All the Small Moments

I don't own Phineas and Ferb. Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh do.

I do, however, own this version of Human!Perry.

These drabbles will focus on Friendship!Stacy/Human!Perry/Candace, but may contain the other pairings previously mentioned.

Back buttons come in all shapes and sizes; all colours and designs, but they all have one function. Feel free to use if you want.

…

1. Trust -

It was deep into the summer now, and Candace had still taken to spying on her brothers from the window of her bedroom. She'd sit there for at least an hour or three a day, glaring at them as they worked on another invention she could show to her mother (keyword being 'could'). Only, as of late, she had another reason to keep a close eye on them.

"Who's that?"

Candace didn't look as Stacy joined her at the window; her blue eyes were completely fixed upon the figure laying beneath their tree, "Perry."

"No, not him. Him." Stacy pointed.

"Yeah. It's Perry."

"He has the same name as your pet platypus?"

"Uh-huh."

"And…he's dressed in a suit like that?" She took another gesture at the teal-haired boy. Admittedly, he didn't look as ridiculous since removing his blazer and folding it in his lap, but the beaver tail tie didn't help one bit.

"Yep."

"…Huh." Strange coincidences aside, Stacy gave a smile and leaned forward a bit to see him better, "He's pretty cute."

"Ew!" Candace finally looked to her friend, cringing, "Stacy! That's Phineas and Ferb's weird friend!"

"Well, then he can't be all that bad." Stacy shrugged. She was fully aware of how Candace felt toward the teenager that had suddenly started popping up to hang out with her brothers. It was just too obvious to miss.

"Are you kidding me? Stacy! What kind of teenager decides to spend their summer hanging with a bunch of kids?" Candace turned back to the window, her face twisted into a frown. There was just something not right about this guy. Sure, he was nice (from what she'd seen of him), but something just…wasn't right. Wasn't normal. Pah. Perfect for my brothers, then…

"Well, if we're done staring at him like this," Stacy spoke up, turning to go, "I'm gonna go say hi."

"Stacy!" Candace began to object, but Stacy had already left. She huffed and turned back to the window. Trust Stacy to cave so easily…

The redhead's eyes narrowed as she watched Stacy walk out. Perry heard her footsteps before she even said anything and his chocolate eyes flew open, like he was expecting danger. Candace scoffed as he got to his feet, handing his blazer to Phineas, who exclaimed, "Hey, Stacy! This is Perry; he's our friend! Perry, this is Stacy. She's Candace's best friend."

Candace's frown deepened as Perry politely held out a hand, which Stacy immediately took hold of and shook. Perry offered her a spot under the tree the boys had been relaxing under, which she took another a mere moment of consideration. Candace growled. Alright, so Perry was a pretty nice guy, she could admit, but that didn't mean he was accepted.

He might've won Stacy over with a smile and a quick introduction, but not her. He'd have to fight for her trust - and that was not an easy battle.

2. Cold -

Perry ventured up the stairs in search of the bathroom. Linda had been polite enough to let him use it after a dinner of Mexican food. She'd given him directions, but he didn't need them. As a platypus, he hadn't gone into the bathroom all that often (what with not needing to use it and all); only when he needed to go to his lair. Even still, he had this house memorised completely.

Patting his stomach and blowing out some air, he walked towards the door. It wasn't like that food hadn't been tasty - it'd been delicious! - but, boy, could he not handle spices. Perry approached the door, only to hear the tap of the bathroom sink turn on. He immediately paused. Candace had left the dinner table much earlier, slinking off in a sulk after having collected some food. She'd made it obvious why she didn't want to eat with them too. Linda had rubbed Perry's shoulder and assured him that Candace just wasn't good with guests or strangers, but Perry knew better. It was simply him she didn't like. Perry had never had any gripe or beef with Candace. She was pushy at worst, but she'd never bothered him too much. Truthfully, he'd expected some sort of retaliation at his presence.

The door finally opened and Candace began to step out, paused, then frowned when she saw him. He offered a smile, "Hello, Candace."

Candace's frown never lifted, "Hey yourself." She grumbled, brushing passed him.

Well, that was a start.

"Uh - did you like dinner?"

A shrug.

"…Oh! Your mom said that there's some ice cream in the freezer, so if you want dessert -"

"I don't trust you."

The comment was so sudden it made Perry pause, his smile dropping. Candace glared from where she stood in the doorway of her bedroom, making him know she didn't like him in the house. Memories of when he first arrived in this home came swirling back; she hadn't been too fond of getting a platypus and not a puppy or a kitten. Perry didn't know what to say, and all that came out was "…Oh."

It was unclear whether she was just sick of him or whether she was unsatisfied with the lack of proper response. Either way, she turned and slammed the door behind her. Perry's brow furrowed. Really, he had nothing against Candace - he understood why she found him weird. Still, it just kinda hurt that one of his old owners was acting so coldly toward him.

3. Umbrella -

Candace had never felt so lost and alone and cold. It wasn't just because she was literally two out of three of those things right now. The rain seemed to only pour on her, she swore; kissing her cheeks and bare arms coldly as it did so. Her chest felt hollow and her limbs felt rather numb. One would say she was making a big deal out of nothing, that she was just being silly, that her teenage hormones were getting to her, but she thought otherwise. Everything felt like it was going wrong and she had no idea what to do.

Linda and the boys obviously hadn't noticed she'd returned early from her date. She hadn't stepped foot in the house yet; simply sat down on the steps to their home to let out her sorrows and let her tears blend with the rain.

There had to be some explanation. There just had to be. Candace sniffled and wiped a stray tear from her cheek, finally noticing that the rain had stopped. So, then…why could she still hear it?

"Candace?"

Candace glanced to her left, not bothering to lift her head from her arms just yet, and saw twin black shoes and teal trousers. Candace didn't reply to him. He didn't wait for one. "What're you doing out here?"

This time, there was a wait, though Candace didn't exactly feel like speaking of it. Since when was it his business? Stubbornly, she kept silent, though this was quickly thwarted by the little gasp she let out when he wrapped his blazer around her shoulders to warm her up. "You'll catch your death out here, you know…You should come inside."

She'd always known Perry to be a nice guy and she'd always known he was friendly and cared about her brothers and everything, but - after the way she'd treated him - she'd expected him to hate her. She still didn't raise her head to him, but there was something about the way he was speaking to her now, how soft his voice was, and the way he was waiting for her permission to move that made her want to speak of everything.

And that she did.

"…Jeremy didn't show up, Perry…"

"Didn't show up? Whe -…Oh." Perry's brow furrowed. No wonder the poor girl was broken up. He knew how seriously she handled her relationship with Jeremy and she jumped to conclusions. He gestured to the step she was sat on and she shuffled over to let him sit. He made sure to keep his umbrella over her, even if it meant getting himself wet. "…Oh. That's…I'm sorry, Candace."

"I waited for a whole hour…"

"…I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation. Maybe…caught in traffic? Or…no phone connection? Couldn't call or text? Battery died?" Candace only gave a sigh in response, which made Perry's brow furrow. He looked away in thought, then gently held out his free hand, "C'mon, Candace. Let's go inside, then you can tell your mom all about it, if you want. If you don't, that's fine. Either way, I won't leave you while you feel like this."

Candace finally raised her head to look at him. Had she really been so cold to this sweet gentleman before? "…Okay." She took his hand, wiping her eye with the other, and offered him a little smile. Perry smiled, then gently helped her up and led her to the front door.

4. Television -

Perry threw his head back and laughed loudly as Candace mocked another person on the TV. Work all done for the day; it was time to kick back and relax. He'd intended to spend time with Phineas and Ferb, but Linda had told him they'd gone to Baljeet's house to help him with a summer school project or something. He'd been inclined to wait for them and had even assisted Linda around the house for a bit before she told him she could handle the rest of the chores. Thus, he'd sat down on the sofa, knowing the boys could be home any minute, only for Candace to walk in minutes later. It seemed she'd warmed up to him considerably since he'd helped her that one evening, and now the two slouched on the sofa together. Candace was introducing him to a game she and Stacy played, where they would swap between random channels and mock whoever was on the screen. Perry thought it was a little mean at first, though Candace's jokes were too funny to not laugh at.

It was when Candace had reached the tenth channel available to the Flynn-Fletcher family that Perry wiped a tear from his eye and muttered, shaking his head, "I've never done this before…"

"You did seem pretty surprised when I talked about the game to you."

"Oh, no. I meant watching TV for this long."

Candace paused, then looked at him, "…Really? You've seriously never done this?"

"No. I don't watch TV all that often. Except Tuesdays. Tuesdays are when my soaps are on." The silence that followed made him look at her, "…Is that weird?"

"Uh…" Candace didn't respond to that question, "So…what do you do all day, then? I mean, you're not here all the time."

"Work, mostly."

"You have a job? Where do you work?"

"Uh…" Oh. What would he say? "…Um…Mr. Slushy Dawg…"

"Really?!" Her excitement was obvious; she was going to use him to speak to Jeremy.

"Uh - yeah."

"I've never seen you there before."

"…Different shifts. Employees moving around - y'know."

"Oh…" Candace looked back to the TV and Perry hoped that that would be the end of that, then she whipped around and asked, "Do you ever work with Jeremy? Does he ever talk about me? What does he say? Good things or bad things? Did he notice I'm wearing a new white skirt?"

"…..Yes to all of those."

Candace seemed satisfied with that - despite it not making a whole lot of sense - and turned away, squeezing her hands together in glee. Perry could practically see the cartoon hearts flying around her head. There was silence again as Candace tried to think of another joke she could use to make Perry laugh, then another thought occurred. Jeremy didn't work that much, certainly not the amount of time that Perry had implied. The redhead turned back to question him on this, resulting in another hasty lie from the teal-haired man, "…I work two jobs."

"Really? Where else?"

"Uh…" Think! Think! Think! "I'm…an intern. At a…police station…"

"Really?"

"…Uh-huh. My dad works there, so I'm kinda in trouble if I don't go." Not a complete lie.

"He forces you to work there?" Candace raised her brow. That didn't seem fair at all!

"Uh…no, not really. I mean, I needed money, he offered. You know."

"Oh. But don't you ever get breaks?"

"Not usually."

Candace frowned. What kind of dad didn't allow his son a break from time to time? That was just…mean. And if Perry had never just sat down and watched TV (except on Tuesdays), then what other teenager things had he also never experienced? Had he ever been to the mall just to purchase clothes and maybe a hot dog? Had he ever texted someone all night so he was tired next morning? Had he ever listened to all the recent pop songs and downloaded all of them, despite not liking them, just so he had something to talk about with his friends? Ever been swimming with friends? Ever had a road trip? Ever been forced to go on a camping vacation by his parents? What else cut into his TV time?

"Candace? Are you going to say more funny things about the TV?"

Candace barely heard him; she was already pressing buttons on her phone. "Stacy," Candace said once she picked up, "get your purse. We're going to the mall."

5. Translator -

"Okay," Candace's fingers flew across the keypad of her phone, then immediately thrust the phone into Perry's face once she reached the right text, "what does he mean by THIS?!"

Perry blinked as he tried to get use to the phone's light shining, then squinted at the text.

Candace TTYL :)

"…Pretty sure that just means he'll talk to you later, Candace…"

"But what does it MEAN?!" Candace exclaimed, throwing her arms up dramatically. "How MUCH later?! What does he mean by TALK?! Like, is it the kind of talk like 'hey, let's talk' or is it 'we need to talk'?! And how?! Is he gonna call me? Text me? Is he gonna come here or does he want me to go over there?!"

"…I don't think it matters, Candace…"

"Don't say that!"

Perry blinked, his brow furrowing. Stacy sat beside him on Candace's bed, sucking loudly on the straw of her soda drink. The teal-haired man didn't know what Candace wanted him to say about Jeremy's texts. She had said that he could translate them, being a guy and all, but he seemed to be failing to satisfy her thus far.

"Okay, look," Candace flipped through her phone until she found another text, then shoved this one in his face, "what about this one?!"

"…They're…they're just hugs and kisses, right…?"

"But what KIND of hugs and kisses?!"

"W-What kind…?"

"Yeah! And - hold on…" She brought up another, "What does this mean?! I asked if he wanted to go to the café down the street and this is what he sent back!"

"…It just says 'cool'…"

"Precisely!"

Perry glanced at Stacy, who caught his eye and just shrugged. Perry looked back to Candace, "Um…that's…just what he means. That's…what guys do. They say what they mean."

"Pfft! Come on, Perry! It's like you don't know guys at all!"

Perry went thoroughly blank then. Speechless, he turned to look at Stacy, who reached out and sympathetically patted his shoulder.

6. Voice -

It was soon after Candace decided to try a little harder to like Perry that Linda suggested introducing him to some of the things she liked. "He's gonna be here a lot, Candace," she'd told her, "you might as well try and get along better." Ever since Perry had helped her with that Jeremy problem, she'd intended to be a bit nicer to him. What better way than, she didn't know, showing him her interests? And how hard could that be - they were both teenagers, after all! Everybody knew teenagers all liked the same things!

"Have you ever heard of this band?" She picked up her next CD and showed it to him. Perry took it from her and stared at the people on the cover. When she'd asked him what music he listened to, he'd awkwardly replied that he didn't listen to music. Candace had considered giving up then, but figured - hey, why not get him interested in bands?

"…I think so." Perry said uncertainly.

Candace collected her iPod from her bedside table, scrolled through it, then offered Perry the headphones. He plugged them into his ears and waited as she selected the song she and Stacy had had the honour of performing with The Bettys. Perry gave a little jump when the music started (she turned down the volume), then waited until Crash had begun to sing. When she got to the chorus, Perry began bobbing his head slightly and smiling. Candace felt a little relieved and waited until the song was over, "So? What did you think?"

"That was good. I like them."

Alright. The Bettys. Check.

"Okay…" She scrolled through more songs, passing him another CD, "These guys?"

"…No. I don't think so…"

"Alright. Here, listen to this."

He did so, and everything he thought about the song was told through his cringing and wincing. Candace at least let him listen to the whole song before questioning his opinion. A prompt shake of his head told her the Paisley Sideburn Brothers' music was not appreciated.

Candace scrolled through more songs, "You know Love Händel, right?"

"Of course. Everyone knows them." She was about to go to a different song when he chirped, "I like Music Makes Us Better."

The redhead let him listen to that while she picked out another CD of hers. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Perry bobbing his head and doing a little dance. Candace gave an amused little smile at seeing it, then she plucked another CD from her shelf and took her place next to him on her bed. She waited until that song was over, then she found the next song for him to try, "Here, listen to this one. I sang this one with them too."

"Okay…" Perry waited until the song started. He seemed confused on some points of it, but still he bobbed his head to the rhythm. "Strange topic for a song…but I like it."

Tiny Cowboys. Check.

Candace started to flip to another song when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID, then handed Perry the iPod, "Hang on, Perry, it's Stacy."

"Okay." Perry replied as she got up to take the call. The monotreme-turned-man sorted through Candace's CDs for some idea of who to listen to next. Most of them seemed to be the other albums of the bands he'd listened to already, though there was one at the back that didn't have a cover. Curious, he picked it up and read it. All that was on the plain case was w/ Mom.

Perry raised a brow, then searched through Candace's iPod for such a thing. There was no song called w/ Mom, though there was a song with 'Me' listed as the artist. Got to be linked, right? Perry selected that certain song, alarmed to hear jazz in his ears seconds later.

When Candace returned from her talk with Stacy, she looked to Perry and went to apologise for the wait, then froze as she heard him, "Wow, Candace! I didn't know you could sing like this!"

"Don't listen to that!" She exclaimed, yanking the headphones away before he could hear more of her allergy-affected voice.

7. Haircut -

Stacy had always thought Perry to be kinda - maybe a little - cute. He wasn't usually the type of guy she liked, but there was something about him that made him a little cute. Maybe his suit. Or his physique. Or, hey, maybe it was his teal-coloured hair. She wasn't exactly used to seeing odd hair colours, but she'd had her own experience, what with Ferb's green hair and everything. Maybe it wasn't even that. Maybe it was his eyes…which she couldn't exactly see.

Stacy stared at Perry out of the corner of her eye. As he sat there and listened to Candace, he continuously brushed and blew his hair out of his eyes. It was getting a bit long, she noted. Reached just passed the base of his neck now. You could tie it in a ponytail! Did he not have a hairdresser or a barbers to go to or anything? "Hey, uh, Perry?" Stacy spoke up, cutting off Candace's rant. Perry looked to her, moving one bang out of the way as he did. "I know it's not any of my business, but don't you think it's time you cut your hair?"

Candace looked to Perry for a look too. Huh. She can't say she'd ever noticed. "My dad said he could take me to his barber." Perry replied.

Out of nowhere, a bizarre idea came to Candace's mind - and, of course, she had to tell, "We could do it for you!"

Perry whipped around to her so quickly his hair swished, and Stacy raised a brow, "We…can?"

"Sure! It's just hair! How hard can it be?"

"Uh…" Perry looked nervous as Candace grabbed his arm and pulled him over to the chair by her mirror. She pushed him down, making his hair cover his eyes briefly before he pushed it away, "Candace, I-I'm really thankful you want to do this, but…I mean, my dad said he could get me to a professional, so…"

"Oh, c'mon, Perry," Candace placed her hands on her hips as Stacy stood up, "don't you trust us?"

"Well, yes, but -"

"C'mon, it'll be fun!" Candace seemed pretty confident, but she wasn't the one about to be experiment on. Perry's brow furrowed worriedly as Candace grabbed scissors from her bedside table. As Stacy approached, she shoved the scissors into her hands.

"Wha - Why do I have to do it?" Stacy exclaimed, attempting to hand back the scissors.

"Come on, Stace, you know what happened last time I tried to cut hair, right?"

Stacy tried to argue, then simply sighed. Perry looked over his shoulder at her, then turned back to Candace, "Uh - Candace, I'm not sure about this."

"Oh, don't worry, Perry. I'll supervise. Now, close your eyes." She waved her hands at him until he shut them. A few seconds, then he opened one eye. "Hey! No peeking!"

"Sorry." He shut it again.

Stacy gave another sigh as she approached his back, "…Sorry about everything I'm about to do, Perry."

"It's alright. I'll just wear a beanie for the rest of the summer."

He didn't know how long was spent cutting his hair or how it looked; he'd chosen to block out the sounds of snipping in favour of coming up with ways to hide the no doubt bad haircut from Carl and Doofenshmirtz and Vanessa and anyone else whose opinions mattered to him. His grip on the chair's arms was tight. "Just finishing up, Perry." Candace said, in a somewhat sing-song voice. Was it really that bad?

Perry gulped, "Okay."

Finally, he was instructed to open his eyes. When he did, he didn't feel as taken aback or freaked out as he thought he would. Rather, he paused and stared at himself. It…actually wasn't bad. Not bad at all! He leaned forward to observe himself. His hair was still a little scruffy in the way most teenage boys' hair was, but now it framed his features better and made it seem less out of control than normal. His bangs had been sliced so much they barely made it to his cheeks and the hair at the back didn't even reach his neck. He still had those three little strands that stuck up awkwardly on top of his head, but there was nothing Stacy could do about those.

"Well?" Candace said smugly, like she'd predicted his reaction the whole time. "What d'ya think?"

"I…" Perry ran a hand through his hair, tilting his head at all angles to view it properly, "…It's great…!"

"See?!" Candace chirped, "Told you!"

"You really like it?" Stacy asked, worried that maybe he was saying that to make them feel better.

"Yes! It's great! Perfect, even!" Perry felt the back of his head, "You're great at this, Stacy! You should be a hairdresser or something!"

"Hey, what about me?" Candace asked, mostly in mock-offence, "I supervised!"

"You did! And you did great!" Perry exclaimed. Whether he knew she was only teasing or not was debatable. He stood up from the chair, leaned closer to the mirror for one last look, then turned and suddenly hugged them both, "Thank you, girls!"

His two friends regarded his hug somewhat awkwardly at first, then each wrapped an arm around him, "No problem." Candace replied.

As they broke apart, Stacy looked down at the floor, where small piles of teal hair was scattered, "Uh…what do we do about this…?"

"Don't worry, I'll clean it." Perry insisted, moving toward the door to grab the vacuum. As he did so, Phineas and Ferb passed by the door, the triangle-headed boy jabbering on about the day's next event. He paused upon seeing Perry, then smiled brightly.

"Wow, nice new 'do, Perry!" Phineas complimented, seconded by the thumbs-up his brother gave.

"Thanks, boys!" Perry chirped back, "Stacy and Candace did it for me!"

"Cool!" Phineas poked his head into the room, "Nice work, girls!"

"Thanks." Stacy smiled at him. "Guess I'd make a good hairdresser, huh?" She asked to her best friend.

"Sure! Hey, we could do that together! It'd be great!"

"You should." Perry said as he came back in with the vacuum, "You're a genius, Stacy."

"Thanks! Hey, could you call my mom and tell her that?"

…

Author's note:

Woah. Woah, woah, woah. I haven't written about Phineas and Ferb in years. My gosh. Has it really been that long? Apparently.

Anyway, I'd like to apologise for such a long absence from these fics and this fandom as a whole. I got into other fandoms and, honestly, haven't been watching P+F as much as I should. I'm still not caught up with the new episodes, so if I'm wrong about some info that was mentioned in the ones I haven't seen, that'd be why (and that doesn't include Act Your Age, which I know all about, so that isn't counted). So…yeah. Honestly, I didn't realise it'd been so long! Geez…

To anyone (if there is anyone) who's still reading this, I'd like to say I'm officially back in the fandom and ready to write more Human!Perry stuff. I've made a few changes to him while I was away, actually. Nothing major; just a few things here and there. I'm also a little rusty on this, but I'll get it back, no worries.

These drabbles will be worked on again and I also have a full-fledge story I'm working on that you guys might enjoy. That won't be for awhile, though, I'm afraid, cause I have exams coming up in the next few months, but I'll do what I can. To anyone whose missing the Human!PerryxVanessa stuffs - got a cute drabble coming up in the next set, as well as a couple of good Perry & Monogram ones.

Anyways, I'm officially back into the fandom so…hey! Request some stuff! It'll be great, trust me! I won't ditch you guys again! Hope you've all been well since we last saw each other!

Enough rambling. Hope you enjoyed these drabbles - more to come!

- The writer who is very sorry and still loves you all.