"I quit." Dane said.
Prince looked at him. It was the first thing he'd said for miles. "What?"
"I quit. I'm sick of living with Rex and you and Mike, watching you all fight. It's like being in a family that hates each other and everyone else. And if we don't treat each other like dirt, we don't take each other seriously."
"You make us sound so negative." Prince said, reaching into her pocket.
"You're not going to kill him." Dane said.
Prince froze. She very slowly turned to fully face him and narrowed her eyes. "What do you mean?"
"The knower. You're not going to kill him. You never planned to."
"What the-"
"I'm an empath." Dane said, as though that explained everything. "I can tell these things. I remember when you'd come back to the apartment in a great mood. I remember when you started wearing that penguin charm. And I saw you two in an alley once."
"Did you?" Prince grumbled. Dane only grinned.
"You really loved him." Dane said. "You still do. Now go. Make up with him. That's what you wanted to do all along."
Prince continued to glare at him.
"I promise I won't tell Rex if you show some kind of emotion that ordinary animals use." Dane said sarcastically. "Goodbye, Princess. Take care of yourself."
He turned and started back the way he came. Prince didn't know what she was supposed to feel.
Confused, she made her way down the sidewalk.
"You came!" Peter said happily. He gave Perry a hug. "You're famed all around the agency for hating parties, but you came."
"Sure, whatever." Perry said. He wasn't exactly pleased with Peter's choice of place for celebration. The restaurant was loud, dimly lit with only one open window, and it had a stinging smell that made Perry feel tired. It was pretty much everything Perry hated, all in one building.
"Come see everybody." Peter said, dragging Perry over to a table. Perry sat down in a chair right next to the window. It didn't help much.
"Perry!" Pinky said, giving him a hug. "We miss you so much down at the agency!"
"I'm so sorry about that night, it was all my fault…" Devon said on top of him.
Perry shook his head, the extra noise making him dizzy. "It's fine, Dev. Don't worry about it."
A panda wearing tons of bracelets and necklaces joined their table. "Oh, another guest!" She said.
Peter nodded. "Perry, this is my sister, Prissy the panda. Prissy, this is Perry."
"I'm not a priss or anything, I just hate the name Priscilla." Prissy said, shaking Perry's paw. "So you're Doof's nemesis, then? Peter told me all about that…"
Perry frowned.
"Um…" Peter whispered something to his sister.
"That's a touchy subject between you two?" Prissy said loudly, although she probably hadn't meant to. "Oh gosh. I'm so sorry."
A kangaroo hopped onto their table and used it as a launch point for his next destination.
"Nice… place." Perry commented, trying to get as much air as he could out of the window.
"Best animal-run place in Colorado." Peter said.
"I'd hate to see the worst." Perry said under his breath.
A rhino came over to the table. "What are you all having to drink?"
"Hot chocolate." Perry said. He looked back out the window.
Peter gave him a confused glance.
"I know what he asked." Perry snapped. "I ordered hot chocolate."
When the rhino left, Perry took another breath of air from the window and turned back to Peter. "Sorry I yelled at you."
"Not your kind of place, huh?" Peter asked.
Perry shook his head.
"He lasted five minutes before he lost his temper." Pinky said. "That's pretty good, for him."
Perry got up. "I'll be in the bathroom."
"Don't bail on us now!" Prissy said, who Perry decided had a knack for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. "The cake's gonna come soon!"
Perry pretended not to hear her. He pushed through a crowd of talking animals and locked himself in the bathroom.
There was no window, but the bathroom was brightly lit and had a better smell than the restaurant.
A knock sounded on the door.
"Occupied." Perry shouted.
"Perry, you can't hide in there the whole time." Pinky said.
"Why not?"
"Well, for one thing, someone might need to use the bathroom."
"They can just cross the street and use some other store's."
"Perry, come out."
"No."
"It'd mean a lot to Peter."
"Peter doesn't care whether I'm there or not."
"He does and you know it. You're acting childish."
"I'm tired, Pinky. It's loud out there. And it smells."
"Perry, someone might need to use the bathroom."
"Pinky, if you need to go, you can just tell me."
Silence.
"…You'll let me in?"
"Yes." Perry opened the door, stepped out, and let Pinky inside.
He made his way back to Peter's table.
Darren the duck smiled at him. "For a second, I thought you were hiding in the bathroom instead of actually using it."
"Huh." Perry said. He stirred his hot chocolate moodily.
Prissy was talking about her six ex-boyfriends to anyone who would listen, which was really only Rocky the raccoon. Peter was trying to get Devon to donate to Save The Pandas.
Even though Perry wasn't in the mood to talk, he was annoyed that everyone was chatting around him. He stared out the window.
Perry wondered why Phineas had made him an invisible jacket. He would have preferred a visible one he could really hide under. He pulled up his hood, though knowing it wouldn't have any effect.
Pinky returned and sat down next to him.
"Giant pandas everywhere are losing their homes." Peter said to Devon.
"Don't pandas only live in China?" Darren asked.
"There are zoos, Darren." Peter said. "But what panda would want to live THERE?"
"Fine, fine!" Devon said, digging around in his pocket and handing Peter eleven cents. "That's all I have on me right now! Stop making me feel guilty!"
"The pandas thank you." Peter said, pocketing the donation.
"So, Peter, how does it feel being one year older?" Carrie the cat asked.
"Great!" Peter said.
Carrie was silent. Perry could tell she had forgotten how old Peter was and was trying to figure out how to get him to tell her.
"It's a great age, isn't it?" Carrie said.
"Yeah!" Peter said.
Carrie looked at her drink.
"He's a year older than me." Perry whispered to her, trying to help her out.
"That's a great age." Carrie said weakly.
Perry sighed. He should have known Carrie wouldn't have remembered how old he was, either.
"Peter's told me so much about you." Prissy said to Perry. "Is it true that you both rescued Doofenshmirtz from a different planet together? And that you destroyed the freezinator together?"
"Yeah, I guess." Perry looked back out the window, trying to make it clear he wasn't interested in conversation.
"We were both born in Seattle." Prissy said. "But Peter went down to Danville to join the agency. After a while he came back to Seattle and met Doofenshmirtz. How those two hated each other! You had never seen worse enemies."
Perry tried to make a picture with the whipped cream in his hot chocolate. It kind of looked like a horse.
"So he went down to Danville to fight him. Then, of course, Peter came back to Seattle after you defeated the freezinator. But he keeps going back and forth. I got sick of it and moved to Colorado, so now he knows what it feels like to have to travel to see his sibling. Do you have any siblings?"
"Six." Perry said. "Only two are trained."
"Nice. Are your parents still alive?"
"Would you like me to write you an autobiography?" Perry retorted.
"Oh." Prissy put her paws to her mouth. "Was I being nosy? Peter's always telling me I pry too much. I don't mean to. I'm sorry."
"That's fine. I don't care." Perry said. He took a sip of his hot chocolate.
"We don't know where our parents are." Prissy said matter-of-factly. "All we have is each other. Isn't that right, Pete?"
"Huh?" Peter had been in conversation with Devon and was staring at Prissy as though he had no idea who she was. "Oh. Yeah. Right. That's right, whatever it was you just said."
He turned back to Devon and continued his talk about the endangerment of the pandas.
"That's too bad." Perry said. He took another breath of air from the window.
"I heard about the fireworks." Prissy said.
"I'm not surprised." Perry said.
"Do you know who did it?" Prissy asked.
"An animal gang."
"Oh my."
"Yeah. I hope my name's cleared soon. Every time I hear a siren, I freak."
"Peter was running from the cops once. He had dismantled an alarm system unknowingly. But he got off scot-free because they thought he was just a mindless panda."
"Lucky him." Perry mumbled.
The rhino brought over a cake and placed it in the middle of the table.
"Happy birthday, Peter." Darren said.
Peter cut a slice and handed it to Prissy.
"What flavor?" Devon asked.
"Bamboo!" Peter said happily. "Who else wants some?"
Everyone was silent.
"I kid. We also have a chocolate cake coming." Peter said, digging in.
"Dogs can't eat chocolate." Devon said.
"Well, who pigged out on Valentine's day, then?" Darren asked. "The creature who ate my chocolate cupid sure looked a heck of a lot like you."
"I said I can't eat chocolate. I never said I won't."
"That doesn't make any sense." Darren said.
"Maybe the smell of this place is getting to him." Perry said. He was starting to feel very lightheaded. "I might need to go outside for a bit."
A basenji entered the restaurant and sat down at a table, looking slightly anxious. Peter brightened.
"Daniel! Buddy! It's me, Peter! Where've ya been all these years?"
The basenji looked up and smiled, but his eyes still held worry. "Peter? Is that you?"
"Come on over here!" Peter said. He got up and brought the basenji over to the table. "Guys, this is Dane! He and I go way back. I haven't seen him in a long time."
"Hello." Dane said.
"You look pretty bad." Peter said. "Are you okay?"
Dane nodded. "I got mixed up in some bad things, that's all. I think I'm out of it now." He sniffed the air. Perry wondered if he could smell anything underneath the restaurant's stench.
"These are Pinky, Darren, Bernie, Carrie, Perry, you know Prissy, and Devon!" Peter said.
Dane looked at Perry, and his eyes widened. He looked like he wanted to leave. Perry would have been right behind him.
"Go on, sit." Peter said. He pushed up a chair for Dane, and Dane sat.
Everyone resumed talking. When the second cake came, all the bamboo-haters got a slice.
Dane kept staring at Perry. When Perry met his eye, Dane mouthed something.
Perry turned his head to the side, indicating he didn't understand.
"She's been tracked." Dane whispered. Looking nervously at the others, who hadn't heard him, he dug into his cake and ignored Perry for the rest of the evening.