blessing - itadori x reader

004- nightmares + peppermint

a quiet voice rung, "...(l/n)?"

"AAAAAAAAAA—NMFHH!!" you raised both hands in the air, ready to attack the figure with red and white flames dancing off your palms. it illuminated the area in front of you just enough to see a kneeling, disheveled, wide-eyed itadori holding his hand over your mouth.

"please don't kill me," he asked softly. he was wearing a gray tank top and black sweatpants.

"itadori," a breath that you were holding escaped your lips as he peeled his hand off your face. you lowered your hands to your lap, still emitting blessed energy to see his tired features. "what's wrong? why are you—"

"you were screaming, i wanted to make sure you were okay." 3:47 a.m. glowed from the white analog clock on your nightstand. itadori's troubled eyes were still fixated on yours.

"sorry, it was a stupid nightmare." nightmare is what you wished it was. that wasn't a nightmare, it was a reminder. a reminder of what your own 'blessing' can do to you. oh, how you'd kill to be a curse user.

pursing his lips, he sighed. "do you wanna talk about it?" watching you shaking your head, he quickly recovered. "well, we can talk about something else. get your mind off things, ya know?"

"... but you're tired. you should go to bed."

"pft, i'm not tired." he was. the eye bags under his eyes exposed that truth. but he wouldn't be able to sleep knowing that you were having a hard time. so when you patted the empty side of your bed, his smile grew twice in size.

he sat a respectful distance away from you, entranced by the way blessed energy was prancing in your hands. it felt warm, comforting even. something so dangerous, yet it was at your beck and call.

"...peppermint."

you furrowed your brows at him. "huh?"

"that's my nickname for you, peppermint." you tilted your head in confusion before looking down at your hands, realizing he got the name for the red and white color scheme of blessed energy. "be happy that i didn't go for santa claus."

"damn, is 'wonderboy' that bad?" giggling, you laid back down on your pillows, laughing even harder when an exaggerated shocked expression reached his features. your makeshift nightlight of blessed energy shrunk in size as you now only used one hand instead of two to lay comfortably.

"i thought peppermint was a cute name." he shrugs, his exposed arms flexing from the movement, "that's fine, i'll just call you santa claus—"

"i think i like peppermint actually!" you smiled sarcastically. he gave you the same toothy grin right back, laying down on the bed to face you.

"same!! it kinda stuck, ya know?" your laugh that made his heart flutter filled your dorm room again, mixed with his own warm chuckle.

once the laugher died down, you looked him in the eye. "so, i'm guessing they aren't gonna kill you."

"nah," he sighed. "not yet, at least. they want me to collect all fingers before they... you know."

"i see." you've seen many good people die, too many for your age. but it didn't mean you ever got used to it. it still hurt, especially knowing that they were pure. you could feel sukuna's rampaging cursed energy being muted by itadori's own body. 'how long would that be the case, though?'

"it's not too bad, sukuna's quiet most of the time. other than the occasional..." he suddenly jumped at you, making fake claws with his hands and a deep voice, "i WiLl KiLl EvErYoNe!!" your laughter was only fuel for him to keep going. "yOu UsElEsS JuJutSu SoRcErErS ARRRGGG!!"

"sukuna's a pirate now?" you asked, wiping a tear.

"hell yeah. it's fun to imagine him in a pirate costume." itadori suddenly gasped. "what if curses are just evil pirates??"

and so you two talked for hours, forcing you to completely forget why you woke up in the first place. talking about anything that crossed your sleep-deprived teenage minds.

"i kinda want to touch it." itadori suddenly asked, his eyes were glued to the red and white flames in your hand.

"go ahead."

"i know better than to touch fire."

"it's not fire, it's blessed energy. it won't hurt you unless i want it to."

"...fine." itadori gave into temptation, slowly reaching his fingers towards yours. the energy now coated his entire hand, hugging his skin as if it recognized him. "it feels... nice." he mumbled, waving his fingers to let the flames kiss every crevice of his hand.

"told you," you whispered, exhaustion slowly talking over you. he took note of that.

"it makes you tired, right?" he lowered his voice to match yours, easily mirroring you. his slightly drowsy voice had a low rasp to it. "that's why you've been using it since i've got here."

"yeah... a bit." his hand was now touching yours, flat against each other, keeping the latter warm. he carefully held your hand, softly brushing his thumb against your supple skin.

"can you... turn it off?" hesitantly, you did. and the room was back to dark, the only light source being the wee bit of sun starting to make its appearance. it created a glow against itadori's pink hair, yet keeping his face barely visible. you two had spent the whole night talking.

he turned your hand over so that the back of your hand was facing him. 'less than a year is what i have left to live.' he thought. 'i might as well make it worth it.' your eyes were getting so heavy, you barely registered his action of lightly kissing your knuckles. he kept your hand near his lips, hoping to savor the feeling. itadori was getting tired too, as he didn't understand why he was so calm about his sudden proximity to you. close enough for him to see you so well in such a dark room.

your eyes were shut, a peaceful, light smile on your face. 'she's asleep.' the respectful thing would be to get up and go back to his room. and he did consider it. but your bed was so warm, and so he thought, 'i'll stay for a few more minutes, and then i'll leave.'

before his timer of "a few more minutes" were up, the boy was fast asleep, still holding on to your hand.

*