Isolation

Max wasn't used to the early mornings of the Dyllan/Thomas household. When he had roomed with Patrick he had always been the morning bird, up hours before his roommate, reading the paper with coffee and muffins by the time everyone else rose. Now he wasn't sure if he was sleeping in later or everyone else was up earlier but Max found himself being woken up by means other than his alarm clock most mornings. Sometimes Jack made a lot of noise, sometimes animals liked to pretend they were roosters, and sometimes Sunny was sent upstairs to attack him until he got dressed and ready. Today Max was a bit suprised when he was woken by a loud banging on his floor, coming from below. Jack had come home late last night (he had faintly heard her arrival) and thought she might sleep in a bit.

Max pulled himself together quickly and headed downstairs to the action. As he approched his ears perked up as he realized there were not two, but three voices coming from the kichen. One of them was distinctly male and Max's eyebrows rose a bit disapprovingly. He entered the kitchen as Sunny spoke and a grin made its way on to his face, despite the new presence. "Morning everyone" he greeted, his voice suprisingly alert for having been asleep only a few minutes ago.

"Sunny, I thought we agreed not to tell her. You're going to get me in trouble someday." he sat down at the table next to her and ruffled her hair teasingly. Where he and Jack were both pretty busy and still didn't know eachother that well, Max and Sunny had decided they got along quite well. Their shared intrests in coloring, looking through Jack's private possessions, waffles for dinner, and catching strange creatures in the garden. He liked her as a friend, rather than a child, and she seemed to appriciate being treated as such. Sunny was often the mastermind of their plans. "Don't say anything about the chicken insident, okay?" Max whispered quickly before looking back up. An attempt to get an ostrich for rent had gone wrong and, long story short, they had ended up with a fire breathing chicken loose in the house. It was only a matter of time before Jack noticed the slightly charred ends of her gardening encyclopedias and desk.

Turning towards the end of the table, Max faced their guest head on. "Sorry, I don't think we've met. I'm Max." The distance was too far to reach for a handshake so Max gave the stranger a nod and a smile instead. This was the first time Jack had brought a guest home and Max couldnt help but remember he warning about werewolves. But werewolves normally weren't as handsome as this man was.

OOC: Ahhh! I'm so so so sorry. Ive had a busy couple of weeks with school and sports. But I should be better with posting now. Nice to meet you Keira (:

Talk of the devil and he shalt appear.

Or, not really. Max was nothing like what Albus's hung-over mind had conjured up in the last few minutes: tall, dark, handsome etcetera etcetera. No, he seemed pretty much like a mild-mannered, Ministry employee with a penchant for children. Jack's room-mate walked into the room, ruffled Sunny's hair and whispered something about chickens.

Ah, finally, the expected long-awaited wave of irritation. He had had enough of wingless-bird conversation to last his whole life, thank you very much. What would be next, emus? Or heaven forbid, magical experiments on dodos hid in the basement. Albus raised his eyes and met the gaze of the man opposite him clearly. "Albus Potter. Nice to meet you too." His voice was a little too calm, and smooth for a man clearly suffering from the after-effects of Firewhisky consumption, but the mask was coming on naturally in front of a stranger. Jack's room-mate.

The man, Max, didn't seem as amiable as he appeared either. His eyes flickered back to Albus a bit too often for it to be completely natural. Albus gleaned hints of suspicion from that probing gaze, and Jack's diatribes of poltergeists and werewolves and Death Eaters and murderers came to mind. All thoughts of head-throbbing put aside, Albus put on a conveniently polite, amused smile. "I'm completely harmless, if that's what you're wondering about. Seems like Jack's lost her touch."

"What?" Jack snapped in surprise, almost choking on a bite of bacon as she looked to her mischievous niece in surprise. So, Max and Sunny were actually conspiring against her now? Oho-ho, he would pay for that one, she would see to that. Jack could make sure that some carnivorous little creature who had a penchant for chewing on toes ended up in his bed. It would be done.

And then came the evil plotter himself - Max strolled in, looking so innocent for one who had just had heinous crimes laid upon his reputation. "Someday is today," Jack said dangerously, while Sunny turned to Albus. "Jack acts meaner than she really is sometimes." The little girl was very fortunate Jack did not hear what she had said - it might have been enough to get her to actually punish everyone in the kitchen. Max whispered something to Sunny, who immediately giggled, and Jack shot them both a sharp look.

Jack looked down, focusing on shoveling her food down as the two men introduced themselves. She supposed she had better explain though. Between bites, she explained, "Albus needed a place to crash last night. Remember that whole rule about guests and how I promised to give you notice beforehand? I lied." She smirked and continued to eat. She looked up and sneered at Albus. "I am not losing my touch. You're losing your... You... Shut up." And with that, she took another full bite of bacon.

"I noticed." Max offhandedly remarked, not really minding too much that visitors had been brought into the house without his prior approval. He had to admit - there was no part of him that was unhappy that Jack may be 'losing her touch' on the dark and dangerous. The redhead was intimidating enough without warewolves and demons hanging around her. "It's no problem, really." Max turned to Albus and addressed him with the warmest expression he could manage at the moment. "You're welcome over any time, Albus. Especially if you're as harmless as you claim."

Max wasn't sure why, but he was feeling far from welcoming this morning. Albus was noticeably handsome and for some reason this bothered the older man. He had never paid other men's looks too much attention but his sudden arrival at their breakfast table seemed to put everything in a strange new perspective. Why, he couldn't say, but there was an unfamiliar discomfort with this situation.

On a normal day he might have teased Jack a bit, joining in on the mild mannered bickering that was being exchanged between Jack and Albus. But today wasn't a normal day. Max rose from the table and moved to the counter where he poured himself a cup of coffee. It was only then that he realized that his life with Jack and Sunny had become normal. Routine. What had once been completely new was now was to be expected. And even though he didn't feel particularly close to his roommate she had unknowingly become a part of his life. Enough so that a single stranger was able to disrupt his schedule and make him as uncomfortable as he had been that first day.

This calmed Max slightly. Some logic behind his reaction. So he returned to the table with his coffee and sat back down, refraining from picking up the Daily Prophet and reading because it was considered 'rude'.

Sunny leaned over to him, as if imparting a great secret. "Jack acts meaner than she really is sometimes."

Albus nodded, then winced. Not having drunk properly for months, he had clearly forgotten hung-over etiquette. No energetic head movements. He replied easily, "I know. Your aunt is rather nice actually." Then, almost as an afterthought. "Don't tell her that. She'd kill me for libel."

Jack started snapping again, and apparently lost words for arguments, and resorted to 'shut up.' "Eloquent." Albus quipped, again easily. He was feeling.....amused. Which violated hung-over etiquette again, that clearly stated he had to be moody slash grumpy for three hours of the morning. And here he was feeling amused in less than a half. Stupid Jack. Probably fed him adulterated Firewhisky or something.

He turned back to the other man in the room, who was strangely quiet as compared to the other occupants. Looked rather reserved too. A lot like Albus himself, or atleast the public version of him, presented at social gatherings and in front of paparazzi. The thought of similarities displeased Albus slightly. Slightly taken off-guard by his own reaction, he leaned forward and made polite small-talk. "So Max. You work in the Ministry I hear." Which Jack and I plan to bring down to its knees soon enough. . "Which department?"

If Jack had been anyone but herself, she might have picked up on the sudden spike of defensive testosterone. She might have noticed the slight return of tension and the almost-more-than-hypothetical puffing of chests. But Jack was pretty much a one-track mind type of person when there was a plate of food before her, so she naturally wasn't paying the men much mind.

She looked up to see that Sunny had placed her elbows on the table and settled her little chin in her hands and was looking between Max and Albus with curiosity, glad to have a grown-up audience. Jack sighed and kicked out, trying to tap her niece's knee with her foot. Instead her foot collided with Max's shin. "Whoops." She tried again, kicking Albus' calf. "Whoops." She finally managed to kick the bottom of her niece's foot and pointed her fork at the little girl's plate. "Eat, or I'll eat for you." Sunny grumbled and began shoveling food.

As much he hated small talk, Max was grateful when Albus asked him about a subject so easy to discuss. His job was the one part of his life that Max was completely secure in and he welcomed discussion of it. Most of the time this meant Jack commenting on his work a bit mockingly or Max talking at an uninterested person in a bar.. but still.

"Mug-AHH". Max's response was cut by his holler of surprise as his shin was stuck unexpectedly. The feeling was familiar. This was far from the first time Jack had kicked him, though from the expressions of people around the table, her flailing legs had not been intended for him. The exchange between aunt and niece followed by the grumpy look on Sunny's face as she reluctantly ate her food confirmed Max's suspicion. So he choose to ignore the dull pain now coming from his leg and cleared his throat, a bit embarrassed to have been caught off guard. He tried again: "The Department of Muggle Relations."

Max didn't want to wait for the snicker that usually followed. He didn't mind the departments reputation for uselessness (it didn't bother him because he knew they were wrong) but even he had to admit, it wasn't the most exciting job.

Max may have taken the blow without complaint (he looked like he was quite used to it, which was a discomfiting thought), but Albus had no such intention. Of course, hang-overs had no part to play in his unusual lack of manners today. So he aimed a kick right back, shoe contacting Jack's knee and stretched his facial muscles into an agreeable smile again. "Thank you." The words were rather pointed.

If he had cared to spare a thought, then the quips and this kick was rather unnecessary. It was uncharacteristic behaviour, especially in presence of someone else. Or rather, because of the presence of someone else. Like purposely isolating someone from the dynamic. A subtle, unconscious, almost Slytherin flaunting of a relationship. Like unconsciously marking your right on someone else. 

Albus drained his mug, and pushed it away. "Muggle Relations. Interesting. My grand-dad used to work there." He stood up, hands propped on the table, the very picture of courtesy. "Anyway, I need to get going. Got some work. Nice to meet you Max." A quick glance at Jack. He was eager to make the eye-contact as brief as possible. Yet, in those few seconds, forests and firewhisky bottles and fiery hair flashed before his eyes, and they softened. "Thanks for the coffee, Jack. And the metaphoric bed." And everything else.


He had important work to do. Of course he did. He just needed to figure out what exactly it was.

Max's response was expected - he was, by far, the jumpiest person in the Dyllan-Thomas-Morrison household. Jack's kicks had not been too hard, necessarily, as she had initially been aiming for Sunny - but the placement of the kicks on the two men made them all the more painful. Sunny's dangling feet were about level with the parts of their legs sure to bruise all to easily, which was not a fortunate circumstance for either Max or Albus.

Albus had the snarkier response by far, with an immediate retaliatory kick, which caused a reflex in Jack's knee to make her leg snap up and kick the leg of the table, causing the whole thing to shake. Sunny and Jack both exchanged a brief look of amused surprised, almost mirroring the expression - it was a little inside joke between the two. They smiled, and turned to their food.

Jack looked up as Albus announced his imminent departure. She was a bit surprised - of course, she knew he would be leaving, she just didn't expect so soon. "Oh. Alright then." He suddenly made eye contact with her and she held the brief gaze, before nodding. She stood, crossing to the door and holding it open for him. "Any time. See you... around."

Sunny waved. "Come back soon. Like, tomorrow, or something."