Phineas Flynn

Danville, U.S.A.

June 2

"So." Linda Flynn set down her meatloaf at the table where Phineas and Isabella were both sitting. "You're off to England soon."

"Yeah!" Phineas called happily. "It's gonna be great!"

"Speak for yourself." Isabella groaned. "I still have to pack everything. Mom and I are gonna go shopping tonight and get a 'mega-suitcase' so I can basically pack my dresser."

"Nope!" Phineas called. "Don't bother! I have created the ultimate handbag. It can hold a massive amount of items before it reaches capacity, it self-organizes itself, it's programmed to find the thing the person reaching inside wants, and it doesn't even look like a purse!" he cleared his throat slightly awkwardly. "The last part's mostly for me."

"Mmm-hmm." Isabella said. "And is this handbag going to explode, or…"

"Nope!" Phineas said again. "I double checked everything, then double checked everything again. Or-I quadruple checked everything I guess. It all checks out. I even tested it with some of my socks, and I actually found them again."

"Wow." Isabella said, honestly sounding a little impressed. "That would be pretty amazing even by normal standards, but by Phineas Flynn messy standards…"

"Wow. Thanks."

Isabella laughed.

Linda then spoke up again. "So what are you guys most excited about, then?"

"The Big Ben!" Phineas said. "I think I can get inside it, and I can probably improve it if I work hard enough."

"How about we don't start off the summer by blowing up one of the most famous clocks in the world?" Isabella asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm just looking forward to touring London. And maybe seeing if there actually is a 221B Baker Street."

Phineas groaned.

"What? Candace got me into the series!" Isabella protested.

Linda chuckled. "Candace gets everyone into Sherlock Holmes. She is incredibly good at doing so."

"Why does she even like it?" Phineas complained. "A lot of the things in those books are impossible, in my opinion."

"Like you would know!" Isabella said, slapping him lightly on the arm. "You try to do the impossible on a daily basis."

"Candace had it recommended by one of her internet friends from England, I think." Linda remarked. "And she has a point, honey."

"Mom!" Phineas groaned.

Both of them laughed.

"Where is Candace, anyway?" Isabella asked a second later. "I would've thought that she would be here to see us off."

"She couldn't make it." Phineas said. "Next week is finals week. She texted me earlier. She has to study, but-" he paused, and wrinkled his nose. "She 'sends her love.'"

Isabella smirked.

Phineas stuck his tongue out.

The three of them ate the rest of the meal talking and joking, until Isabella got a call from her mother saying she had to come pack. Phineas gave Isabella her handbag, a goodbye kiss, and promised to see her again the next day before retiring to his room to do some drawing.

He sketched a few blueprints for inventions that may or may not ever be created, and then shut his sketchbook in favor of his laptop.

He spent a couple hours watching scenes from the latest Space Adventure movie, which he had seen in theaters with Isabella a few days ago. His mom knocked on the door, and Phineas hopped up to say goodnight. He gave his mom a hug and crossed to the bathroom, where he brushed his teeth and went back into his room to go to bed.

The summer trip to England was something both he and Isabella had been looking forward to for weeks, despite the fact that it was pretty much full of everyone they hated. It was a very exclusive trip, and they both felt more than a little privileged to be going.

Phineas had packed everything he needed in his bag, including (but certainly not limited to) most of the clothes in his dresser, three toothbrushes, plenty of idea-filled sketchbooks and plenty of book books, his favorite set of 100 mechanical pencils, a comforter that he had designed that was supposed to adjust itself for any temperature, some spare parts, and his toolbox.

They were supposed to be working with another group, but Phineas had no idea what they would be like. He probably wouldn't make many friends. People couldn't be that different when all that separated them was an ocean.

Of course, then you came to the other problem-the people he would be spending the summer with who were currently less than an ocean away. Some of them he was worried about-Buford and Katie, just to name a few.

But they didn't have to see them all the time, right? Heck, they barely had to see them at all. Sure, they had a couple community service projects to do ("We're not prisoners!" Isabella had complained.), but most of the time was theirs to tour the city, as long as they stayed with someone from London and didn't go off on their own. So really, the only people Phineas had to worry about were the ones that he didn't know.

That was not making him feel better.

Ferb Fletcher

London, England

June 2

Ferb woke up early that day. His father had made biscuits with honey for breakfast. "So." he said. "There are those children coming soon from America."

Ferb nodded. His teachers had been talking about it at the end of school. Apparently he would (theoretically) have to spend the summer giving a tour to some teenagers that were coming from America as part of an exchange program. They were also doing some community service projects. He didn't really get that part as much. They weren't from juvy, right?

"So are you going to talk to some of them?" his father asked.

Ferb rolled his eyes. He doubted it. Ferb was…well, strange. There was no other way to put it. For Pete's sake, he had turned a set of headphones and broken laptop into a artificially intelligent robot.

Well, okay. To be fair, he'd also used 3 rubber bands.

"Ferb." his father said, interrupting his thoughts. "You don't know what these people are like. You haven't met them yet."

Ferb sighed. "Father, people cannot be that different when all that separates them is an ocean."

His father raised an eyebrow. "You never know. I used to live in America. It can be quite different."

"It's not likely I'm going to have to be a tour guide anyway." Ferb said. "They all get to pick their own tour guides."

"Right when they get off the plane, remember?"

"So my first impression is a weird, quiet kid with green hair. Not exactly encouraging." he sighed. "This summer is probably going to be just like every other summer." Staying inside, fiddling with various objects, maybe a couple trips to the movies. "That isn't necessarily a bad thing."

"It isn't necessarily a good thing either." his father pointed out.

Ferb sighed. "I was chosen as a possible tour guide, we set up a couple guest rooms just in case, and I'm going to the airport. That's all I'm required to do."

And it was all he was going to do.

It was later, in his room, while he was disassembling and reassembling his cell phone, that Ferb teased with the idea of being a tour guide. What exactly would that mean?

He would have to-well, give them a tour, obviously. He would answer any questions they had about England, and he supposed they would spend quite a bit of time with him considering they would be staying in his house.

Maybe it was better if he did just have a regular summer. Better than meeting people he didn't know and being forced to spend time with them, especially if they ended up like all of the other people he'd known as a kid.

So he told himself he was just preparing himself in the off chance that he found himself with those responsibilities. He wasn't wondering, or wishing, or anything stupid like that.

But still.

It would be a shame to have made those guest rooms for nothing.