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 belong 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…