Snapshots

30. Angel On Paper

Takes place sometime after My Sweet Ride.

He never knew it would be so painful. Perhaps he should have, he'd watched Isabella for years after all. But experiencing it for himself, it was different. It took all his will power not to preform some grandiose gesture to declare his feelings.

As he told Phineas once, it made him weak. It made him distracted. She invaded his thought at the most random moments. He loved it-loved her-and despised it-but not her, he could never despise her.

Ferb threw himself into his task with renewed vigor. He had to finish before Phineas returned. Trying to explain this to his brother would be like trying to find a cure for every disease known to man, not impossible but difficult and time consuming and something he should probably attempt at some point down the line. But not doing so meant Phineas would continue giving him odd looks when he zoned out or grabbed the wrong item.

But doing so would ensure Phineas would insert himself into Ferb's love life by playing matchmaker, which he did not need. Ferb had no desire to see Buford in a diaper. Again. Even the memory was somewhat scaring.

Sighing, he pressed the pencil harder against the paper. It was wrong. All wrong. He couldn't capture it. Couldn't capture her. Not the way he saw her.

The thought to give up stuck him. How could an angel ever be captured on paper? But still, he persisted in the futile attempt. He didn't know why. But the feeling wasn't rational, wasn't logical, so why should he expect anything related to it to be?

Ferb chewed on his tongue as he sat back scrutinise what he had so far. The lines were precise enough. He could find no fault in the flowing hair or pose or figure, and he'd drawn her face so carefully. Her expression the one full of happiness that he had seen during the Do-Wop. She'd been truly happy and it was because of someone other than him. And if that didn't hurt...

He shook his head. If he followed that thought, he'd place himself in circular thinking and get nowhere.

Focusing back on the drawing, the individual details were correct but the overall image lacked something he couldn't place. As long as it lacked that, it would continue to be wrong.