[Dave may be about one degree fahrenheit from completely fucking out of it, but he still remembers something Ryuji said in one of their very first conversations. they'd been sitting around with a pack of contraband licorice, and he'd been trying his best to explain why changing a major part of your past, using whatever method that entailed, always had unexpected consequences.]

[he's not the type of guy who really cares what happens to himself, he'd said. he's probably not going to get a clearer view of that in action, of Ryuji purposely putting Dave before himself, than this moment — unless he did something really dumb like pull a goddamn Bruce Willis at the end of Armageddon on everyone. which. let's be real, at the rate they're going, at the rate the space station is going, one of them is bound to pull a stunt like that eventually.]

[he straightens a little, but doesn't really pull away. he lacks the strength to, both emotionally and physically. and there's a frustration bubbling up in his chest, too, because he knows from experience that trying to argue the disadvantages of self-sacrifice is going to get them exactly nowhere except both of them blown the fuck up, because he doesn't want to change Ryuji, and it's not like he could anyway, because at the end of the day he understands. Dave doesn't really give a shit about what happens to himself, either, when it's compared to what happens to people who mean everything to him.]

[but it's more than that. he's frustrated over the fact that he thinks he should have the ability to save them; he's got the sort of powers people write entire shitty movies and novels over. but he can't.]

[so what does he do? he wraps his hand around Ryuji's wrist tightly, and speaks bluntly.]

Maybe. But if something's gonna happen to you, I'd rather ... I dunno. Know what it is. Even if I can't do anything about it.

[which is a lot for him to admit, frankly — the fact that he can't save him from this and he knows it.]