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The time before REM was Fear’s favourite part of the job. Everyone is cheering for a day well lived and Riley was asleep safe and sound from the turmoil of everyday. He could relax knowing they were all alive and it was a peaceful time where he was allowed to be at ease, reviewing the memories from the day to prepare for the next. It has been his responsibility for a long time now and no one else was up to the task. Anger felt no need to constantly review a day long past, already remembering what grudges needed to be held and which argument should be long forgotten. Joy and Sadness were usually on Dream Duty and they always switched off to give each other a break from night to night. Disgust said she’d rather jump into the memory dump than have to relive anything horrible that may have happened that day. Fear happily and naturally took on the role with his clipboard in hand.
The day they had wasn’t remarkable so he did not expect to have many notes from the memories but he scanned them all for potential dangers anyway. It calmed Fear knowing Riley survived the day just fine and he was always ready to mark any memories that could become troublesome for her down the line. He kept many lists of the sort for every sort of occasion (Not like anyone actually wanted to read them but he still insisted on their usefulness). It was always his role after all and Fear prided himself on Riley’s future and immediate safety, whether it was real or imaginary never made a difference. When she moved to San Francisco he wrote up a plan if a bear came through and attacked or a meteor struck the school. They were fantastical, sure, but better have the worry just in case or risk being surprised and crushed under a bear AND a meteor. They were ignored of course but he continued to make them. Anything to keep Riley safe.
He picked up a memory glowing pink and red. Riley had a history test today (not one of her strongest classes, as she was far more interested in science) and the questions were nothing like the study guide. It was unjust and she felt awful guessing when she was supposed to be the smart kid in class. He wrote the memory’s log number down, detailing the colours involved. If she was more afraid of getting a B then she would have studied more. It might be helpful if Riley was less confident in her academics to ensure she doesn’t fall behind.
He played the memory once more but decided it was too miniscule to derive much else from it and placed it back on the shelf. There was a time not long ago where Joy would have never allowed it back on the racks. She’d have the memory flying to the back of the mind very quickly. She’d say, “ Why dwell on those wrong answers? We have so many better tests!” Fear could think of a couple of good reasons but nobody would dare argue with Joy on the terms of Riley’s wellbeing.
Fear checked some boxes on his daily sheet with a smile. Another unqualified success! Despite his list nearing completion, he felt uneasy. The single nerve on the back of his head sensed he wasn’t alone and he did not have time to prepare before he heard a cheerful and abrupt, “HELLO!”
Fear shrieked in surprise, almost dropping his pen, frantically batting it in the air and catching it before it landed with a sigh. He chuckled nervously, fixing his bowtie and attempting to regain composure, as he looked behind to who was greeting him. He noted the tuft of orange and it was evident now the greeting came from Anxiety, who was toying with her hands with a large grin.
His arms gilded around his clipboard, holding it loosely against his chest. He certainly admired Anxiety’s methods of keeping Riley safe. Despite tossing all of them aside and taking over Riley he felt she was wise and useful to the team. “Oh, uhhh- Hi Anxiety.” he stuttered. Anxiety just stood there twiddling her thumbs. He enjoyed this time at night alone and so he asked in a tired and accidently judgy way, “What are you doing up?”
Anxiety opened her miniature console device and bounced in her place, typing wildey on the keypad. “Coming to log the memories of course. I need to prepare for the next 50 years. Gotta know what she needs to remember forever in order to not die unsuccessful and alone!”
“Uh huh…” Fear deadpanned with a glare. Maybe she just wasn’t aware that was his job? He appreciated her dedication but Fear also took his place on the team seriously and this was something he did alone. It was his role. “I appreciate your input but I’m good.” He held his clipboard to his chest proudly and wistfully added, “I’ve been doing this job since Riley was three. It’s my mission to keep her safe.”
“Oh my goodness, We have so much in common!” Anxiety beamed, not looking up from her monitor, “You see It’s kinda my job to keep her safe too so yeah. I gotta be ready for Riley.” Anxiety typed and typed frantically. Fear tried to be open to the idea of her helping. After all, she seemed to know everything. “Yeah I guess we do share a lot of similarities. With more complex memories having a second log would be useful. We could be a team!” He suggested with cautious excitement. He wasn’t opposed to Anxiety’s help, after all he had defended her when no one else would. With his experience and her raw talent they could really protect Riley from anything.
He looked over to see Anxiety’s response only to find that she had scampered off towards the memories without him. She shouted, “Don’t bother Fear! I got this! I don’t really need your help for this thanks though!” Fear audibly hummed. What did she mean she didn’t need HIS help? This was his job and always has been. “Actually Madam! T-this has always been my job! Do you even know how my sheets work!” He rested his hands on his hips as his frustration grew. Anxiety was disregarding him! This task helped him really see Riley and it recontextualized the whole day. He could take note of what she needed to be afraid of and what was trivial. Times he should have stepped in more and those where he could admit he overreacted. It mattered to him just like Riley does.
Anxiety zapped across the upper level of Headquarters, leaving a small trail of orange behind as she played through every memory several times. “Don’t need to, I got it.” she dismissed again, grabbing two memories to examine. Fear defended himself again, “Hey! I’ve been doing this a long time and-”
“And you always do it wrong!” Anxiety retorted boldly, rewinding the memories she was holding while scribing with the other. Fear’s mid sentence smile instantly dropped to an open frown. “Wa-wa-wa wait wait What?” he snapped in offense. She zipped down to where he was in a small line of orange and he cowered instinctively with a fearful squeak as she seemed to just appear in front of him. She held one memory in her elbow and another in her palm, the other hand still typing away. “You just don’t understand Riley like I do, no hard feelings. With my direction she’ll have everything thought out and planned for the next forever!”
She marked both memoires into her system and shoved them at Fear like a servant to return. He glared at the memories she was marking with confusion. “Why are you logging these? Even for me they are inconsequential. Like walking to school? We do that every day, it's hardly important. Look, this one is already greying too.” Fear criticized.
“Since we live in San Francisco, anything can happen on the streets. Like that time we saw a rat! It could have had rabies and we could have died. I need to run scenarios for kidnapping, theft, being held at gunpoint…”
Fear shrunk and winced in terror at every scenario, worse than the last. When she finished her rant however, Fear quickly flipped through his pages on the clipboard, knowing he had heard all those before. “I agree those are all possible and horrible outcomes. Luckily for us, great minds must think alike because I have all the potential disasters for going to school already written right here!” Fear presented his list to Anxiety, who perked up with some interest. She dropped the memory she just grabbed and swiped the pages to read over. Fear boasted, “If something happens I’ll step in and warn her. We’ll run away or call for help, or I'll contribute for a few seconds before Anger punches me and takes over to save her. It's all right there.”
Fear nodded at his own work slightly smugly. He was ahead of Anxiety this time around. They had this concern a whole year before she showed up officially so there should be no more reason to panic. Hopefully when she read the list she’d see he could handle himself and back off a tad. She finished the list and pushed the notes back to Fear’s hands, picking up the dropped memory. “Thanks for the advice but Riley just doesn’t need all this now that she has me!” She grinned aloofly, passing Fear to return the memory. Fear followed her up the ramp to put the two he was holding back on the racks as well. “Hey what, no! Of course Riley needs me! Who knows what stupid and dangerous things she’d go through with otherwise! I keep her safe!” He defended himself, trailing behind the orange one. “Maybe you did when she was a kid but Riley’s all grown up now. If she worries about the dangers now she won’t need to be scared later! We can avoid all of it! No more surprises and no more fear!!”
“But I- uh…” Fear mumbled. “You can’t be serious,” he said in fearful disbelief. It was soul crushing to hear Anxiety’s plan to phase him out entirely. She did it once before so it shouldn’t be a surprise, but he really wanted them to be a team on this. They were so much alike so how could she say Riley doesn’t need him. He was excited to work with her. She knew everything! But if they really are identical in use, does this mean Riley was done with him? He’s always shut down at the console (even more recently) and gets pushed around in Headquarters. Decisions are made without his approval and Anxiety can do everything he can but better. Fear wanted to disagree with her, but his job is to do what's best for Riley. If Anxiety can eliminate the need for fear, isn't that a good thing? They’ll take less risks and be more cautious (until anger learns how to silence her as well, then things might get back to normal, he remarked).
He scanned the memories of the day and they only confirmed Anxiety’s heartbreaking words. He is usually relieved when there is little purple to be found. A day without danger is a good thing, but there was orb after orb of Orange all around. It wasn’t an intrusive amount but Anxiety seemed to blend well with all the others. With Anxiety dictating what should be done from time to time, there were less immediate threats Riley faced. They were all funneled through Anxiety’s system. She was keeping Riley safe… that was a good thing.
Fear backed away from his task and Anxiety most likely did not notice his disappearance, rushing around to every memory she could. Anxiety would protect her so what use was he? He walked down the ramp and could hear the dream playin in the background. Riley was in deep REM now and peeking around the corner he could see Joy standing at the console. He examined the other side of the room, looking for a clear shot to the newly constructed and expanded sleeping quarters. He did not want to talk to Joy at the moment so he had to be stealthy. He’d much rather get some rest instead of explain to Joy why he felt like he wanted to cry.
Fear made it about half way before the dream boomed a loud crash. He could not physically resist jumping in shock, hastily covering his mouth trying to mask his scream, coming through as a muffled squeak. His efforts to stay hidden were dashed as his pen and clipboard dropped to the floor. He rambled in a whisper, “no no no no” as he tried to catch the items but they clattered to the floor. “No.” he gasped and Joy flinched at the racket behind her, turning to see Fear clambering to pick up the clipboard and its pages. “Fear? You’re still up?” Joy asked, leaving the console to address him. She picked up his pen and handed it back to him and he chuckled nervously while receiving it.
“Is everything alright? You didn’t come to watch the dream did you cause lemme tell ya it is not one of Dream productions finest work.” Joy rambled, hoping Fear just happened to be awake and nothing was wrong. With the puberty alarm going off Headquarters has been a mess! The mind workers come in for construction but never seem to finish the job before going on extended breaks, it would be such a pain if that happened to the bedroom area.
“No No, Dream Duty is not for me. Hahah no.” Fear stuttered, fiddling with the pages he had reconnected to his clipboard. He wasn’t really listening much to Joy’s questions, focussing on his writings and lists. Anxiety would have thought of that. Anxiety already thought of that. Anxiety was prepared for that. He was noticeably frowning and it wasn’t hard to miss when his eyebrows drooped. Joy said with concern, not wanting to pry too much, “Oh okay. Then why are you sneaking around? Everything go ok with logging the memories? You usually send them to Long Term by now. Do you need any help? I can help!” Joy said excitedly, always eager to be the best leader she can be.
Fear waved his arms back and forth in protest and grimaced, “No thanks I uh. I think I’ve had enough ‘ help ’ for tonight.” Fear placed air quotes on help and Joy could gather what he was talking about, glancing at the Special Chair she had designed for their new obnoxious coworker. “Anxiety is up, isn't she?” Joy groaned.
Fear nodded, “Yeah I was just doing my job and she took over! Now I know how you felt when she first arrived, Joy.” Joy was about to respond to cheer him up, but Fear continued his rant. “So much for Team Riley. She said she didn’t need my help and pushed me out of my own job”
“Yeah yeah that’s Anxiety for you” Joy muttered at her own experiences with the new emotion. “But don’t let her get to you! You’re great at what you do! Look, Riley's thirteen now and I guarantee she wouldn't be here without you!” Joy comforted with a bright smile. It was clear she was being genuine but Fear’s fingers still tapped anxiously on his pages. He’s kept her safe until now, but with Anxiety’s help Riley doesn’t seem to want or need him anymore… He glanced at the Sense of Self slightly behind them. “Riley is older now. What if she doesn’t need me like she used to.” He hid his face with his clipboard at the realization.
“Fear that’s ridiculous!!” Joy protested ernestely. Fear started to pace as he spoke, scanning his notes, refusing to look right at Joy. “I don’t see why Joy. Anxiety keeps Riley out of danger before it even happens! I respect her dedication to keeping us out of harm's way and it is a good thing that Riley is safer with her around, but with Anxiety at the ready there’s really no use for me right? I mean with how this week has gone I might as well retire!” Fear ranted tensely and loudly, arms waving all about. He was sarcastic about being out of a job when the words first left his mouth, but the idea began to take shape. It actually seemed like a nice idea. Anxiety has taken over every job he has had and despite her original outburst at hockey camp she has seemed to prepare Riley for the future just fine. If Anxiety really removed the threat of immediate danger and lowering risks he could quit and Riley would be fine. Anger is always there when she needs to be bold and Anxiety keeps her from doing anything too rash. Maybe it was time to just let her take his place.
“Hey… yeah!” Fear started to smile at the prospect. No more getting frightened to death at the console then getting pummeled by Anger for merely recommending some amount of basic caution. “I can just quit!” Fear realized with some excitement. Maybe it was the fact it was past midnight by now but he was growing very attached to his new assignment of benched emotion.
“What!? You can’t quit! Riley needs all of us!” Joy yelled. Fear tucked his clipboard under his elbow and headed over to the locker area, which was of course under renovations from the new emotions entering Headquarters. Despite the mess he was able to store his note taking supplies, instead grabbing his mug. He emerged back to where Joy was, empty mug in hand. “Not with Anxiety she doesn’t!” Fear smugly argued in a sing-songy retort. He stopped at the Sense of Self for a moment, leaning on the pedestal. “Hey Riley, Do you want me to keep yah safe?” he sarcastically asked. When there was no response he did a hand flourish as he continued forward, slinking off the pedestal. “My thoughts exactly.” He remarked. Joy growled frustratedly, “That’s because she's asleep! Come on Fear. Every one of us is important to Riley!”
He grabbed some tea from Anxiety’s special little corner and leaned on the chair as he stirred the bag in with some hot water. “Joy just stop ok? Now that Riley’s a cool teenager with cool brave friends I am officially retired!” Fear cheered somewhat snarkingly, swinging his mug in celebration. “Oh yeah! I can prove you're still important to Riley! What about that time we almost went down the wrong alley to shortcut to the Hockey arena? We could have gotten lost in the city but you stopped her from going that way right?” Joy recalled, dashing up to him and bouncing as she arrived, hands flourishing upwards with glee. Fear rolled his eyes and corrected her, “That day was horrible! I seem to recall yelling, ‘ NO WE CAN’T GO DOWN THERE WE’RE GONNA DIE!’ Then Anger slapped me cause it was ‘definitely the shortcut Val told us about’ and we were already late to the group skate so at that point Disgust was settling for fashionably late. While I was being choked, Anxiety took over and Riley chose to go the long reliable way without me doing a thing.”
He took a sip of his tea after his accurate and deadpanned retelling. Joy deflated as she realized he was right. Fear really didn’t contribute then despite it being a perfect situation for him. “Well okay maybe she has got us covered in the dark alleyway department but there is so much more. Like what about spiders? You're the best at saving our girl from those creepy crawlies!”
“I HATE SPIDERS Ugh!” Fear winced at the mention. “They have so many fuzzy weird little legs and they just crawl all over us and bite Riley and could make her go to the hospital.”
“See! Point for Fear!” Joy exclaimed boldly. Fear was not celebrating with her however and remarked, “But Val loves spiders. Says they are ‘nature’s knitters'. I tried to kill one for her and one of the Hockey girls protected it. Embarrassment stepped in and hoo, Riley felt so bad.”
Joy grew more and more disheartened as Fear was only proven right with every recent memory. The things Riley was afraid of were either fading away as she matured, or were becoming Anxiety’s expertise. She was afraid of disappointing her friends and parents, what job she’ll end up having and keeping up with what her new hockey team liked. Everything she worried about was internal or from self reflection. With a large support system and the social pressure to ignore childish but reasonable fears, Fear’s role on the team had been diminished ever since that alarm went off. She was also noticeably braver with the new console and Sense of Self, and Anxiety was able to keep her restrained if things got too risky for comfort. It was amazing to see her girl grow and mature, but it also meant they were all needed a bit less. Some less than others it seemed. Joy pushed it all to the side regardless of how the pieces came together. She would not give up the idea that everyone contributed something valuable, regardless of what age Riley was. “You know what that doesn’t matter either because there will come a time she really needs you and even if she might not like it, I know you'll be there for her.” Joy encouraged earnestly. Riley needed all of them and she refused to let Fear silence himself just because Riley is going through a period of change.
He wanted to believe those words but the memories around them told a different story. Even if she needed fear, anxiety was simply stronger than him and could pull much more strings than he could. She was allowed to do whatever she wanted because she was forceful and calculated. She knows what to do. How can his simple fight or flight ever compare to that? He sat in her Special Chair sloshing his mug. “Is there a single thing I do that Anxiety can’t?” Fear asked genuinely. Joy pondered for a moment thinking of a retort. She ran through Riley’s time in High school so far, looking for anything to disprove his point. Joy glowed brightly as she remembered a particularly scary time with the Hockey Team during a casual skate session. “That's it!” She exclaimed, rushing giddily to the console to recall a memory. The dream was paused for a moment (good thing Riley was fast asleep by now. She would probably never remember this crossing her mind). The memory came through and shined on the monitor in front of the dream. The memory orb was a perfect blend of orange and purple:
The hockey team was hanging out at the rink and they were playing this huge game of truth or dare. They were all laughing and having a good time skating, but soon enough it was Riley’s turn. Anxiety insisted on choosing dare, since the other girls all did. The other emotions relented since Riley is notoriously honest and she would definitely answer any questions they may have, regardless of the subject matter. Anxiety feared answering any questions deeper than “what's your favourite colour” would hinder the teams time together and make Riley look like an outcast. Or they’d ask something personal and Riley was not ready for making the night about her so to keep the game rolling choosing dare was actually the safer option at the time. The other Firehawks skated into a circle to discuss her fate and they all snickered and nodded. Val broke the group with her phone in hand towards Riley. “Newbie you gotta do this stunt on the ice! Check it!” Val smiled and played the clip to her. Riley was terrified of the video. It was too difficult. She had never done a flip before or any of those advanced air moves. She was a hockey player not a figure skater! Well she could pirouette and skate backwards (which was admittedly more advanced than the others) but that was it! She was by no means a professional like the video. The other girls skated around and chanted, “Do it! Do it!” and headquarters was arguing. Fear insisted it was too dangerous and was forceful with his grip on the console, refusing to let the others agree to it. Anxiety was reaching wherever she could to force Riley to agree to at least try. It was the first time Joy saw the two in a squabble, as they usually were the best of friends. Her projections said Riley would be made fun of for saying no. She’d lose her group forever or be banned from playing Truth or Dare for breaking the rules and this decision would haunt her for the rest of the semester. They needed to do that backflip or else Val would think they aren’t worthy of being Team Captain when they are a Junior!
Despite all her arguments and complaints and attempts to push forward, The Sense of Self behind sparkled purple and Fear was driving. When she finished the video she skated back and screamed, “No I can’t do that, it's way too hard guys!” The other girls saw her nervous posture and shaky breath. She didn’t want to break her neck. She couldn’t do that to her parents or her team. Val seemed disappointed for a second and Anxiety screamed and freaked out so hard that anger and Joy had to restrain her. Riley said, desperate to explain why she was scared to try it, “The season just started. If I got hurt doing this I wouldn’t be able to play! I’m sorry I just can’t risk it. I just became a FireHawk. I can’t lose that already.”
The team glanced at each other, acknowledging that they may have jumped the gun a bit and didn’t think through what would happen if she failed. They just believed Riley could do it. The other girls apologized and did not take hard feelings from her decision, choosing a more reasonable dare in its place. Fear finally let Joy take the console and shot Anxiety a haughty and smug look, crossing his arms as her projections about the stunt and the team were all proven incorrect.
Joy let the memory of Riley cowering and rejecting her peers' idea replay. “If you weren’t there to stop her, Anxiety would have agreed to the trick.” Joy bluntly but softly explained.
“What were those girls thinking! She could’ve gone to the hospital with a stunt like that!” Fear yelled at the memory with hands waving towards the screen. He slammed his mug on the counter in anger. Joy skated back to the middle and took the memory out to hold. She brought it to Fear and encouraged, “But she didn’t! Because you stopped her. Riley wanted you.”
Joy offered the orb to Fear, who cautiously took the memory from Joy’s hands. He held it gently with two hands and from his grasp the orange started melting away into purple. It had been more common now for memories to shift and change when they are recalled, especially Orange memories. Anxiety created momentary reactions based on usually false pretenses. When Riley remembers a moment of anxiety it's never remembered with the same distress and concern, because her projections were proven false by making another choice or following another emotion. Many have shifted to blue. Here the orange quickly faded away in Fears hands, leaving a solid purple memory. Riley made the right choice because of him. Despite all the complaints and groans his ideas get from the other emotions and regardless of how much Anxiety believes she is right all the time (and he is guilty of indulging her delusions far too often) there were still things in this world that were dangerous that Anxiety did not care to consider. Knowing this fact should have him terrified, but it also meant he could handle it so Riley did not have to.
“Riley has some really bad ideas.” he laughed, releasing the lasting stress he had built up. Looking at the now purple orb he gained some newfound confidence. He smiled wide at the memory. It was a distressing time for them all, but he was glad the memory was his. Realizing what that meant he got out from his sulking chair and tucked the memory under his arm, grabbing the mug with his free hand. “Guess I don’t get to quit after all.” He faux complained, sharing a smile with Joy as he passed her. Fear tossed the memory back to Long Term Memory and it flew up, both could see the small twinkle in the sky as it moved away from Headquarters.
“Well if I’m back on Team Riley that means I have to get some rest.” he yawned, shuffling to put his mug on the table next to the Special Chair. “That's the spirit buddy! I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for that amazing day trip to California's Great Adventure! It’s gonna be a blast!”
“That’s TOMORROW??” Fear yelled in panic, planting his hands and dragging them down his face exaggeratedly grumbling and rumbling under his hands a slur of no’s and groans. “On second thought don’t wake me up please. I’m still retired until after Saturday.” Fear noted, following the path to their shared house. “Night Joy” he farewelled. Joy waved at him “See you tomorrow Fear!” She beamed. She could hear his voice becoming more distant and Fear shouted a defiant, “See you Sunday” as he left the main area.
Joy went back to the console to let the dream continue. Having more control over the thoughts at night was one of the only updates puberty brought she actually found helpful. She didn’t know what the plot was anymore but it usually didn’t matter in dreams. Fear was right that the scripts they make never make much sense. From behind her she heard a feminine voice calling, “Oh Joy! Hi Uhm Hello! Was Fear around anywhere? By chance maybe?” She asked, appearing beside the console without much fanfare or warning. Joy was slightly startled for a moment and answered positively, “Awww You just missed him! He just went up for the night”
“Oh…really?” She disappointedly said, tapping repeatedly on her small device. “I logged all the memories and I have so many ideas now of what can go wrong tomorrow at the park but I don’t really know anything about Riley going to theme parks actually and I was hoping he could look over my notes and help decide what she needs to worry about so we can be double the prepared.”
Joy was happy that the two weren’t actually at odds with each other like Fear was describing, but with how much Anxiety tended to disregard everyone around her Joy was a bit tired to manage this with her usual spunk. “It’s all going to be okay Anxiety! We’ll have an hour car ride to think about it. I’m sure Fear will be happy to talk about all the dangerous roller coasters that are there! If he’s not down at the console feel free to bring him on down! He’d love that!” Joy advised mischievously. No way was she letting him quit for an entire day after the talk they just had getting him back on the team. Anxiety took the idea with hyperactive glee and shouted, “OKay! I should break for the day too then so I can be just as rested and ready with more plans right!”
“Exactly. Atta girl!” Joy smiled back. Anxiety rushed away to get ahead of sleep with her usual grin. She was bouncing to her little section of the sleeping quarters. Cuddling up like a burrito in her orange and brown striped blanket she admired the star shaped night light by her side. It was a gift from Fear when she stayed late planning one night. It seemed someone had turned it on already for her so she could see. She tried to get some rest, but her head was buzzing wondering why Fear would leave without a word. Did she really push him that far away? Was she too blunt? Did he leave because of her? She was just in the moment, distracted by her mission. She didn’t mean to make him upset with her if she actually did do that. Working the memory log herself was actually really overwhelming. She thought she would do it better! That Fear was just going to say things she already knew, but there were too many options. Every memory wanted her to start a new brainstorm right in the middle of the night. It grew too much and she realized far too late that Fear would know what to do. She tended to make Riley spiral despite her best efforts. She needed Fear to tell her when she was taking it too far or ignoring other possibilities. There were times when panic would make her freeze up, too worried about the possibility of danger lurking, but Fear had it simpler. His immediate gut reactions were usually the right way to go. Anxiety couldn’t sleep without knowing if Fear hated her now or not.
With nightlight in hand, she fought against the extreme comfort of the blanket burrito and fumbled to the ground with no grace in her body. Freed from the blanket, she sneaked past Embarrassment on the lower level and Envy and Ennui just above him, arriving at Fear’s small space. She had little chill and did not know at all how to apologize. She just started poking him until he shot awake, smacking his head on one of the star lights hanging on the wall behind him. Anxiety covered his mouth from shouting and waking up the others. His eyes were half closed but from the fuzzy orange creature in front of him he could make out enough. “Anxiety… what?” He barely rose from his comfortable position. She clutched the nightlight and stammered incoherently beneath her breath, “I- uhm. Eh huh. I well…”
“Go to sleep Anxiety. Whatever terrifying projection you have I’ll deal with it when it’s morning” He told her in exhaustion. “No wait! It's not that I just… Do you hate me? I didn’t mean to be so mean and I still want to be friends and help Riley. I don’t want to be hurtful! I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you and pushed you away! Doing that task by myself was awful. I saw everything going wrong and couldn’t discern which outcome was worst” She rambled and blurted out everything she was scared of, holding her light even harder and her fingers all rubbed its base in worry. Fear was still half asleep and far from ready for a long conversation about their roles going forward, but he was glad she came to apologize after everything she said to him. With a long yawn he answered, “You’re fine Anxiety. I appreciate you came to apologize but it would be a much better apology if it wasn’t the dead of night.”
“Right right. I just didn’t want you to sleep hating me and then have your resentment cement forever and then we’d never be a team again.” Anxiety responded. Fear only hummed a few “MmmHmms” of acknowledgement. “No no you’re right I’ll just go to bed I’m silly. Ignore this happening except for the ‘I'm sorry’ part ok” Anxiety rambled to make what almost qualified as a complete sentence and turned to shuffle away, arms locked tight in embarrassment and her teeth biting her lower lip. “Hey” Fear said, grabbing her attention. “You could maybe join for REM tomorrow if you want to learn how to do it properly.” Fear offered in his half awake state. She was so giddy and excited, her feet pacing up and down in place. Her whole body looked like it was jittering. “Yeah ok Yeah yeah.” Anxiety stammered.
“Would you two PLEASE keep it down!!” Anger spit in a low growl and kicked Fear’s wall enough to send a message. Fear immediately cowered in his blanket at the sound. Anxiety tripped over her own feet and almost lost her balance in shock, grasping the ladder leading up to Disgust’s bed for protection. “Okay will do sorry Anger sorry” Anxiety stammered with airy breath. When Anger tossed back into his cover with a prominent huff, Fear peaked his head back out from the blanket, both nervously showing small open smiles. “Get some sleep Anxiety.” He recommended, getting appropriately resnuggled with his pillow, blanket, and teddy bear. She nodded, “G’night! See yah tomorrow morning for a long day of work! We have lots to discuss!!” She cheerfully waved goodbye. “Yeah morning ok sure….” he mumbled quickly letting sleep take him before his mind realized once again what tomorrow was. He threw his blankets over his head in aggravation of the day ahead. He suddenly envied the retired Fear from a few moments ago. Tomorrow was another day of endless turmoil and danger. But for Riley, he needed to prepare for whatever the day had planned and especially for what they didn’t have planned. He’d be there no matter what; He would be on standby for whenever she needed him.