Synopsis: Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, and company are cast in the Danville Academy of Arts' Summer Theatre Youth Production of Les Misérables. Cast as Marius and Éponine respectively, Phineas and Isabella share a tender moment on the stage driven by their similarities with their characters. Disclaimer: Utilizes characters, scenes and lyrics from Les Misérables and characters from Phineas and Ferb; I own neither. Songfic-ish.
Author's Note: Firstly, this version is edited to adhere to this website's guidelines; the full version is available on my profile at Archive of Our Own: /works/1470634. I feel the art of acting can have a powerful effect on those who practice it by having them connect with their characters on a very personal level. With this in mind, I felt it would make a compelling prompt for some Phineas/Isabella development. I'm aware that Les Mis is not a play that young children such as the PnF cast would partake in. I'm aware of the stark contrast in tone between PnF and Les Mis; however, this story focuses on Phineas and Isabella's specific, shared scene and how it affects them.
And Rain will Make the Flowers Grow
The aesthetes and eager parents of Danville had slept nary a wink in recent days since the Danville Academy of Arts' youthful rendition of Les Misérables was drawing near its opening day. For the better part of two months they'd advertised the play's rehearsal and opening weekend in the streets, on the radio, and wherever else they could find people with n ear to listen. As it was a youth theatre production, the entire cast was comprised of local children and young adults. While they'd never think of casting aspersions on the livelihood of the stage performance, local superstars Phineas Flynn and Ferb Fletcher were not amongst the ranks of those whom the local population would have considered to take part in such a melancholy tale. And the local population would be right to think as much because neither really had much interest in the project when it was first announced some time ago. It was thanks to their neighbor and good friend, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, that they had both been steadily rehearsing with the cast and crew the last few weeks. Isabella had come to them one summer's eve and asked the brothers how they'd like to take part in the play. Initially, there wasn't much interest to speak of; however, as Isabella explained the play's story, its musical elements, and the unforgettable enjoyment one experiences when working in a live performance such as this, both brothers saw fit to give it a go. Phineas, excited at the prospect of working with people, performing music, and making friends along the way and Ferb, intrigued at the prospect of stretching his dramatic muscles.
It would be no small statement to say that Phineas Flynn was stepping out of his comfort zone with regard to this play's subject material. The story very much dealt with a large portion of people being desperately unhappy and unable to improve their lives in any way. His empathy burned for these people as he read through the script for the first time. It is most fortunate that he was then cast as Marius, the rebel taking part in the French Revolution; Phineas and Marius shared empathy for the downtrodden and destitute. He felt very much at home as he practiced his lines and rehearsed his character over the weeks.
It wouldn't surprise many to find out that a certain Isabella Garcia-Shapiro had also tried out for the play, specifically for the role of miss Éponine—a girl who harbors an unobserved infatuation with Marius. Much like Phineas, Isabella had been cast most fortuitously in the role which suited her in the most personal of ways. Her reasons for asking Phineas and Ferb to join in the play were mostly selfish; she desired to share the stage with the one with whom she harbored her own unobserved infatuation: Phineas. However, she had been rather thrilled to see them both enjoying themselves on set during rehearsals the past few weeks. Not to mention, she and Phineas shared a very heartfelt, final scene together during the play.
Unfortunately, as it was, technically, one of the more minor scenes in the play as a whole, it had received a smaller amount of time in rehearsal than other scenes. As Phineas and Isabella were both fairly talented in the musical arts already, the directors saw fit to devote more time with the children who needed more direction and practice for their scenes. There'd only really been a handful of times they'd practiced their final scene together and none of those practices allowed either Phineas or Isabella to be fully entrenched in their roles. Each knew their lines perfectly; each knew their stage directions perfectly; each could sing perfectly on key, but neither had felt that distinct feeling of having the scene come to life between them as they lived out their characters' lives on stage.
Ferb, cast as the stoic and stalwart Javert, had also found himself enjoying his role. Buford, cast as the strong and overcoming Jean Valjean, had been enjoying his days in the spotlight of the play. Baljeet had, unfortunately, been cast as a nameless extra in several of the musical numbers. Baljeet did not seem to mind, though. And, as opening day drew closer, each child found themselves eagerly awaiting their big performance. Despite their relative lack of dress-rehearsal, Isabella dared to daydream that she and Phineas' shared scene would be as romantic and beautiful as she'd read in the script. Phineas, as oblivious and he tended to be, solely hoped that he could do his character justice while giving the audience a great show; he knew his parents were very eager to see him and Ferb up on stage.
And, just like that, opening night was upon them. The amphitheatre stationed in Danville City Park had every last seat filled; some people were setting up lawn chairs out past where the seats ended. Backstage, the cast prepared for their first live performance. As is typical of many actors, Isabella found herself rather nervous. With only a few minutes before the curtain rose, she found herself fidgeting in her seat backstage as she made sure she knew all of her lines and stage directions mentally.
Phineas, who would be hard-pressed to even define the word "nervous", let alone exhibit the trait, found himself mingling and chit-chatting with his brother and friends backstage. From the corner of his eye, he spied a fidgeting, noticeably nervous Isabella. Wanting more than anything for all of his friends to enjoy themselves tonight, especially the one who got them involved in this play to begin with, he decided it best to go over and make sure Isabella's nerves didn't wear too thin before the play even began.
"Isabella? You okay?" Phineas asked with a worried smile.
"Yeah—heheh," Isabella responded breathily, "just a little nervous, I guess," she resolved to not hide her state from Phineas.
"Well don't be!" Phineas exclaimed, "we're all gonna do great and have a great time out there tonight!" His tone emanated his optimistic and truthful perspective with every word. None on Earth could have convinced him otherwise.
Isabella smiled, feeling Phineas' normal, upbeat energy inspiring her to just have fun and believe in herself.
"Thanks, Phineas. I needed that," she said thankfully; she relaxed in her chair as she did.
"No problem. Want to watch the play from the side-stage while we wait for our scene?" he asked, wanting to see their friends' performance.
"Sure!" Isabella responded in earnest.
Phineas and Isabella picked up some foldable chairs and set them off to the side of the back-stage, which would allow them an askance view of the play while they waited for their first scene to arrive.
The play progressed scene by scene, act by act, until it was time for Isabella and Phineas to take to the stage as Éponine and Marius. Their first scene together would lay out their characters' relationship: Éponine was desperately in love with Marius, who was oblivious. Marius and his friends were distracted by Big Ideas going on in their heads; they were entrenched in a war with the French government. Eventually, Marius' character falls for a girl who he sees in the streets. In his obliviousness, Marius asks Éponine if she can find out who that girl is, for he has fallen head-over-heels in love with that strange girl. Éponine reluctantly agrees and, as Marius leaves, sings a woeful song to herself. Phineas exits the stage, and the spotlight shines on Isabella walking the rainy streets of France.
[Isabella sings "On my Own" – see Author's Note for the full scene]
Isabella had grown teary-eyed over the course of her song as she felt it rang true in her heart. Her unrequited love for Phineas fueled this passionate and heartfelt performance enough to move herself to tears. The spotlight grew dim until the stage was black, and the curtain lowered. Isabella walked off stage to where her and Phineas' seats were.
Her performance had given Phineas pause; he took a moment before he said anything as she sat back down next to him.
"That was great, Isabella!" he exclaimed, having felt her intense performance from just off stage.
"Thanks," she feigned a cheerful smile as she replied; her connection with her character had not simply ceased as she exited the stage.
One could perhaps chalk it up to Phineas getting into character, but he experienced an uncharacteristic lapse in his obliviousness and felt something may be wrong with Isabella; her demeanor felt repressed to him since she walked back over to him. He gave her a worried look before being interrupted by the stage director telling him to get in position for his next scene.
"See you in a few for our final scene!" Phineas bid farewell as he was rushed to his position on the stage while the curtain was still drawn.
"Y-yeah, see you in a few…" Isabella trailed off as Phineas was rushed away from her. She found herself wondering if she'd be happier when this play were over, as the feelings this character evoked in her were too strong and familiar to handle well at this moment.
"Hey, there's still the final scene with Phineas!" she thought to herself, "it's the scene that makes everything between Éponine and Marius okay! Which means Phineas and I will be…okay…" she trailed off in her thoughts, hoping as much as she could that she'd be right.
She watched as Phineas took to the stage with the others, enacting a scene of violent protest and rebellion with guns, canons, and bayonets. She awaited her moment to enter the stage for her final scene with Phineas.
As Phineas climbed a pile of rubble to aid a fallen comrade, an enemy soldier pointed his gun square to Phineas' chest. That was Isabella's cue. She ran onstage, up the pile of rubble, and grabbed the barrel-end of the gun toward herself, away from Phineas.
"MARIUS!" she shouted as she did.
The gun fired, giving off a small explosion right into her midsection. She began to wobble in her legs, slowly felling herself. Upon seeing what transpired, Marius grabbed the nearby prop barrel of gunpowder and threatened to blow the entire area up if the enemy troops did not retreat. The enemy troops retreated at this threat; Marius had bought some time for Éponine.
As Phineas broke eye contact with the kids playing the enemy soldiers, he looked over at Isabella, lying on the ground with her hands clutched at her midsection, telegraphing the pain she was feeling. At that moment, something happened that hadn't before: the scene became very real for Phineas and Isabella both. Phineas dropped down to Isabella's side, taking her hand in his. The blood-packet prop had both of their hands stained with red.
"Éponine, you're hurt! You need some help! O-oh no, it's everywhere..." Phineas stammered, as his shaking hand grasped Isabella's.
"Rain" water began to rain down on the two from the effects panel above the curtain. The lights dimmed until only the spotlight centered on the two. At this time, the brass, wind, and string instruments in the orchestral pit began to play the soft, morose tune they'd rehearsed only a few times. Isabella looked up into Phineas' eyes and saw the deepest concern upon his face.
[Phineas and Isabella perform their duet of "A Little Fall of Rain" – see Author's Note for the full scene]
Phineas let out a gentle sob as the music faded and the lights dimmed over him and Isabella. The curtain was drawn to end the scene and had barely begun moving when the audience erupted into thunderous applause.
"Phineas… are you okay?" a concerned voice suddenly asked from beneath him.
Phineas opened his teary eyes and saw, much to his immediate delight, Isabella looking up at him with worry in her eyes.
"I-Isabella! Yeah, yeah I'm okay!" Phineas responded, giving his ear a light scratch after a brief pause to regain himself. He gave a quiet sniffle and wiped his eyes quickly as to dispel any idea that he wasn't okay.
"Are you sure?" Isabella pleaded as she sat up from Phineas' embrace, not wanting to prolong his distress by lying there any longer.
"Yeah-it's—yeah, I just, I…," Phineas stammered, trying to find the right words. "I just didn't think it would feel so…real."
Isabella nodded understandingly, "I know what you mean. I felt it, too. I guess that's why I felt so happy during it, like Éponine was."
Phineas took a moment to think and then nodded, "Yeah, but it was so different from Marius' perspective." The two began to stand up to walk off the stage, as they knew the next scene had to begin shortly. "Having to watch his best friend die in his arms after she saved his life like that. It was too much to bear," Phineas continued.
Isabella smiled; Phineas saw her as his best friend in this moment. It touched her so to hear that he cared for her in such a way that she'd never really seen before.
"Well, thankfully it's just a play!" Isabella responded, trying to perk Phineas up, now that the scene had ended. "And for what it's worth, you played your part flawlessly. You sound like you really lived in Marius' shoes today."
"Thanks, Isabella. And yeah, I'm glad it's just a play. "
They both paused their conversation as they entered the backstage area where the rest of the cast and crew were; There seemed to be a stunned silence over the entirety of the cast; no one had expected such a heart-wrenching performance. Ferb gave his brother a pat on the shoulder as they approached. Phineas nodded his head at his brother in acknowledgement. Phineas and Isabella decided to seat themselves back at their side-stage chairs again.
"I'm really glad we did this, Isabella. Thank you," Phineas said after a brief silence as they sat, watching the crew set up for the next scene. Phineas had begun to realize just how much this had taught him about how much he cared for his best friend, Isabella. He looked over to her and gave her a smile.
Isabella shook her head, "Mm-mm, thank you for doing it with me. It wouldn't have been anything like this with anyone else," Isabella responded, returning Phineas' cheery smile.
It certainly wasn't the first time it'd happened, but shortly thereafter Phineas and Isabella found themselves holding hands in a delightful way as they watched the subsequent scene unfold on stage. With each other's company in that moment, neither was at want for anything.