Imaginary Worlds

"Not a problem." the Doctor assured, getting up and fetching the water for his son. At least the kid asked for healthier things from time to time.

Sitting down as the next cartoon came on, he handed over the half full cup and settled back in. At least this one was slightly educational and Marnal seemed content enough. Not to mention the Master didn't seem to mind too much. He even kept his hands to himself this time.

Marnal seemed so happy to be sitting by his dad and his dads nice new boyfriend, watching TV and sipping his drink from one of the adult cups he'd learned to master not long ago.

Once the show finished, the Master looked over the boy at the Doctor and flashed an amused look, pulling a childish face at the other man to try and make him laugh.

The Doctor couldn't really stop the soft chuckle from escaping him. Shaking his head a bit, he settled back a bit more, closing his eyes with a soft sigh. This was pleasant enough. There was no denying that.

The Doctor very seldom had people over. It was nice to have a visitor for once. And if he went back to toying with the Master's hair again, then so be it.

The Master sat back and enjoyed it and once more, during the commericials, Marnal looked up with a small frown as if he was trying to work out exactly what was happening.

"Mister Saxon isn't a puppy dad," Marnal lectured in his own innocent way as if he knew more than the Doctor. "You pet Sigma, silly!"

The Doctor smiled softly and rolled his eyes as he drew his hand back once more. "Yes, yes, you're quite right. See? I'm keeping my hands to myself." he assured softly.

He always had a small problem with that. The Doctor was too affectionate by nature. That was one of the reasons that they had a cat. It gave himself something to hold and pet.

"How do you know I'm not a puppy?" the Master asked and when the boy pointed out his lack of floppy ears and a tail, he snorted in amusement and held up his hands defensively.

"Clever kid, John," the Master offered as he sat back and playfully reached out, ruffling the Doctors hair. "Are you sure you're not a puppy? Let me check for ears!"

The Doctor laughed and ducked away, fixing his hair a bit. It was bad enough his hair was naturally all over the place. It was worse when people ruffled it up like that.

"I may be loyal and energetic, but I assure you I'm not actually a dog." he joked, smiling in turn. Poor Marnal. The Doctor could never just date somebody normal. Or be normal himself.

Marnal was soon treat insane and weird behaviour as the norm because the boy near idolised his father and wanted to be just like him. So he would glad act just like the man if he could.

Minus hair petting, mind. "What are we having for dinner dad?" Marnal asked, not sure if he fancied left overs but then he had no choice. He personally wanted pizza or burger or fries but he knew that was unlikely.

"It's Sunday, Marnal. You get what you get every Sunday." the Doctor informed simply. It didn't matter if the lad didn't like having leftovers. But the trash went out Sunday night and he really hated to waste a ton of food.

"Just let me know when you're ready, and I'll reheat something for you. We still have some leftover cobbler for dessert." the Doctor offered lightly. Hopefully that would appease Marnal well enough.

"I'm hungry now," Marnal mumbled and the Master smiled, getting to his feet to get comfortable in the kitchen while the boy waited for his dad to reheat his food.

"Shame I'll miss leftover sunday," the Master joked with an amused expression, clearly finding it quite hilarious. "I think he wanted more ice-cream... well, anyway, want to talk politics."

The Doctor headed into the kitchen to start heating some food, smiling softly. "I'll have you know that leftovers are a perfectly acceptable meal choice." he joked in turn, getting the food into the microwave.

Right then. Politics. "Alright. What's something that you want to talk about? It's mainly going to be getting you known to the public and the like." the Doctor offered softly.

"Look, to be honest, I hate overplanning. If you have an idea then go for it and I'll just work the public. We can be a team then, share the power," And he said that kind of liberally.

He made no real promises, mind. "I think you can play this game better than me, I get bored by policies and stuff. I would not be the best leader, never could take things seriously."

"Oh, I don't want power. If I did, I'd have stayed in the position to begin with. But I'll take care of the technical stuff for you. Just let me know when you want to take over or if you want me to help with something." the Doctor assured.

And it was that simple. He would help out wherever the Master wanted him to. "So. You're going to go out then? Because, if so, you can take my house key. That way if you come back later than planned, then it won't be a problem." the Doctor offered.

"Giving me a key? Big step, go for it," the Master remarked, usually people didn't do tat right away but the Doctor trusted him, it was nice. People almost never trusted him.

He got to his feet and sighed. "I'll set off now, I'll say bye to Marnal and duck out, see you around 9-10 ish?" the Master suggested, smiling somewhat at the other man.

The Doctor smiled softly at that one and nodded, handing over a key from his keyring. It was decent enough and it wasn't as though he expected the Master to do anything stupid or harmful. He couldn't complain too much about the idea.

"I'll see you then. Chances are that I'll be up still. But if I'm in bed, feel free to wake me up. I won't mind." the Doctor assured, kissing the Master softly before he turned his attention back to getting his son's food taken care of.

"I'll see you later kiddo," the Master offered as he ruffled the boys hair and smiled, Marnal beamed and scampered off to tell his dad how he wanted Mr Saxon around to play more on the weekends.

The Doctor got to Vericas a few minutes early and knocked the door, waiting patiently for her to answer. Hopefully she hadn't expected him to bring wine because he'd totally forgotten that.

Verica smiled as she opened the door for the man. "Evening. Dinner is almost done." she offered softly, stepping aside and frowning a bit. Now if she could only locate Epsilon.

The lad was definitely losing it since he'd gotten out of the academy. Yes, she knew that Koschei had given up a lot to keep her son in that school, but Epsilon needed some form of help to get back in line. A reform school seemed the best option.

"Great!" the Master offered as he headed inside inside and smiled, snagging a nearby chair and taking a seat, grinning at her. "So where's the lad then? Haven't seen him in a while."

How could he? Koschei had never gotten over him, it was sad really that such a thing had happened to such great friends. It was a miserable loss as he'd liked the other boy.

"I couldn't tell you, honestly. He isn't happy. He's leaving in a couple of weeks to go to a boarding school designed to correct his behavior. We've been packing all weekend." she admitted, frowning softly as she excused herself.

It wasn't hard to eventually locate Epsilon, leading the sulking kid into the kitchen before she served up the food. "I'm glad to have you over, Harold. Really." Verica offered lightly.

"I miss you, you know? I wish I still worked for you, if I hadn't been in debt, I would of stayed," the Master promised with a small heave of a sigh, it was always about money, wasn't it?

When Epsilon was finally retrieved, the Master offered him a smile and leaned forward on the table. "How are you, mate? I haven't seen you in quite a while, actually."

"I wish you were here more often as well. It would be nice to have more people about. Ailla was over just yesterday. I'm glad that the two of you have hit it off so well." Verica offered lightly with a bit of a grin.

Epsilon just rolled his eyes and scoffed. He highly doubted the Master would stick it out with her. "I'm fine. Have to get my hair cut for the new school. I don't like their dress code." he grumbled bitterly.

"Oh yeah, me and Allia, she is nice," the Master offered with a small smile, not sure what to say yet when he hadn't even told the women herself. He swallowed hard and looked up. "Have you got any wine?"

God, he fancied a drink. turning his head, he shrugged at the lad. "Could be worse. Just a but a nice hat and a set of hair pins. I'll get you a nice one with a flower? Can't stop you then."

"I prefer butterflies." Epsilon said airily. The kid was beyond not normal, but it was the one redeeming quality that he honestly had. He was uniquely himself.

"She is, isn't she? I was surprised that it worked out so well since her last breakup. One moment." Verica said lightly, poring a glass of wine for the Master and offering a small grin.

The Master started to sip his wine and spared Epsilon a smile. "Butterfly clips it is," the Master promised and he would pick the up for the kid tomorrow. He liked Epsilon as he was and it was sad to send him off.

But he knew Verica couldn't cope. Downing a bit more whine, he decided to change the topic. "So hows work? Do you have a replacement for me yet? I have some scraps if you want 'em?"

"No. I'm just working solo from now on. It works out better and I can't really afford to have employees at the moment. But it's alright." Verica assured firmly. And really? It wasn't that bad of a thing.

She had gotten over it. She had managed to accept that the Master needed to have a job that paid more. It was the only reason that she had gotten over it.