Chapter Text
Had VR-LA not broken the silence, Maxim wasn’t sure what he’d have done. If that second where their eyes met would have turned into something more, whether for good or ill. It took a long moment for him to register the wizard was speaking at all, so caught up in the sight of him, in the blissful imagining of holding him close, as he was.
“— or merely long forgotten?” VR-LA's voice stirred him from his tangle of thoughts, his head tilted in curiosity as he waited for a response.
Maxim blinked, the world coming into focus one aspect at a time as he reeled himself out of his mind. The rustling of leaves, the lapping of the pond, the gentle ringing of the floating archons weaving through the woods, the hot line of VR-LA’s metal against his side. He cleared his speakers with a sharp static cough, gaze snapping elsewhere as he realised he’d been doing nothing but silently staring at the wizard.
“My apologies, may you repeat the question? My mind was occupied elsewhere, I mean no offence,” he stammered, words forming awkwardly as his circuits did their best to misfire.
VR-LA chuckled, nothing but fondness in the soft shine of his eyes as he playfully nudged Maxim’s shoulder, their pauldrons clinking high and bright in the quiet. “None taken, I was just rambling about, well, this place, other places, that sort of thing. I asked if you’ve ever seen much of Sigil, or the planes beyond Mechanus. Is this new for you, or just, old memories returned?”
“Ah, well.” Maxim shifted, shaking his head one last time to clear it, mechanisms tight with emotion he had neither the time nor mental strength to address, and focused on the question. Rambling his stream of consciousness had long since been an effective way to distract him from whatever was wreaking havoc on his systems, whether he had an audience or not. “I’m certainly not as widely travelled as you, but very few are. Sigil is not entirely new, though I confess I never ventured much beyond the nicer wards where what business I came for was conducted. Though it has indeed been a great deal of time since I had visited before your quest brought me here. Beyond it… I have passing experience of other planes but it is the Material I am most familiar with. Mundane to you maybe, but it is where the majority of my adventures took place.”
There was a moment where VR-LA paused, taking in the faint airiness of Maxim’s voice, the dull shine but almost fond tilt of his eyes. He turned his gaze over the water, shifting before he spoke. There was a faint scratch in his tone, a squeak, a little high note that the sorcerer had enough sense to recognise as embarrassment. His systems hummed, and he couldn’t help but remark to himself how amusingly sweet it sounded.
“I’m, uh, I’m actually from the Material Plane, or at least I grew up there. So despite my past, well— I won’t be tactful— shitting on it, I guess I really ought to appreciate it more. I don’t know, there’s an old fondness for it, but it all seems so dull after… Everything. Everyone.”
Maxim quirked his head, staring from the corner of his eye, trying his best not to consider how it would still be exceedingly easy to pull VR-LA in. To not wonder if he’d make that same embarrassed squeak when flustered by affection. Thankfully the small spark of curiosity the wizard’s admission stirred up in his circuits was enough of a distraction.
“Oh? Curious indeed. Though I suppose I can hardly blame you for finding your old life dull now, I confess there was a time during my adventures when I thought Mechanus rather mundane in comparison to the great variety I witnessed in my travels. May I inquire further, or is it a matter you would rather not speak on?” he asked, doing his best to not let the conversation stall lest he have time to consider the tightness in his chest.
VR-LA made a loose gesture to wave away Maxim’s small note of trepidation. “I spent most of my youth in Candlekeep. I think you might still be able to find some of my very early writings on spellcraft in some older editions of Books of the Avowed in fact… Early being the key word.”
“Ah, perhaps I shall have to look into it and read them sometime.” Maxim bit back a chuckle at VR-LA’s blatant wince at the thought, though in truth he found himself uncaring of whatever quality they may be. It wasn’t the academic content he was interested in anyhow. “While I have seen the cities of the Sword Coast, visited dwarven fortresses, and elven enclaves of the Underdark, I have only ever seen the great learned citadel from a distance. I can only imagine the wonders a library that vast may hold.”
“Conversely to you, I never ventured far beyond it. There were a few trips to Baldur’s Gate, but never further. Not until the Per Aspera.” VR-LA was silent for a moment, before shuffling a half step closer, the press of his metal growing more intense, especially as he turned to face Maxim. There was a hopeful flicker in his eyes as he continued. “Perhaps I could take you there one day, show you all those wonders, as long as you take me to those places I have not yet seen. I would like to understand the fascination you have with the so-called Mundane but… I may need some help, if you’d be willing to give it.”
Willingness and ability being two very different things was something the sorcerer was long familiar with. Many times he’d sought to convince VR-LA to travel with him, to stay with him. Many times he’d imagined what it would be like to have his closest friend by his side for such a long period. And now, standing in the quiet and beautiful garden with him tucked safely into his side, the unshakable thought of kissing him began to merge with those imaginings. Bringing him to the spires of Silverymoon and watching his wonder as the sun set over the glimmering Moonbridge, standing over the port of Waterdeep and discussing the intricate histories of the Prime while waves shattered like glittering crystal on the rocks below, and wondering what it would be like if he leaned in to rest his forehead to VR-LA’s in each of them.
He’d once imagined similar things with another man. There was a strange lack of infringement as Maxim cycled through the imaginings. An almost easy fade between one and the other that didn’t make the old hurt any less or overshadow it but did not dull the brightness of the new either. An equality between the emotions that the sorcerer couldn’t begin to consider or understand. Where he’d expected to find guilt at the unprompted desire, where he’d expected grief, a familiar old ache served as the most bitter feeling remaining.
VR-LA shifted as the silence drew on, moving away ever so slightly. “If it is not something you’re ready to revisit then do not worry about it. I didn’t mean to bring up anything unpleasant, please leave it if—”
Maxim forcefully tamped down the disarrayed spinning of his gears and meandering thoughts, tightening his hold around the wizard before he could lose his warmth.
“It sounds like a fair exchange,” he interrupted, turning to catch VR-LA’s eye, to try and convey the steadiness, the sense of safety, that having the wizard by his side provided. To say without words the blessing his presence would be. “I would want nothing more than to share my travels with you, as you have shared yours with me. Though I doubt anything may show you could compare to…”
Well, what wasn’t there to compare it to? The more he considered it the more Maxim found himself wondering if there was any sight equal to those which VR-LA had shown him, whether directly or indirectly. The Planes he’d given him access to in his generous gift (for it was a gift, not an exchange or a deal, but a gift of such worth Maxim could never hope to repay) of a spelljammer. The vast star studded void of Wildspace he and his crew had had faced such horrific dangers to unlock. The endless myriad of worlds beyond imagining that now lay at their fingertips, which he and his crew now had the honoured task of exploring… And somehow, more important than any of the grandeur, moments such as this. Small, peaceful wonders which sent warm electric hums through the sorcerer’s circuits and released all the pressure in his gaskets.
The universe, and peace, and hope. Too many things for him to properly surmise, that even in his isolation he’d denied himself.
Despite the whirring it stirred in his mechanics Maxim dared to pull VR-LA closer, his silver luminous in the gentle gloom of the parkland, petals swirling around him like little falling stars. The best he could do to convey his thoughts, more wistful and wondrous images than words as they were, was with a low, humming whisper.
“All of this.” He gestured at the celestial scenery before them, at up at the glimmering jagged spires of Sigil that could be seen beyond the treetops. At the conglomeration of worlds which Sigil represented.
VR-LA huffed, steam curling around his cheeks in an archon light lit nimbus and eyes flickering a fraction brighter. Though he tugged at his scarf and turned his gaze to the ground the happy humming of his mechanics was easily audible.
“Oh, it’s nothing really. Just a walk, a garden. A pleasant place sure enough but not that special Maxim, though I am flattered.”
“I— Ah,” the sorcerer couldn’t help but chuckle, shaking his head in exasperation as VR-LA turned a confused eye on him, “I did not mean merely tonight.”
The wizard tilted his head in question, speakers buzzing with incoming words. Maxim silenced him with a gentle squeeze, the overlapping plates at the joint of his waist shifting beneath his fingers as VR-LA curved into him. If there was a moment where he indulged in the sensation, in imagining his body moulding itself into his hands and his face tilting up to meet his, then it was only for him to know and a matter to be resolved far later. Should he analyse it any further at that moment he would either do something very foolish or find himself nonfunctional.
Instead, he settled for thinking about all that he did mean by his words. Worlds and people and his own salvation.
Silence settled around them, falling in a gentle veil like the petals on the breeze and errant iridescent leaves. In the distance far above the treetops, the city spires flickered with lights. Windows glowing, magic flaring, bright signs shimmering. A riot of colour against the night. A distant supernova on the non horizon and stretching in a band of light far above their heads. The peaceful dark of their sanctuary was untouched by the unending rush of the city. They were safe, secluded, and alone with each other. All that Maxim had wanted them to be for far longer than he cared to admit.
VR-LA leaned into his side as he had when they’d stood beneath the boughs of the Sprite Spring, his temple resting upon Maxim's shoulder with a cautious lightness. Tilting his head, he gently bumped the top of his head with his cheek, their metal ringing clear in the quiet. A small tender action. Something to reassure the wizard that Maxim had no plans of refusing his affections. Once he would have, but now with their journeys so long, the worlds between them so many, and the time between their meetings far too few, he would not dare waste them.
Though VR-LA did not break from where he was veritably snuggled into the sorcerer’s side, he eventually saw fit to break the silence. His voice was soft, musing, little more than a whisper on the wind. Nonetheless, it tugged upon Maxim’s mind and whisked up his attention with ease.
“The hour is getting quite late. Well over anti-peak by now, I think. Do you want to go back?” Though Maxim had no qualms with returning to their crew the thought of leaving their alone time so soon made his circuits fizzle, but their spark reignited as the wizard continued. He raised his head to look Maxim in the eye, a spark glinting in their glass. “Ooor, we could visit the Great Library? It's no Candlekeep but it has wonders aplenty, open all hours as well. We could get lost together?”
Maxim paused, the pale white glow of his eyes gleaming a little brighter. He hummed, bowing his head in assent. “I can think of nothing I’d enjoy more.”
A small white lie, said with enough confidence and fondness that he was sure VR-LA would notice. That he would not question. That Maxim wouldn’t need to explain that while it sounded wonderful the thought of kissing him just once made him dizzy with electricity in a way almost unfamiliar with how long he’d gone without it. Almost how he’d felt about Alexander. There was none of the gear wrenching weightiness. None of the painful thundering of shunting pistons. But the same awestruck sparks still danced through his circuits, respect still left his words feeling unwieldy and unworthy, but he didn’t feel like he was breaking or drowning this time.
Maxim, as he often did when graced with the wizard’s presence, felt light. Almost joyful. For all he had loved Alexander, the consequence of their circumstance never permitted such peaceful feelings. Never gave them the chance for indulgences and relaxation, right until the very end. The pain which settled leaden over his gears at the memory was familiar and age dulled. No less potent, but almost bearable.
The pleased whirr and rattle of VR-LA’s mechanics stirred him for the ache. A welcome distraction. The wizard slipped from his grasp only to link their arms, tugging Maxim from beneath the arbour. “Well come on then, my friend! Adventure awaits us.”
Maxim huffed at his theatrics, only stumbling slightly as they wove between trees and hopped over patches of nigh technicolour flowers. Though the wizard continued to chatter, rambling about their next destination and his favourite sections within, Maxim still lingered on his earlier words. Innocuous and meaningless. My friend. VR-LA’s friend. Correct by all accounts and most certainly not something Maxim planned on refuting ever again, but the more he turned them over in his mind the more it felt faintly misshapen. Not too little, nor too much, simple ever so slightly off.
Friends they were, but as the sorcerer stumbled behind his companion, gold archon light glimmering off his chrome as they passed beneath the heavenly souls, his voice taking on the lilting bell-like chime of excitement, something in his chest fizzled at the notion. Not at being his friend, but being no more than that. Even though Maxim was out of practice in friendship, to his experience the want to hold one close and lay his head against theirs in a declaration of affection was not one he felt for those who were solely friends.
But VR-LA kept talking, and Maxim kept following, and they stumbled together into the clear streets of the Lady’s Ward with feet clattering against the pavements. He calmed his mind with the practised firmness one could only gain from years of tapping down on unwanted thoughts, and left it as a conundrum for future him. For now, he could relax. He tightened his hold on VR-LA’s arm, stepping forward so they could walk side by side.
Arm in arm, close enough for their shoulders to bump together, for the glow of VR-LA’s excited eyes to gleam off Maxim’s burnished gold, to light up the faint smile on his oft impassive face. Perhaps to some, they may have seemed like a happy couple. Maybe returning home together from a night out. The sorcerer’s systems warmed at the thought, and it certainly did nothing to dull the urge to kiss him.
But there was enough time to explore that another day. There was no battle on the horizon nor great threat ready to stop the ticking of their mechanics. There was, by some miracle Maxim could never have fathomed when first faced with VR-LA’s once reckless abandon, peace. No rush, no fear. No threat that this could be the last moment they shared.
They had time… What a wondrous concept that was.