And now, a quote from Tara LJC O'Shea:
"Look, you gotta understand one thing. When a fan writer writes something, she's not looking to change series canon. She might be trying to get the fandom to view a character or a situation a specific way. But she's not throwing her story out there and saying "This is how it'll be from now on" to the entire fandom at large. With the notable exception of shared world stories, a fan author's world is self-contained."
"Donkey?"
The flame-haired human rolled away and to his feet and stared at Donkey.
"Maldición! What made you like this?"
"Ummm well, I got a potion from the new Fairy Godmother, and drank it, 'cause I was lonely, cause Dragon left, so I came lookin' for my True Love, an' I figured that if anyone would know who recently turned into a human, Doris would! So I came here, then you left the bar, and I followed you, then you jumped on me, an' I tripped you, then you asked me how I got like this, an' I said that I drank a potion, 'cause I was lonely, an'-" Puss clapped his hand over Donkey's mouth.
"Do you ever shut up?"
"Mpgh mph mphh mph-"
Puss removed his hand from Donkey's mouth.
"So how did you turn into a human?"
"I woke up this morning like this." It was true. Puss had gone to sleep on his bed as usual, and woken up… like this. He was lucky that the old bartender had left some of it's partner's clothes behind.
"Oh- umm, Puss…"
"What is it Donkey?" 'Please don't let it be, please don't let it be, please don't let it be-'
"I drank that potion this morning. I think you're my True Love." '!'
"WHAT?!"
"Uh, yeah. So all we have to do is kiss, and we'll stay like this forever- well, that's if you want to be my True Love like this. I mean, if you're into the whole animal thing- Puss?" Donkey looked around. "Puss?"
'No no no no nonononononnnnnooooo!' Puss was already a few hundred yards away and gaining distance. 'He is not my love, this is all one horrible, horrible misunderstanding. I am supposed to fall in love with a girl. Donkey is supposed to fall in love with a girl. We are supposed to fall in love with girls! Girls! Not. Each. Other.'
He was so focused inwardly that he never saw the tree branch right in front of him.
He came to with stars dancing the tango behind his eyelids, head pillowed on something soft. When he opened his eyes, he was assaulted with the sight of those same brown eyes staring at him. Brown pools of chocolate that you could fall into and drown forever and ever and ever…. It looked like Donkey was having a similar tongue-tying experience, until Puss jerked his head off of Donkey's lap and twisted around in the dirt until they were face to face.
"What- how-"
"You ran into a branch, Puss," Donkey said calmly.
"Oh. Well, then-" Puss suddenly remembered why he was in this situation.
"I am not your True Love! My True Love is a girl! It's either that, or I do not have a True Love!"
Donkey looked hurt, but he soon brightened. "Aww, I figured you'd say that. Just give it a shot. What've you got to lose? It's six days! What could happen in six days?"
(A/N: Hiro: Many, many things. Most of them involve the ever popular one blanket scenario, soy sauce, and white rice. Reanna: o.o Pepito: XD)
Puss actually found himself considering it for a moment, then shook his head.
"No!"
"Why?" The simple question startled him, and he floundered for an answer.
"Because- because that's not the way the fairytale goes!" he cried. "It's supposed to be the prince and the princess!He rescues her from some horrible fate, they kiss, and they live Happily Ever After! Not the prince who loves the prince, not the laborer who loves the swordsman, not the donkey that loves the cat! Never! It just doesn't happen!"
Donkey thought about it for a moment, then replied. "But what if we're supposed to make our own fairytale, Puss? True Love doesn't happen everyday. We are True Love! Don't tell me that you can't feel the bond between us! It's getting stronger with every moment that we're together," he pleaded.
"Then- perhaps it will weaken if we are apart," Puss stated, and scrambled up, and started to stalk off. He was stopped by two gentle hands on his shoulders that turned him around to look into a pair of sorrowful brown eyes.
"You don't really mean that," Donkey breathed onto his lips. "You know that you can't leave. The Fairy Godmother told me that once I find my True Love, in the time between the transformations, if we leave each other, we'll be in a lot of pain and eventually die."
Puss felt like his eyes were going to drop out of his head.
"You lie," he hissed.
"Would I lie about something like that?" Donkey snapped. His eyes softened again, and Puss felt like his knees were going to turn to jelly. The other human tightened his grip on Puss's shoulders so that Puss couldn't move.
'He wouldn't.'
Donkey started to close the gap between them, and close his lips over those of the transfixed Puss, then stopped abruptly. He seemed to be having an internal conversation with himself.
"No, I can't do this," he muttered. "I can't take advantage of you; that'd be cheating. I want you to come to me of your own free will."
Puss was momentarily overcome by the despair in Donkey's voice, and the gratitude he felt for the other transfigured being for not violating him.
Gingerly, he placed his hands on the muscled biceps of the man holding him, and took a deep breath.
"I will try this, Donkey. Start tomorrow and you will have five days to win me over. That is all the time I will give you, do you understand? And this will or will not be consummated on my own terms, no one else's."
Donkey's eyes sparkled with happiness.
"Alright!" he exclaimed. "I promise you, Puss, you won't regret it! I'll make you love me, you'll see!"
They traveled for a while, walking side by side on the road, leading Donkey's horse behind them. Neither said much, they only concentrated on what was in their own minds, and occasionally the passing scenery. After a bit, it began to rain again, and they started looking for some shelter. Puss eventually spotted an old run-down shack, and they ran towards it, the horse following at its own pace. When they got to it, it turned out to have barely half a roof, with room for just two people to squeeze under. Donkey sighed and tethered the horse under a willow tree. It would probably be drier than they were, he thought. In the packs was an old blanket that Shrek had loaned him. He grabbed it and went to join Puss in the shelter. Inside, they stood huddled under the single solid spot of roof, neither willing to admit that they were freezing, and neither willing to admit that they needed some sleep.
An hour passed, and Donkey sighed theatrically. This was getting them nowhere. He rolled his eyes, grabbed Puss around the waist, and plopped down on the floor with Puss between his legs, leaning back against his stomach. Donkey braced his own back against the wall, and draped the blanket around Puss's slim frame, tugging in the edges between himself before Puss could say a word. The former cat immediately started to struggle, and only Donkey's arms around him prevented him from bolting across the room.
"Donkey," he hissed. "What are you doing?"
"Conserving space and sharing body heat. Besides, there's only one blanket," he pointed out reasonably. Donkey hoped that Puss hadn't suddenly acquired the power to read minds; he was enjoying the close contact between them, and hoped that it wouldn't end for a while.
"Let's try to get some sleep, and if it bothers you that much, in an hour, if you still aren't asleep, I'll go sleep with Winnie," he said, referring to the horse.
"F-fine. But don't try anything on me," the assassin warned.
"Don't worry. I won't," he reassured the man in his arms.
"Now let's just try to catch some Z's."
After a while, Donkey felt Puss finally succumb into slumber in his arms, and the tension drain out of his body. The orange-haired man actually snuggled into him, a bit. Donkey smiled into the darkness, and let himself drift into sleep, still resting his arms about the other's waist.