Imaginary Worlds

"He asked, I answered, I try my hardest to be honest with the kid," the Master confessed, shrugging his shoulders before offering the Doctor a half smile. The man was good company, he liked that.

"So, what are your plans today? Gonna do anything fun?" the Master asked, remembering the Doctor had plans today, something to do with meeting someone. He couldn't quite remember.

"Iros wants to make amends by setting me up on a blind date. I'm not too sure though. I can't imagine that he keeps good company." the Doctor admitted softly. It was simply asking for trouble.

But the fact that the Master was dating while toying with him hurt. Not to mention he had a slightly jealous nature. It all resulted in the same thing. "How about you?" the Doctor inquired softly in turn. He didn't know if he wanted an answer of not, but it was only polite to ask back.

"I dunno," he really didn't, he might see Ailla but he couldn't confirm anything, not really. Frankly, he wanted some alone time to think. He'd sort it all out when he got home.

"I might take the night to myself, hang out a bit and do some reading. If you wanna talk after, I'll be up," the Master offered, there was no reason why they couldn't keep in contact.

The Docor sighed softly and nodded a bit. "I won't call you tonight. I'm not going to bother you after I went out on a date." he said softly. It was just courteous.

"It's fine. I hope that you enjoy your night." the Doctor offered. It was the least he could say. He didn't have a lot to talk about at the moment.

The Master paused and watched the Doctor for a while before exhaling loudly. "You know, if you hate being fooling around with someone else so much then why don't you just say it?"

A little blunt but come on, he was fed up of the Doctors passive aggressive anger. He's rather the man booted him out the car than carefully selected words to disarm him. "I'm a big boy, I can take a telling off."

"And then what? We aren't together. We aren't seeing each other. We are fooling about when we have nothing better going on because you don't do relationships. Period." the Doctor shot back. He would take that over the other option.

"Do I mind? A bit. But I already told you I don't like it. I also told you that I'm not calling a stop to anything. If you want to date or sleep around with somebody, then that's your decision. Period. I'm not telling you one way or another with it." the Doctor asserted. And that was final.

"Well... do you want to date me? Hand on hearts, do you?" the Master asked, frowning deeply. he didn't know if emotions actually got tangled up in this or not but he knew better.

He knew the Doctor wasn't like him, even the Master was feeling all over the place emotionally and he was usually pretty good at managing cunning little run arounds. The Doctor wasn't. "If you want to date me then just ... ask?"

"We tried, remember? I know how dating you will end. I don't want that. At all. I don't want it to go wrong and end the way it did the first time. Date whoever you want. I'm not going to try and tell you otherwise." the Doctor snipped, cringing a bit at his own tone.

He didn't want to talk about this. At all. "Can we just forget all of this? We've already talked about this. We already know that this isn't working out well and we both know that it won't end because neither of us wants that. Do what you want to do." the Doctor said firmly.

"Just because you chose to ignore the problem doesn't make it go away. I left you for three reasons. My son being away and upsetting yours, my own insecurities and the fact that I was quick to give up," the Master explained before rubbing at his eyes in frustration.

"But yes, we'll just forget it. It's complicated and hard to discuss so lets just stay in a state of denial and awkwardness," the Master asserted, clearly not in the mood to debate this any more. If the Doctor didn't want to date him, that was just fine.

"Can you honestly say that you want to date me? The freak of a nice guy that isn't assertive enough? Really? Because I highly doubt it." he said softly. He wasn't fighting of fussing.

This was something he sincerely needed to ask about. Because the Master was bound to snap and leave him again. There was no getting around that one. At all.

"Nice is boring and I do wish you were more assertive, people who aren't as also boring," the Master confessed honestly and come on, who really wanted to date someone who sheepishly bounced around he place and didn't confront anything. There was no challenge.

"But nice can be amusing sometimes, kind of sweet. And you actually care about me... not many people do. I like your kid, he reminds me of you actually and... well, you're pretty good looking," the Master rattled off, adjusting his shirt and doing up one of the buttons. "You're intelligent and bright but its frustrating to see you getting walked all over."

"Suppose that I got accustomed to it. I barely notice when people are doing it any longer. I want to date you. I do. But I can't if it's just going to end in my getting hurt again. And I know that it sounds stupid. But I can't help it." he murmured softly.

And really? That was all there was to it. The Doctor was afraid of being hurt again. That simple. It didn't bode well for him. "But I would prefer to actually date you."

"There's no way to promise that. I can't promise you that forever and ever I will ever once hurt you because guess what? I'm a total prick," the Master informed him, unable to help himself from being totally honest.

"Look, I can promise you that I'll try and if you can maybe, I don't know, work on the assertive thing then maybe it might work? But... well, its not so easy to just agree. So lets say that you use the weekend and then you let me know monday of you want to risk it," the Master suggested, he wasn't about to rush him over it.

"I'll let you know by Monday what my decision is. But really? I very rarely go out with somebody twice. I don't mean anything by it, it's just a defense mechanism." he admitted softly. It hurt too much otherwise.

The Doctor didn't do well to getting hurt by the same person more than once. He barely did well with just once. But something drew him to the Master that he couldn't help or explain.

"Then, if you don't want too, on Monday you can tell me to piss off and that your decision or we can start over and try again. It's all on you," Maybe that was unfair but to be blunt, he was just offering what he could. He wanted the Doctor to make this choice.

If he wanted to leave them then he'd stay with Ailla and if he did then he'd dump her. Either way, he wanted the Doctor to be more assert and make his decision alone.

The Doctor hated being out into this sort of position. He really did. But what else could be honestly do? It wasn't as though he could make the Master decide instead.

That didn't mean he wouldn't hate it, mind. It was just one of this things. "I will give you the decision then. But can we not talk about it now? We're still on for tomorrow though, aren't we?" the Doctor asked softly. He wasn't sure with everything else going on.

We won't discuss it again and I'll come around tomorrow," the Master assured, after all, he fancied going around to the Doctors for a bit and just relaxing. He had no idea what he was doing today and Sunday was for Verica.

Saturday seemed kind of perfect to him. "Oh Monday, can I bring someone to the office? Just for a hour or two?" He did owe her a look around the place after all.

The Doctor had a sinking feeling he didn't want to know who that someone was. He was horribly tempted to say no. Then again? He knew better than to outright deny a simple enough request for no reason.

"Okay. Bring her around and whatnot on Monday if you wish. I'm not going to try and stop you." the Doctor assured, frowning softly. Well. "Just make sure to keep her out of the way." he added. Didn't need anybody getting hurt.

"She'll be in my office, Doctor. The worst she can do is break my plastic solar system toys and they can be replaced easy," the Master explained with an amused look, peering out the window.

Nearly home then? Good, he was going to go lie down, spend the day to himself relaxing and not worry about anything else till saturday when he had to see the Doctor again.

The Doctor was kind enough to drive back the rest of the way in silence, eventually pulling up outside of the Master's house. "There you have it. I'll see you around tomorrow." he offered softly.

This wasn't too bad. Really. He could relax and enjoy his evening with Marnal and he would think about where they stood. The Doctor could do at least that much.

The Master got out the car and smiled, nodding a thank you before walking around the car. "Say hi to Marnal for me," he called before he took off into the empty house.

And his day wasn't going to be much else but lying on the sofa reading.

The Doctor sighed softly and drove to simply pick Marnal up, keeping a smile on his face. It was always nice when the attendants waited with kids for parents running late. Better than the alternative.

"Hey, kiddo. Have a good day so far?" the Doctor asked softly as he got his son settled in the car.

"I drew you a picture," A very badly drawn picture of himself and his dad walking on blue grass. He hadn't had a green crayon. He offered it out with a playful smile before putting his fist by his mouth and biting his thumb gently.

It was just something he did when he was mindlessly zoning out. Like now. He had no idea where they were meant to be going but he did hope his dad wasn't leaving him again. "Where we going?" he mumbled around his thumb.

"Home. We're going home and I'm going to spend the evening with you. And them Mr. Saxon is coming around tomorrow and we're all going do something together." the Doctor assured.

He'd have mentioned the date but he didn't think going was the best option right now. He had a lot to think about at the moment. "So. Marnal, are you alright with Koschei?" he asked softly.

Marnal beamed, he did want to be with his dad after two weekends spent with sitters. He didn't enjoy being sent away, especially not with the Doctors family. They always called him 'slow' and 'special'.

"Koschei? I still think he's mean but ... I don't mind," Marnal offered, he was a very passive child and he just sort of let things happen. The Doctor knew he didn't like him but he had his own way about things.