"Stop prying!", he screamed at the top of his lungs, covering himself with the bath towel as much as he could, while his partner was looking at him with a smug face from the small opening of the bathroom's door.
"C'mon, 's not the first time I see you naked Mango ~ ", Wukong mused, his words full of malice, while his gaze was traveling on Macaque's body, feeling a familiar arousal, awakening promptly.
"I know! B-But…", the shadow monkie tried with all his might not to sound embarrassed or anxious, but it was not easy at all.
The two of them had reconciled and returned to being a couple a few months after the defeat of the Lady Bitch Demon, but they had not yet reached that point in their relationship; not because they still didn't want that level of intimacy, but for Macaque it was more a psychological than physical matter. During the years spent in total solitude, tormented by nightmares and remorse, he had begun to no longer be able to bear the sight of his body: each scar reminded him of what had been his journey and his fall into darkness, and more than once the thought that Wukong could see them and somehow be upset (or worse, disturbed and disgusted), had led him to reject any attempt at physical approach. He didn't want to be rejected, not now that they finally seemed to have found the harmony of the past; but the desire for his King, repressed for too long, had convinced him to reach a compromise: they would give themselves to each other on condition that they remained completely in the dark, so that Wukong could not seeing his body. Initially the golden monkie had laughed about it, despite having accepted that strange proposal anyway, but his impatient disposition had led him to abandon his place on the bed in their room and to peek through the bathroom door that Macaque had inadvertently left ajar.
"Please Mackie? I don't see why you should be so embarrassed. 'S just me after all, we have been doing this for years a long time ago. Why so shy now?".
"I told you I'm not shy! It's… It's just…", the shadow monkie found himself speechless again, without knowing what to do; he did not want to miss another chance, but neither did he want to risk being hurt by the reaction Wukong might have had on seeing what state he was in.
Monkey King seemed to finally understand his distress, 'cause he stopped smiling and took some steps towards the latter. "Macaque, seriously now… Is there a problem? You're making me worry…".
Receiving nothing as an answer other than a sad whine from his lover, he closed the distance between them, gently taking his face between his paws, kissing him softly on the forehead as a soothing gesture. "Hey, if you're not in the mood anymore it's okay. We can just cuddle, I don't mind", he took one of Macaque paws between his, givin it a soft kiss on the top, "Just stay with me okay?", he added in a soft tone, almost a pleading one.
Macaque looked at his king, and seeing his loving gaze the courage of trying to speak left him once more, just like all the other times.
He was not ready.
Not ready to lose him.
Not now.
And maybe not ever…
But that remained untold.
"Go back in the bedroom Peaches, I'll be right there in a minute. Just give the time to dress up again". He seemed to notice a little twitch in the golden monkie's eyes and smile, but it was just a brief moment; the next second Wukong was nodding with a soft smile and after another soft kiss, he was out of his sight.
Alone once again, the shadow monkie left the bath towel drop from his body, looking once again at his scars, sensing a small tear prickling at his good eye, but he hastened to wipe it away.
"Next time" , he told himself, "I promise Wukong… Next time won't happen again" . He then hurried to get dressed to be able to go back to the other room.
Unaware that Wukong saw him.
Unaware that Wukong had known for some time now what was bothering him and why.
"I'll wait for you Macaque", he thought while sitting again on the soft sheets, "I'll wait until you'll be ready to accept to be loved again".