Fairest Of Them All (Miraculous Ladybug)

Memories

There they were, all alone in one video call. The moment everyone else left, the atmosphere felt a little uncomfortable. There was an awkward silence, until suddenly,

"Ow!" Marinette exclaimed. Felix was alarmed by the sudden noise of her clumsiness.

"Are you alright?" Felix asks. "I-I'm fine I just slipped on something! Ow!" Marinette replies, struggling to get up. She lifts herself up using the counter and finally gets back to what she was doing.

"What are you going to bake?" Felix asks curiously. "Macarons." The baker replies quickly as she gathers the materials and ingredients needed to make them.

"Aren't they difficult to make?" He asks. "Well they are at first. But I've been doing this since I was 7 so it's no problem for me now." She says as she prepares the dry ingredients and wet ingredients. 

The call was filled with silence but it wasn't awkward. There were no voices but the sounds of eggs cracking and trays clashing were satisfying to hear.

"How do you usually bake your macarons?" He asks curiously.

"Well I usually crack the eggs and put the yolks into separate bowls." Marinette replies as she grabs her dry ingredients and mixes them. "Then, I take my dry ingredients and mix them together before I sift them." She adds.

Suddenly, a knock was heard on Felix's end. "Who's that?" Marinette questioned. Then, the door opened. "Hey Felix! I was goi- oh you're both still in the call?" Adrien greets.

"Yes what do you want?" Felix asks with evident annoyance in his voice. "Do you have any camembert?" He asks. "No I don't. They're downstairs." Felix replies.

Adrien closes the door silently and now it seems like both of them are finally left alone. "Does Adrien actually like camembert?" Marinette asked. She was a bit weirded out but intrigued.

"Yes. He eats them once every Thursday. Personally, I don't see why he likes it so much." He replies in annoyance. Marinette giggled at his response and continues mixing the ingredients.

-

"Here's your camembert Plagg." Adrien says after he closes his bedroom door. "Finally! Some high quality cheese!" Plagg exclaims.

Adrien notices a pink letter on his table and wonders what its contents could be. "Is that Ladybug's response?" He asks, referring to the letter.

Plagg finishes eating his cheese and proceeds to answer. "Well yes it is." The model sits down and grabs the letter to read it.

"I already told you kitty, our identities are still going to remain secret.
It's still too dangerous for me as I'm still the guardian of the miraculous.
Besides, I don't think I'm ready to know personally.
How's life treating you by the way? Fencing is pretty tough if you ask me.
I tried it once and I ended up embarrassing myself!
- Ladybug"

Adrien gets his paper and pen and prepares to write down a response. "How's your holder treating you?" Adrien asks curiously.

"He's great! The cheese isn't as good as yours though." Plagg replies. Adrien chuckles then sighs, wondering what to say to his lady. Then, he ended up reflecting on what happened the past year.

~

"I'm sorry Chat Noir but I don't think I can continue being a superhero anymore!" Ladybug argues back. Chat Noir was almost about to burst into tears, he was wondering what prompted his lady to make such a decision.

"This has to be a joke! It can't end like this! Just because you didn't show up to de-evilize Marinette doesn't mean you have to stop right?" The black cat argued.

Ladybug bursts into tears hearing her partner's statement. She couldn't take it anymore "You don't know what you're talking about!" She yelled. Her partner froze and took offense to her reply and proceeded to respond in rage.

"Maybe it's because you don't tell me anything!"

~

"Then we'll just put it in the oven and begin with our icing! Usually I pre-heat the oven so it bakes quicker." Marinette states. Felix silently watched her, not wanting to interrupt her happy ramblings about baking. Marinette wasn't exactly the most open type of person, especially to Felix. However, when it came to the things she loved doing, she acted like a whole different person towards him. It was a little adorable seeing his kind acquaintance rambling on and on.

"Hey you're a little silent..." The young baker mentions.

Felix snaps out of his thoughts and unmutes his microphone. "I'm alright. I was just listening and watching you bake. I didn't really want to disturb the process." He responded.

Marinette smiles gently and continues talking about how she usually makes the filling. However, she goes slightly off topic during the process.

"I remember I used to bake these with... Alya before." She mentioned, her face slowly turning into a frown. "You sound upset. Do you want to say something?" Felix asks in both curiosity and concern.

He didn't want to admit it but he was interested on why the class hated Marinette so much. "Adrien didn't tell you?" She asks.

He shakes his head in response and Marinette lets out a sigh. "It's a long story." She replied. Felix was intrigued by her response.

"I'm all ears."

~

"Why would you do that to Lila? This isn't like you at all Marinette!" Alya yelled out. "Exactly! It isn't like me at all! You know I wouldn't do that to her right?" Marinette argued back.

It's been like this for a few months. Lila lived up to her promise and slowly got her friends to turn against her. And now, she was starting to lose her best friend too.

"She has bruises Marinette!" Alya argued, doubting her credibility. "They could've been from something else! Or they could have been faked!" The young designer argued with tears starting to form around her eyes.

"Alya, please." A voice behind Marinette was heard. Surprisingly, when the two girls looked to see where the sound came from, it was Adrien. "Really? You're siding with Marinette?!" The blogger exclaimed, astonished by what she just heard.

"You don't understand Alya! Like what Marinette said, Lila could've faked the whole situation!" He argued back. Alya was ready to call quits at their friendship. In her eyes, Marinette was a monster. A manipulator, a compulsive liar. Little did she know, it was the other way around.

"I'm not tolerating this kind of behavior Marinette! I'm ending our friendship. Lila and our other classmates were right. You can't be trusted at all. I was so dumb to think you'd change." The blogger states.

Marinette started shedding tears. She never thought that those words would come out of her mouth. Alya walks away leaving her former best friend helpless.

"You won't lose me Marinette. We will always be friends." Adrien promised Marinette reassuringly as he puts his hand on her shoulder.

She felt lucky that someone in her class was still by her side, yet she sheds a tear in pain at hearing Adrien only refer to her as a friend.

"Yeah... friends."