At the very moment Dolphus decided he would fight back his tears no longer, something startled him out of his plight. That something was Nico’s head popping up from the ladder in front of him, with presumably the rest of his body immediately following.
For Nico, the first sight he would see as he returned from the lower decks to the crew deck was Dolphus, huddled on the floor next to the stairs, the light reflecting off the water in his eyes. His face was perfectly mortified at Nico’s sudden appearance, and his hand had frozen halfway to his sword.
There was no verbal response. In perfect frankness, Dolphus was hoping Nico would apologize and then go away so he could go back to almost crying in relative peace.