[Nobunaga kisses Klaus at the gesture, and then hesitantly picks Klaus back up, and sits on the bed again, with Klaus on his lap. Klaus doesn't belong on the floor. And if Nobunaga's self-punishment is going to cause that, then he will stop. He remembers Klaus sleeping on the floor after Halloween, and just... never again. Not while Nobunaga is there and aware enough to stop it.]

I didn't upset Karkat. [Quietly and he just gently pets Klaus' hair, remembering brushing it before, and already debating doing so again.] He was already upset. He barricaded off the library, and I offered to take him to get ice cream to talk through the pain he was experiencing.

He called me a masochist, and just -- [A headtilt, and he goes back to covering Klaus' knuckles in kisses, takes a deep breath, and hugs them very close, breathing softly into their shoulder.]

That is when I said it was because I saw potential in him. Not as a leader. Even though it reminded me of Ieyasu, I have already trained Ieyasu once. I could not do it again. And Clarke is who I will set the future on, maybe even more if she doesn't like it. I saw the potential in him as --

[A weapon.]

I am scared. [Quietly. Into Klaus' shoulder. And blinks away tears.] The idea that I hurt you... that I might, that I --

I know, you're a masochist, but not like this. Not for this. And this is not in my control. And I am... [Sighs into Klaus' shoulder.] Not able to promise to stop being myself. I don't want to be someone you don't love. I don't want to be someone even capable of hurting you -- in a way you do not like.