taking Mettaton’s hand. He pulled the other boy over to and up the stairs, making sure neither of them spilled their drinks. It was really good cocoa, after all. Mettaton wasn’t listening as he was pulled into the other teen’s room, too busy stuck in his thoughts. He vaguely registered that it wasn’t that important anyway, he was just rambling about movies. He was busy thinking about how perfect this set up was and how comfortable it was in Papyrus’ room and how much he loved his blankets and how warm he was when he leaned on him. He hardly noticed that it was dark out until Papyrus told him it was six P.M., and even then he didn’t care. He called his mom who let him spend the night, and from then on he let himself indulge in the beginning of his character arc.
-
They started dating about two months after they met. Mettaton had fallen in love with the bright-eyed, dorky, happy Papyrus in about a week, which was probably a new record for him. He fell hard, too. Every morning he’d text him and he’d spend as much of his day with Papyrus, either by coming over to his shop or texting him all day. He spent every weekend up in his room doing homework with him. It was honestly amazing that Papyrus didn’t get the hint, but Sans reassured Mettaton that everyone knew what was going on. That was about three weeks after they had met. Sans had originally been vaguely disapproving, mostly due to his protective habits, but he quickly accepted Mettaton as an eventual addition to their family. The conversation was surprisingly not awkward. It was something like this; after convincing Mettaton to stay downstairs for a moment, Sans jumped to it quickly.
“You know, we all know you like him. And, uh… To put it simply, he likes you too. A lot. He might not show it in the most conventional ways, but he talks about you whenever you’re not around. And I don’t think I’ve heard him talk about anything else. I’m not confessing for him or anything, I just want you to know. I think you’ll make each other happy.”
And that was more or less it. After that, things slowly fell into place. Mettaton made his flirting more direct and Papyrus was a bit bolder with his own. They became a couple before anything was official, but that didn’t matter to them. Mettaton asked the question while they were in the middle of a kiss’n’cuddle session, and Papyrus responded with a laugh and a “well, I think everyone would be happier that way”, which made them both giggle for a few moments. After that, they were a couple. Everything wasn’t better for Mettaton. He had made friends with Papyrus’, but he was still heavily made fun of for being trans. It became much more manageable with a group of friends who not only respected his pronouns, but also made it a big deal that everyone else do the same. Still, it was another thing that added to his sad thoughts at mightnight(™?), and sometimes he got really sad. At the very least, he had Papyrus around to assure him that he definitely could be sad and pretty. And, every now and then, Papyrus would buy him waterproof mascara in ‘an attempt to help you stay pretty in every situation, according to your own standards’. He always gave his boyfriend a kiss for that and assured him of one thing;
“It’s you, darling, that keeps me pretty. You’re my waterproof mascara.”