#lucasfriarfan

[ddproductionsw77]

The Lucky Ones Pt. 1 (Riarkle AU Two-Shot)

Fandom: Girl Meets World

Pairing(s): Riarkle (Mainly), Markle (Kinda…?)

Characters: Riley Matthews, Farkle Minkus, Maya Hart, Stuart Minkus, and Jennifer Bassett Minkus

Rating: T with a strong language advisory.

Prompt from lucasfriarfan: Farkle Minkus, the young and newly appointed Head of Minkus International, has just married middle-class, all-American Riley Nebula Matthews and she’s quite the packaged deal… Can free-spirited, kind-hearted Riley play her new role of impeccable, wealthy housewife? Or will she break under the pressure to be perfect?

Author’s Note: Planning for this one to be a two-shot so look out for part 2 of you enjoyed :) Also, trying out a new format for just this two-shot, let me known what you think

*Breaking News Music Plays*

Anchor One: This just in! Newly christened CEO of Minkus International, Farkle Minkus, is what? That’s right, he’s married!

Anchor Two: Minkus was reported to be romantically tied to a civilian reporter for the New York Times over a year ago and it was announced via the Minkus International PR office that over the last weekend, the young bachelor tied the knot this his secretive, long-term girlfriend.

Anchor One: With the marriage announcement, however, came a full public introduction to the new Mrs. Minkus.

Anchor Two: New Mrs. Matthews-Minkus, actually. She’s a hyphen-er, apparently. According to social media platforms and released intel, Farkle married an average, all-American girl. Born to a middle-class family and growing up in public schools, Riley Matthews-Minkus isn’t exactly who most would have expected to snag one of the most eligible bachelors in New York.

Anchor One: *Laughs* I feel like that might be putting in lightly.

Anchor Two: Matthews-Minkus is an outspoken liberal, having participated in several marches for the Woman’s Movement and actively speaking out about several other controversial topics.

Anchor One: She’s also been terminated from several news media outlets for her strong political views and ideology.

Anchor Two: Honestly, I can’t wait for the matriarch of the Minkus family, Jennifer Bassett-Minkus, to come out and just say, “What was my son thinking?” Oh, come on! We’re all thinking it!

Anchor One: The girl is a loose canon. No one knows anything about her! And how is she supposed to compete? This is the New York high society we’re talking about, not some public school. She’ll flop in a month and then all we’re be hearing about is her first stint in rehab.

Anchor Two: *Laughs* Oh, stop it!

Anchor One: Mark my words; rehab in a year and divorced in two.

Texting Conversation Between Honey and Peaches

Peaches: So…

Peaches: How ya holding up, Riles?

Honey: I’m fine, Maya.

Peaches: Riley

Honey: I mean, I just don’t get it! They have no idea who I am! They don’t know anything about me and Farkle! And they can still just write us off as ‘rehab in a year and divorced in two’?

Honey: It’s bullshit.

Peaches: Damn, my girl is hot and bothered. I’m kinda proud, to be honest ; )

Honey: I’m tired, Maya. Not really in the mood.

Peaches: What did the Nerd say?

Honey: Maya, what did I say about calling my husband that?

Peaches: Not recalling at the moment.

Honey: He said the same thing I am. It’s bullshit…and that he loves me.

Peaches: Gag

Honey: Maya!

Peaches: Who cares what they say?

Peaches: They. Are. Assholes. Honey. Without any lives of their own.

Peaches: Who cares if you grew up without all of the money and Farkle practically bathed in it?

Peaches: You and Dweeb are perfect for each other, anyone with a brain can see that.

Honey: Farkle’s Mom doesn’t.

Peaches: Like a said, WITH A BRAIN

Talk-Show Host: Okay, okay, Jennifer, you know I have to ask…

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: Oh here we go!

Talk-Show Host: So, you’re a mother-in-law now? What was your reaction to that? Especially with a daughter-in-law like…well, like Riley Matthews.

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: Honestly?

Talk-Show Host: We’re all friends, here, Jennifer!

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: Well, my first thought was ‘Oh god, he knocked her up’

*Crowd laughs*

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: It’s true! I mean, sure he’d been running off with her from time to time for months but it wasn’t serious!

Talk-Show Host: It wasn’t? So, How did they end up married?

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: *Scoffs* I love my son, but he’ll do anything to prove a point. Even marry some low-class, bed-buddy of his just to show me and his father that he can *raises her hands to use quotations* ‘make his own choices’. Please.

Talk-Show Host: Oh my. So I can assume you and the daughter-in-law…?

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: We don’t see eye-to-eye.

Talk-Show Host: But this is the girl your son picked. Obviously, he wants to spend the rest of his life with her?

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: They ‘dated’, if you can even call their little hook-ups and late night booty calls that, for a year. He doesn’t even know her, he’s just under her spell.

Talk-Show Host: Do you think Ms. Matthews, sorry Mrs. Matthews-Minkus, has ulterior motives for marrying into your family?

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: Does the sun shine, sweetie? Of course, that little leech has another motive. She’s been poor her whole life and a rich boy looked her way! Can you really expect anything else from her kind of people? I mean, the girl’s best friend has a police record, for god’s sake!

Talk-Show Host: Are you giving us an exclusive, Jennifer!?

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: *Shrugs* Oh sure! Why not? *Leans forward* She grew up with this little delinquent named Maya Harris or Hart or something like that. And this girl! Let me tell you, I’m positive she stole some silver the first time Farkle brought the pair of them around. And the manners, you would not believe!

Talk-Show Host: Oh my god!

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: I know! What was my son thinking?

Talk-Show Host: Maybe he thinks he’s really in love?

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: And maybe he is, I don’t know. But I do know one thing; it’s not going to last. She and her little BFF are a phase and I’ll be glad to see them both go.

Talk-Show Host: Well… that’s all we have time for tonight. Thank you! Jennifer Bassett-Minkus, everyone!

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus: Oh no, thank you!

Phone call between Farkle Minkus and Jennifer Bassett-Minkus

*Riiiing….Riiiing….Riiing*

Jennifer: Jennifer Bassett-Minkus speaking.

Farkle: Mom. What the fuck was that?

Jennifer: Farkle, I have about a million things going on my life right now that do not revolve around you; you’ll have to be more specific.

Farkle: Bullshit, you know exactly what!

Jennifer: If you’re going to continue to curse like this, I’m just going to hang up. Not that I’m particularly surprised, considering the company you keep.

Farkle: That, Mom. That right there is what I’m talking about. Spouting crap about Riley and Maya? You cannot go on live television and talk about my wife that way!

Jennifer: Truthfully, you mean?

Farkle: Not a word of that was the truth and you know it! You made Riley cry, Mom! She locked herself in the bedroom, sobbing, and I can’t get her to come out!

Jennifer: Perhaps your wife, as you insist on calling her, should grow some thicker skin. What I said is nothing compared to what the tabloids and the tweets and the public will say.

Farkle: Yeah, but they don’t know Riley! You do! You know better.

Jennifer: You’re right, Farkle. I do know Riley better, but apparently, you don’t. You are just so caught up in this girl! She’s a parasite, Sweetie! How do you honestly not see that?

Farkle: *Long Pause* Mother, I’m going to ask you very politely, which you don’t deserve, to never say that again about the woman that I love. Please, don’t do that again?

Jennifer: Would else would you call something that latches on to a better, more powerful organism with the sole purpose of bleeding it dry? Because that’s her plan, Farkle, whether you want to see that or not.

Farkle: And what about you, Mom? Hmm? Don’t you think you’re being at all hypocritical?

Jennifer: What’s that supposed to mean?

Farkle: You and Dad? You got married six months before I was born! That’s why you figured Riley had to be ‘knocked up’, right? Because that was your plan?

Jennifer: How dare you?!

Farkle: ‘How dare I?’ How dare you, Mother?

Jennifer: You have no idea what you’re talking about, Farkle! And even if you’re little theory was right, I still belonged in this life. Riley Matthews does not. She never will.

Farkle: I- I can’t even talk to you anymore right now. Bye.

Jennifer: Farkle-

*Dial tone*

What Makes a Woman Powerful?: A Closer Look at New York’s High Society

By: Riley Matthews-Minkus

What makes a woman powerful?

In today’s society, with a new social conflict every other day and a government that just loves to turn a blind eye, I think it’s a fair question.

Is it her beauty?

Because socialites, like Jennifer Bassett-Minkus, are definitely beautiful. The woman stands regal and tall, dominating any room she graces with her presence. Her blonde hair distinguishes her in a crowd and those eyes tell tales of wisdom that go far over the heads of those beneath her.

Is it her intelligence?

Jennifer Bassett-Minkus is incredibly intelligent. Honestly, it bewildered me upon my first meeting with the woman. She easily articulates herself such a way that you feel, without question, that she is smarter than you. Odds are that she is. She’s Harvard educated, you know, and married to a man that most of America agrees in one of the most brilliant minds to walk amongst us today. She’s the mother of the ‘Next Einstein’.

Is it her morals?

See, this is where I find an inconsistency in the data.

Because Jennifer Bassett-Minkus has no morals. She does not sympathize with those less fortunate than her. She does not care that millions in her country work nine-to-five, minimum wage jobs and still cannot feed their families. She does not fight or speak for those too fearful or unable to speak for themselves.

But she’s still powerful.

No one, especially not you, dear reader, can dispute that.

You see her style and you mimic it.

You watch her choices and you trust them

You listen to her words and you believe them.

Without fail, without independent thought, because she’s Jennifer Bassett-Minkus and she’s powerful, so you mimic, you trust, you believe.

So it is not morals that make a woman powerful, but that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be.

A new generation of women is coming into power. Women who do care about the poor. Women who do give their own resources just so that another may suffer less. Women who fight like hell and don’t back down just because someone else feels that they should be seen and not heard.

Those are the women to mimic. Those are the women to trust. Those are the women to believe in.

Root for them!

Stop being so enamored by women like Jennifer Bassett-Minkus and start looking to the ones that have morals, that have love and fire in their souls.

Because here’s the real secret, so read carefully: You, those who view her, give a woman power.

Stop giving power to Jennifer Bassett-Minkus and start giving it to the right women!

Dear Mrs. Matthews-Minkus,

I regret to inform you that the major media outlet of the New York Times has decided to terminate your employment.

You are, without question, a very talented journalist and we are very grateful for the work you have done for use in these three years. However, you are aware that there have been several times where you were explicitly told not to voice an opinion or viewpoint and did not heed that warning.

You were warned. You were given an explanation. Nevertheless, you persisted.

This cannot be tolerated and your recent personal attack on Jennifer Bassett-Minkus was the last straw. The article was incredibly inappropriate for you to publish, as the subject’s daughter-in-law, and filled with information that has no ground nor evidence. You are lucky Mrs. Bassett-Minkus has no decided to press libel charges.

You have become a liability to the establishment and this cannot continue.

You are hereby official terminated from your position of Senior Journalist at the New York Times

Sincerely,

Jessica Denmen Personal Assistant to the CEO of the New York Times

Texting Conversation between My Babe and My Love:

My Babe: Are you busy at work?

My Love: Never too busy for you…

My Love: Why?

My Babe: I just… really need you right now.

*Riiing…Riiing…Riiing*

Riley: I’m fine! Really, I just really miss you and if you’re too busy, I under- *Breaks into a sob*

Farkle: Riley… What happened?

Riley: They, uh, they fired me. So, now I am your unemployed, rehab-bound, personal slut-turned wife. *Takes a deep breath* God, I don’t know what to do anymore! It’s never going to get better, Farkle! She’s always going to hate me and, you know, maybe she’s right? We both know I don’t fit in with those people, in that world.

Farkle: So what?! Riley, you fit in with me and you are the center of my world. You can do this! We can do this! Who cares what a bunch of dicks with silver spoons up their asses think?

Riley: *Sigh* Can you- can you just come home?

Farkle: I’m already on my way, Babe.

Riley: Farkle?

Farkle: Yeah?

Riley: I love you.

Farkle: And I love you. How does Italian sound for dinner, by the way? And Ben & Jerry’s for dessert?

Riley: Fuck, you are truly perfect.

Anchor One: This just in! The entirety of the Minkus Family Trust has been drained, leaving the family to live solely of off their profits from the Minkus International company.

Anchor Two: Currently, it is believed Riley Matthews-Minkus, recently fired from the New York Times, is behind the hack and subsequent theft of the Minkus family. It is unknown at this time whether or not the family will move to press charges against Matthews-Minkus.

Anchor One: Both Farkle Minkus and Riley Matthews-Minkus were unavailable for comment.

And that is the first part of The Lucky Ones! Experimenting with this format for this two-shot, do you like? Do you hate? Let me know! Kisses!

Current Coming Soon List:

Missed Moments of Pluto and Mars (A Future Snapshot Collection Companion)

Birthdays, First Times, and Letters from Princeton (A Future Snapshot)

The Electronic Configuration of Hate and Love Pt. 4

Little Drunk, Lotta Careless (A Future Snapshot)

We’re Always on the Same Team (A Future Snapshot)

The Lucky Ones Pt. 2 (A Socialite AU)

Crazy Kids (A Future Snapshot)

#riarkle #riarkle prompt #lucasfriarfan #fanfic #fanfiction #gmw #girl meets world #rated t #two shot #part one #the lucky ones #a study in black holes and supernovas #Riley Matthews #riley x farkle #farkle x riley #riley #matthews #Maya hart #maya #hart #farkle minkus #farkle #minkus #minkus international #jennifer #jennifer bassett-minkus #stuart #stuart minkus #bmw #boy meets world

[scotts]

i'm not even sorry

#lucasfriarfan stfu

[stillpluto]

Girl Meets the Bay Window Again

A/N: Hello there! I come again with another one shot. I wanted to thank @summonerserahheart, @riarklespirfire, @lucasfriarfan, @astralfreckles and @girlmeetsworldedits for giving me your opinion, that's really important to me ♥ I repeat the same as before, send me any advice or thought because it helps me a lot. Thank you in advance. P.S. I'm writing a long fic, about ten or eleven chapters. There will probably be a bit of Lucaya in it too. Would you be interested in reading it? Without more to say, I leave you with Girl Meets the Bay Window Again.

Riley was sitting in the bay window, looking at the floor with lost air.

Maya came through the window and sat beside her.

"Did you talk to him?" she asked the brunette.

"No." she replied curtly without looking at her. She continued with the fixed gaze downward.

"Will you do it?" she asked somewhat discouraged by the attitude of her best friend.

"Yeah. I'll do it in ten or fifteen years." she answered, lifting her head slightly.

"Riles. It's been three days. You can't avoid him for the rest of your life." Maya said, unable to suppress a smile.

"I can and... In fact, it's what I'll do." she murmured.

Maya rolled her eyes. She knew this would happen, but she didn't believe it would last so long. Riley and Farkle avoided each other, they didn't even stay long in the same room. It was irrational. They loved each other, but both were too proud and neither of them wanted to be the first to speak.

"If you don't talk to him you'll regret it. What are you afraid of?" she asked her friend.

"I'm afraid he tells me he doesn't feel the same as me, that he's over me, that he just loves me as a friend." she replied.

"He won't say any of those things." she answered exasperatedly. "He was the one who kissed you, remember? You have to talk to him. Have courage! You've faced a bully in front of the whole school and you can't face Farkle? Can't you tell him what you feel?" she added, trying to give encouragement to her friend.

"Believe me, she didn't give me so much fear compared to how scared I am now. What if I ruin everything? Peaches, I don't know what to tell him. I don't even know where to start." her voice was low, Maya had never seen her friend like that.

"Start with what matters most. Tell him how you feel. It will be easier." she explained more relaxed because she had managed to reduce at least a little the guard of the girl.

At that time Farkle and Zay came through the window.

"Maya, can you come for a moment? I need a little help with an assignment of art." said Zay smiling.

The girl nodded and accompanied him even though she knew he didn't need help. She had already made the drawing for him a few hours ago. It was just a pretext for leaving their two friends alone.

"Farkle..."

"Riley..."

They both said at the same time when they were completely alone.

"You first." the boy said.

"No, please, you first." replied Riley in a tone very nervous which she had never used in their talks.

"Okay." said as if he were talking to himself. "Riley, I want... I want to talk about what happened the other day, talk about..." he seemed quite embarrassed.

"You mean the kiss? It was an impulse, I understand." the girl said trying to play down the matter. Although she really didn't feel like that.

Farkle looked down, his eyes filled with tears. But he couldn't let Riley see him like this because for her the kiss had meant nothing.

"You feel good?" she asked. She had stood and had put in front of him without making the slightest sound.

"Yeah." he said omitting the lump in his throat.

She took his chin and made him look at her eyes. Instantly his eyes dodged her. He couldn't see her face.

"Do you really think that was an impulse?" Farkle asked trying to hide his broken voice. "Because for me it wasn't. I hadn't regretted the kiss until this moment." He didn't care what she thought. He had to let off steam. He had to tell her everything he felt. He couldn't stand it any longer. "I didn't think you were so insensitive, Riley. I thought..."

He couldn't finish the sentence because Riley kissed him.

"I don't understand you. Why did you kiss me?" he asked in a small voice when she stepped away from him.

"Because I wanted to. Because I felt the urge to do it. Farkle, I'm sorry. I just said that because I thought you wanted me to say that. I thought you had regretted, I..."

He interrupted her with a kiss. Riley took his shirt and attracted him toward her.

It took several seconds until they separated from each other. When they did, she couldn't stop looking at him. How could she have been so blind?

"I'm in love with you." Farkle said. Instantly he completely flushed. Riley's eyes opened widely. "Boy, this is awkward." he said turning around, ready to run out of the room and not stop running for a long time. She grabbed his arm forcing him to look at her.

"Do you want this to become more awkward?" the brunette laughed. His heartbeats were getting faster when he heard his favorite sound in the world. "I'm in love with you too."

Farkle smiled and approached her taking her waist to kiss her again. Oh, he could never get tired of those kisses.

#riarkle #girl meets world #riarkle fanfiction #riarkle one shot #riley matthews #farkle minkus #gmw #gmw au #riley x farkle #farkle x riley

[heemxng]

ok lucasfriarfan

#why are they like this???

[ddproductionsw77]

Still That Girl

Fandom: Girl Meets World

Pairing(s): Riarkle (Main), Charlie x Riley (Technically, not a glamorous potrayal), Smarkle (Past, hinted)

Characters: (Main) Riley Matthews and Farkle Minkus, (Mentioned) Maya Hart, Lucas Friar, Zay Babineaux, Isadora Smackle, Cory Matthews, Topanga Lawerence-Matthews, Auggie Matthews, and Charlie Gardner.

Rating: T

Warnings: Depression, Abusive/Unhealthy/Controlling Domestic Relationship, Underaged Drinking

Prompt from lucasfriarfan: Riley messed up. Big time, and this time, even Farkle can’t quite bring himself to forgive her. He won’t stand by and watch the girl he loves burn herself away, so after graduation, he decides to leave New York to protect his own heart. Riley, not realizing quite how much she felt for the boy, is devastated. She falls even further, dating Charlie, who has become someone no one would even want to know, and cutting herself off from those who love her most.

Charlie is controlling and Riley knows it’s wrong but he’s about all she has left so she can’t just walk away, right? So her family and friends watch as she continuously gives into her boyfriend’s demands and take note of how she never smiles anymore. Well, Maya Hart has had enough. She needs Riley Matthews back and she knows just the boy for the job… But is Riley even still that girl anymore? Can she ever be her again?

Author’s Note: Again, a lot in the prompt so I just worked off of that instead of writing it all.

I’m holding a picture from seven years back. I’m smiling as the memory, it’s smiling right back at me And I see brown hair and bright eyes… A heart full of laughter with nothing to lose, That’s how I remember you…

It had been a long time since Riley had stood in her own bedroom.

Months, maybe? She’d lost track of time, honestly, and had stopped caring even before that.

Dust had collected on the desk against the wall where she’d always done her homework. The bed was made with the same bedspread she’d straighten every morning before leaving for school for four years. The curtains of the bay window were drawn, casting the whole room into a darkness that didn't quite fit all of the memories she had there.

If she closed her eyes and strained her ears, maybe she could even trick herself into believing it was a year ago. Maybe she could go back, for just a moment, and do things differently. Maybe she could be something different, someone different.

But Riley didn’t close her eyes.

She didn’t play pretend, not anymore.

Running her nervous hands down the thighs of her jeans, she took another step into the old bedroom. The empty space where her friendship ring had been for so long still felt naked and sensitive from being uncovered. A flash of something hot and angry blossomed in her chest before stomping itself out.

Charlie didn’t like the ring. Riley didn’t wear the ring.

That was how it was now.

Tucking a long lock of straightened brown hair — Charlie didn’t like her natural curls — behind her ear, Riley ran a finger over one of the photos on her bedside table. The dust collected on the pad of her skin and she took a second to clean the glass with the pillow case closest to her.

It was an old photograph. Freshman year.

Her friends were all in a line, grins on all of their faces and arms wrapped around each other. Zay and Maya were laughing together, leaning on each other as if their knees were about to give out. Lucas was on Maya’s other side, chuckling at the pair. On the farthest right, Smackle was bent over with a rare smile on her pretty face, looking down the line. Her hand was linked with Farkle’s.

Farkle, who was holding Smackle’s hand but wrapped up in the girl at his other side, as always. A younger, softer, kinder Riley Matthews. A girl with bright eyes and a glowing smiling who had a boy with adoring eyes pressing his smiling lips to her temple.

Damn, she really had been blind back then, not to notice.

Maybe if she’d noticed things would have been different.

Setting the photo back down, she sighed and moved back towards the door.

She didn’t even know why’d she’d come back home. If Charlie knew, he wouldn’t be happy. She’d just felt drawn the old bay window and soft sheets of her childhood.

It's been so long since she’d felt anything, she’d decided to follow the instinct. Why not, right?

Riley still had the key to the apartment on her ring. She knew her parents would be at work, Auggie at school. They’d never even know she’d come back. No harm done… no more harm, anyway.

Riley could live with that. She was finding over time that she could live with a lot.

Stepping out of the bedroom, Riley closed the door softly behind her. Her back pressed against the wood, something strong and heavy grounding her feet to the boards under her worn sneakers.

Looking down the hallway, she knew she should be moving. Charlie would be home soon, at her new, real home. If she was gone when that happened…

Besides, her family wouldn’t want her here anymore anyways. Not after everything she’d done and definitely not when she’d been the one to push them away.

Still…

She didn’t want to leave.

A floorboard creaked and her head shot back up, heart jumping to her throat. Breath catching in her throat, she stared wide-eyed at the person now standing at the end of the hall. It felt like forever, it felt like a fraction of a second, but finally, she found her voice.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was going to ask you the same thing,” Farkle answered, stepping closer to her with his hands tucked into his pockets.

“I liv- I used to live here. Last I checked, you didn’t even live in this state anymore, let alone have a key to my family’s apartment.” Riley retorted, one hand still tightly gripping the doorknob of her childhood bedroom.

Something deep and desperate in her soul did not want Farkle to see the her of now side-by-side with the her in that photograph on the bedside table. She didn’t want to see his face with he compared the lifelessness of her once curly hair or when he realized there was no twinkle in her eye now.

Riley might not feel much these days, but she still didn’t want to risk it.

Farkle licked his lips, glancing to the side. Riley took note that he still hadn’t looked her in the eyes. Maybe he couldn’t? Like her, maybe he was too afraid of what he’d find. What he wouldn’t find.

“Maya called me.”

Maya had had his number? For how long? Not that it mattered to Riley because it didn’t.

It couldn’t…

But still Maya wouldn’t have kept that from her, would she have?

Farkle cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable, “She said you weren’t doing too well.”

“I’m fine.” A programmed response, the response everyone expected. The one they all really wanted, right?

“Are you?” He pressed, his voice filled with a genuine concern that rocked Riley to her core.

Because, out of everyone she’d hurt and tossed aside, he was the one who should hate her the most. He should want her to suffer, he knew how much she deserved it. Yet, there he was, really just asking if she was okay.

Riley snorted, “Thank you for the concern, Farkle, really. It’s undeserved, but thanks.”

The young man sighed and ran a hand down his face, “Riley, if this is about what happened-“

“Of course it’s not about-“

“-I forgive you. It’s in the past.”

Riley stopped, looking up into his eyes and noticing he had been slowly approaching her the whole time. Now, their gazes met, all electric blue and chocolate brown.

He… forgave her?

But… how?

How could he forgive her when she couldn’t even forgive herself?

Suddenly, sickeningly, Riley was swept back to that night, over a year ago, when she’d burned him and their friendship to the ground with a smile on her face and a giggle on her lips.

Then your life took a turn, And you fell, And it hurt…

Long Island Iced Tea was all Riley Matthews would drink for the rest of her life, she swore to God. They tasted like sugar, liquor, and something delightfully sinful and she was hooked.

Laughing at the lights dancing across the ceiling, Riley moved to the music pounding through the room. She didn’t even care that some random guy was trying to grab her ass. That was high school, right? Being a teenager? Having fun?

She never had fun anymore.

Always Daddy’s Girl, Maya’s Good Influence, Lucas’ Perfect Princess, Farkle’s Sunshine.

Well, not tonight.

That Riley was gone for now and the one who’d taken her place was feeling a little drunk and a little dangerous and a lot more fun than ever before. A tongue that burned her lips pushed its way into her mouth and she let herself think it was because of raw chemistry and not because the dude had just taken his sixth shot. Damn, it felt good to not care.

“Riley! Come on, let’s just go!”

Farkle’s voice called over the music and just barely touched her brain. She knew she should push the random guy away and listen to her friend but that definitely didn’t sound as fun as staying right where she was.

“Get off her, man!” Suddenly the boy who’d been pushing her into the wall was gone and Farkle was grasping her wrist, pulling her away.

Her buzz, her precious buzz, was wearing with each step and anger flared in her chest as she yanked her arm back, “What the hell, Farkle?”

“Oh, come on, Riley! That guy doesn’t even know your name, let alone care about you!” Farkle threw his hands up.

“He doesn’t have to! That’s the point! I don’t want him to care!” Riley argued, stumbling a little as she tried to turn back towards the party.

Farkle stepped in front of her, eyebrows were drawn, “You don’t want to be with someone who cares?”

“I don’t want to be with someone I’m always having to spare.” She snapped, glaring.

Farkle rolled his eyes, “That’s a little self-centered.”

“You say that like you’re not who I’m talking about.” She whipped back, her words hitting him like a physical blow. Farkle went pale and seemed to stop breathing.

“Wh-what are you-? I don’t-“

“Everyone knows, Farkle!” Riley rolled her eyes, pushing at his shoulder. “Everyone tells me that I should just tell you it’s never gonna happen. Stop leading you on. Well, here goes.”

She rested a hand on each of his shoulders and narrowed her eyes on his wide-eyed, shocked ones. He was looking at her like someone might look at a loaded gun with the power to kill. Maybe she was that lethal.

Leveling their gazes, Riley slurred, “It’s never going to happen, Farkle. I’m never going to be the girl for you, mmkay? So let’s both just move on, hmm?”

Farkle’s lips pursed and his gaze dropped to the ground. Maybe she was so drunk she was seeing things, but it kind of looked like his eyes were watering…

He nodded frantically, wordlessly.

“So you’re gonna leave it alone now?” She asked, quirking an eyebrow. “You’ll leave me alone?”

He nodded more and swallowed, looking somewhere over her shoulder. Huh, his eyes were watering. “Yeah, I’m- I’m sorry. I didn’t know you-“

“Knew? Yeah, well, I do.” She dropped her hands from his shoulders, clapping them together drunkenly. “Now, I’m going back to the party. You- you should just go home.”

Again with the mindless, numb nodding.

Oh well, who cared? Not her, not tonight.

Riley skipped back off to her random waiting boy and left Farkle behind.

But your story’s not over, It’s still being told, Your sunrise is coming…

Everything had changed after that night.

Farkle couldn’t even look at her. Maya was the angriest with her she’d ever been for hurting their shared best friend. Lucas had even told her that he ‘expected more from her’.

Well, that was the problem, wasn’t it? So many damn expectations.

Charlie hadn’t expected anything, though.

Things were so easy with Charlie at the start when everyone else had stopped talking to her. He didn’t give a shit about what she did. She didn’t learn until later that he didn’t really give a shit about any of her, but at that time it had been attractive.

He was a warm body, a non-judgmental face.

After graduation, when Farkle packed his bags and ran off to Princeton, when Maya flew to Rhode Island, and Lucas to vet school in Texas, Charlie stayed right there. He wasn't much and what he was wasn’t good, but he was something.

And she was weak so she thought something might just be better than nothing.

Coming back to the hallway, now a year older, Riley looked back at her bedroom door, “You shouldn’t.”

“You’re probably right.” Farkle nodded. “But I love you. I have since the first grade and I always will. You’re Riley Matthews.”

“No, I’m not.” She shook her head, echoing his own movements from that night so long ago, “That girl is gone. I can’t be her anymore.”

“Why not? Riley, you're the one who always believed she could be anything, the princess of her middle school class, the first woman on Mars.” Slowly, hesitantly, Farkle reached out and brushed the skin of her arm, leaving a trail of goosebumps. “I miss that girl.”

She watched the goosebumps rise and once again acknowledged the inevitability of her body’s reaction to Farkle Minkus. Odd how even after so long apart her cells still responded to his with such natural ease. She barely even noticed when Charlie touched her but Farkle set her aflame.

Maybe she'd been wrong — of course, she was wrong. Maybe she’d been in love with him back on the night of that party. Maybe she still was. Too afraid then, too afraid now… For everything that had changed, that hadn’t.

“I miss her, too.”

Her vision blurred and she felt a joint of surprise when a tear rolled down her cheek as she blinked. It's been so long since she'd felt enough to cry. Honestly, she’d begun to believe she was now just too numb to produce the tears.

“So, work your way back. Riley, you’re still that girl, the one who could change the world. Maybe you’re a little off course right now but that doesn’t mean you can never find your way back.” He said, gently.

Riley closed her eyes, relishing the words she’d imagined him saying a million times. She wanted to believe it, wanted to trust that newborn flicker in her chest, fall into his reassurance and certainty.

But it was too late for her. Too late for him. For them.

So, when Riley opened her eyes, she forced herself to step back. The distance was for the best, for his own protection. Everything she touched, she broke.

She’d already left him battered and bruised once.

She wouldn’t do it again.

Without another word, she slowly shook her head and pushed past him. Escaping the apartment, she made her way back across town to Charlie and their shithole studio with no bay window. Again, she left Farkle behind.

But that was really for the best, wasn’t it?

But you’re still that girl.

- Still That Girl, Britt Nicole

I purposely left this prompt open-ended... you get to choose your own adventure here, I guess. Maybe Riley comes back? Maybe Farkle chases her? Maybe things end happy? Or maybe they don’t... you get to choose.

#riarkle #riarkle prompt #lucasfriarfan #prompt fic #prompts #writing prompts #fanfic #fic #fanfiction #gmw #girl meets world #depression #abuse #hurt #comfort #still that girl #britt nicole #bmw #boy meets world #riley #matthews #farkle x riley #riley x farkle #Riley Matthews #farkle minkus #farkle #minkus #au #Charlie #gardner

[ddproductionsw77]

The Lucky Ones Pt. 2 (Riarkle AU Tow-Shot)

Fandom: Girl Meets World

Pairing(s): Riarkle (Mainly), Markle (Kinda…?)

Characters: Riley Matthews, Farkle Minkus, Maya Hart, Stuart Minkus, and Jennifer Bassett-Minkus

Rating: T for explicit language

Prompt from lucasfriarfan: When accused of stealing from her husband’s family, Riley starts to wonder if Farkle is really the man she married anymore. Can she ever trust him again when he believes she’s capable of something so awful? Will they be able to last in a world that they don’t both truly belong in?

Author’s Note: Part 2 of 2

Interrogation Recording of Maya Penelope Hart from the New York Police Department

Maya Penelope Hart: This is ridiculous.

Detective One: Millions of dollars is missing. You think that’s ridiculous?

Hart: I think that you having me locked up in here is ridiculous.

Detective Two: You’re good friends with Farkle Minkus, correct?

Hart: He married my best friend. That wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t solid.

Detective Two: So, you stole from a friend, then?

Hart: I didn’t steal anything.

Detective One: Oh, no?

Hart: No.

Detective One: So, where were you last night from 11 to 11:45?

Hart: Home. Check my apartment building’s surveillance.

Detective Two: Oh, see, I was hoping you’d say that, Ms. Hart. The virus sent to take the funds from the Minkus Trust was from your IP address. The one you’d be on if you were home.

Hart: I-

Detective One: You have quite the record, Ms. Hart. Maybe you think you’re some kind of Robin Hood, maybe you’re just low-class trash, I don’t know. I do know you stole from the Minkus’s. From your friend.

Hart: I would never do that, okay? Farkle’s done a lot for me, I’d never backstab him like that.

Detective Two: Mr. Minkus has done a lot for you, hasn’t he? Paid off your student loans, invested in your little gallery, got you all new equipment to try out photography a year ago-

Hart: How did you-

Detective Two: But he also married Riley Matthews. And since then his family has brought your best friend nothing but pain. Maybe you wanted revenge? For Riley.

Hart: I would do anything for Riley, I love her but-

Detective One: Sounds like a confession to me.

Detective Two: Huh, me too. Me too.

Anchor One: Good morning, New York!

Anchor Two: Developments in the Minkus Trust Robbery Scandal point towards the family’s new daughter-in-law’s best friend!

Anchor One: After what Jennifer Bassett-Minkus has said, I am not surprised. Maya Hart, the childhood companion of Riley Matthews-Minkus, has previously been charged with vandalism and cyber crimes related to robbery.

Anchor Two: Oh, come on! How can she not be guilty?

Anchor One: I don’t know but Minkus International CEO, Farkle Minkus, has issued an official statement claiming his support of Hart and saying he believes she’s innocent.

Anchor Two: Of course he did, he’s under the spell of his pretty, young thing— I mean, wife.

Anchor One: Honestly, I think Matthews-Minkus had something to do with the robbery.

Anchor Two: How could she have not? Her and Hart are always boasting how close they are!

Anchor One: Exactly, and both girls grew up lower or middle class. Matthews-Minkus was probably the mastermind and took advantage of Hart’s cyber skills. Poor Farkle Minkus has no idea how he was just played.

Anchor Two: It’s sad, really, that someone could do that to the man they claim to love.

Anchor One: And you know what? Once he realizes the person she really is? That’s going to be one nasty divorce…

Interrogation Recording of Riley Nebula Matthews-Minkus from the New York Police Department

Riley Nebula Matthews-Minkus: Maya Hart is innocent.

Detective Two: Is she?

Detective One: Does that mean you have something to tell us, Ms. Matthews?

Matthews-Minkus: It’s Mrs. and Matthews-Minkus, but I think you knew that. And no, that doesn’t mean anything except that Maya Hart is innocent.

Detective Two: The virus was from her IP address.

Matthews-Minkus: And you honestly think that someone smart enough to write that virus wouldn’t be smart enough to also reroute the code through a false IP? Pretty shoddy police work, if you ask me.

Detective One: No one did.

Matthews-Minkus: Oh, is that not why I’m here? For you to ask me things?

Detective Two: Don’t get smart with us.

Matthews-Minkus: Can’t help it. My default state of being is ‘more intelligent than you’.

Detective Two: Your husband know what a bitch you really are?

Matthews-Minkus: *Long Silence* Yeah, he does. And he’s fucking proud.

Phone call between Riley Matthews-Minkus and Maya Hart

*Riiiing….Riiiing….Riiing*

Automated Voice: Inmate-

Maya: Maya Hart.

Automated Voice: of the New York City Jail is attempting to call you. Do you accept this call?

Riley: Yes, I do.

Automated Voice: You have accepted. Please wait while you are connected.

Maya: Honey?

Riley: Peaches!

Maya: God! It is good to hear your voice!

Riley: Same. I need you, Peaches.

Maya: I know, Honey. How are you?

Riley: Maya, you’re the one in jail! I should be asking you that!

Maya: I’m fine and I know something’s up, Riley. You can’t lie to me, Mrs. Matthews-Minkus.

Riley: Don’t call me that.

Maya: Call you- Wait, is it you and Farkle? Did something happen between you two?

Riley: I’m fine, Maya. No one’s bothered you there, ri-

Maya: Honey, you aren’t fine. I can hear it in your voice. Tell Peaches what’s wrong.

Riley: *Takes a deep breath* Maybe everyone was right, Maya. Maybe Farkle and I are just too different. *Long silence* He won’t speak to me.

Maya: He won’t- Why not?

Riley: *Humorless laugh* Fuck if I know. Since the thing with the money, he won’t speak to me and he moved out of our bedroom and has been avoiding me all week. I don’t- Maya, I don’t know what to do. I think that he might actually think I had you do this.

Maya: Careful what you say there, Riley.

Riley: I know, I know, being recorded. I didn’t do anything, Maya, and neither did you… I just don’t think my husband knows that for sure. How can he think that I would ever take from him? He’s given me the world and I- *Swallows hard* I cannot be married to someone who thinks I’m capable of stealing from him.

Maya: Honey, I don’t think you know the full story.

Automated voice: 10 second warning.

Riley: And how exactly am I supposed to get it when he won’t even look at me, Maya? I can’t do this. I don’t have you and I need Farkle to be here for me and he’s not! He’s nowhere!

Maya: Riley-

Automated voice: You have reached the end of your allotted time. This call has been ended.

Texting Conversation between Farkle Minkus and Unknown Number (Several Weeks Old)

Unknown Number: You should tell your wife.

Farkle Minkus: I can’t. You know that.

Unknown Number: If you don’t, I will.

Farkle Minkus: Nah.

Farkle Minkus: You won’t.

Unknown Number: Sure about that? It’s wrong to keep her in the dark.

Farkle Minkus: Same reason I can’t tell her.

Unknown Number: ????

Farkle Minkus: Because I love her and so do you.

Unknown Number: …

Unknown Number: Than I can’t do this anymore.

Farkle Minkus: Yes, you can.

Unknown Number: I suppose you have some reason for that, too?

Farkle Minkus: Yeah, because you love me.

Farkle Minkus: And I love you.

Unknown Number: You are damn lucky, Minkus.

Farkle Minkus: I know ;)

Texting Conversation between My Babe and My Love (Present)

My Babe: Can you meet for lunch?

My Love is typing…

My Love: No. Busy.

My Love: Sorry.

My Babe is typing…

My Babe: Why? At first, I thought something was wrong with me, that I had somehow messed up with the money or something… I don’t know! But I saw the texts, Farkle. Who is she? Is she prettier? Smarter? I know you love her, you told her so. Why would you do that to me? To us? Everyone thought we’d just be a quick divorce. Guess they were right. (Unsent)

My Babe: How could you do this to me? You said you loved me? You told her so! You told whoever the hell she is that YOU LOVE ME! Don’t say shit you don’t mean. (Unsent)

My Babe: I hate you (Unsent)

My Babe: No, I don’t. But, fuck, I wish I did. (Unsent)

My Babe is typing…

My Babe: Me too

|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|~|

To the Boy I Loved Before,

I know you can’t read this. You’re not that boy anymore, the one who made me feel like I could do anything like I belonged in a world I definitely did not, like I was your missing piece as much as you were mine. I wish you were. I miss you.

But, I’ve been told I don’t look at things realistically and I guess I should probably start now.

I needed you, Farkle. Maya was wrongly accused, I was wrongly accused, and I needed my husband to be there. I needed you to tell me that everything was going to be okay and even if it wasn’t, that you would be there when it fell apart. Instead, you left me alone.

I could have forgiven that, my Love. I really could have.

I cannot forgive you loving another woman though. You probably can’t help it. She’s probably funnier, prettier, more intelligent and she probably fits into your world in a way I never could. I’m happy that you found her. But that you would see her, love her, behind my back?

That I cannot forgive.

Which is why I have to go. When you find this letter on the kitchen counter, I imagine you’ll think about stopping me before I’m gone… But once you run to our bedroom and find my things already gone and come back to finish the letter, you’ll know you’re too late.

It’s for the best. We were too different, Love. We never fit into each other’s worlds, Farkle.

Riley

Conversation Captured by Surveillance Footage at JFK airport

Farkle: Riley! Wait!

Riley: Farkle, what are you doing here?

Farkle: You can’t go back to Philadelphia!

Riley: I can. And I am. Farkle, please just go! Leave me alone!

Farkle: No! You do not get to walk away from us! Not without letting me explain!

Riley: Explain?! Farkle, you had every opportunity to fucking explain from the moment picked some other whore over me!

Farkle: For fuck’s sake, Riley! There isn’t some other wh- girl! There’s never going to be anyone after you!

Riley: Oh, please! I’m not that much of an idiot! An idiot, yes, but not that much of one. I saw the texts!

Farkle: The texts… These?!?! *Pulls out phone and flicks through to his conversation with the Unknown Number* Riley, these are from a burner phone! THAT I GAVE TO MAYA!

Riley: *Stops dead* M-Maya?

Farkle: Yes! Maya!

Riley: *Face turns red* MAYA IS THE OTHER WOMAN?!

Farkle: THERE’S NO OTHER WOMAN! *Looks at the people giving them looks* Babe, please just listen to me, okay? Please.

Riley: *Reluctantly nods* Fine.

Farkle: These texts? *Waves phone* Aren’t about an affair. They’re about Maya and I taking all my family’s money and giving it to charity. My parents never would have let me give away our fortune, so I made a plan with Maya to use a virus to do it. She had to take the fall for a little while so that I could transfer the money to a charity account, but I was on my way to the NYPD when my wife decided to leave me. So, I ran down here instead.

Riley: So, Maya did take the money.

Farkle: No, she built the virus. I’m the one that sent it and I’m the one who handled the money afterward. It’s not illegal to write code so the police will have to let her go. And it was my family’s money, so they can’t arrest me either. I just withdrew from my family’s Trust in an admirably creative way.

Riley: …Those cops are going to be so pissed.

Farkle: Maybe, but they can’t arrest me.

Riley: … Your parents are going to disinherit you.

Farkle: Maybe that wouldn’t be the worst thing. I love my parents but they aren’t who I thought they were. If they were, they would have accepted you, loved you, like I do.

Riley: Why didn’t you tell me?

Farkle: Well, you would have never let Maya and me do it… And you’re not signed onto the Minkus Trust so there was a risk on them pinning everything on you as robbery, even with my confession. I couldn’t, Riley. *Long Pause* Please don’t go, Babe.

Riley: *Slowly smiles* Ugh! I’m not going anywhere. Except with you to get Maya out of jail.

Farkle: *Grabs her and hugs her close* Oh thank God!

Riley: *Leans back, looks into his eyes* Ever keep something like this from me again? And I will get on the plane.

It was, like, really hard finding a loophole that worked to make this a happy ending but I DID IT!

#Riley Matthews #riley x farkle #farkle x riley #riley #matthews #farkle minkus #farkle #minkus #Maya #hart #socialite #AU #GMW #BMW #girl meets world #boy meets world #money #greed #love #a study in black holes and supernovas #Maya hart

[ddproductionsw77]

It’s Different Now

Fandom: Girl Meets World

Pairing(s): Riarkle (Main), Rucas (Not incredibly romantic), Smarkle (Past), Lucaya (VERY lightly hinted)

Characters: (Main) Riley Matthews and Farkle Minkus, (Supporting) Maya Hart, (Menioned) Isadora Smackle and Lucas Friar

Rating: T

Prompt from lucasfriarfan: In Sophomore year, Farkle and Smackle had a very hard break up, bad enough that in Junior year, he goes into a sort of shell. Not even Maya or Riley seems to be able to reach him anymore. Riley has her own problem of no longer being in love with her boyfriend but not wanting to hurt him by breaking it off. And Maya is just left to watch all of her friends suffering. The summer before Senior year is the hardest though, with Farkle taking off for the whole thing and leaving Maya and Riley both confused and hurt, missing him the most.

Once the school year starts up again, though, Farkle is back… but not the way he left. He was cute before, but now he’s the guy every girl wants. Including Riley…if it weren’t for her boyfriend, Lucas, who she really should love more then she does. But maybe, just maybe, Maya Hart has as plan for her friends.

Author’s Note: So, you put a lot into the prompt, which is great, but I decided not to actually write that part because they would be a whole lot more. I hope that’s okay! I am actually still accepting prompts for a little while longer!

And I love you more than I did before, And if today I don’t see your face, Nothing’s changed, no one can take your place, It gets harder everyday…

-Stay, Miley Cyrus

Riley Matthews knew she was weird for not liking summers.

Everybody loves summer, especially anyone still young enough to be in school!

But Riley just never liked them as much as the school year.

The past summer, though, the summer before her Senior year, had hit new record lows. Even Maya had hated it and she definitely never complained about not having school. In contrast, Lucas didn’t seem too bothered, then again Riley doubted he'd even say anything if he was. At least not to her.

Summer always meant less of the things Riley loved most. Less learning, less new experiences, less of it all… And of course less of being right beside those she cared for... Inevitably less Maya, less Lucas, less him.

And that summer, that awful summer, had actually meant no him at all.

Riley knew it was stupid to be angry, now months after everything had happened, but she couldn't help it. He'd told her he'd always be there for her and that, like a lot of things these days, had apparently not meant what she'd thought. Lucas would say she was overreacting, that friends grew apart, maybe even that she was being too 'Riley' again but it was Farkle.

Who else was she supposed to be with him when Riley was her permeant record?

Then again, he wasn't exactly the Farkle she'd always known anymore so... who knew?

It was just a summer!

She just... she didn't understand how so much could have changed.

Junior year was hard for Farkle, no one knew that better than Riley. He was still healing from Smackle choosing Sweden over him the year before. He was fractured, cracked, ripped at every edge, but he'd still been perfect to Riley. She'd tried so hard, tried a million times, to tell him that, but it had been like screaming in space. He hadn't heard her.

Then he left.

That had stung.

And he hadn't said goodbye.

That... that had felt a little like dying.

Riley had tried to talk herself through it. She's spent months repeating over and over to herself that it wasn't personal. Farkle needed time away from everything. Maybe saying goodbye would have been too painful. She never wanted to hurt him.

So, she'd only let the questions eat her up on the inside. Outside, she was still her parent's princess, Lucas's lady love, Maya's better half. It was better that way and, at first, easier. People expected Riley to be happy, to be fine. She always was and she didn’t know how to explain the hollow feeling in her chest at Farkle’s absence anyway.

It was a feeling she knew a girl with a boyfriend, whom she loved, should not have. Not for anyone, especially her best friend.

Riley did love Lucas.

She had to, right?

He was her first love, her knight in shining armor, her Topanga. She had to love him after all that. If they barely spoke anymore, it was only because they didn’t need words to understand each other. If they were more likely to fight than they were not to when they did speak, it was only because they were both so passionate. And if Riley sometimes saw Lucas laughing harder, smiling brighter, with Maya, it was only because he loved Riley so much that by extension he loved Maya, too.

Riley Matthews sighed, reaching up to the top shelf in the cramped supply closet for a can of paint. She’d been tasked by the art teacher to retrieve just the right shade of maroon for a spirit poster for the football team. As the Senior quarterback’s girlfriend, she hadn’t felt right saying no.

The can of paint skirted just out of her fingertips and Riley huffed, glaring down at her flats. If she’d only worn heels…

“Need some help?”

Shrieking in surprise, Riley whirled around with her hand over her heart. Farkle Minkus stood in the closet doorway, expression blank except for a very slight twinkle in his eyes, his hands raised in mocking surrender. “Geez, Riley. Don’t get yourself a heart attack, it’s only me.”

‘Only me?’ Who even was that anymore?

The brunette cleared her throat, drawing herself up. “Right, sorry.” Farkle’s eyes remained on her as he lowered his hands. “What are you look at?”

“You didn’t answer,” He took a step into the room and by extension towards her. Riley cursed her heart for skipping a beat, but god, how could it not when he looked like that? He pointed to the can of paint above her head, tauntingly out of reach. “Need help?”

“You don’t have to…” She trailed off as he brushed past her, easily grabbing the can with his obvious height advantage.

Farkle gently placed the heavy can in her folded hands and shrugged, “That’s what friends are for.”

There was a venom, a bite, in his tone that made anger flare in her chest. As if he were accusing her of doing something when he was the one to walk away. He left her behind, not the other way around.

A scoff escaped her lips before she could help it.

Farkle’s head shot up from him studying the ground between them, eyebrows drawn. “What’s so funny?”

“Friends?” Riley asked, shifting the paint can from hand to hand. “I wasn’t sure if that’s what we still were.”

“Okay, wait-“ Farkle’s raised voice was cut off but the slam of the closet door as they were immediately enveloped in darkness. Riley stood completely still, hearing only Farkle’s breathing and her own heartbeat before the boy said, “That door doesn’t do that.”

“Huh?” She asked, hearing Farkle’s shifting and then the jiggle of the doorknob.

“This door doesn’t close by itself, Riley. It’s meant to stay open so that students and teachers don’t get locked in when it shuts.” He tugged at the knob for a moment longer before sighing, “Someone closed it.”

“Someone locked us in, you mean?” Riley asked, moving in the dark and almost tripping before she reached a spot close enough to smell Farkle’s cologne. “Who would do that?”

“You think I know?”
 “Well, aren’t you supposed to be the genius?”

“Why are you being like this?”

“Like what?”

“Mean!”

Riley drew back at his declaration. 

She was being mean? She was the one causing the problem? Not him, who left without a goodbye. Not him, who didn’t call or text or even fucking email all summer. Never him, who’d dodged her hug on the first day back after the longest time they’d ever been apart.

No, she was the one being mean.

Fuck that.

“I’m mean? That’s rich coming from you, Farkle.”

It was still too dark to see him clearly, but Riley’s eyes were slowly beginning to adjust. Enough that she could make out his head turning back to look at her over his shoulder. “And what’s that supposed to mean?”

“You ignored me for months, Farkle! I know last year was hard for you, but I was still there! And then this summer, when I needed you, where were you? Off doing god knows what without me? I thought you said you’d always be there! So, where were you?” She exclaimed, months and months of bottled, buried rage bursting to the surface before she could control it.

She expected him to yell back, but he didn’t. He was quiet for a long moment, so long she thought that he just wasn’t going to answer, before he gently said, “I couldn’t be around you anymore.”

It’s not personal. It’s not personal. It’s not personal.

She’d chanted it to herself all summer. She’d tried to etch into her brain. She’d called on it to ease the ache in her heart. She’d prayed for it, believed in it, relied on it. But apparently she’d been wrong. It was personal. She was the problem.

Swallowing hard, Riley took a step back. Her hands were shaking and she wondered for a moment if she might accidentally drop the can of paint still heavily settled into them.

“Oh.”

In the dark, she could hear Farkle turn, “Riley-“

“What did I do?” She cursed how pathetic she sounded, like a scolded child or kicked puppy.

There was a sigh.

“Nothing,” Farkle answered, tiredly. Riley could just barely see him run a hand over his face, “You didn’t do anything, Riles. It was me. I just couldn’t.”

Numbly, she shook her head, “I don’t understand, Farkle.”

The boy laughed, humorlessly and dry, “Yeah, I know you don’t. It’s okay.”

But it wasn’t. It’s wasn’t okay and it wouldn’t be until something changed. But how could she change something she couldn’t even comprehend?

“Farkle,” She whispered and the boy looked up at her in the dark, “I want to understand.”

There was a squeak as Farkle’s boot scuffed the linoleum beneath them and then warmth radiating close to her skin. She could hear his breath and tried to ignore her racing heart at knowing he was so close. Could he hear the drumming on her ribcage? Did he know his effect?

She should be ashamed. She had a boyfriend…

But in the moment, even Riley could admit she wasn’t in love with Lucas. Not anymore, at least, if she ever had been. No, in that moment, she was just Riley and he was just Farkle and they were just incredibly close.

“Isadora broke up with me because of you,” Farkle finally said, breaking the spell that had seemed to have temporarily enchanted them both. Riley remained silent, not wanting to push him or drive him back away. Not after feeling this near to him.

“She said,” He paused, bent his head towards his shoes, “She said she was tired of watching me be in love with someone who was in love with someone else. And that she was tired of being the one no one was in love with.”

Riley shook her head, “You loved her.”

“I did,” Farkle sighed, “I do… But not in the way I should. Not the way that I love you, not the way that I’m in love with you.”

She froze in the dark, her breath catching in her throat. Farkle loved her? Was in love with her? He was standing inches from her in a dark closet, proclaiming it to her, and she still couldn’t wrap her mind around it.

He was Farkle and she was Riley, they had never truly wondered down that path. They couldn’t be in love with each other. She couldn’t be in love with him.

But she was.

Dear God, she was.

Before she could find the words that seemed to be bursting from her chest, Farkle rambled on, “But you’re in love with Lucas! So, it doesn’t matter. You guys are perfect for each other, you always have been, and I’ll get over it. I just needed time this summer and I’m sorry that I hurt you. I didn’t mean to. Honestly, I kind of figured you wouldn’t care.”

“Wouldn’t care?” She breathes, looking up at his face that she could now see pretty well from being in the dark so long. Besides, she pretty much had him memorized. “Farkle, you didn’t even say goodbye.”

The boy remained silent and Riley sighed, turning away from him. She covered her face with her hands after setting the can of paint aside, millions of thoughts buzzing around. She couldn’t focus, couldn’t think straight. Farkle was in love with her. She had a boyfriend. She didn’t know how she felt.

Where did it all go from here?

After a long moment, Riley’s eyes flew open, her hands dropping, and her body turning back to Farkle’s. “Farkle, I love you.”

He smiled, forlornly. “I know you do, Riley. You always have.”

“No,” She tossed back, her voice strong and clear. Farkle looked confused but she powered on, “It’s different now. I didn’t realize it at first, I don’t know why. Maybe because I’m with Lucas, maybe because I’ve never felt like this, I don’t know. But I know that it’s different.”

Riley stepped back into his space and he didn’t back down, standing his ground and looking down at her as she continued, “I’m in love with you, too.”

She could just see Farkle’s eye flicker to where about her mouth was before he shook his head, “Lucas.”

“I don’t love him like you.” The certainty in her voice never wavered, never flickered. She wasn’t sure about much, but after it hit her, she was sure about this. Farkle was the one who held her heart now and Lucas never could again. She couldn’t keep pretending otherwise. It was hurting too many people.

“Riley, you don’t have to lie to make me feel better.”

“I’m not. I, Riley Matthews, am irritatingly, catastrophically in love with you, Farkle Minkus. And it’s probably about to cause a lot of trouble because I have a boyfriend to break up with now and feelings to sort out, but I’d like to do all that with you. Together, please.” She hung the offer in the air in the same way he’d always thought she’d hung the stars.

She was offering her heart, a place by her side. It was all he’d ever wanted.

Taking her hand, Farkle nodded in the dark. “I’ll always be there for you.”

There was a creak and light flooded the room. Maya Hart stood in the doorway, a triumphant grin on her pretty lips, “About damn time, you two!”

So no kissing or super love-y, dove-y stuff because Riley isn’t a cheater. She has to break up with Lucas still before anything really happens with Farkle but they are moving that way… I hope you enjoyed this one-shot!

#riarkle #riarkle prompt #lucas friar #lucas #friar #Riley Matthews #riley #matthews #farkle minkus #riley x farkle #farkle x riley #farkle #minkus #au #rucas #lucaya #maya #hart #Maya hart #summer #high school #seniors #fanfic #fanfiction #prompts #gmw #girl meets world #it's different now #one-shot #high school!fic

[ddproductionsw77]

They are Always.

Fandom: Girl Meets World

Pairing(s): Riarkle (Mainly), Markle (Maybe is you squint? It’s really intensely platonic...?)

Characters: Riley Matthews, Farkle Minkus, Maya Hart, Topanga Matthews, Cory Matthews, Jennifer Bassett Minkus

Prompt from lucasfriarfan: Ok, how bout this, Riley, Farkle and Maya are walking home, someone tries to mug them, Farkle steps in front of the bullet, from a Maya Riley POV, as they sit in the hospital waiting to see if he will make it.

Author’s Note: So, I am still taking Riarkle/GMW prompts for short stories if you like this one... I hope you do because I was trying a new style that I don’t normally write in and I’m not sure how much I like it...

Everything has faded to gray except for the red on Riley Matthews’ hands.

It’s the same shade of scarlet as that lipstick that looks so damn good on Maya and stains her skin in almost the same way, crusting under her nails and sticking into the creases of her palms. And she knows, she really does know, that it’s not Maya’s lipstick coating her hand but she just can’t quite think about what it really is so instead she just tries to recall the name of that shade.

Russian Red, maybe?

Everything has blurred and that’s about the time she realizes that she is crying.

Of course, she’s crying, though, because she’s Riley Matthews and she's a crier. She hates that about herself but it’s the truth. Any feeling to send her over a 7 on the emotional Richter scale always had her in tears.

Clenching her hands into fists, Riley’s muscles relax ever so slightly at the bite of nail in palm. The pain is grounding, something she can actually concentrate on, so she’s thankful even as her hands shake uncontrollably in their balled up and bloodied state.

“Riley?”

She barely hears the tentative call over the pounding in her head but she does and it forces her to turn her head away from the lipstick stain colored blood.

Her mother, at some point she can’t recall, had moved to share the waiting room bench with her and she’s reaching out and caressing Riley’s face. Even though the girl can imagine what her mother’s touch must feel like, she hadn’t even noticed the hands on her until that moment. She hadn’t felt a thing.

Over Topanga’s shoulder, Riley can see her father wearing a gutted expression and just that sight makes her grow even colder. That, that she can feel actually. The cold.

Blinking, trying to pick out the words she needs from the jumble in her head, Riley’s gaze flickers back to her mother. “Mom, he- he just- It was so fast and I- I couldn’t-“

Topanga cuts her off and flings her arms around her daughter, stroking the girl’s soft curls and hushing her as she dissolves into sobs. “Shh, breathe, Sweetie. Just breathe and tell me what happened.”

Riley whimpered and shook her head into her mother’s shoulder, crying so hard it shook her whole body. She cries so hard, her throat sears and she thinks her head might just explode.

“It’s all my fault!” She moaned, struggling to catch her breath.

Riley Matthews was pretty sure that her hand belonged in Farkle Minkus’.

Despite the fact that her fingers were short and his were bony and even though her skin was as soft as satin from nightly moisturizer and his was callused from lab experiments and hours of writing too hard in pencil, they still fit like it was meant to be.

She watched with a contented smile as the boy in question played with her digits without thinking while flipping through his copy of A Brief History of Time for the twelfth reread. Slotting and intertwining their fingers between them, Farkle never once glance away from the pages of his book as the subway shot through the New York underground.

Riley was a little jealous at the way he could maintain a steady, easy balance on the train without grabbing onto anything. She held the bar and still nearly slammed face first into surrounding surfaces.

“Riles, would you please stop triggering my gag reflex?” Another voice broke through Riley’s fuzzy brain, startling her slightly.

Tightening her grip on her boyfriend’s hand, Riley turned to glare at her best friend. “I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about, Maya.”

Maya stood next to her, gripping the same bar, and playfully glaring back. “So, you weren’t just staring at Farkle like a lovesick puppy? Huh, could’ve fooled me.”

Blushing, the brunette glanced back over at her best-friend-more-recently-turned-boyfriend only to see him barely biting back a smirk behind his book.

She pouted and briefly released the bar she’d been clinging to, smacking him on the shoulder. “Don’t laugh at me!”

Farkle finally looked up from his book, acting utterly offended, “I wasn’t laughing!”

“He just still can’t believe that you wanna jump him practically every five seconds.” Maya cut in, smirking at the couple.

“Maya!” They scolded in unison, both blushing scarlet.

Honestly, this whatever-it-was between Farkle and Riley was so new and yet so long overdue that no one, not even the two of them, really knew how to react to it.

Only Maya seemed to take it in stride as if she’d expected it all along, and she loved to tease them about it endlessly. This ranged from innocently singing ‘Farkle and Riley sitting in a tree’ in the hallways at school to making thinly veiled sex jokes right in front of Riley’s father.

It was mortifying, but that was Maya…And Farkle and Riley loved Maya.

The blonde laughed at the flustered pair as the subway slowed to a stop and was the first of the three to make her way off. Riley and Farkle existed together, dropping their hands so that she could help zip his book back into his bag before they started their walk the rest of the way to the Matthews’ residence.

Watching Maya stride a few feet ahead of them, Riley hugged Farkle’s arm and leaned her head against his bicep. God, she loved that he was so much taller than her. It had originally infuriated her to be shorter back in middle school when he first shot up but now… well, now the difference was just so much more attractive.

“You smell good,” Riley commented lazily without thinking, breathing him in.

Farkle chuckled and shook his head, the tips of his ears turning red, “Uh, thanks. It’s soap and detergent.”

“Well, it’s nice.” His girlfriend reinforced, glancing up to giggle at his embarrassment.

“You always smell like sunflowers and strawberries.” Farkle blurted out.

Riley nodded, “I call it ‘favorite shampoo and mom’s perfume’. Thinking about picking up a patent. You know, branding it.”

“Very smart business decision, really. It could be incredibly profitable.” The young genius played along.

Rolling her eyes and smiling, Riley snuggled closer to Farkle’s arm, causing him to sway in his step a bit. Regaining his footing with a light laugh, he leaned down and pressed a quick kiss to the crown of her head. He paused for a moment to breathe in that intoxicating mixture of sunflowers and strawberries.

Ahead Maya had ducked into the alley with the stainless window that they took home every day and vanished from sight. The couple took their time following, enjoying the break from their friend’s teasing.

Finally, they turned the corner only to stop short. Riley’s expression dropped, her limbs going numb as they slipped from Farkle while her brain slowly computed the situation before her.

Maya stood, rigid as a board, with her hands raised in the universal sign for surrender and a few feet in front of her stood a man. A man with a gun aimed right at the blonde’s chest.

Riley couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, all she knew was Maya, her Maya was in danger and she had to do something. The man’s eyes had widened at Riley and Farkle’s appearance and he was looking increasingly panicked. He narrowed his gaze on the locket hanging from Maya’s neck, “Give up the gold, kid, or I’ll shoot you all!”

Slowly, the brunette took a step forward with her hands out before her, moving to Maya’s side. “Please, sir, you don’t want to do this.”

“Oh, I think I do! We can’t all be spoiled rich kids and I need the cash.” He moved the gun to point at Riley, making her falter in her step.

“Hey, calm down, man!” Farkle snapped from somewhere close behind Riley.

Quickly and erratically, the man flicked his wrist back to Maya and glared behind the girls where Riley assumed her boyfriend was standing. “Give it up!”

Maya narrowed her eyes. No one would even think she were scared if her hands weren’t shaking ever so slightly, still raised in the air. “My mother and step-father gave me this locket. It’s mine, not yours!”

“I’m not messing around!” The man yelled, waving the firearm wildly.

Without a thought, Riley stepped forward again, positioning herself between the barrel and Maya. She hurriedly pleaded, “Hey! Hey! Calm down!” while at the same time that both Farkle and Maya yelped, “Riley!”

The man tried to scramble back, as if as afraid of Human Ray of Sunshine Riley Matthews as she was of him but slammed into a dumpster. Like a caged animal, he lashed out and rocketed himself toward his closest, easiest target.

Riley.

There was a gunshot, a scream, and then Riley felt her body slam into the hard concrete of the alleyway. Her forehead connected hard with the ground and the air was knocked from her lungs by a weight that had fallen across her body.

“Riley! Farkle!” Maya’s voice screamed as Riley forced her eyes open.

She tried to mentally search her body for the pain that had to have come from being shot but all she felt was the pounding in her head. Above her, the weight shifted and a groan sounded out as Maya came running and dropped to her knees. The weight, Riley realized in a horrorstruck daze, was Farkle.

Farkle, who was now laying across her legs, clutching his side, just under his chest.

He’d pushed her aside.

Sitting up in a panic, Riley carefully shifted her boyfriend’s head into her lap. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!”

“What do we do?!” Maya frantically asked, leaning over the boy.

Farkle hissed and squeezed his eyes shut, biting back a scream. Breathing shallowly, he forced his mouth open, “Pre-pressure. You gotta put pre-pressure…”

He trailed off into a groan, skin quickly turning the color of paper.

Riley’s stomach turned as she ripped the scarf from around her neck and balled up the material, pressing it hard against the bloody wound and moving Farkle’s hands out of the way. The boy yelped and tried to twist away from her touch for a moment before thinking rationally once again. Blood instant soaked through the thin material, coating Riley’s fingers and making them slick.

“911!” Riley sobbed, turning her wide, fearful eyes on her blonde best friend. “Call 911!”

As Maya struggled with her cell phone, Riley maintained pressure while leaning her forehead against Farkle’s. Maybe she was imagining it or maybe she was warm from panic, but his skin already seemed chillingly cool against her own.

“Riley…” Farkle slurred, keeping his eyes closed and tilted his head up towards her touch.

“No, no, no.” She mumbled, moving to press her lips against his forehead, “You have to stay with me, okay? You said always! You said always, so you have to stay!”

Hours pass.

Topanga holds her daughter up and walks her to the bathroom where she scrubs the girl’s hands until they are raw and pink. Riley knows the blood is all gone but she can still feel the stickiness of it under her nails.

The two women sit back down to wait and wait and Riley is suddenly struck by the fact that Maya is nowhere to be seen. She can’t even remember where she lost track of the blonde in the rush to the hospital but she thought Maya had gotten in the ambulance with them…

Farkle’s mother is there but she doesn’t talk to Riley and from what she’s gathered Stuart is away and hasn’t answered his phone yet. His son is dying and he can’t be pulled from a meeting. Riley’s heart aches.

They will blame her too. They should.

Why had she stepped closer?

Why had she tried to talk the man down?

Farkle wouldn’t be in surgery, fighting for his life if it weren’t for her and her blind, idiotic optimism.

All her fault.

“Riley,” Another whisper, even shakier and more tentative than her mother’s from hours ago. Had it really been hours?

Maya stood, eyes rimmed red and puffy, her whole body shaking. Riley had seen Maya at her best and at her worst and everything in-between but in that moment the girl looked more broken than she ever had before.

“Riley,” Maya tried again, hiccuping, “I’m so sorry.”

She collapses, folds in on herself, and clings to Riley while sobbing into her lap. She continues to mutter broken apologies but all Riley can do is sit and try to riddle out why Maya is sorry when none of this is her fault. It’s Riley’s.

“I should have just given him the locket! Farkle would be fine if I hadn’t been stupid and selfish!” Maya says at some point and Riley’s heart breaks all over again for her friend and herself and most of all for Farkle.

Her pink, raw fingers move to comb through Maya’s curls and it’s not quite the fit Farkle’s hand is but it feels right.

They settle into each other and wait together.

Her hands are freezing and she knows it’s from the poor circulation on her mother’s side of the family but all she can think is that her hand is cold because it’s waiting for the warmth of Farkle’s.

But finally, finally, a doctor comes to address Mrs. Minkus and Jennifer’s eyes dart to meet Riley’s from across the room as the man speaks to her. It’s the first time she’d even acknowledged her son’s girlfriend. Riley understands.

After they are done, Farkle’s mother nods and comes to stand before the two girls she knows her son loves more than any other. While Jennifer loves her son, the deep pain of Riley Matthews and Maya Hart over him still makes her squirm.

She swallows hard, eyes flickering away from their faces. “He’s going to be okay.”

Everything becomes crisp and vibrant the moment Riley steps into Farkle’s room.

Maya clutches her arm and trails behind her. Riley barely notices her, though, and it’s one of those rare moments in her life that doesn’t focus on her best friend.

No, this moment is his. It’s Farkle’s.

Moving to his side, Riley slots and intertwines her fingers through his and instantly relaxes. Every bony ridge, every callus, every warm cell feels comforting and familiar and just right. If her eyes were closed, she would have been able to forget everything but his touch, she’s sure.

There’s a groan and Farkle shifts, his fingers tightening around hers.

“Farkle?” Riley whimpers, using her other hand to brush the hair back from his forehead. “It’s me. It’s Riley.” After a beat of her heart, “Maya’s here, too.”

“Mmm,” The boy mumbled, eyes staying sluggishly closed as the corners of his lips tick up, “You smell like sunflowers and strawberries.”

Her heart melts and a bubbly, tearful giggle bursts from her lips. “You smell more like an operation room right now than soap and detergent but I still like it.”

His electric blue eyes flutter open and quickly focus on her chocolate brown. In that moment, they are alone. They are a single point in the universe. They are Riley and Farkle and he’s going to be okay and she can breathe again.

A tired smile plays on his face before he shifts to look at Maya and lazily closes his eyes once again, “You’re both okay. Good.”

“Yeah, well, we wish we could say the same for you, dumbass!” Maya snaps, her voice thick with a little bite. “Farkle, I’m so sorry. I should have just given him the locket.”

Opening his eyes and scrunching up his forehead, Farkle shakes his head, “Don’t be sorry. I understand. You weren’t going to give up the locket. Riley was going to try and talk him down. I was going to protect you both.”

He half-heartedly shrugs, “It’s who we are. I could have told you what was going to happen the second we walked into the alley.”

Maya rolls her eyes, “Of course you could. Like when we go to the movies.”

The tiny-bit-doped-up boy sighs, “We’re predictable.”

Shortly after, the blonde excuses herself to get some water but both of her friends know that she’s really just still feeling guilty. She needs space. Riley will go to her eventually.

Stroking Farkle’s cheek with the back of her hand, Riley leans forward and gently presses a kiss to his lips. They are warm again like she’s so fond of and used to. Barely moving back she opened her eyes to see his blue gaze already on her. “You saved my life. You saved my life three times now.”

He gazes at her with an intensity that steals her breath again, only this time the burn in her lungs is pleasant. “I love you.”

“And I love you.”

They are always. They are Riley and Farkle. They always have been.

So, I am still taking Riarkle/GMW prompts for short stories if you liked this one... I hope you did because I was trying a new style that I don’t normally write in and I’m not sure how much I like it...

#riarkle prompt #fanfic #fanfiction #short story #riarkle #riley #farkle #maya #hart #hunter #matthews #minkus #stuart #jennifer #topanga #cory #Riley Matthews #farkle minkus #riley x farkle #farkle x riley #lucasfriarfan #still taking prompts if you guys liked this...

[ddproductionsw77]

She Always Is.

Fandom: Girl Meets World

Pairing(s): Riarkle (Mainly), Markle (Platonically but you could read it as one-sided romance???), Stuart x Jennifer

Characters: Farkle Minkus, Riley Matthews, Maya Hart, Stuart Minkus, Jennifer Bassett Minkus

Prompt from lucasfriarfan: Part 2 of They are Always. Can be read without part 1, but it might be confusing? This is Farkle recovering from being shot.

Part 1: They are Always

Author’s Note: Speaking with the person who gave me the original prompt for They are Always inspired me to do a part 2 for it… and so here it is… so many emotions!!!

Maya decides it is best for her to watch from afar.

Her two best friends are so wrapped up in each other that she wonders if they even realize they are still occupying a crowded hospital room. Riley tangles Farkle’s fingers with her own and presses the back of his hand into her chest, forehead-to-forehead as she quietly hushes him.

He’s two days out of being shot and he doesn’t like how the pain medication messes with his head so he has started refusing it.

Well, Maya doesn’t like how the pain messes with his everything so she’s about two seconds from forcing the pills down his scrawny throat.

But instead, she watches from afar and lets Farkle groan and whimper through the flare until he settles back in. He clutches Riley’s hands the whole time, his other fist tight on his blanket with white knuckles. Maya knows the grips gotta hurt but her best friend doesn’t so much as flinch, just whispers comforting, sweet nothings for only the boy to hear until it passes.

When it does, Farkle’s whole body relaxes and he’s a little out of breath. His hand goes slack in Riley’s but she keeps their fingers intertwined, pressing a kiss to his forehead before she slides back into the seat at his bedside. Sleepily, she uses one hand to rub her eyes.

Maya steps forward and glances over at Jennifer Minkus, who is busy typing on her phone, before turning back to the brunette.

“How you doing, Riles?”

Riley’s big, brown eyes fly open and she sits up straight, “Me? Oh, I’m fine.”

Maya knows she’s not. It’s been at least twenty hours since Riley had gotten any sleep and even that had just been drifting in and out. There is no way she was running on anything but fumes. She quirks an eyebrow at her friend.

Running a thumb gently over Farkle’s knuckles, Riley looks back up at her boyfriend. He’s already drifted back off, pain and exhaustion leaving him in a constant state of almost-asleep.

“He needs me.”

Maya’s heart aches in her chest at Riley’s words. She knows it’s true. Farkle needs Riley and as long as he does, Riley will be there.

Even if it takes everything she’s got.

So, Maya sighs in resignation and decides it is best for her to watch from afar.

“Mom, can you just-“

“I cannot believe this! Do these doctor’s know who we are?! We have the money for you to stay here until your dying day and they want to send you home?!”

“Mom! Really-“

“No, Farkle! I will take care of this!”

Riley presses against the wall as Jennifer Bassett Minkus whirls past her and out of the hospital room. She tries to bite back a smile at the woman’s antics but it’s no good the moment her brown eyes meet Farkle’s rolling blue.

Coming more into the room, the girl crosses her arms over her chest, “So, she’s not happy that you got the go-ahead to go home.”

“Uh, no,” Farkle answers with a tired smile even though Riley had made more of a statement than a question. He’s sitting on the edge of his bed, dressed in normal clothes for the first time in days and even though he’s still sitting rigidly from pain and discomfort, the sight alone makes it easier for Riley to breathe.

He’s okay. He’s okay. He’s okay.

It’s all she can think most of the time.

As if reading her mind, Farkle takes one look at her and jerks his head in a gesture for her to come closer, “Come here, babe.”

Babe. 

It’s one of the small pieces of this new thing that they are and she holds it close to her heart. She’s never liked that particular pet name and yet she melts when he says it.

Bashfully, Riley moves to stand inches from Farkle, his height making them level even with him seated. Peeking up at him through long eyelashes, she doesn’t risk leaning into him like she would have before. She can’t stand the idea of causing him pain.

That doesn’t stop Farkle from wrapping her up and pulling her closer anyways. He buries his face in the crook of her neck, in her sunflower and strawberry hair. His breath warms her skin as he mumbles, “What’s a matter?”

Reaching up with some lingering reluctance, Riley combs her fingers through the hair at the back of Farkle’s neck. It’s been days since he’s been able to style it, so it’s soft like down feathers. God, she loves his hair.

“I’m not sure I’m so happy you’re going home either,” Lightly grasping the fist full of hair, Riley pulls Farkle’s head back so that their noses are inches apart. “Convince me, Dr. Turtleneck.”

It's supposed to be witty and joking and at ease but Farkle can read her as easily as he can read the periodic table so he knows better. He hears the fear and desperation underneath, the panic. It still astounds him that Riley Matthews panics over him.

Gripping her hips, Farkle pulls even her closer and ignores the unforgiving pain that shoots from his wrapped bullet wound.

“Riley, my vital signs have been ideal and consistent for an extended period of time. My wound is clean and wrapped, showing no unusual signs of redness or tenderness. I haven’t had any fevers or indications of infection and I’ve been off of opioids for over forty-eight hours without relapse. In summary, I am okay.”

Worrying at her lower lip, Riley nods but doesn’t meet those electric blue eyes. Seconds pass and then soft, warm, perfect lips are pressing against her own and her brain temporarily short circuits.

All she feels is Farkle’s hands against the small of her back, the erratic pounding of her own heartbeat in her chest, and the flush settling over her cheeks. All she cares about is the scent of fresh laundry and the gasp Farkle steals from her when his tongue skims over her lips. All she knows is God, she loves his hair and he's okay.

He goes home and he has nightmares where things go a little differently.

Farkle knows by the fourth night he shoots up in his bed, sweating and gasping, that he probably needs to address the issue but part of him is embarrassed.

He manages to be Maya and Riley’s hero one time and he can’t handle the emotional fallout afterward. For about five minutes, he considers just powering through but then he realizes that means he’ll have to keep having that nightmare and decides it’s just not worth it.

He can’t watch the man in the alley point his gun at Riley again.

He can’t hear the bullet fly from the chamber again.

He can’t see Riley fall again.

Riley helps the nightmares when she’s there.

They don’t come at all if her body is curled into his side, the warm Star Wars-themed comforter cocooning them together. She keeps making comments about how he’s her hero and how he’s saved her life three times now but Farkle knows the truth.

Riley’s his hero and she saves him every day.

When the Matthews insist that Riley has to go home for a night or two, Maya stays with him. It’s a fundamental part of Maya that she is different from Riley and her differences don’t make Farkle love her less. They make him love her differently. And she comforts him differently.

She plays cold, uses humor and mockery to keep herself distant, but there’s a fire in her eyes and soul that make it abundantly clear how much she cares.

They lay side-by-side and look up at his planetarium, without speaking. He’s on his back and she’s on her stomach with her head tipped back, blonde hair spilling down her shoulders to the sketchbook open before her.

When he ‘star gazes’ with Riley, it is hours of whispering the names of constellations and pointing out each planet and listing every moon. With Maya, it is nothing but silence as he contempts and she sketches and sketches, every now and then glancing over at him like he might just fade away if left unacknowledged for too long. He always just meets her gaze, telling her without words that he won’t.

The nightmare still comes when Maya is with him, but he can shake them once he sees her alive and asleep next to him.

It’s the first night that he has to go without Riley or Maya and his mother has to rattle him awake so as to stop his screaming that he finally admits he needs help. Someone outside of the two girls might be able to help him through this, though he’s not confident.

Sitting on the crinkly paper of the exam table, Farkle doesn’t quite get it.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The doctor slaps a nice, neat name on it and that makes his parents believe everything is solved…But it’s not. The guy scribbles his hard earned MD on a prescription for anti-anxiety medication and sends the family and the boy on their way. Farkle can admit that he’s a little on edge but it pisses him off that he still doesn’t feel like he has any real answers.

Physically, he understands the problem, he knows what’s wrong with him.

On a chemical level, the issue is an excess of stress hormones like cortisol in his bloodstream. This causes him to feel stressed, depressed, lackluster. They create the nightmares and the new ticks he keeps developing, seemingly daily, and even make him lose his appetite at every meal.

The pills are meant to stimulate the gamma-aminobutyric acid in his brain and release the gratification hormone, dopamine, into his system. It will relax him, supposedly calm him. A little dopamine can go a long way, his doctor actually jokes. Farkle thinks it’s pretty tactless.

But Farkle’s whole life has been one anxious moment to the next. He knows how to deal with anxiety and this, this all-consuming panic and random bouts of blinding fear; it’s different.

Something is wrong with him.

And no one seems to hear him when he tries to tell them. It makes him feel even crazier than he’s already starting to think he might be and that makes him want to just stop trying to tell them anything.

Riley listens, at least, but she doesn’t understand.

A piece of him, an essential part of his being, something fundamental is missing or broken or something. He doesn’t know, he isn’t sure, but he can’t shake the weight and emptiness of it. Pills aren’t going to help that.

Besides, the medication makes his head foggy, so it goes in the trash.

It doesn’t take long for him to get caught, surprisingly.

“I found them in the trash, Stuart! The trash!” Farkle can hear his mother scream which is impressive considering how far across the top floor she is. “He threw his medication away!”

A hand tightens on his bicep and he looks down at Riley’s dark eyes in the soft glow of the planetarium. They are nestled together under his covers, warm and secure. He actually feels safe with her right there, a feeling he’s beginning to forget more and more every day.

“Tell me you didn’t.” She says, her voice quiet and wavering a little.

He doesn’t want to let her down but he can’t lie… They don’t lie to each other.

Riley sighs and sits up, hovering over him with the ends of her long hair tickling his cheeks. Tears pool in her eyes and he feels like complete shit because not only did he let her down but now he’d made her cry and goddamn it, Minkus…

“PTSD is serious, Farkle. I understand that the pills don’t work for you, but promise me you’ll find something that does. Don’t just let this go. Promise.”

Farkle stays silent and his gaze flickers back up to Cassiopeia over Riley’s head and then to Orion. Orion, the Hunter, who in his myth had been killed by a single, small scorpion after conquering all of the beasts of the land. He’d underestimated the severity of his opponent and it had cost him.

Reaching up, Farkle takes Riley’s face in his hands and kisses her, hard. After a long moment, the two pulled apart, both breathless, and his heart stutters because she’s smiling at him again and it’s been a while since she’s done that.

“I promise.”

It takes time.

However, Farkle has learned from his experiences with Riley Matthews that all great things do.

He has a panic attack the first day he returns to school and it’s Maya who finally manages to pull him back. Lucas joking smacks his shoulder about a month later and receives a hard right hook to the jaw out of instinct and fear but Farkle is forgiven instantly. Now, Smackle asks before she gives him a hug, the same way he once asked her. And Zay actually gets him to laugh.

It takes time.

But slowly, he learns to walk the streets of New York alone again. Reluctantly, he gets to the point where he can go outside without feeling like someone is lurking around every corner. And eventually, eventually, he starts sleeping through the night again on his own.

It takes time. But Riley is there.

She always is.

PTSD, depression, and anxiety are no joke guys. I wrote Farkle’s trauma from a different point of view as I do not have PTSD but I do have several anxiety issues and disorders and struggle on and off with depression. If you are suffering, remember you aren’t alone. If you ever need someone to talk to, PM me or contact the suicide prevention hotline at: 1-800-273-8255.

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