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The bookshelves were not quite as tall to reach the ceiling, but you still had to use a little ladder to reach the books on the top shelves. You would have to ask for it to the librarian, there was only one, and sometimes it was hard to find on the rows and rows of the wooden bookshelves. There weren't a lot of people at the library, and sometimes the most exciting thing the librarian would do was finding the little ladder.
Right now the library was mostly quiet, the soft turning of pages was the only sound it could be heard, well that and the two teenagers talking quietly to each other. Sat on the far back table, far away from anybody who was attempting to read or study.
A pair of notebooks open between them, their school utensils scattered around them on the table, pencils, pens, markers… to anyone passing by it would seem they were deep in a school project.
“Now, what about an octopus riding a motorcycle?” The redhead boy asked his companion, the girl hummed deep in thought.
“I think that would be more possible” the girl says, a pink marker in hand she starts to doodle a motorcycle on one of the notebooks, “If it's big enough it could reach the pedals” she closes the marker and perches it on her ear, “But I think all the extra arms are not very aerodynamic” she says.
The boy hums, uncapping his own orange marker,”Not if they are flailing in the wind, now if it stuck them to the motorcycle it would be basically like a seatbelt” he says doodling an octopus on the pink bike the girl just drew, “Three seat belts, now that's what I call security” he says, finishing the doodle and pointing at it.
Isabella, giggles, “Yeah, I think that in a subaquatic motorcycle race an octopus would be the safest bet”
The boy snorts, “I would still cheer for the anchovy though” Phineas says, shrugging, pointing to a different doodle, this one of an orange bike with a pink anchovy. “He’s my guy”
Isabella rolls her eyes and drops her head on her hand, “You would lose all your money if you bet for him” her half lidded eyes on him, “All your precious subaquatic money” she taunts, smirking.
He grins back, coping her pose, “I didn’t say I would bet for him though” he boops her nose with the end of his marker, smirking , “I just said I would cheer” Isabella takes the marker from him, a smile still on her face and her cheeks slightly pink.
“Fair enough” she says, “We’ll have to get you some waterproof pom poms then” she states waving the marker at him. “Who will you be betting on then? Octopus, squid, jellyfish…?”
“That my dear Isabella” he says leaning in and taking her marker from her ear, “It’s a secret” he whispers putting the marker to his lips, smirking.
She feels a familiar warmth creep up on her cheeks as she hears the term of endearment, she looks away from him, hoping he doesn’t notice the red of her cheeks. She knows he’s just joking and that calling her that doesn’t mean anything, but it doesn’t fail to bring a breeze of butterflies to her stomach.
She looks down onto their open notebooks, both pages are filled with pink and orange, motorbikes and sea creatures in all corners. She notices how there’s no space left, she glances at him and sees how he has noticed the same. He leaves the marker he was holding to the side, then he reaches for his notebook to turn to the next page.
She grabs his hand before he can, “Phin” she says giving him a pointed look, he looks away, face innocent, “Weren’t we supposed to study?” she asks.
“Hhhmm…” he puts his free hand on his chin, “Perhaps…we should revisit the jellyfish” he says, snapping his fingers.
She softly presses his hand to the table, “Phineas” she says with a raised eyebrow, “You were the one who wanted to come to the library because, and I quote, ‘So I don’t get distracted’” she says.
“Well, that didn’t work too well,” he says.
She rolls her eyes, “You don’t say,” she sighs before leaning in and looking at him square in the eye, “Ok, turn to a new page on your notebook, I’m getting out the english book” Phineas’ eyes widen.
“Everything but english!” he exclaims, it’s a little too loud for the quiet tone they have been holding, so it is not a surprise when someone shushes him, the redhead flinches at the sound, “Please, Izzy, can’t we do math?” he now whispers, his eyes begging her.
She shakes her head, “You know how to build rockets, Phin” she says.
“But my math is far from perfect” he states, “I think I could work on polishing it a little bit-”
“Get out your english book” she interrupts.
“You’re ruthless”
“Love ya too, bud” she says in a mocking tone patting his hand.
He quickly turns his head away, probably just going to look for his english book. Thank goodness he did, because even though she said it in a friendly joking manner she can’t help the redness of her cheeks. It’s her own fault really, for saying something like that.
She takes out her own english book, then she notices Phineas is still turned away from her, she raises an eyebrow, “Don’t tell me you didn’t bring your english book” she says.
Phineas slightly jumps when he hears her voice, “No, no, I got it, it’s just…-”he then stands up, his chair scraping on the floor, he flinches at the sound, he’s still looking away from her, “I gotta run to the bathroom real quick, I’ll be back in a sec” he says, and before she has any time to reply he is off.
She huffs, “Delaying the inevitable” she mumbles.
\”>
He runs as fast as he is allowed to in a public library, so not really fast. When he makes it to the bathroom he thanks all forces of the universe that is empty, he splashes water on his face. It’s cold. Good. He looks at himself in the mirror and as expected his face is tomato red.
He grumbles, “She’s gonna kill me” he sighs. He splashes more water on his face, hoping the coldness of it will help his cheeks turn back to normal faster. “Pull yourself together, Flynn” he snaps to his reflection, pointing at it. But Isabella’s words keep replaying in his mind, he shakes his head, “She meant that as a friend” he states, “And she was mocking me even!”
He frowns to his reflection, trying to calm down his racing heart, the image of Isabella pops on his mind and his look softens. Her smirk as she teased him, her long black hair bouncing as she talked, the mirth on her eyes as they talked nonsense about sea animals riding motorcycles. He sighs, how could he not freak out, she’s amazing.
The only sound in the bathroom is the dripping of the faucet and his own breathing, staring at his reflection, his eyes land on his friendship necklace. A pink metal puzzle piece that matched Isabella’s own metal orange piece hanging from her neck, they fit together perfectly, they made sure of that when they made them back in grade school, it was corny as hell.
They never ever took them off.
They made sure it was waterproof, fireproof, sandproof…anything-proof. It's like we have a piece of each other now. She said back then. He clutched the pendant, smiling at himself in the mirror. He didn’t know what to do with himself, he adored Isabella in every sense of the word, and he never ever wanted their friendship to end because of his feelings for her.
But he also was so in love with her, he sighs looking away from the mirror, and he has always sucked at lying, especially when it came to her. It was a mystery to him how she still hasn't realized, he keeps inventing stuff for her without her even asking, not to talk about the hand holding, the hugging, the banter and lowkey flirting.
It’s just a matter of time for her to find out, and then what?
He shakes his head, he just needs to keep it cool, keep his heart beat under control and the red out of his cheeks. Ferb has told him to just confess before, but he can’t just…do that. Not without risking one of his best friendships, and if he ever had the courage to do it, he would need more time to think how to even go about it.
Just asking her out? She deserved more than that, she deserved the world, and if he ever told her how he felt, he would make sure she knew how much she meant to him.
With a last sigh and a last check his cheeks were its normal color again, he rolled his shoulders and put a smile back on his face. His best friend was waiting.
He walked back to their spot and he took advantage of Isabella having her focus on her book to sneak behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders startling her.
“Boo” he whispers in her ear, Isabella turns her head to look at him, her eyes half lidded, her expression deadpan.
“You done hiding in the bathroom?” she asks, startling him. She knew he was hiding in there? His heartbeat was increasing, did she finally realize?! He was being so obvious and fidgety she had to, his feelings came out spilling with just one of her teases and now he didn't know what to do-
“You can't hide from English forever, you know?” she says with a smirk.
English…right…he chuckles and it comes out forced, “You got me” he says weakly sitting back down. Maybe he should have stayed in the bathroom longer, it’s clear his head is still all jumbled up.
—
He stretches his arms after slamming his book closed, “Well that was some productive studying” he says as Isabella puts away her books and school supplies on her backpack. He follows suit, she snorts pausing a second to just look at him.
“You tell yourself that” she says zipping her backpack closed before standing up, he in turn pouts and also zips his backpack closed.
“It was productive” he defends, standing up. Isabella just stares at him with a hand on her hip, “So productive in fact” he keeps going, sliding closer to her, “We deserve a treat” he smirks at her, her eyes slightly widened, “Ice cream?” he asks with a smile.
Isabella’s eyes go back to being half lidded as she huffs, crossing her arms she hums, “I don’t know if you deserve it” she says teasingly. He pouts and goes behind her wrapping his arms around her waist.
“Oh come on, Izzy” he whines hugging her close to his chest, she just keeps looking away from him, “We can get your favourite” he says, she hums as deep in thought her arms still crossed. He puts his chin on her shoulder, “Come on! It’s on me” she puts her hand on her chin, “We can go to that place you really like”
“Sounds tempting…” she says, he smiles, “But I don’t know…more hanging out with you? It’s like a fulltime job” she teases, he gasps in mock offense.
“You break my heart” he fake sniffs, “Or you would if it were true, you liar” he squeezes her, “You love me” he says. Isabella slightly turns her head, her hair covering what he could see of her face.
“I don’t know about that” she says, her voice still light.
“Come on, admit it, you love me” It’s not like she needs to, she said so before, even if mockingly, and not in the sense he would like. But he will take Isabella loving him in any way.
“Well…-”
“It is them!” A sudden voice interrupts whatever Isabella was going to say, they both turn their heads and two of their classmates are looking at them, “I can’t believe it” says the one that spoke first to the other.
They walk towards them, “Well I actually can believe it it was so obvious” she keeps speaking to her friend. He and Isabella just stare at them frozen in the spot, “Like we all knew it would happen eventually, it was a forgone conclusion” her friend nods.
“Uuuh…” Isabella starts, confused, “What are you talking about?” she asks.
Their classmate smiles, “About you two finally starting dating” as if they shocked each other they let go of one another quickly. His face is on fire and he’s glad Isabella is standing in front of him so she can’t see it.
“Uh, we-” he starts, about to explain that, no, they are not dating –he wishes– but a loud shushing sound interrupts him.
“Oop, sorry” their classmate whispers, “We were being loud, it was just surprising, well, have fun on your date” she says before she and her friend leave them both standing frozen in the library.
Date? Did she mean him asking Isabella to go for ice cream? That wasn’t a date…well he did offer to pay and they were going alone, the both of them…but they always did that! They hang out one on one a bunch, like just now they were studying, and yesterday they walked home together, and last Saturday they went to the mall…they are best friends. It isn't odd for them to spend time together.
Maybe it was all his flirting- he flinches, now that he thinks about it their usual banter could come off really flirty. With him hugging her from behind…and the whole ‘admit you love me’ bit…
Maybe he was coming too strong…he should learn to keep his hands to himself, and start thinking before he speaks too. What if Isabella realizes? Did she think he was flirting now? Maybe she was brushing it off earlier, but with other people pointing out how not platonic he was acting…it would be the catalyst for her to find out about his feelings.
He looks worriedly at her, she still has her back to him, not having moved a bit since their classmates left.
“Isa-”
“That’s funny” she interrupts him, “They thought we…isn’t that crazy” she chuckles but it sounds forced, he frowns, “Us…that-that would be insane…wouldn’t it?” she chuckles again, it still sounds fake.
“Isabella-”
“Anyway” she interrupts him again, slipping her backpack on, “Ice cream?” she asks, her head still turned away from him. He is worried, she is acting oddly, did the comment annoy her? Or does the idea disgust her? He wants to say something but draws a blank.
“Yeah” is the only thing that comes from his mouth.
They leave the library, as they walk to the ice cream place the silence between them is tense and awkward. He wishes he could read her mind right now, if she were uncomfortable she would have just left for home instead, wouldn’t she? She seems to be trying to brush it off, but she seems somewhat sad too.
He thinks of something to say, anything, but his mind is completely blank, for once he has no idea what to say.
So they stay silent all their walk to the ice cream place, once there they sit in one of the booths besides a window. The sky is starting to turn pink, and the clouds lazily drift through the sky. It's such a beautiful evening outside, but where they sit is like a storm is brewing.
Isabella grabs the menu and buries her head on it, he would tease that they've been here a hundred times, and that he knew her order by heart. Then she would say something like, ‘what if I want to try something new’ before ordering the same thing as always, and they both would chuckle.
That doesn’t happen, she just silently stares at the menu like it’s the most interesting thing ever, but he doubts she is even reading it.
He bites his lip, still not sure on what to do, how to proceed.
The waiter comes and they order, as expected she orders her usual. Still as the waiter leaves, and she drops the menu on the table she just stares down at it, her face unreadable, he would say she looks bored, or like her mind is elsewhere. She is here physically, but in her eyes it feels like she is so far away, that even if he knew what to say she would not hear him.
He looks out the window, his eyes don’t focus on anything in particular as his mind races. He should apologise, right? It was his fault they thought they were dating, just because he is the clingiest person to ever exist, especially when it comes to her. It’s ingrained in him at this point, they have known each other for so long, have gone through so much stuff together…they have been like this for a long time, but maybe it’s different now that they are older?
Nobody would say a thing if they saw two ten year olds running around holding hands, but he guesses that when people reach a certain age they start thinking that hand holding means something else.
And it does, for him.
But it also meant something to him back then.
And he and Isabella are not the only clingy ones, they do cuddle piles with the rest of the gang in sleepovers all the time. Buford likes lifting up any of them, he oftentimes brags that he can carry all of them at once, and they put it to the test on a weekly basis. Isabella is also very close to Candace, and his older sister often tells him she is like ‘the little sister I never had’.
Physical touch has always been normal in their friend group, but it is true that the way he feels for Isabella is not the same he feels for Buford or Baljeet.
He wants to be even closer, hold her longer, learn what her lips feel pressed against his and be able to say ‘this is my girlfriend, Isabella’. Go on dances together not as friends but as each other’s dates, tell her she is the most beautiful person in the galaxy making her blush.
More than anything he wishes to be completely hers, he is, but he wants her to know, for her to proudly smile as he builds one of his crazy contraptions, point at him and say ‘that one is mine’ to a stranger.
But most of all, he wants to let her know he loves her, in every sense of the word.
He glances at her, her eyes still staring blankly at the menu, if only she wanted that too.
The waiter comes then and gives them their ice creams, Isabella moves for the first time since the waiter took their orders and starts taking bites of hers, he follows suit. His eyes interchanged between staring down at his ice cream and glancing at her.
Isabella doesn’t look up from her ice cream, her eyes dull and she takes bites out of it. He should say something, apologise probably for making her uncomfortable, he is scared though, it could change their friendship perhaps his flirting being so blatant that she doesn’t know how to respond to it.
He glances at her necklace, but he owes her, she is his best friend and he can’t keep hiding his feelings from her, literally, they were so obvious that classmates that didn’t know them much could see them, it was just a matter of time before she put two and two together.
It is when they are halfway through their ice creams that he decides he has to speak, “Isabella-” that's the only word that leaves his mouth, because Isabella’s spoon clatters on the table as she hears him say her name.
Her unreadable, bored face shifts, her eyebrows drawing together her eyes staring at her lap as she leans back on her seat, her eyes misty, “I can’t do it” she whimpers, trying to contain her tears but failing at it, “I thought I could but I…-” she gasps for air, and the first tear streams down her face, she covers her face with her hands, her shoulders trembling, he stands up as soon as he hears her starting to sob.
He slides beside her, “Isabella?” he calls worried, his hand caressing her shoulder, “Izzy?” he tries again, “What’s wrong?” she shakes her head and he doesn’t need to look at her face to know she has totally given up in concealing any of her tears.
This is his fault.
“Izzy” he says softly, taking one of her hands away from her face she doesn’t fight him but keeps looking away from him, he puts the back of her hand against his chest, right where his heart is, and then he interwhines her fingers with his, her tearstreak face breaks his heart, “Look…I-I don’t really understand what’s going on, but if you need to cry do, I’m here to hold you” he says, she gasps in between tears, her eyes meeting his for the first time since they left the library, her eyes full of tears stare at him, before even more start falling.
“Phin” she says weekly, her lip quivering.
“It’s ok” he says softly, “Hear the sound of my heartbeat?” she nods, “Keep listening to it and let everything out” she nods again, dropping her head on his shoulder, she keeps crying, gasping for air and he squeezes her hand. She closes her eyes, shoulders shaking with sobs, but he can tell she is trying to regulate her breathing, following his own.
They stay like that for some time, she crying on his shoulder, their hands clutched together against his chest. He tries to control his breathing so she can follow its rhythm. He can’t start freaking out now, not when she needs him, even if he really wants to because it’s his fault.
It’s his fault she’s crying.
He hurt her.
If only he had kept his feelings in check…or just goddamn told her! She would have rejected him gently and he would have tried to maintain a distance until it stopped hurting.
But instead he was a coward, a needy coward, because having her in any way in his life was better than not having her at all.
“I-I’m sorry” she says, still voice wobbly, but calmer than before, “I’m so sorry” he frowns, why is she apologising?
“You don’t have to apologise for anything” he reassures her, he should be the one apologising “...Is this…about what our classmate said earlier?” he asks, she sniffs opening her eyes “B-because if it makes you really uncomfortable we can let them know they are wrong-”
“That’s just the thing” she gasps, “They are wrong” her breath catches.
“Huh?” he says, confused.
“They…they are wrong and I wish they weren't” she mumbles, her voice breaking. But he still hears her, his stomach flips upside down.
“H-huh?” His cheeks start to warm up, and his heartbeat quickens.
“I…” she shakes her head, “I’m sorry Phineas, I thought I could brush it off like always but it has been so long- and I-...” she sniffs, looking down at her lap, “I-I like you, Phin” she says, his breath catches, “And I don’t mean…I mean I-” she sighs, trying to get her thoughts straight “I like you so much” she sighs, “I like you more than everything else I like combined” he is sure his heart is going to leap from his chest, “And I wish they were right about us, but…I mean- and you don’t owe me your feelings” her voice becomes quieter, “But it still hurts” she whispers against his shoulder.
He takes a breath, trying to fix his jumbled up brain, “Izzy” he says softly, she still looks down at her lap but he only has eyes for her, “And… when you say you like me…you mean…”
“Like-you like-you” she sighs, a tear catches on her lashes.
“...wow” he breathes softly putting his free hand over his mouth, “I-I…whoa” he sighs, “Gee wha- the- whoa gosh and I- uhh I am blubbering aah–” he shakes his head, that caught him totally off guard “You like me?” he says still not believing it, face red “Me as in…me?” he points at himself, “For real?” he asks, she nods her cheeks turning slightly pink.
Since he realized his feelings for Izzy he never ever thought about the possibility of her returning them, sure he daydreamed about it, but he thought it was completely impossible.
But here they are right now, Isabella is crying because she wishes their classmates were right in their assumption, because apparently she likes him.
His stomach flutters and he feels as if his blood was electrified, because Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, his best friend, likes him. Isabella squeezes his hand while it still holds hers over his heart.
“Your heartbeat is really fast” she comments, her head still on his shoulder, her tears seem to have stopped but her eyes are still red, droplets still cling to her lashes, she sniffs, “You're not getting a heart attack are you?, she whispers.
He might as well.
He squeezes her hand, a wobbly smile appearing on his face, “No, no I'm not” he says, “It's just…the awesomest girl just said she likes me” he says giddy. “And I'm kinda freaking out,” he squeaks.
“H-huh?” she asks, confused, but there's a twinkle of hope in her eyes.
“She’s like the most smart, brave, beautiful, amazing girl ever” he says, his cheeks heating up, but that doesn't matter anymore, Isabella likes him and he needs her to understand how much he likes her back. “It's kinda difficult to think she feels the same way as me”
That seems to stun Isabella, her breath catching, he glances at her and her face is red, her eyes seem to glow. She takes a deep breath.
“Phin…do you-?”
“Yes” he interrupts, “A lot”
Isabella snorts, “You didn't even let me finish” there's mirth on her eyes, and her cheeks are still slightly pink.
“Sorry, got excited,” he says, glancing elsewhere.
“You're like a puppy” she says burying her face on his neck, “A very cute puppy” she sighs. He thinks if he had a tail right now it would be waging happily.
He wraps his free arm around her waist, holding her close to him. Her free hand slides around his back and absentmindedly plays with the fabric of his shirt.
She sighs,“Really?” her voice cracks as she squeezes him, “You like me too?” she whispers, like she can’t believe what she’s saying.
“I’m head over heels” he sighs, caressing her back. She melts into him as soon as the words are out of his mouth. He holds her close, melting into her as well, they fit perfectly together, something he already knew, but with the newfound knowledge it feels sweeter.
Isabella lets go of his hand to wrap her arm around his waist instead, his hand in turn joins his other at her back, twirling a lock of her hair. Isabella's hands caress his back tenderly, he sighs, “I was going insane there for a second” he says against her hair.
“You are insane”
He sighs, “I’m so in love with you” her breath hitches and she squeezes him.
“You can't say things like that out of the blue” she breathes, “You'll kill me”
He grins like an idiot, humming he hugs her tight, “It's hard not to, I just want you to know how much I adore you”
Isabella muffled a shriek against his shoulder, “You'll kill me dead, I'll die, you are so cute uahhh” He chuckles, he didn't think he had such an effect on her.
He can't stop smiling.
“No but really, I was freaking out thinking you totally figured me out” he explains, trying to keep his thoughts straight, which was kinda difficult with the way Isabella was tenderly caressing his back, her face buried on the crock of his neck and her body perfectly molded to his.
He just wanted to close his eyes, and hold her.
“Figure you out how? You didn’t do anything out of the ordinary” she says, he smirks.
“You mean when I held you from the waist and told you to admit you loved me?” he says deadpan, “They thought we were dating for a reason”
Isabella stays silent for a couple of seconds, probably thinking, “I’m sure you’ve done that before though” he snorts, his cheeks turning pink.
“Probably, I liked you for a while”
“...a while?” she breaths against his neck, her lips slightly brushing his skin making a shock go through his spine, “How long is that? Months?” she asks.
He shakes his head, the heat of his cheeks doubling, “Years” he mumbles against her hair, but Isabella hears him still as she freezes. Her hands stopping their caressing as she clutches his shirt instead.
“H-how many?”
“Gosh I- I don’t even know I…” he trails off, trying to think on how to explain it, his hand runs through her spine “I…actually don’t know when it started really…I mean, I kinda know when I realized though…It was the summer between middle school and highschool, but it wasn’t a- struck with a truck realization, it was more like- like…when you’ve been all day focusing on a project and you’ve forgotten to eat, and you feel the hunger but you don’t pay attention to it, and then at the end of the day that’s the only thing you can feel, and you feel tired and crappy and then you say to yourself, ‘ah, that’s why’” he explains, “But I don’t know when that hunger started”
“Does…does that make sense?” he asks.
Isabella draws away but just enough so she can look at his face, she’s misty eyed but has a little smile on her face, “Yeah, I get that, it was kind of the same for me” she says, “But I realized earlier though” she glances to the side, chuckling, “Remember the summer we went to Paris?” she asks.
His eyes widen, “Oh, please don’t tell me you were actively crushing on me back then”
She smiles, “Ok, I won’t tell you” he groans.
“If I’m a meathead now, imagine when I was ten”
“I don’t need to imagine it, I experience it first hand”
“Izzy-” he pleads.
She flutters her eyelashes, “‘Oh I thought, you know, the two of you alone… in the city of love, I thought romance was a forgone conclusion’” she mocks his voice, with a higher pitch imitating his younger self.
“Izzy-” he says, his cheeks heating.
“‘I wish it was the city of airplane parts’”
He pouts.
“‘That reminds me, we might need helmets’”
He squeezes her side making her squeak, ”Ok, ok I get it, I’m very dense” he says, rolling his eyes smiling, ”Not like you’re any better” he mumbles.
“Excuse me?” she bites.
“I built a giant haunted mansion because you had hiccups” he deadpans, “When I told everyone why I was doing it they rolled their eyes at me”
She pouts, “Wha-? But you always do stuff like that” she argues.
“You mean building an elaborate contraption every time you have the smallest issue?” he asks, “I’m a showoff, like the time we built the bird mansion, or the time I grew a giant doonkleberry –when you told me you wouldn’t need my help, by the way–”
“But that stuff-”
“Like last sunday”
“...ok I see what you mean”
“See” he grins.
“You’re not very good at hiding your feelings” she deadpans, cheeks slightly pink.
“I know, which is why I thought you had me totally figured out” she hums resting her chin on his shoulder.
“I didn’t” he hums, “And you didn’t either” he hums.
Suddenly she gasps, drawing away from him–not totally she’s still holding onto him– she looks at him with wide eyes and red cheeks, “We were totally flirting!” she exclaims, he looks at her confused at her sudden outburst, “At the library” she clarifies, “We were soooo flirting”
He thinks back to them giggling and teasing each other while they doodled, his cheeks burn, “...oh, you are so right”
She sighs, grumbling as she clutches the front of his shirt and hides her red face against his chest, “We are so stupid” she mumbles against the fabric of the shirt.
“Very” he squeaks, “Perfect for each other tho!” Isabella starts chuckling and soon she’s full laughing, he joins her because this is so stupid, they are so stupid.
She hums after she calms down her laugh, nuzzling his cheek with her nose, “Yes, yes we are” she whispers, her lips brushing against his skin and making it tingle. Then she kisses his cheek and he can feel his whole face burn.
She giggles against his skin, “You are so red” she teases, her arms wrapping around his waist again, her hands against his back caressing it. Her lips continue peppering that side of his face with small kisses.
“Ya- mhh- t-totally” he trails off not even knowing what he’s blabbering anymore.
She is going to kill him.
Every time her lips brush his skin he loses another braincell, he is smiling like a doofus probably. Butterflies dance on his stomach, and his heartbeat is so fast he would think he was having a heart attack otherwise.
But he can barely care about that when she is all he can feel, her lips are so soft and warm and the caress of her hands has him totally melted against her. He can feel her heartbeat against his own, their stupid necklaces make a ‘click’ as the magnet on them fits them together.
“Phineas” she says sweetly, he hums letting her know he’s listening, “Will you kiss me?”
…
“Huh?” he asks dumbly.
“I want you to kiss me”
He suddenly sits up in attention, she’s looking at him, cheeks red almost pleading with her eyes.
He has never denied her anything and he was not going to start now–not when he probably wanted it more than her–
“W-were?”
She shyly looks away from him and taps her lips with her finger.
His whole face is red.
Isabella Garcia-Shapiro wants him to kiss her.
He takes a shaky breath, cupping her face with one of his hands, her eyes are on him again and he swears he can see hearts in them. He closes the distance between them, and presses his lips against hers.
It’s a quick one, their first kiss, a peck, a nervous greeting between two teenagers who have never kissed anyone ever. Who only have ever dared to dream of sharing their first with each other. It’s like their brains are trying to catch up on what they are doing, on what they just did.
Kissing her feels like a dream.
“More” Isabella whimpers, her lips slightly brushing his.
Their second kiss is deeper, longer, they let themselves get lost with each other. His brain stopped asking, really? really? to just singing finally.
Isabella moves her lips against his, and he follows her, their second kiss bleeds into their third, bleeds into their forth…It feels like he’s trying to pour years of feelings into their kiss, I like you, I adore you, I love you, I love you, I love you–
“I love you” he mumbles against her mouth.
She kisses him, “I love you more” she whispers after it.
He kisses her, there’s no way she loves him more than he loves her. But she loves him, he wonders if everytime she mockingly said ‘I love you’ she meant it, if she like him used humor to deflect on what she truly was feeling. When she mockingly patted his hand and said ‘love ya too bud’ earlier today, did it affect her as much as it affected him?
They separate from each other out of breath, they hold each other close as they try to make sense of what’s going on. They kissed, they just kissed a lot, he sighs dropping his head on her shoulder. Giving her a squeeze for good measure.
“Is this going to be normal from now on?” he asks.
“Yes” she gasps, “Yes, yes, please” He can’t help the grin that forms on his face, “I want to kiss you every day” He wants to squeal.
“Deal” he slightly lets go so he can see her face, she seems excited.
“I can kiss you before school?”
“Yes”
“And in between periods?”
“Yes”
“And before and after football practice”
“Yes and yes”
“And before and after your cheer practice?”
“Yes and yes”
“And after school?”
“Yes”
“Walking home?”
“Yes”
“When we say goodbye?”
“Yes”
“The weekends?”
“Yes”
Her eyes seem to shine, “Can I drag you away in the middle of a project to give you a kiss?
He chuckles, “Of course” he doesn’t think he has ever seen her smile so much. “You can kiss me whenever you want”
“Even in the middle of welding?
“I do love welding, but I love you more though, so yeah” She squealed, her feet kicking the air, “Can I kiss you in all those instances too?” She nodded hard.
“Dumb question, you have been able to kiss me whenever for years” she shakes her head, he smiles. He kisses the corner of her eye, he can get used to this.
“You’re never getting rid of me then”
“Perfect”
He looks out of the window, the dark sky greeting him, have they been here that long? Their half finished ice creams have long melted too, with so many emotions he didn’t even notice the time passing.
“It’s late” he says, drawing Isabella’s attention away from him and out of the window instead, “We should head home”
“Awww” she whines hugging him, “But I don’t wanna say goodbye yet” she’s so cute it should be illegal.
“We don’t have to yet, we’ll walk home together” he smiles.
–
He enters the living room, a big smile on his face. He just said goodbye to Isabella, accompanied by some goodbye kisses, he feels like he is about to burst with happiness. His siblings are on the couch, Candace is channel surfing while Ferb seems to be fighting sleep, Perry is in between them, all curled up and long asleep.
Candace glances at him as he throws his backpack beside the couch, “Well someone seems happy” she muses, lazily dragging her eyes back to the TV, “Did you convince Isa to not study english?”
“Nope!” He exclaims, throwing his arms out.
His sister looks at him confused, the murmur of a random sitcom in the background as she stops clicking buttons.
“Then what? Did you get a new idea?”
He shakes his head, “My brain is fried!” He can't think straight.
Candace seems even more confused by that response, she snorts her eyes back on the TV, “What, did Isabella finally kiss you?”
The silence that followed was very loud.
At his lack of response his sister looked back at him, he was smiling very hard, his cheeks slightly pink.
“No fucking way!” she exclaims dropping the remote control on the ground, her sudden outburst seems to alert Ferb who was almost dozing off, he looks at them confused.
“Ferb!” Candace exclaims, “Did you hear that?!” his poor brother just looks at her confused, “Wake up!” she says snapping her fingers on his face, “He did the thing”
His brother blinks, “The thing…?”
“He and Isabella!”
Ferb’s eyes widened, and he whips his head to look at him, “You know Isabella…?”
“Is in love with me? Yeah!”
His siblings look at him like he grew a second head, he just smiles, his arms on his back, balancing on his heels.
“That’s not all, they kissed!” Candace tells Ferb.
His brother looks at him like he can’t believe their sister’s words, “You did?”
“Yes, yes we did”
Candace suddenly stands up and grabs him by the shoulders, shaking him, “Well don’t just stand there with that dumb smile, tell us everything! Timestamps and all!” she says before pushing him on the couch besides Perry, the ruckus they were making had woken him up.
He just chuckles as Candace sits beside him, Perry crawls on his lap and he looks back to Ferb who is also looking expectantly.
“Well, we were in the library…—