[*] Hello Readers~! Just like to make an announcement! I do not own any of the characters and such. Everything Belongs to their Rightful Owners! Yes, This is Re-Uploaded to this account. The Two chapters have been combined into one. Changes have been made so you may want to Re-read/skim through it. Thank You. R&R is appreciated. [*]


I was never one to talk much. Not even around my step-brother, Phineas. He was more of the converser where as I (Ferb) was more a man of action. As the years flew by, my family always thought I would come out of my shell and be a bit more outgoing like Candace or Phineas. However, I simply wasn't like that and so, I was labeled as the 'strong, silent type' in our immediate family. At school my Step-Brother and I were known as 'Yin and Yang' because we were complete opposites. He went to parties, I stayed home. He dated many girls, I dated none. It was just how we worked and it was what made our relationship so close. True, I loved my Step-brother and his crazy ideas. However, I contributed to many of these ideas as well and although I would make most of the blueprints, it seemed as if he all of the credit. People constantly thanked and praised him where as I would stand in the background and listen, knowing that I did most of the work. It didn't bother me too much seeing as I found it impossible to hate my Step-Brother. Trust me, I've tried. It's as if he has this 'anti-hate' force field surrounding him. People were naturally drawn to him; especially the girl from down the street. Isabella. She would constantly come over when we were younger and ask that same Godforsaken question of hers.

"What cha' doin'?"

I shook my head softly at the thought of imagining her saying that once more to us. It was always directed more so to Phineas than I, though. Which I didn't mind too much since I usually responded with a simple nod of the head. Being 'Soon to be seniors' in High School, it always amazed me how our old group of friends still managed to stick so close together. I always came to the conclusion that it was some other strange power that Phineas held and it was quite admirable in some ways. It was nice growing up with kids that I've known since I was younger. We all have shared precious memories together and quite honestly, I wouldn't want it any other way. Isabella, Buford, Baljeet, Phineas, and then there was I.

However, being the elder people we are now, things have changed. People dated but it was if there was this rule between us that no one would date Isabella. The only exception would be Phineas; however, my Dear Bother is a bit oblivious. So it never occurred to anyone that it would ever happen. Isabella did indeed grow up to be a beautiful woman. Her features were stunning and she kept her long, raven colored hair. But, we as boys have changed as well. I was the tallest out of the group and I did quite a bit of sports, but never really had any interest of joining any teams for I find that whole concept to be too much of a hassle. I let a soft sigh escape my lips as I set my pen down and leaned back in my chair. It was the middle of a summer night and I had been working on a few blueprints I felt needed to be changed. Phineas had been long asleep and Perry laid on my lap, occasionally shifting positions to get comfortable. I contemplated leaving the rest of the editing in the blueprints until the next day seeing as I found myself growing weary and tired. Standing up, I picked up Perry and proceeded to lay him down on Phineas' bed as I went ahead and got myself ready for the night. Laying down in my bed after my night duties had been finished, I closed my eyes for only seconds before I heard the vibration of my cell phone next to me on my night stand go off. Cursing under my breath, I slowly reached over and flipped it open to see the text message that had been sent.

"Hey Ferb, I can't sleep. Hope I didn't wake you but I figured you'd be up working on blueprints or something~"

I rubbed my temples slightly as I finished reading the message Isabella had sent. Did this girl have powers as well? I let out a sigh of frustration and shook my head softly as I proceeded to type my response.

"I'm up."

Even in text messages, I was a man of few words. I didn't really want to go into a full fledged conversation with this girl, but I didn't want to leave her hanging either. It'd be rude, and I cannot stand rude people. It's just one of my pet peeves I've had ever since I could remember.

"Great! What are the plans for tomorrow? Has Phineas decided yet?"

I loved how she asked if Phineas decided the plans yet. It was actually typical of people to think and ask that.

"Don't know."

And so on and so forth, our pointless conversation continued for about two hours until the Spanish girl had fallen asleep in mid-text. Or so I assume seeing as she never responded to a question I had asked about our summer reading. Content, I laid my phone down on my night stand once more before I pulled the blankets over my body and closed my eyes slowly. Secretly, I liked the conversation Isabella and I had in the middle of the night even if it got to be annoying at times. I suppose it was because she actually continued to talk to me no matter how many one word answers I responded with. Many people often stopped talking to me all together. So it was hard not to admire a determined trait like that. The night was silent just as I liked it. "Good Night, Perry." I mumbled under my breath as I felt myself going into a well deserved, deep sleep.


"Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!" The familiar words echoed through my head first thing in the morning as Phineas proceeded to pull the covers from my body. Rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I slowly sat up in bed and turned to look at the clock on my night stand. 7:45 am. Well, I had to get up sooner or later. As Phineas discontinued his antic, I proceeded to crawl out of bed and go about my morning chores. Making my bed, choosing a t-shirt or something clean to wear, cleaning Perry's litter (seeing as Phineas always seemed to wiggle himself out of doing the task), and so on and so forth. It came to no surprise to me when I saw that my step-brother had already finished his tasks and was simply sitting on his bed waiting for me. "I already texted Isabella this morning and she said she was going to bring some ping pong paddles and balls. Buford and Baljeet are gonna bring a few supplies for us to use. Ferb, we're gonna build the best ping pong battle/game ever!" He announced happily as I proceeded to go into the bathroom to brush my teeth. As he continued his rant about the game that we were going to build soon, I proceeded to finish up and head to our bedroom door, signaling that I was ready to head downstairs for some breakfast.

At the breakfast table, I silently ate my usual cold cereal as our Mother and Father told us that they'd be out most of the day at some antique store Party they were hosting down town and it was then that I began to miss our Sister's usual outburst. I wonder how she was doing in college. Perhaps I'd message her later. This summer she was going to spend it with Jeremy at his beach house, so we'd be lucky if we even got to see her for a week. Once we were outside, it did not take long for Isabella and the rest of the gang to arrive. And there it was…the usual question that I had been waiting for.

"Hey Phineas, What Cha' doin?"

I inwardly rolled my eyes as the female walked closer to us, flipping back her raven hair and blinking innocently at my step-brother.

"Oh. Hi Isabella, we're building a Ping Pong Battle/Game. Did you bring the materials we needed?" Phineas responded, not even looking up from the wood he was sawing in half. Glancing quickly at Isabella, I saw a faint sign of disappointment cloud her face but was gone instantly. Not thinking, or really caring much about it, I continued my share of the work. Sometimes, I felt that the young girl really should not set her hopes up so high when it came to my oblivious brother. In all honesty, she just kept hurting herself and it wasn't a sight that I personally liked to see. More so because she'd pull me aside after our days work had been done and rant about how Phineas didn't even notice her new hair or how Phineas didn't seem to care that she had added a cool design to one of our inventions. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate listening to her rant. I promised her from the start when we were going around the world in one day, and we had become stranded on that island that no matter what happened, I would listen to her. It was a promise I made and intended to keep for however long she wished for it to stand. A Promise is something that I believe should always be kept. Personally, I liked people who kept their promises. I never broke one, nor do I have the mind to do it. However, I only promised things that could be obtained realistically. It was how I was raised, and perhaps it was a British thing as well.

As the day unfolded, our Ping Pong game had become a hit and we played it 'Girls against Boys'. The old Fireside girls (who were long retired from the girl scouts) joined us in the game as well seeing as they had always been a part of our inventions and at times, even helped us make them in the past. There was one Ex-Fireside girl that seemed to desperately grab my attention on some occasions and at school, she even hinted that she wanted to go to the homecoming dance with me. However, I had to decline the offer. I much preferred to stay at home and read up on Shakespeare and such. As mentioned before, I'm not really much of the partying type. Sure, during our past summers we hosted parties in our backyard, and Bloody Hell, I even sang in some of them. But that was simply because it was something Phineas had stirred up and out of respect for my brother, I would go along with whatever it was he wanted. Situations like those are mildly different in my eyes. After all, he is family. As the sun had began to set and the Ping Pong Battle slowly came to an end, everybody proceeded to retire to their own houses once our contraption had magically disappeared once again. By this point in time, it had become natural for things like that to happen to us so we never questioned it. However, I was still surprised that at age 18 and 17, this 'Mysterious Force' as Candace once called it, was still taking our inventions away somewhere.

"Well Ferb, another summer day has been successfully filled with fun! I'm headed inside, you coming?" Phineas asked me however, the moment I was about to open my mouth to speak, my phone had proceeded to vibrate in my pocket. I didn't even have to guess who it was and what it was that person wanted. Flipping the cellular device opened, I quickly scanned the text message and silently closed it, placing it back where I had gotten it from.

"Soon. I'm going to take a walk." I replied and with a nod of my head, I turned to leave through our backyard fenced door. Sure enough, Isabella was sitting on the ground, leaning against our wooden fence waiting for me. Closing the door behind me, I took a seat next to her and braced myself for whatever it was she was going to complain about this time.

"Hey Ferb." She greeted me softly as she looked up at the quickly darkening sky. I nodded silently, not truly caring if she saw me or not. I wasn't the one who was going to be doing all the talking.

"I...have a plan." She spoke hesitantly, cautiously, and at this I raised a questioning eyebrow. "I think I know how I'm going to get Phineas to notice me. It's a long shot but I think it'll work." She spoke once more, her voice seeming to trail off (almost unsure) at that last statement she said. I didn't even have to ask to know what she was thinking.

"You wish to date me, in order to make him jealous." I spoke sternly, almost as if I unapproved of this plan. In which case, I did. I heard her speak of it to an old Fireside girl friend during the match. Though, I did not imagine her to actually follow through with it. I never thought that she'd come up with something as idiotic as that. However, she didn't confirm nor deny the plan I guessed she had in mind. It was just silent for a few minutes. I let a sigh of frustration escape my lips as I let my gaze travel to the stars that had appeared so quickly.

"It will just be for at least 3 days! I won't force you to do anything you wouldn't want to do in this 'relationship'. I promise." Ah, the good old 'I Promise' trick. I turned to look at Isabella once more, seeing in her eyes that she was desperately well, desperate. The young girl was one who never asked any favors of anyone and when she promised something. She kept to it. Yes, this was a petty love affair and yes, it was stupid. However, we are just teenagers. I rubbed my temples and proceeded to close my eyes as I let a faint "Sure" escape my lips. To which Isabella hugged and thanked me for. Her face brightened up drastically as she stood up and waved a faint goodbye before heading over to her own house for the night. In all honesty, I wasn't really thinking this plan through. If Phineas did have feelings for Isabella (Which he had mentioned to be once before) then all he had to do was get out of his shell and confess to her. However, by going through with this plan I would have broken so many unspoken rules in just seconds. The 'No dating Isabella, but Phineas' rule. The 'No dating your brothers' crush' rule. Then there was simple a rule I had put up. 'No dating girls out of pity' rule. However, it was what I did with Vanessa a couple years back so Johnny could finally ask her out (which he did and they are currently going on there 3rd year together). I never had any luck when it came to 'love'. I suppose it was because I never truly believed in it seeing as I believe we are too young to truly understand what it is. People our age go around spewing the word 'love' and such only to later be 'heartbroken' when they break up with their partner who they had only been dating a week. Things like that disgusted and annoyed me.

Standing up and going back into our backyard, I went through different ways I could tell Phineas that Isabella and I were…dating. Rolling my eyes slightly I headed for our sliding door that lead us into the house when I was quickly stopped by our pet Platypus who was sitting patiently in front of the door. "Ah. There you are, Perry." I spoke softly to him as I bent down to pick the creature up in my arms. It always amazed me how perfectly he was able to fit in my arms. Chuckling softly, I stepped inside the door and made my way up to our bedroom. I had to tell him sooner or later.


{*} Re-Upload complete. A few things were changed, and to me this chapter seems sort of rushed. Especially towards the end. What do you guys think? Positive Feedback is welcomed! Thank you for reading! {*}