"Ferb?" Candace frowned at her youngest brother. "What are you doing?"

Not looking away from the book, he lifted it up with one hand.

"Yeah, I can see that. But aren't you supposed to be out there?" She waved towards the sliding glass door leading to the backyard, not far from the lounge chair Ferb was stretched out on.

Setting down the book, Ferb lifted his other arm and pointed to the cast on it.

Like she could have forgotten about that. Dragging her mom into the backyard only to see blood and Ferb cradling his broken arm to his chest while Isabella tried to do first aid had been one of the more horrifying scenes she'd found in place of an invention.

But she didn't know why a broken bone would keep him inside when nothing else did.

"Are you not going out there because you agree your inventions are dangerous now?"

Ferb snorted at that. "Our invention was not the cause."

"Then what was?" Having not seen what happened, she'd assumed it had been from whatever they'd built. She'd seen enough dangerous stuff in their backyard to believe that someone getting hurt was bound to happen at some point.

When Ferb didn't reply audibly or with a gesture, Candace sat down on the armrest of the chair. "Come on, you can tell me."

Ferb ran a finger along the spine of his book.

She frowned. Was he embarrassed to tell her? "Was it something stupid? Were you trying to impress a girl and fell or something?" She was sure a few of the Fireside girls had been there and knew from personal experience that crushes made you do dumb things.

Ferb shook his head.

"What then?"

At that moment Phineas ran past the door, quickly followed by Buford, Baljeet, and Isabella. Ferb eyes locked onto their brother before he dropped them back to the book.

Candace glanced between him and outside. "Wait, Phineas?"

If she hadn't been watching him, she would have missed Ferb flinch at the question.

"O.M.G! Phineas broke your arm?" Now that she thought about it, it kind of made sense. Ferb hadn't wanted Phineas to go with him when Mom had taken him to the hospital, and they around each other less often since. "Did you two get into a fight?"

She wasn't sure which she had more trouble believing, they would get into a fight or that Phineas would come out the winner.

Ferb shot her a sharp look, shaking his head again.

"No, he didn't break your arm or no, you didn't fight?"

He shrugged.

"Ferb, I'm trying to help, can't you use words?" She groaned. How Phineas dealt with this all the time was beyond her. But a lot of things about Phineas were. "If it makes you feel better, I promise not to tell Mom." She wouldn't believe her anyway if she tried to claim the boys had gotten into a physical fight.

Ferb stared at her for a moment. Then he held up a hand, pinkie extended.

"Seriously? You want me to pinkie-swear it?" Realizing Ferb wasn't backing down, she sighed and locked pinkies with him. "Fine. I pinkie-swear that whatever you tell me will stay between us."

Pulling his hand back, he nodded. "Phineas accidentally knocked me off of the crane we were using to make a minor alteration to the otherwise finished project."

Candace blinked. "That's it?" She was expecting some more dramatic.

"It's not the first time Phineas' tunnel vision has led to me being hurt, this is simply the worst injury that's come of it." Ferb turned away from her, facing the door again. "Phineas doesn't realise he was the cause, and he refuses to listen long enough for me to inform him."

"Yeah? Welcome to my world," Candace muttered. How many times had she been injured around her brothers and they did nothing? Not so much as an acknowledgment of her pain?

Ferb tilted his head at her.

Right, now was probably not the time. "So you're, what, not speaking to him now?"

He shrugged. "It appears he hasn't noticed my absence."

"Even Phineas can't be so oblivious as to not notice you're missing." Everyone knows the two were joined at the hip, that wasn't something you could just overlook. Ferb still didn't look at her, so she touched his uninjured arm. "Why don't we go out there and see? I won't even try to bust you guys. This time."

Ferb didn't move right away, but slowly he set his book on the end table next to the chair and got up. Candace slid off the armrest, following her brother to the door. When he hesitated, she placed a hand on his shoulder.

With a deep breath, he opened the door and stepped out onto the grass.

"Ferb!"

Candace had no idea where Phineas was, but he ran at Ferb, pulling him into a hug like he hadn't seen him in months rather than a few hours.

"I thought you weren't gonna join us." Letting go of him, Phineas grabbed Ferb's hand and started tugging him over to their friends. "Did you finish your book? I didn't want to bother you if you weren't feeling up to a Big Idea."

Candace watched them with a pleased smile. "My job here is done."