Quick Author's note: in most (if not all) of these stories, Phineas and Isabella are together, or at least know of each other's feelings (I'm an AYA denier and I pretend they got together in NOTLP like they were supposed to. Sue me.) Anyway, in this story for example, Phineas and Isabella are in middle school, so they're not old enough to date but they do know of each other's feelings.

Obligatory disclaimer: I do not own Phineas and Ferb or its characters.

Bullies

Phineas was staring down at his phone, walking down the nearly empty school hallway at the end of the day when he heard a quiet sniffling sound. He looked up to see a distressed Isabella sitting down in front of her locker a couple feet from him, hugging her knees and trying to blink away the tears quickly forming in her eyes. Phineas's heart dropped at the sight and he immediately put away his phone and reached out to her.

"Isabella! Are you okay? What's wrong?" Isabella looked up at him with watery eyes and blinked, causing a tear to trickle down her cheek.

"I-well- uh, earlier," she gulped, trying to loosen her tight throat. "Earlier today, I o-overheard some of the g-girls in gym class talking ab-bout me in the locker room." Isabella swallowed hard and tried to continue. "They were m-making f-fun of me, saying I was a try-hard and a goody two-shoes, and that I w-wasn't even p-pretty. Then, I m-messed up all of gym class and I could just h-hear them whispering to each other and l-l-laughing at me!" Isabella was about to break into sobs again when Phineas suddenly wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly against him, and for a moment all Isabella could feel was his warmth.

"Oh, Isabella," he said softly, squeezing her even tighter. "I'm so sorry." They just stayed there for a while, Isabella gasping quietly with each sob, her racing heart slowing to match the rate of his steady one. When the gasps in his ear and the rapid thumping against his chest had stopped, Phineas slowly pulled back to look Isabella in the face. Her eyes were still red from crying, and she was still sniffling, but for the most part she looked like she wasn't going to burst into tears anymore.

"Listen to me, Isabella," he said seriously, looking into her eyes and taking her hands in his. She gazed back and curled her fingers weakly around his in response. "Nothing those girls said is true. You are the most hardworking, kind, and talented girl I've ever met. Everyone in the school knows how amazing you are- that's why you're so popular! You're so sweet to everyone and fun to be around, and everyone I've ever talked to about you agrees. On top of all that, you're beautiful! I know I'm probably biased because of the way I feel about you, but it's true! Whenever I hear the girls or the boys at school talking about the way you look, it's always them saying that you're so pretty! Those girls that you heard talking about you are probably just jealous of you because you're so wonderful and everybody likes you so much! So please, don't pay any attention to them, alright? And if they start saying things to you directly, please tell one of our teachers, or even let me know and I'll deal with it, okay? I just… hate seeing you so upset." Isabella stared back at Phineas with wide eyes, slowly processing his speech and his generous compliments, a light blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Do you… really mean all that, Phineas?" she whispered. He nodded and gave her hands a gentle squeeze.

"Every word." Isabella's heart started to pound again, but in a good way this time. She felt a rush of affection for her crush, causing her to throw her arms around him in a hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she whispered, feeling him wrap his arms around her in response. "You always know how to make me feel better." They stayed in that hug for a while, Isabella still having trouble processing the fact that Phineas had called her beautiful, before she reluctantly released him, sensing that it was time to pull back.

"Is there anything else I can do to help you?" Phineas asked, smiling softly at her. Isabella's heart fluttered and she shook her head.

"No, I.. think I'm alright now."

"How about this: I'll take you out for ice cream or whatever you want as a snack, and then we can do our homework together at one of our houses. Does that sound good to you?"

"Yes! That sounds amazing!" Isabella said enthusiastically, beaming at him.

"Great! Let's go!" Phineas held out a hand to help her up and she gladly took it, getting to her feet and dusting herself off. She suddenly remembered that she must look disheveled from crying and rubbed at her eyes and cheeks, trying to remove any tear streaks or other signs of her emotional day.

"Wait… Phineas? Before we go out in public, do I... look okay?" She asked, smoothing out her hair and wiping under her eyes.

"You look beautiful," he replied without hesitation, grinning confidently at her. Isabella just blushed and smiled back, deciding ultimately she didn't care what other people would think if she still looked like a mess. Phineas grabbed her hand, intertwining his fingers with hers, and led her out the school doors.

Later:

Phineas and Isabella sat on a bench outside the ice cream shop and slowly ate their ice cream cones, talking and laughing with each other.

"How's your ice cream, Phineas?" Isabella asked after a gap in their conversation. "Mine has tons of cookie pieces in it, it's really good!"

"Oh wow, that does sound nice! Mine tastes good, too! It's really sweet." Isabella smiled and leaned over, gently kissing him on the cheek. Phineas froze in surprise at her touch.

"So are you," she said quietly, causing a goofy smile to spread across Phineas's face.

Please favorite, follow, or review to let me know if you want more! There are plenty more one-shots buried in my Google Docs, I've just never been sure if I should bother posting.