Eternity's Dime

Chapter Ten: Before a Fall

When the end credits started scrolling, Phineas still kept his eyes on the screen.

Ferbs tapped his fingers on the railing. "I wanted to be a director."

The randomness of the comment made Phineas look at him. "What?"

"When I was little, I wanted to be a director." He shrugged. "A childish dream that went nowhere. I'm sure you had them as well."

"Uh, yeah." Phineas could recall several impractical dreams he'd had, back when he had believed he could do something special with his life. "What changed?"

"Someone informed me that you have to talk in order to be a director."

"But you do talk?" Was he missing something? He had to be missing something. Or Ferbs was trying to confuse him.

"Yes, I suppose I do." The statement sounded oddly bitter. Ferbs pushed himself away from the railing. "But, at the time, it crushed the dream quite thoroughly."

Phineas frowned. Why did he bring the subject up if he was going to act like that about it? "Why are you telling me this?"

Ferbs raised an eyebrow. "The purpose of going on a date is to get to know each other unless you wish to skip the trivial courting period and move on to the next level of the relationship?"

Next level? The memory of Isabella talking about getting married so soon after meeting Ferbs came to him. Phineas swallowed. "No. I'm good with this level."

Phineas leaned slightly over the side of the fire escape. The sounds of people talking drifted up and as a small group walked passed the building. How high up were they? Several stories, but he'd never been that great at estimating.

"What's stopping you from becoming one now?" Moving a hand off the rail, he let it dangle over empty air.

"Loss of interest." Ferbs had come back to the edge and mimicked Phineas' pose. "What did you dream of?"

He'd dreamed of countless things. None of them he wanted to share. Ferbs might not have kept his, but it was realistic. Phineas couldn't claim that about his own. Maybe once he'd believed they were, but he'd been proven wrong on that.

Even now, what dreams did he have? What did he have at all as far as ambition went? He couldn't manage to keep a job and, despite his sister's assurances, he knew he wouldn't be happy with any job he could reasonably get. The cycle would start over again, and he'd grow bored with the repetitiveness and end up being fired for something-or-other.

Phineas shrugged.

Ferb tilted his head before nodding. "That's your problem."

"What?" There was more of a snap in his voice then he'd meant, but Phineas didn't take it back.

"You don't believe in the impossible. You should, it's much more fascinating than all of," Ferbs waved his hand at the world below, "this."

"How the hell did you get that from a shrug?" What nonsense was this?

Ferbs opened his mouth then closed it, his brow furrowing. Finally, he shrugged himself. "No clue."

"Well, you're wrong." That wasn't his problem. That was too simple an answer to his problems. Believing something didn't make it true, and it didn't make issues go away. If it did, everyone would do it.

After a moment, Ferbs looked away from him. "It was a strange thought, anyway."

"Yeah."

The wind picked up, flowing through his shirt and hitting his skin. Phineas shivered. It shouldn't be this cold during summer. He remembered the summers being warmer when he was little. They'd be hot and you wouldn't want to go outside in more than shorts half the time. Until that one summer when it started snowing. They never felt as warm after that.

Ferbs moved away from him. Phineas glanced back to see he was closing up the speaker but otherwise didn't pay him any attention.

Until Ferbs came back and ran a hand along the railing before lifting one long leg over it.

Phineas' eyes widened. "What are you doing?"

Grinning, Ferbs followed it up with the other leg, pressing his heels between the gaps in the posts as he sat on the railing. He turned his head to face Phineas. "You do wish to return to the ground, don't you?" Ferbs brushed one hand across the cuff of the other one.

Biting his tongue, Phineas nodded and waited to see what he planned to do. The wings? Phineas was sure he'd be able to see them if that was it, even if they were somehow folded up small. Ferbs' shirt wasn't tight but fit snugly enough across his back that it would be impossible to hide anything there. And his shirt itself would get in the way of that. But Ferb's had this set up ahead of time, it wasn't out of the question that he'd have something else in place to get down.

Ferbs pushed away from the handrail. Phineas flinched, but his soulmate didn't fall.

He glanced at Ferbs' feet. There didn't look to be anything under him, but at this point, it wouldn't surprise him if Ferbs had built an invisible floor that unfolded at the push of a button or something.

"Come on." Ferbs held out a hand.

A hiss left Phineas' mouth as he tried to raise one leg high enough to get over it. Putting his leg back down, he rubbed his thigh. Why did he have to be short? Another one of life's unfair aspects. His mom was tall. For crying out loud, Candace was taller than him.

Ferbs tilted his head. "Do you need help?"

"No. I got it." Bracing himself on it with one hand, he awkwardly managed to hook one knee over the top and slowly slid himself over it.

He narrowed his eyes at the invisible floor or whatever. It was convincing. If he didn't see Ferbs standing on it, he'd believe there wasn't anything there. Ferbs had moved closer to him, hand still offered. Dismissing it, he jumped off the railing.

"Phineas!"

For one heart-stopping moment, he was falling. Then something jerked him to a stop. Phineas clamped a hand over his mouth. He could have died. He almost died. He fell. He shouldn't have fell. Ferbs hadn't fell. The hand moved from his mouth to his throat. His breath suddenly coming in fast gasps. He almost died. He almost died.

"Are you bloody mad?" Ferbs yelled.

He almost died. He was still falling. The fire escape they'd been on was farther away now. Oh God, what if they weren't? What if he was? What if he was still falling, and it only felt like he wasn't? He closed his eyes. Is this what falling felt like?

He didn't want to die. Someone was talking. It's far away. He couldn't focus on it. Why can't he breathe? He pulled at his shirt. It hurt. He kept trying to pull in more air. It wasn't helping. Why wasn't it helping?

Something hard pressed against his chest and stomach. Then it was gone. Against his back. Gone again. Something's got his shoulder. Someone touches his chest. His hand's held against something. Something was pressing on his chest. Too much pressure.

"Phineas!"

His eyes open. Everything's blurry. Green. Talking.

"...lead...i...out...aes...please...wit...in...bre...so..."

Pain in his wrist. In his chest. Why won't it stop?

"...I'm...sorry."

It stopped.