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Living with not one but now two unstable time lords had been… a lot for sure. Maybe it was the fact that the other time lord looked uncannily like Harold Saxon or the fact that he had tried to wipe out the human race multiple times or even the amount of murders he had actually committed. Who knows. What Rose Noble-Temple did know was that right now she was sitting at the kitchen table, physics homework in front of her, and questioning what the formula for voltage was and what the hell a moment was supposed to be. She also knew the Master was sitting at the other end of the table and probably knew the answer, why he was there was anyone's guess.
“Hey,” He ignored her. Great going Rose. Not awkward at all. She thought to herself. “Hey, do you think you could help with this?” she tried again and this time he looked up at her.
“What is it?” He asked.
“Physics.”
“Go ask the Doctor,” The Master sat back and began tinkering with the Doctor's sonic screwdriver again.
“I would love to but they're not here are they?”
The Master let out a long sigh and stood up, “Fine, I’ve got nothing else to do. What do you need?” He stood behind her, which was more than a little unsettling, and peered over her shoulder at the paper of questions open on the table.
“What is that?” He asked seemingly somehow offended.
“... Physic-”
“This is not physics.” He spat.
“Yes it is. Look,” she turned to the front of the paper where it clearly said GCSE Physics Paper 1 - 2014 “It says physics,”
“It's so basic, can’t you at least give me something challenging?” he replied hautily.
“Look, can you just tell me the answers so I can finish it?” The Master was silent, “Then you can explain all the complex physics you want to me?” not that I’ll be listening, she added silently. He seemed to debate the idea for a second before saying,
“Fine.”
______
When the Doctor got home three hours later they were pleasantly surprised to find the Master and Rose sitting and talking together at the kitchen table.
“But then how come the directional fault doesn’t subdue the atypical point of flux?” Rose asked.
“Well…” The Master launched into a complex explanation of exactly how that happens (it turns out it involved a lot of different polarities that even the Doctor struggled to understand but then again, they never had paid attention in school). The Doctor stood in the doorway and looked happily in at the scene perfectly aware of the stupid smile on their face.
As the Master spoke Rose scribbled down notes onto a spare sheet of paper nodding and asking for things to be repeated.
“I thought you hated physics,” they said after a minute or two. The Master stopped his explanation suddenly and turned to glare at the Doctor, annoyed with being interrupted.
“I did,” Rose replied, “Then he showed me the fun stuff,” The Doctor smiled even wider at the master who rolled his eyes in response.
“Don’t you dare get sappy on me,” He warned.
“And what if I did?”
“I’ll kill you. Permanently.”
“You know you couldn’t live without me,”
Rose cleared her throat loudly.
“Right, yes. Enjoy your physics,” They ruffled the Masters hair and got a small “I hate you” in response “And you, behave okay?”
“I am!” He complained.
“Also Rose, probably don’t use any of this in your exams. Humans aren’t advanced enough-”
The Master spoke over them, “Yeah yeah, I’ve already said all this. Bye!” He heavily emphasised the last word and the Doctor held up his hands and left.
“Anyway, the inverse of the polarity covers the-”
_____
It was later that night and the timelords sat together on their bed. The Master was curled up next to the Doctor who was stretched out along the bed, his head resting on their chest. He could hear the four beat rhythm of the Doctor's hearts in sync to the sound of the drums which he had discovered brought a certain calming quality.
“I knew you had good in you”
“I don’t. I was merely educating one of your stupid humans.”
“Rose isn’t stupid.”
The Master simply grunted in what could be perceived as agreement though he’d never admit to it and closed his eyes before drifting off to sleep. The Doctor lay there for a few more minutes, just listening to the silence that hung over the two of them. It was nice. And that was all they needed.