Phineas sat cross legged on his bed, listlessly paging through a toy catalogue. "No, no, no, no." He sighed, finally flipping the book closed. This year was the first Christmas he would get to spend with his new stepbrother. The two had met six months ago, and three months after that, his Mother and Ferb's Father had gotten married.

Now not only did he have the chance to spend this Christmas (as well as other Christmases) with his new best friend, he needed to find the perfect gift.

Trouble was, his new stepbrother was hard to buy for. The British born five year old was quiet, always carrying around his Union Jack and hardly saying anything. When he did speak, it was to say something random such as "the platypus is the only mammal to lay eggs."

He was quiet, but Phineas found his new brother fun and the best listener in the whole world. His brow furrowed as he glanced around the room. "Perry?"

Him and his brother's new pet platypus answered with a growl, skittering out from underneath Ferb's bed. He smiled, absently reaching down and scratching the platypus on the back. "Hey Perry. What should I get Ferb for Christmas? He's really hard to buy for and I have no idea what he likes." The platypus growled a response, closing his eyes contentedly.

Phineas went back to thinking. "Skateboard? No. Toolbox?" He scrunched his nose up. "What would Ferb do with a toolbox? Um...gee, this is harder than I thought."

Tired of being on the floor, Perry scrabbled up onto the bed, circling three times before laying back down. Phineas yawned. "Nap sounds good..." he started to lay down. "No, gift for Ferb first." His knuckles absently walked down Perry's back. "Maybe something to make Ferb happy. Something we both like. If he's happy, then I'm happy. But...what makes us both happy?"

Perry stretched, growling in contentment. Phineas smiled. "Wow Perry, you sure are happy. And when you're happy-" his eyes suddenly lit up. "That's it!" He crouched down, looking his pet straight in the eye and poking a finger at him. "You're the gift! You're what makes both me and Ferb happy!" Without further explanation, the five year old bounded out of the room.

Perry gulped. He had a bad feeling about the look in the boy's eyes. They spoke of nothing but mischief.

"Okay, I think I have everything." Phineas walked back in the room a few minutes later, arms loaded with giftwrapping supplies. He dumped the pile on the floor, taking inventory. "Ribbons, bows, giftwrap, tape, bells, nametag, lights, garland, scissors..."

Perry's eyes shot open. Who gave a five year old scissors? He jumped off Phineas bed, skittering back under Ferb's. It was safer there.

"Glue gun, extra tape, more wrapping paper, glitter, regular glue and...that's it." The five year old looked around, scratching his head. "Hey, where's Perry?"

The platypus looked out from under the safety of the bed as Phineas got down on his hands and knees, crawling around the room.

"Perry? Perry, where are you?"

Perry smirked. Hiding from the boy was kind of fun. Like a game of hide-n-seek. Only Phineas was never going to find him. Just as he was getting comfortable enough to relax and go back to sleep, he felt himself grabbed from behind.

"Gotcha!"

He frantically scratched the floor, trying to get a grip on anything that would prevent him from being pulled out from under the bed. As his nails lost their hold, he grabbed one of Ferb's shoes, only to find it dragged along the floor with him.

"Perry! Come on! I have to giftwrap you for Ferb!"

The platypus let go of the shoe, chucking it to the side and wrapping his arms around one of the bed legs as a last resort. He growled in annoyance as his watch beeped.

"Good morning Agent P." Major Monogram popped up on the screen. "As part of your agent training today, you-great googely moogely! What's going on over there?! Why are you holding onto a bed leg?"

"It's Phineas Sir." Carl's face popped up on the screen. "He's trying to get Agent P to do something he obviously doesn't want to do."

"How do you know that?"

"He's holding onto the bed leg Sir."

"Oh. Er...right." Major Monogram looked around awkwardly. "Well Agent P, since you're otherwise engaged at the moment, we'll reschedule your training for tomorrow. So...good luck." The Major clicked off.

Perry was about to growl in protest when the watch beeped again and Carl appeared on the screen.

"Hey Agent P. Uh, look. Whatever Phineas is doing, let him do it. Things will go much much smoother if you allow yourself to integrate with your host family. I gotta go. Bye."

He gave an audible sigh, letting go of the bed leg and allowing himself to be dragged out by the tail.

Phineas glared at him. "Bad platypus." He picked his pet up, walking over to the giftwrapping supplies and setting him down. "Where to start?"

Perry watched the boy for a moment before slowly backing up. Unfortunately, Phineas caught him.

"No." The boy picked him up, setting him down on some unfurled wrapping paper. "Stay."

The platypus chattered, lying down on the paper. There was no way he was going to win this; Phineas was to smart for his own good. He'd never get away with sneaking off again. He watched as the boy surveyed the supplies.

"Let's start with the glue gun..."

Two hours later…

"So boy, what do you think?" Phineas placed his pet in front of the mirror. "Like it?"

He looked like a Christmas tree. His entire body, including his legs, was wrapped in red and green striped wrapping paper. Around the wrapping paper, Phineas had glued golden garland, fixing the loose edges with lots of tape. A red bead necklace strung with bells hung around his neck as well as his ankles, causing him to jingle when he walked. Tied around his waist was a red ribbon complete with a bow. On top of his head, Phineas had fashioned a hat with a gold star on the top.

The boy knelt down, tying the hat on with red string. "There. Now you look perfect."

He growled in response, deciding to humor the five year old.

"Great!" Phineas got up, headed for the door. "Now stay right there. I have to go find Ferb and show you to him. Be right back."

Perry lied down as Phineas left the room. There was no way he was leaving the house looking like this.

"Ferb! Ferb! Ferb, come upstairs! I have something to show you!" Ferb looked up from his blocks as his new stepbrother barged into the living room, latching onto his arm. "Come on! I have to show you something!" The green haired boy didn't move. "Ferb come on! I made you a Christmas present today!"

That caught his attention. "Christmas present?" He stood up, dusting himself off. "Where?"

"Upstairs! Come on! I'll show you! You're gonna love it!" Phineas grabbed his hand, practically hauling him upstairs. Once they reached the landing, the red head let go, standing outside their shared bedroom. "So I wanted to get you something special for Christmas, since this is our first Christmas as brothers." He grinned. "But I didn't know what to get you. I thought of all these things and I looked through all the toy catalogues, but nothing seemed to fit. And I wanted to get you the perfect gift. Then it occurred to me: I should get you a gift that would make you happy. So it couldn't be any old gift and it had to be a gift we could share. I don't have any money and Mom already went to the store, so…" Phineas stopped, appearing to pause for breath. "So I got you the next best thing. Something we already have and that makes both of us happy. Something we can share."

Ferb raised an eyebrow.

"So now, I give you…the best Christmas present ever!" Phineas opened the bedroom door with a flourish, motioning inside. "Perry the Platypus!"

Perry chattered as Ferb stepped inside the room, his jaw dropping at the sight. There before him stood the family pet, decked out in Christmas splendor, complete with a star on top of his head. If Ferb didn't know any better, he'd say Perry looked more like a Christmas tree than a present. He clamped a hand over his mouth, stifling a giggle. He had to admit; his new brother was pretty creative.

"So do you like it? I mean, it's just Perry, but—"

Ferb put a hand on his brother's shoulder. "It's a great Christmas present."

Phineas wiped his forehead in relief. "Whew. I was afraid you wouldn't like it." Ferb just smiled. "So…do you think we should leave him like that?"

Perry growled. If Phineas so much as left him this way for another second…he turned as Ferb knelt down next to him, scratching his head before taking off the hat.

"Well, every present is meant to be unwrapped."

Phineas grinned. "You're right! Let's unwrap him!" He took off the bead necklace and anklets, causing the platypus to sigh. "Hey Ferb, I think he likes that we're unwrapping him."

Ferb smiled, giving his stepbrother a thumbs up as he started to remove the last of the wrapping paper. He was going to like spending Christmases with his new brother