This is, so far, one of a kind. My only one-shot. Enjoy!
Update: I've altered the ending on suggestion from my sister. The old one could have been easily misinterpreted. Hope the new one works.
It was a time of joy, but also of sorrow. A time of romance, but also of heartbreak. A time of adventure (sort of), but also of peace. A time of Mountain Dew, but also of Ginger Ale.
It was Junior Prom.
Phineas swung Isabella around as the music played.
"I can't believe that this was a blind date," he pointed out. "Out of all the girls, it just happened to be you."
Isabella gave him a slight smile. "Well, this kind of thing would happen. It's completely random, you know."
Each year, a number of kids who wanted to go to the prom but didn't have a date would hand in their names to a shifting panel of judges, who would randomly select a boy and a girl and set them up as a blind date. It wasn't an official school thing, but it had been going on for as long as either of them could remember.
Sometimes, it worked to some people's advantages.
"So, uh…" Phineas paused, wondering whether he wanted to keep dancing. No, it was getting a little monotonous. "You want to go out and get some air?" he asked.
"Sounds good," Isabella replied.
As they walked out of the room, one girl excused herself and followed after them at a distance. She pulled out a walkie-talkie, and raised it to her mouth.
"Targets isolated," Adyson announced.
They had been second graders and Lil Sparks when Gretchen had realized that Isabella Garcia-Shapiro had a huge crush on Phineas Flynn. When she had let the other girls in on the secret, Operation Bride was conceived. For nine years afterwards, the Fireside Girls—and, at separate times, Buford Van Stomm, and Ferb Fletcher—had labored behind the scenes to get the two together. When both of them had signed up for the "Blind Love" service on the same year that Holly was on the panel, it was almost too good to be true. It was on.
Actually, they had left the Fireside Girls organization, but they still used the name. That's the way it goes.
"They're entering the garden right now," Ginger called to Gretchen. Behind them, Ferb stood waiting.
"Perfect. Hidden mics working?" Katie gave her a thumbs up.
Gretchen inhaled. She had been working on this for so many years… It was almost payday.
She grinned. "Ferb!" she called, "Bet you a twenty that we pull a kiss off."
Although betting was generally allowed among the Juniors following Phineas's rules, Twenty was the maximum allowed. Gretchen was pretty confident that they would pull this off.
Ferb nodded casually. Gretchen was too distracted to notice that he didn't try to back out of the bet—she had other things to worry about. Namely…
"So how's Perry?" asked Isabella, as she sat down beside Phineas.
"We haven't heard from him in a while. I think he may be undercover in Pakistan."
"Oh. And Candace?"
"She's always calling us," chuckled Phineas. "Nothing happens on the honeymoon that we don't hear about."
"That's nice. And Jeremy's made it big, I hear?"
"Check ITunes as soon as possible."
There was a short pause.
"You remember when we were a one-hit wonder?" asked Phineas. Isabella nodded.
"Bow chicka wow-wow," she crooned softly, "that's what my baby says,"
"Mow mow mow, and my heart jumping," Phineas added cheerfully.
"Chicka chicka choo-wop," Isabella began, and Phineas finished "Never gonna stop,"
"Gitchee gitchee goo means that I love you!" they finished together. They looked at each other, and burst out laughing.
"We should get the band back together sometime," Phineas mused. "We got anything to write that down on?"
Isabella handed him a small slip of paper and a pencil, that she had been carrying ever since fourth grade, when Phineas and Ferb had gotten down to business for the first time.
"You know, we've got two-thirds right here, anyway," she pointed out.
"Yeah, and Ferb could be somewhere around here."
"Yeah."
"We could even bring in Buford and Baljeet."
"You think they'd enjoy it?"
There was another pause.
"Say, Isabella?" asked Phineas.
"Yes?"
"What do you think we should do out here?"
"You mean other than dance?"
"I'm tired of dancing." Phineas turned back to her. "This is a date, right?"
"Right," Isabella replied.
"You want to do anything?" he asked.
"Well," Isabella shifted uncomfortably, "There is just one thing…"
"Target lock," Gretchen had to stop herself from shouting in triumph. "Get in there Maestro, and don't mess up!"
"Ferb never messes up," Ginger pointed out.
Ferb had already left the room.
Isabella began to shift toward Phineas.
Deep in Phineas's stomach, a tingly feely began to make itself known. He had a feeling of what Isabella was going to do.
Isabella seemed to be caught up in indecision.
Phineas was waiting. He wasn't going anywhere.
It was funny. He had always seen love as formulaic. But as he'd tried to replicate it over the years, it had never quite worked out. And then, all of a sudden, here it was.
Isabella made up her mind, and leaned in.
Funny… Phineas could almost hear that one song from The Little Mermaid. The one that the crab played while Ariel and Eric went on a date. Although it annoyed him, the only one who could do the crab's voice had always been Ferb…
WAIT JUST A COTTON-PICKING MINUTE!
"FERB!" He exploded. Isabella drew back abruptly, obviously startled.
"Crud," Katie noted.
"… If you don't act now, you're gonna miss the girl," Ferb finished cheerfully. Isabella stared.
"That's just great!" she complained. "And what else did you do for music?"
Millie walked out of the bushes ruefully, lugging a keytar.
"All we could get on location," she apologized. When it came to Phineas, he never settled for less than a full orchestra.
Phineas looked up at Ferb, and an understanding seemed to pass between them. Phineas looked toward the second floor of the building, where Gretchen's silhouette stood by the window.
"Well," he announced, "I've had a long evening, I'm headed home. See you guys." He patted Isabella on the hand and walked away.
Minutes later, Gretchen and the rest of the Fireside Girls arrived.
"What's the big deal, huh?" asked Isabella.
"Well," Gretchen began, but Adyson cut her off.
"If you want the truth, we've been trying to set the two of you up since second grade," she explained. "And this was the closest to a target lock we've ever had." She sighed. "Nine years wasted."
"Why? Because you thought it couldn't happen on its own?" Isabella nearly shouted. "Just get out of here!"
"Um," Katie began.
"Out of the garden. Katie's still needed in the ballroom."
The would-be matchmakers looked at each other and walked away. As they did, Ferb walked over to Gretchen and handed her a twenty. Gretchen looked at it sullenly.
What was it Ginger had said? Ferb never messes up…
"You threw that bet!" she shouted.
Ferb shrugged. "Some things need to happen on their own," he replied.
"OH, like you and Vanessa?" asked Gretchen sarcastically. Ferb didn't respond to the jibe, but the rest of the Fireside Girls leapt to his defense almost immediately.
"Hey, that did happen on it's own!"
"Yeah, give it some time!"
As they left, Isabella turned away from them. Almost immediately, her hand snapped up and she examined the note that Phineas had palmed to her right before he left.
This summer: Reform PFT
She flipped it over.
Tomorrow. Wilson's Theater on Fifth and Crane. Want to come?
She grinned.
"Sounds nice," she said under her breath.
Before signing off, I'd like to explain some things.
Firstly, the story. It was an idea I've been bouncing around in my head for a while now, and I finally decided to publish it. Can't be that bad an idea, right? Okay, maybe this won't get a very good reception. But I wanted to write it!
I guess it's a parody of some Phineas and Isabella dancing and falling in love stories that I've read.
Secondly, this is going to be a one. Time. Thing. No more romance stories. I prefer not to write them.
Finally, there's a little something that I've been intending to announce. Namely… Disneyverse.
Disneyverse is where all of my fanfics will take place from now on, except those noted as not. Currently, all my fanfics are there except for AnNex. This one and other fics featuring the characters as older than in the TV show will usually be Future Disneyverse. Gracias, mis amigos.
That's all.