[And while holding his elbow, he's slightly goading his arm downward, so that he can find some fingers to hold onto, since whenever he's feeling particularly out of sorts, holding his hand has always been a calming gesture to make things a lot more digestible. Almost all of that anger and soul crushing wish for vengeance comes to a halt, because that's where it comes from, too. A place of love for the person in his bed, right now.]

I don't think... I've loved anything as much as I love you, Dave.

[As hard as he thought it would be to say that, it comes pretty easy. Like it's natural for Ryuji, it's something he's known for a while but up until now, he never had the space to bring it out in the open. It was something he had thought about when Dave was falling asleep with him, a sense of rightness to everything that no one else could or would ever get in between.]

...And I'm just. I'm scared, y'know? I mean, that's a scary thing just by itself, but it ain't like love just stops at the word, like there's some cap to how much that word means and suddenly it stops meaning anything more than what it is. And the more that grows, the more terrified I am at even... like, the smallest threat of losing you.

[So that's... pretty much where he's at. He knows he can't be there for every single fight that Dave has to get into, and to think that he could or should is probably wrong. But if he's going to have to end up swinging a sword, he wants him to win. To come home after every battle, whether or not that's against a legion of the undead, spiders, bear cats, or just the ones inside his own head. Ryuji lifts Dave's hand up to his lips and kisses his knuckles.]