best_enemies | REC: "These Days," by Aces

This is the third of my three recs, and I've taken advantage of the guidelines that say one rec out of three doesn't have to be a 'ship fic. The Doctor/Master relationship is central to this story, but it's not exactly 'shippy in the usual sense.

Pairing: Gen, but with subtext for Theta/Koschei and (in the second section) for Eighth Doctor/Fitz Kreiner. The latter is handled in a way that I don't think will be too bothersome even for Doctor/Master OTP-ers.
Length: about 2500 words
Warnings: None
Author on LJ:

wishfulaces
Author website: None that I know of, but her Doctor Who stories are available here on Teaspoon.
Why this must be read: "These Days" juxtaposes two moments from the Doctor's life, the first during his academy days, the second during the Eighth Doctor era. (Knowledge of the Eighth Doctor Adventures novels is helpful in reading this story, but not absolutely necessary; all you need to know is that the Doctor, at this point, has amnesia and doesn't remember any of his previous incarnations except in flashes that he doesn't understand.) Contrasting these two days (the first of which also ties into the Third Doctor story "The Time Monster") creates a lovely, bittersweet meditation on selfhood, memory, and the shaping power of love.

Excerpt:

Koschei hadn’t really liked the idea of breaking out originally, but now he could definitely see its merits. Even if when they got back Lord Borusa made them clean out every single chronon scrubber in every single TARDIS with their bare hands. Which he would do, too, if he discovered they’d left the Capitol.

Koschei sighed and drained his beer. He set the bottle down, noticing one last little white wildflower left in the grass. He couldn’t remember what they were called. He grinned to himself and plucked the flower.

As quietly as he could manage, he crept closer to his friend. The breeze had dropped, the sun as well, leaving them in near-darkness but for a shaft of brilliant red light across the horizon, opposite the mountains. Theta looked darker in this light, darker and more solid than he had looked for days.

It would be a shame to wake him, really.

That didn’t mean Koschei wasn’t going to enjoy doing it anyway.

Link: "These Days" is here at the author's LJ.