Chapter Text
No one ever expected Phineas Flynn to be subtle.
To be fair, it just wasn’t his brand! He was always building city-wide inventions or becoming famous for some reason or other. Subtlety didn’t really fit with that. Everyone expected the big and extravagant from him– which was great, because Phineas was more than happy to provide the big and extravagant.
So it stood to reason that people took a while before catching on to his feelings for his best friend, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro.
Because while everyone kinda knew it might happen someday, no one figured it would happen so discreetly.
It was the summer before freshman year of high school, and the Fireside Girls had just graduated. Phineas and Ferb, in true Phineas and Ferb fashion, had decided that the only proper way to celebrate it was throwing a huge festival at Danville Park.
Safe to say, it was a hit. From Love Handel to Max Modem, the concert playlist was pretty awesome. The cherry on top, though, was the brand new Phineas and the Ferbtones song that marked the start of their “comeback”.
(“We don’t plan to be playing a lot in the next few years,” Phineas had said to an interviewer, “A few singles might pop up here and then, but, who knows? Today, the main focus was celebrating our friends and their accomplishments!”)
And after their final chord, while the crowd went wild with cheers, Phineas turned to look at Isabella. And it wasn’t meant to be a big deal. Phineas had looked at Isabella plenty of times before. It was nothing new.
But that night, the colorful lights from the stage were reflected on her hair. She was slightly out of breath from the performance, but she had the widest, most dazzling smile he had ever seen. She looked back at him, mouthing “you were awesome!” and then staring back at the crowd.
And the moment couldn’t have been longer than three seconds.
At its core, it wasn’t anything extraordinary.
But it was a good moment, and it was true. Living it felt like remembering something he had forgotten for a long time. And it wasn’t just an Oh moment.
It was Oh, of course .
Phineas Flynn was completely, stupidly in love with Isabella Garcia-Shapiro.
And it felt like the most natural thing in the world.
- · ─ ─ · ·
Phineas didn’t tell her immediately.
Some voice in the back of his mind told him he should, that it was only fair. But he was quick to realize he could just put it off. After all, they were friends! He had the joy of her company and the luxury of her attention on a daily basis! They didn’t need to be anything more than that then. They could just enjoy the last two weeks of summer without any rejection ruining the fun.
From the outside, it really looked like nothing had changed. Maybe it hadn’t, Phineas reasoned, maybe his feelings for her had always been so there , him noticing them couldn’t make that much of a difference. Maybe he looked at her for a second too long, and maybe he always double-checked to see if she was laughing at his jokes, but Isabella didn’t seem to notice anything strange.
And good , he thought, I’d really like to explain this in my own terms .
He thought about telling Ferb, but decided against it. As much as it hurt to keep a secret from his brother, he knew that talking to Ferb often led to his big ideas and crazy inventions. Besides, the whole secret crush thing had left him contemplative. It was good to bask in that feeling while he could.
“Hey Phin, watcha doin?”
He smiled at her– he was always smiling when she was around nowadays. “Haven’t quite figured it out yet. Ferb went with mom to get… something. Funny, I don’t remember what it was. But he’ll be back on time for some project, I think.”
“That’s nice! The Fireside Girls and I–” She cut herself off with a chuckle. “Well, ex -Fireside Girls, I guess. That sounds really weird. Anyways, the girls and I were planning on a pool party at my house. I just wanted to swing by and invite you guys.”
“Sounds great! We’ll call it a day off. Have you invited Buford and Baljeet yet?”
“Unsurprisingly, Ginger volunteered to invite him,” Isabella said, “Honestly, I’d tease her for being so persistent, but, y’know, pot, kettle.”
“What?”
“Nothing! Anyways, I wouldn’t be so quick with calling this a day off. I would really appreciate some help with making this pool party great!”
Phineas rolled his eyes fondly. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you only hang out with me for my inventions.”
Isabella snorted. “I’ve been hanging out with you since you could only build with Legos.”
“Legos are still pretty cool.”
It was Isabella’s turn to roll her eyes. “C’mon, Lego boy, let’s plan a pool party.”
Phineas just smiled to himself. Yep. Completely in love with her. And so, so glad he could at least be her friend.
- · ─ ─ · ·
It only took a full afternoon around Isabella for Phineas to realize he would have a harder time keeping his secret than he thought.
The pool party– which had spiraled into more of a water park party once Ferb got home– had been proof of it. Phineas was so used to orbiting around her during their projects that he didn’t realize his new awareness would change anything about it. But it was clear that at the littlest distance from the rest of their friendgroup, he had to bite his tongue to keep himself from giving everything away.
She casually remarked on the slides, laughed at her friends' antics from afar, complimented him on a job well done.
And at every little thing, before he figured out how to respond, the three pesky little words would urgently echo through his mind. For a split second, he almost said them, like they were the only things he could possibly say.
I love you .
He made a joke, she laughed.
( I love you )
They reminisced about past summers while they set up snacks.
( I love you )
She’d squint, adorably, to see through the sun glare.
( I love you )
And it didn’t seem to stop. Phineas couldn’t even bring himself to want it to stop. He couldn’t imagine a life without that impulse anymore, hard as it was to control, simply because it was so natural. Isabella was easy to adore.
“By far, the craziest thing we had to do was actually when we collected that sap for you. We had to fly a hippie van,” she said, laughing.
Phineas couldn’t help but laugh. “You had to drive ? At what, eleven?”
“Oh no, we didn’t drive,” Isabella said emphatically, “I meant it when I said fly. But of course, all the Fireside Girl craziness doesn’t stand a chance if we’re gonna compare it to what we did in your backyard.”
“You never had to fly hippie vans! We kept our endeavors hippie van free!”
“Of course, because the hippie van is definitely the most absurd part of that story,” she deadpanned.
( I love you )
“You’re right, it was definitely the hippie.”
Isabella laughed, a full laugh that brightened up his entire being. They were sitting at the edge of the pool, occasionally splashing water at each other, and the last bits of pure afternoon sunshine were cascading around them like a warm hug. She told him about other Fireside Girl exploits, about the sleepover prank calls she had done with Ginger and Adyson, and Phineas shared the stories from his trips to England and field trips he had done with his family.
Then the sun set, and, right as the Flynn-Fletcher car was pulling up in the driveway across the street, the Mysterious Force got to work again and a laser beam from the sky turned the whole thing to bubbles.
Most of the guests took this as their leave and the party came to a close. Phineas volunteered to help clean up.
“You really don’t have to! This won’t take long,” Isabella said.
“Don’t worry, it’s my pleasure.” (I love you) “We could make this fun! Let’s listen to some music while we do the dishes.”
Isabella shook her head, looking amused. “You really take carpe diem seriously. Well, I guess it would be carpe cleaning time. We’ll have to ask Buford what that would be in Latin.”
“That’s what we’ll name our cleaning up playlist,” he said, and it felt good to say something was theirs, “You can fill it with as much ABBA as you want.”
“You have to admit, ABBA is like, perfect cleaning music.”
“Timeless and fun.”
“Exactly!”
When they weren’t talking, they were singing, and when that trailed off, they worked in companionable silence. Phineas laughed, teased, and smiled for the sake of smiling. He stored away his I love you s, waiting for the right time, the best time, and loved her loudly only in his own mind. He was determined to make this summer perfect, and deal with his fears and doubts once it was over.
He wouldn’t dare to hope yet. He didn’t let himself imagine what could truly come from their friendship.
But it was possible, right? For her to feel the same way? For her to want to clean up after parties with him forever?
Gently, he silenced those thoughts, and let himself enjoy one of the most beautiful summer evenings of his life.