Imaginary Worlds

(Bye!)

"It was my idea," the Master reminded him, he'd wanted this and while it was hard to deal with, he basically made the call and he'd accepted that he had put Koschei away. He just didn't much feel like going into detail over it yet.

"When me and Koschei stated bonding, I told him clearly that I wouldn't let him down and I wouldn't change him. I constantly told him I loved him and I'd have his back. I just gave the nod to lock him away.. it was the right call but I feel like a bastard. So Doctor, kindly drop it," the Master said with an edge to his voice that was very like the Valiant Master.

That was...Very not right. "You didn't make that call lightly. You were fair about it. "And you didn't make the call. You told me to sort him out. I made the decision to take that route. But it's fine. I'll drop it. You know you don't have to go right?" he asked softly.

He didn't wantto put the Master through all of that. The stress of seeing Koschei in that place and going through it all. "You can always stay with Marnal. He might not want to go either." the Doctor murmured. He wasn't putting the Master through all of that.

"We're all going, I need to talk to him," he just needed to explain all of this, especially when Koschei might not understand. He wanted the boy to come home and be his son and not threaten their youngest.

"Tell you what, I'll meet you in the middle. I'll hold Marnal and when he gets distressed, I'll leave with him," the Master dealt because that would give him the perfect excuse to back out. He could put all his money on Marnal not liking that place.

"Okay. Koschei is goig to be therethe entire nine week program. No pullin him out this time. But...There is one catch, and I know you don't want to talk about this, but it's important. Kosher is goi to be given the final decision if he comes home in the end." the Doctor said softly.

It was how it worked. "He'll be given the choice to come home or, should he feel the environment would cause him to fall back into his old habits, he can decide to either stay or enter into a foster care of sorts. I don't know what to do about that." the Doctor admitted softly.

"He'll leave, course he will. If he leaves, he won't have to be around you or Marnal. He won't have to skip school for illness and he won't have to be bothered by us," the Master remarked bluntly because it was all true, he wasn't planning on the boy ever coming back. It broke his heart but it was true. Koschei probably did love him-- he just hated the Doctor.

"All he thinks of you is that insane monster that used to lock him away and tell him off for wanting to go outside. Course he loves me... I was the first one to show him proper affection, even if it was all a lie," the Master sighed and rubbed at his eyes in frustration. "Why can't I just have that boy back? He wasn't a psycho then."

"With enough medication, you could. It'll be fine. I just wanted to give you the warning. I don't think he'll refuse to come back. I think everything will be fine once he's a tad better mentally." the Doctor murmured softly, giving a bit of a shrug.

"I am sorry though. I made him the way that he is. I programmed him like he is. Mental state or not, it's my fault." the Doctor murmured softly with a small cringe. Yeah. He felt positively horrid over that one. He really did.

"Its not your fault," the Master added, leaning over to give the Doctor a kiss. He wasn't really being fair on the Doctor and he didn't want him to seem like he was blaming the Doctor because he never did, the man was unwell.

"Its both our faults. Never forget that I spent our first weeks with him, calling him a freak," the Master sighed and rubbed at his eyes before giving the Doctor a sideways look. "Want to go lie down upstairs and watch something? I'm shattered."

"Yeah...Sounds nice. But I need to take care of Marnal first. Be happy. You aren't the one who had to explain everything. He offered to give Koschei that damn frog if it meant the brat would be allowed back. I'll meet you in the bedroom." the Doctor assured softly.

He made quick enough work with taking care of the lad before he turned in himself. He just wanted to curl up and sleep. It had been a long day for him. It really had. The night prior hadn't been much better.

The Master was already in bed and completely drained. So much so that he rested his head on the Doctors shoulder when he came in, already half asleep. He couldn't help himself, he was shattered. With Koschei, work and all these arguments and discussion of the future, it was more than a little draining.

"I just want to go to bed," the Master muttered, it was only 8pm and he was ready to sleep. They were lucky Marnal was so co-operative with bedtime today or he would of gotten very frustrated faster.

"I'm taking tomorrow off. I was thinking that I'd take a day and relax. Leave Marnal to nursery. Don't worry about it. But you might take it off with me. I know. Two days in a row. But I think we could both use a break." the Doctor admitted softly.

He didn't want to push, but they couldn't take all of the stress that this caused and then have work atop of that. The Doctor couldn't handle that one. He doubted the master was any different.

((Off to bed! <3))

"Sounds like a plan, course I don't think we should just abandon Marnal. I bet he's very confused and scared. I tell you now, we need to get that kid a friend or something," Marnal made no friends at nursery and shyed away from other adults, he just seemed to want to be solely at home with his parents. Which was lovely and all but it left them stuck with him.

"Well, we'll sort it tomorrow. Who knows? We might get lucky," the Master offered with a playful smile before settling down beside the Doctor and closing his eyes. He really wasn't going to last much longer.

It wasn't that he was going to abandon the kid. He just wanted Marnal to make a friend. So what if he was having trouble every other time. One could hope the new day was different. Maybe. Hopefully. The Doctor chose not to dwell much on it.

Morning saw him getting up earlier than usual and slipping down to the basement. Alright. Marnal needed a friend. Nothing quite beat custom made. The Doctor worked carefully to create the brat before he headed up to his son's room. "Hey. Time to get up." he said lightly.

"I dun' wanna get up," Marnal mumbled from under the covers but the eventual prompting got the boy to at least pop his head out to look at the Doctor. Well, if he really had to go to nursery then fine. But he didn't want too.

"How many sleeps left till we can see Koschei?" the boy asked, cocking his head to the side. He wanted to know so he knew how many more times he'd have to sleep before he could wake up to something non-nursery. "Is the Master coming to have cereal?"

"Only if you're up and ready to go." the Doctor stated lightly. As for the other question? "Two naps and a bedtime. So three. You can see him tomorrow afternoon. However. If at any point you don't want to be there, just say so and the Master will take you out." he assured.

If was all he could offer. Go, but be prepared to leave should Marnal become distressed. He didn't need two sons having mental breakdowns. That was just poor parenting. Gathering the clothes they'd need, he smiled and ushered the lad out to bathe.

Marnal had his bath and got changed without any fuss this morning. The Master eventually lugged himself out of bed and sat downstairs with Marnal to have the cereal and cartoons he craved so much.

Once they were both done, however, Marnal was feeling comfortable at home and the idea of going out left him somewhat miserable. "Why do I hafta go to nursery? I don't wanna. Everyones mean."

"Give it one more chance. Here. I'll make a deal. If you don't make a friend by the end of this week, then you don't have to go any longer." the Doctor said simply as he lifted the boy. He'd made a kid specific to like Marnal. It was a guarantee.

It wasn't too long of a trip. He was back in an hour, collapsing onto the couch with a soft sigh. He just wanted to sit there and ignore the world. Was that honestly so much to ask for?

"Deal," Marnal mumbled because he was very sure he wouldn't make one. Hence why he pouted the whole way there and had a sulk on the way in with the teacher. Something about being friendless just made going to learn even harder.

The Master lay back on the sofa and when the Doctor came in, he offered him a tired smile. "Marnal is a pain in the arse. I mean, no where near Koschei but still... why did we want another kid?"

The Doctor sighed softly and shook his head. "We didn't. I did. You agreed to make me happy. That and because of Koschei. Something about having a son who hates you being poor for moral." he deadpanned. Well. It was the truth.

Shaking his head, he offered a tired smile, simply...Worn out. That seemed to happen more and more often for him. Not that he could really complain. What did he have otherwise? He'd get over everything quick enough.

The Master exhaled before rubbing at his eyes with a small awkward smile. "Don't get me wrong, I'm happy here but sometimes don't you feel so drained that you sort of just want to curl up and stay in bed for the rest of the day."

The Master was used to this feeling, usually he moved so fast and did so much that he didn't have time to deal properly with emotional fall out. Now he was and he really didn't like it. "Why couldn't Koschei just be a normal kid?"

"Because I screwed up. I'm starting to think you enjoy hearing me say that. I screwed him up. He was screwed up when I made him and I screwed him up worse after that. He has no chance to be a normal kid." the Doctor said softly, glaring at the wall.

How many different ways did he need to explain it? He'd screwed up and he knew it. It didn't matter if he'd been unwell at the time. They were damn lucky he'd yet to screw up Marnal to such an extent. Then again, it had only been a few days.

"I don't think its all your fault, it was mine too you know? I think you seem to edit out all my blame. Like me calling him a freak, the time I left him behind... well, there was more than one time. The amount of times I've called him a bastard, pushed him to run away, hurt his cheetahs and told him I hate him. I basically told him I didn't love him before he left," the Master ranted in frustration because it was getting under his skin, all this blame the Doctor took.

The Master was no saint and he doubted Koschei loved him that much, they only got on because they were so similar. "I let that boy down as much as you did, Doctor. Don't make me into the good dad, I'm really not."

"You don't tend to mirror my father in parenting styles. I coddled him. I don't mean to make you out to be the good dad versus the bad one. I state the truth in the fact that you're simply a better one than I am." he murmured softly with a shake of his head.

And the Doctor honestly believed that. He had trouble with Koschei. He had trouble with being strict and enforcing the rules. It seemed to blow up at him when he did try. It got to him after a while.

"You're not a bad dad, if you were then Marnal wouldn't cling to you and chose you over me. You must have some redeeming qualities. Hell, he felt bad for hitting you when under a trance, that's strong devotion," the Master didn't see him as a bad dad, not even slightly. He supposed he was just worrying the kid.

"Koschei was the problem, we both know it, we screwed him up but there comes a point where you have to stop blaming your parents and accept you're responsible for how you act," the Master couldn't blame his dad, sure he could in a way but he didn't see why he should. All he could hope was that one day Koschei would stop blaming them.

Except that love and devotion was programmed in. Period. There was no real feeling behind it. Which meant it would only take one little slip up on his part for it all to come crashing down. He didn't like to dwell on that too much.

Instead, he moved to cuddle up against the Master with a sigh, closing his eyes softly. "Right. Can we just...Relax and forget the world exists for a bit?" he asked softly. Could the Doctor be blamed?

The Master put his arm around the Doctor and nodded his head. "God yes, wanna go hide upstairs, lie on the bed, watch some TV or something?" the Master asked, he was shattered and he didn't fancy pratting around.

He knew there life was getting pretty dull but the Master couldn't bring himself to care, he would much rather lie down and take his mind off everything. "Hopefully we can get Marnal a babysitter sooner."