Waiting

(~)

It was supposed to be a rather simple scheme...okay, well, maybe not so simple. In fact changing the mentality of the mayor (who also happens to be your brother) isn't simple at all; especially if you have a secret agent seemingly watching your every move. Adding to the fact that EVERYTHING you build somehow explodes doesn't exactly help matters either.

That was what Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, self-proclaimed future ruler of the Tri-State Area, was running through his head at the moment of putting things into place up in his home. Every single day, the same thing pursued as such: he would build a machine, which he had dubbed as "-inators", for a specific purpose that he deemed evil enough, and would aim the mechanism just right just before his nemesis would burst in. He'd manage to trap his nemesis, a platypus named Perry the Platypus, but it was only a temporary method, and an excuse for Doofenshmirtz to ramble on about his past, which he called "back-stories". Meanwhile, Perry would escape, attack Doofenshmirtz, destroy the -inator, and go off on his merry way while the evil "doctor" would shout out "Curse you Perry the Platypus!" in a vengeful sneer.

Yes, it was true. His failures were so often that he was able to foresee great consequences in his actions. But, he was positive. Yes, his gut and instinct was telling him that he was going to inevitably fall flat on his face, but he never listened once, nor did he let it get the best of him. Better judgement would have probably said "give up while you still can, you idiot", but he was deaf to better judgement.

You can only imagine the number of failures this led to.

Doofenshmirtz wiped the sweat protruding from his brow, as he placed the wrench to the side. He looked up at the clock.

12:35

Perry was late. Again.

This had been happening far too often for Doofenshmirtz's taste. In the past, the platypus would be punctual with their meetings. Sometimes, he'd even come over earlier than anticipated, but was polite enough to wait for the scheme to begin before doing anything about it. Even though Doofenshmirtz found it rude for Perry to suddenly slow down on him, he often would let it pass. After all, he probably had different things to do and such. It was no big deal.

He was very patient, to be honest. Evil was something to wait for, and so were platypuses. He'd just have to wait for the platypus. In the meantime, he'd just relax in his recliner like he had been for the last two months, each time Perry prolonged his coming by.

Just then, Norm walked in. Or rather stomped in. He was a giant robot, after all. Robots don't really walk, even when they wanted to. They stomped. Doofenshmirtz took note of that.

"HELLO, SIR," Norm greeted, "HOW ARE YOU DOING?"

"Go away Norm," Doofenshmirtz said rather irritably, "I'm busy."

"LOOKS TO ME THAT YOU ARE JUST SITTING."

"I'm waiting," Doofenshmirtz said with an eye roll, "Can you just leave me alone."

Norm stared, and didn't move. After a while, Doofenshmirtz decided to ignore him completely. He was proving to be quite the nuisance, as per usual. Doofenshmirtz looked to the floor next to him, which had a pile of magazines on it. Out of boredom, Doofenshmirtz lifted one of them up and began to casually read it. "Evil-Doers Monthly" was always interesting.

"YOU KNOW THAT HE ISN'T GOING TO COME."

Doofenshmirtz slowly lowered the magazine from his face after a moment of silence. Rather intense silence. Maybe it was the growing irritation that Norm constantly seemed to forget that Perry had gotten off that vacation with his family months ago. You'd be annoyed too, if someone you lived with constantly forgot the same bit of detail.

Come to think of it, Doofenshmirtz thought, Perry had never once told him about his family. Not that he would've, granted, seeing as he was a platypus. Platypuses couldn't talk, after all. Only…growl, was it? Or was it chatter?

…where was he? Oh yeah! Norm! Being the forgetful oafish robot he always had been. Can make a mean potato salad and yet.

"Of course he is," Doofenshmirtz said, emphasizing his words as if he were talking to a total moron, "Why wouldn't he come? We have our rituals, Norm."

The giant robot simply stared, his monotone grin suddenly looking...shocked? Doofenshmirtz nearly rolled his eyes. He didn't even care. He raised the paper back up to read it again, practically hiding his face and nearly touching his long, pointy nose to the paper.

After a while, which seemed like hours, Norm began to walk away, and a robotic sigh sounded from the mechanical creation that labeled itself as a him. Sighs were breaths. Only humans could breathe. Doofenshmirtz seemed to take note of this as well. He also noticed that Norm didn't even call him his father; usually the moronic piece of scrap would've insisted. It was certainly unusual, yet Doofenshmirtz couldn't say that he didn't welcome such a change of character.

The next hour was spent with Doofenshmirtz reading the magazine to the point of memorizing it. Every line, every word, every detail of it was lodged in his brain by this point. After that, he threw it to the side, and lifted up another magazine, doing the same for it. He looked up at the clock again.

1:25

Perry was really late now.

It almost worried Doofenshmirtz. He could foresee Monogram fuming at the platypus for being so careless, even though he knew that Perry cared a lot. He cared a lot, he cared a whole lot. And Doofenshmirtz just couldn't seem to figure out why. Why did he care so much?

No one else could see passed the stoic platypus' shields, but Doofenshmirtz could. He could see a great and amazing person…platypus...there were times where he admitted that he admired him to some degree. Nothing beyond the realm of the platonic, of course – Perry was a platypus. No matter how many people said that it was acceptable for a person in Danville to be with an animal, Doofenshmirtz found himself wondering if such a thing was…moral? Then again, he was the bad-guy.

Doofenshmirtz let out a sigh, realizing that he went on a mental tangent. It didn't really matter, when his nemesis would arrive. Yes, he was very, very patient, wasn't he? Or at least, after all these years, he'd learn to be.

He'd wait.

Just then, the door opened. Doofenshmirtz knew that wasn't Perry, though. It would have been, if the door was knocked down in the violent fashion Perry was known for. But it wasn't. So, obviously, it must have been his daughter Vanessa.

The teenager in question hummed a bit as she entered the kitchen, at first not even looking at her father. She grabbed an apple, and took a bite out of it, casually making her way back to the large living space. She barely noticed the machine at first. She seemed so thoughtless today; yet she had recently become so dreamy-like ever since she started dating that Ferb character.

Doofenshmirtz almost scowled a little. He didn't trust any boy that dared smitten his little girl. Yes, she was practically an adult now, but…still…

As She greeted Norm and then her father, her eyes finally met with the latest masterpiece, and a look of shock contorted on her face. Doofenshmirtz always found it strange that his offspring seemed more and more horrified by his creations. Why was that? It wasn't anything out of the normal.

"...Another one?" she turned to Doofenshmirtz a little slowly, tiredly, "What's it this time?"

Doofenshmirtz smiled, failing to notice that it was the first time he had smiled all day. "I'm glad you asked," he said, "However, I'm afraid I can't tell ya 'bout it. Yet. It's a surprise~!"

The evil scientist clapped a little, suppressing a giggle. "I'll tell you this, though:," he revealed, "Roger's big 'important' speech for today is sure to be a disaster. Why is it so important, you may ask? Well…I actually have no idea. All he's going to be talking about are acts that no one's going to care about."

The evil scientist realized that he was talking to himself suddenly, even when his daughter was standing right there. Funny. He never did that to Perry. Speaking of which; he looked to the clock again.

3:37

Oh, that platypus was REALLY late now. It almost made Doofenshmirtz feel the slightest bit insulted. He put in all this effort, and for what?

He looked back to Vanessa, who wore a sad look on her face. Doofenshmirtz seemed rather worried about her at this point. She was always sad nowadays; why was she so sad? "What's wrong, pumpkin?" he asked, "Is there something bothering you?"

Vanessa stared for a moment before sighing. "Dad," she began, "You know that he's not coming, right?"

Doofenshmirtz blinked. Now, why was Vanessa starting to sound like Norm? "Of course he's coming," he said, "He always comes. It's our daily procedure of things. Sure he's never on time anymore, but that doesn't mean-"

"Dad."

Doofenshmirtz looked at Vanessa like a curious child would look at his questioning parent, a complete role-reversal that would never truly dawn on him. He seemed so confused, even though Vanessa knew deep down that he wasn't. Deep down her father, as much of a goof as he was, did understand. And, as painful as it came across, she had to make him accept that reality. Somehow, like she had been trying to, she had to.

"Please," Vanessa sighed, "This has to stop."

"What do you mean?" Doofenshmirtz asked, "Perry the Platypus isn't even here yet. We haven't even started the fight, or anything."

"Yes. But you haven't been, have you, Dad? For the past two months you haven't been."

Doofenshmirtz stared for a while. "...I don't get it," he said, "Is this some kind of riddle? A game? Are we playing twenty questions or something?"

"No, Dad," Vanessa stated, "It's not. I'm being serious here."

"Serious about what?"

"Dad...do you realize that Perry hasn't been coming for a while now?"

"Yeah, for like, four hours, now, that's so unlike him, so…unprofessional. I'm getting worried about the poor fella. Maybe he needs a break..."

"It's been more than four hours, Dad."

"Really? It's been five? Six? Seven?"

"Two."

"...You're counting down, pumpkin."

"No. It's been two months, Dad. He hasn't come around for two months, and you know it."

At this Doofenshmirtz chuckled. It sounded a tad be distorted though; like a bridged between anger and fear; a bridge between his small light of hope and utter despair. "No," he said, "No, no, no, you're mistaken, Vanessa. He comes around every single day. It's been like that for a long time."

"Not for these past weeks," Vanessa stated, "And not any time soon, either. You know that, Dad. That's why this needs to stop. Now."

It was stern, Vanessa realized. She really was starting to sound like a parent to her own father.

Doofenshmirtz smiled good naturedly. "I can't stop now," he said, "Otherwise, I won't be able to reach my goal. I'm pretty sure that Perry the Platypus wouldn't want me to stop anytime soon either. After all, its our thing. And I like our thing, even if its painful."

"You don't get it, do you?"

"I get it completely," Doofenshmirtz nodded, "I'm totally in the zone, Vanessa. Now, if you don't mind, I've got a platypus to wait for. You can do whatever you want until I'm done, unless you wanna wait with me. I'm open for it."

"But, Dad-"

"I'm not gonna stop, Vanessa."

The voice went from happy to stern in an instant. Doofenshmirtz was obviously remaining firm, much to Vanessa's dismay. Why was it that her dad was so stubborn? She sighed in defeat. "...Okay," she said, walking away, "I'm...gonna go out in a bit, okay? Ferb's taking me out for some Ukraine food."

Doofenshmirtz nodded, choosing to ignore the cursed name for now. "Good," he said, "I'll talk to you later, pumpkin."

"...'Kay," Vanessa left the room, sighing sadly, a sound Norm could only dream of replicating.

Doofenshmirtz stayed where he was, waiting hour after hour, reading, twiddling his thumbs, humming songs from his past. He was just so excited is all. This was the best idea he had ever come up with so far! He couldn't wait until Perry showed up to try and thwart him like always.

He looked up at the clock again that night.

6:15

Perry was even later than before.

But Doofenshmirtz was very patient.

He'd wait.

He'd wait until the end of time just to see his nemesis again.

Five minutes later, Doofenshmirtz dozed off, and dreamed of being foiled by Perry once again.

He smiled.

.

.

.

The large tree in the Flynn-Fletcher's backyard stood tall in the night. An owl which had began to live there sat in its nest, hooting. The wind gently blew against the leaves, as the sound of crickets chirping could be heard all over town. Below this tree, was none other than Perry himself, resting; like he had been for the past two months.

A/N:

...I was 's...that's all I have to say. I was bored.

I hope you guys liked it; this is the first thing that I've written in a long time that I've actually enjoyed. Doofy, why are you so inspirational? XD

Anyways, read and review if you want. :3 (Might revise, considering I wrote this at, like, 1:00 in the morning...)

-GTS