A/N: Only one more chapter to go! After this just the lemon is left, but I have pneumonia at the moment so my attempts at smut are pathetic right now, so the lemony last chapter will be posted as soon as I recover enough to get it written.

It felt so good to be back where he belonged. Reever had cried a little at the banquet when everyone who he had spoken to had said, "welcome home." He had never felt so wanted, needed even. As someone who'd always felt a little underappreciated, it was almost too much.

At the same time though, it almost seemed inconceivable that HQ had made it almost six months without him. And yet quite a bit had changed: there were new faces in the science department; a new leader of the chemistry sub-division; and most importantly, a certain pair of exorcists had finally gotten together. However, the biggest change of all, as far as he was concerned, was that he had Komui's almost undivided attention. The poor blonde was always being poked, prodded, scrutinized, loomed-over, gleefully addressed, or even hugged. If it carried on for much longer his head might explode from blushing too much.

Komui wasn't running off constantly like before either, he never even tried to escape. Instead ha would do as much paper work as he could stand and then waste as much time as he could without leaving the office (by "arranging" the piles of paper work, sorting things by importance, or looking through reference books).

Reever couldn't help but wonder why Komui was paying so much attention to him, almost to the point of suffocation, not that he actually minded. It meant that Komui had missed him, which was definitely a good thing, but it also meant that he was getting his hopes up. After all, it must just be that Komui had been bored before and he knew that if he slacked off too much the Aussie was liable to leave again.

What really worried Reever was that, just before she had left on a long mission, Lenalee had told him rather ominously that she wanted to talk with him when she got back. That meant one of two things: 1) Komui was a hopeless case and he should just give up, or 2) there was a super small chance but it might take another decade or so. Reever wasn't sure which he would prefer.

Xxxx

Komui was so happy that Reever was back! Still he had to be careful not to freak the blonde out, which was the only reason Ko hadn't jumped him yet. He couldn't stand to lose Reever again. He'd loved him for years but he had only recently realized just how much he needed him. It frightened him, especially since Reever seemed to be fine on his own.

Of course, he wouldn't have been able to persuade Reever to come back if the blonde hadn't missed him at least a little. Even so, he still didn't know the blonde's motivations. Komui resolved to find them out, and so, long after making blue prints and perfecting the design in his head, Komui snuck away to create a robot that would reveal Reever's feelings.

Xxxx

Reever saw the him sneak out, but he didn't say anything. He was a lot more sympathetic to the supervisor's plight now and thought that he had earned a break. He'd go catch him once he had finished some experiments he had been meaning to do.

Xxxx

Komui wanted to cry. Reever wasn't looking for him! It was so mean! Maybe the blonde was glad to be rid of him for a while?... He couldn't help but remember Reever's face after they had kissed… maybe that was the problem. Now that Reever knew about his emotions, he might be a little wary. He still didn't know how Reever felt about him. It wasn't fair! But hopefully his robot would fix that.

Xxx

Reever was starting to get nervous, Komui had been gone for quite a while and ominous noises were pouring out of his experiment rooms. That was never good. He went to war Kanda and Allen (the only exorcists present) about the impending danger.

Xxxx

Twenty-one minutes later Komui was bawling like a baby. His perfect robot had been hacked to pieces as soon as he had gotten it out the door. How on earth could he find out what Reever thought about him now? He was almost inconsolable.

But then it was okay because Reever hugged him! Yeah it was a pity hug, but it still counted dammit! Reever even rubbed his back a little!

"There, there. It was for your own good. Unless you want to make Lenalee mad at you…"

"No," Komui blubbered, "but… that robot," he sniffed, "it was going to tell me something important."

Reever tilted his head inquisitively, "And what might that be?"

Without thinking Komui blurted out, "It was going to tell me what sort of feelings you have for me."

"What?"

Komui realized what he had said, and since he couldn't take it back his brain went on holiday as his heart decided to go for broke, "I love you!" he exclaimed still crying, "I always have and I was miserable when you left, but I don't want to push my feelings on to you and have you hate me!"

"So you made a robot?" Reever asked, too stunned to grasp the situation.

"I didn't want to scare you away but I couldn't help wondering… I swear I won't do anything to you against your will so please don't leave again!"

Komui looked like he was going to start hyperventilating. So Reever, blushing like a tomato, leaned over and… well he gave him a super quick kiss that in his nervousness ended up being half mouth, half cheek before pulling away and starring at the wall like that hadn't just happened.

Komui blinked at him.

TBC…