Chapter Text
With his cheeks puffed, his arms crossed, and his little nose up in the air, little five-year-old Yuuji turned his back on Sukuna with an exaggerated, “Hmp!”
Sat on his throne of skulls in his domain, Sukuna’s only acknowledgement to it was an eyeroll, too used to the brat’s temper tantrum by this time. Truth be told, he can count on one hand the amount of time Yuuji had a tantrum (including this one) but Sukuna’s a fast learner if anything else. So he’s well aware of what's gonna happen.
Step 1. The brat would puff his cheeks, cross his arms, turn his nose up in the air, and turn his back on Sukuna. (Which, by the way, is NOT CUTE.)
Step 2. The brat would peek at Sukuna over his shoulders. And if Sukuna looked at him, the brat would turn his nose back up in the air with another “Hmp!” (The audacity.)
Step 3. The brat would pointedly ignore Sukuna as if telling Sukuna that he (the King of Curses) wasn’t worth Yuuji (a mere mortal brat) ’s time. This is also another method for the brat to guilt trip Sukuna. (Again, the audacity.)
Step 4. The brat would sniffle and cry a little bit in an attempt to tug at Sukuna’s heartstrings. (He’s the King of Curses. He has neither heart nor strings to tug. Plus, he’s sure the brat is crying coz he was feeling a little lonely and ignored. Ha! Two can play the game, brat!)
Step 5. Because he was ignored, the brat would mumble under his breath between sniffles. Cue the appearance of snot and the inevitable mess of the brat spreading said snot all over his cheek and arm in his pitiful attempt to wipe it off. (Gross.)
Step 6. The brat would think Sukuna couldn’t hear the mumbled words he would say but Sukuna’s the King of Curses and he has heightened hearing. So Yuuji’s sobs of, “Juguna is mean.” “I not pway with Juguna anymowe.” “I not give Juguna hugs anymowe.” is very clearly heard.
Step 7. After all six steps are completed, the result would be one of three options:
(A) the brat will proceed to “forgive” Sukuna even if Sukuna didn’t (and will never) apologize because ‘Yuuji is good boy, Juguna’ and will proceed to be all fuwa-fuwa and kawaii towards Sukuna;
(B) something will distract the brat that will make him forget his anger towards Sukuna and proceed to tell/show Sukuna what distracted him (because the brat is a fickle-minded five-year-old);
or
(C) the brat will have an outburst, which means sobbing, and, you guessed it, more snot. (Disgusting.)
Step 1 - check.
Sukuna’s eyes focused on the brat, who was peeking over his shoulders at Sukuna and, as expected, turned his nose up in the air with another, “Hmp!”
Step 2 - check.
Sukuna could wait for Step 3 to finish. It's easy to ignore the brat, he invented, mastered, and perfected that craft. No amount of guilt tripping could make Sukuna cave.
Step 4 and 5, though, is where things would start to get annoying. Don't get him started on Step 6. And he doesn’t wanna deal with Step 7, especially because he already knows this would only end in option C.
He'd rather not have any of that, thank you very much.
So Sukuna closed his eyes again, smirked, moved a finger to set what he had planned in motion, and waited.
He didn’t have to wait long.
He heard Yuuji give out a little “Huh?” and Sukuna opened his eyes in slits to see the brat looking around the red, murky waters with apprehension. There was a little splash by the side of his eye and he immediately whipped his head towards it, only to find nothing there. It happened a second time and the look on the brat’s face was becoming more apprehensive. A third time and the brat was getting more scared now.
Until…
“Aaah! Jugunaaaa!” Yuuji wailed as he ran towards the throne of skulls, arms raised, and tears already forming in his eyes. “There monstaaaah!”
“What the hell are you on now, brat?” Sukuna asked, as if he was not the culprit.
“It bite me! Heps, heps! (Help, help)” Yuuji said as he tried to climb the throne of skulls, his hands already on the protruding bones and horns but his feet were still on the murky waters, trying to find purchase but finding none in his haste.
“Aahh!” he screamed again, hurriedly lifting his feet and finding purchase on what was most likely the tiniest available space. They were so tiny that only the thumb from each toe could fit. “It bite me again, Juguna!”
He looked down on the murky waters and saw it bubbling, signifying that whatever bit him was still in there, waiting for Yuuji to fall. Which, by the looks of it, wasn’t going to be long with how his hands were straining and his tiny toes were shaking from holding most of his weight.
The brat was full-on crying now.
“Heps, Juguna! Pease, pease, pease!”
Great. Sukuna just created himself a shortcut from Step 2 to Step 7 Option D. Epic Meltdown
When the hand holding a horn broke, Sukuna watched, as if in slow motion, the shock cross the brat’s face as he slowly tilted backwards, followed by fear as he would inevitably fall back into the murky waters with the ‘monster’ that had just bitten him.
“JUGUNAAAAA!”
But Yuuji opened his eyes in surprise when he landed on something soft and firm as opposed to the cold water of the domain. He was now seated on Sukuna’s lap and when he looked up, Sukuna’s unimpressed face looked back at him.
Yuuji’s lips wobbled and his eyes watered again. Another meltdown was gonna happen in three, two, o—
But nothing came.
Instead, Yuuji looked down, big, fat tears falling and staining his yellow shirt and Sukuna’s white kimono, obviously trying to muffle his sobs.
Sukuna inaudibly sighed. “Scared?”
Yuuji shook his head, he didn’t look up, he was still crying, and he was still muffling his sobs.
Sukuna raised a brow. “You weren’t?”
Yuuji’s shook his head again and reasoned, “Yuuji big boy now. *hiccup* Jii-chan said, *hiccup* Yuuji stwong. *hiccup* Gocho-chenchei said, Jii-chan happy now. *hiccup hiccup* I not wike if Jii-chan sad. *hiccup* So, I not scawed.”
Sukuna wasn’t there when it happened, the brat hadn’t eaten his finger yet, but he could see Yuuji’s memories and dreams when the emotions behind them were too strong. And one of the most vivid ones was of an old man in a hospital bed, telling Yuuji that he would be fine because he was big now and he was a strong kid.
The old man had unconsciously placed a curse on Yuuji.
Sukuna was sure the six-eyes bastard knows of this, too, which was one of the reasons why he, his students, and the people in Jujutsu Tech treated Yuuji like a normal five-year-old and as not the self-sufficient kid who already knows how to cook himself basic meals, clean the house, and live alone.
Sukuna had many retorts to that, one more soul-crushing than the other, but he held his tongue.
Instead, he reached up to ruffle the boy’s hair. “If you need help, just ask, brat. There are so many people who would happily help you.”
Yuuji peeked up at Sukuna through wet lashes and asked, “...Juguna, too?”
Sukuna rolled his eyes but still said, “Only if you ask nicely.”
Slowly, a smile bloomed on Yuuji’s face, residual tears falling on his cheeks as his eyes closed from the action. “Thank you, Juguna!” Yuuji let go of the kimono in his hands as his arms went around Sukuna in a hug, Yuuji’s cheek mushed against the older man’s chest. “I wuv you!”
Sukuna would like to say he wasn’t taken by surprise by the declaration. It’s too random and from a brat like Yuuji, no less.
He could always deny the small warmth blooming in his chest, or how that warmth was slowly growing each time he spent time with the brat.
But he would never be able to deny that the brat was the first one to show him any sign of human affection for more than a millennium. The first to give effort to hug Sukuna because everyone likes hugs and the first to tell him he was loved. And for it to be given so unselfishly.
This brat deserved better from this world.
Instead, Sukuna said, “I thought you said you hate me?”
Yuuji looked up at Sukuna, resting his chin on the other’s chest, pouting, “Because! Juguna is mean to Yuuji.”
“I’m mean because you’re a brat.”
“I not a bwat! Juguna is mean again.”
“So you don’t love me anymore?”
Yuuji shook his head. “I wuvs Juguna!”
Sukuna stared at the brat, stared at golden eyes, looking for any kind of insincerity or dishonesty. Only to find none.
Sukuna closed his eyes again, chin leaning on one fist. He’s had his quota of warmth for the day (but his arm was around the boy and he didn’t want to let go, silently hoping for more).
“Suit yourself, brat.”
Yuuji giggled. “Thank you, Juguna! Coz, you’s heps me even if you's mean. I wuv you!”
“Yeah, whatever,” he said, but his arm tightened around the brat.
Maybe, just maybe, he does, too.