#madmagicmim

Ferb was pretty sure they were lost— and it was all his fault.

See, there had been this bloke (Alvin, as he had introduced himself) who needed a favor. He had sold it as quick and easy, nothing to sweat about. It would really help me out, Ferb’s phone had translated for him. Coupled with the clasped hands and jutted out lower lip, he had accepted the ask. Though, to be fair, Ferb would have accepted it with or without the guilt tripping as he didn’t think it was that big of a deal and generally didn’t say no to— anyway, really.

The thing was that he was supposed to be meeting up with Mim after his last class of the day for a date. Everything was already set, time and place. He had not forgotten this (an impossible feat for him, with or without his good memory,) he had just figured she would be more forgiving than a stranger when he asked if they could take a side quest.

Following the directions Alvin had given they went down to the basement level of the university, the noticeable temperature drop and dim lighting not making it a very settling trip. They had found the room, he had fetched the piece of equipment he was there for, and it seemed like all they needed to do was the journey back.

So why did it feel like they had been walking for far longer than they had to get down there?

Ferb eyed a door as they passed it by, then signaled to it for Mim to notice, too. “We’ve passed that before— right?”

Ed didn’t like Mim.

Deep down he knew this wasn’t the right way to treat everything and to be honest he knew the reason he didn’t like Mim was just because she was protecting Amity better than he ever could.

It was so much easier to push that energy into making it a joke, if it was a joke he didn’t have to admit to anything. He never did. Which was why he was in Em’s room foil wrapping everything that didn’t belong to his sister. The Pillow and then the pillow case.

And with more than enough time to spare escaping to his room with the door opened a crack to listen to his hard work.

The last time Ferb had attended the carnival he had been caught in the middle of an odd situation— with Candace’s now girlfriend. This year he was here with his own girlfriend, walking along beside her through the crowd. (A lot had changed since then, apparently. For the better.) 

He winced as his hearing aids went from helpful to constantly going off until it seemed just like a block of the same level of sound being drilled right into the center of his brain. Ferb elected to reach up and turn them down completely. With all the people and their chatter, plus the noise of the rides and other attractions, he should have known better. The relief was instant, his body language relaxing against it. 

As they reached the block of games Ferb turned to look down at Mim, eyebrows raised a touch, to ask where she would like to begin. 

The afternoon, with no clouds in the sky or breeze in the air to fight off the hot rays of the sun, was sort of becoming just a bit miserable to be outside. This made it easy to decide on where to go for food from where he and Mim had been in the park. Somewhere close and inside.

(Though, later, looking back on it, he probably should have but a bit more thought into it than he had.)

Pizza Planet was both of these things— so off they went. 

Ferb had told Mim to get whatever she wanted. Some may have thought this a dangerous game considering who he was giving the reigns to, but he figured it was a good exchange for making her have to order in the first place. (As he knew it would take him an unnecessary amount of time to do so himself.) He secured the drinks and place to sit.

When she joined him he raised an eyebrow. “Do I get to know or should it be a surprise?”

Ferb had been trying to figure out what to do with his hair. 

He had never given it this much thought before. Even when he went to get it cut. He was very apathetic to the way he looked as it just was what it was. It was not something he paid attention to. So, when Andrea had suggest to him that it might give him and Phineas a better chance at placing higher if he looked more presentable, he had asked her what she meant. 

“Your hair, dear!” She had reached up to touch it, smiling. “Personally I love it, but— well, I’m just not sure green is very professional. You wouldn’t want the judges to mark your brother down for it because they thought you’d dyed it that way, would you?” 

No, he wouldn’t. 

Unsure of what to do, he had asked Mim over for help. 

Despite school being out, neither Candace or Phineas were home. His father was still at the university, working, and Linda was out running errands for the upcoming holidays. After opening the door and allowing Mim inside from the cold, Agent P came to see who their visitor was, too— tail wagging wildly behind her as she tried to resist her urge to jump up and greet Mim face to face. 

@madmagicmim

For the first time in a long time, Dot felt truly happy. The snow blanketing the forest and the town brought a smile to her face that she wasn’t sure she had really felt much since they’d come to town. There really was snow! 

Dot found herself excitedly flying around the Hollow, and even she couldn’t focus on her training. Since Dot had always been so dedicated and borderline obsessed with training and continuing to do her duty, she was given a break for the day to just be young and enjoy the weather.

Dot raced out of the Hollow eagerly, and twisted through the trees before she settled on a spot to shift to her human size. She let herself change and then wandered into town, not taking much notice of anyone or anything but the snow. She made her way toward the park, figuring this was the best spot for her to just play with it.

The young fairy meandered there for a while before she finally just let herself fall back onto a cushiony bit of snow, spread eagle on it and beaming up at the sky. This was it. This was how she wished this place was all the time.

Anticipation sat heavy inside the Flynn-Fletcher garage that evening as the final touches on Phineas’ car were being put into place. 

It was dark outside, only the occasional person walking their dog braving the cold that evening. They had needed to turn on the lights as the sun had long since set (because at this time of year it always seemed to sunk below the horizon quicker than anticipated) and no one had used that as an excuse to leave. This was probably due to the three of them all understanding that it wouldn’t be that long until they had everything done— so why not get what they needed to completed tonight rather than have to wait all the way until tomorrow? 

He and Phineas had done as Mim instructed, both by fixing up the car as they knew how and by using the potion she’d given to them as needed. Every time they got something done (like replacing the struts, fixing the fuel injectors, etc. etc.) the car always seemed to respond positively. 

Ferb, who had just finished with replacing the passenger side door’s handle since the last one’s locking mechanism had been broken, stood up since he was finished with his check list for that day. For the project, actually. He turned the socket wrench in his hand, it going clickclickclick, glancing from Phineas to Mim as he tried to assess whether they were near the end of their tasks, too. 

Ferb was stood in the garage, the door open to let in the cooling air of the oncoming days of autumn. The place was a bit of a mess these days since he and Phineas had been working on the car and the need to put things in order instead of dropping them where they were to come back to the next day (or whenever) seemed more appealing. Even more so when it was Linda sticking her head in to tell them there was food inside. 

He was waiting for Mim and Phineas. Ferb had texted her to meet them out there when she arrived. He had figured it would be best instead of making her go through the trouble of going to the door and then meet their parents and then be offered who knew what by the pair of them, all while Agent P got excited over their new visitor, when they would all just wind up out in the garage anyway. 

Head bowed, focused on his phone in his usual method of passing time with a game of Tetris, he sat in a chair at the work bench. Which caused him to be ignorant of the first arrival who had stepped into the garage with him and the car.