Imaginary Worlds

Koschei followed along into the building and grinned. This was nice. He liked pizza. And he liked spending time with his father. It was something that Koschei even looked forward to.

He didn't look forward to points where he saw the Doctor, such as now, the man wandering in with Marnal to place an order. Because that wasn't fair. The man at least didn't try to bother with them.

The Master made a point not to talk to the Doctor for Koschei's sake. He offered a half way to his boss and took the pizza off the man once it was ready. Smiling at Koschei, he nodded towards the door.

He'd explain at work tomorrow that he was just in a rush. But he wouldn't torment Koschei any further, he wasn't that mean. "You can have something along side this when we get home but we only have pasta and soup-- erm, maybe dessert instead?"

It wasn't even the Doctor he had a problem with. It was that kid. He didn't care for Marnal in the least and it showed. Not to mention twice was enough for a pattern to be noticed.

"No more pizza on Mondays. An' dessert is better." Koschei stated once in the car. Because that was the second time they'd seen those two on a Monday in the pizza place.

"Fine, no more pizza one mondays, we'll move it to Friday and we'll go to the Deli on Monday's instead. Or maybe I'll make something?" he could make something nice-- hmm, he could even try tomorrow.

He could make Sheppard pie or a quiche or something. He would get around to doing something different food wise. Parking outside the house, he picked up the pizza and headed inside.

He wasn't too sure that that was a good idea. The Master? Cooking? No thanks. The man could handle simple things such as eggs and pasta. Experimenting wasn't too appreciated.

Following along inside, Koschei snatched a slice and settled in to eat. He couldn't complain. He liked pizza. "What's for dessert?" he asked lightly, grinning.

"Erm-- ice-cream maybe. Or cake. Depends what we have. Might have some somewhere," it would take a lot of searching. The Master was not the best shopper but he did intend to stock up this week.

Taking a slice, the Master made short work of it and had another. He hadn't eaten all day, he'd just been on the phone again and again. "So tell me about school Kosch?"

"Nothing to tell. Not really. It's school." he dismissed. "I fit in a cupboard." he added softly as an afterthought. Yeah. That hadn't been a very pleasant discovery. At all.

Sighing, he picked at another slice, not wanting to discuss it. He wasn't exactly happy there. But he'd promised to stick it out and that was what he was going to do. Period.

"You fit in a-- oh great," his son was being by morons and idiots. Well, that wouldn't stand. "They do that again and you tell me, okay? I'll come down there and do something."

Probably withdraw his son and then struggle to find him a school. "So... you made no friends? Well its, you know, early days."

"Epsilon use to beat them up for me." he admitted softly. And really? It had worked for him. Well, up until now. Now he was on his own and struggling to deal with them on his own.

Sighing, Koschei ducked his head and shrugged. "It's fine. I can do it. I said I would stick it out." he assured firmly. Even if it wasn't working out too well.

"I'm sorry. You know what, we'll sort this. Promise," the Master assured as he took a sip of his water and finished up the slice. He couldn't keep his son at a school where he was bullied.

"I'm thinking that there are two schools we could try. But one is a boarding school ad you'd have to live there-- probably not a good idea," not for someone that young to live away from home.

The idea was definitely an appealing one. but Koshei knew better. Because he might not get on well there, either, and then he would be stuck. Never a good idea. Never mind his brief periods of psychosis.

"What's the second option?" Koschei asked softly, cocking his head a bit. It was a valid line of questioning. He wanted to know what else he had offered to him.

"Well there is a nice academy but it would take me 45 minutes to drive you there every morning," the Master admitted, shrugging his shoulders before pinching the bridge of his nose.

"either that or ... I dunno, I can't afford a tutor," he would of liked to. His son didn't need t be around the scum of this planet, he wanted to keep bad influences to a minimum.

Which would be a major inconvenience. Sighing softly, Koschei ducked his head with a small frown. "I can go to the boarding school." he granted softly. Yeah. That was far from what he wanted.

Sighing softly, Koschei stood and shrugged. "'M gonna go an' do my work now." he murmured, grabbing his bag up and heading in the direction of his bedroom. He wasn't too pleased at the moment.

"Koschei, I promised I'd fix this. The boarding school fixes nothing so don't worry," perhaps-- well, he could always ask a favour from the rich eccentric he sort of almost got on with.

Ringing up the Doctor, he sighed and cleaned up the living room with his spare hand.

It didn't take ling for the Doctor to answer the phone, even if he had to do it on the speaker as he was busy preparing dinner for the following day. It was always easier to cook when it was all ready to go. At least for him.

"And how might I help you this evening?" the Doctor asked in a rather chipper manner. Yeah. Should probably look into his habit of being so upbeat.

How could he always be this happy? It had to be insanity. "Hey... can I make a proposition. Just-- look, I'm having some trouble with schools since Koschei got expelled and the one he's in now, he's being bullied. We're sort of limited with options."

This was really hard to ask, he hated asking for help but-- well, maybe he could win in this scenario. "Can I loan some money? I'll pay you back but for now, I just need some to get my son a tutor or something until I find a better school."

Oh? The Master was asking him for money? That was...That was enough to give him a pause. Even if it were a decent cause. "I'd offer to do it myself if he didn't have such a problem with me." he murmured softly.

No matter. "About how much are you thinking that you'll need? Not that I'm sayin no. I just need to know how much to write the check for." the Doctor prompted lightly.

"I would do it myself as well but we both work full time, wouldn't really work," It would be much easier to manage though. He'd get the boy free from people who could harm him or he could harm.

"I don't know-- I don't even know how much a tutor is. Give me what you think is fair and whatever it is, I'll take it," that was as frank as he could be. He intended to pay it back though for the sake of his pride.

"How about...Take care of him. I was taking Marnal out to eat this weekend at the restaurant I took you to for his birthday. You can bring Koschei along and whatnot. I'll do some research and get back to you then." the Doctor offered.

In other words? The Doctor would take care of it. He saw no reason for the Master to worry about it. "Or...You could come over tomorrow and we can look through costs and possibilities then. Won't be too difficult." he offered softly.

The Master nodded his head before looking up the stairs. "Tomorrow. And this weekend is still do-able, if you're helping then Koschei will be there for your sons birthday, don't worry."

It seemed only fair, no boy wanted to be alone on their birthday and Koschei could suck it up for a day if he knew he was going to get something good out of it. Worked for the Master.

"Alright. Cone over after work tomorrow and we'll look over a few things. You can stay for dinner if you'd like. Won't be too hard. I'm making lasagna." the Doctor offers rather brightly.

Yeah. He liked having another around. "Either way. I'll see you tomorrow." the Doctor said brightly before disconnecting. Yeah. The Master should have thought that through.

Oh damn, now he had to have dinner tomorrow. Groaning, the Master dropped back down on the sofa and buried his head into the cushions. He didn't want to deal with being an adult any more.

It took him a good hour before e headed upstairs to put Koschei to bed. "Hey Koschei, you should get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow so I'll go run you a bath before we sleep."

Funny thing was that the Master could just say no and call it good. The Doctor was just trying to be polite. And could he honestly be faulted for that one? Not like the Master wouldn't already be there for a bit.

Looking up, Koschei nodded and started to gather what he'd need to bathe. He really hated his homework. He already knew he'd be in trouble the following day. But no matter. "'Kay. Bath then bed." he agreed softly.

"So, tomorrow we have to go round to the Doctors and have dinner," the Master told the boy as he ran the hot water and sat on the edge of the bath while it filled up. This would be fun.

"I'm trying to borrow money to get you a tutor till I can figure out a permanent solution but to get that money, you have to be nice and maybe humour Epsilon?" it was worth a shot to ask, right?

The Master thought that was a good idea? Koschei glowered before backin down and instead getting into the tub. Yeah. "I don't wanna." he mumbled softly. He'd said he would go to the boarding school.

But he wasn't stupid. He knew this was best. "I'll go. I don't like it, but I'll play nice." he conceded softly. He didn't like the idea in the least. He just knew better.