Toddlers are known to look at their caregivers to see how they should react when they trip and fall. Even if the stumble of their wobbly legs doesn’t hurt them, in many cases they will still cry if their guardians fuss over them. Or if the adult doesn’t give them a time of day usually they get up and go back to playing with their friends.
This phenomenon is pretty common for the toddler you seemed to raise. The small child seemed to master how to react during certain situations depending on who is watching him, you or his wicked older brother.
And so when the three of you go to the park where Yuuji runs around the playground, letting out giggles and squeals when Nobara and Megumi play tag with him. You drift off on Sukunas shoulder on a nearby bench, closing your eyes and slumping against your boyfriend.
As to be aspected, Yuuji, after being warned very harshly from his “doting” brother to go slow when going down the steps of the playground, ignores the warning and sprints down the stairs only to miss a step and fall straight to the bark. It wasn’t a hard fall — his legs collapse beneath him and he lands on his knees with a plop. No harm no injuries, mostly just shock of him falling a couple feet into bark.
The first thing he does is look toward you, unconsciously questioning if he was about to cry out from the pain so that you can pick him up and coddle him. But he can’t catch your sleeping gaze and instead finds himself face to face with Sukuna.
His brother only cocks and eyebrow at him, shaking his head as if to say “i dare you to cry right now”. The two of them make eye contact for longer than necessary, silent communication, and Yuuji sniffles, gulps, and slowly gets up before going back to playing.
The elder Itadori puts his hand in front of your eyes, blocking out the sun from disturbing your sleep and continues to watch his younger brother walk much more carefully up and down the playground. It was good to not coddle the boy; Sukuna didn’t want Yuuji to grow up spoiled, he was to be a man, strong just like him .
But of course Sukuna happened to be raising him with you, a person with the biggest soft spot for the child. And so when you wake up from your nap and Sukuna calls the boy over to leave, you notice the tiny piece of bark sticking out of the boys leg. It was surface level — Yuuji didn’t even notice it but still the image looks much more scarier than it was really.
You gasp and begin to fuss over his “injured” leg, asking the boy if he tripped and fell, if he was hurt at all, if he was okay. And suddenly to Yuuji it seemed that maybe that fall did hurt a little too bad. Tears begin to well up in his eyes.
“Don’t you give me that shit. You’re fine. You tripped like five minutes ago and I know it didn’t hurt.”
Yuuji shakes his head, ignoring his brother and rubbing his eyes while he looks up at you. “O-Owie…” he whines, rubbing at his knee.
“Poor thing, did you hurt yourself? I’m sorry Yuuji I wasn’t watching.” He reaches his hands up to you and you scoop him up while he begins to cry into your neck.
It was a fake cry, obviously enough. It makes the elder Itadoris mouth hang open. “You little liar!”
“Don’t be mean, Sukuna.” You say, teasing him because you realized quickly enough that the boys “cries” didn’t produce any liquid from his eyes. You didn’t mind spoiling the boy either way.
Sukuna, realizing you also understood, lets out a dramatic groan, shaking his head before exclaiming, “Why am I surrounded by weaklings?!”
You just laugh at him, thinking about to a few years earlier during highschool. Sukuna was the one who would dramatize his pain whenever he got in a fight. You would listen to his whines (after he profusely exclaimed that he won by a longshot) over a busted lip and a black eye while you would fuss over him, just as you are doing to Yuuji.
He got into a lot of fights during highschool because Sukuna could never get enough of you fretting over him. He liked when you played nurse and coddled him, way too similar to the way you cooed at Yuuji.
The two of them, although Sukuna would never admit it, are way too similar. Both strong and independent boys who happen to turn into whiny, attention seeking puppies when you are around.
