From Another Perspective | Shinso Hitoshi x male! Reader

Warnings: none

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Shinso's POV

When I cross the threshold of our dorms, I am surprised to find each of my remaining classmates waiting in the common room. Many are seated on or stand beside either of two couches, while others are found along the walls of the room; they are scattered, but they are all present. The crowd hears the door close behind Shoji, Tokoyami, and I, and all their eyes turn to give us their full attention – the suddenness of that action is eerie. My body is still shaken and rejects any attempt I give to respond to their expectant gazes, so I am glad to hear Shoji answer instead.

"(l/n)-san is alive and stable," a wave of bittersweet sighs passes through the room, "He also fell into a very deep sleep – not a coma – but Recovery Girl estimates that he won't wake up until tomorrow morning at the earliest." Silence prevails once more as everyone processes the information.

"Like everyone here, I was surprised by his actions and words because it doesn't fit his regular demeanor," Todoroki starts, "But you still haven't told us why it happened in the first place." A few nods from others agree with his questioning. I finally find the courage to speak.

"If you think the involvement of a personality quirk or the usage of my own quirk caused this, you would be wrong. The only thing that happened was me releasing him from my quirk's influence; I do not wish harm upon any of my classmates. On any of my friends. Though if there truly was no external cause, then-." I stop mid-sentence hoping that one of them would catch my train of thought and continue this discussion. I cannot reveal the information entrusted to me.

"Then whatever we saw was still him, just a part we must not have seen." Yaoyorozu finishes – thankfully.

"We've known (l/n)-kun for a year and a half now, how is that even possible?" Kaminari asks.

"If we're considering their actions as a true part of them, then it must have been hidden from us purposefully," Midoriya answers.

"Could they really have hidden it that well?" Hagakure adds.

"Perhaps we overlooked it," Midoriya says, "He does act abnormally in a sense. (l/n) has a tendency to leave conversations at random times."

"It's also strange that I can never find him in the mornings – not in his room, not in the showers, and not even in the common room. He only appears during homeroom," Kirishima continues.

"What about his eating habits?" Sato asks, "I can't be the only one who's noticed that he always packs his own lunch, or that he spends an unusually long amount of time in kitchen. He only eats what he makes himself; (l/n) hasn't even once tried any of my food."

"Really? But your food is literally heaven on a plate," Hagakure questions, which is confirmed by a nod.

"I have seen him act similarly to this event, just today in fact," Iida admits. Heads turn to him in surprise. "After one of the classes I have with him, I offered to study with him to help with his grades. He slammed his hand on my desk and said that he didn't need fixing before storming out the door. I don't have any other memory of (l/n)-san being upset, and certainly not to that extent."

"And this is (l/n) you're talking about – as in the (y/n) (l/n) – right?" Kaminari says.

"I promise you it was him. I almost didn't believe my own eyes and ears."

"He must be hurting so much to have acted like that, and to be so diligent in hiding it from us. It makes me sad to know that I couldn't see whatever pain he's experiencing," Uraraka admits.

"I'm certain the rest of us feel the same – I know I do," Midoriya comforts her. He tries to say something else but is interrupted by Bakugo's grating voice.

"Oi, extras," he takes a few steps toward Shoji and Tokoyami, "You two knew him long before we all came to UA, yet neither of you have had anything to say in this. There's something you're not telling us, so spit it out already!"

"Calm down Baku-bro," Kirishima interjects, standing up to hold back the hothead, "If they've known him for longer, then seeing (l/n) like this must be hurting them twice as much as it does the rest of us. Ease up on them, okay?" Bakugo rolls his eyes but returns to his earlier position against the wall regardless.

"But Shinso," Midoriya starts again, "I'm curious. Why did you release your quirk on him anyway? You could see the white square from the hallway you were in; you would have technically won the round if you had kept him walking for a little longer. So why stop there?" All eyes return to me again, and I look to the ground.

"He was crying." I pause for a moment, but no one else has anything to say to that. "Midoriya, you are the only one who has done something of their own will while under my quirk's influence. Would you know how that could have happened?" The calculative strategist takes a few moments to consider my question.

"It took a lot of mental concentration and strength for me to move just one of my fingers, but that was a voluntary action. Things like crying, breathing, and heart beats are all involuntary, so they technically occur outside the control of the influenced. Otherwise, you would have to instruct them in how keep their body functioning every time you use your quirk.

"If I were to make an educated guess, I would say that (l/n) was already freaking out inside his own head at the time. Enough of any strong emotion, whether it be sadness or anger, can involuntarily cause tears to fall – but I have no clue as to what his thoughts could have been."

The room returns to a quiet space. Iida suggests that we continue about our afternoon routines and wait to visit (y/n) again until the morning. I gladly take that advice and head straight to my dorm, ignoring the suspicious stare from Bakugo. Though I try my best to shift my focus to homework or my laptop, my mind plays the audio of (y/n)'s hysterical laughter on repeat and flashes images of his distraught form before my eyes until they imprint themselves on the back of my skull. It doesn't offer me the mercy of sleep either, so I lie in bed still for several hours.

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A/N: Isn't it crazy how when you're in distress, other people will notice and worry for you? It's 'impossible for anyone to care about me', yet here we are. I suppose that's why I wrote this chapter, because I know I needed to hear someone give a shit about me, and I'm sure other people would need that as well.

Also, refusing Sato's cooking is practically a war crime. How could you do such a thing (y/n)?

Word Count: 1186