Oddly enough, Kyle doesn't make a move to respond, he sits quietly and lets Jim touch him. It's a tiny fuck you to that holding cell, where they kept him still and tried to put fear into him. He's making it mean something different, putting all the force of his considerable will into it. He's the river and he's washing all of the horrors downstream, entering the rapids and dashing them against the rocks.

(And Jim won't let him face it alone.)