Hey everyone, zapdosmaster145 here! Welcome to my latest creation! In celebration of the new Phineas and Ferb movie, Candace Against the Universe, I have taken on the long awaited sequel to In Praise of Romance: Lovetopia! Don't worry if you never read IPoR or don't remember much―it has been a while―Lovetopia is a completely standalone story. It is currently projected to have about 12 chapters in total; see my profile for more details on the update schedule.

This story is rated T for some language, "drug" use, and mild sexual themes (chapters 9-12 in particular are the guilty parties). It's just a little bit too far for K+, but I think it's pretty mild for a T and so I'll just leave it at that. Honestly, the real warning should be for the chapter lengths! Those are probably far more offensive than anything you'll read here, content-wise. Probably? Maybe? Either way, the rating is T.

I'm really excited for this one, so without further ado, I present to you, Lovetopia! Please enjoy!

The Long Awaited Date

"Phineas Flynn, I have been in love with you since the day we met. Please go out with me!"

"Um… Sorry, but, what was your name again?"

The girl who had confronted Phineas beside his locker in the main hallway of the school flushed red with embarrassment and looked away. "T-Trisha," she shyly stammered. "Did you forget who I was?"

Phineas recognized her as one of his underclassmen, although he had never caught her name before now. "You're the girl who tripped and spilled her notebooks all across the lunchroom tables that one time, splattering food all over everyone's clothes!"

"Meep." The girl gulped, turning an even deeper shade of red. "T-that was what you remembered about me?" She began nervously touching the pads of her pointer fingers together.

"And weren't you also the one whom that pair of underwear that was found in the parking lot of the swimming pool last year belonged to?" Phineas continued, putting his hand to his chin in thought. He failed to notice that Trisha's mouth was twitching, her eyes swimming in tears of embarrassment.

"We have three classes together and our lockers are only five feet apart, yet those are the only things he knows about me…" she mumbled to herself with lifeless eyes. She hung her head in shame, hoping her brown bangs covered her face. "Phineas, you were so nice to me when I spilled all that jello everywhere. While everyone else was either angry at me for spilling on them or laughing at me for tripping, you came over with a stack of napkins to help me up and clean my spill. And even though it would have been better for me if you hadn't invented that machine to track down who's missing underwear it was―and in front of everyone in the whole school at that―it was sweet that you wanted to get them back to their rightful owner so badly. You're a very wonderful person. That's why―" Trisha bolstered her courage, swiped her cheeks with her sleeve, and locked eyes with him. "That's why I am in love with you! So what is your answer?"

Phineas sheepishly rubbed the base of his skull, genuinely flattered. "Gee, I didn't realize you thought of me in that way. But Trisha, I'm sorry. There's someone else I like, and she and I already agreed to start dating soon."

Trisha's shoulders drooped like a sail that suddenly lost its wind. "Oh. O-Okay then. I guess I'll―see you around." With that, she turned and slowly stumped away.

Phineas gently released a sigh. These two years just keep getting harder and harder to wait.

Almost two years ago, Phineas had asked Isabella out on a date. However, due to how young they both still were, they had agreed to hold off on that date for two years, until they were old enough to begin a relationship. Now there were less than three months left until the big day arrived.

Phineas couldn't wait. His first shared kiss with Isabella that day had changed his entire world view about romance. It was getting to the point where he was having trouble focusing in his classes with Isabella. He kept finding himself staring at her long, flowing, silky hair, instead of listening to the teacher. Or admiring the tightness of the clothes wrapped against her slender body instead of taking notes. Why, just the other day, he had almost accidentally installed a self-destruct button on the frog DNA sequencer he had been building in his biology class, simply because he was paying too much attention to her! If Ferb hadn't been there to elbow him in warning, Phineas might have unwittingly ended up causing an explosion in class!

He had even started having dreams about kissing her. What was wrong with him? The very thought of the act used to gross him out. He could remember how when Candace and Jeremy were engaged, they were always making out on the couch in the living room, going to town like a shirtless Drusselstienian in a 1957 Boomshlaka 320-I. It looked revolting back then. Now, here he was, having similar fantasies about Isabella―wishing he could hold her close, gaze deeply into her eyes, their faces inching closer, the pucker in his lips spreading…

Don't think about that! He came to himself, catching the drool that was forming at the corner of his mouth. I just have to hold out for a few more weeks!

The bell rang, signalling the end of the day. Phineas and Ferb waited outside the student council room for Isabella, part of their daily routine. She was the student body president, and thus usually had a few extra duties to take care of after school each day before they walked home together. Ferb was some distance away, chatting on his cell with his girlfriend, Vanessa―or at least, what counted as "chatting" for the aphonic Ferb. They had been dating for about two years now. No one ever seemed to mention the age difference, but they had been a thing for so long now that Phineas didn't think anyone even cared anymore.

Ferb and Vanessa seemed perfect for each other. Phineas wished he and Isabella would turn out to be as compatible. Which reminded him. Now that they were finally reaching the age where they were old enough to start dating―the fact that Trisha had just asked him out got him thinking. What if another boy were to ask Isabella out?

"Yo, look who it is! Phineas and Ferb!" someone called from down the hallway.

Ferb didn't seem to hear, but Phineas twisted around to see who had addressed them. "Oh, hey, Marco!" he greeted. Marco was the team captain and star player of the boy's soccer club. He was handsome and popular around school.

"Are you two ready for summer break?" Marco asked with a knowing look. Everyone knew Phineas and Ferb were the kings of summer.

"You know it!" Phineas grinned. "There's only, what? A week and a half left until school is over? We're totally psyched!"

Marco folded his arms and nodded smugly. "Which means now's the time to get a girlfriend, before summer starts!"

"Woah, you're right!" Phineas said, placing his chin in his hand as he thought about Isabella. "In order to have the ideal summer fling, right now is probably the best opportunity―the exact time a couple should begin dating, to maximize their time available together."

"There is someone in particular I want to ask out," Marco shrugged nonchalantly. "The prettiest girl in the school, but I heard she is real hard to get. She's turned down at least half the boys in this school already."

"Is that so?" Phineas said. "I heard there was a girl that was rejecting a lot of love confessions from boys lately." The rumors had been spreading throughout the school recently, but he didn't know which girl it was they were referring to.

"Yeah. But I think, if I ask her, she'll say yes. I am one of the most popular guys in the school, after all! No girl could turn me down!"

Phineas had a thought. "Say, didn't you also mention she was the prettiest girl in the school?" In Phineas' eyes, only one person matched that description. "Couldn't that only be―?"

"Yeah, you know who I'm talking about, don't you?" Marco sidled up to put his arm around Phineas and whisper in his ear. "Hey, you're pretty good friends with her, right? Have any tips for me? What does she like?"

"..."

Just then, the door to the student council room opened, and Isabella stepped out to join them. "Hey Phineas!" she waved, cheerfully. "Oh, and Marco, I didn't expect to see you here."

"Wish me luck!" Marco whispered before lurching away to swing his arm around Isabella in the exact same way. "Hola, Isabella! Fancy running into you! Say, I was thinking. You're the girls' soccer team captain. I'm the boys' team captain. We're basically two peas in a pod, right?"

"I―guess so…" Isabella reluctantly agreed, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.

"It's almost like we were fated to be together," Marco reminisced, pulling her closer to him so that their shoulders were touching. Turning to her, he then said, "Hey, I just had a totally random and not premeditated idea―we should date! We'd be the perfect couple! The whole school wouldn't be able to stop talking about us! Whaddayathink?"

Isabella swiftly pushed him aside. "Sorry, not interested," she said, neatly tapping the stack of papers she was carrying against a nearby table to straighten them.

Marco clutched at his freshly wounded heart. "Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" An instant later, he was forlornly stooping on the floor down at the end of the hallway, tracing shapes on the ground with his finger.

Isabella sighed softly. "So, Phineas, what'cha do―Phineas?" She turned to see that Phineas' jaw had fallen clear to the floor.

"You―got―asked―out―by―someone?" He could barely grunt each word out, while his finger pointed back and forth between Isabella and Marco every other syllable. "I don't believe it," Phineas muttered to himself, now staring at his palms. "Isabella got asked out on the same day as me, what are the odds of that?"

"I get asked out by someone new three times a week," Isabella offhandedly remarked. "It's a pretty frequent occurrence around here."

A beat.

Two beats.

Three.

"Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy?" Phineas immediately joined Marco's side, similarly crouching on the ground, tracing out shapes. "She's that popular, without me even noticing…" he muttered softly, his mind utterly blown.

Isabella tilted her head slightly, then giggled to herself.

"So you're the rumored girl who has been turning down boys left and right," Phineas said, straddled on either side by Ferb and Isabella as the three walked home together.

"Well, I did promise that I'd go out with you all that time ago, didn't I?" Isabella smiled at the redhead.

"You remembered?!" Phineas exclaimed. They hadn't talked about it since the day they agreed to it. "Even though we were just kids when we made that promise?"

"Of course!"

"And you still want to go out with me?"

"Yes!" she said without hesitation. "I've been looking forward to it this whole time!"

Phineas swayed on his feet slightly as they strode along, trying to keep himself from grinning like an idiot. "Ehehehehehe," he failed.

"I'm free on Friday," Isabella prompted.

Phineas' knees almost buckled. "But it hasn't been a full two years yet," he said, slumping slightly. "The date we agreed on isn't until the middle of summer."

"I'm fine with moving up the date if you are."

Phineas' heart was suddenly hammering like a―well, jackhammer. She wants to move up the date! He took a deep breath to control his nerves. I didn't know that was even an option!

"Really?" he flushed. "Uh―Friday sounds good! How's my schedule, Ferb?"

Ferb gave the thumbs up. That settled it.

The rest of the walk passed in mostly small talk about school and some medium talk about the other boys Isabella had rejected, but practically no large talk about any subject whatsoever. When Isabella got home, she closed the door to her room so she was alone before pumping her fist victoriously. "Yes!"

When Phineas got home, he closed the door to his room so he was alone before pumping his fist victoriously. "Yes!"

Ferb, happy that his step-brother had finally broken the ice―a metaphorical chunk of ice that was probably bigger than the actual iceberg which sank the Titanic―also pumped his fist victoriously. "...!"

Friday arrived quickly. Almost too quickly.

As they walked home from school, Phineas confirmed with Isabella the plan for her to come over later that afternoon for their date. With that taken care of, he only had a short time to get ready.

It was time for him to do the thing he had been dreading for a long time. I guess it's time to tell her. She's going to say, "I told you so." After all, she did tell him so. Phineas grimaced as he pulled out his cell phone and dialed his sister Candace's number.

"Hey, Candace! It's Phineas. Right, you have caller ID, I just didn't want to make any assumptions... Oh, how's Amanda doing? ...She's pooping that much now? Wow, babies really do grow fast! ...Right, I'm calling because I wanted to ask you something. You see, Isabella and I are―well, you know, going on our first official date tonight―sigh... yeah, you told me so. I don't know what to do, I needed to ask you for some date ideas. Yeah, hold on... Okay, I have my pen ready..."

Phineas' hand was cramping long before Candace paused to even take a breath.

"I don't know, Candace, I'm just not feeling any of these…" Phineas lamented to his sister. "Just hear me out. What if, instead of playing the claw machine to try winning Isabella a stuffed animal, Ferb and I built a giant claw machine where―here's the kicker―instead of having a claw, you strapped yourself in and tried pulling the stuffed animal out of the machine yourself? Like bungie jumping! But into a pile of stuffed animals instead of into water!"

"No!" Candace insisted.

"What if, instead of going to see a movie, Isabella and I filmed our own movie, and instead of being only 3D, it would be one you could watch in six dimensions?!"

"No!" Candace again refuted.

"Okay, what if, instead of going out and having a nice dinner somewhere, Isabella and I started our own restaurant, and built a replica of the Statue of Liberty out of nothing but escargot and sliced cheese?"

"For the last time, Phineas, NO!" Candace repeated. "You asked me for date ideas, and I gave you date ideas! Not crazy project ideas for you and Ferb's bustable little schemes! Nobody does any of those things on dates! Dates are supposed to be nice and relaxing chances to have fun and get to know each other. Think bumper cars, not monster trucks! Going for horseback rides, not building rollercoaster rides! What I'm saying is, no inventions!"

Phineas deadpanned. "What?"

"No gadgets, no gimmicks, just pure romantic atmosphere!"

"...I-if that's what you think is best," Phineas slumped. "After all, you're the expert."

"Got that right! Listen, it's time for Amanda's nap. I gotta go. Call me back if you need any more advice."

"Okay, talk to you later, Candace!"

"Good luck, lover boy!" After a snicker, she hung up.

"No inventions," Phineas repeated to himself, pensively looking over Candace's list. "This is going to be harder than I thought."

Dingdong!

Phineas opened the door to find Isabella wearing her usual pink skirt, the bow on her head perfectly centered in the cutest way. "Hey Phineas!" She immediately gave him her usual salutation. "What'cha doin'?"

"Oh, Isabella! You're here early!" Phineas said, quickly hiding his practice script in his back pocket. "You, um, look great, as usual!"

Isabella touched her dimple and winked back in reply. "Why, thank you!"

Candace had stressed he had to compliment her appearance right away. He wasn't expecting his heart to skip a beat when Isabella responded by shooting him such a cute pose. It seemed Candace really did know what she was talking about. He strengthened his resolve to have a little faith in Candace's method.

"So, what are we going to do?" Isabella asked.

Phineas forced a smile. "I was thinking―how does going to a movie sound?" He gritted his teeth slightly at the prospect of doing something so far below Ferb's and his usual standards; but Candace said this was what he should do, and if it made Isabella happy, he could bear it.

"Sounds great!" Isabella beamed.

Phineas forced a smile through gritted teeth. "Well then, shall we?" With an elegant wave of his hand, he led her out the door.

"Wow, that movie was great!" Isabella beamed, walking at Phineas' side.

"I'm glad you liked it," was all he said.

"The music was especially good! What was your favorite part?"

Phineas put his hand on his chin. "I'd say―the part at the Civil War Museum where the piano fell on the father-in-law's toupe, that was very amusing." He put his hands back in his pockets.

Isabella was looking sidelong at him. "Is everything okay?" she asked.

He popped back to attention. "Yeah, it's fine!" he responded. "Want to go get some grub next? I'm getting sort of hungry!"

"Wow, this cheeseburger tastes great!" Isabella beamed, sitting across from him at the diner they had chosen.

"I'm glad you like it." He forced another smile.

After another bite, Isabella swallowed and said, "Are you sure you're alright, Phineas? You've barely touched your shake."

He hurriedly shoveled a mountainous spoonful of ice cream into his mouth. "Argh!" he sputtered, feverishly rubbing his temples. "Brainfreeze!"

Isabella giggled. "Look, I think I know what's going on. You don't have to put on airs for me, Phineas. This is nice, but if your idea of a fun date is inventing, then that's what I want to do, too."

Phineas looked up, having recovered from his brainfreeze. "You saw right through me, didn't you? I just wanted you to be happy and have a fun time, that's all."

"Phineas," Isabella gently chided, "as long as we're together, I'm always having fun! But you have to be having fun, too! And I can tell when you aren't."

"I am having fun! It's just…" He trailed off.

"It's okay, Phineas! Let's go do whatever you want to do. And it doesn't have to be something 'datey.' Remember, back on that day, you didn't just promise me you'd take me on a date. You also promised you wouldn't quit being your usual, creative self, which is my favorite part about you!"

Phineas felt his face getting hot. "Really? You―like that part about me?"

Isabella blushed. "Don't―don't make it sound weird!" She took another bite.

Phineas relaxed for the first time that evening. "Okay, let's do it! I was gonna take you to the bowling alley after this, but why don't we go to the park instead and build our own bowling alley?! I'll have to make a few calls, order some parts, but we could still finish it before it gets dark. Hey, that gives me an idea: let's make it glow in the dark, so we can still play a round after nightfall!"

The massive structure the bowling lanes had been fitted to provided for all sorts of twists and turns, loop-de-loops, a pinball machine section, slides and pulleys, and even a Plinko game board. However, all was quiet now, and the two, having finished their game, were now laying side-by-side on the grass, quietly gazing at the star-filled sky.

Phineas, having released his pent up urges to invent, was feeling better. "Ahh," he said, taking a deep breath while sinking deeper into his bed of grass. "It's a shame the glow-in-the-dark bowling alley is obscuring some of the starlight, but it's still a nice night."

"The stars are still beautiful, even like this," Isabella mused. "Hey, Phineas, what's that?" She pointed at one of the constellations high overhead.

"That's the Summer Triangle," Phineas quickly explained, "an asterism composed from three of some of the brightest stars in the northern hemisphere during summer: Vega, Deneb, and Altair. If you connect Deneb with those stars next to it, that forms one of the wings of its neighboring constellation, Cygnus the Swan."

"No, I meant, what's that?" Isabella repeated, pointing again.

One of the stars was getting brighter. Much, much brighter. Soon, the two of them had to shield their eyes with their hands.

"I don't know," Phineas said, while the light continued to surround them.

The bright light that was approaching became more distinct as the distance between them shrank, and they began hearing a rushing noise coming from the sky. The perspective change caused the light to split into many smaller lights which took the shape of a ring, on account of the fact they were spinning.

"Phineas?" Isabella shouted nervously. "I think―it's a flying saucer! And it's coming straight toward us!"

Phineas jumped to his feet and pulled Isabella up with him. "Run!"

The ear-splitting noise became louder, and the wind was really picking up around them. The UFO was directly overhead, and the lights now fully encapsulated them.

"Phineas!"

"Isabella!"

As she ran, Isabella started floating in the air, getting pulled upward by the lights. Phineas reached for her hand to grab her, and immediately felt his own feet being lifted off the ground. Just like that, the two of them were whisked higher and higher, being beamed upwards by the light.

CRASH!

That was the last thing he saw before everything around Phineas went dark.

In Praise of Romance II: Lovetopia―Chapter 1: The Long Awaited Date

Preview

"Oh no, Phineas! It looks like we've been abducted by aliens!"

"You mean we're going back into space again? Cool!"

"Yeah, but this isn't exactly how I had hoped our first date would end up… Hey, who's this old alien we're stuck with?"

"Greetings, Earthlings! Would you two be kind enough to teach me the customs of courtship on your planet? With as much detail as you can, if possible. Perhaps you could include a demonstration, if you wouldn't mind."

"A d-demonstration? Sure, we'll help you with your research, right, Isabella?"

"Um, hey, wait! Phineas, why are you suddenly drooling?"

Next time on Lovetopia: In Sickness And In Health―And In Alien Abduction! Coming soon!

Fan's Notes: Character Bios

Phineas Flynn
Species: Human (Male)
Ht: 5'11"/1.80 m. Wt: 171 lbs./77.6 kg. Age: 15 years. Eye color: Blue
A prodigious inventor, optimist, and adventure-seeker. He and his stepbrother are nearly inseparable. Has romantic feelings for his childhood friend, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro.

Isabella Garcia-Shapiro
Species: Human (Female)
Ht: 5'10"/1.77 m. Wt: 136 lbs./61.7 kg. Age: 15 years. Eye color: Blue
Student Class President and captain of the girls' soccer team. Is friendly and approachable. Has romantic feelings for her childhood friend, Phineas Flynn.