Karkat's words made his eyes open wider, completely and totally surprised. So... there was something going on that Tavros didn't know about. That Karkat wasn't telling people, apparently. But... more than that, what Tavros was worried about was the fact Karkat thought no one cared. "You... what? Karkat, you...y-you think I don't care?" he asked, and his voice was confused and worried, because he thought he'd made it clear that he did.

"Karkat, I care! I love you! I care, so much about you and, just love you so much," he said, and he sounded almost frantic, as if he needed to get it out as fast as possible, to make sure Karkat knew.