How long has it been now since the show ended…a month? This story is so overdue.

Still, here I am, because this story is important to me. It needed typing,

That, and I'm stressing over stuff for this upcoming school year. I'm doin' some new stuff, so I'm really afraid that I'm going to forget something or do something embarrassing or fail or buckle under pressure…I think you guys get the picture. So this is a sort of escape, as well as a tribute.

God bless and have a great day (or night)!
ThePro-LifeCatholic

Disclaimer: I don't own Phineas and Ferb, nor do I own any of the other fandoms that will be mentioned in this ficlet. I own myself (to a degree).

Note to my Phineas and Ferb readers: My stories will be completed. I haven't forgotten them or left them for good. However, it's probably going to be a while before I can get back to them, what with school starting and me wanting to take care of my Doctor Who ideas before I lose motivation for them.

It was summer vacation (come on: how can you start a story like this and not expect it to turn out awesome?!), and there were two brothers in a backyard. They weren't blood-related; they were step-brothers. But that's beside the point.

Their names were Phineas and Ferb, and they had one goal in mind for that whole one-hundred-and-four-days-of-summer-vacation. They were going to make every day of summer awesome (and, if possible, make every day more awesome than the day before it). And the interesting part was that it didn't really matter to them what other people did. It didn't matter what the neighbors would say, or whether or not anyone would join in on the fun. Even if it was just the two brothers in their backyard, day after hot day, they were still intent on making summer memorable.

Luckily for them, they had a lot of company. In the small city of Danville, Phineas and Ferb had a group of friends who helped them with their every crazy endeavor. Isabella, Baljeet, Buford, the Fireside Girls, and Irving were (almost) always around to witness Phineas' and Ferb's activities. And many of the citizens of Danville were fine with the two boys making wacky inventions. In fact, hundreds of Danville residents usually took part in the stepbrothers' adventures.

But what Phineas and Ferb didn't know was that they had a much larger audience than just Danville. They were being watched by hundreds (if not thousands) of viewers. Every hilarious episode the boys experienced, their audience was able to take part in. Those who didn't know about Phineas and Ferb were missing out on some pretty amazing stuff.

Speaking of which…

One day, a girl came to their backyard. She had been invited by friends to check out the stepbrothers. In all honesty, she had her doubts. She wasn't a fan of cartoons; she had seen pictures of the boys, and thought it was just a weird fad that wouldn't greatly affect her. So she stepped through the wooden swinging door.

Just one adventure. She'd watch them build a rollercoaster, and then she'd leave. Or at least, that's what she had expected would happen.

But there was one tiny problem: this girl became hooked. She dropped her bags onto the springy, 2D grass and stayed.

She watched invention after invention. She laughed at the witty comments supplied by the characters; she rolled her eyes at Candace's attempts to bust her brothers. She chuckled at Doofenshmirtz's sorry excuses for backstories, and sympathized with Perry (who had to sit through the evil scientist's pointless rambling). The girl groaned when Phineas failed to see Isabella's obvious crush on him; learned new facts and words of wisdom from the mostly-silent "man of action".

And then she witnessed Phineas' and Ferb's journey to and from the 2nd Dimension, and went looking for Platyborg pictures online. It was because of this that she discovered the world of fanfiction, fanart, and fandoms in general.

Her life was changed. She was overjoyed. She established an account on a fanfiction website not long after, and began to dream up story ideas. All the while, she continued to watch the adventures of the step-brothers. She learned their songs by heart. She impersonated their voices while doing work around the house.

But one day, she watched a show called Mystery Science Theatre 3000. The borderline-offensive humor, the overwhelming amount of sarcasm, and dry wit won her over. Packing up a couple of her bags, she waved to Phineas and Ferb and stepped out of the backyard and onto the Satellite of Love in next Sunday, A.D.

This girl kept going back to Phineas and Ferb, though. She hadn't forgotten them, and she most certainly wasn't over them. While laughing at the commentary made by talking robots, she still blasted Phineas and Ferb albums and watched (and re-watched) episodes. Her birthday party was themed after the show, and she wore Perry t-shirts with pride.

The Satellite of Love was soon traded in, however, for a short man with gold hair and the power to give dreams. The fangirl marveled at the brilliant effects, snickered at Jack's and Bunny's rivalry. She sighed over the antics of the Yetis and the Elves. Jack Frost's memories made her shiver.

And she pulled more bags from the backyard. True, she still wrote Phineas and Ferb fanfiction. Yes, she still counted Platyborg as one of her all-time favorite characters. She would still watch the occasional episode.

Even when Sandman was let loose to deliver dreams alone again, the fangirl would look back to the backyard sometimes. But she was thinking about the boys less and less.

There were hundreds more, though. There would always be fans for that show. And Phineas and Ferb didn't care who did or didn't watch them. They didn't need an audience to stay awesome.

So when this girl dressed in green and gold, and professed herself a member of Loki's quickly-growing army, the backyard and summer heat was all but forgotten. She would still hum snatches of her favorite songs. She would remember (and occasionally use) a quote from an episode. Sometimes she would pause and remember a particular scene that she had especially enjoyed.

And yet again, she leaped from Stark Tower (still leaving a large amount of baggage behind) and landed in a blue box that whisked her through time and space. A consulting detective and an army doctor joined her. She fell in love with a madman with brown spiky hair and a weakness for bananas.

Less than a year after she met the Doctor and Sherlock Holmes, the fangirl donned a trenchcoat and 3D glasses and joined fellow fans in her first ever Comic-con experience.

The fangirl now identified herself as "WhoVengerLocked", and Phineas and Ferb was little more than a passing thought.

She heard about the recent episodes of Phineas and Ferb, about Marvel and Star Wars crossovers. Her sister, who was more loyal to the show than she, would look up developments and new releases.

It was her sister who found out about the final episode.

Sitting in front of the computer, the two sisters listened to the ending song. The fangirl let her thoughts drift to the backyard, and the many adventures that had happened there. She understood every reference made in that grand finale. And a part of her heart broke when the red-headed boy waved at the screen (at her and the audience) for the last time.

And so the fangirl had the TARDIS park outside the Flynn-Fletcher residence. She stepped out and opened the gate door. The empty backyard was full of memories.

It had been more than just a nice stop. Phineas and Ferb had introduced her to a whole new world. Without the two weirdly-shaped cartoon characters, she may have never learned about fanfiction. She may have never been introduced to the fandoms which she enjoyed so thoroughly, right up to the present moment. The events she had experienced, the people that she had met…all of it started in that very backyard.

And so the fangirl picked up a few bags that still remained in the backyard, but not all of them. One she left in the grass. The TARDIS whooshed to life as she stopped to wave at the 2D house.

But the girl never really left, not completely.

You see, Phineas and Ferb had made her into a fangirl.

And fangirls never really leave. They never really forget. When something that important comes into your life, and changes you so drastically and wonderfully, it stays with you.

Forever.

Phineas and Ferb and the writers of the show: Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Without your show, I would have never been introduced to fanfiction (or at least, it would've been later in life). There are people that I've met and places I've been to only because I knew what fandoms were.

You've added this fandom part of me to my life, and my life is better because of it.

You'll never leave me, not completely, not ever. No matter what fandoms I may join, you'll always be one of the most important, one of the first.

Thank you for coming along.

*By the by, the fangirl featured in this fic is me, for those who might not know that*