Phineas sighed, his eyes closed, eyelids not blocking the sunlight out fully. Sitting on a bench with his arms stretched out along the back probably wasn't the most comfortable way he could sit there, but he'd found people generally didn't sit next to you when you did. Too awkward probably.

Not that anyone else normally came to the park just to sit on the benches. It was a shame. It was nice, just relaxing, the sun beating down on him, warming his skin. Some birds were singing in the trees. It was enough to lull someone to sleep.

"Mind if I join you?"

He started, eyes popping open before blinking to adjust to the full brightness of the sun. It wasn't like he needed to see the person though, he recognized the voice easily enough.

Apparently, Ferbs didn't see the need to wait for his answer and plopped down next to him, going so far as to lean his head back on Phineas' arm.

"Do you mind?" Really, was personal space not known to him? Or was it only with him that it didn't matter?

Twisting his head towards him, Ferbs grinned. "No."

Phineas yanked his arm out from under his head, slightly disappointed when he didn't get a reaction, instead Ferbs just replaced the arm with his own.

"Why are you here?" He hadn't seen him since the night they went to the bar and the two days since then had been mostly spent trying to come up with excuses to put off handing the flash drive over to Vanessa. Sooner or later, he'd have to hand it over, but the more the thought about it, the more he got a weird feeling about it. Like he was overlooking something important.

"It's a public place." Ferbs turned away from him. "Lovely day, is it?"

"Yeah, I guess."

When Ferbs didn't say anything else, Phineas started concentrating on the bird song again. He could almost forget he wasn't sitting alone. Almost.

"May I ask you something?"

And there goes the almost. "Shoot."

A few seconds passed, and Phineas started to think he changed his mind. Then Ferbs shifted, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

"You don't like me."

Phineas frowned. "That... that's not a question." Besides, it wasn't that he didn't like him. Well, he didn't really like him either. But he disliked him more because of who he was to him than anything else. If Ferbs was just some random person, maybe it'd be different.

"Do you see any chance of a future where you may grow to like me?" Ferbs didn't fully turn to him, but Phineas could feel his eyes on him. "I told you before, I want to know you. I want a chance to know you without these walls, this evasiveness, or whatever it is that you have towards me. If you wish to be no more than friends, I will do my best to contain my disappointment, but please allow me to know the real you." Suddenly, he let out a mix between a huff and laugh. "I fully understand the hypocrisy of that request but ask you not to fault me for it."

Phineas did not understand the hypocrisy of it. "What? You're probably one of the most open people I've ever met. You just," he waved a hand vaguely, failing to find the words, "you seem to wear your emotions on your sleeve. Your very weird sleeve but still, it's there."

Now he knew Ferbs was staring at him. "How is it that you manage to hit the nail on the head so easily yet overlook the truth beneath it?"

"Um..." If he had any idea what he was talking about, maybe he'd understand that. Skipping the entire point might be the easiest thing to do for now, though maybe not the best. "Yeah, okay, we can be friends. Or try to be." He glanced at his hands resting in his lap. "No promises."

"Thank you."

Well, if he was going to try, he might as well really try. "Do you like art?"

"Art is the expression of the human imagination. To not like art would be to deny the creativity of our species."

And he was already regretting his decision. "Do you like contemporary art?"

Ferbs shrugged. "Some of it. Why?"

"A friend of mine has an exhibit opening in a few days. He kinda asked me to invite you."

That sent Ferbs' eyebrows up. "He invited me?"

"He invited my soulmate." He was sure Django wouldn't mind if he invited him even after saying he wouldn't. Hell, he'd probably say it meant Phineas was making progress towards letting 'the shit in.' Since he didn't feel like hyperventilating at the thought of hanging out with Ferbs, maybe he was. He still hated that wording though. It sounded so unappealing. "So you wanna come?"

He smiled at him. "I'd love to."