Disclaimer: I don't own Phil of the Future.
A/N: My first PotF fic, based off "The Giggle", and I know that there are already a lot of versions of this sort of story around, but I wanted to put one out there too. I love this show, especially the relationship between Phil and Keely, so I figured, why not do a mushy one-shot?
XXX
He wanted to look.
But no, he couldn't. That would be wrong.
But just one peek…
No. He had to be strong. He had to restrain himself.
But maybe he could just take a little glimpse…
Phil Diffy sat on his bed, internally weighing his options as he twirled something in his hands. He bit his lip, unsure.
He was home alone this Thursday afternoon. Pim had stayed after school for some reason or another, most likely detention (now that she was in high school she had upped her quality of pranks, much to the dismay of the faculty), his father Lloyd was at work at the hardware store, having just been promoted to manager, and his mother Barb had rushed off to the grocery store in a whirl, excited about some new recipe or another she wanted to try this evening.
It was hard for Phil to imagine now that the Diffy family had come thisclose to returning to the twenty-second century just a few months before. He couldn't even picture what he'd be doing at this moment one hundred years in the future, with the twenty-first century now feeling much more like home than any other time period. Even his memories of his past were beginning to get fuzzy, leaving behind only ones from the last two years.
Really, it had been by luck that they'd forgotten their caveman Curtis and had to turn around, so close to their first home and so far from the one they had grown to love. After returning to pick Curtis up, Phil had voiced the question the other three (well, probably with the exception of Pim) had been thinking as well: should we really leave?
Lloyd had called a family meeting, and soon all four members were debating the pros and cons of staying in the early 2000's or going home. Their discussion went on for hours, until finally, it was decided they'd forget about returning to 2121 (2123 now after two years) and live in the time they'd once considered primitive and only a temporary place to stay. None had been able to fully let go of their future roots, however, and so the gadgets they'd had when they came were still used periodically (though all were trying to get better at not relying on them so much).
And so the next day, Phil had knocked on his best friend's door with a smile, was greeted with pleasant shock by Mandy Teslow, and had ventured upstairs to Keely's room. She had been lying on her bed, staring aimlessly at the ceiling, and after a few minutes of convincing that he was the real deal, she had squealed loudly and hugged him tightly and kissed him soundly (to both their surprise). He and Pim had finished their sophomore and eight grade years respectively, and spent the summer trying to fit in now that they were forever in this century.
For Phil, the choice of not leaving had been no discussion since the first time he had truly felt at home here. His friends and teachers had been overjoyed when they'd found out he wasn't leaving, and he'd even divulged his secret to Via and Owen (who had thought it was a joke for at least a month). Over the summer he'd gotten a job at the local news station (first pouring coffee and running errands, but now he at least got to watch the news be shot, and sometimes they even let him type some of the lines that appeared on the teleprompter) and had taken the test for his driver's permit. He was finally, finally going to get to be a normal teenager in the twenty-first century.
And to top it all off, he had the girl of his dreams.
All of this brought Phil back to the current moment as he once again twirled the object in his hands. Keely was out performing her road test, and hopefully she'd come to him after, license in hand. She'd been nervous all week, and for her sake he hoped all the driving she'd done before this would be of use to her.
He couldn't imagine life without her. Couldn't imagine going to school every day and not seeing her face. Couldn't imagine not receiving cute voicemails on his cell phone filled with her sing-song voice telling him at the end of each message that she loved him. Couldn't imagine not getting that special grin she reserved just for him, the one that made her eyes sparkle. Couldn't imagine not kissing her every day, not getting to hold her hand.
Which made Phil sigh loudly. He shouldn't use The Giggle, not after last time. But as he spun the helmet-screen in his hands, he wondered, what the hell? He was just going to peek, that's it, just check and see who gave Keely that wedding ring that was on her finger when she had been reporting the news. If it wasn't him… he wouldn't do anything to change that. (Well, maybe just a little.)
Nodding to himself, Phil place the helmet on his head and brought his hand up to the little screen jutting in front of his face, ready to pull it down. He took a deep breath, half knowing this was something he shouldn't be doing, and half not caring.
"Giggle, on," he commanded as he yanked the screen down with more force than necessary. "Search…" He faltered for a moment, then continued on. "Search Phil Diffy, 2030." At the last second, Phil had decided it'd be better for him to mess up his own future than his girlfriend's.
The screen fast-forwarded and suddenly a man appeared in front of Phil's face, a man he knew immediately as himself almost thirty years from now. "Aw man, wrinkles," Phil mumbled to himself as he got a better look at the lines above his future-self's forehead.
With his heart pounding to the time of this-is-wrong, don't-look, this-is-wrong, Phil watched as his forty-year-old self got out of a white four-door car inside of a slightly-messy garage. He was wearing a nice suit, most likely work clothes, and had a briefcase in one hand. It was surreal to see himself like this, all adult and professional, knowing one day this exact moment would be happening to him. He'd never used The Giggle before for himself.
His future-self opened a door connected to the garage and entered a nice, light-yellow kitchen, reminding current-Phil of the kitchen downstairs. He watched as he put his black briefcase down on a nearby counter, humming to himself (tenses and people get so confusing in time travel, he thought, his brain trying to keep up with his eyes).
"I'm home!" he yelled, his voice a little deeper than it was now in 2006.
"Okay!" a distant feminine voice called back from somewhere else in the house. "I'm just finishing a few things for work and then I've got to pick up the kids at Mom's house!"
Present-Phil's eyes bugged out. "Kids?" he repeated. Plural? Apparently he was busier with more than just work in the future. And 'Mom's house'?
Now future-Phil was sorting through the mail. "How about we both go get them and then we can all go out to eat tonight? I don't feel like cooking and I'm sure you don't either," he called back, a smile on his face.
The voice sounded wry as she replied, "Phil, you know I never feel like cooking!"
"Which is why you married me, huh?" he shot back, going towards the refrigerator.
That was when sixteen-year-old Phil spotted it. The pictures on the refrigerator, with one sticking out to him more than any of the others containing people he didn't recognize. It was of himself just a year or two older than he was now in 2006, his arm around the shoulders of a very familiar blonde girl, both grinning like fools at the camera. Phil saw as his future-self paused by the picture as he was closing the refrigerator door, saw how the corners of his mouth turned up softly, saw how his eyes lit up a little.
That was when Phil of 2006 decided to stop. "Giggle, off," he stated, and it went black, leaving future-Phil turning towards another room, looking at another person with a content smile. He tugged the bottom of the screen quickly and let it flip up to the top of the helmet again. He lifted The Giggle off of his head and placed it on the bed beside him.
He didn't need to see anything else.
"Phil! I got it! You are looking at a fully licensed driver!" Keely shouted as she burst through the doorway, her mouth wide with glee, her eyes dancing. She was a little out of breath, apparently from running up the stairs in a hurry.
"Good job, Keel!" he praised as he stood and opened his arms, letting her rush into them. They pulled back and she kissed him quickly.
"Man, the rest of junior year is gonna be great now that I can drive!"
"Yeah," Phil agreed, thinking of his life, their lives, years from now. "The rest is gonna be great."
Keely lifted an eyebrow, her expression clearly asking what the heck are you talking about?, but Phil just shook and his head and prompted her to tell him all about her road test.
Maybe he'd wait until 2030 to tell her that he'd looked.
XXX
End.