And His Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day

And His Heart Grew Three Sizes That Day

Dhawan!Master x Reader

Summary - After everything that happened in the universe, you just wanted a calm Christmas with everyone you cared about, including The Master.

Based On This Request -

Warnings - The Doctor and The Extended Fam being a bit rude, The Master feeling depressed, some suggestive bits, some references to season 12 canon. This is a canon divergent fic - let’s forget that The Power of The Doctor happened for a bit.

Word Count - 4593

A/n - Gender Neutral Reader. Requested by @sessa23. Thank you so much for this request! I really enjoyed writing it, even though it made me emotional. I hope that you enjoy this and have a great Christmas!

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It was almost time for everyone to arrive, and you were dreading the decisions you had made leading up to this day. Even How The Grinch Stole Christmas playing in your living room couldn’t calm you down!

A couple of weeks ago, after The Doctor had brought you, Dan, and Yaz home for the beginning of the holiday season, you had the brilliant idea to host a Christmas dinner for everyone. And your tired, adrenaline and adventure-muddled brain meant everyone, including The Master. 

You had plenty of opportunities to change your mind and not invite The Master or uninvite him even, but you could never bring yourself to do it. Despite how The Master treated The Doctor and The Extended Fam, he tried to treat you with the utmost respect, always. 

You don’t think The Doctor knew, or if she did, she didn’t tell you, but you had texted and written to The Master many times. He initiated contact first. He was supercilious and threatening, with an undertone of flirting, during his first message to you. You knew that he meant to scare you, even though he was probably joking. You didn’t respond to his threat, though. Instead, you asked him where he had found his coat; you declared your desire to have a coat like that, seeing how warm it looked on him. This began a series of communications between the two of you. You talked about everything, including your shared pain of being ignored by The Doctor. 

It was probably dangerous for you to share such personal information with an intergalactic criminal, but you couldn’t stop. The Master just seemed to understand you on a deeper level than The Fam and definitely more than The Doctor ever could.

Things became serious between the two of you, though, when the two of you began calling and face-timing each other. Again, he called you first. You were having a panic attack over something minor in retrospect, and somehow The Master knew and called you to help you. He took your panic very seriously and quickly calmed you down. Now, on top of your regular texts and letters, you and The Master called nearly every night before you, at least, went to bed and sometimes in the morning or throughout the day.

It never seemed to cross your mind why The Master was so attached to you until today. Finally, you realised that he was lonely. You obviously couldn’t assume everything, but after all the conversations you had with The Master, you came to the conclusion that he was, at least, a bit remorseful for the things he did and he just wanted, or needed, someone to want him in return. Maybe he was only remorseful because he had accidentally hurt you in the past because of your closeness with The Doctor. Either way, The Doctor was wrong about him; The Master wasn’t an irredeemable monster. You just hoped that putting The Master in this environment today wouldn’t trigger him. For his sake, you hoped that this Christmas dinner went smoothly.

You were setting up your dining room table for the fourth time when Graham and Ryan arrived at your flat. You were glad that they arrived first. Graham especially always managed to calm you down. He was probably the person you opened up to the most other than The Master. Your relationships between the two obviously weren’t comparable, but Graham was definitely a support person for you. 

After placing some presents under your Christmas tree and putting some food away, Graham helped you organise the table to where it wasn’t so cluttered and busy while Ryan prepared the three of you some drinks.

Dan arrived next, with a bundle of presents under one arm and a stack of tin boxes filled to the brim with homemade cookies in the other. A bag filled with Christmas crackers hung precariously from one of his pinkies.

Yaz arrived with The Doctor, which didn’t surprise you. It seemed to not surprise Dan, Graham and Ryan either, so you were happy to not be the only one to see the obvious connection between the two. The Doctor had brought some alien dish that you were frankly scared to eat, while Yaz made up for that by bringing two large dishes that looked delicious.

You still hadn’t told any of your friends of the other suspected guest, however, The Master still wasn’t there, and it had been about half an hour since he was supposed to arrive. Maybe he wasn’t going to come. If he wasn’t, there was no need to tell your friends that you had invited someone that tried to murder them on multiple occasions to Christmas dinner. You could just enjoy the day with them and stop stressing about losing them as long as they didn’t ask any questions.

“Why do you have an extra seat set up, Y/n?” Yaz asked after the current conversation the six of you were having dried up.

“Oh, I just think that the table looks better that way. If I don’t set up that seat, then it just feels weird.” You lied, but you hoped that no one would question you too much. 

“That makes sense. One of my previous regenerations was like that! You would've gotten along well with him.” The Doctor stated before slurping up the neon green, spindly food of the alien dish she brought.

You were going to ask about The Doctor’s previous regeneration because you loved hearing about her past even though she rarely talked about it, but then there was a knock on your door. You thought it was a neighbour at first, but then three more knocks followed. It was him. The Master actually showed up. 

“Who’s that?” Yaz questioned.

“Maybe carolers?” Dan pondered out loud.

“I’ll get the door! Everyone stay here. Enjoy the meal.” You jumped up from your seat and ran to the door of your apartment. You opened it frantically to see an anxious-looking Master. You had never seen him like that before and worry instantly washed over you.

“Happy Christmas.” You commented in the hope that it might ease his worry, but it did not.

“Yeah, happy Christmas.”

“Are you alright?” You were about to reach out to hold his arm reassuringly, but you decided against it.

“Everyone else is here, aren’t they?”

“Yeah. I didn’t tell them that you were coming, just in case …”

“Just in case I backed out. I’m not The Doctor, love. I don’t do that to the people I care about.”

“Are you ready to meet them or … ?” You cut yourself off when you heard The Doctor shout about what was taking so long.

“I think we should just get the confrontational bit over with. I am starving and I heard that you Humans eat loads at Christmas!” The Master bumped your shoulder reassuringly as he showed himself into your flat. He wanted to try and seem calm for you so as to not worry you more than you clearly already were. He looked around for a bit, fascinated by being in your space and finally seeing how you live. After closing your apartment door and pulling The Master away from sneaking away to look into your bedroom or break into The Doctor’s TARDIS, you lead The Master to your kitchen and to all of your other guests.

“Who was at the door, Y/n? Are we expecting someone else?” You stuttered for a moment, unsure really of what to say. You had not prepared enough for this part of the day. You felt The Master walk up behind you and into the kitchen. You then saw the faces of your friends contort into various forms of fear, disgust, anger and confusion.

“Hello. Happy Christmas, everyone.” The Master gave an awkward wave to your friends as he anxiously shifted back and forth on his feet.

“Y/n, can I speak with you for a moment?” The Doctor asked, but it wasn’t a question. She was already beginning to stand from her chair and walk out of the kitchen.

“Of course, Doctor. Master, you can sit in the open seat next to mine.” The Doctor and the Master glared at each other when they passed. The Doctor felt betrayed that you would invite him here. The Master was just upset that The Doctor was choosing to ruin your holidays with bickering.

“Why did you invite him here, Y/n?” The Doctor asked angrily once the two of you were alone and as far away from your kitchen as possible.

“Because I wanted to.”

“Y/n?”

“Isn’t Christmas a time for forgiveness, Doctor? And besides, no one should be alone on Christmas, including him.” The Doctor sighed as if she were trapped. She understood your position, but she continued to be sceptical of The Master’s motives. But it was Christmas, so maybe he deserved one more chance.

“I don’t like that you’ve done this.”

“Fine, but can we yell at each other later and just enjoy ourselves today?” The Doctor nodded defeatedly. Then you and The Doctor walked back into the kitchen in silence. You could tell from the faces of The Master and your friends that they all heard your conversation, and frankly, you didn’t care. The Master was there for you when you needed him, probably more than The Doctor and The Fam had, and you didn’t care who knew about it.

It was uncomfortably silent while the seven of you ate. This isn’t what you wanted. You don't know why, but every time you imagined today, the seven of you were happy and joking around. No one would be mentioning the Kasaavin or Gallifrey or the Timeless Child; it would just be a fun day between unlikely friends. It was just seven people with a lot of trauma having a bit of fun. But you now thought that to be a naive daydream and you cursed yourself for setting this whole dinner up. 

You felt The Master bump the side of your leg with his knee. You looked over at him. The Master, you could tell, was trying to ask you if you were alright without using telepathy. He knew that The Doctor would have called him out for doing that if he had. You smiled at him before returning to stare at your food. You didn’t want him to know how upset you were.

The atmosphere was still incredibly tense. You racked your brain for a moment about how to salvage the day because the food wasn’t working. But nothing popped into your head. You couldn’t take it anymore. You felt like the day was ruined, that all of your friends were disappointed in you, and that you had forced The Master into a difficult situation for no reason. You needed to get out of this suffocating environment. You stood up abruptly and left the room.

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“What are you doing here?” The Doctor immediately sneered at her best enemy as soon as you had left the room.

“Y/n invited me.”

“You are planning something! I know it! You’ve hypnotised Y/n in order to get closer to us and you are planning something horrible and deadly!”

“I just want to be here because Y/n invited me.”

“No. It’s got to be more than that. Everything you have ever done in your life alludes to you doing something colossal! You would never do anything out of the kindness of your hearts!” The Doctor pointed her finger accusingly before slamming her hand down on the table.

The Master took a deep breath in order to calm himself down after withstanding to The Doctor’s tirade. He wanted to explode on The Doctor; to pull out his TCE and shoot his best enemy in each one of her hearts, but he wouldn’t ruin your Christmas like that. The Master took another deep breath before responding.

“As I stated before, Doctor, if you ever listen, I am here because Y/n invited me. And I didn’t want to disappoint them on Christmas. I’ve heard that holidays during this season of the year are fairly important in Human culture.”

An awkward silence fell over the table. The Doctor was glaring at her companions to back her up for support, but they remained silent. Even though they had been hurt by The Master in the past, and they were currently sceptical of him, but it was Christmas. They just wanted to have a calm and loving holiday season with their friends and families. The Master hung his head low and was wishing for your swift return.

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You initially left the freakishly silent table to just have a breath alone, just in case the tears you were fighting won the battle. You spun around your living room, looking for where you had placed your tissues, and then you caught a glimpse of your Christmas tree, which had many presents beneath it. You grabbed the lot and returned to the kitchen. 

“You don’t have to open them now. I just wanted to give them to you before I forgot. Not to mention that this might defuse some of the tension.” 

You handed each person their presents. The Master did a double take when you initially handed him his present. He didn’t think that he would be included in the majority of the holiday festivities, let alone this one. He held the present carefully, delicately in his lap. He couldn’t stop staring at it as if it were his most prized possession.

The Doctor almost instantaneously seemed to forget her anger towards The Master and immediately opened her present, which didn’t surprise you. But you breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing The Doctor return to her usual childlike self.

“Oh! It’s present time! Amazing. I’ll get my gifts for everyone! Do you want me to get yours, Yaz?” Dan jovially questioned.

“I’ll get mine and The Doctor’s. Ryan? Graham? What about you two?” Yaz responded.

“I’ll get the presents from the both of us, son.” Graham sounded as he joined in the present retrieving.

Once everyone exchanged presents, Graham and Yaz thanked you and tucked their presents away to open up once they got home. You did similarly to them and put your presents under your chair for later. Ryan and Dan, however, followed The Doctor’s lead and opened their presents as soon as their hands were on them, Ryan more rambunctiously so. The Master just continued to stare down at his present in disbelief. He couldn’t remember the last time someone gifted him something. The Master was going to refuse the present and give it back to you because he didn’t deserve it, but then Dan gave a raucous cheer upon opening Graham’s present to him. It was a brand new and expensive wok.

“Y/n relayed your handiwork with a wok.” Graham said, causing Dan to chuckle in response. But unfortunately, silence quickly returned to the table once the gift exchange was over. To your surprise, The Master was the first to speak up.

“I’m sorry that I don’t have anything to give any of you. I’m not particularly knowledgeable about Christmas and its specific traditions, or any holidays around this time of the year really.”

“That’s perfectly fine, Master. I’m just happy that you’re here with all of us.” You smiled at him genuinely.

“Yeah, you not leaving us on a crashing plane is present enough.”

“Graham!”

“I’m sorry. I-”

“There’s no need to apologise. I haven’t exactly been a joy to be around for the majority of you. So, I’m not going to be petty about just retaliation.” The Master spoke sullenly, and it broke your heart. Yes, he hurt The Fam and The Doctor and threatened them, but you could see that he was trying. You just wished that your friends could see that, too. You laid a hopefully reassuring hand on The Master’s shoulder, but then you felt him tense beneath you and saw that all of your friends gave you pointed looks. So, you removed your hand.

Dan then coughed awkwardly. He didn’t know much about The Master’s antics, mostly just what Yaz had told him, and he just wanted to have a good day with his friends. Despite The Doctor’s trepidation and Yaz’s ice-cold stare, Dan saw The Master as a friend because The Master was a friend of yours. Dan also noticed all the trouble you were putting into the event, and he just wanted to try and help you in cheering everyone up.

“I brought some homemade cookies from my parents and some crackers, too.”

“May I join in this festivity?” The Master asked politely as Dan retrieved a tin of cookies for the table. 

“Of course, mate. They’re for everyone.” Dan clapped The Master on the back. You gave The Master a look to not comment and thankfully he just enjoyed the cookies while Dan and Yaz began handing out some Christmas crackers.

Maybe it was the presents or maybe the crackers, or even the cookies, or maybe it was just Dan being friendly and nice as always that helped lighten the general mood of the room. All of you ended up talking about fun things and laughing at random stories. Everyone even enjoyed the stories The Master told. And there was no talk of the bad things that The Master had done in the past, only the fun and funny things. 

Yaz and Ryan opened a couple of bottles of wine, everyone pulled some Christmas crackers. You exchanged prizes and paper crowns and all of you seemed to be thoroughly enjoying yourselves. Everyone in attendance had wide smiles and full stomachs and so many presents and knickknacks to take home.  But unfortunately, the day had to end.

“Despite the  … surprises … I had a brilliant time! Absolutely brilliant.” The Doctor said before giving you a ‘goodbye’ hug.

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“I can’t wait to do this next year!” Ryan excitedly shouted.

“Well, I don’t know about that …” The Doctor muttered softly, but you and The Master both heard.

“Oh, come on, Doc, you just said that you had a good time.” Graham countered as your friends clambered into the TARDIS and said their final goodbyes. The Master, though, hung behind in your apartment for a moment to have a quiet conversation alone with you.

“Thank you for inviting me. You obviously didn’t have to. But I very much appreciate it.” The Master handed you the present you have given him.

“Do you not want it?” You were hurt. You put so much effort into the day and the present. You wanted him to enjoy it and to see how much you cared for him.

“Of course I want it. I just don’t deserve it, Y/n.” You sighed at The Master’s self-deprecation. Thankfully he wasn’t rejecting you, but you hated seeing him this sad. That was part of the point of the present, to cheer The Master up during the holiday season.

“Just take it, Master, please. It’s Christmas.” You forced the present back into The Master’s hands and then tackled him into a hug.

“And take care of yourself, Master.” You kissed The Master's cheek and with that, the two of you said your goodbyes for the day. 

The Master walked away from your flat bittersweetly. He didn’t know how to process the event that just occurred to him. He felt like he experienced a fever dream of a day filled with his wildest dreams and his deepest fears. And he still had a present to open, so the turmoil of emotions he experienced today were likely not finished turning in his brain.

When he arrived in his TARDIS, The Master brought your present out of his bigger-on-the-inside pocket and stared at it again. You were too sweet for your own good. First, you invited him to join you in your Christmas celebrations, then you got him a gift. Unbelievable! It was as if you were begging for The Master to become obsessed with you.

The Master carefully untied the purple bow and carefully unwrapped the wrapping paper in an attempt to not rip it. The Master wouldn’t describe himself as a hoarder, even though other people had, but he wanted to keep every part of this gift to remember it, and your effort and kindness, properly.

You got him a couple of sets of purple and orange socks. He smiled at this. You noticed his proclivity for statement socks. He took one pair out of the box and observed how heavy it was, not like any pair of socks he had before. He wondered if these were some new Human inventions, weighted socks, maybe made for anxiety havers. The Master then looked inside the socks and saw that there was an item inside them. Before discovering what you had hidden inside the pair of socks he first held, he looked into the other pairs you had given him and, like the first pair, you had hidden more gifts in those socks. 

Upon unrolling each pair of socks, The Master found that you had also gifted him a pair of expensive-looking cufflinks, a quaint key chain with a Spotify code of one of his favourite Human songs, “Rasputin”, and a small rubber ducky wearing an “I raided Area 51” shirt. He rolled his eyes at the last gift. He never should have told you that he was actually responsible for that “meme”. Under all of the socks was an illustrated copy of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. If the socks were anything to go by, you hid something in the book. And The Master was correct. In the section where Dorothy’s house flies up into the air because of the tornado, The Master found a letter addressed to him. 

Just like the box, he opened the letter with care. In your handwriting, written by a purple inked pen, you wrote:

Master, 

I never want to intrude when it comes to you and your personal space and needs, but I want you to know that you are always welcome at my flat and in my life. I’m not going to judge you or pressure you or rat you out to The Doctor in any way. I just want you to have someone, and I hope that I could be that someone for you.

I know that things are complicated because of your long history with The Doctor and, more recently, everything revolving around the Kasaavin and Gallifrey. But I have really appreciated all of our communications with each other. I actually felt seen and heard by you, and I hope I made you feel the same way. Maybe I could one day get everyone else to see the softer, more caring and more protective side of yourself that you so often hide. You probably wouldn’t like that, though. But thank you for allowing me to see that side of you. I really do love talking with you, and I appreciate everything you have done for me.

I hope to see you again, preferably in a non-threatening environment. :)

Happy Holidays

Y/n

The Master sighed deeply trying to hold back his tears, but apparently, his emotions won over his resolve. The Master burst into tears. Emotions from decades and centuries that he had pushed down now rose up and flowed through him; his loneliness and isolation all becoming painfully aware to him as he read your letter. You really were the only person he had at this moment, maybe in his entire life. The Master would have to prove his worth to you properly. Get you a coat like his, at the very least.

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You stumbled out of your room, still dizzy from sleep, to answer your door. An incessant knocking woke you up from where you had fallen asleep while watching How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Despite being incredibly drained from the anxiety of the day, you tried to cheer yourself up with some Christmas spirit. You grew incredibly annoyed, however, when there was no one behind your front door. You looked around; no one was down the hall, no one left anything for you, not even a note on the door!

You shut your door, disgruntled, but made your way back to your room. You stopped suddenly in your path, though, upon seeing something previously not there out of the corner of your eye. Under your Christmas tree sat a square, purple box tied up securely in gold ribbon. 

You strode up to the box and investigated it curiously. It looked safe, but you were still cautious.  Before opening the box, you opened the letter, addressed to you, which was placed on top.

My Darling Y/n,

If I had more time to plan, I would gift you something more sufficient in order to repay you for your overly caring nature. Though, I hope that this will make do for the time being. You may find some extra goodies hidden throughout, but I intend to spoil you greatly with many more gifts in the future.

With love,

Your caring Master

Of course, it was The Master! You smiled from ear to ear both because he got you a gift and because he reciprocated your feelings, but also because he opened your present and enjoyed Christmas dinner. 

You carefully, but quickly and excitedly, opened the present The Master had given you. To your wonderment, The Master had gifted you either his purple coat or a coat that looked incredibly similar. You quickly threw the beautifully crafted coat around you, and it instantly warmed you.

You couldn’t help yourself; you were so excited that you had to jump up and down and squeal in pure joy. You then skipped to your full-body mirror and snapped a photo of yourself modelling your Christmas gift.

You sent the picture to The Master, along with the text: ‘I look quite dashing, doncha think? ;)’

The Master instantly peered down at his Human phone, which he kept in order to communicate with you, as soon as he received your message. He smirked and then sent back a reply.

‘Incredibly so! Dare I say, dashing enough to conquer the Universe?’

‘I wouldn’t go that far. I was thinking more of a sexy stranger at a cosy bar…’ You removed your sleep shirt before putting the coat back on, revealing a good portion of your chest. You also moved to take the picture in your bathroom mirror instead in order to hide your Christmas pyjama pants.

‘You absolutely fit that role to a T, love! I hope to see you in that environment and in  that coat in the future.’

‘Oh, you will, Master.’

‘Good. ;) Now be a good little Human and get to bed. It might be Christmas, but you must go to bed at a reasonable time.’ You rolled your eyes at his protective nature, but you knew that he was right.

‘Only if you get a good night’s sleep, too, Master.’

‘That coat must have given you my talent for finagling and manipulation, love.’

‘Nope! That was all you!’

‘The Doctor would be horrified’

‘Let her be.’ The Master genuinely smiled down at his phone and the conversation he was having with you. You were so special to him. He didn’t need gifts or Christmas dinner or flirty texts, even, The Master just needed you in his life. You were the best Christmas present The Master could have asked for.

‘Happy Christmas, Y/n!’

‘Happy Christmas, Master!’