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Chapter Text

"Stir it harder!" yelled Undyne. "The sugar is your enemy; treat it accordingly!"

"I-I will!" squeaked Alphys, forging confidence that could fool no one but herself.

Her claws wrapped tighter around the wooden spoon. She stirred in a sharp motion until the pot swayed from left to right, up and down. Before it had a chance to fall over, Undyne leaned slightly above Alphys and put both her hands on the handles, keeping it sternly in one place.

Alphys's stirring slowed down as her gaze slowly looked up to meet Undyne's. Her cheeks grew a deeper shade as she giggled awkwardly at the position they were in. Undyne responded with a toothy smile, mostly to hide her own fluster.

"Don't slow down, Al. Give it all you've got!" she encouraged, to which Alphys paused, embarrassed, before continuing the stirring motion at the same pace as before.

The sugar inside the pot melted into a thick brown paste. It wasn't quite caramel yet, but it still had that sickenly sweet scent to it. With each stir, it was harder to move the spoon.

To help herself a little, Alphys put her hand on Undyne's. Both of them blushed, but this time she didn't stop stirring until the paste smoothed out. It was almost like brown glass. Transparent, yet thick.

"Don't forget the water, beauties," chirped in Mettaton as another grape flew into his calculator mouth. His rectangular frame lay on Undyne's piano. somewhat seductively.

"We won't," said Undyne as she leaned away from the pot and Alphys.

She took her fish-shaped teacup from the sink and poured all the water from it into the pot. The caramel sizzled loudly.

"Uhm, U-undyne. We were supposed to add it carefully," said Alphys, "and just one-third of the water." Despite that, she tried mixing it all with the wooden spoon.

"It'll be fine, we'll just have to make it evaporate faster!" said Undyne as she cranked up the heat on the stove.

The flames were practically dancing around the pot. The previously rich brown caramel boiled in mere minutes. The mixture hardened significantly, making it much harder for Alphys to stir. Eventually, she just couldn't anymore and left the spoon inside the pot. It stood straight inside the hardened caramel.

The two of them just blinked at it, not quite sure what they had done wrong. At that point, it couldn't be called caramelized sugar anymore. It was just a big, hard, crystallized piece of sugar.

"M-maybe we should try to melt it?"

"Brilliant idea! Turn the heat up," said Mettaton, suddenly interested in what they were doing, but with no real intent to help them. One glance at the wooden spoon, and his amusement was undeniable.

"Heck yeah!" pleased with the idea, Undyne cranked the heat up yet again. At that point, the whole pot was swallowed by the dancing flames.

The spoon inside still stood straight inside the hard caramel, with the slight difference that now it was burning.

Undyne hummed under her breath with mild annoyance. "I don't get it. Is it not hot enough yet?! How much heat can caramel need before it starts melting?!"

As she reached for the stove knob, her hand was stopped by Alphys's.

"I d-don't think this will work" Said Alphys and turned the knob in the opposite direction.

The flames around the pot disappeared in seconds. The caramel inside wasn't the rich gold brown it was before. Now its color was closer to burnt wood, just like the spoon stuck inside. Luckily, it has stopped burning now.

"Well, well, I have to say, you've improved a lot!" proclaimed Mettaton as he shifted on his stomach, "the kitchen still didn't catch flames this time, draw me impressed!"

Undyne knocked on the hard caramel. "Seems edible enough to me."

"S-still. Maybe we should leave cooking to T-Toriel next time."

Undyne put one hand on the pot and another on the spoon. With a hard yank, then another, the spoon got out, and with it, the entire caramel. The caramel's form was more of a pot-shaped brick anyway. It could be best described as a big, hard lollipop on a burnt spoon. Smoke still escaped the mixture.

"A-are you really gonna try to eat it?" hesitantly asked Alphys.

"I actually wanted to take out only the spoon... But if you want to???"

She put it closer to Alphys, who gave her a mixed expression in return. She took the spoon and gently put the whole thing back inside the pot. It fit like a glove.

"Maybe w-we could have it later," she assured, to which Undyne nodded understandingly.

She only gave the spoon a quick, hard look, apparently annoyed at the spoon's eagerness to be one with the caramel. The spoon, unimpressed, remained stuck.

"Anyway, beauties!" exclaimed Mettaton, "There is a reason why I am here with you today."

"W-well, yeah. You wanna see how to make caramel and repeat it later on your show, right?" recalled Alphys.

"That is, a part of the truth. However, there is another part of the truth that I may have been hiding from the two of you," he replied as his hand dramatically flew towards his forehead.

"And what's that?" Asked Undyne as she rolled her eyes and reluctantly put the pot in the sink.

It was still quite hot. As the pot came in contact with the water on the bottom of the sink, it hissed and released white smoke. Alphys backed away a little.

"The truth is... I wanted to hear your advice about a certain skeleton," his monitor displayed a shape of a skull."I heard from my cousin that you two often engage in those cooking sessions together. So surely, you must be close."

Undyne's lips quivered into a teasing smile as she leaned on the kitchen counter. "Oh yeah, Papyrus and me? We're besties. He's an absolute bonehead," she recalled.

"Oh! Splendit! So surely, you must know how can I get in contact with him? Perhaps you may even have his number?" Mettaton poked his head towards Undyne as he sat up straight on the piano

"Are you seriously gonna ask me for Papyrus's number? Ask him for it yourself, dork!" she snorted, rather unimpressed. Alphys, on the other hand, tilted her head in confusion.

"W-why do you need it anyway? Do you want to be f-friends with him?" asked Alphys

"Something of that sort, yes. But it does not matter! What matters is that you know him!" he then proceeded to point his finger at Undyne, choosing to ignore her clearly teasing expression. "Please, do tell me something about him!"

Undyne scratched her chin as she hummed in thought.

"He's really great, if I'm honest. A silly dork with a big heart. I mean, heck, there's a reason he calls himself 'The Great Papyrus', he really is all that he says he is! Great, cool, kind, confident... maybe a little too kind-hearted sometimes. I don't get why you need to hear that from me. If you talked to him even once, then you'd see it for yourself!"

"A-are you too shy?" chirped in Alphys, "I-I mean, to talk to him"

"Ha! A star such as myself, too shy to talk to a handsome skeleton?" he laughed, "maybe."

Undyne's fish-like ears perked up. "Handsome?" she repeated.

"O-oh! If you're too shy to talk to him IRL- I mean, in real life... then maybe you should add him as a friend on u-undernet? You know, chat a little?" suggested Alphys, yet it was clear she also noticed how he called the skeleton.

"Oh my, Dr. Alphys! Brilliant as always! Now, how can I find him there?" he asked, clearly interested in the idea.

"Uhm, I-I'm not sure I know his username-..."

"It's 'CoolSkeleton95' with a capitalized 'c' and 's'. He doesn't have many friends there, so I'm sure he'll notice your request pretty soon," shrugged Undyne.

"I-I thought you didn't want to give him Papyrus's number???" asked Alphys, clearly puzzled. Undyne shot her a smile full of teeth in return.

"Adding someone on UnderNet is not nearly as creepy as phoning them without ever talking with each other before. Besides, what if he asks where he'd get his number?" The two of them turned to Mettaton

"I...! Didn't quite think about that, darling. But you are so correct! What if he were to assume I'm calling him as a part of the MTT show? The two of us had seen each other once or maybe twice before, but not to properly chit-chat! Just in the crowd, really" he quivered, "Ah yes, Alphys's idea is truly the better one!"

"H-hey, I'm happy I can help you! And besides, I like Papyrus too! He helped me become my most confident self!"

"Oh? How so, darling?"

"W-well... After my date with Undyne," she blushed, "Papyrus and I went on a run together. H-he made me run a hundred laps around the dumpster."

"Heck yeah, I remember that! He made you hoot about how great you are, right?" recalled Undyne with a slightly softer smile.

"R-right..." She turned a pinker shade. "Later, I had to explain online why I was screaming 'I am a delight' around the entirety of Waterfall... O-others were strangely supportive," she muttered under her breath.

Undyne turned to her and put both her hands under her shoulder blades before picking her up effortlessly, earning a quiet yelp from her still-embarrassed girlfriend.

"Of course they were supportive! You are a delight to be around," said Undyne with a loving certainty

Undyne planted a small kiss on Alphys's forehead, and somehow, Alphys was even redder than before. She put both her hands on her face in an attempt to cover her obvious feelings. Undyne laughed while putting her down, but it was undeniable that she was feeling flustered too.

"Oh my, that truly is adorable! But beauties, that's all I really needed from you." he waved them goodbye, and even made a heart with his screen. "Toodles!" he said before exiting the front door.

Chapter Text

He stretched on his pink star-themed bed, his metal body clanking in a few places.

Droplets of rain fell behind his dark pink star-themed curtains. He took a deep breath and pressed 'enter' on his laptop's keyboard. He sent it, he sent the invitation. He tossed the laptop aside as he couldn't bear to see the answer.

Yes, he did take Alphys's advice seriously. Despite everything, he was still quite reluctant to add Papyrus as a friend on the Undernet. It was still a better idea than calling him. Even tho Mettaton considered himself quite an irresistible person, the sole idea of that silly skeleton rejecting him was, well, a little depressing.

But still, he did it now. He added Papyrus as a friend, or at least sent a request.

How long did he have to wait for him to answer? And if he even accepts the request, which he obviously will, then which one of them should be texting first? Of course, Mettaton didn't mind making the first move, sending the first message, and just being the one leading the conversation. But he still wasn't quite used to this feeling towards him.

It started... well, he couldn't quite pinpoint it. It wasn't one singular thing that made him interested in the skeleton.

Sometimes, in Alphys's laboratory, he could see him on the screen.

Once, he saw him making a quite complicated puzzle. It was made of a bunch of multicolored tiles, each of which did a different thing. Depending on where a theoretical human would stand, the tiles would give them different effects.

Purple tiles would force anyone trying to solve them to be moved to another tile, and orange ones emitted a smell of oranges, which was important later if the person tried to move into a blue tile. Red tiles worked like walls, you couldn't walk through them...

He obviously knew how the puzzle worked. After all, he kept a similar one, with all the same rules. He'd be a liar if he didn't admit he was a little inspired by Papyrus's layout of the puzzle.

But that's not what piqued his interest.

The way Papyrus worked on the puzzle for literal weeks, never giving up, even when electricity struck him down once. He passed out on the spot. Yeah, he saw that on the screen. One moment he was connecting two wires together, and another moment he was lying on the ground unconscious. Then another skeleton, his brother, lay next to him. He pretended the two of them were just relaxing, so that Papyrus wouldn't have to explain what happened.

And the first thing he did when waking up? He didn't give up on the puzzle. He instead wore some red gloves to protect himself from electricity and still continued to work on it! Not only that, but his enthusiasm didn't dim at all, even with that unfortunate accident behind him. In fact, he felt encouraged by it!

Since that time, Mettaton had to admit, he liked to watch the skeleton more often. But it was just interest, yeah.

He saw him painting the library's sign into a librarby, much to the librarian's (librarbarian's?) annoyance. Still, he didn't let that get to him and continued helping around in the snowdin town. No matter what others said, no matter what others thought, he still went on. He never gave up.

Not only that, but hearing their mutual friends speak about him so dearly was... to put it simply, heartwarming. How he was a good friend to Undyne, and how he helped his dear friend Alphys overcome her issues, even just a little bit, was simply admirable.

It was such a contrast to see that on the screen. The two of them were so different, and yet so similar. Except one of them was on the big screen under the shining light of the reflectors, whilst another was only seen by Alphy's cameras, never to know just how admired he truly was by a star such as Mettaton himself.

Mettaton thought about it a lot more than he'd like to admit even to himself. It was such a silly thing, but... He honestly admired that skeleton and truly wanted him to shine under the light of the reflectors together. For the two of them to be seen for who they were, for how amazing they were.

But first, it would be great to get to know him better. In fact, it would be great to know him at all! They never talked before. Undyne reminded him of that. But seeing what type of person Papyrus was on the screen, he surely wouldn't be too different in person. That's what Mettaton hoped, at least.

He put the laptop at the edge of his bed and lay on his stomach in front of it, kicking his wheel back and forth like a teenage girl until he heard a noise he had been waiting for a sufficatingly long time. 

Papyrus accepted his friend request

"Eeek!" he squealed. 

In a moment's notice, he took the laptop back in his hand and scrolled right into his messages. He didn't have to think much about what to write, because much to his surprise, he already had an incoming message from Papyrus.

"HELLO FABULOUS! I HAVE TAKEN NOTICE OF YOUR REQUEST TO BE FRIENDS, AND I WHOLEHEARTEDLY ACCEPT! SAY, DO YOU ENJOY SOLVING PUZZLES?" 

Oh. my. god. 

Did he just- call him fabulous? Obviously, he was, but how could the skeleton know that?!-

Oh, right. His username. 'FabulousMech01'. Heh, right. Can't let himself lose his head over small things. 

He asked about puzzles, right? Yes, Mettaton could absolutely work with that. Obviously, he knew just how much passion does the skeleton give into his puzzles, so it really shouldn't be a surprise that was the first question he asked.

He stretched his arms and, upon taking a deep breath, wrote back.

"Hello skeleton. Yes, I indeed favor solving good puzzles from time to time. How about you, darling?"

He pressed Enter and leaned back against his pink wallpaper. Was the 'darling' in the end unnecessary? He thought of using the tilde symbol after it, but wouldn't that be a little too direct?

Ah, but it's just how he normally talks! That is, after all, a part of his performance act. Nobody paid more attention to it than they should, obviously. But it was quite different with the skeleton in mind. He didn't want to risk setting things straight too early, after all. They were just meeting for the first time! Oh, stars.

He couldn't get much more inside his head as another notification lit up his screen.

"SPLENDIT! SO DO I! I AM NOT SURE WHERE YOU RESIDE, SO LET'S MEET AT THE EDGE OF WATERFALL AND SNOWDIN TOWN! WHERE SNOW AND WATER MEETS, NYEH HEH HEH!"

Oh my, he sure had a way with words. Even when all of them were capitalized, and did he literally write 'nyeh heh heh'? He heard his laughter on the cameras once or twice, and yet the cameras around snowdin weren't exactly of a splendid quality, so the sound was rather unclear. 

"That sounds lovely. Let us meet at 4 pm, shall we?"

He sent.

"INDEED, WE SHALL!!!"

He answered.

Chapter Text

Undyne's fist hit the table. "Yes! This one is good enough!" she said through her gritted teeth. The same could be said about Alphys, in a way. She crossed her arms with a sigh. This was taking far too long.

"H-how many more do you have to try on?" asked Alphys with the remaining patience she had.

The circular stage has been turned into a neat makeshift runway. All lights pointed center stage, right where Mettaton has been standing. He spun in his swirly, grey dress. It sparkled like a disco ball with each light source blasting its light on it. His friends sat on chairs near the edge.

"How many more? Oh, darlings, you clearly know nothing about fashion," he put his hands on his hips. "I'll try on every dress I have, of course. It's so important to know how I'd look with each one of them on. At least one has to be the most fabulous"

He snapped his fingers, and with that, Burger Pants rolled in. He pushed a less-than-appropriately sized clothing rack with multiple dresses on it.

Carefully, he went through every one of them. The pink one was lame, the yellow one was tacky. And the teal one? Oh, the teal one was awfully 2010s. There wasn't a single one appropriate for the occasion. And besides, he already tried all of them on.

"Which one you pick?" asked Undyne, visibly annoyed. She shifted her weight impatiently.

"None of these are the ones I'm happy with. Simply, a tragedy," whined Mettaton as he put the back of his hand on his forehead and leaned back. Dramatically.

"What?!" Alphys, bewildered, stood from her chair. "They all look s-so great on you! How can you not like any of them?" Next to her, Undyne just straight up gave up arguing.

Mettaton sighed as he shifted his body into a more comfortable position. It clicked as metal rubbed against itself. "It is a simple truth of life, my dearest. Some clothes aren't fit for every occasion," he shrugged. "Luckily, I also have other clothes," he turned his head to Burger Pants, who still stood next to the clothing rack. He looked at his phone, bored.

Mettaton cleared his throat. Like a cat, Burger Pants immediately snapped his attention to him. "Uhm- yes! The other clothes," he went behind the rack he previously brought and pushed another clothing rack from behind it. This time, it wasn't dresses, but pants with matching shirts or blousers or whatever else he might have needed.

"Oh," said Alphys as she sat back in her seat. No point in arguing, she thought.

Not quite sharing Alphys's attitude, abruptly, Undyne stood up. "No way in HELL I'm gonna sit through another hour of your little fashion show!" She walked over to the rack and yanked a random hanger in the middle. It was a dark pink long-sleeved blouse with black leather pants and a cropped black leather jacket to complete the look. "Here, damn it! Put it on!" she pushed it into Mettaton's arms.

He took a good look at it, his eyes practically sparkling. "Oh my. Undyne, this might just be it," he smiled.

She clenched her fists, "It better be." 

Not quite caring about her passive-aggressive tone, with an emphasis on aggressive. He went behind the clothing rack, since that gave him the most privacy. Burger Pants wasn't looking, anyway. He quickly changed and emerged from the racks with a striking pose.

"Wow!" said Alphys,"You look amazing!" it was hard to tell if she was serious or if she was done with his show and was ready to say anything to go home, but Mettaton decided to take it as genuine.

"Of course I do," he said, brimming with confidence. She was right. His blouse was visible only around his waist, since the leather jacket covered only the upper side of his body. And the leather leggings made him look, well, sexy. He did look a little stupid without shoes, tho.

"What shoes you want with these?" Undyne sized him up with her eyes. He did look good with these colors. Not that she knew much about fashion, but generally she understood he looked nice.

Mettaton squeeled, "Oh, don't even get me started on shoes-" but before he could finish, a fishy hand covered his mouth.

"I won't get you started," assured Undyne, mostly for her own sanity. She took one look at Burger Pants, who watched the whole scene unfold, "Bring the shoes," she said. She didn't have time to fool around with stupid shoes. She wouldn't be here at all if it wasn't to make Papyrus happy, really.

He smiled nervously, sweat escaping his forehead. He went behind the second clothing rack he previously brought, and pushed a third one from behind it. This time, it was filled with neatly arranged shoes.

"How much clothing do y-you have behind this rack?" asked Alphys, bewildered, to which Mettaton couldn't help but giggle.

"No point in checking that, darling. A true fashionista doesn't reveal all his tricks," he crossed his arms in a fabulous way. Like the true fashionista he was.

"Isn't that a saying for m-magicians?" asked Alphys.

"Metal and magic, darling. I'm a hundred percent a magician," said Mettaton confidently. Alphys didn't bother anymore.

Undyne took one good look at the rack and picked the pair of shoes on the far left. They were dark pink Doc Martens, perfect for matching the blouse. Mettaton took them from her and put them on. "Dear, you really do have an eye for fashion," praised Mettaton.

Undyne revealed a toothy grin. "Whatever you say. I'm sure Papyrus will like it," she assured.

"Oh, he'd like me in any outfit, I am sure. It was about which one would make him go wow," exclaimed Mettaton, earning a laugh for the two of them. Both the couple and Mettaton sat in the chairs again.

"So, n-now that we have that aside," started Alphys, "what's your plan?" 

"Yeah, what are you planning to do?" added Undyne, equally curious as Alphys. 

Mettaton tilted his head, as if their question was somehow not what he had been expecting to hear. "The plan is to date, of course. Why else would I look so fabulous?" he put his leg up above his head, which, to be fair, was a little uncomfortable in leather leggings.

"Not what we mean, dork. Like, what will you two be doing when you meet up? Where are you going?" Said Undyne as she put his leg down.

"At the edge of Snowdin and Waterfall. As he described it rather accurately - 'where snow meets water,'" said Mettaton, shrugging. How could he not know where they'd meet?

"And t-then?" asked Alphys

"We will do whatever couples do on dates, of course. All the couple-y things," said Mettaton, waving his hand.

"What do you even think couples do on dates?" Asked Undyne. Then, realisation hit her like a ton of bricks. "Mettaton. Did you two agree that it was a date?" 

Mettaton stopped in his tracks, and just for a moment, a dense silence filled the room. 

"Oh stars, y-you didn't tell him it was a date?" asked Alphys, but she already knew the answer from Mettaton's face alone.

"Darlings, I don't even know if he's gay," he faltered. Unexpectedly, he was hit in the arm by Undyne. She smiled with that toothy grin of hers.

"He's totally gay, don't worry about that. He has a bunch of action figures of sexy robots in his room, right next to his bed." Said Undyne, hoping to reassure Mettaton. It made him smile, but it didn't reassure him.

"Well, with that settled, he still doesn't know it is a date now, does he?" Supposed Mettaton, this time with a smile. "To be frank, I do not know how to turn it into a date. I am wonderful to be around, but it may be hard to differentiate my platonic love from the romantic one," he explained.

"H-how do you want to let him know?" asked Alphys, "that it's a date."

"I... don't know? We did plan solving puzzles together, that's what he offered, anyway. We did not text much, honestly. And I do like good puzzles," he sigh. "I'm sure I'll figure something out."

"Yeah, even if it won't really be a date, it's still gonna be a hangout, right? That's at least one step closer," assured Undyne. "When do you have to meet him?"

"At 4 PM today. I still have time, really," shrugged Mettaton.

Alphy's eyes widened as she took out her phone. "I-It's already 3:45! You can't get there in fifteen minutes, you'll be late!" she yelped, looking at the little time he had left to get ready.

"No way I'll let that happen! Said Undyne before Mettaton even had the chance to process Alphy's words. Abruptly, Undyne lifted him in a bridal carry way and started running. 

He clung to her as if the life of his outfit depended on it. "Undyne! Isn't that unnecessary, darling?" he shivered.

"Nope! You can't be late for the first date! Or, first friendly hangout," she answered with a wide grin, then turned around and yelled, "I'll see you in the lab!"

"O-okay!" Yelled Alphys as she caught the last glimpse of the two. "Oh stars..."

Chapter Text

Running with a heavy robot would normally be quite a challenge. But not for Undyne, for her it was nothing.

The only challenge proved to be Snowdin's chilly air. 

"Damn it, why does it have to be so cold?!" breathed Undyne as she carried Mettaton right up to Papyrus's front door. 

When they arrived, she let go of him. He fell flat on the cold snow. It's not that the cold ever bothered him anyway, but hey, it made sense that a fish couldn't handle it. He stood up and dusted off snow from his clothes.

"Thank you, Undyne, for such a fast transport-" a finger flew to his lips.

"Shut up and just knock on the door, you punk!" said Undyne, "Alphys and I will be watching, just go!" She ushered him.

Mettaton stood right in front of the door of his lover's. Or not, he didn't know yet. But certainly of a possible to-be-lover! 

"Oh, darling, I-" he turned around, but Undyne already bolted away. "Oh." his demeanor faltered.

But not for long, for he had to knock on the damn door before the clock struck 4 PM. He raised his closed fist towards the wooden door, but just as he was about to knock, he heard something from the inside of the house.

"BUT! TO BE ABSOLUTELY-SURELY-READY, MAYHAPS I SHOULD START THIS IN THE SUPER-COOL-CLOTHES AND ONLY LATER CHANGE INTO THE SUPER-COOL-SPECIAL CLOTHES?"

Curious, Mettaton stood on his tiptoes and looked through the window of their door. It was really blurry, but at least he could hear Papyrus better.

"i dunno. i'm sure he doesn't care about fashion." The person behind the window shrugged. His brother, most likely.

"WHAT! IT'S METTATON, OF COURSE HE DOES!!!" he stomped on the ground before storming up some stairs. "WHY AM I EVEN ASKING YOU! I'LL JUST WEAR THEM UNDERNEATH, YES! ANOTHER GENIUS IDEA FROM ME, NYEH HEH HEH"

Well, well, so he did realise he was Mettaton. Honestly, sending that message a while back, he wasn't sure if his nickname was misleading into thinking he was somebody else. Well, he was glad this wasn't the case. One more weight off his shoulders. He audibly sighed.

Then, there was a knock on the door. But it wasn't Mettaton who knocked; it was somebody from the inside. Perhaps they have heard him?

"Papyrus...?" asked Mettaton, unsure.

"that's not how the joke goes," said the person from the other side of the door, and knocked again. "yer supposed to ask who's there," he explained.

Baffled, he played along, "Okay then, who's there?" 

"tank." 

"Tank who?"

"you're welcome." 

What? 

Mettaton could hear a beat of laughter behind the door. Then suddenly, another knock. Oh stars.

"Who's there?" asked Mettaton uncertainly.

"ears"

"Uhh, ears who?" This was getting ridiculous, but oddly, it eased his nerves.

"'ears another joke for ya. knock knock," he didn't even knock this time, he just said 'knock knock'!

"Who's there?" asked Mettaton as he crossed his arms.

"theo."

'Theo who?"

"theo-nly one who can open this door for ya" 

He sighed. "Well, oh well, stranger. You really have a funny bone in you, don't you?" said Mettaton. 

"yep," the stranger, aka Papyrus's brother, shrugged.

"SANS! WHAT ARE YOU DOING! DON'T YOU KNOW HOW A DOOR WORKS BY NOW? WE'VE BEEN OVER THIS!" He groaned as he unlocked the door. 

They locked eyes for the first time.

The first thing that caught Mettaton's attention was how tall Papyrus was, which he had previously not been able to see on the cameras. They were the same height, which was a pleasant sight when usually he had to look down on people. He wore his usual clothes, or at least the ones he typically wore in the cameras. He was undeniably handsome, for a skeleton's standard.

In contrast, the first thing Papyrus noticed was how beautiful Mettaton looked. His polished hair, the shine on his leather jacket, his confident stance. He looked different in real life, compared to how he looked on camera.

"Hello, Papyrus," said Mettaton.

 He did want to say more. He wanted to strike a flattering pose and ask him Hello, Papyrus, are you ready to have some fun?~ But something inside his soul just didn't let him go past 'Papyrus'. Embarrassment, maybe. Such a strange feeling!

"WELL HELLO!" he struck an oddly heroic pose, "ARE YOU READY TO HAVE THE ABSOLUTE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE?" asked Papyrus.

"Of course, darling. I expect nothing less from a day with someone such as yourself~" said Mettaton, slightly breaking through his own barrier.

"GREAT! CONSIDERING WE'VE NEVER TALKED BEFORE!" highlighted Papyrus, but moved past it. 

"I meant! Uh, since you like puzzles, then you must be very cool!" said Mettaton a tone higher than he wanted to. Oh dear, what was happening to him? He tried to salvage the interaction with a more confident pose. 

The hue on Papyrus's skull turned a pinker shade, "REALLY?"

It must have been really effective.

"then ya will like what we've made for today," said Papyrus's brother, whose name turned out to be Sans. He observed them both with a toothy grin.

"OH, RIGHT!" he cleared his nonexistent throat, "METTATON! SINCE YOU EXPRESSED YOUR LOVE FOR PUZZLES THROUGH ONLINE MEANS, YOU SHALL BE FACED WITH A PUZZLE I PRESENT TO YOU! NEH HEH HEH!" He put his hands on his hips.

"Oh, how marvelous, I am simply honoured," said Mettaton. "Now, where is that wonderous puzzle you're made?" This time, he managed to express himself better.

But not for long. For when he had said the word, Papyrus took his hand. 

"I'LL LEAD YOU TO IT!" he pulled him inside the house, and that's when reality started to wrap around itself.

The colors mixed together, as if Mettaton stepped into a spiral of colors and scents and lights, and the only one he could see clearly was Papyrus. And he looked at him, and he wondered what was happening, but he knew he was safe.

That feeling lasted for one second, or less. 

Because when Papyrus let go of his hand, he found himself outside again in front of a puzzle. One he knew so well from the cameras. 

Papyrus, who previously held his hand, suddenly disappeared and reappeared on the opposite side of the puzzle. Huh, so this is what happened. Teleportation. He never did that before, did he?

"BEHOLD! FOR YOU SHALL BE CHALLENGED WITH THE MOST FUN ACTIVITY I SHALL BESTOW YOU TO: PUZZLE SOLVING!" Even on the opposite end of the puzzle, Papyrus's voice boomed enough for him not to have to yell.

"BUT FIRSTLY, I SHALL EXPLAIN THE RULES TO YOU! YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THIS PUZZLE BEFOREHAND, HAVE YOU?" he asked.

He did. "I haven't"

He thought about everything he listed, then asked, "UNDERSTOOD?"

"Yes, I did. Your explanation was uh..." totally confusing. If not for his already acquired knowledge, he would have gotten a headache. "Brilliant. Very informative"

Papyrus blushed, "WELL, THANK YOU! I TRIED FITTING EVERYTHING AS TIGHTLY AS IT WAS POSSIBLE! NEYH," he beamed.

But without waiting further, Papyrus pulled the lever on the machine next to him. It loudly beeped, making all the tiles flicker in a mix of colors. Finally, the puzzle settled on

"NOW, I KNOW YOU ARE EXCITED, BUT I SHALL MAKE YOUR EXCITEMENT REACH NEW LEVELS OF PEAK! FOR I HAVE PREPARED A SPECIAL PRIZE FOR YOU, IF YOU MANAGE TO SOLVE THIS PUZZLE IN UNDER ONE MINUTE"

Intrigued, Mettaton asked, "Oh! I love prizes! I usually give those away after shows. What prize will I get from you?~" Is this where the date part of their date will start? Will the prize be a true lover's kiss? Ah, Papyrus! You sweet skull!

"NYEH HEH HEH! I DO APPRECIATE YOUR ENTHUSIASM, BUT YOU SHALL ONLY FIND OUT ONCE YOU HAVE FINISHED THIS PUZZLE!" he turned around, facing Sans, who had apparently been there the entire time. "OKAY, BROTHER! START THE TIMER... NOW!" he commanded.

"okay."

Now, with less than a minute to gain his special super-romantic prize, Mettaton analyzed the puzzle.

He could start from the bottom, but no, the lava was there. He could try to swim across, but right next to the blue tile was the yellow, electric tile. 

But also, there were a bunch of orange-flavoured tiles next to the soap tiles, which were next to the green tiles and the blue tiles... if only he could time it quite correctly, he might just be able to solve this puzzle first try, he concluded.

So, testing his theory, he walked in a straight line towards the finishing tile. His walk was like a cat's, then he jumped from tile to tile, as if he was dancing, all whilst remembering which tile did what. Confident, striking, analytical. Papyrus raised his eyebrow at first, but then smiled. 

Ah! He liked it! Totally, how could he not? He was literally Mettaton! The star of the underground!

The cold breeze was his companion, pushing him towards the very end of the puzzle. When he finally reached the black and white tile, the puzzle deactivated with a satisfying sound.

"WOW, THIS IS THE FASTEST ANYONE HAS EVER BEATEN THIS PUZZLE!" said Papyrus as he clapped his hands together, "SANS, NOW HOW MANY SECONDS DID IT TAKE?"

"not many," he shrugged.

"IS THAT WHAT WAS WRITTEN ON THE TIMER, OR WERE YOU JUST TOO LAZY TO ACTUALLY TURN IT ON?" groaned Papyrus, making Mettaton smile.

"it's what it said," admitted Sans, "I wouldn't tell you a fibula." he winked. If he had eyes, Papyrus would have rolled them.

"OH. WELL, IN THAT CASE! YOUR TIME WAS LIKELY WHAT WAS EXPECTED OF YOU!" turned Papyrus back to Mettaton.

Mettaton smirked as he struck an oddly seductive pose, "So, where do I claim my prize?~" he asked. This was it, the turning point of their date!

"NYEH HEH HEH! STRAIGHT TO THE IMPORTANT THINGS, I SEE! VERY WELL... THE PRIZE IS IN ANOTHER LOCATION! ONE I FIND VERY FAMILIAR, ONE I HOPE WILL BE FAMILIAR TO YOU AS WELL!" he put his hands on his hips.

"Can I get a hint, please?~" he asked.

"NO, FOR THIS YOU WILL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT ENTIRELY ON YOUR OWN! NYEH HEH HEH!" he said as he fastly slid in the snow far away enough that Mettaton couldn't see him.

Mettaton stood there, not quite sure what to do. What place? What could possibly hint at where it could be?

"hey, want a hint? no springs attached," said Sans as he teleported right in front of Mettaton. Oh, so both could teleport.

"So you know where that mysterious place is?" asked Mettaton as he leaned over.

"does it mattress?" 

Mettaton's smile faltered slightly. "Yes, it is a big deal to me, at least."

"welp, then just head straight to papyrus," he concluded.

Mettaton dragged his hands on his face "Is all you say just puns?"

"hey, i'm trying to help ya to the best of my ability."

"Okay than, let's analyze your cryptic messages, comedian," he sighed, mattress, springs attached... "couch? trampoline?"

"nah. closer to hopes and dreams," said Sans as he tried to get him on the right path.

Mettaton's face gained a pinkish hue as he crossed his arms. "You are not suggesting Papyrus would want to do these sorts of tangos on the first date, now do you???" 

"what?" snorted Sans. "no, your prize is there. and i can assure you, it's not a piece of that cake," he laughed, and just couldn't seem to stop.

Mettaton's face flushed from pinkish to redish by each, humiliatingly passing second. "I-I don't say anything like this! I am a man of purity, obviously!" he defended himself as his voice reached an octave higher. A man of purity was really the first defence he could think of?! Ahh!

"heh, yeah. i would hope so," said Sans as he finally regained his composure. With a smile on his face, he asked, "so, you're got good intentions, right?" and Mettaton couldn't help but notice a shift in the air.

It was as if in that small moment, Sans's eyes seemed to analyze him. Was this some sort of test? Oh, of course it is! He wouldn't let his younger brother date a scumbag, after all.

Frantically, he started "Of course I do!-"

But Sans didn't let him finish.

"great, then see ya at our place," said Sans, then the world seemed to blink as he disappeared.

Ah, stupid numb skull! He wouldn't think of such things on the first date! And, wait, did he reveal to Sans that he thought of this whole thing as a date!? Oh, stars, he couldn't believe it. 

This whole puzzle thing was immensely confusing and short. Oh, he wished it were longer. Maybe on the next date? The next date that he and Papyrus would just solve puzzles, not do any tango! No tango!

With a red face and crossed arms, Mettaton walked through the snowy plane of Snowdin towards Sans's and Papyrus's shared house.