A/N: The chapter after this is going to be the last one, as this fanfic was never going to be as long as The Summer Trip. Archie will be longer than this one, and that's coming next after The Summer Trip is over.

November 6, 2000

Things had progressed very quickly from there. Ferb hadn't been lying on any level. Phineas' mother and his father most definitely liked each other.

They started dating not even a month after Phineas and Ferb's "dinner date." And Phineas, adorable naive three year old he was, had immediately started calling Lawrence "dad."

Ferb had refused to call Linda "mom" until when (or if) she and his father married. He was still very nervous about the whole thing. If both of their parents had a messy breakup, things probably would not end well. And that would probably mean he didn't get to see Phineas anymore. Ferb really didn't want that. He had become very used to the now four-year-old and his eccentricities, and had grown to think of Phineas as… well, as a little brother.

And it seemed Phineas viewed him the same way, because he would bounce up to Ferb very often and ask him questions like this:

…

"Hey, Ferbmister, whaddaya you wanna do?" three-year-old Phineas asked his soon-to-be stepbrother (he was sure).

"What do you want to do?" Ferb asked him.

Phineas gave him a curious look. "I'm askin' you, Ferbmister."

Ferb shrugged.

Phineas smiled at him. "Cummon, Ferbmister, there's gotta be more-ta ya than jus' bein' good with tools. Ya gotta have an idea or two. So cummon, whatchu wanna do today?"

Ferb shrugged again. "I don't have any ideas."

Phineas stood a little taller in determination. "I don't believe you, Ferbmister." he said. He sat down. "Come on, I always come up with the ideas. It's your turn this time. I know you can do it."

Ferb shifted his weight uncomfortably, but Phineas refused to budge. After a second a frown set over his face. "I'm not comin' up with the idea this time Ferb. It's your turn."

Ferb bit his lip, and Phineas held out his sketchbook. Ferb took it after a second and started to draw. Phineas sat down and refused to move until Ferb finished, not wanted to interrupt him.

Eventually, Ferb set the sketchbook down on the ground. Phineas grabbed it and pulled it over. "SEE?!" he burst out, probably much too loud. "THAT'S AMAZING!"

Ferb had drawn what appeared to be machines that got you dressed. There were several different designs that could be adjusted for the individual. Phineas wasn't quite sure what to call them, but they were useful and creative, and that was all he ever came up with.

"We gotta build this stuff!" Phineas said happily. He grabbed Ferb's hand and pulled him up the stairs after him, with Ferb stumbling a little after him.

It took the two of them a while to gather all the supplies, and longer for Phineas to decide on which type of design he wanted. He ended up deciding he liked orange striped shirts, so he went with a design that would add orange stripes to all his shirts— he could always make a different one if he ever got tired of them.

Ferb already had a design picked out— it blew the clothes straight up so he was instantly wearing them.

Phineas ran down to the basement and back gathering supplies as Ferb first built Phineas' design, then his own. In the end they made sure the inventions could slide under the bed. Phineas helped here and there, but he wanted to learn how to build a little better before he actually built something meant to be kept long-term.

But then again, Ferb still didn't seem to want to come up with ideas yet. Maybe if Phineas tried to build some stuff it would help him feel more confident.

So the next day, he suggested to Ferb they build something a little more simple, a trampoline was what he mentioned, so that he could practice with building.

Ferb didn't seem to mind with either option, so he grabbed some screws and the screwdriver from his dad's old toolbox (Ferb had since gotten some tools that were more his size, but Phineas preferred to use ones that had once been his father's). But apparently you didn't really need screws or screwdrivers to put together a trampoline. After about thirty seconds Phineas realized this and put them to the side.

They spent about half an hour getting all of the metal sections to fit together, but neither of them were strong enough to get the springs in. This time, they would need to build something else.

Phineas suggested a mechanical hand, and Ferb agreed. This time Phineas got to use his screwdriver. The building of the device went fairly easily. Ferb had to stop him a couple times and correct what he was doing, but Phineas never made the same mistake twice. Their mechanical hand was finished in 15 minutes. It definitely would have been done faster if Phineas was better at building but oh well, he remarked. He would learn.

Ferb was amazed Phineas managed to shrug off his inability at something so easily. It rolled off his shoulders like water off a duck's back. That was never something Ferb had been able to do. But he did want to get better at such a thing. Maybe being around Phineas would help.

The mechanical hand worked perfectly. Phineas jumped up and cheered, and all the springs were in place in less than a minute.

The two spent most of the afternoon on the trampoline, jumping and playing imagination games and lying in the sunshine. When Linda called them in for dinner, the two hopped down and went inside.

Candace was already rambling about something her and Stacy had done at school that day, while Linda was listening with amusement at how much enthusiasm Candace was putting in.

"Phineas? Ferb?" Linda said once Candace had finished. "Since Candace brought up school, do you two know you're both going to start kindergarten a year from now?"

"Yeah!" Phineas said happily, slamming his hands on the kitchen table. But a second later he froze. "Wait. I'm going… with Ferb, right? Same school?"

Linda chuckled. "Yes, Phineas."

"Good. 'Cause Ferbmister's my best friend, and I don't wanna go to school without him."

Well, Ferb was glad Phineas felt so confident. Not that it was surprising, given he was Phineas. Ferb was not confident. If it had taken him this long to feel comfortable around Phineas, he couldn't imagine what it would be like around 15-25 other kids.

But Ferb's thoughts were interrupted as Phineas sat bolt upright again. "Wait, can we still build trampolines at kindergarten?"

Linda paused. "What?"

"Well, we built a trampoline in the backyard." Phineas said. "And I was wondering—"

"You did what?!" Candace screamed, jumping up from the table and running towards the backyard.

"Candace! Get back here!" Linda called, climbing up and running after her daughter.

Phineas, Ferb, and Lawrence all got up and followed to see the trampoline was gone— just like their April Fools Day Prank, and like Phineas' airplane.

"Ferbmister, where'd it go?" Phineas asked. Ferb shrugged.

"Candace," Linda scolded. "You just dragged everyone away from the table for a nonexistent trampoline! Come on, you're going to come eat your vegetables now."

"B-b-but…"

Lawrence gave both Phineas and Ferb a smile. "I think if you two would want to keep building things at school that would be okay." he said as the three of them walked back towards the table.

Phineas grinned. "You here that, Ferbmister?!" he said happily. "We're gonna have tons of opportunities to do fun stuff!"

Ferb smiled a little. He supposed he could make it through kindergarten, as long as he had his best friend there to help him out.