Chapter Text
It was a quiet Friday evening. School had ended a few hours ago, and unspoken anticipation for the long weekend filled the air. Whenever one of those Monday holidays rolled around, Phineas and Ferb always took the chance to push the envelope a little bit further than they usually did during the school year. Build something a little bigger. A little more ‘out there’. A little more summer-esque.
Which is why Stacy was surprised when she’d received an invitation for a Flynn-Fletcher slumber party that Thursday.
Of course, if the boys were hosting, it was bound to be a blast. Any event where ‘Phineas and Ferb’ and ‘party’ were used in the same context was a guaranteed good time. But a slumber party just seemed more low-key than their typical long weekend fare.
Stacy wasn't going to complain, though. It was her and Vanessa's day off, and her fellow intern had insisted on carpooling after getting the same invitation.
“We never hang out outside of work, Stace,” she'd jokingly accused the day prior. “Not by ourselves. Let's make it a date.”
The irony of the playful wording was lost on Vanessa, but it’d nearly made Stacy spit out her coffee.
Not because she liked her. Well, she liked Vanessa, of course — how could she not? She was cool, and fun to talk to, and she actually took her seriously (unlike her mom and her boss). The semantics simply caught her off-guard.
Stacy was worried about other things today. There were other problems she would have to juggle if she went to this party with her coworker, and the most important one started with the letter P.
She bit her nails in the passenger seat of Vanessa's car as she went back over her texts with Perry. She'd told the agent to stay away from the house for the duration of the sleepover, so no clandestine wires would be crossed, at the very least. Hopefully, the boys hadn't added any platypus-themed decorations to the sleepover, and that would be enough to keep Vanessa from catching on to anything.
While Perry’s occupation was a secret to the Flynn-Fletchers, his host family was a secret to the Doofenshmirtzes, per OWCA policy. Stacy was an exception, in that she knew about both , so in exchange for college credit, it fell to her and Perry to maintain the balance. He certainly needed the help lately.
Stacy locked her phone and tucked it into the pocket on her pajama pants. She had to put the job out of her mind for a little while. It had really been stressing her out lately, and this was a chance to have fun with Vanessa without having to worry about paperwork, bruises, and NDAs.
As they pulled up to the Flynn-Fletcher house, it quickly became apparent what caliber of sleepover this was going to be.
The setting sun was obscured behind a towering mass of throw blankets, pillows, quilts, and sleeping bags in the backyard. Guests were piling in, mostly people from school, and all of them were wearing their best sleepwear for the occasion. Some were carrying their own bedtime accessories from home: stuffed animals tucked under arms, blankets draped around shoulders, and sleep masks perched on heads.
Stacy herself was wearing a matching set of polka-dotted turquoise pajamas, and she was thankful for the long sleeves, because the temperature was starting to drop lately. Fall was making the transition to Winter, and the slight, crisp chill in the air made the coziness of a slumber party that much more cozy. It gave everyone an excuse to snuggle up and get comfortable.
Vanessa, on the other hand, was in a black, oversized t-shirt for some band Stacy wasn't familiar with (but based on how their logo looked, their music was probably kind of heavy). She paired it with a pair of patterned sleep pants covered in skulls.
This more casual style of sleepwear was closer to what Stacy actually used at home, but she’d just received this matching set for her birthday from her grandma, and since they were from Tokyo, she wanted to show them off. Besides, she wasn’t confident that she could pull off ‘lazy chic’ as well as Vanessa could.
Stacy reached up and began fiddling with a lock of her own hair. She didn't actually mean ‘date’ when she said ‘date’. It was a joke. Like calling your female pals your ‘girlfriends’. Just don’t bring it up, and it won’t be a problem.
Her internal monologue was interrupted by her friend whistling at the Sleepover Amalgam. “Wow. I keep thinking that I'm used to the stuff that Ferb and his brother build.”
“And they keep impressing you?” Stacy replied. Even she was still impressed by their big ideas, and she'd known them since they were barely able to walk.
“Yeah, I guess.” She chuckled and shook her head. “No wonder Candace is a nervous wreck.”
“She’s got a lot on her plate.”
“Do you think she'll show?”
“She always shows.” Stacy chewed on her lower lip. “It's just a matter of getting her to stay .”
Vanessa parked on the curb. There weren't many cars around — most people in Danville preferred to walk or bike within neighborhoods, and a lot of the guests would be too young to drive, anyway. The only other cars were Jeremy's mom’s car, Jenny's Volkswagen, and a couple others that Stacy recognized from the high school’s student parking.
Stacy unbuckled and tried to steel herself by giving her friend a sarcastic smirk. “You ready for this rager? I don't think you're ready.”
The brunette raised an eyebrow and returned the smile. “Lead the way to the mosh pit, milady.”
It means nothing. It's a turn of phrase.
Stacy led Vanessa through the backyard gate, where they found the entrance to the massive pillow fort (which wasn't hard to do – it was marked by a blinking neon sign).
After crawling through a plush tunnel, the entrance opened up into a larger lobby of sorts that branched off into different paths and rooms. As far as the eye could see, the walls and floors were lined with soft quilting and memory foam, giving the impression that the party was being held inside of a pillow sturdy enough to hold up one's weight. It made Stacy feel like she was the size of a bug, but in a fun way.
If someone else had built it, the fort might have felt claustrophobic, but the high ceilings and ample lighting created a welcoming atmosphere. Some of the other kids were just lounging around on scattered couches and bean bags, and a few of them had decided to lay directly on the comfortable floor.
The duo didn't even make it to the map in the middle of the lobby before Phineas and Ferb dropped from a tunnel in the ceiling and landed squarely in front of them. It made Vanessa jump a bit, but Stacy had been expecting as much. You had to expect the unexpected around those two.
The brothers bounced a couple times from the low-impact fall, but Phineas was laughing as he stood up. “That never gets old, does it, Ferb?”
She gave them a friendly wave. “Hey, guys!”
“Hi, Stacy!” Phineas smiled at her, and Ferb waved at both girls as his brother continued. “Hi, Vanessa! Glad you guys could make it.”
“Yeah, thanks for the invite,” replied Vanessa. “I haven't been to a good, old-fashioned slumber party in ages.”
“You're in luck!” Phineas, now in host mode, began his introductory spiel as his brother pointed towards the various rooms and corridors. “So romcoms are in theater one, and scary movies are in theater two.”
Stacy’s eyebrows shot up. “Oooh, scary movies?”
“Yep!” He raised his arm in a fake Dracula cape pose. “If you have ze guts to handle them, zat is.”
“You know we do!”
“Makeovers are that way – that includes hair, makeup, and costumes – and the snack bar is down that way. You can get popcorn for your movies there, too!”
Vanessa scoffed, but not in a mean way. She sounded more impressed than dismissive. “I bet nobody's gonna be sleeping, huh?”
Phineas nodded. “That's the idea, but if anyone actually does want to go to bed before sunrise, the soundproof slumber chamber is to the right. We've got enough pillows and sleeping bags for everybody. And charging ports for phones. And noise-cancelling ear plugs if we have any snorers,” he added.
Ferb plugged his ears with his pointer fingers in demonstration.
“You guys think of everything,” said Stacy as she wiggled her toes over the indents they'd made in the memory foam.
“We just like to be prepared.” The boy began counting on his fingers. “Also for you to partake in at your leisure, we have board games, video games, karaoke – oh! And extreme pillow fighting. Last time I saw Candace, that's where she was.”
“What don't you have?” Vanessa asked like it was a friendly challenge.
“Truth or dare,” answered Phineas. “Ferb and I had the idea to come up with our own version, cause sometimes people use that game as an excuse to be mean, but we couldn't quite squeeze it in. We'll just have to save it for next time.”
Stacy interjected after her brain processed what he said. “Wait, did you say Candace was here?”
“Yeah! Jeremy, too.”
“She didn't try and find your mom?”
“Nope.” He shrugged. “I guess she got caught up in the spirit of competition. She looked like she was having fun!”
Ferb nodded in agreement. His expression said, I'm just glad my sister is having a nice time. I believe pillow fighting was a good outlet for her pent-up anxieties, and the atmosphere of a sleepover tends to put people at ease.
“In that case, I know where our first stop is.” Vanessa linked her arm with Stacy’s. “Let’s go say hi to her.”
She immediately felt her pulse quicken for multiple reasons, and none of them were promising. “You don’t wanna see what’s playing first?”
“The Bad Feeling: Part VII,” said Ferb.
The brunette shook her head. “Seen it a million times. Besides, if she knows we’re here, she’s gonna hunt us down, anyway. Let’s beat her to the punch.”
Stacy feigned nonchalance as they waved goodbye to the boys and walked towards the pillow arena. She hadn’t counted on Candace participating in the fun, and thus assumed that her BFF wouldn’t find out that Vanessa was on a not-a-date with her, but this was fine. She just had to play it cool.
“Sooo… when’s the wedding?”
Candace was gripping her friend’s arm with enthusiastic intensity. The girl had pulled Stacy to the side as soon as she saw her walk into the room, arm-in-arm with Vanessa and nervously fidgeting with her hair. She’d even put her sparring match with Jeremy on pause for such an occasion, leaving him to make small talk with the goth as she began her interrogation.
She leaned closer to Stacy and squealed into her bestie’s shoulder to muffle the noise, not giving her a chance to reply to her teasing question. “Oh my gosh, this is so cute!! Stacy, you gotta tell me everything!”
“It’s not like that,” Stacy protested as she lightly pushed Candace back a few inches. “We’re coworkers, remember? Coworkers hang out.”
“Don’t even try to tell me this isn’t a date in disguise.” The redhead glanced over at the other two teens with a grin hidden behind a curled fist. “Jeremy and I used to go on those allll the time. I know exactly what they look like.”
“Yeah, and then you’d text me a billion times asking me if I thought it was a real date or not. I’m not doing that.”
“You don’t have to.” She giggled, a mix between giddy and mischievous. “I can tell you’re thinking it. I know these things.”
A beleaguered sigh escaped Stacy.
Her friend’s Cupid-like mindset was her own fault. She’d planted the seed about a month ago, and she’d been reaping ever since.
She’d been doing a little too much overtime at work. A little too much rescheduling. A little too much of blowing Candace off and making excuses. The other girl was starting to catch on, and while she didn’t hold it against her (she’d run away from Stacy to bust her brothers plenty of times, after all), she did want to know what was keeping her away from their hangout sessions.
So one night, while doing homework in her room, Candace asked for the truth.
Obviously, Stacy couldn’t tell her the truth. She was bound by friendship first and contract second to protect Perry’s secret identity. So telling Candace that she worked for a spy agency wasn’t an option, because it would raise too many additional questions, and then her entire family would fall to pieces.
So the intern said the first plausible lie that popped into her head: she was crushing on Vanessa, and they’d been spending a lot of time together lately. It was believable, and it would keep the Flynn-Fletchers away from OWCA.
And since Candace Flynn was Candace Flynn, she had taken this information with boundless excitement. After that conversation, Stacy had to endure the redhead’s subtle matchmaking attempts whenever the three of them were in the same vicinity.
She couldn’t blame her. Candace just wanted her friend to be happy and find love, the same way she had with Jeremy. And if Stacy actually did have a crush on Vanessa, she would have really appreciated the encouragement and support from someone she cared so much about.
But now, she had to somehow work this façade into the OWCA balance, and that was becoming more and more difficult with a peppy, would-be wingwoman meddling in what was supposed to be a relaxing night off of work.
Candace gently jostled her friend’s arm. “Listen, you’ve got nothing to worry about. You couldn’t have asked for a better first date.”
“Not a date.”
“And when you two are wrinkly old ladies sharing a room in the nursing home, you’re gonna reminisce on this very night while eating Fig Newtons.” She sighed at her own sentimentality. “Jeremy and I are gonna be down the hall, and I’m gonna be playing his old CDs to help him remember his past.”
“You’ve really got it all planned out, then,” Stacy replied, deadpan.
“Yep. Xavier and Amanda visit us with their kids every Sunday.”
“You mean you don't have names picked out for your grandchildren?”
“First of all, that would be Xavier and Amanda's decision, not mine. Obviously.” She rolled her eyes and exhaled a clipped sigh. “Second of all, don't distract me. I'm trying to get you a girlfriend.”
“Well, that’s only gonna happen if she likes me . Which she doesn’t. Because this isn’t a date.”
“Oh, stop selling yourself short. You’re beyond likable.”
The two girls made eye contact with Jeremy across the room, who smiled at them in acknowledgement. Vanessa followed suit. She nodded at Candace, and with a knowing grin, winked at Stacy. Winked.
Blood rushed to Stacy’s cheeks as she looked away. This was not helping her case at all.
Candace excitedly gripped her arm. “ See?! Did you see that, Stace? She’s so into you!”
“That could have meant literally anything.”
“Your face is turning reeed,” she teased in a singsong voice.
Stacy shook her head and smiled, despite herself. She couldn't stay irritated with Candace for very long. Despite her rising stress levels, she had a built-in patience for her best friend's exuberance. And it was a comfort to know that she would always have someone in her corner, no matter who she was actually crushing on.
At least she wasn't making her hide behind bushes and use bird calls this time.
After Stacy managed to escape that exchange, she and Vanessa decided to make their way towards the horror theater. It was about to play Final Destination, which was a franchise Candace vehemently avoided watching (for the very valid reason that it would make her anxiety worse). She and Jeremy opted for the screening of 13 going on 30 instead.
This meant more alone time with Vanessa, which she would surely be grilled on later. Maybe she could think of some way to get Candace off her case in the meantime.
The coworkers blinked as their eyes adjusted to the dark theater. The credits from the previous movie were still rolling, and people were milling about in the interim. Some stayed seated, some only stepped out for a quick snack run, and some were headed for a new activity altogether, thoroughly finished with spooky things for the evening.
Stacy, on the other hand, could watch scary movies all day long. If there weren't so many other fun things to do, she would suggest setting up camp here until sunrise. Vanessa would have been down for that.
A shared love for horror was one of Stacy's favorite things about hanging with Vanessa. Candace would watch some things with her, but she had her limits, and wouldn't watch the more intense stuff. Jeremy had no interest in the genre whatsoever, and Jenny was fundamentally opposed to it on several levels. So when Vanessa invited her along to see the newest installment in the Alabama Nail Gun Slaughter franchise a few months ago, she realized she'd finally found a kindred spirit.
The brunette sipped at her oversized soda as she surveyed the seating options. There were some more traditional theater seats in the middle, but couches, beanbags, and other quirky seats were also available. All of them looked tempting; even the aisle seats looked cozy and velvet-y.
Stacy made a beeline for a particularly large and squishy beanbag. She had a similar, smaller one at home, and it was perfect for vegging out and watching TV.
She settled into it, popcorn in one hand and slushie in the other, and let herself sink into its purple fabric. Perfect. There was a matching orange one to the left; she and Vanessa would each have their own little nests of laziness.
She looked towards her friend to ask her to fetch a throw blanket, having forgotten it in the excitement of finding the perfect spot, when she saw that she was standing right in front of her. Their knees would collide if Stacy shifted forward.
Vanessa shoved a handful of milk duds into her mouth and made a small sweeping gesture with her free hand. “Scoot.”
“Wait, did you want this one?” Stacy moved to push herself up. “I guess it doesn't really matter. I can take the orange one–”
“No, dummy.” She gulped her candy down and shook her head. “Just scoot over.”
“Oh.” A pause as the gears in her brain turned. “Okay.”
She shifted about a foot to the right, and Vanessa plopped down beside her, swinging both legs across Stacy's lap once she was seated. She then casually ate another piece of chocolate as she watched the screen go black, fading into the logos for the next film.
Stacy immediately put all her focus into acting normal. Her eyes were locked on the Final Destination opening credits – she didn't dare look in Vanessa's direction yet. She continuously slurped on her slushie, letting the freezing cherry flavor occupy her senses instead.
The two of them sat (relatively) comfortably until the characters arrived at the airport.
Vanessa offered her a milk dud. “You seen this one before?”
Stacy took it, and offered her some popcorn in return. “Yeah, but it's been a while. I don't remember much. Besides the plane crash.”
“Naturally.” She pointed at one of the actresses. "Man, I used to have the biggest crush on Clear.”
“Oh, yeah?”
“I thought I wanted to be her, but turns out I just thought she was pretty.” A nostalgic smile spread across her face. “I was so obsessed with this movie, I tried making all my friends watch it with me for my tenth birthday. Did not go over well.”
Stacy's eyes widened. “Wait, your parents let you watch this as a kid ?”
She shrugged. “I'm a child of divorce. I got away with a lot of things I probably shouldn't have.”
“I can't imagine. My mom wouldn't even let me and Ginger watch Spongebob for the longest time.” She snickered. “Said it would turn us stupid.”
“Maybe that's why you're acing Spanish right now, and I can't even remember how to ask where the bathroom is.”
Stacy shook her head in mock solemnity. “It's all that Spongebob you watched.”
“It fried all my brain cells,” she confirmed.
They broke into a fit of muffled laughter, and were loudly shushed by someone to their left.
Stacy leaned in closer and whispered. “You wanna know what fried my brain cells?”
“What?”
“When my mom wasn't home, I used to turn on MTV and watch Jackass.”
“You're kidding !” Vanessa snorted and grinned. “That wouldn't have been my first guess.”
“I loved it.” She took another sip of her drink. “It was the dumbest thing I'd ever seen. I didn't know television could be that dumb until then.”
“I wish we had met earlier,” Vanessa said as she leaned back and watched the characters board the doomed plane. “We could have watched so much dumb stuff together.”
The statement sent a glimmer of something through Stacy's chest. It was warm. And soft. And strange.
She glanced at Vanessa, whose face was lit only by the screen, and felt a sudden sense of longing. Maybe it was for what she'd just brought up: years lost between them by not meeting soon enough. Maybe it was because they almost never got to do stuff like this, never got to just goof off and act like teenagers.
Or maybe it was something else.
Looking at Vanessa in a romantic light had become something Stacy had been actively fighting over the past several weeks, and she didn't know why. She hadn't felt this stubbornness during the brief period that she and Coltrane were an item. He was easy to approach, and easier to admit her feelings for.
Was it because he was a boy, and Vanessa was a girl? Stacy didn't want to think so. She had known that she was into women for a fairly long time now, and none of her friends and family took issue with it. She'd even briefly dated a girl last year named Kimberly, but it hadn't worked out.
She absently watched the movie progress as she tried to think of what made the situation with Vanessa different from Coltrane and Kimberly.
She'd met Coltrane at that concert, and they'd hit it off immediately. Kimberly moved to Danville a year ago, and Stacy asked her out after seeing her across the lunch room. The first time Stacy and Vanessa had spoken was…
Her fingernails left an indent in her styrofoam cup as she tried to remember. It was probably at some party she went to with Candace, because she was friends with her before Stacy was. She must have introduced them.
And then they became coworkers by random chance. If not for OWCA, they probably wouldn't have hung out again without the context of knowing Candace.
The first time any thoughts of admiration had crossed Stacy's mind were after watching Vanessa use a grappling hook to scale the side of her dad's building. She handled the feat with such grace; it was like she did it every day. Effortlessly cool. Who wouldn't be impressed by that?
Maybe it was because Stacy had the time to become friends with Vanessa before the thought “wow, she's really pretty” ever crossed her mind, before any butterflies ever assaulted her innards while they were together.
In her mind, her friends were in one category, and her romantic pursuits were in another. The wires never crossed, as it were. And she didn't know how she felt about them choosing now, of all times, to cross. Plus, if she really did like Vanessa, Candace would be vindicated, and she'd never hear the end of it.
But maybe it was worth it.
The on-screen plane exploded in a horrific burst of flames, and Vanessa watched with the rapt attention of someone who knew every beat of the plot, and anticipated every twist and turn. The skulls on her pajama pants stared Stacy down with devilish grins.
She leaned forward again, resting her arms on Vanessa's legs like a table. “When are you free again?”
The brunette turned her attention back to her friend and raised an eyebrow. “Depends on who's asking and why. But I guess, since it's you, I'll hear you out.”
Another flutter hit Stacy's heart. “Wanna make up for lost time later this week?”
Vanessa’s dark lips curved upward. “How so?”
“I haven't seen the rest of the Final Destination movies. We could rent them and have a marathon at my place.” She tilted her head. “Make up for lost time.”
“Only if we rent a bunch of Spongebob DVDs, too.”
“Of course.”
“How's tomorrow night sound?”
Stacy hesitated for a moment before saying, “It's a date.”
Her risky reply was rewarded by Vanessa giving her a look that was ten times softer and more sincere than Stacy was used to seeing from her.
Initially, she was overjoyed with this response, and then she felt guilty about the possibility of not returning Vanessa’s feelings if she did have them. Then, she circled back around to contentment. That's what dates were for, right? Figuring things out.
Slightly disoriented (in a good way) and wanting to put the issue out of her mind, Stacy reclined back and rested her head on the beanbag as they returned to actually watching the movie. The main character of the movie burnt to a crisp as the two girls' minds swam with thoughts about each other.