Catch-22, chapter 15

Catch-22

With this chapter we head toward the next bit of plot…  crazily enough, although we’ve still got a ways to go yet, we’re inching closer toward our conclusion.  We look forward to having you with us for the ride!

Ch. 15.  By Starlight

The pair of them watched the stars for a while longer, until they lost track of time and Reever suddenly remembered that Toma was still waiting for them. Embarrassed, he and Komui helped each other to their feet and ran back up the path as though they were boys, blushing and apologetic. They curled up in each other’s arms again once inside the carriage, held each other all the way back to Headquarters.

And by the time they were standing outside of Komui’s room again, Reever found himself reluctant to go. He never wanted to leave Komui’s side again. Realistically, he wanted to spend just a few more hours with him, cling to the peace they had found in each other. So he lingered, not knowing what to say but good night, and completely unwilling to say it.

Komui unlocked the door to his room and stared at it for a long minute without saying anything.

“Um… come inside?” he offered shyly at last, with a fleeting glance at Reever as he slipped across the threshold.  He, too, was not yet ready for the night to be over; but… he didn’t exactly know what they were going to do next.

“Make yourself at home,” he murmured as he pulled his coat off, slinging it over a chair sitting next to the armoire and slipping out of his shoes.

“That’ll be a bit hard,” said Reever dryly, attempting a joke for lack of anything else to do. “I don’t have nearly enough work with me for that, but I’ll see what I can manage.” He shrugged off his jacket and very gladly unbuttoned the cuffs of his dress shirt to push the sleeves up, then loosened his tie a little. Glancing around, he finally hung his suit jacket over the doorknob. Somewhere along the line he also managed to get out of his extremely uncomfortable shoes without sitting down or falling over, and those went next to Komui’s door as well. Reever wasn’t normally so neat, but it wasn’t his room to shed all over.

Komui had curled up a little on the bed — very carefully stretching out the long bottom panels of his tunic, conscious of how the fabric would wrinkle — and for lack of anything better to do, gone right for the sweets again.  He’d just popped a truffle into his mouth as Reever turned around, and smiled a little sheepishly as he held up the box in offering, gesturing toward the spot beside him with a toss of his head.

Reever started for the bed, then took a pause as he noticed how carefully Komui was sitting and, very distantly, he remembered that someone had once told him how easily brocade wrinkled. He remember folding one of Komui’s shirts so that it wouldn’t.

“Komui, do you want me to bring you something to change into?” he asked as he shook away the thought.

“…Hm?”  Komui paused to swallow and then smiled a little abashedly.  Now that Reever mentioned it, that did sound good, but…

“…I guess if you want?  But, uh, you don’t have to wait on me…”  He gave an embarrassed little laugh as he set the box to one side and shifted forward as though to rise.

“Don’t worry about it.” Reever grinned rather playfully, heading for Komui’s wardrobe. “I’ve always wanted an excuse to go through your clothes. What kind of clothes are you feeling?”

“Umm…  I don’t know, clothes,” Komui pouted a little at his back, relaxing a little in his place and picking up another truffle.  “Something comfortable, I guess.  But that’s most of my closet anyway.  Pick what you like.”

Reever spent a few minutes going through Komui’s clothes before he settled on a soft cotton shirt and a pair of pants he figured Komui favored since it felt well-worn and thin, both of them white. He brought them back to the bed and held them out.

“Are these okay?”

“Perfect.”  Komui accepted them with a grin, nudged the chocolate off to one side again, and… debated getting up and decided he was too lazy.

And, well.  Reever was… right there.

He turned away just a little bit as he shifted in his place and began unbuttoning the snow-colored, shimmering tunic, pulling it off carefully.  He shook out mussed hair for a moment before laying it gingerly to one side, plucking the shirt Reever had selected from atop the bedcovers and continuing to dress.

Rather predictably, Reever turned slightly pink almost at once, then spent the next few moments debating whether turning away would be rude or not — and before he had the chance to come to a conclusion, realized he’d already been staring long enough that turning away would definitely be rude. He rubbed his nose with the back of his hand and proceeded to look flustered and helpless.

“Um,” he mumbled, constantly reminding himself that inhale came after exhale. “Um, should… um, do you want me to hang that up for you?”

Komui stood to change his pants, and then folded the garments in question over one forearm.  “Oh, that’s okay,” he replied quite brightly and nonchalantly as he walked over to the armoire.  It belied the way his own heart was pounding rather faster than before.

Maybe this… maybe this wasn’t a good idea.  But that look on Reever’s face had certainly been priceless.

“Komui,” Reever called after him, gaze fixed on some positively fascinating floor grout. “Uh… um, well… er… that is… I was going to say–… Um… I… I think…” His voice dropped down to something a hair above a whisper.

“…you’re prettier than I remember.” Then Reever’s gaze snapped up as his cheeks went bright red. “I mean!  Um.” He squeezed his eyes shut with an expression that begged some higher power to end his misery right then. “Handsome! You’re handsome…r than I remember!”

Komui was torn between the urge to pout outrageously and generally be indignant, and the urge to laugh at Reever’s utter adorableness. Looking at the other man’s expression, the former almost seemed too mean at this juncture, and, well, there was no use denying reality — as much as it irked him, he was kind of pretty.  So Komui let the quiet laugh out, hiding it obligingly behind his hand as he hung up his clothing and went back to bounce down onto the bed, pulling Reever with him.

“Thank you.  You don’t look too bad yourself with your hair all trimmed…  Though seeing you completely shaved borders on the unnatural,” he remarked with a little grin playing around his lips, and then leaned over on impulse to press a slightly irreverent kiss to Reever’s smooth jaw.

“I’ll make note of that for the future,” Reever answered a bit shyly, almost, rubbing the place Komui’s lips had touched self-consciously. “And… I didn’t really mean pretty like, just… I… I think you’ve gotten more attractive, that’s all. Not that you’re not pretty, but just not like– I… should just stop talking.”

Komui just laughed a little more.  Reaching up to unclip the barrette from his hair, he tossed it onto the nearby desk and finger-combed his hair out briefly before flopping over to rest his head in Reever’s lap.

“I love you,” he said easily, grinning a fond, amused, very wide grin up at the other man.  “Don’t ever stop saying stupid things.”

Reever felt his heart nearly miss a beat at the sound of those words and he smiled back, petting Komui’s conveniently placed head.

“Okay, we’ll trade. You keep reminding me you love me and I’ll keep verbally digging my own shallow grave.”

“I’ll take that bargain,” Komui declared, shifting his arms a little to stretch them quite loosely around the bottom of Reever’s waist.  For a little while, he just let himself lie there and be content, enjoying Reever’s warmth and his hand in Komui’s hair and even, perhaps, getting a little sleepy.

But he supposed he had a decision to make.

He could lean up and kiss Reever right now.  Push him down against the bed, pull off his shirt.  Touch him.  He felt without a doubt that Reever would welcome it.  Maybe with a little surprise at first, but at this particular moment Komui was completely certain he would not be turned away.  So he just…  had to decide whether he could do it or not.  Once they started–

the lips on his skin — the breath — the touch of those hands–

–would they be Reever’s?

Whose face would be in his mind when the climax came…?

He shifted his head a little, nuzzling against the other man’s leg with bangs falling into his face, and took a deep breath.

Reever would have been perfectly content if all they did was sit there until they both fell asleep, because he worried all the same things as Komui did and then some. He worried he would be too clumsy, worried that he would remind Komui too much of Cross or too little or maybe he just wasn’t good enough anymore or whether Cross had hurt Komui too much for Komui to want to be touched that way or… or… if the ceiling would collapse and kill them both, really. There wasn’t much rationality to Reever’s insecurities, but then again there didn’t really need to be. That would be a little bit like requiring a bicycle to ride a train. But Reever heard Komui stir and looked down, found himself in mild wonder that he had Komui again to begin with, and then finally remembered to speak.

“…Komui?” he asked, then ran out of even stupid things to say. He brushed back some of Komui’s hair instead, studying his expression.

“Hm?”  Komui glanced up at him through his lashes, the other man’s touch eliciting a little smile without his really thinking about it.

“Are…” Reever had to stop and take a deep breath, scratching his forehead as though that would somehow make the thoughts come. “Um, are you… happy, with me? It’s… it’s a stupid question, isn’t it? You know what, never mind. I’m just… being me again.”

Komui looked up at him for just a moment.  His expression sobered as he pulled his arms a little tighter around Reever’s waist, and said nothing for a while, and thought about it.

“I am,” he murmured at last, letting his eyes fall closed, “happier than I ever imagined I was capable of.”

“Me too,” Reever sighed out with a little, relieved smile. He hesitated again, lightly stroking Komui’s cheek. Contemplating. “Komui, you… would you mind if I, ah…” Reever felt himself flush, felt warm around his neck and down his back and in his cheeks. “Would you mind if I… if I kissed you right now?” It felt very, very silly to ask, but just… doing it felt out of the question to Reever somehow.

And just like that — tension.  Komui stopped for a second and… breathed.  Tried not to do anything alarming.

He didn’t–  He still didn’t know if he could — if they…

If they…  he…

…..Reever…  was waiting for him.

Just like he had been all this time.  Just like he would be, Komui was certain, a thousand years from now.  Waiting, praying, and holding his breath.

There was no decision to make.

There was only to follow the path he’d already started.

“If that’s what you wanted,” he murmured, opening his eyes again as he shifted forward a little, pushing himself up on his hands, “what are you doing all the way up there?”

Komui smiled faintly.

Reever didn’t answer, only smiled back and rearranged himself until he was laying next to Komui. He took in a deep breath to calm himself before he brought his arms around Komui’s waist, then slowly leaned in for the kiss. He hesitated at the last second, grip on Komui tightening. Then he closed his eyes, sighed out his breath, and leaned into the space between them to deliver a soft, still somewhat uncertain but affectionate kiss. It was… the sort you gave your siblings, actually, and Reever grimaced at himself. He counted to three in his head, pulled back in the space between ‘two’ and ‘three’, and returned to give Komui a proper kiss, a searching kiss, trying not to let his heart hammer its way out of his chest.

Komui reached over to stroke long fingers slowly down the side of Reever’s face as he returned the kiss, dark eyes glittering, his glasses bumping just a little against the bridge of Reever’s nose.  In that moment he had no regrets, no second thoughts.  It was as perfect as anything in his life had ever been; and if he’d had to spend the rest of eternity right here, in a quiet evening lying on his bed lazily kissing Reever Wenham, he didn’t think he could have minded very much.

Maybe… it made him faintly lightheaded to think it, and he shifted forward with his shirt pulling tight against the front of his chest to press closer to Reever, tangle a hand in his unruly hair, surfacing for breath a second before pressing his lips to the other man’s again–  maybe–

Maybe everything would really be okay.

One of Reever’s hands curled around the hem of Komui’s shirt when the third kiss broke, his eyes searching Komui’s for permission. He wasn’t even really sure he wanted to be asking this, wasn’t sure if Komui was ready or if he was ready or… anything, really. He wasn’t sure of anything, but he knew that this was where he wanted to be, with Komui, close to Komui, rediscovering all the wonderful things in life they had once been so certain of.

A single little shiver passed through Komui’s body, and he took a deep breath.

Then he reached up to take off his glasses, set them aside, and, slowly, slid a hand atop Reever’s to coax it underneath his shirt.

And with that Reever had his breath stolen away.

Smiling a slightly watery little smile from feelings he didn’t quite know how to express, he slowly pushed Komui’s shirt up by inches, lowering his head to press kisses against Komui’s stomach and gradually moving upward until the shirt was removed from Komui completely. He ran his hands over distantly familiar places, trying to remember exactly how this all went. He remembered it all, remembered curling up with his alcohol at night to dream dreams of things he thought he could never have again. He had never let himself forget, because he was certain only he knew how to make Komui ache in all those wonderful ways, knew how to make Komui sleepy and spent and sated and happy. Cross thought he knew, was so very certain he knew everything there was to know about Komui and had something with him no one else could ever hope to have or replace. And it was entirely likely that he did.

But what Reever had was different.  Beautiful.  Uniquely, impossibly perfect.

Komui tugged Reever down by the tie for another kiss, and then began to undo it, tossing it aside and turning to unbuttoning Reever’s shirt one-handed with his other arm loosely wrapped around Reever’s waist to steady himself.  His breathing was coming just a little faster, a pleasant warmth spreading through his body as he opened the shirt up, tugging it down one of Reever’s arms as far as it would go.  There was an insistent need throbbing underneath his skin now, faint at first, growing warmer and deeper and louder; a need for — for — Reever. For every last little bit of him that he was willing to give.  For his gentle eyes and his reverent touch and his wiry hair and the heat of his body.  To be as close to him as any human being could ever be.

Komui was so happy in that moment that he couldn’t quite even properly comprehend it, and he blinked back a faint wetness in his eyes again as he pulled Reever down on top of him, bare chest against bare chest, sliding his hands underneath the half-removed shirt and across warm skin as their eyes met, separated by inches.

“Make me yours again,” he whispered.

“K..Komui, I–” Reever murmured, voice a little choked. “I love you. Forever. I’ll never let you go again.” And in that moment, he was so certain that it was a promise he could keep.

He kissed Komui again, drawing it out so that the feeling would linger even after he moved on to somewhere else, so that it would linger even in the morning, even through the day, or even just moments from now. However long it would be until their lips could meet again. Thoughtlessly, he breathed out quiet promises between each kiss, of love and devotion, that he would do anything, anything for Komui. It was almost a stream of consciousness, of thoughts that had passed through Reever’s mind a thousand times since Komui had left and a thousand more since he’d returned. That Reever lived for Komui, and because he lived for Komui he would do anything for him, would love him until the day he died and, God willing, even after that. He didn’t say that he would die for Komui, but that did not mean he didn’t think it.

Reever pulled his shirt the rest of the way off and discarded it, kissing the corners of Komui’s eyes with reverence, trailing kisses down to his jaw, down his throat, taking his time. He wanted to show Komui all the pleasure in the world, even if it meant losing a day of work. He would have gladly given up much more to have a night like this with Komui, and he wasn’t going to waste a second of it.

Komui simply sighed a little, a small smile playing around his lips as one hand reached up languidly to trail over Reever’s arm, down his bare chest, across his side.  When Reever gave him the chance, he intended to do a little more than that, but for now.

For now.

He closed his eyes and let feeling wash him away.

- – -

It was just after dawn that Reever instinctively woke because his internal clock told him it was time to get ready for work. He had not been sleeping for more than a few hours at that point and so he blearily blinked at the sun pouring in through the windows, looked down at Komui asleep in his arms, smiled, and drifted right off again. The next time he roused wasn’t until late afternoon. Even then he didn’t make any move to get up and spent the next hour or so holding Komui and letting the time pass. It was really a beautiful way to spend a day.

At some point Komui too might have woken up; but like Reever, he hadn’t found any urgent reason to get out of bed.  Instead he simply lazed about, drifting between awake and asleep and enjoying the pleasant feeling of just… feeling. Thinking about nothing in particular at all as he lay there, warm and sleepy, with the sunlight shining against his eyelids and Reever’s arms wrapped around him.  When at last he stirred, taking in a slow breath and opening his eyes to find the other man lying there simply looking at him, his lips curled themselves into a little smile all of their own volition; and for a moment, he just looked back.  He might perhaps have gone the tiniest bit pink, as well, as he wondered how long Reever had been lying there watching him sleep.

“…Good morning,” he murmured automatically, dark eyes glittering.  He glanced up at the window across the room for a moment.  “Er…  afternoon?”

“Something like that,” Reever answered with a smile, pressing a light kiss to Komui’s brow. He noted with some delight that the simple gesture still made him the slightest bit flustered. He rather liked that feeling, because he recognized that as long as he had it, he wouldn’t forget to appreciate having Komui. “Sleep well?”

“Incredibly.”  Komui returned the kiss on the tip of Reever’s nose before reaching up to stifle a yawn, stretching luxuriously in the other man’s arms.  He raised his head for a moment to toss his hair back with one hand, and the tangled dark fall spilled away from them across the sheets, wispy strands drifting into Komui’s eyes to mingle with his long bangs.  He looked at Reever for a moment before shifting forward with an impish grin to give him another brief peck on the lips.

“I feel so wonderful that I’m sure I could have gotten all kinds of work done today.  What a shame I never made it into the office,” he remarked brightly.

“What’s that now? It’s not too late to go in, you know. We don’t even have to get dressed. Once they hear the Supervisor’s getting all sorts of work done, the nudity will seem like a very dull footnote,” Reever mused back with a grin.

“Aww, but it’s so late already.”  Komui pouted a little as he sat up at last, rolling his shoulders a little.  He yawned again and reached up to rub at his eyes with the back of one hand.  “I skipped yesterday too, so I’ll just have to put in an all-nighter tomorrow…  today I just want to relax.  And I still have to go see Linali…”

He paused, blinking at the bedsheets for a second.

“….Shit. We didn’t take pictures. She might not come out!  What if she won’t come out!?”  His head whipped back around toward Reever with a mortified expression.  “What if she won’t take us just telling her about it!?  What if it’s not romantic enough!?!?  What if there weren’t enough rose petals!?!!?”  He pulled at his hair agitatedly before he started to rise, throwing back the covers and vaulting onto the floor–

–only to slip on Reever’s discarded tie.  He landed on the tiles with an uncomfortable-sounding thud.

“…Ow.”

“Are you okay?” Reever scrambled over to the side of the bed to make sure Komui hadn’t cracked his head open or anything else alarming before holding out a hand to help him up. “Don’t worry so much, Komui. Worse comes to worse I’ll have to get you to sign for an advance on my next payday so we can do this again for her, with pictures.”

“I guess we could just unscrew the door hinges,” Komui muttered, taking the other man’s hand and rubbing at his head a little as he rose.  “Don’t worry, nothing wounded but my pride…  We definitely need to go see her later, though.  And…”  He paused as his stomach gave a speculative rumble.  “Possibly get something to eat.”

“Sorry, Komui. The halls are a bit narrow on that floor so all the doors open inward. That means the hinges are inside too,” Reever offered helpfully with a little shrug.  (He had looked into it personally earlier, just in case.)  “Food sounds like a novel idea, though.” He was feeling rather ravenous himself, but there was just one little thing first…

“We should shower before we go anywhere, though,” he mused. Yawning, he stood from the bed still rather unclothed, then turned to grin at Komui. “Supervisor, I think it would save a great deal of time we could spend being productive if we simply showered together, don’t you?”

Komui raised a speculative eyebrow.

“Hmmm…  Well.  Clearly in the interests of efficiency we shouldn’t waste all those precious minutes taking turns,” he finally agreed with a smirk, rising to twine his arm into Reever’s and escort him to the bathroom.

One rather unproductive shower later (well, it really depended on who you asked) the two of them re-emerged to dress for… dinner, apparently. Reever simply got back into his suit pants and dress shirt and then played with his tie until Komui was done changing.

“What first then, Komui? Should we visit your sister first, or go get a bite to eat?”

“Um… do you mind if we go see Linali first?” Komui requested, chewing on a thumbnail a little as he walked over to the armoire to step into a pair of slippers.  He’d changed into beige slacks and a weathered, comfortable old blue cheongsam — one that had come from China all the way to England on his first trip to the Order, then gone and come back again — and tied his wet hair back impatiently, which would annoy him later when it dried wrong but for now was quite pleasant in getting it away from his neck and shoulders.  “I mean, I’m sure she’s fine, but if she’s locked everybody out, that means the medical staff can’t get in to see her either.”  He glanced toward the armoire doors, debated whether the Supervisor’s jacket was necessary, and decided with this getup it would just be a little odd.  He wasn’t planning on doing any actual work today anyway.

“Not at all. I have to give her a proper thank you, and that’s a good point. She has her golem though, doesn’t she?” Reever reassured, taking Komui’s hand in his. He really didn’t care if people knew about them or not anymore. The three-year absence had put things into very solid perspective for him. Nothing mattered, as long as Komui was okay, was happy, was with him. “She’d be able to call for help if she ran into any trouble. Well, then, shall we?”

But just as Reever reached for the door to open it, it knocked at him.

“Ge ge~?” the voice on the other side called brightly. “Reever? Are you two still in there?”

“LINALIIIIIII~”

The door was open in approximately 0.5 seconds and Komui was hugging his little sister fit to squish her, spinning her around in a circle away from the doorway and back into the room proper.

“You came out!  All by yourself!!  Are you okay?  Did something go wrong in there?  Were you starving!?  Did you miss your big brother too much~~!?!?” he cried, glomming onto her hysterically with an energy not often displayed since he’d returned to Headquarters.

“No, no, ge ge,” Linali laughed, hugging him back. She was very used to his enthusiastic hugs and today she was in a good enough mood that even his over-the-top exuberance only made her smile more. “Everything was fine. I came out because you met all my demands!”

“Oh, of course I–”  Komui stopped mid-sentence and let go to blink at her.

“Wait, how do you know that?”

Linali’s smile turned a little impish and she tucked her hands behind her back, looking rather pleased with herself.

“Well~ I thought you two might get carried away and forget to take pictures, so I just sent my golem after you~!”

“You–”

Komui sprang back to stare at her in utter horror.

“You…  you…  you–  nghh–  you what!?“  He collapsed to the floor looking rather traumatized.  “Pleeeeeeease tell me it didn’t come into my roooooooom –  Lie to me if you have to,” he moaned, twitching a little at the thought of sweet innocent Linali who was also his sister watching them — watching him doing such — such–

Reever, meanwhile, had turned a lovely shade of ash white, feeling his stomach contents revolt at the idea of Linali, sitting in her room, watching their date and–

“Oh, don’t worry,” Linali smiled prettily, attempting to look reassuring. The effect was probably rather destroyed by how pleased their horror seemed to make her. “I wouldn’t intrude on your privacy that much. I had my golem come back when you guys went into ge ge’s room. But it’s not as though I’m a child~ I know what you guys were doing, but… it makes me a little sad that I’m pretty sure you didn’t bring rose petals in with you.”

“R-r-r-rose petals?!” Reever sputtered, then buried his face into his hands. “Linali! I forbid you to think about the sunflowers or the chocolate I brought your brother in any unwholesome ways!”

“The sunflowers and chocolate…?” Linali repeated, then turned a light shade of pink as she covered her mouth with her hand. “Oh my! That hadn’t even occurred to me, but now that you mention it…”

Death sounded good to Reever right then. Very good. He’d just had a perfect day with Komui and there really wouldn’t be any harm in throwing himself out the nearest window. He groaned and sat back down on the bed.

“Reeveeeeeeeer, don’t corrupt my sisteeeeeeer,” Komui groaned, plopping over the rest of the way face-first onto the floor and muttering something about romance novels and dancing and evil influences.

“Me?” Reever demanded. “She’s the one following us with her golem! She did that all by herself.”

“Oh, cheer up, you guys!” Linali sighed, still smiling fondly. “I’m a big girl now. Nineteen! And I’m so happy for you two! Now my brothers are all happy again and I can go work on my own love life!”

“Your own– What!?”

Komui sprang instantly to his feet, stared at her for about a half second, and then pitched backward onto the floor again in a dead faint.

“Supervisor!”

“Ge ge!”

Both Linali and Reever gasped out, eyes widening. Linali then immediately headed to the bathroom to get a damp cloth to rouse Komui with. This all was bordering on rather routine for them.

“Don’t even, Linali,” Reever called after her. “Hold on, I’ve been waiting to do this a long time.” He squatted down next to the fainted Supervisor and whispered into his ear.

“Komui, Linali’s going to get married.”

“NO, SHE’S NOT!” Komui shouted instantly, sitting up ramrod straight with a pained groan.  He blinked for a second as he came fully awake again and glanced cautiously over at Reever.

“….she’s not really, right?”

“Not yet,” Reever teased, dusting Komui off with a good-natured smile. “Let it go, Komui. She has to grow up some time and hey, life is short. Would you deny Linali here the happiness she had a hand in giving us?”

Linali blushed a little at that and didn’t say anything, simply standing there looking sweet and lovable and cute.

Komui looked over at her and pouted terribly.  “You know your big brother still thinks of you as a cute four-year-old running around trying to catch your kitty, don’t you?”

He crossed his arms over his chest as he sat there, giving a sniff and looking extremely disgruntled.

“Just don’t date anybody unworthy of you,” he allowed at last, pout still going at full power as he turned his head away with a little flounce of the dark bangs.  “And… and bring them to meet me.  And if somebody makes you cry you have to tell me so I can show up at their door with a machine gun and some assassin robots and put the fear of God into them.”

“I’m sure if I date anyone in the Order they’ll already have the fear of God, and you, in them. You have quite a reputation, ge ge,” Linali sighed with a smile, shaking her head. “I might not be able to find anyone worthy of me because those’ll be the guys who value their lives too much to date me.”

Reever was making a memo to lock away all the Order’s machine guns and machine gun components. And the cutlery. And anything else that could be potentially lethal in the Supervisor’s hands. Then he crossed out his mental memo and wrote a new one:

Memo:
Handcuff Supervisor to self.

“Well, if they’re nice they have nothing to be afraid of,” Komui insisted, still pouting a little bit as he rose and brushed himself off.

“Anyway, we were actually headed to see you and then get a bite to eat just now…  How are you feeling?  Think you could handle a walk to the cafeteria?” he wondered with a smile.

“I don’t know, ge ge,” Linali sighed, making her best sad face as she looked down at her legs. “…I might need a piggy back ride once we’re down the stairs.”

Komui grinned and walked over to ruffle her hair, stooping a little to give her a peck on the cheek.  “I’m pretty sure I can handle that.”

- – -

As unbelievable as it was for all parties involved, the next few weeks that passed them were peaceful ones, primarily uneventful and even positively blissful at times. Reever practically moved into Komui’s room with as often as he stayed over, and clothes began to pop up in Komui’s armoire that didn’t belong to him; Komui could still be skittish and uncertain occasionally and his nightmares sometimes interrupted their peace, but otherwise, matters between them were almost as if Komui had never left. Work somehow found itself getting done despite being taken strange places such as Jerry’s kitchen, the watchtowers, and even the courtyard at times. Once, Komui got it into his head to spend their day signing papers while riding the elevator, pressing buttons for people when needed and just riding up and down when not. And that was exactly what they did.

Linali took advantage of her continuing medical leave to recuperate and rekindle friendships, though rumor had it that she had not been spending very much time with her normal group of Exorcist friends at all. Her suite neighbors reported hearing a distinctly male voice come fetching her some days and this mystery man seemed to occupy a great deal of her time. Jerry was in on it as he made romantic dinners for the two, but he was sworn to secrecy under pain of death, and would never have dreamed of betraying Linali anyway.  Not that this stopped Komui at all — since he couldn’t get anyone to tell him who the dastardly culprit was, he had resolved to simply find out for himself, and started spending several hours out of every day in his labs working on the construction of discreet, sophisticated surveillance equipment.  Naturally, the amount of his time spent in the office actually doing his job suffered accordingly.

Since Reever really couldn’t fault Komui for being worried about who his sister was dating, he picked up the extra slack in the office for his boss without much complaint. He didn’t really know how wise it was to be encouraging Komui’s eccentric approach to the problem, but he couldn’t imagine it would hurt too much. Of course, he had only considered that Komui wouldn’t be hurt too much by it. In that respect, he was mostly correct.

Himself, though. That was another matter entirely.

It started the morning a small black wax-sealed envelope was left on the Supervisor’s desk and Reever opened it in Komui’s stead, as Komui was off toiling away in his labs as usual. It was a decree directly from the Head Generals, and only documents of the highest confidentiality were delivered in such packaging. Reever was already wary by the time he broke the wax seal and pulled out the memo.

Temporary transfer of service notice for Chief Supervisor Komui Li:

A new study on methods of implementing Innocence in non-Compatibles has commenced, based on the thesis of researcher Sofia Foster. Due to his demonstrated problem-solving capabilities in the recent antivenom breakthrough and his expertise in the field of researching Innocence, Supervisor Li has been selected as project leader effective immediately. Head Science Officer Reever Wenham is to take his place as temporary Chief Supervisor and may select his own replacement from among Science Department subordinates.

Reever had to pause a moment, think. His heart was already pounding. The last experiment that had involved implementing Innocence in non-Compatibles had ended in– in– What had Sofia been working on? She had mentioned it to him once, at lunch. Something about how she had noticed that… all children possessed a certain low compatibility rate with all Innocence until the age of two, where it would dissipate altogether. She wanted to statistically prove that, then find a way to… understand what it was in children that made them different from non-Compatible adults. Utilize it. Make Exorcists.

Reever dropped the note, hands shaking.

Hadn’t they learned already? What happened to those who… who… Innocence didn’t take kindly to being forced into the body of someone who had not been chosen. It punished the wrong ones. It shouldn’t be the subjects the Innocence consumed, it wasn’t their fault, it was the scientists who– They had no morals, no conscience, no heart to hear the screams of the victims. Reever still heard them, could still see them, so trusting and hopeful and eager and then they didn’t even know their own names anymore and–

Gabby.

Oh, god, they were going to experiment on children this time and– and–!

Linali.

They were going to make Komui responsible, stain his hands–

“You know your big brother still thinks of you as a cute four-year-old running around trying to catch your kitty, don’t you?”

And Komui didn’t even know. Didn’t know about the first time, about how it was all his fault and Komui wouldn’t understand because, because–

Togaochi.

No, no, no, no, no not again. How could they do this again after the last time, after Suman, after all those kids and now they were going after infants and–

They were going to make him Supervisor and make Komui a murderer and there was nothing to do to stop it but Komui couldn’t take it. Not so soon, not after– He was barely okay again. His smile was still so faint sometimes, still so, so…

He was going to lose Komui.

They were going to take him away and Reever couldn’t save him this time because… because… there was just too much– He shouldn’t have forced Komui to take his job back. Shouldn’t have encouraged him to work. No, no, everything was always his fault. He shouldn’t have. He should have done more. Done less. Kept Komui safe.

He should have…

Should have…

For a moment, standing there in Komui’s office, Reever saw into the far future and knew all that was going to come. Everything. All the misery and death and blood and tears and all of his helplessness and uselessness and everything he couldn’t do, everyone he wouldn’t be able to save. Everything.

And then he found the whiskey he had stashed behind a row of books, clawed down volumes of useless, stupid research to the floor until he had the bottles in his hands. Sat down against the bookshelves. Cracked open the bottles by the necks. Drank it all back, tasting the salt of his tears in the alcohol. He drank and drank and drank until he didn’t know anything anymore.

An eternity later, the door swung open quietly.

“Reever, are you in here?” came Komui’s voice echoing from outside.  “You could mention where you were going to be, y’know, I kinda got used to you living in my bedroom of an evening so I–”

He stopped talking abruptly as he entered the room and his gaze alighted on the other man.

“…Uh…  Reever?” he murmured the slightest bit timidly, pulling the door shut behind him.  He frowned worriedly.

Reever didn’t hear him right away, only lifting his head with a wince when he heard Komui call his name the second time. His face was still streaked with tears and his eyes were completely bloodshot from failed attempts at wiping his face clean. The front of his lab coat and vest were soaked, as at some point Reever had spilled whiskey on himself when he missed his mouth because he had tried to bring the bottle to his lips mid-sob.

“K-Komui…?” he choked out, dropping the bottle. It rolled away from him. “Oh, fuck, Komui. I’m sorry. Your office– I… I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry. Please, I… I can’t lose you again, I just… can’t–”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Komui said quietly, swallowing.  His heart was pounding hard as he crossed the room in a few brisk steps to crouch down by Reever’s side and pull the other man into his arms, tears and whiskey spills and all.

“It’s okay, really.  I’m — I’m okay,” he whispered.

“No, it’s not okay,” Reever insisted, another sob tearing itself from his throat. He hunched over on himself, choking on his tears as he clutched at Komui, as though holding on alone could be enough. But it wasn’t. He knew it wasn’t. He knew it never would be. “You don’t know. You don’t understand. You don’t know because I never told you that it’s all my fault and you… you don’t know. You’ll hate me and you should and I’m going to lose you anyway but I don’t want to but I can’t stop it. Why can’t I protect you, Komui? Why can’t I…”

“Shh.”

Komui took a deep breath and tugged at Reever’s arms until the other man was a little closer, ignored the alcohol smell, tried to coax Reever to lay his head on Komui’s shoulder.  He’d never done anything like this before, never really given comfort save to a crying Linali — he knew how to handle her but this was different, this was Reever and he was…  he wasn’t Linali.  He didn’t trust and follow Komui’s every word; didn’t desperately need to believe it when Komui said everything would be all right again; didn’t… depend on him, usually, at least not like that — Komui’s heart was pounding out of his chest as he sort of worked on autopilot, trying to figure out what could possibly be wrong, what had gotten Reever so upset…  He breathed again and hugged Reever against him, stroking his back, his hair.  He needed to be calm.  They both needed to be calm.

“Just calm down, okay?” he murmured in as peaceful and soothing a voice as he could manage.  “Calm down.  It’s okay.  We’ll fix it.  You’re right, I don’t know what’s going on, but that’s why you need to calm down so you can tell me about it.  It’ll all be all right.”

He pressed his cheek against Reever’s hair, still stroking the other man’s back slowly.

“You’re not going to lose me.  Never again,” he murmured.

“I love you, Komui,” Reever choked out as he tried to force his tears to stop, for Komui’s sake if nothing else. “You know that, don’t you? You know… that I’d do this for you if I could. That… that I’d… I’d take it all from you. B-but they… won’t let me and… and I’m out of influence. I shouldn’t have wasted it. I should have… I should have done so many things differently, Komui. Just… just… a few more minutes.” He buried his face against Komui’s chest, shuddering deeply.

“…just a few more minutes before I– I– Before I have to tell you, be…because then you’ll know. And everything will change. Knowledge changes things. It changes everything.” Reever sounded almost hysterical, a painful little laugh that was half a sob leaving his lips at the end. He covered his face with his hands.

“That’s fine,” Komui reassured him quickly, swallowing.  He stroked Reever’s hair.  “Take all the time you want.  It’s okay…  Just…  Just try to calm down some.”  He smiled slightly awkwardly, leaned down to plant a light kiss atop the other man’s head.  “This is a little… scary.”

He sat there holding Reever for a little while longer.

When Reever couldn’t stand it anymore, finally couldn’t stand the screaming in his ears or the sight of blood crawling across Linali’s bedroom floor, couldn’t stand being in Komui’s arms while completely unable to take any comfort out of it because he was so sure this would be the last time and just really needed another drink, he swallowed thickly and raised an unsteady hand to point at the dropped notice.

“T-there. It’s… all in there. Y-you can l-let me… let me go now. I need… I need another drink. I just… I put another bottle here… I gotta find it…” he stammered, groping around the lower bookshelves for his other stash. All the research, all the useless books that told them nothing and did nothing but send more people to their deaths, he cast it all away. It was all in his way. It was all getting between him and everything. It was everything. He didn’t want to touch them anymore. But… his drink. He had to find it.

“Come with me.”

Komui’s voice was quiet.  He caught Reever’s sleeve in his hand before the other man could get away from him entirely, trying to remember to breathe as he watched the way Reever stumbled.

“…I love you too.  Please, stay with me,” he requested, softly.  It was a cheap shot, especially while Reever was drunk, if he didn’t miss his guess.  But the thought of watching the other man wander off on his own in this state was terrifying.

Reever froze, squeezed his eyes shut. His hands closed into fists and he spent a moment on his hands and knees just shaking. He needed another drink so badly. The screaming. He could barely hear Komui’s voice over the screaming but he could still hear it and– and– He nodded, slowly, the motion forced. He dragged himself to his feet, swayed.

“A…anything for you, Komui. Please… please don’t hate me.”

Komui took a bare glance at the letter Reever had indicated…  no, there wasn’t time.  He took another very deep breath and walked forward to wrap his arms around the other man again.  Pulled him close for a brief, slightly messy kiss because… because he didn’t know what to do, he could never…

“I could never, ever hate you,” he said quietly, catching Reever’s chin firmly to look him straight in the eye as he said it, putting all the certainty he could muster into the words.  “Do you hear me?  I love you.  I could never possibly hate you.  There is nothing in the entire world that could make me hate you because I love you that much.”  His voice was starting to shake a little — that wouldn’t do.  He took another deep breath and tried to start over.

“I don’t hate you, how could I possibly ever…  I’m not…  I’m never going to leave you. You understand?  That’s what we decided, isn’t it?”

He hugged Reever a little tighter.

“But you don’t know,” Reever protested weakly, shoulders still trembling with his tears. “It was all me, Komui. Linali almost… almost died back then, and it was because I– I didn’t protect her well enough, didn’t pay enough attention, I– I made too many mistakes. And… now it’s going to happen again, and I don’t know if… I don’t know if I can find you in time– I can’t protect you at all, but I can’t lose you. I can’t.” He covered his face with one hand and started to sob once more. He slid his hand up into his hair, tearing at the roots.

“…I won’t make it this time.”

…Linali?

…almost died.

That had happened a few times since she’d been here.  Komui had thought his heart would stop for every single one.  But the truth was he hadn’t really been around for the very worst one.  Cleaned up the aftermath, sure, but he hadn’t yet been a member of the Order back when Linali had her very worst time.  When she did it to herself.

Coaxing Reever down onto the floor again, Komui kept one arm wrapped around him, and with the other groped backwards until he found the Head Generals’ notice.

Once he’d read it…  everything became a little clearer.  He was fairly sure he knew what had gotten Reever so upset.  He knew what he was going to be doing come tomorrow.

His heart was pounding fit to burst out of his chest.

He hugged Reever closer for a little while, tried to calm down enough to talk, breathed a little.  It would…  it would be okay.  It could still be okay.  He would make it okay.

“Reever,” he said into the other man’s ear, trying to get his attention.  “Reever.  It’s okay.  It wasn’t your fault.”

He stroked Reever’s hair a little again, put his hand on top of Reever’s own, squeezed it slightly.

“What… What happened to Linali…  It wasn’t your fault.”  He spoke gently, soothingly.  “You hear me?  Linali getting hurt wasn’t your fault.  You were a good big brother.  You did everything you could for her.  It wasn’t your fault,” he repeated.  His voice darkened a little on the next words, eyes narrowing.

“It was the Order’s fault.  Not yours.”

“I was supposed to be watching her,” Reever whispered, tears slowly leaving him as he grew too exhausted to shed them. He was still utterly convinced of his own guilt, but to hear Komui forgive him… that was enough to make him go near boneless with relief. “They dismissed me from the labs because the experiments were getting to me. I was supposed to be watching her. She wasn’t supposed to be there.” He closed his eyes and shook his head. None of that mattered now. Linali was fine. She had matured into a fine, well-adjusted young woman. She was an Exorcist. She was safe, and if she was to die it would be on the battlefield.

Not like them.

The Order carved away their lives in inches, wore at their sanity in degrees. The Order would take and take and take until they had nothing left to give.

Reever was so, deathly afraid this would take all that was left of Komui, everything he loved so dearly.

“…it’s cruel, Komui,” Reever mumbled against Komui’s chest, one hand closing around the collar of his coat. “Haven’t you been hurt enough yet…? Why can’t… why can’t I hurt for you? It hurts anyway, so… if I could just take your place…”

Komui took another very deep breath, hugged Reever against him and… just tried not to cry.

“I don’t– want you to hurt for me,” he said, swallowing, because he didn’t know what else to say.  How to make it better.  How to… how to fix things.  Maybe there wasn’t any fixing them at all.

He really was a useless person, when it came right down to it.

“I don’t want you to hurt at all…” he murmured, blinking too fast and pressing Reever against him, his face against the man’s hair, the smell of spilled whiskey rubbing off on his clothes.  “Hurt or cry or be sad or — I just — I just want you to be happy,” he said for what felt like the thousandth time.

“I’m sorry I can’t — fix it–”  His arms tightened around Reever’s body.  “But I…  I’m right here.  I’m not going anywhere.  I–”  He thought of Reever holding him, and choked a little.  Said it not really knowing if he was lying, but desperately wanting it to be true.

“I’ll always be here.”

“You don’t really know that,” Reever answered quietly, still certain that the Order was about to take Komui far, far away despite his promises. There was nothing they could do. There was nothing either of them could do, and Reever had lost his blind optimism a long time ago.

“I can be happy as long as you’re happy,” he added softly. “Even if I’m hurting, as long as you’re okay. You’re… you’re not okay nearly enough, Komui. It’s not… It’s not fair. I just want you to be okay. Why won’t anyone let us have that? I– I hate… being this way. I hate being their pawn. There’s really… nothing we can do, is there? They own us. All of us. We’re going to die for them, and until then they own all of us.”

Komui took another deep breath, and tried to think of something to say that wasn’t too terribly bitter.

“I guess you could say that,” he murmured.  (He had said it himself many times, if only inside his own mind where he couldn’t be censured for it.)  “But remember that this… this all has a purpose.  We’re trying to save the world here.  It’s easy to lose sight of the end, but it could sneak up on us anytime now…  there’s a reason we’re all here.  To protect the human race.  No matter what we have to do.”

That was what he told himself, so he could get to sleep at night — when he accepted dead-eyed new recruits fresh from losing everyone they’d ever loved; when the casualty notices came back in piles.  As ever, it was a cold comfort.

Reever sank back to bury his face in his hands, curling up until his head nearly touched the floor. Let out a single, quiet sob. All those children, their screams, their trust, their hopes. Their blood. Sometimes the floors still looked pink and Reever could almost see the suds, the frothy pink bubbles. The voices of the researchers.

“Another Togaochi.”

So empty. Matter of fact. As though it was just another failed prototype, a broken machine, not a child they had just tortured to death. And now it was happening again, and Komui would have to take the place of the man Reever had grown up to feel nothing but contempt for, smiled bitterly at when his name finally appeared on a list of the dead. The one Reever had hoped had not died too quickly. Reever had hoped that researcher had seen it coming, had felt nothing but horror and pain until the very end.

This time it was going to be Komui.

“…I think I would rather the world end, Komui,” Reever murmured after a long silence, slowly sitting up again. His expression was stricken, but somehow almost calm. He was watching the world end in the back of his mind, and it was glorious. “Than to see it saved by these means. We’re… we’re hardly better than the Earl, this way. I’d rather sleep with you in my arms forever than… this. I don’t think we’re saving anyone. We just send them out to die, when we’re not too busy killing them ourselves.”

Because he was drunk, Komui allowed him the blasphemy.

“We are saving people,” he insisted quietly, stretching a hand forward again to clasp Reever’s arm, rub up and down it slowly.  “Our Exorcists, our Finders…  they’re out there every day.  Not just searching for Innocence.  Doing everything they can to keep people from getting hurt.”  Well, some of them, anyway.

Komui closed his eyes briefly, and looked at Reever with a determined expression.  In this moment he was not himself, but the Supervisor, through and through.

“And if I’m in charge of this project, then I’m in charge of how it’s conducted.  How we research, what experiments we do.  Don’t worry.  There will be no Togaochi in this castle on my watch,” he promised darkly, eyes hardening as his lips drew together into a line.

Reever was silent for long while, listening to Komui’s words cycle through his head.

“…okay,” he finally managed, offering Komui an almost-smile. “I believe you, Supervisor.” And he did, because he had to. If he couldn’t trust Komui’s word, how was he supposed to even go on?

“Maybe if… if you guys get it right this time, they’ll never do this again,” he murmured, looking down at his hands. “That… that would be nice. I… yeah, that would be nice.” His voice was a little distant, words slightly disjointed. He looked toward the door.

“I… do you mind if I go now, Komui? I should… find my uniform. And, ah… get it refitted.” Which was a lie, because his Supervisor coat was sitting under his bed where it had been for the last three years and Reever didn’t give a damn whether or not it fit right, but he needed another drink and was at least sober enough to know better than to tell Komui that. Komui had enough to worry about.

“No.”  The expression Komui gave him was a bit between a pout and an outright scowl as he rose to his feet and pulled Reever up after him, taking his hand in a vice-grip.  “You think I’m letting you out of my sight?  No, we are going to go back to my room now and have a shower, and you’re going to wear some of my pajamas, and then we’re going to go to sleep.  Together.”  He tugged the other man toward the office door insistently.

“Please, Komui.” Reever’s voice was barely above a whimper as he gave Komui an utterly terrified look at the prospect of having to spend the rest of the night increasingly sober. “I’ll be okay, I just… please, Komui, don’t do this to me. Please. I–” Reever wrapped his free arm tightly over his chest, clutching at his other arm, trying not to shake. “Please, Komui, I– I can– I still hear them, I just… I can’t… can’t spend the rest of the night this way, Komui. Just–” One more drink. But Reever knew that wasn’t true. One more was never enough. Not one more, or the one that came after that, or the one after that, or the one after that. There was never quite enough.

“No.“  Komui took a deep breath, and then another one, and then tried to convince himself not to hyperventilate.  He pulled Reever over further toward the door.  “You–  We–  …. actually, come on,” he said in a murmur, sighing deeply.  He wrapped himself around Reever’s arm as he escorted the other man outside, leaning against him just a little.  Trying not to upset Reever’s balance.  Trying to feel the tiniest bit normal.

“…Reever,” he asked the first thing that flitted into his head, closing the door behind him, “tell me about the stars in Australia.”

“Th-the what?” Reever seemed caught off guard by the question and it took a minute to process. Then he seemed to visibly relax, swallowed, sighed out a quiet breath. A very sad little smile touched his lips.

“…the stars. I made up a lot of my own, you know,” he whispered. “I’d have to show you the lot of ‘em…” He hugged himself, gaze cast out a window. Slowly, very, very slowly, the screams in his ears were drowned out by the sound of crashing waves and the laughter of little girls.

“And some of ‘em are girly things, like unicorns and castles and fairies, so don’t you laugh, you hear me? They… were always so lovely, back home. The stars. The world. Everything.”

“I’ll tell you a secret,” Komui murmured, still clutching Reever’s arm and continuing quietly down the hall, toward the stairs up to — not his room — but one of the lower observation towers.  “Linali has my number.  I actually very slightly like cute girly things…”  He stopped to breathe again.  “Very slightly.”

“I never would have guessed,” Reever answered, though the humor was missing from his voice. “With the clothes you wear and the things you put in your hair and your coffee mug with the bunnies on it. Stop, Komui, before I think I don’t know who you are anymore.”

“Well, anyway.”  At the moment Komui couldn’t quite bring himself to smile at that, especially with Reever’s delivery, but it was certainly a start.  “I won’t laugh.  So, tell me all about the… the stars, and everything.”

“It’s…” Reever sighed heavily, staring almost blankly at the distant stars. “It’s been such a long time. I don’t really–… The stars even look different here. I… suppose I’ll need a set of new ones, won’t I? Well… over there. It’s… that’ll be Jack’s cousin. You see the space there? It’s a rabbit. Jack was bigger, but his cousin’ll have to do. Jack’s cousin, her name can be Jill, she– You know what, Komui? I’m not good at this anymore, and you’re not a three-year-old girl. I feel stupid. And old.”

Komui just twined his fingers into Reever’s as he led them over closer toward the viewing balcony.

“I like rabbits,” he murmured, staring up at the sky speculatively, long dark hair falling over Reever’s shoulder as he tilted his head.  “Is Jill an only child?”

“Have you ever met a rabbit who was an only child?” Reever replied almost whimsically, gaze fixated on the night sky. He gave Komui’s hand a little squeeze. “She has… many, many brothers and sisters up there with her, and she’s never lonely. She’s the youngest, though. Always last in everything. She watches over youngest siblings when no one else will.”

“Oh, good.”  Komui managed a small smile now.  “She can play with Linali.”

“I don’t think she’d need to. Linali has a perfectly good, fair, doting older brother. Jack, though. He watches over abused, overworked, underappreciated older brothers. I used to complain to him all the time.” Reever even managed a quiet little laugh at the memory. Marleen used to get really upset when he told on her to Jack. She was afraid Jack would get upset at them and leave the sky. Reever really had been a rather mean brother in some respects.

“Really?  Were you terribly abused?”  Komui’s smile turned just the slightest bit warmer.  “But if that’s the case, he and I don’t have much to say to each other.  Who watches over the big brothers that have to let their sisters go off to get married?” he wondered with the smallest hint of a pout.

“Oh, that one,” Reever pointed up. “Polaris. North Star. Also known as the ‘reality check’ star, in my own humble opinion. The rest of us should be so lucky as to see our sisters get married to the man of their dreams.” Then he smiled a little brighter and rested his hand on Komui’s shoulder, squeezing lightly. “Don’t worry, Komui. I’ll even help you castrate the unworthy candidates.”

“Well, it’s nice to know I have your support.”  Komui untwined an arm from Reever’s and glanced up to wave at the North Star.  “You too,” he called cheerfully.

“You always have my support,” Reever added quietly, giving a little shrug. “Even with the giant robots. We’ll just have to take out the desire to drink coffee from the next Komurin.” A little sigh left his lips at that and he closed his eyes briefly before he leaned over to give Komui a little kiss.

“…I love you, Komui. More than I ever thought I could. Come home to me when this is all over, okay? We’ll set up house, make Linali happy. I’ll even volunteer to wear the dress at our wedding,” he murmured, trying desperately to hold his smile. “Just… be okay. And then I’ll be okay. While looking excellent in white, if I might add.”

“You do realize if you wear the dress at our wedding,” Komui mused, feeling caught somewhere between humor and worry and rather extreme awkwardness as he leaned against Reever a little once more, “we will have to take pictures to preserve for posterity forever.  And to show anyone who wants to look at our wedding pictures.  Ever.  For the rest of your life.”  He couldn’t help smiling again, despite how… strange this all felt.  At least Reever seemed rather calmer than before.

“And… as long as I have you to come back to, I’ll always be okay,” he added quietly.

“If we make it that far, you can take all the pictures you want,” Reever promised rather solemnly, considering what he was committing to. “So just make sure you come back to me, then. Because I’ll always be right here, waiting. I’ll never wait for anyone else.”

Komui sighed, and smiled a little again.

“I’m really not going anywhere,” he murmured, and leaned over to kiss Reever on the cheek.  “But if I had to…  You know I’d come back.”

Pulling away a little, he tugged gently on Reever’s arm with both of his own as he turned in the direction of the hallway again.

“Shall we tell the stars good night for the evening?”

“Mm, that sounds good. I… could really use a shower.” Reever sounded a little embarrassed at that and he shook his head, tugging at his clothes.

“Yes, you really could,” Komui allowed with a wry smile as he ushered them back down the hall and off to find their rest.