This takes place after Bleached White and Take My Hand, but before Kitty Cuddles and Velvet Soft.
"Just... let... me... have... the butterfly, Chat!"
Chat Blanc's jaws snapped shut just centimeters from Ladybug's face. It was by the grace of the Ladybug Miraculous that she'd snatched up Chat's baton and extended it just as he'd tackled her.
His manic eyes were demonic: pupils blown so wide the black almost overtook the color. In his crazed state he continued to snap his fangs at her like a wild animal, fighting against the pole that served as her only barrier against him.
She felt his claws rake savagely across the metal before slipping off and catching her in the ribs.
"Shhhhfffffff!" Ladybug sucked in a breath when those claws sliced through the super suit and grazed flesh.
She managed to knee him close enough to the groin that he flinched, which gave her an opening to throw him off.
Now where did that akuma fly off to?
A flash of black and purple movement in her peripheral vision was her only clue to the akuma's location before Chat lunged at her again.
Ladybug clicked the button on the side of his staff and swung with all her might. The end of the staff smashed Chat across the side of his skull and sent him tumbling to the side, one of his claws slashing her shin in the process.
"Do we really have to... go through this every time you... cough up a butterfly?" she demanded, gasping to regain her breath.
Chat stumbled around the edge of the roof on all fours, looking very disoriented.
As an akuma he was faster and stronger than he'd ever been as Chat Noir, but it came with a price. One of them being that his sanity lapsed for short periods of time, usually the result of the pain Hawk Moth inflicted when attempting control him. But also after he expelled one of the many akumas he'd ingested.
Some bouts of the temporary madness were more manageable than others. This was one of those times when it got dangerous, much like the first time she'd seen him like this.
Chat shook off some of the disorientation, moving to approach Ladybug once more with all his fangs bared.
In one fluid motion Ladybug tossed her yo-yo, catching the fleeing akuma inside and yanking it back in just in time to use its momentum. The yo-yo made an arc around her body and cracked Chat Blanc on the underside of his jaw.
She watched him stumble back a bit and step on his own tail.
The yowl of pain he released echoed across Paris. One step too far back, his right boot missed the edge of the roof. Chat went down hard, his claws scrabbling to catch anything but only managing to pull loose some roofing tiles as he spilled over the edge.
Ladybug didn't even think. She dove after him.
Her breath caught in her throat as she leapt off the building behind him. She tossed out her yo-yo, catching it on a light post as her body surged for Chat.
Ladybug wrapped her arms around him just as her hand instinctively yanked the line, pulling them up before they both collided with the cobblestone street.
However, Chat's added weight caused an error in her trajectory and they both collided with the lamp post her yo-yo had caught instead.
That's going to leave some bruises.
She released the line and they both collapsed to the ground in relative safety. The yo-yo returned only to pop open and release a purified butterfly.
She spared a look at her former partner and was relieved to find that his eyes had returned to a more normal state. His pupils were shrinking back down to slits, a sign that his lucidity was coming back.
Looks like I managed to knock the sense back into you.
"Bye bye, little butterfly," she murmured more as an expression of relief for herself rather than her usual declaration of victory.
Chat let out a pained groan and rolled over on the ground. "Where am I?"
Ladybug chose to ignore that question and gave her body a quick assessment. There were several lacerations that were bleeding: one on her side, and another on her shin, and she could feel some tender areas that would definitely sport bruises later. The Ladybug Miraculous would expedite the healing process, but she was still going to have a time hiding all this.
Maybe I can just tell everyone I got caught up in the akuma attack as Marinette.
As if he'd read her mind, Chat lifted his head to look around them. "Marinette! Did I hurt her?"
He's worried about me. She felt her heart swell with warmth. God, it was hard to stay mad at him.
Chat Blanc had been following her home before all this started. He thought he was being so sneaky, but his white suit wasn't so hard to spot. She'd been paying more attention to him than her surroundings and failed to notice the car approaching when she crossed the street.
All it took for him to cough up an akuma was an act of selflessness.
The squeal of tires had been nearly deafening.
His claws made a sick crunching noise when they dug into the metal of the car hood, and his boots scraped across cobblestone as he used his supernatural strength to slow the vehicle before it hit her.
Like the hero he once was he'd saved her, but not a minute later he began violently hacking up an akuma.
The price he paid for kindness.
Marinette knew from experience that he would go feral after expelling the butterfly. She had slipped away while he was distracted and transformed just in time to keep a feral Chat Blanc from savaging one of the innocent bystanders.
"Where is the bakery girl?!" Chat's snarl brought Ladybug back into the present.
She tried to move her arm and winced when her shoulder felt strained.
"I'm sure she's dying to go home and take a bath in Epsom salt," Ladybug muttered under her breath, attempting to stand up and wobbling when her legs threatened to give out. "And apply some bandages before she bleeds to death."
"What!?" Chat Blanc whipped around to stare at her, his long cat ears swiveling to attention right along with him.
Oh right. He had extra supernatural animal hearing.
"I'm sorry," she amended quickly, "I didn't mean that. I'm sure the bakery girl is fine. She probably found someplace safe to hide when you got violent."
"She had better be safe," His scowl relaxed a bit, and his arms shuddered to support his weight.
Hahaha, shit. He's not gonna like it when he sees me later with all these injuries.
He tilted his head in scrutiny seeming to realize that Ladybug was suffering her own injuries. "Did I... did I hurt you, Buga—Ladybug?" he finished with a snarl.
She blinked at him as her heart flip-flopped in her chest. H-hi, Chat Noir. It took a second to shake off the surprise before he could take notice.
"Same time next week Chat Blanc?" she deflected. "At this rate I might have you purified by next year." Ladybug gave him a sarcastic flutter of her fingers, and muscled through the pain in her shoulder to yo-yo her way someplace secluded so she could drop the transformation.
000
"Tikki, help me with the bleeding. He's gonna find me any minute." Marinette stumbled against the steps at the back of a restaurant, before taking a seat.
She cast a quick glance around the alley to be sure they were alone before ushering the little Kwami out of her purse.
"I'm still eating, Marinette," Tikki said through a mouthful, holding the cookie with her tiny paws.
"Please," Marinette hissed and rolled up her sweater to get a look at the claw marks on her side.
"I don't have enough energy to outright heal all the wounds, but my saliva should act as a coagulant and assist your natural healing abilities."
"Perfect. Just don't get cookie crumbs in the wounds." Marinette shut her eyes, but felt the brush of Tikki's antennas when she hovered close to the wound on her ribs.
The Kwami's tongue was actually quite soothing, almost warm and cool at the same time. It didn't hurt nearly as much as she expected, but she tried not to think about the fact that Tikki was licking an open wound.
When the cuts on her ribs had been thoroughly coated in saliva, the little Kwami moved onto the wound on Marinette's leg. Where she repeated the same treatment once more.
"We should market your spit, Tikki. Sell it like some miracle healing ointment," Marinette joked, managing a weak chuckle.
Tikki paused her licking to reply, "Where do you think snake oil salesmen originated from?"
"Wait, that's a real thing?"
"Kwami saliva does some magical things."
00
As luck would have it, Tikki finished treating the wounds, and Marinette was able to limp back home without encountering Chat Blanc.
As soon as Tom and Sabine saw the state their daughter was in, they fussed over her, demanding to know what happened.
"Oh my goodness, Sweetheart! Are you alright?"
Marinette braced herself for the bear hug of concern that her Father scooped her up in, followed by her mother.
"You're covered in bruises!" declared Sabine, and she proceeded to push up Marinette's sleeves.
"I'm fine, Mama," she assured. "I got caught up in an akuma attack, but I'm alright."
"We saw it all on the news," said Tom. He finally released his daughter only for Sabine to wiggle in between them and fuss some more. "Chat Blanc really terrorized the city today."
"Well, I don't think it was that bad—"
"First the public indecency, then he attacked that driver, and all the destruction he caused fighting Ladybug."
"Well he didn't actually attack a driver—wait, when did he get in trouble for public indecency?"
"Why doesn't Ladybug help him?" Sabine asked, and the look she gave Marinette was pleading. It was almost as if she were directing it at Ladybug herself. "Chat used to be such a sweet boy; he couldn't possibly want to hurt people like this."
"It's complicated," Marinette replied a little too defensively. "He isn't just possessed by one akuma, and Ladybug is doing her best."
Tom ran his large hand over Marinette's bruised arm and released a hard sigh. "The heroes need to muzzle that boy before he kills someone. Instead they just let him run wild and terrorize the city."
"He might be an akuma right now but he isn't an animal, Papa," Marinette finally raised her voice enough to get their attention. "And he didn't attack that driver unprovoked. I almost got hit by a car and he saved me." She stepped away from her parents, guilt twisting in her stomach, and added, "So it's my fault he attacked the city today."
Her parents looked at her with equally bewildered expressions, clearly confused how it could be their daughter's fault that Chat went feral. But an explanation would reveal to them that she was a lot more involved in all of this than she wanted them to know. So instead, Marinette bolted for her bedroom.
She was not at all surprised to find a certain white cat perched on her loft and staring down at her with glowing magenta eyes.
"Marinette," it almost sounded like he breathed her name in relief.
"You shouldn't be here," she hissed. She quickly shut the trap door behind herself, not bothering to turn on the lights in hopes that he'd be less likely to notice her injuries. "If my parents catch you, they'll be chasing you down with torches and pitchforks."
"I'm not afraid of your parents," he sneered. "They're squishy and fragile."
"Chat, I swear to God if you hurt them—"
"Relax," he cut her off, "I wouldn't dare lay a claw on them. You have my word." Though his words sounded callous and aloof, he had the decency to look apologetic. His ears even drooped.
"Why are you here?"
Chat Blanc's floofy tail swished, and he refused eye contact with her.
Marinette crossed her arms over her chest and had to suppress a wince when her shoulder lanced with pain.
"It's stupid," Chat insisted and he moved from the edge of the loft towards the trap door leading to her balcony. She noticed he was limping.
"Chat."
He paused, floofy cat ears swiveling in her direction.
"Thank you." She sat down on her chaise lounge.
He turned back to her and tilted his head, but his expression was pensive.
"If it weren't for you, I would've been hit by that car." She patted the space on the lounge next to her in an inviting gesture.
Chat seemed to move unconsciously in response to the gesture, approaching her slowly.
"I was paying too much attention to you," she admitted. "I should have been looking both ways before crossing the street."
"You were very foolish," he agreed. His body seemed to glide down the steps with all the ease of a liquid. "You could have been killed."
"I don't think the car was driving that fast," she countered, giving him a lopsided smile. "But I might've gotten a broken bone, or a concussion, or something."
"No," Chat insisted, moving ever closer on all fours and clearly taking his time. "You would have died," he added in a matter-of-fact tone.
"You sound so distraught about that," she said sarcastically.
He stopped just as he reached her lap, his eyes darting up to her face and down again. "If you died there would be no one to bully me with kindness every day. Or bring me food, or tell me to brush my teeth. Besides who would try to purify me? Surely not Ladybug."
"You say that like you're not the one who is avoiding her." She lifted her hands from her lap to make room for him.
Chat scoffed, but finally draped himself over her knees.
Marinette couldn't stop herself from stroking his messy blonde hair, and he practically melted into her lap at the touch.
"Big bad akuma who made it on all the news reports today incapacitated by a bakery girl."
"Shut up and touch my ears."
She giggled at him but complied, stroking the fluff on the inside of his ear with her thumb.
The first couple of weeks with Chat Blanc his purrs had been rare, and it had been a chore finding moments when she could manage to work one out of him.
Now his purring came unbidden, flowing out of his throat like the rumble of an expensive car and just as indulgent. He nuzzled into her touch burying his nose against her sweater, and his hands caressed the exposed skin on her legs.
She had to suppress a hiss when his fingers brushed the cut on her shin, hoping beyond hope that he wouldn't notice and realize how beat up she was.
There was a kind of comfort she felt, petting him like this. To know that she could make him purr, make him melt, make him absolutely calm as a cuddly house cat. All the chaos and violence from earlier seemed to fall away and blur like distant white noise. She couldn't forget how terrifying he'd been, but she also couldn't damn him for it.
This wasn't his fault.
This wasn't her fault. Even though she'd shifted the blame onto herself when defending him to her parents.
This was Hawk Moth's fault, and those wretched little butterflies. Things would be so much easier if he'd just leave Chat alone. But as the weeks went on and Chat lost butterflies, his power waning, it was clear Hawk Moth was dead set on tormenting and antagonizing him even more.
"You know this chaise is more comfy than the floor," she prompted.
Chat cracked open one magenta eye and hummed, "are you asking me to cuddle you, Princess?"
"I didn't ask for anything." She scratched the spot behind his ear that made him shudder and lean into her hand. "...But I definitely implied it heavily."
Chat's purr rolled into an animalistic noise in the back of his throat. He moved off her lap, kicked off his boots and scooped her up in one fluid motion, climbing onto the chaise and settling down with her cradled in his lap.
"Happy now?"
Marinette wiggled in his embrace, trying to adjust so her shoulder wouldn't ache and her ribs would stop throbbing.
Chat sucked in a sharp breath, "I can put you down if you'd like, or are you trying to make things... hard?"
She stopped moving, his implication exciting her more than it should have.
Don't think about that, don't think about that. Don't think about him getting hard... because of you...
"Sorry," she amended. "My side—"
Tikki suddenly zipped into view over Chat's shoulder and raised a paw to her mouth.
"—it was a cramp. I'm good now." Marinette laid her head against his chest. "This is... nice."
It took a moment before Chat relaxed a bit. "It's... ok," he grumbled. She felt him lean in and heard his slight inhale, a moment of hesitation before he pushed his nose against her hair.
"Is this a bad time to ask why you were on the news for public indecency?"
Chat made a choking noise and tightened his grip.
"I may have," he cleared his throat, "taken a piss on Gabriel Agreste's car."
"While he was in it?"
"Yeeess... and his assistant, and definitely his driver."
Marinette didn't know whether to laugh at the absurdity or be appalled. "Can I ask why?"
"Because I hate him," Chat growled out. "And he's an asshole to his son."
"Ok. Fair enough." Marinette snuggled farther into his embrace and let out a pleased sigh.
She chose not to think about what was going to happen when Chat finally noticed all her cuts and bruises. Right now was sweet, and she wanted it to stay that way.
Chat continued to hold her in comfortable silence, the tip of his tail brushing against her periodically in what she recognized as an affectionate gesture. It was soothing, and the fur tickled her skin in a pleasant way.
It wasn't until she started nodding off that the rumblings of a purr began in his chest. She was just coherent enough realize he had stopped nuzzling and was grooming the hair on the top of her head.
"This is..." he murmured like he did not expect her to hear him and his purr grew in strength, "mine—f-fine. Fine."
This oneshot was inspired by the art I commissioned Zirio to draw of Chat Blanc with Marinette. If you'd like to see the art, you can find it reblogged on my Tumblr under the "Floofy eared Chat Blanc" tag. Or you can shoot me a message and I'll happily send you a link to it.