they both really really don't want to admit to caring about anyone-- ray because he thinks it's a weakness, milo because well. they cared about someone once and look what happened

however they still have. their weird transactional rivalry/alliance thing. which they are both going along with because

ray very briefly idolized milo at the beginning of her employment and then very quickly got mad at them for ruining that and for being better than ray without even looking like they're trying at it. he enjoys feeling like he has power in their interactions but also largely he wants to be able to get some kind of reaction out of milo, he wants to see them have emotion for once. also she is so touch-starved and wants someone to care about her so bad even if its only in the sense of hating her guts

milo feels bad for ray somewhere very deep down but its smothered under layers of repression and disassociation and so mostly they're just going along with it because it does make them feel something, even if the something isn't very good, and they like getting to exert a little bit of control when they feel so helpless most of the time. also they're just as starved for touch and affection as ray is and will take even a simulation of that-- actually it probably feels safer to have all the affection they get be layered with mockery and sarcasm because if ray was too genuinely nice to them it would just remind them of coren and then they'd break down

[[ I’m assuming you mean OG Sans, so I’m gonna go with that! ]]

3) A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond.

A nightmare. It had to be. The walls were too saturated, too golden, and the light streaming in through the delta rune stained glass windows too bright. But as he watched from inside himself, he saw her standing at the end of the hall.

Lost.

Confused.

* lena?

She called out to him, but he couldn’t hear anything outside of the static that filled his skull, threatening to overflow.

* no, run away! please!

She stepped forward, hands outstretched…

…and the blast of bluish-white light evaporated her right where she stood, her silhouette slowly fading, disintegrating from view.

The static disappeared in a snap of noise, a sharp, discordant sound that brought him to his knees. Her ashes blew across the golden tile floor, even though there was no breeze, and a whisper of her voice saying his name was what he woke up to.

He awoke with a start, eye sockets wide and devoid of light, cyan-tinted tears dripping down his cheekbones. He sat up, felt a tugging around his waist, and looked down, only to choke back a sob of relief when he saw her laying there, fast asleep.

Reaching out a hand that trembled slightly, he smoothed her hair back out of her face, hand lingering there for a moment. Nightmares like these weren’t as common anymore, but they did still happen. …Usually right before a re-LOAD.

“Mmm… Sans?” came her sweet voice, thick with sleep, and he looked down at her, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and staring back at him with those beautiful verdant eyes. He drew in a shuddering breath, and she pushed herself into a sitting position, brows drawn with concern. “Hey… are you okay? What happened? A nightmare…?”

It’s never happened before, yet it felt so real… watching her disappear like that was so painful. He hunched around his aching soul, hands grasping tight at his shirt just over his chest. She put a hand on his back, rubbing over the indents and knobby bones of his vertebrae.

“Is there anything I can do…?”

He didn’t know, and considering that soon enough she might not be there with him, he just ducked his head tighter and let himself feel. The warmth of her presence at his side, the gentleness of her touch, the caress of her voice saying his name against his very soul.

“…” He mumbled under his breath intelligibly, and she leaned in closer, practically curling around him.

“What? I couldn’t hear you.”

… What could she do? Nothing, in the grand scheme of things. But to make him feel better right then…?

“…lena.” He turned to look at her, hands releasing from his shirt to grasp at her shoulders, hold just a bit tight. She didn’t seem to mind, though, allowing him to and putting her hands on his elbows. “kiss me,” he whispered, harsh and broken, and it took only a few short seconds for her to oblige.

They had kissed before, had a lot of firsts, but, for some reason, this one really felt like the last, and… it hurt. It hurt a lot.

She pressed her lips hard against his teeth, that little spark of magic overwhelming, the proximity between their souls next to nothing, their chests touching. He drew in a sharp breath through his nasal cavity, but was otherwise silent, save for the few little sob-like breaths he let out.

Lena sniffled and pulled back to wipe at her eyes, then moved with careful hands to wipe away his. He let her, snagging her wrist as she moved to pull away and nuzzling into her palm. He pressed a lingering kiss there before moving the both of them to lay back down.

They traded kisses long into the night, until, despite their best attempt, they fell asleep.

When he woke up, it was to an empty bed, but the smell of coffee and whiskey drifted beneath the bedroom door. He fell back against the bed and chuckled, wiping a tear from his eye before closing them.

A dream. It had to be. Everything was too perfect, too warm, so much love. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

42) Distracting kisses from someone that are meant to stop the other person from finishing their work, and give them kisses instead.

It was late. Like, late-late, and Sans wanted so desperately to just crawl into bed with his mate. But Lena, the starshine of his life, was busy. Working, to be more specific, on grading essays from the students at the newly opened monster/human school. She taught a rather...unorthodox class. Unlike the English or Math or Science one might find in a typical school, her class focused on relations between species. A social studies of a sort, but, not quite.

But none of that mattered right now.

What mattered was that Sans was sleepy, dozing on the couch, and wanted more than anything to just...go to bed. But he vowed that he’d ‘stay up’ with her while she worked, to keep her company, bring her things she needed, and so on. He made a pot of coffee and brought it to her (then, after she’d snorted at his antics and insisted she wasn’t tired enough yet to drink straight from the pot, he brought her a mug of coffee instead).

But when, after a couple hours, she ran out of things for him to do or help with, he got...well, bored. And a bored Sans was a sleepy Sans, and a sleepy Sans, usually, was going to be found passed out on the couch.

It was between the cusp of falling asleep and keeping himself awake that he had an idea.

He got up and lazily shuffled over to the dining room table, where she was hunched over another essay, red pen in hand. She didn’t even seem to notice he’d approached until his deep, baritone voice broke the silence. “gotta say, haven’t seen you drink that much coffee since the night before your own big test.” She sat upright, startled a bit, and gave him a quirked smile.

“Heheh, yeah, I know... But this is my first ‘test’ grading as a teacher, and I want to make sure I give the best feedback.”

He understood, really he did, but...

“sure, i gotcha... but it’s past midnight.” His voice rolled over her as he leaned across her hunched back, hands on her shoulders, kneading the muscles there. He silently delighted in the way she relaxed, his smile hiking up just a bit higher, though she couldn’t see it.

“I know... You should go to bed, if you’re tired.” She turned her head to try and look at him, but he just sidestepped, pressing his teeth to her cheek in a little kiss.

“nah.” Another kiss, this time into her hair, and she leaned back against him. “rather stay up with ya, if it’s all the same.” He moved her hair aside and kissed where her neck met her shoulder, and she shivered pleasantly, reaching up to grasp one of his bony hands in her own.

“But you’ll be tired... and I need to finish these essays...” Her resolve was weak, and he knew it. The coffee was wearing off, and she was tired. He could tell the way it seeped into her voice as she spoke. He just nuzzled his teeth against that spot on her neck, just beneath her ear, and she groaned pitifully. It only took a few seconds for her to spin around in her seat and press a kiss to his teeth, pulling him closer, and he chuckled deep in his non-existant throat. “... Damn you.”

“c’mon, let’s go to bed, babycakes. the rest can wait til tomorrow.”

18) Teasing kisses where one person blows air into the other’s mouth and runs away.

If there was one thing Sans was when it came to their relationship, it was teasing. She learned that when he went to give her a kiss, only to blow a bunch of air (somehow???) into her mouth.

“MWEH HEH HEH HEH!”

That stupidly adorable laugh filled the apartment as Lena chased after him. But despite being small, he was fast. Probably from all that training with Alphys, but still! It kind of pissed her off how fast he was. It was all she could do to keep up with him!

“Saaans!” she whined, plopping herself down with a huff onto the couch, arms folded. She hunched her shoulders and refused to budge, even as she heard him approaching from behind with a giggle. When he saw her sitting hunched like that, though, he stopped, grin fading slightly, and he ran around the couch to duck in front of her, looking into her face.

“LENA? ...DARLING?”

She lunged.

They landed with an ‘oof’ onto the plush carpet, her on top of him, and she cried out in triumph.

“Ha! I got you, finally!” She giggled, curling her fingers into his t-shirt, knees on either side of his pelvis. “You’re so fast, I can hardly keep up...” He stared up at her, eyes wide, blue eyelights blown out and fuzzy, and a very notable blue flush across his freckled cheekbones. “...Sans?” She took a few seconds to realize how they were situated and felt her own face grow hot with a blush.

“TH-THIS IS NOT IN THE CHAPTER OF THE DATING MANUAL I’VE READ...”

Lena leaned down, grabbing hold of his blue bandanna and giving a soft smile. “Blueberry...” And boy, does she love the way he shivers underneath her. His teeth are parted, eyes half-lidded, and there’s already the soft glow of his tongue manifested inside his mouth. She leans closer...

...and blows a puff of air right into his mouth, startling him, before getting up and stumbling into a run, laughing.

It takes him a long moment to realize what happened, but when he does, he grins and gets up after her, reveling in how she squeals when he catches her and peppers her cheeks and nose with little skeleton kisses.

milo has two moms! diversity win: the evil dystopia world is somehow not homophobic