Empty Apartment: Chapter 46

Author's Note: Well, it hasn't been quite a year since the last update, so I guess that's a victory of some kind, sort of. Honestly, after this first section the words started pouring out and it was some of the easiest writing I did all year. But this first bit literally came a sentence or two per sitting.

But regardless it's here! Thank you for reading! I swear we'll reach the end of this someday, but hopefully it'll be fun along the way. Let me know what you think!

Saturday, March 29th

When Ferb arrived at the gate of the Flynn household he wasn't surprised to see a group of people already huddled together at the yard's edge. From the gate Ferb could tell all of Phineas' usual friends were there, as well as the Fireside girls and a few other people who looked vaguely familiar to him.

Briefly, Ferb considered bolting. The large group was all at once what he'd been expecting and the last thing he wanted to endure. But he'd made an agreement, and, no matter how much he regretted it, he wouldn't go back on it.

The second Ferb's hand swung the gate open, Phineas turned and broke from the group to jog up to him.

"Hey, Ferb!" Phineas greeted, looking every bit as relieved as Ferb felt inconvenienced. "Glad you came; I'll introduce you to Mishti."

Ferb followed a step behind Phineas and soon they filled the hole that Phineas had left in the group.

"Ferb, this is Mishti," Phineas said before turning his attention to a girl with dark hair and darker eyes. "Mishti, this is Ferb."

"Hello, Ferb. It is nice to meet you," Mishti said, sticking out her hand to shake.

Ferb took her hand and shook, taking note of her firm grip.

"I've been told I am lucky to have the pleasure of meeting you outside of a required activity," Mishti said, her tone amused, and her smile delighted as eyes widened within the group.

"Suppose you could say that," Ferb agreed, not sure how to read her yet.

"Then I am honored as I've also heard that you are full of good qualities," Mishti said, smiling at him as though she'd just said the punchline to a joke that should be funny for the two of them. Looking around at some tense looking people, Ferb thought that might be what it was. As though she was saying, 'Some of these people think you're unpleasant and conceited, but they won't say that to your face. Isn't that kind of funny? Want to see what happens if I hint at that? Ha! Okay, I guess we've made them sweat enough.'

Ferb would appreciate it if he cared about what any of them thought. Or if he didn't think he was conceited and unpleasant. Still, it was a kind enough gesture.

"Good enough," Ferb said.

"So what is the plan, Mishti? It's a little too cold to just stand around in a circle," Adyson asked, pulling her thin jacket tighter around her.

"Well, I did notice that the soccer nets are set up," Mishti said pointing to one of the nets set up in the yard. "We could play a game."

Around the circle there were voices of agreement.

"Ugh, you would say that," Adyson said, tone annoyed, but smile betraying that she wasn't actually upset. "My insensible shoes and I are going to referee on the sideline."

"I'll sit with you," Katie volunteered before plopping down beside the fence.

"So long as you do not mind," Mishti said before taking her jacket off and wrapping it around Adyson's shoulders.

"Then it's settled! Let's split into teams!" Isabella said, instantly taking charge.

As it turned out, splitting into teams meant Isabella and Phineas telling everyone what team they were on. Although Ferb didn't ask, Baljeet explained to him that they always had more even games when Phineas and Isabella split up the teams rather than having people pick their own teams. Ferb simply shrugged and went to his team without question.

When all was said and done, he was on the team opposite of Phineas. He wasn't surprised by this, seeing as the two of them could easily be matched up to go head-to-head.

"Are you ready for this?" Isabella asked as she came up next to him. She had a determined glint in her eye that said she was ready to win.

"Sure. Where do you want me?" Ferb asked, not caring what position he played.

"Left forward. Phineas said you guys matched up pretty well, so you can play opposite of him," Isabella explained. "I'll be on your other side. So don't be a stranger." With that, Isabella clapped him on the shoulder and went to her position. Everyone else seemed to fall into their positions without question.

The game was completive in a way that Ferb couldn't help but enjoy. He and Phineas were perfectly matched, as he had suspected.

But it wasn't just them that made the game exciting. Mishti was an amazing player. It'd been a long time since he'd played against someone whose ball control was so intricate. She juggled the ball seamlessly and kept it close to her body to combat having the ball taken by someone faster. Suffice it to say, she was a great member to any team.

That being said, he would take Isabella on his team over her any day. It wasn't because Isabella was a better player, it was because she was a more technical player. While Mishti had a ball control that made her look like a choreographed dancer, Isabella's was controlled and precise. She thought logically on the soccer field, and it made her easy to play with. While he, Phineas, and Mishti had probably always been above average at soccer, Isabella had obviously worked to get good at it.

Between the four of them the game went back and forth. Ferb and Mishti relying more on themselves while Isabella and Phineas made sure to involve the rest of their teams.

In the end, it didn't come down to Phineas verses Ferb, although they were constantly against each other. What it came down to was their goalies. Ferb's team had Django in their goal, while Phineas' had Baljeet. To put it simply, Baljeet out skilled him.

The opportunity to score hadn't come up often, but when it had, Baljeet had been more prepared for the occasion. So when Adyson and Katie called the game, it wasn't surprising that the score was 3 to 1, with Phineas' team winning.

Ferb watched as Mishti cheered, hugging Phineas and then Baljeet. He caught Phineas' eye as Mishti hugged Baljeet, but he only offered up a shrug. They may have shared more silent communication had Isabella not come up and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"That was an intense game, right?" Isabella asked, sweating and smiling.

"Mm, suppose so," Ferb agreed. "You were good," he said before really taking the time to think about his words.

Isabella laughed, her smile becoming brighter, before she spoke. "Those are big words coming from you. Phineas wasn't kidding about how good you are."

Ferb was a little thankful that Django chose that moment to knock shoulders with Isabella and come into the conversation. He really didn't want to make small talk with Isabella, let alone trade compliments, despite having started it.

"Good game, guys! Sorry I'm not a better goalie," Django apologized, pushing his hand through his sweaty hair.

"Ah, Django, don't say that! You were awesome!" Isabella said, lightly shoving his shoulder. "Besides, we'll totally get them next time!" The glint in Isabella's eyes said that she believed what she was saying.

Before Django could reply, Linda's head poked out of the glass door, "Who wants pie?" she called. Immediately several kids began heading to the back entrance.

Django grinning at them. "Well, win next time or not, I'm definitely getting pie this time." Isabella laughed and the two of them started walking toward the door while Ferb broke off to go toward Phineas, who had just waved goodbye to a couple of kids walking out toward the gate.

"Good game," Phineas said once Ferb was in front of him.

Ferb nodded, not feeling a need to voice the same. The phrase was already becoming stale in his mind. He watched as Phineas looked toward the back door where the stragglers were starting to go inside.

"My mom always makes pie for these kinds of things. Like, 10 pies, just in case everyone stays. She's awesome, right?" Phineas asked, arms crossed other than the one hand moving toward his shoulder.

"You alright?" Ferb asked, eyes staring at Phineas' raised hand.

Phineas seemed to notice and pulled his hand down. "I'm okay."

"Yeah?" Ferb asked in a way that clearly meant, That sounds like rubbish but I'll let you have it.

"Yeah, I'm cool," Phineas replied in a way that clearly meant, As long as you're with me I can hold it together.

They stared at each other for just a few seconds before the back door opened, making Phineas flinch a little. Linda stood there, an apple pie in her hand. "Phineas, I think Isabella is asking for you. Ferb, you're staying for pie, right?"

Phineas was looking to him, looking unsure about how long he was planning to stay.

"Do you have cherry?" Ferb asked, although the answer didn't matter.

Linda laughed, "I think I have some of everything. Come inside and help yourself."

Ferb looked to Phineas, a mostly blank look that was just enough to affirm that he wasn't leaving. Still, Phineas smiled lightly up at him in thanks, and then together they went to get pie.

Thankfully for Ferb it was a short trip. His stomach felt like it was in knots.

By midafternoon almost everyone had left the Flynn household, although that still left a decent size group of them sitting in the Flynn living room, talking and laughing.

Isabella watched from her place at the end of the loveseat next to Phineas as Mishti regaled them with a tale about her visit to New York, where an accordion player on the subway had insisted that Elvis Presley had taught him to play in 1977.

She had Adyson in stitches, pretending when Baljeet scoffed that she believed the accordion player.

"Elvis could not even play the accordion!" Baljeet snapped.

"Google says it was one of the instruments he dabbled with," Django said, feeding the argument.

"But he was dead!" Baljeet argued.

"Not until September of that year," Django corrected, still looking at the Google page he had pulled up on his phone.

"Allegedly," Mishti added, only making Adyson laugh harder, while Baljeet looked like he'd been shot.

"You do not believe that Elvis is still alive," Baljeet practically begged.

"You do not?" Mishti asked, face completely serious, making even Isabella giggle.

Baljeet looked at a loss for words when Buford finally spoke up, "She's just fucking with you. How gullible are you?" Buford crossed his arms at the same time as he rolled his eyes.

Buford was sitting next to Baljeet on the couch opposite of Isabella in the Flynn living room. On the other side of Baljeet sat Mishti, with Adyson sitting at her feet, arms resting across Mishti's knees, where she had placed them to dry earlier when she had painted her nails.

"I am not gullible! It is a very popular conspiracy theory!" Baljeet argued, turning his full attention to Buford.

As the two boys began arguing, Isabella looked over to see if she could catch Phineas' eye. It was the kind of argument that Phineas was usually good at breaking up. However, when she looked over it was obvious that Phineas wasn't paying any attention to them. He was sitting on the other side of their shared loveseat, with Ferb on the floor in front of him, using his legs as back support. Ferb currently had his phone out and was holding it at an angle and distance so that both he and Phineas could see it. Isabella couldn't make out the subtitles, but she could guess from Phineas' grin that it must have been something funny.

She sighed, looking over to Django, who was sitting in the room's only chair, instead. He was already looking at her, a friendly but exasperated look on his face. He seemed like he was waiting for someone to break it up too.

"I'm going to go get a drink, does anyone want anything?" Isabella asked as she got up and stretched.

Phineas' head whipped toward her, almost in surprise as though he'd forgotten anyone was around. She giggled at him as he looked down a little sheepishly.

"Nothing for me, Izzy. Thanks." He then gave her hand a quick squeeze. Ferb made a passing gesture with his hand in reply, barely looking up from his video.

Buford and Baljeet didn't even pause their argument to answer, so Adyson called over them, "Some iced tea would be great."

"Make it two, please," Mishti asked, not getting up from her seat despite the argument happening right next to her.

"I'd better help you," Django volunteered, hopping up from his chair quickly as though afraid Isabella would tell him she didn't need his help.

Isabella laughed before fixing her face into something serious. "Much appreciated," she said, trying to at least pretend she didn't know Django wanted out of the room.

Together they left the room, entering the kitchen and immediately being met with the quiet.

Django sighed contentedly once he seemed sure they were away from the others. "I forget how loud they are in a closed space."

"They do echo a bit, right?" Isabella asked before moving to sit on the kitchen counter. She wasn't really in a hurry to deliver any drinks.

"The acoustics in this house are sick, and we all pay the price," Django said solemnly, making Isabella snort.

"Oh well. It's been way worse other times when Mishti has come," Isabella admitted, watching as Django began actually pouring drinks for everyone.

Django hummed in agreement as he filled up the last of the glasses. Once he'd put the pitcher back in the refrigerator he sat down on the counter top next to Isabella. "I'm kind of surprised Phineas didn't break them up."

"Yeah, me too," she agreed. "But I guess it's lucky for him that he's blocking it out for once."

Django didn't respond immediately and Isabella looked over to see him looking contemplative.

"What are you thinking?" Isabella asked.

Django seemed to debate with himself for a second before asking, "Is everything okay with Phineas?"

The question caught her off guard. She couldn't imagine why anything wouldn't be okay. "What do you mean?"

Django ran his hand through his hair before sighing. "I don't know. He just seems… off lately, I guess. I don't know."

Isabella turned and leaned closer to Django. "Off how?" Suddenly she felt weird, like the hairs on her neck were standing at attention, but she didn't know why. It was almost like hearing that from Django scared her.

"It's probably nothing," Django said, sounding like he thought he was being irrational. "I just haven't really seen him much lately. You know, usually by this time of year Phineas is asking to hit up the beach to try to surf. And, I'm not complaining, I tell him every year it's still too cold, but… It's weird."

Isabella relaxed a little upon hearing that. Nothing major was happening. Just Django feeling a little neglected. Not that that was a good thing, but it wasn't the end of the world.

"Yeah, he's been spending a lot of time with Ferb, I think," Isabella said. She would have continued, but Django spoke before she could.

"Yeah, that's the thing; it feels like he's always with Ferb," Django explained, looking like he was annoyed with himself for saying it. "And Ferb doesn't really seem like he wants him or anyone else around."

Isabella smiled calmly, putting her hand on Django's shoulder. "Ferb has been here all day. If he doesn't want anyone around, he came to the wrong place." Django laughed, running his hand through his hair again. "Some people just take time to open up."

Django threw back his head and signed loudly and obnoxiously. "You realize what this means for me."

"Mm, I can't say that I do," Isabella said, eyebrow raising in amusement.

"I'm totally being jealous," Django said, half-joking as he sighed again, making Isabella laugh. "I feel like he's taking my friend away, so I'm being judgmental. I've seen the movies. I should have known the signs."

"Oh, Django," Isabella said, bumping their shoulders together. "Phineas probably just needs a reminder that it's that time a year. Ferb is having him help rebuild a car, and I think Phineas has gotten pretty focused on it."

"You're right, as always. I'm just overthinking it," Django said as he stood up and grabbed two cups of iced tea.

"What's new?" Isabella asked jokingly as she picked up two of the glasses.

"You know, if Phineas is too busy to go surfing with me, you could always come," Django suggested.

Isabella made a disgusted face. "No way."

"Why not? You like surfing." Django asked, not quite believing.

"Because it's way too cold out," Isabella replied cheekily before leaving the kitchen, Django laughing at her heels.

Midafternoon faded into evening in the Flynn living room. The conversation was A+ despite Buford's piss poor attitude, at least, that was Adyson's opinion. Granted she was biased due to who was doing most of the talking, but sue her. Mishti knew how to entertain.

Adyson hadn't even realized how late it was until Ms. Flynn walked into the living room.

"Alright, kids. I just got the first phone call about dinner being ready," she said, looking to Buford. "I hear you're having tacos."

"Fuck, yes," Buford muttered to himself. Adyson was almost embarrassed for him as she watched Ms. Flynn pretend she hadn't heard him cuss.

"Oh, dear. I did not realize the time!" Baljeet said as he looked at his watch. He then turned to Mishti. "We had better go back to my house. I believe dinner will be ready."

"Of course," Mishti said, only getting up to follow him once Adyson had moved out from in front of her.

From there everyone stood up, all preparing to leave the house.

As they headed toward the door, Isabella walked over to Adyson, linking arms with her. "Walk me home?" she asked.

Adyson snorted. "I might be able to make it that far."

At the door everyone said their goodbyes to those not going in the same direction. Isabella hugged Phineas at the same time that Adyson hugged Mishti and Buford pushed Baljeet into a bush outside the front door.

"Are you 12, Buford?!" Baljeet yelled.

"Later, nerd," Buford called, shooting him a self-satisfied grin before he walked off with Django, who gave Baljeet a look of apology as though standing next to Buford had made him an accomplice.

Adyson rolled her eyes as she pulled away from Mishti. "Boys are so stupid."

"It is why I prefer girls," Mishti said, before winking at Adyson in a way that made her almost flush. Almost.

With that, Mishti walked away with Baljeet, patting leaves off of his shirt as they walked.

Adyson turned to wait for Isabella. She and Phineas were still saying goodbye, although Phineas' eyes were darting behind her. That was when Adyson realized that Ferb had already made it out the door and was heading for his own home.

"Later, Fletcher!" She called after him, ignoring the way Phineas' eyes followed him. She was not dealing with that.

Ferb didn't look back to her, and the wave he gave her was so half-assed Adyson thought he may have just had a hand spasm. But it was about the goodbye she had expected.

"Okay, I'm going," Isabella said to Phineas, arms still hooked around his neck. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Text me when you make it home," Phineas said, hands still at her hips.

"You want me to text you that I made it across the street?" Isabella asked, looking both amused and touched.

Oh, it was so cute Adyson could gag.

"It's a dangerous street," Phineas joked, feigning a serious face to make Isabella laugh.

"Don't worry, Casanova, I'll make sure she has nothing but safe travels," Adyson interrupted, pulling Isabella away from Phineas.

"I appreciate it," Phineas said, smiling at both of them.

Adyson waved him off and pulled Isabella toward the sidewalk, as Isabella waved to her boyfriend.

They walked in silence until they reached the sidewalk and Phineas closed the door. Then Isabella turned to her.

"Hey, I want to ask your opinion on something," Isabella said, walking as slowly as possible across the empty street.

"Okay, go for it," Adyson said, unsure what to think.

"Has Phineas been acting weird?" Isabella asked.

Adyson froze for a second but quickly recovered. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," Isabella admitted. "Django mentioned something to me about him being off. We kind of brushed it off as Django missing Phineas since he's been with Ferb a lot lately, but I keep thinking about it." Isabella had stopped on the sidewalk outside of her house.

Adyson shrugged even as a bad feeling settled in her stomach. "He's seemed fine to me," Adyson said. "So I don't know what there is to think about past what you guys already said. He's spending time with a new friend; no big deal." Adyson wanted so badly to end the conversation there.

It wasn't like she knew anything. So she knew Ferb liked boys as well as girls, so what? That didn't mean anything. It didn't mean Phineas had experienced anything with Ferb like she had. There was nothing about their interactions that rose suspicion. They were totally normal.

But maybe a part of her didn't really think that. Maybe a part of her was picking up on a vibe that she really didn't want to be privy to. Maybe the way Phineas acted around Ferb seemed completely different to the way he acted around everyone else.

"But isn't that in itself weird?" Isabella asked. "Phineas is so attentive to the people around him, but he hasn't noticed that he hasn't been spending time with Django?"

"Maybe he has noticed and just doesn't think anything of it. I mean, has Django been knocking his door down to hangout?" Adyson asked, trying to rationalize things that she hoped were rational.

"No, but has Ferb?" Isabella asked.

For a second Adyson thought the question was rhetorical, but then she saw Isabella's eyes watching her, waiting on an answer. It dawned on Adyson that Isabella didn't know much about the relationship between the two boys in mention. It made sense, she only had one class with both of them, and she was incredibly busy. Lunch period was probably the only time she was really with them together.

Adyson shrugged again. "Ferb's a pretty closed off guy, and like you said, Phineas is attentive. Maybe he just thinks Ferb needs a friend more than Django does right now."

Isabella pulled her hair over her shoulder and began running her fingers through it to detangle. "You're right. I know you are," Isabella said. "I don't really know why I'm asking. I felt fine after I talked to Django. I guess I just started realizing how much time they're spending together."

"And now you're feeling jealous, too?" Adyson asked.

"I don't know," Isabella confessed. "Maybe that's it."

"It sounds like it is," Adyson reinforced. "And there's nothing wrong with that."

Isabella threw her hair back over her shoulder. "Yeah, maybe," Isabella said, sounding to Adyson like she couldn't quite convince herself that jealousy was the only problem. "Thanks for walking me home and listening to me."

"Anytime, girl," Adyson told her before hugging her goodbye.

But Adyson hoped they wouldn't have another conversation involving Ferb Fletcher ever again.

After Phineas shut the door he went to find his mother to see if she wanted any help with their own dinner preparation. He wasn't sure how much help he would be, his thoughts were all focused on Ferb, but he wanted to at least offer before going off to think about Ferb all night.

Because Ferb had stayed. Not come to make an appearance and then leave the first opportunity, but stayed until he was asked to leave. Phineas' heart felt like it might beat out of his chest.

He knew it was a onetime thing. Ferb might decide to not speak to him for the next week for all Phineas knew. But for the entire day he'd stayed. He'd stayed leaned up against Phineas' legs like a grounding weight, showing him videos and sharing occasional glances that Phineas could read like Ferb had spoken out loud.

It'd been so good he'd barely felt guilt saying his goodbyes to Isabella at the door. He'd been too consumed in watching Ferb's retreating back.

"Hey, mom. Do you need any help with dinner?" Phineas asked, stepping into the kitchen, where his mom was leaning against the counter.

"Not tonight. We're getting takeout," Linda said, a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, cool, where from?" Phineas asked. It was strange that she didn't have any takeout menus spread out in front of her.

"I have a surprise for you," his mom said, rather than answering his question.

Phineas' brow raised. "What kind of surprise?"

Before she could answer, the back door opened, and Candice walked in carrying bags of Chinese food.

"Candice!" Phineas screamed.

"Hey, little bro. Are you going to help me with the food or what?" Candice asked, smirk on her face, knowing that she had successfully surprised him.

Phineas did quickly, but only so that he could hug her once the food was sat down.

"Geez, you'd think you'd missed me," Candice joked even as she hugged Phineas fiercely.

"I have so much stuff to tell you!" Phineas said, ignoring her comment.

"After dinner," his mom said, coming over to hug Candice herself.

A second later a chirp was heard from behind Candice. She let go of her mother and reached down to pet the platypus who'd just appeared. "Oh, there you are Perry."

Phineas grinned. His mother couldn't have offered a better surprise.

So for the moment he pushed his thoughts of Ferb to the side and joined his family at the table to eat, feeling so remarkably calm that he didn't scratch himself once the remainder of the night.