Day nineteen of MerMay prompt month.

I forgot to post this today! Sorry it's [super] late, but it's here now.

This chapter is mostly brotherly bonding, but I did add some Ferbella-ish hints at the end. HOWEVER! This story is in the FAMILY category, so enjoy some wholesome family-ness!

Home - Ferb

Ferb adjusted his ear piece as he swam past Phineas, who was marking something on his now waterproofed tablet. "Phineas," he called out mentally, making Phineas jump—the older boy was still not used to hearing Ferb's words in his mind. "Sorry, but what do you think about adding a second floor to this one?" Ferb pointed to a nearby building, across the path from where Phineas was drawing an outline of the city formerly known as Atlantis, now to be called Brosville.

Both of them had laughed when Phineas jokingly suggested the name while they were trying to think of one for the new Môr village, but somehow it had stuck.

Phineas kicked over and looked at the building Ferb had pointed out. Phineas made his thinking face behind his full face mask before nodding. "Yeah," he said through his throat mic, the sounds coming directly into Ferb's ear making the môr flinch. "With the others being taller, it looks weird with only one story."

Ferb nodded, pleased that Phineas knew exactly what the issue was. He could do without them using the throat mic and the earpiece—it was uncomfortable and Phineas's words randomly cut out as he was talking. But Phineas absolutely refused to use the mind-speaking thing the môrs did…

Ferb turned away to hide the grin as he thought back to that discussion.

[about a week previous…]

When Ferb finally realized why Phineas was being so clingy, he also realized that there was a simple fix for it—or at least a bandaid to help with the healing process. He decided to mention it to Phineas one day when both of their parents were working at the antique shop.

"Hey Phineas," he said, looking at the taller redhead sitting across the table from him. Phineas looked up at him. "Can we talk?"

Phineas blinked, his eyes wide, before he sighed sadly. "Yeah…" His shoulders hunched a little and he looked down at his hands. "I'm sorry about being so… needy." He glanced up again, his expression sad but determined. "I want to say it's just because I'm so happy you're back, but…"

When he trailed off, Ferb took over. "Mom told me that you have been working through some stuff while I was away, and that my sudden return likely set you back a little."

Phineas didn't say a word, but his eyes were shiny and his chin dropped further.

"Phineas," Ferb began, his voice full of assurance. "I'm not going anywhere."

His head snapped up, startled. "What?"

Ferb grinned. "I'm staying here, in Danville. I'm not going to leave again."

It took a moment for that to sink in, but when it did, Phineas jumped out of his chair and grabbed Ferb in a tight hug. "Really?!" he asked excitedly.

The younger boy laughed. "Yes really. I have a job to do here." Phineas pulled back and looked at him curiously. "And I'd appreciate your help, if you are willing," Ferb told him.

Phineas sat in the chair next to Ferb, still watching him. "What job?"

Ferb began to lay out the task assigned to him. Taron had interned with the Marine Management Organisation in Hayle, which was only about a twenty minute swim so not that bad of a commute. The MMO covered the Pobl y Môr settlements around the UK for the government, but they had contacts with all of the UN countries that had aquatic culture communities, including the United States. When Taron mentioned to his boss that he had a friend planning to go back to his home in the US, Ferb was asked to come into the office for a discussion.

Ferb's first thought when he heard that the UK government wanted to have a 'discussion' with him was that it was going to be bad news. Maybe he wouldn't be allowed to go home. Maybe he was going to be stuck there in England forever.

Taron told him not to worry so much, but the boy couldn't help it!

Long story short, it turned out that the EPA (the US equivalent) was wanting to plan out a new city for the sea people, and Ferb knew just the spot…

"What do you say, Phin?" Ferb asked with a smirk. "Want to help me out and become a part of aquatic history?"

Phineas's eyes were sparkling, so many ideas running through his mind. "YES! AH! This is going to be GREAT!"

Ferb chuckled as Phineas started listing the things he was going to need like air tanks and scuba gear, air bags to help move stuff around under the water, waterproof paper, and more.

"It's too bad I can't breathe like you underwater," Phineas commented distractedly, still in planning mode.

Ferb battled with himself whether he should tease his brother or not… Teasing won. "Well, you could if you really wanted to."

Phineas's brain stalled out and he blinked at him. "Huh?"

"Well yeah, the môr can grant others the ability easily, and make it so they can communicate our way too. How else would they be able to bring their families down there?" Ferb asked, his face completely serious. It really was the truth, but knowing Phineas… He wouldn't go for it, and Ferb was doing his best to hold in his laughter.

His eyes lit up and he bounced in his seat. "Really?! That's so cool! How does it work?"

Ferb shrugged nonchalantly. "A kiss from a môr can make you breathe underwater for a few hours."

Phineas's grin fell as he gaped at his brother in shock. "I'm sorry, what?"

He couldn't hold it in anymore and he burst out laughing.

After a moment, Phineas glared. "Hah hah. You're so funny," he deadpanned.

"I'm… I'm completely serious!" Ferb chuckled.

Phineas made a face at him and shook his head. "Yeah, no. Not gonna happen. I am not going to tell people that my brother was my first kiss. Nope!"

Ferb grinned. "But Phin, I thought you missed me!"

"I did miss you," he retorted standing up. "But not that much."

Ferb laughed harder, happily noticing that, even though he was still shuddering at the thought, Phineas did look lighter than he had since Ferb returned home.

Instead of going straight to Brosville to get started on that, they had started on the rundown shack. Between them, they tore down the decrepit building and rebuilt something that resembled a single story workshop or office building. Inside was not finished, currently having only one completed locker room where Ferb could change into some dry clothes, with the space to add a few more. They also created a way to get into or out of the water from inside the building via a trap door. That way, if someone stumbled across the place, they wouldn't see people randomly walking out of the water, or into the water.

Phineas had so many ideas for the building and the land, such as adding a parking garage, if any of the môr decided to get a car; maybe a small apartment for himself, especially since he was going to be on the ground floor of this whole escapade...

Ferb made the suggestion that he aim for a college degree so he could get a job with the EPA, like he was planning to do—though, to be fair, he was on a fast track program directly through the EPA, so he wasn't actually going to college…

He was surprised when Phineas rejected the idea. "College isn't a path for me—I learned that in high school," he explained. "I'll stick to being a tradesman or a mechanic." Phineas smiled. "It was loads of fun working with Dad and fixing those antique cars and stuff." It had begun as a way of coping and bonding with his dad, but it ended up being something Phineas had found a passion for. Building, planning, repairing—Phineas enjoyed it all.

It was helpful when they began plotting out the still standing buildings of Brosville and what needed to be added to or removed from. Ferb had to remind Phineas multiple times that the little aquatic village would mainly be used as a place to sleep. Very few môrs spent most of their time underwater (though Meris was one of them), the majority of them having a life or job on land. They didn't need anything crazy, and Phineas was very good at going overboard if he wasn't careful.

The brothers ended up designing a type of condo-like homes of varying size for the môrs, allowing space for a full family or a single person living solo. They just had to plot out the placement of them all before they could really get to building it up.

A muffled beep interrupted their planning and Phineas swiped down the notification on his tablet. "Ferb," his scraggly sounding voice cut into Ferb's ears. Phineas turned the tablet around so he could see the text.

It was from Buford, who was waiting on them to start getting things ready for the movie marathon the next day. Ferb nodded, waiting for his brother to stow the tablet into his netted bag before grabbing his arm. Even though Phineas's swimming fins allowed him to swim faster, he couldn't match Ferb's natural speed. They hurried off to the new warehouse to change, readying themselves to meet with the crazed Finkie fan that was Buford on a Stumbleberry Finkbat mission.

Ferb helped Buford and Phineas get the backyard prepared for their movie marathon, but he was relieved when the other two agreed to go to sleep early that night in order to be well rested for the early morning. That gave Ferb the opportunity, without having to make an excuse, to head back into the water so he could prepare himself to stay transformed for longer than usual.

When he got to the warehouse, the view past the cliff was so bright and colorful. The sun was setting, and it was just brilliant. With a jolt, Ferb glanced in the direction of the docks, though he couldn't see anything from where he stood. He hurried inside, stripping out of his button down and slacks as he went, diving through the trapdoor in just his skivvies.

After all, who was going to see him?

He propelled through the water towards the docks, not surfacing until he was under the planks towards the middle. Ferb slowly swam forward until he could peek through the gap made from the missing boards and his lips curved into a smile.

Isabella was there.

Her arm was moving rapidly, either sketching or writing something, depending on the book she had with her. He assumed she was writing, considering she wasn't looking up at the sunset frequently. Whenever she did glance up, it was with a soft sigh and she gazed for some time at the horizon.

Then she did something he hadn't seen her do before. Setting aside her notebook, she pulled a camera out of her bag and took a few pictures of the setting sun. There were no ships maring the view—just nature at its best.

When she lowered the camera down and sighed happily again, Ferb dared to do something he knew he really shouldn't. He dove down and swam out into open water, hoping to be able to surface somewhere to see her face… The sun was glaring almost directly at her… If he was careful, she'd be blind to his presence…

But he wasn't completely reckless—just a bit off from the sunset was an ocean marker buoy. He swam around to it and surfaced again on the opposite side from Isabella, just enough that his eyes stayed above was water. Blinking the droplets out of his eyes, his vision cleared enough for him to see her.

She looked perfectly content, a smile on her face. She had pushed her glasses up on top of her head at some point between taking the pictures and Ferb resurfacing. Her eyes were not focusing on the view, but she still smiled serenely up at the maroon sky.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to see him without her glasses, he raised his head higher to get a better look at her.

Her skin was red along her bare arms and cheeks, making him wonder how long she had been there. She'd had the whole day off, so for all he knew she could have sat there all day. Unlikely though—she was too active to do that, but she could have been there for an hour or two.

Ferb wanted to send her a text, asking how her free day went, but then he realized he left his phone in his pants… which he left on the floor of the warehouse. He was torn whether he should go back for it now, or wait until she left. She looked so pretty, at home sitting there in the sunshine, the sea breeze blowing her hair around, the colors of dusk painting her in shadows…

Her hand raised to her glasses and she lowered them back over her eyes. She pulled her phone out of her bag and raised it to her ear. He couldn't hear her over the waves, but he guessed she would be heading home soon. When she started putting her stuff back into her bag, he frowned and raised a hand to his bare chest.

What was that? Why did it kind of hurt to see her getting ready to leave? Ferb shook his head and cast one last glance her way. She was standing then, watching the sunset as she finished her call. Tucking the phone away, her eyes seemed to move over towards him and he ducked, his eyes wide and his heart beating rapidly.

He didn't dare surface again, in case she had seen him move and was still watching. He pushed lower, heading back to the warehouse to get his phone before going home for the night.

Jengu

A jengu (plural: miengu) is a water spirit from Cameroon said to be beautiful mermaid-like figures with long hair and gap-teeth. They live in rivers and the sea and bring good fortune to those who worship them. They can also cure diseases for their worshippers and act as intermediaries between the human world and the spirit world.

[Fun Fact: Brosville is an actual town that is close to Danville, VA-and though I'm not using that real-life Danville as my Danville, I have been using Virginia as my go-to for Tri-State Area facts, so… yeah. Also, I can totally see Phineas and Ferb naming a town Brosville.]