A/n: Sorry this one took a bit longer, guys. It was hard. But, here it is:) Fluff alert, people. Fluff. Alert.

"Fear? Uh…may I come in?"

Fear could say nothing for a precious few seconds, but soon enough slowly rose, hoping his knees would support him.

"U-uh…er, y-yes, yes. C-come on in."

Sadness herself stood then, looking between the two and deciding that there was nothing left for her to do now. She silently passed Disgust, gave her friends one last look over her shoulder, and made her way back down the hallway, hoping for the best.

Now it was just the two of them. For the first few silent moments, it was almost painful, standing there in each other's presence. Disgust couldn't bring her gaze any higher than the carpet in front of her, and Fear was too scared to look anywhere but at the emotion in front of him.

Disgust, despite being the one who had gone looking for him, found herself with nothing to say. It was as if all the confidence and surety she had gained while talking to Anger evaporated in an instant and she could no longer gather her thoughts well enough to share them. Her small hands were clasped in front of her, suddenly shaking, and she distantly marveled at the possibility of her being the most nervous person in the room.

Fear, for his part, saw her struggle, and despite what she probably had to say he found it within himself to be the one to reach out, if just a little.

"D-do you…want to sit down?" he asked quietly, motioning vaguely to the side of his bed. She nodded, still looking down, and quickly moved and took a seat on the side of the mattress; Fear sat down next to her, being sure to give her space. She sat stiffly, knees together and hands folded in her lap. He was slooped over, and his arms moved by their own accord to wrap around his torso.

He easily noted her position, and the little hope that was within him withered even more. She was uncomfortable. And it was his fault. Him and his big mouth. He closed his eyes and took a silent deep breath before speaking again.

"I-I'm sorry."

She barely heard his voice, but she caught his words and was startled enough to look up at him. He didn't notice.

"I should n-never have…burdened you with all that," he continued, "Y-you were…you were never supposed to know."

They lapsed into silence again, and Disgust gathered her courage and took the only opening she could.

"Well…that, um, wasn't exactly the problem."

Fear, after a moment, snorted humorlessly. "Figures," he said, "I thought you m-might've figured it out."

Disgust bit her lip. She knew it wasn't what he meant to happen, but that statement made her feel guilty somehow, like she was responsible for more of his heartache than she had been a moment ago. "Fear—"

"Do you think…" He spoke quickly, as if trying to get his words into the open before he lost his nerve, "Do you think it would be p-possible for us to just…j-just forget it all?" Disgust was too surprised to respond, and he went on. "We…we've spent our entire lives as f-friends…" He glanced up at her for a spit second, and her stomach lurched at how like a question that statement sounded, "and…and I'm fine with that. More than fine. I l-love working with you, and talking with you on our off time. I even lo—like the banter between you, me and Anger," he gave what was meant to be a laugh, but it was more of a sob than anything else.

His next words were nothing more than a trembling whisper; it was all he could muster. "Please. Please, don't let me ruin this. I-I understand that you must be…upset, and you have every reason to be. T-take it out on me now. Yell at me, hit me, whatever you want, but please…please tell me things will be okay tomorrow."

Disgust would've responded right away had she not been so shocked. Fear was looking at his shoes, oblivious to the look of slowly dawning sorrow on her face. He looked so…so hopeless. And with everything he said…

"…Did you think I would be angry?"

Fear risked looking at her, and she saw the surprise that swam in his eyes. "You…you're n-not?"

"No, stupid, I'm not," she moved closer to him, suddenly overcome with the urge to settle his nerves as best as possible. She pried the hand closest to her away from his torso and held it between both of her own, making sure to make eye contact and offering the tiniest grin when she repeated herself, "I'm not mad."

He searched her, for a moment, and she saw his shoulders slowly relaxing as he began to believe her. He broke the eye contact and looked down at their hands, his quaking and hers small and comforting. His brows furrowed, and he mustered all the courage he could to ask her the question that was twisting his heart, "Do y-you…does that m-mean you, u-uh…"

And suddenly she felt guilty again. Any semblance of a smile was wiped from her face in an instant, and her eyes grew regretful. She hadn't meant to…to lead him on like that…

He chanced a glance back at her face, and quickly tried to backtrack. Turns out she was easier to read than he thought.

"Ack…no, no, s-sorry, I…I didn't—I w-wasn't thinking," he withdrew his hand from hers quickly, as if burned, and shrunk into himself once more, "O-of course not. That w-was s-stupid. I…s-sorry…"

She shook her head rapidly, and her hands—still suspended in midair from following his as he pulled away—came to rest on his shoulder and upper arm. "No, no, Fear, it's alright," she soothed, hoping to reassure him once more. Then again…

She had to get this out of the way. This had to be cleared up, now.

"…Listen, I…" she let out a great puff of air, resenting what she was about to say, "…Fear, I don't love you. I'm so sorry."

He quickly looked down and began rapidly blinking, but to Disgust's surprise he gave a crooked grin, too. It was…sad. Self-Deprecating. She didn't like it.

"Th-that's okay. I mean…I d-didn't really…expect you to, so…"

"Nono, Fear, listen to me," one of her hands went to his opposite cheek and gently prodded him to look at her. "I do care about you. You're wonderful, Fear, and don't think for a second that you deserve anything less than someone loving you back," both of her hands went back to their place around his, and her firm voice softened, "You are so, so sweet to feel the way you do about me." His face burned and he tried to look down. One of her hands came back up to cup his cheek and keep him still.

"But…please understand, I'm not ready. I-it might sound…I don't know, selfish to say that, but I really just—"

"N…no. No, it's not…it's not selfish."

Disgust was somewhat taken aback hearing is voice. He sounded breathless.

After a moment, Fear went on, "I think I-I get it," he said, "I…if you're not ready, then you're not ready. I, uh…I can live with that. It's better than you j-just…not liking me, r-right?"

The two lapsed back into silence—a more peaceful one than it had been minutes ago. Disgust regarded Fear, noting how, even as he looked anywhere but at her and the hand in hers still shook (mere shivers now, nothing like the violent tremors before), he looked…almost happy. It struck her then just how innocent this emotion's feelings were. He…he really cared deeply for her, enough to disregard how he felt in favor of her comfort; he was preparing himself for who-knows-what at her hand, so that she would feel herself justified, and was more comforted by the mere thought of remaining friends than she thought he'd be.

It warmed her from the inside out in a way that she had never felt before. No, it wasn't quite love, but right now, it was almost as sweet. It was certainty.

"…Fear?"

The emotion in question looked up, wary of what she had to say until he saw the sweet look on her face. He was calmed almost instantly.

"Y-yes?"

"I…I will be ready. Someday."

It took him a moment, but when he understood the implications, he felt an electric current run from his heart all the way through to his fingers and toes. A small part of him was desperate to stay calm, that's probably not what she meant, you're setting yourself up to crash and burn…

But a bigger part knew he was right. He could see it in her smile.

"Wait, do you mean…Do you think that, s-someday you m-might…"

He had never felt more elated than when he saw her nod. "Yeah," she said, "someday."

"B-because you want to, right? N-not just because I—"

"Because we both want to."

His smile could've put Joy to shame at that moment, and Disgust had to giggle a little at the goofy smile. Dork, she thought, and her own smile grew.

"So, ah…" Fear brought them both back to the present after a few precious moments, even though the future right then seemed so enticing, "What do we do now?"

Disgust thought for a moment. What were they going to do?

"I…well, we won't pretend it didn't happen…"

"U-huh."

"But I think we've established that a…a relationship is out of the question right now…"

"O-of course."

"Because it wouldn't be fair, to either of us, at this point."

They were both quiet for a time. Then, Fear suggested quietly, "…Do we just go on being…"

Friends?

But they were more than that, love or no. And they both knew it.

Disgust gave a small shrug. "I guess we just…keep doing what we're doing. For now." Fear couldn't fully surprise the tiny, bashful smirk that appeared on his lips at those words. Disgust thought for a moment, and then leaned in and gave him a quick peck on his purple cheek. His eyes went impossibly wide, and his face turned adorably red, and she quickly pulled him in to a soft hug. He slowly brought his arms up around her, marveling at the moment, at the entire day, and whispered into her hair, "Thank you."

III

It was a short time later that the two made their way back downstairs. They could've kept to themselves all day, maybe, but Fear eventually realized that Riley was still awake, and therefore they both technically had a job to do. Granted, she was watching cartoons at a friend's house, but still…

Sadness was the first to notice them, and regarded them both with a quiet, critical eye. Neither of them were sad…

Joy was less subtle. "There you two are!" She through out her arms and rushed towards the pair, stopping just before she plowed into them both. "We were wondering if something had happened!"

"Give 'em a break, Joy," came Anger's gruff voice from the couch, "They had things to discuss. It's their business."

"Oh, come on, don't try to tell me you were't wondering about it all this time, too, Grumpy Gus." Anger didn't respond.

Sadness had made her way towards Disgust and Fear, hope shining in her brighter than it had in a while. "Are you two…okay?"

With the soft question, the remaining emotions hushed and the only sound came from the far away noise of droning cartoons. Disgust and Fear exchanged a look, and the both of them smiled softly.

"Yeah. We're okay."

A/n: I really appreciate how wonderful and supportive you all have been:) Thanks for reading!