Perry had been sleeping peacefully until he heard thunder crackle furiously outside. He jolted awake and looked around.

Phineas sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. "Rain." He murmured.

Ferb sat up as well. He looked out the window, and then slumped back down against his pillow.

"I'll be right back." Phineas crawled out of bed and left the room.

Perry felt drowsy as the rain pattered against the window. He slowly started to fall asleep.

Another crash sounded from outside. Perry yawned and went over to Phineas's pillow. He patted down a spot and curled up.

He glanced over at Ferb. Ferb was staring nervously at the wall in front of his bed. He was shaking a little.

"It's not going to fall over." Perry said sleepily.

"Hm?" Ferb asked.

"The wall isn't going to come down from the rain. If that's what you were worried about."

Ferb blinked and shook his head.

"Something's up." Perry said. "You okay?"

"Nightmare." Ferb said quietly.

"Wanna talk about it?"

Ferb shook his head.

"All right." Perry jumped down from Phineas's bed and hopped up next to Ferb. He curled up on the blankets.

"This morning you said you would tell us stories from when you were younger." Ferb whispered.

"I'll tell you some in the morning. I'll be less tired then."

Ferb sat and looked at his hands in silence.

"Are you going back to sleep?" Perry asked.

Ferb shook his head.

"All right." Perry yawned again. "I'll see if I can recall a story. When Phineas gets back, I'll tell one."

Ferb shook his head again.

"You're sure nothing's wrong?"

"You said the other agents used to pick on you all the time." Ferb said.

"Yeah. Not fun."

"What was it like?"

"Awful. But I had Terrence to back me up."

"Was Terrence friends with any of the nasty agents?"

"No."

"Ah." Ferb looked down at his hands again.

Perry got the feeling Ferb wanted to hear about it. He sighed and wrapped his tail around his paws.

"Other agents kept getting on me all the time, and as a result I was pretty aggressive by the time I was a year old, so Monogram had to put me in Anger Management after I sent an agent into intensive care… honestly, I don't get why. It made me feel better to hit them than to put up with their constant teasing. They always say if you ignore them, it goes away, but it really doesn't. It sometimes just makes it worse. I either wound up crying, or in Anger Management..."


"Now." Fred the fennec fox said. "What do you do when someone makes you angry?"

"I punch them." Perry said.

Fred sighed. "I meant, what SHOULD you do when someone makes you angry?"

"That's a completely different question. How was I supposed to know you meant that?"

"Perry." Fred said calmly. "What should you do when someone makes you angry? We've gone over this."

Perry clenched his teeth. "I take a deep breath and count to twenty."

"And then what do you do if you're still angry?"

"I count to twenty again."

"And if you're still angry?"

"I count to twenty again."

Fred smiled. "Very good."

"So let me get this straight." Perry said. "Basically, if someone insults me, I'm supposed to sit there and count to twenty a bunch of times? How does this benefit me?"

"This is Anger Management." Fred said. "You benefit by managing your anger."

Perry growled.

Fred covered his head. "Let's calm down."

Perry stopped growling.

Fred gave him a piece of candy. "Good. Now, let's try to figure out the source of your anger."

"The other animal agents."

"Perhaps you've been having some trouble somewhere?"

"Yeah. The other agents try to beat me up."

"Yes, but is there some deeper source?"

"LISTEN, bucko!" Perry grabbed Fred and pulled him up to his face. "I get ANGRY when people try to BEAT ME UP and MAKE ME FEEL BAD. THAT IS WHEN I GET ANGRY."

"Please don't hurt me!" Fred said in a small voice.

Perry sighed and dropped Fred back down.

"I do believe we'll need to have a lot of sessions." Fred said shakily.

"I don't WANT any more sessions." Perry grumbled.

"You need them."

"I DON'T! NEED! ANGER MANAGEMENT!" Perry yelled, slamming his fist down on the desk.

The desk cracked loudly.

Fred hid underneath his chair. "You're dismissed for today." He whimpered. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Perry stormed out of Fred's office. Terrence the turkey was waiting for him outside.

"It's kind of funny to hear someone scream 'I don't need anger management' and then a huge bang." Terrence said.

"Shut up." Perry growled.

"Shut what up?" Terrence asked.

"I don't know." Perry said. "Shut up is just what all the older agents say all the time when they're mad."

"Don't be mad." Terrence said, patting him on the back. "Agent L totally deserved that."

"She told me to make sure I used… the floo. Hm. Floats…"


Perry woke up when he felt a kick in the side. "OW! I'm not dead! Ferb, you're as bad as Phineas."

"You fell asleep in the middle of the story." Ferb said.

"Sorry. Where was I?"

"You were telling Terrence what Agent L said."

"Oh. Right. Agent L told me to make sure I used the floor that day. When I was really little, I went on the agency's tile and Monogram slipped in it. The agents never let me hear the end of it."

"Did they just make fun of you for that, or was there more?"

"Of course there was more. They'd physically shove me around, lock me in rooms, corner me and beat me up… and then there was the verbal abuse." Perry sighed. "It was like everyone was against me. Except for the more mature agents, who just thought I was cute. Terrence was the only friend I had."

"When did they finally stop making fun of you?"

"I fought off attacking bears at age three while the mean agents stood cowering by the wall. Ever since then, only Darren the duck picked on me. And he's cool now."

"Oh." Ferb bit his lip and looked at the wall.

"You need to know anything else?"

"Um…" Ferb rubbed his arm. "No."

"Ferb." Perry said slowly. "Are people picking on you?"

Ferb nodded. He turned his head away, but Perry could still see the tears.

"At school?"

Ferb nodded again.

"What have they done?"

Ferb opened his mouth, but Phineas came into the room at that moment.

"Sorry." Phineas stumbled over to bed. "I was in the bathroom, but I was so tired I fell asleep on the toilet."

Perry snorted.

"It's not funny." Phineas said defensively.

Ferb closed his mouth and lay down.

"Why are you guys still awake?" Phineas asked.

"I was telling Ferb…"

Ferb rapidly shook his head.

"…that you should always brush your teeth after every meal." Perry said quickly.

Phineas climbed into bed. It only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep.

"Phineas doesn't know people have been teasing you?" Perry whispered as soon as he heard Phineas's breathing become steady.

Ferb shook his head.

"You should tell him." Perry advised. "He's your brother. He loves you. He'll stick up for you."

Ferb shook his head. He closed his eyes.

"Ferb, you know he will. You mean everything to him."

Ferb didn't move.

Perry curled up at the base of Ferb's bed. "I really think you need to tell him. He could help you."

"They're friends." Ferb said.

"Who are?"

"Phineas and them." Ferb said, his voice shaking. "The people who are awful to me are his friends."

"Isabella, Buford and Baljeet?"

"No. His new friends. I can't tell him."

Perry frowned. "You should."

Ferb said nothing more. Perry waited a long while before falling asleep.