#or any of the other companiona

[argetcross]

I did this BG3 Tav interview meme from twitter for Keres!

[x-neurodivergent-reader]

Headcanons: Dhawan!Master with a touch-averse companion

A/N: Hi! This is a new blog, dedicated to writing fics with neurodivergent reader inserts! I’m just focusing on autistic!readers right now, but am planning to expand to other neurodivergences in the future. This post was supposed to have headcanons for the 13th Doctor as well as the Master, but this ended up getting a bit long, so I’ll upload the Doctor’s separately once I finish them. My writing’s a little rusty, but I hope you enjoy this!

The reader here is gender-neutral.

Content warnings: Death mentions (...come on, it’s the Master), one mention of a meltdown.

The Master is more able to handle physical contact than the Doctor, but there are a lot less instances in which he'd actually allow it.

In any case, when you first fliched as he got a little too close to you while explaining his plans, it was shortly after he’d kidnapped you invited you into his TARDIS. He just assumed that it was because you were scared of him. He grinned to himself, thinking that he could use that to exert some control over you.

When he saw you react similarly to others trying to touch you, however, he realised that it wasn't just him. He had found it a little disappointing at the time, but now he's just relieved.

He had grown to genuinely like you - not that he'd admit it - so he would be more disappointed if he'd thought you were still intimidated by him now, even though he doesn't get into your personal space much anymore.

And, finally, you know what else is disappointing to him?

The fact that you won't let him use the TCE on anyone who gets too close to you.

"I saw how they made you feel back there, just let me-"

"Master, I said no."

He might still use it behind your back at first, but he grows to respect your wishes more over time.

Instead, he comes up with some rather... unique reasons to tell people why they shouldn't get into your personal space.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you - their skin is toxic to your species."

"Their species melts when exposed to body heat - bones and all."

"Oof - you're lucky they didn't explode, there. It's a defence mechanism for when they feel their group is in danger - this is the 8th human I've had because of it."

You can't always tell whether you find this hilarious or disturbing, but at least it does the job.

Aside from that, when you two have to separate to achieve one of his goals, the Master will often have you do something that doesn't involve being too close to other people, if possible.

It's often behind-the-scenes things, when he trusts that you won't get caught. Anything where nobody is likely to get into your personal space, and especially nothing where they'd do it enough to lead you into a meltdown.

For all his flaws, he genuinely does value your safety, so he always makes sure that you'll be all right.

If you become more comfortable with physical contact over time...

The first time you let him touch you was when the two of you were trying to run back to his TARDIS during an especially dangerous - and borderline traumatic - adventure. You were starting to fall behind, so he grabbed your hand to help you keep up.

"It's OK", he said, as he noticed the surprised expression on your face, "we'll be back soon!"

Once you were inside, he immediately let go, running to the console to get you both out of there.

Afterwards, he was trying his hardest to figure out how to apologise to you without directly apologising to you, when he saw you start to approach him. You spoke before he could think of what to say.

"Can I ask you something?" You were fiddling with the hem of your shirt, and the Master wondered why you were so nervous. Was it really that bad for you...?

"Go on."

"Would it be OK if I hugged you?"

He looked back at you with wide eyes - not because he was opposed, necessarily, since the two of you had known each other for quite a while at this point. It was more because it had caught him very off-guard.

He hasn't hugged anyone in years - and never in this body, as far as he could recall - so the idea of doing it with you had his mind racing with different thoughts and feelings about the idea.

Were you being serious? How does he go about this? What if he did it wrong and made you uncomfortable again?

When you sighed and apologised, he realised that he had been thinking about it for too long. He mentally tried to convince himself that it wasn't a big deal, before sighing dramatically, stopping you in your tracks.

"Ugh, fine." He said, holding out his arms unenthusiastically. "But make it quick."

When you approached him again, reluctantly wrapping your arms around his shoulders, it felt like his mind couldn't comprehend all the feelings rushing into it.

Whether it was because he hadn't been touched like this in so long, or because it was coming from you, he couldn't help savouring it, no matter how much he tried not to.

Despite supposedly being the one who wanted to make it brief, when he relaxed and embraced you back, he felt like he never wanted to let you go.