~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Perry was usually pretty good at disassociating. But now, every time he looked at Doofenshmirtz during their regular daily battles, all he could see was the man he'd gone to the bar and grill with. He was starting to wonder what on earth he had gotten himself into.
But he couldn't help it. The friendly conversation had been fun. It reminded Perry of how lonely he'd been as of late, and how desperately he wanted to fool himself into thinking that he and Heinz could be friends on the side, separate from the whole "nemesis" relationship, and no one would have to know but him.
He argued back and forth all morning, wondering if he should stop it, or tempt fate and let the friendship continue.
I do have friends. Lyla is a friend.
Yeah, but she lives all the way in fucking Canada. So unless you want to move there..
I'll get in deep shit if this gets out.
So what? You've been in deeper.
In the end, Perry decided he was just going to drive himself nuts, and tried to focus on more important matters. Like how on earth he was going to make sure Phineas and Ferb didn't hurt themselves on the massive helicopter they were making.
The machine was huge, with propellers that filled up the backyard. The kids gleefully jumped on board, ready to fly through the air and watch Danville's skyline. Phineas picked him up and carried him on. Perry glanced at the controls nervously. How were the boys able to fly this thing?
But of course, the flight passed without incident. They breezed through clouds, sunrises, and summer winds, and landed safely back in the backyard. All the kids cheered, begging to go again.
Perry smiled. Despite his crazy life, he was so glad to be a part of these moments.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Earlier that evening, Perry was in the mall, going through a section of men's t-shirts, frustrated that he couldn't find something simple. Why did everything, even for the older adults, have to be filled with stupid messages and printed pictures?
However, about halfway down the isle, Perry landed on some monochrome t-shirts that were designed a v-neck. Resolved to try something different, the man took them to the changing room and tried them on. He decided that he liked them. They were comfortable, but not too loose.
He approached the cash register and handed the man the shirts.
As the cashier was printing his receipt, Perry looked into the glass cabinets directly across from him and began to panic. A humongous dark figure was approaching him, with arms raised. Perry spun around, ready to take cover, when his fist hit someone behind him, knocking the man over.
"Ugh! Great! Now I got hot coffee all over my lab coat! Thanks a lot buddy; you.." Doofenshmirtz's mouth dropped open.
Perry's eyes widened. Doofenshmirtz?
Could this week get any weirder?
"Oh! Michael! I'm so sorry, I had no idea.. Are you okay?"
After the initial shock washed over, Perry stared at him, bewildered. "Am I okay? Are you okay? I'm the one who hit you! I'm sorry!"
The doctor nodded vigorously. "Oh, I'm fine, just an accident, it's okay. I was just picking up some new lab coats and thought I'd stop in and look for a tie, because, well.. because of random reasons and.."
Perry chuckled. "At least let me buy you another coffee."
"No, really, you don't have to.."
"Too late, it's already decided." The platypus snickered. "I'm almost done."
Once the shirts were paid for and Doofenshmirtz had paid and changed his clothes, he and Perry walked down to the local Starbucks and got in line. The platypus noticed Doofenshmirtz's fingers tapping again.
"What do you want?"
Doof sighed, "Well I was drinking an Americano, but I don't know if I should go for that again. I'll be awake for days. An iced coffee is fine."
Perry nodded and approached the desk. "I'll have an iced coffee, grande, and a white chocolate mocha with cinnamon dolche, also grande."
Perry caught the doctor's amused look. "Shut up, I know, it's a girly drink."
"Hey, I like sugar too!"
They finally elected to sit down and enjoy their coffee for a minute. Thankfully, since it was closer to evening, there weren't many people in the building. Still, the two didn't say anything for a minute, simply enjoying their coffee and watching passerbys.
"By the way," Doofenshmirtz cut in. "I'm sorry if I was rude, the first time you served me. I guess I underestimate all you guys do and, well, just know that I know better from now on."
Perry snickered. "Water with ice and no lemon, and a decaf coffee, and if you mess up, I'll steal your organs and shoot you across Antarctica.. wahaha.."
"Hey! I don't sound like that!" Doof lightly punched him in the arm.
Perry took another sip of coffee, grinning. "That was basically what you said to me. But that's okay. Apology accepted. And seriously, I appreciate the tips, but you really don't have to.." Heinz held up his hand. "It's the least I can do for how I treated you."
Another moment of silence passed, before Heinz finally looked at the time. "I'm sorry, but I really have to run. I have to pick my daughter up from her party. Thanks for the coffee, though."
"No problem."
"Oh, and here." The doctor blushed. "In case you want to go out again sometime."
Perry took the piece of paper and glanced at it. It was Heinz's cell phone number. Also blushing, the man stuck the paper in his billfold, and waved goodbye to the doctor.
What on earth are you doing, agent? This is borderline too far!
But he's into girls. We can just be friends, right? That's all I want. He doesn't have to know.
Frustrated, the agent grabbed his bags and made his way back to his car. He was digging himself a hole, and he wondered at what point he would be too far down to pull himself back up.
~o~o~o~o~o~o~
Perry arrived at his apartment again, and immediately checked the offensive camera that was still active. He'd been checking it every morning and evening, hoping for some clues as to who would have done such a stupid thing.
He plugged his computer into the USB port and pulled up the data.
Wait. Holy Christ.
The tracker had been activated. Someone had logged on. Now excited, Perry pulled out the data and easily located the IP address. Once the result had been extracted, he inserted it into a standard IP location software and watched as the computer calculated his findings.
202 Brily Way. Interesting. That was on the other side of Danville, a side that most people stayed away from.
Perry followed the distance from his apartment to there and figured how long it would take to reach the area.
Then, he pulled the camera right from its perch, disconnecting it.
The agent figured that whoever was behind this would already by moving their things to escape. There was a slim chance they'd still be there when he arrived, but there was always a huge possibility of clues being left behind.
If he wanted to catch them, he had to go. Now.