Title: twenty times he saw her cry

Rating: T (language and possibly themes later on)

Summary: Throughout their years of friendship, Farkle Minkus has seen Maya Hart cry twenty times

Time 1: June 17th, 2009

It had been his birthday, and he had the whole class over, though most only showed up for the goody-bags. Farkle only had two real friends at this point, but to him, they were enough, and always would be. He would never need anyone else, as long as he had them. Because despite his odd tendencies and passion for learning, they put in the effort to get to know the real him. Riley's friendship had been near automatic, but Maya's had taken time to earn. She had found him interesting, but didn't put much effort into friendship in the beginning because she was used to people leaving her. So time and time again, Farkle proved he'd stick by her side, and they became friends.

And yeah, he knew Riley and Maya had a bond he couldn't compete with, but he was just happy to have two best friends.

Maya had been late to his party, but he wasn't surprised. She was late often, no matter what the occasion was. She came running excitedly into the park, a skateboard clutched in her hand.

Smiling, he ran over to one of the only people he actually wanted to spend his birthday with. "Maya! You made it."

"'Course I did. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't show up?" she shrugged nonchalantly. "I just went to pick up the skateboard the Matthews gave me for my birthday two weeks ago. It's finally ready." Maya fidgeted, tugging on the loose ends of the bracelet that Riley had given to her. "Anyways, I got you something," Maya dug through her pockets until she found the small, wrapped gift.

Grinning, Farkle took the gift from the blonde girl. "I'll go put it with the others. Then I want to see what tricks you can do."

Nodding, Maya replied. "Hey, where's Riley and everyone else?"

Shrugging, Farkle turned to walk towards the table covered in presents. "They're around here somewhere. They're playing some game I didn't want to play. We can go over to the blacktop and do something. We'll see them later when we have the cake."

Maya ran over to the blacktop, eager to see what she'd be able to do with her new gift. Shortly, Farkle joined her, setting himself down in the grass bordering the empty parking lot. "Let's see what you can do."

Maya accepted the challenge, and began circling the edge of the lot. Once she gathered enough speed, she attempted to do a trick she saw someone do on the internet one time. Just as she thought she had gotten it, her foot slipped and she was sent sprawling onto the hard surface, hitting it with a loud crack. Farkle's eyes widened as he ran over to her.

"Maya! Maya!"

She lifted her head, gently holding her left arm with her right. It was bent at an odd angle, and Maya's bright blue eyes were clouded with tears. Her lower lip began to quiver as the tears started falling from her eyes. "It hurts," she whimpered.

"I'll go get help," Farkle called, already standing. "You need to go to the hospital. You're going to need a cast."

Maya nodded, tears still falling. "Just hurry. It hurts."

Farkle ran off, yelling for his parents or for Riley's parents. "Mom, dad! Mr. and Mrs. Matthews! Help!"

Topanga was the first to notice the birthday boy calling for help and rushed over to him. "What's wrong?"

"It's Maya."

And that was all she needed to hear as she rushed off in the direction that Farkle's finger was point towards. She spotted Maya sitting on the black top, back turned towards her. She gently knelt down besides the girl who was becoming her daughter. "Maya, honey. I'm going to call an ambulance. Everything's going to be alright."

Maya turned her head towards Topanga, and Farkle noticed that her eyes were dry. He wouldn't have known she had cried if he hadn't seen it. He was confused as to why she had hid her tears from everyone else, but shook it off as Mrs. Matthews pulled out her phone to call an ambulance, motioning for him to comfort his fallen friend.

Once Maya had been taken away, Topanga going with her, Farkle noticed Maya's skateboard laying on the ground in two pieces from where its owner fell on it. He picked up both pieces, determined to give them back to Maya if she wanted them.

When she came back to school, Maya was sporting a purple cast. She held her head up, and didn't bat an eye at any questions. People complimented on her for being brave, because they heard she didn't cry. As she responded that she indeed did NOT cry, she glanced over at Farkle, silently communication to him. Don't tell them. Please, and he didn't want to betray her trust, so he never did.

She never asked for her skateboard back.

And that was the first time Farkle saw Maya cry.

an: this story is inspired by the lucaya fanfiction "twenty nights." I'll update this as soon as possible, but not as often as "and then she was gone"

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~R5 is my life