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"Why do you only kiss me with the lights off?"
Gengetsu didn't earn a reply from the other man, who seemed to be occupied in collecting the rest of his belongings. Among said belongings he was specifically interested in finding his pants, which had been blindly thrown away in the Mizukage's room the night before. Gengetsu was sure that he had heard the question and just chosen to ignore it. He however, wasn't willing to let the topic die anytime soon.
"Mū," he spoke again, and heard his guest sigh as he finally retrieved the missing pants from under the bed.
The Tsuchikage looked at him and paused in thought, processing his words. "That's...one very specific question," he finally said. "Personal preference. Why do you ask?"
Gengetsu had never been fond of the other's way of speaking. Mū was a man of few words, and it was always a challenge to obtain a straightforward answer from him. The Mizukage often wondered how he had ended up in this situation, wasn't that supposed to be a one night stand? That was what he had told himself the first, second, third, tenth time, until he had lost count of the times that the Tsuchikage had slept in his bed. Each would have gladly killed the other if given the chance. But, even when the chance had come, they hadn't. Maybe it was pure luck, maybe it was that their equal strength caused them to fight to exhuastion, maybe it was something else that caused them to hold back. No one knew, least of all them.
"Personal preference?"
There had been more than a few instances in which the Mizukage had felt Mū's body on his, but for some reason the shorter man had always kept the bandages on. At first, Gengetsu hadn't even noticed. Soon it became impossible not to, as Mū would make sure to carefully unwrap only what was strictly necessary each time. So, the answer the other kage was giving him didn't sit right with him.
Why was Mū making such a fuss over something so silly? He had never had the chance to see the Tsuchikage without anything on but he had touched and kissed his face so much he was positive his features were the ones of an attractive man. Where was the issue?
"Personal preference? What, you're self-conscious?" Gengetsu smirked, wiggling his fingers at the other's face in a playful attempt to remove his gauzes. That lead to a sigh from Mū as he moved out of reach.
"No, not really. I just like it better that way." Mū sat down on the other side of the bed, reaching for the lantern. It was clear his intentions were to distract the other kage from the unwelcome discussion.
Gengetsu, however, had other plans.
Firmly, he caught Mū's arm and kept it still. "Enough of your theatrics, tell me the truth."
"I am not looking for conflict," Mū furrowed his eyebrows, snatching his arm away from his grip. "Is my answer not enough?."
"Then show me." The Mizukage's expression didn't falter.
Letting out a sigh, he slowly unwrapped part of the bandages covering his left hand for demonstration. Gengetsu was expecting burnt, marred skin, but instead he was greeted with extremely average fingers, with light hints of old scars adorning them. Mū's hand was very light compared to the visible skin on his face, most likely due to lack of sunlight.
"The marks on my body tell a story, and there is no reason for me to unfold my past."
"Bad memories?" the Mizukage teased.
"No, that is far from my point," Mū's gaze shifted to the dim morning light peeking from between the shutters, almost as if the small space could have been large enough for him to fit and flee from that pesky topic. "It doesn't matter who I was back then, or who I will be five years from now. Right now, I've been chosen as the Second Tsuchikage, and it is my duty to make Iwagakure grow stronger at all costs. Evoking personal recollection holds me back from becoming what I aspire to be."
"A massive jerk detached from reality?"
"Or alternatively, an acclaimed leader who is beyond any sort of criticism. Blank and foolproof."
Gengetsu wasn't expecting any less from him. Mū was different from most shinobi, and often he had wondered if the Tsuchikage was even human. Aside from their quarrels — and to an extent, even during those — his composure had never betrayed him.
The Mizukage on the other hand, was much more eccentric and self-absorbed. He didn't understand what it was about Mū that intrigued him so much. He'd figured his interest for someone with such a quiet, tasteless personality would have gone down quickly.
But it hadn't.
Did Mū feel the same about him? He would never dare to ask, but Gengetsu hoped the other to be just as intrigued.
While his stream of consciousness was leading his mind to topics he was fighting to avoid, a silence had fallen in the room. When he came back to himself, the Mizukage became painfully aware of how heavy the air felt.
"That sounds boring and typical of you," he laid back, running a hand through his hair. "I think being invisible got to your head. I don't do any of that and the village loves me anyway."
"We don't have to agree on that."
"We agree that you trust me though! Come on, you lay into this bed harmless knowing I could kill you," he smiled bitterly, hoping Mū actually considered him capable of doing that. "And you already allow me to touch you all over. Why would it be any different without the bandages?"
Mū's hummed, a condescending tone that never failed to test the other man's patience.
"I don't blame you, but you just seem to be afraid of getting too invested in me!" Gengetsu added, sitting back up and crawling closer to him.
"That's not the case."
"Then, since you're so loyal to your nindo," he spoke in a mocking tone, his chin up. "Wouldn't this be the case in which you temporarily shift from being the Tsuchikage to — well, to my..."
"Lover."
He was suprised (and kind of glad) to hear Mū finish his sentence and call him that. It gave him a strange sense of belonging. Feeling the hint of a smile creeping on his mouth, he leaned in and pressed his lips over Mū's bandaged ones. The Tsuchikage let out a whine of protest, mumbling something about Gengetsu being gross, but was ignored.
Mū left shortly after and went back to his village to attend his kage duties, confident the conversation would have had no repercussions.
Little did he know that, the next time they would meet, the Mizukage would spend the night tracing every mark on his bare body, asking about the story of each scar, and even finding a few he had inflicted on the Tsuchikage himself, during their old battles. Gengetsu didn't know the reason why Mū had complied — maybe it had been a change of mind, or maybe it was to stop the complaining. In the end he decided not to ask about it. The Mizukage had very few certainties when it came to the other man, but there was one thing he was sure of.
Kissing him with the lights on was much better.