Work Text:
"Hey, Nemo. What are you working on?" Phillip strolled into the living room. He straightened trying to peek at her work and answer his own question before she had the chance to.
"Just math. I-!"
"Just math? Good! Nothing important." He grabbed her shoulders, coaxing her out of her chair and towards the front door. "If there's anything that my Christmas fiasco has taught you it's that you can pretty much wing anything. See. My stories do have morals."
Nemo gave him a knowing stare. "Did you fail math?"
His hand froze touching the handle. "Don't be a doorknob." Her uncle chuckled, flashing her a smirk. He received a genuine small smile in return.
Together they marched to the elevator entering as the shiny reflective doors pulled apart. She watched as his finger lit up the concave B1 button.
"Where are we going?" Nemo quizzically looked up at him. Her hand idly played with the hem on her sweater.
"You'll see when we get there. No spoilers."
The elevator chimed as the doors were released once more to a fluorescent lit hallway. Phillip dragged her out of the small cube and down the hall. Their journey was cut short as they came to a row of chain link fences. He turned to face the young girl.
"Alright, I'm gonna need you to close your eyes." With an eager smile she slapped her cupped hands over her eyes. Grabbing her shoulders once more he slowly navigated her down the hallway.
The hands left her shoulder as they came to a stop.
"You can open them now." Nemo's eyes fell upon a storage and right in the middle of the clutter was a piano. Not just any piano but HER piano. The one her and her dad would play their sweetly familiar tune on.
"Carla told me about how you and your dad used to play together. I thought we could do that."
Nemo's face cringed slightly. That was one of her and her dad's favourite things to do. They practically did it everyday. Sure she loved her uncle but that was their thing. She'd rather keep that memory special and unique.
"Uhh…Flip…I don't kno-" She cut herself off as her uncle reached behind the piano and pulled out an acoustic guitar with a green flame design strap. Her eyes went wide and her jaw dropped.
"I've been practicing for the past couple months while you've been at school." His gaze flicked from the guitar to her shocked face. Silence was all he got in return. His arms went slack by his side as his expression fell. "O-or not. Sell it. We can just sell it. That's okay." He leaned over to rest the guitar against the chain link.
"No! No." Finally she snapped out of her daze.
"I-I love it. It's perfect." She truly did mean that. The idea of doing something so similar yet so different. Of something so undeniably Flip and Nemo. Yes.
Nemo rushed to her flabbergasted uncle and wrapped her arms around him. The consideration of his loving gesture overtook her feelings. She mumbled incoherently through the fabric of his woven cardigan. Tears slowly slid down her cheeks, soaking into the fabric.
"Oh…hey, kiddo…I-I didn't mean to upset you so much." His eyes shifted nervously between Nemo and the piano. He never really thought fully through the possible repercussions of unveiling his brother's piano. He just wanted a way to really connect with her.
Her head shifted to look up at Phillip, "Thank you. Thank you so much." A wet gasp escaped her lips as she flashed him a small smile. He reached down and whipped her tears away with his thumb.
"Come on." His head jerked back to the elevator. "Let's go back upstairs and pick a song that we can do together. It'll be our own special thing."
Nemo gave a short laugh and nodded. Phillip smiled as the largest smile he'd ever seen on her spread across his niece's face.