A/N: I seem to be really good at updating one week, then the next I'm pants. I'm working on amending that. AS WE SPEAK

Prompt for Cute as a Button22

Age: 14 (I imagine this chapter to be set before chapter 8, when Ferb is trying to convince Phineas that Isabella likes him, so at this age, Phineas is only getting around the idea of liking her at all)

Words: 1026

Disclaimer: Yeahhh, no.

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Number 12: She daydreams a lot.

Phineas flipped back to the page he was currently supposed to be on in his ideas notebook and gave Ferb a frown.

"Yeah, as far as I can see, it shouldn't breathe fire."

I can't believe I've got to 12 already. It makes sense though- I don't like her- so the list is going to be quite long.

Phineas waited for Ferb to climb back onto their two story metal panda and climb into it's mouth to correct whatever had been incorrectly wired, before flipping to the back of his notebook again. He re read the list he'd made, and felt mortified that he'd even made such a list in the first place. It was all Buford's fault anyway. If he hadn't insinuated something so impossible, he'd never have ended up in this mess.

He laughed to himself. It wasn't often he said the word 'impossible' and not have to fight the urge to break it.

He looked up when he heard the gate swinging open and saw her walk in, only half hearing her trademark "Watcha doing?" before looking up for Number 7: She walks in unannounced, and smiled fondly. He supposed he couldn't really hold that against her. And it didn't make him not like her. Which he didn't anyway.

He crossed that one out. Everyone just walked into their back garden, and she was almost family anyway, so she could definitely get away with it.

He went to the top of his list, letting today's invention speak for itself, and read from the top.

Reasons why I don't like her.

Number 1: She dances everywhere. Well, I can't really make that a bad thing, can I? It's not like she's moving any slower... and she can dance. And it's just Isabella being herself! Who am I to judge? I should probably cross this one out too.

Number 2: She gets angry easily. Hmm. She does, but what's wrong with showing your emotions anyway? At least she always says what's on her mind. And really, she only gets angry when she's defending someone, or something of hers is taken, and if that isn't justified, I don't know what is!

Number 3: She giggles at everything! I don't even know why I put this on here in the first place. Her giggling is...well, it's cute. And what's a world without laughter? Incredibly cute laughter, almost as cute as- NO. This is off the list too.

Number 4: Sometimes I don't think she's listening to me. Can't a girl be distracted? How awful am I to write such a list? Why am I even trying to prove it to myself? I don't need to. I know I don't like her.

He looked down the rest and crossed them all out without even reading them. He looked over at her and thought about how upset she'd be if she found out someone had written such a horrible thing about her. He wondered how upset he'd be if someone wrote one about him, and immediately his mind conjured up Isabella writing said list, and he felt his heart stop.

I don't like her.

...In that way. Like-like. I don't like-like her. I just like her. A lot. Because she's my best friend and damn-it Buford!

"Where are you going, Phineas?" She asked him sweetly. "Don't you want to try it out now that Ferb's fixed the fire problem?"

Phineas stood up scooped up his notebook too. He lifted his arm to shield his eyes from the sun, to see Isabella, Ferb, Baljeet and Buford sat where the panda's eyes should be. "Yeah, I just want to put this away first," He said, waving his notebook, "Don't want to lose it somewhere. I'll be back down in a minute."

...

"Perhaps next time we should take Perry for a walk instead." Ferb said, noting the destruction now covering their driveway.

"Sounds like a plan, Ferb!" Phineas enthused, already haling bits of metal to the front of the house where a skip was waiting for them. He turned around to see Ferb holding Perry in his arms, a leash already attached to his collar.

"Why don't you go with Isabella? Then Pinky can have a walk too." Ferb said, handing over Perry without waiting for answer. "Don't worry about the clear up, we'll have it done in no time."

"I...I..."

"What's the problem? Don't you like Isabella?" Buford asked with a grin and Phineas regarded the three of them. Ferb, Buford and Baljeet stood with identical grins on their faces, and for a horrible moment, Phineas thought they knew about the list. There's no way they could. They're just being...

He finally looked at Isabella, who had a smaller, almost hopeful look on her face and felt his panic melt away.

"Alright, let's go get Pinky."

...

"How was your walk?" Ferb asked him when he got back.

"Great!" Phineas enthused. "Isabella was telling me about some of the other things the Fireside girls have done apart from helping us out, and you wouldn't believe how much they do. Remember that sap we needed a while ago?"

"No..."

"Me neither. I don't even remember what we were inventing, but the amount of effort it took to get it, well, we should definitely thank them for it someday."

"Is that it?"

"Oh, Perry and Pinky got on like a house on fire too. Who knew? Maybe that's where he's always sneaking off to." Phineas said, and ruffled the fur on Perry's head affectionately, "To go see his buddy across the...Ferb? Is that my notebook?"

Ferb looked at his brother's notebook and dodged quickly out of the way when Phineas' hands scrambled for it. He picked up Perry from his bed and left the room quietly while Phineas was still flicking to the last page.

On it, Phineas found his list had been amended, and a shout was rising in his throat until he read what Ferb had done, saw scribbles that weren't his. It had started off as 12, and now there was one.

Reasons why I DO like her

Number 1: Because she's Isabella.

Don't really have much to say here...so I'm going to go waste another Sunday afternoon doing loot runs on BL2.

Cherio.