Imaginary Worlds

Marnal sulked but clambered up the stairs. And, when he got back, he had clearly dressed himself. It was obvious by the inside out shirt and odd socks. But he looked so proud at doing it all himself.

"Pest is hiding in my wardrobe, can you get him out?" Marnal asked with a small cock of his head. That damn kitten was a thorn in his side, there was no denying that.

"You know that I got Pest for you. But I can get him out." the Doctor assured, ruffling his son's hair as he passed by, heading up to take care of the cat. The poor thing.

Shakin his head, he got the critter settled in his own bed, returning downstairs afterward to take care of the cookies in the oven. He was even kind enough to give a cooled one to Marnal for dressing himself.

"Pest doesn't listen to me, he's too scared!" Marnal whined, he never could get that cat to behave for him. Taking his cookie, he shoved it in his mouth and watched his dad with a smile.

And, when the door knocked, Marnal practically tripped over himself to see what was going on. "Someones here!" he would of opened it but sadly he could reach that high yet. He was a bit of a short five year old and it took straining to get the high bolt handle.

The Doctor would hate when Marnal got taller. I wouldn't be very pleasant watching the kid with higher items. He adjusted his hold upon Pest and opened the door, smiling softly as he backed off to allow the other entry.

"Morning." the Doctor offered softly, smiling a bit. He was just trying to be pleasant. It was his nature to do so.

Marnal smiled as the Master came in, offering the Doctor a smile before shrugging off his jacket and hanging it up by the door. "Sorry, I forgot to set a time and I've been up late all night."

He ruffled Marnals hair as he got by the boy and frowned at the skittish cat in the Doctors arms that seemed to be squirming in tentative fear at this unsettling arrival. "Ah, this must be the serval Koschei mentioned."

"His name is Pest. He's usually hiding in my room, but he doesn't seem to be willing to be put down." the Doctor admitted sheepishly. It wasn't exactly ideal.

Frownin softly, he regarded Marnal for a moment. "Hey. Have you fed your turtle yet today?" the Doctor prompted lightly. It was one of those things the kid had a tendency to forget about.

Marnal whined at that and shook his head. "I didn't. But I forgot," Marnal sighed loudly and offered his dad a look of annoyance as he reached up towards the counter for the turtle food. Sadly, he couldn't seem to reach it.

The Master sighed and leaned over, taking the food off the side and passing it down to the boy. "Koschei always forgets to feed his rat too, it appears to be a problem with children," Thank God he never forgot Sigma.

"What do you expect from kids?" he asked softly, watching Marnal lightly. The lad was definitely something else. There was no getting around that.

"By the way? You weren't the only one up all night. My answer is yes by the way." the Doctor informed lightly. Eh. Why not? He didn't have a lot to lose.

"I said tell me monday," he mocked with a small amused look, shoving his hand in his pocket. He really did like Ailla but it seemed that it wasn't possible, not really, he had to leave her.

He offered this choice, the Doctor asserted that he wanted it and the Master was willing to try his hand at this. "Well then, I'll let her down easy when I see her Monday, I hardly want to do it over the phone."

And now he was unsure again. Because he hadn't considered her in all of this. "Are you sure? Because I can understand if you're not. I don't want anybody to get hurt." he murmured softl.

It was just that the Master had pushed for this thing between them alongside of being with her. It didn't make sense that it was so east to change. But it would seem that was the case.

"All is fair in love and war," the Master quoted, not sure why the Doctor was so bothered. If someone wanted something, as the Doctor had said earlier, shouldn't they fight for it?

"Doctor, you want me, correct? You asked. I'm doing it because I would like to be with you too. If you were dating someone else I would be sad... then I'd get over it," the Master pointed out bluntly.

The Doctor signed softly at that one and nodded. "Don't worry. It's fine. I just wanted to make sure that this is what you really want." he admitted softly.

It was a lot to wrap his head around. He was trying this again. The Doctor didn't tend to do that sort of thing very often, if at all.

"Do you know what I truly 100% want?" the Master asked before he sat down on top of the table and stole a cookie from the tray to have a snack. "I want people to stop hurting my head."

One moment the Doctor was moving on, that was fine, then he was still in love and Lucy was meant to of fucked off and now she wanted his son and being civil with her lasted less than two hours. Koschei changed his mind like the weather and Ailla was pretty and nice but why the bloody hell did he even fancier. "You know why I like Marnal? He's straight, to the point, says what he wants and he doesn't hurt my head... when he's old enough to drink we'll have to hang out."

The Doctor sighed softly and shook his head softly. "Look. I'm sorry if I'm bothering you. But I told you what my decision is and I stand by that. My entire point was that I just want you to be happy." he informed.

Lovely. He had the sudden urge to bake some more. He never did take well to worry. Which he most definitely was. And could he be blamed? He couldn't be sure what was going to happen with them dating again.

"I'm fine, I'm always fine," the Master insisted, he wasn't but he liked to spin it that way. He finished off his cookie before turning his head to see Marnal awkwardly lingering in the halls.

He wanted to join them cause he was a bit lonely but it was a grown up discussion so he wasn't allowed. The Master smiled slightly before looking at the Doctor. "What should we do today?"

"Suppose that all depends. How long do you plan to stick about for?" the Doctor asked in turn, simply motioning Marnal over to him. He didn't mind the lad lurking about

How could he? It would be rather pathetic to get upset over something so stupid. "We can stick around here and do something. Or we can go somewhere." the Doctor offered lightly.

"Well it depends. I had an idea but it depends on you and Marnal," the Master explained before putting his hands in his pockets and shrugging. "I don't know how to feel about this stuff but ... I really like swimming, Koschei doesn't. So I thought we could go together?"

It would be nice, Marnal could learn and they could do something fun that wouldn't give them too much time to sit around discussing awkward subjects. "I know a great pool, it has a great shallow end and its near empty most days. We could teach your kid to swim?"

That was an interesting enough idea. "Alright. What do you say Marnal? Would you like to go learn how to swim?" the Doctor asked lightly.

He wouldn't force the poor kid along. But the idea of going seemed pleasant enough. Even if the Doctor didn't do much for swimming as it was.

Marnal didn't fully know what swimming involved but he clearly didn't care, he just nodded his head eagerly with a bright smile. "Can pest come? He might need to learn how to swim!"

The Master chuckled and shook his head. "Cats hate water, kiddo. Now, I got my kit in the car, do you have any swimming gear?" the Master asked before shrugging. "If not we could stop off and get some."

"We have some. Just give me a moment to fetch it." the Doctor said simply, heading up to grab what they would need. Which really wasn't much.

Heading back down, he was brought to a new issue to address. "So. Want to drive separate? Want to take your car? My car?" he prompted lightly.

"My car. Less fancy but my stuff is in the boot," the Master explained as they headed outside. He unlocked his car and Marnal was happy to get into the back, settled nicely in his seat as he looked around.

The Master took the Doctors stuff and stuck it in the boot with his own before slipping into the drivers seat. "I don't think I've ever given you a lift before."

"You haven't. I usually just drive everywhere." the Doctor admitted as he got in. He didn't mean to. It just sort of happened.

Then again, it was what the Doctor was accustomed to doing. It was nice to be able to get out and about and he liked driving. It helped him relax.

"It's fine, you have the better car," the Master pointed out as he took off and drove them down to the pool. It was a nice looking place but with the weather getting colder, less people were going to the pool. Which meant they could be alone.

Once they got inside, the Master paid for their time in the pool and offered the Doctor a sideways look. "Don't offer me money, this is my treat, yeah?"

"You get so on edge about that. What's the big deal if I like to pay for things?" the Doctor asked lightly, raising an eyebrow. "It's what I do in relationships. You're the first to have any problem." he added.

He wasn't making a fuss. He was simply satisfying his curiosity. "I'll just treat you to lunch." he informed, heading to the changing rooms to get himself and Marnal ready to swim.

((sorry, my email appeared to eat the notification. I've gotta go to bed though, damn emails!))

"I don't like being paid for, I can pay my own way," the Master asserted before nodding his head, shrugging his shoulder with a small sigh. He didn't get too pay for people often.

The Master got changed swiftly and told them he'd meet the two of them in the pool, which he did as he idly swam laps in the shallow end. Marnal grabbed his dads hand tight and peered around nervously. "You come in with me, please?"