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Mettaton took a deep breath. He hoped this worked; he didn’t know who else he would ask if it didn’t. He held the bouquet of flowers he’d just bought behind his back and knocked on Papyrus’s front door.
To his chagrin, Sans answered. “Oh, hey, Mettaton.”
“Hello, Sans.” Mettaton smiled tightly. “Is Papyrus home?”
“Yeah, he’s upstairs. Hey, Pap! Mettaton’s here to see ya.”
“Oh! Okay, I’ll be right down!” Papyrus called. In just a minute, he took his brother’s place at the front door. “Hello, Mettaton, what a lovely surprise!”
“Glad to have caught you, darling.” Mettaton smiled, more genuinely this time.
“Yes! So, did you need something?”
“I suppose I’ll get straight to the point. I really like you, Papy. You’re so fun to be around, and… I wondered if maybe you’d like to go on a date?” Mettaton pulled the flowers up front.
“Oh!” Papyrus seemed genuinely shocked. “You mean… like a romantic date?”
“…Yes?”
“Oh. Um, well…” Papyrus tapped his foot. “There’s a teensy, beansy, weansy little problem with that.”
Of course, Mettaton thought. “And that would be…?”
“I’m aromantic.”
Mettaton blinked; had he misheard something. “You’re what?”
“Aromantic! It means I don’t experience romantic attraction.”
“Oh. Um, what does that mean, exactly?”
“Well, it differs from person to person, but for me, I’ve never really met someone I felt like dating, or kissing, or doing anything stereotypically ‘romantic’ with,” Papyrus explained.
“Wait… really?” That sounded shockingly familiar…
“Yup! I’m very happy by myself. And my friends, of course.” Papyrus smiled. “I hope I haven’t hurt your feelings… I do like you a lot! But as a cool, spectacularly bright friend.”
“No, no… things actually make sense now. I had no idea that was a thing!” exclaimed Mettaton. “Aromantic… it really does make sense. Papy, I think I’m aromantic!”
“Oh, really? That’s great!” Papyrus beamed. “But then, um, why did you ask me out, exactly?”
Mettaton smiled apologetically. “Truthfully… all those tabloid reporters have been bugging me about being single—I’m sure you’ve seen them. I just wanted to get them off my back, so I just thought, who’s the coolest person I know? And, well… it was you!” he laughed. “I don’t think I’m actually attracted to you, now that I think about it. I think I was just trying to figure out who I would date, if I were interested in that.”
“Ah, well! Very good to know I’m the coolest friend in your book!”
“Yes…” Mettaton looked down at the flowers he’d brought. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with these now.”
“Oh, I’ll still take them! They’re very nice, and they’re not roses, so I won’t get any awkward questions!” Papyrus held out his hands for the bouquet.
“That works.” Mettaton smiled. “Thank you so much, Papy. Honestly, I can’t believe I didn’t know that about you. Some friend I am…”
“Don’t worry about it! It’s only really come up in these kinds of situations.”
Soon after, Mettaton said goodbye, after thinking he and Papyrus should talk more about that sometime.
In the meantime, he had something to tell the press.