Disgust
Who in their right minds thought dried fruits were an appropriate substitute for dessert?
Seriously though. If it weren't for Joy, Anger would have blown their top already. Dried fruits were nasty, and it was cruel and mean to have lead the poor girl on with promises of dessert.
Disgust had since taken her leave, complaining that Grandma's cooking was supposed to be good and I can't handle this, guys, you're on your own…
Joy, for her part, managed to convince him that they needed to act like they liked it. Anger wouldn't have cared, if it weren't for the fact that he cared for Riley, and he didn't want her fighting with her family. So he let joy put a smile on Riley's face and eat the dessert without verbal complaint.
If Grandma noticed the small scowl she wore throughout it all, she didn't say anything.
III
Sadness had never known what it was to be accepted. She was used to being left out. She had never known what it was to be in the center of the group. That was fine. She could understand that.
But she had never felt so worthless, so disgusted with herself than when Joy left her alone in long-term memory.
It was at that moment that the thought that had been building for years surfaced, and Sadness caught glimpses of herself in the memory orbs as she passed by, and looked away.
She was nothing. A waste of space, an unneeded emotion. Well, that was all over now. She wouldn't be able to hurt Riley any more.
III
Joy often made it a sort of game to compete with Disgust. She was a solemn upholder of the five second rule, she didn't care much for washing fruits with soap, and she liked to think that getting a little sweaty or dirty built character.
There were times though, when she would hand over the reins gladly to anyone who would take them from her.
When Riley was sick.
Of course, she would do her best to keep her happy and optimistic, and for the most part it wasn't a big deal to get a little cold. But the second Riley started sneezing, Joy was outta there. She would see it coming. Riley would start to sniff, rub her nose, run to grab a tissue and then after it all…
Oh, why did kids always have to look?
Boogers were so gross!
Joy would find herself practically incapacitated by the eew and Disgust would take over full force. Let her, Joy would think. There is nothing happy about spewing green goo from your face!
III
Fear was a coward. Duh. He could live with that. It kept him, Riley, all of them, safe. He even kind of liked his job, for the most part. He was good at it.
He was a coward. But that gave him no right to take the cowards way out.
He had wanted to quit that day—he had tried to quit. He was going to abandon this friends, and their girl, to whatever disaster awaited. And that was not okay.
Maybe he could account for his more-panicked-than-usual state of mind that day, what with everything that had frayed his nerves beyond what he could handle, but looking back now, he couldn't even begin to justify his actions. Or, lack thereof. However you decided to interpret that. He was going to abandon his friends, quit trying, go into hiding, whatever he decided to do when he was out.
That was not right, he knew. Oh, he was painfully aware. How could he, the one who was supposed to be the worrier, the protector, even think of turning his back? How could he?
A/n: Well, a couple of these were a little more self-loathing-y than I thought they would be. Oops..? Anyway, hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading, everyone!