Chapter 18 | messy day

Another weekend, another day out and about. Although with all the drama, Adrien had been on edge. What if he went out and the same person who sent the picture into the article was following them again? What if the billboard bombing wasn't a coincidence and the culprit actually had a grudge on them? What if Lila was up to something and Luka got more creepy messages?

In fact he was so anxious, he wanted his mum to accompany them when they were out today. Adrien and Luka didn't have a proper date planned today or anything, just a trip out shopping looking for some things to use in the music videos they were planning. So it wasn't like his mum would kill the vibe or anything, in fact she'd actually be pretty helpful looking for props and outfits.

They'd found themselves in an antique store, looking at all the old furniture and shop signs in search of something that fit the old Hollywood aesthetic of the album. Maybe an old poster, a fancy lampshade, an old perfume bottle with the little squeeze-spritzer.

"Oh this is so cute!"

Adrien knew that tone, his mum put it on whenever she found something she was absolutely going to drop hundreds of dollars on. The teens turned to see what it was, and found a slightly beaten up but still very cute rocking horse.

"I had one similar to this when I was a kid, I loved it. I'd be such a pretty decoration..." Emilie said, rocking the horse as she inspected it.

"That's tiny, I can't believe I could fit on something like that once" Adrien said.

"You were so small, I could hold you in one arm. You were such a cute baby" Emilie cooed.

Hanging above the rocking horse, something caught Lukas attention and he tapped Adrien's shoulder to get their attention.

"Now that, that fits the theme" he said.

Hanging up was an old Coca-Cola sign, it looked very old. Probably 50s era. It had the old logo, old art style and some of the paint was a bit chipped off.

"That would be so good if it wasn't literally massive" Adrien said.

"If only there was a smaller one, like a cafe blackboard type sign" Luka replied.

"You know we might be able to make a replica one, Nathalie's pretty good with tools I'm sure she could put something together for you two to paint" Emilie suggested.

"It's probably be cheaper to diy it as well" Adrien added.

Even if this particular sign wasn't the way to go, it did give them some inspiration. Checking through the rest of the shop, they did find some cool things they could use. An old perfume bottle, a record player in almost perfect condition and of course that rocking horse Emilie just had to get. Deciding it'd be a pain to carry everything around for the rest of the day, they placed the items on order instead, to be delivered during the week.

And then, they went back to the streets looking for another cool shop of old things. Adrien and Luka linked hands as they walked along, although Luka could feel Adrien's weight leaning on him slightly as they went.

"You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, knees are kind of sore..." Adrien replied.

"You sure?"

"I'll be fine"

Ever since he was running and jumping around as Cat Noir they'd been a bit sore. Which was odd, not the sore part. They were used to that, but now long it'd gone on. It hadn't gone away in days now... usually he'd be sore for the day and it'd be back to normal the next. But the pain had stuck around almost all week. At first it was just a bit of an ache, but it was starting to turn to a sting now. No... more like a gripping pain. Like someone was squeezing the bone in the knee and shin really hard.

But Adrien was so used to having to suck it up and hide the pain from Gabriel that they just pushed on, even though it hurt.

"Oh, I know this street! Around the corner is a vintage boutique, we could probably find some nice accessories there" Emilie suggested.

"Oh, the one with the old claw foot couch in the window?" Luka asked.

"Yes that one, have you been there?"

"My sister went looking for a formal dress there once, they have some pretty stuff"

Adrien trusted that judgement, if Luka had been in there before and liked the looks of it, there was bound to be something they'd like in there too. Adrien and Luka did dress differently but they both had a soft spot for vintage, just different eras really. Adrien liked the old Hollywood glamour and Luka liked the traditional alternative from the 80s.

Pushing through the jabbing pain in their legs, Adrien tried to focus on the cool clothes they'd find in the shop rather than the pain. But something just gave out half way there. Maybe they'd been walking too much? Or maybe they pulled something as cat noir which added to the usual ache. But as soon as he put their foot down, a sudden jolt of pain shot up their leg and made his knees buckle.

Stumbling over and almost bringing Luka down with them, Adrien seethed at the sudden pain and impact of landing on the bricks.

"Adrien! You ok?" Luka asked, immediately worried.

Adrien hunched over, gripping onto their shin where the worst of the pain was and struggled to hold back the sudden tears.

"Ow- fuck... ow ow ow..." they muttered.

Emilie's mothers adrenaline kicked in, and immediately she was down next to her child and examining them for bruises or cuts from the fall.

"What's wrong baby, what happened?" She asked.

"I just stepped and this jab went up my leg-" Adrien whimpered.

Immediately worried this wasn't just a regular trip and fall, she gently took Adrien's leg and pushed the leg of his jeans up to look. She and Luka almost had a heart attack, out of nowhere there was a big red rash on their skin that wasn't there that morning.

"Oh my god- Adrien has this happened before?" Emilie asked.

"Once at a fencing tournament, I thought it was heat rash from sweating and moving around so much" Adrien replied.

"That's definitely not heat rash, it looks totally different. I hope it's not internal bleeding or something... was it there this morning?" Luka asked.

"No... I guess it came up as I was walking... I didn't think... fuck-"

Now Adrien felt like an idiot for not stopping sooner even though they were in pain, but they were just so used to hiding it from Gabriel he was on autopilot and stayed quiet.

"Sweetheart I'm taking you to hospital, this isn't normal. Luka can you call Nathalie?" Emilie asked.

"On it" Luka replied.

Emilie picked Adrien up, turning to head back to the car as Luka was quick to call Nathalie and tell her what was going on. The shopping would have to be put on hold, this was more serious. The seething pain was getting too hard to ignore and Adrien couldn't help but hold onto Emilie tightly and softly let the tears fall, they'd never felt the pain like this before.

What could it even be? Arthritis? Peripheral artery disease? A torn muscle? Hairline fracture? Blood clot? The fact they had no idea makes them nervous.

When they went to the doctors with Nathalie, they did a blood test they were yet to get the results back for, by now they'd probably have been uploaded to their files. Maybe this hospital trip would get to the bottom of things.

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