He wants to ask what happened. He probably will, eventually. He knows bits and pieces. It was there, it was gone, Emporio was thoroughly alone (what is a Stand?).

But then Emporio is tearing up, and in his mind's eye he can see some past version of himself demanding that Peter not cry. He couldn't cry, his crew would see it as a weakness. He can see some past version of himself being ignored as he cried to the point that he just stopped. He'd look away, he'd look down. He'd stop being a real person because tears accomplished nothing. No one would look at him as something capable of feeling pain except as a punishment.

But here's this little boy wiping his eyes. There's no crew here that'll kill him for being soft and missing his absent family. And Yondu's not some asshole fit to ignore it to teach a lesson if he can help it.

So he reaches out and carefully pulls Emporio up against his side, giving him something so he's not alone in that. "It's alright, kiddo. If they're worth cryin' for you might as well do it."

He's gotten a new appreciation for how much mourning someone means. If this kid wants to miss his friends, maybe that's as good a message as any. It's good he sent them somethin' (or so he thinks), but this is just as important an honor. Who would have thought shedding tears over folks was was important?