Phineas ran over to Ferb, his eagerness shining out of the sparkle in his eyes, despite almost tripping over his own feet. "You're here again! It's been YEARS since the last time!" he exclaimed, practically bouncing on the spot about seeing his new friend again.
"It's only been a week, sweetie," Linda said with a smile at her little, five-year-old boy. She was so happy he liked Lawrence's child.
"He should be here all the time, mom!" he replied, looking over to her for a second before returning his gaze to the green-haired boy and giving him a giant, toothy grin.
Ferb gave him a small smile back, and Phineas knew that that meant he was really happy, because he smiled like that when he got ice cream, and ice cream was amazing. Phineas thought raspberry ripple was the most bestest flavour, but Ferb liked vanilla more, and Phineas had made sure to remember that after he'd gifted Ferb with his yummy ice cream and Ferb had crinkled his nose.
"Maybe, one day, he will be," his mother said mysteriously.
"We'll have to get lots of vanilla ice cream for him to eat!" Phineas answered with a huge amount of enthusiasm.
Linda had no idea what ice cream had to do with anything, but decided to leave the boys to it and find out what Candace and Lawrence were doing.
"Imagine being here all the time—we could make something new every day," Phineas wondered, and with a gasp, continued, "We could build a whole town for our dolls and make them people-sized! Or—or a fun-making machine! Or a giiiiiant teddy bear!" As he said the last one, Phineas spread his arms so widely he ended up falling backwards onto the floor.
Hearing a sound, he lifted his head off of the floor to look at Ferb. Ferb was covering his mouth with his hands, but Phineas could still tell that he was giggling. It was the first time he'd heard the shy child laugh.
The happiness he felt was a lot unlike his usual happiness; it was warm, like a summer's day or like his mom tucking him into bed, and instead of making him want to run around doing things, it just made him want to hear the sound again.
He got up and crept closer to Ferb. "Or…" he said with childish menace, "we could build… a tickling machine!" He sprang at his companion, wrapping his arms around Ferb so that he didn't hurt himself when he fell onto the floor. Once he got Ferb right where he wanted him, Phineas's hands snaked under his white shirt and tickled mercilessly.
Ferb squealed with uncontrollable laughter, trying to both protect the ticklish areas and get Phineas's hands off of him, which resulted in a lot of flailing about, especially because he tried to do it all with his eyes closed.
It was a valiant struggle lasting for many, many seconds, and when Phineas got hit in the face with one of the Defenders of the Tummy of Ticklishness, he decided to show a little mercy.
"Do you sur—surrnen—surrender?" Phineas asked, struggling both with saying the word and dealing with Ferb's waving arms.
"Yes! Stop, stop, I surrender!" Ferb shouted, uncharacteristically loud and emotive. Though he still managed to speak really perfect, Phineas noted.
Phineas relinquished his dancing fingers from Ferb's tummy and collapsed onto the ground next to him.
Ferb was breathing heavily, and still smiling lots, Phineas was proud and happy to see. In fact, he looked happy enough to have had ten ice cream cones. And a new toy.
"I really hope we do get to be here all the time," Ferb conversed, looking at the red-haired boy. "You're the best, Phineas."
Phineas sat up, Ferb following suit, and Phineas pulled him into a tight hug. "You too, buddy! Every day would be awesome with you around," he said, nuzzling Ferb's face before letting go. Ferb giggled a little, rubbing his cheek.
He had the same sparkle of enthusiasm in his eyes that Phineas was so prone to having.