A/N: After a recent binge of GMW, I'm feeling the urge to write Riarkle fic that demonstrates a realistic progression from friendship to romance over time. At the time that I'm writing this, the show has aired up through GM Sassy Halter Top. This chapter takes place during their junior year of high school.

1: Girl Meets Inertia

It's cold. Blisteringly cold. The wind blasts down New York City streets as the clouds gather overhead.

It smells like snow. Riley went to sleep tonight in snowflake pajamas - worn backwards and inside out, a superstitious practice she'd picked up at the age of four. To date, the pajamas have not failed to bring her joy.

The wind rattles the Bay Window, but Riley doesn't stir. She tosses beneath the covers. Buries her head in a pillow and softly snores. Riley doesn't hear the knocking when it comes. There's a rapping at the window, first soft, then urgent.

Nothing.

Farkle slides the window open, finally, and creeps inside like a Daddy Longlegs. He's practically too tall to function, a collection of limbs sewn together with string. Puberty gave to Farkle with both hands, and even now, Farkle would very much like to give some of it back.

Farkle immediately shuts the window behind him. Rubs his hands together for warmth and stalls. Riley is buried beneath a mountain of blankets and pillows.

Cautiously, Farkle approaches.

He taps her shoulder.

"Riley," he whispers.

Nothing. He squeezes her shoulder firmly, the warmth a welcome friend after his late night trek across the Lower East Side. God, what was he thinking?

"Riley," he says, a little louder.

He knows she's a heavy sleeper - finds it endearing, even - but tonight, Farkle doesn't have it in him to let her be.

"Riley," he says, desperation evident as his voice cracks. He shakes her. Pulls back the covers.

Riley starts awake, sees a man in her room and lashes out. "Intruder! I know tae kwon do!" She says, flailing wildly. Farkle falls to the ground and lands squarely on his butt.

"'I know kung fu.'"

"Then why are you on the ground?"

"No, the quote is- never mind."

"Farkle, what are you doing here?" she says, squinting through the dark. Riley glances at the digital readout at her bedside. 11:51 AM. "It's after 10 o'clock!"

"I know. I'm sorry."

Riley gets out of bed and offers him a hand.

"What's going on?"

Farkle stands. For a moment, he doesn't say anything. Just looks her in the eyes - trusting as always. Then he spots her outfit. He grabs the tag dangling in front of him.

"Why are your pajamas backwards and inside out?"

Riley looks down, suddenly embarrassed. "It's my snow day tradition. It's stupid."

"It's not stupid."

Riley grins. "Yeah, I kind of love it."

Farkle smiles, proud of his goofball friend for remaining a goofball after all these years, but it fades as he remembers his reason for coming.

"What's wrong?" she asks, instantly recognizing the shift. Farkle opens his mouth to speak, but the words don't come. Riley grabs his hand and pulls him to the Bay Window.

"Bay window," she says, almost threateningly.

"Do you remember how last year, I missed your acapella audition to go to Smackle's debate?"

"Farkle. We talked about this. Sometimes Smackle comes first."

He shakes his head, no. "Smackle gave me an ultimatum. I go to the debate, or we break up."

"Why did you never tell me this?"

"Because Smackle was right. My whole life, you and Maya have been the priority. It wasn't fair to Smackle. It made her feel unimportant, like she was less than you. I had to respect where she was coming from, even if it put me in an uncomfortable position."

"That's really mature, Farkle." Riley picks at the hem of her flannel sleeve. A loose thread.

"Maybe." He stares at his hands. Cracked and raw from the cold. "I thought I was doing the right thing. Going to Smackle's debate. Studying with Smackle instead of with you. Taking Smackle's train after school."

"She's your girlfriend."

Farkle is silent.

"She is your girlfriend." It's a question.

"I told her about Boxing Day."

Riley beams. "I love Boxing Day."

"I do too. But Smackle invited me to go to Hawaii with her family for Christmas-"

"Hawaii! Coconuts! Spam!"

"I said no."

"You...said no to a free trip to Hawaii with your girlfriend over Christmas?" Riley smacks his arm. "Who broke you?" she says.

"I'm not broken. I just...couldn't imagine spending the day after Christmas with anyone but you."

Realization dawns on Riley, all at once. "Smackle's not your girlfriend anymore."

He smiles sadly. "Smackle's not my girlfriend anymore." His eyes well up, and Riley the Nurturer springs forth from the deep. "Come here, genius." She pulls him close. He stretches an arm across her waist and buries his head in her neck. She strokes his hair.

"Tell me I didn't make a horrible mistake," he says.

"Are you kidding me? Farkle. I don't think you've made a single mistake in your entire life."

"That's not true," he says.

"Little things, maybe," Riley offers.

Farkle pulls away. He seems to retreat into himself. "What if the last three years were a complete waste?"

"How could you say that? We're been through so much."

"We have," he says, gesturing between them. His eyes are burning, now. "But what's the secret of life?"

"People change people," Riley says automatically.

"Smackle and I had the same relationship yesterday that we did three years ago. I'm a scientist, Riley. If the hypothesis is 'people change people,' I've either disproven it, or I'm an anomaly."

"Of course you're an anomaly. And so am I. And so are Smackle and Maya and Lucas and Zay."

"Like forces repel," he says, under his breath, like he's stumbled on an answer but hasn't yet found the question.

"What?"

"Like forces repel," he says, more confidently now. "Maybe your dad taught us that 'people change people' is the secret of life, but I think it's really that the people you should spend your life with are the ones that change you."

Riley stares at him for a long while, unsure how to respond. The Bay Window has failed, she thinks.

"I should go," he says. He turns to climb back out through the window, but Riley grabs his hand.

"You've changed me, Farkle," she says. "You change me every day."

"You change me, too." He sits back down but doesn't let go of her hand.

Outside, it snows.