Puck hadn't meant to stay gone for so long.
He originally planned to go with Jake a few months, maybe a year at the most, but the weeks turned into months and then the months turned to years. They visited a few times in the first couple years, the occasional Christmas and a few important birthdays; but their visits grew further and further in between. They were simply too far away and having way too much fun to come back too often.
First, they traveled through the human world - across all seven continents, through rain forests and deserts. They were nearly killed in Paris, thrown out of London, and chased throughout Rome. Then once they had experienced all the human world could offer, they made their way through the Everafter worlds - they blew apart Oz, caused chaos in Wonderland, and nearly burned down Sherwood Forest. They even caused a civil war in Neverland (after heavy persuasion from Jake, Puck finally agreed to step foot into Neverland, and even then only to tear it apart).
Puck knew he couldn't outrun Faerie forever, though, and he knew his mother and brother were growing impatient. After seven years of causing chaos in the world alongside Jake Grimm, Puck returned to Faerie.
And he didn't tell a single soul.
Sure, it would have been easy to pick up the phone, maybe even stop by and say "hey", but how was he even supposed to start that conversation? "Sorry, I know it's been years since I've seen you, and despite the whole winning a war together, saving each other's lives countless times, and the whole "will we or won't we" thing, I haven't stopped by or even called. Anyway, how the heck are ya?"
Jake wasn't any better. He stayed home for a total of six weeks and then was back on the road again. Only this time without Puck.
But the Grimms didn't need to know that.
Faerie was growing rapidly and Puck knew he had to stay. Titania was overjoyed when Puck showed back up unannounced at the royal mansion. Mustardseed seemed to be happy, though Puck wasn't sure whether Mustardseed actually missed his brother or he was just happy to not be responsible for the throne anymore. But everyone was taken aback by the state of his new appearance. Because while he was gone, Puck continued aging and he had indeed grown into quite a handsome young man.
After countless complaints from Jake about Puck's smell in random cramped living spaces, he finally relented and took the very occasional shower whenever one proved possible. And refusing baths was completely out of the question once he returned to the kingdom. All teenage acne had healed, his voice had finally stopped randomly squeaking, and after quite a few extremely awkward talks with Jake, Puck had finally grown up, and girls and boys alike were taking notice.
But even though both men had countless opportunities throughout their travels, Jake never so much as touched another girl. He was still heartbroken from Briar, and refused to even think about ever being with another woman, rightfully so. Meanwhile Puck was...well, Puck was a bit of a flirt. He was handsome and he knew it, so why shouldn't people from all over be attracted to him? He was more than happy to entertain them back, a cocked mischievous grin and maybe even a kiss here and there. But he had one rule. Although Jake tormented him about it constantly, Puck never, ever, not in a million years, ever did a single thing more.
He didn't think of himself as pure or anything like that, he just didn't have any kind of desire to actually do anything with some random girl. And they never stayed anywhere for long, so it was pointless to ever build any sort of relationship. And despite Jake's constant teasing, Puck assured himself it had absolutely nothing to do with a certain blonde haired girl back home. He was adamant that he never thought, wondered, or cared about her. Although he couldn't help it if she crossed his mind every so often. Or constantly.
Okay, fine, so he saw her everywhere he went. Every blue eyed, blonde girl filled his heart with momentary hope. The monkeys in the jungles brought him back to their first kiss. Even the poisoned apples they narrowly avoided eating in Oz reminded him of how he learned she truly loved him. He would be lying if he didn't admit that the thought of leaving early had crossed his mind countless times.
So why was he avoiding her? He was only a few hours outside of Ferrypoint Landing, he could easily give the kingdom over to Titania and Mustardseed for a few days, maybe a few weeks, and see her. It had been seven years, after all, plenty to catch up on. Then the thought of it crossed his mind, of going back home and seeing her draped on the arm of some random guy. Of seeing her happy with someone else, in love and moved on. She had probably forgotten all about him.
The thought of seeing that was enough to deter him from coming back home all those countless times and it was certainly enough to keep him avoiding her now. The rest of the Grimms, too. He chose to leave for years, he would have to deal with the consequences of missing everything. He didn't think himself to be emotional on any level, but he couldn't bring himself to go back. So, he threw himself into the royal duties of running a kingdom. Even though he had grimaced and gagged at the thought of ever taking on any royal task for years, it was all he let himself think about recently. Puck had been back home for nearly half a year when everything started going haywire.
The kingdom was, in fact, growing with the barrier now down, and all the Everafters in New York City still looked to him as their king. But with more people meant more problems. And Faerie was definitely having problems.
It started with the news that New York City citizens had spotted "multiple flying humanoid figures" over Manhattan. Then, the statue started randomly opening and closing the portal to the restaurant. There had been dozens of recent cases of a human randomly wondering in on a diner filled with pixies, godfathers, and talking animals and pastries. Talking mice were found in the subway, and one man was turned into a frog right in the middle of times square. Soon, cases of oddities and unexplained occurrences were popping up all around the city.
They were running out of forgetful dust.
Puck took to avoiding the other inhabitants of the kingdom as much as possible. He grew tired of answering their frantic questions and angry demands for explanations. His pixie minions bothered him on a daily basis. His "fake it till you make it" approach was growing harder and harder to keep afloat. Mustardseed had always been better than him at these kinds of things.
Your Majesty! squeaked his swarm of pixie minions. Puck groaned. He was sitting in his study doodling on the edges of reports he was brought earlier that morning. Your presence is requested in the main restaurant, they squeaked.
"No can do," Puck sighed "Tell whoever it is that I am handling extremely important matters and can't be bothered".
The swarm twinkled in response and zipped away. Puck had spent all day conversing with half of the Everafters in Brooklyn about a loose pegasus flying through the streets and did not feel like hearing anymore terrible, distressing, or odd news. Not long after, however, Mustardseed burst into the room.
"Puck, stop being childish." he snapped. "Your presence is required in the main restaurant."
"Why yes, Mustardseed, please do come in," Puck said sarcastically. Mustardseed didn't respond. Puck sighed "While I appreciate the compliment, dear brother, as you can see, I am extremely busy at the moment." Mustardseed again said nothing and simply glared at him, the same demanding stare their mother used.
"Ugh, fine!" Puck groaned, rising from his chair "But only if you buy me food." Mustardseed grumbled some unintelligible curse and together the two young men stepped into the hallway.
They walked for a moment in silence. "So, who has the pleasure of being granted my presence?" Puck asked, attempting to lighten the mood.
Mustardseed took a deep breath, as if bracing himself for something. "I called in some help," he said quietly.
"Oh, like new servant or restaurant waitress? Why would you need me so desperately for that?" Puck asked, annoyed. His was really only half listening.
"No, not that kind of help" Mustardseed said quietly, not meeting Puck's eyes, "detective help."
Puck furrowed his brow "Detectives? Why exactly would we need detectives?" He asked.
"I figured it was time to call for a certain...set of skills for these circumstances." Mustardseed said cautiously.
Puck hesitated "Who exactly did you call, Mustardseed?"
Mustardseed cleared his throat and continued. "A family who is particularly...ahem...familiar with these kinds of situations."
Puck stopped dead in his tracks. No. No, surely, he couldn't possibly have meant those detectives.
"You didn't," he breathed. Mustardseed said nothing. Puck took his silence as conformation. Puck felt close to hyperventilating and his heart leaped into his throat "Why didn't you ask me first?" he exclaimed.
"Because I knew you would say no." Mustardseed stated matter-of-factly.
"Well, duh!"
Mustardseed turned to face him, irritated. "Puck, face it! We need help. Things are starting to grow out of control. This is starting to go beyond Faerie, and if we don't find its cause soon, it could wreak havoc through the entire Everafter community!"
Puck felt the walls start to close in around him. He knew Mustardseed was probably right, but he wasn't anywhere near prepared for this! He needed some time to think. And by think, he meant run far away very quickly.
"Forget it! We don't need their help! I can handle this!" Mustardseed gave him an unconvinced look. "Look, the only "help" they could give is making the entire place reek with their stench!"
However, as Puck turned to stomp back to his study, he heard the groan of the large double doors at the end of the hallway slowly creak open. He nearly yelled in frustration; he could not handle any more surprises. He turned back, annoyed, ready to tell whoever it was to beat it. Instead, he turned and felt his breath hitch in his throat.
Time stopped and he was frozen at the spot. There in the middle of the grand doorway stood a certain blue eyed, blonde haired young woman. He felt his heart pound and he had to slowly remind himself how to breathe. All grown up now, just as he was, she looked just as beautiful as he remembered before he left, if not more.
And she looked furious.