Potential Conversations
Saturday, four days until move-in.
I own nothing!
Phineas awoke feeling a bit...off. He had slept well enough, and wasn't sick as far as he could tell, yet he still felt vaguely unsettled. Making his way down to the dining room, he joined the rest of the family for breakfast, his greeting more subdued than normal. Pouring himself some cereal, he poked at it half-heartedly for a moment before noticing Ferb watching him.
"You're nervous," Ferb stated matter-of-factly, continuing to eye his brother.
"Why would I be nervous?" he responded, trying to force some of his typical enthusiasm into his voice.
"Perhaps it has something to do with the blue car parked across the street?" Ferb suggested with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh, is Mr. Garcia-Shapiro back home?" Lawrence asked, to which Ferb nodded.
"Oh that's great! I think he's been gone all week," Linda remarked with a shake of her head before continuing more quietly, "I don't know how Vivian puts up with it," as she smiled at her husband.
Resting his hand on hers with a returned smile, Lawrence glanced over at Phineas, "So does he have something to do with this?"
"Yeah," Phineas agreed, prodding at his bowl, "I was planning on going over to talk to them once he got back."
"Ah, the old facing the father," Lawrence quipped. "So what are you worried about?"
"I just…" Phineas considered, setting his spoon down in the bowl before looking up in concern, "what if he says no?"
After exchanging a glance with Linda with the start of a grin, Lawrence responded with, "Well, then I guess you elope."
"Lawrence!" Linda exclaimed in disapproval.
"What?" he looked at her in surprise. "I don't think there's any keeping those two apart," he reasoned as Phineas began to blush. "Besides, I think there's a certain romantic charm to it - running off with your beloved, just the two of you." Noticing her frown he rubbed the back of her hand reassuringly, "I'm just saying. Not that I think it'll actually come to that." Glancing over at Phineas, he then continued, "Don't worry Phin, you'll be fine. I'm sure her parents know how much you mean to each other."
"Oh, Vivian definitely knows," Linda interjected.
"I'm sure," Phineas agreed with a quiet chuckle, continuing to blush as he considered for a second. "Thanks," he offered his dad with a hesitant grin. Picking his spoon back up, he found his appetite returning a bit, as the family continued their breakfast.
"So...since we're on the topic," Ferb broached a minute later, much to everyone's surprise, as he then hesitated for a second, eyeing both of his parents. "What would you say to me and Vanessa?"
"Well, that's…" Lawrence responded with a chuckle as he considered his response, "that's much less surprising than your brother, actually."
"Well," Ferb started with a bit of a smirk, "he was never one to do things in a typical fashion."
"This isn't because of him, though, is it?" Lawrence inquired, examining his son.
"No," Ferb replied with a glance over at his brother, "I've learned long ago not to try and keep up with him."
"Hey!" Phineas shot back.
With a muffled snort he shot him a bit of a smirk before continuing, "But no, this is something I've been thinking about for a while."
"Are you sure this is the right time?" Linda asked, reaching over and taking Ferb's hand. "Right before you're heading off to school?"
"Yeah," Ferb confirmed, taking a deep breath before continuing, looking between his parents. "She actually wants to come with me," he chuckled dryly, "even though I tried to talk her out of it."
"Oh wow, that's great bro!" Phineas exclaimed, leaning over and slapping his back before taking in his parents' expressions. "Isn't it?" Falling quiet, both him and Ferb watched their parents apprehensively.
"Yes, of course dear," Linda eventually offered. "It's...just a lot to take in."
"Well I think it's simply smashing," Lawrence reassured. "I will admit I was skeptical at first, but I think it's been clear for a while that you're pretty serious about each other."
"And to think you'd end up with one of your sister's older friends, at that," Linda added with a sniffle.
"Mum?" Ferb leaned closer.
"Sorry," she offered with a wavering smile, "I just never imagined both of my boys would grow up so fast."
"It's okay," Ferb reassured, "we're not actually going any further away than we already were. And actually," he continued with a grin, "we'll probably visit more often, since I'm sure she'd like to see her family too." Resting his hand on hers, he gave her a gentle squeeze. After a quiet moment they returned to their food for a few seconds before Linda spoke back up.
"So are you planning on proposing, or just living together for now?" she asked, her tone surprisingly neutral for such a question. Phineas openly stared between his mom and brother, who remained unreadable as he considered his response.
"Proposing, if her father doesn't kill me," Ferb eventually responded with a nervous smirk.
"I'm telling you," Phineas piped up, "take Perry with you when you do," prompting a chuckle from Ferb even as their parents looked on in confusion.
"Well," Linda considered, making up her mind, "I guess we'll be doing a lot of wedding planning then."
"Perhaps more of an intimate get-together," Ferb suggested, smiling briefly at her confused look. "While we haven't talked specifics, I suspect we'll be going for something much smaller than what they're planning," he gestured towards Phineas with another faint smirk before quietly adding, "and likely sooner."
"What do you mean?" Phineas inquired.
"I'm just saying, you can have the big summer wedding. We'd like something more intimate, with just a few close friends and family."
"Yeah," Phineas nodded, "that does sound more like you, to be honest. So how soon is sooner?" he then asked with a grin.
Shaking his head with a chuckle, Ferb then responded, "No idea, but you'll be the first to know."
Satisfied with that answer they returned to their food, Phineas' appetite having now returned as he was caught up in the excitement of his brother's plans.
Phineas didn't deal well with having to wait.
He bounced around the bedroom, doodling odd ideas and striking up inane conversations until Ferb eventually demanded that he quiet down. Flopping back on his bed with a huff, he spent a few minutes on his phone before again bouncing back up, pacing in a circle as he tried to occupy himself, this time at least managing to stop himself before engaging Ferb in another discussion about random and likely irrelevant trivia. When eleven o'clock finally rolled around, he decided it was as good a time for lunch as any, and so finally left the room, leaving his brother in peace.
Having quickly made and eaten lunch, when he came back upstairs Ferb hit his head on the desk with a groan. "Phineas, you need to stop this. Just...go do something. Anything," he waved his hand. "I'll even help, if you want."
"Sorry," he replied, genuinely apologetic, "I just don't know what to do."
"Well," Ferb considered, "when are you going over?"
"Her mom just said in the afternoon," he offered. After considering for a moment he then continued with, "Maybe I should go for a walk; clear my head."
"Good," Ferb agreed with a nod.
Phineas strolled around town for quite a while, working through potential variations of his upcoming conversation and how he would respond, unsure as to whether this was actually helping or just making him more nervous. Eventually arriving back on Maple Drive, he checked the time before taking a deep breath, making his way across the street and ringing the bell.
"Phineas Flynn," Isabella's father cheerfully exclaimed when he opened the door with a smile a moment later, "come on in."
"Thanks," Phineas nodded, "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" he asked as he entered the foyer, looking around.
"No, no," he reassured, "we just finished eating lunch. Can I get you anything?"
"No, I'm good, thanks," Phineas replied, following him into the living room, sitting down in a chair off to the side as Mr. Garcia-Shapiro sat next to his wife on the couch.
"So," he started with a grin once they were seated, "why are you here?"
Phineas froze for a second, shooting a surprised glance at Vivian which she returned with an unreadable smile. "Oh, uh…" he managed to get out, swallowing as he braced himself with a small nod. Returning his attention to her father, he took on a serious expression, "I want to marry Isabella."
Watching him with a pleased grin, after a couple seconds he then asked, "But why are you here?"
"To…" Phineas considered, "ask your permission?"
Mr. Garcia-Shapiro chuckled lightly with a shake of his head. "Do you think I really have a say in it?" As Phineas mulled over his words he then continued gently with a grin, "You do know that's what you'll be getting yourself into as well, right?"
"Yeah," Phineas nodded.
"And that's what you really want?"
"Absolutely," he answered immediately.
After sitting quietly for a moment, he looked over at Vivian before continuing with a relaxed smile. "So why do you want to marry Isa? Aren't you a little young for this sort of thing?"
"I don't think so," Phineas responded with a laugh. "She's been my best friend basically forever, and I've known for a while now that I really want to always be together with her. It wasn't even necessarily romantic at first, although it definitely is now," he finished more quietly. "She just means so much to me, that I can't imagine not being together."
Nodding in consideration, he then asked, "So will you be able to support the both of you?"
"Yeah," Phineas agreed with a smile, "tuition won't be a problem. I've also got a lot near the school that we're planning to build on. She actually won't have to work unless she wants to, although that's fine if she does," he shrugged.
Leaning back with a pleased expression, he took Vivian's hand. "So you've already talked with her about money?"
"A bit," he nodded.
"And school?"
"Yeah. I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to do, but I'm at least going to take some classes that sound interesting. I may end up building things with Ferb instead of getting a degree though. Or parenting," he shrugged with a small grin.
"Kids?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, eventually," Phineas responded with a big smile, starting to blush.
"Well, I'm…" he trailed off, glancing over at Vivian, "I'm actually quite impressed. I know it's really a formality, with how Isa goes on about you, but you have our blessing," he smiled as Vivian placed her hand on top of his. "Just remember," he leaned forward with a grin, "if you hurt her," he continued as Phineas' eyes widened, "then you'll have my daughter to deal with."
"Oh, I know," Phineas chuckled nervously. "Thank you."
Laughing, Mr. Garcia-Shapiro shook his head. "If you knew how often Isa talked about you growing up, you would know it was never actually our choice to begin with. But still," he stood up along with Phineas, grasping his upper arms as he eyed him appraisingly, "I'm glad it was you."
"Thanks," Phineas broke into a grin, "that means a lot."
As he got ready to leave, Mr. Garcia-Shapiro surprised him by casually asking, "So, do you know when you're going to propose?"
"Yeah," Phineas replied with a big smile, filling them in on his plans.
"Hey love, how was your day?" Phineas asked, beginning their nightly call with what was quickly becoming his traditional greeting.
"Pretty good," Isabella responded brightly, "but more importantly, how was yours?"
"Everything went really well," he answered with a big smile. "Your dad wanted to make sure I could take care of you, of course, but overall he was really supportive." After waiting for her high-pitched squeal to die down, he then continued, "Apparently he's heard quite a bit about me."
"Yeah," she replied quietly with a blush, "I might have talked about you...a lot...growing up."
"I can't imagine why," he teased with a chuckle.
"Are you just trying to get me to say that I love you?"
"Maybe," he replied quietly, grinning like an idiot at those simple words. "So what did you do today?"
"Not much," she responded with a grin, "I've just been getting things ready for next week, and we had an informal student government get-together this afternoon."
"Oh, how'd that go?"
"Alright. Only about half the members came, but it was good to get to know them."
"Well that's good," he agreed, waiting a moment before continuing. "So, about tomorrow…"
"Yeah?"
"Are you sure it's okay for me to just let myself in?"
"Yes, Phineas, I'm sure," she reassured, amused at his continued concern.
"Okay," she could almost hear the nod.
They then spent another hour on the phone, talking and laughing as they simply enjoyed the shared company. Having wished each other good night, along with further I love yous, they eventually finished the conversation and began their respective nighttime rituals.
Having finished getting ready for bed, Isabella returned to her room and opened the small closet, flipping through a couple items on hangers that she had only initially packed while daydreaming of Phineas. After a moment's consideration, her cheeks now faintly pink at what she was entertaining, she closed the closet door and instead made her way to the head of her bed. Gingerly lifting Phineas' shirt from her pillow, she hugged it to herself for a second before pulling it on, his scent still faintly lingering, though much diminished. Shutting off the light, she curled under the covers, drifting off to sleep with a contented smile, knowing that he would be waking her up in the morning.
Sorry for the delay, between holidays and really wanting to write other chapters (which I now have lots of notes for, so yay I suppose), this one took longer than it really should have. Still, I hope you enjoyed it, so please let me know!
chxrlotteverdeen - Thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!
fangirlwriting - Thank you so much, and I'm thrilled that you liked the turkey bacon bit as I was pretty proud of it myself.
Fireside Commulist - Thank you so much! Concluding this arc is going to be interesting (as mentioned above, I have notes), so we'll see how it goes in...probably four or so chapters.
Roan Cox - Hello and welcome, so glad you're enjoying the story! Holidays have thrown my update schedule even more off, but in general it seems like it's been taking me 1-2 weeks a chapter recently. I'd also be remiss if I didn't mention that you can also subscribe, if you want to get an email whenever a new chapter comes out.