Underlust: Papyton - His Prince

5: Calling In

Alphys scurried closely behind Mettaton as rushed around from one spot to another between his dressing room and backstage, making sure everything was in place and that he hadn't forgotten anything in preparation for the show. She refused to leave him alone for a single second, and Mettaton had to physically push her out of his dressing room and lock the door just so he could have a minute to himself before the show started.

He sank down on the pink loveseat on the far side of the room and buried his face in his hands, but immediately after he lowered them to his lap and stared intensely into the round lights of the makeup mirror on the other side of the room. Darkness was unbearable to him now. In the darkness, there was nothing he could look at to distract him, even slightly, from the endless barrage of flashbacks to what happened after his last show a week ago.

He'd fallen into a cycle of wishing he was asleep in the middle of the day so as to be unconscious and get any amount of a break from his own mind. But, when the night came, Mettaton found he couldn't turn off the lights to go to sleep without spiraling into a panic. Even when he did fall asleep, he only dreamed about those men coming back for seconds.

There was a soft knock on the door, startling Mettaton out of his trance. "Mettaton? You okay in there? I think the show's about t-to start soon, right?"

Mettaton sighed and pulled himself to his feet, trying in vain to get excited about performing like he usually did before a show. As he always did, he stepped up to the mirror to double-check that his makeup was flawless, but he flinched as soon as he met his own gaze and turned away.

Pathetic. He couldn't even look at himself anymore.

"M-Mettaton? Is something wrong?" Alphys called from the other side of the door. Mettaton sighed and opened it to flash her a reassuring smile.

"No, darling, nothing's wrong," he chirped, heading briskly down the hallway to the stage's back entrance. "Come on, the show's about to start!"

Alphys huffed behind him, clearly annoyed. He was the one who had almost made them late, after all. Still, she trotted up next to him and held his hand for support as the two of them went backstage and took a peek through the curtains to see how much of an audience there was. Barely anyone. Back to usual.

Mettaton's confident façade evaporated and he sighed again, turning to Alphys uncertainly, conflicted about whether he should be upset or relieved about the underwhelming size of the audience. Of course, he wanted his show to be as successful as possible, but he wasn't sure he could handle as big and loud of a crowd as there had been last time. Not that he would ever get that huge of an audience ever again, now that his body wasn't as flashy.

Alphys squeezed Mettaton's hand and ducked her head down to meet his glowing pink gaze, which was currently fixed on the floor. "H-Hey, it's okay, Metta. Remember what we talked about? You just gotta put your best foot forward and keep on doing what you love, and eventually, everyone will see how great your show really is!" She paused. "Unless... If you d-don't want to do this, I'm still happy to take you home. I'm sure the audience won't—"

"For fuck's sake, Alphys, for the last time, I am not a child!" Mettaton barked, wrenching his hand from her grasp. The bit of idle chatter coming from the other side of the curtain immediately went silent, and Mettaton suddenly wished he could burrow into the ground and all the way back to the lab so he could shut himself in his room forever.

Alphys stared at him, stunned by his sudden outburst. "I... I know. I'm sorry." She looked like she wanted to say something else, but she just turned and walked away, and Mettaton spun back around to face the curtains again before he could watch her leave. He couldn't think about that right now. Right now, he had to do some damage control, as awkward as it would be, and get tonight's quiz started. He was not about to screw this up after putting even more effort into this script than he usually did.