Imaginary Worlds

"I think that you would have been a wonderful friend to be around." the Doctor murmured softly. An odd thought, but it was still how he felt.

Settling closer, the Doctor made sure that he wasn't actually cuddling, before he simply shut his eyes to go to sleep. It was one of the few times that he could sleep through the night, not to mention most of the next day. He never did get that.

The Doctor really did sleep quite late, the Master shook the man around 10.30, despite how much he wanted to lie in, he had to get his son up but hey, he did promise him a lie in.

"Doctor, I'm going to get Kosch up, see you soon," the Master offered and left the Doctor to go wake up Marnal and face that whole horrible mess alone.

The Doctor still didn't want to get up. But he knew he had to, so he dragged himself out of bed and got ready for the day, heading to his son's room when finished. He wasn't looking forward to this.

"Marnal, you need to get up." he murmured softly. And really? He didn't see this going too well in the least. But he knew it had to be done.

Marnal had fallen asleep, still dressed, on the top of a very screwed up bed cover which he'd clearly wriggled about on in frustration. He hadn't slept much and what with dodging his nap yesterday, he really wasn't all there.

But he didn't want to talk to his dad, it was obvious by the lack of greeting. He just rubbed his eyes and nodded sadly.

"Marnal." he murmured for no reason other than to catch the lad's attention. He got it. The kid didn't want to deal with him. That was fine. That didn't mean he wasn't going to persist still.

"I'm sorry about last night. I screwed up." the Doctor murmured softly. And that's all he could really say on the matter. He'd screwed up a lot.

Marnal pulled a face, the Doctor was always mean and then he was always sorry. Was there much point in arguing? That was just how things were, he got the pattern pretty well.

The difference between the Doctor and Iros was that his dads ex didn't apologise, he'd make Marnal say sorry. "Okay," he offered, getting up and onto his feet.

"No, not okay." the Doctor said, gently pulling Marnal to sit back down once more. He knew well enough that wasn't the end of it. It was just asking for his son to be bothered still.

"I reacted poorly, but so did you. Not that that makes any difference because I'm the adult here. It needs to be addressed. Because you need to use your words and not throw fits like that, but I also need to handle that better." the Doctor stated slowly.

"Okay," Marnal offered again, he didn't know what to say other than okay because, as the Doctor liked to make clear, he was in charge and what he said went most of the time.

If he said he was sorry and he was wrong then okay, that was that. Marnal offered a half smile because he knew it was what he was meant to do. He was wired to love the Doctor, despite he things went. It was somewhat worrying how little he seemed to actually respond when they were falling out, he could function well like that. "Breakfast?"

When things got back to normal, he was probably going to make clear just how screwed up the Master was for making Marnal this way. But until then? The Doctor just nodded and stood, leading the lad downstairs to cook something quick for breakfast.

It was a worrying concept for his son to be so quick to get over something. Even the Doctor could see that that was wrong. But what else could he do about it? There wasn't a way to change that.

Sadly the Master was trying to undo the damage of Koschei by making someone who loved the Doctor more than anything... and while Marnal could rebel, it often hurt to do so more than he cared to admit.

It was clear the boy was not only exhausted but probably headachey while he slumped over his breakfast, trying to eat all of it to avoid another argument. When the Master finally managed to get Koschei out of bed and downstairs, he slowly raised an eyebrow. Well that was handled rather fast.

The Doctor wasn't doing much better with his own meal, picking it apart slowly with no real interest in eating. Marnal wasn't the only one not feeling on top of the world that morning. He was probably going to end up sleeping shortly some more.

Koschei, on the other hand, was wide awake and cheery, sitting down to eat himself. It was a pleasant enough morning and he'd even gotten to sleep in. How could he not be happy?

The Master was in a pretty good mood himself. He looked between the father and son, who both looked shattered, and raised an eyebrow. "Me and Kosch are going to take off for a bit, maybe you two should sleep?"

He had no idea what he was going to do but somehow, he didn't fancy sticking around or dragging them along. Marnal looked ready to fall asleep in his cereal.

The Doctor glanced up at that one. Huh. He hadn't expected for the Master to decide to up and leave like that. Though it was probably for the best. "You're welcome to take my car." he murmured softly. What? Might as well offer.

The news that they were going out perked Koschei right up. Why wouldn't he like the idea of getting out and about for a bit? They were on holiday! A thing he could really get use to.

"We're just going to walk around a bit, see what we can find, we hardly need the car," the Master promised before shrugging his shoulders, he didn't want to tell the Doctor anything bad.

He just didn't want to waste his sons holiday because these two were having altercations. "We can see the lake, maybe see if we can wander into town?" the Master suggested to the boys.

The Doctor smiled softly and nodded a bit. "That's why I offered the car. The town is about ten miles out." he stated, simply standing to take care of the dishes. He got it. He really did. There was no reason to fuss or protest the Master's desire to take Koschei out.

And Koschei wasn't going to complain much either. "If we go into town, can I have ice cream?" he asked lightly, handing off his finished plate. It was a nice idea. Go out and walk about a bit, see the sights and all that.

"Oh then I'll take the car, we can go get ice-cream," the Master promised and offered the boy a grin. He could tell by the slumping of Marnal that the boy clearly wanted ice-cream too.

But there was no way he could take him with him. Perhaps he could pick up some sweets for the kid to make up for it. "Go get ready Koschei and I'll take us up in a moment."

Koschei nodded and bounded up the stairs with a broad grin. He couldn't complain about this. Not in the least. It wouldn't even take him more than a minute or two to get ready to go.

The Doctor just smiled and sat the keys on the table. "Sorry about last night." he murmured softly, turning his attention to Marnal with a soft sigh. Right then. "How about you and I get some sleep in and we'll do something fun tomorrow?" he offered.

The Master offered a smile and nodded his head, it was okay with him. Sometimes things happened, the Master was good at moving on with them and pushing them aside.

Marnal slid from his chair and nodded rather miserably before he headed up the stairs to go settle on his dads bed. It was bigger and he had a TV in his room! It was only fair.

Smiling, the Doctor kissed the other softly and headed upstairs himself as Koschei headed down. He'd make things up to the Master. It was the least that he could do.

"So. We can go now?" Koschei chirped lightly, grinning. What? He was having a good morning thus far. Why wouldn't he be upbeat for once?

"Sure, come on kiddo," the Master smiled and they headed out to the car. The moment the Master was inside, he felt much better, that was one hell of a night and day.

"Well, that was an unpleasant night. I have no idea which one of them is more screwed up," the Master confessed, offering the boy a small shrug of his shoulders. "Try to ignore them when they do that?"

Getting into the car, Koschei just shot his dad a dull look. Seriously? "I planned on that." he said slowly. What else would he do?

Koschei wasn't getting into it. He wasn't going to tell the Master that the Doctor was screwed up again. Not since his father had used that word in regard to the Doctor.

"Good, good, feel lucky to have a dad like me yet?" the Master joked, grinning at the boy as he set off onto the rocky road towards the town, checking the road signs to make sure he was nearby.

"As much as I like the man, he's not exactly... you know, handling things well," first he dated a brute of a bloke, then he couldn't get down to his sons level and now this? Mental.

This was not something to tell him. Koschei shot the man a pointed look and scoffed. "You had somebody else an' you chose him. You don't get to complain." he murmured softly with a small huff.

The Master didn't get to complain to him. Not if he wanted Koschei to stay out of it. This was practically just asking for him to get into it.

"See, here's the thing, I'm an adult and I'm much older than you and yes, I can complain. For example, I'm also going to complain about you complaining about me complaining," the Master pointed out with a smirk.

Sometimes Koschei forgot just who he was talking to and that was just a tiny bit annoying. "I chose the Doctor, I am happy with him, I'm also going to complain about him and he'll complain about me and you'll complain about both of us. It's life."

"If you complain, then it means you aren't happy. An' I you're not happy, then you shouldn't be with him. If you love him, you wouldn't complain." Koschei stated softly.

And he honestly believed that. If you were going to be with somebody, then don't complain abou them to your kid. It was only logical.