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Please let this be it, please let this be it, please let this be it, Mettaton thought to himself as Papyrus got up from the couch and headed to the bathroom.
He tried to watch what was happening on the television, but it was nothing but a blur of colors. He rubbed his hands together, played with his fingers, gritted his teeth. He almost wished he’d gone with Papyrus, but he feared he would throw up before he got to the bathroom. As it was, his stomach roiled.
He heard the pad of bony feet on the floor, and they didn’t sound excited. Mettaton felt a sinking feeling in his chest.
He knew what Papyrus was going to say before he even stepped into the room and said it. Papyrus shook his head. “Negative.”
“Damn,” Mettaton breathed. He leaned on the arm of the chair and covered his face with his hand. After a few seconds, he looked up. “I don’t understand, we’ve tried so many times…”
“Well, don’t give up hope yet, starlight! We still have to test me.” Papyrus was smiling, but Mettaton could tell his husband was mostly putting on a brave face.
“What’s the use? It’s going to be negative too, like it has been the past ten times.” Despite his words, Mettaton got up to go to the bathroom with Papyrus and administer the test.
When the test was done, and all they had left to do was to wait, they returned to the couch, Mettaton reclining across it and Papyrus laying on top of him, his head resting on the robot’s chest.
“…If this one is negative too, do you want to keep trying?” Papyrus asked after several minutes.
Mettaton blinked quickly. “…I don’t know.”
“We do have other options, if this just isn’t working.”
“I know, but I want this to work. But… I don’t know, I’ve been thinking… maybe something’s wrong with me.” Mettaton hated that he’d been thinking it, but he couldn’t keep it to himself any longer.
Papyrus’s head moved sharply, so he had a clear view of Mettaton’s face. “Wrong with you? What do you mean?”
“Maybe—maybe because my body isn’t really human or monster. So I just don’t have the ability to carry, or even… even pass anything on.” Mettaton’s voice trembled.
“Well, we don’t know that yet! Mettaton, you know monsters of different species have a harder time conceiving than monsters of the same species.”
“Is it this hard, though?”
“Well…. I don’t know, but I’m not giving up hope yet,” Papyrus said firmly. “The only way I’ll ever give up on this is if you decide you don’t want to try anymore.”
Mettaton wiped his eyes and smiled a little. “I wouldn’t expect any less from you.” He glanced at the fireplace clock. “Has it been fifteen minutes yet?”
“Just about, I think.” Papyrus moved to get up. “Want me to check again?”
“No, it’s only fair I do it this time.” Mettaton stood. His legs felt like jelly.
“We can go together…?”
“No, I need a minute.”
Mettaton got to the bathroom, standing outside the open door. The room was dark, so he couldn’t see the test results from here. He took several deep breaths. It’s going to be okay. Even if it’s negative, you’ve got Papyrus, he reminded himself.
He turned on the light and picked up the test stick, fully expecting to see a minus symbol on the little screen.
Mettaton blinked and looked again, more closely. No way… I must be dreaming, it can’t be…
But he wasn’t dreaming. There was no mistaking it—a plus symbol blinked on the screen.
Mettaton covered his mouth with his hand.
“Mettaton? You’ve been out here a while, are you—” Papyrus came around the corner into the bathroom, stopping short when he saw Mettaton staring at the test stick. His eye sockets widened. “Is it—?”
Mettaton nodded, tears pouring down his face.
Papyrus took hold of the test stick and squinted at it. Then he looked to Mettaton, and Mettaton could see the tears welling in the skeleton’s eye sockets.
“Didn’t I tell you?” Papyrus’s voice wavered.
“We’re going to be dads, Papyrus!” Mettaton threw his arms around Papyrus and spun around, knocking a few things off the counter in the process.
“Careful, now! I’m holding precious cargo!” Papyrus laughed.
Mettaton put Papyrus down and gazed at him. “I can’t believe it. Finally… I guess there’s nothing wrong with me, after all.”
“Of course there isn’t!” Papyrus cupped Mettaton’s face with his hands and pressed his skeleton’s smile to Mettaton’s lips. Mettaton fully leaned into the kiss, feeling like he was floating.
When they finally pulled apart, Mettaton kept holding Papyrus’s hands. “Should we tell everyone yet, or make sure it… it’s going to last before we…?”
“I don’t think I could possibly keep this a secret! Come on, let’s drive over to Sans’s place right now!” Papyrus pulled Mettaton out of the bathroom and beelined for the hallway drawer with his car keys.
Mettaton laughed as they ran to the car. He was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to keep the secret, either. He’d been dreaming about it for far too long.
If all went well, he was going to be a father. And he was going to make damn sure all went well.