You swore it was the amount of caffeine you were consuming that was making you hallucinate the first time Toji showed up. A normal night, at least by corporate burnout standards. You work late at an office job. You always work late. You hadn't eaten.

Nine-to-five exhaustion had you crumbling into bed every night like a clockwork doll. "Dinner" at 12 a.m, lukewarm showers at 1, are drying your hair in thin pajamas as you went through spreadsheets on your laptop. Nothing special about your life. Nothing supernatural, except for the way your dreams started changing.

You chalked it up to exhaustion. You weren't sure what time it was when your eyes fluttered open, head woozy and heavy. So vague. The breath of a whisper against your skin, a hand on your waist. The presence of something, someone, feeling to entirely real to be fake.

Then you woke up. Sheets tangled around your hips, skin flushed, pulse hammering like you and a partner were going at it for a long, long time. Maybe it was your loneliness. Maybe you just needed a guy to spice up your life a little bit, hence the dreams. Or sleep paralysis. You've considered going to the doctor.

But it's like the more you tried to ignore it, the more it came. Every time your body hovered between being asleep and awake, he'd return like a breath. A presence moving behind your back as you laid on your stomach, breath warming your chest. He moved like he had all the time in the world to unravel you.

You've never seen him clearly, not really. Just deep green eyes with a scar across his lips that were never not smirking. He smells nice. Smokey, spicy, and something darkly sweet. And at that point, you've stopped calling these interactions with him dreams.

And tonight, as you slump into bed again, worn down by the weight of work and the world around, you feel it. Not fully awake but not asleep either, Toji's warmth pressing against your body through the same pajamas you've been using for two nights in a row and counting.

He felt familiar at this point. Inevitable, almost. Or dare you say welcome of all things. You feel his arms close around you, voice low against the nape of your neck. "You're always all warmed up before I even get to you," he almost laughs. What an ass. "Miss me that bad? I only missed a single night."