Secrets Are Ba(n)d

Chapter 16: Celebratory crushing

The crowd cheered, a mix of Mettatons and newly made Cold Souls fans filling the area with supportive shouts. "WE CANT WAIT TO SEE YOU.." the robot led, holding the mic to the lead singer. "Oh- uh, Froid, and Core" he stuttered through breaths, making 'eye contact' with his ghostly counterpart and recieving a nod of approval. "..FROID AND CORE, ON THE NEXT SHOW! STAY GLAMOUROUS, BEAUTIES!" He ended, signaling the show was over, cameras shutting down and crowd slowly shuffling towards the exits.

Rolling over quickly, the Robot wasted no time. "May I say, you two put on quite the show! I've never quite seen such a moving performance" He complimented in a much lower volume; posing dramatically to push the point. "Y-yeah, uh, thank you, Mettaton" Papyrus spat, hardly able to contain himself. Mettaton. *The* Mettaton, complimenting him. He could have fainted, and seeing the swaying, Napstablook quickly floated to his side, cords dangling behind him with small clicks.
"And those costumes! While not exactly my style, they're definitely a breath of fresh talent. How about I hook you two up with my own personal designers, free of charge, of course" He said as his various lights blinked, leaving Papyrus too mesmerized to reply. "We appreciate the offer but will have to pass, our style is an outlet we couldn't sacrifice." They spoke up, disguising their voice so much they almost surprised themself. "A shame then, I'll have my assistant tell you the details about the next gig. You two are going to be *big*" He said with dollar signs flashing in his circuts. "Yes.. thank you" The ghost gulped before the robot wheeled away gracefully.

"You uh.. ok?" Blook inquired worriedly, the skeleton taking a deep, unnecessary breath. "That was *THE* METTATON" He finally freaked, flapping his arms around joyously as he spun around the small backstage. "yeah.. it was" the ghost monster deadpanned, reminded of his cousins fame, his memory still sour. "Oh, right, sorry Napstablook," Papyrus apologized; recalling the sensitivity of the subject. "But he loved us! They all did!!" He decreed as he peaked back at the large stage, now occupied by monsters setting up for the next segment. "They did.." Though masked, Papyrus could sense the joy on the ghosts face.

"U-uh, excuse me? Froid?" A voice stammered from behind the skeleton, who turned to see the small lizard monster from the front desk. "Oh, yes, hello," he said with a low voice, slightly raspy from the earlier straining. "F-firstly, I wanted to congratulate you both! Your m-music has been amazing, I've already got bookings for the n-next show!" She chimed, the skeleton fiddling with his gloves bashfully. "A-and speaking of, I have the date and t-time for the show here." She said, holding out two small cards decorated with gold edges and pink accents, the MTT logo proudly on the back. "Oh my, thank you!" Papyrus replied quickly, giddily raising his voice just a tad. The lizard woman paused for a second, familiarity echoing for mere moments before she pushed the thought away. "J-just make sure to get there early, Mettaton likes to be the only one f-fashionably late" she joked with a small laugh, Blook suppressing a giggle. "We'll be there! The G- uh, The Cold Souls could never miss such an event" he chuckled nervously, eyeing Napstablook to be ready to leave "..right, see you two then" the scientist muttered, now suspicious as the band made their way past her and to the door.

"To us!" Papyrus cheered, raising the soda can with a beaming grin. It had been ages since he'd felt so free, so alive! And by the look on his friends face, he could tell they felt the same. "To us, Froid and Core!" they laughed, their body almost sparkling in excitement. The two had only been back at Napstablooks for minutes, but the celebrations couldn't wait, the two almost chugging So-duhs (*the Soda brand with more sarcasm, duh) and filled to the brim with giddiness. "Mettatons personal stage, the biggest stage in the whole underground!" The skeleton marveled, picturing the hundreds of monsters cheering them on as they sang. Though, one monster popped into mind specifically. "Would you mind if I stepped out for a moment? I need some fresh air after all the excitement," Papyrus excused himself as he stood, throwing on his coat as he stepped out the strangely shaped door and glided into the forest. He had gotten better at sneaking through unnoticed; he reminded himself of his brother like that. But no, now was not the time for sad thoughts as he pushed through a few more branches, sitting on a familiar, mostly dry stump.

"New coat?" He heard from somewhere in the trees, quickly looking towards his golden muse. "Yes, it is! Do you like it? I'm trying out a new disguise" Papyrus rambled slightly, easily avoiding any suspicion. "It's different, that's for sure" the flower grumbled, though not maliciously. "But hey, I'm not the master of disguise here, am I?" He complimented, Papyrus giving him a warm 'nyeh heh' in response. "It's just until this all dies down, and that mean monster realizes what she did was wrong and apologizes, and we become friends!"
Papyrus felt something tinge in his soul, probably something knowing the look in Floweys eyes meant what he said was less-than likely. "And.. if she doesn't do that?" "Then.." Papyrus trails off into his own thoughts, but again puts up his walls. He didn't want to be sad right now, not after such a win. "Then I'll have more time to spend with you!" He smiled as the Flower paused, Papyrus swearing he saw a tinge of colour flash in the flowers face; but he thought otherwise, he shouldnt jump to conclusions.
"Yeah yeah, you big softie." He chimed after a few seconds, the two making eye contact for seconds longer than probably necessary, Papyrus looking away as he cleared his thoat. Gazing among the trees that surround them, even in the darkness, Papyrus could sense the familiarity that surrounded him.
Memories of laughing over stupid jokes and weaving through the trees as they chased the other. "Thank you, for always being here Flowey" "There's no where I'd rather be" the flower said, maybe it was out of boredom, maybe there was still something in him that cared. "Yeah, me too" the two sighed as they stared up at the light speckled ceiling of the underground.

Papyrus' mind filled with lyrics, poems, words he'd never think of otherwise. Flowey was confusing, having tricked him, hurt monsters, been different monsters, and yet still stayed so kind this redo.

"Papyrus.. did you hear that?" The tone shifted quickly, Papyrus senses all going from 0 to 100% in a skeletal blink. "I heard something this way!" a voice echoed from the trees, Papyrus recognizing it as one of the dogs. Shit. Papyrus looked at Flowey one last time, dreading that they had to part so soon, but hopping to his feet quickly. "Don't come back here, I'll find you!" the skeleton heard between the crunching steps on snow before he was practically flying between trees.

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(Hope you guys like this chapter! I have some songs lined up now, so song chapters could be coming soon!)