Imaginary Worlds

Oh please, the Doctor didn't want to take Marnal by himself, he didn't want to go as a family and the Master was never the most patient man when it came to trying to motivate people. He'd tried, he'd failed and he was done trying.

He made one mistake with Marnal and now the Doctor was acting like he couldn't just take the brat to a park for a few hours. It was hard for him not to get frustrated because it was impossible to do anything. Sure he wanted a family and he wanted everyone sane but he also wanted to get out and do stuff, work on bonding-- and besides, Koschei needed to learn to suck it up and deal with family. Hars but a true life lesson the Master was forced to suffer himself.

The Doctor reacted poorly. How could he not? Not poorly in the sense of taking off for twelve hours with their kid. But taking off to work? He left a not explaining that he'd been called in and took Marnal along with. He just couldn't help it. He needed out.

The Doctor returned home late in the evening, sneaking in and hoping that the Master wasn't in. He didn't want to have any sort of confrontation at the moment. It wasn't all that pleasant.

The Master didn't bother going back, he couldn't do it right now without losing his temper so he just stay late at Verica's garage, fixing the car he had to have done by Friday. Looked like someone was getting their commission early.

Marnal was more than happy not to bother the Doctor, the Master told him the Doctor was ill so the boy had been quiet and pretty well behaved today. A bonus for everyone. He even left the Doctor be once they got home.

The Doctor was more than just a little grateful for the distance from everyone. Sad but true. He shook his head softly and spent the evening cleaning up the house and caring for Marnal. Mostly just feeding the lad pizza and getting the boy settled in for the night.

At which point the Doctor turned in himself. This wasn't too bad. He just...He wasn't sure what to do other than go to sleep. Because he was tired. Exhausted even. It didn't help that he knew he had to be up early come the next day.

The Master slept on the sofa, not out of intention, it was sort of an accident. He'd gotten drunk after stopping off at a bar, left his car behind... somewhere and was currently passed out on the sofa.

So early morning came and the Master really wasn't prepared for it. Nor was he prepared for Marnal yelling his name and leaping at him. Wincing, the Master resisted the urge to vomit. "Urgh... morning."

That really didn't help matters. Because the Doctor automatically knew he had pissed off the Master to a grand extent come morning. He didn't know yet about the drinking. A revelation bound to be an issue.

As it was, he simply got ready for work and bid Marnal a soft goodbye before he headed out. He felt better, much better, by the time he returned. Mentally, at least. He still wasn't quite over the tension he felt in regards to the Master at the moment.

Well it was a fun day. The Master couldn't find his car, could barely move and spent most the morning throwing up so Marnal didn't get to go to nursery but hell the kid didn't care, he got a day off from school and the Master told him to just watch cartoons downstairs.

So when the Doctor returned, the Master had only just managed to get toast down his mouth and was lying lazily on the sofa with Marnal sitting on the floor reading. Everything else was too loud.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow when he entered to the sight. "I didn't see your car. I figured the two of you had gone out to eat or something." he mused, absently ruffling Marnal's hair. What? How was he supposed to know that the Master was hungover?

"So. Want to do anything in particular kiddo? Or are you going to keep on with the book?" the Doctor asked lightly. And could Marnal even read properly? It was a bit interesting when he thought about it. The child was usually watching cartoons.

Marnal could not read, he was just looking at the pictures and colouring in any 'o' shapes. Looking up, he glanced at the Master before stage whispering to the Doctor. "We have to be quiet. Can we play outside?"

The Master pulled himself upright and rubbed at his eyes before slowly staggering to his feet. "I'm going to try and find my car," he mumbled, heading sluggishly to the car. Urgh, he felt like someone had run him over.

This wasn't going to end well. "One moment." the Doctor murmured, following the
Master with a deep frown. Because he had an odd feeling that he knew what was going on and he didn't like it. At all. But surely the Master wouldn't have...

"Hey. Does your missing car have anything to do with last night?" the Doctor called, perhaps talking a decibel or two higher than absolutely necessary. But he was checking something. Surely the Doctor hadn't driven the man to drink himself to such a state. Right?

"Erm, I lost it. I parked it somewhere but then I lost it and now I have no idea... think its back by the bar-- I stopped in for a drink and I sort of went over-board," the Master confessed though he did feel a bit like a prat actually.

"Sorry, I'm really sorry, I was a dick yesterday and this is karma. I don't remember where I parked, I have a headache and Marnal drove me insane!" the Master ranted as he put his head in his hands and sghed.

Well. It would seem as though he had, in fact, managed to drive the Master to drink. And the man got angry for his being a tad depressed? He was on shaky ground with his kid, and the other one he was planning to drag on a twelve hour ride to a place the brat wouldn't even like the first weekend visit. A thing bound to make that a strain.

And now? Now it would seem as though he'd managed to push the Master overboard as well. Lovely. The Doctor just gave the Master a dull glare before he shook his head slowly. "Alright. I surrender. Just...Don't apologize. I'm sure you had a reason. Just...Just go lay down. I'll take Marnal off your hands and find your car." the Doctor assured, turning on heel to fetch the child.

"For the record, by the way, this wasn't because of you. Its stress, you know? Cause we have two kids that hate one another, we can't do anything as a family and you're in the blue zone... I just --" it was hard to deal when no one was really on the same page.

Trekking back inside, he knew the Doctor would take this to heart so why argue? Instead, he just dropped down onto the sofa and closed his eyes. Marnal, confused as ever, just looked between his two dads. What was wrong with them both?

The one problem here was that the Master tried so hard to make him happy and the Doctor...Well, he was definitely the problem this time around. He understood stress. He also understood that that shouldn't be. Period. So why was he so bothered by this?

He calmly took Marnal out, fetching the kid a quick bite to eat before he located the Master's car. A simple tow and that was dealt with. The next thing on his agenda was slightly harder. "We should talk." the Doctor murmured softly, regarding the other with a soft frown.

"I don't want to talk... I want to lie here and forget that I made a jackass out of myself and that you're going to take this the wrong way," the Master muttered tiredly as he rolled onto his back and gave the Doctor a sad smile.

"But, that won't work so fine, lets talk," the Master offered but he didn't say anything because he had nothing much to actually say-- he was just here to listen to what the Doctor wanted to say.

"You were upset. My fault. But you could have reacted better. You're stressed out and that needs to be addressed. Preferably before it gets too out of hand. So. You can cut something from your life, or we can go away for a bit. Find somebody to watch Marnal." the Doctor murmured softly.

And he knew that the Master wasn't going to like this. "I know a nice place out of town. We can go and relax...And maybe see somebody. Together." the Doctor murmured. Yes. He was honestly suggesting a couple's counselor to help them out.

"No way. Look, I've done some odd things. I started a family, I got a job and I play daddy when you're at work as well as clean and make food-- but couples counselling? No way," the Master protested, shaking his head in annoyance at the very concept. The Master never took help, even the reformed Master had a lot of trouble with this.

"I'm happy! You just-- you stressed me out. You stole our son then broke his heart and moped-- I tried to cheer you up and it was pointless. I lost my temper," the Master informed him before rubbing at his temples. "It was stupid but I did it, okay? We're Time Lords, we don't take those sort of things."

"You're right. I did that. I did that because you stressed me out. Then you made it clear you don't trust me and I was just a bit unstable. Now I stressed you out. If we don't go get help, then I'm taking it into my own hands." the Doctor said slowly.

He'd play the perfect little house wife until he drove the Master to such a state that the man would be begging for outside help. "Your choice. Either we figure out how to work this out, or I'll make sure everything is dealt with." the Doctor said firmly.

"A bit? No! See, this is whats doing my head in. Why don't you see what you did wrong? You stole our son! You took him 12 hours away and built his hopes up. I told you off for it, which was fair, and you brought him home-- which wasn't. You keep talking to me like I made a mess of things!" the Master snapped because it was frustrating. He told the Doctor he was unstable. He told him that he wanted to be there for Koschei for that very reason!

It was driving him insane like he was totally out of line or something. "I don't trust you, how can I? You proved I can't! You ran off with our son when I left the house... thanks for the reassurance but I know full well what my issues are, I don't need to piss away time and money for someone to tell me them."

"I know damn well what I did wrong. I get that we both know what our issues are. That's isn't the point. The point is to figure out how to work around them. Never mind. It's fine. I'm a problem. I can admit to that. Maybe Koschei isn't the only one who needs to go away for a little while." the Doctor murmured softly.

Shaking his head, the Doctor headed for the stairs to hide away in their bedroom. He got that he'd screwed up. Had they not covered this already? The Master drinking himself into a stupor over that just made it worse.

(Bus in a moment. I'll be vanishing.)

"Stop running away when we're talking! And stop with that annoying self pity stuff. It was cute when you playing hero but now its just annoying. You're not the problem, you just did wrong," the Master asserted, they could make no progress like this at all, it was obvious.

"I'm trying so hard here, Doctor. I tried to make you happy so why isn't it working?" the Master snapped, something inside him did. Because deep down, he knew he'd change a lot and they still weren't happy. "We're never going to be happy here in this fake universe so why are we even trying to?!" the Master yelled finally, not even fully understanding what he meant, he knew something was wrong wth this universe but most of it had been edited... it was starting to come back and so was the hopelessness.

"Then stop making me out to be the problem! I apologize and I make suggestions because you're so stressed out that you had to go out and get yourself piss drunk. So what? I altered Koschei a bit as I said I would and you weren't there. I made a mistake with Marnal." the Doctor growled, shaking his head slowly.

"I resent you. You realize that? You don't even know. You changed. A lot. Before? You'd have hit me and told me off. Now you just coddle me. You tried to make me happy but you're not you. And I hate that." the Doctor said softly, very quickly losing steam. It took him to then to notice.

"You resent me? Then what are we doing, Doctor? Why are we even trying to play happy families. Fuck Marnal, fuck Koschei and fuck this stupid place!" the Master snapped because it was obvious that neither of them would ever be happy.

"I'm done. I want to leave, I want to go home. I want to call it and draw a line in the sand because we are not lovers, we're not boyfriends and I will never make you happy and visa versa. I never see Koschei any more and I have no interest in Marnal so I'm going to leave and you should too because you can... I know you can and these fake kids? They mean nothing," the Master asserted. They could both leave, they may deny it but the Master knew they could-- they just couldn't bring anyone with them. Or so it seemed like.

"I resent you for changing. I resent myself for changing and for making you change. I don't want to leave. I want...I want it to change. I want to go back to how it was before we changed ourselves so much. You can see Koschei. You're the one who asked me to send him away this time." the Doctor murmured softly.

This wasn't fair. This wasn't right for wither of them. They were both stressed out and changing was only making it worse. "Two options. We go back to how is was before, or we both change. Completely alter our minds until we don't remember anything but here. But we aren't leaving." the Doctor said softly.

"We were miserable before, we were miserable on the Valiant, we were miserable when you changed and we're miserable now. You can't fix this and you can't dictate what I do," that was all futile now and the Master was done playing.

"Call it game over because I am. I'm going to go now, you can stay here in this disaster of a world but I want my life back," he wanted to be himself and do what he wanted and return everything to normal. Not start anything new with the Doctor.