Chapter Text
Isabella reached for the salsa bowl, but Phineas was faster, grabbing it and placing it in front of her. She thanked him and giggled at his wide smile. It was their first day of winter break, and the first winter break since college, and Phineas seemed to be buzzing with excitement at the prospect of seeing their full friend group again. They had been dating for a full semester and all of the nerves from starting a relationship were gone. Today, though, Phineas seemed to be taking it personally that he had never officially dated her in Danville and was making up for it. He insisted on driving, putting on her favorite music, running to open her car door when they got to her family’s restaurant, and even gave his card to her mom at the beginning of their lunch, to keep from splitting the check like they usually did. Even now he was ordering dessert like eating chocolate was going out of fashion.
“Three black and white cookies, two chocolate cakes, and I saw some wrapped brownies at the front, are those for sale?”
Jordan looked over at Isabella, as if she would know if they were.
“Phineas, honey, I think those are for the Fireside Bake Sale at the park later.”
“Oh darn, well, we’ll stop by later and get them ourselves. The cookies and cakes will have to do.”
Jordan walked away, scribbling away on a pad, and Isabella raised her eyebrows at Phineas.
“What are you up to?” She asked.
He rubbed the back of his neck and turned a bit pinker.
“Nothing! Just feel like celebrating.”
“Phineas, I woke up to a dorm room filled with carnations this morning and you told me it was because it’s the second Saturday of the month.”
“Yeah, well, like I said, today is going to be special.” He said, eyeing the door to the kitchen as if hoping Jordan would come back with enough confections to distract Isabella.
“Is there a reason all our friends have ignored my texts?” Isabella asked.
“They’re probably busy with their families.” Phineas answered. His phone buzzed and Isabella saw a text from Ferb flash on the screen before he snatched it and put it under the table, furiously texting back.
“I’m assuming you’ll clue me in to whatever is going on at some point.” Isabella answered.
Jordan walked back up, balancing three plates, and Isabella grabbed one of the cakes right before it fell.
“Thanks.” Said the boy, gratefully.
“I got you.” She answered, still eyeing Phineas who scanned one of the cookies with his phone. It disappeared, most likely transported to Ferb, and Jordan jumped back.
“Did you just—“ He asked.
“Yes, yes he did.” Isabella answered, giggling. She grabbed one of the two remaining cookies and popped it into her mouth.
Jordan walked away a bit dazed, but Phineas didn’t seem to notice. He finished typing and put his phone back down on the table, beaming at her.
“Isabella, love of my life, soulmate, my dearest friend, I have a surprise for you.”
Isabella, through a mouthful of cookie, answered, “Yes, love, you gave that much away when you when you blocked out the day in our schedule as BIG SURPRISE in colorful letters.”
“Yes, well, subtlety has never been my strong suit. But you should check that calendar again.”
Isabella swallowed the last bit of cookie and took out her phone, opening up their shared schedule. Phineas and Ferb had made specialized phones that allowed for the normal functions, but also had a couple of additions. There was a teleportation option for location tagged events, a shared big ideas blueprint creator, even a mindnotes function. Without typing or speaking, they could hold down a button and think up messages that were automatically notated, something especially helpful when they were in class and wanted to send things to each other without the conspicuous clicking of a keyboard.
Phineas slid one of the cakes over to himself, eating at an alarmingly fast rate.
Isabella opened up her calendar and saw that two minutes ago BIG SURPRISE had been changed to What Might Have Been... Then Was!
“Are we singing another duet?” She asked, tilting her head at him.
He shoved the other cake at her and she tentatively took up her fork.
“Well,” He started, folding his arms over the table and leaning closer. “You know the day we got together? How we apparently sang a duet together?”
“Of course, you harmonized without realizing it, it was a very sweet moment.” Isabella answered.
“I frequently harmonize with the melody in my head, but that’s beside the point. You know how we talked about those moments in the middle, the ones we thought up for our relationship? Ones that had either happened platonically and we were thinking about again, or had never actually happened?”
“Yeah, like prom and stuff.”
Phineas nodded enthusiastically. “We’re gonna create or recreate those moments.”
“Like you holding my hair back while I had salmonella?” She asked, eyeing the cake.
“No, no! Not that one, um, just some of the other ones.”
“You’re recreating all the sweet romantic moments of one of our duets?”
“Yes.”
“This is the big surprise you’ve been planning all day?”
“Yes.”
“And you’ve roped all our friends into this?”
“Yes”
“Do you know I love you so, so much?”
Phineas grinned at her. “Yes, yes I do.”
Isabella put her fork down, thinking back about those memories. After their first kiss, Phineas had stayed with her the whole day, helping her move her stuff into the dorm and finally taking her on an official date. They talked about everything they couldn’t talk about before, the number of duets they had accidentally sung, the moments of angst and fluff, from cruise ships to school pictures. It had been months since they had mentioned that particular duet though, and even with Phineas’ photographic memory, it was still touching that he would remember the moments she had shared with him.
Isabella reached across the table and took his hand, lacing their fingers together.
“You know you don’t—“
He was expecting it, though, and cut her off quickly.
“Have to do this. Like I’ve said before, I do these things because I want to. And I love you. And they make you and me happy. I want to go through those moments with you, for real this time. Together.”
Her heart swelled and she blinked back tears. She had been in Phineasland enough times that when they first started dating, she had never expected to be overwhelmed by the things that Phineas would do. But having him constantly there, in front of her, telling her without a hint of dramatics or hesitation how much he loved her and then proving it by just being himself was... wonderful. Even in her wildest fantasies, she couldn’t have imagined how wonderful it would be to have it be real and constant and there.
“You ready to start?” He asked.
Isabella nodded. “I know what we’re going to do today.”