A/N: This fic was named after - you guessed it - SNSD's song Trick from their The Boys album. Trick, Oscar and Top Secret are my underappreciated holy trinity from that album.

“Can’t believe I have to spend a perfectly good Saturday night babysitting,” Jessica mutters under her breath, looking around the decorated community centre with distaste.

She sinks into her seat, wishing it could eject her out of this place and somewhere else, anywhere else, as long as it’s away from her little sister. Why couldn’t she just be a normal tween and go fawn over the newest boy band or something? But no, Krystal can’t be normal if it killed her, and Jessica’s stuck following her around while she fulfills her new fixation with magic tricks.

“Come on, unnie,” Krystal says, completely ignorant of the dark cloud hanging around Jessica’s head. Or maybe she sees it perfectly fine and she just doesn’t care. Jessica wouldn’t put it past Krystal. There may be five years separating them, but like they say, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. “This is going to be so cool.”

“Yay,” Jessica deadpans. “I can’t wait.”

“Unnie, you’re no fun at all,” Krystal whines.

“Wake me up when someone’s going to cut you in half,” Jessica says and closes her eyes. She falls asleep, which is nothing new, but the strange thing is when she opens her eyes and sees the angel on stage.

Well, on second glance, the girl – woman? – isn’t an angel, just beautiful enough to be one, with dark hair falling into eyes that hold Jessica like a spell and a smile as enchanting as fireworks. Then the smile turns into something darker and sultrier, and Jessica feels like the girl’s looking right at her and through her, seeing all her secrets like Jessica’s a glass globe that she’s holding in her palm.

“Unnie, how can you fall asleep at a time like this?” Krystal whispers. “Oh wait, why did I ask that? You can fall asleep at any time.”

“Who is that?” Jessica asks, eyes still glued on the girl, who’s wearing a skin-tight black dress with a ruffled hot pink skirt. She doesn’t think that outfit is very practical for performing magical tricks, but it’s sure doing well to hold the attention of all the guys (and quite a few of the girls).

Krystal makes an impatient sound. “That’s Tiffany, the assistant. Well, I don’t even know where the magician is, so I’m not sure why she’s there.”

Jessica doesn’t look away from Tiffany, and it takes her a while to realize that Krystal’s waving her hand in front of her face.

“Geez unnie, can you stop looking at her like you want to eat her up? It’s making me nauseous.”

“Mind your language, Soojung,” Jessica says distractedly.

Tiffany gives another one of those smiles. “Everyone, can I please have your attention?” Her voice is loud, exceedingly so magnified by the microphone, but the huskiness in it makes it attractive nevertheless. “We’re going to proceed with the first…trick. Key will be with us shortly, but meanwhile I’m going to go ahead.” She winks, the corner of pulling up, more of a smirk than a smile. “Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing.”

Jessica’s mouth goes dry watching her. She wonders if there’s some kind of magic at work already, because her palms are getting sweaty and her face feels warm and—this has never happened to her before.

“Ugh, you’re so pathetic,” Krystal grumbles. “You just met her. And you always say you don’t believe in love at first sight.”

“This isn’t love.” Lust at first sight – now she can’t really deny that. “And hey, have some respect for your unnie.”

“Have some respect for yourself.”

Jessica starts to glare at Krystal, but she gives up on it halfway because Krystal gives as good as she gets, and it really isn’t worth the effort.

“You’re cute,” Tiffany murmurs, her hands brushing over Jessica’s shirt, idly playing with the buttons at the top. “You make me want to keep you.”

Jessica swallows. “I’m not a pet.”

Tiffany laughs, her eyes disappearing into crescents. “Good, because I don’t keep pets. They require too much time and attention.”

“You don’t have that?”

“Time, I have plenty of.” Tiffany’s laugh has softened into a smile, although now Jessica can see something ancient and sad about it, like she’s been through centuries of pain and sorrow. “Attention, not so much. I have a short attention span. I lose interest quickly.”

“But you’re interested in me right now.”

“Right now, yes,” Tiffany agrees, leaning in, her nose skimming a line along Jessica’s collarbone, eliciting a shiver from her. “You’re…intriguing.”

Jessica thinks in a corner of her mind that they’re going too fast, that she barely knows Tiffany, who could be a stalker or a criminal or a—

“You’re the intriguing one,” she tells Tiffany. “You’re a magician.”

“Magic is about disguises and deception.” Tiffany stands up and starts taking out the glittery clip from her hair. “It’s about pulling lies over people’s eyes like a blindfold and making them believe it’s the truth.”

Jessica blinks. “That’s an interesting description of magic. I’ve never heard anyone define it like that before.”

The clip in Tiffany’s hair is beautiful, swirling with a kaleidoscope of colours and catching the light like a prism, but she tosses it carelessly aside. Her dress is the next thing she works on removing, and Jessica is torn between wanting to help her and not being able to do much besides stand there and drink her in.

“Have you ever met anyone like me?” Tiffany smiles, looking timelessly beautiful in the light, almost like one of those Pagan statues or Old Masters paintings, except none of them ever had so much life.

“No,” Jessica replies honestly. “Never.”

She lets Tiffany push her back against the mattress, the back of her knees hitting the edge, and then she’s free falling, not knowing how far the fall is and frankly not caring.

“I thought—what I felt for you, I thought it was like magic, almost. But you said that magic is about making people believe lies are the truth.”

Tiffany’s expression is completely blank. “I did say that, yes.”

“My feelings for you aren’t lies,” Jessica breathes, stamping her sincerity into Tiffany with a kiss.

Tiffany kisses her back, but there’s something off about it, something missing. “You shouldn’t have feelings for me.”

I know, Jessica thinks wearily, because you can’t or won’t return them. Maybe both.

But instead she just whispers, “I know. But I’m not good at doing what I should.”

Tiffany catches Jessica’s bottom lip between her teeth and lets it go after a lingering bite. “Then what are you doing?”

“What I want.”

Tiffany’s eyes are like abysses, in everything that Jessica has and giving nothing in return. And yet, Jessica makes no effort to look away from them.

“I’m not good for you, Jessica,” Tiffany says, a breath apart from Jessica’s, and despite her words, she doesn’t look like she’s going to move away any time soon.

“I don’t care.” Jessica closes that tiny gap between them, pressing her lips against Tiffany’s, her whole body against Tiffany, wishing that she could get closer to her, so close that no one could ever separate them, not even Tiffany. “I want you.”

“I want you,” she repeats, and after that they don’t talk for a long time, the only language between them becoming the moans Jessica muffles against Tiffany’s skin and the senseless patterns Tiffany scratches into Jessica’s back, a language that may not have been made of words but speaks well enough just the same.

“Yeah? What about Tiffany?”

It takes a surprising amount of effort to keep her voice casual. Maybe Tiffany could pretend that all they did was casual , but Jessica has never been good at lying, especially not to herself.

Yuri frowns. “You’re with her all the time now.”

“What are you, my mother?”

“Sica,” Yuri sighs. “I’m worried about you. That’s all.”

“Well, you don’t need to be. There’s nothing to be worried about.”

“Jessica—”

“Yuri. I’m—I don’t know what you think, if you think that Tiffany’s some kind of predator or something, but it’s not like that. We’re…we’re—”

Jessica breaks off, not knowing if she should – or could – say going out, seeing each other, because those aren’t really words she could apply to whatever it is she and Tiffany have, and she wishes she could say in love, but she can only be sure of her feelings, not Tiffany’s.

Finally she settles for, “I really like her, Yul,” quiet and sincere.

“I know.” Yuri looks torn. “Believe me, I can tell.”

“I don’t get it. What’s the problem with that?”

“I just think there’s something…off about Tiffany. Something not normal.”

“Well, of course she’s not normal,” Jessica scoffs. “She’s...Tiffany. She’s too interesting to be called normal.”

“You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

Jessica’s mouth falls open, fluttering around half-formed words for a while before she shuts it and turns her eyes away.

“I just don’t want you to get hurt, Sica,” Yuri says quietly.

She already is. But pain is an inevitable part of love, isn’t it? When you carve your heart out of your chest and hand it to someone, of course it’s going to hurt.

“Do you believe in magic?” Tiffany asks in a distant voice, not like she doesn’t care about the answer, but like she’s gone somewhere far away.

“Is that some kind of trick question?”

“Just answer it.” Tiffany’s eyes fix on Jessica’s with an intensity that means she’s come back. “Please.”

Tiffany hardly says please, so Jessica can’t help but cave. “Depends on what you mean by magic. If you mean the stage tricks that Key does, then no.”

“What other type is there?”

Jessica thinks about the fires that Tiffany can set on her skin with just one touch, the way she’d fall asleep on Tiffany’s shoulder sometimes and wake up so warm and content it feels like she’s still dreaming, and she wonders if that counts as magic.

“I don’t know. You’re the magician, you tell me.”

Tiffany’s eyes narrow. “I asked you because I want an answer from you, not so you can ask me something right back.”

“Isn’t that what we do though?” Jessica wonders. “We have more questions for each other than answers. I thought that was the way you liked it.”

“And why would you think that?” Tiffany’s tone almost sounds crass at first, but then Jessica hears the genuine curiosity in it.

“Because…” Jessica struggles to think of an answer. “You don’t tell me anything about your life, Tiffany. You know about mine, but I don’t know anything about yours. Giving answers means letting down your guard and letting someone in, and you don’t want to do that, do you?”

Tiffany doesn’t say anything for a long time, and Jessica wonders if she went too far, if she pushed too much.

“I don’t let people in,” Tiffany finally says. “Well, I try not to. I don’t like getting attached. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t.”

Jessica can think of a multitude of things to say here, but some moments don’t feel suited for words. Instead she leans in to kiss Tiffany, to take the words from her lips that she doesn’t say.

“I’ve never known anyone who kisses like you,” Tiffany whispers, half against Jessica’s mouth, like a secret.

Jessica doesn’t like how experienced Tiffany sounds, like she’s kissed thousands of people, but she does like the implication that even if there were thousands, none of them could match up to her.

“I’m flattered.”

Tiffany kisses her again, smiling into the kiss, and Jessica feels her head spin with the sheer intensity of her want.

“I’ve never known anyone like you.”

There are only two words missing from what Tiffany just said, but those two words seem to make a world of difference somehow.

“Do you even know what you do to me?” Tiffany whispers, cupping Jessica’s cheek. Her hand is cool, but Jessica feels like her face is being bathed in warmth, like she’s been sitting out for too long in the sun.

Jessica’s voice is hoarse. “I’m guessing it’s something like what you do to me.”

Tiffany smiles again, except this time Jessica can actually, properly see it, and she almost feels like she’s being blinded by it.

When she touches Tiffany, looks at her, it’s like trying to get closer to the sun, and Jessica doesn’t think it’ll take much longer for her to burst into flames. She thinks that it would be safer and smarter if she backs away, but since when has love ever been safe or smart?

A/N: Spoiler alert: I'm pretty sure this Tiffany was at least somewhat inspired by wiwfts Tiffany. I think I intended for Tiffany to be some kind of immortal here, although not a vampire or one with actual supernatural abilities. Her magic tricks are just that, tricks. Also Krystal was probably my favourite character to write in this fic.