The rest of the day dragged at a snail's pace. A bulky dark haired boy who reminded him a bit of Buford tried to shove him in his locker between English and History, and another student had tried tripping him on his way to his seat. He skillfully avoided the foot, but was met by a hissed insult in retaliation. Several kids snickered and pointed at his blackening eye all through the reign of Queen Victoria and the teacher had had to stop the lesson repeatedly until attention was back on him.
By the time final bell rang, Ferb was exhausted. All he wanted to do was go home and curl up on his bed with his bunny. He rifled through his locker quickly, pulling out his homework and shoving it unceremoniously into his bag and rushing for the exit. He stood at the top of the stairs, being jostled by the tide of students as he scanned the buses and cars for his dad's familiar little grey four door. He didn't see it. Nor did he see his grandfather's antique one.
He stood there looking as the school behind him slowly emptied. Where was his dad? Maybe he was just running late? He was just about to go back inside and ask the office if he could use their phone when he heard his voice being called. A tall man with styled light brown hair had just climbed out of his fancy two door sports car and was waving in Ferb's direction. Ferb sighed, shifting his bag on his shoulder before starting down the steps in his direction. What was he doing here? Frank never came to get him from school. In fact, Ferb never saw him unless he was with his mom.
"Hey, Ferbo! How was school?" Frank was all bleach white smiles and tanning spray. He was tall, much taller than Ferb's dad, and had a tendency to wear khakis with ironed creases and pastel colored button downs tucked into them. His dad liked to say Frank looked like an ad for toothpaste and pore cream, and that he was one sweater away from being a Gated Community member. That last one Ferb hadn't really understood, but he got the idea.
When Ferb just stood at the bottom of the steps saying nothing, Frank's smile didn't waver, but it looked a little more plastic. Like the Ken dolls his cousin Eliza played with. Ferb thought it made him look even more like a plastic doll than he normally did. Not once since Frank and his mom started dating had Ferb seen the man in anything but pressed khakis and pastel dress shirts. "Court was running a bit long for your folks, so I offered to come getcha and bring you back. Figured we could stop for some ice cream on the way?" Ferb shook his head at the offer. Oddly the idea of ice cream didn't appeal to him. In fact, his stomach was starting to bother him a little. Maybe he should have eaten more at lunchtime?
Frank's smile dropped completely for the briefest second before it was up again, but not fast enough that Ferb didn't notice. Stepping back he opened the door for his girlfriend's son to climb in before closing it behind him and walking around to his side of the car. Frank's car didn't have a back seat, and while Ferb felt unusually grown up getting to ride in the front seat, he'd much rather have had a bit of space between him and the older man. The car was very limited on space and Ferb was starting to feel his throat close up with the amount of cologne he was breathing in.
They road in silence, Frank shooting him occasional glances while his fingers tapped out a rhythm on the gearshift. A few times he'd take a turn a little too fast and his hand would slip, brushing the boy's thigh. Whenever this would happen Ferb would slide a little closer to the window as he could, focusing on the city flying by the other side of the glass and wonder why the courthouse had to be so far from his school. Finally, finally, they reached the large white building with the towering columns.
"You sure you don't want to run for ice cream real quick?" Frank asked, pulling into a parking space. "They might not even be done yet, to be honest. We've probably got a bit of time." But Ferb was already unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door, enjoying the fresher air and feeling the cologne induced cloud clearing from his mind. Behind him he heard Frank sigh before turning off the car and getting out himself. Sparing a glance to make sure he was ready to follow, Ferb started up the tall marble stairs, schoolbag bouncing along behind him.
Frank caught up with him at the building entrance, directing him to the courtroom where his parents had been and they quietly slipped in through the back doors. No one even glanced their way as they entered, instead focused on the proceedings going on up front. Ferb had seen videos of what went on in courtrooms, but it was a lot different sitting there and seeing it with his own eyes. His dad sat on one side next to a woman in long black robes, her dark blonde hair tucked up under a white powdered wig, like the kind the old monarchy used to wear. That was Sarah, his dad's attorney.
His mom sat on the opposite side next to a man dressed similarly to Sarah. Ferb couldn't see the color of his hair though because it was shorter than the wig. The judge sat up front in red and black robes with a longer, fancier wig on his head. He was older, maybe even older than his Grandpa Reg, and was bigger around with a droopy, wrinkly face that even when frowning looked kind. It was the same judge that was handling the custody battle. Ferb liked him. He was always friendly to him and slipped him a lolly at the end of their appointments.
"As we have now well exceeded our time for the day, thanks to many arguments from Mr. Wainwright as to what should be done between his client and her husband about their belongings, I now call this meeting adjourned and we will reconvene on Friday. Dismissed." Gavel struck wood and everyone rose to their feet. As the judge made his way back to his office, Ferb's mom spotted Frank and a happy smile broke out on her face.
She was looking tired. Her jade tinted hair was pulled back from her face in a neat bun, but it was looking a little dull and her normally round face was drawn and pale under the layers of make up she'd applied. "Hi, Frank! Thank you so much for picking Ferb up from school. I'm sure he wasn't any trouble. Were you honey?" She gave Ferb a one armed hug that was a bit too tight and a peck on the head before letting him go. Frank smiled his toothpaste smile again. "No trouble at all. Quiet as always, that one! It was my pleasure, Susan. Really."
As the two grown-ups embraced, Ferb his stomach roll again and opted to go see what was taking his dad so long. As he got closer, he could hear him talking to Sarah in a low voice. "I wish she wouldn't insist on dragging this out for so long. She can keep everything, I don't mind! I just want Ferb. She can even have the shop and do whatever she wants, it doesn't matter. She's doing it on purpose now, though." He was about to go on when Sarah spotted Ferb and placed a hand on her client's shoulder, giving him a smile. "Let me worry about what her attorney is doing. Right now there's a very tired looking boy who probably is bored with grown-up nonsense and wants to go home. Isn't that right, Ferb?"
Ferb nodded as his dad turned around, taking the last step down and stumbling slightly before catching himself on the wooden railing. "Everything alright, Ferb?" His dad's voice was full of concern as he took the few remaining steps between him and his son. Ferb nodded, straightening up with a smile. His stomach had stopped bugging him almost as soon as he'd gotten away from his mom and Frank's affectionate displays. He'd just slipped on the stairs.
Studying his face a moment as though to determine he was telling the truth, his dad gave him a big grin. "Well then, what say we go home and get started on dinner. I was thinking lamb stew, and maybe whip us up a pumpkin pie from that handsome pumpkin you found yesterday?" The idea was met by an enthusiastic nod so with a bid farewell to Sarah, the two Fletcher men were on their way back out of the courthouse and toward what promised to be a rather tasty dinner.
? ? ? ?
That night, full of lamb stew and pumpkin pie, Ferb drifted off. When he opened his eyes, Buford was going on about how Baljeet had gotten peanut butter all over his chocolate bar and there was no way two flavors should be mixed together. This led to the invention of the Molecular Separator in order to return the delicious combination back into their singular goodness. That done, they proceeded to separate a Mule into a donkey and a horse, and the bottle of 2-in-1 their mom had bought into shampoo and conditioner. Then they'd left it alone for two minutes and Candace had gone and separated the two sides of herself: the side that was determined to get their mom to see what they were inventing and get her to bust them, and the side that was obsessed with the boy she had a crush on. This had then lead to them trying to hunt the two halves down and Ferb had ended up in a blond wig for their troubles. The two boys made a pact to destroy everything about this machine if it didn't disappear at the end of the day. They got Candace back to normal and then went inside for the snacks offered by their mom.
Ferb liked their mom. Well, technically she was Phineas and Candace's mom, but she treated him like he belonged. Every day she'd offer them snacks and make sure they'd had a good day. She wasn't very adventurous, more content to stay at home or run errands, or take the occasional cooking class, but she felt motherly. Not that Ferb's own mother wasn't motherly, but she tended to work long hours and when she was home she was usually tired or working on something.
Sometimes, especially after a bad weekend at his mom's house, he'd wish Phineas's mom was his mom too. He'd told Phineas that once, expecting the other boy to judge him for the thought. To his surprise (though he wasn't sure why he was so surprised) Phineas had only chuckled and wrapped him in a sideways hug. "She is your mom too, Ferboosh!" Ever since then though, the boy had seemed to try a bit harder to make him feel included when doing stuff for their mom. For instance when her birthday had rolled around Phineas had made sure that Ferb had a hand in everything from the birthday card to the fashion show. That alone made Ferb feel more accepted than anything else, and he'd woken that next morning with tears in his eyes.