#just in time for 2023 signups 😂

[verfound]

FIC: Princess Heartmaker: Ch 15/15 (MLB, Lukanette)

Notes: please don’t be june please don’t be june – I put this note here in February/March, I’m sure.  I’m leaving it here so we can all mock my pain.  😂  I kept saying I wanted to finish it before a J month, and Laurel has kindly reminded me that “January is a J month!”  (…I finished just in time for 2023  signups, right?  😂)

 Ch 1 | Ch 2 | Ch 3 | Ch 4 | Ch 5 |  Ch 6  |  Ch 7  |  Ch 8    |  Ch 9  |  Ch 10  |  Ch 11 | Ch 12 | Ch 13 | Ch 14

Princess Heartmaker

Chapter Fifteen: Let Me In Somehow – Gotta Find a Way to Brave It

It was a testament to Shadowmoth, Paris that, once the akuma had been dealt with, the dance continued on as if nothing had happened.

And, technically, Marinette supposed, nothing actually had happened.

At least not to anyone else.

She closed her eyes and took a deep, steadying breath.  Her hands gripped the edge of the counter tightly, and she took a moment to focus on her breathing.  Slow, steady breaths in.  Slow, steady breaths out.  She ignored the pulse of music she could hear in the distance.  The chatter of people in the hall.  The concerned press of her kwami – of two of her kwamis – in the bag at her hip.  After a moment, she opened her eyes and stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror.

…she was exhausted.  She had been trapped in the akuma’s game for less than an hour, but she felt like she had lived through several months in that short time.  And while her fellow students had been more than happy to crank up the music and continue dancing like Shadowmoth hadn’t interrupted their fun, Marinette just wanted to sleep.