A Civil Refusal

by Gojirob

In 'Act Your Age', older Ferb had seemingly not taken an offer of internship from a certain billionaire superhero. Ferb doesn't want to make war, nor does he want to make this a polarizing event with no editorial control. Nor will he explain why he's not on certain social media. He merely wants to register his opinion.

A Civil Refusal

By Rob Morris

Tony Stark sat behind his desk, a happy man. His assistant of many years, Peter Parker, was also glad for the new addition.

He just hoped Tony wouldn't blow it with some last minute terms.

"Ferb, we're ready to welcome you aboard. I'm also glad to hear your brother and Isabella finally got together. I was telling Pepper just the other day – I hate it when couples take forever to just spit it out."

Peter nodded.

"I said the same thing to MJ – she just kind of stared at me, though."

A man of few words as always, Ferb Fletcher asked a question.

"Tony, you'd mentioned some last minute terms?"

"Yes! Now I'd-Peter, stop staring at me—and rolling your eyes-anyway, here's my idea. What if all the wonders you and Phineas churned out became the inspiration for creative kids everywhere?"

Ferb said nothing, but showed he was listening, so Tony kept on.

"My idea is that we catalog all your inventions, then, at a major press conference, we have you explain how you built them all with your parents and most guardians none the wiser. Kids everywhere would know that being creative is no sin, and it would mellow out their parents as well, in my opinion. What do you say?"

Ferb pondered, and Peter considered jumping out the window much earlier in the day than normal.

"Tony, while I would wish to take this job, if those terms are make or break, I have to say no. We never meant to keep our parents out of the loop, and learning all that now could only upset them, especially our Mother. Moreover, rather than mellowing out other parents, this could lead to a lockdown on creativity—or at least our sister seems to think so. Why she would speculate on that, who knows. In addition, we do have some few enemies, and revealing all our secrets in one fell swoop could well empower them to strike at us on all fronts at once. Finally, if we perform such a widely publicized spectacle, and we fall out at a later point, that would leave me looking foolish and gullible. Oh—and the business suit you provided me is loaded with tracking sensors. Nice design on both, though. Gentlemen."

After Ferb left to tell Vanessa his choice, Peter looked at a sheepish Tony.

"Why does it feel like we both just got dissed?"