Imaginary Worlds

"he does every single time I make this." the Doctor said softly. Another reason he never made it any more. It was just easier to give the kid stuff that brushed off until he learned how to use silverware better.

"Marnal, go get in the bath and I'll even let you pick out your own clothes again." the Doctor offered lightly. That was one thing he was trying to let his son do more often.

Marnal nodded and dashed off upstairs to get ready. "Daaaad, you have to run the water!" Marnal could barely reach the tap, let alone set it to a nice heat so he didn't boil himself alive.

The Master snorted in amusement and grinned at the other man. Being a parent never ended. "Took me three years to train Kosch how to run the bath. Good luck, mate."

The Doctor just shook his head lightly. "He manages sometimes. Others? Not so much." he admitted, heading up to get the bath situation taken care of and his son into the water.

With that out of the way, he simply headed down to take care of the dishes. The way he saw it, they could go out for a bit and then return to have a somewhat lazy day. Hopefully. The Doctor didn't have many of those either.

The Master watched the news while the Doctor did the washing and didn't disturb the man till eventually Marnal came downstairs dressed all by himself and, besides the odd socks, he'd done pretty well for once.

"So do you want to go get ice-cream first then spend the evening brainstorming?" the Master suggested with a small shrug of his shoulders, not sure what they were doing.

"That's sort of what I was thinking, yeah. I mean, why not? Unless you can think of a reason that we should wait to go out, I was sort of thinking that it could be a bit of a lazy day and the like." the Doctor mused softly.

That was implying that Marnal would cooperate with him. Drying his hands, he stepped into the livingroom and smiled softly, shrugging a bit. Eh, why not? It would be fun enough to go out for a bit.

"Sounds fine to me," the Master remarked, not sure if Marnal would agree but oddly, he seemed to do whatever his dad asked of him and loved the man regardless so he doubted it would be a massive issue really.

"We can shoot off now if you want?" the Master remarked as he got to his feet and grabbed his shoes from the side. Marnal did the same and sat on the floor, trying to undo his Velcro shoes.

The Doctor knelt down to help Marnal out, nodding lightly. "Not a problem. I'll drive." he assured, getting his own shoes on as well and grabbing up a coat. This was nice.

"I like to go out at least once over the weekend. It helps that I know an ice cream place that isn't overly popular." he mused softly. Which meant that there wouldn't be many other kids.

The Master was ready and followed the Doctor to the car, clambering in and sitting back, eyes half closed as he tried to think over what he was forgetting... oh dam, his wallet. Not that he'd let him use it.

The Doctor would be paying so he didn't have to worry too much. "So can I get any ice-cream I want? Even a rocket pop?" the Master remarked with a jokey smile.

Well. The Doctor had to return that smile, giving a small shrug. "I don't see any reason why not. Money isn't an issue and it's very hard to embarrass me in public. I've had enough done that it doesn't bother me anymore." he assured softly.

In other words? The Master could do whatever the hell he wanted. The Doctor wasn't stopping the man. Probably not the best thing to tell people, mind.

"Oh really?" the Master said with a cunning smirk. "So me and Marnal could never ever embarrass you?" Now that sounded like challenge and the Master could never resist them.

"You brought this on yourself," the Master cooed in a sing song fashion as he started to brain storm a way that he could pull this off. It seemed kind of amusing to him.

The Doctor rolled his eyes and smirked. "Marnal is very well behaved,\. You on the other hand? You're the one to worry about, but no matter. Do as you will. Just know I retaliate." he murmured softly.

Marnal hardly left his side, let alone acted out. It wasn't in the kid's make up. A thing that the Doctor was always thankful for. it was usually his dating that ended horribly for his public face.

Marnal was very well behave. As soon as they got out of the car, he held his dads hand and stuck close in case mean people he didn't like came at him. Simple Marnal logic.

The Master rolled his eyes and strolled beside them. "The flaw, of course, with this is that usually the kid should be the embarrassing some," oh the kid had betrayed his mission!

"Not my kid. He knows that when he behaves, he get rewarded." he mumbled. It was the only explanation. But it was almost as if Marnal was biologically incapable of making him unhappy.

The Doctor just wasn't about to say that. Stepping inside the near empty place, he let Marnal order for himself before looking to the Master curiously. He wasn't sure he trusted the man at the moment.

When the Master had to order, he raised an eyebrow and looked around before gesturing at several pictures. "I'll have that, that, that that and that."

Turning his head to the Doctor, he grinned playfully. "You're rich, you can afford a few extra ice-creams right?" hey, he fancied having more than one. "We might need to take a seat?"

The Doctor just smiled softly and nodded to the poor woman who would be taking care of the order. That wasn't going to be pleasant. But no matter. He just paid and headed to a booth.

This was nice. "So. I'm going to guess you have a bit of a sweet tooth then?" he prompted lightly, offering a small grin. What? That was a logical conclusion to draw.

"Oh yes, definitely," the Master was an odd man, he was very picky with most food but things such as ice-cream and he ate his way through it with no really bother or worry.

He was never going to be a healthy eater and neither was Koschei but it was hardly having any bad effects on them. Marnal watched in awe at the Master worked his way through several flavours of ice-cream, looking down at his one with a small curious frown. Why did he have so little and the Master had so much?

And there would be his catch. The Doctor should have known how Marnal would take the difference in amount. The problem was that he wasn't about to give his son that much sugar in one go.

"Hey, kiddo, chin up. Aren't you glad to be out and about?" the Doctor offered softly, hoping to distract his son from what was bothering him. Doubtful, yes, but worth a shot.

Marnal nodded his head and smiled at his dad, he never wanted his dad to feel too bad, even if he felt at at loss. The Master sighed and offered the boy half of one of the chocolate ones.

It would be too bad because he'd feel like he'd had more, even thought he'd only had a bit more, and he'd feel less bad. "There you go kiddo, finish that up for me."

The Doctor smiled softly to the Master and mouthed a silent thank you. He couldn't help himself. The Master just...Made things easier when it came to Marnal. A thing he wasn't accustomed to.

Not that it mattered. The Doctor was still a bit wary with the other. Another thing that he couldn't quite help. He just wasn't sure what it was, just that something was there.

{Vanishing for a bit. I have to catch a bus.}

The thing was that both Marnal and Koschei were tailor made for the two of them, not just for one of them. When they got together, they were much better. And for all Koschei's complaining, he did behave more with the Doctor around.

Marnal finished his ice-cream and smiled brightly at the Doctor, ice cream all over his face but hey, he was very happy, he'd had ice-cream and some extra thrown in.

The Doctor smiled softly and wiped the kid's face clean. At least the kid was happy. That was all that he really wanted in life.

It didn't help that Marnal was better with the Master around. It wasn't hard to catch onto that. He just didn't know quite how to go about approaching that one.

The Master finished his ice-cream and left all the empty containers to the side for someone else to clean. He never did like cleaning up after himself, did he?

"Tell you what, next time we come here, I'll buy you one of those ice-cream sundays and we'll see if you can't eat it all," the Master remarked as he ruffled the boys hair and got to his feet. Course, he was sure eating that much would probably wear the kid out as opposed to making him excitable.

The Doctor'ss expression gave away he didn't quite feel the same. And could he be blamed? it wasn't exactly ideal to give his zone a lot of sugar.

But no matter. "Alright then, it's time to go." the Doctor murmured, gathering up the trash and tossing it. He tended to do that over letting some poor worker.

"You know it's a myth right? that sugar makes kids hyper? Certain chemicals yes but usually too much sugar just makes them sick," the Master pointed out with a small shrug of his shoulders.

"It's more a psychological thing. If you keep Marnal that sugar will make him hyper, he will believe it and act on it subconsciously," the Master explained with a small smile. "So really he could eat all the ice-cream in this place and the worst that would happen would be that he'd probably puke on you and fall asleep."

"Don't want him getting sick either. Nope. I want a happy kid with a healthy diet." the Doctor said simply. That might be a lot to ask for.

Lifting the kid, he headed for the car and paused, looking to the Master. "Wantto try driving it?" he offered softly.