The three continued walking down the street to the corner where (Y/N)'s chauffeur was waiting for the three. Luka seemed fine, smiling and laughing as he opened the door for his partners. Adrien and (Y/N) were still stunned into silence. The two couldn't help but stare at Luka as he buckled up, and the blue-haired boy just grinned at them "You guys can close your jaws, you know." 

Adrien snapped out of it first, shaking his head as he buckled (Y/N)'s seatbelt for them "I just didn't think I'd ever see you snap like that. You-" the blond paused as he tried to sort out how he felt. The only real times he dealt with yelling was when his father would scream at him, he'd never been protected by it before. "You protected us even though you didn't have to. You could have split the money with Alya and gotten Marinette back- ditched (Y/N) and I-"

"Why the hell would I ever even consider that," Luka asked, a surprised and sad smile on his face as he come to a slow, sad realization "do you really think I'd leave you that fast? (Y/N) be damned?"

Adrien shrugged as he tried not to make his overwhelming emotions less visibly evident, looking at the ground and swiping at the tears building up "I don't know what I thought-" Adrien took a shaky breath as (Y/N) finally came back to reality and took his hand in his, rubbing small circles "people usually sell me out- or try and get some payout from my father. I don't think anyone has ever really loved me and meant it genuinely before-"

(Y/N) leaned their head on Adrien's shoulder, their own eyes misty as they held his hand up to kiss it "Well we do, Agreste, so get used to it. I'm sorry nobody has been good to you, but we will be." 

Luka nodded in agreement, draping an arm over Adrien's shoulders "Is there anything else you want to get off your chest." 

Adrien started to mumble something but his voice died out, he blushed as he sat up straight. All it took was a look from Luka for him to repeat himself "You going off like that was kind of hot."

(Y/N) nodded in agreement without hesitation "I was torn between being scared and turned on, which was incredibly confusing for me." 

Luka smirked, his more dominant aura becoming more prevalent as he leaned his lips to ghost over Adrien's, who sucked in and held his breath in anticipation. "Oh? Did you want me to get all protective for you? Show them you're mine?" he chuckled when Adrien nodded "I don't mind marking that pretty neck of yours if you want to be claimed that badly."

Adrien nearly crushed (Y/N)'s hand as he held it through his gay crisis. He bit back a whine as Luka pressed small, gentle kisses into the side of his neck "Luka- Don't leave any marks," Adrien's words were interrupted by a low moan "I have a photoshoot tomorrow"

Luka laughed as he pulled away, "Don't worry, dove. I'll leave all the marking for another time. Besides, it looks like our dear (Y/N) wants some attention too." 

(Y/N) jumped when Luka shifted his attention to them and reached his hand out to hold theirs "I'm okay if you want to focus on-"

"oh darling," Adrien smiled, leaning into their ear "What you don't get is we both want to focus on you every once in a while. You're in this too, it's not just Luka and me," 

(Y/N) smiled, feeling bashful at the spike in attention on them. "Well, we're almost back at my place so we can all cuddle and take a nap after I get my work done." 

Luka yawned and nodded, "it sounds great"

***

Luka ended up crashing in (Y/N)'s bed while Adrien and (Y/N) worked on their homework assignments. Adrien held (Y/N)'s hand even though it made punching numbers into his calculator much harder than it needed to be. Luka was in a pile of comforters and stuffed animals slowly accumulated during their dates, which now could take up over half the bed if (Y/N) didn't start proudly displaying them on their shelves and chairs in their room. 

Adrien currently had a squishy corgi plush in his lap as he worked, (Y/N) had a prized Genshin Impact plush they lovingly named Lapis after Luka got it for them as a birthday gift. Adrien had to keep (Y/N) focused, they'd kept nervously glancing at Luka the entire time. After about the sixth or seventh time, Adrien put his pencil down and sighed "Okay, what's wrong? You've been staring at Luka like a lost puppy for the past half hour."

"He's been having a lot of nightmares lately," (Y/N) confessed, "and today was probably really stressful for him so I want to make sure he's okay." 

Adrien felt his heart swell at the simplicity and selflessness behind what (Y/N) was doing. He smiled and moved to sit next to them, "I promise, if he wakes up from a nightmare, we'll help him together. But we have to get this done, we have a quiz tomorrow."

(Y/N) nodded, learning their head on Adrien's shoulder as they scribbled away at the post-lab questions they were so rudely assigned. 

***

Luka felt like he was running in an endless loop, running through an endless maze, in an endless state of consciousness. In every corner he looked in, he saw the image of a fading Raven- or the screaming of Adrien at something Luka did not yet know. 

He'd turn around and see a child begging for their mom not the leave them as a villain approached. He'd look up and see the ladybugs that failed to save (Y/N) when it mattered. He'd close his eyes and hear Adrien sobbing as he found out his father was the person he'd sworn to defeat. 

When he stopped running it would only get worse. He'd hear and see things that never even happened. He'd hear Marinette telling him he was useless, that she was right to leave him and she was right to hurt Adrien, he'd hear his sister telling him he was useless without a person to"fix", he'd hear his mom telling him he wasn't good enough. 

So he kept running, he ran until he felt like his lungs were gonna give out. 

And then he screamed, screamed as loud as he could to drown out the voices before crumbling to the floor in a pool of his tears. He couldn't do anything. If he couldn't protect the people he loved, what use was he?

***

His eyes snapped open as he shot up in bed, sending stuffed animals tumbling to the floor as he felt himself hyperventilating. Adrien was at his side first, his hand on his shoulder as he slowly whispered him back to reality. 

Luka wasn't even processing what he said, he just knew the guy was talking. His eyes scanned for (Y/N) as his heart raced a mile a minute. Where were they? Why weren't they here? Why isn't he there to protect them? Luka buried his head in Adrien's chest, his voice heavy with sobs as he choked out "where's-"

"They're getting dinner for us- they're in the kitchen- they're fine." Adrien cooed, his hand petting Luka's hair in soothing strokes as the brunette shook violently in his partner's arms. "Just breathe, love. (Y/N) and I will take care of everything. Lean on us for a second" 

Luka nodded, "I just keep seeing them dying-" he confessed, his voice haunted "When you dusted them on accident and I- I keep thinking what would've happened if I didn't use second chance in time- and then there's- god I'm so sorry you have to deal with me." 

"Hey," Adrien whispered gently "I want to be here. Wait- I dusted them? When was-?"

"Don't worry about it," Luka whispered "The important thing is I can't unsee it. I need them with me or I start to get anxious something might happen and I won't be able to stop it in time-" 

"Luka, Breathe, you're gonna work yourself into another panic attack." Adrien breathed, "You don't have to explain. Just focus on me and relax, we'll protect you." 

Just as Luka nodded, the attic door opened, and (Y/N) arrived with pasta neatly stacked in Tupperware boxes to prevent spilling in transport. "Luka, baby," (Y/N) was in bed the second they saw Luka's tears, the food on the table as they kissed his hair gently "You okay?" 

"Yeah," Luka smiled fondly at Adrien "I'll be fine," he sniffled "I have you and Adrien protecting me." Luka lied, he was less than fine. But he wanted to protect them from the raging mess of his mind.