AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hello there all you wonderful readers! As you all know, Valentine's Day is coming up in a few weeks' time so I decided to write 2 Valentine's themed "Inside Out" one-shots which I will post over the upcoming weeks!

The first of these stories will be this TearBrick, which I decided to write and dedicate to my dear friend Orangebird124 as a birthday gift and a thank you for all the wonderful support and for reviewing every single chapter of every story I wrote so far!

The other one-shot I mentioned above will be a Brickoli that I will be dedicating to another wonderful person I met on this fandom: RoseEmbers99. I have promised to write a multi-chapter Brickoli for her as a request, but I decided to put together a one-shot first since I've never tried writing Brickoli before. I guess it will be sort of like a trial before I get down to that actual request and I should have that posted sometime in the weeks leading up to Valentine's Day :)

Thank you to everyone who has been reading and supporting my stories! You guys are the motivation that keeps me going :)

Thank you once again to Orangebird124! Happy birthday my friend and here's my early birthday present to you! I hope you enjoy your TearBrick :)

Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Listen To Your Heart". Roxette does!

Svinorita.

Listen To Your Heart.

It was less than a week till Valentine's Day and the anticipation had been building inside Riley's Headquarters. Since Riley was a teenager now, some of her Emotions had recently started developing powerful new feelings towards one another; feelings that made it appear as though they were seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, or a sensation of butterflies in the tummy or the gentle tugging of heartstrings…

This year, one young Emotion in particular had been experiencing all these symptoms exceptionally strongly. In fact, her longing had grown so intense, that she couldn't concentrate on anything else lately! She couldn't eat, she couldn't sleep and it seemed that wherever she looked (even if her eyes were closed) all she could see was the image of that handsome young Emotion that had captured her heart!

This morning was no different. As she walked into the main room for breakfast, she couldn't help staring at him, a dreamy expression on her face as she watched him reading through the "Mind Reader" and ranting as usual…

"Huh! Listen to this!" Anger grumbled more to himself than anyone else as he gripped the edge of his newspaper tightly.

He began reading a promotional article out loud, his voice full of sarcasm as he carped, "Don't know what to get for your Valentine this year? Don't panic! We have the perfect gifts for the one you love! Chocolates, roses, plush teddy bears…"

Anger let out a low growl and crumpled the paper in exasperation, the top of his head beginning to simmer as he scoffed, "Please! Give me a break! The world is practically falling apart but don't panic…we have plush teddy bears!"

Oh no… Sadness thought to herself despairingly, her expression becoming gloomy as she watched Anger throw away the newspaper with contempt. The red Emotion continued muttering under his breath as he stomped past her and made his way into the kitchen moodily.

Sadness sighed miserably as she felt her hopes deflating like a balloon.

I don't stand a chance! He doesn't care about Valentine's Day!

The blue Emotion fought back some tears that were threatening to flow from her eyes as she followed Anger into the kitchen to join the others for breakfast.

And it took me two years to pluck up the courage to show him how I really feel about him… She thought with a disheartened sigh.

XXX

After breakfast, Sadness went straight to her room and took out the beautiful Valentine's card she had made especially for Anger. It had two love hearts on the cover and, opening it with trembling fingers, she began rereading the note she had written inside earlier:

Would you be my Valentine? If you wish, my heart is yours…

She stared at the card uncertainly. She had been contemplating whether she should still send it to him after witnessing his outburst this morning, or whether she should just forget about the whole thing.

Sadness traced a finger over the two hearts on the cover and sighed dejectedly. Valentine's Day was only a few days away now and if she waited too long, she might miss her chance to tell Anger how she really feels for another year…

So despite her reservations, Sadness decided to listen to the yearning in her heart and deliver the card anyway. She would wait until tonight when everything was quiet and the other Emotions had fallen asleep. Then she will tiptoe to Anger's room and slide the card under his door before slinking away unnoticed.

After all, she deliberately chose not to sign it, so neither Anger nor anyone else would know who it was from!

Smiling to herself, Sadness hugged the card to her chest as she thought of how surprised Anger will be when he discovers the card in the morning…

XXX

The next morning, all the Emotions assembled in the main room as usual. Anger stood beside the console yawning, and Sadness noticed that he wasn't carrying his newspaper this morning. Instead, he seemed to be keeping a close eye on Disgust and Joy, who were talking to each other in the corner of the room.

As Sadness watched him, she felt her heart sinking. He didn't even look at her once!

While all the others went about their morning routines, talking excitedly and helping Riley prepare for the new day, both Anger and Sadness remained unusually quiet.

Sadness stared at the floor dismally, a feeling of shame washing over her as she thought to herself, "Silly girl! Did I actually believe that he would be interested in me?!"

Meanwhile, Anger was checking out Joy and Disgust intently and wondering which one had sent him that Valentine's card last night. The writing had been a little smudged so maybe Disgust was washing her hair shortly before and some water dripped onto the card while she was writing it, Anger thought as he studied the green Emotion closely.

Then he shifted his focus to Joy and another possibility crossed his mind. Maybe the card was from Joy and since she was often clumsy when she got really excited, maybe she accidentally spilled her drink while she was writing the note and tried to wipe the mess off, smudging the writing in the process?

As the morning wore on, Fear, Disgust and Joy began speculating whether Riley would get any Valentine's cards at school this year. They didn't even notice that the other two Emotions were awfully quiet, until Sadness couldn't take being ignored anymore! She stormed out of the room without saying a word, covering her face with her hands as she began bawling loudly.

The others stared at her curiously and even Anger appeared to take notice of her for the first time this morning as he glanced in her direction with a raised eyebrow.

"I wonder what's gotten into her…" Joy muttered with a confused look on her face.

Disgust waved off her concern casually. "Ah don't worry about it. She's just being her typical miserable self." She assured them before turning her attention back to examining her nails nonchalantly.

Sadness went to her room in tears. She shut the door behind her roughly and started rummaging through her desk drawers. She got out some colorful paper and marker pens and began making another card. This time, she drew a huge broken heart in the middle of the card with an arrow shot through it and blood dripping off the point.

Then still sobbing inconsolably, she opened the card and wrote in big black letters: FORGET I ASKED!

Sadness decided that she would deliver this new card to Anger tonight and forget all about love! She knew now that romance and happiness were not meant for her. Instead, her life partners would forever be sorrow, loneliness and tears!

XXX

That night as quiet descended over Headquarters, Sadness ventured out of her room to deliver her card. She knew that it was Fear's turn to take Dream Duty tonight and that thought reassured her. Fear would most likely be so preoccupied with embracing his one true love; a nice warm cup of tea, that he wouldn't notice her sneaking around!

This turned out to be the case and just as she'd hoped, Sadness arrived outside Anger's room a short time later without being seen. She gave a shuddering sigh and stifled a loud sob as she leaned forward to slide the card under his door.

Suddenly, something made her stop in her tracks...

Puzzled, Sadness pressed her ear against the door to confirm if what she thought she heard coming from within the room was true and she gasped in surprise.

She heard the muffled sound of music playing inside Anger's room. The longer Sadness stood there, listening carefully to the tune, she felt her heart beginning to beat faster from excitement. The music turned out to be one of her favorite songs of all time and Sadness was in awe that Anger would actually be listening to something like that!

A little smile spread across the blue Emotion's face as she began miming the words silently as the song reached its chorus, "Listen to your heart, when he's calling for you…"

Sadness listened for a little while longer, her eyes closed as she relished hearing that song. Finally, she stepped away from the door reluctantly and looked at the card in her hands. The fleeting moment of happiness she felt seconds before was now replaced with deep sorrow as she drew in a shaky breath and hesitantly slid the card under the door.

But just as she was doing this, the door swung open unexpectedly causing Sadness to lose her balance and topple forward with a startled gasp. The next thing she knew, Sadness found herself staring at a pair of short brown pants and shoes, but she was unable to stop her forward momentum as she wound up head-butting Anger in the knees and falling on top of him with a loud "Oomph!"

Anger stared up her with a dazed expression as she lay on top of him, her glasses knocked off-center as she stared back into his amber-colored eyes with alarm.

"S-s-s-Sadness! What in blazes are you doing here?!" Anger exclaimed, his voice sounding more startled than angry as Sadness tried to get up clumsily.

The blue Emotion finally managed to get to her feet and she stared at Anger with unmistakable hurt in her eyes.

"What do you think I'm doing?! Making a fool out of myself that's what!" She wailed desperately as tears began streaming down her face.

Anger sat up slowly and glanced at the card lying on the floor beside him. His eyes widened in surprise as he looked back at his weeping co-worker and uttered, "It was YOU?!"

Sadness covered her face with her hands and wept louder. "I guess it was! I'm such an idiot! I saw the way you were looking at Joy and Disgust!"

She gave a shuddering sob and wailed, "You never even looked at me!"

Anger had gotten to his feet by now and he reached out and put a hand on Sadness' trembling shoulder. His eyes were full of sincerity as he whispered in a soft, reassuring voice, "Oh Sadness! You have no idea how much this means to me Kiddo!"

Sadness looked at his face hesitantly, her own eyes still filled with tears as she met his admiring gaze.

Anger offered her a small smile and went on fondly, "It's just that I never would have thought that such a beautiful girl like you would have the slightest bit of interest in me!"

He gave a soft chuckle and squeezed her shoulder gently. "I thought that Joy or Disgust were playing a prank on me this whole time!"

"You really mean that…?" Sadness asked uncertainly, her blue eyes searching his amber ones carefully as he gestured for her to take a seat on the edge of his bed.

After a moment's hesitation, she complied timidly and Anger sat down beside her, a reassuring smile on his face as he expressed, "Of course I do! I wouldn't have believed that such a lovely Emotion would want anything to do with a beefcake like me!"

Sadness gave a tiny smile and looked down shyly. "You're kidding right?"

She felt her cheeks turning crimson as she stuttered, "The truth is I like you a lot…actually I more than just like you…I…I…"

Anger gently put a finger on her lips. His eyes were full of admiration as he whispered, "Shhh…I love this song!"

"Oh! I love this song too…" Sadness whispered back softly.

The two Emotions listened to the rest of the Roxette song in silence, their fingers gently laced together as they stared at each other fondly.

Finally, Anger cleared his throat and looked away as he offered nervously, "Since you're here now, would you like to stay in my room a little longer? I have a box of chocolates we could share…"

Sadness' eyes lit up eagerly. "You do?! Can we have some right now?"

Anger gave a hearty laugh and nodded in agreement. "Of course we can! That's just another thing we have in common…"

He patted his belly and stated, "We both like to eat huh?!"

Sadness blushed and nodded. Then she took a deep breath and confessed nervously, "Oh Anger! You have no idea how scared I was to come here…"

Anger put an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer to him as he whispered, "Shhh…"

He felt her relax in his arms and slowly, he leaned forward and kissed her very gently on the lips. Sadness closed her eyes and returned his kiss happily, her heart so full of adoration for him that it felt like it would burst!

After a few moments, they pulled away and gazed into each other's eyes lovingly. Anger smiled at her broadly and said, "You just sit tight Kiddo while I go get those chocolates for us!"

Sadness watched him as he got up and went to retrieve the box of chocolates from the kitchen. While she was waiting for him to return, she started singing her own version of the Roxette song very quietly, "Listen to your heart, when it's calling for you…"

A short time later, Anger returned with his box of chocolates. He entered his room and poked his head back into the hallway to make sure no one had seen them.

Smiling to himself proudly, Anger started to close the door when he heard Sadness' soft voice saying, "Come here you naughty boy! It's not only my heart that is calling for you, but also my lips and my whole being too!"

With that, the top of Anger's head began to steam passionately as he slammed the door shut, the resulting BANG almost giving Fear a heart attack as the purple Emotion was coming out of his own room with a packet of biscuits to accompany his midnight tea.

The End.