It is, really, the very last thing S wants, to hear J start to sound more upset again. He'd hoped to accomplish the opposite, if anything — to take any lingering pressure off, to make sure J knows that it isn't needing to stay covered in itself that prompted this burst of emotion from him. After all, it's a minor thing, a tiny inconvenience at the very most. He's long since figured it would just be part of being with J again, and considering how much that impossible chance means to him, wearing a shirt at all times is nothing. He really does understand it, and he really doesn't mind; he wouldn't have brought it up at all had it not been for his accidental mention of the appointment he has to go to. Somehow, though, once again, by trying to make things better, he's gone and made them worse instead, frowning to himself as he tries to consider how to respond, still holding onto J's shirt like an anchor.
"It wasn't selfish," he says, a soft protest, the one thing he can say for certain right now. Considering how well it went the last time he took his shirt off in front of J, of course it wouldn't be selfish not to bring that up. It would be upsetting, as they've just gone and proved, and he can't blame J in the slightest for not wanting to see the scars that night left him with. As bad as this has been, it would doubtless be worse to go that route, a chance that simply doesn't seem worth it to take.
After all, S doesn't think he wants J to see them. He doesn't know how to say that without it sounding horrible, like it's one more way in which he's keeping J out, but it's true all the same. It isn't that he feels like he has to, either. If it were purely obligation, he would at least have grown more tired of it by now. "And it's okay that you didn't bring it up." He sniffles again, but tenuous as it might be, he does at least manage to hold onto this one thread of composure, at least for a moment more. "I don't feel like I have to. I was the one who suggested this, remember?" He summons up the barest hint of a smile, though it takes a lot of effort, and though he's not sure it will even be visible with the way they're holding onto each other. "That's not why I did bring it up. Really."
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"It wasn't selfish," he says, a soft protest, the one thing he can say for certain right now. Considering how well it went the last time he took his shirt off in front of J, of course it wouldn't be selfish not to bring that up. It would be upsetting, as they've just gone and proved, and he can't blame J in the slightest for not wanting to see the scars that night left him with. As bad as this has been, it would doubtless be worse to go that route, a chance that simply doesn't seem worth it to take.
After all, S doesn't think he wants J to see them. He doesn't know how to say that without it sounding horrible, like it's one more way in which he's keeping J out, but it's true all the same. It isn't that he feels like he has to, either. If it were purely obligation, he would at least have grown more tired of it by now. "And it's okay that you didn't bring it up." He sniffles again, but tenuous as it might be, he does at least manage to hold onto this one thread of composure, at least for a moment more. "I don't feel like I have to. I was the one who suggested this, remember?" He summons up the barest hint of a smile, though it takes a lot of effort, and though he's not sure it will even be visible with the way they're holding onto each other. "That's not why I did bring it up. Really."