Adrien needed to get away.

He was having one of the busiest weeks he's had in a while, and his schedule was completely booked. He was swamped with fencing, piano lessons, Mandarin tutoring, as well as studying and homework. These activities he could handle, except he had yet to get a break from his responsibilities as a model.

With the upcoming release of Agreste Fashion's spring collection, Adrien's life was a jumble of photo shoots, fittings, and rehearsals for the fashion show, where Adrien was the star model and under constant supervision.

On top of all of this, he would always make time for patrol, sacrificing a good two hours of his scheduled sleeping time (yes, Natalie's schedule for him marked everything, including what hours he was free to rest) for the chance to see Ladybug swinging across Paris.

So Adrien was tired, stressed, and completely fed up with being controlled.

He hated being Adrien, and preferred Chat Noir as his persona.

Chat was freedom, jokes, laughter, and fun.

Adrien was serious, polite, and completely controlled.

Chat Noir was Adrien's mask, yes, but Chat was more true to the boy's real personality than who the world saw.

He would always consider Adrien his mask, because he was more hidden under the polite and respectful puppet persona than under the strip of black leather covering his eyes.

So that night, as he ran across the rooftops of Paris, Chat was finally happy and free of his strings, at least for the time being.

Slowing to a stop, Chat was surprised to find Ladybug on the Eiffel Tower, the same spot he was heading to, as he loved the calm of the city at night and liked to enjoy the view from the highest point possible.

"Good evening my lady, I just finished my pawtrol, and happened to be in the mood to see the most beautiful sight in Paris, good thing I came here or I might not have seen her. You are looking pawsitively lovely tonight, my-" It was then that Chat noticed Ladybug's hunched figure, her knees drawn to her chest as she rested her head on them and stared gloomily over the city.

"What's wrong my lady?" Chat asked, sitting next to her worried.

"Oh, Chat, I didn't see you there. Nothing's wrong" she answered, sounding defeated.

"Please don't lie to me Lady, something's bothering you, please let me help you" Chat pleaded, trying to look Ladybug in the eye as she persistently stared at the lights of the city.

"It's just-" she sighed moodily "There's just … Oh there's this boy I like. And I mean really, really like. But every time I try to talk to him I just can't and I hate that I can't work up the nerve to just talk to him. I save Paris on a daily basis but I can't talk to a simple boy. What kind of superhero am I?" she cried, tugging slightly on her hair in frustration. "Why can't I do anything right?" She asked in a broken voice.

Despite the feeling of his heart shattering at the news, Chat knew Ladybug needed him now, and pushed aside his feelings for the time being, knowing no matter what that he cared more about her than he did about himself.

"Don't ever say that Ladybug, you are beautiful, strong, and brave. Don't ever put yourself down for an idiot boy who can't see how wonderful you are. You're the greatest superhero in all of Paris, and you do everything correctly. You're perfect my lady, don't ever doubt otherwise" he stressed, tilting her face up to look at him in the eye so she would understand how serious he was.

Ladybug untucked her legs and turned to face her partner, "He isn't an idiot…" she weakly defended. "He talks to me, always says hello in the mornings and greets me by my name. I know he knows me but I can't even get a sentence out without making a fool out of myself. It's my fault he doesn't like me because I've never even talked to him."

"Who is it?"

"What?"

"The boy that's causing you so much trouble. Who is it?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I need to know who my competition is" Chat smirked, happy that his lady was looking less upset by the minute.

"Secret identities, Chat, you know I can't tell you."

"Of course you can, I won't know how you know him or how long you've known him."

"... Adrien."

"What?" Chat breathed out, unable to comprehend what he was hearing.

"His name is Adrien. Adrien Agreste."

Chat couldn't believe what he was hearing. No one liked Adrien. Not his parents, not his schoolmates, and definitely not the girl he loved. She couldn't. The only person who liked Adrien was the only person who knew the real Adrien, the Adrien who acted as a toned-down and less confident version of Chat Noir, and that was Nino. The only people who pretended to like Adrien wanted something from him, and it was usually because of his looks.

"Why?" he asked in a harsher tone than his lady deserved, but his heart was breaking because how could she like the mask when the real Adrien was right there and why did no one actually ever like him?

She looked confused at his anger, though she could see the despair in his eyes.

"I always have, ever since I met him. He's perfect-" wrong "and loves everything he does-" wrong "and is so passionate about his work-" he hated his work "and is so kind to everyone, I just, I don't know. I think I love him but I haven't even talked to him, how screwed up is that?"

"Very." Chat growled, because yeah, it is screwed up to love a puppet when she was so close to it when it was in control of its own strings.

Ladybug was baffled by his anger, and slightly hurt, because Chat had never been like this towards her before and what happened now?

"Chat what are you so mad about?"

"Nothing." He snarled, he needed to leave before he said something h would regret.

"But somethings obviously-"

"I hate Adrien Agreste" … something like that.

Ladybug looked offended, and then she looked angry. "How could anybody hate Adrien?"

"How could anybody like Adrien? You don't even know him Ladybug!"

And she knew he was serious because he never called her Ladybug unless he was and why was he yelling? He was so passionate about hating Adrien but what did her perfect crush possibly do to deserve it?

"Of course I know him! I know everything about him!"

"Doubtful" he scoffed.

"His birthday is September 1. He's 15 years old and in 10th grade. He's a model for Agreste Fashion. He plays piano and fences. He is extremely smart and has the top grades in his class. He used to be homeschooled but moved to a public school in 9th grade. His best friend is Nino. He lives with his dad in a mansion. He's fluent in English and Chinese, as well as French obviously. He's 5"11' since his last growth spurt and is kind and respectful to anyone he meets." She concluded, slightly red in the face from her big rant.

Chat considered her words, all the facts were accurate, and he wondered how Ladybug knew his persona so well, but there was nothing behind the facts. Nothing about the fact that his father hadn't given him a simple "happy birthday" since his mom left (the last thing he had gotten was a scarf designed and signed by Marinette, that he had yet to thank her for or accuse Natalie of lying about). Nothing about how he hates being a model, the strict schedule and diet and everything involved causing too much stress and anxiety. Nothing about hating playing piano because it reminds him of his mom. Nothing about the panic attacks he has to suffer through alone over the stress of getting the best grades, or the lack of recognition from his father for them. Nothing about how lonely he was all his life, with his only friend being Chloe growing up. Nothing about how much of his awkward socialization skills Nino had to train out of him. Nothing about how he hasn't called Gabriel "dad" since his mom left; strictly "father". Nothing about how he struggles to learn and perfect his Mandarin, because his father would stand for nothing short of perfection. Nothing about the hours of instruction he was put through on proper ways to act, speak, look, and be. She knew nothing about him.

"You know nothing about Adrien."

And with that Chat jumped off the Eiffel Tower and began to sprint to his house, leaving Ladybug alone and confused.