#ps118

ᥬ ིྀ ɪ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ɢᴀʟᴀxʏ, ʙᴀʙʏ, ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇᴄᴏɢɴɪᴛɪᴏɴ

ᥬೄྀ ʏᴏᴜ sᴇᴛ ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴀʀ ᴛᴏᴏ ʟᴏᴡ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ's ᴡʜʏ ᴡᴇ ʀᴀɪsᴇ ᴏᴜʀs

Day 8 - Creator's Choice!!

I admit, I had a heck of a time choosing what I wanted the last picture to be. I'm not the best at coming up with things on the fly sometimes, but I thought that I should finally announce properly that I'm working on a fanfic based off of this prompt I got off tumblr with a title picture I decided to finally draw! (Which, funnily enough, is my working title. Seriously: "Hey Arnold! Fanfic From This Prompt I Got Off Of Tumblr" is the first thing in my doc file.)

Essentially, it's an AU where Helga and Curly become closer friends and all the hijinks that ensue with that. They do NOT become a couple, but they do help bring out the best in each other and help the other with the affections of their crushes, Rhonda and Arnold (who are now noticing Curly and Helga because the two have pranked [most of] PS118 into thinking they're dating).

I don't have many chapters pre-written, I'm unsure where to publish them, and I don't even have a title. But I'm having so much fun writing about these goobers that I feel as though I should publish it on one of the many sites soon... As soon as I have a title! If you have an idea for a title, comment an idea and maybe I'll use it! (And thank you, of course.)

They’re both so obnoxious together, they enable each other like nobody else. They’re making loud, unintelligible, annoying noises whenever somebody (likely Arnold, Lila, Sid...) starts getting preachy or annoying: “MAWP. MAWP. MAWP. See? That’s what you sound like”.

Curly starts completing Helga’s sentences-- but purposely at inopportune moments because she hates it when he does that. He always gives her this little shit-eating grin.

Curly starts getting manic and Helga just grabs him by the shoulders and goes: “Look at me. Look at me. Look at me! Does that sound sane? Does that sound like a thing normal people would do?” And she gets him to maybe back off of letting all the animals in the zoo loose, but she’ll help him sneak into the chimpanzee pen after dark so he can fight one.

Helga starts panicking about her secret love for Arnold getting out and Curly walks her through five different plans of execution to make the Scary Feeling™ go away. Phoebe is the one who tries (sometimes fails) to shut these mission ideas down.

He and Helga have a pact to get platonically married if they hit 30 and are still single. Curly has picked out the suit for this occasion and has a catalogue of possible dresses for Helga, who he knows will be picky. Helga has booked the venue just in case, because she’s nothing if not pragmatic.

Boys will walk up to hit on Helga, and Curly leans back and rates their courting tactics on a scale of 1 to 10, and nobody ever gets more than a 4. Curly will cup his hands over his mouth and audibly mock them after they inevitably get shut down because Helga is a one-man girl: “Your approach was commonplace, your appeal was substandard, and you should feel bad!” Phoebe will smack him after this.

Helga has adopted this rating system for just about anything-- his mental state, hotness of girls, comfort level-- almost like a secret language akin to Ice Cream, but she mainly uses it to ask Curly about his opinions in cinema. Phoebe is the only one who can keep up with what is being communicated, because they cut out so many words that are, to them, superfluous (Phoebe’s verbiage.)

Helga: Backgrounds, eh, 3.

Curly: 4. Script?

Helga: 5.

Curly: Modest.

Helga: Themes?

Curly: 3.

Helga: Also modest.

Curly is involuntarily good with girls when they come back from break. The kicker is that he is totally, incomprehensibly oblivious to it. He’s simply just a charismatic, romantic, suave guy. Years of pining after Rhonda made that a part of him. Him getting hit on and ogled is just a part of Helga’s life, now. She’s the guard dog who pinches hands when they try to touch the unaware pretty boy.

Now, this definitely causes some jealousy in Arnold, because he’s been trying to be friends with Helga for so long, and Curly just... does it without trying??? Also, he is subconsciously aware FiT was not heat-of-the-moment and this feels oddly like Curly is stealing from him-- not that he acknowledges that or recognizes it on any level. Rhonda is also very, very jealous. Not only did Curly get hot over the summer, now Helga is too??? M’am, there is only room for one beauty in Curly’s life and that has always been her.

Phoebe is put off by the possibility of being replaced at first, and almost certainly gets defensive, offensive with Curly over it. But that’s, like, for one episode arc. Now, they’re a trio and she’s the exasperated Mom that keeps her two chaotic, self-destructive children in check.

People think they’re dating (Arnold and Rhonda will disavow this to anybody who will listen), and come up to them asking about how they met, how they got together. Helga and Curly will go out of their way to fuck with these kids.

Random girl fifth grader, stars in her eyes: What is the key to a stable relationship?

Curly: *Undisguised snorting* Live. Laugh. Love?

Helga: I have no idea! You tell me! I’ve never been in one.

Curly: *unrestrained side-holding laughter*

Some other sixth grader who didn’t go to elementary with them: If your relationship had a theme song what would it be?

Curly, turning to Helga, who is muffling herself: Don’t laugh this is serious. *Turns to sixth grader* Crawling In My Skin.