#just a cute little ficklet

[ozimagines]

Holly’s Uncles

Holly Beecher had three uncles, just like Casper, as she once told her dad. Technically she had her father’s actual brother, but the man was totally useless as an uncle. He wasn’t wise or fun or sweet. He just sort of was. Holly loved him, she guessed, but not for any reason. Not like her other uncles. She drew a picture of their family one time, and even though her drawing had two daddies, what really drew the teacher’s attention was the three men standing in the background. Holly was called to stay after school with Mrs. Penney.

“Holly… honey… I know who these two are, and I’m so happy you felt comfortable sharing you have two daddies with the class…” she phrased this as delicately as possible. “Who are these… fellas?”

“Those are my uncles.” Holly answered as if it was obvious. “Uncle Ryan, Uncle Cyril, and Uncle Kareem.”

“Oh… are they your fathers’ brothers?” She asked, noting the skin color on ‘uncle Kareem’. Holly shook her head. Mrs. Penney was so smart, but she was being so dumb right now.

“No, they were in Oz with my dads.”

“…Oz?”

“The prison.” She clarified, already bored with this conversation and picking at her blue nail polish. Mrs. Penney looked concerned. (We’re mandated reporters, people, and kids say a LOT of stuff…) “They’re not bad though. Any of them. Sometimes Uncle Ryan is a jerk though and Pop has to talk to him.”

“They were in prison with both your fathers?” She repeated, flabbergasted. “Holly… could you tell me about your uncles?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Do they ever get angry with you?”

Holly thought for a second and shook her head.

“No.” She thought another second. “Uncle Ryan once told me not to take Uncle Cyril to the park alone though. He was upset but he didn’t yell at me or anything.”

“Why was he upset? Are you allowed to be alone with Uncle Cyril?” Mrs. Penney was taking notes now, best of intentions in her heart, trying to gauge if there was anything worth being concerned about. She knew about Holly’s brother’s murder, and about her father’s alcoholism, but not about the uncles from prison. Holly was a great kid who already saw too much of life.

“Of course I am! He’s my uncle!” Holly said incredulously, not picking up that her teacher was already mentally pressing that little panic button. “But other people don’t understand Uncle Cyril. Other people just think he’s dumb. He’s not dumb though. He’s really smart and so so funny. And he always shares his candies with me, even if it’s right before dinner. He saves me the green apple and watermelon ones, ‘cause they’re my favorites.”

“Tell me about Uncle Cyril. Why do people think he’s dumb?”

“Because he’s redarted.”

“Re-darted?”

“That’s what I hear people call him. Like ‘hey redart’ and all that and daddy said that’s not nice to say. I think it means dumb, but like I said, he’s not dumb.”

Retarded.

“Oh.” Her teacher audibly gasped when she understood. “I didn’t know… ‘re-darted’ people were allowed in Oz.”

“Yeah, Uncle Kareem says it’s a broken system that needs to be burnt to the ground as the voices of the oppressed rise up like a phoenix from the ashes.” Holly blinked and noticed something on Mrs. Penney’s desk; “can I have a lollipop?”

Mrs. Penney was shocked that she heard what she heard from a child’s mouth.

“Your uncle wouldn’t happen to be-“

“Kareem Said. Yeah, that’s him, but he’s not as scary as he seems on TV.”

Mrs. Penney laughed a little at Holly’s candor.

“Is he kind to you?”

“Of course he is. He’s my godfather too. Uncle Kareem always makes time for me, even if he’s really really busy. One time Mr. Arif -I don’t like him, he’s mean- was saying he needed to spend time with his own kind and uncle Kareem was all like ‘she is my kind because she is one who strives for peace and justice’ and I thought that was so cool! He takes me for ice cream every Sunday and reads a prayer from the Koran every night when he comes over. He even talks to Daddy when he’s sad about Mom and Gary.”

Mrs. Penney was smiling a little now. She couldn’t imagine someone as serious as Kareem Said being a goofy uncle with Holly. Holly kept going on and on about how Uncle Kareem played dress up with her one time and he was prince Eric so she could be the little mermaid, holding her up in front of a sprinkler so she could say “part of your… WORLD!” like Ariel. Uncle Ryan always holds her up on his shoulders at parades and helped her sneak extra chocolate chips into their pancakes, even if he could be rude. Uncle Cyril and her were apparently inseparable, Shari no candy and watching movies and building blanket forts. They had movie nights where her father projected cartoons onto a bedsheet, and they both loved Cyberchase, but they both didn’t like the Hacker, the villain. She talked about Uncle Cyril as one would an older brother.

There was a knock on the doorframe. Mrs. Penney turned to see one of the men from Holly’s drawing.

“Uncle Kareem!” She rushed over to him and threw herself in his arms. He accepted it openly, loving his goddaughter more than anything in this world. He regarded the teacher.

“We were waiting for Holly outside,” he shook Mrs. Penney’s hand. “Was she held back for a reason?”

Mrs. Penney showed him the drawing, and watched as his face split into a huge, genuine smile. He tousled her hair.

“I had questions about Holly’s uncles. I’m happy she has so many people in her life that love her.” Mrs. Penney explained. “I wanted to know the names of the men in the picture.”

“She was asking me lots of questions about you and Uncle Ryan and Uncle Cyril. Like if you’re ever mean to me and stuff.” Holly shrugged, sucking on the green apple Lolly pop given to her by Mrs. Penney. Her teacher blushed and turned to Kareem Said, who was still smiling.

“Our family doesn’t look like many others.” He put his arm around Holly’s shoulder. “But we love just as hard and as strong as any other.”

“That much is clear.” Mrs. Penney admitted. “As I said, I’m happy Holly has so many people who love her.”

“She truly does.” Kareem shook her hand and guided Holly outside to where two other men were waiting by a car. She watched out the window as Holly launched herself into the blonde man’s arms, and how the other man had squeezed her arm and kissed her forehead. Mrs. Penney smiled beside herself. Holly had lost a mom, a brother, and a grandfather to Oz, so it was nice to see she walked away with a few more members of her family, not just fewer.

Holly Beecher had three uncles, just like Casper, and each one of them loved her to the moon and back.

[scamanderishredmayniac]

Earlier I reblogged this little ficklet. A few hours later I was searching on Pinterest for some inspirational fan art for something I wanted to do. I was looking for something quite specific, when I came across a picture that would have gone so brilliantly with this little ficklet. it was so cute and funny, because seeing it made me think of this cute fucklet. But unfortunately I decided to go grab a bite to eat, and thought to myself I’ll find the picture later and then reblog this ficklet again with the picture. However when I managed to get back onto pinterest to try and find it again, I couldn’t find the picture. Literally just spent over an hour just now looking for that picture. I feel so sad and frustrated that I can’t find it, and have now wasted precious drawing time of my own. Lol! All my own fault of course. I wish I’d have saved it before I went offline. Man! I’m such a fool!

Basically it was a picture of first Theseus tying a straw hat around Newt’s neck to hold it in place, and then underneath with Newt looking not too impressed and Theseus smiling and admiring his handy work. Oh well never mind.

I will die on the “Theseus & Newt actually love each other dearly they’re just wildly different people” hill. (Or, rather, they are similar people whose “means to the ends” just look very different.)

So have some adorable 8-year-old Newt and 16-year-old Theseus.

Also this is unedited forgive me the excessively long sentences

[ozimagines]

Sean Murphy x Reader

Cute CO

You’d been working at Oz for about a week. You’d already had three people come on to you. You couldn’t be less interested in any of them. First of the bunch was Len Lopresti. He’d made some comment about your ass on your first day. Ick.

The second was Claire Howell, whose reputation preceded her. She had hit on you fairly overtly and a little condescendingly if you’re honest. You shut it down. She was giving ‘bunny boiler’ energy.

The third was Tim McManus, and you let him down as gently as you could. You couldn’t tell if it was just his initial instinct to flirt with any fuckable person who crossed his path or what but he also gave off a weird energy that you weren’t sure if you wanted. He seemed to be the best intentioned of the group, but that morning, you told him that while you were flattered by his advances, that you really weren’t trying to date him. He took it about as well as Tim usually did, getting butthurt and walking out of the break room with a chip on his shoulder.

Murphy entered right after him.

“He seems cheerful.” Murphy remarked and you smirk a little.

“Yeah, he’s upset that I said no to going out with him tonight.” You turn and hand a cup of coffee to Sean, who accepts it gratefully and goes to sweeten it with couple of Splenda packets. He nods his head.

“Already came onto you, huh?” He said with a lovable deadpan. You giggle.

“Yeah, so did a few others. Not really interested in them though.” You inform, and he hands you the little sugar caddy after so you can make yours how you like it. Hands you the creamer when he’s done too. It’s nice. He’s just a good guy.

“Good for you. Workplace relations are a hassle.” He’s speaking from experience, you note, and your heart drops. Sucks to hear.

“I didn’t say I was against workplace relationships,” you cleared up a little and he raised a brow and went to sit down. “I just said I wasn’t interested in any of them.”

“Got your eye on someone else?” Asks Sean, stirring his coffee with the little wooden stick and blowing on it.

“Yes.” You asked, bluntly. He nods, absentmindedly. “You know ‘em. The cute CO.”

He thinks a little, before saying;

“Lopresti, huh? Interesting taste.” He picks up his home and starts to check the news. It’s depressing, as always. You shake your head in the negative.

“Ew. Just ew. No, it’s not Lopresti.”

“Oh?” He puts his phone down. He usually stays out of workplace gossip but he was a little curious now.

“I know ‘em, hmm?”

“Yeah, brown hair, on the taller side, thick city accent.” You smile slyly to yourself as he tried to piece together who you mean. It’s not registering in his brain, so you keep pressing. “Sarcastic, and Irish, which I guess is a little redundant.”

He’s still not getting it. You finish making your coffee, turning to him, a playful grin on your face, biting your lower lip a little like a crushing school kid.

“Tales two Splendas in his coffee. Splash of milk.” You ponder, walking past him, on your way to the door. His face flushed and his ears burn.

“Oh.” He said, not sure what else to say or how to continue. He didn’t get flirted with often, or if he did he never picked up on it. You chuckle to yourself and turn to him on your way out.

“Yeah. He’s a cutie. Might ask him out later.” You’re almost getting cramps in your cheeks with how hard you’re smiling. It’s Sean, he just brings out the giggly side of you. “What do you think he’ll say?”

Sean thinks for a moment, taking a sip of his coffee and burning his tongue a little, but it’s his first instinct to buy himself some time.

“He’ll be a little confused as to why you’re asking, I think.”

“Like I said, he’s a cutie. Plus I have a thing for snarky Irish guys.” You pop a wink at him and he blushes even harder. You turn to leave the room when you hear from behind you;

“Think he’ll say yes. I think he has a thing for straight shooters with balls of steel.”

You don’t turn around immediately, but you do stop in the doorway, biting your tongue a little at how the conversation was going. When you do finally turn, you pretend to be nonchalant.

“Then I guess I’d better ask him out then.”

“Think you better.”

“I might even ask him out to O’Shay’s at seven tonight. I might ask him to wear something sexy for me.”

He snorts and stirs his coffee some more.

“I don’t think he has anything sexy, per se, but he might have an old suit he hasn’t worn in a while.”

“Then it’s a date.” You conclude, and this time you do walk out of the break room.

Sean is left there to sit with his coffee, grinning to himself like a crazy person, shaking his head. Damn, he hadn’t smiled this hard in a while. You were ballsy, he had to give you that. Besides, he hadn’t been flirted with in a hot minute.

God, he couldn’t wait to tell Tim and watch him get jealous.