Metallic Bones (Papyton)

Tears

~No Ones POV~

The ride back to the lab was silent, only broken by the occasional sniffle from the robot.
Alphys looked over, concern written all over face. They had been driving for nearly thirty minutes and not one word had been uttered from Mettaton. His face remained twisted into a constant frown as try tears stained his metallic face. Undyne hands were clenched hard on the wheel while her jaw set. She was obviously nervous too. The once boisterous and narcissist robot was causing concern for both of them. No one wanted to talk. Especially not the one between them.

The scientist looked down at her phone. She had one person in mind who might be able to cheer up the star. Or rather that persons brother.

His happy attitude never ceased.

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~Sans POV~

"Sans!" A loud voice rung from downstairs.
He looked over to his side table.
11:37 AM his clock read. "dammit," He muttered. "nearly twelve."
"Sans I swear to god, I will throw you downstairs if your not out in three minutes!" The voice echoed dully through the door again. Groaning, he dragged himself from underneath the mess that was his sheets. Slipped into his hoodie and numbly scuffled into his shows.
"Two Minuets!"
"jeez bro i'm commin'." He said to himself as his hands found the door handle and gave it a twist. The light that filled his sockets made him want to fall back onto his mattress, but he shuffled on down stairs.
"yeah bro i'm awake wad'ya want?" He drawled as he stared up at the much taller skeleton.
"Alphys asked us to come over to her lab," Papyrus said before breathing in. "NEARLY AN HOUR AGO!"
"well then why we delayin'?"
"I-you-," Papyrus just sighed begrudgingly and strode our the door, locking it behind him.
Sans was already down the street.
"so uh, what'd the doc want?"

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~Mettaton POV~

Somewhere dully in his mind the doorbell rang. He didn't pay it any heed though. He was too busy staring at the roof considering the failure that was his life. He didn't hear Alphys greeting the duo as they stepped into the room. He didn't even register the skeleton sliding over to him yelling something. He was far to preoccupied to notice any of that.

"-ton! Mettaton! Mettaton!" Alphys waved her hands frantically in his face.

His optics poorly focused on the scaled yellow hand in front of him.

"Yes dear?" His voice made no attempt at its usual bluster, replaced only by a hollow kind of sadness.

"Mettaton I've been trying to get your attention for nearly a minute!"

"Well you have it now."

Undyne's clenched her hands. "No she doesn't tin can! You're not even looking at her!"

The robot pondered the sentence for a moment. "Tin can, quite accurate analysis. A useless piece of metal. I agree."

Undyne chocked on her next words before her voice softened. "H-hey that's not what I meant."

"No clearly, you meant much worse."

Alphys stood between them, hands out. He would've found the action most adorable if he wasn't so distracted. "C-can you two stop for like ten se-seconds? Mettaton can you please properly explain what's wrong?"

Finally his gaze shifted from the wall, his pink eye locking onto her.

"Wrong?" His laugh sounded empty. "What's wrong is that I, am alone, utterly alone. My life consists of acting and laughing at people, on stage, being cocky and headstrong, on stage, showing off and singing on stage, being ON STAGE." His voice was laced with venom, his eyes slowly narrowing in an unbridled hatred as he stood up from the couch, towering over the small woman in front of him. "Everything anyone knows me for, is who I am, when I act. Literally ONE person, knows me for who I actually am. And yet...I'm the famed star of the underground." He spoke, gesturing widely. "Supposed to inspire all to be like me. But I can't even get the miserable excuse that is my life together!"

He seethed as his cold gaze found the reptilian. For a nauseating moment he had this odd desire to just hit Alphys. To straggle the life from those small reptilian eyes, to just throw her corpse across the room and- his face crumpled and his body did the same. Slumping against the back of the coach.

Alphys made an awkward sound like a cough and a laugh, before falling back into a chair. The look in the robots eye was murder.

The room was silent, the skeletons had just watched the whole thing unfold with front row seats. The silence was broken by a chocking sob. Everyone's gaze snapped to the robot. His body twitched as he sniffled again.

"My g-god I'm horrible." His voice filled with self hatred. "To thi-think that I ju-just wanted to..." His voice trailed off into more soul wrenching cries.

For the first time one of the skeletons spoke up, the taller one specifically.

"Uh, Alphys I'm sorry, but could you tell us exactly what is going on here?" Mettatons head snapped up. He sounded familiar. So damn familiar. Where the hell had he seen him before. Or rather heard him before. He couldn't shake the feeling that he'd heard him be-

The viewer call in. He'd been the last one to call. He'd sounded so nervous yet so full of energy. He'd only spoken for a few seconds but...his compliments had brightened his day to no end.

"H-hi Mettaton, wowie I cant believe I'm on T.V. But Mettaton I wanted to say that I LOVE your show. It's just so fabulous and you seem so genuine and you look like you love your audience! I love this show because you're in it and no one could do what you do better!"

That bittersweet sentence. So full of love that could never be returned. So full of life that he did not have. And so full of meaning...something he had lost.
The skeleton returned his gaze. There was so much concern in his face despite not having one. So much concern that he didn't deserve.
The tears deepened.

Papyrus's clenched and unclenched his hands repeatedly. "Mettaton, what is wrong?" He sounded like he cared. And it broke his heart. Because someone truly cared about him. Someone he had never shown any affection. Any kindness. Any love. It would go away anyway. If he actually got to know him, no doubt would these feelings of kindness quickly fade. He was horrible after all. No one really liked him for who he was. Just who he was on the stage.

Alphys stuttering voice cut in to the crying. "H-he...from what he's told me he do-doesn't think anyone cares about him for who he really is."

Papyrus practically had a heart attack with his nonexistent heart. "What!?" He looked solemn for a moment before straightening and staring me dead in the eyes. "Mettaton, of course people care for you for who you really are. If we didn't we wouldn't be here, we'd be telling you to get back to your show!"

His rant continued, each sentence more inspirational then the last. Slowly, but definitely surely, the robots mouth twitched upwards. This skeleton was so goddamn cheerful and it was so infectious he just couldn't help but smiling. He spoke with such conviction and belief as he told him to 'never give up!' 'And if no one else believes in Mettaton then he would make up for all of them!' The small smile grew into a near ear splitting grin that might've looked positively insane.

"Besides, the great Papyrus, will never give up on you, even if you don't believe in your self!"

He couldn't help it. He laughed. "How. Are you. So goddamned cute. He cried. But these tears were different. These tears were for the person who believed in him and him alone.

A first.

Papyrus nervously rubbed his neck. "W-wowie um, maybe because I'm so great!"

For the first time in a long, long time, his eyes twinkled with genuine mischief. "Oh, I would love to see you again, darling." The robots grin matching the skeleton in front of him.