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if she really thought about it, ruby thought that she had never seen cj cry, ever. but it had to have had happened at some point, right? you can't just not cry.
so tonight, after the small show, she asked him. “h..hey, cj? come here for a second? i.. i want to ask you something.”
“oh, yeah! what's up ru?”
“when..” she was quite scared for this response. “well, first, actually..when..when did you last sleep?”
“hm, good question, haha! i can't remember, i think it was.. four days ago? as far as i know? why, everything alright?” he had a slight look of concern on his face now, the rest filled with confusion.
‘that's bad, but how does he have this much energy??’ she thought, before turning back to him. “oh, uhm, yeah, everything's okay, but o-once we get back, you're g.. you're going to sleep and not faking it, alright??”
cj smiled softly now, “alright, sure, sure. what was the other thing you wanted to ask me, though?”
ruby's expression only got more nervous as she tried to smile, failing. “oh,”
“hey, hey, it's okay! it's just me, right? look at me,” cj said, the other not moving, lost in horrible thoughts.
“i..yeah.. you're r-right. it's just you, heh..mhm.” she said after a moment.
“don't worry, ruby; i'm here for you, alright? ask me the question if you want to.”
“o-oh, i do need to ask—”
“w..when was the last time..you cried?? i've never s-seen you cry or heard y— cj? h-hey?”
the boy did not move, hands gripping his sweater and staring into the wall. “what?” he said quietly after a moment. “oh, yeah. i'm okay. i, uh, what-what did you say b-before?” he was stumbling over words, something he didn't do often.
cj looked so..sad, all of a sudden. happiness from the show had mostly disappeared, replaced with confusion and a sort of lost sense, like everything in the world had disappeared and he was only met with a dark world.
“cj? hey, e-earth to? where did y..”
“huh?” he snapped out of the dark, staring at ruby like he was so relieved to see her here. “oh, uh. i don't know. a few, maybe four years ago i think? when i was 17 i remember crying. but i can't remember doing it any time in-between. why?”
suddenly, ruby had her arms wrapped around the boy, making cj jump. “ruby? everything okay??”
“y-yeah, i just..” she trailed off. “oh.” he said quietly, realizing the point of this.
“i-i just thought it would be..better.. if you let it out, i mean, i-..?” she stopped, realizing the boy was quietly sniffling.
“thank you, re-really. i. needed this,” cj let go of ruby for a moment to put his hood on his sweater up, before looking at her again, “can, i uh, can i have another-”
“..another hug?”
she did not respond; he was worried he said the wrong thing, but she opened her arms again and he practically ran into them, knocking them both to the floor of the stage.
“that's just- not what i meant to do, but okay,” tears fell from his eyes now as he smiled.
“i thought you might have needed this, cj, that's why i..”
the boy gently leaned into her arms closer, he definitely did need this. “yeah, yeah.”
“h-hey! leave me alone, i'm just trying to help.”
the two of them laid on the stage for what seemed like five hours, though only being one or two, before realizing that it was dark out and they probably needed to get back to the apartment.
“we should get back, heh. everyone's probably worrying about us, i think.” said cj as he started to stand up again. “thank you for that, ruby. i- i really needed that. thank you.”
“y-you're welcome!! anytime, c, just come to me, okay??”
he chucked, feeling a heavy weight lifted off his chest now.
“remember, you're going to sleep tonight! no faking!”
“yeah, okay. i know, stop reminding me!”
they had gotten back to the apartment at around ten-thirty, confusing the rest of the band members.
“where the hell were you guys? we were starting to get concerned, you know.” max realized first, coming in from the living room where cj guessed everyone else was.
“oh, we just, had to do some things. don't worry.”