Hey all, Tergal here!
Fr tho, some one shot ideas flew into my head after reading some other HA! fanfictions and watching episodes before I went to bed. In fact, two of them popped into mind, and this one is the first one.
I said earlier in another story I'm writing that I'm gonna try to shift into more oneshots, because multi-chapter stories really aren't my shtick, so consider this the first oneshot of the collection.
It's relatively early in their relationship when Arnold finds out.
He and Helga are both seniors in high school, and as high schoolers, the two, naturally, were making out on Arnold's couch. This action had been the norm for about two years now. However, things took a weird turn after about five minutes or so.
Helga had switched to being under Arnold (they switched every now and then but Helga was usually on top) at some point, and while there had called a timeout in order for her to let her hair down (she felt more comfortable in this state, and Arnold much preferred when her hair was down anyways). After a while, a switch came once again and Arnold was on the bottom, looking up at the girl who he considered the love of his life.
At some point, Helga pulled away for air and her hair had moved and covered her left eye.
As Arnold looked up, something clicked. For whatever reason, something he could accurately explain after the kiss, he kissed Helga passionately; and this wasn't some sort of "more passionate than usual" type beat, no, this kiss was feverish and desperate, as if it was the last of the night, or as if Arnold hadn't seen Helga in years. In fact, Helga took note of this and widened her eyes rather considerably.
"Woah there bucko," Helga stopped to say with a smile, "I appreciate the affection, but where is this coming from?" She asked.
"I," Arnold started, "I don't quite know." He answered.
"You, uh, your hair got over your left eye, and, uh. Yeah." He stumbled over his own words.
"So my hair got on my left eye?" Helga asked. "And it drove you bonkers or something?"
"Uh. Yeah." Arnold said. "I don't really know, it's just," he paused to gather his thoughts, "okay. Um, do it again."
"What?" Helga said, surprised a bit.
"Please." He said, adding to his last sentence. "I won't do anything, I promise."
"I mean, I wouldn't mind if you did," Helga said flirtatiously, "but here you go." And she did as Arnold asked, putting her hair over her left eye.
"You happy now, Footballhead?"
Arnold looked at her for about 12 seconds and then his eyes widened.
"Oh." He said.
"What is it?" Helga asked.
"Um," Arnold said, sensing danger, "I, uh, shouldn't say."
"Why not?" Helga said, her unibrow moving upward on one side.
"Well, uh," Arnold choked, "um, uh."
"Well spit it out already!" Helga demanded.
"You uh, you look like someone else." Arnold admitted. "Like-"
"Like a celebrity? An actress?" Helga questioned.
"No, no, like, someone I uh, kinda knew?" Arnold said, only to be met by a pillow to his face.
"What!? Helga asked, clearly not happy.
"You see, this is why I said I shouldn't say." Arnold answered, only to be hit by another pillow.
"So you're making out with me," Helga said, raising her voice, "and you're thinking of another girl? What the hell ails you, Arnoldo?"
"I didn't mean to, it just-"
"I don't care if you didn't mean to, the fact it happened is enough to set me off!"
"Well that's hardly fair, Helga-"
"How long have you even been thinking about her? Huh?"
"Since, uh, fourth grade-"
"Oh! So you're thinking of Li-la again, huh!"
"No Helga, she's a redhead, why would your hair remind me of-"
"You know what, I should go, because if you can't appreciate-"
"Helga." Arnold said, grabbing her wrist. "Let me explain."
Helga looked into Arnold's eyes and looked away.
"Make it snappy."
Arnold sighed and began his spiel.
"Okay, so uh, in the fourth grade, I uh, was supposed to go on this date with Ruth. You remember Ruth, right?" He asked, only for Helga to nod her head with a look of dissaproval.
"Okay, doesn't matter. So uh, I was supposed to go on this date with Ruth, but on the same day, some other girl wanted to make plans with me. Came out of the blue, so I had to juggle both at the same time, without the other, and yeah not my best moment, but still.
"As, uh, I think you remember, the Ruth side, that didn't go well at all. But uh, man, that other girl, uh, I don't... think I remember her name?" The last sentence came out sounding unconvincing to Helga, and she knew why.
"But, she was uh, amazing. She uh, talked about a lot of things, hell, we talked about you I think, but we really hit it off.
"But I never saw her again after that night. In fact, a lot about who she was is a mystery to me. I guess that's what made her so enticing. That, uh, this mystery girl was pining for me while all the girl I pined for never batted an eye back."
Arnold then pointed his gaze to the rug on his floor, and lowered his voice's volume while raising the pitch.
"And uh, when your hair, uh," he looked up to see it still in place, "yeah, uh..." He paused to wonder if he could phrase it better, but he really couldn't, "you kinda looked like her."
Helga looked at him for a second, a hint of surprise painting her face, but then changed into a smirk.
"You remember her name." She said, matter-of-factly.
"No, I, uh," Arnold said, looking into her eyes.
"Okay, yeah. I do. Her name was-"
Helga interrupted him before he could go further.
"Hold that thought." Helga said. "I need to go home and get something real quick."
Arnold blinked and shook his head.
"What do you-"
"Just," Helga said, "wait here."
It took about 15 minutes for her to get back. With Helga there, Arnold sat and wondered what words he could possibly say to fix the situation. After those 15 minutes, he heard a knock from his window. When he opened it, he was shocked to find-
"Cecile?" Arnold said, completely flabbergasted. "How did you- where did you - what did you -" and then the realization that Helga said she needed to get something hit his mind. "Oh."
"Um," Helga said, "yeah. It's me. Helga. Or, as you may know me as, Cecile."
Arnold thought for a second and looked at Helga.
"Give me a second." Arnold said, walking to his closet and grabbing a single red shoe. "I, uh, think this is yours."
"You held on to this?" Helga said, a bit shocked.
"Yeah. I'm actually kind of a hoarder, but I'm a clean hoarder? I dunno."
The room fell silent for about two minutes or so.
"So uh," Helga said, breaking the silence, "any questions?"
Arnold thought a bit more.
"No." He said, to the surprise of Helga. "I mean, considering all the other schemes to pulled to try to get with me," he said, looking at her, "it makes sense why you did it. Not saying that I condone it-"
"Arnold, you basically turned Cecile slash me into your old flame, or the one that, well, quite literally got away."
"But," he said, accentuating the B in the word, "I, uh, don't say I wish you didn't do that. You gave me a pretty remarkable night, and," he said, getting up from the couch and grabbing Helga by the waist, "it kinda gave me a window into what you were really are as a person. A, uh, a person I want to spend the rest of my life with."
Helga took this response very well. The rest of the night consisted of the usual making out, albeit for the extra spark of knowing that, well, cementing the fact that the love of her life viewed her the same way.