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After a long day of fighting wintery curses that plagued the surroundings of an otherwise-placid resort town in Hokkaido, Itadori and Yuta were eager to return to civilization and wind down for the evening. What the curses lacked in strength, they made up for in numbers, leaving the two men a little more tired than they normally would be, especially since they were in the cold all day.
When the two sorcerers set foot in their hotel room—paid for in full by their clients—both of them noticed the same thing.
“There’s only one bed…..” Yuta muttered nervously.
“There’s only one bed?!” Itadori exclaimed in shock.
“We should perhaps ask if we can switch rooms when we go downstairs for dinner…..”
But it didn’t seem like Itadori had heard Yuta’s suggestion, as he kicked off his boots right away and began to look around.
The pair investigated the room further, with Yuta checking out the main area while Itadori went to the bathroom. At least the bed was definitely big enough for two people. The only way it’d be a tight squeeze was if they were both Todo Aoi-sized. He was about to sit down on it, but then he heard Itadori shouting.
“Holy shit, there’s a hot tub in here!” the younger man called out, “I’ve never been in one of these before!”
Yuta headed over to take a peek at the aforementioned appliance. It was square-shaped and coated in shiny white plastic, looking as if it were new thanks to the resort’s presumably meticulous cleaning staff.
“You don’t look very impressed by it!” Itadori pouted.
“It’s cool,” Yuta tried to assure him, “I’m just a little tired from today. And you know how I always look a little downcast, haha…..”
The pink-haired man pursed his lips, but didn’t question Yuta’s reply.
In truth, Yuta’s only hot tub-related memory was not a pleasant one, but he didn’t want to kill Itadori’s chipper mood by sharing it.
“So, would you want to stay in this room or should I try to see if there’s a room with two beds and a hot tub?” Yuta asked considerately.
“Eh, this one is great, actually!” Itadori replied immediately, “Besides, I’d feel bad about troubling the hotel when they gave us this room for free.”
Before Yuta could ask how they should deal with the bed situation, Itadori switched the topic.
“We should get dinner now, it’s getting late!”
After a hearty dinner at the hotel’s buffet, the two young men returned back to their room.
“You know what we should do now?” Itadori smiled lopsidedly, as he raised his arms in a tired stretch, “We should take a bath!”
“We…..?” Yuta questioned. Of course, he knew that he and Itadori should get cleaned up. But the way the other man phrased it made it sound like they were supposed to bathe together.
“Well, we’d shower by ourselves but then we’d hang out in the tub together!” Itadori explained, “Those things are supposed to be enjoyed with friends, you know!”
The pink-haired man wasn’t wrong but….. Yuta had never exactly been in a situation like this before. He couldn’t help but get a little anxious. Sure, he had spent time in a hot spring with Inumaki and Panda before. But it was different in a public establishment and when you were with two friends and not just one. Not to mention that Itadori undoubtedly had an impressive physique due to his athletic prowess. While Yuta was more fit now than he used to be, he knew he wouldn’t be able to measure up to his younger friend. And he didn’t even want to start thinking about what happened the last time he had been in a hot tub.
“Come on, it’ll be fun!” Itadori begged, pulling on his arm passionately. His earnest excitement reminded Yuta of a puppy. Despite his apprehension, it was hard for him to turn down his eager friend.
“Sure, why not?” Yuta smiled gently, “I’ll join you.”
Yuta let Itadori shower first and then jump into the hot tub (as unsafe as jumping was). Once the dark-haired man was finished showering, he tentatively stepped into the tub himself, awkwardly sitting down in a spot which he soon realized was about as far as he could possibly be from his friend. He brought his knees up towards his chest and put his arms around them, to make sure that his feet or legs didn’t end up bumping against Itadori’s.
“Aw man, you’re anxious even here, huh?” Itadori teased.
“Well…..” Yuta mumbled, looking at the other man. At least their positions and the bubbling water meant that Yuta couldn’t see anything below Itadori’s chest, allaying his self-consciousness about his body.
Mulling over what he should say next, Yuta realized that if there was anyone who’d understand the bad memory that was on his mind, it’d be Itadori. Maybe opening up about it would help him relax.
“I guess the only experience I had with a hot tub wasn’t a good one,” he confessed.
“Aw, really? That sucks,” Itadori apologized, “I’m sorry if you felt like you had to sit here with—”
“Oh no, don’t worry about that!” Yuta assured him, “I just figured talking about it might make me feel better.”
Itadori gave him a look that seemed both concerned and confused.
“Ah, I should explain better!” Yuta clarified, “It was an incident with Rika some years ago.”
“Oh, I see! She really had a big effect on you! I mean, not that I didn’t know that before, but Sukuna never interfered in my daily life like that.”
“Yeah, and this was a time where my family ended up getting dragged into it too,” Yuta sighed.
“Ugh, that sounds rough,” Itadori sighed, “So what happened?”
Yuta took a deep breath and tried to let his body loosen up.
“One summer, around a year after the accident that killed Rika, my family went on a vacation to a resort. I was really trying my best to enjoy myself and not let Rika and her tragic death get to me, so I decided to go swimming in the pool with my sister.”
“I’d definitely do the same,” Itadori chuckled supportively.
Yuta smiled slightly, hearing the reassurance.
“Rika was on edge the whole time. But at that time I still didn’t fully get what was going on, so I just tried to ignore her. When my sister and I were done playing in the pool, we went to relax in a hot tub nearby. It was like one of those fancy tiled outdoor ones, so we were still in the pool area. Anyways, we were sitting beside each other when I noticed a little leaf had gotten in her hair. I leaned in towards her to pluck it out… and that’s when Rika freaked out. She pushed my sister away from me, throwing her out of the tub—”
“Was your sister okay?” Itadori interrupted.
“She had a few scrapes,” Yuta replied, looking at the other man, noting the scars that accented his face, “Which is barely anything compared to what we’re used to now, but more than enough to scare me as a kid. And make my parents worried, too. To make things worse, when I ran to check on my sister, Rika only got more upset. So she started thrashing the place to get my attention, splashing water everywhere and flipping over patio chairs. Especially chairs with guests on them, because Rika was always chaotic like that……”
He chuckled wryly and looked down at the water, the sadness in the eyes of his reflection reminding himself of the fearful boy he used to be.
“Of course, the hotel concluded it must’ve been my sister and I causing trouble. My parents were angry at both of us, but especially with me, because I let my sister get hurt. And I think….. that was when I first started putting the pieces together, that it really could be Rika haunting me.”
“That sounds really rough!” Itadori consoled.
Yuta was going to say something about how what happened wasn’t really anyone’s fault and Rika couldn’t help it due to her nature as a vengeful spirit, but his thoughts were derailed by the sight of his friend scuttling across the tub, the strong jets of water doing nothing to hinder his movements.
“I hope we can make a better hot tub memory for you here,” he grinned, sitting beside Yuta and putting an arm around his shoulder, “Did telling me about it make you feel better at all?”
It did, Yuta realized. He nodded, shutting his eyes. He slowed his breath, trying to really absorb the sensations around him. His friend’s affectionate touch, the floral scents of the hotel soap and the feeling of the water rushing around him and pressing against his body were making it easier for Yuta to calm down. His head was always rushing with thoughts, often worries more than not. It was rare that he could empty it of all his concerns and take in the world around him like this.
Soon, he felt firm hands rubbing his shoulders.
“I heard this kind of thing helps, too!” Itadori said, not quite soft enough to be a whisper, but still quieter and closer to Yuta than he’d normally speak. Normally, Yuta would bristle at a sudden touch, but instead he found himself easing himself into Itadori’s hands.
“Thank you…..” he murmured.
“Any time, dude.”
Yuta could readily picture Itadori’s easygoing smile and felt the corners of his lips curl upwards.
“I’ve never seen you looking so chill!”
Yuta responded to that with the most wholehearted laugh he’s made in a long while.
The two men relaxed in the hot tub together until their fingers and toes were wrinkly. They then got ready for bed, and turned off all the lights in the bedroom except for a bright lamp on the nightstand. Yuta read a book while Itadori was on his phone, both of them delaying resolving the question of what to do about the singular bed.
Itadori, in his typically direct manner, was the first one to confront the problem.
“Welp, I’m pretty sleepy now,” he yawned, climbing off the bed and putting his phone to charge on a small table nearby, “I hope there’s an extra blanket in the closet…..”
“Do you get cold easily?” Yuta asked, putting his book down on the nightstand to look at him.
“Not really,” the other man answered, “It’s that I’m gonna sleep on the floor, so that you don’t have to share the bed with me.”
“Don’t do that! You can stay in the bed, and I’ll sleep on the floor!” Yuta insisted.
“I don’t need it!” Itadori argued, “I mean, you always look so tired, with those bags under your eyes—”
“Rude!”
“Ah, it wasn’t meant as an insult, I just—”
“Shhh, I was just teasing you,” Yuta assured him, noticing Itadori looking at him surprised. Well, he couldn’t blame the younger man, he wasn’t usually the type to rib on someone like that. But the opportunity had presented itself, and Itadori was someone he found himself feeling increasingly comfortable around.
“Hmm, how about we just share the bed,” he proposed, once Itadori had appeared to have processed his remark, “Maybe I can put a pillow between us so that it’s not too awkward…..?”
“Ah, well…..”
He fidgeted nervously.
“I guess I just feel weird sleeping in the same bed as another person for um, reasons……”
“What reasons?” Yuta inquired, “If you’re okay with talking about it—”
“Well, I don’t want you to worry—”
“You listened to me earlier. So I’d be more than happy to listen to you, Itadori.”
Itadori got back up on the bed and leaned his back against the headboard.
“It’s because of something that happened in Shibuya…..”
“Wait, you mean when I killed you and then brought you back to life or…..?” Yuta fretted immediately, briefly forgetting that he did that some days after the Shibuya incident.
“No, not that. It’s um, when I was in the station and got knocked out, and someone fed me ten Sukuna fingers which…..”
He looked like he was about to sob, recollecting what happened.
“Ah, I get it!” Yuta insisted, “You don’t need to say anything more if it’s too distressing for you!”
But the younger man pushed himself to continue talking about his feelings.
“You know what happened after that but….. Even though Sukuna isn’t here anymore, I guess I just get uncomfortable if someone touches me or brushes against me while I’m sleeping. I think I’m always scared on some level that somehow he’ll come back. Like, when Nobara tried to wake me up one time when I fell asleep on a train, I ended up swatting her in my sleep. I thought she’d be mad at me about it but she just seemed worried and—”
“I understand,” Yuta nodded solemnly, hoping his sentiment came off as sincerely as he meant it, “But I don’t think that means you should sleep on the floor. If anything, I’m certain now you deserve to sleep in the bed more than I do!”
“T-that’s not fair to you, though!” Itadori countered.
Yuta couldn’t bring himself to argue with his friend further, not when he was being so caring. Silence hung between the two of them. Itadori furrowed his brows and twiddled his thumbs.
“Maybe….. Maybe we can both sleep here?” he finally proposed, patting a hand on the bed.
“Are you sure you’ll be comfortable with that?” Yuta immediately asked, concerned the other man was once again sacrificing his comfort for the sake of others.
“Ah, well, I realized if there’s anyone I’d trust with this, it’d be you,” Itadori explained, “See, when you attacked me in Shibuya, you killed me, but then you brought me back to life right away. We’d never met before, so you easily could have just done what the higher-ups wanted, even if you’d heard good things about me from Gojo. I still can’t quite imagine how you thought I was worth saving but….. It always meant a lot to me, that you felt I deserved to live.”
That was one of the kindest things anyone has ever said to Yuta. He didn’t know how to respond, but his body moved faster than his mouth, pulling Itadori into a stiff hug.
“T-thank you…..” he murmured.
“Ah!” Itadori exclaimed, shocked but happy, “I-I think this is the first time you’ve hugged me? You’re normally not much of a touchy-feely kinda guy…..”
Yuta awkwardly pulled away.
“Um, anyways,” he rambled, patting the ample number of fluffy pillows on the bed, “Should I put one or two of these between us to make sure we don’t bump into each other while we’re sleeping? Since you said you end up reacting to—”
“Oh, that’s a good idea actually,” Itadori mused, “I was thinking that maybe if I fell asleep holding onto you or something, that maybe I’d be calmer since I can feel that it’s you there and that I’m safe. But saying that out loud now, it sounds kinda weird—”
“Ah, no, I get it!” Yuta interrupted. For a split second, he did think it was a strange idea, but then he understood what Itadori meant.
“It’s like when you had helped me relax in the hot tub earlier,” he continued.
“Oh, yeah, I guess.”
Itadori shuffled closer to Yuta, in a manner that was surprisingly hesitant for him. They were now close enough that they were almost touching each other, but not quite.
“You don’t need to be so tentative,” Yuta said, in a rare moment of confidence. He put a gentle hand on Itadori’s shoulder, “You can lie down right next to me, okay?”
He saw a slight blush tinting Itadori’s cheeks. The younger man then briskly lay back. Yuta turned off the lamp beside him and followed suit, pulling the thick blanket over himself and Itadori. He put his arms around his friend, snaking one arm behind his back and the other in front of his chest.
“I thought it’d be the other way around…..” Itadori chuckled softly.
“That you’d be the one with your arms around me?” Yuta mumbled into the crook of Itadori’s neck.
“Yeah…”
“Would you want to switch positions or—” Yuta began to ask.
“No, no, I like it like this!”
Itadori turned towards him, and snuggled up closer.
“Mm….. cozy…..” Yuta heard him murmur. And that was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep.
The sun peeked in through the curtains, and the alarm on Itadori’s phone went off. A little earlier than Yuta would have normally preferred, but he felt more well-rested than usual.
“I slept great!” Itadori boasted, sliding out from under Yuta’s arm, “Thank you so much!”
“I’m honoured I could help,” Yuta nodded, more consciously than he normally would have at this hour.
“We better get dressed and hurry to get breakfast, we have a long day of skiing ahead of us!” the other man announced.
“Skiing…..?” Yuta questioned.
“I mean yeah, we’re done with all those curses!” Itadori answered, bounding out of bed, “So we might as well make the best of the rest of our time here!”
“I’ve never gone skiing in my life…..”
“Well, neither have I! But that’s what makes it fun!”
Yuta wanted to disagree, but he realized that if there was anything he learned from this trip, it was that he could trust Itadori.
“You’re right, that is a good way to make use of the time we have left here,” he replied instead, climbing out of bed.
“Glad you think so!” Itadori chirped. He ran to grab his phone, and showed Yuta a map of the resort’s ski slopes.
“I was thinking of starting with this slope, the one marked with the black circle,” the younger man began to chatter, “I picked it because it has a cool sounding name! So I’m sure that means it’d be the most exciting one and…..”
Yuta smiled affectionately at his friend. It was definitely going to be an exciting day.