That's good of you to say. [Though he knows many people wouldn't think the same way- many people that he doesn't want to, especially. He had to intimidate people for a job, he tended to hurt strangers when he was frustrated and angry, and he knows what his role is here, especially when he's wearing the Juggernaut. That's why someone like Shinji being okay around him means a lot.]

You never made me feel like I was scary. Or that I am mean or like an idiot. Or that I am cheap and no good. [There are few good people he's going to meet here, ones with all the qualities that Niko admires in his cousin and mother, and eventually all of them will will have the goodness wrung out of them. Shinji's doing a decent job hanging onto his.]

It turns out he likes fish guts a lot. So... I know he'll eat anything but he had fun with those. [He ruins the sweet moment with that information, and then winces that he had to give it.]