Imaginary Worlds

"Course, I love having you around, but if I recall correctly, I'm not your favourite and you like her more, was that right?" the Master reminded the boy, bringing up earlier.

If he wanted to throw hurtful words around,, he had to be prepared to acknowledge it later. "I know you were mad and you probably didn't mean it, maybe you did, maybe you didn't. But you never talk to me like that, understand?"

"Fine. Then I'll stay with her longer. I don't care." Kosxhei shot back pointedly. Fine. That was the way that it would be then.

It didn't matter if he started it all. He was going to stand firm and react to having it thrown back at him. Made no real difference to him.

"Okay, at the end of the week on the Friday, just tell me and you can spend a whole week with your mother," the Master offered and that was the end of that, he wasn't going to be harsh, just making his point.

"Do you want to do anything or do you fancy a snack?" the Master asked as he got to the sofa and dropped down, clearly changing the subject.

"No. I just wanna lay down." Koschei informed, already heading for the stairs. That simple. He wasn't interested in much else when he got home.

He didn't get a lot of sleep with his mother and he got up earlier to get to his tutor on time than normal. Koschei couldn't be blamed for being a bit off.

"If you want to go to bed early then would you like me to run you a bath?" the Master asked with a small frown, not sure if the boy would want to get ready for bed or not.

"Either way, I'll wake you up tomorrow morning at 8," the Master promised, smiling somewhat.

"I can do it." the Doctor assured. And he would. That simple. There was no point in fussing or causing any disturbances when he could take care of himself just fine.

He just headed upstairs to take care of himself. He had no real desire to do anything but go to sleep. At least he let his arm from getting wet.

The Master didn't have much else to do, he was lonely without the Doctor. He just watched TV and went to bed early. He was up early enough to make breakfast before waking Koschei up.

"Come on, I made your favourite, whenever you're ready," the Master offered before heading downstairs.

It probably wasn't a good thing for the Master to be so attached to somebody. It no matter. Koschei sighed softly when he was woken up, a small pout in place as he got ready and headed downstairs.

He was anything but enthusiastic. Why would he be? Koschei didn't really want to go to the labs and deal with everyone at the moment.

Once everything was set up and ready, the Master got dressed and gestured for the boy to follow. At 12 today, he had to deal with Ailla and then things would definitely get more awkward.

He didn't fancy it himself but then he didn't have much of a choice, did he? "Come on Kosch, mate, we'll be late."

Koschei made unhappy sound, even as he grabbed his bag and headed for the car. He couldn't write anyway and, given the Master's reaction to his being an inconvenience the day before, he wasn't looking forward to this. At all.

And that was the issue with him. Koschei took things to heart and he took them the wrong way. Which meant that he was stuck dealing with being hurt where he wasn't meant to be.

The Master drove to work and said goodbye as always, ruffling the boys hair as he got to work, not sure what was wrong with the boy but he left him be while he did what he had too.

He didn't like bothering the boy, he didn'y. But they had to have things made clear and talking like that was not allowed

Koschei stayed away until three, at which point he made his way to his dad's office with a frown. "I can't come back 'till my arm is better. I can't do any of the work." he said slowly.

And could he be faulted for being upset at that? He couldn't do the work, so it was pointless to be about. And Koschei hated it.

Ailla was late and the Master was too busy pacing to notice. He paused and offered the boy a small sigh before nodding. "You and me will stay home tomorrow, I'll be home anyway. We'll work on something together while you're off."

He'd have to just teach the lad verbally as he worked, he could do that. Peering out the window, he kept an eye out for Ailla or a sign of her car. Just anything!

It wasn't ten minutes before Aila did show up, looking anything but happy. Because the Master made a mistake. He'd talked about their relationship to a mutual friend.

"Sorry I'm late. I was at lunch with Verica." she said softly. The Master could draw his own conclusions with that.

Ah, she had ratted him out, it was cleaner by her expression. He showed Koschei out and locked the door before sighing. "I did want to tell you myself but-- look, I know it's a massive cliche but it's not you."

It was him being a giant bastard, that was what it was. "Don't get me wrong, I really like you, I mean I really do... but I guess Jhn-- he, erm, he just gets me. I'm not exactly sane and he helps me with that stuff."

"Alright. If you liked me, then why not take the time and see if we could actually have something? I guess I just don't understand why you would break things off when we were getting in well enough." Ailla said softly.

She didn't get it and she didn't know if she wanted to. And could she be faulted for that? The Master had been somebody she liked. And now he was just breaking thins off suddenly?

"I can't, I just think that I would be leading you on and trust me, I like you too much to do that and that says something," the Master remarked before running his fingers through his hair.

"I get if you hate me and want to leave but... maybe we could be friends? We can still hang out and see the stars," the Master suggested before holding up his hands. "But you're free to push me away, I'm the jerk here and I'm sorry."

"You say that you would be leading me on, but did you ever even give it a chance? No. And you expect me to not be bothered by all of this? To be friends?" she asked slowly.

The Master couldn't be serious. This was beyond unfair to her. Because it hurt. And she doubted that would be changing anytime soon.

"I'm sorry," Was all the Master said and he knew that she was going to hate him no matter what so he solely heaved a sigh and gestures outwardly. "Want to slap me?"

What? It was worth a shot. It might release some anger and he did deserve it.

"You aren't the one that I want to slap. You aren't the one I'm upset with or the one that I hate. No. You're the one that's breaking things off and nothing more." Ailla said softly.

She should have been angry with the Master, and she was, but she was more upset with the man who stole him away. "I just wish that you'd have given us a chance."

The Master nodded somewhat before exhaling slowly. "I think I want to be with John, I don't want to risk hurting you if I still feel that way. You've been nice to me."

The MAster offered a smile before looking around his office with a sigh. "I rushed into this because I had just broke up with him and in the process of trying to move on, I pulled you into it... I am the jerk here, trust me."

That didn't change a thing. "Glad to hear I was the rebound. Look. Give me a little time and we'll see about staying friends." she said softly.

Because she couldn't do it right that moment. Shaking her head softly, she turned and headed for the door. It was better before the Master had even said something to her.

"No, you weren't, you were-- okay. I'm going to stop talking," the Master offered before heaving a sigh and gesturing for her to go. Once she finally left, he he exhaled loudly and dropped his head on the desk for a moment.

Finally heading outside, he gestured for Koschei to follow him along, not really in a chatty mood.

Koschei frowned softly as he followed along, once again not getting it. How could he? The Master was upset for breaking up with somebody he had wanted to break up with. It was all very confusing.

"Why aren't you happy? You should be happy. You wanted to break up so you could date somebody else." he reminded work.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. If she was a total bitch then I wouldn't care," but she wasn't, she'd been fantastic really and he had wanted to be her friend, admittedly.

But the Doctor had stolen his mind and he couldn't help but fall hard for him and his oddness. "She was nice Koschei, it never feels good to hurt nice people," the Master lectured and while that wasn't entirely true, it was a nice life lesson.