Snapshots

41. Standing On My Own

Post Act Your Age. Mentioned Phinabella and Ferbnessa.

Ferb was worried.

Not that anyone could tell. Not even Phineas would be able to pick up the swirling thoughts if Ferb didn't feel inclined to let him.

Considering Phineas was the source of his worry, he wasn't so inclined.

Phineas was a frequent cause of his worry, for various reasons, as they grew older. When they were younger, he could let himself believe that when they reached the point in their lives where spending each and every day together was no longer realistic or reasonable, Phineas would have grown up.

Now that their paths were diverging, Ferb feared Phineas had not. He still carried that childlike innocence, that vulnerable naivety, and a general lack of awareness of how dark and horrible the world truly was that led him to seek the best in everyone, all something that could make him an easy target out in the real world.

The choice to attend different schools had been a difficult one but had felt like the best decision at the time. Neither of them would be forced to compromise their dreams for the other's. Even before Phineas had chosen a college, Ferb knew his brother wouldn't stray far from home. Unlike himself. However, it could be argued he was straying back to his original home of England.

In three days, he'd been leaving. And once school started, Phineas would be left in the care of his new, and first, girlfriend, Isabella.

Despite knowing her almost as long as he'd known Phineas, or perhaps because he had, Ferb trusted the girl across the street about as far as he could throw her. Which was, admittedly, farther than most people could throw another person.

But she was still obsessive when it came to his brother. She would never purposely hurt him or put him in harms way, but she could be blinded by her own desires enough to not consider his needs. And Phineas, being Phineas, would put her happiness and desires over his needs as well. He wouldn't know how to balance it. Where the lines of give and take in a romantic relationship lied. All he knew about them came from watching his friends date from a distance and watching Ferb from... less of a distance with his many high school dates and flings and from his more lasting relationship with Vanessa.

Hardly enough to establish a proper understanding of the complex in and outs that came with such relationships. Something that Ferb struggled to fully grasp even from the inside.

Three days until leaving. Another two before the semester began. Five days could possibly be enough to switch over to Tri-State State. It was tempting. Incredibly tempting.

But Phineas would never learn to stand on his own if Ferb shadowed him forever.

And, frankly, neither would Ferb.