#earthbound references up the wazoo

[nosleepuntilvacation]

If you’re still taking mtt x reader prompts, watching a scary movie?

I am indeed still taking prompts, and that prompt looks like a good one for Halloween!

Below the cut: In Which You and Mettaton Watch a Zombie Movie! (See if you can get the reference in the fic… I probably got a little too carried away with the shout-out, but I don’t know.)

The chubby kid with a jack-o-lantern on their head lets out a mad giggle. “Trick or… trick!”

Before the two teenagers can react, the kid spits out some pumpkin seeds, aiming straight for the teens’ eyes.

You can’t help but wince. “Ow! That had to hurt!”

“Indeed…” Next to you on the couch, Mettaton shudders slightly. Even though his eyes are most likely tougher than yours, you can tell he’s in no mood to test that anytime soon.

With tonight being Halloween night, the two of you had decided to watch a scary movie together while waiting for trick-or-treaters. After browsing the options, you ended up choosing a movie called Threed. According to summaries, the movie is about teenagers liberating a town from an invasion of zombies and similar creatures.

Even though you have a feeling it’s going to end well based on the summary, the atmosphere crafted by the movie is rather foreboding. Fortunately, Mettaton is with you, and he brought some buttered popcorn.

The fight scene makes your heart beat rapidly; fortunately, the teenagers on the screen are able to get the kid to surrender, and they continue on their way. After a little more exposition as they go around town, they soon end up in another fight, this time with a ghost.

Mettaton scoffs and covers his forehead with his hand when the ghost tries to possess one of the teens. “No, you fool! If you want a body, you possess something inanimate, or else your vessel will rebel! That was one of the first things I learned - the easy way, thankfully - when I was still trying to find a body.”

When the teens finally take the ghost down with the use of a baseball bat, a frying pan, and magic powers, he scoffs again. “I told you so.” Pulling you just a little closer, he shakes his head. “Honestly, darling, that ghost should have known better.”

You can’t help but chuckle; Mettaton’s sarcasm certainly helps to defuse the tension, even for a short moment.

The tension returns when the movie gets to a scene where the two teenagers are walking through a dark forest near the town’s graveyard. They eventually run into two zombies blocking off the end of the pathway, and even though the zombies stare the two down intensely, neither side ever attacks. Regardless, the scene is so tense that you can’t resist huddling closer to Mettaton…

And then there’s knocking on the door.

Although you both really want to know what happens, the two of you pause the movie and head over to the door. As expected, there is a small group of kids in costume upon opening it.

“Trick or treat!” they say.

Mettaton’s eyes shine. “Oh, my! Look at these lovely costumes!” He looks around. “Let’s see… we have a vampire, a werewolf, a dragon…” Upon seeing that one of the kids is dressed like him, his grin only gets bigger. “And what’s this? My favorite killer robot of all time? Simply wonderful!”

You help him hand out candy, and once they each get a handful, you both wish them a happy Halloween before closing the door. The first thing Mettaton does is let out an excited, cheerful laugh.

“They love me, darling!”

He’s so happy that you can’t resist giving him a big hug. “Of course they do; you’re very lovable.”

The subsequent kiss on your forehead only proves that statement.

Soon, you’ve returned to the couch and have resumed the movie. The teenagers make it back into town, only for an exhausted-looking female celebrity to beg them for help as they walk by the hotel. A panicked bystander warns the teens not to fall for it, but they follow her into the hotel anyway.

You hold Mettaton close. “I don’t like where this is going.”

“Neither do I.”

The teenagers follow the woman into an upstairs room, which is completely dark at first; when one of the teenagers turns on the lights, though, the room is revealed to be full of all sorts of undead - humanoid shamblers, red-eyed specters, and even some zombified dogs here and there.

Right before the horde descends on the teens, the screen cuts to the outside of the hotel, while sounds of screaming and fighting are loud and clear. It eventually stops, and there is a sound of footsteps before the picture fades out; when it fades back in, the teens are revealed to be alive - though not without injury - and trapped in a mysterious crypt.

All the while, you’ve been holding Mettaton close and shuddering. “Don’t they know not to go with strangers?”

He kisses your forehead again to help you feel better.

The next part of the movie is a bit of a breather; after the female teen calls out to a friend in a faraway country using her telepathy, there’s a montage of a new character - a blond teenage boy - traveling across a snowy landscape before boarding an airship that resembles a UFO and traveling to the town, where he ends up crash-landing in the crypt. Although you don’t get scared at this part - this is easily one of the least scary parts of the movie - you do end up getting the hiccups after having some more popcorn a little too quickly.

Mettaton gives you a concerned look, but you smile and explain yourself between hiccups. “They’ll go away eventually. Besides - hic - I’ve heard you can get rid of hiccups by getting scared.”

He also smiles. “Good thing we’re watching a scary movie, then.”

Indeed, after the newcomer breaks the other two teenagers out of the crypt, the action returns with a fight against two possessed marionettes. Even Mettaton looks disturbed by this; you can tell that he’s probably thinking of how lucky he is that his body was designed well enough to not fall into the “uncanny valley” like those puppets.

Finally, after that scene and a few more rounds of exposition and zombie battles, another tense scene builds up as the teenagers enter a mysterious circus tent, having heard of a rumor about it. Although it’s empty, you get the suspicion that something is off. When some folds in the tent’s fabric open up to reveal two glaring eyes and a gaping maw, and the tent itself roars at the teens, that’s when you notice that your hiccups have gone away.

This fight scene is easily the most intense yet; both you and Mettaton are on the edge of your seats. The tent seems to defy all logic as it attacks the teenagers, but the teenagers are ready to fight back. After a huge blast of fire magic and bottle rockets, the tent finally goes down in flames - quite literally. You exhale a loud sigh of relief when the teenagers are able to make it out safely.

It’s while the scene is winding down that there’s another knock on the door. As you and Mettaton pause the movie to answer it, you notice that there isn’t much to go in the movie. Deep down, you feel brave for watching it with him. Even though he saw that you were scared, he was perfectly understanding throughout.

You hold his hand and smile at him. “Thanks for watching the movie with me.”

“Of course, my darling. And I’m always up for another if you’d like.” He returns your smile with a warm one of his own. “Happy Halloween.”

“Happy Halloween, Mettaton.”

One of the zombies, stuck to the ground with what appears to be a variation on fly paper, glares up at the teens and lets them know exactly what it thinks of the situation.

“I’ll blame you after my ‘death’.”