Emotion Sickness

An Inside/Out Fanfiction

[Author's note: The following characters are owned by Disney/Pixar and their creators.

This story evolved from an experimental idea about how the emotions deal with Riley being sick that got WAY out of hand. Please enjoy.]

/

"Riley, sweetheart, you've barely touched your dinner. Is everything okay?" Mom asked, noticing the mound of Tuna Noodle Casserole that her daughter had been pushing around her plate for the last twenty minutes.

The twelve-year-old half heartedly looked up with tired eyes. For a split second she looked like she was annoyed by the question, but she shifted to a gloomy expression and responded,

"Guess I'm not that hungry right now."

"Good catch Sadness." Joy congratulated the smaller, blue emotion before turning to her green co-worker with an apologetic face. "Sorry Disgust, but we don't want Mom thinking we don't like her cooking."

Disgust let out an apathetic sigh. She really didn't care what Mom thought. She was more concerned with the fact that since that afternoon, Riley had developed an upset stomach and she had been dealing with the bloating and discomfort for far longer than was her limit. And while she knew the other emotions weren't feeling fresh as daisies either, it was her sour mood that had been influencing Riley for the majority of the day since.

"Whatever. Ugh… I hate being sick." She groaned. The others moaned in agreement.

Joy grimaced. She really disliked it when Riley got sick, especially since it meant her fellow emotions were under the weather too. Today seemed especially hard on them. Anger was a bit grumpier, and was quick to snap at what would normally be minor annoyances. Fear was fussing over every ache and pain, constantly checking gauges and meters on the console. Sadness had set a cloud of gloom over the whole of Headquarters, so while she hadn't made Riley cry, she had slowed the girl's pace to a fraction of her normal zip with downhearted self pity. Joy hadn't stopped her; she had felt the drop in her own normally unstoppable drive to spread cheer. Not that she hadn't tried to keep everyone's spirits up anyway.

"Come on guys, it's not like we haven't been sick before. We'll get through this. So, how about a smile?" She encouraged, only to be met with frowning, sickly gazes.

"Joy, we're bloated and nauseous. We are not doing 'perky'." Disgust protested.

"Seconded." Anger agreed.

Joy sighed; she only had pity for Disgust. While they could all feel Riley's pains to varying degrees, she was the most sensitive to their girl's physical sensations. Any taste, smell, or feeling against the skin, or in this case, within the body, Disgust felt as if it were happening to her own directly. All so she could pin-point causes of irritation and discomfort. A fitting talent for the emotion whose job it was to detect poison or avoid an itchy, ugly wool sweater gifted by Grandma.

"Are you feeling alright, Honey?" They heard Mom ask over the monitor.

"It's nothing. Don't worry about me." Riley muttered, dodging her mother's hand when it reached up to feel her forehead.

Everyone turned to Disgust who had triggered that unexpected response. They were stupefied that she, who was experiencing the brunt of all this, would actively turn away help.

"What?" She snapped at them.

"Sorry, we just thought that you'd want us to get some attention since you're the most um… uncomfortable." Joy pointed out.

"We're not five years old with the sniffles, Joy." She explained. "We don't need mom treating us like a baby because we have a tummy ache."

"But I like it when Mom cares for us when we're sick." Sadness frowned. "Like when we have the chills and she wraps us up all warm in a blanket."

Fear nodded in agreement, a content expression on his face. "You're singing my tune, Sadness."

"Mom won't be there to wrap us up all snuggly forever you know." Disgust pointed out.

"I know," Sadness pouted, "and that's sad…"

Joy gave this some thought.

"Well we are trying to be more independent, and it is just a little stomach ache. We don't need to worry Mom over it." She settled.

"Are you sure?" Fear asked, his axon curling tight. "What if this is something bad? What if we have INTESTINAL PARACITES?!"

"It's probably that nasty burrito from the school cafeteria we ate today." Anger dismissed Fear's worries with a grunt. "You know those lunch ladies can't cook anything right."

"Do not recall that memory or I'll spew." Disgust warned, so done with the topic of food.

"Hey, you know what we need? A good night's sleep." Suggested Joy, trying to brighten the mood. "We'll go to bed early and I'm sure we'll feel better by the morning."

"I'm always a champion for sleep." Sadness agreed, nudging the appropriate levers.

"I'm going to call it a night." Said Riley, leaving her chair with a sluggish demeanor.

Mom paused with a look of concern. "So early?"

"Yeah, I'm…just tired, I guess."

Mom frowned at her daughter's unsure words, but nodded.

"Well, let me know if you need anything. And your father should be home soon."

"I don't like lying to Mom about this." Fear trembled.

"It's not lying. We are tired." Disgust justified while rolling her eyes at him.

"I don't like keeping this from Mom either." He snarked back.

"Guys, I know we're not feeling our best right now, but that's when we should be working together the most." Joy stepped in, defusing the oncoming argument. She searched for something to change the subject. "Oh, does anyone remember what Mom gave us last time we had an upset stomach?"

"Uh, ooh! That chalky tasting pink stuff!" Fear recalled the memory of Mom administering the thick, oddly colored liquid in a little plastic cup."

"Good call, Fear. It's under the sink in the bathroom, right?" Joy summoned up a new memory of the last time they had searched the bathroom cupboards for something.

"Wait, are you proposing we self-medicate?" he asked nervously.

"Yes, please." Disgust chimed in. "That stuff tastes nasty, but if it makes us feel better, I'm all for it."

"Seconded." Anger again agreed.

Fear glanced about for someone to support his reservations. He only received a pitying look and a shrug from Sadness. He sighed. "Fine, but I'm reading the whole label first."

After finding the bottle and giving Fear time to read, and re-read all of the directions, warnings, and even the ingredients (despite Disgust reminding him that none of them knew what those chemicals were or did.) After finding to his satisfaction that Riley was old enough for a full dose. After downing the medicine with a gag.

"Dog food has more cherry flavor than this crap!" Anger had snarled.

After brushing her teeth and getting into her pajamas, Riley settled into bed and everyone began to feel a bit of relief.

"Good job everyone." Joy smiled. "You guys get a good night's sleep so we can have a great morning."

Her thumbs up and sunny smile went mostly ignored as the others headed up to the second floor bedroom. She held out the hope that the medicine would kick in soon and everyone would be in a much better mood tomorrow. In the meantime, she'd take Dream Duty and ensure Riley at least had a good night.

Turning back to the console she was surprised to see Fear was still present, examining the device's indicators and meters intently.

"Fear, go to bed. Riley will be fine tonight, I got this. She'll have good dreams and wake up feeling great, you'll see."

His eyes didn't leave the gauges.

"I don't know…" he sighed, dragging his hand over his face. "The Pain Meter looks like its still climbing."

Joy glanced over the meter he had indicated. It was a small gauge with a half circle, colored in portions that signaled the amount of physical pain Riley was experiencing. The lowest setting after 0 was White, which was for minor irritations. The sort of things Disgust picked up on and nipped in the bud before anyone thought to even look at it. Yellow, the color the meter was hovering over now, was for slightly more concerning discomforts; beestings, sunburns, headaches, scraped knees, nothing that a few tears from Sadness, a kiss from Mom, or an aspirin couldn't handle. The next colors, Orange and Red, hadn't ever been reached outside of a quick spike before falling down to Yellow or White.

"I'm sure it'll go down again now that Riley's asleep." She assured him.

He wanted to believe her, but doubt was lingering strong. It hadn't been much, but the needle had been rising slowly during the day and while it looked stable now, there was no guarantee things wouldn't change for the worst. He didn't want to leave the console, even as Joy placed her arm around him and lead him away. His body moved, but his mind was still focused on that gauge.

"You'll keep an eye on it, right?" he asked. She could feel him start to tug away, the look in his eyes telling her his desire to watch the console all night was powerful.

Riley was in a shallow sleep right now and she knew that if he took control, she'd never relax enough to fall into the deep sleep she needed to heal.

"Sure, I will, I will. Trust me." She insisted, looking at him right in the eyes with the most reassuring smile she could muster.

He drooped, looking slightly guilty from his nagging negativity.

"Okay." He allowed himself a sigh to calm down. "Good night, Joy." He smiled briefly, then made his way to the sleeping quarters, deliberately slowing his breathing to push away the remaining worry that was so stubbornly sticking to the back of his mind.

Once he was out of sight, Joy resumed her place by the console. REM sleep had begun, the memories were on their way to Long-Term, and Dream Productions was sending up their feature for the evening. She gave the Pain Meter a glance: still perfectly motionless in the middle of the yellow zone. She shook her head. Fear was probably just working himself up because this was the first time they had handled Riley being sick without Mom or Dad's help. It had been a little stressful, yes, but she was proud that they had pulled it off and it would give Riley they confidence that she could take care of herself in the future.

Overall, despite the obvious discomfort they were all still in, the day had ended on a good note if Joy had anything to say about it. She placed a hand on the console and it took on her golden glow.

"You'll feel better Riley, I know it."

/

The night rolled on, but Fear hadn't gotten any true rest. After laying awake for an indeterminate amount of time with his worries churning through his head, he managed to doze off for maybe an hour or so before waking with a sudden urgency. His heart was pounding, but there was no evident cause for this overwhelming sense of panic.

He looked around; everyone else was sleeping, thought not very well. Disgust was tossing and turning, letting out soft moans, her blankets disheveled and tangled around her body. Sadness was hugging her pillow, quietly sobbing into it. Not an abnormal sight at night, but he noted she was clutching that pillow to herself awfully tight. At the far end of the shared sleeping area he could hear Anger snoring, but it wasn't the even rhythmic snorts he was used to.

Something was wrong, very wrong. He couldn't tell why just yet, but he was certain of it on a deep, instinctual level. He hugged his knees and curled into a ball. The worry inside him felt like a pit in his stomach, growing into a stabbing pain. A shutter ran through him and he struggled to slow his breathing. All the while a thought entered his mind and it quickly bloomed into an obsessive urge: Get to the console, RIGHT NOW!

[To Be continued]