A/N:
Hi there everyone :) Sick of waiting for me to update "Dinner and a Show" and "April 2nd"? Or perhaps you've just finished the new chapter of LTBH and now have to unfortunately wait like 6 weeks for the next update because my life is crazy? XD Well, anyway, in the meantime, here's a one shot I've done based on the comic "Trapped in a Locker" by KASUKapl on DeviantArt. The link for the comic is here (just take out the spaces):
http : / / kasukapl . deviantart . com / art / Trapped-on-a-locker-182302107?q = &qo =
(And here's a brief quote from her description about the situation of the comic)
"And well, here it's the result OwO An angry Helga putting Arnold into a locker and kissing him like crazy and he ENJOYING it As I said this takes place REALLY close to TJM OwO! Let's imagine that there is 6th season and a lot of stuff happen and blah blah :blah: xD Arnold has almost realized his feelings for Helga and obviusly he KNOWS about her feelings for him 3 Helga told him to punch him but he doesn't buy it since he knows how Helga feels, Helga crash out and pull him into that locker and kiss him and he likes it YAY! ! And well... OwO What else happened on that locker is up to your imagination ;D ENJOY IT"
I hope you guys enjoy what my imagination came up with for this ^_^ And thank you KASUKapl for the awesome comic ;)
~*TRAPPED IN A LOCKER*~
"See what you did! You made us late for class! You're lucky I'm not going to pound you!"
Helga G. Pataki slammed one of her hands against the locker behind the football headed boy at whom she was currently yelling, and used her other hand to point a finger right in his face. 'Who does he think he is anyway—slamming into me on that street corner like he always does, and then getting all flustered and random and wishy-washy and pathetically do-goodery about apologizing and picking me up and trying to 'clean me off' instead of just letting us make the bus to the school! Jerk…' In fact, Helga had been noticing Arnold doing that a lot lately (particularly ever since the FTi…er… 'incident'…) actually… Getting himself all worked up around her, bothering her, even making little side jokes at her expense…but always coupled with that adorable half lidded gaze of his that made her absolutely torn between being furious with him for being so bold and just wanting to swoon at that smile of his accompanying his new little daring streak… It had all actually started with that tango he'd done with her at the April Fools dance, come to think of it…She still wasn't sure what the heck all of that had been about with the holding her and the dipping and the 'Don't worry, my poor, blind friend…You're in good hands'…
…And yet…in the midst of her more wild fantasies and dreams about him it had made one interesting (and slightly embarrassing…and VERY surprising observation) continuously pop into Helga's mind. 'Maybe he's not SUCH a goodie two shoes…It's almost like there's some kind of dark passionate secret side he's got…Something deep down that—')
"Helga, you've been saying that for years. I know you'd never follow through with your threats."
The sound of Arnold's voice suddenly presenting this challenge snapped Helga back to reality instantly. 'Oh please—what am I thinking? Yeah, Arnold with an edge—in my fantasies and nowhere else. He…he was just getting back at me with that stupid dance…and all this stuff since then was probably just…him being his stupid loopy self! And—' And then what he'd just said really processed with her… 'WHO DOES HE THINK HE IS? What—does he think just because I went a little head over heels on him on a rooftop that I'm some kind of softie?' And yet Helga felt a lurch of frustration inside of herself all of a sudden at the very real fact that she would never be able to bring herself to hit Arnold—ever—and that now he knew it too. No, there was nothing she had in her arsenal to combat his accusation that her threats were all empty and idle…Nothing that would shock him and panic him and shut him up like her blustery insults and threats had done for all these years… She almost scoffed to herself as her thoughts wandered. 'Last time I made him like that was…'
She gulped when she realized what the last time had been…and what exactly had done it (and it certainly hadn't been a 'blustery threat or insult).
She couldn't, of course. Not here. No. In public? Please!
Yet…speaking of public…other people were bound to be noticing them right now…She at least needed to keep up the act of hating him…of taking no guff from anyone ever. So she had to do something.
Was she working off of enough of an adrenaline rush at the moment to kill two birds with one stone?
'Hmm…why not? And it would sure take that smug little smile off of his face…' she couldn't help but finish to herself with satisfaction.
"OH yeah? Let's see, Bucko!" Helga suddenly yelled right at her smug little beloved, and before he could respond she'd ripped open the slightly ajar door of the locker behind him with one hand (she didn't bother to question why it was open…or whether that fact meant that someone was going to come back to it soon), shoved a suddenly petrified looking Arnold inside with her other hand (hearing him give a small little 'Ow!' as he hit the back of the locker)…
…And then she stepped right inside with him.
"Helga?" Arnold's formerly confident-sounding voice suddenly trembled…he just stood there, watching her…practically terrified looking!
'Ah, just like the good old days…' A happy smirk came to Helga's face at the obvious effect she was having on him.
And then she instantly slammed the locker door closed behind them!
'Perfect…' the young girl thought to herself, practically grinning as the door clicked shut behind her… After all, everyone in the hall had just seen her shove Arnold into a locker to 'teach him a lesson' (thus saving her reputation)…and now she also had him all alone to do whatever she had to do with him (thus giving her a chance to knock him back down a few pegs…and maybe to have a little fun before class).
The two were now enveloped in the darkness of the locker, save for a few bars of light coming through the slats of the door… Suddenly, Helga heard Arnold address her again (in an obviously confused and slightly worried voice). "Helga, what are you do—MMM!"
Summing up all of her courage, Helga G. Pataki had just done something which she hadn't had it in her to do since that early morning on the rooftop of the FTi building several weeks ago…She'd grabbed her startled beloved, shut her eyes tight, and pulled his frightened little self forward into a full lip-locking kiss!
'Shuts him up, shows him who's boss, teaches him a lesson…And also…' She felt herself uncontrollably quiver a little… 'Crimeny his mouth tastes delicious! Lips so soft…so untouched…except by me, of course…Oh Arnold…' Yeah, despite the fact that the main motive here was her own frustrated revenge…Helga couldn't help slowly sinking in to being a total loop-de-loop goner for him. 'Crimeny, I have missed this!'
'She…we…I…' Arnold was finally starting to think a little bit now as well (considering the situation)…and okay, fine, he would admit it—he'd been pushing Helga's buttons a little bit lately! Or a LOT lately! Sue him! After seven long years of experiencing her unsolicited torture it was…well, darn it, it was fun! He had a permanent 'get out of pounding' free card! And…it wasn't like he was abusing his unique position all that much…He'd been at least trying to keep himself tame, of course. Only little smiles and harmless jokes and…and those times he kept finding himself stumbling over himself and acting kind of nervous and tongue-tied around her and…Okay that last stuff hadn't really been part of a small revenge on his part…Actually he wasn't sure WHERE exactly it had all come from but…but…
He released a sigh through his nose and his eyes drifted closed…his whole body shivered a little and then relaxed in her grasp. He couldn't distract himself from it anymore…couldn't milk another moment of pretending it wasn't happening out of his initial shock…couldn't push his thoughts into some other topic for the time being…She was kissing him again…Holding him…alone here in the darkness…Was…was this her…her 'pounding' of him? Was this what it would be from now on? She couldn't bring herself to hit him so instead she'd…kiss him…?
He felt his heartbeat slow…and then increase…His thoughts were fuzzed over… He figured he was probably supposed to stop this…but he…just couldn't bring his honest little conscience to lie to himself and reject her kiss…because, when you got right down to it, there was nothing inside of him that…had any real desire to reject her at all…
Suddenly though her soft, burning lips were pulled away from his own of their own accord!
Arnold sucked in cool air sharply and his eyes popped open wide at the sensation! Then he felt his lips tremble a little…and tingle…just like after her kiss on the FTi building, he couldn't help but recall at the back of his mind…
And then he heard the sound of a giggle in the darkness.
It sent a spark through his heart.
"Oh come on, Football Head…Let Dark Arnold come out…" cooed a light female voice.
He felt a finger trace gently over his sweater up his chest…ending by giving him a light tap on the nose.
He felt his knees all but give out from under him. 'Wh-Wh…Huh…?'
"Football Head?" inquired the lovely voice again…He didn't have it in him to look to the glint of her eyes in the faint light filtering into the locker, and so kept his wide gaze low…where it happened to fall upon her smiling, dark lips. Everything inside of him was just…was just…
"Arnold?" And now a slight frown of concern came to that mouth. "Arnold, are you…"
"MMM!" His reciprocation was so instant, so intense, so strong, so sudden, so—
It had caused Helga to slam against the inside of the locker door, his arms around her body, squeezing her, holding her…squeezing HER, holding HER! And then her beloved let out a deep sigh through his nose, of all things! Heck, it almost felt like a small moan accompanied it! And it sounded…HAPPY!
'Wh-wha—' Helga's thoughts could barely form! There was nothing but his arms burning against her, the pressure of his body against hers, and his lips… 'His lips…Ahhhh!' She gave a girlish internal sigh! His lips that she had always longed for…those perfect petals of pristine flesh…she wasn't just getting the chance to feel them against her own anymore…not this time. They were actively, passionately, ravenously pressing against her own! Like he was…like he was ACTUALLY…LIKING THIS?
Only one thought managed to enter her dazed and delighted and dazzled head… 'Wh-when I told him to let his dark side come out…I didn't think he actually really did HAVE one! Oh…oh…oh Arnold…' She absolutely melted against the locker door… 'Why didn't you tell me all I had to do was go through with a threat for once, my handsome, daring, delicious…Oh…' Her mind went blank in amorous intoxication and love…
Arnold, meanwhile, was having his own little mental meltdown…
'Why…why THAT? Why'd she have to go and do that? She could have just hit me like she said! Why did she have to do it again…?' Arnold, of course, was referring to…well…her kiss…. The one that, that first time…on FTi…had all but made him collapse in…in…(he'd been searching for a word to describe it, actually, ever since it had happened…and had been rather surprised when his mind, which he'd hoped would cling to terms like 'fright', 'shock', 'confusion', even 'disgust'…had instead been spontaneously exploding with words and phrases like 'excitement', 'interest'… 'pleasant surprise'… 'emotional… (he'd had to look this one up but the description seemed to fit)…ecstasy…' (the term 'attraction' was also barely whispering at the back of his mind…though the very idea made him blush so furiously that he hadn't allowed it to do more than that…)
And now he was in locker with her, in the dark after she'd just passionately kissed him…and he was pinning her against the door and wrapping his arms tight around her, and he was fairly certain that if he opened his eyes, by the light filtering in through the slats in the door, he would have seen her wide-eyed and confused and practically in shock, just like he had been during that kiss from her on that building…
And yet, though that possibility might have 'sounded' like a 'bad thing'…something about the idea…actually only made him want to hold tighter, made him want to kiss deeper, and made his heart pound harder because…because she… WHY did she have to do that? WHY did she have to be so confusing and complicated and…and WHY did she have to give kisses with no warning or reason that made him feel 'ecstasy' of all things!
But that wasn't the reason he was panicking and kissing her now… No, he could have dealt with all that…he could have let her just get her kiss to him out of her system and leave him collapsed in strange and wonderful emotions that he couldn't even begin to try naming…He could have just let this happen, let it wash over him and then have gone back to their game of things like this being 'heat of the moment'…except…
'Oh come on, Football Head—let dark Arnold come out…'
She moaned now all of a sudden and Arnold couldn't help doing it back, both because of the feeling of that low sound coming from her lovely throat and mouth (and how it begged to be answered by a sound in return), and also…because of the memory of that simple request she'd cooed to him in the darkness after her lips had softly separated from his… 'dark Arnold'…And then she'd even giggled.
Everything inside of him had just turned to…
Well, it made him shiver even just thinking about it. Dark Arnold? A dark side…him? Could she… She couldn't know how he'd been…thinking he was feeling…She couldn't know all those times ever since FTi when he'd found himself sitting near her in the dugout at Gerald Field, or at the table next to her in the cafeteria, or on the sidewalk eating ice cream with her and their friends…and she'd say something insulting to him and lean back and scowl like she didn't care…and all he could think about was their time together on that rooftop. 'Oh Arnold, just hold me…I suppose you'll have to do the thinking for both of us now, DARLING'… 'Wonderful, I'll go with you to lie down!'… She couldn't know how every time she got anywhere near him it made him relive it all…want to talk about it all…want to remember it all…want to…want to…
'I…I need to…No, Arnold, just…' his thoughts barely broke through as Helga, obviously coming a bit out of her shock, moved her arms from limp at her sides to gently wrapping them around his head and hair…clinging to it…cradling it almost…the head she'd insulted for years but secretly obviously adored… He tried to ignore it all… 'Arnold, just let her go…Let her go and pull away and say you're sorry and leave the locker…This isn't right…You don't like her…not like this! None of it makes any sense! Just…just move your hands to her shoulders…' Another sigh escaped him through his nose… '…Away from her warm, soft body to…to her firm, lovely shoulders…U-Use them to push yourself away from her lips…e-even though yours fit with hers perfectly…and even though they're the softest thing you've ever felt…and so sweet…and so pink…She looks so pretty in pink… NO!' His eyes almost flew open in fright at the (actually not entirely unusual lately) direction in which his thoughts had started to go in terms of her! 'WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME, I…I…I don't want to be in this locker kissing a girl! I DON'T want to be in this locker kissing Helga G. Pataki…'
'I DON'T want him to ever stop…EVER! I don't know what this is but I…oh ARNOLD!'
Yes, Helga's rather distracted mind was catching a second wind at this point, and now that her arms were over Arnold's shoulders and around his neck she suddenly, in a fit of passion, pushed forward, causing Arnold to crash into the back of the locker with a light slam and her body to follow right along with his!
His lips were…it was like she was drinking love and life and desire from them! 'This is insane! This is crazy! Someone's going to catch us! Oh WOW he is an amazing kisser! Who knew?'
'OW!' Arnold felt himself hit the back of the locker and instantly his eyes flew open wide and his breathing through his nose became heavy and staggered! Okay, he'd been able to just barely manage handling things when she'd just been stiff with surprise at his actions…he'd even been able to just barely keep his head above water when her arms had come around him like that…But now she was just…just CONSUMING him! Holding, squeezing, pushing, pressing, like she couldn't get enough of him or something! (And he couldn't deny that something about the idea of being that…desired by her…it made him feel all…all shivery inside…!) Arnold's eyes fell closed again, a final large sigh escaped him…and he let himself go completely limp in Helga's arms, only just barely clinging with his hands around her waist so that he really wouldn't drop like a stone the second she took away this electric experience that she had created in the first place. 'I…Why…why lie about it anymore…' his inhibitions were going… 'SHE'S not lying anymore… I…can't…lie anymore…' He was losing any capacity to hold his arms up…he clung to the pink cloth of her jumper in his final moments of desperation… 'I…Helga…I…love…this. I…I love…y—'
MWUACK!
And suddenly the electricity, the passion, the fire, the heat, the touching, the lips, the moans, the sighs were all gone…replaced by tingles and air and deep panting from the two people in the small locker.
A sudden change in the situation that was the result of the fact that, well…Helga had just plain needed to breathe! Needed some small break from it all! No one should feel that happy for that long! Indeed, only the very real fear that her ten-year-old heart might burst from sheer and total elation, leaving Arnold to have to get the school nurse and eventually leading to some very AWKWARD questions about what the two kids were 'doing in that locker in the first place' had made the young girl end this moment of kissing with her beloved…
And now Arnold and Helga just stood there, Helga leaning against the inside of the locker door and Arnold leaning against the back of the locker…both taking deep and quick inhales and exhales, each just barely able to make out the other's flushed face in the dim light from the hallway…
Eventually, the breaths slowed…and then quieted to normal.
Helga swallowed and looked to Arnold.
Arnold swallowed and looked down at Helga's shoes.
No one blinked.
And then, eventually, Helga cleared her throat and adjusted her (quite 'askew') jumper a little, and announced, in a voice trying to sound in control (but that was actually quite obviously shaky, to say the least), the only thing she could think of to say now that all of that was over. (She knew it was absurd, by the way, but she just didn't have anything else up her sleeve at the moment). "W-Well, um…g-good…" She straightened up a bit and crossed her arms over her chest… "Then let…let this be a lesson to you then, Footb—A-Arnold…" A small shiver randomly passed through her spine at saying his name—an after effect of all that passion, she guessed. She just did her best to ignore it as she continued speaking, still just barely managing a scowl…"N-No idle threats from Helga G. Pataki…And if you ever almost make us late again, you'll get worse, you little angel—little SHRIMP!"
She knew the fact that she was blushing like crazy and trying to adjust her hair and dress from the near mauling she'd received from the boy in front of her…plus the fact that she was so blatantly not acknowledging what had just happened…(plus the fact that she had nearly called him her 'little angel')…was all making this little announcement of hers sound a bit 'weak' to say the least… But Helga figured that a locker two minutes before class started was NOT the best place to have an epic discussion about 'certain things'. And who KNEW what the heck his sudden actions were about anyway? 'Sure…' she thought quickly to herself as she waited to see if he'd go along with her in pretending nothing out of the ordinary had just happened, '…Maybe he's 'secretly suddenly in love with me'…OR maybe he just figured doing that BACK to me would be the only way to give me my fill and stop me from doing it to him in the first place anymore… No, I've gotta gauge things more with him…just keep observing him and waiting until there's proof that he…' And then she just let out a sigh. 'Oh who am I kidding—there's no way he'd ever…No way he'd ever…'
"I…"
He was speaking. Helga shut her thoughts up and her eyes instantly snapped to looking at her beloved's poor, shy, nervous, blushing, adorable little face.
"I…" Arnold tried once again, though his voice cracked quite obviously this time… The poor, flustered boy swallowed and did his best to try again. "I..." And then he just blinked and looked down and to the side, digging his foot into the bottom of the locker and continuing rather shyly, "I'm…sorry, Helga. Y-you're right…I shouldn't have made us late for class like that, heh, heh…" He looked up at her sheepishly. "And…And I'll remember…No idle threats." He straightened his sweater a little as he talked and ran his fingers through his hair once or twice, having become aware due to Helga's 'fixing up' of herself that he might be looking a little disheveled as well.
These few words from her beloved processed, and then Helga took a very deep (very GRATEFUL) breath and then let it out slowly…as she fully absorbed Arnold's 'going along with her' observation and the immense sensation of personal relief that came along with it. "Uh…good…" she replied back in a slightly less nervous sounding voice, "G-Glad you see it my way, Football Head."
Arnold took in and let out a deep breath himself…happy she wasn't questioning him about what he'd done to her…He blushed, unable to even think about it right now. "Yeah…Of course, Helga. Whatever you say…" He gave a small nod.
Helga gave a small nod back to him and then, with a swallow, slowly turned to open the locker door and get them both OUT of this awkward 'after' moment together. "That's right, Arnoldo…" she added with a touch more of her usual sass, already anticipating the freedom to come and the inevitable return of the status quo… "...Whatever I say. And don't you ever forget it, Football He—"
CLINK CLINK
Helga's eyes went completely wide. She froze.
'Locker doors…don't open from the inside…do they? Oh…my…'
"S-Something wrong, Helga?" Arnold piped up from behind her at her sudden pause in speaking…and at the fact that the door wasn't open yet so that he could wish her a quick goodbye and then run to the boys room and splash cold water on his face and look directly at his reflection in the mirror and repeat to himself over and over in a (futile) whisper that he did NOT like kissing Helga G. Pataki, that he did NOT have an attraction to her, and that, most of all, her name and word 'love' should NOT occur in the same sentence in his head EVER again unless the phrase 'do not' was tossed in there somehow! Because this whole thing was INSANE, and CRAZY, and made NO sense whatsoever! Yeah…that was the plan! Denial! It would work! It HAD to work…(and yet he couldn't deny that a rather large part of himself knew that it wouldn't work…and that a small, deeper part of himself didn't WANT it to work anyway…And who in their right mind would? After all, she was…) Arnold practically shook his head to shut up his thoughts from trying to go down the path of daydreams about her YET AGAIN in the middle of all of this!
"L-Locker door's, uh…" the sound of her voice, nearly cracking as she spoke, brought him out of his thoughts fully… "It d-doesn't open from the inside…Heh…You know, like in those sitcoms, when a geek gets bullied and shoved into a locker…he has to wait for one of his cool friends to come along and open it from the outside…heh, heh…" She turned around, terror in her eyes, and leaned back against the door again, her gaze darting around desperately.
Arnold felt his heart thunder in his chest at this piece of information. 'Doesn't open from the in…the inside…' His eyes went wide as well and his jaw trembled a little. "O-Oh…" he barely squeaked out, "So we're…s-stuck in here…together… then…" His face burned with heat.
Helga swallowed in the semi-darkness. "Y-yeah…" Her eyes barely managed to fall to those of the boy before her. Stuck in here…with Arnold…the air already so warm and close from what they'd just done together…her lips still cool from the moisture of his kiss…Trapped pressed against the door of this locker with Arnold less than a foot away from her…
She shook her had instantly to clear it from these thoughts and did her best to scowl again. "I-I mean…not if I have anything to say about it!" And with this sudden firm announcement the girl instantly turned back to the door, grabbed the lock mechanism on the inside and began to tug at it with all of her might! "Stupid…lock…just…BUDGE…already!" she growled through gritted her teeth, trying her hardest to set them free from this horribly nightmarish moment of confrontation!
"Helga…" piped up Arnold timidly from behind her after her first several pulls didn't succeed…a small idea coming to his head.
Helga was trying to ignore him though—to forget about his presence…So she didn't turn and didn't acknowledge him…or the sound of her name coming from his delectable little mouth…
'FOCUS!' Helga screamed at herself. She gave the lock a few more good yanks. "Come ON! Just GIVE!"
"Helga…" the boy behind her tried once more in his shy little voice.
'He's not here, he's not here…Just focus on the lock…' "GRR! Just OPEN!"
'Helga!"
"AHH!"
Helga jumped and spun around as that announcement of her name had come coupled with one of Arnold's warm hands suddenly clasping onto one of her shoulders!
"Wh-What?" she squeaked out in terror, breathing heavily, her eyes wide…and his eyes so freaking close…
She watched Arnold swallow. His lips moved in the darkness for a moment, and then he found his voice. "Can…Can I help, Helga?" he asked sincerely and in his former calm, level, innocent tone.
Helga just blinked once or twice as she let the question sink in…Then she scowled at him and shoved his hand off of her body. She spoke in her usual no-nonsense, no-duh, matter of fact voice. "Uh…since both sets of our hands couldn't exactly fit on that little lock, then NO, Head boy! Crimeny! Now, I'll just get back to handling things, if that's alright with you, bucko! Sheesh!" She finished with an eye roll and was about to turn her attentions back to the door in question.
Yet, Helga paused in just a touch of surprise before doing so as, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a bit of a frustrated look come to Arnold's face. "Well," he suddenly started in a slightly more peeved tone, making her continue to refrain from turning back around, "Actually I just thought that since you couldn't force it off by yourself then maybe…maybe I…" A touch of nervousness came to his features…but he obviously tried to play it off as he finished (quietly, once again…) "…Maybe if I grabbed onto you while you were pulling and we pulled together…it would work." Hey, HE wanted out just as badly as SHE did…and combining their strength was the only logical way to do that…even if it meant, well…He tried not to think about it. The blood pounded into his face.
Arnold gave a hesitant glance up as he finished speaking, only to see Helga's scowl remain for a second longer…
And then he watched the girl in question blush very VERY hotly!
Because, as much as Helga didn't care to admit it, Arnold was right: she couldn't seem to wrench the lock loose on her own. So it was either him pulling her pulling the lock…or them staying in here…alone…together…
And SHE could NOT keep up the act too much longer under these circumstances!
'Crimeny, his kisses are so delicious! I think I could live on just them for the rest of my life if I had to! And it's not helping that I WANT to…'
"F-Fine…let's just do it and get it over with, okay?" Helga finally just mumbled in defeat back to him, not looking to Arnold's eyes.
The young boy felt his heart skip a serious beat at her acquiescence to his plan…and then he just gave her a small nod to show that he was ready. They were going to get out of here. He was going to hold her…and then they would get out of here. 'Oh boy…' He let out a breath.
Helga caught his nod out of the corner of her eye…and then with a gulp slowly turned away from him and placed her hands on the lock mechanism once more…
Very soon she felt Arnold's arms come tightly, warmly, securely around her waist….his face right near her neck… The image of him leaning up and gently kissing her right near her hair line…going over her shoulder…and then around to her chin and then cheek suddenly flashed through Helga's mind and she actually felt her legs wobble. 'N-No, Helga, FOCUS! Get OUT of here! NOW! Daydream later but just GET OUT OF HERE NOW FIRST!' Her scowl returned and she gripped the lock as tightly as possible. "You ready, Football Head?" she managed firmly…trying her best not to let the utter pleasure she was experiencing thanks to Arnold holding her like that shine through in her tone.
Arnold had been about to ask her why it had felt like she almost shook for a second in his arms…but he stopped at the sound of her voice bringing his focus back on track. 'No, just…just get out here first. That's what's most important…Nothing else…Not…Not even the fact that she's…Wow, she's warm to hold…And her hair feels so soft against my face…And she's…YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW! YOU DO NOT LOVE HELGA! JUST GET OUT OF HERE AND EVERYTHING WILL MAKE SENSE AGAIN!' Arnold closed his eyes tightly as he finished these last thoughts, and then managed to reply to the girl in his arms in a cracked voice, "R-Ready, Helga!"
She let out a breath. "Okay then…on the count of three. One…two…three!"
The two kids, pulling and holding and gripping with all of their might, gave the biggest jerk backward they could!
…And instantly flew away from the locker door and slammed hard together against the back of their small space!
And now, as they opened their eyes, the two children found themselves squished and half sitting against the back of the locker…Arnold's arms around Helga from behind…and Helga holding them tightly in place…and Arnold's chin and mouth were right in the crux of her collar bone…
His lips were so close to her skin that she could feel the warmth of his breath. "G-Guess…" she tried to speak, to be casual…It was hard. Very hard. "Guess that d-didn't work out too…well…" she finally got out in a whisper… His breath on her skin was…it was like the ghost of a kiss, teasing her with memories of the real thing.
"N-No…I…I guess not…" the young man just behind her managed to whisper back…as he was slowly and seriously becoming fully aware of the feeling of his chin resting on the soft skin near the base of her neck… And he was holding her against his body, against his heart…in his arms…forever. She loved him….and he wanted to…
It was dark. They were alone. They had obviously already decided that everything here and now was in the 'heat of the moment' anyway. And what exactly would she do if he went for it, anyway… 'pound him' again?
"Arnold…" Helga barely whispered…and he could feel that she was obviously nervous…her shallow breathing, the slight tremble as she'd spoken… "Maybe…maybe we could…try again or something…" She barely knew what she was saying. Her thoughts were getting fuzzy and dull and…how he was holding her was just heaven. She both wanted to leave him and didn't want to leave him more than anything in the world.
Arnold took a deep breath in and then let one out. He felt her shift a little as his exhale reached the surface of her skin. He swallowed hard and blushed furiously…but went for it nonetheless. "Hey…Helga?" he finally whispered back.
"Uh…Uh huh?" She turned her head just a little toward his in slight curiosity, trying to catch the corner of one of his eyes in the corner of one of hers.
"We…" Arnold took in another breath and let another one out, just barely making eye contact with her. "We could just wait for someone…" he finally suggested shyly, his eyes glancing down and away from her gaze that was trying to look at him… "…together…" came the last (and most meaningful) word.
The slight blush Helga could make out on one of Arnold's cheeks made her blush in return. "I…" Especially as his 'plan B'…and what it really meant…became clear to her. "I…" she felt her heart flutter…and her blush deepen… "I guess we…could…" she finally managed in a whisper.
Arnold's head was facing Helga's from behind, and Helga had managed, by this point, to turn herself enough that all she needed was a little shift more for her head to be facing Arnold's… And so now they faced each other, boy still holding girl around the waist, and girl still pressing into boy's body for all the sparks and spins it caused inside of her…And it didn't help that their bodies seemed to meld and fit so perfectly together… 'Kind of like our lips…' she managed to think to herself with a smile. Speaking of that…the two of them were maybe…a lip's distance apart…
And they knew it was going to happen again…the thing that had just happened mere minutes ago…the thing they were afraid of.
But they'd…they'd sort it out later, because for now they…for now…they…
It would be so…soft. So sweet. So perfectly lovely.
Their breaths met and…
"AHH!"
"AHHH!"
"Um…hi…"
A bright light instantly flooded Arnold and Helga's eyes, and the two just screamed and jumped and clung against each other in shock, panting in fright (and…in 'other' emotions too of course…)!
It took a second but then Helga's eyes adjusted to light…
…And she FUMED! "BRAINY!"
The screech was so loud from the girl still in his arms that it made Arnold actually cringe.
Meanwhile, the geeky kid in question just stood over his two classmates in the doorway of the locker with his usual small creepy smile…but also a slight blush. "Um…yeah…" he wheezed at them again.
Helga instantly tried to fly at him, obviously out for blood, though Arnold did his best to restrain her with his continued grip around her waist. "What are you DOING here you little INSECT?" the flustered and frustrated girl raged from within the locker (not having it in her to do too much to break Arnold's hold…and subconsciously not really wanting to, of course). And yet still her temper seethed! Brainy opening that door…it was like…like being ripped from heaven to the bowels of the underworld by her own personal lifelong stalker/tormentor! No, even worse—she hadn't just been ripped from one extreme to another. She'd been ripped from the utter peak of the satisfaction of all of her amorous feelings and forced into…dullness, the mundane, the normal…Right from this place being a cozy little dream-come-true love nest with her beloved to it just being an average old aluminum locker. It was MADDENING! "GRR!" she growled in Brainy's direction, trying to go for him again with a fresh burst of adrenaline all of a sudden!
Meanwhile, her beloved was still doing his best to keep from destroying the poor boy who had interrupted them. "Helga!" Arnold soothed her from behind, still holding tight and doing his best to talk her down as he went on, "I'm sure he's just here because—"
"Uh…my locker…"
Helga froze. Arnold froze.
Yeah, those three words of explanation from Brainy pretty much did it for them.
Helga's rage and anger and adrenaline rushes all ceased. The young blonde girl cleared her throat, carefully and quickly removed Arnold's (now limp) arms from around her body, and then used the edge of the locker to stand and walk out into the hall past Brainy. "Ah…I see…" She merely replied in a level tone in response to this bit of information about whose locker she'd been making out with Arnold in. She then let out a sigh and turned back in the direction of the open locker. She addressed its owner first. "Well, Brainy, I am sorry about taking up your time, and your…locker…" she blushed just a tiny bit but managed to keep her cool as she then moved her glance down to Arnold (who was still half sitting in the bottom of the locker) and spoke, still seeming all business. "Coming, Football Head?" she asked simply.
Arnold, whose face was a fiery red at this point in his and Helga's escapade, just gave her a small trembling nod after a second or two, and then slowly, clumsily managed to get himself standing as well, trying desperately not to think about how embarrassing this whole thing was. "R-Right…um…Yeah, I'm coming, Helga…" he called to her, and then Arnold stepped out of the locker as well. Dusting himself off a bit, he likewise glanced at the geeky asthmatic boy beside them. "S-Sorry, Brainy…" he added sincerely.
Brainy just continued standing there and wheezing.
Helga rolled her eyes. "Come on, Arnold…" She grabbed the blonde boy's wrist and began to pull him along down the hall toward their classroom. "The bell's about to ring…"
"Uh…" Arnold managed after a few surprised blinks before he began to keep pace with her, "Okay…Helga…"
The two children disappeared down the hallway…
...Brainy just watched them go.
And now Brainy just took in a wheezy breath and let out a wheezy breath (as per usual), turned back toward his locker, and shut the door.
And then he then let out a sigh and rolled his eyes, and with a small shake of his head couldn't help but think to himself after the little scene he'd just witnessed, 'And people think that I don't know how to express my true feelings…'
"Alright, one more time just so we're clear, Arnold—if anyone asks, we're running a little late because you're a do-gooder little jerk and because I had to teach you a lesson, and that's why you look as messed up as you do and why I look as messed up as I do." She was referring to their still slightly tousled clothes and hair, of course…But with mere seconds until the bell was about to ring, neither child could very well go fix themselves up completely in the restroom or something just yet…at least, not without actually ending up being late to class and arousing even more suspicion about their whereabouts together this morning. "And you learned your lesson and you're sorry and it'll NEVER happen again! Got it?" finished Helga very forcefully, not about to take anything but total compliance from the boy before her, whose stupid defiant streak (combined of course with the fact that he was SO irresistible) had gotten them into this whole 'locker' mess in the first place.
Arnold, his back currently pinned against the wall by the scowling and flushed looking Helga who had just spoken these words, just nodded his head quickly with wide, almost fearful eyes. "Yes, Helga. I…I understand. Completely," he assured her with a swallow.
"Good!" She jerked away from him, causing the young boy to fall forward a little from the wall though he quickly righted himself. "And don't you ever say another word different about it!" Helga added defensively. "We…" she swallowed and he noticed a touch of that nervousness come back into her eyes…and a touch of a blush come back to her cheeks that morning… "We're just…very prone to 'heat of the moment' things, you and I…heh…" she 'casually' explained away, glancing up and to the side innocently, "I-I mean, you make me so mad sometimes with all your stupid Football Headed stuff that I just….can't help myself, you know?"
Helga let her gaze return to Arnold's, looking at him with more than a little desperation in her eyes…because she knew full well that if he 'bought it' this time (just like when he'd 'bought it' after her confession), it would just be him entirely letting her off the hook with obviously no trace of doubt in his mind that she loved him… A minute long heat of the moment kiss was one thing…but five to ten minutes of passionate necking in a locker was quite another, after all. But even though it would be a complete lie if he agreed with her now…she NEEDED that lie. Because she just…just couldn't talk about this! Not here! Not now! Not so suddenly like this! Because when she and Arnold talked…like 'big time' talked…it needed to be slow and real and gentle and grown-up…and absolutely NOT in 'the heat of the moment'. (Of course if something 'heat of the moment' happened AFTER the grown-up talk, well…Helga wouldn't exactly complain about that…) Helga felt herself blush a tiny bit more at the idea and did her best to put any such fantasies on the backburner for now: the situation at hand still had to be dealt with, after all.
Arnold, meanwhile, still just standing near the wall, his arms behind his back, just absorbed Helga's little explanation (and practically plea) and then glanced down shyly and swallowed…Finally he took a breath and managed to speak, nodding his head once more that morning at her in his nervousness. "R-Right…I…I know, Helga… It was just the 'heat of the moment' and I just really make you mad sometimes, and…and it…it probably doesn't help things when I get, um, 'mad' back at you…" The blood pumped into his face as an image flashed into his mind of how he must have looked back there with Helga pinned against that locker door like that, arms wrapped around her, sighing and moaning and kissing… He gave a fearful swallow and did his best to push past the mental picture for now. "B-Because…you don't really l-love me…you hate me…And I…have to remember that…right?" he managed to finish, and then gave a hesitant glance back up at her.
Helga blushed brightly at the familiar question, and then just quickly nodded and gave a sheepish smile, so very grateful that he was letting her off the hook once more in their lives! "R-Right…I hate you… A-And you hate me too, of course, heh, heh…" She waited for Arnold to agree with her so that they could have one more very tense and awkward laugh about this whole thing and then just go into the classroom and resume their normal lives as bully and bullied.
Instead, though…
"I never hated you before, Helga…and I don't hate you now. I like you."
The words were out of his mouth quickly and before Helga could really process them he'd placed a small kiss upon her cheek and pulled back…a blush upon his features…and a small smile upon his face.
Helga's jaw dropped…and even trembled a little.
Arnold, meanwhile, his heart fluttering at this small, brave little action he'd just managed to do, couldn't help but smile even more at the reaction he'd gotten out of her to it all. He let out a sigh, feeling a lot calmer all of a sudden. "Come on, Helga…" he placed a hand on the door handle. "Ladies first…" He turned the handle and gave the door a gentle push ajar…and then he just couldn't help himself. 'I know I'm not supposed to be thinking this but…she's kind of…cute when she's surprised…' He blushed just a little bit more…but the smile didn't leave his face.
Helga just remained frozen…feeling her heart beat like mad in her chest and the cool moisture of his lip print on her cheek…and the heated blush already building up underneath it. "Um…" she barely managed to stutter out in a squeak. 'He…he likes me? He's always liked me…' Helga knew that fact, of course, from overhearing Arnold at the end of that last costume party Rhonda had had…but… 'And he still…likes me…now?' Even after the confession and the kiss and things like this whole 'locker thing'…? Her eyes went even wider. 'So maybe…does that maybe mean…since he's okay with all of that stuff, that…that he…he…' The very idea was almost too much for her shocked mind to bear.
Arnold, seeing Helga still in a bit of paralysis (thanks to a simple kiss and a compliment from him, he couldn't help but note once more to himself with just a touch of pride), just shook his head a little in amusement and then reached forward with his free hand to grasp one of hers. "Helga…ladies first, okay?" He spoke sweetly and gestured with his eyes toward the still slightly ajar door. He waited and a second or two later the girl before him blinked a couple of times as she came back to reality.
"O-Oh, uh…right, right…Class…" was the only thing to manage to come out of Helga's mouth. Then she swallowed and put on a weak scowl, and finished with (trying to hold on to at least some of her pride here, after all), "And, yeah, Helga G. Pataki always goes first, Football Head…a-and don't you forget it!"
Arnold just did his best not to laugh, gently slipping his hand from hers and putting it behind his back like a gentleman. "Of course, Helga…" he gave a small nod. "And I 'wouldn't dream' of ever making us late to class again…" He smiled…and winked…and then pushed the door completely open (and let out a small, private breath of relief that it felt like the balance between them was truly being restored.)
Helga could have just killed Arnold for putting her through a smile and a kiss and a handhold and a suggestive wink of all things (not to mention his 'interesting' final words to her) and then just suddenly exposing her to the eyes of all of the students in the room like that where she had to go right into bully mode right away…or she could have kissed him for it (after all…she had gotten a smile and a kiss and a handhold and a suggestive wink complete with parting words out of the deal…). She just settled for sighing and almost shaking her head as she walked past her beloved and into the classroom….and almost smiling to herself despite her usual scowl on her face. Killing Arnold or kissing Arnold…there really were still times when she was just so torn between the two.
'Oh Arnold…what a dream boat!' she finally couldn't resist thinking to herself with an internal girlish sigh at how charming and sweet he'd suddenly been about everything…('Why bother acting like I could ever get angry enough to harm a hair on his perfect head anyway...? He knows now just as well as I do that when it comes right down to it, I'll kiss him long before I'll kill him every time…') And besides he really had been such a sweetheart about this whole thing…So maybe…maybe he really did…maybe he really could have… 'feelings'…for her…just like she had for him…?
Helga let the blissful thought linger for a perfect moment.
Until a strong and familiar twinge of doubt and disbelief suddenly went through her, shattering the idea to just pieces of her usual lovesick fantasies. 'Still…' her scowl wavered a little as she finished walking across the room to her desk…her thoughts deepening, 'maybe…maybe he's just being a gentleman or something corny like that…or maybe I've just confused his football headed little brain so much that he doesn't even know what he's doing anymore. But yet he…But then…Oh…Oh why is he so confusing…?' She rolled her eyes a little as she finally took her usual seat in the back of the classroom. 'Eh…maybe I'll talk to Phoebe about it later—she's usually pretty sharp about these things…Besides, I should probably get around to mentioning the whole 'confession' thing to her anyway…' Helga let out a sigh and rubbed her temples… And then she ripped a few strips of paper from her notebooks, balled them up, took her trusty spitball shooter straw from her desk…and smiled to herself… 'Oh well…Bottom line, I guess, is that I got another kiss from Arnold…No sense over thinking that TOO much.' She shrugged. 'Might as well suck it up for now and just get prepared for the rest of the day…' She waited for Arnold, who was finally slowly making his way across the classroom, to sit at his desk before she would begin her with one of her more 'traditional' methods of expressing her love to him…
Watching Helga walk off to her desk, Arnold had just smiled to himself a little more and then stepped inside of the classroom as well, allowing the door to shut behind them. His intrigued smile in her direction lingered for several seconds. 'It's like she loves me and she hates me…' He almost shook his head at how silly that probably sounded…even though in a weird way it did kind of make sense to him. He let out a sigh as a happy thought occurred to him. 'But…at least she knows now that I don't hate her…' Arnold, slowly commencing the walk to his own desk, considered for a moment the idea of pushing his thought one step further… of maybe saying something definite to himself finally about his own opinion in this 'love' thing between himself and Helga…But the concept only made him blush and shake his head to himself slightly. No, not just yet…It was too much… This was all happening so fast, feeling so crazy…This needed thought and reason and talking…He couldn't just…couldn't just go on pure 'heat of the moment' emotion! That…No…
'But…'
…A small smile came back to his face as he sat down at his desk in the front of the room...and for a split second just let the pure emotion of it all wash over him, and nothing more. His heart raced. 'But…I…I…'
"Hey, man! Where the heck have you been? I heard Helga yelling at you in the hallway and no one's seen you since then and…Arnold do you have a fever or something? You look like you're burning up!"
This sudden and sharp interruption of Arnold's thoughts and feelings (and sudden observation of the fact that his face was a distinct reddish hue…though from something quite different than 'fever') by his best friend's voice made Arnold practically jump in his seat! "Um…" he squeaked out with a nervous gulp, and instantly whipped around to face Gerald who was sitting at the desk beside him...resting his head in his hand and giving him a rather strange look. "N-Nothing…nowhere…I-I mean…" Arnold stuttered at first…but then he took a breath and did his best to speak calmly… He cleared his throat. "I mean…Helga was angry with me for making out—uh, for making HER LATE to class, so…so she said she was going to pound me and shoved me in a locker but it…it turned out fine. Don't worry about it, Gerald." Arnold gave his friend a reassuring smile and PRAYED that just this once in his life he would be able to sort of not tell the truth and actually get away with it (though he figured the fact that he had started off by accidentally nearly blurting out the term 'making out' probably wasn't going to help matters much).
Arnold watched as Gerald kept giving him that funny look for another second or two…but then the tall haired boy just smiled. "Mmmm mmm mmm…" Gerald just shook his head, still grinning, "Man, you are lucky when it comes to that girl…You always JUST manage to avoid getting it from her—you know that?" He smirked a little, obviously happy that his best friend had 'gotten out of another one.'
A warm wash of relief came over Arnold at Gerald's accepting response to his 'not exactly truth'. And then a small, dreamy smile threatened very much to come to Arnold's face as he couldn't help but glance down and whisper under his breath with a sigh in response to the idea of always just managing to avoid 'getting it from Helga'… "Not always Gerald…not always…"
"Huh?" Gerald's voice suddenly broke through Arnold's near daydreams again.
A small laugh just escaped Arnold and he shook his head and just sighed and looked to Gerald again, figuring it might be okay to 'not exactly tell the truth' at least once more today…"I…I said, you're right, Gerald…I guess I just…keep getting 'lucky'…"
"Alright, students, time to start another special day of class!" Mr. Simmons instantly announced from the front of the room, thus ending any further classroom conversations (which Arnold was rather happy for…He didn't want to accidentally stumble into slipping up about Helga's secret again, anyway…And also he wanted to be alone with his thoughts on the matter for a little while…)
Although…Arnold 'didn't exactly complain' when a spitball…or two…or fifteen bounced against his 'football' head as the day progressed. After all, they were small…moist…from her mouth…Kind of like little kisses, really… His head did its best to ignore that concept…while his heart warmed up a little more in response to it with each successive 'little kiss' from Helga. It even made (though he kept trying to fight it) one of those little shivers go through him like back in the closet, eventually… especially as he imagined (though he tried (and in vain) to deny to himself that it was on his mind)… 'real kisses' from her all over his head and neck and…
'I'll…I'll talk to her about all of this later…For right now though, I…' Another hit and another shiver, 'For right now though…at least I'm not lying to myself anymore about my dark side…liking this…loving this…' He let out a deep sigh…and let himself get lost in a daydream or two of what might have happened if…if the two of them really had remained trapped in that locker together…
A/N:
Well, that's all! Hope you guys enjoyed the one shot ^_^ As usual, please review because they make me smile and inspire me like crazy ;) Love all of you! And thanks again KASUKapl for another great comic ;)
And as usual…
Happy Reading!
~Azure129 aka Jenna :)
(AXH FOREVER!)