Tricky Magic

Written for Miraculous Spooktober Day 30 - Trick

It had only been three days since she decided to start her prank.

Of course, that first time was an accident. She had been so certain that Adrien was out of the video call that she hadn't bothered to cover the camera when she spun around to drink from her water glass, only to discover it on the other side of the room.

"Ugh," she mumbled.

Tikki giggled and picked it up, carrying it over to her. Marinette grabbed it once it was within reach and was about to thank her kwami when a choking sound from the phone caught her attention. She turned back around to discover Adrien staring at her, wide-eyed and mouth gaping open like a fish.

"Adrien!" she shrieked, frantic that her crush had witnessed her kwami floating on screen. "Uh, hahaha you're back!"

"What was that?" Adrien gasped.

"What was what?" she asked as her mind whirled for an excuse on how to explain away her kwami without revealing her secret identity.

"You know what!" he shrieked at her, face ghost-white and pointing with a shaking hand.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she began. "Uh, oh no, my signal's fading. See you in class tomorrow, bye!"

She cut the feed right in the middle of his "Wait, Marine-."

"Oh, Tikki, this is awful," she moaned, spinning around in her chair with her head tilted back. "What am I going to do?"

"I'm sorry, Marinette." Tikki floated back into view and tried to console her charge. "I had no idea Adrien had come back so quickly."

"How can I explain your existence without telling him I'm Ladybug?"

Tikki tilted her bulbous head in puzzlement. "What are you talking about?"

"You. Adrien had to have seen you. You saw how he reacted. How on earth am I going to explain you away? He's going to ask about you tomorrow."

Tikki's confusion remained. "No, he won't."

"Why not?" Marinette sat up. "Do you have special mind-erasing powers? Ooh! Can you go in and change what he thinks he saw? Can you cast amnesia? Can you alter reality?"

"Technically yes on the last one," Tikki answered with a laugh. "But remember Marinette, kwamis can't be photographed or recorded on video."

"Oh. Oh! Right!" Marinette beamed for a second as understanding sank in. Almost immediately, she deflated. "But then why did Adrien act so weird?"

"Because to him, it looked like your glass of water floated across the room to your hand," Tikki explained. "He probably thinks you have special telekinetic powers or something."

Marinette flopped her head down on her desk. "That's just as hard to explain away!"

Tikki settled down beside her on the desk. "I think I may have spent too much time with Plagg," she began, and Marinette twisted her head to stare at her kwami, "but I think we can turn this around into a fun prank to play on your friends." The devious smile on the sprite would not have looked out of place on Hawkmoth, so it was a bit jarring to see it on her sweet kwami.

"What did you have in mind?" Marinette asked, a bit curious to see what mischief she could get away with.

The next day, as expected, Adrien bombarded her with a dozen questions. She brushed them all off and handled him with an aloofness she never had around him. But this was all part of Tikki's plan. Keep him hooked and in the dark while toying with him. With a wink at him at the end of the day, she headed back to the bakery.

Sure enough, Adrien phoned that evening, through video chat. And Marinette started putting her plan in motion. When Adrien not-so-subtly pretended to turn his head, Tikki lifted a pencil up to Marinette's open palm. As expected, the model instantly whirled around and pointed at it.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"That!"

"What?"

"Marinette!"

The whine from the blond at the other end of her phone brought a satisfied smile to Marinette's face. She twirled the pencil around her fingers as Adrien pointed at it as best he could through his phone's camera. "That! Right there. What was that?"

Marinette feigned an expression of innocent surprise, turning to look at the pencil. "This? It's a unique writing utensil humans invented to convey ideas."

"Ha ha," Adrien deadpanned. "And why did it suddenly float into your hand?"

"I dropped it. Gravity took hold. I would explain the concept of gravity to you but you scored higher than me on our last physics exam."

"Then why did it float up into your hand instead of down if gravity affected it?"

She fixed him with a funny look. "Adrien," she began slowly, as if explaining a difficult concept to a young child. "I dropped it. When I felt it slide through my fingers, I reacted on instinct to grab it. I mean, I guess it could appear like it floated, but it was just my reflexes catching it."

"Argh!" the model all but screamed out in frustration, running his hands through his locks and pulling on his hair. "Fine, be that way. I know you have magic, Marinette, no matter how much you deny it. I'll see you in school tomorrow."

With that, he reached forward and the screen went black.

After she was absolutely certain he had disconnected the call, she allowed a devious smile to appear. She turned to Tikki, floating over her shoulder. "This is more fun that I thought it would be."

The red sprite giggled with her. "It certainly is! I can't wait to tell Plagg all of the details! I'm sure he would love it."

"One day, Tikki."

"I know, Marinette." The kwami floated over to Marinette's bed and curled up on a pillow. Marinette crawled in beside her.

"Good night, Tikki."

"Night, Marinette."

With a smile of anticipation for the coming days, Marinette clicked off the lights and fell asleep.

If there was one thing the class of Ms. Bustier could depend upon, it was Marinette Dupain-Cheng running late. The students frequently set bets on it. So naturally, today Marinette walked in early.

Today.

The day Adrien decided to confide in Alya and Nino his suspicions of Marinette and her magical abilities.

So of course Marinette entered just in time to catch him huddled together with the two.

The three of them sprang apart like a live wire electrocuted them.

"Ahaha yeah so that's how magnets work," Adrien finished lamely, topping it off with a weak laugh.

Alya briefly flickered her gaze to Nino. "Uh, right. Thanks for the explanation, Adrien."

Marinette hid a smile. She snagged two more into her web of lies.

So when Alya decided to video call her that afternoon while babysitting and left the screen for a moment to "grab a drink", Marinette pointed at a piece of popcorn in a bowl, which then floated up and into her open mouth.

She ignored Alya's squeak of amazement, which was hastily explained by the blogger stubbing her toe.

The next day, the three of them crowded around Alya's phone while Marinette watched quietly from the window of the classroom before entering and causing them to scatter once more in a flurry of awe and panic.

"Hey guys, want to come over to my place to study?"

The announcement from Adrien of all people surprised her. "What about your father?" she asked. Even Alya and Nino appeared wary of the sudden good kind heart of Gabriel Agreste.

Adrien waved a hand. "He'll be fine with it. I told him we needed a big space to work on our project or we might get a bad grade. I think he had the staff transform the entire dining room to my requirements. So, what do you say?"

"Of course!" Alya answered, snatching Marinette's hand and raising them both high. "We're both in!"

"Same, dude."

"Perfect!" With that, Adrien turned back around, but not before Marinette caught the satisfied smug grin on his face. What was he up to?

That afternoon after school, she discovered what. Adrien unceremoniously dumped her in his father's atelier while the other three vomited out pathetic excuses to leave her alone.

Or something like that. She didn't really pay attention. As soon as Adrien had suggested that maybe she would like to see his father's mannequins with the latest designs, she surmised his plan. After all, that was one of the few rooms in the house with cameras trained in it. Corporate espionage was rampant in the fashion community, and Gabriel Agreste had his designing room on lockdown. She knew this, of course, from her time in there as Ladybug when she had watched the camera angles on his monitor. Not that Adrien knew that, of course.

She couldn't even remember what lame reasons the other three had for leaving. They practically tripped over each other in their eagerness to leave her alone in the room. Adrien had also conveniently carried in a plate of cookies and snacks – light enough to use her "powers" on. Knowing the three were watching diligently from elsewhere in the house, she resisted the urge to crack her neck in anticipation. This was going to be fun.

Upstairs, hunched over Gabriel's monitor, the three teenagers watched with baited breath, not taking their eyes off the screen in front of them.

"Come on, I know she's going to do it," Adrien muttered. "I can't be losing my mind, right?" He looked to the others for validation.

"No, I saw it, too. I showed Nino the video," Alya reassured him.

"Wait! There!" Adrien pointed to the screen just in time to see a cookie floating in the air and Marinette's hand outstretched. "I knew it!"

"What is going on here?"

The three jumped up in surprise at the new voice. They were so absorbed in the action on the screen that they didn't even hear the door open and someone walk in.

Gabriel Agreste stood there, glaring in anger at them. Nathalie and their bodyguard stood next to him.

Instead of being intimidated by the fearsome scowl his father leveled at him, Adrien frantically waved his hand. "Father! Come here! Quick! You have to see this!"

Releasing a sound somewhat in between a growl and a sigh of vexation, Gabriel stepped around the desk. "Okay, Adrien, what is it I'm supposed to be seeing?"

Nathalie and the Gorilla followed, and the six of them huddled around the monitor.

"Watch!"

They watched for a moment – three in breathless anticipation and three in confused exasperation. At last, Gabriel straightened with a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Adrien, it's not polite to leave your guest alone for so long. If she's interested in my designs, you can always invite her over another time when you're not working on a project."

The five simultaneous gasps of surprise snapped his eyes back to the monitor. On screen, Marinette had been wandering around the room, staring at each outfit on the mannequin. She bent over, hands behind her back, peering as close to each design as she dared without touching it. The awe on her face was unmistakable.

And then the unthinkable happened.

She tripped, which had elicited the gasps of the others and redirected Gabriel's attention back to the screen.

Her arms flailed out and knocked against the table. A vase wobbled at the edge. Gabriel visibly whitened. The wobbling intensified. Everyone collectively sucked in a breath.

It fell.

But didn't reach the ground.

With her hands still outstretched as if she held the vase, Marinette steadied herself. Taking a deep breath, she raised her palms. The vase rose gently through the air, hovering over the table before settling back on the table.

She sagged in relief.

Which broke the spell upon the six upstairs, all of whom whooshed out their breaths together.

"I knew it!" Adrien crowed, pumping a fist high in the air.

"Adrien, what was that?" Gabriel asked, his voice as shaky as his trembling hands.

"You saw it, too, Father, right?" Adrien turned to the taller man, his face flushed with excitement to counter the paleness of his father. "Marinette said she didn't have magic powers, but I know I saw that pencil float up to her hand!"

"That's impossible," Gabriel continued to mutter. Nathalie looked just as troubled. Even the Gorilla had his face furrowed into concern. "It has to be some kind of trick," Gabriel insisted.

Alya shook her head. "We thought of that, too, Mr. Agreste. But Marinette denies that she has powers. We might believe a trick if she claimed she could move objects without touching them, but she refuses to even admit it!"

"I confronted her about it several times," Adrien said. "And she not only denied it, but she got really upset when I brought it up. It's like she wants to hide it!"

"So why go through the trouble of setting up a trick only to perform when no one watches?" Nathalie mused.

"Exactly," three teen voices chorused.

Gabriel sat heavily upon his chair, running a hand through his hair and ruffling the strands in the process. "This... this is unbelievable. I can't... I..." He snapped out of his stupor and rolled up to the computer. "It has to be a trick." He tapped a few buttons and brought up the video again. Once again, six pairs of eyes watched the screen as Marinette examined the dresses and suits. And once again, six pairs of eyes witnessed her stumble, the vase wobbling, and her telekinetic save and recovery.

"Impossible," Gabriel muttered again. But now his eyes narrowed in calculation as he studied the film in front of him.

"My girl is amazing, that's for sure!" Alya crowed, beaming like it was her daughter who just won a prestigious award.

The buzzing of the teenagers' phones startled them all.

Where did you guys go?

"It's Marinette!" Nino hissed.

"No kidding," Alya said, rolling her eyes. "She sent it in the group chat."

"We should probably get back down there," Adrien said.

"Yes," Gabriel said, absently shooing at them with one hand while he tapped at the screen with his other. "Best you all be getting back to your project."

Downstairs, Marinette had to refrain from laughing as Tikki balanced the vase in her arms, comically waving it around under Marinette's "command". She didn't know if the cameras had sound, and didn't want to risk appearing crazy by talking to Tikki, so she hid her excitement and glee under a mask of worried fretting as she fluttered around the room.

For good measure, she also dropped her notebook and "lifted" it to her hands, just in case Adrien, Alya, and Nino missed the vase display.

Footsteps sounded outside the door and Marinette whirled around, startled. Tikki flew into her purse. The notebook dropped again halfway to her hand and landed with a loud thwack. Marinette bent down to retrieve it just as the door opened.

"Oh, hi guys!" she greeted with a smile.

"Uh, hey Marinette. Sorry we took so long. Father decided to give us the third degree about our project before deeming it worthy enough to continue in his house," Adrien explained, his smile turning sheepish. Alya blinked once in surprise before nodding along with Adrien. Nino folded his arms and tapped his cap back a bit. Marinette knew that he was still wary around the elder Agreste.

"No problem, I was just worried you forgot about me," she said with a giggle, she stood up with the notebook safely in her hands, not missing at all the way all of her friends' eyes followed the notebook up in the air. "So, shall we continue with the project?"

And she grabbed the plate of snacks and waltzed out of the atelier over to the dining room.

If Alya knew, then it wouldn't be long before Alix, Rose, Juleka, and Mylène knew. Marinette saw them crowded around Alya's phone a couple of mornings later. She smiled and quietly made her way to her seat, ignoring the gasps of astonishment and the inevitable five pairs of eyes turning to her.

And if Mylène knew, then Ivan also was told. And it might have stopped there, too, since Ivan wasn't much for gossip, except Kim overheard him. And Kim was prone to gossip.

By the end of the day, everyone in the class knew about Marinette's telekinetic powers.

Chloé (and Sabrina) initially scoffed at the ridiculousness of such childish thinking until Adrien pointed out that his father, father's assistant, and bodyguard had all witnessed Marinette's powers in action. And it turned out Gabriel Agreste added the much needed validity to convince not only skeptics Chloé and Sabrina, but also levied weight to Adrien's claim with their teachers and Mr. Damocles. Honestly, she didn't know what stroke of luck got her to hoodwink her idol, but she was eternally grateful for it.

She just hope he didn't hold a grudge when she revealed the truth.

Suddenly, her dreams of being a fashion designer spiraled down the drain as she imagined her role model blacklisting her from fashion houses around Europe. Maybe she could explain before he felt like he embarrassed himself too much?

Or maybe she could put her final plan into motion, since it seemed the entire school kept staring at her with baited breath, waiting to see what other magic she would conjure or hoping to catch a glimpse of her famous telekinesis in action.

And no matter how much she tried to dissuade the rumors: joking, making light of everything, outright denial – it only seemed to fuel the fire of mystery surrounding her.

After a week of this, she was sick of the prank. It was time to end it.

So she went to Mr. Damocles and asked for permission to use his office privately to film something for the entire school. He could stand outside, but she asked that he kindly not be in the room when she made her announcement. It took a few well placed "class representative"s dropped into her argument before the principal relented.

And now, it was her time to shine.

She clicked the button to send it to the entire school, then sat back and waved to the camera.

"Hi everyone," she said with a smile. "I have permission to make this announcement to everyone. I'm sure everyone here has heard the rumors that I have some kind of magical powers. Telekinesis, right?" She giggled.

"Well, you may be right..." She pointed at a pencil on the desk and it floated up and over to her hand. She twirled it with a shrug. "Or you may be wrong." She winked. "I'll give you a hint."

She leaned forward and stage-whispered. "It's the latter."

She straightened back up and flicked the pencil back over to the desk. Tikki caught it mid-air and guided it to the holder, where the sprite positioned it gently into the tall holder like it had never been out of place at all.

"Honestly, this all seems very magical and mystical. I mean, telekinesis, right? That's amazing!" She whisked a tissue out of the box on the desk and it floated over to her, dabbing at her forehead before another flick of the fingers sent it to the rubbish bin. "But... did any of you wonder why I did all of these amazing magical abilities on camera?" She shrugged. "Or why I was only able to make one thing move at a time?"

Marinette walked over to the calendar and tapped the date. "Today is a day for tricks. And guys... you certainly have been tricked." She giggled, then sobered. "Ah, but no hard feelings? I mean, I did try to tell you I didn't have magical abilities, but no one believed me. Anyway, thanks for listening! I hope you guys have a trick-tastic day! Oh, and... try not to get tricked anymore, okay?"

She pointed at the camera just as Tikki flew up and disabled it. She gave her tiny kwami a small fist bump before the sprite flew back into her purse.

"Adrien!" Gabriel Agreste greeted his son as he came home that day. The older man craned his neck to see around Adrien. "You didn't bring Marinette over again?"

"Ah, well, she made this video today..." Adrien pulled out his phone and showed his father the footage from earlier that afternoon. "It turns out it was all a trick."

"But what an ingenious one at that," Gabriel muttered, watching intently as the confession played out for all of them to hear. With a sigh of defeat, he handed the phone back to his son after the video ended and retreated to his office. On screen, the footage from Marinette walking around the atelier played on loop. Gabriel pressed a couple of buttons, preparing to erase the video of the girl's trick from the hard drive when his fingers paused while hovering over the keys. He frowned and peered at the screen.

"What the...?" he muttered, bypassing the keyboard and tapping on the screen directly. He rewound the footage, zooming in on a small section of the screen.

There in the corner, a chocolate chip cookie hovered in the air. A bite disappeared off it. Then another. And another. A final bite, and the entire cookie vanished.

"Wow," he breathed in awe, "they were right, that girl is amazing."

The end

Omake:

"Plagg, I can't believe Marinette was so talented to devise a trick like that! It was amazing how she could get those different things to float on camera without any visible effort."

"Pfft," his kwami scoffed, floating on his back beside his chosen. "You could do that if you wanted."

"What do you mean?" Adrien said, intrigued.

"Well, it's not like kwamis appear on recording devices. All you would have to do is point at something and I would just move it around for you."

"Haha that would be great! We should do that one day!"

"Nah, I don't want to repeat the same trick." Plagg yawned. "It was clever, though."

"Repeat...? What do you mean by repeat?"

"Nothing, kid. Give me some cheese and let's get to bed."

"...Oh my gosh, Plagg... Marinette must have a kwami of her own!"

"Oh, now you catch on? I was just about to sleep."

"I HAVE TO SEE HER! PLAGG, CLAWS OUT!"

Author's Note: A special thank you to PerditaAlottachocolate for beta-reading this for me. Do check out a few of her new works such as her own contribution to Spooktober: Love Potion no. 2 and a separate Love Square one called Up to Date.