Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Come in, it's unlocked," Jordan called. He put a small stack of neatly folded blankets and sheets down on the end of the couch. He had spent the time between Melvin's text and his arrival tidying the room; he was neat by habit and nature, but he had been trained early that when someone was going to be visiting for any amount of time, you cleaned immediately beforehand. As a result, his room was newly swept and in order.

He crossed to the kitchenette area and started the process of making a fresh pot of coffee. That was the other part of greeting a guest.

"It's no problem," Jordan said. He turned the coffee pot on and turned around to lean against the counter while it brewed. "I wasn't really doing anything particular this afternoon. I've got duties in a little while, but you caught me in time to get things ready."

He gave Melvin a carefully neutral look. "Holding up okay?" he asked. "I wasn't sure if you were going to take me up on it or not."

"Probably smart," Jordan said, a little sadly, thinking of cold silences and awkward, ugly fights. "I hope getting some time away will help you clear your head some."

He nodded. "It's no problem, seriously. You want some coffee?"

Jordan turned to get two mugs out of the cupboard. "There's milk in the mini-fridge if you want it," he offered, "sugar's on the counter." Not that he was going to use either of those on his coffee, but he kept them around for people who wanted them and for other cooking purposes.

His hands paused for a moment before setting the mugs down on the counter. Too easy to just walk out -- that struck uncomfortably close to home, and to keep the painful memories from getting too immediate, he reminded himself that this was Lawrence they were currently talking about, a man who'd shown startlingly little compassion for who he hurt in the process of getting what he wanted. Still, Jordan felt a lot of sympathy for Melvin. "Leaving's not comfortable, even if staying isn't comfortable either," he said.

Jordan pressed a button and paused the machine's brew cycle long enough to pour two cups of coffee, setting one down beside Melvin and wrapping his hands around the other. He inhaled the steam and smiled briefly, absentmindedly. This was most definitely not lab-quality coffee.

The tension in his shoulders unwound just slightly; Melvin's experience diverged from his here, his own decision having been spur-of-the-moment, a desperate and failed attempt to provoke a reaction. Melvin had agonized beforehand, made his decision, if not more calmly, perhaps more rationally. He shook his head a little. "You still choke eventually if you're not getting enough air."

He put a hand briefly on Melvin's shoulder. "That's rough, man."

Jordan quirked a small smile. "Hey, getting the angst out of your system's important, that s**t's poisonous. I just request that if you're gonna play Linkin Park you use headphones."

More seriously, he said, "Loving someone can really ******** you up sometimes."

"That sucks," Jordan said. Melvin had tried so hard and thrown so much of himself into the relationship, only to be put aside for a new thrill. Lawr's an a*****e. Jordan kept the blunt statement to himself, said instead, "If you adjust yourself too much, it can be hard to figure out where the hell you are, after."

There was no comment on the subject of quarantine. It was hardly any of his business.