Chapter Text
"Chat! What are you doing up there?!"
The feline opened his green eyes uninterestingly to look at his frustrated Master on the ground, and with a few tail flicks, he curled himself more and succumbed himself to sleep.
"Get a cat, they said. They're helpful, they said. Bullshit – they're not helpful, they're handful!" Marinette grumbled as she eyed her snoozing pet on top of the park's highest tree. She wasn't sure how he got there in the first place, but she has an idea why he was there with no plans of getting down despite the briberies like fresh tuna and catnips.
Chat Blanc really hates to go to the vet.
She was told by Otis, her best friend's father, that animals have a knack for understanding human language by identifying a cue word that associates their feelings. And as far as Marinette could tell, her cat associates 'vet' with 'fear'. Well, she couldn't blame him really; the car accident that they both experienced was quite traumatizing.
"C'mon, Chat. We're almost late for our appointment," she huffed angrily, but the white feline remained unmoved on the branch. Bypassers were starting to look at her way with odd stares, which didn't help much on her predicament.
"If that's the case," she declared, rolling up her sleeves up to her forearms before grabbing the trunk "Then I'm going to bring your ass down here."
"Why don't you just call your transformation and grab him instead of you climbing up the tree?" asked Tikki who was giggling on her Chosen's on-the-spur-of-the-moment decision.
"You're right, Tikki! Why don't I – UWAAAAAAAAAH!"
"Marinette!"
Marinette's foot slipped on the bark and almost toppled her to the ground if not for a certain superhero's flexibility and speed that caught her on time.
"Falling for me, Princess?"
"Chat!" she exclaimed with relief, then scowled at his cheeky grin "I don't like how you can show up anytime without any warnings."
"You're supposed to thank me, not scold me for saving you from doom," he pouted indignantly as he helped her to set her feet steadily on the ground "And I'm the one who should have scolded you for climbing on that tree. What if you really plummeted yourself to the ground?"
"Yet it didn't happen. You saved me, right?" she winked at him playfully, which earned a beet-red blush from the feline hero.
"You're lucky you're cute," he grumbled under his breath.
"What did you say?"
"Nothing!" Chat Noir squeaked then cleared his throat "So…what are you doing up – oh, I see Whitey."
Said Whitey gave him a menacing hiss.
"Ooh, what an ina-purr-priate cat-itude! Too scared to go down, coward kitty?"
"Don't make fun of my cat," Marinette grimaced with crossed arms "And with your cat-itude - " he flashed a toothy grin on her pun " – you're only persuading him not to go down."
"Why didn't you tell me you were trying to get Whitey?" he cooed saucily, pressing a button on his baton to extend it "I should have plucked him off the tree and – "
Little did they know that Chat Blanc was waiting for his nemesis to climb up so he could pounce his face. Good thing the superhero's suit was quite thick to resist the white cat's claws, but its sensitivity made the wearer yelped at the scratch.
"Chat!" Marinette shrieked, unsure whether to save the vicious white cat or her yowling black human-cat.
I have no choice but to bring these two to the vet, she thought with a sigh, clutching the carrier that contained her pet while holding an over-dramatic superhero on the other side as they walked limply to the veterinary clinic.
.
.
.
"Woe is me!" Chat Noir bawled while sitting in the waiting area "My arm hurts! Oh, my back! My leg – oh, I'm going to die with rabies, Princess!"
"Will you just quit whining, Chat?!" she hissed, trying not to pay heed on the curious glares coming from other fellow pet owners in the room "And stop accusing my cat of having a rabies!"
"What do you want me to say, Cat-scratch Disease?"
"Why you – "
"Marinette?" an old woman called her name "Is that you, sweetheart?"
"Madame Fournier!" the pigtailed girl beamed as she removed Chat Blanc's carrier from the seat beside her to give it to the newly arrived person "I actually saved you a seat."
"You're so thoughtful as always – oh hello, Chat Blanc. How nice to see you with your fur-mommy," said Madame Fournier, poking her index in the carrier to scratch the purring feline. She moved her gaze towards the black-clad superhero smiling "And you must be the fur-daddy."
Chat Noir choked while Marinette sputtered "N – No, Madame Fournier! He – He's Chat Noir, defender of Paris, and – and a friend!"
"A friend that has been abused constantly," said the feline hero which earned a sharp jab from the pig-tailed girl's elbow "See, Madame?"
Madame Fournier smothered her chuckles with the back of her hand "You're so cute together! If only Ladybug wasn't around and you're not stuck up with that boy who – "
"That boy?"
"How's Fergie, by the way?" Marinette interjected before the old woman could finish her words, as well as prevent Chat Noir from probing further "Are you going to fetch him today?"
"I hope so, dear. Dr. Moshe said that his operation went well last night and he might be discharged today if they found no complications," the old lady responded with a smile "I hope your fur-baby is okay now."
"Fergie is a Boston Terrier," Marinette explained to Chat Noir "They found some small, undigested bones on his rectum that caused severe bleeding."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Madame. I have no clue that bones are bad for dogs."
"Oh, not all bones, sweetie. What you need to avoid are the cooked ones, especially chicken bones – and as you can see, I learned the hard way."
"I hope Fergie is okay."
"Thanks for the concern, Chat Noir," the lady smiled.
A staff went out of the vet's office with a clipboard "Is Chat Blanc here?"
"Oui!" the pigtailed girl stood up as she carried her white cat's carrier, followed by the black-clad feline superhero. The two teens tried to ignore the increasing murmurs as they entered Dr. Moshe's office.
' Who is she?'
' Why is she with Chat Noir?'
' Is she Ladybug?'
' She said they were friends…'
' A civilian befriending Chat Noir?'
' What's her relationship with Chat Noir?'
' Does Ladybug knows that her partner is with a civilian?'
They were facing Dr. Moshe's back when they entered the room, so imagine the vet's surprise when he turned around and saw his favorite superhero.
"I'm a huge fan of yours!" the vet confessed, surprising Chat Noir's by grabbing his clawed hands and clasping it tightly "You reminded me of my pet when I was six!"
"Ah, re – really? Tha – That's a great honor…I guess?"
"His name was Pompy, because he was pompous – not that you're pompous," he corrected with a chuckle "He was black, like you, and very much proud of himself."
"You hit a nail on that, Doc," the pigtailed girl snorted.
Instead of retorting, Chat Noir's mind was reeling on something else "You said 'was'. Does that mean your cat…"
"Ah, Pompy was hit by a car when he escaped from the front yard," said Dr. Moshe nonchalantly, which made the teens fall into deep silence "Don't worry, kids. It happened several years ago. Besides, Pompy is currently on the Rainbow Bridge with his fellow departed friends."
Thankfully, the vet redirected the conversation before the atmosphere turned sour "Let me see Chat Blanc."
Sensing his Master's intention, the white cat burrowed himself to the deepest part of the carrier, which left Marinette with no choice but to remove him manually despite his mewling protest.
"I thought we're friends, Chat Blanc. I saved your life, remember? C'mon, don't be scared…I don't have any needles with me," Dr. Moshe cooed as he carried the feline to the steel table.
"How did you manage to hold him without causing any fuss?" the black-clad hero asked with an awe.
"Years of experience, Monsieur Nor."
Chat Blanc's tail was still tucked between his legs when the vet's assistant placed him on a scale to check his weight. He mewed with his large green eyes darting towards his Master's way when a thermometer was inserted on his butt, and another when a hand was prodded to check his teeth.
"You're a very healthy kitty, Chat Blanc," praised Dr. Moshe as he keyed in the feline's vitals on his laptop "Have you noticed any changes on him behavior-wise, Marinette?"
"Aside from fearing the word 'vet' – "
"- and his irrational behavior towards mew." Chat Noir added much to the girl's chagrin.
"I haven't noticed anything weird after the accident," she went on "His appetite and energy levels are still the same."
"I see."
Dr. Moshe gestured his assistant to leave the room, in which the person complied without any fuss. Then he looked at the pig-tailed girl and asked: "I'm going to tell you something confidential, and I don't really mind if Chat Noir stays here but…"
Marinette glanced at the feline superhero warily before he answered: "I can stay here as long as she likes."
"And I don't mind him staying either," she replied with a cautious tone "Is there something wrong with my cat, Doc?"
"When you brought Chat Blanc here after the accident, his hind legs were completely shattered, and some of his rib bones snapped."
"That's why you performed bone grafting, right?"
Dr. Moshe shook his head "Even if I did, there's no guarantee that Chat Blanc will ever walk again."
"I don't understand…"
The vet stood up then gestured the two to check something on his laptop "The data here are highly technical with lots of medical jargon you may or may not want to know, but at least I showed you the development on Chat Blanc's case."
Chat Noir's voice hitched when he stumbled across the Genus classification, which only confused Marinette more despite his clawed finger tapping the list of scientific names.
"Have you ever heard the term 'Designer Cat' breed?