A/N: Bark! Meow! Tweet!/Kono unmei wa utsukushiku... Oh, we're back? Oh! Right. Hello!

SuprSingr: This is sooooooo a Huzzah Moment! So... HUZZAH!

NintendoGal55: We hope you enjoy their getting closerness! And oh, all of the movies and music artists mentioned are all spoofed from real life. See if you can spot them! :D

The following is a "SuprNintendo Production" written by both SuprSingr and NintendoGal55.

Disclaimer: Interesting how we've informed everyone that we DON'T own this show six times... but they're still making us do this!/WE. OWN. NOTHING. OKAY?! Good.


Arnold Loves Helga

Chapter 7

The pair walked on down the darkened city streets in the direction of the Sunset Arms in contended silence. The past couple of hours had been really fun, a lot more fun than either of them expected, so much so that neither of them wanted it to end.

Arnold felt admittedly very surprised at how he'd gathered his courage to practically admit to Helga he didn't want the date to end so soon, which was why he invited her over. It was even surprising to him, having not expected that he'd want to still spend more time with her, and yet, now he really did. It was, after all, the only time they'd ever get to this. Unless he maybe asked her out again, but the result of that would most likely not be positive.

The thought disappointed him a little. No, quite a bit more than before. He'd never had so much fun with a girl before, unless you counted Valentine's Day. This was different, though. A lot different.

Another thought occurred to him then. Could he possibly have a crush on her? He wasn't sure. He definitely liked her a lot, and enjoyed spending time with her when she was actually being herself, but a crush? No, it seemed so wrong.

And yet so right.

He shook his head to rid himself of such thoughts and let out the deep breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and looked at Helga again. Despite she looked a little disheveled from earlier, she still looked beautiful. Especially now, she was smiling a bit as they were walking together, looking lost in thought. He could remember all the times she smiled this evening, and couldn't help but think of how beautiful her smile was.

He looked down at their hands, only now pretty much registering the fact that they were holding hands. Of course, he had taken her hand and led her off down the street when she'd agreed to go back with him to the boarding house. This was certainly new, he'd never held hands with anyone aside from his grandparents and relatives. It was his first time holding hands with a girl, and it felt...nice.

Helga tilted her head ever so slightly to get a look at him out of the corner of her eye, and noticed him staring down at their joined hands. It was right then that she too noticed that they were still holding hands. She hadn't really noticed... it just felt natural. But... maybe he found it uncomfortable? He did keep glancing at their hands every few seconds as they walked. She gulped a little, suddenly feeling nervous, and unwrapped her fingers from around his hand, then carefully slid it out of his own all together. She smiled nervously at him, and rubbed her arm nervously as they continued to walk. "Sorry, Arnold. I, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. If you didn't want to hold hands you should have just said so." She offered a more firm smile, though she knew she still must have looked pretty nervous considering what a wreck she was inwardly.

Arnold blinked at her, and shook his head, gently taking her hand again. "I don't mind. I've just never really held hands with a girl before. It's... kinda nice." He smiled at her.

She inwardly squealed, while on the outside her nervous smile finally morphed into a genuine, full one. "Oh," She looked away shyly. "okay."

He smiled, and then looked ahead again, as a contented silence enveloped them once again.

Arnold thought, it was a bit odd how nervous and shy she was being... then again, her behavior all night had been a bit strange. She'd been pretty okay all night... well, more than okay. Nice. The entire evening had been extremely pleasant. She was... interesting. He didn't quite know what word to describe her as. She was interesting... and he liked it.

But right now she was being so quiet. So shy. Looking a bit nervous and... sweet. He shook his head of these thoughts. It was silly. But... she was acting weird around him... was it possible that she liked him? Like, really liked him?

He almost laughed at the thought. Helga... liking HIM? That was ridiculous. She'd always been so mean to him, and she'd seemed pretty upset about going on a date with him.

No, she definitely didn't like him... before. His heart raced. Could she possibly like him like him NOW? His heart fluttered at the idea. He blinked, and shook his head. That was strange. Why would he care? It wasn't like he liked her liked her... right? Right. Still, his heart fluttered, for whatever reason, at the idea of her actually liking him in a more romantic sense.

Once more, it brought the question back to him. Did he like her? REALLY like her? He still wasn't sure. But strangely, he just couldn't say yes, but he also couldn't say no either.

In all honesty, he didn't know.

'I'll figure it out eventually.' Arnold thought, unconsciously squeezing her hand a little tighter. 'But if I DO turn out to like her...well, like her like her, what do I do then? Obviously I'd want to go out with her again, but would she want that?'

He sighed. This was all too difficult to think about now. He should just enjoy the rest of the evening with her while he could. He'd worry about the future later.

Thankfully, they were nearing the boarding house, he could see it down the street where they were at. Arnold released the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in, feeling a little more at ease. They'd go back to the boarding house, watch a movie or two, eat some ice cream, and just have fun. Never mind the difficult stuff right now. That was for later.

"So Arnold, what ice cream flavours do you have? They better be good." Helga suddenly said.

Snapped out of his reverie, Arnold shook his head frantically. "Oh, right, ice cream. Yeah, I think we have chocolate and vanilla, and...orange, I think."

"Orange?" Helga parroted, snickering. "I don't think I've had orange."

"It's pretty good, actually." Arnold told her. "I think you'll like it, if you like sweet ice cream with a touch of the tangy fruity taste."

"Huh...well! I like the sound of a challenge, football head." Helga smirked. "All right, I'll try it."

Arnold smiled fondly at her and gave a nod. "Okay, Helga. I think you'll really like it, trust me."

"Whatever you say, Arnold." Helga said nonchalantly.

He snickered a little. "Isn't that supposed to be my line?"

"Oops. Sorry." Helga smirked, not the least bit sorry.

"Criminy." Arnold said, giving a light smirk of his own.

Helga blinked in surprise at his response, and then burst into genuine giggles, bringing her free hand to her mouth. Arnold smiled at the display and found himself laughing along with her.

Pretty soon, they finally reached the front stoop of the boarding house. Arnold opened the door, and the barrage of animals came flocking out, with Abner casting a glance at Helga, his little eyes seeming to say "I know you!" before he led the rest of the animals along outside. Helga, caught off guard, grabbed onto Arnold for protection.

"You let them out this late?" She asked.

"Sometimes, yeah. When it's more quiet and all." He nodded.

He led her inside and shut the door behind them, just as Phil came to greet them from the kitchen.

"Well hey! Welcome back, short man!" He cajoled, and his eyes fell on Helga. "And well! If it isn't Helga." His eyes twinkled knowingly, making ure Helga's own eyes widen.

"Grandpa, I invited Helga over so we could watch movies and have some ice cream, if that's okay." Arnold explained.

Phil grinned a secret grin, casting it to Helga for a moment, which only made her eyes widen more. "Sounds good, Shortman. I'm guessing your little date has been going well, then?" He raised an eyebrow, still smiling.

Arnold's own eyes widened then, and he looked away. "Uh, sure." He took Helga's hand again, and began leading her up the stairs to his room, a bit briskly as he knew of what his grandfather was capable of. "Well, I'll just take Helga up to my room then!" He ran up the remainder of the stairs, Helga dragging behind a bit as she struggled to keep up, and as they entered the hall, Phil could hear Helga's voice ring out, "Woa! Where's the fire, Football Head?! Slow down!"

"Sorry, Helga."

Phil chuckled, and turned around, beginning to walk back into the living room. "I'm such a wily old coot..."


Arnold walked up the stair of his room, and then opened the door and stepped aside for Helga to go in first. She smiled and walked in, observing the room in wonderment. Of course she'd been in his room before... but it was still so enchanting.

Arnold walked in after, observing her far away look with a bit of pride. He took her arm gently, and turned her around a little to face him. "Um, you can just sit on the couch and wait while I go get the ice cream."

She looked over at him, and blinked, as her eyes wandered the room. "What couch?"

He smiled a little, and grabbed his remote from his bed, then pressed a button and a red, retro couch flipped out from the wall.

She turned around, and smiled "Fancy." She commented coolly. Of course she'd already known he had a flip out couch from the one time she had been traveling through his air vents to get the tape from his phone to-... she really didn't want to think about that again. She walked over and sat down on it, crossing her legs.

He smiled, walking out the door, before he poked his head back in and asked, "You want orange, right?"

She smirked. "I thought we already went over this."

He gave her a light smirk back before poking his head back out and shutting the door.

As soon as the door clicked shut, Helga ran over and jumped onto his bed, giggling like crazy as she buried her head into his pillow.


Phil chuckled as he walked into the kitchen, yelling back to Gertie from the doorway. "Yeah, don't get so ahead of yourself, Pookie! It's only their first date! We've got plenty of time to plan the wedding!" He chuckled once more, just turning around to find Arnold standing there stalk still, his eyes wide, mouth agape, and an orange popsicle stick in each hand, and Phil thought he could even see a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

"You all right there, short man?" Phil grinned at his grandson with amusement. "Gettin' cold feet already?"

"G-Grandpa...! We...I...." Arnold stammered. "...Never mind."

He hurried away to get back upstairs, and Phil laughed to himself.

"Ah, our little Arnold is growing up..."


Arnold returned to his room, shutting the door behind him and taking a deep breath. His gaze fell back on Helga, who was staring at him with a look of amusement and confusion, one side of her eyebrow raised.

"What's with you?" She asked.

"Uh...nothing, nothing, Helga. Um, here." He went over to her and handed her one of the popsicle sticks, then sat down on the couch next to her.

"Oookaaayy..." Helga was weirded out, but decided against asking any further. Hey, he showed her the same courtesy most of this evening, maybe it was time to return the favour. She shrugged and licked her popsicle, testing the flavour before licking it once more to absorb it. "Hey, you're right. It IS good."

Arnold smiled, licking his own popsicle. "I know, isn't it?"

"What? No 'I told you so'? Come on football head, if you're going to prove me right about something, at least play the part!" Helga teased, closing her mouth around the tip of the popsicle thoughtfully.

"Oh, sorry, Helga." Arnold rubbed the back of his neck and smirked a little. "I mean, I told you so."

"Too late now, hair boy."

"It's never too late to correct a mistake."

"You and your goody-two-shoes Saint-Like Do-Gooder stuff. Why do you have to hit things so close to home, football head?"

"I guess it's just what I try to do." Arnold shrugged a little.

Helga smirked lightly, taking a small bite of her popsicle. "Whatever you say. So, football head, what movies do you have in store for tonight?"

Arnold blinked, a pensive look coming to his face. He stuffed the popsicle into his mouth and stood, walking over to his shelf and looking through his videos. He came to one, and smirked, popping his popsicle out of his mouth and turning to Helga, video in hand. "What would you think of watching 'That oh so Special Someone'?" He grinned mockingly.

Helga scrunched her eyebrow down, and bit off a large portion of the popsicle, staring him in the eye. "I've got a better idea. How about we watch football? I always love to watch those big buff meaty lookin' guys kicking that football all over the place... makes ya think, doesn't it?" She glared at him.

Arnold rolled his eyes, and turned back around, placing it back on his shelf. "Yeah, I was actually hoping you'd say that. My grandma loves that movie."

Helga made a face, and then shook her head a little. "Ugh, Olga made me watch it once. Worst twelve seconds of my life." She rolled her eyes.

Arnold turned back around to look at her, and raised an eyebrow. "But the movie is an hour and fifty-seven minutes long."

Helga laughed a little, and stuffed the last of her popsicle into her mouth. "Yeah, but it only took me twelve seconds to fall asleep." She cackled a little, and threw her popsicle stick across the room and into his trash can.

Arnold smiled. "Good shot." He commented, somewhat absent-mindedly as he turned back around and began flipping through his videos again, his popsicle hanging from his mouth.

Helga smiled at the back of his head, and almost let out a lovesick sigh, but she caught herself, and stood up to go and help him look for a movie. She stood beside him, now looking through them. "Let's see here... Moll-E... Over the shrub... Finding Emo... Monsters Corp... What the?" She held one up, raising one side of her eyebrow.

Arnold looked over at her curiously. "What?"

"Disco Dancing..." She gave him an amused look, the video still held up to her face. "Why, Hair boy, I didn't know you danced."

Arnold sighed, and began looking through the videos again. "I don't dance disco, Helga. It's my grandma's video."

She blinked at him, looking back at the video, then back to him. "Why is your grandma's video in your room?"

Arnold paused a moment, his eyes widening a little, and then he simply shook his head and went back to looking through his videos again. "I don't wanna know, and I have a feeling you wouldn't wanna know either."

Helga raised one side of her eyebrow, but then simply shrugged and placed the video back on his shelf. "'Kay..." She looked through the videos again, and suddenly her eyes lit up and she picked one out. "Well, what do ya know. The football head has good taste."

Arnold smiled a little as he looked over at her, then looked at the video in her hand and smiled a little. "Yeah, I love that movie."

She grinned, looking on the back of the movie case. "The Satrix." She shook her head. "Geez, this movie is cool." She tossed it to Arnold, and walked back over to the couch to sit down.

"It really is cool all right." Arnold went into his closet, and took out a rolling tray trolley, with a decent-sized portable TV and a video player sitting on it. "Sometimes if I'm home sick or just want to be on my own, I watch a movie myself." He turned the TV on and inserted the video, pressing play.

"Pretty dandy. Wish I had a TV in my room." Helga said nonchalantly, crossing her legs again. She looked around his room, though despite seeing it before. "Come to think of it, your sound system is so boss. I sure wouldn't mind having that in my room either."

Arnold blushed a little, sitting back down beside her with the remote in hand. "Thanks, Helga. It's pretty fun, I even have a collection of vinyl records and a vinyl player."

"Well...surprise surprise," Helga leaned toward him, perching her arm on her leg, laying her chin on her fist. "So who do you like?"

Arnold fast-forwarded the movie as he pondered her question. "I've got a collection of the classic Dino Spumoni records, um... I also have some of The Bees, Steve Wonder, Gordie Dex, Charlie Ray, Les Armstrong, Tommy William, Elvin Parksley..."

"Well! The football head has really good taste." Helga's eyes twinkled.

"...Really?" Arnold looked to her in amazement. "Most people I know think it's dumb that I like classic music from decades back."

"What do they know?" She snorted. "For your information, hair boy, I've got a pretty good collection of records back at home myself. Especially those classic rock bands, like the Roller Rocks, Lev Jeppelin, Jim Hendricks, The What, The Windows, Roses and Guns, DC/BC, Det Lennard, Arrowsmith....I could go on, but that's the gist of it."

"Wow." He murmured in amazement, and pressed Play on the remote just as the movie was starting. "That's really cool, Helga. They all have really great music, even if I don't listen to much of it, I can't deny that they're really good."

"Darn straight." Helga winked, and turned her attention to the movie. "All right, now let's watch the Satrix and get lost in the world of technology."

"Whatever you say, Helga." Arnold smiled.

They fell silent as the movie started, watching attentively.


Meanwhile, Gerald and Phoebe were just leaving Dino Land together, holding hands as they exited the park.

"Man, that was great! I had a great time! Did you?" Gerald looked at Phoebe with a fond grin.

Phoebe smiled and nodded. "I did, Gerald. I had a very good time with you tonight."

Gerald gave a soft blush and grinned. "Glad to hear it, babe. Man, I hope I can say the same for Arnold, since he's stuck out with Helga."

"I think you might be surprised, Gerald." Phoebe said softly.

"Huh? You think so?" He glanced at her curiously.

"I know Helga comes off as a bully to everyone, but once you get to know her and she relaxes, you may see a different side of her." Phoebe explained.

"Ohhh..." Gerald said, and nodded. He smiled, trusting her judgment. "Whatever you say, Pheebs. Want to go get some ice cream and then I'll walk you home?"

Phoebe beamed and nodded. "Sure...I'd like that very much, Gerald." She looked at her watch. "We still have an hour before my curfew, so we should have plenty of time."

"All right, then let's go, M'Lady." Gerald said smoothly, pushing his hair back, which only sprang back up, making Phoebe laugh.

Yeah, he could get used to spending more time with Phoebe.


"Oh oh! Here comes one of the best parts! You know, when he shoots the gun and it goes into bullet time while the camera rotates? That, is so boss."

"I know, it's pretty cool how they did that with all the effects and everything. Apparently it revolutionized the movie industry."

"Well doi! With a neat effect like that, no wonder!" Helga gripped her knees with anticipation and then managed to relax, leaning back into the couch, which was incredibly comfortable.

Arnold chuckled and nodded in agreement, looking away from the movie and then at Helga for a moment. At least she was still having a good time, which was a good sign. He was too. He was having a REALLY good time with her. A great time, even. So much so, that he really didn't want the date to end. It was after all, the only time he'd ever get to spend with her. In just a matter of a few hours, he had gone from more or less tolerating her, and yet not exactly fond of her, having SOME moments of appreciating her nicer side, all the way to really, really, liking her a lot.

Now it was getting late, and in less than an hour, she would have to go home, and they'd go to school the following week back to the way they were, much to his utter dismay. While it would be easier, considering how she wasn't comfortable exposing herself to their peers, it saddened him because he really wanted to go out with her again sometime. Hanging out with Helga was so much fun, he didn't have one boring moment with her at all. She was witty, full of life, sarcastic but genuinely funny, vivacious, not afraid to speak her mind, and very intimidating when the situation called for it. He'd always been into easy, soft and plush girls, but Helga was none of that. At least, not ONLY that. She was the best of both worlds of being strong and nice at the same time.

He was so wrapped up in his thoughts, that he didn't even notice that he was scooting closer to her on the couch. Maybe it was part of the movie date criteria, or maybe he unconsciously wanted to get close to her because of the circumstances.

Thankfully, it was inconspicuous, since Helga didn't seem to notice at first. But eventually, he was so close to her that their legs nearly touched. When she did notice, she blushed a little, realizing what he was doing.

Letting out the deep breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, Helga gave a smile and went for it, leaning toward him and laying her head on his shoulder.

Arnold was a bit startled by this new development, but after a few seconds, he relaxed and a smile even came to his face when the strong scent of vanilla wafted up to his nose.

He hesitated a moment, but then raised his arm up, and purely out of instinct and nerves, he yawned before letting his arm rest around her shoulders.

Helga sighed in contentment, and allowed herself to relax a bit more on his form, a soft smile resting on her face.

Arnold looked down at her, butterflies swarming around in his stomach, and hugged her a bit by her shoulders. He saw the smile on her face, and he could feel the corners of his lips begin to curl up into his own smile.

They stayed like that the remainder of the movie.