This was just one of those plot bunnies that was spontaneously born a while ago. It's simply designed for maximum parent-child adorableness.

You shouldn't need to know too much about Thomas and Marie before reading this.

I don't own Marie Flynn or Thomas Fletcher. They belong to Sam-Ely-Ember and Angelus19. Find them on deviantart :)

"Come on down, Marie. I'm setting up the movie!"

"Coming dad!"

Marie Flynn bounced down the stairs in her bright pink pyjamas, full of energy and excitement. Tonight her mom was out for a Fireside Girls reunion and so her dad had decided they'd have a movie night, just the two of them. Marie loved spending time with her dad. He made everything so cool!

She leapt onto the couch and snuggled under a blanket, leaning her head against her dad's arm as he sat comfortably.

Phineas grinned at his daughter. "Comfy?"

"Mhm," she hummed happily.

"You smell clean now, after your shower. Not like before when you were covered in soot."

Marie pulled a face. "I didn't expect the Dessert Parlour to blow up like that!" she huffed, flustered. "It- it was totally Tommy's fault!"

He smiled and put his arm around her affectionately. "I'm just teasing you." Then, he turned to the TV and spoke clearly at it. "Steve, play the movie please!"

"Certainly Phineas," Steve the TV replied cheerily, loading the movie at his command. The father and daughter snuggled a little closer together under the blanket as the lights automatically dimmed and the movie began to play.

They were to watch a detective movie, 'Sheerluck Gnolmes and the Mansion Murder Mystery'. It started at the scene of a murder, with the shadowy culprit fleeing the scene. Marie was instantly captivated and started watching intently, eager not to miss a single detail. A few minutes in and Marie was sitting upright and leaning forward, clutching the blanket in her hands, her eyes wide and focused on the movie. Phineas watched too, but he simply couldn't concentrate fully. Something was missing.

"Hey," Phineas whispered. "Shall I do some popcorn?"

She nodded, without taking her eyes off the screen. He slipped away into the kitchen and returned a few minutes later, a great tub of popcorn in hand. He slid back onto the couch next to his daughter and silently offered the popcorn, which she started taking, her eyes still not leaving the screen. A few more minutes passed but Phineas couldn't get comfortable. Something was still missing.

"Want some soda? I'll get us some soda."

Once again he slinked away and returned after a few minutes, carrying two movie-style cups of soda complete with straws. He unobtrusively slotted Marie's into the cup-holder in the couch beside her and settled down again in his place. She sipped through the straw, her eyes once more remaining fixed on the screen.

Some more minutes passed, and Marie was becoming increasingly aware of her dad's fidgeting.

"Dad?"

"I'm sure I had some movie enhancing glasses around here somewhere!" he burst out, unable to restrain himself, and he rushed off to look for them. He came back quickly after rummaging through some boxes, and Marie turned for the first time since the movie started to see her dad clutching two pairs of strange, techy glasses.

"Here, take these!" he said excitedly, sliding on his own pair after removing his own regular ones.

Marie stared at them, fascinated by their look and feel, the movie forgotten for a moment. "What does it do?"

"It brings the movie into five-dimensional reality!"

"Ooh!"

She put them on excitedly. They were a little big for her and she pushed a button by mistake, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Everything looks funny!"

Phineas peered at the glasses and chuckled. "Looks like you pressed the reality inverter. It makes real life look like animation, and vice versa."

Marie giggled. "Dad, you look just like one of those shows on TV! It's so weird!"

He pulled a silly face and she giggled again. Encouraged, Phineas leaned over and pushed another button on the side of her glasses.

"Now everything's black and white too!" she squealed delightedly, examining her hand and looking around at all the furniture through the new perspective. "This is so cool!"

He scrunched his face up crazily once more and she fell back on the couch, laughing hysterically. Phineas smiled playfully, dangerously, and shuffled towards her slowly, hands outstretched. Marie understood the threat and tried to wiggle away from him.

"Argh! No, stop!" she cried in between bursts of laughter, as his hands caught her sides and he began tickling her mercilessly.

Phineas's grin was a mile wide. He let her escape from his clutches and she scrambled off the couch away from him, as he followed in hot pursuit with his menacing wiggling fingers. He chased her around the couch, up and down the stairs, through the kitchen, the detective movie long forgotten as they laughed and played together, their glasses transforming the house into a completely new and exciting land altogether.

The father and daughter slumped back down onto the couch, exhausted after their energetic game. The movie was just finishing. Sheerluck Gnolmes, the detective, exposed the true murderer in a grand reveal.

"Wow, what a surprise ending," Phineas said. "I didn't see that coming."

"Maybe it'd have made more sense if we actually watched all of the movie," Marie said, yawning.

Phineas smiled. "Well, we could watch it again properly, but some other day. It's time for bed."

"Aw, but dad," Marie pouted. "I'm... I'm totally not tired..."

She fought another yawn and her eyelids drooped. Phineas sat with her, stroking her head gently, as her body relaxed.

"We should... we should do this again, dad," she murmured sleepily.

"Yes," he said soothingly. "Yes we should."

Within a few minutes she was asleep, and breathing softly. Phineas kept stroking her hair a little while longer, then delicately picked her up and took her to bed.

You've gotten so heavy, he thought, smiling as he sentimentally recalled all the times he had carried her up these very stairs while she slept. He laid his daughter into her bed, draping the blanket over her.

"C'mon Tommy, don't be so boring," she muttered in her sleep, before snoozing lightly again.

Phineas chuckled; Marie and Thomas sure were great friends. He was glad they got along so well. He kissed her forehead softly and quietly slipped out of the room. Before he left, he stood in the doorway for a moment and smiled as he watched his daughter sleep peacefully.

He often wondered what his daughter would have to go through as she grew up. But Phineas wasn't worried. He knew that his daughter was a dreamer, and could face anything difficult in her life with a determined smile. And her friends and family would be there to catch her if she ever tripped up.

"But for now, sweet dreams, my dear Marie. Sweet dreams."

"Thomas?"

"I'm on my way down."

Thomas Fletcher made his way leisurely down the stairs in his soft green pyjamas, casually heading into the living room. His mum was out tonight, and she had insisted that he watch a movie with his father. He considered most movies a little dull and predictable, but he did enjoy spending time with his dad. There was always something calming, reassuring, about his presence.

His father was sitting on the sofa already, reading as usual - today he was poring through a book on wave functions in quantum physics. Thomas settled down on the sofa next to him and his dad looked up from the book he was reading to give him a fond smile. Inwardly, Thomas marvelled at the amount of feeling his dad conveyed in the small expression.

"Comfy?" Ferb asked.

"Very," Thomas replied. "Well, after my shower."

Ferb looked at his son teasingly.

"The Dessert Parlour wasn't supposed to blow up! It was totally Marie's fault!" Thomas insisted, flustered.

Ferb winked at him, then waved his hand in an particular motion towards the TV. It activated, loading the movie they were about to watch. Coincidentally, it was the same movie as the Flynns were watching the very same night, but they didn't know that.

Ferb returned to his book. His young boy sighed contentedly and followed suit, picking up the book he was in the middle of reading from the side table; both father and son started to watch the movie and read at the same time.

The movie started in a clichè detective movie fashion: it started at the scene of the murder with some shadowy figure, implied to be the murderer, supposedly fleeing from the crime. Thomas spent the next half of the movie with one eye watching and the other reading, while occasionally nibbling on a biscuit or taking a sip of his tea.

He was also aware that his father was doing almost exactly the same things. It became almost a wordless competition between them, a silent race to multitask the most. Thomas caught his dad's eye and couldn't help grinning as he simultaneously drank some tea and turned the page of his book, glancing at the movie in the process. He then watched, amazed, as Ferb ate a biscuit and drank tea with one hand while completing an origami swan with the other, all the while looking down at the book balanced on his lap and, presumably, listening to the movie at the same time.

"Dad!" Thomas exclaimed, his voice a mixture of frustration and amazement.

Ferb winked at him again, grinning, and looked back down. "The murderer was the assistant gardener. He's seeing the mansion owner's ex-wife behind their backs and is going to run off with him," he stated casually, without looking up from his book.

Thomas scoffed. "I was about to say that. But also the head gardener knew all along, and has been blackmailing his assistant."

"And?" Ferb pressed.

"Hm..." Thomas looked up and watched a few more scenes intently. "And the ex-wife was going to betray him and run off alone?"

Ferb's face was unreadable. Thomas couldn't tell if his dad marked his deduction correct or not. He started watching the movie closely, looking for further clues, after quickly marking his place in his book and draining the last of his tea. His dad joined him, watching intently as well. Ferb grinned to himself as he noticed that his son was struggling to keep his eyelids open.

Finally, the end of the movie came and the detective, Sheerluck Gnolmes, was to perform the final reveal, exposing the true culprit and shedding light on the whole situation.

"The true murderer of Mr. Barns, the owner of the mansion, is... Jack, the assistant gardener!" the detective revealed in a grand flourish, to the shock and amazement of everyone in the crowd gathered in the mansion main hall.

"Jack killed Mr. Barns? But that's ridiculous... why would he do such a thing?" the head gardener spluttered.

"Simple," Sheerluck said confidently. "Mr. Barns had stumbled upon Jack's secret - that Jack was seeing Miss House, Barns' ex-wife, behind his back!"

There was another great round of gasps. "They were planning on getting married and running away to France together," Gnolmes continued. "Because 'Jack' here is not even 'Jack the simple gardener' at all! He is Jacque, the rich Frenchman, here hiding from the French police!"

The crowd gasped even louder. Some of the more delicate women fainted out of shock and surprise.

"This is preposterous!" the head gardener insisted, red-faced with rage.

"Don't act innocent!" Gnolmes declared. "You knew all along! You've been blackmailing Jacque since the beginning!"

"Please stop with the huge revelations, Gnolmes!" the Chief of Police pleaded. "We don't need any more fainting women!"

Ferb finished his tea and closed his book, satisfied with how the evening had turned out. He turned to see Thomas leaning back on the sofa with his eyes nearly closed, almost asleep. Sheerluck Gnolmes was exchanging some final words with Jacques before he was taken away by the Chief of Police.

"It's a shame you went through all that trouble, Jacques." Gnolmes said to him. "Miss House was planning on betraying you for your money once you got to France, by handing you off to the police."

"I... I was right, dad," Thomas murmured sleepily.

Ferb smiled and ruffled his hair. "That's my boy."

The movie played the final scene. "Incredible work as usual, Gnolmes," the Chief said in amazement. "Just how did you figure it all out?"

He shrugged. "Well, I kinda guessed and got lucky!"

The chief laughed. "Oh Sheerluck!" he said, shaking his head in amazement. What will we do with you?"

The credits began to roll and Thomas knew what that meant. But he wanted some more time with his father. "I'm not sleepy dad," he said, as convincingly as he could manage. As if on cue, he yawned and his eyelids shut resolutely. "Ok, maybe I'm a little tired."

Ferb chuckled and said nothing for a while as Thomas drifted off to sleep right there on the sofa. Smoothly and noiselessly, he scooped up his son and took him upstairs.

You're just going to keep on growing, aren't you? Ferb pondered affectionately as he looked down at his son. He reached Thomas's bedroom and laid him down carefully on the bed, producing a blanket seemingly from nowhere and covering him with it.

"Oh Marie, what will I do without you?" Thomas murmured unconsciously, evidently sleep-talking.

Ferb suppressed a chuckle; his son took after him in the romance department, it seemed, with that 'secret' crush of his. Content that Thomas was sleeping peacefully, he made his way out of the room, closing the door behind him without making a sound.

He couldn't help but wonder what life had in store for his once little boy, but he knew that his son was strong enough to take anything life threw at him in his stride. And his friends and family would be there to catch him if he ever tripped up.

But for now, sweet dreams, my little Tommy. Sweet dreams.

I put in a lot of deliberate similarities and differences between the two nights. How many did you catch?

Take care.