Chapter 6 - Love Everlasting
(...an apartment...a month later...)
It was a long day of moving in: putting all of Victor's stuff in the right places and re-arranging the existing items. All Victor and Helga wanted to do was rest. They collapsed on the living room couch. Victor looked around as best he could, then returned to rest.
"This sure is a nice place you have."
"Thank you."
Helga's apartment was quite roomy, not to mentioned very well-designed; nice furniture, a painting of the authoress on the wall. Her writing career enabled her to live this comfortably. Speaking of comfortable...
"I love this couch", Victor exclaimed as he reclined on it.
"Cost me a pretty penny, but it was worth it", Helga said as she stretched out.
"I appreciate you letting me live here, but it doesn't feel right."
"What? A woman can't do something for a man? It has to be the other way around?"
"Well, that, and there was nothing wrong with my apartment."
"Why live in a pithole like that when you could be in the lap of luxury?"
"I guess you're right..."
Victor wrapped his arm around Helga.
"...though I'm gonna miss my beloved pithole."
As Victor held Helga, he let his mind wander...
(...a park... three months ago...)
The couple is sitting on a bench.
"It's nice that you got my sentence shortened."
"You seemed to be doing better, Besides, I didn't want you hangin' around too much longer. So, how long have you been writing?"
"Since I was a girl. Mostly poetry."
"I meant professionally."
"A few years ago. How about you? How did you end up in the glorious profession of anger management?"
"Well, I studied human psychology in college and I wanted to try and expand on that; see what makes people tick."
"Interesting."
"Really? Most women find it boring."
"In the time you've known me, haven't I made it clear that I am not most women?"
"I guess so. This girl I went out with in college was practically repulsed by it. Just out of curiosity, was there anyone special in your past?"
Clearly taken aback by this question, Helga hesitated to answer.
"I'm kinda nervous about telling you this. I mean, I've only told two other people."
"Must be some secret."
"It is. For years, I had the biggest crush on this guy I went to school with: Arnold."
"Oh. Did anything ever happen between you?"
"We went out for a while in college, but the fire just wasn't there. You know how they say 'love makes you do crazy things'? I'm living proof."
Helga explained to Victor about the various incidents in school where Helga tried (in vain) to win Arnold's affections, and how she had a shrine to him, his likeness made up of...
"Used gum?"
Helga nods sheepishly.
"Hmmm."
"Unfortunately for me, he was hung up on this other girl...Lila. You would not believe the hell I gave her."
Helga told Victor of her acts of sabotaging the moments that Lila and Arnold had together.
"The truth was that I was kinda jealous of her. Not just because Arnold liked her so much, but she was just so...compassionate, so kind. And, apparently, that's what Arnold wanted in a girl."
"His loss, I guess."
"Yeah."
(...Niagara Falls...two months ago...)
Helga and Victor are enjoying dinner at a restaurant. Their table overlooks the Falls.
"Is something bothering you?"
She had noticed Victor picking at his food almost since it was served. He looks up after hearing her question.
"Is it that obvious?"
"You're not that hard to read. You're practically a pop-up book of emotions."
"Then you must be contagious."
"Really, what's wrong?"
"Have you ever wanted to say something to someone, but you didn't because you wouldn't like the answer?"
Helga pointed at herself.
"Hello?"
"Oh, right. Well, I've thought about this for a while now and I was wondering if...could you..."
Victor got up from his chair and bent down on one knee. From his pocket, he produced a small velvet box.
"Will you marry me?"
Helga's jaw dropped when she saw the ring inside. So many emotions flooded her face and she was unsure how to properly react.
"I...I...I will!"
The two of them embraced and the surrounding crowd applauded.
(...the living room...that night...)
"You coming to bed?"
Victor stood at the window and saw the incredible view of the city, lights shining in the distance.
"In a minute."
Helga walked back to the bedroom. Victor smiled as he saw her walk away, then breathed a heavy sigh.
(...Victor and Helga's bedroom...later that night...)
"I shouldn't keep lying to her like this."
As Victor laid awake in bed, he couldn't help but worry. Helga wanted the two of them to be honest with each other. They shared everything with one another. They knew every detail of their lives but one...
Victor stared at the ceiling and reflected on the old days. He seems to have it all together, but the truth is that he didn't fit in at school. He was just...there. The other kids never bothered to learn his real name, he was so invisible. It was always, "Hey, you!" this or "Weirdo!" that.
He got up and went to the closet and pulled out a photo album. Victor turned through several pages of pictures and got to the inside back cover. He flipped the loose flap open and pulled out a picture of a boy - wavy hair, glasses, hunched-over profile. For a moment, he almost forgot that he was looking at a childhood picture. One day, in the first grade, the teacher was giving a lecture. Victor was daydreaming, making him a perfect target of the teacher's line of questioning. She called on him to answer a question and, in response, he wheezed and murmured a feeble "I don't know." The classroom erupted in laughter. Someone shouted from the back, "Nice goin', brainy!" Somehow or other, the nickname stuck.
Even in the yearbooks, that was the name he went by...when he wasn't referred to as "that guy over there". Even in high school, he just faded into the background. In college, he came into his own. He found confidence, popularity...and speech therapy.
From the moment Victor saw her all those years ago, it was love. One-sided love, but love nonetheless. He knew all too well that Helga's heart belonged to another, but he didn't care. He had tried numerous times to woo her, but was violently rebuffed. The many knocks to the head were, to him, nothing more than love taps. He proposed to her once before, but it didn't go quite as well as he'd hoped. Victor had told people all about Helga - how she constantly smashed him in the face - and how he was going to marry her one day. The response was almost always the same: they thought he was crazy. Maybe, he was.
If Helga knew the truth about him, who knows how she might take it? She might feel used, afraid, betrayed or angry. He wasn't too worried about that latter emotion. The two of them mastered that hurdle. Even if there was a relapse, the bruises on his body would heal; they always used to. The one bruise that would never heal resided in his heart.
His arm fell to his side and looked at Helga sleeping in bed, peacefully. He loved how beautiful she looked while she slept. He put the picture back in the flap and placed the photo album back in the closet.
Victor soon climbed back into bed. Helga felt him stirring under the covers. She leaned over and kissed his ear.
"Good night", she whispered.
At that moment, a thought came to him:
"I can always tell her tomorrow...maybe."
The End
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A/N: Given a huge chunk of the fanfics already out there and some of the reviews I've received, the world may not have been ready for a "Hey Arnold!" fic that paired Arnold and Helga with people other than each other. Nonetheless, this must've been brewing in somebody's head. I mean, I'm not the only person who believes this, right?
In this respect, I'm kind of a pioneer!
Now, a lot of people wondered about Victor, or should I say, Brainy? We know nothing of this guy, and (personally), it was fun creating a backstory for him. Also, there is evidence of him liking Helga. (the end of "Helga on the Couch", not to mention the fact that he seems to relish getting smashed in the face all the time.) Give it some thought, and I'm sure you'll agree.
Have a nice day.
