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Papyrus would get into so much trouble without Mettaton to protect him.
He refuses to fight people seriously, even in self-defense. The local human bullies have picked up on this and spread the word around, or else he just has the look of someone who won’t fight back. He’s always being cornered by some group of kids or another.
Mettaton would like to say kids aren’t a threat to him, but Papyrus has come home with bruised and broken bones before when nobody intervened on his behalf. It’s painful to see him limp.
That’s why, if he ever runs into someone picking on Papyrus, he steps in. Whatever form he’s in, he can take a lot more punishment than Papyrus can, and more to the point, he doesn’t have the same hangups about fighting back.
He’s promised Papyrus he won’t kill anybody, at least not in Papyrus’ defense. He won’t promise the same for leaving as many bruises and broken bones as they would have left on Papyrus, no matter how much Papyrus begs him to. It’s only fair that they receive a punishment for their actions.
If Papyrus is already injured when he gets there, Mettaton carries him home after the bullies have scattered, so that he can fuss over him. Papyrus doesn’t complain about Mettaton’s tender loving care. After all, Papyrus is the only one who gets such attention from him.
But he’d trade being able to take care of Papyrus for knowing Papyrus was safe, any day.
Mettaton would get into so much trouble without Papyrus to protect him.
Papyrus adores him and all, but he does have a few flaws, and one of them is that he’s argumentative and short-tempered. Particularly when it comes to his pride and his glamorous appearance. One human said that he wasn’t that good-looking, and they ended up in the hospital. Papyrus still cringes thinking about it.
That’s why he needs Papyrus to keep an eye socket out for him. Papyrus is very good at defusing situations that are about to come to blows. He puts himself between the two of them, smiles charmingly, and changes the subject to something the human will think is nicer to talk about. He’s become very good at that! He doesn’t even talk about the weather anymore, although the fact that there is weather at all is still interesting to him personally.
Sometimes, if the human still wants to have a fight, Papyrus will make an excuse for Mettaton to leave, such as dates that they forgot to go on or recordings of himself that they need to watch. (Mettaton loves those.) Then they make a quick getaway, sometimes with Papyrus picking Mettaton up and carrying him if he also still wants to have a fight.
Then they go have that date or watch that recording, because Papyrus is honest if nothing else.
Papyrus wishes Mettaton wouldn’t get into arguments like that, but he doesn’t want him to change who he is, not one bit.