Archive of Our Own

Well. Letting him was a strong word- she was hovering right behind him, and every so often he’d flick a switch and she would dispatch a tentacle to flick it right back again. 

But at least she was trusting him with the controls. The Master had to feel kind of proud of himself for that. He had good reason for wanting to fly the ship, too; he’d done a lot of research to find their current destination, and he wanted it to be a surprise. 

When they landed with barely a bump, as opposed to the Doctor’s usual bruising jolts, he shot her a very smug smirk. She flickered at him, and stuck her tongue out. It...wasn’t normally that long, he was sure. Never mind. 

“C’mon,” he said, offering her a hand, and then quickly checking to make sure it was one of his real hands. He was getting better at controlling his new phantom limbs, but he was nowhere near as good as the Doctor at it yet. 

“You sure we landed? Couldn’t feel anything, Kosch,” she said, sidling forwards and taking his hand anyway. The Master rolled his eyes, stole a fond, exasperated kiss, and tugged her to the doors. 

“You’re going to love this,” he promised, and flung open the doors. 

They’d landed in front of a department store. At first glance, it looked like any old Earth store, between the obnoxiously bright lighting and the sparklingly clean glass panelling on the front. Then, someone walked past the TARDIS to enter the store. That someone had soft, white wings emerging from their back- right in the same place that the Doctor’s nest of extra limbs sprouted from. 

The look on her face turned suddenly from confusion to delight, and she wrapped the Master in a hug that contained at least three times as many limbs as it should have done. He laughed, hugging her back, pulling away only enough that he could see her face. 

“You’re always complaining about how weird it feels to wear shirts without a hole, but you don’t want to cut holes in your shirts.” He stole a kiss. “Now, you don’t have to. Fashion, explicitly designed for those with extra limbs.” 

“You coulda told me, let me fly here,” she said, grinning too much to make the complaint sound genuine. 

“What, and ruin the surprise? Theta, you have to respect my flair for the dramatic.” The Master wiggled his eyebrows, and his extra limbs, even though they were so short that only the very tips poked out above his shoulders, and he had to concentrate really hard to make them visible at all. 

She just rolled her eyes, and dragged him off into the store. Well. One second they were standing outside his TARDIS, and the next they were in the entrance to the shop, and the Doctor was cheerily helping herself to a shopping basket. That counted as being dragged, by his constantly-updating new standards for the Doctor’s behaviour. 

He was never quite going to get used to the whole teleporting thing. 

The Master swore that this trip had been his idea, but it was the Doctor who seemed to be absolutely in her element in this shop. She dragged him around to different sections one after the other, until he was sure they’d looped the whole store at least five times, and he was exhausted. Maybe she had limitless energy, but he would much rather be sitting down somewhere. He’d tried to take a break in the shoe section, and the Doctor had popped up behind him and dragged him away to look at shorts with far more strength than she ought to have. 

Still, all of the zipping around was worth it to see how happy she was. Two large shopping baskets full of shirts with holes in translated to three loaded shopping bags, which the Master happily helped her carry outside. 

The moment they were back in her TARDIS, the Doctor took her shirt off, and immediately started trying on clothes. The Master had gotten a few things for himself, but his extra limbs were so insubstantial that they hardly seemed to bother him. Still, he couldn’t help feeling just a bit happy when he changed into a new purple button-up, and the little knot of tentacles on his back could wriggle freely without encountering his usual suit. 

Once he’d changed, he sat back, and watched the Doctor try things on. A leather jacket got tossed onto the TARDIS console; a black t-shirt printed with gold stars flew past his head, missing him by an inch. He’d say this would be a pain to clean up, but he was reasonably sure that the Doctor could just will it to be tidy. 

Eventually, she let out a triumphant exclamation, and the Master blinked, dragging his gaze away from her face, where he’d been dreamily staring for at least the last ten minutes. 

She was dressed in a pale blue long-sleeved shirt with rainbow designs encircling each arm. The mass on her back had taken the form of wings, and they were stood to full attention, clearly delighted by their newfound freedom. 

“Oh, very nice,” he breathed. The Master stood up, crossing over to her, running his arms over the soft fabric of the new shirt. She looked stunning. Or maybe that was just the happiness radiating off of her; he’d praise her appearance for weeks on end if she was wearing a black plastic bin bag, just so long as she was happy in it. 

“You’re the very nice one,” the Doctor said, kissing him before he could protest. The Master felt her arms around his waist, and in his hair, and there was even something sneaking up under the edge of his shirt before she broke away. “Thank you, Kosch. For that shop. Oh, it was brilliant. Brilliant! I got so many clothes! Gonna have to try some new outfits. I get to be fashionable! Don’t think I’ve ever been fashionable before.” 

The Master thought back through thousands of years of long scarves, rainbow coats, and question marks, and diplomatically decided that an encouraging nod with no words attached was the best response to that. 

She kissed him again, and this time when she pulled back she darted to the console, fiddling with the controls. “Koschei,” she said, turning back to face him with her eyes wide and a solid, sparkling black. His hearts fluttered. He loved her. “Koschei, Koschei. There’s a food market thingy really close to here. I’m taking you on a date!” 

Apparently he didn’t get a say in this, because the Doctor immediately grabbed his hand, and before he knew it there was a marketplace in sight and they were walking briskly towards it. Well. At least the teleporting didn’t give him a headache anymore. 

On a planet like this, the Master felt somewhat like an oddity. The Doctor seemed to be doing her best to keep her extra limbs in wing form, and she was holding them out and making them as visible as possible. No one was giving her a second glance. 

He, on the other hand, felt a bit small for this planet. The streets here were wide and open, built for multiple people with enormous wings to pass each other. Every doorway was at least three metres across, and even in the markets, everything was spaced out enough that there was never any crowding. 

His own four-inch wings (he hoped they were wings, he was trying for wings) seemed a little bit pathetic in comparison. 

Still, the Master tried to keep his spirits up as he was pulled through the market. There were certainly a lot of interesting smells- some familiar, others entirely brand new and bizarre. Vanilla, mixed with frying meat and the hot, acrid scent of chilli, mixed with something tangy and new that made the inside of his nose prickle. 

“Ooh, look at this.” The Doctor pulled him over to a stall selling some kind of dessert, or...possibly a fruit? She got chatting to the stallholder, and the Master let go of her hand, wandering off a bit. There was a staircase leading up between two tall brick buildings near the edge of the market, and he took it, slipping away from the loud, excited chatter of the crowd. 

The staircase zigzagged back and forth, and emerged on the roof, overlooking the scene below. The Master made his way to the edge, and sat down- no need to risk falling, he thought. Especially since he was pretty sure these tiny wings wouldn’t be enough to keep him aloft for even a second. He wondered if the Doctor could fly, or at least glide. Probably. She could do most things, if she put her mind to them. 

He leaned over, watching the market. Dozens of people bustled about between colourful stalls, all looking so small from this height. Like bees in a hive, all busy, all working towards some goal that he, up here, didn’t have the first clue about. 

And then there was the Doctor. His gaze seemed to be drawn to her- even when he was looking at others, he always found himself watching her again. Chatting animatedly to the stallholder, casting cheery smiles at anyone else who walked past. He didn’t see an exchange of money, but she picked up one of the desserts. Must have gotten it for free. She could be so charming. 

She stepped away from the stall, and looked around, as if noticing for the first time that he wasn’t with her. The Master bit his lip, trying to ignore the faint pang of guilt at sneaking off. 

“Kosch?” Her voice spoke in his mind- not urgent, but a little worried. He sent her back an image of the view from his perch, and the Doctor looked around, then dashed towards the same set of stairs he’d spotted earlier. 

A second later, she was emerging from the top of the staircase. The Master had felt time blur to accommodate her want for haste. He stayed where he was, gazing over the edge of the building, until she plopped down next to him. 

“Hi,” he said, a little dully. 

“Hi. Hey. Something’s wrong, you’d better tell me what.” The Doctor nudged him with her shoulder, and he felt a wing curve protectively over him. 

He said nothing for a minute, guilt prickling in his chest at the thought of ruining their date for his silly troubles. But...no, come on, that wouldn’t happen. He had to trust her. 

“You fit in so well here,” he said softly. “You fit in well everywhere, even now. Black eyes and sharp teeth or not, you’re so charming. People love you. They...give you free food, just because you smiled and asked how their family was doing.” 

The Doctor was quiet for a moment, and then several more limbs curled around him, pulling him in tightly against her side. The Master didn’t much want to find it comforting, but he did. 

“Koschei Oakdown, shut up. You could charm the hind legs off a zebra if you wanted. Wait, no, that’s not the expression...” She frowned, mumbling something about donkeys, then shook her head and snapped back to attention. “Doesn’t matter! C’mon, Kosch, you’re brilliant. You found this planet to make me happy. I’m lucky to have you. Really lucky.” 

The Doctor’s real limbs had joined in the hug, so that he was practically cocooned in her embrace. The Master couldn’t help a small smile. Her attempts to cheer him up were just- so endearing. It was impossible not to be a bit cheered. Just a little bit. 

“Really lucky, you say?” 

“Yes,” the Doctor insisted, very firmly. “I’m really, really lucky to have you. You’re so good to me. Not to mention pretty. Very pretty, unfairly pretty. And then there’s all the stuff you always are, like smart, and witty, and clever, and inventive, and pretty. I already said pretty. But it’s worth mentioning again.” 

She pressed the dessert she’d been holding into his hands, and then procured two spoons from...somewhere. He didn’t question where she got these things. Instead, the Master prodded cautiously at whatever she’d given him.

It was a quite alarming shade of blue, the sort indicative of cleaning products or possibly poisonous frogs. Not really food. But it smelled like...like apples and cinnamon. Like pie. Blue pie, that was shaped like a few scoops of ice cream but didn’t feel particularly cold in his hands. 

“Do you know what this actually is?” He took a bit on his spoon, sniffing curiously at it. 

“Nope!” She beamed at him. “But I know what it does, and I do know it’s homemade with local ingredients. Erin was very proud of that.” 

“You’re on first name terms with the stallholder now?” 

“Course I am!” The Doctor lifted a tentacle, pushing his spoon gently towards his mouth. The Master gave in and accepted it, then frowned. The smell was all apple pie, but the taste was more...proper dark hot chocolate during the winter, something he’d gotten fond of during his years on Earth. Even the feeling was there, that soft glow of heat in his stomach. 

“What is this?” He took another spoonful, watching as the Doctor got some for herself. 

“It’s s’posed to taste like something you find comforting.” She stuck her spoon in her mouth, and her eyes lit up. “Custard creams! Oh, that’s brilliant. Very clever. What‘s yours?” 

“Hot chocolate. The proper stuff. I wonder...if I kiss you, can I taste what you’re tasting?” 

She shrugged, and leaned in, and the Master allowed himself to get distracted by her soft embrace, sharp teeth grazing his lip, for a good ten seconds before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing. He pressed closer, his tongue running gently across her lip, and it was with great reluctance that he pulled back a few seconds later. 

“Nope. Just hot chocolate,” he said, sighing. “Makes sense, I guess.” 

The Doctor hummed, and then grabbed the front of his shirt to kiss him again. The Master felt most of her limbs curling around him- petting his arms, his back, tangling with the tiny knot of tentacles emerging from between his shoulder blades. It proved very difficult to hold onto the dessert with that kind of attention on him, but more soft limbs wrapped around his hand, taking it from him and setting it safely on the rooftop beside them. 

“My Koschei.” Her voice echoed in his mind. The Master smiled against her lips, draping his arms around her shoulders in response. “No matter what, you’re always the one I want. Always. You know me, and you accept me, and you even like all the weird powers stuff and the tentacles and- everything. And you bring me to planets like this, even though you don’t fit in as well as I do, and I love that about you.” 

The sentence was followed up by a powerful wash of her feelings for him, so strong that the Master had to break away from the kiss, draw in a gasp of breath. A limb brushed against his cheek, and he leaned fondly against it. 

“‘Course I like the tentacles,” he murmured out loud. “Did you ever really think I wouldn’t?” 

The Doctor laughed, and kissed him again, and the Master accepted it happily. 

He had a feeling they’d be forgetting about the rest of that dessert for quite a while. Good thing this rooftop seemed relatively private, although even if it wasn’t, he knew they wouldn’t be noticed unless the Doctor wanted them to be. 

It was easy, sometimes, to feel a little inadequate around someone like her. Such an impressive array of powers, and yet she still retained all of her usual cheerful bounciness. It was wildly impressive, and a little scary, and absolutely, awe-inspiringly attractive to him. How could anything compete? 

And yet, the Master had never been more certain that she loved him with all of her hearts, and he loved her back.