AN: The Sadist: OH GOD WHAT THE CRAP IS GOING ON, ROMANCE/ROMANCE?

"I love you, Bakura." Ryou snuggled into the side of the man's thick jacket, worming his way underneath his arm in the chill of the night.

"Yeah, me too." Bakura didn't even glance at him, his sight fixated on the night that surrounded the pair as they sat on top of a large picnic table in the middle of the campground.

The man laughed as the boy pouted up at him, sniffling indignantly, though the man tightened an arm around his host protectively, regardless of the way he replied.

"What did you expect?" The man could be nothing other than himself, did Ryou think he was going to sugar coat everything for him?

"..Something a little...nicer?" Ryou decided it was time to do some mental fishing.

Bakura scoffed, ruffling the boy's hair through one of his thin gloves. "I'm plenty nice already."

Just before winter was no time to be camping, but it was the best time to be able to spend time together like this, responsibilities belayed while they stayed here, with all the time in the world.

Ryou could attest to that, though he playfully disagreed for naught but the sake of argument.

"Well you could be nicer for my sake, I may cry if you're too mean to me." Ryou said, laughing merrily as he attempted to peel the glove from Bakura's hand that had settled ontop of his head.

"Maybe I want you to cry." Bakura snapped back, suddenly looking embarrassed at his own words. Ryou flinched as if he had been struck and looked up at Bakura again, his face creased in a worried frown.

Bakura cleared his throat awkwardly. "I was..trying to be funny."

Ryou's voice was barely above a whisper as he glued his eyes to his boots. "I didn't think that was very funny.."

Trusting himself only to screw up, Bakura bit his lip, forcing a cool-headed laugh from his chest. "I ah..I thought people joked about stuff like that.." Bakura didn't know the right opportunity to just apologize, it seemed to be some kind of mental barrier in his brain.

"Only people who can actually joke about it." Ryou mumbled, leaning slightly away from Bakura, though the chill was starting to effect him without the shared warmth of the man's jacket.

"It was a stupid joke.."

Ryou sighed heavily, fiddling with his bootlaces before glancing back up at his yami, whose crimson colored eyes now shone with concern. He'd really hurt Bakura's feelings, and the man was genuinely worried.

For him. It was something so odd, yet it had been so easy to get used to. Though small maneuvers like the one previously still stung.

"I know..." Ryou said quietly, his lips splitting into a slightly hurt smile. This was always hard to recover from.

"Ryou?" Bakura asked tentatively, flashing him a small smile of his own. He really needed to watch his mouth.

"Mm?"

"I love you, too."