Words: 2,006
Disclaimer: see the thing is you need to have money to own things
Notes: It's 5:19am and I'm writing fanfiction about fairies and hair. But tumblr user flowerchildinthewild gave me the simple prompt Sabrina gives Puck a haircut and I surprised myself by writing more than 400 words. Guys. I haven't written this much in months, it might not seem like a lot and I am absolutely not satisfied with the quality and content of this but this is big for me a final year student. Therefore, I dedicate this to Rapunzel (for obvious reasons), Selena Gomez (whose hair was my inspiration for Sabrina's hair), and all the writers out there who, like me, are slowly wondering whether it's time to give up. News flash – it's never time to give up.
More Notes: This is a (newly!) established relationship fic. Puck and Sabrina are about 16 here, so Daphne is 11, and Baz is 5, if my math is correct. Please don't ask me about Elvis and Granny and whether they're in Ferryport Landing or in New York, it. doesn't. matter. It's almost 5:30am.
some of the worst mistakes
"And here… he… is!"
With more pizzazz than necessary, Veronica simultaneously whipped off the towel she'd wrapped across Puck's chest and swung the desk chair around with enough enthusiasm that Puck nearly tipped over and toppled onto the floor.
"Jeez, lady, you wanna handle your clients with a little more care?" Puck mumbled petulantly, ignorant of Henry's narrowed eyes. "Especially the royal ones."
The faerie reached up and ruffled his newly trimmed hair with both hands to get rid of any excess hair (not unlike a dog drying off its fur). After he was done, he sat up straight and faced the rest of the Grimm family with a waiting, expectant grin.
"Well?"
"Well?" Veronica repeated impatiently, an eyebrow rising.
Between Henry's unamused but uncertain frown, Sabrina's squinting eyes and pursed lips, and Daphne reaching up to quickly hide a hysterical giggle behind her fist, it was pretty obvious exactly what everyone thought. And if that wasn't clear enough, Veronica's doubts were confirmed when Baz suddenly ran into the room having been chased by Elvis, stumbled in front of Puck, took one look at the older boy and guffawed.
"Puck!" he squealed in laughter. "You look like a troll!"
Puck and Veronica reacted almost in sync: Veronica deflated comically and dropped her scissors with a nonplussed expression on her face, and Puck scrambled off of the desk chair, practically leaping to get to a mirror. At the sight of his once beautiful, now battered hair, the Trickster King released the tiniest of shrieks, a quiet and shrill one that only Elvis could really comprehend.
"Mama Grimm," Puck whispered to Veronica, who scoffed and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Why?"
"Oh, it can't be that bad!" Veronica flapped a hand at him. Puck's bottom lip trembled.
"It looks like shit," Henry said.
"Dad!" Sabrina and Daphne scolded him in unison. Basil giggled in pure glee. What a day this was turning out to be.
"I'm sorry!" Henry cried, raising his hands up in defense, looking reasonably apologetic and pointing at his youngest. "Don't ever say that word, Baz."
"Okay, Daddy," Basil giggled, nodding obediently but Sabrina recognized his mischievous smile. She'd be washing his mouth with soap before dinner.
"It does look bad, Mom," Daphne agreed with a weak smile, shrugging helplessly. "It's … lopsided and uneven and … "
"Sorry, your highness, but you're gonna need to shave your head," Sabrina concluded to Puck, piping in when Daphne broke into another fit of giggles.
"I can't look at you," Daphne gasped, covering her eyes with one hand and holding up the other to shield her face from the view in front of her.
"Did you have to … cut off so much on one side?" Henry observed, tilting his head as he studied Puck's new haircut. The faerie let out a weak sob at his comment and turned to inspect his reflection again.
"I was – I just followed – I did my best!" Veronica stuttered, turning a flustered shade of red.
"Mom," Sabrina said sincerely, calling Veronica's attention to her. "Please don't ever touch my hair."
Veronica groaned and Sabrina and Henry chortled with laughter.
"Fine! Laugh it up!" Veronica said, sticking her hands up in the air in defeat. "Let's see if any of you have dinner tonight."
She bent down to pick up the scissors and replace them on Daphne's dresser before pausing.
"Except you Puck, I'll order whatever takeout you want," Veronica mumbled sheepishly to her traumatized victim, who had torn his eyes away from the catastrophe that was his hair, settled back into Daphne's desk chair and stuffed his face in his hands.
"Chinese?" she offered.
"Thai," Puck mumbled sadly in response, beginning to rock back and forth in a lame attempt to comfort himself. Veronica nodded and hesitantly reached over to lay her hand on his shoulder, trying not to twitch or pull back when Puck flinched at her touch.
"Um," she started. "Sorry, Puck. Really. I'll look for something in the Hall of Wonders to help it grow back."
"Please," Puck muttered, apparently reduced to monosyllabic words.
Basil's tinkling laughter filled the air again.
"You can make the troll hair grow back?" he asked his mother. Sabrina and Daphne looked at each other, half in exasperation, half in amusement. These days they were never sure if Baz asked truly innocent questions or if he'd just adapted Puck's streak of mischief too quickly. Sabrina didn't want to admit it but she'd bet her entire month's allowance that it was the latter.
Veronica pressed her lips tightly in an impatient line and didn't grace her son with a response, instead storming out of the room with a giggling Baz and amused Henry right on her heels. Elvis padded out right after them, but not before giving Puck what could only be interpreted as a look of pity.
"I'm just gonna make sure she's alright," Henry whispered to his daughters as he slipped out of Daphne's room, which was starting to feel more like a crime scene than a bedroom.
"If Mom's alright?" Sabrina said incredulously. "I'm a little more worried about Not So Fresh Prince over here."
Henry rolled his eyes but couldn't help a little smirk.
"Then why don't you take care of your person, and I'll take care of mine?" he challenged his daughter – against his better judgement, he'd think later – before heading to the kitchen.
Sabrina tried to fight back a blush but could only narrow her eyes as her dad left the room.
"Wait!" Daphne cried. "That's actually a great idea!"
"What is?" Sabrina turned back to the situation at hand. Puck, on the other hand, seemed to be content with mourning and ignoring the sisters.
"You can fix this! I mean, you just cut your own hair literally less than a month ago and it's still on fleek–"
"Don't talk like that," Sabrina interrupted, her face pinching in annoyance. Next to her Puck stopped swaying, which she picked up on immediately.
"Oh, no, pixie boy," she protested. "Don't even think about it – I'm not cleaning up another one of your messes for you."
"Technically, it's Mom's mess," Daphne corrected helpfully.
"Either way," Sabrina said through gritted teeth, "it's not my mess."
"Aw, come on, Sabrina! Look at him!" Daphne urged, waving a hand towards Sabrina's devastated boyfriend.
"Yes, I'm aware," Sabrina said flatly. "But this isn't my problem! And you know what, maybe now he'll know how I felt when we were eleven and he was still dumping tubs of spaghetti on me."
"That's not fair, Sabrina," Daphne argued. Sabrina scoffed.
"You're the only one who can fix this now! I doubt Mom'll find anything in the Hall that'll save this," Daphne continued, ignoring a quiet whimper from Puck.
Sabrina opened her mouth to respond but faltered at the sound of Puck's verbal distress. Daphne brightened, catching onto her sister's hesitance instantly.
"Yeah?" she said, excitedly. "You'll do it?"
"Who are you, his attorney?" Sabrina snapped. "I can't fix this, he'll just have to wait a week or so, no big deal."
Puck's hand suddenly shot down and grabbed Sabrina's wrist, making her jump.
"Yes, big deal," he said in a voice that wasn't taking no for an answer.
"See?" Daphne grinned triumphantly. "Clearly it's now or never so you might as well, sis."
She turned around to pluck the scissors from her dresser and placed them into Sabrina's hands before the older girl could say anything else.
"And who knows, this might be a huge career shift for you," Daphne teased, clearly absolutely delighted. "And on that note, let us know when you're done, or alternatively we'll just let you know when the food's here, good luck!"
She sang the last few words as she walked out of her bedroom, leaving the two teenagers in a wake of her giggles and awful ideas.
"This is an awful idea," Sabrina said, but in a tone that was more a precaution and a warning than a vehement rejection of the plan.
"Any idea is better than what's going on up here," Puck replied, pointing to his head aggressively. "Why would your mother offer to cut my hair when she doesn't know a thing about scissors? Or hair?! And why would you let her?"
Sabrina couldn't help but smile at Puck's misfortune.
"We didn't know, okay! She's never cut any of our hair before and she seemed so excited so we didn't see anything wrong with it," she explained calmly.
"Well, now you see," Puck said, gesturing once more to his hair. "Now you see everything that's wrong with that picture."
"Unfortunately, I do," Sabrina agreed. Puck glared at her and she burst out laughing.
"Okay, I'm sorry! I'll do it," she said, reaching around him to grab the towel and rewrap it around his neck. "But only because I actually feel bad for you."
"Trust me, Grimm," Puck said, looking straight into her eyes. "Anything'll be better than this."
"Don't be so morose," Sabrina scolded, propping her chin up with one fist, already studying the task before her. "A quick trim may just do the trick."
Puck watched her curiously in silence as she inspected his hair before suddenly reaching up and tugging at her also recently chopped locks. Unlike his own blonde disaster, she had taken a good pair of scissors a little over three weeks ago and completely transformed her hair, which had previously reached the small of her back. Now it sat in a soft and light lob, ending right under her shoulders. At certain times of the day, Puck swore that her hair would shimmer. Now, with her natural curl, the lock of hair Puck caught in his finger simply bounced back in place, brushing her jaw.
"Grimm, if you make me look half as good as you, I'll be golden," Puck said, seemingly out of nowhere. Sabrina blinked, feeling a mild sense of whiplash. Puck didn't even seem to realize he'd said it himself, blinking and coming back to himself before stammering a follow-up to his abrupt declaration.
"I meant," he stuttered, and the combination of his red face and awful haircut made Sabrina want to laugh. "Even if I end up looking half as ugly as you, it'll still be an improvement from this. Is what I meant."
Sabrina scrunched her nose at his lame cover up and almost opened her mouth before deciding it didn't deserve any form of a comeback. Instead she glanced towards Daphne's open door quickly before leaning in to kiss him lightly, also seemingly out of nowhere. It was fleeting and so short that only after Puck had confirmed that yes, Sabrina was also blushing, was he positive that it had actually happened.
"I know what you meant," Sabrina said delicately, as if it was their little secret. (And really, it was.)
She swivelled the chair around so she could begin and just missed the start of a smile touching Puck's lips.
The second haircut only took about fifteen minutes, but it was fifteen minutes of awkward eye contact, Sabrina's cold fingers brushing against Puck's neck and sending shivers down his back, and the excruciating pain of having to watch her bite her lip in concentration and not being able to do anything about it. When she finished, he didn't just look better, he looked good ("Damn, Grimm, the Marshmallow's right - this could be your calling!"). The rest of the family thankfully thought the same, although Baz was visibly disappointed that Puck's troll hair wouldn't be making any more appearances, and Veronica was understandably miffed to be overshadowed in only fifteen minutes when the original haircut had taken her nearly an hour.
Still, they were invited to the table once the takeout arrived, and even though Puck smoothly transitioned back to his pigheaded habits and Sabrina easily slipped back to eye rolls and rapid-fire retorts, she still couldn't help but reach over and ruffle his new hair every once in a while. And he didn't even try to stop her.
- fin -
Notes: This is so hilariously unedited but I'm not even sorry. (But I might be when I wake up later.) If anyone's read the new editions of the series, holla and let me know if you've spotted any differences so far!