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Cultivation was always fascinating to Wei Wuxian. Yet, it was limited in how much was taught because of how dangerous it had become throughout the years. Now, most of it was strictly through mechas. Unless you were strong enough to control such raw power (which most weren’t.) It only led Wei Wuxian to dive head first into books and scriptures that were kept away from the public eye. He even had Nie Huaisang help him out, who kept repeating “Ah, Wei-xiong I don’t feel like being caught! Who knows what da-ge would do if he found out—“ and Wei Wuxian only reassured him that no one would find out. Except Jiang Cheng, of course. Who thankfully did not tell anyone due to Nie Huaisang clinging to him and begging for what seemed like hours on end. Wei Wuxian could still hear Huaisang's wailing to this very day.
Wei Wuxian was not a mecha pilot, but he was a mechanic. Which meant he did have access to mechas, but they were not his. So technically, he was not supposed to mess with them in any way, shape, or form. Or he would risk losing his job for life. He had to find someone who would let him mess with their mechas. Someone who. . .would not mind or would fall for his "I just want to test something out!" If that would even work. Wei Wuxian doubts it would. He had tried asking Jiang Cheng, who just said 'no' before he even finished talking. Nie Huaisang was not a mecha pilot nor mechanic. Therefore, he was out of ideas on who to bother until he recalled that Lan Zhan was a mecha pilot.
Reaching Gusu was exhausting, but Wei Wuxian carried a few books and had one question to answer. In every town he stayed in, he would look over his notes and maybe write a few more. He even had to purchase more ink. Each page in the book he carried, which was not many, was almost filled with diagrams and text. Being a mechanic certainly had its upside, as he knew the inter-mechanisms of such an intricate piece of machinery. Now all he had to do was guess how such a flow of more powerful cultivation would work.
When he finally arrived in Caiyi he was debating just turning back and forfeiting but decided against it. He had traveled all this way, after all, leaving now would be such a waste.
He lingered in the city and hoped that Lan Zhan would for some reason be in the city. Dreading having to walk to the Cloud Recesses. After a few cups of wine, he thought himself ready mentally and headed out to attempt and find Lan Zhan. It was in the outskirts of the town, closer to the path that led to the Cloud Recesses that he found Lan Zhan and thanked all the gods above. He ran over to him, cheerfully as always.
“Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan!” Wei Wuxian ran up to Lan Zhan, catching his flowing sleeve and tugging him back.
Lan Zhan gradually stopped in his steps and turned his head ever so slightly to get a look at Wei Wuxian. He didn’t say anything but that only made Wei Wuxian a tad nervous.
“Wanna try something?”
Their eyes met. “What do you have planned?”
A mischievous grin spread across Wei Wuxian’s face as he finally let go of Lan Zhan’s sleeve. Now he stood beside him. “Oh you know—I had this thing that I wanted to try. Nothing much.” He pulled out a few loose papers from one of the books. He showed them to Lan Zhan, who only knit his brows together and looked up from the notes at Wei Wuxian.
“This is not allowed.”
“Ah, my dear Lan Zhan, I know! That is why it’s so fun.” Wei Wuxian held back a laugh. “Don’t you find it thrilling?”
“This is dangerous.” Lan Zhan’s tone was cold, maybe more so than usual. He looked as serious as ever. "Death is possible."
Wei Wuxian grimaced, well, that was one way to list the risks. He always knew the risks of dealing with dangerous levels of cultivation. All the books and scrolls he had read mentioned this, some of them half-finished because of the author's death. He knew how dangerous this was. Finally, Wei Wuxian shook his head, "No, no! I know what I'm doing. Don't you remember? I'm a mechanic!"
"Mm."
"Would you...let me work on your mecha?"
"If Wei Ying wishes."
Wei Wuxian gaped up at him, not expecting that to be so easy. "Uh, okay. Where is it?"
Lan Zhan motioned Wei Wuxian to follow him and they were off, to the Cloud Recesses. With each step that Wei Wuxian took he grew excited. Finally, his theories could be put to the test and he had a willing subject. Well, he had someone who willingly trusted him to mess about with their mecha's interior. The walk wasn't as bad as Wei Wuxian thought, they went to the side of the mountain, not to the top or behind. Here was where some of the mechas were stored. Wei Wuxian learned that Lan Zhan had both a walker and a flying model.
He stared up in awe at both of the mechas that Lan Zhan showed him. Their color was the same white as the Gusu Lan robes with hints of blue and hand-painted patterns of clouds on the cold metal. The craftsmanship of each was incredible. Every piece seemed carefully thought out in where it went and how it looked. He walked around the mecha, observing it more. He wanted to get a better feel of its design and how it was meant to work. Imaging the initial concepts, he opened up his book and stared at pages upon pages of his ideas. Wei Wuxian glanced up at the mecha before him from time to time.
"What will you do?"
Wei Wuxian looked up from his notes at Lan Zhan, who was looking right at him. "Huh, oh. I just want to look into the core of the mecha, the main battery source."
Lan Zhan seemed to want to say so much, or at least that was what Wei Wuxian thought. He wasn't that good at reading Lan Zhan. It was far too difficult. "As long as you're safe," he finally said. Wei Wuxian grinned.
"Don't worry Lan Zhan! I'm an expert."
Lan Zhan nodded, "I will leave you be, I will be back later."
Being alone was boring, but the quiet would help him concentrate at the very least. When he no longer heard Lan Zhan was when he realized he had forgotten to ask for tools and scrambled after him. "Lan Zhan! Wait!! I need tools—"
He must have heard him because he turned around and walked back from where he came from. "I will get those for Wei Ying." He walked off again, and Wei Wuxian just stood there and waited for the tools. He had walked back to the mechas and sat around until Lan Zhan appeared again. He set a box down with a huff. He thanked Lan Zhan with a smile before he left again. Now it was quiet, but at least Wei Wuxian had the tools to work on the mecha.
Starting with the front center piece he worked on getting the metal off so he could see the components inside.
It was going fairly well. Wei Wuxian thought it almost felt like a routine fix of a mecha. Well besides the fact that when he reached the main core of the mecha. A tank, not too big but not too small. Almost acting as the battery for the mecha, the main source of any cultivation allowed besides those that got high enough to possess a bit of its power. A few talismans were allowed, but that was not what Wei Wuxian wanted. He reached his hand deep into the mecha, careful with the components around until his hand touched the cool metal. Grinning, he used his other hand to push around the components that surrounded the main source. Not scared anymore, he dug around recklessly.
He only saw the spark because of how little light shone through. Wei Wuxian's eye widened but he thought nothing of it. It was just one, minute little spark that had not happened once before. Mainly when he was first training, but nothing had come of it. It was just a small spark.
It was easy for things to go spiraling down when such a little mistake happened, this is why training to do such a job was vigorous and extensive.
When a louder spark spooked Wei Wuxian, he fell back against the ground with a thud. Looking up at mecha wide-eyed.
“It’s okay! It’s okay, I know—I know how to fix this,” he was panicking. His fingers were shaking, unsure what to do.
The flames are growing, and his face feels warm from its warmth. The wires and integrated components were creating noises they shouldn't. Wei Wuxian didn't think his eyes could grow wider until a spark flew right at him, so he jumped back and lost his footing until Lan Zhan caught him by the arm. How would he explain it to anyone? Especially to Lan Zhan, who trusted him with his mecha. A mecha of this high value and craftsmanship.
He looked over at Lan Zhan, yet he couldn't read his expression, it appeared the same as ever. His lips formed a thin line and his eyes were focused on the ever-growing fire as they had nothing to try and stop it. It would be too risky anyway. "I don't know what went wrong," Wei Wuxian released himself from Lan Zhan's hold and scrambled to grab at his notes which littered the floor. He grew distraught as the fire expanded from the torso to the limbs. He was going to grab another paper when he heard yelling behind him, he turned his head so quickly it hurt. Seeing Lan Qiren climb down the steps and rush towards them did not bring peace to Wei Wuxian. Lan Xichen was striding behind him. "Haha... Lan Zhan, look who arrived." Wei Wuxian poorly hid the notes behind his back.
His mind was foggy and his heart was racing, not paying attention to anyone or anything. Except for the fact that he couldn’t let Lan Qiren take a peek at his notes. He shoved the papers under his sash as if that would keep them secure and away from prying eyes. Wei Wuxian held out his hands in front of him, as casually as he could. The fire was going out anytime soon without more help.
Lan Qiren approached them with a stern look on his face. His lips formed a long thin line across his face, yet it looked like he had much to say. He looked between Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan, who Wei Wuxian completely forgot was there. Lan Xichen finally caught up with an almost sorry look on his face.
"Wangji, what happened?" Lan Xichen spoke first, and his voice was as reassuring as usual. He looked between the both of them.
"Xiongzhang, shufu," Lan Zhan bowed politely. "Wei―”
Wei Wuxian stepped out in front of Lan Zhan, "Aiyo, it was me, I made Lan Zhan show me his mecha because I wanted to see something. I didn't tell him what." His eyes cast down. "Something in my plans went wrong..."
"Plans?" Lan Xichen inquired, looking solely at Wei Wuxian.
You could tell that Lan Qiren wanted to say something as his face was becoming red. Then he eventually did. "You―!" Wei Wuxian tried to avoid his gaze, but it was inevitable. "You dare drag Wangji into this!"
Lan Zhan spoke up behind him, "Shufu, I let him."
A few junior disciples arrived and set out to put the fire out. The fire wasn't massive yet, but Wei Wuxian was certain if they let it go on any longer it would have spread throughout Gusu.
“I best be off now anyway,” Wei Wuxian ducked his head, trying to walk away before he heard Lan Xichen call out. Followed soon after by Lan Qiren who sounded so outraged. He cursed quietly and slowly turned around. “I promise I’ll make up for it! Ah…Uhm.”
This leads to Wei Wuxian having been sent back to where he came from, they didn’t dare let him touch another mecha. No matter how much he had promised to fix the last one and possibly even make a new, better one. Lan Xichen at least was much nicer about it than old man Lan. He was halfway down the damned mountain when he heard footsteps behind him. He thought it would be some animal passing by, they were that light, but soon Lan Zhan caught up to him.
“Lan Zhan.”
“Mm, Wei Ying. I forgive you.” Lan Zhan looked down, their eyes didn’t meet but Wei Wuxian smiled at him anyway.
“It’s alright! I did uh, learn a bit from it which helps me next time I try this—granted anyone is dumb enough to let me try.”
Lan Zhan finally met his gaze. “Wei Ying is welcome to try with mine again.”
Wei Wuxian laughed at this, his eyes crinkling at the corners. Even after setting fire to his mecha and making it possibly lose all of its spiritual power, Lan Zhan is still willing to let him test out more of his outrageous ideas. “Oh…do you have my notes? I was checking them and I lost one.”
Lan Zhan took out a folded paper and handed it to him. “Shufu did not notice it, the junior disciples found it.” The paper was partially burnt at a corner and dirt was smudged on it but it still was kind of eligible.
“Thank you! I’ll be back another day hopefully.” He pocketed the paper with the others and hoped he would be able to create a new copy. He should have probably thought this through but it was too late to regret anything now.
But he didn’t go back to where he came from. He stayed in Caiyi and surveyed the whole area. Bought a few extra parts and bought more paper to scribble all his ideas on. Part of him wished he had brought a communicator to let others know he would be back late and extend his stay. Yet he quickly forgot about that when a crash was heard in the distance. The furniture in the inn he stayed at shook lightly and caused him to look up, immediately going to the window. He saw smoke quite far off so he ran outside and went to investigate. Not even thinking of bringing anything until he was already on the scene.
It was the same flying model he had seen not too long ago so he immediately went to check if the passenger was okay. Come to find out, there were no passengers. Everyone was confused. Wei Wuxian looked around until he stopped him. Lan Zhan stood out in the crowd. His outfit was pristine and elegant yet not exaggerated to allow for comfortable control of the mechas.
“Lan Zhan! Lan Zhan! What happened, did it go rouge or somethin’?”
Lan Zhan cast his eyes downward to the mecha. Wei Wuxian couldn’t follow his gaze.
“Lan Zhan?”
“Tried what you did.”
“Huh…,” Wei Wuxian tried to stifle his laugh, imagining the look on Lan Qiren’s face when he finds out. “No way, did you study mechanics too? I thought you were only a pilot…”
“I did not.”
“Lan Zhan! That’s much more dangerous than what I did, but um… your mecha isn’t that much in bad shape I think I can fix it.” Wei Wuxian looked back to the plane. Most of the damage was to the right wing, the back was a bit scratched. The glass held up pretty well. It wasn’t a strong impact by the looks of it. “Wait…if you’re out here, unharmed. Who…was flying it?”
“No one.” Wei Wuxian turned back to look at Lan Zhan in shock. Lan Zhan only looked back at him with the same look as always, it was hard to tell what he was thinking.
“Lan Zhan! Do you know what this means?” He grabbed at Lan Zhan’s sleeve, a grin on his face. “It means I was slightly wrong but that’s—not what matters, what matters is that you have made a grand scientific discovery! Were you controlling it? Maybe spiritual energy is still within us, no longer should we have to—“
“Wei Ying, it’s too dangerous.” Lan Zhan was quiet and Wei Wuxian presumed it was because of how many people were looking at them now.
“Haha—Uhm, let's talk about this privately later. Now, to fix your mecha.”
Lan Zhan hummed in agreement and with the help of a few pedestrians, they got the mecha out of the small ditch it had created. It was almost like a crater but far too shallow. Thankfully, it was not crashed near the city so no one was harmed. Only in the outskirts, closer to the forest. The people left slowly one by one as they had lost interest. The only two people left were Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan.
“Nie Huaisang is gonna regret not coming with me.” Lan Zhan didn’t say anything but only looked at Wei Wuxian. “He didn’t want to get caught doing any of this even though he did talk to Jiang Cheng about it for so long.” Wei Wuxian shook his hands, “that’s not the point. We need to fix your plane now. Don’t worry I’m an—oh, I don't have tools.”
“I will fetch Wei Ying tools.” Lan Zhan had walked off before Wei Wuxian could stop him. Only blinking at where Lan Zhan once stood.
When Lan Zhan returned with a box that seemed like far more tools than he would ever need, he smiled. Thanking him before taking the box and setting it down. He rummaged through until he found his favorite tools. He set on working on the mecha, taking off the parts that were too damaged to be refurbished as carefully as he could. Asking Lan Zhan to find replacement parts, and telling him what to look for, Lan Zhan brought him several kinds anyway.
The sun had set when Wei Wuxian was finally finished. Wiping the sweat on his forehead with a dry cloth before wiping off his hands. He turned to Lan Zhan, “Ta-da, good as new. Your uncle won’t even know!”
“Mm, Wei Ying is very skilled in his field.”
“Aiyo, you flatter too much. Jiang Cheng says that Nie Huaisang probably does better than me—the audacity! Nie Huaisang didn’t even finish his studies as I did!” He pouted before remembering that maybe Jiang Cheng only said that because it earned him a bright smile from Nie Huaisang. Who hid behind his fan despite Wei Wuxian knowing that he bathed in such high praise just like Jiang Cheng. “You are a very skilled pilot too! I have seen you fly before, especially with these complicated designs.”
“Thank you. Wei Ying should design one for me to fly.“
Wei Wuxian snickered at the thought of anyone letting him design a whole mecha, “Do you trust me that much? I’m not really the best designer, only a builder with an emphasis on repairs.”
“Wei Ying could do anything he wishes.”
“Enough of this, for now, you’re flattering me too much!” He pats Lan Zhan’s shoulder. “How do we get your mecha back to the Cloud Recesses.”
Getting the mecha back to where it was supposed to be, which was a storage facility, especially for the mechas, was much simpler than Wei Wuxian would have thought. When it was finally sealed away Wei Wuxian clapped his hands together.
“I think that’s all for now, but ah, I do want to continue experimenting later.”
“You are welcome to visit again for that,” Lan Zhan gave him a smile. It was small, barely noticeable.
“Really?”
“Of course. Wei Ying is welcome anytime he wishes.”
Wei Wuxian would take him up on his offer. He didn’t count how long it was since that incident that he showed up in Gusu again. This time he prepared, carrying a bag of his own personal tools and had done research this whole time. He had Nie Huaisang help him dig through a few books, even Jiang Cheng had helped them for an evening. Jiang Cheng’s notes were the worst, hardly illegible characters with how quickly he had been writing. Only when Nie Huaisang had told him to go slower was when he wrote slightly better. Ignoring how Nie Huaisang had promised to teach him how to write better, in private.
It didn’t take too long for Wei Wuxian to “sneak” into the Cloud Recesses, where Lan Zhan found him. He dragged Lan Zhan back to the city. Explaining to him the new discoveries he had found. It would even be possible for him to publish a study, how exciting! Although he was questioning if he should actually go ahead and do so because of how dangerous it would be if someone inexperienced messed about with these mechas and spiritual energy. The three of those things were an awful combination.
“Look, here.” Wei Wuxian pointed to a diagram he had drawn on one of his papers. Messy but illegible scrawl next to it with a few arrows. Lan Zhan looked intently at the papers and Wei Wuxian wondered if he actually understood it. “We’ll build a mecha from scratch and try to incorporate the energy as we build not after, and if it works, you can keep it! Sweet deal, right?”
Lan Zhan nodded. “It would be an honor to own a mecha Wei Ying built.”
“We’ll even customize it! With all these neat little designs.”
Wei Wuxian severely underestimated how difficult it was to build a mecha from scratch but he had Lan Zhan to help him! Mostly with finding parts and getting paint. Lan Zhan mostly watched him as he worked from what Wei Wuxian could tell. He would sit in a chair not too far away and almost looked like he was admiring Wei Wuxian's work. When he got the main core, the battery component Wei Wuxian nervously attempted several methods to mess with the energy. Nothing happened the first few times, until the last time he tried, he heard a small spark. His eyes widened, scared another fire would start until he was pushed back and fell to the ground on his bottom. Lan Zhan swiftly went to him, asking if he was okay. Wei Wuxian nodded and stood up with the help of Lan Zhan. Hoping no one had heard them. It was a miracle no one had, especially with the no loud noises rule in the Cloud Recesses.
Thinking that he had successfully messed about with the spiritual energy he looked back at his notes. It took a few days to finally finish the mecha. It wasn't until they were almost done that Wei Wuxian noticed something was off about himself, but he didn’t say anything. He was probably just tired.
Now that the boring part was over it was time for the fun part—the paint job!
Although he did side-eye Lan Zhan when he said pure white was what he wanted. He had convinced Lan Zhan to let him hand paint a few designs so he grinned and got his brushes and paint. He painted a rabbit on one of the wings, it was a light blue. Lan Zhan saw this and drew his own rabbit, this one was grey.
“Awh, look at them. Glad to know you still like rabbits, Lan Zhan, haha. What else do you like? What did you name your rabbit?”
“Wei Ying.”
“Haha, I know I know, I’ll be quiet now. But I think the one I drew should be Hanguangjun, because it looks like you, in your Lan pilot robes.”
“Wei Ying’s robes are also very nice.”
Wei Wuxian pouted, “But look at me! I’m covered in dirt and sweat, not very flattering. Also, these are my mechanic’s robes! Just wait until I wear something that makes me look incredible.”
“I can wait.”
“Aiyo! So brazen, and you call me shameless. Is this how you talk to those poor maidens?” Wei Wuxian had already started cleaning up the area. Putting back the brushes in their respective places and cleaning up the paint.
“Only Wei Ying.”
Wei Wuxian stopped in his tracks to look up at Lan Zhan in pure shock. “Lan Zhan, are you flirting with me?.” He saw the tips of Lan Zhan’s ears flush a bright pink. “You are! Wait…what, you are?”
“Mm.” His ears were still flushed and it slowly spread to his face.
“No way, I—uh,” This was no time to panic. He wasn’t panicking, it was only just a confession. A confession. The word got stuck in his throat and he felt off and not like himself. “I like Lan Zhan too.” He mumbled at last before deciding that wasn’t enough. He walked over and hugged Lan Zhan. “Haha, I truly did not expect this. Aiyo, Lan Zhan is so bold.” He hid his face in the junction of his neck. “I like you too. I love Lan Zhan.” He pulled away enough to look at his face, giving him a smile.
“Love Wei Ying too.” Lan Zhan returned his smile and it melted Wei Wuxian’s heart.
“Wait…did you help me because you liked me?”
“Wei Ying has very interesting ideas. I’m only glad you aren’t hurt.”
Wei Wuxian grimaced and suddenly remembered how he had been feeling not too long ago. He pulled back from the hug but Lan Zhan grabbed his hand, seeming not to want to be too far away. “About that…I do feel tired almost. I can’t explain it.” This was one hell of a topic to bring up after being confessed to.
“Tired? Do you need to rest? I can carry you.”
He shook his head. “No, no, I still need to put away my tools and paints.” He was about to walk off but Lan Zhan gripped his hand tighter.
“Wei Ying should rest, the plane will be here tomorrow. No one will know…xiong zhang knows.”
“Ah, you already told on me! So mean, if we’re gonna be in a relationship we need to keep secrets you know.” He feigned a pout which only lead to Lan Zhan leaning over to press a kiss on his temple.
“I apologize, he will not tell.”
Wei Wuxian beamed up at him. “It’s okay Lan Zhan. Let’s head back, okay? Do you think anyone will see us together?”
Lan Zhan nodded and they headed up, together. Wei Wuxian would be lying if he said he didn’t feel giddy. Forgetting about completely destroying Lan Zhan’s last mecha and living in the moment of bliss that was now.
Maybe they should paint the rabbits on Lan Zhan’s other mechas too.
