#bc i thought alan at first despite the missing blue hair

[zenjikotodama]

what is this ad supposed to convey exactly 😭😭

[couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name]

can you do a headcanon where riley stays with eric for like a summer?

absolutely

Okay so 9th grade is drawing to a close and Riley’s a bit of an emotional mess

She’s just officially dumped Lucas after a few months of him being a shitty boyfriend and leaving her confused

She’s been picking up hints that Farkle’s actually interested in her, and by now she knows how she feels about him, but the dummy is still dating Isadora and hasn’t outright said anything so she’s just upset and confused about that whole situation

Her self-esteem is at an all time low, she’s fighting with Topanga more and more, she doesn’t want to talk about most of that with Maya and that’s causing them to fight a little

Basically she’s just back in ‘tired’ mode you feel

So Cory picks up on this and knows she just needs a general break so he starts looking up like if there’s any sleep away camps for her but he’s not finding anything he thinks she’d be thrilled with

And he does this for a while and just mentions it in passing to Eric (bc Eric knew something was up with her and wanted details) and Eric’s just like “dude I’m gonna be in DC for most of the summer and they’re running this program where high school kids can intern for their state’s senators. I’m SURE I could pull some strings and get Riley in”

And Cory thinks that sounds perfect bc he knows Riley misses being close to Eric and it’d be a great way for her to just forget about everything back home for two months and learn some things about politics while she’s at it

Topanga is sold because she thinks it would look great for college and job resumes

So one day after a particularly horrid day at school, during which she overheard 10 different classmates wonder when lucaya would get together now that Riley’s not ‘holding him back’, Smackle announced it was her and Farkle’s one year anniversary, and she accidentally toppled a pyramid during cheer practice, this girl is fucking done. She just wants to sleep. But Eric appears from the shadows and drags her off to dinner at some fancy restaurant

Like she appreciates the gesture but she’s not feeling it Topanga dead ass had to get a dress and shove her into the bathroom lmao

But anyway they get there and have a nice dinner. It’s literally just mostly Riley venting about all her problems while Eric nod’s and “no” ‘s appropriately

But sometime during dessert he just out of the blue “hey you wanna live with me this summer?”

This man has no tact there was no build up Riley was caught so off guard omfg

But he explains the whole internship thing, and he’s like “You’re a model student and I already spoke to the head of the program, they have no problem giving you the spot. I’ve got this big place in DC and Jack’s only going to be able to come by sporadically because of the company so that leaves plenty of time for uncle/niche bonding when I’m not at work. You’d get to meet a bunch of new kids your age, and I’m sure all the Smivy League colleges you’re shooting for will think this is great. You won’t have to focus on any drama with your friends until August. So, I’ll give you a few days to think about it? You know you can call me whenev-”

But Riley’s already shouting “YES!!!!” at the top of her lungs and lowkey tearing up omfg she’s so happy about this

Eric was not expecting this enthusiastic of a response but Riley’s hugging him and seems genuinely happy and excited for the first time all night so he’s thrilled

Okay, so she had to leave to be in DC about a week before her school actually got out. (Technically two, if you count the three days for exams) Cory worked it out so she took all her exams early on the weekend before she left

And Riley was like “Now, I could be mature about this and tell all my friends about this…Or I could be me and just up and leave with absolutely no warning and not give them any solid explanations unless I’m feeling better in August.”

She decides to go with that and swears Cory and Topanga and Auggie to secrecy lmao

Like literally the gang walks into History class one day and they’re all “Wtf where the hell is Riley she’s never absent” and Cory’s just like “Oh she moved to Washington please turn to page 394.”

You can imagine the reactions that got lmaoooo

So anyway, Riley’s in awe of Eric’s place in DC cause it’s so big and fancy

She doesn’t have to do anything her first day there so he sets her up with someone to take her on a tour of all the important buildings and stuff and she meets a couple of other intern kids so she has fun

And then when she actually starts the intern job it’s literally basically just following him around to take notes at meetings and getting messages to other senators and making coffee. She doesn’t find it that much of a hassle and really gets to know some of the other kids pretty well

They all have relatively the same grades and college aspirations as her and she’s like!!! Finally!!! People who are as smart as me but not obnoxiously condescending about it as Farkle and Smackle!!!

OR Finally!!!! People who seem to like me and not find any parts of me too annoying like Lucas and Maya!!!

Or Finally!!! People who don’t make me feel like they’re only talking to me out of convenience like Zay!!!

Like obviously Riley still adores her friends, she always will, but this was like a big eye opener that not every single person in the world is going to view her in the same way her friends and family do.

 And that really helped with her self-esteem a bit. Did it also help that Maya wasn’t there so she could constantly feel overshadowed? Yes. Like, she knows Maya’s in her life for eternity, but having a couple months to learn to thrive without her was really helpful for Riley. Same with not having Topanga try to nit-pick everything she does, or Cory constantly worrying over her, or things like that.

Eric was a pretty chill guardian. He gave her space to grow and try to figure things out about herself, he had no problem with her hanging out with the other internship kids. He let her dye the ends of her hair purple (which she pulled into a bun during work hours to look more professional), she got another ear piercing, she started playing guitar again which she hadn’t really consistently done in years (Eric had somehow ended up with one of Alan’s old ones, but he never used it despite his talent for it lol. Riley found it in a space room when she was exploring around one day since Eric and Jack went for dinner)

And Riley loves spending all this time with Eric again. Since he was around daily in her early childhood, and she had never completely taken well to him moving out. While they stayed close through the years there was just something different about it, you know? So hanging out with him every day made her happy and feel a lot more carefree.

He took her out for lunch every day unless he had to work through it, they saw movies whenever they could, he let her drag him onto a couple horrid shopping trips (with all the pink he was starting to have war flashbacks to Desire lol), her Instagram was flooded with cute selfies of them, they ate way too much pizza because cooking will never be Eric’s strong spot, he took her to see a musical one night. They were having a lot of fun.

And Eric was just thrilled bc Riley was deadass thriving like she was so on top of everything for work and was always having fun with the other interns. She was back to huge, bright smiles never leaving her face, there was a bounce in her step at all times, she joked around a lot and everyone at the office adored her.

Riley, true to plan, barely spent any time worrying about any drama she had back home. She was living in the moment and being happy. She occasionally shot her friends short updates like “Having so much fun here! Can’t talk right now, too busy, but can’t wait to see you guys when I get back!” but that was basically all the thought she was giving them. This was a summer of having fun and focusing on herself and her own shit and that’s what she was committed to doing

There were a few instances where Eric and Jack had her go through everything that was upsetting her, just so she doesn’t go back and just immediately fall back into those situations.

Conclusions she came to:

1) She was absolute on her feelings for Farkle, and felt she had dropped enough hints alluding to them. The boy and Smackle had officially broken up sometime in late June, and after all the drama of Lucas being such a passive boyfriend, she demanded that Farkle would have to be smart enough to make the first move.

2) She needed to stop being so symbiotic with Maya, or else she will never escape feeling overshadowed by her. She was sorta getting there with cheerleading, but she shouldn’t let devotion to her friend stop her from joining other clubs she wanted to, like physics club or sci fi club or drama club or GSA or student council or film club or the basketball team or a book club. She just needed some space away from Maya in places she knew she’d enjoy and shine in.

3) She already knew she was completely over Lucas Friar’s ass, but she needed to stop listening to her obnoxious classmates gossip about them. They had no real idea of anything that went on between them, so whatever they have to say shouldn’t effect her

4) Her grades were just as good as Farkle and Smackle’s, and she was going to make damn sure they remembered that when school started back up. She was sick of being made to feel like an idiot just because she didn’t laude her grades over everyone (however unintentionally the duo were doing that). She knew Farkle was mostly better considering she had floored him when she turned out to tutor him in math earlier in the year, so her main focus was just beating Smackle at like every test she could lol. It might be slightly petty but what else do you want from a 15 year old?

5) She was going to sit down and have a LONG talk with Topanga about how she makes her feel.

6) She is going to remain in contact with all her new friends from across the country and make more in the clubs she’s planning on joining. Her little group is still who she feels closest to and she has no plans on ditching them, but she still wants to branch out and not feel dependent on people who don’t feel dependent on her. She doesn’t want to feel dependent on ANYBODY.

And various other ideas on just how to keep herself sane and happy. Eric is extremely proud of her for all this yes he cries a bit

She also has a brief fling with one of the other interns and they both know it’s not serious or going anywhere and tbh that kinda thrills her to just spend a few weeks kissing someone she knows she doesn’t have to feel destined to marry. Having something so non-serious like that helps her feel more like she’s growing into her own person and isn’t supposed to repeat the steps of her parents

Eric gave her a diary so she could keep a very detailed account of all she’s going through and figuring out

Did they spend a bunch of time reminiscing old memories??? Yes. Because Eric has way too many baby pictures of her lol

All in all they just really re-bonded and Riley really started blossoming during this summer. But she did eventually have to head back home.

There was a big ‘welcome back’ party planned at the bakery, and they were all expecting the Riley Matthews who left to walk through the doors right

But instead in walks Riley Matthews, who doesn’t have bags under her eyes and who seems like she’s almost glowing. Spring in her step, bright smile, purple hair, taller, not sleep deprived, looking genuinely happy to see everyone. She seems sure of herself and confident, everyone is fucking floored yo

She did throw glitter in the air for her own entrance though, so they did know their girl was in there lol

She maintains the summer spent with Eric was one of the best moves of her life Topanga and Cory are lowkey like is this an insult lol

So yeah season 4′s happening so we can get the developed and confident Riley we deserve what to you mean cancellation lmao you must have misheard