Imaginary Worlds

"I promised Marnal that I'd help when somethig bothered him. I want to be with you. But is there a possible way that, after tonight, we can wait off on trying to get Marnal and Koschei to bond for a bit?" he asked softly.

The Doctor already knew what came next. It wasn't the first time Marnal had issues with other children. Usually just not when he was dating the parent. That's what made this difficult.

"What did Koschei do? Let me guess, I went out and he went to bully Marnal? Thought so. Well, I did say it would happen," the Master pointed out before shrugging his shoulders.

Rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly, he sighed slightly. "Look, don't take this personally, but perhaps we shouldn't be dating. Or I shouldn't. I've been known to react badly in relationships, my son will hurt your son and frankly, you need to work on yourself. I hardly want to make you worse and I can't help you emotionally because... well, it'll never be me."

"I don't know and I'm aware of what you said. It's why I suggested taking a bit before attempting to have them bond." the Doctor murmured. Though he abruptly ceased at what came next.

"First off, I don't need help emotionally, as there is nothing wrong with me. Also, this is the second time you brought this up, and fine. I never asked you to fix me. Or to help me. I told you I could handle your son and I was intending to try and get Marnal to ease into it, but fine. You don't think we should be dating, then get the hell out of my house. I'll see you at work on Monday." the Doctor rather openly dismissed. He never did take well to bein referred to as emotionally damaged in any sense.

"You said abuse just happens! You have emotional problems! What good is denial for Rassilon sake!" the Master snapped, frustrated that the Doctor couldn't admit it when he clear had it.

At least the Master could admit he had issues but there was some frustrating about someone who refused to acknowledge this. "But, you want to stay in denial? Go for it. I'm going get my son and leave."

"Because nobody ever told me that it wasn't! I corrected to my son once I was told differently. I grew up being told that it was normal, so do forgive me on not realizing that. Also take note that I said it wasn't acceptable." the Doctor bit out as he stood.

"But by all means, go. I would love to continue dating you, but you're so quick to jump on the idea of not dating instead of finding an easy solution, that I can't justify pursuing something with somebody that seems to be looking for an excuse to leave." the Doctor asserted. And that's exactly what it looked like.

"Well I did warn you, I told you I'm bad at this. I'm trying but my son is going to upset your son and you know what? It's a little frustrating to be asked every minute of every day when I'm going to hurry up and leave," say whatever you will, having your child that committed to having someone leave your life was stressful.

"He's scared of you! Fuck knows why, you're not even scary! You're... you're not even a threat. But he's scared of you, I know he is, and I have to keep choosing between you both and I can't do that," the Master confessed. How could he chose a man over his son? "I'd like to, I would, but how can I do this? There's no way!"

That changed a couple of things. "Bad at this and jumping at every chance to end it are two very different things. And I'm not sure why your son is afraid of me. I swear I've never touched him." he murmured softly, running a hand through his hair with a soft sigh.

"The one time I find somebody and their son wants me gone. Look. We can end this on a positive note. No hard feelings and the like. To get your son and go home. If you by some slim chance decide to remain together by Monday, let me know and we can try to work something out. But I won't hold it against you if you decide otherwise. But I would like to remain friends if at all possible." the Doctor assured softly. What other choice did he have?

"Koschei is never going to really let me be happy, I accepted that a long time ago. I'm sorry you had to go through this useless attempt," the Master offered as he got to his feet and offered the Doctor a hand.

He wanted to stay friends? Fine. "To be honest, dating leaves me uncomfortable. I think deep down, I would happily run instead of working on things. Maybe its just how I should be," the Master remarked with a small shrug of his shoulders.

The Doctor took the Man's hand and sighed softly. "I...No. I'm sorry." he murmured with a small shake of his head. He had actually felt happy for once. It was something new to him.

It meant that he could definitely feel the difference in how he'd been before. "I should go tell Marnal what's going on." he murmured, heading to do just that. The kid had actually liked this one.

"I'm going to go tell my little bastard the good news," the Master muttered under his breath as he hurried up the stairs and took off into their little room. He grabbed everything that was theirs and stuffed it into a bag.

Then, lifting Koschei up, the Master started off with no explanation. He didn't feel happy like the Doctor, he just felt defeated. He hated losing but he had and that was that.

The sad part was? Any happiness felt by the Doctor was wiped clean by this little break up. Unfortunately, Koschei didn't do well with no explanation as to why he was being moved suddenly. A fact the Master should have known.

"What's goin' on? You said we were staying another night. I was sleeping. Why are we going?" the kid persisted with a frown. Seriously! He deserved to know.

"Home, Sigma misses us and I don't like him alone," the Master said bluntly as they headed down the stairs. He was sure the boy could easily get back to bed. He slipped out quietly in case Marnal was asleep and dropped the boy on the sofa.

Getting into the car, he drove home in the dark, making sure his head lights were on. It wasn't the best conditions to drive but he didn't fancy sticking around much longer.

(Gotta go catch a bus.)

Koschei sighed softly and frowned, going along in silence. It would been better to know what was going on. Less surprises then. But no matter. He just headed inside to go back to bed upon arriving.

And really? Could the Master expect anything else from him? He was tired and confused. What kid wouldn't be under the circumstances? It was all very sudden.

The Master pulled up outside the house and carried Koschei inside, whistling for Sigma to follow as he headed into the boys room. He tucked the boy in and smiled slightly.

"Sorry about this. I am. Have a good night," the Master offered before he went into his own room, Sigma hurrying behind him. Well,, at least he sort of had company.

Koschei didn't have any idea what the hell was going on. It didn't keep him from sleeping. Though he did wake up early the next morning, keeping quiet as he headed downstairs to watch cartoons.

He didn't want to disturb his dad. Nor did he want to be overly active at the moment. It was too early. Though he still wanted to know what had happened with the Doctor.

The Master was up at 6am anyway, he was just watching TV really. It was boring as ever. Sigma and he played around a bit to make up for leaving him the other day but he made it work.

He headed down at 10.30 to get some breakfast and headed straight through to the living room. "Koschei, do you want something to eat? I'm thinking of cereal, personally."

"What happened last night? I deserve to know. Did you actually leave him? 'Cause I think that I should know. It does effect me." Koschei pointed out softly.

Mainly in the fact that he didn't yet have his fish. He was selfish to the very end. But that was just who he was. A brat that thought of himself first.

"You don't deserve to know, you know because I grant you that," the Master put right, placing a bowl of cheerios in front of Koschei and offering him the milk so he could pour it.

"Lets just say that you won't get your fish from him. But we might get a tank, we're still friends," the Master informed him before taking off upstairs to fetch Sigma so he could have something to eat.

Huh. That was...Unexpected, to say the least. He didn't expect for it to work out so well. Smirking, Koschei took to his food, more than just a little happy at the moment. Because Koschei couldn't quite help himself with this one.

He couldn't even be upset with the loss of his aquarium. He just hummed softly and put up his dish, heading to play with his toy trains. Yeah...He definitely had some problems.

Oh the Master knew Koschei would be happy but that was Koschei. And he had accepted it last night that he'd probably spend till Koschei was 18 watching the boy. Then he was free to terrorise others.

And the Master could finally move on. Maybe find the Doctor again? But for now, Koschei wasn't safe and would only get worse. He wouldn't see Marnal or anyone else getting hurt.

Koschei didn't bother again until later into the afternoon, looking to his father with a grin. "So. 'M hungry." he announced simply, shrugging. He'd spend the day mostly painting his windows, adding a careful design of an odd blue box.

He still had no idea where it was from. "An' can we watch a film tonight?" he asked. Eh. Why not? Life was good. The Master wasn't distracted anymore.

"I'm not in the mood for a film," the Master said, not looking up from his book. Koschei didn't consider that the Master would be distracted for a while. Lots of awkward feelings.

"What do you fancy for dinner? Can't cook but I can order you something?" the Master remarked with a small yawn, moving moving his hand from the book so he could scratch Sigmas ear when the puppy whined.

Koschei at that one and shook his head slowly. "You aren't...Why?" he asked, honestly rather bewildered here. What was the problem? He didn't see anything wrong with their lives at the moment.

The Master was single. What was the big deal here? "Be happy...An' pizza. I like pizza." he said simply, shrugging. The other had no reason to be upset.

"I'm not upset Koschei, I'm just not in the mood to watch a film. But you can borrow the DVD player and watch one alone," the Master offered a half-hearted smile before dog earring his bag and grabbing his mobile.

He ordered them a pizza and two cokes before hanging up and picking up the book again. "I'll get the door when it comes. If you need me, I'll be in here with Sigma."

"You're supposed to wanna spend time with me now that you're not with him." Koschei mumbled, not getting why the other was so distracted from all of this. Shaking his head, he headed back out, sulking a bit as he returned to doing his own thing.

Seriously? Why was the Master so bothered with being single now? It had never been an issue before. It really hadn't. So what was the big deal now?