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Jordan sorted through what Al was saying. Al's other self in that world had had a boyfriend; that had been someone he knew in this world as well. His best friend. That was a turn of phrase that was potentially troublesome right there, as Jordan was pretty sure Rep wasn't going to approve of his minion having someone he was close enough to to call a best friend, let alone other potential complications. Jordan had a guess as to who Al might be talking about, but since the kid was very carefully not naming his friend, Jordan would politely leave his speculation out of it.

The friend also remembered what had happened in the dream. That suggested that they'd already talked about it, and there would be no pretending it hadn't happened. Not that that was a healthy coping mechanism anyway. I'm aware that that's a hypocritical statement, Jordan said to Ferros, ruefully amused. The dragon snorted, but didn't reply verbally.

"You're probably going to think about it whether or not you're allowed to," Jordan told Al, "so it's not really constructive to kick yourself over thinking about it. You're going to need to sort out what feelings come from the other version of you so that you can separate them from what you yourself really feel." He sighed. "I can tell you that it's going to be awkward for a while. There's no avoiding that. It'll be more awkward if either of you have a one-sided attraction. It's possible to get past that, but it'd take time."

Jordan blinked, then realized which he Al was referring to by his last statement. He sighed again. "I know," he said, and got up to get the coffee, thinking over what Al had and hadn't said. It sounded like there was mutual attraction going on outside of the other-world dream, and maybe Al was okay with that and maybe he wasn't, but Rep would definitely not be okay with that. He would see it as a betrayal, and that put Jordan in a very awkward spot. He was being asked for advice, but by giving advice he might well be accused of undermining Rep's relationship with Al. That relationship wasn't a healthy one, but if Jordan gave Al advice that would serve to make him more independent and self-sufficient, Rep was almost certain to be pissed at both of them.

He growled at himself mentally. It was his own fault he was in this spot. He'd overlooked and even encouraged the behavior for selfish reasons, and now it was coming back to haunt him. It wasn't something he could ignore, and it wasn't something he was certain he could stop; he'd gotten involved in an effort to make sure the kid didn't get treated like total s**t, and now he was caught in the middle of it, because Al trusted him to advise and direct. Well, he'd do what he could about damage control.

He brought back the two mugs and set one down on the coffee table in front of Al. He'd put far more milk and sugar than he considered polite into that one. He sat down again and set his mug on the table without drinking any yet. "Let's put aside the question of what you're going to do about it," he said. "Before you answer that, you need to figure something else out. If nothing was stopping you, what would you want to do?"

This was a delicate subject, and one that Jordan knew had a lot of cultural and social baggage hanging all over it, even more so than it would have for an American. Instead of making any definitive statement, he asked, "Do you feel something's wrong with you?"

"What makes you feel that way?" Jordan kept his expression inquiring, careful not to show any sign of the low simmer of combined anger and weariness that this reaction always sparked.

"How do you know nobody was like that?" Jordan asked patiently, recalling another conversation with some small amount of amusement. "Maybe they just never told you."

"Let me put it this way. If you'd thought then that you might be interested in guys, would you have told any of your friends? Or would you have tried as hard as you could to keep it a secret?" Jordan angled an eyebrow.

Jordan nodded. "So why do you think you would have known about anyone else?"

Jordan smiled a little and took a sip of coffee. He'd gotten his point slipped around the defenses. "You wouldn't have a girlfriend, if what?" he asked instead.