Last Dance (Hey Arnold - Knowing Series)
Title: Last Dance
Author: Lady Wisiaden
Rating: K
Summary: The last high school dance...
Pairings: Helga/Arnold, Brainy/Lila (friendship)
Warnings: N/A
Author’s Note: After writing the first one…I’m on a roll. This one takes place before Knowing. I like to think Brainy and Lila had some kind of friendship or something going on. Maybe they were together. I haven’t quite decided on that yet. Maybe in a future one.
She was crying. And he hated that. But there was no one else but him, and he already told Phoebe that he’ll take care of it. They had both seen her, storming off the dance floor. He thought there was progress. After all, that man (and he was a good man no matter how much Brainy would argue and rail against his denseness and obliviousness) was dancing with her. He sighed. The key word was “was”. He loosened his tie and settled onto the stairs, two steps below her. He winced at the coldness of the cement, seeping into the thin fabric of his pants and waited.
It was only when she was sniffling and her breathes were more even then Helga scooted down one step to awkwardly hug him from behind. He didn’t dare move, afraid that one touch would spook the already fragile girl. Strong but fragile…way too fragile once barriers were broken down and resolves crumpled down to nothing. Not that he ever did. Those were reserved for one person only, and he saw, why he saw the aftermath.
“Why are you here, Brainy?” Her voice was soft, traces of her tears and broken heart gone and replaced with steel.
“I’m your stalker, aren’t I?” He joked, hoped that it would helped. She chuckled.
“You want a taste of Old Betsy and the Five Avengers?”
“Well, I kind of miss it,” he admitted too honestly. Her punches were killer and everyone that knew her stayed clear of pissing her off, but it held too much of a fond memory for Brian.
“Right,” Helga said. She smacked him then, lightly on the shoulder and pulled back. She didn’t like to be touched or to touch anyone for too long. Except for him…always him.
“What happen?” The words slipped out before he could stop it. He never asked. Not once during the many other times he had come across her, teary eye or desolate. He never pried and she never confided. Not to him, maybe to Phoebe. Brainy could feel her stiffening, and he almost laughed because she, Helga, might just punch him after all.
“We disagreed,” came the words silent and short. Brainy nodded. It was because of their impending graduation and separation once June came. Different colleges and Helga love too much and Arnold loved but was unsure. He stood up abruptly and turned, gazing down at her.
“Last dance,” he said simply. Then he walked away. As he walked down the hall, back to the dance, he saw Arnold rushing past him, down the hall he just came from.
“The last dance,” he muttered quietly to himself. Then he found Lila, and Lila knew as they danced the last dance.
“They won’t last, will they?” She commented. He didn’t reply, just spun her around and thought, the last dance.
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