Empathy
Summary: No one before has ever managed to tell what he felt like from looking at his face. She gave one look at him and knew right away he was angry. OneShot.
Warning: Extensive spoilers for Chapter35
Disclaimer: Noooope. I don't own Maid-Sama.
People always had told him he was hard to read.
Usui Takumi didn't mind.
He knew his mostly neutral expression successfully prevented people from prying into his own feelings and his private moments. He actually was glad he was able to show something like a poker face. Being educated in a household full of servants and mostly devoid of human contact, he had developed his mask to near perfection.
He thought of himself as an actor.
Actors didn't lie. They just portrayed other people, other people's emotions and other people's actions. From what he knew, he was fairly skilled. And he knew because no one ever had noticed. It wasn't flight and it wasn't fear that made him hide behind a friendly, polite face. It was the easiest way to stay out of other people's lives and to have them stay out of his.
It was his own, personal shield and it had been in place effectively as long as he could remember. And then, one person came and shattered it with one single blow.
-V-
Ayuzawa Misaki wasn't like any other person he had ever known. Probably he wouldn't ever have noticed her if it hadn't been for their fateful meeting at the place of her part-time job. Maybe he'd have lost interest in her if she hadn't proven to be such an interesting character. Sometimes, he felt like he was exploring another world: she was honest, and open, and she always said what she had in mind. She was demanding and hot-blooded and tended towards over-reaction. She was passionate about her job and her position as student body president and for the first time in his life, Usui saw a person that was nothing like him. She couldn't hide. She couldn't lie. Her blushing features told him everything. Her opinion was clearly written in her eyes.
In his world, people like her didn't survive.
In his world, people hid their emotions away, in his world; honesty was defeated by sweet lies and sugary compliments. In his world, people did things for profit and selfishness, in his world, hiding one's anger away was the safest thing to do.
He teased her. She blushed.
He touched her. She hit him.
He grinned at her. She shouted at him.
He followed her home. She started to run.
He acted. She reacted.
He was fascinated beyond reason.
But it wasn't until that day that he realized what being close to her really meant.
His brother and his family had been pushing him for weeks now, demanding him to return to their family's home and to leave Seika High for Mygabioka. They had even gone so far to send Maria in order to check on him. They kept him from school and generally tried everything to harass him without even telling him why. And then, there was Shintani who was following Ayuzawa around like a puppy. Usui didn't like to admit to something like that, but he didn't even want to see the boy in Ayuzawa's surroundings. It was childish and selfish. And unnecessary, if he was right about what she felt for him.
But still.
His anger made him wander around aimlessly.
His wanderings brought him to the train station.
His politeness made him help a lady.
His stupidity brought him to Ayuzawa's home and got him invited for dinner.
And guess who came.
There it was again: the irrational feeling of anger of seeing them together, so close. Childhood friends. Shintani and Ayuzawa shared memories he couldn't intrude on, memories he didn't belong in. He wanted to know, too. He wanted to see pictures of Ayuzawa as a girl, as a baby. He wanted to be the one who knew her well enough to say "But that was in the past. You've changed, Misaki-Chan" and he wanted to be the one to bring the fond smile on her face when she remembered.
The next thing was her family. He knew her father had left. But still, it was a nice atmosphere. Not that he had a comparison. But the way mother and daughters talked, the way Misaki cleared away the dishes and Suzuna let in the water and their mother started to peel apples made him wish he had known such a life, too.
So, in the end, when he left them, there were different emotions resounding inside him.
Anger.
His family dared to boss him around like that after they had successfully ignored him for years. Couldn't they at least tell him what it was about? And how could they dare to send Maria to corner Ayuzawa?
Jealousy.
Why Shintani? Why not him?
Annoyance.
With himself, mostly.
And some kind of loneliness.
Not exactly loneliness, but almost. So this was the house Ayuzawa had grown up in. Knowing it now, he could see why she was the way she was.
-V-
He wouldn't have thought it, but somehow, she was able to see right through his mask. She gave one look at him and immediately knew something wasn´t right.
He tried to brush it away. He didn't lie. The reason why he had been angry had almost been buried underneath this onslaught of emotions that had built up since he set foot inside her home.
She didn't believe him.
It was the first time in his life somebody came after him to ask if he was okay. And seeing her coming towards him, panting from the run, he felt his heart constrict. Why? He couldn't say. It was impossible to sort out those feelings burning deep within him.
She was beautiful.
Under her stare, those big, dark eyes in which something like concern was mixed with something like worry and fear and many other things, his armor crumbled once again. He smiled at her, feeling his anger fade away.
I'm happy.
She had come for him. He couldn't express how much that meant to him.
People always had told him he was hard to read. But somehow, Ayuzawa was able to see what he was thinking and feeling right away. It made him wonder if it wasn't her who was the alien being from outer space, since she was able to understand him.
Or maybe, she just had the gift of empathy. It would explain a lot.