His smile was fake. I could tell. It didn’t reach his eyes. The others didn’t notice, though. They never do. As long as he continued to smile the rest of the world didn’t care if it was sincere or not. The smile just needed to be there. It was his smiles that made everyone else keep themselves together... but what about him? Should he be forced to suffer through fake smiles and lifeless laughs so the rest of the world could be happy? What about his own happiness? As he suffered for the rest of the world, who would suffer for him?

He continued to hammer through his usual jokes and silly antics, making people that haven’t crack a smile in weeks, reel their heads back laughing at him. His eyes released small burst of joy as he watched the others’ hearts become lighter because of him. Afterwards the small burst would dissipate, though, his eyes taken over once again by emptiness that no one could see.  

Sometimes I wonder if everyone was truly blind to his pain, or just refused to see it. He was hurting just like the rest of us, but no one smiled for him. No one made jokes for him to laugh at. Were we going to break someone else because of our obliviousness and neglect again? I liked to believe that they didn’t mean to harm someone so kind. We all needed a release. He provided it so flawlessly that it would be ridiculous to refuse. 

That didn’t mean that I could continue to watch. I refuse to. So I grabbed him by his arm and dragged him into a room far away from the many people that desperately needed him. He questioned me, smiling still even through his annoyance. 

“Stop,” I said to him as I turned him to face me, “Stop.”

He looked confused, smiling still.

“You don’t have to smile anymore,” I said as I hugged him to me, “You deserve to cry too. Don’t hold it in.”

He blinked as his slim lips finally pointed downwards, a small sob coming from his throat. He cried until his throat was raw and his face was red. He sobbed and hit and screamed. Then he smiled once more. This time it did reach his eyes. This time it was real.