I've actually had this chapter planned for a while; hope ya'll enjoy it! By the by, get ready for some music cues. I haven't done any for this story for a while, so I figured now was a better time than any to get back into the groove of them.

Once again, I only own my OCs. Everyone else belongs to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon.

(Twilight Town from Kingdom Hearts 2)

"Wow..."

Honestly, what else could Arnold say?

Aside from maybe: Did somebody slip something in my drink? Because I swear I hallucinated what I just heard.

Oh yeah, sure, he'd expected something to come out of this sibling match-up between his little brother and his "eternal tormentor" sooner or later.

A truce, yes...

A tentative friendship, maybe...

An epic, mind-blowing team-up that would save the world...okay, probably not...

But this...Arnold seriously needed time to digest it in his head.

Right now, he sat on his bed, Milo beside him, both boys bathed in the orange twilight that streamed down from the skylight above. Milo had just returned from his day with Helga, Mr. Hyunh tagging along ever since they left the restaurant, the blonde departing the second they reached the front door of the boardinghouse.

Her goodbye (or at least what Arnold could hear from his place in the living room just before Bonnie came and opened the door) consisted of only a curt "I'll think about it, Sparky," before the girl walked back home by herself.

Classic Helga.

All in all, though, Milo looked pretty confident about his recent accomplishment. In fact, he was lying back on Arnold's covers, hands behind his head, eyes closed, and a smug grin on his face. He popped an eye halfway open at Arnold the second his ears caught the laconic response.

"Yeah...," Milo kept his tone even, but his eyes subtly watched Arnold, attentive to the older boy's facial expressions and body language. "I invited Helga to Randy's Diner for dinner Saturday. Mr. Hyunh's going to be playing some songs for the folks."

Arnold still didn't respond at first. He looked away for a brief second as if considering his next words before he looked back at his little brother with a nervous grin.

"Wow, uh...," he paused for a second to rub the back of his head sheepishly, "that's great, Milo."

Ah ha, something in his voice sounded hesitant. And he kept avoiding eye contact with Milo, too. What else did he have to say?

'Oh boy, I smell a conundrum coming on—and I think I know what it's about, too.'

"Alright, I'll bite. What's wrong?" Milo shifted from expectation to annoyance when Arnold started blushing and stuttering how nothing was wrong at all.

Arnold always sucked at lying.

Milo sat up and fixed an unamused glare on him. "Come on, Human Tomato. Fess up."

The name got Arnold's attention more than the command did.

Maybe Milo had been hanging around Helga longer than needed. It definitely seemed like she was rubbing off of him. Either that or her influence was helping him break out of his shell.

All the same, Arnold knew that when Milo wanted an answer, beating around the bush would do nothing but maybe earn him a whole world of embarrassment. Milo had ways of getting answers—and Arnold had seen (and been in the crossroads of) about eight of them so far.

He'd rather stick to that number for the next ten years.

Rubbing the back of his oblong head once more, Arnold took a deep breath and opened up, knowing he was boxed in at this point. "Well...is it alright... if I came along—y'know, just as a tagalong?"

...

"You don't trust Helga, do you?"

Blunt and to the point—classic Milo; and if Arnold weren't so used to his style of speaking, he would've started blushing and stuttering again.

Instead, he rubbed his eyes with one hand grudgingly and sighed again. This question only needed a simple answer...but for a nice guy like Arnold, simple did not always mean easy.

Especially with Helga as part of the topic.

Fortunately for him, Milo gestured him to stop the second he opened his mouth to say sorry. Another thing about nice guys like Arnold: they're usually pretty easy to predict.

"Don't say it, Arnold. Your apology wouldn't make a difference, anyway. The help's appreciated, but Helga will just give you a hard time again like she usually does, especially since the place is so public."

He had him there.

"Besides," Milo added as he shrugged his shoulders, "she can't really do anything to me if Mom and Pooh are there."

Again, he had him there, but Arnold still had doubts. After all, Helga G. Pataki didn't just have brute force on her side; she also had cunning and manipulation.

"Milo, it's great that she's willing to spend some time with you and Ms. Mahana, but still...I don't want her doing something that she'll regret later on. You've seen how defensive she can get."

Milo rolled his eyes at the overdone excuse as he hopped off the bed and walked to the door. He'd had enough brotherly affection for one day—or at least until dinnertime.

Besides, right now felt like the perfect time for a Drumstick cone.

"Touching but unwarranted, Arnold; relax," he coolly added, giving the blonde one more look back, "I have my ways with people. Just leave Ms. Firecracker to me."

"Leave who to you?"

(Music ends with a scratching noise)

The familiar voice, paired with the sound of the door opening, dragged both boys' attention to the doorway. Standing there, with an expression filled with curiosity, was none other than Gerald Johansson.

Milo frowned with annoyance then pinched his eyes together and groaned in frustration.

'Fate, you really have no idea how to make things easy, do you?'

"You... did... what!?"

"Gerald, just wait a second."

"I mean I know the two of you've done some really crazy things before…"

"Gerald…"

"And trust me when I mean crazy. B-b-but this is full-speed psycho! We are talking about Helga! You heard me! Helga…G…Pataki!"

"Gerald..."

"And you, Milo, invited her to dine with your folks...without inviting some backup!?"

Aside from all these exclamations, this whole argument between Arnold and Gerald basically consisted of the latter pacing around the former's from in a manic circle, his ranting about to drive Milo off his rocker.

Geez, could that guy yell!

And trying out the negotiator/peacemaker route wasn't doing Arnold any good in calming Gerald down.

'Alright, Arnold, apparently your way of talking isn't getting us anywhere.' Milo felt ready to punch someone at this point.

On the other hand, considering the guilt trip Arnold would put him through for harming his best friend, Milo would have to take a less physical alternative.

'Besides, I've been waiting to do this to Mr. Cool for a long time.'

So without further ado, the plucky seven-year old gripped Gerald by his shirt collar and proceeded to shake him back and forth roughly, an effort to cut off the older boy's raving rant.

"GET—A—GRIP—ON—YOUR—SELF!"

That way shut Gerald up quite nicely, Milo promptly let go and backed up a step to stand beside Arnold, arms behind his back, a satisfied grin on his face.

"You may have the floor now, Arnold."

"Uh...thanks," Hillwood's golden boy shook his head and resumed his attempts to reason with Gerald. "Look, it's probably best that we don't go with Milo when he, Ms. Mahana, and Mr. Hyunh take Helga to the diner tomorrow. Helga might end up thinking Milo and his mom don't trust her. And even if she doesn't, we'd still end up upsetting her just by being there."

Gerald did not budge. In fact, he looked seriously unmovable with his face in a stern glare and arms crossed his chest.

Milo was not impressed; he'd seen Disney and Pixar characters give better looks than that—and that was no stretch of the truth—not by a long shot.

But he also knew Gerald would need more persuasion than Arnold did. 'I might as well add my two cents to this.'

"Not to mention she'll likely intensify the torture at school."

At Milo's words, Gerald's face, though still doubtful, seemed to show consideration of that possibility through his now widened eyes.

"On us in particular...," the younger boy pointedly added.

At last, the tall-haired boy conceded, sighing heavily. He rubbed his forehead with one hand, the other akimbo, before he looked back to Milo.

"Man, please tell me you have some sort of crazy plan that goes along with all this."

For the first time since he'd gotten home, Milo smiled genuinely—no teasing hints attached.

"Nuh-uh," he shook his head, "no plan...Just simple, honest fun..."

"Precisely, so there's no reason to be wary of anyone at the eatery. You'll be just fine, Helga."

No words followed afterwards for about ten seconds, though—that brought up significant concern in Phoebe. Was Helga alright?

"Y'know, Pheebs," Helga answered back into the phone as she lay front-up on her bed, "when I called you up, the prospect of you trying to convince me that spending time with Milo and his family would better our 'sibling' relationship was the absolute farthestthing from my mind."

She regretted that comment the second her best friend's angered voice belted in her ears like a bludgeon to the head.

"Helga! You should feel honored that Milo vouched for you when he asked his parents—I mean ... his mother and Mr. Hyunh if you could join him!"

Helga, though she shot up from the bed, went numb with shock at this information. "H-he...he really vouched for me?"

'That little guy actually did that...for me?'

"Yes, Helga, he did," Phoebe's anger had disappeared, replaced by surprised awe, "Arnold told me so at school today...before I went to join you at lunch in fact. Helga... Milo loves you."

Love...

'Loves me...Mi-Milo actually loves me? That little squirt truly, honest to Gods loves me? But that doesn't...That shouldn't...'

Make sense; but it did.

("Mysteries Abound" from Final Fantasy)

Love...it's kind of funny...Helga always assumed she knew very well what love entailed. In truth, she was a bit of an expert on the subject, in spite of her age. She knew there were other types of love out there besides the type of love she had for a certain football head. She just never believed those other kinds were anything worth having in comparison.

Yet realizing such solid love from another, love she never anticipated, even if not romantic... it rocked her to the very core.

"Granted, his love might not equate to the love you aspire for from "ice cream," but to receive such affection is still emotionally significant and...Well, I feel that you should consider it as such!"

Everything went silent as Phoebe waited for Helga to gather her wits and respond. The Pataki girl didn't need long in regaining her composure. With her characteristic smirk back in place, she set her free hand akimbo and answered back into the phone.

"Alright, who is this and what did you do with Phoebe?"

"Ugh, Helga!" Said blonde had to wince at the revived anger in Phoebe's voice.

"I'm just saying! Since when did you learn to be so assertive?"

Luckily, that question managed to calm Phoebe down; in fact, it even brought back her usual shyness. "Oh... I suppose it would suffice to say that Milo taught me...or should I say, inspired me."

Helga raised an eyebrow at the giggle she heard through the phone and grinned wholeheartedly at the affect Milo evidently had on Pheebs.

"Kid's definitely got guts; I'll give him that. Sorry about earlier, Pheebs," her voice dropped its confidence and softened with what sounded like...reluctance?

"Believe it or not, I'm actually starting to get attached to the little squirt. He's not as bad as I thought."

Phoebe at least didn't say "I told you so." Thank goodness.

"I'm glad, Helga. Something puzzles me, however. If your sibling relation with Milo is improving, then why were you insisting that I talk you out of having dinner with him and his family?"

In Helga's viewpoint, the answer should've been obvious. "Simple, Phoebe...I don't trust myself around him, at least not by myself."

"What do you mean?"

Helga bit back a frustrated growl and continued.

"I mean I don't trust myself to make the kid happy! Arnold makes people happy! Helga G. Pataki doesn't. She makes them miserable! Sure, I got the kid to bust a gut a few times with some witty sarcasm, but those times were either just the two of us or with Arnold or somebody else from his zany but lovable family. There are going to be strangers in that diner, Pheebs. Tons of them...Whether I'll recognize any of them there won't make a difference. This girl's still going to be in a place where exposure is bound to happen."

...

"Perhaps Arnold should be there with you and Milo."

Helga slapped her free hand to her forehead.

'Pheebs, you got good intentions, but, criminy, I swear you're almost as naïve as Arnold sometimes!'

"So I can get a chance to ridicule him every little second he's there?" Helga threw a hand through the air to illustrate her disapproval, even though she knew Phoebe couldn't see her right now.

"No way, sister! I'm already on a tightrope as it is by exposing my nice side to his little brother and, heck, even a few of the boarders! For all I know, one of those bozos we have to call classmates might pop out of nowhere."

"But...what about Milo? You can't turn your back on him."

Ugh, this might as well have been another one of Helga's attempts to hide her passion for Arnold from the public! How could one little kid make you feel so twisted up inside?

Well, that's how Helga felt—twisted...and guilty as well.

'Pheebs is right. I mean... he's just a little kid...Well alright, maybe not just any little kid, but still...'

Seeing him heartbroken—and being the cause herself—by just ditching him was one accomplishment Helga would rather live without, bully or no bully.

Even the thought alone made her feel horrible.

On the other hand, let's say that Phoebe did end up being wrong instead and somebody from school did recognize Helga and Milo. What then?

'I already have enough worst case scenarios about those chuckleheads tearing me down! Sparky doesn't deserve to be dragged down with me!'

Ugh, why couldn't worthwhile stuff be easy just once?

"Despite however you may feel about the offer, Helga," her friend's voice echoed in her ear once again, this time serious and thoughtful but gentle, too, "just ask yourself: What would Arnold do?"

What would Arnold do?

Helga closed her eyes to mull the question over.

She smiled.

Of course, do what Arnold would do. Doi, why didn't she realize that sooner?

She reopened her eyes and sighed, feeling more at ease than she remembered ever feeling all week.

"You know something, Pheebs? You might end up being just as good at giving advice as Arnoldo someday."

Once again, she heard her friend's bashful giggles; they sounded a little distorted from Phoebe's futile attempts to stifle them. Helga could roll her eyes in amusement at the attempt.

"I suppose I have Milo to thank for that as well. My apologies for cutting our talk short but my aunt arrived earlier than I anticipated, so—Oh, there she is, right now! Goodbye, Helga! I hope Saturday night goes well!"

"Eh, don't sweat it, Pheebs. And thanks. Later..."

Yet as the two girls hung up, Helga couldn't help thinking to herself.

Hope Saturday night goes well...

'Let's hope so, Pheebs. Let's hope so.'

Yes, the plot is finally coming together. Be ready for fluff and angst because that's what's on the way to you.

Until next chapter: see ya! ;)