Joy was always the last emotion to head to bed after Riley fell asleep, with the exception of whoever had dream duty that night. On this particular night, it was Anger who had that responsibility. Joy could hear him grumbling as she walked back to her room. For some reason, whenever he had dream duty the dream Riley was having always showed the clip from the gum commercial at some point. Joy stifled a giggle as she heard him curse under his breath. She couldn't help but find his overreaction to that harmless commercial to be a bit funny at times.
As Joy was walking back to her room, she passed the rooms of Sadness and Fear as well as Anger's empty room. The last room she passed on the way to her bedroom was Disgust's. Joy slowed down as she saw that Disgust's bedroom door was still open a crack. It was not normal for any of the emotions to leave their doors open after they went off to prepare for bed. The five of them were all so very different, had so many disagreements, and because of this they had come to enjoy the precious time they had for sleep and privacy.
Joy knew it wasn't quite right to invade this sacred time of privacy, but she couldn't help but peak in on Disgust. After all, shouldn't she have been allowed to make sure everyone had tucked themselves happily into bed for the night? As she quietly leaned the upper half of her body around the door frame and cracked it open slightly wider, she could see that Disgust was sitting in front of the mirror. That much made sense. Being as fashionable and concerned about appearance as she was, it made sense for Disgust to spend a considerably lengthy amount of time each morning and night putting on and removing her make-up and her outfits. But Disgust wasn't removing her make-up and her outfit was still completely on. She hadn't gotten ready for bed yet. She was just sitting in front of the mirror with her arms at her sides, looking down, her face mostly obscured beneath her hair.
It was a very odd sight indeed. And then joy heard it. A subdued sobbing that was intermittently interrupted by hushed, melancholic sighs. At first Joy just thought she was hearing Sadness through the walls, crying herself to sleep as she often did. Had that been the case, Joy wouldn't have been thrilled, but would not be at all bothered. Sadness, by her very definition, could never be consistently happy. However, ever since their misadventure Joy and Sadness' once awkward relationship had blossomed into a beautiful friendship. Sadness was able to be "happy" occasionally when she and Joy interacted and Joy had learned from Sadness that sometimes, trying to cheer up a grieving friend by being goofy and happy was not the right course of action.
But Joy realized after a few seconds, that the sobbing was not coming from Sadness. She could see Disgust's body and head twitching as she sniffled and sobbed. As mentioned previously, this behavior would have been par for the course for Sadness, but to see Disgust behaving this way gave Joy great concern. She felt an absolute need to find out what was wrong with her. Joy took a deep breath and knocked on the door frame, hoping Disgust wouldn't be too upset with her for looking in and eavesdropping a bit.
"Hey, are you okay?" Joy asked tentatively.
"What? Were you watching me? That's sick, get out!" Disgust was able to immediately flip the switch to her natural voice of irritability and sass.
"But you seemed upset, what's wrong?" Joy asked concerned.
"Nothing, just the usual crap I deal with everyday," Disgust replied, but there was still a slight hint of sadness and depression in her voice.
"What usual crap?" Joy asked confused, "Petty arguments with us other emotions?"
"No," Disgust sighed, annoyed, "Well, yeah, but no. But never mind, it doesn't matter to you." She was trying to keep up her sarcastic tone, but Joy could sense that something was hurting her inside.
"I'm sorry I looked in on you without your knowing," Joy began, "But you were clearly crying and I want to know what's wrong."
"You can be so pushy sometimes," Disgust groaned, her voice quivering a bit beneath her usual tone, "Look… I'm just not a hundred percent happy with who I am."
"Why not?" Joy asked concerned, "I always thought you did a great job at keeping Riley from being physically and socially poisoned. And you always help her decide what to wear and you do your best to keep her tastes in everything as refined as possible."
"Yeah thanks, I know I keep Riley safe from certain stuff," Disgust gave a weak smile, "Although I do wish I had prevented her from getting into boy bands. Her music tastes are yuck right now."
Disgust chuckled lightly and Joy laughed hard at the comment (being Joy, she laughed hard even at things that were just mildly amusing).
"Ha ha, don't worry," Joy put a hand on Disgust's shoulder, "It's just a phase, you'll have plenty of time to refine her music tastes when she's older."
"Yeah that's not what's bothering me," Disgust continued, "I can do my job just fine, sometimes I just wonder about myself as a whole, you know?"
"Go on," Joy said, sitting down on the edge of Disgust' bed, ready to listen intently to what she had to say.
"Well, you know how I always criticize or complain about the other emotions, especially you? Like, for example, when I make fun of your dress for being so bland?" Disgust asked.
"Yeah," Joy replied, "But I'm not bothered."
"I noticed," Disgust replied, "But the reason I do that stuff is because, honestly, some days I look in the mirror and I don't like who I see."
There was a long pause before she continued.
"Beneath this makeup and this outfit and this attitude," She paused again as a few tears began to come down her cheeks, "I'm just a short, chubby girl who always wants to find something to whine or complain about. Maybe I'm the most disgusting one of us."
"No, you're not," Joy replied. She got off the bed and went over to where Disgust was sitting, bending down so that their faces were right next to each other and putting her hands on Disgust's shoulders.
"I don't see you that way at all," Joy said, smiling comfortingly as they both looked into the mirror, "Every morning when I see you and your cute outfit and your pretty face for the first time in the day, I think I could just hug you to death!" Joy exclaimed that last remark with enthusiasm that would have earned a very sarcastic remark from Disgust were it not for the seriousness of their conversation at the moment.
"Thanks Joy," Disgust said, "But that's the thing, I want Riley to be more like you. Happy and positive and kind. Not some prick like me who's always grossed out or sarcastic."
"Hey, she needs you just as much as she needs me," Joy replied, "Without you and Anger, Riley would be a pushover. People would walk all over her and she wouldn't know what was tolerable and intolerable, both socially and physically."
"Thanks joy, I guess you're right," Disgust smiled as the tears stopped flowing and the last few ran down her cheek.
"And hey, I think you have the prettiest smile out of all of us," Joy stated as she gave Disgust's cheek a loving pinch, "You just need to show it a bit more often."
"Thanks Joy, I really do feel better," Disgust said, relieved. The two of them sat down on the edge of her bed.
"When you and Sadness were gone for those few days a while back," Disgust began, "That whole situation just got really scary and depressing."
"Well, it won't happen again," Joy reassured her.
"I just wanna say, I think you make life worth living for all of us," Disgust looked into Joy's eyes with a longing smile, "I don't know what any of us would do without you to brighten up each and every day." Disgust reached her hand over a few inches on the bed and touched Joy's hand. As Disgust continued to smile and lock her gorgeous green eyes on her deep blue ones, a beautiful realization came to Joy's mind. In this moment, with this heart-to-heart conversation, they were having romantic feelings for each other. Or at least, that would appear to be the most obvious explanation.
"Can I give you a kiss?" Joy asked.
"Ew, Joy, that's gross," Disgust looked away and giggled in embarrassment.
Joy knew Disgust was too embarrassed to admit her feelings, so she decided to make her move anyway. She gently cupped Disgust's cheek with the palm of her hand and turned her to face her. She inched closer to Disgust and pulled her in for a loving, romantic kiss. It wasn't a long kiss, but it was the first either of them had ever had.
"You're a really good kisser," Disgust blushed and looked at the ground, "I love you."
"I love you too," Joy smiled brightly at her, "Just remember… You're beautiful and we need you, just as much as anyone else. And… I need you. You're cute when you get Disgusted about something and that just tickles me." Joy gave disgust a tight hug and a kiss on the cheek before getting up to leave and saying "Good night." However, just after standing up, she felt Disgust tug on her hand from behind. Joy turned around to see Disgust looking up at her with pleading emerald eyes.
"Please stay?" Disgust gave a small smile, "You love hugs more than anyone… I'm sure you'd like someone to cuddle up with on a cold night."
"Definitely!" Joy beamed, "Just let's get our bedtime clothes on and I'll be right back!"
Joy went over to her room and changed into her pajama top and bottoms. She closed the door to her room, which was to remain empty that night, and headed over to Disgust's room. Disgust had changed into her night gown and was ready for bed.
"Oh boy! A sleepover with my new girlfriend!" Joy exclaimed as she saw Disgust, who simply smiled and rolled her eyes at the remark.
As the two of them crawled into bed and pulled the covers over themselves, they were finally able to experience what cuddling with another and falling asleep felt like for the first time. Joy was a head taller than Disgust, so she took up more space. She put her arm around Disgust's waist and nuzzled her nose in her soft, green hair.
"I love you so much, my special little sweetheart," Joy said endearingly just before Disgust fell asleep in her arms.
"No, Joy," Disgust replied with a drowsy, yet annoyed tone, "No pet names." But inside, that made her feel as much happiness as Joy herself.