He smiles at the brief kiss, then leans back over to give Ned a slightly longer, more lingering one, liking the feeling of being pressed against him, feeling absurdly comforted by Ned's warmth and the sheer physical presence of him. "I know, I shouldn't talk about myself like that," he says, almost sadly, smiling a little as soon as he pulls away from the kiss, although his hand still lingers on Ned's leg.

"It's hard not to. You know that, I don't need to tell you that. Either way, though, if I'm not going to be talking about myself like that, I can still say that I'm grateful that you told me. That you didn't just... I mean, a lot of people would have just run away and never explained anything. A lot of people do that with other stuff. Just don't explain it. I'm glad you thought I was worth having it explained to."