Ship: Riarkle, slight Rucas
Summary: He feels like he's burning, flying too close to the sun and he's addicted to the feeling of her warmth.
Note: I'm not a Greek mythology expert, so bear with me. Also, this is a little all over the place and long. I've never written Riarkle, as I am mainly a Riley/Lucas writer. This is heavy on unrequited love, but not put into simple words.
His father always warned him that if he got close to a flame, he'd burn up. The radiance is transfixing, but the pain was subjective. You had the choice to go towards the flame, not always of course, but when you did, that made all the difference.
He knew fire would cause pain, that was inevitable. The one thing he wasn't aware of was that the feeling of her warmth would essentially be the cause of his own emotional pain. She was warm and radiant and he was addicted to the feeling of being near her.
His father also warned him that if she was anything like her mother, a Minkus man wasn't for her. Flying too close to Topanga and Riley, only left the Minkus' men charred.
He tried not to dwell on that. He was young when he first heard those words and equally in love with the alluring moon that was Maya Hart. Although, as he got older he became fonder of the sun.
He couldn't explain the feeling he felt when she smiled. It wasn't like it was with Smackle. He had loved Smackle, now she loved Zay, and he was oddly okay with that. He wasn't okay with the way Lucas got lost in the brightness Riley exhibited.
He couldn't explain the biting feeling he got when Lucas would wrap his arm around her. The sun would magically highlight their form and they resembled a Greek God and Goddess.
Helios was a Titan, not well known and later on replaced by Apollo. But what Farkle did know was that Helios initially was the personification of the sun. Much like in his own world, Riley was Helios to him. His own personification of the sun, something so bright and beautiful and inherently dangerous.
He could say he was like Icarus, his father loved telling him that story. Icarus was the son of Daedalus a master craftsman. Wanting to escape from their confines, Daedalus sent Icarus off into the world with a pair of wings crafted by feathers and wax. Daedalus warned him not to fly too close to sea nor too close to the sun. He would burn up.
Icarus shrugged it off, the advice flying over his head. He soared high above the clouds, and Farkle likes to think that he got hypnotized by the sun. It was hard not to.
He flew too close and he burned up, falling into the waters below.
Farkle knew if he kept it up, he'd share the same fate as Icarus. Getting too close to Riley Matthews, his own version of Helios, meant he'd eventually burn up. He didn't care. He was far too lost in her beauty and aura to care now.
Perhaps, he was more like Phaeton, Helios son. Phaeton who was about to light the earth on fire due to his inability to control the horses from his father's chariot. A chariot that brought sunlight across the globe. Maybe he was too smug and that led to the disaster.
Farkle sometimes felt smug when Riley would smile at him instead of her boyfriend. He knew he shouldn't feel that way and he felt terrible considering Lucas was his friend. He was still trying to understand his own feelings and he didn't know what the outcome of these feelings was.
Would he set fire to his friendship with everyone over his feelings for Riley?
Zeus eventually stopped Phaeton by zapping him with a lightning bolt. The world wasn't engulfed in flames.
Farkle always thought Lucas was like Zeus. Strong, powerful, charming and had the stance of a God of all Gods. He not so secretly envied that, and it tore him apart to want to punch his freak faced friend.
Lucas would swoop in and zap him if he tried to make his feelings known. Not intentionally, of course, but he wouldn't let Farkle come between Riley and him.
Farkle hadn't meant to do it on purpose. He just wanted to feel the romantic happiness he saw when he saw Maya and Josh, Zay and Smackle, and Riley and Lucas.
He felt that pull to Riley, his warm, shining sun. She was as bright as the light above and as warm as an open flame and he was entirely consumed by it.
He shouldn't have done it, but he was having a hard time regretting it.
All he wanted to know was if her lips tasted like the rosy tips of dawn that reminded him of budding roses. That if her essence was as invigorating as he assumed.
She had been talking to him about needing to move on from Isadora. That little crinkle in between her eyebrows that only came upon view when she was passionately speaking, was showing and her mouth moved quickly. The dulcet tones of her voice mesmerized him and the glow of the sunlight fell upon her.
He felt his veins fill with fire and all he wanted to do was touch her. See if she was as warm as the sun. His own personification of the sun, his own Helios that was way more relevant than mythology thought.
She wasn't Apollo, she wasn't any regular goddess neither, nor was she still a female version of Helios. She was Riley and a full embodiment of something that brought light and life to him. Much like the sun brought light and life to the earth.
He grabbed her gently by the shoulders, the startled look on her face going unaware by him. He brought her close, cherishing the feeling of her warmth and the sparkling of her eyes.
She was so lively and full of color and it brightened up his dark, muted life.
Farkle pressed his lips to hers, tasting sunshine and somehow the fresh, dewy taste of spring. She didn't move, but he felt her warmth drain out of her and onto him.
He was addicted to it. He was addicted to her.
She pushed him off her, aghast, and quivering from what had happened. She looked at him, her eyes finding his soul as the light began to fill her up again.
He felt buoyant like he could fly above the clouds without a worry in the world. He felt the light inside him, the light he gained from her kiss. It made him tingle and he didn't feel so numb anymore.
However, that feeling was short-lived as a thunder clapped across the room.
Except it wasn't thunder, it was Lucas Friar.
Lucas Friar, the mirror image of what Farkle thought was Zeus, charged his way towards the young scientist. His eyes were lightning and his hands were death.
Zay and Josh tried to pull him away, but they stood no chance to a livid Lucas Friar. Instead, they fell in-line with the God of all Gods.
Lucas grabbed onto the hem of Farkle's shirt and pulled him to his level. Seething with a burning fury that not even a thousand suns could stop.
"Don't you dare touch her like that again," Lucas' voice was like hail, pelting him, but somehow Farkle remained unaffected. "Let this be a warning because we're friends all things considering."
Farkle wondered if Zeus ever felt territorial of Helios, or Apollo for that matter. Zeus was the God of the sky, did he think he had any control over the sun too?
Farkle's eyes flickered towards Riley's horrified form behind Lucas, Maya was holding her and trying to soothe her. Looking into her glassy eyes he knew she felt it too. How could she not? Lucas had no control over how she felt and he had no control over her.
"I don't regret doing what I did," Farkle murmured, a warmth springing up in his chest. "I don't regret kissing Riley, Lucas."
Lucas' chest rumbled and Farkle knew he didn't stand a chance against him. He felt more like Hades, stuck in a dull world full of ghosts and memories. All he wanted was a taste of life and light, something only Riley could bring.
Lucas rose his fist but was stopped by a timid Riley. She grabbed his fist mid-air and tugged his hand closer to her.
"This isn't you Lucas," Her voice swept over them like a soft, harmonious song and Farkle noticed the tension in Lucas' shoulders ease. "You shouldn't fight your friends."
"He kissed you," Lucas hissed tightening his other hand on Farkle's shirt.
"I didn't stop him." It was a lie, she had stopped him. She had pushed Farkle away, but he had already gotten his fix. "Look, we can work through this. He's not in a good place right now."
Farkle didn't know what to say. He blinked several times and adjusted his thoughts before he spoke.
"I'm sorry," He heaved out. He tried his best to sound sincere, but he wasn't sorry for kissing his own personal sun. "She's right. I guess it's just been really hard and I wasn't thinking. I'm sorry I kissed your girlfriend, it won't happen again."
He could see Smackle in the corner giving him a knowing look and he felt his insides stir with any uneasy feeling. He knew Smackle could see through him, he just hoped for everyone's sake she didn't outwardly tell everyone his true feelings for Riley.
"You're right it won't," Lucas agreed firmly as he released Farkle. "We're friends Farkle, you're like family. I know you'll find someone who lights up your world like she lights up my own."
Lucas grabbed Riley's hand and peppered tender kisses on her forehead. He felt the piercing pain in his chest, the pain he felt when he saw them together. His heart felt heavy with darkness, the light leaving him and flowing towards Lucas.
The light only she can conjure inside of people.
He knew then Lucas saw her as a Helios too. Not necessarily like a God, or Titan in the case of Helios, but in the full embodiment of a sun. A sun he wasn't willing to share. Helios was the name of the sun, Riley was the name of his sun. A sun that couldn't belong to Farkle.
Farkle knew he should have listened more to his father. Daedalus had the right idea of warning Icarus.
Farkle had flown too close to the sun and he had burned up.