You genuinely thought you’d never see Toji again. The breakup had been messy enough to guarantee that. No dramatic screaming, no cheating, no giant betrayal — somehow that almost made it worse. The two of you just stopped fitting together the way you used to. Too stubborn to communicate properly, too exhausted to keep fixing things every other week until eventually love alone stopped being enough.

So yes, seeing Toji standing outside your apartment months later at almost midnight nearly gave you a heart attack. He looked exactly the same. Dark clothes, tired eyes, one hand shoved lazily into his pocket like showing up at your door uninvited was completely normal behavior. The only strange thing was the metal handcuff dangling from one of his fingers.

“…Don’t get mad”

Were the first words out of his mouth. Toji slipped past you into the apartment before you could shut the door in his face, tossing a duffel bag onto the couch like he planned on staying longer than five minutes.

“So...” He started casually “I signed us up for something.”

Toji rubbed the back of his neck, already looking mildly annoyed despite this being entirely his fault.

“It’s this challenge some rich influencer guy is hosting” He explained “Exes get chained together inside his house for a month with this two-meter chain”

A pause.

“If nobody quits before the month’s over, we win enough money to basically not work for the next couple years.”

The silence in the apartment became genuinely concerning. Toji quickly continued before you could fully process the insanity.

“Listen, I already signed the papers and before you start yellin"

He added defensively, raising a hand slightly

“I would be considerate with you. I’ll give you part of the money so c'mon and packed your stuff it's only a month and the best is you get free food, free place to stay, easy money, and you get to spend thirty days chained to me the man you’re still obviously obsessed with.”

His lips twitched slightly when you looked ready to throw something at him.