"Hi Mom, we're home!"

"I've got some snacks on the table for you, boys."

Without waiting for his brother or acknowledging his mother's presence, Ferb hastily yet quietly made his way upstairs. Taking note of this strange detail, Linda waited till the sound of a door closing was heard, before asking Phineas who was currently munching on a cookie, "Phin, did something bad happen in school today?"

Frowning thoughtfully in mid-crunch, Phineas replied, "Wrell…"

Linda rolled her eyes and smiled. "Honey, swallow before you talk, please."

Gulping down his mouthful of cookie, Phineas answered, "No, Mom, I don't think so. Why?"

"I just felt that Ferb's behavior has been a little off after school today. He didn't even wait for you before going up to your room."

Shrugging absently, Phineas started on another cookie. "He has been acting strange ever since one of the older kids called him mentally retarded. What's that, Mom?"

Linda felt small bolts of anger and fatigue run amok throughout her body. She passed her hands over her face and sighed deeply. So, it has begun… Well, it was only a matter of time.

"Mom?"

She looked up wearily.

"What does 'mentally retarded' mean?"

Linda ran her hand through her son's flame-red hair fondly. "Phin, it means that… That a person has some problems in his brain."

Phineas was quiet for a few moments. "It has something to do with him being really quiet at school, doesn't it?"

Surprised at his ability to understand and perceive the current problem, Linda nodded.

Phineas frowned again. "Well, that's really mean. Shall I go and talk to him?"

Linda smiled and nodded again. "Do your best to cheer him up."

Still optimistic as ever, Phineas skipped up the wooden stairs and knocked upon their room's door. "Ferb, can I come in?"

There were two quick, successive knocks emanating from the inside of the room, their agreed code for 'Come again later, I'm busy'.

Phineas sighed. "I'm just going to talk to you for a bit. To make you happy again."

No longer hearing any more knocks, he opened the door gently and peeked inside. Ferb was sitting on his bed; legs curled up towards himself, and appeared to be staring at his knees impassively. After years of communicating with Ferb by reading facial expressions, however, Phineas did not fail to notice the hint of sorrow in those dark-blue irises.

After taking his place beside Ferb, Phineas patted his brother's back comfortingly. The green-haired boy glanced up at him, now somewhat dejectedly.

Taking a deep breath, Phineas began, "Ferb, just ignore whatever those older kids said. They're just big meanies. Don't let them affect you through their teasing, or they'll win this round. The more important thing is," at this he smiled, and pressed his finger on Ferb's shoulder, "you shouldn't care about what others think of you, and just be yourself."

Outside the door, Linda silently marveled, awed by her young son's wisdom.

Phineas continued, "And don't worry; I'll always be there for you, and I'll help you the best I can." Still smiling, he proceeded to hold out his own fist. "Brothers?"

Ferb hesitated for a few moments, then smacked his own fist against Phineas'.

Satisfied with how this eventually turned out, Linda quietly went downstairs into the kitchen to wash some dishes, and patted Perry on the head on the way there. "Oh, Perry," she mumbled, half to herself, "how I wished you could comfort Ferb in some way… Being teased while young can be really hurtful."

Perry quietly listened with half an eye opened. Teasing, huh? He mused. I hope Major Monogram won't be too angry later, but I know what I'm gonna do tomorrow.

Stepping into the school's hallway, Ferb strode forward determinedly while flanked by Phineas, not making eye contact with anyone. However, upon nearing the group of older children who insulted him yesterday, he began to look about nervously, not unlike a hunted rabbit.

Phineas sensed this, and nudged him, whispering, "Don't worry; I gotcha, Ferbo."

As the twosome tentatively approached the group, the older children began to nudge each other, snickering and pointing. Phineas felt a little spark of anger inside him, but it was not one that he couldn't control.

"Well, well. If it isn't the little mute, retarded kid." One of the meaner-looking boys sniggered. "And his triangle brother as his protector, too. How touching."

Ferb tensed up at this, as if anticipating a fight. Phineas squeezed his hand once, twice, to calm him, and frowned at the group of bullies. "Leave him alone. My brother's not retarded," he declared firmly.

"Prove it."

"Well, technically, Ferb has a really high IQ as he's able to use theorems and laws from Mathematics and Physics to draw blueprints with me, and he also has an excellent ability in mechanics to construct all those crazy inventions with me."

The boy, slightly taken aback from this intellectual speech coming from a person younger than him, glared at the red-headed inventor. "Get lost, Dorito."

To the group's bewilderment, Phineas seemed unfazed by all of this, and instead laughed out loud. "Hey, that's a good one! My head really does take the shape of a Dorito! What do you think, Ferb?"

Another boy tried again, this time wearing an unkind smirk on his freckled face. "And I guess all that hair color comes from brain rust?"

However, Phineas chortled again. "Well, that is of course, if my brain was made of metal. But it isn't, so, nah, I don't think so."

The cluster of bullies were dumbfounded, and slightly at a loss of words. All those other 'young ones', as the bullies called them, would immediately run off, albeit crying, whenever they were teased. It was a completely new situation for them.

And thus, they started attacking Phineas verbally, saying every sort of hurtful insult they could think of. Their efforts were in vain, however, as Phineas continued to gently deflect every offensive comment in another direction.

To add insult to injury, Phineas continued to laugh and smile at them, and appeared to be completely unaffected, if not optimistic, about this entire situation. He even attempted to maintain a normal conversation.

The bullies soon got frustrated. One of the bigger, more muscular boys cracked his knuckles. "I say we beat them up."

Ferb's eyes visibly widened a little at this, while Phineas still had his cool, though he twitched a little with fear.

"Are you insane? We'll be seen as cowards, bashing people as young as them up." The same boy who insulted them earlier, presumably their leader, stepped up to them and pressed his finger on Phineas' pointy nose. "But you two should better watch out from now on."

With that, the group sauntered away, chuckling ominously.

Once they turned a corner and were out of sight, Phineas gave a loud sigh of relief. "Well, I'm glad that's over." The redhead turned towards his brother. "And that's how you do it, Ferb. You can just ignore them from now on."

To his astonishment, Ferb suddenly gave him a quick, but tight hug. "Thank you, Phineas."

Phineas let out a surprised chuckle. "Ferb, bro, you finally talked!"

He had not much time to celebrate, though, as the group of bullies unexpectedly ran out back into the hallway. Some were hopping uncomfortably, and most of them were wailing and yelling, generally about 'a teal lightning furball which gave all of them wedgies'.

The two brothers exchanged glances, then broke out in loud peals of laughter, eventually rolling on the floor hysterically.

Perry the Platypus smirked, as he tagged one last note on a locker. The former read, "Disturb those two again, and you'll regret it."

Mission accomplished, he thought, as he retreated back into an escape tube to his den.