A/N: I am SO sorry it has taken so long to get this story updated :( I can't believe it's been more than 5.5 years :'(
I won't go into all the details, all the things that happened in the last 5 and a half years that kept me trying to update and get back online and then falling off again :/ Life is basically what it boils down to though. A lot of things happening and changing beyond the obvious thing that's happened the last year :/ Each time I felt like I got to a good place to get back and posting, something else would come up and just knock me down again :/
But early last year I got to a point where things seemed to be stabilizing and getting into something of a routine and I felt like I could really try to come back again. I've learned my lesson from other attempts, started very, very slow by posting only 2x a week and focusing on the stories I had left unfinished during that time, putting all other stories on pause, like this one. Then moved into trying to catch up/complete some series in the last few months of 2020.
Since things kept relatively smooth and on schedule last year, I tried to slowly bump up my posting to 3x a week this year. AND I'm trying to get the side stories (Spin-offs, Sequels, and AUs) back up and running.
But, again, it will be VERY slow going to start.
So what I will be doing with the side stories is I am going to post A chapter for 2 stories in a month. There are/will be 12 side stories, so 2 stories will have a new chapter each month and I'll rotate through them, and now it's time for Recollections! :D
I posted on tumblr the order of what stories I'll be updating each month. I'll be aiming to post a chapter around the 15th and 30th of a month. I'll also be trying to space them out where we're not getting stories from just 1 series in a month and maybe try to space out the AUs a little more too.
I know it may seem very slow, because it would mean this story will only be updated 1 more time this year after this chapter, but after being on pause 5+ years, something is better than nothing, right? And if I can keep up the 2 updates a month, I may bump it up to 3 a month once I get through the 12 side stories ;)
For now, we're on Recollections but check out my tumblr's Upcoming Stories page for more of a schedule for the other ones ;)
Onto the chapter!
~8~
Taunting (1/1)
Something was going on, the Doctor was quite sure of it. The Professor wasn't talking, and that was a very big indicator that something was wrong. Oh there was a time, ages ago, where it was like pulling teeth to get her to speak more than two words at a time, but it had been years and years of working at it, talking to her, giving her an earache, before she felt comfortable speaking to him at any length. NOW she was one of the people he had the most profound conversations with. If he said the right thing, got her on the right topic, she could go off on a tangent that would put him to shame. And it was always wonderful because she always had a new interest almost every week so it was fun for him to work out which topic it would be each time.
But she was quiet now.
Something was wrong.
And therein lied the rub, because when she wasn't in a talking mood, then it would be harder to find out what was bothering her.
He was considering if he should have maybe added a secondary title to his chosen one, like 'the Investigator' or 'the Private Eye' or something, maybe he'd have a better time working it out. It had been 36 hours of silence so far. He was going out of his mind.
And it had nothing to do with the fact that her voice was probably one of his most favorite sounds in the whole of the Universe.
It really had much more to do with his concern for her. Once she had opened up to him, she TRUSTED him, with some things he was sure she'd never said to anyone else. She talked to him, and not just about her interests or complaints with some foolish person in her classes, but important things too, private things. It made him feel…he couldn't describe it, to know that she could come to HIM for problems or when she was sad or scared or upset.
For her to not say a word to him, it was upsetting in more ways than one. And his mind went frantic trying to work out why. Had he done something to make her reconsider trusting him? Had HE upset her? Usually she would just tell him to his face if he was being stupid, in a polite way, she was too kind to be cruel. But maybe he'd hurt her so badly she didn't know how to be nice? Or maybe it was something she just felt she had to keep to herself for now? Something she was trying to find the words to express while she processed it? Was it something she needed to say about that would upset HIM? She really was too good to him, always worrying about whether she was being a good friend and…
Oh.
Oh.
It had taken him 35 hours, 59 minutes, and 50 seconds too long to work it out, but he'd DONE it! He knew what it was! Or…at least he knew what it might be, what it most likely was.
Because there was only one thing that could happen that would have her hesitant to speak to him over. Or should he say one person. Well, technically two people, but he had a fairly good idea which one it was.
The Master.
He had to have done something to upset the Professor and she didn't want to say anything because the Master kept claiming to be his best mate, and he was, his best male mate, the same as the Professor was his best female mate, and she would never want to do anything to make him upset at his other best friend. He and the Master…their friendship had grown rocky over the years, strained, they weren't as close and while HE might have been a little more accepting of moving on to the next chapter in his life, the Master wasn't and he didn't have the hearts to just reject the man or his friendship.
The Professor would only be this quiet if it was the Master. Technically it could be the Corsair who had done something, she seemed particular about not upsetting the balance he had with his roommates, but the Corsair was usually a little more aware of when he'd upset someone and the man typically tended to be kinder to the Professor...or at least less of a cad around her. The Master, certainly, was not.
He inwardly groaned and ran a hand down his face, he was going to have to set this to rights, but he had to be careful how he did it and he had to work out who he would talk to first.
If he went to the Professor first, he'd have to really pry what happened out of her. And if the Master found out he went to her first, he'd assume she'd given him a 'sob story' or something to 'turn him against him.'
If he went to the Master first, the man would probably accuse him of accusing him of things and get angry. And if the Professor found out, she wouldn't do the same thing, she wouldn't assume the Master had spun a story, she'd be more worried that he'd jumped to conclusions and went to confront the man and made things worse.
He sighed, ok, the Master first. Because eventually he could get through to the man, tell him he just wanted to know what happened, and he'd take an angry version of events over him flipping out that he was 'taking the Professor's side again' or other nonsense. The Professor would hear him out and they'd be fine, but the Master would throw a tantrum.
So he made his way through the Academy, trying to find his roommate.
It was always an adventure to try and locate the Master though, it was like the man was never in the same place twice in a month. And he was never sure where else he could be so he tried everywhere he could think of, or at least the places the Master was more likely to be. Each person had some sort of preference to them. Like he knew the Professor should always be sought out first in the libraries, then her rooms, then outside near the gardens. Those were just her favorite places to go that she had easy access to. The Master though, he was all over the place.
So when he'd gone to at least 2 dozen places and hadn't seen hide nor hair of him, he'd admitted defeat and moved to the Library to find the Professor. The Master couldn't blame him for seeking her out first if he didn't make himself easy to find in the first place.
Finding the Master in the library was not what he was expecting.
Finding the Master in the Library WITH the Professor was even less so.
Usually it seemed like the Master went out of his way to avoid being anywhere near her, or being 'alone' with her. Alone as in the 3 of them, he usually was fine when it was them and the Rani, the Corsair, and Romana.
He fell quiet, mostly out of shock.
For once that seemed to work in his favor, the gob that wouldn't stop finally quieted long enough for him NOT to be caught gaping at them. The Master said something that made the Professor flinch, the man smirking before he turned to saunter off in the opposite direction from where HE was standing, neither of them noticing he was there.
He watched in silence as the Professor took a breath, shook her head, and got back to the assignment she was currently working on, though he could see in how she hunched over just a little more that whatever the Master said had bothered her.
He shook his head this time, striding forward once he was sure the Master was gone, and pulled out a chair from the other side of the table, spinning it around to sit on it backwards, crossing his arms over the top. It was a testament to how well she knew him and how attuned she was to him that she didn't flinch or jump at the sudden appearance, but merely glanced up at him before going back to her work.
"What did he say this time?" he sighed, because he'd seen it with his own eyes that it was the Master's fault so the man couldn't assume he was taking her side.
"Just the normal things," she shrugged.
"Which normal?" because the Master tended to have many snide comments set aside for her.
She sighed, "He was just taunting me like usual."
"About what?"
"Why do you need to know so badly?" she looked up at him, "All it'll do is make you cross, and you'll confront him, and you'll both have a row, and I'll have to deal with his snide looks and your complaints till one of you eventually forgives the other and I'd rather avoid that entire mess. Exams are coming up."
He nearly snorted and smiled at that reason for why she wanted to avoid it, she was so academically inclined if she wasn't offered an Academic position after they graduated he'd be shocked.
"What if I promise you not to go yell at him?"
She narrowed her eyes a bit, "You always go yell at him."
"Consider it a belated birthday present."
She gave him an unimpressed look, "My next birthday is closer than my last one."
"Then an early birthday gift."
"No," she shook her head, "Because you'll either still confront him and use the excuse of having a better gift in mind and not wanting to waste it, or you'll still get me a birthday gift and it'll just make this worse."
He let out a groan, dropping his head onto his arms, "WHY must you know me so well?"
"You're my best mate," she said simply, just barely managing to refrain from adding he was really her 'only friend' to that as well, "It's my job."
"And you're MY best mate," he quickly jumped on that, "It's my job to help when things upset you."
The Professor gave him a look that had him grinning smugly since she'd walked right into that one. She sighed, "He was just baiting me, taunting me to try and get a rise out of me, get me to fight with him."
"Why?" he frowned, "What did he say?"
"That old remark about how you're only friends with me because you pity me and one day you'll get fed up with needing to 'coddle' me and walk away."
His mouth dropped open, he hadn't quite heard THAT one before but apparently it was a favorite of the Master's if it was an 'old remark' to her, "How could he…why would he…you don't believe him, do you?" he stuttered before frowning deeply.
She gave him a fondly exasperated look, "I believe him almost as much as I would those humans who thought their planet was flat."
He blinked, "But you…" he hesitated, "You were distant."
She reached across the small table to put her hand on his arm, only for him to move them a moment later so he could hold her hand more firmly, "If I didn't do something, to make him think he'd upset me, he'd just get more annoying until it actually happened."
He blinked again, "…you were fooling him?"
She laughed lightly, "Of course I was," she squeezed his hand, "He may think himself some sort of eccentric genius, but he's not really all that clever, is he?"
"…so you were faking?"
Her laughter died out a little as she looked at him, concerned now, "I was," she assured him, "I wasn't trying to hurt you, Theta," she added his name, the two of them being in a mostly secluded area, no others around to overhear…which was why the Master had picked there to taunt her, "And no, I wasn't purposefully avoiding you. I DO have to study," she gestured at her books and tablets and holo-devices scattered along the table, "I just made sure to set my study schedule where he would see me going to do that without you."
He opened his mouth, about to say she could study WITH him…when two very big points hit him about why she'd done that. The entire point was to make the Master think he'd driven a wedge between them, and second…she could never concentrate when he studied with her because he was either too distracting or too easily distracted which ended up distracting her.
She was all for tutoring him when he needed the help studying, and normally she'd be fine studying with him for basic classes or small quizzes or minor exams coming up, but these examinations were big ones she couldn't risk not giving her all to.
"Oh," was all he could come up with…now that he thought about it, her excuse whenever he'd tried to spend time with her recently HAD been that she needed to study.
So she hadn't been lying to him or avoiding him because she was hurt, she'd just been very crafty with her scheduling to fool the Master.
"I um," he chuckled, "I thought you were upset with me."
"Never," she smiled at him, "I like to think I'm clever enough to see through the Master's taunts by now."
He chuckled again, "You were always clever."
She hadn't been though, not always, not when it came to the Master's mind games regarding the Doctor. Early on in their friendship, there HAD been times she'd pulled away because of things the Master said to her about him. But he always tracked her down, always talked to her, never treated her the way the Master claimed he would and, slowly but surely, it had built up enough trust with her that she'd begun to see through the Master's ploys. Sometimes she'd even talk to him about things the man had said for reassurance.
It took a long while, but NOW she was at that point where she knew what was a lie and what had some sort of truth to it…and she knew how to get the Master off her back.
If she gave a little now, made him think she was upset, eventually he'd get bored and move on to some other distraction, then just assume she and the Doctor worked it out when he wasn't looking. If she hadn't acted like anything was wrong, he'd just get worse and more frequent and crueler in the things he said and did. Right now she was fretting about her exams, bothered more that his taunts were eating into her study time than actually concerned with what he was saying. She knew the Doctor and she knew where their friendship stood, as far as she was concerned it was unbreakable.
"And now," she added, "Now that you saw something, he'll lay off once you talk to him about it because he got caught."
He laughed at that, nodding, they'd be back to where they ought to be soon enough, the Master always sulked off and kept away from the Professor whenever he got caught relatively close to the act of taunting her about things.
"Well then," he winked at her and got up, "The sooner the better," he grinned and literally ran out of the library as the Professor shook her head at his antics.
A/N: Jeez, it's really been WAY too long to go without a look into Proffy and the Doctor's history lol :) I'll do my best to keep it more steady going on ;)
As for this chapter, I debated having the scene of what the Master actually said to her, but the way it seemed to come together kept reading more like no matter what he said it wouldn't matter because she wouldn't repeat all of it to the Doctor and he'd never know what was said anyway. And she wasn't even affected by it as a whole, she's long since gotten used to the Master's plots and tricks by now so she took everything with a grain of salt. Hope it still flowed alright :)
Some notes on reviews...
Just have to say I'm so glad you all liked the last chapter, I just about died laughing writing it too :)
Lol, you read my mind, I actually have a chapter planned where 11th Proffy (and possibly 11th Doctor) have a run-in with the 9th Doctor at some point in his timeline ;) It may not be for a few more chapters though, the next one will be about Bonnie and Clyde but it's definitely planned ;)
Next chapter: Bonnie and Clyde