An inhuman eye watched the guests as they danced in foolish reverie. The eye was unthinking, unfeeling, unliving. Yet it watched.

"How droll," said its owner. "To feign gratitude for the empty pleasantries of near-strangers."

A woman entered its sight, unalarmed. "Yeah, that's called a receiving line."

Buford stopped recording. "Iz," he said. "You ruined my shot!"

Isabella stepped over a cord on the floor and rested her elbow on his shoulder. "If I find out you filmed my first dance like a straight-to-video horror movie, you're gonna find out how I earned that hapkido patch."

"Chill out, Bridezilla. I figured, long as nothin' that important was goin' on, I could shoot some b-roll for the short I'm workin' on."

"You can get b-roll later. Enjoy the party for a while."

"What kinda party has assigned seats? I haven't even got my one shenanigan yet!"

"What?"

The song blaring over the speakers started to fade out, and the next one faded in.

Guess this means you're sorry

You're standin' at my door

"You always loved this song," said Isabella. We're gonna have to dance."

"I never liked this song."

"I know you don't think it's too girly."

"It's not the girly part," he said. "It's too -"

Baljeet spoke up and made him jump. "Mainstream?" He breathed on the camera lens and wiped it off with his shirt sleeve. Buford swatted him away.

Isabella smirked. "If you can't fool me, you definitely can't fool him."

"We've known you for twenty years," said Baljeet. "You like this song."

"Doesn't mean I have to go out there and look like an idiot," said Buford.

"Suit yourself," Baljeet said, and held a hand out to Isabella. "Might I have the honor of dancing with the bride?"

She chuckled. "Of course you can."

He led her onto the dance floor, and they both turned back to Buford.

Buford rolled his eyes and followed Isabella and Baljeet, who grinned and each took one of his arms to drag him out to the middle of the floor.

'Cause we belong together now, yeah

Forever united here somehow, yeah

Ferb, Gretchen, Ginger, Vanessa, Stacy and Irving were dancing in a cluster nearby. They made space for the other three to join, cheering as they approached.

"I knew you'd wear him down," Gretchen yelled over the music.

"Just keep dancin'," said Buford.

So they did.

You've got a piece of me

And honestly

My life would suck without you

The conversations happening throughout the room over dinner made it hard for a man to hear himself think. Luckily, the best man had spent his entire life perfecting that skill.

Ferb stood up and tapped his champagne glass with a butterknife, and the chatter faded. He took a deep breath in.

"You all know I'm not one for words," he began.

Phineas sighed and put his hand over his face. Isabella rolled her eyes.

"But I have some things to say about my brother."

Phineas put his hand down and raised an eyebrow. He looked at Isabella, who only shrugged. Ferb faced the crowd.

"When I was little, my dad was the only one who really understood me. I was wary of anyone else, and I didn't like the idea of sharing him."

At a nearby table, Linda put her hand over Lawrence's, who smiled fondly.

"So I didn't want him to get married, I didn't want a brother and sister, and I certainly didn't want to leave England. I was dreading it, and dreading it, all the way up to when we flew over here and moved into the new house. I thought, 'Sure, they were nice to me when they visited, but everything's going to be different here. They'll expect me to talk, and they'll think I'm strange when I don't.' Maybe they do think that. I've never asked."

The crowd chuckled.

"But when we got there…"

The boys were both four. It was perfect. Even if they didn't become the best of friends, they were bound to find something in common. And it would mitigate Phineas' habit of trailing after Candace and trying to get her to play blocks with him even when she had homework or bassoon lessons.

Ferb clung to Lawrence in the middle of the living room as the movers brought in the last of the furniture. Linda crouched down next to a box labeled FERB.

"Look at this, Ferb!" she said. "Why don't you go out back and play with Phineas while we put together your room?"

He didn't answer, just hugged Lawrence's leg. Lawrence patted him on the head and nodded toward the tree in the backyard, where Phineas sat quietly arranging blocks into different shapes.

"He's all by himself out there," he said. "He might like some company."

Linda opened the sliding door. Ferb looked up at his father.

"Go on," said Lawrence, and gently pulled Ferb's hand off of him. "Bet we'll have your new room ready by dinnertime, yeah?"

Ferb tapped his fingers together and slowly made his way outside.

Phineas was trying to balance the corner of one block on top of another (and not making much progress) when he heard footsteps on the grass and looked up.
Ferb looked down at the blocks. Phineas held one out to him.

"You wanna play?"

Ferb sat down cross-legged in front of him and started stacking the blocks into a pyramid. Phineas' eyes went wide. He stood up, positively beaming, and rushed inside. Ferb continued stacking.

He ran back out after a minute or two, holding a box. He sat under the tree and dumped it out on the ground between them. Ferb put down the block he'd been holding.
Phineas held up the box so Ferb could see the rocketship printed on it.

"Do you want to build this with me?" he asked, out of breath.

Linda and Lawrence were a bit behind schedule, but Ferb's room, down the hall from Phineas', was livable. It was around six o'clock and they had finally finished putting together his new bed. Linda was putting books in the shelf built into the headboard and Lawrence was sticking some glow-in-the-dark stars to the ceiling when they heard Phineas.

"Mom, Dad," he called, bounding up the stairs. "Mom, Dad!"

Something fell over in Candace's room. She yelled a muffled, "Phineas!" as he ran down the hall.

"Afternoon, Phin," said Lawrence when he reached them.

"Mom, Dad!" He started bouncing up and down in place.

Linda put a hand on his shoulder. "Phineas, slow down. What is it?"

Ferb stood silently at the door.

"Me and Ferb wanna share my room!"

His parents looked around at the bedroom they were halfway to completing.

Lawrence looked over at Ferb and asked, "That so?" Ferb nodded.

Lawrence shrugged. "It's alright by me. Linda?"

She smirked. "Why don't we give it a few days before we decide anything permanent?"

Phineas' breath finally steadied. "Well, can we have a sleepover tonight?"

"Of course you can, honey," she said.

Ferb went to his new bed and took a pillow and blanket. He stopped to hug Linda on his way out.

In Phineas' room, they took the pillows and blankets off the bed and laid them out on the floor, ready to be made into the greatest fort any kid ever saw. Phineas opened the window.

"Hey, Isabella!"

Ferb followed him and saw a little girl in the driveway across the street, drawing giant swirls with chalk.

"I got a new brother," Phineas yelled.

"Did your mom have a baby?" she yelled back.

"No," said Phineas, and pulled Ferb closer to the window so she could see. "He just moved in!" Ferb waved.

"Hi," said Isabella, waving with a hand covered in blue chalk dust. "Do you want to draw with me?"

"Boys," Linda yelled from downstairs. "Dinner."

"We have to go have dinner," said Phineas. "Let's play tomorrow."

"Okay!" she said, and went back to her art.

"Just like that, we were brothers."

Most of their friends had now lost their respective crying bets. Isabella squeezed her husband's hand. Ferb turned back to face them.

"Izzy," he said. "Earlier you talked about Phineas always wanting to understand people, and you're absolutely right. That's just how he's programmed. And I'm perfectly alright sharing my brother with you, because I've seen how happy he is with you, and I don't think I've met anyone else who deserves him. Thank you for being my friends."

He put the microphone back in its stand and stepped up to the front table. Phineas and Isabella stood and hugged him. Isabella had tears in her eyes. Phineas only had a grateful smile.

"Thanks, man," he said.

"You'd better serve the cake before it gets to be too much for them," said Ferb, looking back at the crowd of sobbing guests.

So they did.

Phineas and Isabella had to squint as the camera flashed a few feet away. There would be some unflattering photos to look at later, but in the moment they mostly worried about their senses being inhibited while they were holding a knife.

Once they'd cut the first slice without injury and everyone was served, Phineas felt the back of his collar catch on something. Then something squishy falling between his shirt and jacket, until it landed with a splat. He looked down and saw a little pile of white cake, shapeless and mushy on the floor.

Behind him, Buford laughed and wiped his hands on his pants, staining them with frosting.

"Finally," he said.

Phineas' jaw was agape until Isabella grabbed another fistful of cake and chucked it at Buford like a snowball. Baljeet cackled next to him. Ferb took a few bites of his piece and stuck the rest on Baljeet's head.

The ballroom descended into a war zone. Bridesmaids smeared frosting on each other's faces and threw leftover chicken at the groomsmen. The less freewheeling guests hid under tables. The parents simply ate their cake and enjoyed the scene. Amanda was clearly enjoying the mess she got to make on her father's face.

As quickly as the foodfight started, it was cut off when feedback came through the speakers. Candace stood on stage next to the DJ holding a mic.

"If you kids are done," she said. "Let's get back to the party."

The DJ hit a button, and a familiar synth line played. Ferb handed Phineas the microphone lying on the front table, and they ran up to the stage, a huge grin on Phineas' face. Isabella's eyes went wide as Milly, Gretchen and Adyson followed them and took the other microphone from Candace. Isabella was still staring in shock when they got to the chorus, Phineas looking back at her while the bridesmaids sang backup.

That's what my baby says

Her face relaxed as people started to dance around her.

And my heart starts pumpin'

Ferb was behind them at the keyboard.

Never gonna stop

Phineas motioned for her to join, and when she got to the steps that led to the stage, he took her hand and helped her up. The girls gave her the microphone and stepped aside, giggling at her lingering surprise. She kissed Phineas on the cheek.

"Let's bring it home," he said.

So they did.