(A/N there will be flashbacks in here. I think it's pretty easy to keep up but I wrote it so I might be a little biased.)
Danville. A bustling metropolis. As it has been for years. But it's been quieter for the past couple. A certain lack of step-brothers has made the great city just one step lower on an awesomeness scale. They had gone off to college a couple of years ago. After some extreme working with their applications and interviews Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella managed to all get to the same college. With the money from their inventions and the scholarships they got they decided to live off campus in apartments. Naturally the high-school sweethearts decided to live in one apartment; and Phineas was okay with living by himself.
"I'm gonna go out to the bar with some of my girlfriends from my journalism class. Be back later Ferb." Ferb walked up to her and gave her a hug and a kiss.
"I'll be waiting." His voice was soft, and his mouth in the shape of a smile, but his eyes showed the pain of knowing where she was going. And of wishing she would stay.
It was their junior year of high school. Phineas and Ferb still built. Isabella still asked about it. And her eyes still grew hearts for the creative redhead. Finally Isabella realized that even if she told Phineas she liked him he wasn't the type of person who wanted a relationship.
His life was exactly what he wanted it to be at that moment. No need to fix what wasn't broken. Even if he liked Isabella too he wouldn't see the point of changing what was already so perfect amongst the group. So Isabella started dating guys. Not too many and never just anybody but a good portion of their grade was happy to think they now had a chance; even though some of them still didn't.
Isabella never found herself too involved with the guys mainly because she never liked them the way that would let her. That was until she was found boyfriendless in the week going up to prom for senior year. Naturally every guy who didn't have a date tried their hand at asking her but Isabella didn't want to go to prom with someone she might not like at all; especially with all the hype that went into prom to start with.
Isabella had all but decided to go by herself, which she didn't really mind, less worrying and pressure, when someone asked Isabella who she, albeit reluctantly, agreed to go with.
Isabella got to the restaurant early. She looked out over the terrace and up at the stars and the moon. This was a place amazing enough that Isabella only knew two people who would take her there on a date even though it was only a Tuesday night.
Ferb and Isabella were the talk of the dance of course. All the guys who were by themselves, and some who had dates, were jealous. Likewise, the dateless and some of the non-dateless girls were jealous also. Isabella had grown into a fully developed woman who was strong, cute, friendly, and sweet all at the same time. Ferb was a rather muscular, foreign, good listener, who was never scared to speak his mind.
Despite the waves of jealousy as they passed everyone agreed they ended up making the cutest couple there. After the dance and the after-party Ferb took Isabella back to her house, gave her a kiss, and left. Isabella was shocked; not just at his actions but at the fact that she was okay with it. She wasn't upset that they were friends and he shouldn't have done that. She was happy he had. Thus began a truly loving relationship between the two.
Isabella watched as her date arrived and looked for her. He finally saw her and walked up.
"There you are Isabella. Comeon; I got us a reservation outside overlooking the water." He was being his usual self and usually it made Isabella only love him more but she couldn't help but think back to the look on Ferb's face when she had said she was leaving. She knew he knew about it. He was the most observant person. 'Going out with her journalism classmates' was just a charade between them at this point.
Isabella had been planning to go bowling with Ferb against Phineas (they would still lose adding their scores together) but Ferb had come down with the flu and insisted they go anyway. No point in sitting around the sick person. Ferb hated excessive attention. Especially if it was because he was stuck in bed.
Isabella and Phineas found another 'couple' to bowl once they got there but they had to ensure the people they were just friends. Of course throughout the game the people had to ask for confirmation. And they took the liberty of asking each of them separately if they liked each other and insisted they could see that they did in their eyes.
They decided to walk through the park back to Isabella and Ferb's apartment. They stopped at a gazebo and watched the moon as it barely touched the horizon. Isabella felt a hand place itself on hers and looked up at Phineas who was staring right into her eyes. This was exactly the moment of she had dreamed of so many times so many years ago. She felt her mind go numb as his hand was placed on her chin and her lips and his floated together. After a couple of seconds they parted with huge smiles on their faces staring at the moon. Wordlessly they returned to walking to Isabella's apartment and before either of them knew what to do they were there. They gave a goodbye and Isabella gave Phineas a quick kiss on the cheek before dashing through her door. She heard a cough from the bedroom and her heart stopped. Not from being scared, well maybe in a way, but from knowing she loved them both.
Ferb sat on the couch with a beer he wasn't drinking, staring at a T.V. he wasn't watching. He knew where Isabella had gone. Even if he wanted to trust she was going to see some of her girlfriends he couldn't in his right mind do that. The two of them were terrible liars. Ferb wanted to feel angry. He wanted the urge to burst into the restaurant and march up to them. But he didn't have that urge. He had known both of them since before he could remember and he knew they loved each other.
For anyone else them loving each other would be all it would take for Ferb to support their relationship. But he loved Isabella too. He just wished she would have stayed home tonight, put it off for another day. Ferb felt a tear escape his eye as he sat waiting on the couch with a Spanish soap opera playing in the background. He would do anything for this to be gone, for him not to know about it, for life to be the way it was.
He wished Isabella would love him, and only him, but he knew who she loved. And he knew who his brother loved. He just felt like someone in the way of them. Some days Ferb wished his brother would disappear so life would go back to the way it should be. Some days Ferb felt if he disappeared life would go to be the way it should be. Ferb looked at the clock at it passed 2:30. He knew Isabella wasn't going to be back tonight but he continued to sit on the couch waiting. Finding no better way to seize the day.
He could go over to his brother's. He smiled. His fake shocked face. Their real shocked one's. Isabella crying and fleeing the premises expecting one or both of them to chase after her, Phineas losing any ability to form a complete sentence or word, and Ferb just standing there, having known this whole time what was happening. Ferb curled up into a ball and closed his eyes. Disappearing would really be nice right about now.
Isabella sat in the passenger seat while Phineas drove after they had finished their meal and a boat tour of the harbor. Both of which had been done with nearly no talk between the two
"Take me home." She said flatly
"That's where we're.." He looked over at her face as she looked out the window and changed lanes to make the next left. They arrived at the apartment and Phineas walked Isabella to the door
"I can't do this to him anymore Phineas." Phineas looked at her knowing exactly what she meant
"What are you going to do?" Phineas asked. Isabella just shook her head. She wished she knew. She wished Phineas or Ferb knew. But those were the only people whose opinions mattered to her and one of them weren't going to be happy with whatever happened.
"I don't know."
"I understand." Phineas kissed her forehead and walked back to his car. Isabella walked inside to the bedroom but when she went to put her hand across Ferb's stomach she found he wasn't there. She got up and walked into the living room to find him sleeping in the fetal position on the couch. She positioned herself around him and laid her head on her back letting tears fall down her face. She was killing him day by day and night by night.
"Ello love." Isabella nearly jumped when she heard him
"You're awake?" He nodded still in the fetal position
"I'm so sorry Ferb." She hugged his midsection tighter. Ferb, while being a man of few words, was rarely at a loss for words, but he didn't know if he wanted to tell her he forgave her or that she didn't have to be sorry. Isabella immediately recognized his hesitation and placed her head back down on his back. Ferb felt another tear escape his eye but he quickly squeezed his eye shut, intent on enjoying this moment with her as though it would be their last together. Which he was quite aware was a possibility.
Isabella woke up and quickly checked her phone without moving from Ferb. She had one text. Brunch? She would rather explode than choose between leaving and staying. She looked at Ferb's steady breathing. She couldn't stand how he looked when she was leaving. Maybe she could leave quietly though. Or maybe she could ignore her phone. She sighed. She couldn't stand the charades and the lying and the leaving and the staying. This wasn't the way any of this was supposed to be.
Story of my life, searching for the right
But it keeps avoiding me
Sorrow in my soul 'cause it seems that wrong
Really loves my company
He's more than a man and this is more than love
The reason that the sky is blue
But clouds are rolling in because I'm gone again
And to him I just can't be true
And I know that he knows I'm unfaithful
And it kills him inside
To know that I am happy with some other guy
I can see him dying
I don't wanna do this anymore
I don't wanna be the reason why
Every time I walk out the door
I see him die a little more inside
I don't wanna hurt him anymore
I don't wanna take away his life
I don't wanna be a murderer
I feel it in the air as I'm doing my hair
Preparing for another date
A kiss up on my cheek, he's here reluctantly
As if I'm gonna be out late
I say I won't be long just hanging with the girls
A lie I didn't have to tell
Because we both know where I'm about to go
And we know it very well
Cause I know that he knows I'm unfaithful
And it kills him inside
To know that I am happy with some other guy
I can see him dying
I don't wanna do this anymore
I don't wanna be the reason why
Every time I walk out the door
I see him die a little more inside
I don't wanna hurt him anymore
I don't wanna take away his life
I don't wanna be a murderer
Our love, his trust
I might as well take a gun
And put it to his head
Get it over with
I don't wanna do this
Anymore, anymore
And I don't wanna do this anymore
I don't wanna be the reason why
And every time I walk out the door
I see him die a little more inside
And I don't wanna hurt him anymore
I don't wanna take away his life
I don't wanna be a murderer
A murderer, no no no
Yeah
