S watches as J unwraps the present, trying to keep his expression as even as he can, neither too nervous nor too hopeful, though a little of both inevitably creep through anyway. The last thing he wants is for J to feel obligated to like his gifts. Granted, that's never been any kind of a problem before, not least because they've never been able to afford much for each other, but even so, there shouldn't be any pressure in this sort of thing. If J doesn't like it, S will be a little disappointed that he didn't choose well after all, sure, but there's no reason it should have to be an issue or put too much of a damper on their Christmas. He'll just take J out later to pick out something for himself.
His attempts at rationalization and reassurance for himself are cut off by J sliding the styrofoam out of the box and taking the plastic wrapping off the camera, startling a quiet laugh out of S in turn. There definitely won't be any returning it now, which has to be a promising sign, though there's still a nervous flutter in his chest as he shakes his head. He wants to say that of course it isn't too much, that nothing ever could be, but that's too romantic even for him. He wishes it were true, and it certainly would be in theory, but they've both had to live with the practicality of having very little money to live on for too long for it to be all that believable. Financially speaking, plenty of things would be too much. They're better off here than they were, though, and of course he's wanted to take advantage of that, within reason. To give J a nice Christmas, it's worth it.
"Do you like it?" he asks, and now that hopefulness takes hold, too much to be suppressed. "I know it's different, but I wanted... I know how much you like taking pictures with your phone, and I thought it might be good to get... something creative, but new." He doesn't want to say anything more about that now, not today, but there's no bad history here, no baggage attached. J is more of an artist than anyone else he's ever known, but even now that he's played the piano a little again, S couldn't have gone that familiar route in buying a gift. This just made sense, with the added bonus of being something surprising. At least, if absolutely nothing else, it seems like a safe bet that he managed that part. "Most of the others go with it. But if you don't like it, we can get you something else."
no subject
His attempts at rationalization and reassurance for himself are cut off by J sliding the styrofoam out of the box and taking the plastic wrapping off the camera, startling a quiet laugh out of S in turn. There definitely won't be any returning it now, which has to be a promising sign, though there's still a nervous flutter in his chest as he shakes his head. He wants to say that of course it isn't too much, that nothing ever could be, but that's too romantic even for him. He wishes it were true, and it certainly would be in theory, but they've both had to live with the practicality of having very little money to live on for too long for it to be all that believable. Financially speaking, plenty of things would be too much. They're better off here than they were, though, and of course he's wanted to take advantage of that, within reason. To give J a nice Christmas, it's worth it.
"Do you like it?" he asks, and now that hopefulness takes hold, too much to be suppressed. "I know it's different, but I wanted... I know how much you like taking pictures with your phone, and I thought it might be good to get... something creative, but new." He doesn't want to say anything more about that now, not today, but there's no bad history here, no baggage attached. J is more of an artist than anyone else he's ever known, but even now that he's played the piano a little again, S couldn't have gone that familiar route in buying a gift. This just made sense, with the added bonus of being something surprising. At least, if absolutely nothing else, it seems like a safe bet that he managed that part. "Most of the others go with it. But if you don't like it, we can get you something else."