After Karkat spoke, it pretty much solidified the fact that yeah, there was definitely something wrong. And he knew that Karkat hadn't been lying when he'd said it wasn't Tavros. This realization scared Tavros more than anything. But at the same time, Karkat's words also made him angry. He couldn't tell him because he was trying to protect him? No. NO.

"You... this is about, protecting m-me?" he asked, and he was suddenly angry enough that his tears stopped. He wiped at them, getting rid of the few remaining ones. "There's something wrong, and you're not... you're not telling me because you think I might get hurt?" This was so stupid. This wasn't fair. "Karkat...this is hurting me!" he said, and his voice was raising now too.

He was so tired of his friends thinking they needed to protect him. "I'm not a, kid anymore!" he stated, "I don't need protecting! And if there's, s-something wrong, then you have to tell me! I'm tired of being protected, and I'm tired of people thinking they have to protect me!" He took a deep breath, because now he was shaking with anger. This just. wasn't. fair. "I'm not a kid," he repeated quietly. "So stop treating me like one. I'm of age, now. I can handle myself. I can do anything, because you give me the strength. I'm not scared of getting hurt, if I can just fix whatever it is that's hurting you!"