After finding out that Perry was a secret agent, Stacy had done everything she could to get Candace to spend time at her house, instead of the reverse. That way, she wouldn't have to pretend she didn't know there was anything unusual about the family platypus. She wasn't sure if she'd still have to have her mind erased if she slipped up and revealed something to her best friend, and she did not want to watch The Grievance again. It took her weeks to stop having nightmares, and what if they didn't get all of that information out, and the rewatch nightmares were clearer on account of it?
Yeah, it was maybe not the only reason to be concerned about a mind wipe. But it was a significant enough one that Stacy was taking all the precautions she could.
Then they started hanging out with Vanessa. Whose dad turned out to be the veterinarian. Wait, no, he said he wasn't a veterinarian. What had he said he was, again? A pharmacist? Anyway, now he was a science teacher.
He didn't seem to remember her, which was a relief. She supposed the strongest impression she'd made hadn't been when her eyes were sticking over the top of the couch, but when she had slipped in the oil and he had mistaken her for the greasy girl from the end of the film.
The problem was that apparently he and Perry had stopped fighting. Well, okay, that wasn't the problem. The problem was when your best friend's little brothers' pet platypus showed up as your new friend's dad's chess buddy (and potential spy associate, from the time she saw the two furtively slink out of the apartment in matching fedoras). She didn't remember this scenario from the pamphlet Perry had shared with her, but it seemed complicated. And it meant twice as many hangout spots where she could reasonably run into Perry. At least Vanessa always helped distract Candace when they were at the Doofenshmirtz residence, and she was really good at playing it cool at the Flynn-Fletcher house. Stacy wouldn't even have guessed Vanessa knew Perry at all, from how comfortably she talked about him whenever one of the Flynn-Fletchers mentioned his name.
Stacy is impressed again by Vanessa's cool as Candace starts ranting about how her brothers can't seem to keep track of their pet for a whole day. It's almost a year after Stacy's momentous first encounter with Perry as a spy, and the girls (including Jenny and Lacie) are all hanging out at the Flynn-Fletcher residence. About to burst from knowledge her best friend doesn't possess, Stacy excuses herself to go into the kitchen alone to grab a soda. Motion from the window catches her eye: a small hat waving back and forth on a stick. She glances guiltily over her shoulder at the living room and sneaks outside.
Perry is waiting for her. He looks a little panicked.
"Oh, there you are, Perry!" she greets him. "Why don't I ever see you around anymore? You know you can trust me to keep your secret."
He looks pained, and points behind her.
"Is it about Candace?"
He points more energetically.
"Jenny? Lacie?"
He shakes his head.
"It can't be Vanessa, because she already knows…"
Perry shakes his head wildly.
"She doesn't know?"
No.
Stacy thinks back over all the times she'd seen Perry at the Doofenshmirtz residence. He'd always been standing, and wearing his hat.
"You mean she doesn't know your alter ego, so she doesn't know you live here?"
Perry nods.
"How could she have missed that? We've had sleepovers. And Phineas talks about you all the time."
Perry grins fondly, shrugging off the question of Vanessa's obliviousness.
"Stacy?" calls a voice from the kitchen. "Who are you talking to?" Perry stows his hat and drops to the ground, assuming the vacant expression he always wears around his family.
Vanessa comes out into the backyard and stops dead in her tracks. "That's...not a dog."
"It's not, he's not, I think it's a platypus, probably; you know, they don't do much, it was just...out here...I wasn't even talking to it, I don't know what you heard, I was practicing for the school play, did I tell you I got in the play, it's a funny story…"
"Who has a pet platypus?"
Stacy's disbelief overrides her anxiety. "You've met Candace's brothers, right?"
Vanessa narrows her eyes at Stacy, then reaches behind her and quietly shuts the door. She leans down, hovering over the animal on the ground suspiciously, and then she straightens up and crosses her arms in annoyance. "Perry the platypus? Are you kidding me right now?"
"I think Perry's a great name for a…"
"Oh, shut up, Stacy," Vanessa says rudely. "You know I'm not talking to you." She sighs deeply. "Seriously, Perry, how stupid do you think I am?"
Perry's lazy eyes sheepishly orient themselves in Vanessa's direction, and he stands slowly, pulling out his hat and holding it in front of him.
Vanessa turns on Stacy. "How long have you known?"
"That their pet platypus is a secret agent? Since last summer, so almost a year now. How long have you known?"
"Since the day my dad starting bragging about finally having a nemesis, so seven or eight years ago."
"But you never knew he lived here?"
"Why would I possibly assume that the Perry who Ferb is always gushing about wasn't a normal pet, like a dog?"
Perry grins fondly again.
Stacy thinks she must have misheard. "You mean Phineas."
"What?"
"Phineas would be the gusher. Not Ferb."
"I know who Ferb is. Green hair, quick on his feet, makes a mean gourmet popcorn?"
"I only know about that first one," says Stacy, although on some of their movie nights at Candace's house she has thought Vanessa's popcorn smelled a little different than the standard microwave variety.
Perry whips out a pamphlet and hands it to Vanessa.
"You can't tell anyone," begs Stacy as Vanessa flips through the pamphlet. "If anybody here finds out, he'll have to leave, and where would he go?"
"He could probably live with my dad."
Perry grimaces.
"Yeah, that Odd Couple reboot writes itself, doesn't it?" Vanessa taps the paper she's holding against her opposite palm, then extends it to Perry. "You can keep your pamphlet. I won't tell anybody."
Perry reaches out a paw, and they shake on it. They go their separate ways, the girls heading back inside before Candace comes looking for them.
That night after the boys leave the living room, Stacy moves to take Ferb's place next to Vanessa and help herself to what remains of a bowl of popcorn dusted with cinnamon sugar and drizzled with white chocolate. She keeps looking guiltily to Candace, who has poured her popcorn straight out of the microwave bag like all the rest of them did, but her friend doesn't seem to notice anything different. Stacy had kind of thought maybe Vanessa wouldn't want to share with her, but she offers the bowl as readily as if she has popcorn like this every time she comes over. Stacy guesses maybe she does, since Ferb always sits in this recently vacated spot whenever they happen to have started watching something before his bedtime. He must like the angle on the television.
When the boys come through the living room on their way up to bed, Phineas is carrying Perry. He stops to wave one of his pet's paws at the girls.
"Say good night, Perry."
"Good night, Perry," says Ferb in an oddly inflected voice.
Vanessa sniggers and waves back. "You've got a cute little platypus there."
"Isn't he?" Phineas says, giving Perry a squeeze. "I'd let you pet him, but he's shy with new people. This is the first time he's even been brave enough to leave our room when you've been over."
"Yeah, I'm good, thanks," Vanessa says quickly. It's only because they are sitting as close as they are that Stacy can see the older girl blush in the dim lighting.
"Maybe later," promises Phineas, and Stacy almost chokes on her popcorn at the hint of a reticent expression that flickers over Perry's face. The trio heads upstairs.
"Really not in a rush," mutters Vanessa. Stacy imagines patting one of her mom's golf buddies on the head, and bursts out laughing. Vanessa rolls her eyes as the others look at them curiously. "Shut up, Stacy," she says in a friendly way, tossing some popcorn at her. Stacy picks it off the blanket it landed on and pops it into her mouth.
Spending time at Candace's house wasn't going to be a problem anymore.
