Hearing that Swede didn't like to threaten people causes Thomas to give a warm, if teary smile as he continues holding the ex-pirate. He hadn't expected any other dynamic to be the case, but still it was nice to hear.

He decides to accept the snot drenching as an odd sort of disgusting mark of honor. It could be hope snot. That didn't make his inner screaming about it stop, but it did warm and quiet his heart a bit. It was sort of like gardening, getting mutual benefits from difficult and terrifyingly messy tasks. Just with people. And nasal fluid.

"Shhhhh," Thomas hushes, still holding the Swede. He couldn't tell the other man the extent of his gross-out, and they were both getting teary and Thomas only wanted all the gross and upset to be over, for both of them...

"Shhhhhh. The mess is from your tears. And the tears are from your hope. And I would never frown on that." Okay some of the mess also definitely smelled like fish gone very, very old, and still more parts of the mess were unidentifiable, but Thomas wanted Swede to feel better and cleanliness was going to happen soon, at any rate.