Aoba wasn’t expecting an answer, in fact, he wasn’t sure if he really wanted an answer. The fact that he was able to speak without the worry of someone telling him to be quiet was nice on its own. It was something that Aoba appreciated Kuro for the most.
 
For a moment, so wrapped up in his own distress and mental begging to stop being sad, he was caught off guard by the sudden kiss. Aoba froze like a deer in headlights, but relaxed moments later. He wanted to reciprocate the feeling of passion, care, or whichever Kuro was feeling but he just couldn’t. Fortunately, that didn’t cause him to pull away from it. The contact was grounding. It reminded him that he was still in the barn with Kuro. The world was still all there and that he was safe. As difficult as it was, he tried to coax himself into believing that what happened was just a minor setback, one of many that he could overcome. It hadn’t affected him then and it wouldn’t change anything now. Everything was going to go back to normal. They’d go back to working the farm as usual and all of this would be put behind him. As hard as it was for him to pretend that it was no big deal, Aoba let out a shaky breath. Though he wasn’t sure if it was shaky from the kiss or because of his struggle to control his emotions. 
 
Aoba tried his best not to look at Kuro with sad eyes. He was fighting every urge to just break down, but his success was very minimal. As Kuro spoke, Aoba could feel the lump in his throat and the sting of tears at the corner of his eyes. Out of frustration he rubbed them as if to make all of it go away. He couldn’t think of anything to say, but his heart swelled with mixed emotions. For once in the spiral of negative emotions, he was sure that he was happy. And it was thanks to a demon that cared about him more than… anyone he had known in a long while. In that brief moment, Aoba cracked a weak smile only to turn and hug Kuro as tight as he could. 
 
“....Sorry.” He mumbled with his face buried on Kuro’s shoulder. Realizing he apologized instead of thanking the demon, he sat back down, rubbing his tear stricken face. “Th-Thank you, I mean.” He didn’t want to start a bad habit again, but constantly ending up crying in Kuro’s arms seemed like a burden- despite Kuro’s constant reassurance. Aoba looked away for a moment, trying to regain his composure and also figure out what to do next. Trying to be a little more lighthearted, Aoba spoke up, still looking off to the side. “You know… The angels are going to have a fit… now that you know you can grab their halos.” Remembering how hard he tugged Leo’s made him absentmindedly scratch his head, but he still gave a small chuckle. It was a relieving feeling, giving him enough energy to at least sigh away some of his pent up stress. He didn’t feel like screaming as much anymore. He could probably still cry but he wasn’t so that was nice. 
 
Still unsure of what else to do, he leaned back against Kuro. As much as he wanted to check up on the animals and do some form of work that made him focus on anything but now… this was nice. It was something he needed, even if he didn’t want to admit it. Although, a cool breeze made him realize one thing. Looking down at his side he could only frown. He realized he had left his tattered and bloodied shirt outside. “I should go freshen up and get another work shirt.” Aoba glanced at where the stab wound was and sure enough as Fenrir said, the scar was gone. “Should probably get that shirt too so no one gets any...bad ideas.” He could only imagine Dani’s frantic nature if he had returned to the farm not only smelling Aoba’s blood on the ground but seeing his shirt torn. The residual holy energy was already enough to probably put him on edge anyway. Despite all this, Aoba had yet to actually make the effort to move, realizing he was a lot more comfortable than he realized.