[Author's note: my second attempt at some Inside/Out fanfiction. I do not own the characters or other things that can be claimed by Disney/Pixar]
The music was hopping, and so was Joy. She spun knobs and shifted levers in time to the music all while humming along, swiveling her hips and tapping her feet as she guided Riley across the dance floor.
"Our first school dance! This is so exciting!" She chirped, doing a quick spin before pushing a few more buttons.
"It'll be embarrassing if you keep making us dance like that." Disgust sniped, nudging some sliders and pulling a lever down.
Riley stopped leaping all over the place and settled into one spot, still gyrating, but much less spastically than before.
Fear let out a small sigh of relief, barely relaxing his grip on the controls he had been clutching to insure Riley wouldn't collide with anyone.
"Are people watching us?" he inquired, eyes darting about the screen. "I hope no one's judging us."
"We're fine." Joy insisted, dancing a little jig. "Everyone's too busy having a great time!" She poked a few more buttons, engaging Riley in some rhythmic arm swinging.
Disgust wrinkled her nose.
"The Cabbage Patch? Seriously Joy, as a rule of thumb, if we've seen out parents doing a dance we should be avoiding it all costs." A few more green button presses and Riley settled into a more subdued rhythm.
"At least Joy didn't make us start twerking." Anger grumbled from his seat on the couch, not looking up from his newspaper.
Disgust gasped and gave Joy a horrified look. "Don't even think about it! I'd just DIE!"
Joy shrugged and the stepped aside to let Disgust have her way with the controls.
"All yours." She smiled. Her green companion raised her chin with a brief, but not missed, thankful nod.
"You just keep us smiling." She then turned to Fear. "And you, make sure nobody gets into our personal space."
He stood up ramrod straight and gave her a quick salute before manning his set of controls again.
"Right! No bumping into anyone. No trotting on toes…" he paused, biting his lip with a worried thought, "There are no mosh pits allowed at middle school dances, right?"
"If there are, I might actually have something to do." Anger chuckled.
Just then, the music began to slow, losing its thumping base in favor of a soft, swelling melody.
"What's happening?" Fear trembled as the lighting in the gymnasium started to dim.
Joy grinned.
"It's a slow dance!"
Fear gasped and shivered.
"A slow dance? Oh, no, no, no…"
"We should find someone to dance with."
"Or, we could find a nice chair to sit in. That would be nice."
Disgust held up both hands, shushing the two emotions flanking her.
"Riley is not going to be some dorky wallflower on my watch. But, if we're going to dance with someone, they have to meet my standards."
They gazed about the gym, noting every boy who hadn't retreated to a seat or the snack table when the power ballad had started.
"Ooh, what about him?" Joy pointed out a heavy set boy wearing a black tee shirt with a fake tuxedo printed on the front. "He looks like fun."
Disgust's face quickly recovered from the look of shock that had taken it at Joy's suggestion.
"Please tell me you're joking."
Joy frowned slightly.
"What about him?" Fear pointed, "He looks safe."
Disgust rolled her eyes at Fear's pick; the nerdiest example of pre-teen humanity, complete with the stereotypically thick glasses and dark curly hair. It didn't help that he was wearing a vest and bow-tie that made him resemble the purple emotion standing next to her.
"Uh, no." she told him flatly.
The next selection of boys met the same scrutiny. "Nope, no, ugh, no, never in a million years…"
"At this rate the song'll be over before we pick anyone." Anger scoffed.
"We'll never find anyone to dance with." Sadness moped. "We're going to be lonely forever."
Joy tore her gaze away from the view screen to look at the smaller emotion sniffling beside her. An idea was creeping into her mind. One that a year ago would have never occurred to her, or if it had, would have been dismissed as crazy.
"Sadness… would you like to pick out a boy for Riley?"
The remaining three dropped their jaws simultaneously.
"You want her to pick out a boy?" Disgust asked in amazement.
"You want me to pick out a boy?" asked Sadness with equal awe.
"Yeah," Joy answered with sincere encouragement. "Give it a shot." She stepped over to give Sadness a better view.
Sadness stared for a prolonged moment, searching quietly until her eyes landed on a boy in the back who was keeping his head low and fidgeting nervously with his sleeves.
"Him." She pointed, then lowered her hands and fiddled with her fingers. "He looks lonely."
Disgust was about to protest, but got bombarded by pleading looks from Joy and Fear that telegraphed hopeful and desperate respectively.
"Fine, it's better than nothing, I guess." She resigned, resuming her position at the end of the console.
Joy squealed happily and guided Riley to move toward the boy.
"Go easy, we don't want to come on too strong." Fear cautioned.
Riley felt nervous as she approached the brown haired boy lingering in the corner.
"Um, hey. Do you… want to dance?"
The boy hesitated a moment, his eyes looking about with uncertainty before swallowing and saying, "Sure."
Joy screamed happily. "He said yes!"
"He said yes!" Fear echoed, allowing Joy to scoop him and Sadness into a hug. But that was short lived as he pulled himself away, fretting with the realization, "he said yes… WHAT DO WE DO NOW? There's going to be touching and moving…what if he wants to waltz?"
Before he could attempt to recall any episode of 'So You Think Celebrities Can Dance' from long-term, Joy put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down. I don't think he wants to waltz." She held back a chuckle. "Just leave it to me."
"And me." Disgust added. "His hands better not be sweaty."
Together the yellow and green girls gently directed Riley to place her hands on her partner's shoulders as he did the same. Slowly the two began swaying to the music as the singer crooned on about lost loves and missed opportunities at romance.
At one point Riley briefly glanced up and caught sight of her partner's eyes staring back at hers.
Fear let out a yelp, "Too much eye contact!" and flicked a knob that turned the view to the pre-teens' shoes. "Whew, wouldn't want him getting the wrong impression about us."
While Riley's head was still facing down, Disgust managed to direct her eyes up to steal another brief glimpse of the boy. She had to admit, he was cute, even if he did make the error of wearing a brown suit with a blue tie.
"I have to hand it to you Sadness," She confessed, "You made a good choice."
Sadness didn't answer. When everyone turned their heads to see why, they saw her standing there silently, eyes closed, hands folded together, with the tiniest hint of a smile on her face.
"Sadness?"
She held up a finger and quietly shushed them, softly stating,
"This is my jam." Before once again becoming lost in the music they could all hear floating through the room.
All by myself, don't wanna be
all by myself anymore…
[The End]