Isabella is nervous the next day, and Phineas can’t figure out why.
The problem is, there aren’t many people he can talk to right now to try and work it out. Ferb’s an obvious no. Candace hasn’t seen Isabella enough recently to have enough context. Neither have Buford and Baljeet, and Phineas isn’t particularly in the mood to talk to them anyway. The last time he asked mom a question about social stuff, she told him he was too old to do something like that, so his parents are out. Which leaves him with who, exactly? Irving? He’s not going to talk to Irving about his relationship with Isabella.
Though in retrospect, maybe Irving makes more sense than where he ends up.
“I mean the dinner went really well,” Phineas says, pacing back and forth across from where Perry’s perched on the arm of the couch, staring up at Phineas with his usual blank expression. “She liked the star box and the pizza. She told me she’s going to bring the pizza for lunch today. So I don’t think it’s anything I did. We haven’t talked about—” Phineas glances at Perry. And then, despite the fact that he knows Perry is a platypus who doesn’t do much, he mutters “Amy,” under his breath before continuing louder— “yet, so I don’t think that’s it. I hope she’s not just trying to figure out how to bring it up. I don’t think I’m ready to talk about it.”
He sighs, and runs a hand through his hair. “If it was something I wasn’t getting, she’d tell me now. I’m pretty sure at least. She’s been doing that. So it has to be something else. Right? Any ideas?”
He turns to look at Perry.
Perry blinks blankly up at him.
Phineas groans, walks over the couch, and flops down onto it. Perry hops down from the arm and walks over to sit on Phineas’s lap, which does still manage to make him feel better, lack of answers notwithstanding.
“Thanks, boy,” Phineas says with a tired smile, scratching the top of Perry’s head. “How do people put up with this stuff, huh? I bet you’re glad you don’t have to worry about relationship stuff.”
Perry chatters.
“At least it’s easier with Isabella,” Phineas says. “Since I know it’s not tied in with any stupid romance junk.”
Perry chatters again, looking up at him.
“Yeah, I know,” Phineas says, as if Perry had actually responded. “I mean, if she wanted to tell me, wouldn’t she do it? But then, she’s also been really good about telling me stuff if I ask, lately. So maybe I should just ask? But I don’t want to make her uncomfortable.”
He sighs, and slumps down further on the couch. “When did friendship get so complicated?” he grumbles.
Perry nudges his arm under Phineas’s hand until he starts scratching again. And, well, Phineas pretty much knew going into this talk that he wasn’t going to get any answers from talking to Perry, so he just lets his pet snuggle up on his lap and scratches his head. Everything is better with Perry, after all, even confusing and annoying relationship problems.
It was early in the morning when he started this, so he’s not surprised that after a bit Perry hops up and goes where he normally does during the day.
Ferb shows up later, and does at least nod at him in acknowledgement, which is some progress. Phineas still makes his way out to the backyard, because if he tries to talk to Ferb right now he’ll just want to ask if he’s noticed anything weird about Isabella, and then he’ll be annoyed by that look Ferb gave her the other night, and it’ll just go downhill from there.
Thankfully, he doesn’t have to wait too long for Isabella to show up.
“Hey, Izzy,” he says, with a bright smile. Hopefully it’ll brush past any weirdness.
“Hey, Phineas,” Isabella says. She makes her way over to the tree as Phineas pushes himself up to a stand underneath it.
“So,” Phineas says. “I spent most of the past couple days on the star box I made you, so I don’t have a ton of stuff ready to go, but I was thinking maybe today we could plan.”
“Oh uh,” Isabella cuts him off, and then winces. “Sorry. I just… I was hoping we could maybe do something I planned for today?”
Phineas blinks in surprise, then grins. “Oh, of course!” he says. “What did you have in mind?” He holds out his hand, and when Isabella takes it, she starts walking them both towards the gate.
“Well, I know you don’t like simple stuff as much, but I don’t have a ton of access to invention ideas,” Isabella says, looking down a little bit. “So if it’s boring—”
“Isabella,” Phineas says, nudging her in the side. “Don’t be silly. I love spending time with you.”
Isabella smiles up at him, her cheeks pink. “Okay,” she says. “We’re going to the Superduper Mega Superstore.”
Phineas only has a brief thought of Hopefully Amy’s not working today before he shakes it off and refocuses on Isabella. He nods. “Lead the way!”
They stop to grab their bikes and then make their way over there. Isabella, thankfully, doesn’t take him to the department he remembers seeing Amy working at. Phineas isn’t sure if it’s by design or not, but Isabella definitely seems to have a plan in mind.
So instead, they make their way to the main hallway that branches off to all the other departments, and Isabella leads them over towards the exit. They stop just before it, letting other shoppers filter past them, and Isabella turns to Phineas with a bright smile.
“Here we are,” she says.
“Okay,” Phineas says, looking around. “I’m lost. Like, this specific spot?”
Isabella nods, and looks towards the ceiling. Phineas follows her gaze to see the ceiling conveyor belts, carrying large crates along. He looks back down at Isabella in confusion.
Just as he does, though, he feels Isabella wrap a hand around his waist, and aim something he hadn’t seen before up towards the conveyor belts. Before Phineas can figure out what it is, they’re yanked off the floor after it.
He yelps in surprise, and hears the satisfying clink of a grappling hook attaching to something. Isabella grins back down at him, and then they start to fly forwards.
Phineas laughs in delight. “Did you grapple us to the conveyor belt?” he calls through the rushing air.
“Grappling patch was one of the first ones I ever got!” Isabella calls back proudly.
Phineas beams at her, and looks up ahead to where the conveyor belt curves into the storeroom. Some of the shoppers who are ahead of them on the upper floors are staring up at them and pointing. Phineas waves.
They make their way into the stockroom, but Isabella doesn’t let go of the grappling hook or of his hand, and instead seems content to let them ride right back towards the main hallway.
“This is awesome!” Phineas yells up at her, and Isabella beams at him. Phineas closes his eyes and enjoys the feeling of the wind in his face. Isabella does all the hard work of holding on to the grappling hook, and him of course, and for once he gets to enjoy a larger than life experience that he had no part in creating.
They ride the conveyor built until someone must hit the emergency stop button, and it slows to a stop just at the edge of the storeroom.
Phineas glances down and sees two storeroom employees far below them.
“Uh, excuse me ma’am, sir,” one of them calls up, “but that conveyor belt really isn’t meant for humans. I’m going to have to ask you to get down.”
“Sure thing!” Isabella calls. She lets go of the grappling hook, and they both start to fall. Before they hit the ground, Isabella brings the grappling hook back towards her, and latches it onto a much lower shelf, allowing them to land safely on the ground of the storeroom.
“Thanks for the ride!” Isabella says as they both head out.
“Hey, you should really look into letting people ride that thing on purpose!” Phineas calls as they do. “It’s great!”
“We’ll take that into consideration, sir,” the other employee says with a very deadpan tone.
…
Just like Phineas couldn’t quite resist adding some spectacular aspects to Isabella’s star box, Isabella ends her hangout session with a much more simple walk through the park on the way back home. Phineas is glad to do so too, at this point. The end of the day should always be a little bit less crazy in his opinion, and he loves seeing Isabella happy while they do it.
“I loved that,” he says with a bright grin, as they both enjoy the cooler evening air.
“Oh, good,” Isabella says, smiling back at him. “I was a little worried it wouldn’t live up to our usual summer activities. I’m not exactly as good with that stuff as you.”
“I can make stuff like that whenever I want,” Phineas says. “It was nice that someone else found and planned something for a change.” He offers his hand to Isabella, and squeezes it when she takes it. He was planning on letting go afterwards, but Isabella tightens her grip and starts swinging their hands back and forth. Phineas lets her.
“So, the plan’s not quite over yet,” Isabella says, and Phineas hears what sounds like a tinge of nervousness in her voice.
He looks curiously over at her. “Oh?”
“So, I don’t know if you know this, but there’s this Girls Choice Dance coming up,” Isabella says, looking away for a second.
“Oh, that sounds fun. Like the one Candace went to with Jeremy when she was our age?”
“Yeah! Exactly like that, actually!” Isabella says, turning back to him with a smile, one that quickly fades back to nerves. “And um, the thing is, with dances like these girls are supposed to ask the boys. I mean, not that they can’t do that anyway, because that rule is old and stupid, but, you know, that’s the ‘Girls Choice’ part.”
Phineas nods. “Okay.”
“And uh, I mean… oh gosh, why is this so hard?” Isabella asks, looking up at the sky.
“Are you okay?” Phineas asks, narrowing his eyes in concern.
Isabella looks down. “Phineas,” she says, fidgeting with the bottom of her shirt. “Would you like to go to the Girls’ Choice Dance with me?”
Phineas blinks.
It shouldn’t come as a surprise, not really. Not when Isabella has told him over and over again that she wants to be with him over any potential romantic interest. But somehow she keeps finding new ways to catch him off guard.
Isabella is asking him? She doesn’t want to take a date? She really wants to go with him? She wants to go to a dance with her best friend, and she won’t feel like she’s missing out?
“You— you want to go with me?” Phineas asks, feeling a huge grin spread across his face.
Isabella looks up at him, and thankfully she takes this as a good sign, because she starts grinning too. “Of course! I mean, if you want to obviously, but it seems like you do!”
Phineas can’t help it— he leans forward and grabs Isabella in a hug, then hoists her up into the air and spins them both around in a circle. Isabella starts laughing, and Phineas does the same.
“I,” Phineas says, setting Isabella down, “would love to go to a dance with you.”
Isabella beams at him, bright-eyed and with flushed cheeks. Then she leans forward and hugs him again. “Awesome,” she says, sounding relieved.
“Yeah,” Phineas agrees as he hugs her right back.
They stay there for a moment, and even when they start walking again, they swing their hands together the whole way home.
…
As a surprising, and slightly strange change of pace, everyone seems thrilled when Phineas mentions going to a dance with Isabella. It’s a little confusing given how focused everyone has been on romance lately, but he’s not going to complain.
Ferb gives him tips on what to wear, since he’s always been better at that than Phineas, and things feel almost as easy as they used to throughout the whole interaction. He goes with Phineas and Mom to get his outfit, and Phineas walks out with a nice suit that feels a little stuffy but looks very nice. It is a dance, after all, and he doesn’t mind dressing up for Isabella.
Phineas does ask Ferb if he and Amy are going too, as an actual date as opposed to Phineas’s friend date. But apparently Amy thinks dances are boring, and they’re doing something else instead, both that night and the next morning. Ferb looks a little irritated as he says it, but ends on a shrug.
“It is a Girls Choice Dance,” he says. “If she doesn’t want to go, we won’t go.”
The night of the dance itself feels alive with energy. Phineas finds himself excited and only the tiny bit nervous how Isabella will react to his suit. But only a tiny bit. It’s Isabella, after all, and she’s seen him in all states of casual clothes, suddenly wearing a ballgown, and covered in engine grease.
However, that doesn’t stop him from hesitating just a little bit when he hears a knock on his door. Isabella insisted the Girls’ Choice aspect meant she was coming to get him, and Amy isn’t getting here until later, so that has to be who it is.
His parents are sitting at the kitchen table dressed in their own fancy clothes (they’re taking advantage of the situation and going on a date night). They laugh a little at his obvious nerves. Ferb is leaning against the wall in front of the steps, and he gives Phineas an expectant smile.
Phineas waves all of them off as he walks over to the door. He steels himself, even if he feels a little silly as he does so, and then pulls the door open. And woah.
“Isabella, you look amazing,” Phineas says, grinning at her.
Isabella beams back at him and twirls in a brief circle, showing her dress off. Rather than her usual pink, Isabella’s wearing a light blue dress with sparkles near the bottom, and her hair is pulled up into a braided bun on top of her head.
“You look awesome too, Phineas,” Isabella says as she stops twirling. She steps forward and Phineas moves back to let her into the entryway. They don’t have a ton of time to spare, however, so after she waves at everyone, Phineas’s mom waves them out the door.
“Go have fun!” she calls. “Take pictures!”
“Have fun,” Ferb says with a smile and nod at both of them. Phineas smiles back.
“We will,” Isabella says. “Come on Phineas, our cab is waiting across the street!”
They head across the street, and Phineas opens the door for Isabella, Girls Choice or not. Isabella giggles, but climbs in, and gives the address for the dance (which is apparently a fancy setup in Danville Park) to the driver as Phineas climbs in after her.
The driver pulls away, and Phineas turns to face Isabella.
“This’ll be fun,” he says. “Thanks so much for asking me, Izzy.”
“Of course! You’re who I wanted to go with,” Isabella says.
“Well, it has kind of just been us lately,” Phineas points out. “It’s not like you were gonna go with Ferb.”
Isabella blinks, then gives a startled laugh. “No, definitely not,” she agrees. “But I’d want to go with you anyway.” She reaches out and takes his hand, and Phineas smiles as he takes it.
“It was kind of weird, though,” he adds, his smile fading slightly. “Everyone else was excited I was doing this with you. Even Ferb, and things are still kinda off between us. Like they thought it was a big deal or something.”
Isabella laughs again. “Yeah, that’s so weird,” she says. She fidgets momentarily with the hem of her dress with her free hand. “Anyway, what songs do you think they’ll play?”
“I don’t know. Maybe— oh, wait. Ugh, they’ll probably all be love songs, won’t they?” Phineas realizes, leaning his head back against the seat.
“What’s wrong with love songs?” Isabella asks, confused.
“Nothing. I mean, it’s a dance, it makes sense, I think I’ll just be sick of them by the end of the night.”
“Well, maybe they’ll play yours,” Isabella says, nudging him in the side.
Phineas wrinkles his nose. “I forgot we did that,” he says.
Isabella laughs. “You can’t escape it now. It’s elevator music.”
“It was part of the checklist!”
“It’ll always be haunting you!”
“Nooo!” Phineas exclaims, throwing himself dramatically against the window.
They hold it for a second, and then they both burst into giggles.
“Alright, Danville Park,” comes a voice from the front seat. Phineas glances up to see the cab driver smiling a little bit at them. “You two look like you’ll have fun. I’ll be back to pick you up at 9:30?” He directs the question at Isabella.
She nods. “That’s right. Thank you!”
The dance seems to be set up close to the entrance to the park, probably to help people find it in the dark. Phineas and Isabella walk right over, and Phineas takes a moment to appreciate the decorations. The sunset is framing the clearing right now, making things look soft and warm. There’s lights strung up in the trees for when it gets dark, and streamers spread around hanging from the branches. Personally, Phineas would have added a levitating disco ball that tracked whoever dances with the most enthusiasm, but they didn’t hire him to plan it.
There’s a snack table over to the left with drinks and cookies, and a DJ stand set up near the edge of the clearing that seems to be the dance floor. Currently they are playing a love song, but it’s bouncy and looks fun to dance to, which is the important part.
Phineas casts a glance around for people he knows, and sees Milly over by the snack table with a girl she must have brought to the dance. He nudges Isabella and points them out, and she brightens, so they both head over.
“Hey, Milly,” she says as they approach.
As soon as the two girls turn to face them, Milly grins.
“Isabella!” Milly says. “You never said you were finally asking Phineas! Way to go, girl!”
Isabella laughs nervously, and Phineas tips his head in confusion. “Finally?” he asks.
“Oh, I see,” Milly says, giving Isabella a knowing look.
“Milly!” Isabella hisses.
Phineas fidgets awkwardly with the sleeve of his suit. Something about the way Milly said it, and the fact that they’re at a dance together… but no. Isabella doesn’t mean it like that. They’re here as friends. Milly’s just misunderstanding.
“Anyway, who’s your… friend?” Phineas asks. Sure, she’s probably her date, but now he really doesn’t want to assume.
Milly laughs. “Friend?” she says.
Phineas rubs the back of his neck and looks away. “Look, I just didn’t want to…”
“No, it’s okay,” Milly says, waving him off. “Sorry, I should have introduced you guys. This is my good friend, Cindy.”
“Okay, well when you say it like that—”
Milly and Cindy both laugh, but thankfully neither of them seem bothered.
“Cindy, this is my close friend Isabella, and her… friend, Phineas.”
“Nice to meet you,” Cindy says, holding her hand out.
“Nice to meet you too,” Isabella says, shaking it.
Phineas shakes off his discomfort at Milly saying it like that again, and smiles at Cindy. “Nice to meet you.”
“So how did you two meet?” Isabella asks.
“We met at a Fireside Mentor meeting, actually,” Milly says. “Cindy was in a different troop.”
“Troop 46258,” Cindy says.
“Ah, our esteemed rivals,” Isabella says, narrowing her eyes.
Cindy narrows her eyes back. Phineas is about to ask if they’re serious when both girls break with laughter, which answers his question.
Just then, the song changes, and Cindy lights up, turning to Milly. “I love this song,” she says. “We have to dance, come on!” She grabs Milly’s hand and pulls her towards the dance floor, which Milly seems the opposite of irritated about.
Isabella turns to the snack table they were just at and grabs two plates and a couple of cookies.
“Chocolate chip for me, and snickerdoodle for you,” she says, passing a plate to Phineas.
“Thanks,” he says. They both look out at the dance floor as they munch on their cookies, and Phineas smiles out at the couples on the dance floor, moving to the bouncing music. He might not be one for romance, but this he gets. Dancing has always been fun.
In fact, as they finish their cookies and the song changes again, Phineas turns to Isabella and holds out his hand. “Shall we?”
Isabella takes his hand with a grin and a “We shall!”
So they both head out to the dance floor just in time to make the first chorus to “Chop Away at My Heart.”
With the bounciness of the music and everyone dancing together, it’s pretty easy for Phineas to forget that he’s dancing with Isabella to a love song and just focus on having fun with his friend. Before long, they’re moving to the beat of the song like it’s natural for them.
Phineas isn’t nearly as good of a dancer as Ferb is, but he does manage to twirl Isabella under his arm a couple times, which successfully makes her laugh. Near the end of the song, however, the crowd presses in around them, and Isabella gets jostled by another girl behind her. She stumbles, and Phineas catches her by the arms, then pulls her back to her feet as the music ends.
“Thanks,” Isabella gasps.
“No problem,” Phineas says, keeping his grip gentle on her arms to steady her.
“Sorry!” says the girl who bumped Isabella, turning around and giving them an apologetic smile.
Phineas waves her off, and she nods in thanks.
“You guys look super cute together!” she calls before turning back to her dance partner.
Phineas opens his mouth to correct her, but Isabella calls “Thank you!” before he can. Phineas’s mouth dries up just slightly, and he turns back to face Isabella.
She’s smiling casually at him.
Right. Don’t worry about it. Just have fun.
Phineas smiles at her, though it feels a little shakier than it was a second ago.
Then, the DJ up near the speakers calls, “Alright, let’s slow things down a little bit!” Then a slow dance comes on.
“Oh, uh, we should probably head back over to the snack table,” Phineas says immediately, moving to head that direction.
Isabella stops him by grabbing his hand. “Who says we have to?” she says.
Phineas tries to swallow, but his throat is still dry. He feels like everyone’s staring at them, even if the people in his peripheral vision are looking more at each other.
He hadn’t considered before coming whether or not slow dances are something he’s willing to do. But, well, he really doesn’t want to stop dancing with Isabella. And if she doesn’t have any problems with it, maybe it’s okay? Maybe… maybe it doesn’t matter what the people around them think.
“We… don’t have to slow dance if we don’t want to,” Isabella says. But she sounds a little disappointed.
“No,” Phineas says. He shakes himself, and smiles at Isabella. “It’s okay. Let’s do it.”
Isabella smiles back at him, which makes it worth it.
It doesn’t, however, make it any less awkward when she reaches up and puts her arms around his shoulders, and he has to reach down in response and put his hands on her hips. Isabella just smiles at him, and starts swaying slowly back and forth in time to the music. Phineas tries to do the same. It still doesn’t feel right.
Everyone around them has to be staring. They have to be assuming— things. Things that aren’t correct. He knows they aren’t correct. Why is he letting it get to him? Why does it matter that no one around him has ever felt sick at the idea that they’re dating their dance partner? Why does it matter that all of them are going to grow up and get married and lead perfectly normal lives because nothing’s wrong with them? Why does it matter that Isabella doesn’t seem to mind when they assume things about the two of them? They know what their relationship is. They know what things mean and what they don’t. And Isabella said she’d rather be here with him anyway. She said—
“Phineas?” Isabella’s voice cuts through his spiraling thoughts and pulls his attention back to her. She looks concerned. “Are you alright?”
“I— I need a minute,” Phineas says. He lets go of Isabella and turns to make his way off the dance floor. It shouldn’t feel so much like a relief, but it does.
He walks quickly away from the dance floor, past the decorations, past the snack table, and into the dark quiet of the rest of Danville Park.
He stops not too far away and leans back against a tree, facing away from the dance. He squeezes his eyes shut.
“Phineas?” comes Isabella’s voice. “What’s wrong?”
Phineas kicks himself. Of course Isabella isn’t going to leave him alone after he walked off very suddenly and obviously upset about something.
“Nothing, just got a little warm,” Phineas says, though he doubts it’ll work.
Sure enough, Isabella just asks, “Why are you lying to me?” as she walks around the tree to see him from the front.
“I’m not,” Phineas tries one more time, and Isabella gives him a deadpan look.
Okay. It’s Isabella. He can talk to Isabella.
“It… felt weird,” he admits. “Because everyone else out there slow dancing is probably dating, because they’re not…” he trails off, not sure what to say. Weird? Broken? Freaking out at a dance they were excited to go to?
He doesn’t have enough time to figure it out, because after a second, Isabella laughs.
That’s not what he expected her to do.
“Oh, Phineas, is that all?” she says, smiling warmly at him.
“All?” Phineas can’t help from asking. What does she mean, all?
“Well, I was going to do this later,” Isabella says. She looks down, and starts fidgeting with the sleeve of her dress. “But, if— well. If you’re feeling it too, then…” she pauses.
“What?” Phineas asks. She can’t mean what it sounds like she means. She can’t. So what is she saying?
Isabella takes a deep breath. “Phineas,” she says. “Would you maybe want to do stuff like this more… officially?”
“Officially?” Phineas asks, trying to hold on to the last shred of denial he has.
Isabella laughs nervously. “I mean dating, Phineas.”
Oh. Oh god.
“I’ve been having a lot of fun lately,” Isabella says. Her voice is a little shaky. “And it seems like you have too! So I was just, you know, thinking…”
Phineas can’t breathe. This isn’t how this was supposed to go.
“If maybe you wanted to—”
“No!” It comes out way too loud, and panicked, and Isabella takes a step back.
It’s out there now, which should make him feel better, but instead Phineas feels almost sick.
“No?” Isabella asks. She sounds hurt.
“I can’t date you!” Phineas exclaims, which— wow, that came out wrong. But he means it. He can’t make Isabella deal with all this— whatever is wrong with him. He can’t leave her stuck with him when there’s bound to be someone out there who can actually love her like she’s supposed to be loved, like the amazing, spectacular, wonderful person that she is.
Isabella does not seem to take his statement that way.
“I— what?” she asks, and to Phineas’s horror, her eyes are welling up with tears.
“No, that’s not— I just can’t— I can’t dance with you without feeling sick!” Phineas exclaims, which is… also not what he means.
“Sick?” Isabella cries.
“No! I mean, yeah, but you— I don’t— you don’t understand. You deserve better than someone like me,” Phineas begs.
“What are you talking about?” Isabella asks, as tears start to spill down her cheeks.
“I— I don’t know! I don’t know what I’m saying, I—”
“Isabella?” comes a new voice, and Phineas whirls around to see Milly approaching from back at the dance. Thankfully, they seem to be far enough away that not everyone is staring at them, which would just make this disaster even worse.
Not that Milly coming over here was at the top of Phineas’s list for things he wanted to happen just then.
“Isabella!” Milly calls, seeming to realize more of the situation. She runs over next to them and heads straight for Isabella.
“Isabella, what’s wrong?” she asks, putting a hand on her shoulder.
And Phineas, who was most definitely not willing to leave Isabella crying by herself, apparently has just enough cowardice in him to now say, “I’m sorry,” and sprint towards the exit of the park.
He’s not sure where exactly he’s planning on running— home, probably? Ferb won’t be there, and his parents are probably still on their date—
Oh god. They all knew this was meant to be a date. They knew he didn’t realize he was going on a date with Isabella, and just— just left him out to dry there.
Phineas clenches and unclenches his fists as he walks. He reaches the edge of the park before long, but doesn’t slow down much, trying to outpace his heartbeat. He feels hot, sweaty and sick.
How is he supposed to face anyone tomorrow? He feels like he wants to throw up, or scream, or at least get all of this over with and vanish to live on the moon.
But before he can do any of that, or make it even halfway home, he’s interrupted by a shrill noise.
Phineas yelps and jerks towards the sound a second before he realizes it’s just his phone in his pocket.
He’s not sure what he’s expecting when he pulls it out. Isabella, demanding an explanation she totally deserves but that he’s not ready to share? Milly, calling to yell at him for totally understandable reasons? Amy, somehow, because she seems to love showing up to make things worse for him?
It’s none of those people.
It’s Baljeet.
“Uh, hi?” Phineas says as he answers the phone. More than a little confusion slips into his voice, but Baljeet calling is at least enough to distract him from the desperate panic he’s feeling.
“Hi, Phineas,” Baljeet says. “How are you?”
Phineas says nothing for a second. He pulls the phone away and looks down at it, as if looking at it will change who’s calling, or change the fact that he very clearly heard Baljeet’s voice coming through it. It does not.
“Uh,” Phineas puts the phone back up to his ear. “I’m fine?”
“Yes? That is good.”
“Yeah,” Phineas says, realizing he just completely lied without even meaning to. “Uh, why are you calling in the middle of the night? I mean, not that you can’t, just—” you haven’t called me at all in months.
“Ah, well, Ferb and Isa did not pick up,” Baljeet says. “And I really need someone to talk to.”
“Oh,” Phineas says. His stomach clenches at the mention of Isabella. “Yeah, they’re… busy. What’s uh, what’s up?”
“Nothing important, really,” Baljeet sighs. “I just wanted to talk to someone, because Buford and I had a fight.”
Phineas opens his mouth. Nothing comes out of it. The silence stretches on for long enough that Baljeet says, “Uh, Phineas?” sounding a little confused.
Then something strange happens.
“Sure,” Phineas says, “I’ll be the sounding board for your romantic problems. I mean, that’s all I’ll ever be good for anymore anyway, right?”
There’s a pause, but before Phineas can even try to read the tone, his mouth is rushing ahead of his brain.
“Yeah, just call me for the first time in ages, like I haven’t had anything going on,” he snaps. He speeds up again, more of a stomp and less of a run. “Like I’ll have zero issues being downgraded to the person you complain about Buford to. You know what, call me when you remember that I exist outside of your life!”
He hangs up the phone and shoves the phone down in his pocket along with the guilt, then squeezes his eyes shut and runs all the way home.
…
Perry is curled up sleeping in the entryway when Phineas slams open the door, and he almost trips over him.
He drops to his knees at Perry’s startled chatter and starts stroking his fur apologetically, then gives up halfway through and runs for the stairs.
He intends to slam the door to his bedroom, but Perry makes it there first, and jumps stubbornly up on Phineas’s bed. Phineas doesn’t bother trying to move him, and instead just slumps down against the wall next to the door.
Perry runs over to him, and hops up into Phineas’s arms. Phineas lets him. Despite everything, Perry makes it better.
Was there a way to avoid this? What should he have done? There were probably a million things he should have done differently. He just couldn’t stop himself from not understanding, from not noticing things other people notice, from being too— whatever he is.
Perry chatters, and despite the fact that he’s a platypus and he doesn’t do much, Phineas could almost swear he sounds concerned.
Phineas buries his face in Perry’s fur and pretends he’s not crying. He mumbles, “You’re not going to leave me, right?”
Except that’s a stupid question. Perry leaves all the time.
Perry chatters again, which doesn’t really feel like an answer.
Phineas’s ears must be ringing, or his phone is ringing again or something, because there’s some kind of beeping in the background. Perry chatters again, but it’s not quite enough to drown it out.
Phineas reaches for his phone, because if Baljeet is calling him again then he’s turning it all the way off, but his phone isn’t ringing.
And what’s worse, the movement startles Perry into jumping off his lap, and he leaves the room.
Phineas drops his head back against the wall. “Great,” he mumbles.
But a second later, there’s some kind of loud crunching noise outside his room, and then Perry runs back in and hops onto Phineas’s lap again.
Phineas looks towards the door in confusion, but Perry pushes himself closer into his arms and settles there in determination, enough to mean he’s not moving.
Phineas sniffs. He pulls Perry desperately close and scratches him behind the ears. Then he leans his head back against the wall and shuts his eyes.
He stays there, platypus and all, until he falls asleep.
As you can see this is the first example where I majorly changed the design from my original!
Thumbnails:
I decided instead of a skirt and top I just wanted to give Milly a dress while keeping the look similar to the original top.
I wanted to give her ruffles and lace because of the scallop design on her uniform shirt
Also incorporating bows into her design because of her bow
Her teen outfit was just incorporating design elements from her kid design into a more teenage outfit (rather than a middle point between kid and adult)
I head cannon Milly as very crafty especially in the realm of accessories/jewelry (because of her advanced knot tying patch)
So with that in mind that's how I got to her adult design!
I was scrolling through my outfit reference folders for everyone but Milly took very heavy inspiration in that department
Skecthes:
Color testing:
I did originally have her dress as a pink to be more similar to my original design but I went over it in green and decided I liked that more because I thought giving her a strawberry color palette was cute :)
Colored Lineart
Genuinely I love how her design turned out so much she's got some of my favorite outfits out of all of them! :)
PnF redesigns (because we hate AYA designs with a burning passion) part 4!!
This is a formal petition to give the fireside girls (namely Isabella's troupe) actual outfits outside their uniforms (like why are they wearing them at school??) and also give them last names.
For Gretchen I was a little stumped, but I ended up going pretty centered between the lines of feminine and tom-boyish. I kept her long ass legs from the AYA design, but otherwise kept her pretty neutral.
Ginger is girlypop, that is a known fact. Need I say more?
For Adyson, I feel like out of the rest of the girls, she would be the most sporty and the least traditionally feminine (which is why I hate her AYA design so much), anyways kudos to those who get the salamander reference.
For Katie, my headcannon is that her parents coddled her a bit in terms of her appearance (doing her hair, helping her with outfits, buying her clothes) so when she became more independent, she turned into one of those people who rolls out of bed and goes to class like that.
For Holly, I mostly kept the color scheme of the fireside girl uniform, I just felt like she was an autumn. I also wanted to give her a more interesting hairstyle since she's one of the few black characters in the show (no offense).
And for Milly, I didn't really have a plan so I just made her cute :)
