First off, I'd like to extend gratitude to Ice-Cream-Pizza on Devinart, who drew the fan art that inspired this story. Also, a huge thanks to Steveles for helping me edit this. Trust me, it used to be a lot different! And now, without further ado...
The school day had just ended for the sixth graders of John Fremont Middle School, but for one young lady in particular - Riley Andersen - the day was going to be much longer, as her teacher had just assigned a whole chapter of history for the kids to read. Though Riley looked calm on the outside, her mind was in turmoil.
"Oh, that's just great!" yelled Anger. "We have a hockey game in two hours, and what does the teacher do?! She throws the book at us! This is insane!"
For once, Fear was in agreement with Anger on the subject. "We'll never finish all this homework in time for the game!" he cried, his ever-present mess of papers flying every which way. "We're gonna be up all night doing it, which will lead to sleep deprivation, which could lead to any number of diseases, disorders, and other issues-"
"Will you shut up, Beanpole?!" Anger leaped at Fear, grabbing the emotion by the throat. "Has it ever occurred to you that none of these scenarios you come up with ever happen?!" This was followed by quite a shower of profanities, which were so varied and colorful that even Joy was evidently surprised. She hadn't even been aware Anger knew that many curse words; granted, he did have his Curse Word Library, but she was still positive he had made at least a few of them up on the spot.
Disgust let out a huff. "Will you boys be quiet for once? I can't hear myself think!" Her little red friend, of course, ignored her. Joy and Sadness weren't really paying attention, either. They were busy at the console; as Riley headed out the door and towards her home, she felt melancholy - looking forward to the big game, but sad about her homework load at the same time. Since moving to San Francisco about a month ago, Riley's five little voices had become more used to working as a team, particularly Joy and Sadness. They were becoming fast friends, despite their past differences. In fact, many of the memories made nowadays were either yellow, blue, or some combination.
"I feel awful for Fear," moaned Sadness. "Anger might hurt him really bad. How many times has this happened in the past week?"
"Four, I think," recalled Joy. "I know, Sadness - Anger's really had a shorter fuse than usual lately. I just wish there was something we could do..."
"Yeah. Something."
The two worked in uncomfortable silence for a while (by which time, Fear had retreated to his hyperventilation closet, and Anger had focused his attention on the latest edition of The Mind Reader): the tension in Headquarters was still palpable. Yet, in the back of her mind, Joy was beginning to develop an idea... an idea that would, hopefully, stop Anger in his tracks. In other words, a prank.
"Hey, uh, Sadness? It's Anger's turn for Dream Duty tonight, right?" Joy inquired innocently.
Sadness replied, "Disgust did Dream Duty last night, so... I guess."
"Good. Can I borrow a pair of socks from you?"
"I won't mind..." the teardrop began, then looked right at Joy and slowly blinked. "Why do you ask?"
"You'll see..." Joy snickered.