Okay everyone, this is probably my favorite chapter out of this whole story! For those of you looking for some super cute Arnold/Helga stuff, here it is! I hope you enjoy what happens the next morning, because it was really fun to write it ;)

Disclaimer: Hey Arnold was thought up be Craig Bartlett, not me.

Chapter 21

The next morning Helga awoke to Arnold's smiling face.

"Good morning, angel. Did you sleep well?" Arnold asked, placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Good morning to you too, my love. I slept wonderfully, how about you?" Helga asked, returning the kiss.

"Great. I had a wonderful dream about us, and then when I woke up you were in my arms. What could be better?"

"If you would kiss me again?" Helga suggested. Arnold chuckled and kissed her lips lightly.

"So what was your dream about?" Helga asked.

"Well, it was you and me, and we were in a garden. It was getting dark, but we were dancing in a gazebo lit with thousands of tiny lights. You were wearing this long cream covered dress that looked beautiful on you. And you want to know one of my favorite parts of your dress? The sleeves of it were...a bit like this..." Arnold said quietly, using one finger to slide her tank top strap off her shoulder.

"Arnold!" Helga blushed brightly and lifted the strap back up.

"I'm sorry, Helga. But it's true. Besides, you look very pretty with your shoulders a little less hidden. They're so soft," Arnold whispered the last part before kissing her neck near her shoulders.

"Arnold, please do that again!" Helga said. Arnold did as she asked and felt a shiver run through her.

"Oh wow, Arnold your far, far too good at that!" Helga said.

"Does that mean you don't want my to do it again?" Arnold asked.

"No!" Helga said quickly. Then, before Arnold could even process what she was doing, and before Helga lost her nerve, she slipped both straps off of her shoulders and snuggled as close as possible to Arnold.

Arnold was about to say something when the door to his room suddenly opened and Phil poked his head in.

"Hey Shortman, are you awak—whoops, looks like I'm interrupting! Hehe, sorry you two!" He closed the door and went back down stairs.

As soon as the door had opened Helga had hidden under the blankets, and she now sat with her arms wrapped around her knees and her forehead reading on top.

Arnold lifted the edge of the blanket and put a hand on Helga's arm.

"Helga? Are you okay?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Well will you come out?" he asked. She shook her head again.

"Will you at least talk to me?"she didn't move.

"Well if you won't come out then I'm coming in" Arnold said, crawling under the blankets to sit beside her. He rested an arm around her shoulders and leaned his head against her.

"Helga, it's really not that bad."

"Not that bad? Not that bad? Arnold, that was humiliating!" she exclaimed.

"Okay, so it was kind of embarrassing; at least it was just Grandpa, and he won't tell anyone. Remember," Arnold broke into an imitation of Phil, "He's a wily old coot!"

"Arnold!" Helga giggled. She snuggled closer to Arnold and sighed.

"I guess you're right," she said, "It could have been a lot worse."

"Mhm. So, where were we before my Grandpa interrupted?" Arnold asked.

Helga eyed him sneakily before pushing him onto his back with her on top of him.

"I think about here," she said.

"Really? Because I thought we were about here..." Arnold flicked Helga's shirt strap off of her shoulder lightly.

"You really have become a bold little Football Head since we were kids, huh?"

"I learned from the best."

"Kiss-up."

"Just as long as it's you I get to kiss."

"Flirt."

"You know you love it."

"I do."

Helga slid off of Arnold to lay beside him and gently played with his hair.

"You know, I've always loved your hair. Ever since we were little. It's so soft..."

Arnold twirled a section of Helga's hair around his finger.

"Well your hair is just as soft, and it's so long. You look so beautiful with it down, almost like you're covered in sunshine..."

"Tell me Football Head, are you always this poetic, or am I just lucky?"

"You're the real poet, why don't you tell me?"

"Or we could go get breakfast and then go Halloween Costume shopping."

"That's a good idea; we only have a week before the dance."

Arnold lifted the blankets and they both climbed out and headed downstairs for breakfast, which, courtesy of Gertie, was jungle themed.

§

At the costume shop Arnold and Helga found tons of different costume pieces. Everything from witches to three-headed aliens.

"Well, this is going to take a while," Helga said, looking around the store for anything that looked remotely like what they were looking for.

"It won't be too bad," Arnold said, "Think of it like a treasure hunt."

"Always looking on the bright side, aren't you, Arnold?" Helga chuckled.

"Someone has to."

And so they began looking. Once they found the adult section they began searching through the many racks for prince and princess costumes.

"Hey Arnold," a very quiet said behind him. Arnold turned around and dropped the crown he was holding with a clatter.

"Holy—Helga! Why did you do that?!"

"Because it was very funny to watch you freak out!" Helga laughed, pulling off the monster mask she had found.

"Helga, we're supposed to be looking for costumes, not scaring me half to death."

"I found costumes. For both of us, actually. Come on, I think you'll like them!" Helga grabbed Arnold's hand and pulled him over to a nearby rack. She reached around to the back of the rack, back where most people wouldn't look, and pulled out two beautiful costumes; Arnold's was a dark blue jacket with gold accents and white pants, and it even came with a plastic sword and sheath. Helga's was a long, floor length dress in a pale lavender color with gold accents and a gold tiara.

"Wow, these are great!" Arnold exclaimed, taking his costume and checking the size.

"I knew you'd like them. So, what do you say?"

"I say I think we have a good shot at winning the costume contest!"

"Dang right we—wait, the what?"

"The costume contest. At the Halloween dance they have a costume contest," Arnold explained.

"How did I not know this? This is going to be awesome!" Helga said, all the while thinking how sweet it would be to beat Rhonda for best costume. Needless to say, Helga was still pretty mad at Rhonda.

They paid for their costumes and when home, both unable to wait for Halloween to come.