A/N: Did someone say fluff?

Also, happy new year to everyone! I hope the next one will bring lots of good things for y'all!

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Hours dragged by. The Master stayed in his coma, looking as dead as a corpse. Just as he had described. Sometimes I felt for his pulse and after the third or fourth time I realized what was weird about it. It was supposed to feel different, but only one single pulse slowly thudded against the pad of my finger. One heart, the other one literally broken.

I could do nothing to help and the thought crossed my mind what I was even supposed to do if he didn't get better. Would I be able to drag him back into the void? Without having the faintest idea how that had happened in the first place? And would that even help? Or would the eldritch creatures inside that place devour us long before I could come up with something useful?

So all that was left to do for me was to sit on the ground, in front of the bed and wait. Keep watch.

It got harder to think the more time dragged by. The sun set, outside the sounds of people died down. There had been a small revolt outside. People protested because they had seen what had happened there. And now they wanted blood. The Master's soldiers all stood outside, guarding the building.

But that was a problem for tomorrow.

"You look like shit."

I blinked my eyes open and looked up, meeting a disheveled face, but one that was awake and definitely alive. The Master didn't sit up, if anything he had barely managed to roll over onto his stomach to look down and… taunt me.

Bugger.

I smiled up at him. "Have you looked in a mirror lately?"

A grin spread on his face. It still looked a bit pained, but genuine. "Been worse, believe me." His voice was raspy, but steady. A good sign, I hoped.

He somewhat sat up and reached over to grab the water bottle from the nightstand, taking some careful sips, but wincing every time he had to swallow. One hand lay on his chest, pressing lightly against it as if to ease the pain the water caused, rushing by so close to his healing lungs. He didn't manage to drink much before he lowered the bottle, wheezing and coughing, gritting his teeth in pain.

I shot to my feet, taking the bottle from him and watched helplessly. "What can… I have no idea how to help," I confessed.

"You can't." The cough stopped and the Master took a few careful, deeper breaths, groaning and scrunching up his nose. "Stars, I need a shower!"

"You don't smell." I raised a brow. "Which is unfair by the way. Don't Time Lords have sweat glands?"

"Didn't do much sweating," the Master said and carefully laid down again. "I don't like to smell all that blood."

"No?" I couldn't help the sarcasm. "Thought that was your turn-on."

He chuckled, dropping his head face down against the mattress next to mine and for a second I had to fight down the urge to pat I managed. Pain made him stop, the laugh died down to another cough and he fisted his hands in his hair, groaning, then chuckling again, muffled against the cloth. His agony radiated outwards, hitting me like a psychic wave, far stronger than my usual empathy would pick up, or maybe I simply had never been close to someone who had witnessed that amount of pain.

I couldn't bear it and sat up on my knees, laying my hands over his and lowering my forehead, touching him, not knowing what it actually was I did there and still hoping it might bring at least some comfort. It felt strange, willingly touching another person like that. I didn't smell any blood, only noticed that his hair was strangely soft.

The Master shifted slightly underneath me and eventually took my hands to gently move them aside. He glared up at me, his look tired, yet determined to carry a dark undertone. It had something intense, a warning, a plea. "I will break you," he muttered, and I was sure he didn't know himself if that was supposed to be a threat or a cry for help.

I glared at him, his Hazel eyes that burned right into me, at his mouth that was slightly open, his hands that held me in a firm, yet gentle grip. My gaze wandered back to his lips and I leaned away, banishing every thought that had dared to form. Words. He had said something. I should respond to those. They were supposed to scare me, weren't they? And would he? Would he break me into millions of blood red pieces until my old self was no longer recognisable?

It didn't matter. I tiredly smiled, poking my tongue out. "That's okay. But first get better, yeah? Right now you're not much of a villain."

His eyes widened slowly, a trickle of amusement seeped into them, washing away the subtle horror that had settled there before. Did he fear rejection or was he truly afraid of hurting me too much? The Master breathed out a huff, then wrinkled his nose and glared at me.

"What?" I asked. "It's true, innit?"

"You smell of blood too."

"Oh… uh, yeah."

With a speed and strength he shouldn't even possess right now, the Master shot up and grabbed my arm, dragging me half up onto the mattress. I didn't even struggle, too perplexed and also too tired to really react. The Master bent over me and opened the zipper of my hoodie halfway down, then grabbed the cloth of my shirt at the collar and tore it down until the bandage came into sight.

It was only then that I came back to my senses, but I also realised that he had no intention of hurting me. The shock and fear he radiated made me reconsider and so I settled for calming him down. "Vienna patched it up," I said instead of scolding him for the rough treatment. "'S not that bad. Bullet went right through."

The Master let out a strangled breath, burying his face in one hand, trembling. He was so pale, half a corpse and still so fierce. For a moment there it had looked as if he almost started crying and when he looked back at me a wet sheen remained, blinked away in a second.

"Don't do that," he rasped out. "You see danger and you run!"

Oh, those wide eyes, that slight tremble in his voice. He couldn't actually care, could he?

"Someone had to help," I defended myself. "I couldn't just let them kill you."

"I can regenerate, idiot," he said softly and with a smile that shouldn't be so warm. There was no anger, no heat. Just this. He placed his hand over the wound in my shoulder. "You can't. If you die, you are gone."

"You make it sound like that's a bad thing."

The Master leaned down then, close enough so his nose almost brushed mine and my heart unexpectedly leaped into my throat, drumming there in a wild rhythm of… fear, anticipation, want, anxiety and everything in between. The warmth of his hand on my chest, his breath ghosting over my lips. I swallowed, frozen, unsure of what I even felt.

"We still have a deal," the Master whispered. "And I won't let you out of it so easily. So yes, for me it would be bad. I don't care about anything else."

His fingers lifted from my shirt and left an empty cold in their place. He moved away, coughing and cursing in a language I couldn't understand. A speckle of blood covered his hand afterwards and he cursed even nastier.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Ough, crap! No, I'm not." But he chuckled. "And you don't look much better. So shut up and rest a little yourself."

I pursed my lips. "And who keeps watch?"

"Over me?" He laughed and coughed, then cursed. "I'm not dying. It just needs to heal now. But you moron don't need t-"

"What about Vienna?"

He scoffed. "She hasn't shot me yet, so she won't do it now. Rest. That's an order. Or do I have to hypnotise your sorry arse?"

I winced. "Please don't."

"Then do what you're told. You look like you will fall asleep on the spot anyway soon."

"Won't."

"Will!"

"Oh, shut up. I'm fine. I can stay awa-"

"Just stay here," he offered, obviously not only meaning this room, but this bed too.

"Uh…" Why the heck did I blush now? This was so dumb, I couldn't… I shouldn't feel so weird around him. He was bad and evil and…

"I won't touch a hair on you, promise." He lay on his side, facing me. After a second he reached behind him and grabbed a neatly folded blanket he had never used, pushing it in my direction. "Don't need it anyway. You can have it. And I won't go anywhere, so you can keep your stupid watch."

After all he had just said I was so tempted to believe he meant it all. Sure, I had a promise to keep, but could that be enough for him? Did he really want me to be safe and well? I had sensed such pain from him just moments ago. That couldn't be a lie too, could it? He had more inside of him than any book or story could tell, more than only the surface he showed to the universe, more than just cruelty. It was right there, hidden in plain sight.

Someone had to give him a chance.

And right now I was way too tired to even think about getting up again, so I only put my glasses on the nightstand and huddled under the blanket. That thing felt too comfy and this mattress screamed for me to relax into and just… drift away.

.

This time there were no dreams, no strange visions or other creeping images in my mind that plagued my sleep. Only black remained behind my eyes and the warmth of the blanket.

The first thing I got aware of was the feeling of contentment. It slipped into the cracks of my awareness, slowly letting me drift upwards to the surface of consciousness. The soft cloth of the blanket slid across my skin as I moved, cuddling myself closer to the source of warmth. A soft chuckle grazed the edges of my hearing and I felt fingers in my hair, slowly ruffling through the short strands. I sighed, content, moving my hand upwards a little to feel the slow rhythm of four beats underneath it.

Then it hit me. That I laid against someone else, completely cuddled up. And I also remembered who that person was and promptly shot away, blinking my eyes open.

"Uh, s… sorry," I stammered. "Wasn't… I mean I didn't…"

"Come back, silly." The Master giggled and reached out towards me, grabbing my hip to draw me back. I stiffened, uncertain how to react, not awake enough to process. The Master immediately let go, only the smile stayed on his face. "Don't panic, little one."

"I don't. I… I… s… sorry. Don't be mad."

His face fell and he leaned a tad bit closer, stopping when he saw me wince. "You think I would let you sleep like that if it would make me mad?"

"Err… probably not, no." Then again was it possible that I had turned around only moments before waking up. Or had I really slept half on him for a while? With him knowing? And letting me?

"You can never quite decide whether to want to get close to anyone or not," mused the Master. "Why is that?"

Because it scared me.

"Cause… well… I'm never sure if it's… you know - appropriate." The room offered only dim light, making it hard to discern his reaction. "I don't know the rules for that kind of thing."

"There are rules?"

I nodded. "I guess. Everything people do seems to have some. But no one ever bothers to tell me what they are. And then they get mad or start hating me when I do the wrong thing."

The Master huffed. "Humans are weird. And I told you, I'm not mad. So get back here already."

I still hesitated. Why in the universe would he want me close? Or anyone for that matter. Unless… "Cause of the drums?" I guessed.

Silence stretched for several seconds. It had been the first thing that came to mind that made sense. And eventually I heard a confirming hum and took it as a sign to shuffle a tiny bit closer again, close enough to feel his body temperature, but not so close that I'd touch him in any way.

The Master regarded me with a long look, but made no attempt to move. That was fine. At least I didn't have to feel more awkward than already and this arrangement was a good compromise.

"I should thank you," said the Master. "You saved my life. One of them. I just don't get how."

"Yeah, same. I have no idea what I did." Or how. "Do you… remember anything?"

He squinted his eyes shut, trying to focus, but, eventually, he shook his head. "Darkness. That's all. I know you did something. I was at the brink of regenerating."

I took a deep breath and told him everything that had happened. The sudden shift into the void, the lurking creatures Lovecraft would have gotten nightmares from, and also about the tiny dragon that had gifted its flame to cauterize the wounds. "And yeah, it sounds insane. I know."

The Master scrunched up his nose in clear distaste. "Great, now I owe my life to that little nuisance. As if eating my books wasn't bad enough."

"Wait! You know what it is?"

He rolled his eyes and turned on his back, glaring angrily at the ceiling. "Doesn't hurt to tell you. We fought a dragon once and that thing came from the only egg his mother left. You practically adopted the thing."

A dragon?! I couldn't help the widening grin. I had an actual pet dragon? "Then why didn't it come back with us? Why is it in the void? And why don't those creatures just eat it?"

"No idea. But I think he is your connection to the void. Whatever exactly that might mean."

So, he had no idea either. What a pity. I hoped there would be a way to meet the little creature again. It was adorable. I still smiled when I met the Master's gaze. He seemed curious, studying my face and raising a brow.

"You're not even bothered, are you?" he said and turned to the side again, coming closer in the process. When I didn't move away he laid a hand on my hip, lingering, waiting for me to disapprove.

But I didn't. If anything I too leaned a bit closer, now laying face to face with him. Why did this feel so safe? And why did my heart speed up all of a sudden? There was still a lot of space between us. Too much to do… well… nothing, really. Stupid, stupid heart!

"You killed people."

His words tore me out of my silly musings and I looked into his eyes that showed only curiosity and maybe a little amusement. No judgement. No question. No damnation. I blinked, fighting the urge to huddle closer, because…

"Can I touch you?" he muttered.

At first I didn't process the question, but then it clicked. I nodded. "Yeah, okay."

His hand moved from my hip under my shirt, where it rested on the same spot, drawing me just a little closer. And this time I allowed it, my nose bumping against his. It didn't help my heartrate that I felt his mind stroking along the edges of my own, not intruding, barely connecting, just there. I had to close my eyes and draw in a deep breath.

"I'd do it again," I whispered and knew he would sense that it was the truth.

A spark of something shot through the vague connection. Want, maybe, admiration, possessiveness. I couldn't really make it out and when I opened my eyes again, his were closer than before, his pupils wide, almost completely devouring the hazel behind them. He swallowed, leaned closer, his breath ghosting over my lips. And then I only heard a growl and he shifted away and upwards, drawing me against his chest so he could rest his chin on top of my head.

My heart raced, fluttering like a butterfly in a storm, accompanied by the gentle touch of his mind. "You know that I can't ever give you back now, right?" he growled against my head, holding me tight against him.

I chuckled, aware of how twisted it was that taking some lifes had made him like me more. And I really couldn't bring myself to care. They were empty faces and in that moment and just for me and me alone they had done enough to deserve their fate. I focussed on that feeling and tried to channel it through our connection. The Master inhaled sharply and his mind vibrated with even more appreciation and some other things I couldn't name.

We stayed like this. Not tired enough to sleep, yet unwilling to move; just bathing in our mind's connection and the warmth of another body and the feeling of hearts beating against each other. I couldn't imagine anything better and we surely would have stayed like that for much longer wouldn't it have been for the sound of the TARDIS materializing in the other room.