Honestly, no one was expecting it. As soon as it happened, however, all the pieces fell together and it started to make sense. It had all started a few months ago at Headquarters. Anger was reading the paper on the couch, as usual, while Joy worked the controls, Fear made a list of potential dangers for both Riley and himself, and Sadness was sitting by Joy reading.
"Has anyone seen Disgust?" Joy asked. The other 3 looked around.
"Nope," said Fear.
"Uh uh," Anger grumbled.
"I haven't seen her all morning," Sadness pitched in. Right as Joy considered checking her room, Disgust sauntered in, makeup in hand.
"Ugh, you would not believe how hard it is to perfectly wing eyeliner," she mumbled. She sat down on the couch with Anger, who gave her a grunt of acknowledgement. She almost looked for one of her usual gossip magazines when a headline from Anger's newspaper caught her eye. It read: Over-Production of Riley's Imaginary Boyfriends Has Led to Mass Chaos and Attractiveness in Imagination Land.
Disgust scoffed and rolled her eyes. As much as she loved Riley and tried to maintain her levels of disgustingness, she had no control over her imagination, thus no control over her less than favorable selection of imaginary boyfriends. Anger noticed this and snickered.
"What, you've never dreamed of a man with no mind of his own that can only say "I would die for Disgust."?" He said sarcastically. She scoffed again.
"Oh, obviously. Nothing makes a girl feel more loved than a guy who only says what he knows you want to here," she said with an eye roll. "Got any more of these stupid columns?" she asked. He gestured to the side table on the other side of him.
"Help yourself, if you can get 'em away from me," he challenged. Her eyes narrowed as she got up and tried to go around him. He stuck his foot out and hooked it around her, yanking her back into the couch. She tried reaching past him but he just shoved her back. "Sorry not sorry. These are my papers, dollface." She scowled. Normally she'd have lost interest by now but something about the smug smirk on his face just wouldn't let her quit. She began to hatch a plan.
"Fine, then I guess I'll just have to read the one you're reading with you," she said with a sigh. He chuckled evilly.
"And how do you suppose you're going to do that, hm?" he asked. He turned his body so that he was slightly facing her, just enough so that she couldn't read anything on the page.
Bingo.
She brushed her fingers across one of his arms, startling him and causing him to momentarily drop that side of the newspaper. He quickly grabbed it back but not before Disgust could slide her lithe body onto his lap. He felt his face grow incredibly warm as he felt her move across his lap and settle against his shoulder.
Mission Accomplished.
"Hey, get off o' me!" he said, though he made no attempt to remove her physically. She smirked.
"Hush, I'm reading. Dollface." Oh so now she was mocking him? He had had just about enough of this. He almost blew his top but then he heard a quiet snore right by his ear. He looked down at her and found her struggling to stay awake. Then he remembered; she'd had Dream Duty last night. She was probably exhausted. As he stared at her, she looked up at him and they made eye contact. She jolted when she realized what she was doing.
"Sorry, I should- " she tried to come up with an excuse as she attempted to rise from her spot.
"No, no! You're fine, I know you had Dream Duty last night so if you wanna take a nap it's cool," he said, trying to sound casual. She eyeballed him for a second, then resolved to a soft smile.
"Okay, thanks. You're nice and warm anyway," she said with a snicker. He chuckled and she resumed her place curled up on his shoulder with her forehead pressed against his neck. He could feel her face burning but chose to ignore it as his was just as warm. Finally, after a few slightly awkward minutes, he felt her go slack and heard the little snores from before, though these were much more peaceful and relaxed. He stifled a small smile and glanced up only to see Joy, Sadness and Fear watching them with wide eyes and slack jaws. He was embarrassed at first but he played it off cool.
"What? She's tired," he reasoned quietly so as not to wake her. Joy snapped out of it first, smiling widely and giving him a silent thumbs up. Then Sadness came around and gave a small smile before taking Joy's hand and allowing her to pull her along back to the control panel. Last was Fear. It took him a few minutes but after the initial shock wore off and Anger's steely glare managed to scare him off, though they both probably knew he wouldn't do anything with the dainty, green emotion in his care.
With that, Anger took the arm behind Disgust and wrapped it around her so that he could hold her safely in place and continue reading his newspaper simultaneously.
As she slept, Anger caught himself looking down at her delicate frame more than once. He looked at how thin and soft and fragile she looked in comparison to his blocky, hard form. Her skin was so smooth and her dress swayed lightly against his legs. He looked down further and caught a glimpse of her perfect, supple lips that looked so soft…- wait, what?! His head snapped back up in his embarrassment and Disgust stirred in her sleep. He remained still, however, and she drifted back off. He sighed and continued to read, though he was mostly just playing the part for the others who were no doubt watching, as he could no longer focus on the news.
They remained there for about an hour before Disgust finally woke up, confused by her current environment at first but the warmth she felt drew her in and she snuggled against the soft surface she laid against. Then the surface started moving and she remembered where she fell asleep and pulled away with a blush. As soon as Anger realized she was awake, he dropped one arm so she could get up if she wanted to but didn't say a word. He didn't trust his voice not to crack at the moment.
Disgust saw her way out and moved to get up but she stopped herself. She couldn't just get up and leave after what he did for her. Blushing furiously, she whispered "Thank you," in his ear and (when she was sure no one else was looking) gave him a small peck on the cheek before sliding off his lap. He gasped quietly but cleared his throat and mumbled a short "welcome" before returning to his reading. Disgust sauntered off, ignoring the gaze of everyone else and walking straight up to the control panel.
"So, what did I miss?"
It was a few months later and they all thought things would go back to normal. And they did… for the most part. Although, Anger and Disgust got noticeably closer. Every morning she would sit next to him on the couch with her head on his shoulder and alternate between reading with him and monitoring Riley. It started gradually, with her occasionally reading over his shoulder and him taking notice and inviting her to read with him.
They would always sit next to each other on movie night, not even bothering anymore to cover their obvious, occasional cuddling. They argued as they always did but it usually ended with both of them laughing and making peace with one another. They unknowingly flirted with copious amounts of sarcasm and teasing. The other three emotions definitely noticed things changing but while it confused Fear to no end, Joy was happy they were finally getting along and Sadness started to recognize some elements of attraction that she and a certain happy-go-lucky emotion were often guilty of. There were less fights amongst everyone, Disgust and Anger were happy, and Riley was taken care of. All was well.
Then one night, things really changed.
Disgust had Dream Duty again and Anger decided to stick around to keep her company. Even the first few dream scenes had them groaning in annoyance and boredom but suddenly a reporter cut in, announcing that the pressure of fame had finally caused Rainbow Unicorn to crack, leading to a chaotic tantrum, shaving half of her mane off, and leaving the studio, never to return. Anger and Disgust both rolled their eyes.
"Oh, like her job is so hard? Celebrities…" Anger grumbled. Disgust groaned in agreement.
"For real. What a diva?" she said with an eye roll. Anger looked up at her with a smirk and she glared at him. "What?"
"Like you're one to talk about divas," he snickered. She scoffed and her glare intensified. He stared her down and finally she gave a reluctant submissive eye roll.
"Okay, fine. But I'm still not that much of a diva. That kind of stuff is totally uncalled for," she said, looking down at him. He met her eyes.
"Yeah, I guess you're right," he muttered. They looked at each other for a few moments with small smiles. Their faces were half a foot apart and Anger saw Disgust's eyes flick down to his lips as her own curved into a smirk, blushing furiously. He returned it, blushing just as dark, and began to lean in, meeting her halfway.
Their lips met, first just brushing against each other. Then she leaned closer and pressed them together.
He let out a small grunt as he pulled her closer at the waist and her hands wrapped around the back of his head. His tongue grazed her lip and she gently parted her lips, allowing him in. He moved around her mouth a little before tangling his tongue with hers. She gave a quiet moan and responded to his questing tongue with her own. Her hands came down to his chest and stroked across it. One hand clung to his shoulder and he encouraged her into his lap. She scooched onto him and he wrapped his strong arms around her body. They remained there for a few minutes but after a bit, Anger abruptly scooped her up and stood, walking over to the couch. She gasped in surprise as he deposited her on the couch, breaking the kiss to breathe (more like pant) while he climbed on top of her.
As soon as he was up to her, she pulled his tie down to reconnect their mouths and he relished in how soft her lips were. As they kissed, she allowed her legs to intertwine with his and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him closer. He trailed kisses down her jaw and began to kiss her neck, sucking and nibbling. He grinded against her and she gasped and moaned and clung to him tighter. Her eyes were half lidded and she was in a pleasurable stupor but she noticed the main screen go dark, signaling the end of Riley's dreams. She was tired but her current situation prevented her from doing much about it. Not that she wanted this to end anyway.
"A-Anger," she moaned out. He was still latched on to her neck and trailing his way to her chest but he managed an uncharacteristically quiet "hm?"
"Riley's dreams are over. Do you want to, uh….. go to bed?" she asked suggestively. He froze and looked up at her.
"Wait, do you mean-?" his response was a smirk and a passionate but short kiss pressed to his neck. He laughed. "Oh, hell yeah!" he said. He climbed off of her and held out a hand to help her up. Their fingers intertwined and they walked silently to his room, at the very end of the hall in the Sleeping Quarters, away from the others and lucky for them, soundproofed to avoid waking the others with his screams of rage.
Tonight, however, the room was filled with only screams of pleasure as the two made love with every ounce of passion they had to give.
The next morning Disgust woke up in a warm embrace. She sighed happily and snuggled into it. She soon realized, however, that she was not in her room and neither she nor the figure holding her were clothed. She recognized the red chest pressed against her face and gasped, sitting up and wrapping the blankets around herself.
This accidentally knocked Anger off the bed and he fell with a yelp, hitting the floor with a thud. She heard a bit of shuffling and realized he must've realized the situation too because when he stood up he was wearing boxers. He didn't make eye contact at first and she located her undergarments on the floor, quickly hooking on her bra and sliding on her underwear. Then she turned around to face him.
They were both blushing but when their eyes met and neither detected any regret, the tension eased a bit. He was eyeing her oddly below her face but she chose to ignore it and wait for him to speak.
"So….. is this gonna to be one of those things where we just pretend it didn't happen and blame it on the heat of the moment or did you actually mean all of it, because I know I did but whatever you want, I'm okay with," he said quietly, bringing himself to meet her eyes. Her confused and slightly cautious gaze softened and she gave him a smile.
"Of course I meant it. I wouldn't have suggested it in the first place if I didn't. Look, I really like you, okay? Maybe even more than like. If you're not ready to mention anything to the others, that's fine. I don't think I'm ready either. But if you're willing, I'd love to try and make 'us' work," she said shyly. Normally she wouldn't be so emotionally forward but she knew how hard this kind of thing was for him and someone needed to do something before things got dangerously awkward and he gradually stopped speaking to her altogether. He smiled widely.
"Yeah… yeah I'd like that, dollface," he said. She snickered and rolled her eyes lovingly. He walked around the bed and took her hand, pulling her down for a long, chaste kiss. She laughed against his mouth.
"We have to get ready for work. I'm going to my room. I'll see you in the Control Room," she said, kissing his cheek before dropping his blanket, giving him a lovely view of her slim body and left his room, hurrying to her room before any of the others woke up. As she closed the door, she heard him sigh happily and she grinned to herself.
In her room she shrugged off her dirty undergarments from the day before and got some fresh ones from her dresser. She grabbed a scarf, some leggings and a dress from her closet and went to her bathroom. When she looked in the mirror she nearly screamed.
All over her neck and chest were dark, purplish bruises and bite marks. She couldn't go out there like this! She tried to use foundation to cover them up after she did her makeup but they were too dark so she rummaged through her closet until she found a cute jacket to wear that would cover them up completely. Then she slid on her shoes and exited her room, turning off her light and closing the door.
In the Control Room, everyone else was already working away. Fear and Joy were at the control panel, Sadness was drinking tea and Anger was in his spot on the couch, though she could tell he was a little off focus. She walked down the ramp toward the control panel.
"Morning, Disgust! Nice jacket!" Joy said happily. Disgust blushed and smiled, noticing Anger's head pop up on the other side of the room.
"Heh, thanks Joy. I'm a little cold this morning," she said with a short laugh. She heard Anger snicker and shot him a glare.
"Well I like it! It suits you!" Joy exclaimed. That snapped Disgust back to her old self and she scoffed.
"Um, of course it does? This is me we're talking about. But thanks," she said, ending with a smile. Joy patted her on the back lightly and Disgust made her way to the couch. She took a seat next to the hotheaded emotion that was now her boyfriend and allowed him to wrap an arm around her.
"Way to be subtle," she whispered sarcastically. He laughed.
"Hey, just because we're not saying anything doesn't mean I'm not gonna spend time with you if I want to. You're my dollface," he whispered back with a smirk. She allowed herself a small smile and snuggled into him. "Plus, I don't really care if they know or not."
"You know what?" she said with determination. "Me neither." She turned to face him, grabbing his chin, and gently pressing their lips together. They immediately heard a startled yelp and looked up.
Fear was breathing into his paper bag, staring at them in panic. Joy and Sadness noticed the problem and Joy squealed happily.
"OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH FINALLY! Sadness, they're finally together O M G!" she yelled excitedly. She picked up Sadness and twirled her around the room.
"I though they already were together," Sadness replied, slightly confused but happy for them all the same and really ready to stop twirling. Fear was calmed down and managed to speak.
"Congrats guys," he said, obviously much more understanding once the initial shock wore off. He looked at them strangely before glancing at the screen and realizing that Riley was about to cross a street, scrambling back to make sure she looked both ways. Anger gave Disgust a look.
"Well they seem fine with it. Not that I was particularly worried, what with Joy and Sadness bein' together and all," Anger admitted. Disgust smirked and nodded, noticing said couple share a soft kiss before going back to work. They smiled and turned back to each other.
"Um…" Anger stuttered nervously and quietly, so as not to raise any attention. "So, I dunno if you wanna, ya know, do anything tonight but if you wanna just sleep, I liked having you in my room last night. 'S nice to sleep snuggled up to ya." He was blushing bright red but Disgust simply smiled and pecked his lips.
"That's not a terrible idea," she said, placing a kiss on his jaw. He sighed with relief.
"Great. Now, get those sweet lips over here, dollface," he said seductively. She smirked and leaned toward him, connecting their lips in yet another passionate kiss.