2020 EDIT: While going back through my old stories and deleting one of the useless chapters on here, it seems FFN flagged that as a story update. I guess I'll take this chance to clarify that this story was written in 2012, one of the first stories I wrote as a teen, and that it is effectively abandoned. I'm keeping this story up sort of as a fond memory of my first foray into fanfiction. Teen me quite enjoyed writing it.

A/N~ Ever read those fanfics where Puck seems to mature in one day? Don't you to think that everyone, even Puck, has to have their moment of weakness or turning point?

Change is never easy, let's see how our dear friend Puck is handling it…

Cold Feet

There were a lot of things Puck, otherwise known as the Trickster King, liked to say he was. Strong, superior, diabolic and extremely handsome to name a few. There was no doubt that he was indeed all those things and more.

But there was one thing the Trickster King wasn't and swore never to be; a coward.

All those dimwits who were too scared to take a risk and made life more boring than it had to be had always struck a nerve. What was life without a few risks? In his opinion, not knowing what was going to happen was the highlight of his existence. More opportunities to prank and have fun, that's for sure.

Yet, here he was, sitting at the Old Lady's kitchen table, moping. Not even the tantalizing smell of food could comfort him. And that was really saying something!

"Hey, Puck!" Daphne chirped, sitting down across from him. "What kind of birthday cake do you want? Chocolate, fudge, ice cream...the sky's the limit! It's not every day a fairy turns sixteen!"

Puck sighed, "Hallelujah. Big deal."

He loved the Marshmallow like his own sister, but sometimes he needed time alone. And reminding him that it was his birthday tomorrow only made things worse. As if he didn't know when his own birthday was!

Usually, he would be all over the place, demanding presents and yelling at random people for not making the day an official holiday. But today…today, it was the reason for his moodiness.

Daphne abruptly stopped writing in her notebook, where she had been making plans and looked up in shock.

"Are you, uh, feeling okay? How can you not be excited for tomorrow? I've been planning it out for ages!" The annoyed twelve year old girl exclaimed.

"Calm down, Marshmallow. If you don't get in control of all that anger, you'll turn into s'mores!" Puck remarked teasingly, determined not to answer the question. Why wasn't he excited for tomorrow? He couldn't even admit it to himself, let alone someone else.

His face must have betrayed his emotions because Daphne stopped ranting and looked at him with concern. Great, that was just what he needed. Sympathy. Ugh.

Daphne leaned closer and whispered softly,"It's about Sabrina, isn't it?"

Puck rocketed backwards. "What? No way. Uh-uh. That stink pot has nothing to do with it!"

"Do with what? Have you two had another fight?" A thought seemed to have suddenly struck her and she gasped. "Did you ask her out? Is that what happened? Did she say no? Oh, I'm going to kill her. You two are perfect for each other, she has to see it!"

Puck thought his head would explode into a million piles of goop. Then the Marshmallow would be sorry. Always making those wild assumptions! She wasn't even close. Like heck would Grimm refuse to go with him! He was superior! And he'd never ask her in the first place, she'd be lucky if he even looked at her without barfing!

But that's because you're too scared, a tiny part of him whispered. You're frightened of what will happen if she doesn't care enough for you or at least as much as you do for her.

He shook his head violently, trying to force away the thoughts that had somehow gotten inside him. He wasn't scared of anything! He was Puck!

The Marshmallow was still staring at him intently, waiting for an answer.

He had to do something to make her go away! Slowly, a mischievous smirk spread over his features as he leaned back against his chair and became his cocky self again.

"Like you and my brother are perfect for each other?" He asked casually.

"I knew it – wait, what?" She blushed furiously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Puck chuckled. It was funny how the Marshmallow chattered non stop about him and Grimm, but one word about Mustardseed and she would shut up like a clam.

"Oh, you know. I thought he was your soul mate or something, the way you always write about him in that book of yours. Something about his dazzling blue eyes?" Internally, he shuddered. To think that anyone thought his brother was good looking was beyond revolting. Not about to stop, he continued, "I admit, I was a bit insulted at one part. I thought I was the handsomest person you knew."

Daphne's eyes had gotten wider and wider as she listened to him. At the verge of popping, she stood up and in a threatening voice for someone so small, said, "How dare you read my dairy? If it isn't where I left it, I'm going to make you regret it!"

And with that she stormed upstairs, leaving behind a relieved and somewhat amused fairy.

He hadn't even touched her diary. Who wanted to waste perfectly good time reading? And then there were his allergies to consider! But it was worth a try to tease the Marshmallow and get her to leave him alone. He was so not in the mood for a lecture.

Now all he had to do was make his way to his bedroom without being seen.

Just then, Granny Relda stuck her head out of the kitchen.

"Puck!" She called while mixing a bowl full of a yellow and purple mixture that was giving off a toxic aroma. "Come try this, I need to know if it's sweet enough."

Most people would have run away from a dish like that. Not Puck. He'd eat it up and finish by licking the bowl, one reason why the Old Lady didn't usually let him taste food before it was done. He should have taken the golden opportunity, but he didn't. His stomach felt queasy and his chest felt heavy, like someone was pushing down on him, demanding an answer.

"I don't think so, Old Lady. I'm not hungry."

Granny Relda stared at him in astonishment as if not comprehending the answer that was given.

Muttering to himself, Puck quickly made his way towards the stairs, before anybody else could question his strange behavior. He was thinking about how unfair it was that he had to be thinking at all that he didn't even notice the blond coming down the stairs.

"Watch where you're going Booger Brain." Sabrina complained. "People are trying to walk here."

"Yeah, well I'm trying to think here!" He responded angrily without thinking.

"About what? How to count to three? Oh, whatever. Have you seen my cell phone? I can't find it anywhere! You better not have taken it!"

"Why would I want anything you touched? I'd get infected with that stupid puberty virus again!" Puck retorted.

He stormed past a surprised Sabrina and went to his room. Throwing open the door, he made his way to his trampoline and sprawled on top.

Puberty virus? Ugh. Why had he said that? He hadn't mentioned it for years and now Grimm would think he was trying to start another argument. Under different circumstances that would be awesome. He always loved seeing her reactions, always loved the attention she gave, instead of ignoring him as if he'd grown a third eye.

Throughout the past four years, their relationship had improved somewhat. There were the occasional pranks now and then; the screaming the yelling, too bad getting beat up hadn't disappeared.

But somewhere along the line, they had decided on a silent, yet mutual agreement. They wouldn't take it to the extreme and remain civilized. Well, as civilized as Puck could manage. Unfortunately, that meant taking baths, something Puck could stand to live without. But if he wanted Grimm-who actually didn't look so bad -to stand being in a room with him, he had to suffer through it. Plus, it was worth it to have all the girls in school swoon over him, especially when Sabrina got annoyed.

There it was again, he'd called her Sabrina! So many things in his life were changing; he wanted something, scratch that, he needed something to stay the same.

And then, although it was noon, he went to sleep.

Something furry was in Puck's face. It itched. A lot.

Why couldn't anybody leave him in peace? For Tom's sake-not Pete's-he just wanted to sulk!

He groggily opened one eye, only to find a chimpanzee towering above him.

He sat up and carefully put Kraven the Deceiver behind him.

"Sullivan! What is the meaning of this? Can you not see that I was resting?" Puck growled.

The chimp jumped up and down, scratched its armpits and finally brought out a small black item. He held it out to Puck and grinned, showing his disgusting and uneven teeth. He seemed extremely proud of himself.

Puck stared at it for a second before recognition dawned on his face.

"That's Sabrina's cell phone!" He exclaimed.

The chimp rolled his eyes as if to say, well duh!

When Puck didn't make any move to take it, the chimp sat down on the trampoline and pulled Puck's hair. What's wrong? the action seemed to say.

Puck sighed and took the phone from him.

"Sullivan, you're a good soldier. You understand the tactics of war. Right now, I'm fighting a losing battle. It's like I'm losing myself. Heck, it's like I'm getting cold feet!"

The chimp tilted his head, asking what in the world the state of his feet had to do with anything.

"Oh, I forgot you're a chimp, your feet are probably toasty all the time." Puck said, and then deciding that Sullivan didn't get the joke, he went on. "Basically, it's when you have doubts about something you chose to do and you're not sure if you want to do it anymore."

Sullivan nodded in understanding. Then he flapped his arms and screeched.

"What? Me? Have doubts? Scared? This is the Trickster King we're talking about, yeah right!" Puck replied.

Sullivan just looked at him until Puck put his hands up in surrender.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I'm not exactly sure of what to do anymore." Seeing the chimp listening intently, Puck continued. "All my life, I've known what to do. Have fun, explore, and prank until the sun dies. But now, it looks like I'm going to be dying first. I'm growing, Sullivan, and it sucks. All because of Grimm!"

"Aaaah! Ahhh!"Sullivan screamed.

"I don't like her! And I don't hate her either! I know she ruined the fireworks last time, but she's an okay person." At that, Puck got a dreamy expression on his face, but instantly snapped out of it when he saw the chimp smirking. It was a very strange sight.

"Oh, shut up." He grumbled, even though Sullivan hadn't said anything. "I'm almost sixteen now, just two years from eighteen, two years from becoming an adult forever! What will I do when there's no turning back? What if I change so much, I won't be the Trickster anymore?" At that thought Puck gasped. Then that wannabe Pan would take his place!

Puck groaned out loud. Everything was so complicated.

"Nowadays, I just want to go back to rolling in the mud and not having a care in the world." He stopped. There was something terribly wrong with that picture, there was no Grimm. He had to admit that Grimm was a part of his life now, whether he liked it or not.

He then spoke out loud the question that had been nagging at him all day.

"And if I do keep on growing, what'll happen?"

Finally having gotten everything off his chest, he felt immensely relieved. Lying down on the trampoline he pulled out Sabrina's cell phone. Daphne had just sent her a text message.

Bored and not knowing what else to do, he read it.

It's hard to believe, but your idiocy still surprises me.

Puck got up and stared at the screen. What did the Marshmallow mean by that? She was hardly ever rude to her sister.

Another text message.

I mean, you could have just talked to me about all this. I thought we were friends. But no, you had to go and be moody.

Puck's eyebrows knit with confusion. Moody? Last time he had checked, Sabrina was fine, if a bit annoyed. But, ooh, this was getting good! He eagerly awaited the next message.

Having a heart to heart conversation with a monkey? That's so typical of you.

At that Puck, swirled around and what he saw made his jaw drop to the ground.

There stood Sabrina, in all her Queen of Sneaks finery, grinning. She held Daphne's phone in her hand.

Puck was so shocked that all he could think to say was, "He's a chimpanzee!"

Sullivan jumped up and down in noisy agreement.

Sabrina smiled with amusement then just as suddenly she turned serious.

"Puck? Why didn't you tell any of us all that? Everyone was going crazy worrying about what was wrong with you!"

He held her gaze, "Even you?"

"I, uh, well of course! If you didn't feel better we wouldn't have a birthday party and I'm not depriving myself of cake because of you!"

"A likely excuse."

"Think what you want." She said, turning her nose in the air. "At least I'm going to turn sixteen!"

"Yeah, well so am I!"

Sabrina grinned and said, "Good. And for the record, even when your feet are frozen, I'll always be there to remind you what an epic fail you are.

"That better be a promise, Stinkpot."

"Oh, it is."

Suddenly, Puck felt a whole lot better. Whatever happened next would be okay. Even if he lived to be an old man, Grimm would be with him. And really, that was all the assurance he needed. He didn't need to change. He could still be Puck.

He tossed Sabrina the phone and smirked when she caught it in surprise.

Because, hey, some things were worth changing for.