WARNING: CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I haven't watched Inside Out yet, but I have spoiled myself with a bit of the synopsis. Feel free to read if you're a Fear/Joy fan. If you're not big on this pairing, feel free to judge me for my writing. Either way, feedback is 100% appreciated.

It was just another night for the Emotions. Riley was fast asleep, and so were the Emotions. Well, almost all of them were asleep anyway. After all, someone had to watch the movies created by Dream Productions; otherwise they'll go bankrupt.

Everyone was having a good sleep, except for Joy. She tossed and turned, trying to find the most comfortable position to sleep in. She mumbled in her sleep, as if she was having a nightmare. She was though. But, this was Joy! Since when does Joy ever get nightmares? It had been months since she and Sadness went on an epic journey back to Headquarters and to find Sadness' true purpose in Riley's life. But for her to have a nightmare is a little too unordinary.

In fact, it wasn't a nightmare. It was a memory. She was dreaming of that time where she tried to leave poor Sadness alone. With Karma striking back, she could have drowned into oblivion in the Abyss of forgotten memories. And the main character in that nightmare was Bing Bong – Riley's imaginary friend. All he wanted was to be loved and remembered by Riley – like a toy that wanted a human to play with them again after so many years have passed. Tragedy happened as the poor Imaginary Friend set his dreams, and his existence, aside just to save Joy's. Looking back, she saw Bing Bong wave to her, saying "Wake up, Joy!" repeatedly before fading away into oblivion.

After being shattered by hopelessness, encouraged by realization, and shattered once again, Joy finally woke up. She gasped and swiftly sat up from her bed, breathing heavily. Was that her first nightmare? No, it can't be. It was just a memory, right? Unable to get back to sleep, she carefully slipped out of bed and tiptoed outside the bedroom. Quietly shutting the door, she clutched her chest in hopes of calming herself down. She was unaware of the dream that was being played in Riley's unconscious mind. She just had a nightmare – her first nightmare. And it was about Bing Bong. The thing that made it worse for her was that it really did happen. The thought of Bing Bong's sacrifice overwhelmed her. He was gone now. And she wanted to cry, just as she did when she almost lost hope. One sniff was all it took for someone to hear her.

"Who's there!?" said a familiar, shaky voice. The star gasped and quickly wiped her tears away. Nobody ever saw her cry, and she chose to keep it that way. Immediately she stood up and walked down to the emotion before her.

"Relax, Fear, it's just me," she whispered calmly. The purple emotion held a flashlight and was shaking nervously. And then it all ended. It was just Joy; nothing to be afraid of. He sighed and turned his flashlight off. "Whew, for a second, I thought you were a bear or something," he said.

She simply chuckled in response and tried not to frown. "S-so, uh, what are you doing up so late?" she asked, trying to change the subject.

"Oh, I'm on Dream Duty. Somebody's gotta take the wheel, even when Riley's asleep," explained Fear. "I'm terrified as heck right now, but I feel calm now that I'm not alone." Then he started to wonder. "Why are you up right now anyway?" he asked.

"Um…" Joy started.

"Was it Anger? Don't worry about him. He only puts up flames in his sleep while I'm around," guessed Fear. Joy laughed in response. "No, it's not that."

Fear gave her a look. "It's not me, is it? Was I screaming too loud? Did I pump the volume up a little too high?" he guessed again.

"Nah, we got used to that," Joy answered.

"Suit yourself." He turned his back on her for a few seconds, then turned back to her. "Say, can we talk?"

"Hm?" Joy asked. "Talk about what?"

"About your journey with Sadness: What did you two do out there beyond Headquarters?" Fear asked curiously. "It must've been a rough ride, huh?"

Joy couldn't help but smile. They had a wonderful journey! It was too emotional as well. "Well…"

"Hold that thought!"Fear interrupted. He grabbed her hand and led her to the sofa they always sat on.

"Ok, now you can tell me," he said, scooting a bit closer to her.

"What about the dream?" asked Joy.

"Let it play. I got bored watching it anyway. I want to hear about your quest. Have you visited the islands you dreamed of visiting?" he asked her.

"I did before they started crumbling down," Joy said sadly. Fear gulped. It was partially his fault for letting the islands crumble. "It was beautiful though. We ventured through Long Term Memory thanks to Sadness' memory," added the star.

"Mhm, go on."

"We've got to go to Imagination Land too! We've been through Cloud Town, Dream Productions, and we rode the Train of Thought and oh, you don't know the half of it, Fear!" she sighed to herself.

"It must have been exhilarating, huh?" he asked her softly. "I'll admit, if I were with you, I'd be scared to death… as in literally."

Joy chuckled softly at him. "Then, I'm glad you didn't come with us."

"Right… did you meet anyone along the way?" he asked curiously. For him, it was dangerous to be curious. But nothing could be more dangerous than Joy and Sadness' quest.

Joy felt her heart tighten. She didn't want to talk about that part of the subject, especially after she had a nightmare about it. She had to stay strong. Fear was secretly trying to figure her out. Was it something he said?

"Well, we met Riley's former imaginary friend: Bing Bong. He was the best! And then he…" she felt at loss for words at this point. She looked down and tried to speak out. Fear simply waited, but he started to grow worried.

"He…?" Fear asked.

"He…" she said again. She kept struggling to blurt it out. Without her knowing, a single tear fell from her eye. Fear caught her red handed. He couldn't believe what he just saw. A tear, from JOY!? That's impossible! "Did you just cry?" whispered Fear, his eyes widening slowly.

Joy immediately brought her head up to face him. "What?"

"I saw you shed a tear. Did you just—"

"No, I didn't," denied Joy.

"I swear I'm not crazy. I saw it," Fear said, finally trusting his own gut.

"No, I'm not… I just… had a nightmare about it that's all," Joy half lied. It wasn't like her to lie either.

"Oh… it's not like you to have nightmares," Fear said sheepishly. "Normally I'm the one who has them," he added. But he didn't allow Joy to change the situation. "Seriously though, I saw you crying just now. Should I ask what happened or am I not allowed to?"

"What're you saying?" she asked.

The raw nerved shyly fiddled with his fingers and tried to think. "I'm just worried, that's all. I mean, you know me, hehe, always freaking out over everything all the time."

Joy smiled and turned away, knowing she might shed a tear without her consent.

He looked at her, smiling softly. He gently touched her shoulder, but she refused to look at him. "But, hey, it's okay to cry you know. I mean, I know it scares me to see you cry because I've never seen you cry before, but it's okay," he admitted.

Joy finally looked at Fear. His eyes widened in his name and his mouth went agape. She really was crying. Her lips quivered and her eyes watered. She struggled to hide her tears away, even when she knew it was too late. Fear was one of those beings to see her cry, the first being Bing Bong.

She wiped her tears uncontrollably. "I-I'm sorry… I-I shouldn't be –" She gasped in surprise as Fear stopped her. Her wrists were in his hands to stop her from wiping her tears away. Releasing his grip on her, he scooted closer and hugged her gently. He was afraid – afraid of seeing her this way. It was probably the most scared he's ever been.

"F-Fear, wha?"

"Just let it all out," Fear said softly. "I'm here."

Her eyes widened. She thought of that hopeless moment where she saw Sadness' true purpose: making Riley feel comfort. Now she felt comforted by Fear, her friend. She felt warm within his embrace and felt his fuzzy hand stroke her blue hair, which made her glow brighter.

"He's gone… he…" she whispered softly. "He sacrificed himself for me back in the Abyss… He shouldn't have jumped off that rocket. All he wanted was to be loved by Riley again. And to watch his dream completely fall apart is… I…" she continued crying softly to him. Fear was lost. He didn't know what to do. He didn't even know what happened. All he could do was comfort her. As a matter of fact, he wanted to cry as well. But at times like this, where Joy reveals her weakness, he has to stay strong for her.

"Look, Joy, it's not your fault. He did it for you, Sadness and for Riley. And if he didn't save you, then Riley's life would be over. You and Sadness wouldn't have made it back. And if it weren't for you, we wouldn't have found out Sadness' true purpose in Riley's life and none of these mixed-emotion islands would've happened." Fear started to panic. "And worst of all, you could've been dead!" he shouted almost too loudly.

Joy reluctantly pulled away from Fear. "Calm down… you're right. I knew that too. I just get all emotional when I think of Bing Bong. No imaginary friend could ever replace him. Not even Rainbow Unicorn can compete with him," she said softly. Fear chuckled. "Wow, you met Rainbow Unicorn? She was a legend in Fairy Dream Adventure!" As girly as it sounded, even he happened to enjoy the series… even just a little bit.

"I know!" Joy agreed. She tried not to let her smile disappear. She still felt a few tears forming. Now she knows how Sadness feels. Fear noticed this and smiled shyly.

"You know," he leaned in and carefully wiped her single tear away with his thumb. "I like it better when you're smiling."

Joy couldn't help but smirk. "I thought you said it's okay to cry."

"It is… but it hurts to see someone like you cry. It scares me too. Also, that's Sadness' job and nobody can do it better than her," said Fear. "I've seen Disgust cry over spilled nail polish, Sadness crying over everything, and Anger crying over absolutely nothing."

"What about you?"

"I cry a lot... mostly in sheer terror. Basically, Sadness and I are like siblings," Fear answered blankly. He tried to cheer her up and boy did it work.

Joy laughed cheerfully in response. Fear may be afraid of everything, but she loved his humorous side. She still wondered if he was aware of that. There was brief silence and all they heard was the dream film still ongoing. It was nearing its end. They both watched it together awkwardly.

"Fear?"

"Yeah, Joy?" Fear turned to her, only to receive a quick peck on his cheek. Before he could overreact, the lights went out. The movie was over and Riley was finished dreaming.

"AAAH! IT'S DARK! WHY DID IT GET SO DARK!?" Fear shrieked, running around in circles in the dark. He hurriedly searched for his flashlight. He couldn't find it. "Joy? Joy? Where are you?" he asked worriedly. Then he felt something, or someone, grab his hand. "AAH, WHO TOUCHED ME?"

"Fear, calm down, it's me!" hissed Joy. "Don't scream like that. You'll wake everyone up!" Slowly, a glow started radiating from her body. Fear started to calm down. "Oh, light, I missed you so much!"

Joy laughed and pulled him with her. "Come on, you need to get some shut-eye. We have a big day tomorrow and Riley needs to be safe because of you," she said, returning to her enthusiastic, upbeat self. Fear smiled and chuckled shyly, following her into their bedrooms for a good night sleep. He never forgot that kiss Joy gave him. Thankfully, he was kind enough not to comment on it.

Here's another Fear/Joy fanfiction. Honestly, we need MORE of those. I haven't watched the movie yet, and I heard that it was extremely heart-warming. I just read a bit of a summary because I'm way too impatient. I am going to watch this and I am going to cry darn it! I hope they weren't too OOC. Someone requested Fear/Disgust but it's not exactly my cup of tea. I was shocked to see how much you guys loved my first Inside Out story, and I couldn't resist to make another one.