Welcome, FanFiction fans, to my "Inside Out" one-shot. As soon as I saw Pixar's latest theatrical masterpiece, I asked myself "Why does only Riley have female and male emotions?" So I came up with a theory and just had to share it in this FanFic with you. And now, our feature presentation…
Changes
Pu-ber-ty.
Fear couldn't stop looking at the red light sitting on the new-and-improved console. From what Sadness had said, there was nothing in the manuals about the light. For all Riley's emotions knew, the new light could have no purpose- or it could activate something deadly.
Fear was positive it was the latter. Now that Joy was treating Sadness like all the other emotions- not leaving her on the sidelines of their work- Sadness had less time to go over the mind manuals.
When Fear thought about it, there had been a lot of new mind manuals coming in lately (actually there were only two new manuals- Fear was just so paranoid that it looked like hundreds to him), but the emotions had no time to read them.
"Hey Fear!" a cheerful voice broke through Fear's haze of worries.
Fear screamed.
"Here we go again," a grouchy voice grumbled. "He's screaming like a little girl."
"Ugh, don't get any tears on me," a snobby voice complained. "I just washed this dress."
"Fear seems to be startled by us," a glum voice said. "Are we scary now? That's sad."
Trembling, Fear slowly turned around. Standing behind him were his co-emotions: Joy, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness.
"What a wimp," Anger grouched to Disgust. "There was a hockey dream scheduled for tonight. The actor playing Riley was probably written to fall on set and Fear freaked out because he thought the writers were being unrealistic."
"Ugh," Disgust rolled her eyes. "Didn't you read the entire summary from Dream Productions? The scheduled dream was a hockey dream where the teammates were actual foghorns. Did you see those costume designs? Super yuck- Fear probably freaked out because it was a fashion nightmare."
"Guys," Joy interrupted. "I'm sure Fear did not freak out because of the dream's script or the costumes, okay? He's too smart for that." She turned and smiled at Fear, who returned it shakily. "Now, if Fear is freaking out, then there must be a good reason. He only truly panics if something is truly worth worrying about. Well, either that or when he's startled, but that's another story." Joy rolled her eyes.
Ever since Joy had returned from that trip through Long-Term she could always tell when an emotion is feeling bad. Maybe it had something to do with finally experiencing crying, but now instead of always insisting that everyone be happy, Joy would try to understand what the upset person- or emotion- was going through.
But Fear wasn't so sure that Joy could help him. As understanding as Riley's head emotion had become, Fear would always be… well, afraid. She was afraid of the mysterious light, and she was afraid of revealing to Joy that she was afraid of the light.
Wait, Fear thought. Did I just refer to myself as a "she?"
Suddenly, a blaring alarm began bellowing in Headquarters. Fear shrieked, which didn't do much about the noise.
"Guys, look!" Joy cried. At first, Fear though that the yellow emotion was pointing at the new-and-improved console. The mysterious pu-ber-ty light was flashing, coating Headquarters in a light that rivaled the fire that burst from Anger's head whenever she got mad…
Fear shook his head violently. Anger was male, not female! Why am I mixing up genders? Fear wondered.
It was then that Fear realized that Joy had not pointed to the console. Instead, the star-shaped emotion was pointing at the Viewing Screen. There, the five emotions could see that Riley saw throughout the day. Usually they didn't look when Riley was on the toilet (not much emotion business goes on there, plus the emotions had developed a bit of a sense of privacy), but something had happened. Something that needed extra emotional support. Something that needed…
"MOM?" Riley screamed. Mrs. Andersen came rushing into the bathroom, and Riley held up a strip of toilet paper stained with...
"Oh my god! Why is there blood on the paper? That's even grosser than broccoli!" Disgust cried.
"Blood doesn't come from there, blood does not come from there!" Fear squeaked. A fresh wave of panic hit Fear. "Oh no, no, no. Riley is dying! That must be it! Why else would blood be coming out of… there?"
"Riley, listen to me sweetie," Mrs. Andersen was trying to calm the crying Riley down (Sadness had found her way to the console). "Listen to me. This is all perfectly natural. It's just a part of becoming a young woman."
"How is this part of becoming a woman?" Fear started pacing.
"You said it, sister," Anger huffed. Fear began to stare at Anger. Whatever it was that was causing Fear to mix up genders, it was also affecting Anger.
The other three emotions also stared at the angry emotion, not because he had called Fear "sister," but because…
"Anger! Your hair!" cried the fashion-conscious Disgust.
"Hair? What hair? You shouldn't be messing with a bald man, girlie," Anger snarled, his head smoldering.
Fear frowned. Anger hadn't confused Disgust's gender. Why was that?
"But Anger, you do have hair!" Disgust argued. "It's growing in, and it looks just like Riley's."
"You asked for it, toots," Anger snarled. He let out a bellowing scream, which caused his head to erupt. Anger's newly grown hair didn't burn off with the eruption. Fear noted that the scream somehow sounded… more feminine than usual.
"Ugh! Joy, make her stop!" Disgust cried. "Anger's flames will make my dress all smoking. And not the good kind!"
Fear froze. Not because of brain-freeze (he would know if that was happening- brain-freeze feels super painful), but because Disgust called Anger "she." First Fear herself- er, himself, then Anger, and now Disgust. Why were the three of them referring to the male emotions as female?
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Riley asked. "How can this be part of becoming a woman?"
"Riley, sweetheart," Mrs. Andersen appeared to be struggling for the right words. "Haven't you noticed something… different about the girls in your class?"
"Different how?" Riley asked. All five emotions stopped their arguing and gathered around the console, creating the feeling of curiosity. Fear was beginning to feel a prickling feeling all around her scalp, as if she- HE- was about to grow hair like Anger suddenly did.
"You know," Mrs. Andersen tried to explain. "Maybe you've noticed a girl in your class being more on edge than usual a couple of days a month. Or maybe that another girl is growing, um…" Mrs. Andersen gestured towards her chest.
Was it Fear's imagination, or did Disgust's, Sadness', and Joy's hair just turn a dirty blonde?
"But why hasn't that happened to me?" Riley asked her mom.
"The girls in our family are late bloomers," Mrs. Andersen chuckled weakly. "Anyway, this is perfectly natural. You will bleed for about a week every month…"
"What?" Riley cried, along with Fear and Disgust. They were the only two left at the console. Joy and Sadness were looked through the two newest mind manuals, and Anger was busy fuming in a corner.
"It's all right," Mrs. Andersen hugged her daughter. "If you have any questions, come to me. I'll be there to help you understand."
Riley took a shaky breath. "What is happening to me?"
Mrs. Andersen smiled softly. "It's called puberty."
"This is pu-ber-ty?" Fear cried. She just barely noticed that the alarm had stopped the moment Mrs. Andersen said the word, although the pu-ber-ty light still glowed red.
"Ew," Disgust sneered.
Joy and Sadness stepped into the center of Headquarters. "Okay, girls," Joy addressed all the emotions. "The mind manuals say that the light will glow for roughly two to five years, or until Riley completes pu-ber-ty. We shouldn't experience another alarm going off ever again. All right?"
Anger, Disgust, and Fear all nodded.
"I think," Riley said slowly. "I'd like to learn about this puberty thing."
"Of course, sweetheart," agreed Mrs. Andersen. "I'll explain it to you now if you'd like."
Riley's emotions looked at each other. They all nodded, their new Riley hair swishing as they did so.
The five female emotions gathered around the console once more, ready to learn about the changes about to happen to their girl Riley.