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As they walked up to the stoop of the Heyerdahl home, the four friends talked excitedly about future plans. Or, at least, three of them did. Gerald had been pretty quiet most of the evening, since Arnold and Helga revealed their engagement to him and Phoebe over dinner and asked them to be their best man and maid of honor. He'd agreed happily, but his enthusiasm was blunted and not completely sincere.
After going inside and taking everyone's coats, Gerald cleared his throat. “Helga, could I speak with you alone?” The tall blonde looked to Phoebe, who gave no indication that she knew what her own fiancé was after.
“Phoebe, let me help you with those drinks,” Arnold spoke up, heading toward the kitchen.
Gerald looked around and opened a door in the hallway. “This’ll do. In here.”
Helga followed him, knowing full well where they were headed: the studio where Phoebe and her father, Kyo, practiced fencing and kendo. Gerald turned toward her and crossed his arms. She fixed him with a suspicious gaze. “I’m so sure you either didn’t know which room this was or chose at random, Geraldo. But, criminy! You dragged me into the room with all the sharp objects? Was this supposed to be a threat or something?” Or a death wish?” Gerald just glared while trying to decide where to begin.
“Ugh, this is ridiculous. I’m out of here.” Helga started back toward the door but tripped and caught herself on the rack of swords, which rattled. Gerald must have been a lot more on edge than he was letting on, because he reached over and grabbed one before they’d all stilled. The swift movement next to her startled the tall blonde as well, who reflexively reached for a foil herself and turned in a defensive posture. After another pause, she sighed and dropped her arms and shoulders. “Put it back. We can just talk.”
“You first.” Neither moved. “Alright, Pataki, you wanna do this? Let’s do it. But I think you should know Phoebe’s shown me a thing or two about fencing,” Gerald said, taking a stable stance and raising his weapon. Helga mirrored him with her own and smirked. “We’ve been best friends a lot longer than you two have been an item, and I’ve slept over here countless times. With parental approval, anyway. You don’t think I’ve got hours of lessons on you?”
She made the first attack, verbally and physically. “You're a terrible actor, Geraldo. Pretending to be happy for your best friend when he shares the biggest news of his life? Do you think you were fooling anyone? I have to assume that's what this is all about.”
“I’m happy for Arnold,” he replied archly, parrying Helga's attempts. “Just not as much about who he's marrying. And that shouldn't be a surprise to you.”
“It's not, but it's also not up to you. He's made his choices and he's asked you to stand up with him at that altar, so you might wanna get on board with them.” She attacked again and blocked his riposte after landing a hit on his arm.
Gerald only seemed more annoyed. “Arnold’s my brother, and I’ve watched you hurt him over and over again. I’ve kept my mouth shut since you two got together because he seemed happy but I still don’t trust you. You don’t know the power you have- the power you’ve ALWAYS had over him. I’m not keeping quiet about it now that he’s decided to yoke himself to you permanently. I’m not going to watch you use him as your punching bag for the rest of our lives, because he’d probably let you.” Gerald had advanced all the way across the mat, pushing Helga nearly to the wall of the studio. “Boy’s always made some questionable choices when it came to girls,” he muttered with a sneer. He might as well have taken a bladed sword off the wall and driven it into the heart of his opponent’s insecurity.
Helga had been in control of herself until now, but this was too much. She felt her ire rising and, in a flash, struck at Gerald’s foil hard enough to almost knock it out of his hand. He gripped at the handle but Helga was already coming at him with gale force. He began stepping backward, parrying blows as best he could but Helga landed several on him anyway. “How DARE you! I have been working SO hard to change. To deal with the bullshit I grew up with, to make sense of my messy feelings, to rewire my own BRAIN away from the shitty examples my parents set! Hey, did you know my mom was a drunk who rarely took care of me? You've met Big Bob, you think it was FUN being his kid? Being his least favorite, his letdown loser child no matter what I did, whose name he never bothered to remember? Excuse me for not being a little ray of goddamn SUNSHINE under those conditions! For learning to never show weakness! I have been turning myself INSIDE OUT trying to undo all of that damage and make myself good enough for Arnold!” Her attacks were losing steam, beginning to slow. “I still have SO far to go, I'm nowhere near where I need to be, but he loves me now. He accepts me as I am.” Gerald had never seen Helga cry but tears were falling freely down her face now. She had no more fight left in her. Her arms hung at her sides and she stood in place. “Please believe me, Gerald. All I want is to be good to him for the rest of my life.” She put her hand over her eyes and tried to collect herself. Gerald rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and opened his mouth, unsure what he was going to say.
Both suddenly froze at the unexpected sound of a high-pitched “aHEM!” They turned their heads to the door where Phoebe was red-faced and fuming. Arnold stood next to her, looking unimpressed with half-lidded eyes and hands on his hips. “I can’t believe you two! No masks? Are you nuts?” the tiny woman squeaked. “Making contact with limbs is for epee!” She marched up to her boyfriend and best friend, ready to wrench the foils out of their hands. “And your techNIQUE” -yank- “is SLOPPY.” -yank- She practically threw them back into the rack with the other swords and left the room in a huff.
“Huh. THAT’s what she’s mad about?” said Helga. Gerald just shrugged, but he had the decency to look ashamed anyway.
“Are you two done with whatever this is?” Arnold snapped. He stepped closer to his best friend and took a deep breath.
“Look, Gerald, things haven’t always been smooth with Helga but I need you to trust her. To trust BOTH of us. You know as well as anyone that I've let myself get fixated on the wrong girls enough times,” Behind him, Helga shifted uncomfortably, clutching her elbow. “But I've been with Helga long enough to know that nothing has ever felt so right.” She came forward and put a hand to his shoulder. Arnold looked back at her with a combination of adoration and wonder. “Getting to know the real her has been the joy of my life. She's generous, funny, and so smart. She sees things in ways I could never expect. She understands my needs and my fears almost better than I do, and when I'm lost or stuck and don't know what to do with myself, she always guides me through. It might not make a lot of sense to you, but she's everything I need and want from a partner.” Gerald took all of this in and nodded. “That is, aside from what I get out of having you as a friend. I don't want to be pulled in opposite directions because the two people who mean the most to me can't find common ground.” Arnold reached out his hand and Gerald met it, completing the special handshake they'd used almost as long as they could remember.
“Gerald? . . . Are we okay?”
“Aw, bring it in, Pataki. I'm really sorry.” Gerald walked over and wrapped his arms around Helga's shoulders. She hugged him back, a little stiffly at first, but the relief she felt won out and she relaxed. When he withdrew, Gerald said, “yeah, I guess I believe that people can change, and I've gotta have faith in my girl's judgement, too. It's all off my chest now, and I think I'd like to understand you better. I’m glad to hear you’ve been working on yourself, and to be honest, I know you have. I realize now I was letting resentment keep me from seeing it. You better not stop being a badass, though.” She snorted at this last comment.
An hour or so later, the four friends were lounging in the living room, discussing wedding preparations. “Arnold thinks he can convince Mrs. Vitello to come out of retirement to do the floral arrangements if he helps her with them. And we're going to talk to Harold about getting a deal on a few sides of beef for the dinner.”
“Hold that thought, Helga,” said Phoebe, getting up from the couch. “Can I refresh anyone's drinks?”
Helga waited until she was out of the room. “Johanssen.” Gerald turned his head to see Helga's brow raised and a mischievous smirk on her lips. “How fun was that, though?”
A huge grin split the man's face. “To think, all those years playing baseball in abandoned lots and throwing rocks into the river we could have been swashbuckling instead.” Helga cackled. Gerald continued, “hey, I bet if I talked to Kyo, he'd–”
Phoebe's voice rang out from the kitchen, “NO ONE is taking up sword sports!” Arnold just sighed and shook his head. The people most important to him could be handfuls but they were worth it. He couldn't believe his luck.