AN: I feel like I need to defend awkward Adrien's issues just a little. Mostly in the disconnect between himself and Chat Noir and why he doesn't have any problems with one identity over the other. This is inspired somewhat by Try Guys get Photoshopped [Men and Women] on Youtube. If you haven't seen them, I recommend it. (I actually wrote this before Undercat, but I didn't feel like it was right to post until now.)

The Mask of Chat Noir

Adrien glared at his computer screen. More specifically at the latest post on the Ladyblog that showed Ladybug and Chat Noir posing for a picture after their latest victory lap. The stupid cat was as smug as as though he'd gotten not only the cream the cream and the canary, but several gallons of canary ice-cream.

Stupid Chat Noir. So cocky. So lucky. Just parading around with both the girls I can't even talk to.

His very weird relationship with his alter-ego was probably not healthy.

He didn't care.

"Your face is going to get stuck that way, if you keep glaring," Plagg said unhelpfully from the couch. Adrien didn't stop, but he tore his gaze away from the screen and to the little kwami.

"Plagg, are you sure that nothing happens to my psyche when I transform? Like something extra gets added?"

"No, I've told you a hundred times, kid. Chat Noir is all you," Plagg replied archly. "You think I think up all those terrible puns? Please." He took a bite of cheese and then said in an unexpectedly serious tone, "If you ask me, you just don't like yourself very much."

Adrien blinked. "What? I like myself just fine."

"Kid, I'm with you at all your photoshoots," the kwami retorted with a scoff. "You have everyone objectifying you all day, calling you too tall, too small, too skinny, too blond. It never ends. Then you get caked in makeup, hiding your real face. Then after the photoshoot, they end up photoshopping you anyway and it looks nothing like you in real life. It's deranged."

"Yeah, but... that's normal," Adrien replied slowly.

"It is NOT normal, kid!" Plagg cried in outrage. He puffed up and bristled, as if he'd been biting his tongue for ages and simply couldn't contain it anymore. "Believe me! I've been around a while! Your father might as well be subjecting you to child abuse!"

"Don't talk about my dad like that!" the teen cried, sending his computer chair spinning away as he forcefully got to his feet. Something ugly built up in him, fury fueled by heartbreak. (Because what if he was right?) "You don't know what you're talking about!"

Plagg gave him a baleful look. Then he slowly shook his head. "Forget it," the little kwami said, turning back to his cheese. "I don't want this argument with you. You just go on feeling sorry for yourself."

"Well good, because I'm done with this too," Adrien hissed, his hands fisted at his sides. Just for extra measure, he snapped, "Plagg, transforme moi!" The little kwami let out a small yelp at the lack of warning, before he was sucked into the ring.

Now clad in black, Chat Noir looked at himself in the mirror with a hand on his hip. He struck a pose and smirked, "Tch, he's so off base. Black leather doesn't lie. I look fantastic."

In any case, now that he was Chat Noir, he may as well take a turn around the block. Maybe pay a little visit to his girlfriend~. Humming cheerily to himself, he opened up the window and launched himself out onto the rooftops of Paris.

Knowing the way by heart by now, it wasn't long before Marinette's balcony was within sight. He grinned when he spotted Marinette watering her plants. Carefully, he climbed onto the roof, slinking along until he was up above her. Then he pounced. She let out a small yelp and a laugh, when he wrapped her up in his arms and kissed her neck.

"Miss me?" he purred.

"Chat, I saw you an hour ago," the designer reminded him, though she giggled as he peppered her neck with kisses. Putting the watering can aside, Marinette spun in his arms and smiled up at him. "What's gotten you in such a good mood?" she asked, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Seeing the face of my lovely princess, of course," Chat replied smoothly, rocking them in an impromptu slow dance. "Apologies for not calling ahead. I just needed to get someone annoying off my mind." If only for a little while. He couldn't escape being Adrien forever, but being able to talk to Marinette like this kept him going.

"Oh who?" she asked in curiosity.

"Adrien Agreste," Chat replied with a roll of his eyes, not noticing the way his girlfriend's smile began to dim. "Everything about him just agitates me," he muttered, his tail seeming to lash in response to his thoughts. "I can't stand him sometimes. Why is it so hard for him to get through a single sentence? Or get through the day without embarrassing himself? Maybe if he wasn't such a wimp, he wouldn't be so pathetic."

At once, Marinette stilled, planting her feet to stop their dance. "That's not nice, Chat," she spoke, her expression rife with disapproval.

"What?" Chat huffed with a shrug of his shoulders. "He is a coward. He's spineless and weak-"

A hand slapped him across the face, cutting him off.

Shocked, he looked up to his girlfriend with wide eyes, putting a hand over his smarting cheek. She glared at him, a familiar hellfire burning in her eyes. Only instead of Chloe, it was directed at himself.

"I don't want to hear that from you!" Marinette snapped. "How dare you talk about him like that! I've put up with your dislike of him until now because I just assumed you had some weird grudge against him, but that's going too far! He doesn't deserve that!"

"Princess...?" the black cat said, stunned.

Marinette looked away from him. She folded her arms over her chest, her face wrenched with some unidentifiable emotion. She took a shaky breath, before she spoke: "Yeah, he's awkward. Yes, he tries too hard. But you have no idea what he's had to go through. Every time Nino tells me something new about him, it just breaks my heart. Despite that, he still manages to come to school with a smile on his face. He never stops trying to be better. He's one of the bravest people I know."

She looked up at him, her beautiful bluebell eyes wet with unshed tears. "So don't you dare call him a coward! He's anything but!"

The sight of the tears sent a shockwave through him. A sharp pain went right through his heart, knowing that he was the one who caused this. He made his princess cry. "...I'm sorry," Chat spoke weakly.

"You don't need to apologize to me, Chat. You need to apologize to Adrien," Marinette replied, turning away from him and towards her hatch door. "Just- Go away, Chat. I don't feel like hanging out anymore."

With that, she headed down to her room, locking the hatch behind her.

Chat Noir lingered for a moment longer, his tail flicking in agitation. With nothing else for it, he headed back to the Agreste Mansion. When he transformed back in his room, Plagg didn't say anything. He didn't have to. Instead of facing him, Adrien went to his bathroom to throw some water over his face.

Looking up in the mirror, he stared back at his reflection. Untouched, unaugmented by either makeup or a mask. Just him. Plain old Adrien. He released a long sigh and pressed his brow against the pane of glass. Then he whispered under his breath.

"I'm sorry."

Even as he spoke, the words sounded hollow in his ears.