[He's allowed to tease, right. Teasing is a thing friends do.]

Maka is often utterly unaware of the profoundly positive impact she has on people, and once reminded, she quickly forgets. I think acknowledging her own importance is difficult for her.

[And he can see why: she's put down for a whole slew of imagined wrongs, for not being pretty enough by other's standards, for instance. That she's praised for her intellect at all is issued like it's a consolation prize. A dreadful shame.]

I'll repay your kindness one way or another, Karkat.