Chapter Text
My phone- Where is it?! No, no, no, this can’t be happening. I gotta call mom!
Candace Flynn sniffles to herself, snatching up another wad of tissue paper and trying to wipe away her leaking mascara. Shaking hands fumble around pockets as Candace frantically tries to find her phone.
“Oh come on!” Candace whines.
Candace stops for half a second when she remembers something crucial. She didn’t have her phone. It was still in her room on the charger. Fresh tears flood down her cheeks as she brings her knees up to her chest to sob into them.
The toilet seat she was currently perched on ominously creaks from her full weight, though it goes ignored.
Candace is too preoccupied with the latest, most horrible circumstance known to womankind: her first period.
“Phineas!” Candace shrieks, popping out of her ball and stomping her way to the bathroom door. Flinging it open, the girl continues her march toward her brother’s room.
She could have sworn the two little brainiacs hadn’t gone downstairs yet. It was barely eight in the morning!
“Ferb!” Candace tacks on. She wasn’t as upset with her stepbrother as much as her own blood; after all, Ferb really only ever did what Phineas did. It just felt right to shout, and she needed something to say to do so, so her brothers’ names would just have to do.
This is all Phineas’s fault! He must’ve made some sort of new contraption that made me start my cycle early. It’s gotta be the only explanation. I mean- I’m only eleven years old!
“PHINEAS!” Candace bellows, busting through her brothers’ shared bedroom door.
The boys sit across from each other on the floor, several pieces of scrap paper and what looks like an entire box of crayons are littered around them. The two perk up at the sight of their sister (well, Phineas does. Ferb sits as stoically as always), a wide smile creeping onto Phineas’s face as the girl looms over him. They hadn’t even changed out of their pajamas yet…
“Hey Candace! You wanna see this next project we’re working on? I think you’re really gonna like it. We’re gonna build a giant Ducky Momo sprinkler!” Phineas beams. The paper flaps almost hard enough to rip when Phineas jerks it up for Candace to see. His arms lower the longer Candace silently glares down at him, his smile slipping just as quickly.
“Candace?” He asks nervously.
“What did you do to me this time?!” Candace barks.
“What-?” Phineas tries. Candace swiftly cuts him off, taking a few steps closer. There’s a fleeting moment of uncertainty at the sight of her little brother scuttling back a couple of paces of his own in an awkward crab walk, but the feeling is instantly swallowed by the righteous anger washing through her.
“I know you had something to do with this! Don’t lie to me! Fix it! Fix it now!” Candace cries, her finger slicing over to his direction. Her voice cracks at the end, putting an extra amount of force into the words than she meant to.
Oh well. It got her point across.
Or… maybe too across…
“Oh… Oh, Phineas, I didn’t mean to- I’m so sorry!” Candace backpedals, now doing her best to keep her voice as soft and gentle as possible. She never did like it when her brother cried; much less if she was the one that caused it.
“I don’t know what I did!” Phineas wails, getting to his feet and barreling past her. Ferb turns to her, and for the first time, Candace sees a proper emotion on his face. It was anger; and it was directed right at her.
“But- but- wait- Ferb, I didn’t mean to-!” Candace chokes, her own anger gone in a flash and replaced with a soul-sucking sadness just as quickly. What is wrong with me?!
Candace would have done anything to hear her stepbrother speak even just a single word in that moment. Instead, it’s like an icicle to the heart when Ferb’s frown simply deepens, and the boy stands and chases after Phineas.
Oh Phineas… What have I done?
…
Candace cautiously sidesteps over to the stairs. She didn’t trust herself to step up to the banister, so instead, Candace takes a seat on the wall and listens.
It’s not too hard to pick out the mangled sobbing speech of her little brother amidst nose-blowing and the occasional cough. Then again, Phineas never was very good at keeping his voice down.
“I don’t know what I did.” Phineas whimpers, “I thought she’d like it! I just wanted to make her feel better from her tummy ache yesterday. I didn’t mean to make her angry.” He rambles.
Candace could just picture it now: Phineas was hiding under the table like he does whenever he gets properly scared, the family’s pet platypus wrapped up in his arms like a warm, weighted, strangely-always-slightly-moist stuffed animal, and Ferb sitting right by his side, comfortably sharing his space and letting Phineas talk out his problems like some sort of pseudo-therapist.
Candace brings an arm up to drape over her stomach. She’d completely forgotten about her cramping the day before!
Mom brought her some sort of medicine and an electric heating pad to make it go away. Then she talked about something for a long time, but to be honest, Candace hadn’t been paying much attention… She was too focused on the crushing fire that was her belly.
Vaguely, the memory of Phineas sneaking into Candace’s room right after Mom had left slips into Candace’s mind. The boy had shuffled over on his knees, his nose just barely peeking above the edge of her bed as his tiny fist painfully slowly climbed it. It opened to drop a fistful of paper stars in a little pile by her face. They were a mix of Phineas’s, Ferb’s, and (mostly) Candace’s favorite colors. Quicker than the stars arrival, a handmade “get well” card was tossed up on top of the whole pile. And just like that, Phineas took off to blessedly leave her alone.
Come to think of it… Candace never actually read that card.
Walking has suddenly just become way too hard, so Candace gets to her hands and knees and crawls her way back to her bedroom. She makes her way over to her nightstand that she’d slapped the note onto the night before and fumbles around for a second before accidentally knocking it and some of the stars to the floor. It lands perfectly in front of her, and the picture on the front nearly makes her start crying again.
It was a crudely rendered, obviously child-made drawing of their family. Mom and Dad were on the left and right with Candace in the middle. Phineas stood to the left with Mom, while Ferb stood on the right with Dad. Bold, blocky letters scrawl across the top reading ‘Get well soon!’
Opening it up faired no better to Candace’s already bleeding heart. There was another picture on the inside, though it looked a little rushed. Phineas, Ferb, and Candace herself stared back, the trio holding hands inside a very nicely drawn spaceship. The inside read ‘Hope you feel better soon! Love you!” With several hearts and stars scattered about the inside.
Now Candace really was crying. She really needed to talk to Mom.
Candace’s phone rings on speaker phone as she settles herself on the floor; her back to her bed and legs sprawled out in front of her. She was careful not to hurt the card as she picks it up and studies the details through watery eyes. So focused on the picture, she almost doesn’t realize Mom has answered until the third “hello.”
“Candace? Is everything ok?” Mom asks with a sigh.
“Mom?” Candace sniffs out, and she swore she could feel the shift of Linda’s demeanor over the silence.
“What’s wrong sweetie? Are you ok? Are you hurt? What about the boys?” Mom prattles. Candace cuts her off with a small squeak, and Linda patiently waits for Candace to gather herself.
“Mom, what is wrong with me? Why am I so angry?” Candace pouts. Linda lets out a relieved sigh.
“Oh, honey. It’s just like I told you yesterday: your just changing! Your hormones are going to be all over the place for a little bit, so your emotions might go a little crazy because of it. Your cycle happens every once a month. Did you choose one of the options I gave you?” Mom explains.
“Options?” Candace asks.
“Yes, dear; the tampons or the pads in the bathroom cabinet?” Mom hums.
“I… I haven’t yet.” Candace murmurs.
“Well, go and do that soon, cause you don’t want to mess up your pants. Pay attention to the instructions on the box on how to do it. I’ll be home soon; I’m leaving the store now.” Mom lists. Candace hums her agreement, hanging up and shutting her phone. A weight settles in her chest at the realization that she hadn’t mentioned anything about Phineas.
One problem at a time. She’d fix it in a few minutes.
…
After changing her clothes (there was a little spotting, but not too bad yet), and ultimately deciding on using both options for safe measure, Candace felt much better. That relaxed feeling quickly faded when she heard her brother’s sudden hacking downstairs.
Right. Phineas.
Candace sighs as she makes her way to the stairs. It took genuine effort to put one foot in front of the other, but she made it. Candace Flynn stands at the top of the stairs, totally ready to go down and apologize to her baby brother! Yeah…
Candace yelps when a heavy energy invades her space, and the girl whips around to find Ferb staring her down.
“What- Ferb? I thought you were downstairs! With… Phineas…” Candace peters out, bitting her lip and squeezing her hands together until they turn white.
Ferb blinks up at her. He didn’t seem outright angry anymore, but he was still kind of irritated. Candace looks down and sees Phineas’s favorite stuffed toy in Ferb’s arms; a life-sized stuffed platypus. Go figure.
“Oh. That bad, huh?” Candace mumbles. Ferb’s eyes narrow, and Candace laughs nervously, followed by a sigh.
“Ferb, this is all my fault… Phineas didn’t do anything wrong; it was just- uh… girl stuff. Yeah… I just- I don’t know what came over me. What do I do?” Candace moans. Half a second later, a stuffed platypus is pressed into her chest.
“Wait, are you… actually smiling?” Candace gasps. Ferb shrugs, the tiniest smirk on his lips as he holds the stuffy out to his sister to take. The girl accepts it and takes a deep breath in. Letting it out, Candace nods.
“Ok. Let’s do this.” She nods.
…
“It’s like she doesn’t want anything to do with me! I just can’t do anything right for Candace. All she seems to want is for Mom to make me and Ferb stop having fun! Maybe I should just stop… What do you think, Perry? Should I just… not do anything for the rest of summer?” Phineas whines, nuzzling his cheek into that blueberry-colored fur. Perry still smelled like strawberries and cream from his bath the day before. He supposes then that it was a good thing Candace complained about the usually unscented baby shampoos that made Perry smell like stinky cheese.
Just another reason Phineas loved Perry.
Speaking of, said platypus lets out the loudest chitter Phineas has ever heard, digging his face into the boy’s neck, flattening out his body and pressing himself down like he was attempting to wriggle inside the kid’s skin.
Since platypus’s didn’t exactly have arms like humans, Phineas knew this particular maneuver as “Perry’s Special Hug.” Phineas squeezes him gently back.
“Thanks, Perry… You really are the best pet a boy could ask for…” Phineas whispers.
“He’s right, y’know,” Phineas flinches at the interruption, “For a platypus.” He hadn’t realized Perry had been continuously purring until it comes to an abrupt stop in the face of Candace’s voice. Phineas allows Perry just enough wiggle room to twist around and glare at Candace’s legs; the only visible part of her at the moment. Phineas pulls Perry closer, along with his knees in a poor attempt to curl into a ball around his pet.
“Phineas…” Candace sighs softly, slowly joining her brother on the floor and sitting crisscross-applesauce across from him. It had been so long since Candace had seen Phineas this upset, and the sight almost broke her. Candace swallows against the hard lump in her throat and starts anew.
“Phineas, look… I- I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that.” Candace pauses, fiddling with the little stuffed platypus in her own hands. Huh. How had she never noticed how old this thing was? Where did its eye go?
Candace clears her throat, turning her attention back to Phineas. He was watching her carefully; studying her like one of his little contraptions like he was worried it would explode. Candace delicately reaches over and sets the toy down right on top of his bare feet.
“You didn’t deserve that at all, and I’m sorry. You shouldn’t stop building things that you love just because I get crazy sometimes-.” Candace huffs out in a bland laugh.
“Sometimes?” Phineas smirks, cautiously unfurling, though still holding onto Perry like a lifeline.
“Ok, all the time!” Candace snorts.
“But it’s just because I worry about you two!” She continues, “I’m just scared that if something were to happen to you guys, I wouldn’t be enough to help! You guys are the coolest, smartest little brothers a sister could ask for-.” Candace finishes.
Before she could add anything else, Candace’s arms are suddenly full of striped pajamas and her mouth of bright red hair that was very much not her own.
Candace spits it out, stretching her neck to peer down at Phineas with a smirk of her own. The boy had slammed into her with such force it nearly knocked her over, but it was so worth his big smile stretching from ear to ear and the tight squeeze to her middle that kept her from taking a full breath.
Candace’s heart melts along with her resolve as she resettles herself so she could hug Phineas back.
Candace feels the weight of Ferb’s presence as he settles down next to her, his staring burning into the side of her head. She shifts her eyes over to look at him, and her heart melts all over again. Candace had never seen her stepbrother’s eyes sparkle like this before, and especially not paired with a full smile that actually filled his whole face!
Candace can’t help herself.
“Oh-!” She sniffs, snatching Ferb up into the hug and giving the both of her brothers a squeeze.
Candace sighs when she feels the strangely clammy, yet warm webbed feet of a certain platypus slap onto her shin as Perry requests permission in his own way to join in.
“Oh, fine. You too, I guess.” Candace concedes, smiling warmly as Perry scrambles up into her lap, spins in an awkward circle, then flops down like she’s his own personal chaise.
“I love you, Candace…” Phineas mumbles into Candace’s shoulder.
“I love you guys, too.” Candace announces, pulling the three closer as her worries fly away.