Fanfiction - Hey Arnold! - Trying - Chapter 8
Title: Trying
Fandom/Universe: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga, Arnold, Wolfgang
Rating: Teen
Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12
“I can’t believe you’re actually making him stay back there.” Helga says as she grumpily crosses her arms over her chest. “One too-sharp turn and he’ll be crushed by all those boxes. You’ve done some stupid and cruel things, Wolfgang, but I would think you’d know better than this.”
Wolfgang laughs at her.
“Oh come on, Pataki. He’s not going to die back there. And besides,” he informs her haughtily, “I’m an excellent driver.” With that he takes yet another turn just a bit too quickly and Helga can swear that she hears a loud thud from the back trailer. She glares at Wolfgang, who only laughs again. “You’re such a pain. Look, I’m delivering a shipment of pillows. I think you’re boyfriend will be just fine back there. And don’t tell me you weren’t getting sick from that rank stench of his?”
Helga bites her lip.
“He doesn’t smell that bad.” She mutters darkly as a blush spreads across her pale cheeks. Wolfgang roars with laughter.
“Oh man, I bet you’re just as glad as I am to be away from him for a bit. Come on, admit it! Dude smells like he’s been basting in his own juices for weeks. And besides,” He glances over at Helga, “this gives us some time to get caught up.”
“Ugh.” She groans and turns away from him. “You seem to be mistaking me with someone who actually liked you. I could care less about finding out what you’ve been up to since high school. Besides, like you said, we haven’t spoken since I punched you back in ninth grade. Why start now?”
He turns to her and actually looks sort of… upset? Definitely put off.
“Well, I guess if you’d rather just sit in silence for thirty minutes we could do that. I just thought maybe we’d have gotten to a point in our lives where we could look past the bullshit that comes with being a stupid teenager. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit that I was a gigantic asshole as a kid, but then again, who wasn’t?” He sighs and lifts his cap up to run his fingers through his hair. “Shit.”
“Arnold” Helga responds quietly. Wolfgang glances towards her.
“Huh?”
“Arnold wasn’t an asshole. He always gave you the benefit of the doubt and yet you still think it’s okay to just stick him in the back of your truck like some sort of lower life form. That’s why I don’t want to talk to you, Wolfgang. You haven’t grown.” Helga tells him matter-of-factly.
“And you have?” He says shortly. “You’re still threatening to beat me up and acting like you’re better than me. Well, I didn’t see you offering to sit in the back with him, y’know? You and me are still fucked up in our own special ways, but at least this time you managed to keep your temper long enough to hold a conversation with me and at least I haven’t put your boyfriend in a headlock and told him to go fuck himself yet. I’m giving the two of you a ride. I’m helping. You gonna tell me that’s not a step in the right direction?”
“I guess, it’s something,” She mutters and still refuses to look at him.
“Damn, if I’d known you were going to be such a beautiful ball of sunshine, I’d have made you sit in the back and put up with Stinky McFootball smelling up the joint instead. Although, he wasn’t that much fun either - lots of silence, some garbled things he said too quiet for me to hear, not to mention some weirdly cryptic responses to basic questions. Is he always like that?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” She says.
He sighs and adjusts his hands on the wheel.
“Okay. I can’t take this. What the hell did I do to make you so angry with me? And don’t tell me it’s because I made your Footballface sit in the back, because I know that’s not it. So could you please just enlighten me as to what I did that was so terrible, Blond-?”
“My name isn’t Blondie!” Helga interrupts, rage coursing through her as she clenches her fists into tight balls and whirls on Wolfgang, “It’s Helga G. Pataki and he’s not my Footballface OR my boyfriend and you can stop insinuating that he is right fucking now and do you even remember WHY I punched the shit out of you in ninth grade?” She demands, leaning towards him and wanting nothing more than to be able to smash her fist into his face for being so stupid. Sadly, doing so would almost surely end in her untimely death and like hell if she’s going to die here, beside this jackass.
“Shit.” Wolfgang breathes, blinking at her stupidly. “Hell. I’d forgotten how angry you could get.”
“Oh fuck you.” Helga says flipping him off.
“Oh come on.” He responds, wrapping his fingers around her hand. She shoots him a look filled with disgust, and he has to hold back a laugh. This, of course, causes her to get even angrier. “I’m sorry, okay?” He says, still holding tight to her fist. “You’re right, I have no idea what I did in tenth grade to deserve a beating. Pretty sure I blocked it out, as it was pretty embarrassing for me. Y’know, getting decked by a girl and all.” Helga let’s out an angry huff and pulls back as if she’s about to deck him again, but he puts up a hand in front of his face in defeat. “I don’t mean it like that, okay? I know that girls are tough cookies and all that, but damn it, Pataki. You looked like you weighed about 100 pounds soaking wet in ninth grade - you were more stick than human and then out of nowhere you completely and totally wiped the floor with me. You gotta admit that it didn’t really help my bully reputation, right? Also, from the little that I do remember, me getting punched out was the result of asking you out, wasn’t it?”
She scowls.
“No, you getting the shit beat out of you was the result of asking me out in this smug, douchebag tone that ended with you calling me goddamn Blondie and winking at me as if you had just offered me the prize of the century! And from what I’ve seen so far in this ride, you haven’t changed at all. You gave us a ride, okay? And I’m grateful for it, but we aren’t friends and riding with you isn’t some grand privilege and to be completely honest, I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you and Tubby,” she shouts as she pokes a finger against Wolfgang’s small beer gut, “That ain’t very far at all.”
“Well,” Wolfgang says with a smirk as he leans back, “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“Forget it. Just drive.” She fumes and turns back to face the windshield, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Dumbass.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I was such a smug asshole and that I still am. I won’t deny that I can be something of a dick. But I didn’t offer you two a ride just to hold it over your head.” He tells her.
“Then why did you?” She asks, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. A cold, frightened feeling rushes over her as she watches him and she slowly moves her right hand down the side of her seat, fingers quietly, but desperately searching for something - anything that help her in case it turns out that Wolfgang is not on her side at all.
“Arnold.” Wolfgang says with a small smile.
She pauses.
“What?”
“Look, I’m not saying he really ever did much for me. I didn’t really need him, y’know? But I saw what he did for others and I saw how he changed that neighborhood.” He rakes a hand through his hair again. “He helped Edmund get a date once, I remember. Haha, that was classic. I don’t know, I mean, back then everyone was always getting themselves into trouble and that kid, Arnold, he was the one that got everyone back out. It didn’t matter who it was that needed the help either.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Helga says, no longer frightened, just confused. “You hated Arnold.”
Wolfgang just laughs and waves a hand at Helga.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He asks, between chuckles.
Fed up, she throws her arms in the air and lets out an angry huff.
“What the hell are you talking about? You made our lives hell! You said it yourself that you used to be a total asshole to us. Wolfgang, you once gave me a black eye just because I got fed up with listening to you. Our grades were constantly warring with one another - and you and Arnold were the ringleaders in that feud! And he even beat you now and then, if you’ll recall. So why on earth would you want to help someone like that?” She demands.
“Well, yeah, we fought. And yeah, sometimes I pounded on the dork and it sure as hell pissed me off when he managed to win one of our stupid little games, but I never hated him. It was more like… he was an annoying little brother or something. I meant what I said about not needing his help back then, but he still gave me something, y’know? He gave me a challenge.” Wolfgang leans back in his chair and smiles, “He was a loser and a stupid kid, but I liked him. Not that you should go spreading that around, but that’s how it is. I’ve always respected him for the things he’s done and if I can help by just giving him a lift then, well, that’s what I’ll do, I guess.” He stops and glances over at her, a sly smirk spreading across his face, “Seeing you again was just an added bonus.”
She punches him in the arm in response. He lets out a sharp yell and turns his eyes back on the road.
“Damn, you’re still a mean little thing.”
“Yeah, I am.” She states.
“Good,” He tells her. “You wouldn’t really be you without that angry streak.”
She sticks her tongue out at him, but settles back into her seat. She still doesn’t really like him and she’s still not sure she trusts him, but she finds that she doesn’t totally hate riding with him. It’s been a long time since she’d put up such a fight against what someone else was telling her. It feels… good.
“Hey,” She says suddenly, pointing towards a light looming a few blocks ahead. “Turn left at that light up there.”
“You got it.” He responds.
They drive on, she asks him about Edmund and he gets her talking about the millions of stories that she had originally planned on writing. Eventually they come to a stop in front of a large development of what appear to be brand new houses.
“So this is it then?” Wolfgang asks.
“Yup.”
“You sure you don’t want me to drop you off right out front of your destination? I mean, it’s not a big deal.”
“No, Arnold and I will be able to walk from here. It’s just down the road a little ways.”
He looks at her.
“You don’t want me to know where you’re going.” He says.
“No. Sorry. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but-“
“Haha, of course it’s that you don’t trust me. But that’s okay,” He opens his door and climbs down, poking his head back in to look at her. “I never really gave you much of a reason to believe in me, huh?”
She follows him out of the front of the truck, to the back doors. Wolfgang unlocks the back trailer and then rests his hand on the door for a moment.
“Thank you.” Helga says suddenly. “For the ride.”
He smiles.
“Thanks for the company, Helga G. Pataki.”
With that he wrenches open the doors. At first nothing seems to be moving and a flurry of panic rises in Helga’s chest, but then a box in the back tips on it’s side and Arnold pokes his oddly shaped head into view.
“You’re a terrible driver.” He tells Wolfgang as he stumbles forward, arms still clutched tightly around La Corazon's bundle, looking completely disoriented. “I almost threw up in one of the boxes out of spite.”
Helga laughs.
“You totally should have. It would serve him right for sticking you back here.” Arnold smiles at her and bends down to crawl off the edge of the truck. Helga and Wolfgang raise their arms up to help him down. “Though now that I’ve been without you for awhile, I have to admit that you really do smell awful.” Arnold shoots her an annoyed look, but seems to be aware that she’s still completely correct.
“Thanks a lot, Helga.”
“Told ya.” Wolfgang teases, “I told ya it was a good idea to stick him in the trunk. Can you imagine us all crammed into the front with him smelling the way he does? No thank you.”
They lead Arnold to the curb and set him down in the grass. He leans his head forward and takes deep breaths.
“God, my legs feel like jello. Y’know, I have never been motion sick before. Was it really necessary to make all of those turns?” Arnold complains. Helga sits down beside him in the grass and puts a hand on his back.
“Sorry.” She says.
“I’m not.” Wolfgang laughs. “I’m just trying to build your character a bit. Toughen you up. You were always so stupidly soft.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Says Arnold.
“Anyway, we still got a little further to go, Footballhead. We’ll be making the rest of the trip on foot. In case you’ve forgotten, our driver is the asshole who used to find pleasure in beating the shit out of our classmates. Not a very likeable guy.” She taunts while looking directly at Wolfgang.
“Yeah, well, fuck you too Pataki.”
“All right. I’m okay.” Arnold says as he begins rising to his feet. He turns to Wolfgang and holds out a hand. Wolfgang looks at it for a moment, before taking hold of it. The two men shake. “Thanks for everything, Wolfgang. You’re okay.”
“No problem, loser. Just promise me you’ll take a goddamn bath soon. For Pataki’s sake.”
“I’ll try.” Arnold agrees.
Wolfgang turns to Helga, who raises an eyebrow at him.
“What? I’m not thanking you again.”
Wolfgang says nothing, but steps closer to her until his face is only inches from hers. Helga takes a half step back, not really sure what to do.
“What the hell?” She says as Wolfgang reaches a hand up towards her face. He brushes a thumb against her cheek, causing her to inhale sharply. His eyes are a surprising shade of blue and she feels just the slightest bit dizzy. He leans his face in a little closer and smiles smugly.
“Try not to miss me too much, Blondie.” And with that he turns and heads back towards his truck.
Helga doesn’t move for a few seconds, just stands there gaping at his back.
Slowly she regains herself, her eyebrows furrow into a scowl and her fists clench. She begins heading after Wolfgang, thinking about how satisfying it would be to land one good punch on the smug bastard’s face, but Arnold grabs her arm.
“Helga.”
“You’re such an asshole, Wolfgang! If you ever try that stunt again you’re a dead man, you hear?! DEAD.”
“Helga, come on.” Arnold says, tugging on her hand. “Forget about him. Let’s just go.”
Helga turns to follow, still fuming. She hears the truck start somewhere behind her and listens as it drives away. Her cheeks are burning and she still hasn’t managed to unclench her fists.
“That bastard acted like he was going to kiss me! Did you see that?! Who the hell does he think he is, getting that close to me?! Can you believe the nerve?”
“Honestly, Helga.” Arnold says quietly, still pulling her forward. “It didn’t really look like you would have minded all that much.”
This quiets Helga considerably. Her arm goes limp in her hand and when he looks back at her, she’s refusing to look at him.
“Oh. What do you know?” She says quietly, her eyebrows are furrowed, but she doesn’t look angry. Just sort of embarrassed. She seems to notice that he’s still looking at her and tugs her arm out of his grip. She then stares straight at him as if daring him to say something that would piss her off more; he doesn’t. “Anyway, you don’t even know where we’re going. I should be leading.” With that she suddenly speeds up, until she’s walking ahead of him.
They walk in silence down the street, passing a slew of really expensive looking houses. Arnold knows better than to ask where they’re going. It seems like Helga’s determined not to talk to him.
“Here.” She says suddenly, stopping in front of a seemingly random house. They spend a few seconds standing in front of it, admiring the build of it. It’s a little smaller than some of the other houses, but still fairly lavish. The grass is just beginning to grow out front, so the lawn is mostly dirt. There’s something warm about it - a familiarity that he can’t quite pick out.
“It’s… really pretty.” He says.
“Yeah, they only moved in two weeks ago. I haven’t had a chance to come see it yet. Been working too much.” She tells him.
They head up the driveway and take a small stone pathway to the door. They stop for a moment on the front step.
“Let me do the talking, okay?” Helga tells Arnold. “It might make it easier if you don’t say much in the beginning.”
“Helga.” He whispers, his hand brushing against her arm, as they stand side-by-side. “Who’s house is this?”
She says nothing, just smiles at him. Then she reaches a hand forward to knock on the door.
Arnold listens as soft footsteps slowly make their way closer to the door.
The door slowly opens to reveal an obviously pregnant Phoebe Hyerdahl standing on the other side.
“Oh.” Phoebe says softly as she takes in the image of both Helga G. Pataki and Arnold Shortman standing on her front step. “My legs.”
Helga and Arnold reach forward to help as Phoebe’s legs seem to buckle underneath her. She doesn’t faint completely, but her face is twisted up in shock and Helga and Arnold struggle to help keep her upright.
Arnold grunts as they slowly lead Phoebe to a small sofa in the middle of the room.
“Does your face always have this affect on people?” He asks smartly.
Helga punches his arm in response.
a/n: God, I'm sorry this took forever and a day. For some reason writing Helga and Wolfgang together was MUCH harder than I thought. Plus, summer always takes away my creativity.
I really do want to keep this story going. Like, it's going to be SO EPIC. But I have to write it all first, which is a bummer. Stories should just pop out of my head fully formed. I shouldn't have to write them down. :(
NEXT CHAPTER: There is bonding and meeting again and still not a lot of action, but THAT'S OKAY.
Fandom/Universe: Hey Arnold!
Character(s): Helga, Arnold, Wolfgang
Rating: Teen
Chapters: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12
“I can’t believe you’re actually making him stay back there.” Helga says as she grumpily crosses her arms over her chest. “One too-sharp turn and he’ll be crushed by all those boxes. You’ve done some stupid and cruel things, Wolfgang, but I would think you’d know better than this.”
Wolfgang laughs at her.
“Oh come on, Pataki. He’s not going to die back there. And besides,” he informs her haughtily, “I’m an excellent driver.” With that he takes yet another turn just a bit too quickly and Helga can swear that she hears a loud thud from the back trailer. She glares at Wolfgang, who only laughs again. “You’re such a pain. Look, I’m delivering a shipment of pillows. I think you’re boyfriend will be just fine back there. And don’t tell me you weren’t getting sick from that rank stench of his?”
Helga bites her lip.
“He doesn’t smell that bad.” She mutters darkly as a blush spreads across her pale cheeks. Wolfgang roars with laughter.
“Oh man, I bet you’re just as glad as I am to be away from him for a bit. Come on, admit it! Dude smells like he’s been basting in his own juices for weeks. And besides,” He glances over at Helga, “this gives us some time to get caught up.”
“Ugh.” She groans and turns away from him. “You seem to be mistaking me with someone who actually liked you. I could care less about finding out what you’ve been up to since high school. Besides, like you said, we haven’t spoken since I punched you back in ninth grade. Why start now?”
He turns to her and actually looks sort of… upset? Definitely put off.
“Well, I guess if you’d rather just sit in silence for thirty minutes we could do that. I just thought maybe we’d have gotten to a point in our lives where we could look past the bullshit that comes with being a stupid teenager. I mean, I’ll be the first to admit that I was a gigantic asshole as a kid, but then again, who wasn’t?” He sighs and lifts his cap up to run his fingers through his hair. “Shit.”
“Arnold” Helga responds quietly. Wolfgang glances towards her.
“Huh?”
“Arnold wasn’t an asshole. He always gave you the benefit of the doubt and yet you still think it’s okay to just stick him in the back of your truck like some sort of lower life form. That’s why I don’t want to talk to you, Wolfgang. You haven’t grown.” Helga tells him matter-of-factly.
“And you have?” He says shortly. “You’re still threatening to beat me up and acting like you’re better than me. Well, I didn’t see you offering to sit in the back with him, y’know? You and me are still fucked up in our own special ways, but at least this time you managed to keep your temper long enough to hold a conversation with me and at least I haven’t put your boyfriend in a headlock and told him to go fuck himself yet. I’m giving the two of you a ride. I’m helping. You gonna tell me that’s not a step in the right direction?”
“I guess, it’s something,” She mutters and still refuses to look at him.
“Damn, if I’d known you were going to be such a beautiful ball of sunshine, I’d have made you sit in the back and put up with Stinky McFootball smelling up the joint instead. Although, he wasn’t that much fun either - lots of silence, some garbled things he said too quiet for me to hear, not to mention some weirdly cryptic responses to basic questions. Is he always like that?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business.” She says.
He sighs and adjusts his hands on the wheel.
“Okay. I can’t take this. What the hell did I do to make you so angry with me? And don’t tell me it’s because I made your Footballface sit in the back, because I know that’s not it. So could you please just enlighten me as to what I did that was so terrible, Blond-?”
“My name isn’t Blondie!” Helga interrupts, rage coursing through her as she clenches her fists into tight balls and whirls on Wolfgang, “It’s Helga G. Pataki and he’s not my Footballface OR my boyfriend and you can stop insinuating that he is right fucking now and do you even remember WHY I punched the shit out of you in ninth grade?” She demands, leaning towards him and wanting nothing more than to be able to smash her fist into his face for being so stupid. Sadly, doing so would almost surely end in her untimely death and like hell if she’s going to die here, beside this jackass.
“Shit.” Wolfgang breathes, blinking at her stupidly. “Hell. I’d forgotten how angry you could get.”
“Oh fuck you.” Helga says flipping him off.
“Oh come on.” He responds, wrapping his fingers around her hand. She shoots him a look filled with disgust, and he has to hold back a laugh. This, of course, causes her to get even angrier. “I’m sorry, okay?” He says, still holding tight to her fist. “You’re right, I have no idea what I did in tenth grade to deserve a beating. Pretty sure I blocked it out, as it was pretty embarrassing for me. Y’know, getting decked by a girl and all.” Helga let’s out an angry huff and pulls back as if she’s about to deck him again, but he puts up a hand in front of his face in defeat. “I don’t mean it like that, okay? I know that girls are tough cookies and all that, but damn it, Pataki. You looked like you weighed about 100 pounds soaking wet in ninth grade - you were more stick than human and then out of nowhere you completely and totally wiped the floor with me. You gotta admit that it didn’t really help my bully reputation, right? Also, from the little that I do remember, me getting punched out was the result of asking you out, wasn’t it?”
She scowls.
“No, you getting the shit beat out of you was the result of asking me out in this smug, douchebag tone that ended with you calling me goddamn Blondie and winking at me as if you had just offered me the prize of the century! And from what I’ve seen so far in this ride, you haven’t changed at all. You gave us a ride, okay? And I’m grateful for it, but we aren’t friends and riding with you isn’t some grand privilege and to be completely honest, I don’t trust you as far as I can throw you and Tubby,” she shouts as she pokes a finger against Wolfgang’s small beer gut, “That ain’t very far at all.”
“Well,” Wolfgang says with a smirk as he leans back, “Now we’re getting somewhere.”
“Forget it. Just drive.” She fumes and turns back to face the windshield, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “Dumbass.”
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry I was such a smug asshole and that I still am. I won’t deny that I can be something of a dick. But I didn’t offer you two a ride just to hold it over your head.” He tells her.
“Then why did you?” She asks, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. A cold, frightened feeling rushes over her as she watches him and she slowly moves her right hand down the side of her seat, fingers quietly, but desperately searching for something - anything that help her in case it turns out that Wolfgang is not on her side at all.
“Arnold.” Wolfgang says with a small smile.
She pauses.
“What?”
“Look, I’m not saying he really ever did much for me. I didn’t really need him, y’know? But I saw what he did for others and I saw how he changed that neighborhood.” He rakes a hand through his hair again. “He helped Edmund get a date once, I remember. Haha, that was classic. I don’t know, I mean, back then everyone was always getting themselves into trouble and that kid, Arnold, he was the one that got everyone back out. It didn’t matter who it was that needed the help either.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Helga says, no longer frightened, just confused. “You hated Arnold.”
Wolfgang just laughs and waves a hand at Helga.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He asks, between chuckles.
Fed up, she throws her arms in the air and lets out an angry huff.
“What the hell are you talking about? You made our lives hell! You said it yourself that you used to be a total asshole to us. Wolfgang, you once gave me a black eye just because I got fed up with listening to you. Our grades were constantly warring with one another - and you and Arnold were the ringleaders in that feud! And he even beat you now and then, if you’ll recall. So why on earth would you want to help someone like that?” She demands.
“Well, yeah, we fought. And yeah, sometimes I pounded on the dork and it sure as hell pissed me off when he managed to win one of our stupid little games, but I never hated him. It was more like… he was an annoying little brother or something. I meant what I said about not needing his help back then, but he still gave me something, y’know? He gave me a challenge.” Wolfgang leans back in his chair and smiles, “He was a loser and a stupid kid, but I liked him. Not that you should go spreading that around, but that’s how it is. I’ve always respected him for the things he’s done and if I can help by just giving him a lift then, well, that’s what I’ll do, I guess.” He stops and glances over at her, a sly smirk spreading across his face, “Seeing you again was just an added bonus.”
She punches him in the arm in response. He lets out a sharp yell and turns his eyes back on the road.
“Damn, you’re still a mean little thing.”
“Yeah, I am.” She states.
“Good,” He tells her. “You wouldn’t really be you without that angry streak.”
She sticks her tongue out at him, but settles back into her seat. She still doesn’t really like him and she’s still not sure she trusts him, but she finds that she doesn’t totally hate riding with him. It’s been a long time since she’d put up such a fight against what someone else was telling her. It feels… good.
“Hey,” She says suddenly, pointing towards a light looming a few blocks ahead. “Turn left at that light up there.”
“You got it.” He responds.
They drive on, she asks him about Edmund and he gets her talking about the millions of stories that she had originally planned on writing. Eventually they come to a stop in front of a large development of what appear to be brand new houses.
“So this is it then?” Wolfgang asks.
“Yup.”
“You sure you don’t want me to drop you off right out front of your destination? I mean, it’s not a big deal.”
“No, Arnold and I will be able to walk from here. It’s just down the road a little ways.”
He looks at her.
“You don’t want me to know where you’re going.” He says.
“No. Sorry. It’s not that I don’t trust you, but-“
“Haha, of course it’s that you don’t trust me. But that’s okay,” He opens his door and climbs down, poking his head back in to look at her. “I never really gave you much of a reason to believe in me, huh?”
She follows him out of the front of the truck, to the back doors. Wolfgang unlocks the back trailer and then rests his hand on the door for a moment.
“Thank you.” Helga says suddenly. “For the ride.”
He smiles.
“Thanks for the company, Helga G. Pataki.”
With that he wrenches open the doors. At first nothing seems to be moving and a flurry of panic rises in Helga’s chest, but then a box in the back tips on it’s side and Arnold pokes his oddly shaped head into view.
“You’re a terrible driver.” He tells Wolfgang as he stumbles forward, arms still clutched tightly around La Corazon's bundle, looking completely disoriented. “I almost threw up in one of the boxes out of spite.”
Helga laughs.
“You totally should have. It would serve him right for sticking you back here.” Arnold smiles at her and bends down to crawl off the edge of the truck. Helga and Wolfgang raise their arms up to help him down. “Though now that I’ve been without you for awhile, I have to admit that you really do smell awful.” Arnold shoots her an annoyed look, but seems to be aware that she’s still completely correct.
“Thanks a lot, Helga.”
“Told ya.” Wolfgang teases, “I told ya it was a good idea to stick him in the trunk. Can you imagine us all crammed into the front with him smelling the way he does? No thank you.”
They lead Arnold to the curb and set him down in the grass. He leans his head forward and takes deep breaths.
“God, my legs feel like jello. Y’know, I have never been motion sick before. Was it really necessary to make all of those turns?” Arnold complains. Helga sits down beside him in the grass and puts a hand on his back.
“Sorry.” She says.
“I’m not.” Wolfgang laughs. “I’m just trying to build your character a bit. Toughen you up. You were always so stupidly soft.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Says Arnold.
“Anyway, we still got a little further to go, Footballhead. We’ll be making the rest of the trip on foot. In case you’ve forgotten, our driver is the asshole who used to find pleasure in beating the shit out of our classmates. Not a very likeable guy.” She taunts while looking directly at Wolfgang.
“Yeah, well, fuck you too Pataki.”
“All right. I’m okay.” Arnold says as he begins rising to his feet. He turns to Wolfgang and holds out a hand. Wolfgang looks at it for a moment, before taking hold of it. The two men shake. “Thanks for everything, Wolfgang. You’re okay.”
“No problem, loser. Just promise me you’ll take a goddamn bath soon. For Pataki’s sake.”
“I’ll try.” Arnold agrees.
Wolfgang turns to Helga, who raises an eyebrow at him.
“What? I’m not thanking you again.”
Wolfgang says nothing, but steps closer to her until his face is only inches from hers. Helga takes a half step back, not really sure what to do.
“What the hell?” She says as Wolfgang reaches a hand up towards her face. He brushes a thumb against her cheek, causing her to inhale sharply. His eyes are a surprising shade of blue and she feels just the slightest bit dizzy. He leans his face in a little closer and smiles smugly.
“Try not to miss me too much, Blondie.” And with that he turns and heads back towards his truck.
Helga doesn’t move for a few seconds, just stands there gaping at his back.
Slowly she regains herself, her eyebrows furrow into a scowl and her fists clench. She begins heading after Wolfgang, thinking about how satisfying it would be to land one good punch on the smug bastard’s face, but Arnold grabs her arm.
“Helga.”
“You’re such an asshole, Wolfgang! If you ever try that stunt again you’re a dead man, you hear?! DEAD.”
“Helga, come on.” Arnold says, tugging on her hand. “Forget about him. Let’s just go.”
Helga turns to follow, still fuming. She hears the truck start somewhere behind her and listens as it drives away. Her cheeks are burning and she still hasn’t managed to unclench her fists.
“That bastard acted like he was going to kiss me! Did you see that?! Who the hell does he think he is, getting that close to me?! Can you believe the nerve?”
“Honestly, Helga.” Arnold says quietly, still pulling her forward. “It didn’t really look like you would have minded all that much.”
This quiets Helga considerably. Her arm goes limp in her hand and when he looks back at her, she’s refusing to look at him.
“Oh. What do you know?” She says quietly, her eyebrows are furrowed, but she doesn’t look angry. Just sort of embarrassed. She seems to notice that he’s still looking at her and tugs her arm out of his grip. She then stares straight at him as if daring him to say something that would piss her off more; he doesn’t. “Anyway, you don’t even know where we’re going. I should be leading.” With that she suddenly speeds up, until she’s walking ahead of him.
They walk in silence down the street, passing a slew of really expensive looking houses. Arnold knows better than to ask where they’re going. It seems like Helga’s determined not to talk to him.
“Here.” She says suddenly, stopping in front of a seemingly random house. They spend a few seconds standing in front of it, admiring the build of it. It’s a little smaller than some of the other houses, but still fairly lavish. The grass is just beginning to grow out front, so the lawn is mostly dirt. There’s something warm about it - a familiarity that he can’t quite pick out.
“It’s… really pretty.” He says.
“Yeah, they only moved in two weeks ago. I haven’t had a chance to come see it yet. Been working too much.” She tells him.
They head up the driveway and take a small stone pathway to the door. They stop for a moment on the front step.
“Let me do the talking, okay?” Helga tells Arnold. “It might make it easier if you don’t say much in the beginning.”
“Helga.” He whispers, his hand brushing against her arm, as they stand side-by-side. “Who’s house is this?”
She says nothing, just smiles at him. Then she reaches a hand forward to knock on the door.
Arnold listens as soft footsteps slowly make their way closer to the door.
The door slowly opens to reveal an obviously pregnant Phoebe Hyerdahl standing on the other side.
“Oh.” Phoebe says softly as she takes in the image of both Helga G. Pataki and Arnold Shortman standing on her front step. “My legs.”
Helga and Arnold reach forward to help as Phoebe’s legs seem to buckle underneath her. She doesn’t faint completely, but her face is twisted up in shock and Helga and Arnold struggle to help keep her upright.
Arnold grunts as they slowly lead Phoebe to a small sofa in the middle of the room.
“Does your face always have this affect on people?” He asks smartly.
Helga punches his arm in response.
a/n: God, I'm sorry this took forever and a day. For some reason writing Helga and Wolfgang together was MUCH harder than I thought. Plus, summer always takes away my creativity.
I really do want to keep this story going. Like, it's going to be SO EPIC. But I have to write it all first, which is a bummer. Stories should just pop out of my head fully formed. I shouldn't have to write them down. :(
NEXT CHAPTER: There is bonding and meeting again and still not a lot of action, but THAT'S OKAY.