Chapter Text
It was in the youngest hours of the morning when Nya found herself blinking awake. She was a little sweaty, her bones still sore, in nothing but a loose blue top and shorts. Groggily, she recalled stumbling awake in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and pulling them on, then immediately falling right back to sleep in Jay’s embrace.
She glanced over at the clock and grimaced. Only five in the morning. Lloyd waking up the younger kids for morning training was probably what had awakened her. She was allowed a little more leeway to get up when the sun was actually in the sky alongside the more seasoned ninja, and after Jay had fairly quickly re-learned Spintjitzu (much to Kai’s outrage and irritation), Lloyd had shrugged and said as long as he was healthy, he needed some time to get back into the swing of things.
(Nya thought it was because her little brother felt guilty and had no idea what to begin to do about it, but he’d given her time. She could do the same)
She nestled back in, content to just gaze over at her Yin. He looked so peaceful asleep. Not hateful and angry at the world like he’d been as a lost amnesiac, not guilt-ridden like he did nearly every waking moment. What she would give to take that weight off his shoulders.
She reached over and ran her hand through his hair, holding her breath. She could still hardly believe he was actually here. With her. Hers.
Nya traced her hand along his bare arm, feeling her cheeks warm at the hardened muscles framed by keraunographic markings running along his toned biceps. He’d never been a slouch before the Merge, but he was small in size, and that made him as quick and nimble as his elemental lightning. He’d focused on speed over muscle mass, but now… but this was just something she had to get used to, Nya told herself.
He had his memories back. And despite everything, it was still Jay.
He’d proven it to her.
He loved her, he loved the team, his brothers, and everything else would work itself out because of it.
It had to.
She stilled her hand movements when she felt him stirring beneath her, quickly decided she hadn’t had enough of touching him yet, and put her hand back in his thick curls.
“Mornin’,” Jay said, blinking his bright blue eyes up at her. She could only faintly make out his eyelashes fluttering in the darkness.
“Morning.” She gave him a quick kiss, then reached over to turn on the lamp at the lowest setting, and he groaned, throwing a hand over his eyes.
“Uuuugh. What was that for?”
“I just wanna look at you. I’m making up for all the time I lost.”
“Protesting that will make me an asshole, won’t it?” he teased.
“Yes it will,” Nya said triumphantly, then promptly shrieked when he looped his arm around her waist and used it to pull her tightly into his side. “Hey!”
“What? We missed out on lots of cuddles, too.”
“At least let me…” She shifted around in his grasp so they were still snuggled up close, but she was facing him.
“Hi.”
“Hi.”
He kissed her nose. “You know I love you?”
“I do.”
“And you know I’m…” He choked, eyes quickly welling up, and he blinked rapidly in a futile attempt to clear it. “You know I’m so sorry and that I–”
“It wasn’t you,” Nya soothed quickly, reaching up to cup his face and wipe away the tears with her thumb. “That wasn’t the real you. The real you would never hurt me, or say those things–”
“But what if I do?” he whispered, and she stalled with her lips parted. How could he ever think that he could ever be anything like that man–
“We got my memories back, but I could still be evil, I could still– what if I hurt you? I could never live with myself if I hurt you,” he sobbed, his arms tightening around her as he buried his face in her shoulder.
Nya had learned her lesson about making promises. Knew that once you made them, the universe would do everything it could to break that promise.
She said it anyway.
“You won’t hurt me. If I think you’re becoming anything like him, I’ll tell you. We’ll work on it. I am never losing you again, Jay Walker. I promise you that.”
His shoulders tensed up the way they always did when he was trying to shy away from scary intimate feelings stuff with a joke. “And we both know you’d kick my butt if it comes to that.”
“It won’t come to that.”
“C’mon, you can say you will. I remember I thought you were super hot back at the tournament. I mean, I was like, completely consumed with rage and hatred, but I definitely thought you were hot.”
“Fine, we both know I’ll kick your butt and get you hot while I’m at it,” Nya caved, and they both giggled. “Maybe you should’ve just come to our room after Ras kicked you out, and we could have saved ourselves this whole mess.”
He shook his head into her shoulders. “If real-me has pride, then meanie-me had way too much pride.”
“Stupid pride.”
“It’s an evil thing.”
She pulled away and looked at him. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
“Mm, but I love you more.”
“No, I’m pretty sure I love you more.”
“I turned into the sea for you!”
“I used my last wish for you!”
“I searched for you across the majority of sixteen realms!”
“They had to wipe my memory multiple times just to stop me from running right back to you!”
Nya paused. “Maybe we make each other do some stupid things.”
He hummed exaggeratedly, face split in a grin, and Nya couldn’t quite explain it, but it was making his freckles glow. “Maybe. But you know what?”
“What?”
“I would do it all over again.”
She squeezed his hand. “Same.”
Nya made herself comfortable back under his arm, her heart light. He pulled her in so close that the arm around her could reach down to clasp her hand tightly, gazing at her adoringly.
“A kiss for your thoughts?”
She elbowed him in the side halfheartedly. “I don’t wanna get up.”
“We have two whole hours.”
“The thought of getting up is depressing. We have five whole years to make up for.”
“Same. I just wanna hold on to you. Like a koala.”
“We should walk out there with you attached to my leg like one,” she laughed, and he laughed her favorite laugh in all the whole realms.
He glanced down at her when he noticed she’d gone quiet, and kissed her forehead again. “Something wrong?”
“No, no, nothing’s wrong, it’s just… so much. I missed things about you I didn’t know I could miss. I missed your laugh, I missed your freckles, I missed your hugs, I missed that you smell like a thunderstorm, I missed… I missed everything. And… and I don’t want to be worried that we’ll be ripped apart again, but… I can’t help it. Is it so wrong that I just wanna lay here with you and never let you go?”
“No. I feel the same way. I just want to love you and not deal with anything else.”
“Well… we’ve got two whole hours.” She looked up at him and grinned, and his pale, freckled cheeks turned pink in the warm lamplight. In an instant, she’d rolled over to straddle him, their fingers still intertwined.
“I love you, Jay.”
“I love you, Nya.”