This one was a little late considering I had the plan a whole week and didn't bother to do anything about it. Been freaking out about upcoming trips and stuff for school, so I guess that's my (flimsy) excuse.

But anyway, thanks for reading. Enjoy the chapter.

WARNING: slash, boy love, guy on guy. Don't like it, don't read. Mentions of rape.

Disclaimer: if I actually owned anything, we all know Phineas and Ferb would be together. But alas~

OoO

"I... fuck," Ferb dropped his spoon, ignoring the clattering noise it made when it hit the table top. "When is he back? When did you find out?"

He felt like he had a million more questions, a quiet desperation in his chest that demanded he voice them all at once, but there was nothing else he wanted to ask. His friend coming back was a surprise, mostly because he hadn't been giving it much thought. Ferb had been too caught up in his situation about Phineas to really notice anything else going on around him.

"He called me a few hours ago to let me know," Buford said, eyes resting on the faded green of the table, finger restlessly rubbing it. "He was at the airport, told me his flight left in about an hour. So I guess he's already on his way."

Ferb felt like he should reach out and grab Buford's shoulder, comfort him in some way, but anything he thought of seemed wrong or inadequate. He felt inadequate, which was a first for him. His mind was still continuously pulling back to Phineas and Isabella, and he couldn't concentrate long enough to really give his friend the words he needed. "Wow," he said after a moment, taking a while to say even that. "That's great, I think. Is that great?"

The brunet in front of him shrugged one shoulder restlessly, still not making eye contact. He seemed both jittery and depressed at the same time, mouth pulling into a frown but hands constantly in some kind of motion. It was a weird combination that made Ferb feel a bit out of it. "I dunno," Buford said finally. "I mean, what happens now? What if he won't even talk to me when he gets back?"

"Dude," Ferb's hands found his coffee mug, wrapped around them in a desperate attempt to feel like he was doing something. "He called you to say he was coming back, didn't he? Why would he do that if he were planning on ignoring you?"

"Like that means anything," Buford muttered darkly, tilting his head so his hair blocked out the sight of his eyes. "He could decide not to talk to me while he's on the flight, or when he gets back home, or when he walks into school and sees the hall."

The hall where the play had been held, Ferb remembered. Somehow he doubted that Baljeet would take one look at it and instantly hate Buford. If he were to hate the bully, the Indian would have done so long ago.

"You're worrying over nothing," Ferb said. He tried to find a way to put his thoughts into words and came up short. He settled for a simple, "you'll see on Monday."

Buford grunted once and they fell into a tense silence, listening to the sounds of the other customers in the diner that night. There weren't many- a biker sitting in a corner booth, two older woman sitting at the counter and a young couple sitting a few tables away from the boys. None of them were particularly loud, and Ferb had to strain to pick up even little bits of their conversations.

"So, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Buford asked finally, obviously done with the Baljeet topic. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "What's up with you? You seem kind of... out of it."

"I'm fine," Ferb said shortly, no longer in the mood to discuss Phineas. It seemed that was all he ever did. Even when the two had been on good terms, he'd always had an annoying habit of mentioning his step brother in almost every conversation. People tended to groan whenever he did. "Can we just... talk about it later?"

"But-"

"Are you going to go around to see Baljeet on Sunday?" Ferb cut him off. "He'll be back by then, right?"

Buford's mouth thinned, probably at the obvious avoidance of the topic, but he seemed to accept that Ferb wasn't going to talk. The brunet shrugged and glanced out the window. "I don't think so. His parents aren't exactly in love with me at the moment."

"So text him and ask to meet up," Ferb suggested. "Or you could come over to my place. He might decide to visit Ph-" he cut himself off there, frustrated that he'd been about to mention his brother.

Buford raised an eyebrow at the green-haired teen's sudden halt. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," Ferb grit out, sick of repeating himself. Everyone asked him that same question lately. Now he understood why Buford had gotten so frustrated when Ferb had mothered him. "Just... whatever, see him on Monday. Just know you probably won't get any alone time and you'll have to talk in front of people, which will be awkward as fuck."

Buford looked a little pissed off at Ferb's sharp tone, and they didn't speak again, leaving the diner soon afterwards.

When he got home, he found all of his brother's things had been removed from their shared bedroom and put into Candace's old room. Apparently Candace had stayed to help out, although not doing any of the heavy lifting obviously, but had left before Ferb got back. He found himself annoyed that she hadn't stayed to say goodbye to him.

The weekend passed as normal, except Phineas was out of the house before Ferb even got out of bed in the mornings, probably at Isabella's, and avoided Ferb like the plague when he was forced back home for dinner. This routine was fine with the older step-brother, who found himself in a foul mood and wanted nothing to do with anyone.

On Sunday night, Buford called him, sounding on the verge of tears, and the icy atmosphere between them dropped almost immediately. Ferb spent about an hour trying to convince the brunet that no one at school would make jokes about the play the next day, and when he finally hung up, he realized his bedroom door was open and Phineas was standing in the doorway, watching him cautiously.

Ferb refused to be the first one to speak, and they spent an unknown amount of time glaring at each other before the redhead finally huffed and glanced away. "Mom says you packed the dishwasher but forgot to turn it on."

"So?"

"So she wants you to turn it on," Phineas bit out, sounding as if he thought Ferb was an idiot for not knowing this.

Ferb wondered why Linda didn't just press the fucking 'on' button herself instead of sending Phineas upstairs to go get him, but kept his thoughts to himself. Instead he shrugged and set the phone down. "Fine."

On Monday, he was fully prepared for Buford's arrival on his doorstep in the morning, who was too nervous to walk to school and instead walked to Ferb's. He sat down heavily at the kitchen table while Ferb made some tea, still having time left before they had to leave. "Where's Phineas?"

"He catches a ride with Isabella now," Ferb said. His voice was calm, despite the fact he was rather annoyed. His hurt at Phineas had turned into anger. He thought it was some kind of defense mechanism, because the more time he spent being angry, the less time he wanted to have some kind of melt down just to relieve some of the built up emotions he was harboring.

"Oh," Buford said. He reached down and patted Perry when the monotreme appeared at his feet. "Hey Perry."

Once the tea was finished, they went out to Ferb's car and Buford fidgeted the entire way to school, which was only a ten minute drive. When Ferb pulled into the parking lot, he shot his friend a look. "Calm down, you're making me antsy."

"Sorry," Buford said, peering out the window at the parking lot, probably looking for Baljeet. A disappointed look crossed his face when no curly haired Indians were present.

They both got out of the car and Ferb locked it, pocketing the keys. As he turned to leave, Isabella pulled up in the space right next to them, her bright pink car hurting his eyes and serving to worsen his mood. Phineas was in the passenger seat, studiously avoiding looking at him, and a few of the Fireside Girls were in the back, all giggling about something.

Isabella got out and waved at the two boys, a huge smile on her face. She'd never harbored grudges and her annoyance at Ferb's attitude on Friday had vanished. "Hey, you two! How are you both?"

Feeling like he should answer but not wanting to, Ferb shrugged once. Buford put his hands in his hoodie pockets and scuffed the concrete ground with his sneaker. "Fine, I guess."

As Phineas and the other girls all got out of the car, Isabella walked over to Buford and put a hand on his arm. "I heard that Baljeet is back at school today... are you going to be okay?"

"How'd you hear that?" Ferb cut in.

Isabella looked at him like he'd been rude, which he probably had been, but she answered him anyway. "Phineas told me."

"He called me from the airport," Phineas said when they all turned to look at him.

"He called me, too," Buford muttered, sounding a little defensive. He was probably annoyed that he wasn't the only one Baljeet had called. "Whatever, I'll be fine."

"Of course you will," Isabella said brightly, shooting a smirk towards Ferb. "You've got your own mother hen here to look after you."

"Oh, shut up, Isabella," Ferb snapped, pushing past her and stalking off towards the front of the school. His outburst was uncalled for and extremely rude, and he felt pretty bad about it. He genuinely liked Isabella when she wasn't dating his brother.

Buford caught up to him just as they reached the front entrance, and they both headed towards the lockers even though they didn't have class for another twenty minutes. The brunet was looking around at everyone the whole time they walked, but he managed to talk distractedly as well. "You know, it's not really her fault that Phineas is being an asshole. She has no idea what's going on."

"I know that," Ferb snapped, and immediately regretted it. He was annoyed at being lectured, but he didn't want to be horrible to his friend when the guy was so worried and preoccupied. "Fine, I'll make an effort to be nicer."

"Good man," Buford clapped him on the back before suddenly paling and yanking Ferb in front of him.

"What the hell?" Ferb muttered, trying to pry the brunet's fist off his jacket.

"Shut the fuck up and just..." Buford peered around him, not relinquishing his death grip. "Just... hide me."

Ferb glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of black curly hair in the midst of their classmates, and sighed when he realized it was Baljeet. The boy was exiting a classroom but was walking in the opposite direction and probably hadn't seen them.

"Relax," Ferb said after a moment, when Baljeet had disappeared. "He's gone."

Buford exhaled roughly and let go, some colour returning to his face. He seemed embarrassed and turned to face Ferb's locker.

"I thought you'd be jumping at the chance to talk to him," Ferb muttered, putting a few books into his locker and pulling out a few that he needed for his first classes.

"After what happened the last time we spoke?" Buford snorted. "Not likely. He threw me a line and I shot him down. He has to be the kindest and dumbest person in the world to actually throw me a line, and I fucking shot him down."

Ferb sighed and shrugged, not really sure what to say that would help. He felt like everyone was leaning on him for support, though in reality it was only Buford, and he was just so worn out. Usually he knew exactly how to handle these situations, but since he and Phineas stopped talking in general, he'd somehow lost that ability. "Do you have any classes with him?"

"Yeah," Buford crossed his arms over his chest, looking a little vulnerable, which was crazy. The guy was built like a footballer, but then, he wasn't like that on the inside. And Ferb was probably one of the only people who knew that. "His assigned seat is right next to mine in English. I swear Mr Davidson did it on purpose."

"That sucks," Ferb said.

Buford shrugged. "Every English lesson I just sit there and stare at the empty chair. God, I have English third period, how the hell am I going to face him?"

"Just..." Ferb paused, trying to think of anything to say that would be remotely comforting. "It'll be okay, Buford. Seriously. If he took the time to call you before his flight, he probably isn't angry at you. How did he sound on the phone?"

"What?" Buford glanced up at him, as if he hadn't even been listening, but after a moment he answered. "Oh, uhm. Nervous, I guess. And tired."

"But not angry?"

"Nah," the brunet looked down again. "Not angry. He's not the type."

"Well, there you go," Ferb said. "So stop worrying."

"I wasn't worried about him getting angry," Buford muttered, shifting his backpack. "I'm going to homeroom. I'll see you later."

He left before Ferb could protest that they still had fifteen minutes until the bell would ring.

On his own now, Ferb made his way through the corridors aimlessly, trying to waste time until he showed up to his own homeroom. He ended up getting bored and arriving seven minutes early, but his teacher was already there so the room was open. He'd set his bag down on one of the desks and sat down with a sigh before realizing with a start that Baljeet was in his homeroom.

The Indian shuffled in exactly seven minutes later, eyes scanning the room full of teenagers before landing on Ferb. The two hadn't talked all that much since the play, but technically they were still friends, so the boy sat down beside him with a hesitant smile and Ferb turned to study him, wondering just how much the kid had changed in the last few months.

"Hey," Baljeet said softly. He looked worn out and had bags under his eyes, but that could easily be attributed to jet lag. He also looked nervous and fidgety, glancing around the room constantly, just like Buford had been doing earlier.

"Hey," Ferb greeted in return, not entirely sure how he felt about the boy. Baljeet had done nothing wrong, and yet Ferb still held him accountable for sending Buford into a fit of depression just before he'd left for India. Still, the green-haired teen thought that he should at least be polite, and besides, everything was Chris Fraser's fault anyway.

"How are you?" Baljeet asked, one hand raising to run through his messy hair. He yawned and Ferb found himself wanting to yawn as well.

"Good," he lied, not really wanting to tell the truth and have the other boy ask what was wrong. "And you?"

"Exhausted," Baljeet said, a humourless smile lifting the corners of his mouth. "And nervous, I guess. Have you- have you seen Buford?"

"Yeah, I drove him to school," Ferb said, carefully arranging his face to be blank. "Are you planning on talking to him?"

"In general?" Baljeet asked. "Or are you meaning am I planning on having a deep, meaningful conversation with him?"

"Both, I suppose," Ferb said.

"Well, I am not going to ignore him," he said softly. "But as for the second option, I think school is not the greatest setting for something like that."

At a loss for what to say, Ferb shrugged. "Just don't hurt him again."

Baljeet only nodded, gulping and looking close to tears.

They didn't speak much more than that and when homeroom was over, they walked silently together for their first class, Biology. Ferb was already dreading it. While the class was easy, he hated the teacher and sat next to Isabella. He wasn't looking forward to seeing her after his outburst in the parking lot.

When he walked in, Isabella was already in her seat and talking quietly with Adyson, who was to the right of Ferb's empty seat. Adyson nodded in Ferb's direction and Isabella glanced over at him. They made eye contact and the girl smiled once, although weakly. It was her way of telling him she wasn't mad, but she was a little hurt.

Feeling bad, Ferb gestured to the seat in front of his own. "That's yours," he said to Baljeet, who nodded gratefully and hurried towards it. Ferb sat down next to Isabella and Adyson, pulling out his books for Biology and setting them on the desk.

"Ferb, what's going on with you lately?" Isabella asked while Adyson watched curiously. The ravenette touched his arm as she spoke, looking concerned. "You've been having a lot of... outbursts lately, and I haven't seen you and Phin talk to each other at all since you guys had that huge argument."

"Phineas hasn't told you anything?" he asked, resisting the urge to pull himself out of her reach.

"No, he hasn't," she said, frowning. "He gets annoyed when I ask and changes the subject."

"Well, then, maybe I should follow his example," Ferb said as lightly as he could, trying to keep his tone from sounding rude. Isabella didn't look impressed.

"For the love of..." she took a deep breath and tried to calm her frustration. "Please, will someone just tell me what the heck is going on around here lately? No one is telling me anything!"

Ferb bit back the comment that immediately came to him (maybe because it's none of your business), and instead shrugged helplessly, not knowing how to tell her to back off without sounding cruel. "It doesn't matter, okay?"

"Wait, what is going on?" Baljeet asked, turning around in his seat and looking interested. "I am confused. What wont he tell you?"

"I don't even know," Isabella sighed, looking at Baljeet and filling him in, although not lowering her voice at all so Ferb could hear every word. "He's just been so irritable for a week or so, and he and Phin had this huge argument when he found out that we're dating."

"Really?" Baljeet asked, eyes wide.

"Yeah, and he's been snapping at everyone lately, even Buford," Isabella informed gravely, and Ferb put great effort into stopping himself from turning on her and yelling at her to stop talking about him like he wasn't even there. "Speaking of Buford," the girl went on, "have you seen him at all? He looked nervous."

"No, I have not," Baljeet fidgeted, not looking happy about the sudden subject change. He looked like he wanted to turn around and go back to flipping through his Biology workbook. "But I may have classes with him so I suppose I will eventually."

"You have English with him," Ferb supplied. "Third period."

"Oh," was all Baljeet said, and he looked vaguely sick.

"You know," Adyson piped up, once they had all gone quiet. "It sounds like Ferb is jealous, to be honest."

"Jealous?" Isabella asked, looking at her friend with a frown.

"Yeah, I mean, he got annoyed when you and Phineas started dating, and they haven't been talking..." Adyson waved a hand in a gesture that might have supposed to mean something.

Both girls and Baljeet looked at Ferb, as if asking for confirmation. He knew they probably weren't thinking jealous in the romantic sense, more the my-brother-is-being-stolen-from-me sense, but he was starting to feel a little nauseated all the same. He put his hand up and got the teacher's attention. "I don't feel well," he told the man. "May I please be excused?"

"I suppose," the teacher said reluctantly, turning back towards his desk.

"You are such a liar, Ferb," Isabella sighed, but she didn't seem too annoyed. "Can you really afford to miss a class?"

Ferb gave her an incredulous look, because it was just one period of Biology he was missing, and the class was easy as hell. Once he'd packed up his stuff, he left without a backwards glance, glad to be out of that room. He debated going to the sickbay but decided against it, instead going to the school office and signing out. When he got to his car, he sent a quick text to Buford, hoping his friend had his phone on vibrate so the ring tone wouldn't go off in class.

Leaving school early, couldn't handle being inbetween Isabella and Adyson while they gossiped about me. Saw Baljeet. He looked okay, tired and nervous though. He said he wasn't going to ignore you.

He left his phone on his lap as he pulled out of the parking lot, and the vibration from the text he received minutes later made him jump in surprise. He pulled over to check it.

leaving school already? keep this up and i might start to suspect ur cheating on me. lol. but thats good bout the Jeet thing i guess. ill tell u what happens in english.

Ferb snorted at the boy's poor joke before replying a simple Alright, talk to you later and throwing his phone onto the passenger seat. He pulled back onto the road and the rest of the ride home was uneventful and short.

He saw Candace sitting outside on the front porch, still hugely pregnant and looking happy. At first he panicked, thinking she was there to tell him more bad news, but when he went over to her, she smiled and pulled him down to sit next to him. "What are you doing home so early?"

"I felt sick," he told her, which was only kind of a lie. "What are you doing here?"

"What, I can't visit my mother and step father?" Candace asked him, grinning. "But I was hoping to talk to you, so I'm glad you're here."

"What's up?" he questioned, looking at her face to see if anything was wrong. There didn't seem to be.

"I was wondering about baby names," she sighed, touching her protruding stomach. "I know I've always wanted Xavier and Amanda, but I'm not so sure anymore. One look at Jeremy's face when I suggested it and... man, he hated them. I could tell."

"You're asking for my advice on baby names?" Ferb said, surprised. "Why not Mom or Dad?"

Candace gave him a hard stare. "My mother named my brother Phineas, and your father called you Ferb. I'd rather not ask our overly retarded parents on name ideas for my hopefully semi-normal child."

"With you as the mother?" Ferb teased. "Unlikely."

Candace grinned and punched his shoulder, but he hardly felt it. Still, she looked at him expectantly, as if she were waiting for his cry of pain, so he cupped the area and gave an exaggerated groan. "Oh, I think you hurt my feelings."

She snorted and reached up to ruffle his hair, smiling in amusement and fondness. "How I've missed your horrible sense of humor."

"You're not due for a month anyway," Ferb pointed out after a moment. "What're you thinking of names for?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" Candace gestured to her stomach helplessly. "Jeremy wants to keep me in bed all hours of the day."

Ferb made a face. "Gross."

"Not like that," she growled, swatting his arm. "He just doesn't want me to exert myself unnecessarily, and it's driving me crazy. He's reluctant to even let me drive over here to visit my parents!"

"Count yourself lucky he loves you to that extent," Ferb told her, leaning over to kiss her forehead. "I'm going to head inside, okay? I'm still feeling kind of sick."

"Alright," she touched his hand before he pulled away. "You know I'm always here for you, right?"

"Of course," he smiled at her, affection overcoming his bad mood for the moment. Once he'd climbed the stairs to the room it took over again, causing his shoulders to slump as he dropped his bag to the floor.

His phone vibrated and he took it out, expecting an update from Buford, but was startled to see a text from Phineas. It took him several moments to gather the courage to open it.

You left school early?

He gulped, wondering why his brother was suddenly talking him after so long of ignoring him. He wasn't sure if he should reply, but did so anyway, craving the contact.

Yes, I felt sick.

Ferb dropped onto his bed and stared intently at his phone, not having the strength to put it down and focus on something else. Everything in him was just waiting for the reply. After what seemed like at least ten minutes but in reality was only one, he started to suspect Phineas wouldn't text back. Just as he'd given up, the device vibrated in his hands and he hurriedly clicked on the message.

Isabella said you got moody at her again.

Frowning at the mention of the girl, Ferb typed back an angry reply before he could stop himself.

She was being annoying.

He waited even longer this time, and he even kept an eye on the time. It was exactly ten minutes before Phineas texted again, and Ferb opened the message quickly, but soon wished he hadn't.

You disgust me.

OoO

Phew! Wrote that all in one go. And I have the plan right in front of me, I can tell you now, this chapter is almost nothing like the plan. I changed pretty much everything. Sorry Ashlee. Inspiration calls.

Anyway, Baljeet! Yay!

Review? Reviewers get bacon and egg pie. BACON AND EGG PIE!