Chapter Text
“...I don’t want to see Mom or Asriel right now.”
That was all they said when Mettaton opened the door. The snowfall was heavy and prominent throughout Hometown. Susie and Noelle loomed behind them, unsure of what to do or even say in the face of their shivering friend. ”They argued with him,” Susie muttered.
“Um… He just got back from college.” Noelle added meekly, her head tilting a bit. Originally, Kris had just stormed off to the library with their friends, but Susie insisted on bringing them here. Well, ever since she’d met Mettaton and gifted him such a marvellous CRT, it was painstakingly obvious he quite liked the girl. Apperently it had been a gift once cherished by the Dreemurrs. But perhaps that didn’t fly too well, and now he had a beautiful new source of entertainment. He’d been used to babysitting Kris for the occasional extra buck when Mr. and Mrs. Dreemurr had once shared a home and a car, as well as a date night. Regardless, he’d never been one to pry.
“We’ll take it from here, sweethearts.” Mettaton put his hand on the shivering teenager- why had they taken off their sweater like that? It was freezing, no jacket, no scarf, for heaven’s sake, not even mittens.
After a bit more talking, the two girls left, trudging through the biting winter and making their way to Toriel’s house to let her know just where Kris was.
…
Teenagers.
Mettaton truly did remember being that way when he was a teenager, temper tantrums, running away, and the hijinks that ensued. But he rarely remembered not wanting to see his cousins when he was upset, usually Blooky was the one who got him out of the blues, even if it was just lying on the floor and feeling like trash. “Kris, darling...” Mettaton began, trying to gauge the damage done. “You’re freezing, come in, darling, please. I’m quite worried about you. No jacket, no thick sweater, no gloves... It’s like you ran out in such a hurry that–” he cut himself off and paused, watching the little one sniffle. To be fair, Kris wasn’t little. But it was hard to see them so much older when he’d been babysitting them whenever Asriel was busy and the Holidays were out. Or whenever Toriel needed an extra hand with human understanding and knowledge.
…
Happened all the time when they were younger, but to Mettaton, Kris was still that little rascal that played their toy piano while he sang along once upon a time, and played Minecrap or Goblins vs. Plants with Maddie, and exchanged mixtapes and clothing brands with Blooky. Even now that they were in high school, and for how little he saw him, they remained a scoundrel of a teenager. Either way, sniffling like this was odd, even more so, crying. He slowly got up and rummaged for some of Blooky’s clothes, those were always more in tune with what they wore, as Mettaton draped blankets over them, Maddie came downstairs...
…And as always, she immediately lit up for a moment, as always, she was particularly keen on babying them from time to time. Mettaton watched from his angle before he walked to the kitchen, reaching for the remote.
“Kris! Kris!!! KRIS!!! You’re visiting!!!! Huh– wait! Hold on! Hold On!!! HOLD ON!!! What’s with the long face?!?!?!” Maddie managed, immediately checking them over, glancing at Mettaton in confusion.
Yep.
Definitely good old Maddie.
She was immediately all over their emotions, shouting her concerns while he got up to turn down the volume of the TV, as he slowly made batter for chocolate chip cookies and set some milk on the stove to be warmed up. He took the time to reflect quietly, especially with the further racket.
…
“Seriously, I’ll kick his ass if he ever says something like that again… WHADDYA MEAN HE LAUGHED ABOUT IT TOO??? Ugh… I mean, I GUESS Susie has a bad rep. But what GIVES??? Not like he’s MET her, and WE know she’s great. Maybe causes Blooky troubles as a cop, but– COME ON!!!”
Blooky would surely need the warmth after a long day’s work too. Seriously, why a cop?
…
Speaking of the devil, they slowly wandered in like a ghost, silent, yet always present, “...oh... kris… hi… you don’t look so good… oh… i’m sorry… i didn’t mean it like that… i meant like you look sad… oh i’m sorry… i really didn’t mean it like that, kris… you’re welcome to stay as long as you need, though…” Blooky took off their cap and coat, hanging them up near a silly pumpkin decoration they’d bought a few months ago, as their long white hair followed suit, setting their thick oval glasses down as they paused, nudging Kris to go change into the warm clothes Mettaton brought them.
“oh… maybe we can lie on the carpet and feel like trash… just a bit…” Blooky muttered, as Kris walked out, eyes still a little red.
“...Yeah. Yeah! YEAH! Okay! Mettaton, leave the oven alone! Alone! ALONE!!!! We have to feel like SHIT!!!”
“Madsy, darling, not too loud, okay? Let’s not panic or fret… Especially at such a sensible time.” Mettaton muttered, watching as they all slowly lay down on the carpet. Kris was still sniffling slightly, and Blooky wasted no time in crying as well, a classic Blook tradition, but it worked just fine for Kris…
As he walked over, Mettaton slowly sat down to think, probably, what had happened from everything he pieced together: Asriel also had once had terrible misconceptions about what a darling Susie really was. It happened all the time, now that he thought about it, Maddie tended to come back raving about it if she had taken particularly long to go dumpster diving. He sat down and reflected.
…
It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair at all– why would they see her that way? She was probably more so misguided. Hadn’t her brain thought a few things through? Maddie didn’t either, and to an even lesser extent did Officer Undyne. At least from what Blooky told him, personally, that would be a criminal offense to him already. Enough was enough, right?
Even Maddie looked a little glum. Mettaton had of his own personally, all he had to think about was looking in the mirror, or turning the TV off, only to catch a glimpse of the unsightly way he found his body, like a corpse staring at him, unfit to be a well-known–
…
The doorbell rang, and Kris tensed up; perhaps they were expecting Toriel or Asriel. Mettaton immediately moved to tapping the floor– just a small cue so they wouldn’t have to be poked to be reminded they were currently safe and sound in a different household, and not the one they were currently upset with.
The first one to move at the second doorbell ring– impatient, much? –Blooky sighed and slowly got up. “i’ll get it…” Napstablook sighed. Mettaton couldn’t see from his spot on the floor very well; a blind eye never did him any favors, but he wanted to keep his eyelids closed… At least until Kris shifted as well. Just a bit.
“…oh… hello… you’re that guy from that tv show mettaton likes… why’s there a celebrity in hometown… ?” they muttered, slowly moving aside, considering Kris finally sat up.
“Blooky! What are you even talking about, huh?! Huh?!?! HUH?!?!?!❞ Maddie yelled, immediately up and already making her way to get a good look at what was going on. She moved so fast that Mettaton was slightly envious that she could just do that without getting dizzy. He supposed dumpster diving had her moving a lot more than his constant bedrotting ever did, right? What a shame, really.
Mettaton slowly sat up, looking back at Kris. Their lips were tightened almost imperceptibly, but he sighed, getting up a lot slower, damned iron deficiency. He assumed Kris felt the same, considering they immediately grabbed the side of the sofa.
“Darling, come. Let’s go check on those cookies...?” Mettaton offered, as Kris sniffled and nodded, huddling into the blanket Mettaton sported for them as the oven timer went off. He hummed as he opened the oven and set the cookies on the counter– they seemed ready to dive in, but Mettaton just laughed and stopped them from burning their tongue on the steaming chocolate.
“GOOOOOOOOOOOOD ⋆𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆⋆!!!!!” A loud voice boomed from the doorway. Mettaton flinched as he looked over immediately– could it be–? No, right? It couldn’t possibly be– “I’m looking for my ★⋆𝒮𝒯𝒜𝑅⋆★ contestant! Kris?”
Oh, this was a disaster. He was barely kept, untidy– he rushed towards a mirror for a moment just to check his hair, despite the look it got from Kris.
“oh… um yeah… they’re here… they’re not feeling too well though… sorry…” Napstablook spoke softly, but the man seemed to invite himself in regardless.
“Haha! Don’t worry, I’m their ♥ 𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 ♥(and only!) uncle! I’m here because Toriel just needed a little someone to keep an eye on that rapscallion.”
Mettaton figured it was just better for the earth to swallow him whole.