The next morning Ferb said he was going to be spending the day with his friend Archie, and Phineas tried to keep an open mind, despite the fact that they usually spent weekends inventing things together.
Instead, Phineas called Baljeet and the two of them agreed to go to a book signing of one of Baljeet's favorite authors.
"Any particular reason you are doing this today instead of you and Ferb's usual Saturday activities?" Baljeet asked while they were waiting in their third line. To Phineas, these events mostly seemed like a lot of waiting. He had brought along some spare parts and was now making a scale model for an idea he had thought up.
"Oh, um, it's no big deal 'Jeet. Ferb is spending the day with Archie. You know, to… catch up."
Phineas wasn't sure he could make it more obvious how worried he still was.
"Oh." Baljeet said, and he sounded worried too. "That is nice."
They moved forward one more step. Phineas groaned. "This is so weird. Normally, it's Ferb worrying about me, if one of us is worried about the other at all. I'm usually the one screwing up the invention or making the stupid decision."
"You think Ferb is being stupid?" Baljeet asked curiously.
"What? No, that's not what I meant. I just meant… well I'm not exactly sure what I meant. I'm just…"
"Worried?" Baljeet asked.
Phineas sighed. "Yeah. I'm just worried."
When the two of them reached the front of the line Baljeet had seemed to temporarily forget about Ferb and had actually started up a conversation with the author, to the extreme annoyance of everyone behind them.
Phineas had finished his scale model and was moving his thumb back and forth over a section, smoothing it out and rubbing it raw. He took and deep breath and, for the time being, shoved Ferb to the back of his mind; he looked down at the model, wondering how many broken laws of physics it would take to turn the elements on the periodic table into living creatures. Maybe they could do tomorrow.
…
Ferb did not get home until about fifteen minutes before dinner. And instead of helping with dinner like he usually did, he asked if he could go take a nap.
He was granted permission, so everyone had to work a little faster, but dinner was still ready in time.
Ferb trotted down the steps rubbing his eyes, looking like he was still waking up. He also did not say much during dinner, which would have been very normal five years ago, but the family had become used to Ferb's slowly more chatty nature. He was on no level with Phineas, but he had found overtime that he had more to say. So him saying nothing was now abnormal enough that both of their parents took notice.
"Ferb, honey, are you alright?" his mother asked. "You're awfully quiet."
"I'm just tired." Ferb mumbled, and rubbed at his eyes to prove his point.
"Long day, was it?" Lawrence asked.
Ferb nodded.
"How about you, Phineas?" Linda asked.
"Oh yeah, I'm really beat too." Phineas said. "I spent the day with Baljeet at this author signing. It was one of his favorites. I… honestly I have no memory of who it was but while I was there I came up with this really great idea. We're gonna have to find some time to do this one Ferb. Oh, here. I have a model I made." Phineas reached into his pocket and pulled out the miniature device and set it on the table.
About two years ago Linda had come upon the fact that Phineas and Ferb invented in their free time. She did not know to the extent of which it went, especially back in the summer when they were 10 years old (much to the annoyance of Candace), but 'What was this week's favorite invention?' had become a common question in the Flynn-Fletcher household.
Linda chuckled. "Oh, yes, you sound exhausted."
Phineas laughed too.
…
The next morning Phineas woke up early and proceeded to wake up Ferb by beginning to talk excitedly. "Ferb! Hey, Ferb, I know what we're gonna do today!" Phineas called happily, then reached over to his nightside table and presented the model from the day before.
"So," he said, launching right into explaining the idea. "I'm not entirely sure where this idea came from but I got it yesterday while at the author signing with Baljeet. And then after dinner when you went right to bed I went over to Isabella's and ran the idea by her and she helped me out with some of the sketches so the idea is to take the elements from the periodic table and turn them into living creatures! I think we're probably gonna have to break some laws of physics for this one but I think it'll be worth it! I also think first things first we should give Sulfur a bath to see if the smell would be permanent or not. Whaddaya think?"
Ferb yawned. "I dunno, Phin." he mumbled, rubbing at his hair to try and get rid of a bedhead. "I'm still pretty tired. I'm not exactly in the mood for inventing today."
All of Phineas' energy deflated. "Oh." he said, cringing at how painfully obvious the disappoint was in his voice. "What… are you gonna do instead?"
Ferb raised his eyebrows. "Probably relax. You know, not everything we do has to be inventing."
"What? No, that's not what I meant." Phineas said sincerely. "I was just…"
"Wondering if I was intending to spend the day with Archie again?"
Phineas bit his lip, scratching at his ear. "No."
"You are the worst liar."
Phineas sighed. "Well, are you?"
"No," Ferb said. "Like I said before, I am planning to relax. You know, I haven't seen him in 13 years. It's okay if I want to spend some time with him."
"No, of course it is, I know it is," Phineas said hurriedly. "I'm just—" Phineas stopped himself before he could say 'worried about you,' remembering how that had gone the last time. Instead he finished with another sigh. "Okay, Ferb." he said. "I'm gonna go eat some breakfast."
And he did. Slowly, turning everything over in his mind, such as Ferb's strange behavior lately and Archie's strange behavior always and why Phineas could not seem to shake either of their behaviors from his mind.
In the end, when Isabella poked her head through the back gate and asked, "Whatcha doin'?" Phineas was attempting to build his periodic table creature idea on his own— which wasn't usually a good idea. But today he desperately needed something to distract himself.
"Where's Ferb?" Isabella asked as Buford and Baljeet wandered in behind her.
"He's not off with that Archie guy again, is he?" Buford asked, wrinkling his nose. "Something is so wrong about that kid."
"Archie is 18 Buford." Baljeet pointed out. "He is not a kid."
"I call everyone I don't know kid."
"No, Ferb's not with Archie." Phineas said. "I think he's inside watching some TV show."
"So, what are you doing?" Isabella asked.
"I'm trying to turn Sulfur into an animal."
There was a couple seconds of silence. But there was no "What?" from someone, which was a question he would have gotten four or five years ago. Everyone had heard one too many bizarre out-of context things come out of Phineas' mouth for them to be surprised by what his latest idea was. Instead, a different, much less common question arose from Isabella.
"Without Ferb?"
"Yeah, okay?!" Phineas snapped. "Because Ferb wanted a break! Not everything the two of us do has to be inventing!"
"What? No, no, that's not what I—"
Phineas cut her off. "I know." he tightened one of the miniscule screws on the incredibly tiny device. "Sorry I snapped at you."
The three of his friends walked forwards and all sat down around Phineas in a semi-circle, with Phineas taking up the other part of it. "You know, if it makes you feel any better, we don't like him one bit either." Buford said.
"Whatever." Phineas muttered, now moving to work on the wiring.
That caused all three of his friend's eyebrows to shoot up. Because that was nowhere near his ordinary attitude.
"Are you okay?" Baljeet asked. "Do not make us worry about you too."
"You don't need to worry about anyone." Phineas said. "What is there to worry about? We're all just jumping to conclusions."
"All four of us?" Isabella asked.
"Maybe." Phineas slammed shut the tiny metal plate that covered the wires. "'Sides, Ferb doesn't want help."
"No. But," Baljeet pointed out. "He might need it."
Phineas flipped the switch to turn the machine on.
BOOM.
…
Phineas, Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet all walked in covered in soot and grass blades, and all of them were incredibly irritable as they walked over to the kitchen counter to make some lunch.
Ferb's eyes widened from the living room. "What happened to—"
"I don't want to talk about it." Phineas interrupted.
