Disclaimer: I obviously don't own Phineas and Ferb, because if I did, I would be writing real episodes instead of fanfictions (boy, that would be fun)!
Phineas Flynn sat on the edge of his bed, looking up at the ceiling of his room and wishing that the sky outside would always stay as blue and perfect as the cloud-covered mural painted above him.
In his hands, he held a pencil and a huge piece of paper, on which an intricate calendar that started on September sixth was drawn. A countdown calendar.
There was also a "to do" list which had been extensively doodled upon. The lines that the list provided to write notes on were bordered with suns and water balloons, and filled to bursting with notes.
Phineas looked down at the paper absentmindedly. A song was playing itself inside his head, and he was trying to remember where he had heard it before.
.
Summer, it's ponds and pools and garden hoses, trying to beat the heat
Summer, it's bicycles and roller-skates and even just bare feet.
It's also surfing tidal waves, creating nano-bots, locating Frankenstein's brain,
Finding a Dodo bird, painting a continent, and driving our sister insane!
Summer, it's crickets and cicadas and a glass of lemonade.
Summer, it's sitting with your brother in the backyard under the shade of our big tree – that's what it means to me…
.
"That's what it means to me," he said out loud, and lay back on his bed, making sure his position was such that he couldn't see out the window. He knew what he would see if he looked out – the tree his song was about, the tree he and his brother had so many adventures under, tinged with red and gold instead of its usual reassuring green.
It was fall. It was autumn. It was harvest time.
"Why does this season have so many names?"Phineas wondered out loud. "If I could, I'd erase it completely. Then it wouldn't have any names."
He sat bolt upright. "Ferb! I know what we're going to do today! Let's extend summer! All we have to do it combine the technology from our time machine with-"
The blank silence pressing in on his eardrums stopped him short. It was a different silence from the one he usually got in response to his Big Ideas. It wasn't an electrical, happy quietness, full of agreement and enthusiasm. It was expressionless nothingness. The absence of sound and feeling.
"What, you don't want to?"
Phineas looked up at his stepbrother, who was sitting in the corner with a book on his lap.
"You don't want to extend summer? What happened to 'Carpe Diem?'"
Ferb sighed.
"Seize the day, Phineas. This day. Not yesterday."
"You don't want more of our favourite season? More sunlight and longer days and shorter nights?"
Ferb swivelled his seat so he was facing his computer. "I'm going to miss you, Phineas."
Phineas' eyes filled with tears, and he twisted his hands together. "Don't you want to stay back from boarding school? I don't want to be alone."
Ferb didn't say anything.
"Come on, bro!" Phineas said, scampering up to Ferb and shaking his shoulder a little. "There's so much more to do! We didn't surf the Internet using only our nervous systems! We didn't actually get around to that cold fusion reactor we were gonna build! We never even found out where Perry goes everyday." He looked dejectedly around. "Where is Perry, anyway?"
Ferb took a deep breath, preparing himself to speak at length, and turned back to face Phineas. With a shock, he realized his brother was crying.
For a second, his resolution wavered, and then he steeled himself and spoke.
"What do you believe about summer?"
"I believe – what do I believe about summer?" Phineas looked confused. "Uh – well, I believe in seizing the day. I believe in – making every minute count."
"What else? What did you tell Buford at the beginning of vacation?"
Phineas floundered helplessly for a second, wanting to deny he remembered speaking to Buford about his worldview, and then gave in. "I told him I like to keep moving forward."
"That's it. Phineas, don't throw away your beliefs when times get hard. Stick to them, rain or shine. Fall or summer."
Phineas looked down at his countdown calendar, his eyes scanning the circled day – June third – at the end of the school months, and the crammed summer "to do" list.
"But – don't you want a little extra time?"
"Of course I want extra time. I wish I could spend every minute of every day for the rest of the year inventing with you, under that tree."
He gestured at the window, but Phineas didn't look out.
"Phineas…" Ferb said, his tone gentle. "You've got to look at the autumn colours sometime. We're going to have to face fall sometime, unless we want to live a lie and go on with an endless summer for the rest of our lives. Everything comes to an end. What would be use of never growing up, just being stuck in limbo, inventing and building 'till we can't stop? Isn't it better to go our separate ways, just for now?"
"I don't want you to leave." Phineas' voice trembled.
"I don't want to leave, either." Ferb looked at the floor, where his suitcase was packed, a picture of Phineas and himself on top of the folded clothes. "England's a terribly long way from Danville. But I'll be home for Christmas. And Easter. And then, it'll be summer again, and we'll be a whole year older and wiser. How will we learn if we don't go to school? How will we ever stand for our beliefs if we let them go at the slightest challenge? What you believe about summer should stand strong through the winter. What did we learn from Perry? What did we learn from our caveman?"
"If you love something, let it go."
I might extend this if people want me to! Anyway, review if you feel like it :) And thanks for reading!
