Author's Note: Thank you for the review, b-utter fly-shy! Your feedback is much appreciated.
One night, after Riley had gone to sleep, Fear walked over to Joy, who was at the command console watching Riley's dreams. The latest was her dream boyfriend singing for her at a concert.
"H-hi, Joy", stuttered Fear. Joy looked at him. "Hey, Fear, what's up?"
"I've got a question. Quite an important one, actually." Fear felt his stomach become infested with thousands of butterflies, flying around its walls as if trying desperately to escape.
"What is it?" asked Joy patiently, waiting for his reply.
"Um..."
C'mon, say it! Say it! There's only a few hours left before Riley wakes up.
"It's about Sadness." Fear had barely managed to make the words come out of his trembling lips.
"Ah, yes, Sadness. How is she?" Joy smiled.
"Um, well..." Fear was confronted with images of her flashing across his mind like a film projector. Her eyes, her glasses, her hair... He was really going crazy. Was that bad?
"Mm-hmm," Joy probed.
"Do you know that feeling you get when butterflies are flying around in your stomach? When your heart races when someone comes near? Joy, I feel that whenever Sadness comes over to me. I-is it dangerous? What if I'm sick?"
Joy laughed good-naturedly and put a reassuring arm around Fear. "My friend," she said, "you aren't sick. You've been hit by Cupid's arrow."
"Oh!" exclaimed Fear, "you mean I-I'm-I'm in..."
"Love," finished Joy with a grin across her face. "You're in love."
Fear couldn't help but grin too. But he soon became worried that Sadness might not reciprocate.
"B-b-but what if Sadness doesn't feel the same way?"
Joy put two arms on his shoulders this time. "Fear, the only way you'll know is by talking to her."
"Oh, a-alright," Fear said at last, after having the butterfly feeling again.
He walked away knowing that his feelings were normal, and as he walked away the butterflies started disappearing and were replaced with the feeling of floating on clouds. He was most definitely in love.