Author: Merula
Pairings: 1+2
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Discworld/GW fusion
Disclaimer: Gundam Wing is not mine.
Any resemblance to the marvelous Discworld is totally on purpose. (And yes, I know Greebo wouldn't let dogs chase him, unless he was totally messing with their heads. Which is what I was thinking here.I really wanted to stick YOU KNOW WHO in here too, but he just didn't fit. And I know Nanny would never just take off and leave Greebo, but I'm bending the world for GW. Sorry! *has no desire to be shredded by Prachett fans*)
Discworld/GW
Duo knew, before he ever moved back to the old farmstead, that there were witches in the hills. It wasn't a bad thing. Witches were very helpful, even if they did what they thought was best for you, and not what you might have thought was. Still, they were good to have around, as long as you were polite and showed respect.
He also knew that sometimes witches tended to get a little-odd- when they got older. Not that you'd mention it to them, of course, and that sometimes odd things tended to happen around them.
So he shouldn't have been surprised when it happened, but he was.
He was cooking dinner, frying fish on his tiny stove, and had propped open his front door to let the smell out. He'd just finished cooking the last fish when he heard the barking.
A dark streak shot into his kitchen, pursued by two large dogs. It darted under the table in the corner before Duo could get a close look at it. The dogs seemed to consider this a victory as they started barking loudly at the table- which proved that they were not smart dogs.
Duo cursed and made a grab for the largest of the dogs, mentally vowing to never leave his door open again- fish smell or not.
He wasn't sure afterwards what exactly happened, but something went whoosh under his table and suddenly the two dogs couldn't get out of his kitchen fast enough.
Duo blinked and bent down to peer under the table.
What the hell?
The naked man under his table hissed at him and Duo backed up a step. He was sure that the dogs had not chased a man into his house. What they had chased had been smaller and somewhat animal shaped, not naked man shaped- he was almost sure. But if it wasn't, how had the naked man gotten there? He couldn't have been there all this time- Duo would've noticed.
The man poked his head out from under the table and blinked. Duo noted the ragged scar that swept down from the man's forehead and over the bridge of his nose, narrowly missing his eye. It looked like a claw mark.
"Fish?" The man said hopefully.
"Fish?" Duo repeated, not sure if this was 'hello' in some language that he'd never heard of or if the man was referring to himself. Could someone be named Fish? Maybe in a culture Duo had never heard of- one that didn't believe in clothes-maybe someone could.
"Please?" The man blinked large blue eyes at him in a way that totally did not match the rest of him. This was a man who should be on the high seas somewhere with earrings- and clothes- and saying things like 'Arrrr!' He shouldn't be trying to look cutely hopeful.
"Fish? Please?" He repeated.
Duo shook himself- this was not a time to drift off into fantasy. "Fish?" He repeated again, feeling like a parrot and then the meaning kicked in. "Ah. You want some fish?"
"Please?" The man pulled himself out from under the table and stretched. "I'm hungrrry."
Duo looked away, feeling a bit dazed. "Uh, sure." He went to his stack of fish and put a few on a plate. "Here," he said and held it out to his guest.
The man blinked at the plate and then at the floor. He looked puzzled. Maybe Duo had it wrong and he didn't want fish?
"Arrr," the man said and Duo felt vaguely justified. "Forrrgot." He reached out and snatched a fish from the plate, putting it into his mouth, and then ducked under the table again.
Oooookay. Maybe they didn't have tables where this guy came from? Duo carefully put the plate on the floor near the table and stepped backwards. He needed to sit down. Without looking away from the table he moved across the small room and sat down on his bed.
"So, where do you live? Normally?" He said in as calm a tone as he could manage.
There was only a small questioning fishy grunt from under the table. Maybe the question was too complicated?
"Where is home?" He tried and struck pay dirt.
"Nona's," and another fish vanished off the plate.
Ah. Duo nodded to himself. One of the local witches- quite a sweet old lady, if he remembered correctly, though she was fond of a drop or two- not that anyone blamed her of course. He'd gone to her once or twice for small things. He didn't remember her having a naked man around her house, just her daughters and a big mean tomcat.
With a big scar right across its face....
No.
Then again, she was a witch.
Duo noticed the plate was empty. He leaned down and rubbed his fingers together carefully. What had the beast's name been?
"Here kitty, kitty. Here...." What was the damn name? Ah right. "Heero?"
A moment later he had a naked man curled up on his lap and trying to purr. It was almost cute really.
"Heero?" He said softly, carefully petting the other's hair. If he remembered, the beast was bad-tempered most of the time. "Why aren't you a cat right now?"
"Spell," yawned Heero. "Nona's. Had a job."
"But she'll turn you back afterwards, right?"
Apparently Heero didn't much care. He curled up a little tighter on Duo's lap and closed his eyes.
Duo wasn't sure it was safe to move him- but he couldn't sit here like this forever-
"Mr. Maxwell?"
He turned his head to find a familiar figure wearing a pointy black hat standing in his doorway. "Mrs. Nona! I'm glad to see you! I seem to have your...uh... cat."
She laughed softly and entered the room. "Ah Heero. He's just a big old softy."
"Uh- can I ask why he's not a cat? Well, why he doesn't look like one?"
She nodded. "Of course. I was doin' a bit of fairy godmotherin' and the girl needed an escort. So I used Heero. Of course now he just changes back and forth all the time- I think it's because now he knows he can." She smiled a little wider and Duo had a sudden urge to hide. He didn't know why. "I'm glad he seems to like you," she added.
"Uh," Duo searched for something appropriate to say. "He's a nice kitty," he tried and Nona nodded.
"Good. I'm glad you think so- since he's yours now."
"Mine? But-"
"I have to go to the capital. One of my daughters needs me. I don't know when I'll be back, so he's yours. Don't let him get into too many fights, and you can always just smack him with a newspaper if he doesn't listen to you."
"Mrs. Nona-"
"Bye now!" She wiggled her fingers at him and vanished out the door.
Duo looked down at the man on his lap with a sigh. "First things first," he said. "If you stay like this for a long period of time, we are so getting you some pants."
OWARI
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