Chapter Text
“Ah, you must be Mettaton! It’s great to meet you!”
God, he’s beautiful.
Today was the first day of his new co-host’s residency on TV TIME! (not his idea, the network insisted he needed to add a new cast member to improve ratings), and this was the man who impressed the network so much they hired him without so much as consulting Tenna first (he wasn’t mad. Please don’t put in the papers that he got mad). And, despite how miffed he wasn’t that he had no input on the hiring process, Tenna had to admit he could see why they were so excited about the robot standing before him.
Cutting edge technology, extending limbs, a stick-thin waist that widened out to broad shoulders and thick hips, and a gorgeous face that struck a perfect balance between glamorous and sultry.
Tenna had to pause his screen to stop himself from blushing. Hopefully Mettaton didn’t catch the pause symbol in the top corner.
“It’s lovely to meet you too, Mr. Ant Tenna. I’ve heard so many good things about you.” Mettaton purred, taking Tenna’s waiting hand and giving it a gentle shake.
“O-oh! Like what?” Tenna asked instinctively, then immediately kicked himself internally for it. Praise-hungry moron.
Mettaton giggled, making Tenna’s face flush pink for a second before he had the chance to pause his screen again. “Well, darling, I’ve heard that you’re an excellent host… you’re very fun… and you’re very, very tall.”
WOW-WEE!!! His new co-host certainly knew how to flatter a CRT! Tenna tugged at his collar, trying to let off the rising heat creeping through his body.
“W-w-well! I’m glad, uh, you’ve heard only good things! Well, I should probably give you the grand tour! If you want to follow me~!”
—-
“And here’s our green room! We’ll have a vending machine installed in your office, of course, but you can also pick up food out here, get drinks from Ramb’s, and hang out!”
Mettaton slinked his way around Tenna, taking a look around the green room. “It’s certainly fabulous, darling. I don’t need to eat, but I certainly appreciate a few drinks here and there~”
Whoops, was that on the paperwork about Mettaton that Mike handed him? Tenna didn’t get a chance to read it throughly, he was too busy rushing to get everything prepared for today’s introductions to go perfectly, he didn’t even get time to drink his meal replacement shake this morning, or grab his normal granola bar for lunch-
Tenna’s stomach suddenly let out a vicious snarl, angered by the reminder that he hadn’t given it anything but coffee today. His screen flashed bright red, and he immediately hugged his arms tightly around his stomach, tail tucking between his legs from embarrassment, praying Mettaton either didn’t hear or would be willing to pretend like he didn’t.
Instead, Mettaton turned to face Tenna, cocking his head a bit and giving him a gentle, teasing smile. “I guess I don’t have to ask if you need to eat.”
“Uh… yeah! I’m not as advanced as you, I suppose!” Tenna deflected, trying to take attention off his desperate stomach and back into his new co-host. “Anyway, I’ll show you to our offices next!”
Mettaton’s brow furrowed for a moment, leaving him looking like a confused dog, then shrugged. “Lead the way, darling.”
Tenna started leading Mettaton down the hall towards their offices, tugging at his tie a bit in a useless attempt to distract himself. Why did Mettaton look at him like that? Did he do something wrong? Was he failing as a co-host already?
“And here’s our offices!” Tenna announced as they arrived, throwing open the door to his office theatrically. “We uh, didn’t have time to build a wall up between them, so currently we’re. Sharing, but! We hung a stage curtain between them! So you’ll have privacy!”
The room has been extended to double its original size, but part of that remodel included taking out the thick center wall. Unfortunately, the Pippins crew in charge of construction slacked off, so they had to improvise last minute.
Mettaton glanced around a bit, looking from Tenna’s red, white, and gold decor to the pink, black, and blue side they’d slapped together for the new star. After an extremely nerve wracking moment, Mettaton turned to Tenna with an overjoyed grin.
“Oh, darling, it’s perfect! Thank you!”
Tenna blushed slightly, antenna twisting up, tail wagging a mile a minute, and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m glad! You like it!”
Mettaton giggled, strolling in to investigate further, then picked at the curtain meant to separate the two offices. Despite it being last minute, care was still put into every detail: Tenna’s side was the same red as the stage curtains, but Mettaton’s was pink with silver stars dotting the cloth.
Tenna jumped into excuses before Mettaton had a chance to criticize the clearly-rushed patch job. “We-we’ll replace the curtain as soon as possible! Don’t worry!”
“Oh, that’s a shame. Are you sure we couldn’t keep this?”
What?! “What?!”
“I mean, it’d make working together easier if we could open up the space from time to time… and I’d love to get to see you through the day, darling.” Mettaton smiled at Tenna, then turned to explore his office space without waiting for Tenna’s reaction. Which was great for Tenna, because his face blushed pink at the comment. Gosh, his new co-host was a flatterer!
“Uhh… I mean, sure! We can keep it!” Tenna replied awkwardly, several moments too late. Picking up the pace a bit too fast to save face, Tenna launched into his next announcement. “When you’re ready, I can show you backstage next!”
Mettaton tilted his head back, just enough to catch Tenna’s screen with his uncovered eye, but Tenna still could catch the puzzled expression on the robot’s face. “Aren’t you going to eat something first, love?”
Tenna stumbled a bit back, caught so heavily off guard by both the question and new nickname that he lost his balance for a split second. “I, uh…? Why would I do that?”
Mettaton turned fully towards Tenna, leaning with one hand against his desk, fixing the CRT with a suddenly stern gaze. “Darling, please don’t play dumb with me. Your poor tummy was crying not even five minutes ago, I thought you brought us to our office next so you could grab a bite to eat.”
“Uh.. I. I guess I could grab a snack real quick…” Tenna muttered, starting towards his desk.
“Do you not need to eat as much as most Darkners?”
“Um, well, technically I need to eat more, but I don’t want to slow us down….” Tenna trailed off, realizing too late why Mettaton actually asked that question.
A huff, heels clicking across the floor, then suddenly Tenna gasped as he felt an arm wrap itself around his arm, spinning him to face Mettaton. The robot took his hands to Tenna’s tie, straightening it back out from his previous nervous fiddling. “You don’t have to go hungry on my account, Mr. ‘Ant’ Tenna. How about you get an actual meal instead? I don’t mind waiting for you~” the words were syrupy sweet, but Mettaton’s firm grip on Tenna’s tie communicated that he wasn’t asking.
“You know what? I, uh. Think that’s a great idea!” Tenna grinned as wide as he could to hide how deeply intimidated he felt at this very moment.
“Great! I’ll see about organizing my new office while you eat, darling!” Mettaton released Tenna’s tie, then practically skipped over to his side of the combined offices.
Tenna wilted a bit in defeat. His new co-host was a force to be reckoned with. He dropped one antenna down to his mouth. “Hey Mike, could you bring by, uh…” Getting just a TV Dinner was tempting, but Tenna was still shaken by Mettaton’s reaction. Better play it safe. “A deluxe dinner to my office? Thank you.”
Mettaton glanced up from his knickknack sorting at Tenna as he finished the call and released his antenna, letting it spring back up to its relaxed position. “Do you have a Bluetooth?”
Tenna had to pause for an embarrassing few seconds to remember what a ‘Bluetooth’ was. “Uhhhhhh… Oh! Kind of! My antennas can pick up signals, so I can use them as a phone.” Tenna wiggled his antennae, bobbing them up then down to show off.
The robot’s eye lit up, and he clasped his hands together in front of his face. “Oh my, you’re certainly full of surprises, aren’t you?” He approached, gaze transfixed on Tenna’s antennae. “And here I thought they were just for looking cute.”
“C-cute?!” Tenna’s face flashed red for the umpteenth time, his antenna tangling and flattening back.
Mettaton giggled, reaching up an extending arm towards Tenna’s head. “They’re like big doggy ears, darling, it’s adorable~” Tenna flinched as Mettaton’s fingertips brushed against an antenna tip, and Mettaton’s eye widened in surprise as he immediately retracted his arm. “Oh, sorry, was that too much?”
Tenna quickly shot his antenna up straight in alarm. Oh no! He can’t let Mettaton think he messed up! He didn’t want Mettaton to stop… whatever Mettaton’s been doing with him! “No, no, no! It’s! Fine! They’re just sensitive!”
His co-host’s mouth stretched into a sultry smile. “Oh, really~? Sensitive? That’s good to know… I’ll be more careful next time, darling~”
Before Tenna had a chance to process what ‘next time’ meant, a knock sounded from his door. “Ey, Boss! Got the food!”
Tenna quickly darted to the door, taking his chance to escape the hot sensation rising in his chest whenever Mettaton got too close. He had to almost kneel down to accept the offered meal from Mike. “Thank you, Mike!”
“You’re welcome! It’s good to see ya’ eating something before your show for once, ya’ know?”
Oh jeez, oh no, oh boy. “Well! Yes, thank you, okay bye!” Tenna slammed the door before even fully finishing his sentence, praying Mettaton didn’t hear that.
“What was that about not eating?”
Ah. So Mettaton definitely heard that.
“Well, I get busy setting up for shows and uh. I usually forget to eat lunch?” Tenna strung together as an excuse, conveniently leaving out that he usually skipped breakfast as well. Probably not relevant.
Mettaton fixed Tenna with a kind but slightly menacing stare. “I see… Then it’s a good thing I’m here now, then, isn’t it?”
“Uh… yes?” A pang of anxiety wound itself up in Tenna’s stomach.
Mettaton clearly meant well, but he didn’t get it. Eating wasn’t that simple. Not for Tenna. The CRT purposefully refused to think about what the future might look like if his new robotic costar kept this up.
Said robotic costar let out a metallic sigh, then started back at reorganizing. “Eat up before it gets cold, love.”
Tenna carried the Deluxe Dinner over to his desk and sat down. He stared blankly at the meal for a moment. He could have gotten away with a TV Dinner. He should have at least tried. Maybe he could just not finish this? Would Mettaton buy it? Would he be able to even stop himself from finishing once he started eating? Maybe he-
“Tenna, are you okay?”
The CRT nearly fell out of his office chair. When did Mettaton get so close? Without him noticing?!
“What?! Yes?! Why do you ask?!”
Mettaton was leaned against the side of Tenna’s desk, arms extended to place a hand at each end. And he was looking Tenna directly where his eyes would be with a soft, worried gaze.
“You’ve been just staring at your food for a while, love. Are you not feeling well? If we need to call off the tour early-“
No! “No! I’m fine! I’ll eat!” Tenna immediately started wolfing down the food in front of him, anxieties forgotten in his new-found panic.
A soft chuckle accompanied a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Don’t make yourself choke, darling, no one’s going to take away from you.” Mettaton squeezed his shoulder (affectionately??); the gesture relieved just enough of Tenna’s fear to let him slow down. “There you go, that’s better.”
Mettaton stayed by Tenna’s side the whole time he ate, rubbing circles into his shoulder with his thumb. It was humiliating to a degree, the CRT almost felt patronized, but the comfort of the robot’s gentle, steadying hand far outweighed the embarrassment.
Both far too soon and far too late, the tray was fully empty, every tiny scrap scraped up and devoured, even a few desperate laps taken directly from the surface before Tenna’s remembered someone was watching. Tenna let out a soft whimper as he set down his fork and leaned back, his stomach feeling somehow emptier than before he started eating. He could finally see Mettaton’s face, at least; the gorgeous man’s head was slightly tilted, a mix of confusion and concern in his eye.
“Love, was that not enough?” The robot’s gaze shifted up and down Tenna’s form, and Tenna fought the instinct to hug his arms around his torso to hide in turn. Was he being judged? Did Mettaton think he ate too much?
The words bubbled up and out of Tenna’s throat before he could stop them.
“I-I uh, it takes too much to fill me up, so it’s okay. I’m okay!”
Mettaton’s gaze hardened into a glare, and his comforting hand tightened around Tenna’s shoulder. Wrong answer.
“You’re just going to let yourself go hungry because you think you need too much? Do you even hear yourself?”
Tenna felt his screen wobble with the guilt growing in his belly. “Uh… u-uh…”
The hand gripping Tenna’s shoulder released him, Mettaton retracting his arm back. “If you’re too nervous to get yourself more, I’ll do it for you. How much do you actually need?”
——
In the end, Tenna finally requested two more Deluxe dinners. Mettaton brought him three. Every single tray wound up scraped (and, embarrassingly, licked) clean.
Tenna slouched back in his seat and let out a satisfied sigh, an arm draped over his stomach, relishing the feeling of feeling truly full despite how humiliated he felt over the whole ordeal. It’d been a long while since he’d let himself eat as much as he was actually hungry for, and the exhaustion creeping through his frame informed him, despite how he’d prefer to ignore it, how desperate his body’d been for a proper meal.
Mettaton, who’d given his CRT co-star space once he’d started ripping into the offered food, approached Tenna’s desk now that the carnage was over. “Feeling better now, love?”
“Yeah. T-thank you.” Tenna shifted his arm from his abdomen to his armrest, feeling self-conscious.
“Good to hear! How about you lay down for a little while? I’ll pull the curtain closed, let you get a quick nap in before showtime.”
God, that sounded wonderful. Wonderful enough that Tenna pushed his chair back and stood up, starting to lumber his way over to the comically-large couch against the far wall from Mettaton’s office. “Just, just. Don’t let me oversleep…”
“Of course, darling. Sweet dreams~” Tenna intentionally ignored the heat filling his chest and flushing across his face.
He flopped onto the couch, curling up facing the wall. His screen flickered off by itself as he heard the swish of the curtain pulling closed, sleep claiming him before he could even hear the ffpht of the fabric closing the distance into the wall.