Lost in your Arms

Butterfly Effect

(A/N) all aboard the angst train. also, luka my precious son is finally getting the 'screen-time' he deserves.

After Adrien so kindly offered to repay his debt of covering an early morning shift, Luka spent the majority of the morning making iced coffee and walking around his apartment in his boxers and fuzzy socks.

He slid along the wooden floor, reenacting the iconic Risky Business scene but went flying onto his knees. He winced at the burns but didn't regret anything.

"Pepper, you didn't see anything." he stared at his black and white furred cat, her only indication of understanding a flick of her tail and the twitch of her ears. "I meant to fall."

She eyed him for another moment before rolling onto her back, all her fur and rolls soaking up the early morning sunshine. He sighed, standing up and turning down his music.

He got calls for noise complains on numerous occasions, most of which he suspected were from Marinette next door.

He heard a loud crash from next door, Typical Marinette. Except this time he didn't hear her usual curse whenever she slipped or knocked something over.

She was also usually preparing for customers in her bakery by now.

He stepped into the hall after sliding on a sweatshirt to at least somewhat cover himself, knocking on her blue door with the golden number 27 imprinted on it.

"Marinette?" he rapped against the door again but still no response.

He leaned too far on her door to realize she left it unlocked and open. He wearily opened it to about halfway and stuck his head inside.

His heart stopped upon seeing her collapsed on the floor, hands slightly uncurled around a wilting lily. Her body had black markings twining themselves around her arms and neck, eyes rolled back into her head.

He shakily felt for her pulse, only slightly relieved that she was still alive. Her chest rose and fell too slow to be considered normal as he dialed for help.

Marinette, what did you do?

—

Adrien was leaning against the wall in the break area, empty except for him. He drank from a hot mug of coffee, his hands slightly stinging and cheeks warm from the steam.

He was halfway through his shift that was relatively slow today. He hoped that afterward he could maybe visit Marinette as Chat and just lay around while she sketched a new design in her well-loved notebook.

"I've never seen anything like it before," the voices of two other doctors through the cracked door is what made Adrien perk up. "It's like some kind of disease but she's contracted no prior symptoms."

The other one agreed. "No other abnormalities except for the markings. She also seems like her body has been put into lockdown mode. Completely unaware of her surroundings."

Who could they be talking about?

"She's so young, too." the first one said quietly. "She reminds me of my daughter."

"I hope she can wake up soon."

Adrien fully emerged from the break room, the two doctors acknowledging him right away.

"Adrien!"

"Who is the patient you were just talking about?"

"I'm not supposed to give away confidential information but I believe her name is Marinette Dupain-Cheng." one of them answered.