Chapter Text
“Rogue what the actual fuck was that all about.” Nya cursed, her voice filled with irritation. She stomped into the Monastery, throwing her mask onto a nearby table angrily.
“Listen, I just do what I think is enough for the job.” Rogue retorted back, trailing behind her.
“You can’t just-” Nya took a breath and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“No. I can. This is my life, whether you like it or not.” He scoffed, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“But you can’t just abandon your team and leave. That’s not what ninja do!” She yelled, her patience slowly wearing thin.
Rogue rolled his eyes. “We are not a team and I am not a fucking ninja. Why can’t you just accept that?”
Nya covered her face and groaned. It was so exhausting arguing with Rogue, made all the more worse by his familiar face she didn’t want to fight. As much as she tried to remind him of his past, she just couldn’t get through the wall his mind had built. It was understandable that after having The Administration and Ras lie to him and who knows what else he had been through in the past few years, he would become a lot less trusting, but she was really getting frustrated.
But no. She could wait. She could be patient, just as she had been for all these years.
“Look. I don’t owe you anything. In fact, you guys owe me for all the shit I’ve been doing for you!” Rogue threw his hands up in the air, exasperation evident.
Nya snapped. Fuck being patient.
Her head spun back, eyes filled with anger as she stormed over to Rogue. She shoved him, hard enough that he hit a wall with an echoing thud, a wince making its way onto his face, but she hardly noticed in her rage.
“You think I want you to owe me?!” Nya hissed, stepping closer towards Rogue. “You think I’ve just been around you because I need something from you? Spoiler alert Rogue, I’m not.” She finished, her eyes glowing crystal blue now.
“Isn’t that the reason why you’ve stayed with me even after my leg healed? People aren’t that charitable unle-” Rogue stopped mid sentence at the realization of how close they actually were. He flattened his palms against the wall, as if seeking some sort of support against the alluring gaze of swirling sapphire blue that threatened to pull him in with every second that passed.
“Unless what? Huh? Why don’t you finish that sentence?” Nya jabbed back, her tone now filled with annoyance, not even noticing the distance closing between them.
Rogue sucked in a breath, his fingers digging into the wall. If he wasn’t so focused on how close she was to him, he’d have a remark already said. But he didn’t. All he could think about was that there were just inches between him and the woman in front of him. A distance his mind screamed at him to close.
“You’re wasting your time.” He muttered, voice low and bitter, yet cracked enough to betray his hidden thoughts.
Nya narrowed her eyes at the shift in his voice.
“Then tell me to stop.” She challenged, stepping so close that she could feel the warmth radiating from his body. “Tell me to go away, and I’ll never bother you again. Go ahead.” Her eyes had softened, a resignation in her voice that made Rogue want to reach and pull her into him.
But he didn’t move. His hands balled into fists, whole body taut like a spring threatening to snap if someone touched him.
The silence of anticipation and hesitation between them lingered, yet their eyes stayed glued onto each other, never leaving the doorway to the other's soul, as if waiting for an invite in.
Before any sort of retaliation could cross Rogue’s lips, before he could speak a lie he didn’t believe in, Nya grabbed his collar, half out of rage, half out of desperation, and yanked him forward to finally meet her.
Their lips crashed together in a kiss that wasn't gentle at all. It was messy and angry, like two worlds finally colliding together. Their hands gripped each other way too tight, as if they were trying to break each other open to find their secrets unshared, as if the ghosts of their pasts were scared they would let each other go again.
For just a breath, Rogue froze. Was he actually kissing the one ninja he held the biggest grudge against? But it felt too good to give into his desires, and his thoughts were thrown out of his head as he hooked onto Nya’s wrists and twisted them around, slamming her against the wall. He lunged for her lips again, indulging in a kiss that was furious with need, the kind of kiss that screamed with need.
Nya didn’t pull away.
Rogue didn’t pull away.
Neither of them wanted to.
Not yet.
Rogue barely had a second to breathe when the kiss broke before Nya stole it back again. Years of physical deprivation had made him more sensitive to touch, and he shivered when Nya’s teeth nipped at his ear, before she attacked him with another kiss. His hands had slid down to her hips, gripping them tight enough to bruise, pressing her back against the wall like he was afraid she’d disappear if he let go.
He felt her hands snake up his neck and the sensation of his hair falling down, before she gripped onto a bundle of his hair and pulled, dragging a quiet whimper from his throat. He swore he felt her smirk between kisses.
“Still a waste of time?” She grinned.
“Shut the fuck up.” He replied, before smashing their lips together once again.
He wanted to tell her she wasn’t a waste of time. That he did truly crave for her. But if he did, he’d just be luring himself deeper into an ocean of a million unknowns of his past and future.
Plus, he had better things to focus on in the current moment.
Their kisses continued to get rougher and more reckless as they lost themselves in each other, neither wanting to escape. Rogue’s teeth caught and bit Nya’s bottom lip, which she knew would leave a mark as the taste of iron danced across her tongue. She didn't care. She kissed him back just as hard, as if she could carve herself back into his memory with her kisses alone.
Somewhere in the blur of the heat, Rogue shoved them off the wall, backing Nya up blindly until her knees hit the edge of a table and she let herself fall back, her arms linking around his neck and dragging him down with her.
He kissed her like a man drowning.
She kissed him like she could save him.
Nya allowed her hands to roam, dragging over the planes of his covered chest, tracing his arms that now held new scars she didn’t recognize, another symbol of the time they had lost together, while Rogue, guided by instinct, trailed over skin that tingled with familiarity, but a memory still so far away. Every touch felt wild, desperate to make up for everything lost.
When he pulled back just enough to look at her, his forehead resting against hers, his breath ragged, Nya saw it. For a flicker of a second.
Something soft and broken in his eyes, like a lost soul searching for something he didn’t know, and then he kissed her again, hungrier this time, like he was chasing that piece of himself he knew was gone in her.
Nya didn’t know how much time had passed, but she decided she could live in this bliss forever. She had missed her lover’s touch for so long and even if he was a bit rougher and more aggressive, she still wanted this badly.
But reality doesn’t stay buried forever.
Between the fevered kisses and frantic hands, Rogue stiffened, just slightly, but enough so Nya also stopped, the hazy cloud over their eyes slipping away like water.
And it hit her all at once.
This stranger’s hands on her, the face that didn’t remember her, the soul of someone else residing in the ghost of Jay.
Nya pushed Rogue away with shaking hands, trembling at what had just taken place. Rogue stumbled back, but his confused expression quickly morphed into one of realization as well.
Neither of them said a word, only the sounds of heavy breathing filled the air.
Then Rogue's face twisted, a mixture of hurt and something ugly. Without a word, he turned on his heel and stormed out the door, the slam echoing behind him like a gunshot.
Nya stood there alone, heart breaking all over again.
She pressed trembling fingers to her lips, the taste of him still lingering, and let a tear fall.