Welcome back guys! Hope you're all well. Finally got the plan so lets jump right into it!
Just wanted to point out, the pairings RIGHT NOW are one-sided Ferb/Phineas, one-sided Isabella/Phineas and BuJeet. They are not set in stone! Some of them might change. Course I could be just yanking your chain, trying to lead you off the scent... What am I even talking about?
Sorry guys. Ashlee kept me up till three in the morning because we were roleplaying. No, it wasn't as dirty as it sounds.
WARNING: slash, boy love, guy on guy. Don't like it, don't read. Mentions of rape.
Disclaimer: if I actually owned anything, we all know Phineas and Ferb would be together. But alas~
Xoxoxo
"I have a project due Monday that I haven't finished," Buford grumbled beside him, voice slightly muffled. "I'm tempted to just skip school that day. You wanna come?"
Ferb stared up at the car he was currently lying under, hearing Buford fiddle around with his wrench. The smaller of the two was a little worried that the bully was messing up the car, but he forced himself to trust in the other boy. He'd been taught by the best after all- Ferb himself. Mechanics had been another thing that bonded them.
"You can't just skip school!" Isabella's voice sounded from their right. Neither of them could see her face, only her feet, but they knew she was frowning. "We go to school for a reason! And if you haven't finished that project, maybe you should be working on it now instead of mucking around under that old car."
"Just because you've never lived a little," Buford threw back at her, handing Ferb a wrench when the boy gestured for it. "You've probably never skipped a day in your life."
"No, I haven't, and I'm proud of that!"
"Neither have you, huh, Phineas?" Buford asked, snorting in amusement. "Baljeet never skipped either. It seems Ferb and I are the only ones in this group who have any balls."
"I'm glad I don't have balls," Isabella said in a flat voice. Ferb pushed himself out from under the car and glanced over at the other two present in his garage. Phineas was sketching another blueprint, eyes focused, not paying attention to the conversation. Isa was painting her nails an electric blue, sitting quite close to the redhead.
"Come on, Isa," Buford coaxed. "You know you want to. What if Phineas skips with us? Will you come along, then?"
"Well..." the girl hesitated, looking over at Phineas, who hadn't even registered that his name had been spoken. "Maybe..."
There was a long pause before she leaned back, blowing on her wet nails. "If Baljeet were here, you could have convinced him to skip with you guys. When is he coming back, by the way? Actually, why did he leave in the first place? He didn't even say goodbye!"
Ferb pushed himself back under the car- they were using old skateboards to do so- and shot his friend a worried look. There was a long pause as Buford stared back, before the bully muttered, "so they don't know. I guess Baljeet didn't want to tell them."
"Probably because he didn't want to look like the bad guy," Ferb grunted, picking up his tools and getting back to work.
"Ferb, it's alright," Buford sighed. "What he did was-"
"If you say 'fine' I will honestly hit you with this wrench," Ferb snapped, his temper rising. Why was he the only one mad at Baljeet for what he'd done?
"But he was justified-"
"No one can justify sending another person into a mental breakdown, not even Baljeet," Ferb growled, turning to look at his friend. They stared at each other for a long moment before Buford smiled slightly and nodded.
"Why don't you put them out of their misery and tell them the truth?" he gestured towards Phineas and Isabella's feet. The two were currently theorizing on why Baljeet had left, and when he was getting back. Buford went back to working on the car and Ferb slid out awkwardly.
When he pushed himself up into a sitting position, he purposely rested his hand on the other boy's knee, keeping it there for a moment. The bully let out a rough laugh at the contact, and Ferb could imagine Buford rolling his eyes. Despite being told to back off numerous times, Ferb was still determinedly protecting his friend, and the contact was his way of supporting the other, especially when Buford was willing to share with the others what had happened.
"He left because of what happened with Buford," Ferb cut into his brother and friend's conversation. The two turned to look at him.
"No duh, Ferb," Isabella rolled her eyes. "But he wasn't upset to the point to leave the bloody country. Something else must have contributed."
"A couple of months after it happened he came around and talked to Buford," Ferb glanced back at the bully, who was still under the car. "I don't know what was said, but it upset them both. Anyway, I think his parents were planning the trip previously but decided now was a good time because Baljeet needed to get away for a while."
Buford pushed himself out from underneath the car and sat up, much like Ferb was. He had a smear of grease over his chin, but he didn't seem to notice. He didn't look very happy. "He wasn't going to go with them at first," he looked down at the wrench in his hand. "But after he came over... I kind of refused to be honest with him so he got upset and left. Next thing you know, he's in India."
"What, so he just ditched?" Isabella looked mildly disgusted. "What a way to face his problems. And then he just leaves you here? He should have at least made an effort."
"He did," Buford grunted. "I shot him down."
Isabella opened her mouth, no doubt about to ask 'why?' but once she caught sight of Buford's face, she closed it again. She glanced at Ferb, who raised one eyebrow. "Hey, Phineas," Isabella said eventually, grabbing the redhead's arm. "Lets go get some drinks."
"What? Oh, uhm, okay," the boy allowed himself to be dragged out of the room, but he didn't look happy about leaving his blueprints.
"Are you alright?" Ferb asked once they had left, his eyes flicking over to stare at the brunet next to him. They both stood from the skateboards they were sitting on and went over to the sink on the other side of the garage to wash their hands, Buford taking a moment to reply.
Eventually he nodded and smiled, knocking Ferb's shoulder with his own. "You need to stop mothering me, you know."
"I've been told," Ferb said dryly, a slight smile twisting his lips. They both let out a laugh and went over to sit at the table Phineas and Isabella had been at.
"So, told Phineas yet?" Buford asked abruptly after a few minutes silence.
"Buford!" Ferb hissed, eyes narrowing. He glanced around to check they were still alone.
"What?" the bully laughed. "It's a perfectly harmless question!"
"Seriously," Ferb turned his narrowed eyes on his friend, keeping his tone low in the hopes the idiotic brunet would understand he was being completely serious. "Don't go running your mouth off about that shit randomly. Someone might hear you."
Buford only let out another laugh, not grasping how annoyed Ferb was. "So you haven't told him you love him? That you wanna marry him?" his tone took on a lilting, almost singing-like quality that signaled he was enjoying dishing out the torment. "That you wanna have his ba~bies?"
"That's not even biologically possible," Ferb snapped, realizing there was no reasoning with the dumbass now. He reached over and grabbed the blueprint that Phineas had been working on, pulling it over carefully so he wouldn't accidentally rip it. The paper held the large title 'Forgive and Forget' and he read, scribbled down at the bottom, the purpose of the machine was to remind someone of all the happy memories they'd had with another person, and this would help them to 'forgive and forget' that person for something they had done.
He never realized how much Baljeet and Buford's fight had affected his step-brother.
"I'm sure you're smart enough to build something," Buford continued, seemingly not noticing how little interest Ferb was taking in the current conversation.
"Fuck you, Buford," he muttered, more focused on the scribbled calculations on Phineas' blueprints. He grabbed the pencil his brother had been using and corrected some minor mistakes. He'd always been a little better at maths than the redhead.
"Sorry, did I hear that right? You want to fuck me?" Buford cupped a hand around his ear as if he were having trouble hearing. "I though it was Phineas that you wanted to fuck."
Ferb breathed out heavily through his nose, his hands twitching towards his wrench. Oh, how badly he wanted to hit Buford over the head with it. But he couldn't- no matter how pissed off he was, he had to remember that the bully was still recovering and any sign of humor was good. Even if it annoyed the fuck out of him.
And the dumbass constantly reminding him of his unnatural feelings was starting to cause a sort of numb feeling in his chest. It wasn't pain, not really, but he recognized how bad that feeling was. It always arrived whenever he was at his breaking point, and when that numbness took over, bad things happened. He looked up from the blueprints, giving Buford a hard stare. "I can't like him, not like that. It's wrong, it's immoral, it's disgusting. So stop fucking bringing it up."
"Why is it wrong to be in love with Phineas?" Buford asked with a raised eyebrow. Ferb's hands twitched again. Did the bully never get it? He wasn't even in love with Phineas. He just... it was hard to explain, even to himself, because even he didn't fully understand the way he felt. All he knew was it wasn't love, but it wasn't strictly brotherly, either.
"I don't love him," he finally groaned out, tapping the page with his pencil. Phineas had come up with some good ideas, but it was still unfinished. He spotted another mistake with the maths and went to correct it.
"But you want to kiss him?" Buford asked with a sly grin. Ferb glanced up briefly to see what the idiot was doing and saw he was painting the table with Isabella's nail polish. He didn't have the energy to tell him off, instead rolling his eyes and going back to the blueprints.
"I guess."
His answer was nonchalant and emotionless, but he knew Buford would see right through it. Despite his disgust towards his own feelings, he thought about kissing Phineas far more than he should. Really, he shouldn't even be thinking about it at all. And yet here he was, admitting he wanted to, to his close friend. He couldn't help but think he was severely fucked up.
"I hope Isa makes me a drink, too, I'm thirsty," Buford grumbled. He lifted a hand to rub his chin and seemed surprised at the grease he found there. He lifted his shirt and wiped it away, and Ferb watched, detached from reality, not really paying attention to anything. Isabella and Phineas had been gone for some time now. Where were they?
He glanced towards the door that connected the garage to the Flynn-Fletcher household. It was wide open, and he could easily see his redheaded brother leaning against the door frame with a drink in each hand, watching them. Phineas' face was oddly expressionless, much like Ferb's own default facial expression, but it looked wrong on the boy. Phineas always had some kind of expression, be it joy, anger, sadness, or anything else. Never nothing.
He felt his heart jump to his throat. Either that, or some large organ, because something was obstructing his airway- he could hardly breathe. He felt his own face pale, and then begin to mirror Phineas' as a kind of automatic defense system. Cold, detached, expressionless.
"How much did you hear?" was all he could manage past the obstruction in his throat. Buford glanced up at him, confused, but upon seeing Ferb wasn't speaking to him, he whipped around in his seat towards Phineas.
"Holy shit."
"How much did you hear?" Ferb repeated, desperate to know the answer. Perhaps Phineas would reveal that he'd only heard that last few parts, which would be extremely relieving because they hadn't mentioned a name. All he would have to worry about was Phineas knowing he was attracted to another male, because of the mentioning of 'you want to kiss him' from Buford.
"From you wanting to have my babies, onwards," the only change in the redhead's expression was an incredulous raised eyebrow as he spoke, the words just as emotionless as his face.
The green-haired teen felt something akin to horror and he forced himself to stay calm. The numbness was creeping up on him, but he still held some hope that he could somehow salvage the situation.
"I was just joking around?" Buford offered, his voice rising slightly at the end as if he'd asked a question. It did nothing to ease the tension filling the room at an alarming rate.
"No, you weren't," Phineas didn't shift his eyes off Ferb as he spoke to the brunet, still showing no signs of expression.
"Considering I can't have your babies, he was joking around," Ferb defended weakly.
"But do you?" Phineas asked, walking into the room and setting down the drinks on the table, one in front of Ferb, one in front of Buford. "Want to have my babies, I mean."
"Not particularly," he said as casually as he could. It was true, anyway. He was a guy. He didn't want to have another man's babies, for crying out loud. He noticed the drinks were lemonade.
"Mm," Phineas turned so he was facing his brother, crossing his arms over his chest. "But you do want to kiss me."
There was silence. Ferb couldn't deny it because he never ever lied to Phineas, but he couldn't admit it either. He just stared back into those blue eyes, hoping for any sign that his brother wasn't disgusted. He found none- but he didn't find any disgust either. He didn't find anything. Those eyes were empty.
After what seemed like hours but was probably less than a minute, Phineas broke the eye contact and leaned over to grab his blueprints. He rolled the page up and hit Buford around the head with it. "Don't paint on our table."
Ferb would have laughed at the surprised, choked cry that escaped Buford when the paper hit his head, had he not been terrified at the way his brother was reacting.
"I'm going over to Isabella's," Phineas told them. Still no emotion. No expression. Nothing. It was if his very soul had left him. "Tell Mom and Dad I'll be home in time for dinner."
He turned and left, not once looking at Ferb.
Buford rubbed the back of his head and glanced over at his friend, who was just sitting there, staring at the door Phineas had just exited through. "Shit, dude, I'm so fucking sorry."
"Consider us even for me blabbing about the whole blackmail thing during the play," Ferb replied hoarsely. He didn't blame Buford- this had been bound to happen at any rate, and the bully hadn't meant for it to happen.
"I can't believe he just left like that," the brunet said quietly, visibly relaxing when it was confirmed Ferb was not angry at him. "I mean, he didn't even say anything. He just asked for confirmation and then left."
"I don't blame him."
"Still," Buford let out a sigh. "Why didn't you just deny it, man?"
"Weren't you all for Phineas knowing just a few minutes ago?" Ferb asked dryly, reaching out to take a sip of his lemonade and not tasting it at all. He felt completely numb and detached. Maybe he was in shock. He didn't know, he didn't care. He was just relieved there was no pain. He'd thought getting your heart broken would be agonizing, but he felt nothing. Well, that was a little over dramatic. It wasn't as if his heart had broken. But he had expected Phineas' reaction to hurt. "And besides, I don't lie to him. Ever."
"All the more reason to," Buford's heavy fingers tapped restlessly at the table, ignoring the wet nail polish smearing on his pale digits. "He would have believed you."
"He still would have been suspicious," Ferb stared at the pencil still held in his hand. Absently he began doodling on the table, not caring about his parent's getting mad at him for it later. "And then he would have started to notice all the flirting I do with him, and the same thing would have ultimately happened. At least I saved myself from getting an earful from him for lying."
"What, he'd yell at you?" one brown eyebrow raised in question.
The conversation was starting to make the numb feeling thaw out. He could feel pain now, the cold, hard realization that his brother probably hated him.
"Yes. I lied to him when we were younger about feeling sick, because we'd organized to go out to the movies and I didn't want to cancel," he thought back to the incident, about how he'd fainted halfway during the movie and Phineas had to call for their parents to pick them up. "He yelled at me until I passed out. That was the first and last time I ever lied to him."
"Harsh," Buford commented unhelpfully. He paused, looking into Ferb's eyes, his own furrowed with concern. "Are you going to be okay?"
"I'm a big boy, I can handle it," he grunted. After a few seconds he almost laughed at how the roles had been reversed- he was now the one being worried over. The humor drained away when the reality of the situation hit him.
Phineas knew.
And Phineas was not happy.
Why couldn't life just be easy for once?
Xoxoxo
Sorry this took a while, guys. Normally when I get the plan I start writing immediately and don't stop until I finish. This time it took me three tries to get it done. Dunno why, maybe I just didn't like this chapter. I did change the ending quite a bit from the plan (mostly because I couldn't understand what the hell the plan said, and I couldn't ask Ashlee because it's two in the morning).
So, as I promised, LOTS OF DRAMA!
And don't worry guys, there will be more BuJeet! As soon as the little nerd gets home, I promise!
Did you guys like? Yes? No? Maybe? I don't know? Can you repeat the question?
YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME NOW, YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME NOW, YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME NOW AND YOU'RE NOT SO BIG.
Impromptu singing moment there. Sorry. Thumbs up for Malcom in the Middle, though.
Review? Reviewers get brownies. BROWNIES!