He hears a note of — something in John's voice at that. He isn’t calling Jim names anymore and he suspects it’s because he had told him off for it. But there is still something there and now without the guise of the mild insults it stands out more.

His expression furrows at the other man. “I’m not completely useless,” he bites back, because he can’t help but be defensive at the comment. “Yes, the ring he gave me. I wanted to see that it would fit under the gloves I was looking at. The shopkeeper saw it. He thought it marked me as some hero that I’m obviously not, and started shoving things at me and making a fuss. And now here we are.”

He stops in his tracks and turns towards the other man, shaking his head. Unable to hold himself back from asking, “Look, why does this bother you so much?”