Can you discern shock or discomfort in people?

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Particularly, in discerning a change in colour in people's faces when they're aghast or really worried or that sort of thing? You see this in prose, e.g. "I told her such-and-such, and her face suddenly went pale as a ghost", or that someone sees another person's face reddening, even though that person hasn't raised their voice they might be talking in a low voice which are precursors (the protagonist of the book the Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, Christopher, had this trouble with his dad).

I have on occasion noticed it when I had to break some bad news to someone, or when I accused them of something for which I had evidence... or have seen it when I was a "third party" observer to such an interaction - but only when I was consciously looking for it, and thinking about it for a few seconds. Whereas I think most NTs just pick up on such facial state changes unconsciously within a second, and they just know how the other person feels. This is, incidentally, one of the reasons why I missed "obvious" signs of discomfort from women for the first half of my twenties before I was diagnosed with ASD. I think at that point, it's like the point of no return, where you can't say anything to allay their fears, not even a concerned "what's wrong? you've suddenly become all pale and shocked...why?" - then you really sound clueless or weird.
Or, perhaps if we stare at them too long to discern their emotional state when NTs can do it faster, they might also think THAT looks unnatural. So I got into the habit that whenever I broke something negative to someone, I'd copy their facial expression right after, look at them and say something like "I realize this is not the best thing to hear, but I felt that I had to tell you."

Shock, yes.

Discomfort, generally no. Although I'm very good at realising when people are annoyed or bored by me, because it happens a lot.

I can if it's blaringly obvious...something like someone dropping their mouth wide open and saying "oh my god". That I would recognize. But more subtle things? Nah. That's going to go completely over my head.

I only sense that something is wrong...

Whether I did it or not, that's always uncertain. (Stupid programming, stupid inputs, stupid reactions, stupid ego...).

But likely I do not know what or why. It's annoying.

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