“Oh,” he says, and stares at the scarf and feels inexplicably sad. It was a courtesy in the first place, and Eliot knows that Jack’s appreciation is sincere, but some small part of him mistrusts it. It feels, irrationally, like a rejection. Like he’s been too overbearing all this time and now that Jack’s mostly sorted he doesn’t need Eliot anymore, and the scarf is just proof of that.

Eliot tells himself he’s just being paranoid, overreacting because he doesn’t want to lose the opportunity for really interesting conversations. So he puts on an affable smile.

“It’s yours, if you like it,” he says, looking Jack over. “Honestly I’d only just gotten it and you’ve had it longer than I have at this point.” Which is true, he’d already been thinking of it as a gift, though he’s not entirely sure why. But that’s an odd thing to admit, so he continues explaining, carefully nonchalant. “Of course,” Eliot offers, “it’s good to have more than one scarf, we should look at more here, but I think this one suits you. You look rather good in gold.”