"No, don't worry about it," he tells her, remorseful.

Some things never change; Karkat wishes the fact that he only sees clearly in hindsight wasn't one of them. He'd come here wanting a movie-script reunion and expecting a flat rejection -- of course both of those scenarios were impossible, he would have known that if he'd thought about the people involved. That's not Ruka. That's not Karkat. Things are never, will never be so simple as that. He threads strands of dark hair through his fingers, thinks about the bright color it masks.

"I was stupid, waltzing in here out of nowhere and acting like you should be able to just take it in right then and there."