There's an odd sort of relief in that being the case — not just that J's choice didn't turn out terribly, but that it means a lot to S. It means he was right, that he understood the situation without S telling him, and that means a lot to him, too, not to have misread or fucked this up. And it's awful to know he's probably right, too, about why it means a lot, but he's never tried to pretend that the things he did weren't terrible, not since he got here. There might be a wide scale of wrongs, and discouraging S — actively resenting him, turning him away — may not be the worst he did, but maybe it's not too late to undo a little of the damage even so.

He draws in a breath, thumb tracing over S's cheek. "I know things are different," he says softly. "I know I..." He huffs out a rueful laugh. "Wasn't exactly supportive." That's putting it so mildly it might as well be a joke. Still, he doubts S wants to talk about this in depth right now. If he does, J will follow his lead, but he doesn't think it's likely. He already seemed worried that he'd ruined things and gotten J upset, and it's true that his gift made J deeply emotional, but this has the potential to make things worse. He didn't think this through, he realizes now, as fully as he thought. Still, it seems to have worked out. "I regret that."

He hesitates, not sure what more he wants to say, not sure what he should hold back for a better time, or even what he should put into words. Briefly he considers grabbing another gift to give S, but he doesn't want to extract himself from S's hold yet. Leaning in, he kisses his cheek again. "I love you so, so much, darling."