Archive of Our Own ^beta

Maxim closed his eyes as he tentatively lowered himself into a half-sitting, half-lying position. The pain he had braced himself for seared along his side but mellowed back into a light ache as he settled.

The wound had been healed over by magic, but the creature that had inflicted it had taken a section of his plating as well. The healing had been enough for him and his crew to return to the Sanctum without Maxim facing greater harm, but now he was home there came the matter of replacing the piece.

He fumbled for the equipment neatly laid out on the sofa beside him. It was a delicate and tricky task at best, the placement of the wound just low enough to be out of reach for one hand added an extra layer of complexity.

The thought sent a preemptive shudder through him but he had delayed long enough he just needed to-

“You weren’t serious going to try do that on your own?”
Maxim jumped, regretting it immediately and clutching where ribs would be.
“VR-LA, I- you startled me.”

The wizard glared down at him. Maxim became achingly aware of how… exposed he was. Sprawled out, robes pulled asside and a gaping wound allowing clear line of sight into his inner workings. It’s not that he didn’t trust VR-LA enough to be this vulnerable around him, but something about the openness of it felt too much.

He looked away as VR-LA’s eyes softened from indignation to concern turning the same dull gold as the arcane lamps litter around the room.
“Why didn’t you ask me for help? Or K-LB? Anyone?”

Maxim thought for a moment and almost chuckled at the realisation. “In all honestly my friend, the thought did not occur to me. I am afraid I have become a little too used to tending to my self. Even before I came here, none of my companions had sufficient knowledge to aid me.”

“Well, this is no longer the case. May I- um- assist you?”
Maxim’s faceplate warmed at the idea. Too close. Too tempting. Too much care and attention on him. But as he had little way of explaining his objections… Maxim nodded.

VR-LA pressed a hand to Maxim’s shoulder, guiding him to lay flat. Maxim propped his head up to watch as his wizard crouched down to inspect the injury.

There was a long moment where Maxim could almost feel the wizards apprehension, as his gaze flitted and hand hovered.

Silver fingers brushed lightly across the ragged seam of torn gold. It was almost… ticklish if that had been a sensation Maxim’s mechanical body was capable of feeling.

He fought not to squirm, almost grateful when VR-LA began to carefully easy out some of the shrapnel, replacing the odd sensation with a sharp sting. Sparks skittered from him as his gears shunted with the effort of remaining still and silent as the torment of VR-LA’s gentleness continued.

No doubt the arcane sparking would be like embers on VR-LA’s bare hands, though he neither winced nor faltered. As the upper section of torn plating came away, he watched a relieved puff of steam coil from his companion.

Perhaps words of reassurance would be appreciated, but none came to mind. Maxim’s head felt heavy, inhibitions dulled by pain and thoughts pleasantly foggy. He let himself settle further into the cushions.

“Are you alright? That didn’t hurt you too much did it? You must tell me if it did.”
Maxim shook his head, reaching out a hand to guide VR-LA’s back down.

The remainder of the plating was removed (thankfully in only one piece) leaving only a clean gap between the segments above and below it. Even with VR-LA’s abundant caution the sliced metal caught briefly as it was teased free.

Maxim couldn’t help the grating of his voicebox as he flinched away from the feeling. His hand caught VR-LA’s wrist to still him.

“Sorry, here, it’s loose enough now.” VR-LA’s other hand took Maxim’s pulling it asside as the other finally coaxed the piece free. Maxim squeezed their interlocked fingers, biting back another noise.

VR-LA, mercifully, did not acknowledge it, though there was no world in which he had not registered the vice of Maxim’s grip. Instead the wizard was busying himself rearranging the components Maxim had left out, clearly stalling to give the sorcerer a moment to recover.

Their gazes met. VR-LA’s smile was soft and reassuring, glancing from their joined hands back up to his face. The magister of magic, hand still resting mere inches from Maxim’s open chest, winked at him.

Maxim wanted to melt back into the rocks from which he had been forged.

“Really Maxim, no need to get yourself hurt just to hold my hand. I’d let you do that whenever you like.”
Perhaps the line would have been more heat inducing had VR-LA not started giggling the moment the words left him.

Maxim could not resist his answering smirk. “I beg of you, please do not make me laugh I fear it may be quite painful given my current state.”

“Oh yes, apologies, I only endeavoured to distract you”
“In that you have succeeded.” Maxim indulged a little, lacing his voice with more honey than was necessary, running his thumb across the delicate joints of his companion’s knuckles.

The song and dance of this was familiar to him by now. He suspected his tone went over the wizards head, but VR-LA’s reaction to the touch and the added depth to his voice was undeniable. The sound of sputtering fans filled the air.
“I um- good. In that case I’ll just-“

Maxim settled back, contented in achieving the ever more common sight of a flustered VR-LA. Perhaps if he were more lucid he would have pushed things further.

He tensed as a soft cloth was applied to brush away the rust and oil.

“I’m going to reconnect the wire here, tell me if you need me to stop.”
Maxim nodded stiffly, all the fun of flirtatious forgotten at the reminder of why they were here.

The sensation of VR-LA’s touch applied directly to his inner workings was enough to force a gasp of steam from him.

His armour was quite literally stripped away, leaving him helpless and trusting. It felt both overwhelmingly invasive and oddly intoxicating.

If it had been anyone but VR-LA, then Maxim knew he would have pulled away. He’d choose the pain and risk of fixing himself instead.

But something about it being his wizard made it tolerable and, in a more profoundly scary way, intriguing.
“I’ll be as quick as I can.” VR-LA muttered to him, clever fingers stripping away the burnt and melted layer of insulation to expose the copper threads beneath it. A quick mending spell and the wires reconnected.

Maxim made another sharp sound of surprise at the brush of VR-LA’s magic against the weave that made him up. Just as overwhelming and strange as the touch but far more giddying, far more fascinating. Then, he felt himself go boneless and limp as finally, the pain faded to the barest soreness.

“Thank you,” he managed. VR-LA hummed his acknowledgment.

The replacement piece slotted into Maxim’s armour cleanly and with a satisfying click.

VR-LA grinned up at him. “Feel better?”
“Much, thank you.” Maxim reached a hand down to press to the new segment but before he could VR-LA’s came to cover it.

“May I?”
It was all Maxim could do to nod.

VR-LA muttered a few arcane words and all at once Maxim could feel the new plating as a part of himself. “There. Are you alright?”

Maxim took a moment to clear the static from his voice before responding. “More than.”
“Excellent,” VR-LA hummed head resting against Maxim’s hip as he traced little swirling patters over the fresh gold, still sitting on the floor beside where Maxim lay.

“It’s somehow shinier than the rest of you,” He commented, clearly oblivious to the effect his light touches were having of Maxim’s mechanisms.

“I will admit I do not spend as much time keeping myself polished as I once did. It is a good thing. I have better tasks to occupy me.”

VR-LA traced the nearby scarring Maxim had received fighting the mindflayers. Streaks of decolouration which reflected light differently from the rest of him.

“I like these.” VR-LA whispered. “Not that you were hurt, but that you- aren’t so trapped anymore. They are proof of that”

“Indeed. That is why I keep them.”
They were both speaking at a whisper now, eyes roaming but confined only to the other. They had slipped into that strange in between realm where it seemed to be only them in the world.

Maxim curled in on himself, lying on his side so as to better see his wizard. He reached out to trace the scar along VR-LA’s brow. He wasn’t used to making himself smaller but reaching VR-LA was a good enough reason to break that habit.

VR-LA’s eyes closed at the touch. There was no missing the stuttering of his mechanics. The metal was pleasantly warm beneath this fingertips and he was struck by the overwhelming want to trace the scars further.

Perhaps he would have, had footsteps not cut through the pleasant blankness of his mind. Maxim sat up (a little too quickly, much to the displeasure of his mechanism). VR-LA jolted with a start, scrambling up of the floor to sit beside Maxim.

Later Maxim found the memory a little humorous. They hadn’t been doing anything outwardly incriminating but still they had panicked like teens caught kissing. Not to mention their floundering and excuses they had given at Eden’s questioning glare.

Romance, Maxim had realised for the thousandth time, was a lot more tricky than it looked.