[Hearing it put that way draws his mind back to a particular conversation with Karkat and what led to it. It's really no wonder the Cat would make that point.]

I know.

[How to put it?]

It's not that I don't value my friendships, so don't get me wrong on that. It's that I've got a sense of self-worth like a muddy pit in the ground, and sometimes I can't shake the feeling people are going to fall in and hurt themselves trying to fill it, so I put up increasingly jerkish warning signs to try to keep them away. I'm learning to let people help; it just takes time.