Fifteen: Rebellion

Author's Note: This was so weird to come back to 3 years later. I tried to mimic the style I started this with, but it's been awhile, so what can ya do? The idea has been in place for a long time but I have not been with it. Anyway, a review left by Neferpatra gave me the inspiration for the chapter! Hopefully I can get this finished soon- only 2 chapters left.

One of the parts of puberty that I really never anticipated was how difficult my relationship with my parents would get.

Don't get me wrong; I've seen the movies. I'm aware that it happens. My own sister is a testament to that. I mean, there were definitely times where Candice and Mom could go at it. But I just never thought I would have that problem.

Ferb never had that problem.

But then Ferb only got the good parts of puberty, and here I am a mess at every turn. Being fifteen is the worst, what can I say?

But you might be wondering why this has come up. You see, there's a party tonight. And it's not like it's going to be a dangerous party! Just some people hanging out at Django's beach house. It'll be the usual crowd, so nothing to get excited about.

And yet Mom and Dad have decided that I'm not old enough to go.

I spend my summers defying the laws of physics but Heaven forbid I'm somewhere where there might be drinking. And I'm not even sure that there will be! For all I know we'll be drinking sodas and iced tea all night!

And even if there was drinking, it's not like I'd have to do it. I'm responsible enough to say no. But of course that means nothing. Because I'm fifteen and not old enough.

I'm still fuming about it when Ferb comes up to our room to check on me.

"Alright?" Ferb asks as he grabs a book off his shelf and throws himself onto his bed to read.

"It's just so stupid that I can't go. Everyone is going," I say from my spot on my bed.

"Probably lied about it," Ferb points out, looking all casual as he flips a page. He could seriously be posing for a magazine right now.

"Exactly! But I told the truth! Shouldn't that be worth something?" If he takes their side I might have to throw myself out the window. The last thing I need is for Ferb to think I'm too immature to go to a party.

Ferb pats the side of his bed, and I gladly take the opportunity to lie down beside him.

"Might have been if I hadn't ruined it for you," Ferb finally says once I think his solution might just be us lying beside each other all night- and I wouldn't object.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Got in shit for dating Vanessa," Ferb said, once again turning a page. Of Mice and Men. Always with the classics.

"Yeah, I remember. She was about to turn 20 and you just turned 16 when they found out." Mom and Dad hadn't been happy, but it'd been short lived. Ferb and Vanessa had broken up a couple of weeks later.

"That was one issue," Ferb agrees before finally laying his book down on his chest. "They found out about us because she dropped me off, and I messed up sneaking in. Too drunk to use the key."

I roll over to face him. "You got drunk with her?" A few beats later, "You never told me."

Ferb sighed. "Wanted to. Whole thing was… Lonely. Parties and after a while things with Vanessa."

"Why didn't you ever tell me?" Ferb and I tell each other everything. Well, not the whole crush thing, but other than that! I can't believe he never told me.

"Embarrassed at first. Felt like I didn't belong there. Never quite felt right being places you weren't," Ferb says, staring at our ceiling and speaking slowly like he's worried he's not saying the words right. "When Mum and Dad found out they didn't want me to tell you. Said you'd take it as justification to do it."

"Like I was getting invited to parties at thirteen. I barely got invited to this one." I barely manage to say that. All I can think about is him saying he doesn't feel right when he's places without me.

"Django Brown's party? I doubt that." And just his tone makes me snicker.

We sit in silence for a few minutes before I finally speak up again. "I always feel weird without you too, ya know?"

Ferb laughs, a gentle smile on his face. "You make friends with every stranger you meet."

I can't helping laughing with him, because puberty or not, I still usually manage to be in control of a room. Well, so long as my voice isn't breaking, I don't have acne, and I don't have a random boner.

"Fine. I'm good with strangers. But there's no one I'd rather be with than you," I say before I can even consider if it will embarrass me.

"Good," Ferb says, and suddenly I am on fire.

I have to jump out of bed and feign stretching to get my blush out of his sight line.

"So, does that mean you're crashing the party with me tonight?" I ask, suddenly realizing that I want that more than anything.

"'fraid I wasn't invited. Your class party and all that," Ferb says, and I hear him pick his book back up. "But what you do after I'm asleep is your business."

"Thanks, Ferb."

I get a thumbs up in response, and then he's patting the spot beside him on his bed again. And if I run over to lie in it, well that's on my hormones.

I wait until Ferb's asleep before I sneak out our bedroom window. I'll be damned if I'm not going to go to this party.

Finding Django's party is not an issue. When I reach the beach I can hear the music pounding from a speaker and see people from school gathered around a fire dancing.

For being a class party, there sure are a lot of people.

"Hey, Phineas, over here!" Django yells from his spot by the fire. And that's my cue to join the fun.

Parties are kind of cool. As it turns out my usual crowd isn't here (I guess I was wrong about everyone coming), but there are plenty of friendly faces from school for me to have a good time with.

And Django and I have been kicking ass at beer pong so that's pretty cool. And alcohol isn't so bad. I wasn't going to try any, but, well, that's kind of part of beer pong.

"How are you doing, Phineas?" Django asks as we walk away from the beer pong table as champs.

"Oh, I'm good. This is fun!"

"Yeah, I like hanging out with you." Django puts his arms around me and suddenly his weight puts me off balance and we both go down laughing.

"Dude, that was awesome!" I yell over the music, lying next to Django in the sand.

"You're awesome." And then Django leans over and it becomes apparent that he's going to kiss me.

So I throw a fist full of sand in his face.

"Fuck!" Django leans away from me, wiping sand out of his eyes.

"Oh, dude, I'm sorry! I freaked out! I didn't mean to do that!" I try to justify, but honestly how do you justify throwing sand in a guy's eyes?

"Ow, Phineas. You could have just said no." Django said as he took his hands away from his face.

"Seriously, it was an accident. I didn't mean to do that. Let me get you some water." I start to stand up on wobbly legs when Django grabs my arm.

"Can you just tell me something?" Django asks.

"Yeah, anything."

"Is there something between us?" Django asks, looking at me with red, sore eyes.

"…Like sand?" I ask because I'm drunk and an idiot. My parents were right about parties.

"Like romantic feelings. Because I like you a lot. And I can't tell if you have any interest in me or anyone. And I can never ask because you're always with Ferb," Django rambles.

"…People from other classes are here," I say as something dawns on me.

Django looks caught off guard before he sighs. "You have no romantic interest in me, do you?"

I shake my head before standing up slowly, careful not to fall. "Sorry. I should have told you that a while ago. Ferb told me you didn't know."

"Yeah, should have figured that." And I'm not sure if he means about Ferb or my lack of romantic feelings.

"Sorry about your eyes."

"It's cool. See you Monday," Django says before getting up and stumbling off toward the house.

Once he's a decent distance away I drop back down to the sand. I can kind of see why Ferb thinks these things are lonely.

"That went a bit pear shaped."

My head snaps to the side where Ferb is standing. "What are you doing here?"

Ferb plops down beside me before answering, "Mum and Dad came in to check on you. Said I'd bring you back,"

"I'm in a ton of trouble, aren't I?"

"You didn't put in any effort to not get caught," Ferb pointed out.

"Yeah, I think I thought I'd prove I could be super responsible at a party, and then they'd apologize," I explain, small smile on my face.

Ferb leans in close and for a second I think he's going to kiss me, and my sand throwing hand goes limp in anticipation. Then he takes two sniffs of my breath.

"You've been drinking. Not very responsible." Ferb says before leaning out of my personal space and back into his own.

My body practically deflates in disappointment. "Yeah, well, turns out Mom and Dad were right, and I'm not responsible enough for parties."

"Eh, I'm not even responsible enough to pick you up from one," Ferb says with a shrug, leaving me confused.

"What are you talking about?"

"I came to get you 40 minutes ago, but I didn't think that was long enough for you to decide if you liked parties or not. So I waited in the car." Ferb said with a casual shrug.

"You've been here 40 minutes? Why didn't you come find me?" This night would have been way better with him.

"Wouldn't have been accurate findings. It's always fun when we're together," Ferb says with a grin. "Am sorry about Django though. Came in time to see the sand throw."

"Yeah, well, he had to find out somehow," I say mimicking the casual way Ferb shrugs his shoulders.

"We should probably head home," Ferb finally says.

"Why? We're both in trouble now, right?" I ask elbowing Ferb's arm. "We should take some time to actually enjoy the party."

Ferb hums in agreement. "We definitely aren't responsible enough for parties." He then gets up and presents his back to me to signal me to get on.

"You could say we're too young to be doing what we're doing," I say before taking hold of Ferb around his neck, and, oh boy, does his aftershave smell nice. Almost as nice as his back feels, holy crap those muscles. "Bet you can jump the fire with me on your back."

And just like that Ferb takes me toward the fire, his hands firmly holding my thighs.

I'm sure later tonight when I'm grounded forever I will regret teenage rebellion and blame it on puberty, but for now rebellion has never felt so good. Being fifteen occasionally has its perks.