[oh fuck he's papping you back. this has crossed a line; before you were just calming him down so he didn't break down and upset Gamzee, or at least that was a plausibly deniable excuse for getting pale all over your moirail's matesprit. there is no other word for it when you're sitting here petting and reassuring each other: you are cheating like fuck on Gamzee and you are a horrible person. you are the kind of person you platonically hate the fucking most. so you pull back, even though you know it's probably going to upset Tavros and make him think it's his fault. maybe you can explain.]

Look, you really fucking need a moirail and you don't have one and I'm okay with this, but I really need to talk to Gamzee about it.