A/N:
Sky: What can I say, I got bored at work and this scene was bugging me for being so bland. I mean, it went from Puck almost killing Sabrina to crying to saying he was sorry, and then the scene vanished. Sooooo I got bored and did my own take on what was going through our favorite trickster king's head. I don't know if anyone's already done this or not, if they have I haven't seen it and feel free to tell me where to go to find it in a review so I can read it :) This is just my own ramblings at being unsatisfied by a scene.
Unrelated to 'No Matter What' by Ayns and I, where she plays Puck. This is my take on his canon actions. Partially inspired by a scene from The Cutting Edge, where a character is talking about magnets flipping and being drawn to each other.
And don't worry people, I won't play Puck often XD I'll stick to what I'm better at. This is a solo one-shot, and hopefully even Ayns will like it XD
Told from Puck's P.o.V.
*****
Flip
*****
I always really hated the cliché 'time stood still'. Mostly because it was used a lot to describe romantic scenes where some hero and heroine in a tragic tale gazed lovingly into each other's eyes, or kissed for the first time.
Blech. Disgusting. I mean, I always had better things to do than listen to that drivel. Besides, I don't remember Shakespeare saying time stood still for any of his characters, and I knew the guy in person! His plays were full of that mushy crap.
So it was hard for me to think in that moment that time was standing still. It made more sense to say time had slowed down, but that still fit in the category.
She was falling off the tower, backwards with no way to catch herself. It had been an accident. I'd been so angry that she'd broken the cannon while I was trying to use it to show her how cool I was, I hadn't paid attention to where I was swinging it. If I had been paying attention, I might have noticed that not only was the trajectory perfect to smack Grimm in the chest, but gravity was still working and she had nowhere to go but down.
By the time I noticed those important facts, she was already on the way down, and I didn't have a prayer of getting there fast enough to catch her. My wings had fluttered impatiently and forced me to move, but the time it would have taken to transform to weigh myself down or swoop in to try and catch her would have squashed any effort I wanted to make to save her.
When my mind cleared enough to let me act, I was jumping after her, knowing it would be too late. In reality, only a few seconds had passed between my noticing and then jumping after her. I hadn't noticed soon enough. I hadn't been paying attention to her until I hadn't heard a retaliation insult.
The yell built up in my throat, though I'm sure it would have been drowned out by the fight taking place behind us. As I prepared to shout her name as if my words would catch her or make a difference, her descent came to an abrupt stop, something thin and decidedly fuzzy holding her just a few inches from what could have been a very messy death.
A tail.
The side effect to no longer being green, her tail had showed up, and lucky for us all… It was a monkey tail. I spent a lot of time around them, they made good soldiers, even though they needed a bit of discipline. I'd also been one, so I knew the tail would hold her there obediently. If it had been any other kind of tail, she probably would have died.
My wings slowed along with my heart rate. Wouldn't it be just my luck if Sabrina Grimm caused the Trickster King, the greatest fairy of all time, to have gray hair before adulthood? Ugh.
I'd always thought of myself and Sabrina as being like magnets. Only instead of just being drawn together, we repelled each other equally. Something to do with how magnets could stick together or shove each other away. You had to flip one magnet to make them compatible. But both of us were too stubborn to just flip and allow the pull to work the way it wanted to. Any time something happened between us, it would start halfway, the draw would be there, and then one of us would stubbornly counter it, refusing it.
Honestly, it was usually me. I don't have the time or attention span for that kind of nuisance. Girls expect things like mushy declarations, flowers, chocolates, dates, cards, talking about feelings. It's not for me. I mean, I won't say that having Grimm admire me is a bad thing. It's pretty awesome to have someone in awe of you, or in debt to you. That's simple for me. But I don't need to be tied down by a girl, a guy's gotta have his space.
It was the ever present need to impress her that started this trouble. She just never seemed to understand that I am one impressive guy! I saved her life all the time, I fought the Jabberwocky for her, I stood up to the Big Bad Wolf, you name it! But she was never impressed, even when it almost got me killed.
Maybe that was why I was trying to take the cannon from her. I mean, it's not like she couldn't use it. She was pretty cool even, wiping out so many Scarlet Hand members. But she wasn't giving me a turn to show her that I was better, and that was so frustrating… How would she admire me if I sat back and let her do all the work?
My descent slowed to a hover as I neared her, and I couldn't keep my face from trembling a little as I looked at her. She was so bewildered and completely fragile, hanging off the ground. I expected her to hate me for almost killing her; for being so incredibly reckless with her human life.
She swiveled around to look at me, the familiar and usually fun anger blazing in her eyes. "I bet you think this is hilarious. Look what you did to me with your stupid pranks. I have a tail!"
Did I look like I was laughing? Well, in all fairness so she was so angry she probably couldn't tell just how upset I was. And if the tail had come out during dinner or a serious moment, I would have laughed myself into a coma. Given the circumstances though, I couldn't even remember how to laugh at all.
"I'm sorry."
I didn't say the words often. After all, a King should never have to apologize for his actions. The peons would just have to get used to the outcome and assume the ends would justify the means. And if they didn't like the ends? Well, too bad for the peons.
But what else could I say to her after that little stunt? I don't think I've ever been sorry for anything I'd done to her. Most of my ideas had been pretty brilliant, though I was a little (tiny, barely, not even) sorry about drawing on her face with that permanent marker. I usually like how she looks, and the marker had made her look like a feminine pirate wannabe.
That was cool and all, but I'd kissed her while she looked like that. Ick.
And apparently, she was as stumped by my words as I was.
"What?" her face had gone blank, as if she wasn't just hovering inches from the ground by a tail listening to a King tell her he was sorry. I guess I couldn't blame her for the stupid response.
Still, as much as I wanted to try and joke about what had just happened, the words wouldn't come out. I reached out and grasped her firmly, helping her get down on her feet. Seeing her in one piece, staring up at me from the ground, helped me continue.
"I almost killed you. I'm sorry, Sabrina."
I hurried to wipe my eyes on the hoodie I was wearing, not wanting her to see that I'd almost started crying from admitting what I'd done out loud. That made it way too real for me, and I didn't want to think about it. Hopefully the fact that I'd accidentally said 'Sabrina' instead of 'Grimm' would distract her.
"Since when do you care?" I heard her ask incredulously.
Hah. Good question. I had no freaking idea, and I didn't answer her.
I liked playing pranks on her and getting her riled up, but I didn't like the idea of her being gone. Who would I fight with? She said we'd be married in the future somehow. I hadn't thought about it often, but now that I was standing there with her, right after almost causing her death, I could remember the blonde man who had spoken to me back then. Yeah, that had obviously been me. He had told me to be nicer to Sabrina, because she would be important to me later.
She was important to me now. This was hardly 'later'. Later was supposed to be like… Years in the future where I didn't have to deal with it yet. This was too soon. Why was I even considering giving in? It was easier to push it back and deal with it later.
I didn't find a verbal answer before Snow and Charming arrived and told us to retreat. But really, it turned out to be simple. And here I thought an epiphany was more of a big deal.
Sabrina was not going to change. I didn't want her to, either. She was headstrong, annoying, sometimes incredibly stupid and dishonest, (okay maybe I'd like her to be more honest, all she ends up doing in the end is getting herself in more trouble…) but I liked the way she was. It was fun.
The truth was, when I'd knocked her off that tower, I was the one who had changed. My magnet, so to speak, had flipped. What a simple, obvious, and life-changing answer.
Well, if I was heading down that path, I may as well try to enjoy it. Besides, it wasn't like I was gonna say anything right then and there. I'm still lucky she's alive and too confused to try to kill me.
I stopped fighting it that day, but I had no idea if the feeling would last once we fell back into a normal routine, and I didn't have to worry about her getting squished, charred, eaten, or thrown off a building when I turned away. The flip wasn't necessarily permanent, after all.
But maybe… Just maybe, and hopefully… I wouldn't want to flip back when this was all over.
Now that time was done with the stupid 'slowing down' and 'standing still', and I'd had my stupid epiphany, I had a mission in mind. I was going to get me a dragon, save the day, and impress the crap out of Sabrina Grimm. If that didn't do it, nothing would.
*****
A/N:
Sky: Well, since the 8th book isn't out, I have no idea where their relationship went/is going. I mean in the short term, not the long run where they got married and yada yada. Hopefully this isn't horribly OOC or anything. I don't do One-shots that often. If you flame me then um… Bah don't flame me it's too hot in Alaska right now and I'd just turn into ashes on the spot.
Thanks for reading ^^