Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Anxiety groaned softly as she woke up, sitting up on her bed and checking the time.
5 a.m. which was when she tended to wake up most often nowadays.
Sometimes it was even earlier, but the others had been helpful with her getting more sleep, rest that she needed they would insist.

She got up, got dressed, did her hair and made her bed before heading out to get coffee.
The orange emotion quietly stepped out into the control room, glancing around to see if anyone happened to be awake yet.
No one was there and all the other doors were closed.
It was around when Riley turned 18 when the Headquarters received more big time renovations, which included all the emotions getting their own bedrooms.
They weren’t big, even smaller than the dorm room Riley lived in, but they at least gave them privacy, something they all had grown to appreciate.

Anxiety headed to the kitchen and started up the coffee maker, cleaning some of the leftover dishes while she waited for the drink to be prepared.
Once she had her big mug of coffee with sugar, she headed back to the control room and sat on her armchair, taking a sip of the coffee while looking over her clipboard.
Around an hour later, Joy came out of her bedroom, smiling and looking ready for the day.

“Morning Anxie!” She greeted, giving her a bright smile before heading to the kitchen as well.
“Morning Joy.” Anxiety replied, smiling back at the bright emotion.
Slowly, the others started waking up as well and came out to prepare for the day ahead.
Fear came just before 7, looking quite disheveled as he often did before his morning drink.
Anxiety paid it no mind when he simply shuffled to the kitchen, she’d gotten used to the routine a long time ago.
10 minutes later, she felt a soft kiss being placed on her cheek.
“Morning dear.” Fear said, holding his cup close and looking much more awake than he had earlier.
“Morning honey.” She replied, giving him a quick kiss back before the purple emotion headed off to get dressed.
Back when they first started doing this, Anxiety constantly got flustered by the attention and pet names, but by now it was just part of their normal day.

As usual, Ennui got up much later than the others, Riley was already in class by the time the indigo emotion made it out of bed.
“Morning mon amour.” Anxiety greeted as Ennui made her way over to the console where she was standing.
“Mmmh, morning ma chérie..” The taller replied, leaning her face on Anxiety’s hair, still drowsy from sleep.
Anxiety smiled fondly before turning her attention back to work.
She had a good feeling about this day.

Chapter Text

Okay, this day wasn’t going as well as she’d been hoping.
Riley had a hard time focusing in class thanks to a persistent nausea she just couldn’t figure out the cause of.
She hadn’t eaten anything unusual today or the night before, she hadn’t been drinking and as far as she knew hadn’t been in contact with anyone that was sick.
But the feeling just wouldn’t go away.

Anxiety was having a similar problem, the awful feeling wouldn’t leave her alone and made it hard to think.
Thinking was what she did best! She couldn’t help Riley in this state!
The others seemed to notice her looking off, Joy was the first to approach.
“Hey Anxiety, are you feeling okay?”
The shorter emotion took a second to process the question, she opened her mouth to tell everyone she was fine, when the nausea suddenly spiked and she ran toward the bathroom before anyone could even blink.

Disgust looked up just in time to realize what was happening with Riley in that moment and slammed her hands on the console, getting Riley up and toward the nearest bathroom as well.
“That’s…a weird coincidence.” Joy said, earning nods of agreement from the others.
Ennui slowly got off her couch and headed after Anxiety.
She opened the bathroom door and winced at the sounds of the other emotion gagging and throwing up.

Still, she walked over and helped Anxiety hold her hair back, gently rubbing her back while waiting for the other to finish.
After a few minutes, Anxiety sat up straight and groaned.
“I-Is Riley okay?” She asked while trying to catch her breath.
“She is fine chérie, the others are handling it.”
The orange emotion nodded and moved back from the toilet.
After a moment to settle, Ennui helped her up and Anxiety wiped her mouth in the sink before they went back to the control room.
Riley was still in the bathroom as the emotions argued over what should be done.
“We really should go see the nurse, what if she’s really sick?” Fear said.

“She’s fine now, just ate something bad.” Anger argued.

“We shouldn’t be missing out on a class..but if she’s sick she really should be resting..” Sadness muttered.

Joy looked up when she saw Ennui and Anxiety return and looked relieved.
“Hey, feeling any better?” She asked.
The orange emotion nodded and looked up at the screen.
Riley was panting slightly, looking at herself in the mirror.
“Okay, we’re voting on this then.
Who thinks we should go to the nurse?” Joy asked.
Fear, Embarrassment, Disgust, Ennui and Joy raised their hands.
Anxiety slowly raised her hand as well.
“Majority agrees, nurse it is.” Joy said.

The nurse agreed Riley should head to her dorm for the day and told her to come see her again if the nausea continued.
Anxiety sat on her chair with some calming tea while the others got Riley back to the dorms to rest.
She still felt sick and a little dizzy, but Anxiety was sure she’d be back to normal in a jiffy.
She had to, for Riley’s sake.

Chapter Text

The following week did not get any easier.
It seemed that everyday both Riley and Anxiety were dealing with a new problem, sometimes multiple of them at the same time.
The nausea kept coming and going, as well as feeling tired and dizzy no matter how well they slept.
Both had trouble eating, and this morning Anxiety felt like throwing up when she smelt coffee!
Thankfully tea and energy drinks were still fine, but it was an unpleasant change nonetheless!
The other emotions tried to help, Anxiety knew that and yet she kept getting annoyed by them.
They just kept bothering her when she insisted everything was fine!This would pass soon and everything would go back to normal.

And yet they still kept pestering her when she just wanted to be left alone!
And on top of all of this she was feeling bloated, what else could go wrong today?

Anxiety stood at the console with Joy and Disgust, the green emotion had been there a lot the last couple days even if Riley didn’t feel sick, just to be safe.
Anxiety was onto her third energy drink today, it was taking more and more of them just to get the near constant fatigue to go away. Riley had taken to drinking them as well since she couldn’t bear the smell of coffee now either.

There was a tension in the air of Headquarters and Anxiety was more than happy to ignore it for as long as possible, the others had given up on bringing up the subject of her state or mood, for the time being at least.
They focused on Riley instead, which Anxiety thought was much more important anyways.
Still, someone had yet to get the memo…

She could feel Joy glancing at her, the bright emotion clearly wanted to say something but was holding back for now.
The likely reason she wasn’t saying anything yet was the scene earlier that morning, Anxiety had screeched at Anger when he’d accidentally stepped on her tail, which resulted in quite a screaming match between them.
Joy managed to separate them and once Anxiety calmed down she apologized, as did Anger but still the fight had left its mark on the day.

Anxiety had been horrified at her behavior afterwards, it was unusual for her to get so angry over a simple accident.
What was wrong with her?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a light tap on the shoulder.
Looking up, she saw Joy was now fully facing her with a concerned look on her face.
Ugh, she was getting tired of being the center of attention…
“You okay Anxiety?” The bright emotion asked gently, as if she was speaking to a child.
Anxiety scoffed, her tail swished behind her in irritation.
“I’m fine.”
Joy clearly wanted to argue, but her attention quickly switched back to the screen when Riley stopped to talk to someone.
Anxiety took the opportunity to head to the kitchen, she needed a moment alone and probably another drink.
She took a deep breath, feeling the annoyance slowly fade away.
She really didn’t mean to be so..so rude and moody, yet it still kept happening.
As she reached for the fridge door, a wave of dizziness hit her and caused her to stumble slightly, not falling over thankfully.
“Are you okay Anxiety?” She heard Fear ask as he walked up to her, reaching out to probably help her balance.
“I’m fine.” She said through gritted teeth, her response caused the other to flinch and she instantly felt bad.
“I-I’m sorry,I just lost my balance for a second.” She explained, hoping he’d accept the explanation and leave it be.
Fear gave a small nod, his brows furrowed in worry.
“Alright, do you need anything?”
She shook her head and grabbed the energy drink from the fridge.
“Nah, I just came to get this.”
The purple emotion hummed as he eyed the can.
“Isn’t that your fourth one by now? It’s not even lunchtime yet..”

The shorter emotion huffed and cracked the can open.
“I’m just making up for the lack of coffee, that’s all.” She said before heading back to the control room.
She felt Fear’s eyes on her back but ignored him, he was just overthinking it, over worrying about something that wasn’t worth worrying about.
Riley was back in class now so Anxiety took out her clipboard and pen to write down anything important, she still had a job to do after all.

By the time lunchtime rolled around Anxiety was starting to feel better, at least a little.
Riley seemed better too, she was managing to eat almost normally, which was good since she had hockey practice coming up next.
Anxiety was onto her fifth drink, which no one had commented on to her relief.
She was working on her little console, keeping an ear out on Riley’s conversation with her friends, but mostly trusting the others to handle it.
The atmosphere was finally settling down some, not quite to normal yet but infinitely better than it had been earlier.
She glanced up from her screen at the others, who were all gathered at the main console except for Ennui who was laying on the couch as usual.

It seemed Ennui felt her looking and turned her head so their eyes met.
Anxiety silently prayed the indigo emotion wouldn’t bother her as well, she was the only one that hadn’t done so today and the orange creature just couldn’t deal with anymore of it.
Thankfully, Ennui just slowly blinked at her before turning back to her phone.
Anxiety sighed in relief and turned back to work, considering if she wanted to sleep on her own or with someone tonight.
Both had their pros and cons, though most often she did prefer sleeping with either Ennui or Fear, sometimes Joy too.
It was just nice, holding someone and being able to feel them close while falling asleep.
Sure, Ennui tended to sleep in odd positions at times, Joy had quite a snore and Fear had nightmares now and then, but those were a lot more uncommon when they slept together, or so he told her at least.
She smiled slightly, the idea of her being able to comfort someone like that felt..good.
Maybe she’d sleep with Fear tonight, it’d also give her a chance to apologize for her behavior again and maybe calm her nerves some.
Sometimes she wondered why the others put up with her, but her friends and partners often made sure to remind her that she wasn’t all bad, no matter how hard that was for her to believe at times.

She heard her name being called and looked up, seeing Riley was heading to the dressing room to change into her hockey gear.
The orange emotion quickly downed the rest of her drink and went over, checking with Fear that Riley had all her equipment.

As the young woman stood up, another dizzy spell hit her and she leaned against the wall with a groan.
Anxiety experienced something similar, though it was the console she ended up leaning against.
The others glanced at her, then back at the screen when Riley was spoken to.
“You alright there, Minnesota?”
Riley looked up at Val, who was just putting on her own scates.
“Yeah, I’m good.” The blonde replied quickly, leaving the room and heading onto the ice.
“Why does this keep happening?”Anger muttered.
“What if she’s seriously ill?!We really should see a doctor..”Fear said.

“Okay guys, I know we’re all worried about Riley but let’s not panic.
Let’s get practice done first, then we can talk about what to do, okay?” Joy suggested.
The others agreed to the idea and focused back on Riley.
All except Ennui, who Anxiety felt staring at her again.

She saw from the corner of her eye as the other got up and slowly headed her way.
‘Please, not now, just not now.’

“Anxiété.”
Said emotion screamed internally as she turned to look at the taller one.
“Yes?”
“I wish to speak with you.” Ennui told her, gesturing with her head towards the nook where the manuals were.
“Not right now, I’m needed for practice.” Anxiety told her, hoping her girlfriend didn’t have the energy to argue.
“Oh we got a couple minutes before it starts, go ahead!” Joy encouraged.
Anxiety gave her a look she hoped expressed exactly how she felt toward the yellow emotion right now.
Joy simply smiled and turned back to the others.
Seeing no way out of this, Anxiety relented and walked with Ennui over to the corner.

“Okay, what is it?”
She knew already, why did she bother asking?
“You are not well.” Ennui said, like she was stating a fact.
Technically it was, but Anxiety wasn’t going to admit that.
“I’m fine, just feeling a bit under the weather is all.” She replied.
Ennui raised an eyebrow at her, Anxiety knew she was the last person who would buy that.
Still, she persisted.
“It’ll pass Ennui, it’s more annoying than anything else.”

“Perhaps, but it is not normal.” Ennui countered.
“We’ve all been a little sick before, it’s nothing to worry about.”
“Constant fatigue and nausea are not little mon amour, nor the dizzy spells.”
She was making fair points, but Anxiety just grew annoyed.
“Look, I get you’re worried but you should trust me when I say that I’m fine!” She snapped.
The taller emotion frowned slightly at her outburst.
“Anxiété, yo-”
“No! I am tired of having this conversation!” The shorter huffed and turned to head back to the console.
The others were not so subtly listening in, but she couldn’t be bothered to care right now.
She felt Ennui touch her shoulder and that was the last straw.

“Stop it! I’ve told you all a million times now! I am fi-” Her scream was cut off when she suddenly felt incredibly disoriented and her vision grew fuzzy.
The orange emotion fell limp onto the floor.

“Anxiety!” The others yelled, moving to help but the lights suddenly cut off, leaving them in complete darkness.

Chapter Text

It was dark and Anxiety felt incredibly sick and confused.
She was laying down, when had she done that? She didn’t remember falling asleep.
Her eyes were closed and it felt like a chore to even crack them, her head hurt and the muffled sounds around her were distracting.
Someone was talking, but she couldn’t tell who or what they were saying, it almost felt like she was underwater.

Slowly, she managed to open her eyes for just a second, but even then she could barely see anything.
What was going on?
Something was touching her hand, she focused on the feeling to try to gather her thoughts and not panic.
It felt wet,sweaty?Oh, Fear was holding her hand.
Was he the one talking?She couldn’t tell yet.
She tried opening her eyes again and could make out blurry figures and a source of light, like a beam of light?A flashlight?
Why was it so dark? It was noon last she remembered.
Okay, what was the last thing she remembered?Think,think…
Ennui, she’d talked with Ennui, she remembered feeling frustrated.
What else? Riley was waiting for practice to start, she’d just go-
Riley.

The orange emotion sat up with a start and a gasp, she felt her head spin at the sudden movement but now was not the time to feel sick!
Riley needed her! She had to-
Someone said her name, she was sure of it this time.
After a moment, her eyes adjusted and she was able to actually see.
Fear, Ennui, Envy and Embarrassment were standing around her, Envy was the one holding a flashlight to light up the dark of the Headquarters.
Why was it so dark?It never got this dark even during the night.
Anxiety tried to speak, she had to know what was going on!But her tongue felt like lead and her mouth was dry.
She could make out a faint glow from the corner of her eye and looked towards it, realizing it was coming from Joy.
The rest of the emotions were gathered around the console, which seemed to lack any color at all despite them all touching it.
Joy turned and her eyes widened when she saw Anxiety sitting up.
The yellow emotion hurried over and spoke to her, but Anxiety could only make out bits and pieces of it.
“S-Slow down.” She managed to say, her voice was raspy and her throat felt itchy.
She took a second to find her voice again and barely got out a whisper.
“What’s going on?”
Joy gently took her hand and Anxiety had never seen her be this careful with anyone or anything before, safe maybe for the memories.
“We don’t know, you fainted and we think Riley did as well.
We can’t even tell how long it’s been now.” Joy explained.

Anxiety felt her whole body shuddered and her breath picked up, almost to the point of hyperventilating.
At that moment the console slowly lit up and the lights turned on one by one.
They could make out the screen now, but it remained dark.
Everyone froze, anticipating something more to happen.
Then, faint purple particles appeared, leading towards the console.
Anxiety felt Fear tighten his grip on her hand and turned to him.
Their eyes met and she saw the conflicted look on his face, as well as faint tear tracks on his cheeks.
She squeezed his hand back and nodded towards the console.
I-I’ll be okay, she needs you.” She told him.
The purple emotion gulped and gave a slow nod, giving her hand one more reassuring squeeze before running over to the console, which thankfully reacted to his touch.

Anxiety felt a light tap on her arm and turned to Embarrassment, who was looking at her with concern.
“Are you okay?” The large emotion asked softly.
She wanted to reassure him, all of them but didn’t think she’d be able to.
“I don’t know, my head hurts a-and it’s hard to speak a-”
“Shh, it’s alright chérie, take it easy.” Ennui told her.
Anxiety nodded, instead trying to focus on getting her breathing under control.
Similarly to what she’d experienced, Riley’s vision and hearing slowly came back to her.
But when she managed to open her eyes fully, Riley was freaked out to find herself in a completely different place than she last remembered.
Anxiety wanted to go up to the console, but the others made sure she stayed put.
Disgust joined Fear there as the young woman took in her surroundings, getting even more freaked out when she realized she was in the hospital.

“Riley.” A voice beside her called and the blonde quickly turned her head, groaning at the sick feeling the motion caused.
Val was sitting next to her, looking both worried and relieved.
“Hey, good to see you awake.”
“What happened?” Riley managed to ask, feeling confused but also comforted by her friend’s presence.
“You fainted right before practice, fell onto the ice like a rock.” The older woman explained.
“What?Why?”
Val shrugged.
“They took some tests while you were out, hopefully the doctor can answer that.”
Riley nodded and looked up when the door opened, a woman walked in with a clipboard.
“Riley Andersen?”
The blonde nodded and sat up straight.
“My name is Sarah and I'll be your nurse today, I need to do a couple of tests to check how you’re doing, okay?”
Riley nodded and did as she was instructed while the nurse checked her over, slowly growing impatient to figure out what the problem was.
“So did you find anything wrong?Why did I pass out?”

The nurse nodded and put her supplies away before turning to Riley.
“Yes, we got the results back and they confirmed you’re pregnant, around nine weeks along.”

Riley’s mind felt like it was frozen as she processed those words.
Inside, the emotions were having their own reactions to the news.
It was Fear who felt faint this time, Disgust stopped him from falling onto the floor while she stared at the screen with her mouth wide open.
The others stared as well, all in various states of shock.
Anxiety felt like everything was falling apart around her, how a simple word could have such an effect on both them and Riley’s future.
Pregnant.
That single word echoed in her mind and the different scenarios flashed before her eyes.
This..This couldn’t be happening!
This would change everything!All the plans for Riley’s future, her schooling, career, social life ,health both physical and mental!
How had she not noticed this?!Why didn’t she have precautions in place in case this happened?!
Stupid!Pointless!Worthless!Can’t even do your job right and keep her safe!

Joy was the first to snap out of her shock when she felt Anxiety pull her hand away from her’s.
She turned to the orange emotion, only to find her shaking and curled into a ball on the couch.
Anxiety was tugging at her hair, managing to pull off a few strands and not even noticing it.
“Joy.” The bright emotion heard Disgust call her name and looked towards her, seeing what had the other so concerned.
The console was still green and purple where Disgust and Fear were touching it respectively, but it was now also a bright orange.
Joy quickly glanced at Anxiety, then over at Ennui who had noticed the change as well.
The indigo emotion held up her phone, showing she still had it and that it was off at the moment.

The two of them turned their attention back to Anxiety, who was now muttering under her breath, her tail curled around her body tightly.
Ennui gestured to Joy that she could handle this, the lead emotion was needed right now to get Headquarters under control.
Joy nodded and went up to the console, quickly getting everyone’s attention and instructing them.
While they focused on Riley, Ennui sat down next to Anxiety and carefully but firmly removed her hands from her hair.
This time the touch wasn’t enough to distract Anxiety from her spiral, Ennui gently picked her up and held the shorter emotion close.
“C'est bon, c'est bon mon amour.” She said while rubbing her partner’s back.

It took a good while before she finally felt Anxiety settle down some, she glanced up at the screen and saw Riley and Val were leaving the hospital after a long talk with the nurse.
The other emotions were uncharacteristically quiet, none seemed ready to talk about the big news and make it all the more real.
Val escorted Riley back to the dorms and offered to stay with her, but Riley declined.
She reassured her friend she’d call her later, she just wanted to be alone for a while.
Val accepted and bid her a good night before leaving.
Once safely in her room, the bomb finally dropped.
“What do we do!?What if something happens a-and Riley loses the baby or dies?!”Fear screamed.
“How are we going to tell mom and dad?Oh they’ll be so disappointed..” Sadness said with tears in her eyes.
“The last week has already been a nightmare, I can’t deal with nine months of this.”Disgust grumbled.
“I just know people are gonna be judging her if they find out, bastards.”Anger growled.
Joy watched the screen silently.
Riley was sitting on the floor, leaning her face against her arms.
The bright emotion took a breath and turned to her colleagues, clearing her throat.
They still kept talking, growing louder with each passing second.
Having enough, Joy put her fingers up to her mouth and whistled.
That got everyone’s attention and made them shut up, for the moment at least.

“Okay everyone, let’s settle down.
First things first, I think we’re all ignoring something pretty important.” She said.
“And what’s that?” Anger asked.
Joy looked towards the couch.
“The fact that for whatever reason, Riley and Anxiety are sharing these feelings.
And earlier, Riley was getting anxious when Anxiety was nowhere near the console.” She explained.
The others looked over at Ennui and Anxiety, who had calmed down enough to pay attention to the conversation.
“Joy..What are you saying?” The orange emotion asked, having a bad feeling she already knew.
“I’m saying..could it be possible, if you and Riley are..linked, like this.
That you’re uh…pregnant, as well?” Joy said.

“That’s impossible Joy, we’re emotions, not humans.” Disgust said.
Joy looked at Sadness.
“Do the manuals have anything on this?”
“Not that I know of…but I haven’t read through all the new ones yet.” The blue emotion replied.
Anxiety couldn’t help her eyes drifting down towards her middle, considering Joy’s words.
Could it be possible?
Being who she was, Anxiety couldn’t help but consider the possibility.
Riley’s pregnant?I’m pregnant?

Riley’s pregnant!?I’m pregnant?!

We’re pregnant?!?!

“H-How did this even happen?!W-W-We’ve always made sure Riley’s careful and responsible!” Anxiety screamed, looking around in a panic.

Only to see the only one who looked as scared as she felt was Fear, everyone else looked..off.

“We….We have something to confess.” Joy said after a moment, sounding hesitant.

“You guys remember that date night you had two months ago?” Envy asked, looking between Anxiety and Fear.

The two nodded.

“Well…after you left Riley got invited out and..we agreed.” Joy admitted.

The two jittery emotions gasped in unison.

“You took her out without us here?!?” Fear screamed, feeling like he could faint again.
The others nodded, looking guilty.
“Please, please tell me she at least didn’t drink that night.” Fear pleaded.

“Well…she kinda got challenged to a drinking contest and I..couldn’t resist.” Anger admitted, rubbing the back of his head.
“Me neither, we were having so much fun! But, it went overboard.” Joy added.
“And everyone else was drinking! We had to too.” Envy said.
Fear covered his eyes with his hands, shaking his head in disbelief.
“I can’t believe this, you know how it gets when she’s drunk! Someone here has to be able to keep a clear head!”
“You lied about this for two whole months?” Anxiety asked, the hurt clear in her voice.
The other emotions avoided eye contact with them.
“We’re sorry, nothing bad happened and we figured you would just worry over nothing!” Joy said.
“But this isn’t nothing! Riley’s whole life could be in danger now because of this!” Anxiety snapped.
The room fell silent, the other emotions knew they’d messed up and none spoke to argue against it anymore.
“Do you at least know who it happened with?” Anxiety asked after a moment.
Somehow, the air got even more tense.
“Not…really.”Embarrassment admitted, quickly pulling his hood closed.

“Speaking of, that does raise one more question.” Disgust said.
“What?” Joy asked.
“If you’re right and Anxiety is also somehow…expecting, who’s the other parent?”
Oh.
Oh.
Once again, Anxiety felt the attention being turned to her and she wanted nothing more than to sink into the ground and never come out again.
They clearly waited for an answer, but how was she supposed to give one?
Her gaze switched between Ennui, Fear and Joy.


“I..I don’t know…”

Chapter Text

It was past midnight and Anxiety was still up.
She knew there would be no sleep for her tonight, not after hearing the news.
She’d started with researching human pregnancies, what to expect and more importantly what could go wrong.
She had hundreds of scenarios done by the time she’d moved onto the manuals.
Her super speed applied to her reading as well, and so while everyone else was heading to bed the orange emotion had started going through the manuals.
The others had tried talking to her, tried to convince her to get some rest and continue tomorrow.

But Anxiety couldn’t and she’d made it clear to everyone.
In the end, they relented once Sadness offered to keep an eye on her while she was on dream duty.
Anxiety was fine with that, if it put the others at ease and Sadness didn’t bother her too much.
She sighed and put another manual back on the shelf, looking down at the shrinking pile she had left.
The nervous emotion had no idea which would be worse, finding nothing at all, or confirming Joy’s theory.
She sat back down and picked up the next book, glancing up when she noticed Sadness come up to her.
The blue emotion was holding two cups of tea, she held one out to Anxiety.
“Thanks..”Anxiety said, setting the book down on her lap before accepting the cup.
It smelt good and the warmth in her hands felt nice, maybe it’d help ease her nervous stomach as well.
“You’re welcome, have you found anything?” Sadness asked as she sat next to her.
Anxiety shook her head and took a sip of the tea.
“Not yet at least, there’s still a couple left though.”
Sadness nodded and looked down at the small pile beside the other.
“..Riley’s not dreaming anymore, I could help, if you want.”
Anxiety knew she would likely get through the manuals faster by herself, but maybe a second pair of eyes would be good in case she somehow missed something.
And if she did find something…maybe it was better she wasn’t alone for that.
The orange emotion nodded and Sadness picked up one of the manuals and the two started reading together.

Anxiety was about to pick up her third book when Sadness hummed thoughtfully.
“What? Did you find something?” She asked.
Sadness gestured for her to wait while she read more, the anticipation was making Anxiety’s already fragile stomach feel even worse.
“Do you want to read it yourself?” The older asked after a moment.
“C-Could you read it aloud?” Anxiety asked, her hands were shaking so hard she doubted she could hold the manual still enough to make anything out.
The blue emotion nodded and cleared her throat.

“In order to help their human while expecting, one emotion will become temporarily linked to them and experiencing similar things and feelings to help ensure the human’s wellbeing during pregnancy.
This also means said emotion will be carrying and give birth to a brand new emotion(s) and the possibilities of which emotions and how many are impossible to predict…”
Sadness slowly looked up at Anxiety, silently fearing the worst.
The orange emotion looked horrified, her eyes were wide and her whole body had begun shaking.
Anxiety thought she’d prepared for this possibility, but now that it was confirmed she realized just how unprepared she actually was.
How was she supposed to handle this? The idea of something or even multiple somethings growing within her, their life and health being entirely dependent on her was so overwhelming.
Protecting Riley was stressful and a huge responsibility of course! But it was literally what she existed for.
This…this was something entirely different and it scared her.
Oh gosh, she was in no way ready for this!
Would she even be a good parent?
What would the others think of her now?
What if the baby, just thinking the word made her head spin, what if they inherited things from her she didn’t like?
Would she even like the baby?
What if something happened to them? What if they died?
What if she or the others hated it?
What if it was treated badly?
What if it’d end up like her when she first showed up?
What if her partners didn’t want her anymore because of this?
So, so many different scenarios piled on top of each other and the weight of them felt like it would crush her.

She felt a panic attack coming and she was in no way equipped to handle it.
Something pressed against her chest and the hysteric emotion snapped out of her spiral long enough to see Sadness looking at her, pressing a hand against her chest which was moving way too fast.
“I know you must be really scared right now.” She said softly, her eyes filled with sympathy.
Anxiety only managed a quick nod and a broken sob in response, she didn’t know when she’d started crying.
“Breath with me, okay?” Sadness asked and took a breath in.
Anxiety copied her, though her breaths were shaky and shorter.
They continued until Anxiety finally felt the feelings of panic lessen, she no longer felt like the attack was inevitable.
“It’s a lot, but just know we’ll be here to help you, all of us.” Sadness told her.
“B-But, what if th-” Sadness pulled her into a gentle hug before she could speak one of the doubts in her mind.
“I can’t tell you everything will work out, but I can promise that no one is going to think badly of you because of this.” The older emotion assured her, her voice full of confidence it usually lacked.
Anxiety hugged her back and sobbed into the other’s shoulder, desperately hoping Sadness was right.

Chapter Text

The next morning was…awkward, to put it lightly.
Once everyone was awake, Sadness told them she and Anxiety had indeed confirmed the latters pregnancy last night.
The emotions tried to act as if everything was normal, but there was a certain tension in the air of Headquarters.

Anxiety had been uncharacteristically quiet that day, even more lost in her thoughts and worries than usual.
The others noticed, obviously, but none were sure how to approach her.
Joy, Fear and Ennui were especially worried and knew they had to have a talk with Anxiety, but the jittery emotion was doing everything in her power to avoid them today.
The three came to an agreement to handle this later, when they had the proper time and privacy to do so.
It also gave them all time to think and really get their own feelings sorted first.

Anxiety enjoyed routine, the less things there were to surprise her the better.
She already planned for so many different things, having some things stay consistent was comforting, structure was good.
Now everything was messed up and she had no plan to at least try and get control over the situation.
In just one day, her whole world had been thrown upside down and she didn’t know if she could handle it.
She could at least try and plan for Riley, ultimately it was up to their girl to decide what to do in this situation, Anxiety was just there to figure out those options and how to best approach them.

She’d recalled the memories of the talk with the nurse and settled in a corner of the room to go over them and start planning.
Thankfully, the woman was very thorough and honest with Riley, which made Anxiety’s job a little easier.
Having more information on the pregnancy itself was helpful too, the nurse went over some things Anxiety had missed in her research last night.
There were now the three main options for Riley to choose from.
1, Riley keeps the baby and becomes a mom at 19.
2, Riley has the baby and gives them up for adoption.
Or 3, abortion.
From what the nurse said, Riley was still able to get it done, but it could be challenging.
Not because of the procedure itself, that part was fairly simple.
But because it was frowned upon, many doctors refused it especially with younger women and going to a place that would do it could be dangerous because of potentially violent protesters.
Anxiety hadn’t even gotten to the social repercussions that might come from these options. Riley would be facing judgment of some sort no matter what she chose to do.
If she kept the baby, she’d be judged for becoming a mom so young.
If she gave them up for adoption, people could think her a coward or irresponsible.
And if she got an abortion, in the worst case scenario some people would call her a murderer.

There was no doubt this was going to be a difficult decision to make and Anxiety wished Riley didn’t have to go through this, their girl might be grown up now but they all still wanted to keep her safe and happy.
Anxiety felt immense guilt for not seeing the signs sooner, she had been so focused on her own problems she’d failed the one person she was supposed to protect.
She was also pissed at the group for being so irresponsible, not to mention hiding it for months!
She took a deep breath and closed her laptop, she shouldn’t work while feeling so overwhelmed unless she wanted to spiral.
The orange emotion set her device aside and got up from her seat, she needed to lay down for a moment.
She slipped into her bedroom unnoticed, at least she hoped no one noticed, and laid down on the bed.

Anxiety sighed and closed her eyes, her body ached and she’d started feeling sick again.
She now knew what Riley’s options were, but what about her’s?
If she understood the manuals correctly, whatever Riley chose would affect her as well.
She wasn’t sure how to feel about that…the fact that she didn’t really have a choice.
Even so, Riley had to come first.
A knock at the door disturbed her thoughts and Anxiety groaned, rolling over to face away from it.
“Leave me alone.”
“Anxiety, we need to talk to you.” Joy’s voice came through the door.
The orange emotion froze.
Oh no, this was it.
She’d been trying to delay this, but it’d only been a matter of time before they would confront her.
Feeling defeated, she sat up on the bed and prepared for the worst.
“Okay...you can come in.”
The door opened and Joy came in, followed by Ennui and Fear, who closed the door behind them.
Anxiety looked between the three of them, her tail swung behind her nervously as she waited for someone to speak.

Joy walked up to her and took Anxiety’s hands in her own.
“Are you okay?” The glowing emotion asked.
Anxiety pulled her hands away, holding them to her chest.
“I..no, no I’m not.
This whole situation is a mess!” She exclaimed.
“Oui, it is.” Ennui agreed as she sat down next to Anxiety.
Joy and Fear followed her lead, usually Anxiety would feel comforted being close to them like this, but now she moved back from them and averted her gaze.
They were probably trying to let her down easy, but that wouldn’t make it any easier or any less painful.
“Please, just..get on with it.”She said.
The other three looked at her in confusion.
“What do you mean?” Fear asked.
Anxiety hesitantly looked up at them, frowning when she saw their expressions.
“Don’t you all want to..to break things off?”
Their shocked faces surprised Anxiety, as well as Joy’s next words.
“No, why would you think that?” The bright emotion asked.
“Because of this pregnancy?” Ennui guessed.
Anxiety winced and looked away, nodding in confirmation.
“I just..figured you wouldn’t want to deal with this..with me.” She admitted.
“I mean, I don’t know how this even happened! Or which one of you is their parent…”
Anxiety glanced down at her flat stomach, knowing there was something, someone growing there was something she didn’t think she would ever get used to.
“Well the last part has an easy answer, we all are.” Joy said, her voice softer than usual but no less happy.

Anxiety looked up at her in shock and confusion, not having expected that.
“What?”
“Joy’s right. It doesn’t matter who the baby is um..made with.
What matters is that they’re yours, and we love you and so we’ll love the baby too.” Fear said.
Ennui nodded in agreement.
“We’ll support you, whether you choose to keep them or not chérie.”
Anxiety felt beyond touched by their words and was relieved she wasn’t losing her partners, but the last part made her hesitate.
“I..I don’t think I get that choice though.” She told them, feeling tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.
“What do you mean?” Fear asked.
“If my and Riley’s pregnancies are really linked like this, whatever she chooses is what I get as well.” Anxiety explained.
That seemed to catch the other three emotions by surprise, they likely hadn’t realized it until now.
“And..how do you feel about that?”Joy asked gently.
“Does it matter, Joy? My feelings won’t change the situation.”Anxiety said in a frustrated tone.

“Of course it matters.”The bright emotion told her as she placed a hand on her shoulder.
Anxiety sighed.
“..It feels unfair. I didn’t ask for this! I-I can’t be a parent, i’m a mess of an emotion! How am I supposed to take care of a baby? Possibly multiple babies?!”
She gripped some of her hair in her hand, pulling on the strands out of habit.
Anxiety felt another hand grab onto her own and carefully separate it from her hair,she looked up to see it was Ennui holding her hand.
The indigo emotion brought it up for her face and pressed a gentle kiss on her knuckles.
“Arrête ça, we’ve talked about this.”
They had and Anxiety felt guilty for doing it when she knew she shouldn’t, sometimes she just couldn’t help it or didn’t even realize she was doing it in the first place.
“Sorry…”
“Anxiety, this…I can’t even imagine how scary it must be.
But we want you to know that we’re in this together, we want to help.” Fear told her as he took her free hand in his own.
“Exactly, whatever happens we’ll be here.” Joy added with a smile.
While it wouldn’t change the fact that this was happening and she had no control over it, Anxiety found comfort in knowing she at least didn’t have to handle it alone.
“Thank you.”She said, then squeaked in surprise when she found herself in the middle of a hug pile.
“That’s our girl~”Joy said as she gently squeezed the orange emotion.
A small smile spread on Anxiety’s face and she allowed herself to ease up some, basking in the feelings of warmth and love surrounding her.
Maybe she could handle this, for Riley’s sake and with the others' support.
Her eyes widened when suddenly small orange particles appeared in the air, leading from her towards the door.
The other three noticed as well and pulled back to get off the bed.
“Come on, Riley needs you.” Joy said as she looked at Anxiety.
The shorter emotion nodded and got up as well, following the particles out of the bedroom and into the control room.
Sadness was the one driving at the moment, but she stepped aside to let Anxiety take over when she arrived.
“What’s going on?” Anxiety asked as she turned her focus to the screen, seeing Riley staring down at her phone.
“She’s trying to decide if she should call mom and dad or not.” Sadness explained.
Anxiety watched as Riley’s thumb hovered over her mom’s number, their girl’s hand was shaking and her vision was a little blurry from crying.

Anxiety had of course gone through the possibilities of what might happen if Riley told her parents, they ranged from them being disappointed to disowning her in shame.
Realistically, Anxiety knew they most likely wouldn’t do those things, that Riley really needed their support and advice right now.
She took a breath and pulled a lever.
Riley dialed the number and lifted the phone up to her ear.

Chapter Text

After the phone call, Riley’s parents told her they’d be there as fast as possible.
Riley hadn’t told them what the problem was yet, just that she really needed to talk to them.
They asked no further questions, recognising from their daughter’s tone alone that this was something serious.

Anxiety stayed at the console while they waited, occasionally the other emotions joined her to add their input as needed but right now, she was the one in charge.
Riley sat on her bed, staring down at the floor as she waited.
Anxiety was trying to figure out the best way to tell mom and dad about the pregnancy, but nothing was working the way she wanted it to!
There really was no easy way to do it, this would probably be the hardest conversation of Riley’s life and the consequences could be severe.
What if mom and dad got mad? Family was so important to Riley, she couldn’t lose that!
Anxiety felt her breathing grow faster and she tightened her grip on the console lever, causing a similar reaction in Riley.

The orange emotion snapped out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on top of her own.
She looked down at them and her gaze followed the purple hand up a shoulder and to Fear’s face.
“S-Sorry.” she muttered and loosened her grip on the console, realizing she was making Riley freak out.
“It’s okay, this…is a pretty scary situation we’re in.” Fear told her and the orange emotion could definitely agree with that.
“I don’t know how we’re going to handle this, telling the parents or this whole..pregnancy thing.” She admitted, adjusting her hand to intertwine her fingers with Fear’s.
The taller emotion looked surprised, Anxiety always had some sort of plan for any possible situation.
Seems this situation proved too much even for her.
“We’ll figure it out together, things will be clearer after Riley tells her parents.” Fear said as he squeezed her hand.
“Aren’t you scared? About what they might think? What they’re gonna say?” That was all Anxiety could think about herself, surely Fear was having similar thoughts.
The purple emotion nodded.
“Of course I'm scared, and so is Riley.
But it’d be even scarier to try and deal with this alone.”
That…was a good point.
Often Anxiety’s way of thinking leaned more towards the opposite, she hated being a bother or a burden in any way, self sufficiency was the way to go.
But she’d learned that didn’t always work, everyone needed help sometimes no matter how hard it was to ask for or accept it.
“...Can you stay? For the talk.”
Fear gave her a small smile and nodded.
“Of course, I’ll be here for Riley, and for you.”

When Riley’s parents finally arrived, she led them up to her dorm room and the three sat down.
They sat in a tense silence, Riley opened her mouth to speak, but the words just wouldn’t come out.
Heck, she couldn’t even look her mom and dad in the eyes, how was she supposed to tell them how badly she’d messed up?
Inside, Anxiety felt like she was stuck, her mind somehow going too fast and too slow at the same time.
She felt Fear squeeze her hand and she looked up.
The others were all there with her, silently offering their support for both her and Riley.
Turning back to the screen, she steeled herself and got to work.
Riley hesitantly looked up at her parents, meeting their worried gazes.
She was surprised they hadn’t said anything, maybe it was just that obvious that she needed a moment to gather herself.
She was a little grateful for that, the last thing she needed right now was a barrage of questions thrown at her.
“I..I did something really, really stupid.”She told them, tears already forming in her eyes.
Her parents shared a quick look, then turned back to her.
There was no judgement or anger like she had feared, only concern.
“Whatever it is, you can tell us and we’ll help.” Her mom said, reaching out to take Riley’s hand.
That simple action proved to be too much and the tears started falling down the blonde’s face.
“I’m-I’m pregnant, nine weeks or so…”
She was prepared for them to be disappointed, to be given a lecture about how she should have been more responsible, how they raised her better than this.
Instead, she felt her parents wrap their arms around her in a hug.
“Shh, we’re not mad. It’ll be okay.” Her mom comforted her.
“We promised to help and we’ll do just that.”Her dad reassured her.
Riley’s breath hitched and she leaned into the hug as she cried, from both fear and relief and so many other things she couldn’t name.

The console was lit in a multitude of colors, it wasn’t often more than one or two emotions were needed at once, but this moment called for it.
Anxiety felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced up to see Joy smiling at her.
She gave a small smile back, but her mind was still caught up in a whirlwind of thoughts and feelings.
Though telling about the pregnancy to her parents made Riley feel better and lifted a huge weight off her shoulders, there was still the matter of what to do about the baby that needed to be addressed.
Whatever the girl chose to do, Anxiety would do everything in her power to help her as she always did.
It didn’t matter what she wanted in this situation, Riley was more important.
And honestly, Anxiety had no idea what it was that she wanted.

Chapter Text

It was a long and emotionally charged conversation, poor Sadness was exhausted by the end of it since she had been at the console the most, the wall of memory orbs was filled with blue, purple and orange with only a few other colors mixed in.
At the very end of it, a single yellow emotion took It’s place among the others as a sense of relief filled Riley’s mind, though it was only for a moment.
Adoption, that was the route Riley had chosen in the end, after talking with her parents and going over all of her options together, she had chosen to go through with the pregnancy and then give the baby up to be raised by a good, loving family.

Her emotions had mixed feelings to the news, but they had to accept it, Riley had made her choice and that was that.

Anxiety got to work immediately, she had all types of scenarios ready from the previous night, now she needed to come up with plans to either avoid them or how to deal with them if they did happen. Fear offered to help, she refused. Joy suggested she take a break in her chair, she refused. Ennui asked if she wanted some tea, she refused. Any time any of the other emotions tried to pry her away from work, she shot them down.

She had to get this done, she’d failed Riley once and would not do so again. If she kept working she didn’t have time to think about her own situation.

If Anxiety wasn’t driving the console, she was making plans, if she wasn’t doing that, she would do more research on pregnancy, the symptoms, the aftermath, and the risks that came with it. And if she wasn’t doing any of those she was doing any and all menial tasks around HQ, anything to keep herself occupied. She even tried to get more Dream duty shifts, but had been shot down very firmly. But she couldn’t sleep, anytime she tried to lay down and go to sleep or even just rest for a moment, all she could think about was this pregnancy and her brain would not shut up about it until she found something to occupy her mind with.

By day three, Anxiety was very aware she looked like a complete mess, her movements were more snappy, her tail was drooping, dark bags had grown under her eyes from lack of sleep and she looked awful in general. Not to mention how irritable she was, and now she couldn’t blame that on the moodswings alone. She felt awful, but the alternative was even worse, so she kept going and would do so for as long as needed.
She was aware of the other emotions watching her, she knew they were worried about her and rightfully so, though she didn’t want to admit that part.

Fear, Joy and Ennui had each tried approaching her in their own ways, and she felt awful for causing them worry and for being dismissive of them when they expressed it. Their earlier conversation had settled some of her fears, she knew they wanted to help and support her, but she just wasn’t ready to accept the situation.
It was-It was just too much and she knew if she stopped, if she let them in on what was going on in her mind, she would have no choice but to confront this new reality.
But as much as Anxiety tried to ignore it, tried to push it away, deep down she knew it was inevitable.




It was a free period, Riley was spending it in the library, trying to finish an essay for class while snacking on some sour cream and onion chips she’d been craving all morning.
She’d felt insecure about the pregnancy cravings at first, as an athlete she tried to keep to a regular meal plan and the idea of deviating from that too much made her anxious, but her mom had assured her it was important she listen to her body and what it needed. It didn’t erase the feeling completely, but she trusted her mom to know better when it came to the subject.
The blonde looked up from her notes when she felt like she was being watched, looking around she spotted a group of girls on a table on the other side of the room, they were not at all subtle about watching her. They did look away when she turned towards them, but Riley heard faint snickering and felt a sense of dread fill her.

“Oh gosh, t-they know! They must! Why else would they be staring at us and laughing like that?!” Anxiety exclaimed, the console lighting up a bright orange when she touched it. She had predicted this outcome, but had yet to come up with a sufficient plan for it.
“How? The only people that know are mom, dad and the team.” Joy wondered as she stepped closer to Anxiety and placed a hand on her back, trying to help her calm down.

“Someone from the team must have snitched!” Anger yelled, gritting his teeth when they heard more quiet laughter from the group of girls.
“There’s no way they would do that, they’re all Riley’s friends.” Joy argued, grabbing Anxiety’s hands when she saw her about to start pressing buttons on the console. “Let go Joy! I-I have to handle this!” The orange emotion cried, managing to pull away when Sadness and Embarrassment took charge, Riley quickly gathered her things and left the library, holding back tears as she went.

“I was handling it!” Anxiety yelled in frustration, now those people would think even less of Riley for basically running away! “Anxiety, please listen. We don’t know that's what they were laughing about, or if they were even talking about Riley.” The shorter emotion huffed and shook her head at Joy’s naivety. “What else could it be? Someone let it slip and now people are judging Riley a-and talking behind her back and making fun of her a-” She kept going and pacing back and forth, breathing was getting harder and her head hurt. Anxiety felt tears forming in her eyes and that just made her feel worse, now was not the time for this! She was supposed to be helping Riley but instead she was panicking and being useless!

Someone touched her shoulder and she just lost it. “Don’t touch me!”
A deafening silence took over Headquarters, Anxiety’s voice seemed to send a tremor through the emotions and the building itself. The orange emotion felt out of breath and swallowed, her eyes and throat burned and her stomach suddenly felt queasy.
Sensing what was coming, she ran into the bathroom and locked the door behind her.




She had never felt so sick in her life, she had trouble eating the last couple days so there wasn’t much in her stomach to throw up in the first place, but the nausea just wouldn't stop and her throat burned from all the bile and acid, she managed to drink some water in between only for it to come up too.
When more than 10 minutes passed without her needing to kneel over the toilet, Anxiety leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes, trying to settle her rapid breathing. Her body was shaking and she felt weak, but at least the nausea was finally subsiding.
The exhaustion of not sleeping and non-stop work was catching up to her, but still she refused to so much as lay down, not that the bathroom floor would be a great place to do so anyway.
A knock sounded on the door, one she was familiar enough with to recognize.
“What is it Fear..?” It hurt to speak and she hated how weak her voice came out, but it was still audible.
There was shuffling behind the door, like a shoe rubbing against the floor. “Can..Can I come in, please?” His voice was hesitant, worried. After Anxiety shot his help down multiple times the last few days he was probably expecting for it to happen again.
The female emotion was about to do it again, but she was tired and could very clearly see his worried face in her head, nerve end drooping and that sad look in his eyes.
Anxiety sighed, burying her face in her hands for a moment. “...Okay.”
It took her a minute, but she got to her feet and walked up to the door to unlock it, letting Fear into the bathroom.
The taller emotion looked down at her, she half expected him to wince at the sight of her, but he didn’t. He silently stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, locking it again.
They stood in silence for a moment, Anxiety kept her gaze down on the floor, waiting for whatever it was that Fear wanted to say.

“..This might be a stupid question, but..are you okay?” He finally asked, the concern clear in his voice. Anxiety sighed. “I don't feel sick anymore, so that’s something…” Fear nodded, thinking over his next words before speaking them.
“Look, Anxiety..I don’t know what all is going on in your head right now, but i think we all know there’s more to it than people finding out about Riley’s pregnancy.” She didn’t respond, but did turn to look at the purple emotion.
“We’re all really worried about you, and I-” He continued, but she cut him off. “I don’t want to talk about it, Fear, I-I can’t, so if you’re here just for that then it’s best you leave.” She turned away from him and walked back over to where she’d been sitting earlier.
She heard his footsteps as he walked over and sat down next to her. “That’s not why I’m here. Sure, I wish you would tell us what the problem is..but if you’re not ready to, I won’t try to force you.”

Anxiety looked back up at him in surprise and confusion. “Then..what are you here for?”
“To check on you, of course.” He said and gave her a small smile. “And to offer help, this was an awful way for news of Riley’s condition to spread, but maybe we can figure out how to handle it, together..if you’d like?”
Anxiety stared at him, a soft smile forming on her face. Fear knew just how to help make her feel better about a situation, and that was to have a plan for it.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
Fear grinned and pulled out a notepad and pen.
“Okay! Let’s get started then.”

Chapter Text

Four days, that’s how long she had managed to avoid sleep or even short moments of rest, but it had finally caught up to her.
Anxiety groaned, feeling completely exhausted physically, she could barely even roll over to lay on her side instead of on her back. She checked the time for what must have been at least the hundredth time that night. The clock read 0.10, it’d been 3 minutes since she’d checked it last.

She wanted to sleep, she really did! She knew she needed to, but while her body may have been spent to the point everything ached, her mind refused to follow suit. She was too tired to do the things that usually settled her mind before bed, like origami, and even if she wasn’t it hadn’t worked the last time she had actively tried to sleep.
The situation she found herself in proved itself too troublesome, too worrying, too much for her.

Anxiety hesitantly glanced down at her stomach, the subject of those worries, or what lay inside to be more precise. To her relief there were no visible changes yet, though she knew it would happen eventually and she really wasn’t looking forward to that. There were too many big changes happening and-
A single faint knock at the door drew her attention and she looked towards it in confusion, but that confusion quickly dissipated when the knock was followed by another identical one. There was only one emotion who could possibly make such a simple action so sluggish.
Anxiety hesitated, contemplating pretending to be asleep, but Ennui likely knew she was awake, why else would she be knocking at her door?
With a sigh, she relented. “You can come in.”

The door slowly opened and Ennui stepped inside, closing it behind her. She didn’t say anything, just walked over to the bed and sat down, leaning back against the wall. Usually Anxiety appreciated and enjoyed her company, but after multiple days of non stop work and little to no rest she was unusually irritable and she really wasn’t in the mood for..whatever this was. “Why are you here Ennui?” Her tone came off a lot more snappy than she had meant for it to, but it was too late to correct now.
The indigo emotion sat silently for a moment longer before turning to look at Anxiety, a certain intensity in her eyes that made the orange emotion want to shrink back. That look could only mean one thing..

“I am not leaving until you tell me what is going on.” Ennui said there was a slight edge to her voice.
Anxiety looked away, staring at the wall opposite of her, but she could feel the other emotion watching her. “T-There’s a lot of work to be done with..with Riley’s condition and all, I just want to make sure she stays safe.” Like she should have done before any of this even happened. Evidently, Ennui didn’t buy it.
“There is something else.” It was a statement, of course it was. Out of all the emotions in Headquarters, Ennui knew her best, it was no wonder she had picked up on any possible ques Anxiety had tried to avoid leaving behind.

They had known each other since the beginning, Ennui was her longest relationship, they'd become official a little while before coming up to Headquarters and it could be argued they'd been an item long before that, at least that's what Envy said.
Point being, they knew each other well, about as well as any two people could. Anxiety could tell the difference between even the most subtle changes in her girlfriend's mood and demeanor, and Ennui could read her like an open book, which Anxiety both appreciated immensely and dreared.

“What happened to respecting people’s privacy?” She asked and moved to sit up to be closer to eye level with the other emotion, pulling her knees up and wrapping her arms around them. The fact that Ennui could clearly see her struggling to do such a simple task was embarrassing.
“It takes a backseat when your health and wellbeing are at the bottom.” Anxiety averted her gaze, unable to meet her girlfriend’s eyes when she knew she was right.
“I’ll be fine, it’s not the first time I’ve pulled all nighters.” Which was true, though she hadn’t done it to this extent in some time now.
“Not like this, not in this condition.” Ennui pointed out and the shorter emotion flinched at the mention of her unique circumstance, which Ennui of course caught.

Her expression softened a bit and she scooted closer to Anxiety, placing a hand on one of her knees, the look in her eyes paired with the gentle touch eased some of the constant ache Anxiety felt, but did little for the worries in her head.
“Chérie, s'il te plaît, tell me what is wrong.”
The soft plea made Anxiety’s heart ache and she clenched her eyes shut, taking in a shuddering breath.
“I-I can’t..I can’t, Ennui. If I do it makes it real..” The hand on her knee moved up to her face, under her chin, prompting her to look up at the taller emotion.
“Maybe, but you can’t keep it trapped within your head forever, it is tearing you apart mon cœur.” Ennui told her, the concern clear on her face and voice.
Anxiety hated that she was making someone she loved feel like that, hated that Ennui had a point, she just felt so tired and scared and like she couldn’t do anything right.
She felt Ennui gently caress her face, the simple act of affection and care enough for her to allow some of the truth to come forth.

“I just..how am I supposed to deal with this? I’m a mess of an emotion, there’s no way I can be a mother! Not a good one…I know next to nothing about kids or how to take care of them o-or how to raise them!” Anxiety cried as she pulled away, moving to sit on the edge of the bed to stare at the floor. She felt tears well up in her eyes and she quickly wiped them away.
“I don’t..I can’t mess this up Ennui, but I know I will! If I can’t even care for Riley properly then how could I do it for a baby? Another emotion she’ll need..” The pressure she felt in the role that’d been thrust upon her was overwhelming, and the baby wasn’t even here yet!
“I..I know you all said you would help, and I appreciate it-I really do! I think you’d all do a great job..but what about me? What if I can’t do it? I don’t want to put all the work on you. A-And what if I don’t like the baby? Or can’t care for it? Or-”
“Anxiété, breath.” Ennui’s voice broke her out of the spiral before it could get worse and Anxiety realized she was feeling short of breath and dizzy.
She clenched the bed sheets beneath her hands in rhythm with her breaths, only now realizing how tense she had gotten and it made her hurt even more than before.

Once she was calmer, Ennui moved to sit next to her and spoke up again. “Now listen. If you want to keep the baby when it comes, that is okay.” She told her, reaching out and taking the pair of orange hands on her own, rubbing her thumbs over Anxiety’s palms, the action helped keep her grounded. “And if you do not, that is okay too, Riley doesn’t think she could do it, that is why she chose adoption. You are owed the same grace as her.”

“But..But what if you-”

“That will not change how we feel about you.” Ennui interrupted, clearly knowing what Anxiety had been about to say. “Very little would change the love we all hold for you.” She assured her and lifted one of Anxiety’s hands to place a soft kiss on it, making the smaller emotion’s cheeks burn with a blush.
“..I’m sorry, for making you worry so much.” She murmured, lowering her gaze in shame.
“It is okay. I know this won’t shed all your worries, but I hope you will at least let us all help, let us know when something is wrong, let us care for you.” Ennui said as she leaned down and kissed her cheek, earning a grateful smile from her girlfriend.
Anxiety turned to face Ennui fully, moving a hand up to her cheek while the other intertwined with one of Ennui’s. “I’m so lucky to have you…thank you.” She said, leaning in and placing a soft kiss on her lips.
The indigo emotion gave a small smile back, glad Anxiety was feeling better, even if she couldn’t erase all the worries she had, it was a start.

“I think it’s about time you get some sleep now.” Before Anxiety could respond, Ennui leaned against her, causing the two of them to fall back onto the bed with a thump. “Ennui!” Anxiety cried, trying to sound annoyed, but unable to hold back a giggle at her partner’s antics.
The darker emotion hummed softly as she shifted to get comfortable, laying her head on Anxiety’s chest before looking up at her. “You make a good pillow mon amour, tout simplement parfait.” She murmured sleepily before closing her eyes again, more than content to sleep right there.

Anxiety sighed and rolled her eyes, but the smile on her face portrayed her true feelings. She wasn’t sure how well she would sleep, not because of Ennui of course, this was actually a very comfortable position to be in, but her mind was still loaded with worries and scenarios of a future she didn’t know what to do with…but as Ennui reminded her, she wouldn’t have to face those alone, and that made them easier to deal with, at least right now.
She looked up at the ceiling, her fingers subconsciously starting to run through Ennui’s hair. Sometimes when doing it she swore she could hear the aloof emotion purring, now being one of those times, and it made her relax more, the aches in her slowly body fading little by little.
“Bonne nuit mon amour, sweet dreams.” She was fairly sure Ennui was asleep, but wanted to say it anyway. Her eyelids grew heavier, until she could no longer keep her eyes open and let them slide shut, finally letting sleep claim her.

Chapter Text

When Anxiety woke up, she was pleasantly surprised to find she felt much better in both mind and body, she was well rested and comfortable.
So comfortable in fact she was tempted to stay in bed, for just a little longer. She felt Ennui’s limp form beside her and one of her long arms draped over her, both of her own hands were latched onto the taller emotion’s sweater and she loosened her grip before reluctantly opening her eyes, looking at the emotion sleeping next to her, smiling fondly at the sight of the peaceful expression on Ennui’s face.

She rolled over onto her opposite side, facing the bedside table to check the time. The orange creature let out a cry of alarm and her eyes widened at the sight, it was almost 11 o’clock! She had overslept by hours! Anxiety practically flew out of bed, Ennui barely registered it and slowly lifted her head, hair slightly tousled and eyes still closed. “Anxiété..?” She called groggily.
“No time! I’m late!” Anxiety replied hurriedly, getting her hair up and clothes changed in record time before running out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the control room.

She didn’t find said room in total chaos, which was a relief, but that didn’t erase the fact she had missed hours of the day already! Most of the other emotions were up at the console, with the obvious exceptions of herself and Ennui, as well as Joy surprisingly.
“Morning Anxiety! Did you sleep well?” Envy called, being the first to notice her.
“I-Is everything okay?! What’s Riley doing?!” Anxiety asked as she rushed over, giving Disgust an apologetic look when she nearly ran into her, the green emotion stepping back in time to avoid the collision.
“Relax, Riley is fine, she’s spending a free period with some friends.” Disgust told her.

Anxiety looked at the screen closely, analyzing the scene and coming to the conclusion Disgust was right, everything seemed fine, Riley was okay.
“A-Anything happen while I was asleep? What about her classes? Why didn’t you wake me up?”
“Class was fine, Fear took notes and Joy kept her engaged for most of it.” Disgust replied.
“And we didn’t wake you cause you needed to sleep, if Riley had trouble we would have.” Anger added, stern but not mad.
That was true, surely the others would have gotten her if Riley had need of her. The knowledge helped settle Anxiety’s nerves and she let herself calm down. “Right, right.” But before she could fully relax she realized they hadn’t answered her first question. “Did something happen while I was asleep?” She asked more firmly.
“Well, Riley did have a talk with the team about what happened yesterday, in the library.” Sadness answered, frowning when she saw Anxiety tense up at her words.
“A-And..?”
“Turns out Sam’s twin sister overheard her talking about it on accident and gossiped to her friend group, so we have no idea how many people know now.” Anger said, earning looks from the other emotions for saying it the way he did, but he didn’t pay the looks any mind and instead focused on Anxiety.

“Look, I know it’s a shitty situation to be in, but it’s done and now we gotta focus on helping Riley handle it the best she can, right?” The others were surprised by how reasonable Anger’s point was, and that it did seem to help Anxiety.
Said emotion still felt anxious over the fact that the whole school might know about Riley’s pregnancy now, but Anger was right, they couldn’t undo that, and she and Fear had figured out some options for how to approach the situation, it didn’t feel quite so overwhelming anymore. “Right…thanks Anger.” She said with a small, grateful smile.
“Just making sure you don’t start with the hysterics again.” The red emotion grumbled as he turned back to the screen. Anxiety rolled her eyes at Anger’s attitude, it might have sounded rude, but they all knew it was just the short fused emotion’s way of looking out for the rest of them.

“Oh! You’re awake!” Anxiety blinked and looked in the direction of Joy’s voice, surprised to see her come out of the kitchen with a tray.
“Morning Joy, what are you doing?” The orange emotion asked as she looked from Joy’s smiling face down to the tray she was holding, seeing a glass of orange juice, a steaming cup of tea and a plate of waffles with bananas, blueberries and if she saw correctly, cinnamon sugar on top, her preferred toppings.
“I made you breakfast! Well, maybe more of an early lunch, but still.” Joy said with that beaming smile that lit up a room.

Joy usually wasn’t very adept in the kitchen, but she had perfected those waffles over the years and everyone in Headquarters could agree they were to die for. Anxiety’s mouth tugged up into a smile as she looked at Joy. “Thank you Joy, that’s really sweet of you, but-”
She was about to refuse, she’d had trouble eating and keeping food down for days, but felt her stomach growl and mouth water when she caught the scent of the waffles, somehow they smelled even better than normally.
“Never mind, thank you.” She repeated, eager to dig into the food.

Joy grinned in response and set the tray down on the table next to the Special chair, watching as Anxiety sat down and dug into the plate of waffles like she hadn’t eaten in days, which she kinda hadn’t, her tail wagging beside her in a happy way.
Joy gave the others a thumbs up before going back into the kitchen to finish preparing some breakfast for Ennui as well, leaving Anxiety to finish her meal in peace.

Chapter Text

The day was definitely going better than the last few. Sam apologized to Riley for accidentally outing her secret, which their girl appreciated and assured her teammate everything was okay between them.

Anxiety and Fear pitched their ideas on how Riley should handle the rumor situation to the rest of the team, the emotions agreed trying to deny the rumors would do no good, Riley’s pregnancy would become obvious soon enough, and it’d be easier to sway things in her favor if she were to own it.

People talked of course, and there were still those who made fun of Riley, Anxiety was sure there were more doing it when they couldn’t see or hear it, anytime someone so much as glanced at Riley over their shoulder or when people whispered around her the orange emotion had to restrain herself from taking over the console, which didn’t help much since the device still responded to her even if she wasn’t touching it. The others were quick to reassure her though, pointing out most people were minding their own business. She was still bothered by the minority, and she wasn’t the only one, but Disgust, Joy and Ennui did a good job of helping Riley keep her head up high despite some distant snickering and weird looks being shot her way.

They did have to pull Anger from the controls at one point when some smart ass decided to ask Riley who her baby-daddy was, as much as the guy may have deserved a good punch in the face, they didn’t want to get in trouble for physical assault.
The emotions all agreed it was an alright day all things considered.

Things almost returned to normal during the following days, with the obvious exception of Riley and Anxiety experiencing their fair share of pregnancy symptoms, cravings quickly became the most obvious and regular one.
Both girl and emotion found themselves getting snacks and just eating more in general during the day, a couple times even getting up in the night to snack on something, though the things they were craving were different.
According to Anxiety's research, the things Riley wanted most were fairly common, lots of meats, dairy, sweets, savory snacks and so on. The one thing they worried about was her sudden desire for spicy food, Riley's spice tolerance was not great, but even while her mouth was actively burning and her face was turning red she still kept on eating the hot Cheetos, which was not great for her emotions since even in her mind they could feel the heat of the chips, it had not been pleasant.

Anxiety's cravings in contrast were..a lot more specific, and weird.
Ice cream with grapes, lard sandwiches, fish and mushrooms in pasta.
Her need for anything sugary in specific grew a lot, to the point Joy found her in the kitchen one early morning, munching on sugar cubes.
The two froze as they stared at each other, Joy in tired confusion as she'd just woken up, and Anxiety in mortification at having been caught in such an act. Before Joy could say anything, the orange creature quickly put the bowl back in it's place on the counter and walked past her as quickly as she could without straight up running. Separately, they both decided it best not to mention the odd encounter.

Overall, things were going pretty well, Riley was adjusting nicely with support from her friends and parents and kept up with schoolwork, practice and her social life fine despite her pregnancy.
Anxiety, being herself, of course had her moments, whether they were fueled by her simply being the embodiment of anxiety or by the pregnancy or even both, she could get through them, and when she couldn't do it on her own the others would help.
It was two weeks after finding out that things got thrown for a loop again.


It seemed like a normal morning, the emotions were getting up and preparing for the day ahead like usual. Then Riley woke up and as they gathered at the console to go over the plan for the day, it became clear they were one short.
"Is Anxiety still sleeping?" Joy asked as she looked at the others, only to see no one had an answer to her question.
"I'll go check!" Envy piped up, rushing off before anyone could respond to her.
It was odd for Anxiety to be late, but they brushed it off as her likely staying up and working too late again and oversleeping a bit, nothing too serious.
Only, minutes passed by and there was nothing from Anxiety, or Envy for that matter. Joy shot a glance at Fear, who nodded and headed off to check the situation, she would've gone herself but was needed for Riley right now.
More time passed and still nothing.

Joy's brow furrowed a bit as she glanced towards the stairs, wondering what was going on up there to hold up the three emotions so much.
Finally, she got her opportunity to slip away to see for herself when Riley started gathering her laundry to take to be washed. "I'll be right back." She told the others, leaving them to watch over their girl before jogging over and up the stairs to where the bedrooms were.
Looking towards Anxiety's bedroom, Joy grew even more confused when she saw Fear and Envy standing there, but no sign of Anxiety. "What's going on?"
The two looked up towards her, Fear opened his mouth to respond, but Envy beat him to it.
"She locked the door and refuses to come out!" The teal emotion cried, looking quite upset.
"What? Why?" Joy asked as she approached them.
"She won't say, just keeps telling us to go away." Fear replied, looking worried as he glanced between the door and Joy.
The glowing emotion hummed and knocked on the door. "Anxiety?"
The response was immediate. "I'm not coming out Joy! Just please leave me alone!"
Joy decided to try again. "Anxiety, what's going on? Is something wrong?"
"I'm fine, just leave!"
"What's going on..?" Looking towards the new voice, Joy, Fear and Envy saw Sadness walk towards them, a concerned look on her face.
"Anxiety's locked herself in her room and refuses to come out or tell us what's wrong." Joy explained, hearing a faint groan through the door. Evidently, Anxiety did not appreciate more emotions showing up at her door.

"Oh, that sounds like quite a problem.."Sadness muttered, frowning as she looked at the door. "There is no problem!" Anxiety insisted from inside.
"Well then why won't you come out or let us inside?" Envy asked.
There was no response.
"Anxiety, whatever it is we just want to help. You can't stay in there all day, Riley will need you eventually." Fear said, hoping to get through to the other.
For a moment the room fell completely silent and they worried Anxiety wouldn't answer them at all anymore, but then they heard a quiet reply, almost a whisper.
"It-It's too embarrassing.." Joy could imagine Anxiety fidgeting with her hands as she said that.
"Whatever it is, no one is going to judge you." Joy assured her.
"Does it have something to do with the pregnancy?" Sadness guessed, there was another pause before Anxiety responded.
"N-No, or kind of, it's..ugh!" There was a thud, likely from her hitting her head against the door. Before anyone could ask her for clarification, they heard Anxiety muttered something under her breath, but it was too quiet for any of them to make out. "What was that?" Joy asked, she repeated it a little louder, but still not enough for them to hear properly.
"Um, a little louder please?" Sadness asked.
"I'm getting fat!" The four emotions recoiled from the sudden shout, Fear almost stepped on Envy as he jumped back in shock.

Joy blinked slowly as she took this in. "Um..isn't that what's supposed to happen though?" The looks Fear and Sadness gave her after saying that gave her the feeling it might not have been the best thing to say.
"It can't be! I've been keeping very close track of things for both Riley and I, and according to everything I've read I shouldn't start…showing, until 16 weeks or so! It's much too early. The only reasonable explanation is that I've been eating too much and now I'm gaining regular weight!" Anxiety cried, sounding quite upset about the possibility.
Sadness piped up. "Well, the manual did mention there was a chance of multiple babies, could it be because of that..?"
Silence.
It felt different compared to earlier, like the calm before the storm.

"I..I-I-I completely forgot about that..oh gosh-" They could hear Anxiety starting to pace inside.
"How did I forget? H-How many can it even be? It didn't specify a limit-I-I can't handle one baby how am I supposed to do it with more than that?!"
Joy frowned, recognizing the beginnings of an attack.
"Anxiety, please open the door." Her plea went ignored as the panicking emotion continued muttering to herself.
"What's going on up there?! Riley's starting to freak out!" Anger's voice called from downstairs. Joy looked over the railing and saw the console starting to glow a bright orange. They had to get this under control before it got really bad.
Anxiety had to open the door, but to do that she had to calm down first, but what could they do from out here?
"Anxiety? Knock on the door if you can hear me." Nothing happened for a moment and Joy worried they might actually have to pick the lock or even knock the door down, but then came three unsteady knocks.
"Good, press your hand against the door, how does it feel? Can you tell me what color it is?" Joy asked, she could hear Anxiety's breathing through the door.
"...I-It's orange.." Anxiety replied with a stammer and gulped. "It..It feels smooth, a-and kind of cool.."
"Can you move your hand to the handle?" Joy heard a tentative 'y-yeah' and the door handle jiggled slightly.
"You're doing great, now can you unlock the door?" The handle jiggled again and there was a sharp inhale.
"I-I can't, I don't..I don't want anyone to see me like this.." Joy placed her hand on the door handle, she couldn't hold Anxiety's hand right now so it was the closest she got. "Everything is gonna be okay, no one will see you any different."
There was a pregnant pause, then the door finally opened a tad.
Joy pulled her hand back and smiled when she saw Anxiety peek out of the room, only a small part of her face was visible.

"..Promise?"
The sunshine emotion gave a reassuring nod. "I promise." Anxiety's eye shifted from one present emotion to the other, caging their reactions, then sighed, squeezing her eyes shut before opening the door fully.
She was still dressed in her nightgown, her hair was down and a mess from sleep and probably stress as well. If there was a visible change to her, Joy didn't notice it immediately. Smile growing warmer, Joy moved closer and hugged the nervous creature, leaving her hold loose to let her pull away if she wished. She didn't, and instead leaned against Joy.
"We're going to figure this out, okay?" Joy said, voice soft and sympathetic.
"…Okay."