Ferb was lounging on the floor, with said platypus on his stomach, scratching up and down its back idly while he watched TV. He thought Perry was sleeping, but he could never be sure. Looking over at his brother, he smiled a little and shook his head. He nodded toward the laptop and raised an eyebrow, silently asking Phineas how he was doing on said paper.
Lazily enjoying the petting, Perry kept one of disjointed angled eyes on Phineas, waiting for a good chance to go check the chutes O.W.C.A. had secretly installed while the boys were in class. Per usual, he pretended to be a relatively boring useless pet, along for the ride and to keep the boys company and because like any sane platypus, Perry supposedly couldn't tell much of a difference between being with them or without them beyond happiness at attention or lack thereof
( ... )
Phineas caught Ferb's look and then looked down to Perry and back up to Ferb, "Y'know, Ferb, I think it's about time we come clean, y'know? Assuming that whoever has kept him with us for this long is okay with it, I kinda like having a pet with a secret identity. It's not like anyone knows that we know, we've kept it a secret for this long. Heck, I haven't said anything about it any more than I have right now, and it was only ever to you." He looked down at Perry then, and smiled a little.
"If it's okay with you, Perry, I really hope you can stay with us. We've kept your secret safe this long. We're not going to say anything to anyone, and heck, it's not like we know where you go or anything, all we know is that you're home by supper, and you aren't ever hurt."
Ferb nodded enthusiastically, giving Perry a thumbs up before scritching below his ears again. "Also, if you are bothered by my manhandling you, please, just let me know. You don't have to hit me." He grinned and leaned back a little, looking at Phineas. "We missed you, to tell the truth."
Perry's eyes actually slipped into focus for a change. He had figured it was only a matter of time, especially with Ferb dating Doofenshmirtz's daughter. Vanessa had known about his secret identity ever since they first met.
Perry warily glanced back and and forth between his two friends, worried what the agency might have to say about it. Still, it'd been years, and they were both geniuses in their own right. Possibly even recruitable to a science division of the agencies when they graduated. Perry stood up on all fours, not quite willing to test the waters with standing just on his back two legs in front of them yet, and sat back down in Ferb's lap, nudging the green-haired boy's hand to show that he still wanted behind the ear scritches. It was, after all, one of the main perks to living with them again.
He chittered questioningly; wondering slightly, what now? He was definitely going to start stealing their potato chips if nothing else.
"We really did miss you, Perry. If they still want you to work in the tri-state area, I won't disassemble the transporter, and you can just use that to get to work." He smiled fondly and moved over to pet Perry. "Otherwise? That's all I've gotta say about it. Oh, and help yourself to whatever's in the fridge and snack cupboard. We'll keep your usual food in your bowl, and take you to classes and stuff, but well, if you want anything, it's all yours. You're family!"
He smiled a bit, pausing to consider what else. "Oh, and if you have any questions and y'know, can ask them, feel free to. Personally, I've known since I was about thirteen, but I can only assume Ferb's known longer. He's better at catching stuff than I am."
Ferb just shrugged, not letting on how long he'd known. It wasn't his secret, so he hadn't disclosed anything about it to anyone. He moved his hand to give Phineas room to scratch, smiling at the platypus. "Also, if you'd like to use a fork or something, let us know. I'm not sure how you'd prefer to do that." He smiled and was glad that Perry hadn't given him a lecture on dating Vanessa. A chittery, chittery lecture.
Perry curled up on his arms a little more. So they knew something was up, but not about the chute system. Or his rocket pack. Or hover car it would seem. That was something of a relief. When a few of the devices had been mistaken for their inventions, he'd thought for sure he was going to be outed. Getting back would be easy enough. The hard part was trying to explain that he needed them to keep going about same as they usually did. Their inventions and daily adventures saved his life more times than he could count, and that was part of the reason he almost always ended up accidentally cleaning up their traces much to Candace's typical frustration
( ... )
Phineas watched with a tilted head of amusement and astonishment when his lifelong friend and pet got up on two legs and used his secret entrance/exits. "Well, that's somethin' you don't see every day," He quipped cheerfully, before shrugging. "Okay, so we'll dismantle the transporter. We have a pretty flexible schedule, the schedule is up there on the white board, I'm in orange, Ferb's in green, and Isabella is in pink. The blue areas are definite building time, and the blank areas are for whatever." He shrugged and pulled his laptap back up onto his lap.
"And now we return you to your regularly scheduled oblivious behavior." Phineas said with a sly smile, and started back on his essay.
Ferb raised both of his eyebrows and grinned, giving Perry a thumb up. He was well impressed. Resuming scritching immediately, he offered Perry the remote, figuring he might have his own taste in television shows that didn't correspond with his or Phineas'. "Perhaps sometime you could help me with my ninja homework?" He was assuming that Perry had done some sort of training in that regard - he was the sneakiest mammal that Ferb knew.
Grinning slyly in amusement, Perry made it look like he accidentally hit the buttons finding a trashy soap opera to listen to. He subtly nodded. Ninja stealth had always been Perry's best class the first time he went through academy training, helping Ferb should be a breeze. The man was almost quiet enough for it, as it was.
Phineas watched in his peripheral vision as Perry changed the channel and then smirked. Soap operas? That was... different, but not unsurprising, really. He probably got sick of watching crime dramas, since Phineas liked those and Perry probably had enough Good versus Evil in his real life. He saved his essay and leaned back against the table, scratching through his hair. "Speaking of classes," He started, raising a brow to Ferb, "I took my first class in Evil Business, it was pretty interesting. The overview looked complicated, but they broke it down into segments. This month's coursework deals with the smaller, overlooked Evil business classes. Evil Secretaries, evil mail-room guys. I'd be more interested in it if I wasn't so," he chuckled as he spoke, "So amused by the thought of evil accountants."
Ferb smiled at the soap opera pick. "Oh, I like this one. Do you follow it?" He was secretly sort of excited to have someone to get him to update on the melodrama. Then he blinked at Phineas. "Evil... evil mailroom guys?" He raised an eyebrow. "What, do they give people papercuts? Mix up the memos?"
He was genuinely curious. How sad it must be for a wannabe evil genius to get stuck changing the Evil Toner in the Evil Copyroom.
Perry chittered and waved a hand at Phineas, clearly lodging a complaint with evil in general and then darted his eyes around the room looking for any cameras O.W.C.A. might have installed and began miming out the last two weeks worth of events in the show for Ferb. One thing to be said for the dull loneliness with Phineas and Ferb gone was that he'd had almost too much time on his hands to go off and watch whatever he wanted. Doof's plans still only took a few hours to foil and even if they'd gotten more elaborate and inventive over the years, so had Perry.
"Don't worry about it, Perry, I'm just curious, it's not like I'm going to major in it or anything," Phineas addressed the platypus first, and while Perry pantomimed, he explained, "Well, actually, most people in an evil business aren't necessarily evil themselves, and evil mail-room guys can be employed in normal companies. After all, evil is everywhere, right? So why not a mail room? Why not the local deli? It's not that unsurprising once you think about it, there's plenty of good people around. Now, what I'm more interested in is the heads of evil companies. Like Vanessa's dad! I mean, how did he wind up with a company all on his own? Is it a one-man operation, or is there a hierarchy? Was he always in the business of evil? Or Lex Luthor, for example. Is he just corrupting a normal company by being an evil mastermind at the head of the company, or is it actually an evil company? I want to know these things." He shrugged one shoulder and smiled a little at Perry's chattering dialogue and chuckled, "y'know, I never thought I'd say
( ... )
Ferb blinked at his brother. "I refuse to believe in evil deli meats. You will not sway me against Subway. Jared is not an evil spokesperson who is using the problem of increasing obesity in America to pad his pockets by getting us all to eat delicious... sandwiches..." He trailed off as he convinced himself of the thing he'd been saying couldn't happen.
But then he was paying attention to Perry's retelling, grinning and shaking his head where appropriate. "She cheated! That's not entirely unsurprising. It scares me I know exactly who you're talking about." He resumed scritching when Perry stopped moving, looking over at Phineas. They really did have the best pet ever.
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"If it's okay with you, Perry, I really hope you can stay with us. We've kept your secret safe this long. We're not going to say anything to anyone, and heck, it's not like we know where you go or anything, all we know is that you're home by supper, and you aren't ever hurt."
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Perry warily glanced back and and forth between his two friends, worried what the agency might have to say about it. Still, it'd been years, and they were both geniuses in their own right. Possibly even recruitable to a science division of the agencies when they graduated. Perry stood up on all fours, not quite willing to test the waters with standing just on his back two legs in front of them yet, and sat back down in Ferb's lap, nudging the green-haired boy's hand to show that he still wanted behind the ear scritches. It was, after all, one of the main perks to living with them again.
He chittered questioningly; wondering slightly, what now? He was definitely going to start stealing their potato chips if nothing else.
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He smiled a bit, pausing to consider what else. "Oh, and if you have any questions and y'know, can ask them, feel free to. Personally, I've known since I was about thirteen, but I can only assume Ferb's known longer. He's better at catching stuff than I am."
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"And now we return you to your regularly scheduled oblivious behavior." Phineas said with a sly smile, and started back on his essay.
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He was genuinely curious. How sad it must be for a wannabe evil genius to get stuck changing the Evil Toner in the Evil Copyroom.
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But then he was paying attention to Perry's retelling, grinning and shaking his head where appropriate. "She cheated! That's not entirely unsurprising. It scares me I know exactly who you're talking about." He resumed scritching when Perry stopped moving, looking over at Phineas. They really did have the best pet ever.
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