Prompter: withlovefromskaro

Prompt: TTTWLB verse with Wynn and Orson? Curious to hear whether they hit it off and became a couple or just close?

Originally posted: 18 October 2015

Notes: 1795 words; takes place during the summer of 1961, right before Wynn's 12th birthday, between Year 7 and 8 (Orson is 11 ½ and getting ready to go to secondary school); makes me laugh because this is so far from being the full story it's actually pretty damn funny; also contains Gwen (29) and her son Mickey (1 ½); neither Wynn nor Orson realize what they're doing here or what they're mimicking, meaning they've got a huge wakeup call coming within the next few years

It was a very warm day in the dead of summer, encouraging most sane people in London to stay indoors if they could. Not Oswynne Elena Smith, however, as she walked happily down the pavement, humming to herself as she carried her school bag to a familiar flat block—brand new and pristine—and climbed the stairs up to a specific floor, and went to a specific door. She knocked, with Gwen answering.

"Ah, there you are; I was beginning to worry," she said, letting her guest in. "Everything was fine then?"

"Ran into a girl from school on the way, but I was able to get away in time." Wynn noticed Mickey toddle into sight and she picked him up, tickling his sides to make him giggle. "And how are you today?"

"Stop! Stop!" the one-year-old insisted. She put him down and he zoomed off giggling. Wynn then turned back to Gwen, seeing her roll her eyes. "Orson here yet?"

"Not yet; any minute now," she replied. "Go ahead and set up in the kitchen. There's already some tea there for you."

"Thanks!" the tween grinned. She went into the kitchen and found the table bare, only exception being the aforementioned tea, and she got straight down to business. Books, pencils, a couple pads of papers, and a packet of handwritten notes came out of the bag and spread across the table. She poured herself some tea and prepared herself by skimming the things she'd already written down a dozen times over. Soon the door to the flat opened and Orson appeared in the kitchen doorway.

"Hi Wynn; thanks for coming to help me," he said as he sat down in the chair next to her. "I really hate this summer homework they're making us do."

"That is what you're supposed to have your mentor for," she gently scolded.

"I've told you: he just doesn't like me!" he insisted. "Every time I try to even talk to him he goes and ignores me!"

"Well then lucky for you, I'm good enough with History to help you out, not to mention I still have the notes from when I did this essay last summer." Wynn handed over the note packet and tapped on one of the textbooks she had brought. "Now that should at least be a start. I won't do it all for you, but I will point you in the right direction."

"I don't deserve you," he exhaled happily. As Orson opened the book and began writing his own rough draft, Wynn took another book and pad and started on another assignment to keep busy. She'd stop to answer his questions now and then, and they both went through the pot of tea and biscuit plate Gwen had left out for them. A couple hours passed and the phone in the sitting room rang, which Gwen answered, only to hang it up cursing.

"Hey kids, can I trust you to watch over Mickey for me while I pop over to the store?" she asked from the foyer as she prepared to leave. "I ordered Luke a new suit last week and the clerk called saying that it needs to be picked up before they close."

"Go ahead Aunt Gwen—we'll be fine," Orson said.

"No more than an hour, you hear?" she said. Gwen poked her head in the kitchen and stared the tweens down. "And not a word of this gets out—the suit's a surprise."

"My only regret is not being in on it sooner," Wynn replied. With instructions to keep Mickey in his playpen and turn on Blue Peter if he got too fussy firmly in place, the woman left in a rush, hoping to catch a bus as soon as possible.

The minutes passed by slowly. Mickey fell asleep, using his stuffed bear as a pillow, allowing his sitters to concentrate on their work. Wynn started to become fidgety after a while, attempting to doodle her way out of boredom in the margins of the pad.

"So, you hear from your dad and gran?" she wondered.

"Last night, yeah. I guess Granddad's grave was vandalized a couple weeks ago along with a bunch of others and they're talking with the cemetery's caretaker." He leaned back in his chair and tried balancing his pencil on the bridge of his nose. "A bunch of cemeteries in and around Leeds have been hit recently, they said, so it's just a matter of finding whodid it."

"Wow, that's sad. Say… didn't you have the chance to go up there this year?"

"Yeah, but I turned it down," Orson shrugged. "I know it's my granddad, but he died so long ago… Dad wasn't even in school yet."

"Granny and Granddad Smith died not too long after your granddad did, and Gran Oswald died when my mum was a little older than us, but I still have to visit their graves every once in a while."

"Yeah, but… dads tend not to last very long in my family, so it doesn't bother me. I'm just glad my dad's still around, or it'd just be Gran and me, or I'd go stay with one of my aunts like I have to do now… though I don't know which one I'd want to stay with permanently, between Aunt Gwen being all over Uncle Luke and when Aunt Ruby has her boyfriend over to her flat. It's all pretty gross."

Wynn frowned at that, pensive. "I know it's gross, but do you want to be a dad one day?"

"What kind of a question is that?" he snorted.

"Well, Mr. Pink's a really good guy, and if you want to be like him—a dad who is there for his family—you can help him and Luke turn around the family trend," she explained. "Besides, it's not like your granddad could help when he died. I asked Auntie Sarah Jane about that flu once and she said it pretty much caused chaos."

"That's true," he agreed. Orson then thought for a moment, concentrating intensely. "Yeah."

"Yeah what?"

"I do think I want to be a dad one day. A flat of my own, a wife and kids, enough room so I can take care of Dad when he's old because he's taken care of all the rest of us for so long… that wouldn't be bad. I bet that'd be nice."

Just then, Mickey began to cry in the sitting room, tearing the two from their conversation. As Wynn stood up to find out what was wrong, an idea came to her. She nabbed Gwen's apron on the way out and put it on as she found the upset toddler. He didn't stop, and she carried him back to the kitchen, where Orson was trying to get back to his homework.

"Honey, your son's at it again."

"Wynn, that's my cousin."

"We're playing house, now shut up," she said, holding out Mickey.

Orson took him and held the baby in one arm while he continued writing with the other. The younger boy was placated, watching curiously as Wynn went into the fridge.

"Ah, here we go," she said, pulling out a premade bottle. She took Mickey back and put him in his highchair, allowing him to tuck in and suck down the contents happily. Turning back to Orson, she made a show of looking at the papers. "Another set of essays you're marking?"

"Uh, yeah," he muttered. "Essays." He paused and then looked up at her. "But I want to be a scientist working on computers with you. Why would I be marking essays?"

"Teaching in order to secure grant money—Ruby and Luke had to do it."

"Huh… that's true," he agreed. Orson then stared at Wynn uncomfortably as she sat down in his lap, draping one arm around his shoulders. "What are you doing?"

"You wondered what it would be like to be a dad, so I'm showing you—I know that face you made when you were thinking," she said. "Mum and Dad do this all the time."

"…but I don't think…"

"Who's the one with both their parents to watch? This is how mums and dads act. Don't Gwen and Luke act like this at least sometimes?"

"Yeah, but…" Their eyes locked and suddenly both their faces grew hot. It took Orson a moment, but he remembered what his uncle would do in such situations and placed his hands on Wynn's waist. She put her other arm on his shoulder, which made them sit closer than before.

"This is weird," she admitted.

"Okay, so it's not just me."

"Don't we need to be at least dating in order to do this? We're not sixteen yet."

"We're p-playing house, r-remember?"

The two leaned in close and tried to kiss, being set back by the fact neither knew what to do with their noses. After a couple attempts they succeeded, pressing their lips together for just a moment before parting, jerking their heads back in embarrassment. Seconds ticked down on the clock and they burst into laughter.

"You're gonna be a shit kisser," Wynn snickered.

"Am not!" Orson gasped, offended. "No one's good their first try!"

"Well then, maybe you need more practice than most," she teased. She rubbed his hair and knocked their foreheads together. "At least you know now so you can work on it."

"Umm… Wynn?" he muttered.

"Yeah?"

"Please get off; you're heavy."

"Work on being romantic too, because that's not going to fly," she replied, groaning in amusement.

She slid off his lap and took Mickey's empty bottle from him, putting it in the sink before taking the toddler back to his playpen and turning on the telly. Wynn then returned to the kitchen and put Gwen's apron back on its peg, deciding that it had been enough of playing house for one day.

"Does this mean we're dating?" Orson asked as she sat down. "I don't think there's a word for friends that kiss and aren't dating."

"Maybe we're practice dating, so when we are sixteen we don't make fools of ourselves," she offered. "We might not even want to actually date each other."

"That's true," he replied. "I could want to date someone in my year, and the same for you."

"Once you ignore my brother, my year is full of a bunch of pudding brains," she laughed. "Maybe Davey can introduce me to a guy—that'd at least make it so he doesn't have to feel like he needs to protect me."

"Only the best for our Wynn; I'll be right beside him."

"Thanks." She kissed his cheek and went back to her own homework, not realizing what sort of path their relationship had just spiraled down.