Ladybug was once again sitting in her normal spot, on the top of the Eiffel Tower. It wasn't her patrol night, but there hadn't been an akumas since King Kong, and she needed to calm down.

Her yoyo started buzzing, and she looked down at it, pulling it out of its hold. Opening it, she saw Chat's face.

"Ladybug." He said quietly, not facing the camera properly. "I didn't expect you to answer. Are you on patrol? I can take care of it if you want me to."

"I'm just sitting here, I'm not patrolling much. It's okay." She replied, with the same tone as his: confused, but quiet, holding back.

"C-can I come see you?" He asked, regretting it.

"Not now. I'm not in the mood to see anyone right now. Even you, Chat. Sorry. But are you okay?" She apologized, trying to sound more positive.

"I'm alright. I got my miraculous back, that's all that's important, right?"

"Yeah." She sighed. "Look, Chat, I'm going to head home now, so if you wanna do the patrol, that would be great." She closed the yoyo before he could reply, swinging away back towards her house, landing through the hatch and calling off her transformation.

Ladybug was acting strange. He knew it wasn't a good thing that she thought Adrien knew his identity, but it was the easiest thing to tell her. Anyway, he shouldn't care. He shouldn't have called.

He needed to talk to someone, but didn't know who. He ran over rooftops to Chloe's hotel, and looked in the window, with the aid of his baton camera. She was in her room, flippin through her closet aimlessly. She wouldn't care about Chat's emotions, he couldn't talk to her.

He tried again. He stood on the roof of his house, knowing already that he didn't want to go in there. His dad barely thought about his emotions anymore, and he had seen how he acted towards Chat. Cold and unbelieving. Nathalie and Gorilla didn't need to care, they weren't close enough to him.

Another try. He had only been to Aliya's house once, as Chat. Looking through his baton, he saw her, putting her twin sisters to bed. He knew if he went to talk to her, that she would care, but also freak out and fangirl more from meeting the superhero.

He knew where Nino lived, but surprisingly didn't go there often. His laid back friend wasn't usually one for emotions, but he knew he cared when it was important. It was a non-spoken understanding they had.

Last try, and he would go home. He stood on the roof across from Marinette's bakery and house. She didn't talk to him a lot as Adrien, but he knew she was a fan of her dad's and of him, since there were pictures of him on her walls (he had seen them as Chat once). She was modest, since she had hid them when he visited as Adrien. Maybe she could give an outsiders perspective. She didn't react the way everybody else would when he spoke to her as Chat. No crazy fangirling, no pictures, just emotion and devotion.

He flung himself closer, to the spot behind the pillars, where the cellphone tower stood. The light was on on the other side of the trapdoor this time. His next spot to check was the circular window that showed the inside of her room. She was sitting on her desk, writing in her diary.

He tapped on the window, and the blue haired girl jumped out of her seat, turning around quickly. She squinted at the window.

"Chat Noir?" She questioned surprisedly. "Why are you here?" She asked as she opened the window for him to enter.

"Hello." The black superhero attempted nervously, jumping through the now open window.

"Do you just drop in randomly on visits or am I in trouble?" She asked sarcastically.

"I just... I needed to talk to someone and I didn't know who... so I figured..." his voice grew quieter.

"You wanted to talk to me? What, for advice? I don't think I'm really the right person for that!" She laughed awkwardly, eyes darting around her room. "Why don't you talk to Ladybug?" She decided to add.

"Ladybug's mad at me. I don't know why, but she doesn't want to talk to me." They sighed in unison, pausing to cringe at their timing. "I really love her, but I think it might be time to tell her I can't anymore." He blurted out.

"You loved Ladybug?" She gasped. "I thought you were just a flirt to everyone."

"Usually, I am. It's who I am when I have my mask on, and can be whoever I want to be. But I really loved her under the masks and the jokes. I told myself that no matter what, whoever she was, I would love her." He continued.

"What if..." she had to choose her words very carefully. "What if Ladybug isn't anything like herself without that mask? What if she isn't the girl you think she is?"

"I'm not anything like I am without the mask." He declared. "But with the mask on, I'm who I really am. I can be free to be true to who I want to be. I think that can be said for Ladybug as well."

"That's great. So what's wrong?" She remembered how desperate he was when he came in first.

"I think it might be time to let her go. I've tried to tell her that I love her, but she doesn't love me back. She insists on keeping her identity secret, and no matter what I do, she won't love me back."

Wow, he was much deeper than she thought. Was this the real him? Could he actually be deep under the puns and flirts?

She was going to reply, when he broke the silence.

"I'll be off. I'm sorry for wasting your time, and pouring my heart out." He jumped back into the window.

"Chat!" She yelled before he could leave, and he turned back momentarily. "You..." she began, but changed her mind. "Get home safely."

"And you, purr-incess!" He lifted her hand and kissed it, then bowed with his hand and jumped away.