One-shot I wrote a while ago!

Ferb Fletcher was all alone.

He was, of course, surrounded by people. But here, at the Night of the Falling Stars Girl's Choice Dance, he was the only boy without a partner.

Technically, he had been invited by Isabella Garcia-Shapiro, the girl who lived across the road from his family. She had asked Phineas, his naïve, clueless brother, to the dance, and Phineas had assumed the "you" in "do you want to go to the dance?" had been plural.

And so here Ferb, poor, shy, introverted Ferb, was, quite out of his limited comfort zone, without a partner.

He felt a lot smaller than normal – shrunk back from all the conversations and relationships buzzing around him. How could Phineas not realize he would be miserable here, when he hated talking to strangers?

But, of course, Phineas was so utterly clueless that he didn't realize Isabella had no interest in his quiet stepbrother. Phineas didn't know the ways of the world yet. Ferb doubted he had ever even had a crush before. Not a serious one.

And so Ferb was stuck here.

He shifted nervously in his seat as the other reason he was uncomfortable here danced by.

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz already had a date. She didn't need a shy green-haired little boy staring after her all evening. But Ferb couldn't help watching the swish of her long black dress on the ground as she and her boyfriend twirled away.

Ferb had a habit of withdrawing into himself, tuning out the world, walking the corridors of his mind rather than the roads of reality. He had found and figured such amazing things, deep in his brain and heart and soul, that it had become a habit for him to tune out and start exploring his insides. It also dulled the pain of the real world – the aches that had never truly healed since his mother was killed. Spacing out helped him cope.

Phineas was the only person who really understood Ferb's blank silences, who sympathized and who pushed Ferb to be more outgoing and talkative.

"If you've got something to share," he'd say, "You can tell me! You can always tell me."

And Ferb did. He told Phineas things. And, over time, he began to let up, to share more lighthearted facts with a larger group of people.

But he still tuned out often, went into a state of half-awareness, picking up the bare facts of the world and analyzing them to death deep in his amazing mind.

And so he did now.

His thoughts trailed off as one of the few people he was comfortable around sat down beside him.

Though neither had romantic interest in the other, Isabella Garcia-Shapiro and Ferb Fletcher enjoyed each other's company, and talked freely with one another.

Well, each their own definition of "freely". Ferb was willing to add a smattering of words to a day with Isabella, instead of staying completely silent as he would around a stranger, and Isabella was willing to pour her heart out to Ferb as one would to a journal, if she was feeling exceptionally miserable.

This was one of those times.

"Oh, Ferb," she sighed, burying her face in her hands and sniffing loudly.

Ferb produced a handkerchief from a pocket somewhere, and Isabella took it and mopped the tears now sliding down her cheeks.

"First Paris, now this… he never gets it!"

"Phineas? Where'd he go?" Ferb asked, his voice coloured by a British accent.

"I don't know," Isabella groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. "I think he saw a rare plant or …"

In a very unusual show of emotion, Ferb put a sympathetic hand on Isabella's slim shoulder.

He swallowed once, twice, then worked up the courage to say the words:

"Sometimes, if you love somebody, you have to meet them halfway."

"Gosh, Ferb, I try! I like helping him build! I've done it a thousand-" she paused to gasp a trembling breath – "Thousand times!"

Ferb took a long look across the twilit field where the dance was being held, eyes scanning the ground. At the far edge, slightly behind a bush, he saw a shock of bright red hair, and smiled.

"Try, just one last time," he said.

"O-okay," Isabella agreed doubtfully. She stood up, and wiped her cheeks dry. "Well, thanks – for understanding – and sitting out."

Ferb gave her a thumbs-up, and watched her walk away.

It was a flower. The rare plant Phineas had gone in search of – a flower. The Ivory-Leafed Lily-Rose … a very special flower that only grew north of Danville. It had a lot of scientific uses. But it was also very pretty.

Ferb had a feeling Isabella wouldn't mind that so much.

A raised voice caught his ear, and he turned, looking around for the disturbance.

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz was standing a few meters away with her arms crossed. It looked like she was alone.

He turned back to his drink. He wasn't going to meddle in this. Wasn't going to meddle in this. Wasn't going to meddle in this. He was eleven. She was sixteen.

Prickles crawled all over his arms as Vanessa walked toward him. Why did she have to come so close? Never before, in his entire life, had he wanted to speak so badly.

She went to the punch bowl, poured herself a drink, and sat down opposite Ferb.

She liked to eat the ice cubes in the drink, Ferb observed. Just like him.

And where was Johnny? Her date?

Was it just Ferb, or did she look sad?

She looked up, and he froze.

"Hey, Ferb," she said, and it seemed to Ferb that the sky behind her was not filled with stars, but with flowers in full bloom.

She remembers my name! he thought.

"Hi, Vanessa," he said. The words were faltering and awkward, but she didn't seem to notice.

She was quiet, looking down into her drink.

"Are you alright?" he asked, and the words more sure, more steady.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Vanessa replied. "It's just – I've got a lot going on – family, friends –" She paused, and then continued, the words spilling out from her in a rush. "Break-ups I saw coming for weeks."

Ferb's mouth went dry.

"Sorry," was all he could manage to say.

She shook her head, mouth curved downward, eyes closed.

He slipped off his bench, leaving Vanessa alone at the picnic table.

The trees around the field the dancers occupied were large and welcoming, and Ferb threaded his way among them with ease, following a well-worn trail. He had one mission in mind. The same one Phineas had had earlier that evening. The one that had annoyed Isabella. How alike they were, he and his brother. How alike, and yet, how different.

He swerved off the path, and climbed down into a little hollow he and Phineas had found years before.

Huge flowers with wide, graceful petals spread around him on all sides.

And Isabella and Phineas stood in the middle of them, facing away from Ferb – hand in hand.

Ferb plucked a flower from the ground, and took a step back, not wanting to interrupt his brother's first-ever romantic moment.

But the sound of his footfall alerted Phineas to his presence.

Phineas and Isabella turned around, and Ferb smiled.

Isabella had one of the huge white flowers in her dark hair, one whose stem had been twisted and braided into a heart.

Only Phineas' clever fingers could've done that. She might have requested the design, he didn't know – but it was adorable. They were so good together.

"Hey, Ferb!" Phineas called. "Do you want to come with us? We're going to go exploring."

Vanessa was back at the dance, wasn't she? And Ferb had a flower, just for her.

"Uh – I don't think so."

Phineas and Isabella looked disappointed, which surprised him. Wasn't two company and three a crowd? Besides, he was still a little bit miffed at Phineas for not realizing Isabella's feelings sooner, for taking Ferb with him instead of just accepting Isabella's invitation.

He turned to go.

"Are you sure?"

Phineas' voice was like a basin of cold water dashed over Ferb's head.

It woke him up.

"No – no, I'm not." He turned.

Sometimes, if you love something, you have to let it go. And sometimes, if you love someone, you have to meet them halfway. Phineas wanted to go exploring. Ferb didn't. Not on the surface. But deep down, didn't he?

Everything Ferb wanted to say to Vanessa - it could all wait, couldn't it? Words are forever. They weather seasons and outlast empires.

But summer only lasts so long. And you're only young once.

I'm eleven. She's sixteen.

"Let's go," Phineas said eagerly, and Ferb gave him a thumbs-up.

Vanessa Doofenshmirtz arrived at her father's penthouse late that night, exhaustion and tears pulling her eyelids down. What an evening.

She stumbled into her room, and collapsed onto her bed, too tired to move.

When she finally roused herself enough to sit up and flick the light on, she saw something on her pillow – and it was odd enough to wake her a little more.

There was a little silver rocket there, graceful but sturdy. And attached to it was the largest, loveliest flower she had ever seen.

Someone had flown a flower to her?

It was the weirdest thing that had happened to her in a long time – but somehow, it seemed to fit, fit with someone she had talked with at the dance.

But her sleep-clogged mind was too slow to figure out who.

She fell asleep that night with a smile on her lips.

I took some artistic license in placing "Out to Launch" after "Summer Belongs To You." I don't think it really works that way :) Please review :)