Twelve/Missy

You may be looking for a different Doctor/Master pairing; see The Doctor/The Master.

Pairing
Pairing:	Twelfth Doctor/Missy
Alternative name(s):	Twissy
Gender category:	M/F
Fandom:	Doctor Who
Canonical?:
Prevalence:
Archives:
Other:	thank you by doreline (2015)
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Twelve/Missy is the pairing of the Twelfth Doctor and Missy aka The Master from Doctor Who fandom. Works pairing Twelve with other regenerations of the Master also appear, but they are rarer.

Canon

The Master played by Michelle Gomez makes no secret of her feelings for the Doctor, and openly calls him her "boyfriend". She conceals her identity at first, calling herself "Missy" (short for Mistress), until he finally encounters her in the middle of her base of operations. She pretends to be a robot and, in this persona, snogs him senseless up against a wall. The Master then pulls the Doctor's hand to her chest, making him feel her double heartbeat. He soon acknowledges that she's a Time Lady, and she tells the Doctor that she's "the one you abandoned [...] the one you left behind."

It's also revealed that the Master carefully manipulated situations so that the Doctor's companion, Clara Oswald, and the Doctor would meet.

Identity revealed, the Doctor panics, realizing that the Cybermen army patrolling the Earth is completely under her command. However, said army turns out to be her birthday gift to him, in an attempt to restore their friendship. By making the Doctor in charge of an army, she hopes that he will see that they're not so different. The moment triggers an epiphany in the Doctor — the realization that he truly is just "an idiot, with a box and a screwdriver". The Doctor kisses the Master in joy, to thank her for making him realize this once again.

Clara attempts to kill the Missy for everything she's done, but the Doctor won't let her - he wants the burden of this murder to fall on him, not on Clara. Missy demands that the Doctor "say something nice" before he executes her, and the Doctor tells her, in defeat, that she wins (meaning that, in killing her, he is like her). However, before he can go through with it, the Master is disposed of by the Cyber-converted corpse of the Brigadier (see Third Doctor era).

In Series 9, Missy has been left the Doctor's last will and testament, and recruits Clara to find him, and upon doing so, are taken to Skaro. Missy kills a Dalek and forces Clara into the empty case, then almost tricks the Doctor into executing Clara. The Doctor, enraged at Missy, tells her to run.

In Series 10, the Doctor is revealed to have spent the last 70 years as a professor at the university of Bristol because he has sworn to guard a vault containing Missy. The Doctor had been called to oversee her execution, but instead he saved her. He did hold on to his oath to guard her body for a 1000 years, however, and brought her to Bristol inside the unbreakable vault. Over the years he had tried to rehabilitate her, to make her 'good', and after she helped her when a misbehaving Tardis stranded him on Mars, he allowed her to leave the vault and accompany him on his trips. By the end of the series Missy was a part of Team Tardis, travelling with the Doctor and his other two companions Bill Potts and Nardole.

To teach Missy to become more like himself, the Doctor sent her to answer a distress call on a space ship with Bill and Nardole, but things went wrong when Bill was seemingly killed and her body taken away by creatures terrorizing the ship. As the ship was caught near a black hole, time moved in different speeds at the opposite ends of the ship, meaning that by the time Missy and the Doctor came to rescue Bill, 10 years had passed for her. In that time she'd made friends with a man eventually revealed to be the Simm!Master in disguise. He had been building an army of Cybermen, and turned Bill into one just before the Doctor could rescue her, and then persuaded Missy to betray the Doctor as well. The Doctor himself becomes gravely injured, and began to regenerate (though he was able to hold it back by sheer will). The Doctor begged the Master and Missy to help him save the last remaining survivors on the ship, but they both seemingly refused and left to escape alone. Missy, however, stabbed her former self, telling him that she was going to stand with the Doctor instead. He retaliated by shooting her, and Missy was left for dead as the Master began to regenerate into her.

Fandom

With Missy revealed to be The Master, Doctor/Master became a het pairing for the first time in its very long history, opening a whole new dynamic to the characters' complex relationship.

There was early discussion and complaints about Missy's depiction in fanfiction (but also in canon), as not been in keeping with Timelord lore or the Master's traditional characterization. Some fans noticed gender stereotypes creeping into the depiction of this pairing in fanfiction; with Missy overly concerned with her appearance, the fact she is middle aged and acting more submissive in her interactions with the Doctor.

Fans noticed an influx of new writers, often with little knowledge of previous D/M pairings. This is a common complaint in DW fandom. However this time, fans noticed that many of these new writers were traditionally het shippers and this iteration of the ship had not encouraged slash shippers to return to the pairing.

So, here are some general sourpuss (caveat: I'm not v squeeful about this, so be warned!) observations about Twelve/Gomez!Master fic what I have read:

• there's not that MUCH of it. I sort of expected there'd be more?
• the bulk of it is by people I don't know, who seem to have come in from het ships or from Marvel (no problem there, just makes for a different developmental arc than if it was like older D/M people, revived!! or something) (more on this later)
• it's not very interested in Classic beyond some glancing references--it doesn't feel like it comes out of that
• a lot of it FEELS like early Ten/Simm!Master fic, tonally and in its preoccupations
• lighter on the BDSMy quality than ten/simm!master was as a whole, but some power dynamics stuff
• it's often not very funny--the atmosphere is often kind of--stale and sad?
• except Twelve seems super tired and not into it, and Gomez!Master EXTRA NEEDY in a way that makes me kind of uncomfortable, given how tied in that is with her femininity/Moffat Women

Some fans felt that debates about Missy's characterization diminished over time, and Twelve and Missy's pairing proved to provide some of the most in depth canon for the Doctor x Master ship in years.

Through series' 9 and 10, the ship became vastly popular with established Doctor/Master shippers, knowing that every intimate moment between the two technically meant all other pairings of the ship were having them too. The series 10 arc of Missy genuinely wanting to become "good" and eventually traveling with the Doctor in the TARDIS caused much delight, along with fanfic ranging from heavy angst and character studies to crack fics involving the TARDIS team at the time. Another popular fanfic trope included the often soft "Vault fics", depicting what might've happened during the many years Missy was imprisoned by the Doctor in the Vault.

Common Tropes & Themes

• Sex with a female body: there are many fics where the Doctor helps Missy explore what sex is like for them in a female body, sometimes with Missy telling the Doctor that they saved this experience to share with the Doctor.
• Vault fics: In DW season 10, the reveal that Missy was in the Vault and the Doctor was endeavouring to turn her 'good', led to several fluffier fics, more in keeping with Classic Who than New Who. These works are often referred to as Vault fics. Fics where the Mistress helps the Doctor in his efforts to save the planet, still involve considerable bickering, and some indiscriminate murder much to the Doctor's dismay.
• Dom/sub: popularly with Missy as a dom and the Doctor being a sub. Although, you can rarely find the dynamic reversed.
• Missy's Cameo Broach: in series 8 and 9 Missy wore a cameo broach at their neck. In fanworks the broach is usually more than just a broach, it is made of out of special material or can be used as a weapon, and some theorize that it was taken from Missy when she became a prisoner in series 10 for these reasons. it is also not unusual have the broach be a gift from the Doctor to the Master from one of their previous incantations.
• Fobwatch Fic: a canon concept where Timelords store their memories in pocket watches and live human lives. In Twelve/Missy stories with this concept they will often end up in a romantic relationship, sometimes married, having no memories of their previous antagonism. These stories can have bittersweet or tragic endings where they realize their happiness wasn't real or can not continue. Although, on rare occasions, this is turned on its head, and the fobwatch period will make Twelve and Missy realize their feelings for each and that they want to be together.
• Human AU: although somewhat less common, you can find alternative universes where Twelve and Missy have always been human. Stories usually follow the premise that they were childhood friends and then started a romantic relationship as adults, them being divorced is also quite common. Having one or both of them working in academia, such as being professors, is also a common trope in these stories, as nod to Twelve being a professor in series 10 of the show. Twleve's name in human AUs can be "John Smith" his common cover name from canon, but Theodore and and Theo are also popular choices, perhaps because of "T" being the first letter of name, matching with the "T" in Twelve. Missy is often given the last names Saxon or Tremas, both names connected to the Master's past.
• Threesome: the most popular choice for a third partner being Clara Oswald. Although, there was also a little bit of selfcest type fic involving Simm!Master/Missy/Twelve after they all met canonically at the end of series 10.

Fanworks

Examples Wanted: Editors are encouraged to add more examples or a wider variety of examples.

Fanfiction

• once upon time in nazi-occupied france by yonderdarling, This is an idea they've had before, it's just the first time they've both been able to consider it. The Doctor and Missy try travelling together.
• Minimum Viable Population by yonderdarling, A very serious scientific fanfic about the nature of biology.
• locked in orbit by yonderdarling, How to become the Mistress, how to be the Mistress, how to control the Master and how to be a husband and wife when you're the last of your kind and mortal enemies.
• Visiting the Vault by ellymelly, Visiting Missy in the Vault can be quite a risk.
• at every pore with instant fires by yonderdarling, For, Lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate.
• All Fall Down by evilqueenofgallifrey (MayFairy), The Master is not stoic, and the Doctor is not nice. But the one thing he never thought he'd do is make her cry.
• Take Control of My Whole Body by evilqueenofgallifrey (MayFairy), Bill might be too sensible to actually go for weird alien villainesses, possibly reformed or otherwise, but that doesn't mean they aren't capable of making her have multiple gay heart attacks. (Season 10 Team TARDIS Crack Fic)
• the jungian and the restless by yonderdarling, Bill has exactly one regret with regards to traveling in the TARDIS with the Doctor, Nardole, and Missy. (Another Crack Fic)
• Make it Better by Thranduil_is_a_bitchking, 'Please,' he begs her. Please what? Please be alive? Please get better? Please let me be better? Make me better. Make it better.

Vids

• Battlescars by ellymellyvids

Archives and Communities

• Twelfth Doctor/Missy works on Ao3
• Tumblr tags: twissy twelvemissy