April 1, 2000

But Ferb could not hide his skills forever. And on the day previously mentioned by Phineas, April 1st, it came out in the way he sort of figured it would. He and Phineas were watching a movie for younger kids, Sleeping Beauty (which was one Ferb did not particularly like, but that was a fact he would not dare bring up), and, being bored, Ferb was fiddling with some parts on his lap.

It took about half an hour for Phineas to notice. "Woah, woah, woah, wait!" he burst out.

At first Ferb thought he was talking about the movie. But when he glanced up what was happening was pretty routine for that point in the story. He gave Phineas a curious glance, and saw Phineas was looking down at the thing in his hands.

Ferb's eyes widened when he realized that's what Phineas was doing, and he immediately did his best to cover it up.

But Phineas moved Ferb's hands aside and pulled out the invention— it was a model of a spinning wheel, like from the movie, except this one was actually spinning and making miniature cloth, for a shirt that would be much too small to ever be practical.

Phineas, however, looked like this was the most amazing moment he had ever experienced in his whole life. "Did you build this?" he whispered.

Ferb, terrified, nodded.

Phineas leapt up from the couch, dropping the model, and ran into the other room. Ferb sighed and looked down at the spinning wheel before picking it up again. He contemplated burning it in the fireplace like in the movie. He should've known sooner or later Phineas would discover what he could do, and then he would be as freaked out as everybody else.

Or at least, that was how he was told everybody else reacted.

But to Ferb's shock, Phineas ran back into the room a second later, holding a small red spiral notebook, looking like the kind you would buy at the store for little kids to scribble in. But when Phineas opened it, he saw a spectacular, incredibly detailed drawing. "Could you build this?!" Phineas asked, sounding incredibly hopeful, and anxious, which was not an emotion Phineas typically demonstrated.

Ferb nodded, confused. Didn't the building bother him?

But Phineas grinned brighter than the sun itself, and did his signature grabbing of Ferb's arm before yanking them both out to the garage.

Ferb was still standing in confusion at Phineas' reaction while Phineas ran across the room and grabbing something out of a box. "This was my daddy's." he said, handing Ferb a toolbox complete with tools and grease stains. "But you can use it, right?"

Ferb took the toolbox and looked inside. The tools would be a bit big for his hands, but he could make them work. He nodded again. He seemed to be doing that a lot today.

Phineas grinned again (he seemed to be doing a lot of that today), and then dragged Ferb back inside and out the back door.

"Ferbmister," he said excitedly. "I know what we're gonna do today!"

…

"Candy, Candy!" Phineas exclaimed. "C'mere Candy! Come look at this thing we made!"

"Phineas, not right now!" Candace complained. "I'm busy!"

"Aw, Candy, please?" Phineas begged.

A groan was heard inside the house, and the 8-year-old walked towards the sliding glass door where Phineas was waiting. As soon as Candace stepped on the designated circle, Ferb let go of the rope, and it snapped around Candace's feet, yanking her until she was hanging by her feet upside down in front of the door.

Phineas burst out laughing. "April Fools, Candy!"

"Wha— Phineas, what is this?!"

"Ferbmister built it!" Phineas said happily. The fact that he sounded very happy still confused Ferb. "It's an April Fools Day prank!"

"GET ME DOWN!"

"Sure, Candy!" Phineas said, and before he could even ask Ferb was slowly lowering Candace to the ground.

"MOOOOM!" Candace yelled running inside the house.

"That was amazing, Ferbmister!" Phineas called, turning to face him.

Ferb looked away. "It was a rope and a pulley system." he muttered, still not having accepted the fact that Phineas seemed to like what he could do, and definitely not used to the praise.

"Yeah, and it was an amazing rope and pulley system!"

"What the— what— where did it go?!" came Candace's voice.

Both Phineas and Ferb turned to see Candace and Linda standing there; Candace was staring at where the invention (of sorts) had been a second ago.

"Boys, what's going on?" Linda asked.

"We pranked Candace for April Fools Day!" Phineas called up to his mother.

Linda chuckled. "Oh yeah?" She then turned to her daughter. "Candace, sweetie, try and get in the spirit of the holiday. Pranks should be expected today."

"But— but I was hanging from the roof!" Candace protested. "You don't— I was—" she turned to Phineas and Ferb. "Where did you put it?!"

Phineas blinked, then shrugged.

Candace groaned and stomped back into the house.

"Hey!" Phineas called, whirling to Ferb. "Do you think you can teach me how to do that stuff? I'm really good at comin' up with ideas, but I can't quite build stuff right. I always figured my daddy would teach me when I got older, but…" That sentence didn't need to be finished. "So do you think you could teach me how?"

Ferb bit his lip, unsure for the moment. He was still trying to adjust to the fact that Phineas seemed to like what he could do. But slowly, eventually, Ferb nodded, and Phineas' smile made the whole thing worth it.