The spontaneous musical number was in full swing. Ferb had his guitar in hand, though due to most of the music coming from an undiscernible source, he had only needed to strum a few notes when they'd first begun. It was mainly a prop for the moment.
As Phineas' voice rose up above the others to stand out, he felt the song was likely coming to a close. Good. While he did enjoy a good musical number, his mouth was a bit parched. Though a glass of water could possibly be worked into a visual gag at a time like this, he failed to see it working towards humour as smoothly in a written media. With this weighing on his mind, the actual lyrics of the song were slipping in one ear and out the other. The sound of Phineas' voice being the only thing he was paying the least bit of attention to.
Thus he roughly jerked out of his thoughts when Phineas' voice suddenly veered horribly off pitch.
The others stopped singing as he broke off with a slight gasp, leaving a deafening silence in their wake.
"Phineas?" Isabella was closest to him, she reached out. "Are you okay?"
Phineas flinched back from her, his hands awkward rubbing at his throat. "Yea-" he broke off at the hoarseness coming out in it. Shaking his head, he stepped away.
Buford and Baljeet spoke quietly to each other, but Ferb missed the words.
The unease was completely uncalled for. They were all teenagers. They knew about puberty and the less glamourous aspects of it, though, personally, Ferb was finding none of it glamorous as of yet. He couldn't deny that some of it was downright embarrassing, especially when sharing a room. But that was no excuse for them staring his brother down for something beyond his control. It was no wonder his face was turning as red as his hair.
Ferb's grip tightened on the neck of his guitar, the strings pressing painfully against his skin. He opened his mouth.
Phineas bolted.
Well.
That changed things.
Snapping his mouth shut, Ferb switched approach and simply glared at their friends as he dropped his guitar carelessly to the grass before running after him.
He had not gone far. Only into the kitchen. One hand held onto the counter in a white knuckled grip, the other still clasped his throat.
Ferb slid the backdoor closed as he entered. With any luck, those outside would get the hint. "Phineas." Speaking brought back the dryness with a vengeance. As the call of his name had not garnered a response, Ferb went to the fridge and took out two sodas. Placing one next to Phineas, he opened his own, happy to have something wet in his mouth as he waited. Even if he knew plain water would have been a better choice. Something sweet was more likely to tempt Phineas into accepting it.
Phineas eyed the can.
After a moment, he sighed and picked it up. He took a few sips before breaking the silence, "I didn't-" He winced. The hoarseness was still there, but paired with the sudden break, lifting his already somewhat high voice another few octaves, Ferb couldn't find it in himself to fault him for his reaction. It was not a pretty sound.
So far, Ferb's own voice had avoided such pitfalls. Whether it was due to his taciturn nature giving it few opportunities to or because it not yet started to break (or Phineas' theory that it had already broken a few years back and they'd simply never paid much attention to the change), he didn't know. It was something he didn't envy his brother, but at moments, seeing the modification on his face when it happened, he almost wished he was, if only so Phineas wouldn't be suffering it alone.
"It'll pass." He expected an eyeroll, the same reaction he'd gotten last time he'd tried that platitude. But Phineas glanced away instead.
"I know," he whispered. "But... I was- When I was singing and it happened. And, I thought, what if... what if I can't sing anymore?"
Ferb blinked, despite knowing Phineas wasn't looking at him to see it. Yes, it would be difficult to sing if the cracks were going to throw his pitch off, but there were ways around that, he was sure.
Glancing up, Phineas shook his head. "No, I mean, after it drops, what if I can't. My voice is gonna change and what if I just can't?"
Had he been anyone else, he may have fidgeted at the question. He didn't know the future. Though, of course, he had ways of finding it out but time travel was a dangerous thing and not to be used for such frivolous activities. Or so BoTT claimed.
Personally, he did not believe it would happen. Perhaps if Phineas stopped singing altogether, the lack of practice would make it harder for him to pick it back up in the future. But he was a skilled singer, and their luck was always on the better side, bearing the occasional pitfall or apocalypse that always seemed to crop up now and then.
And insofar either of them had died or been greatly and permanently harmed, so their luck did not turn completely bad even at those times.
If it did happen, they would find a way around it. Phineas loved singing too much to ever truly give it up. And he loved hearing him sing too much to allow him to over foolishness.
But putting all of his feelings on the matter into spoke word would be a tiring endeavour.
As such, he simply reached over the counter to take and hand still resting there and gave it a squeeze.
If the slight relaxation that seemed to run through Phineas' previously tense body was anything to judge by, the point carried across just fine.
