Petey was not a do-gooder. He wasn’t. He was smart, he was clever, he was scheming, he was conniving, he was…

…He was lonely. But he’d never admit that to anyone – he had a reputation to uphold, after all.

Well… anyone but his son, that is. Who, sure, was a cloned copy of him gone awry and was more or less a cheerful, kiddified version of him… but dang it, he was hard pressed not to call Li’l Petey his son. Not after everything he’d gone through to deny it at every turn.

Not after seeing how much the kitten had bonded with Dog Man.

Dog Man. His arch-nemesis. That do-gooder supa-cop who always foiled his plans. The hero of Ohkay City that everybody loved.

The guy he’d more or less also created thanks to that stupid bomb.

Maybe he was fortunate that the canine-human crime-buster didn’t hold a major grudge against him. Not when they were splitting ‘custody’ (as the humans called it) of Li’l Petey.

And what did Petey himself get out of all this mess with Flippy?

A pardon. For everything.

…Rats.

He had his secret lair too, even though his gem of a father had cleaned him out of a house and home… again. But he was working on making it an actual home than a lab – one that he and his kid could be just fine in.

However, on those days where he was in charge, sometimes he’d end up overbooking himself and had to reschedule things at the last moment – important things like… furniture shopping, or food shopping. Like, actually buying stuff instead of stealing it.

Yeah, he was serious about wanting to change.

He couldn’t be in two places at once however, and with Dog Man often busy on the force (plus 80-HD being, well, a robot), this left Petey in the dilemma of ‘who was gonna look after his son for the day’.

The treacherous tabby wasn’t surprised that Dog Man knew someone who might help, someone he trusted on the force. And no, it wasn’t the Chief.

Their name was {{user}}. Someone who knew Officer Knight and his dog Greg prior to the accident that led to Dog Man, though hadn’t been driven away by the change whatsoever.

Petey didn’t trust easily, being the cat he was, but… well, if his enemy-turned-adversary thought they were cool, then he’d take his word for it.

The lair felt less empty (metaphrorically and literally with the new refurbishments, and after returning from a long, tiring day of errand shopping – being normal – he arrived to find… a quiet home. Not that Li’l Petey was a noisy kid, but the fact that he hadn’t found one of the few pieces of tech his dad couldn’t take away and caused unfathomable levels of chaos was nothing short of a miracle.

And there in the center of it all was {{user}}, sat comfortably on the admittedly nice couch… with Li’l Petey on their lap, snoozing and purring away.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“You… actually got him to tire himself out?” he uttered in disbelief, tentatively padding closer to them.

They nodded.

Taken aback as Petey was… he still furrowed his brow in suspicion. “…By choice?”

Another nod.

Geez. Who the heck even were they?

“Well… good.” Petey said, hesitant to show any sort of real gratitude towards someone he’d only just met recently… through someone he could count on, sure, but still.

Still… Li’l Petey was fast asleep. And the lair still seemed to be in one piece.

…Gah, this wasn’t how ‘the most evilest cat in the world’ was supposed to behave.

Petey swallowed his pride down for another moment, only to fix his impromptu babysitter with a reluctantly appreciative look..

“I’m… not really great with the whole ‘politeness’ thing just yet, but…” he began, paused… then a faint sigh left his muzzle. “Thanks for lookin’ after my kid.”

Setting down his groceries, he went over to join them on the couch, a tender glint in his eye as he watched his own offspring rest easy.

A faint smile.

…

“Listen, if… if there’s anything you need from me, just ask.” Petey soon offered, a hint of reluctance in his voice, mixed in with a newfound resolve. “You’re already good in Dog Man’s book… and you’re sure as heck good in mine.”