A/N: Yes, everyone, I have finally lost it. My brains are gone. They ran away in the night and are lost forever. Perhaps run over by a few hundred cars. Maybe eaten by a few dozen bugs or dragged away by one of my mom's many cats (Don't ask). But whatever happened to my brain, it does not matter, because I am now nuts.

Because everyone, I am going to attempt to write in Arnie's POV.

O_o

I told you I lost it. But did you listen...? ...Well, I don't know if you did or not, but if you didn't believe me - Boy did I prove you wrong! MWAHAHAHA!

Disclaimer: I do not own "Hey Arnold!" or the character of Arnie, no matter how much I wish I did. :(

Understanding

One-Shot

Arnie.

So many believe him to be such a simple boy living out in the country, no real problems in his life. Maybe a little eccentric, creepy, most would say. But he doesn't know why. People tend to stray away from him out in the city, despite how back in his home town nobody really treats him all that special or strangely. Maybe it's just because they've gotten so used to having him around, or maybe it's because he's not really all that different from the rest of them. So why everyone kept acting so weird around him out in Hillwood was beyond him. Maybe they just found some of the things he did as weird, but he never saw them as that, and he doesn't know why they would.

First, he has a lucky pile of dirt. Out on the farm, there wasn't much around to entertain anyone, and his family couldn't really afford much as it was, so it wasn't really surprising to anyone that he's got a lucky pile of dirt. He was more of a trend setter that way. Since the first day he announced he had one, everyone else around on the farm had to have one too. Maybe that was why he announced it so often in everyones' presence. He was proud of it. And Arnie doesn't have much he can really be proud of, so when he does, he tends to shove it in a lot of people's faces, hoping they'll be impressed. He was rather surprised when no one was singing his praises over that back in the city.

Secondly, he tends to favor plain flavored gum. So? Gum with too much flavor makes Arnie's taste buds scream, and he likes food that's more mild. He doesn't really like gum with artificial flavors anyway, especially since he lives on a farm. Why chew watermelon flavored gum when you can just go outback and pick yourself a fresh watermelon? Besides, he doesn't really chew it for the flavor, he just does it so his mouth will have something to do while he's just sitting, thinking in his room, or out back farming with his pa and ma.

Thirdly, he talks in a monotone most of the time. He doesn't really see this as any sort of problem. What's wrong with talking in a monotone? It's just the way his voice sounds out loud. Nothing really wrong with that. That's how his pa has always talked. And he just kind of picked up on it. He could never help it.

Fourth, he blinks one eye at a time. Yes, admittedly, it was a strange thing he did. But it was more natural than anything. He inherited that from his ma. Some sort of weird defect. But he never really minded it. And if people thought he was weird over something he couldn't control, well, then that was just dumb.

Fifth, he has a lint ball collection... Well, he really couldn't see even ONE thing wrong with that. There were people out there who collected rocks, for Pete's sake, and people were getting on him for having a collection of cute, little, fuzzy things? Seriously? Out on the farm, everything had always been about hard work, physical labor, and dedication to it. So he truly savored being able to hold something so small and soft in his hand after hours of work. He'd always wanted a hamster as a kid, but his pa had said he'd just end up killing it or something. So he had to settle for lint balls. It had become a hobby to find the little things, and before he knew it, he had a whole collection. So what?

Sixth, he likes to read the ingredients in snack products. Well, he just liked to know what the heck he was eating, okay? He never understood why people DIDN'T read them. Some of the disgusting stuff they put in those products were astounding to him. How could people eat that junk?

Seventh, he didn't talk much. He really couldn't help that. He was always more of a head in the clouds type of guy; Always stuck in his head. He only ever talked when completely necessary, because all he ever really wanted to do was think. Out on the farm, there weren't too many people around to talk to anyway, and he always had a lot of chores around the house. He'd been so used to doing those chores periodically everyday, that he just kind of did them automatically, more lost in his thoughts than anything. It made his actions and movements a bit more robotic than most people's, and perhaps only added to his supposed 'creepiness'. But that wasn't the point. The point was that he never had anyone to talk to, so that was simply the reason for the blank look in his eyes all the time, that glassiness glistening in them when he talked. He wasn't exactly a people person anyway. He was always more interested in thinking than talking, or maybe 'daydreaming' as his cousin always called it. He supposed it was also something he'd inherited from the family.

Speaking of which, this brought Arnie's thoughts to his cousin, Arnold.

Arnie's family member. Arnie's close relative. Arnie's cousin. Arnie's problem.

Yes, Arnie always had a problem with Arnold. A problem he really didn't want to admit to, but was undeniable.

Arnie was jealous.

Yes, Arnie was always jealous of Arnold, as far back as he could remember. After all, everyone always thought ARNIE was creepy, people never wanted to be around Arnie, people didn't understand Arnie, and nobody ever tried to. Not even Arnold, who was always so hell-bent on helping everyone.

But everyone always just loved Arnold. Arnold was trustworthy, loyal, friendly, kind, caring, sweet, funny, interesting, had morals, friends, family...!

But all Arnie had was a bunch of city people making funny looks at him and trying to stay as far away from him as possible.

Even back on the farm, Arnie's only friends were his lucky pile of dirt and his parents, and his parents were hardly ever around to chat with or anything, and they all never really talked around dinner time. They all just enjoyed the peace and quiet of the evening and being able to enjoy a nice home cooked meal. But sometimes, though Arnie never told anyone, he thought the silence might make him go mad.

Arnie's entire life had always appeared before him in gray. But everything Arnold touched seemed to turn to gold, and everyone loved him for it. But Arnie's life always seemed so bland, so pointless. So yes, he was jealous of Arnold, because Arnold was freaking perfect. Arnold actually had a 'personality'. He had friends to talk to and who loved him, and a family of eccentric but overall lovable people. He had a nice school, while Arnie's school was rather dull and boring, and people kind of just went in and learned, and then came back out and that was the end of it. Nothing interesting going on other than lots of tests.

It wasn't fair.

So yes, Arnie was jealous of Arnold.

But aside from all the depression in Arnie's life, there had been one small point in his life when Arnie had been truly happy.

Lila.

He'd met her on his last visit to his dear, old cousin.

The first time their eyes had met, he'd been spell bound. He didn't know whether or not you could see it on his face, but inside his heart had pretty much exploded. He didn't know anyone could look that... beautiful. And Arnie had never been one to dwell on such things as beauty, mainly because their wasn't much beauty on the farm. It was always hard to overlook the cow manure. But seeing her for the first time, he knew she was beautiful. He just knew. Her soft auburn locks, her twinkling green eyes, her soft, sweet smile, the way her hair blew melodiously in the wind...

He'd been lucky enough to have her love him back, too. And for once in his life, Arnie actually felt like someone understood him. It turned out she used to live on the farm too, which had been surprising to him considering how soft her hands and skin were to the touch. She seemed flawless. But overall, she understood him. No one had ever done that before, other than maybe his parents, and most definitely Lucky Pile of Dirt. But other than them, no one had ever cared enough to look beyond his outer appearance. But she had.

She was wonderful. She took ballet, and loved opera, but at the same time she was content with just staying home and having a good old fashioned home cooked meal. She was simple like that, and he loved it. But at the same time, she was so different from anyone he'd ever met before. In his world, everything was gray, nothing was ever interesting, or sometimes things were a bit too interesting for their own good. She was definitely one of them, because she'd managed to color his whole world with just a touch of her hand. She had talked about how apparently wonderful everything was, and she'd somehow managed to make his home life seem awesome too. Like, he'd talked briefly about how he was always stuck shoveling out all the manure from the horse stalls, but she'd gotten all excited over how wonderful it must have been to be around the horses while he did that. He'd never looked at it that way. He'd always been too focused on how disgusting the entire job was. But she'd managed to make it sound like he was going to be meeting with the queen or something as opposed to shoveling poo. Maybe most would say this was some defect she had, like she was a bit too optimistic and maybe a little too innocent for her own good. But Arnie loved her for that. He felt that if he had to, he'd fight all the monsters away forever, if just to keep that sparkling innocence and optimism in her eyes. It was much too beautiful to just kill off. She'd made everything gray and dull in his life seem beautiful, and he loved it.

The later fact that he'd noticed that Arnold was a wee bit jealous was only a bonus.

When he'd found out that Arnold actually had a crush on Lila, he'd been really happy. Finally, he had something Arnold didn't! Yes!

So not only did he have this incredibly wonderful girl by his side, he also had his cousin envious for once in his stinking life. He'd never been that happy before.

That is until... his cousin had turned his sights to an entirely new girl.

Helga.

What an interesting person for someone like his cousin to suddenly take an interest in. By what he'd seen, she was very negative, pessimistic, bitter... Though Arnie wasn't sure what of. But she was always stomping through the halls and just looking so angry all the time, though Arnie had noticed she didn't seem all that genuine about it. She was obviously faking. But why?

Well, not long after Arnold had suddenly become infatuated with this strange girl, Arnie had overheard her ranting or monologuing or whatever the heck you wanted to call it... about how much she adored his cousin.

Well, there was a shocker.

EVERYONE loved Arnold, though Helga had shown to apparently love him in a romantic sense... a lot.

Arnie wasn't sure what had been going on with him, but he'd suddenly snapped.

After all, no one had ever LOVED his cousin like that, and it was kind of something he had been hoping he could hold over him in the future. How cool would it be to have Arnold coming over to his house for romantic advice, like he was some god of girls or something? He could finally have at least ONE thing better than him. But hearing that this Helga girl apparently worshipped the ground he walked on, had sent Arnie's mind reeling.

So he did what he 'had to do'.

He b-b-broke up with L-Lila, and ruined Arnold's relationship with someone who undoubtedly loved him and would take care of him.

He was just so jealous.

Arnold had everything. Not only did Arnold have friends, family, and a great personality... he also had a girlfriend who loved him, and (If that whole gum sharing and hair brushing thing was any indication) who he loved back.

Well, Arnie just couldn't have that. He needed to have what Arnold had, and what Arnold had was Helga.

So he decided he loved her. He'd tried to see if he could woo his way into her heart, like he'd somehow managed to do with Lila. Maybe he was a bit too cocky after that one experience, but it WAS his first relationship with a girl, and Lila had been madly in love with him. If he could get someone as lovely as Lila to love him, then how hard could it be to get this Helga girl to love him too?

He'd been rather disappointed when Arnold hadn't seemed jealous at all, though. Granted, he had seemed a little concerned, but other than that... nothing.

He hadn't been able to ponder why because he'd had to go home not too long after that whole catastrophe.

And now, Arnie just doesn't know why he did it. Why he let his jealousy of his cousin get in the way of the love of his life...

Yes, nobody has ever understood Arnie.

Including himself.

A/N: Nyeh. I kind of feel like it's all over the place, ya know? But at the same time, I really like it. I don't know WHY no one has ever tried to delve any deeper into Arnie other than how he's just weird. This was actually REALLY fun to write. Plus, I've been kind of going over the mind-numbing task of trying to turn ArniexLila into an exciting pairing. That's actually why I wrote that one fic about Lila, and why now I have one about Arnie. I had to get in touch with their characters before I actually tried to write any sort of romance for them. I don't know who'll actually care, but I really want to try and make this pairing more interesting. I mean, for Heaven's sake! Lila said she was 'madly in love with him'. I mean, she's thrown around 'like' and 'like you like you' before, but she actually just blatantly said she was mad for him. How adorable is that? :D

Well, whether you think I've lost my marbles or not, I'd love it if anyone (ANYONE, really) would take the time to review what I've come up with... :) BUT NO FLAMES! }:(

REVIEW!