Our Mask [Shinso Hitoshi X Reader]

Chapter 4 - Convenient Clumsiness

The clock read 12 pm and you had yet to get out of bed. It was rare for you to stay in bed so late but you'd found yourself unwilling to move as you recalled last night's events. Shinso's face of realization was embedded into your brain and you couldn't believe you slipped up so easily after all the effort you'd put into preventing all of this. You groaned as you tried to roll onto your side, only to give yourself a scare as you found no bed and instead fell straight to the floor. You'd tried grabbing onto something in midst of your panic and only brought down a small stand with tools on it down with you.

"Owww...", you whined to yourself. You'd been lucky enough to be spared from any injuries from the heavy tools but you were already imagining the pain of rearranging all the heavy and small objects back into their respective spots. The tools laid scattered around you and you sighed in slight frustration as you began picking them up one by one. You were interrupted only a few seconds once you heard knocking on your front door, wondering who it could be as you cupped a few screws into one of your hands and wrapped an arm around a box. You could at least keep going as you answered the door.

The knocks didn't stop as you walked over. You used your free hand to open the door and your eyes met a set of purple. You'd almost forgotten last night with all the commotion. Shinso's sudden presence caught you off guard and you found yourself saying nothing, your throat caught up in itself again. You merely stared at him expectantly but he didn't waste a second after you opened the door to start questioning you.

"Is everything okay? I heard a lot of stuff falling. It sounded heavy. Did you hurt yourself?", he asked, not letting you answer a question before he asked the next. You could see he looked a lot better than last night which led you to believe he probably treated himself at some point after your encounter. His demeanor had also changed. At the moment, Shinso didn't look concerned about the personal matters between the two of you and treated you like he would any civilian in need. It was charming how he seemed to put his personal life out of his mind when it came to good deeds.

"U-Um, no, I'm okay. I knocked over a few of my tools. They were heavy so they made a lot of noise but none of it fell on me. I'm just picking all of it up now", you signaled to the box on your arm and the screws in your hand. There was no need for you to include the fact that all your stuff fell because you'd been too caught up on last night to remember where your bed ended. He merely nodded as he took in your words. His gaze left yours and looked past your shoulders; you realized he could see the mess of small objects scattered throughout your apartment. You lived in a studio apartment so the mess was almost everywhere.

He looked back to you and you saw the way he'd relaxed compared to how he looked at first. You mindlessly resumed putting back the small screws in their respective sections of the box to avoid his gaze.

"I'll help you then. Don't say no, you know why I want to help."

You wished you did know but you were truly confused. Shinso had done small deeds for you before to express gratitude for his mask but so much had happened since those times. Was he helping you to say thanks? Was he helping you because he felt guilty about breaking your mask? Or was he helping you because of what you were to him? Nonetheless, you muttered a quick thanks as you stepped back from the door. He stepped in and analyzed the floor with his standard tired eyes. It was obvious he wasn't on guard anymore like he was when he thought something might have been wrong but you'd expected him to look a little more uncomfortable. God knows you were. You sat yourself down at the edge of your bed as you kept putting up the screws in your hand and let him start picking up some of the heaviest looking objects. He looked at you inquisitively and you referred him to another box that laid on the floor. This went on for a few minutes until you could see no more tools on your floor. You shook off your hands and looked at him with a nervous smile.