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Shinsou likes to believe he is a simple man.
He has wants and needs just like every other person, to eat, drink, sleep, he prays sometimes. He doesn't know to who, he just hopes someone is listening and that's enough.
Shinsou believed he was a simple man.
But God.
He feels like a fool for not noticing you before, how could he miss you? You radiated an energy he couldn't describe with words on their own, how could they? No words encapsulate the way his heart jumps when his ears pick up your laugh over every other voice in the cafeteria, and nothing can begin to describe how he feels when he gets to watch your nose crinkle when you smile.
Simple people do not feel this way over simple human behaviors.
So why does he?
He takes it upon himself to introduce himself to you, even though his hands were clammy and he could only say a sentence or two, you still pull him to your table with your friends and introduce him.
Simple people don't grin like fools when people make eye contact with them.
So why does he whenever you look at him?
Catching your eye throughout class becomes more and more common as you and Shinsou become closer.
When someone says something funny, he's the first person you look at to see if he's laughing too, and he always smiles in return. When your teacher tells you its a test day and you know you haven't studied, your eyes dart to Shinsou's in a panic and all he can do is chuckle.
Shinsou wants to believe he is a simple person.
So why is none of this simple anymore?
He doesn't understand the twist in his stomach when you gush about an anonymous love letter that was put into your locker this morning, he figures he ate something bad and it's just setting in now. He congratulates you and tells you anyone is lucky to have someone so.... amazing like you. He meets your eyes and for once they're filled with adoration, he looks into his mirror later and finds he has the same look in his eyes.
Odd.
Shinsou doesn't understand this feeling until you come to his dorm room puffy eyed with tear stained cheeks.
Oh.
It's a quiet realization as you cling to him and tell him about how it was a prank, he realizes he wants to throw everything away to see your nose crinkle up when you smile, and he's already running through a mental list of who would've thought to do something so awful to you. He realizes he clings to you tighter as you cry, he doesn't want to let go.
Shinsou doesn't say anything, he knows he isn't what you need and he believes he never will be. It's a role he's all too happy to fill, because at least when you stop crying, he'll be able to hear you laugh again, and again, for however long you decide to stay in his life.
Shinsou is not as simple as he likes to believe.
and for once,
he's okay with that.