Jean can see those signs. Depression is not unheard of where he comes from, and he wishes to help, because that's the sort of person he is. However, he wouldn't push too much if he can help it. They have just met and he knows the value of privacy. Besides, he fears that would only cause Eliot to buttress his very solid walls.

Doesn't stop him from stealing a fried garlic clove and tucking it into his mouth. It tastes like heaven and he has no regrets.

"We are very close." he acknowledges with a little affectionate smile, sipping his wine with great care. "But he could have anyone he wanted. I lost count of how many love letters I was asked to deliver to him."

And Nino thoroughly rejected all of them. Yes, Eliot can probably tell by Jean's quiet evasion that his friend is very much single. However, Jean attributes that to Nino's carefully woven secrets as a royal agent, and the fact that it was Nino's duty to shadow him.

Eliot is not off the mark when it comes to Jean's altruism either. He is ruled by necessities and low expectations. When his parents died, there was not much time for grieving because he had to take care of his sister's grief. She was much younger than him, and so he had to work, study and be a passable guardian, otherwise she would have been taken away. And if she were, what would be the point?

All he wants for himself is to keep those he cares about close, or at least safe and doing what they want of their lives. He has never learned how to expect more.

"He is perfectly capable of having all the lovers he wants. But I'm the only friend he has. Fifteen years." Thirty for Nino. "And neither of us are very good at making friends."

Not the sort of thing one would risk over a blowjob, he adds to himself. Nino deserves better.