WHO: Finn McLaggen & Joy Diserafino
WHAT: So there was this one time, when they hated each other's guts...
WHEN: 5 PM, Friday night
WHERE: Finn's House

Joy might have enjoyed this whole 'living-in-the-house-of-a-superstar' thing more if she weren't so busy being mopey and depressed. In turn, she might not have been so mopey and depressed if it weren't already five in the evening and the father of her child were anywhere to be seen. That's right--she hadn't caught even a glimpse of Phineas McLaggen since last night when they had apparated back there. Of course, she had immediately crashed in the guest room, and she hadn't woken up until near one this afternoon, so there wasn't really a lot of time to have seen him but--still!

Where in the world could he possibly be? The season was over and he always stayed at home, so.. he had to be avoiding her. And while a part of her couldn't blame him, another part was mad because... well, she was the mother of his bloody child and he didn't know anything about her and you'd think he wouldn't leave her alone in a big house the day after he'd taken her in!

"Pffft," Joy thought aloud, leaning forward on the railings on the deck overlooking the pool. She rested her chin in her palm and pushed the bowl of cereal she had eaten for dinner aside (this man survived on nothing, apparently). She kinda wondered if he was ever intending on coming back.

It was true; Finn had been out of the house by nine and in Tibs' flat since. His brother had tried to get him to leave numerous times, but he'd just whined and became dead weight on the couch where his brother couldn't possibly lift him. He just kept on asking questions about parenting and babies and things and finally after all those hours, Finn finally gave in and went back home. He tiptoed around the house in search of Joy, because if he could actually be in the house and avoid her, then, that was peachy, but…then he found her on the deck and sighed.

"I…sorry, I got tangled up with…family issues," Phineas said as he pulled open the door of the deck, coming out and leaning against the railing besides Joy, looking out in the distance. He didn't exactly want to talk to her, he could probably deal with never having to again (unless it was about the baby), but figured it would make things less difficult if he did.

Joy nodded silently, not turning her head to look at him because, well--she was kind of pissed, that's why! He could have at least left a note or something, instead of making her worry... plus, from the way he said that, she figured that he was making it up. She frowned, but didn't say anything, however.

Whatever, it didn't matter, it didn't matter--she needed to not get herself too much more angry, she did have to live with him.

"Right, it's...fine," she said, with some effort. Joy nodded to the bowl, now sitting beside his elbow. "I didn't mean to take liberty, but when you didn't come home, I figured I'd find something to eat."

"Yeah, yeah, it's---it's fine, I mean, I don't really have much to offer, I don't exactly…shop." Oy, oy, he hadn't found a new assistant yet, he'd never be able to hire one now and be able to trust them with the whole situation and now he'd never have food again how the fuck were they going to feed the baby? "It's…a bachelor thing, I guess."

A bachelor thing, ha. Would he still be considered one, now? It's not like he was planning on marrying the girl (not that his mother wouldn't shove it down his throat at every chance, oy), but it wasn't though he could go out whenever when there was a crying baby at home and diapers and toys and….bloody hell, bloody fucking--- "How---erm. How…are we going to do this?"

It was a loaded question, yeah, but Finn was never one to waste time; he was slightly pissed at himself for avoiding the subject all day, but it was better than some dads that would leave forever…right? Right, he was already starting off in a good way, by not cursing her out and throwing her on the street, so…so. "I mean. I know little to nothing about kids. Barely one myself, but---yeah."

Joy gave an ironic laugh, shaking her head. "You're barely a kid? I'm only bloody nineteen," she said. Oh, wouldn't her mother love to see her now--she had always said that she would end up fucking up big like this. "And I'm just as lost as you are. I've only got one sister, and she's just 23, so no younger siblings, no nieces or nephews... no aunts or uncles, so no little cousins... never babysat in my life. I don't know that I ever thought I'd have to learn. Never thought about babies once in my life until a couple weeks ago, I mean.. I never planned on being a mother. Ever."

It was true, Joy had always figured she wouldn't ever have kids. She didn't even know if she'd ever get married, truthfully, having that whole problem about staying with one man for more than a month or two. That was all over now, though. She was never ever fooling around with a guy ever again. Ever ever ever--jesus christ, she'd learned her lesson, she'd learned her fucking lesson.

Of course, nothing she could do to reverse it now.

Finn bit his tongue; Tibs told him to be nice, he told him to be nice. But, fucking honestly, if she was going to play the bloody victim here, 'you're barely a kid?' like he didn't have anything to worry about, then---then he wasn't going to even try to be nice to her. Fuck, he was only twenty-four, that was fucking young, that was---in the muggle world, that was nothing, so screw you, Joy, he was just in the same god damn situation as she was and---and---

---damn it all, just--- "Yeah."

Because, honestly, if you couldn't say anything nice, don't say anything, right? Finn absolutely hated that saying, but the girl was pregnant, he couldn't exactly blow up at her and stress her out. He was just going to have to deal, because it was his fault---no, not just his fault, both of their faults, that they were in this situation, and he was just going to have to learn to accept that.

Well, fuck it, if that was all he was going to say--whatever, he might be famous, he might have money, but if he wanted to run away to God knows where when she was sitting at home, no idea what to do and no warning, and if--if just yeah was the only thing he had to say about this, then fuck him, he was nothing more than a loser. Bloody fucking loser!

If he was trying to stop from stressing her out, then he was doing a hell of a horrible job of it.

"Whatever," she said with a scoff. "Just go off and have another bloody drink or something." Joy pushed herself off of the deck railing and stalked inside the house, because she could hardly even look at him, she was so disgusted and--and well, he probably had been out drinking before, the arse. That was how this fucking--this thing had happened in the first place, right?

"What--what did you say?" he spat out, twirling around after her. She was daring to speak to him in his house like that, to—to stalk away in HIS HOUSE? Finn clenched his fists for a second before following after her, not stopping when he tripped over some stupid bench thing his mother had made him buy. Did Joy REALLY just say that? She had no fucking idea who he was, he was just some face in the mags, she had no right, "You--- Jaysus Mary and---you don't know me, you don't know anything about me and I fucking let you into my house without a goddamn question and--! And---brilliant! Bloody fucking---"

He pushed a chair out of the way and stormed to the kitchen because Joy was blocking the way to his bedroom. Blocking the way to everything, it seemed, and he started to open up cabinets and drawers looking for something, anything to occupy his time with.

She would never admit it to her own ever-loving Gryffindor pride, but he scared her a little--a lot a little, especially when he spun on her like that and started yelling and she really didn't know anything about him, what if he was some violent psycho or something and she'd just pissed him off and what had she gotten herself into?

"Look, I--listen, you tos--" Joy stopped herself before she started calling him names to his face, because if she was standing up to a violent psycho, she could at least try and only be marginally stupid about it. "--you... What in the hell am I supposed to think you went out to do! I may not know you, but what I do know of you isn't exactly the best impression a girl could get. Who ups and leaves like that without warning when they've got someone in their house?"

She was in the kitchen now, but standing at a rather good distance. "And if you don't want me in your fuckin' house, give me the goddamned money for a hotel room! I don't know why you offered, seeing as you're not acting interested enough to even give te impression of believing the baby's yours!"

Finn couldn't believe this girl, because that's what she was. For someone who was going to be a mother, for someone who had a baby inside of them, she---"You are---unbelievable, fucking----"

He found himself a plate and moved to the fridge, ready to just slap together some kind of sandwich, hoping that maybe the act of doing something, making something, would calm him down so he didn't rip her head off---literally.

"You're here, aren't you? I'm here, aren't I? Did it ever occur to you, did it ever cross your mind that I---" he slapped mayonnaise on his sandwich, screw his diet, he was pissed off, "That I just might be as nervous and as bloody scared and as worried that I couldn't do this? That I'm too fucking immature to have a kid? Did you ever, ever think that I might have been at my brother's flat, telling him what was going on and trying to figure out what the fuck I need to do to raise this kid right and make sure he doesn't become as big of a fuck up as me?"

By this time, no, way before he finished, Finn had stopped with his sandwich and was gripping to the spoon tightly while his other hand pressed flat against the table as he stared hard at Joy. Looking to play the victim, it was all she was doing; she couldn't even accept his generous fucking offer of letting her stay with him. Joy was lucky he didn't laugh her off and be on his way, she was lucky that he hadn't called the officers to take her away for disrupting the party, she was fucking lucky that she ended getting knocked up by him and not by some of the other assholes on his team.

Throughout the whole of his speech, Joy had thought up about five or six retorts really good retorts to scream back at him--but amazingly, by the time he was done going off, she had completely forgotten when they were, because she was stunned speechless. She couldn't even open her mouth to try because he...

She really hadn't been expecting that.

He had been at his brother's--Tiberius, she remembered--and he had been trying to sort things out and... and he cared and he wasn't out drowning his sorrows like any other guy would have done and he really was trying to figure out what he could do to raise their child and--

Ugh, this was so fucked up.

"I---" Joy sighed deeply, running a hand through her hair, actually able to feel all the anger and energy from earlier drain out of her. Now she knew why you weren't supposed to get stressed, she felt like shit (although, that probably had more to do with the fact that she felt guilty for getting pissed at him). "I'm sorry, I just--I know, you're... you're doing a lot more than I should expect---I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get--get accusatory, or bitchy at you, or whatever. I'm thankful for what you're doing, really."

The anger left immediately, well, not all of it, he was still a little pissed off, but he didn't feel like screaming any more and just nodded at her. It wasn't his fault that he had little to no social skills when he was sober! Seriously, when you're drunk, it's basically 'You're hot, let's snog' (as…Joy knew quite well), so there wasn't really much work to be had when you had the name and the popularity behind you. Actually dealing with normal people, those that you didn't want to shag or anything like that…it was far more different than the party scene. Like---like with Hannah. With Hannah, he could talk about quidditch for hours and there would never be a problem, but the second he was left alone with her husband…awkwardness ensued.

And when the kid came into the room, Finn promptly had to use the bathroom as to not deal with him, so. There he was.

He shrugged awkwardly, sitting on a stool behind the counter and not really feeling up to finishing his sandwich anymore. "I'm…not very good with people." As…she could probably tell, or was picking up just now, "So…work with me. I guess."

Slowly, and obviously very conscious of trying not to fall off any ground they had gained, Joy walked over to him, taking a seat on the stool next to him. Obviously, they both had some serious growing up to do if this was going to work out... this would be hard, otherwise, and quite honestly, she wasn't looking forward to spending every day of the next nine months (and who knew how long after) yelling and screaming at him, and having him yell and scream back.

"Only if you'll spare me the same favor," she said. "I'm not really very good at life in general... but I'll try, if you will."

Finn nodded and tried not to pull into himself too much as Joy sat; he just wasn't used to anyone in the house and it was kind of unnerving to know that he wasn't going to have that privacy anymore. He was very determined to keep the entire pregnancy…not a secret, but he saw how people got over the first pictures and regular paparazzi shots and…he was going to try to figure out a way to keep his private life private, if it bloody killed him. Joy didn't deserve to be hounded wherever they went, and their child didn't, either.

Jesus, their child. That was definitely something he'd have to get used to.

Tossing the bread into the trash bin, Finn turned to Joy with a slight shrug. "I'll order us a pizza, there's a pretty good muggle place nearby and…it's not my cooking, which you should pray you never have to experience."

Joy nodded. "Yeah, that sounds... good," she said quietly. Now that they weren't yelling, she realized just how much this house echoed, and it almost made her feel like she couldn't speak in anything that wasn't near-silent. She had already had a decent look around after waking up in the morning, when she had still been on a quest to find him and--it was huge--well, not as huge as some of the players' houses that you saw in magazines, but it was bigger than she'd ever lived in, and that was saying something. But it wasn't just the size, it felt bigger because of how empty it was, and not just because they were the only ones living there. It just felt... hollow, like for once weren't any stories for the walls to tell.

"I guess I'm going to have to learn how to cook, if I'm going to be a mum," she thought aloud quite suddenly, the idea never having occured to her. It felt so weird, to be thinking of taking the responsibility to learn to do anything domestic. At home (hah) Rosalie always cooked the meals, and at Daddy's, it was the maid that did it... where did she even start? "But--we can't live on the kind of food you keep here. We at least have to go grocery shopping, you know."

"Errrrgh," he muttered as he summoned over the phone, dialing the number to the pizza place (it had been memorized long, long ago). Grocery shopping? Finn didn't go grocery shopping. That was---that was for his assistant to do, but seeing as he didn't think hiring one would be good at the moment, "I suppose---hey, yeah, I'd like to order a number three, uh huh. Right. Yeah, the---yes, 27 East Forks---got it, yep. Thanks."

Finn let go of the phone which zoomed back to its place (some nice charm work he'd done on his own, thanks) and looked over at Joy, letting out a sigh. "Yeah, I guess. You could pose as my assistant, I guess. Could tell your dad you've got a job and all that. Or…you could really do it, I mean. You'd get paid so…I'm not…I'm not trying to kick you out, but I'm not the easiest person to live with, so…you could afford your own place, and everything. For when you get sick of me."

He chuckled slightly and looked down at the table, "Cause, it'll happen, I'm pretty sure."

The proposition was probably the most surprising thing he'd said all night... and at the same time, it made the most sense.

While she had absolutely no sense of responsibility and was crap at keeping jobs... Well, if she was his assistant, they wouldn't raise suspicion being seen together, right? Of course, when things started to be more--ahem, apparent--it would be a lot harder to duck the speculations that she knew were imminent, but for now it was a completely pragmatic idea. When that time came, it would also at least make them look like they had known each other before they decided to fool around with one another.

"I'll do it, but... I've got to tell you, I'm as crap as jobs as I am at life. I'll try, though, I mean--it can't be as hard as going out and working nine to five, I can sit on the couch and organize your days, right?" she asked with a smile, the first genuine smile she'd given in almost a month. "And, about the getting sick of you... we'll see. I wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing, I think I can muster up the courage to brave you for a while and see how it all works out."

Okay, so Finn had to laugh at that. He shook his head though, still smiling, "Well, I'm kind of easy to deal with…business wise. I don't got all those interviews and stuff, it's just the mandatory crap and…yeah, you'll be fine. I'll help."

It's usually how it happened; Finn often took over a lot of the his personal assistant's work because they simply couldn't do it right, which often annoyed the crap out of them and caused them to quit, so, since Joy was going to stick around for a bit anyway, it seemed like a good fit.

Hell. Maybe she'd go grocery shopping by herself, then.