FUTUROLOGY IC INBOX

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username: UNKNOWNREALMS

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is it shady?? i already told my friends

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[Oh thank goodness ("goodness?" How long has he been using that expression now? How long has Keats' terrible vocabulary been infecting his perfectly calculated speech? They might need to break up sooner than Mettaton thought), he's awake. Being in space does nothing for his internal clock - what time anyone else is supposed to be asleep is a mystery all on its own.

So. It's fortunate he gets a reply. It's not fortunate that needing to tell the truth doesn't seem to end just because he's not physically saying it.]

I'm not. [Smooth.] I hate it here.

Are you okay?

okay, good, doing the good work there

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I can't imagine that prison is a particularly conducive space for an entertainer like yourself.

[Who even says "conducive space", Keats, what is wrong with you. One can almost hear the sigh in his next words.]

Oh, just peachy. Really finding a lot to write about here, like this particularly interesting smudge on the wall that might look like a cat with a mustache if you squint. Otherwise, I'm rather bored out of my mind, as I imagine you must be.

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[...honestly, Mettaton called with every intention of continuing his self-pity brigade. He was going to miserably call his boyfriend, hat in hand, and demand validation and compliments. He was going to test the other, see how he reacted to knowing Mettaton couldn't lie, see if Keats failed and used it against him just like everyone else, tell him about what the people who did hurt him and watch him get angry for him...

But then, like clockwork, this idiot starts talking and Mettaton finds himself laughing in his bed despite himself. He curls up further into his cot, smiling stupidly and hugging his pillow.]

Tell me a story about mustache cat.

[headlining]

A story?

[They both know that they really don't want to hear Keats making up a story about a mustache cat. They're both apart from each other, and honestly lonely. This is the first time they've interacted in a while. They both need this, desperately.]

[Keats leans his head against the wall, smiling.]

Well, mustache cat is quite the interesting creature. There are cats that may look like they have mustaches because of their coloring, but this is quite the bonafide one. I've been interviewing him for the past half hour. Seems like he had the idea to do it so that one day, he could show it off to all his cat friends at work. Ever since he was a kitten, he was determined to be quite the cat's pajamas. "Ameowsing", in his words.

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[Pfffft. Heeheheheheheh...! No. Oh nooooooooooo, he actually went with it!

He's already covering his face with his pillow, wailing. What a moron. What a perfect, pathetic idiot. This prison is going to have to change Mettaton's symbol from a 0 to a 1 because he's going to find Keats' cell and murder him for those puns.

It takes a moment to formulate a response in the middle of all his tearing up and rolling around.]

Well, I'm glad you got to talk to him before the guards whiskered you away. I'd hate for you to have been interrupted and have to claw him later.

[...]

You've been listening in on people. You haven't heard anything about some sort of... Truth spell? Or something the prison has been using to keep people from lying, have you?

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I'm feline as if I could've done more, though. Oh, well, just have to stay pawsitive.

[Ah, it's fun, just pretending they're not stuck far away from each other in an intergalactic prison. He shakes his head, letting out a very loud sigh. He hates this. He really does.]

Truth spell? First time I've heard of the concept so far, I think. Why?

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[Haha... This is useless. He wants to just lay here and swoon over silly cat puns. He wants this to be easy again. He wants to actually be in this idiot's arms and laugh together instead of just pretending.

But of course the answer to his question is "no." Of course it'd be no! It's just HIM! Why is it just him?! What did he DO?!!]

Because I can't lie.

Please don't ask me anything.

1/2

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Wait, what do you mean, you can't lie?

[That's...an interesting predicament. Keats honestly considers if Mettaton is pulling his leg. There's a long pause on the other end, before a single text comes through.]

2/2

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[WHAT DEVIOUS QUESTION SHALL KEATS COME UP WITH]

Actually no, just one question. Give me this. When you told me that I looked good in tweed, were you telling the truth?

[ex_mettacrusher33]

I mean I CAN'T LIE I

OKAY 1, I TOLD YOU YOU LOOKED TERRIBLE, WHICH WAS CORRECT. YOU LOOKED LIKE AN ENGLISH LIBRARIAN THAT FELL INTO A FABRIC STORE AND BOUGHT WHATEVER HE TOUCHED. IT WAS A MESS BUT IT FIT THE CHARACTER AND YOU LOOK GOOD IN GENERAL BUT 2 I C A N N O T BELIEVE YOU RIGHT NOW!!!!!!

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You ARE heartless. And I took that tweed outfit with me and everything. Tsk, tsk, Mettaton!

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[...normally, that insult would be laughed at. Of course he isn't heartless. He loves everyone and everything. Everything he's ever done, he's done to help. Keats is just teasing. That's how they are with each other. They tease.

...

Again, he's finding a defense hard to spit out.]

i'm

i'm sorry.

[You can practically HEAR how pathetic it sounds.]

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Sorry?

[That actually makes him double-take.]

For what?

[ex_mettacrusher33]

for being

[Heartless.]

mean.

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[There's a very long pause.]

Goodness, Mettaton. As if I'm going to have my feelings hurt irrevocably over the fact that tweed doesn't suit me. That's hardly "mean".

[ex_mettacrusher33]

i know, I know, I

I feel like I can't deny anything right now.

Please talk to me about nothing again.

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[...............]

[A year ago, he wouldn't have cared about that request. This is an opportunity any reporter would die for. The chance to get the whole truth and nothing but the truth.]

[If it was anyone else, he still would've gone ahead with just asking regardless of whatever the other person felt about it, but now...it's different. He feels uneasy about the thought of prying into whatever Mettaton might not want to say. Of course, he's curious, it's his fault, nothing will change that, but his feelings are now actually holding him back.]

[It's probably one of the rare times he's considered stepping back from something.]

Very well.

Want to hear a story, then?

[ex_mettacrusher33]

[It's a miracle. A genuine, honest miracle. No matter what amount of affection the other holds for him, Mettaton knows without a shadow of a doubt that Keats can't help himself from digging up every bit of dirt around him. He's like a damn fox that doesn't even care to bury anything, so long as no one else can keep hiding things from him.

So... if anything, Mettaton can recognize that it isn't easy, denying that instinct.

It. It really means a lot.]

Please.