Surprise, @thegrimmsisters I’m your secret Santa! Sorry, your present is so late but I hope you like it
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Sabrina had fond memories of Christmases before Ferryport Landing. Waking before the sun rose, dragging a half-asleep Daphne out of bed, racing down the hallway to their parents’ room. Flinging herself onto the bed between the two of them, begging for it to be time to open presents. The roasted smell of Veronica’s coffee, cup already made and half-empty in her hands, no matter how early Sabrina woke up.
She remembered tearing into wrapping paper and bags, spending the morning in a haze of toys and books and candy for breakfast. Remembered the smell of Henry’s cooking drifting through the air. Of bacon and eggs, turkey and ham and mashed potatoes. Normal food, he would call it, with a certain emphasis she never understood until later. Of eating so much she could hardly move and passing out, full and happy, tucked between her parents and Daphne on the couch as they watched Christmas movies.
Christmases before were quiet. Peaceful.
But now, Christmas was a battlefield.
Between the family effort of waking Daphne up (with an overly impatient Jake threatening to burn all of her gifts if she didn’t wake up right away and why couldn’t they just leave her and open all of their presents until she woke up), to making sure no one interacted with Veronica until after she had her coffee, to Henry purposefully dragging his feet to egg Jake on, and Mr. Canis attempting to lock himself in his room to spend the morning meditating.
Granny spent most of the day before cooking up strange objects that could hardly be described as food. All of which she would try to feed everyone throughout the day. Pinocchio critiqued everyone’s presents until Mr. Canis threatened to throw him outside. Red sat and smiled and thanked everyone before tucking herself into the one quiet corner to draw with her new supplies. Daphne attempted to make it snow inside the house, and just ended up making it rain that had everyone scrambling for cover. Elvis jumped on every discarded piece of wrapping paper, delighting in the crinkled noise, and trying to eat everyone’s food.
It was loud and crowded and hectic, filled with candy bargaining, stealing, and smelly and disgusting food, with Henry sneaking normal food from his secret stash to Sabrina when Granny wasn’t looking.
But her most formidable opponent? Puck.
The first year the fairy had Christmas with the Grimms- after all the death and chaos of the Scarlet Hand, after spending most of the year traveling with Jake- Puck had taken to the concept of gift-giving with an eagerness that should have been suspicious.
Sabrina had been fooled into thinking he had just grown up. That thought had shattered when she had torn open her gift just for the box to explode in a burst of goopy-sticky-smelly mess that coated her skin for days. Anger had heated her face while the fairy-boy dissolved into a fit of raucous laughter, howling up at the ceiling.
Her mistake had been thinking he was anything but a child. His mistake had been not keeping an eye on her.
And that was how she had ended up spending most of Christmas in the shower, fuming, and how Puck had ended up with a black eye and a bruise on his stomach the distinct size of Sabrina’s fist.
But she swore that day that she would get him back.
She spent the months leading up to Christmas in preparation. Ironing out the perfect plan. The one that would put her on top and teach him just what happened when he tried to mess with the Queen of Sneaks. In the end, it was a simple plan. And she had a secret weapon to make sure it went off without a hitch.
That morning, as they made their way down the stairs, her socked feet brushing against the floor, Puck sidled up to her, lips curled in mischief.
“Are you ready to open your present, ugly? I got it specially made for you.”
Sabrina glanced at him and gave a thin smile. “That’s very sweet of you, fairy-boy. I knew under all that dirt, you really were a giant softie.”
He scowled and she pushed past him into the living room, her grin widening, and settled down onto the floor beside Daphne. Everyone else filed in and took their seats, Uncle Jake sighing dramatically from the back until Henry jabbed his elbow into his side before following Veronica into the kitchen.
After the chaos of the year before, Granny had attempted to instill some semblance of order by making them open their presents one person at a time, starting with the youngest and going to the oldest. Something that Jake had argued against. But instead of following their actual ages, she wanted to go by the age they looked, which meant that Puck went after Red, so it wouldn’t be long before Sabrina tasted sweet revenge.
Excitement tingled across her skin, but she forced herself to stay as still as possible. Watched as Red and Daphne opened their presents, fingers tapping against her knee. She smiled at all the right moments and watched from the corner of her eye as Puck watched her, brows crinkled in confusion. She waited until he was looking right at her before she sent a surreptitious glance at a present wrapped in shining green paper under the tree; the one she had gotten for him. She didn’t even have to look at him to know that he had followed her stare, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Puck went after Red. Shooting Sabrina a quick, suspicious glance, Puck reached for the green present, frowning down at the gift. His eyes cut back up to her and his lips curled in a smug tilt. He hefted the present in one hand and threw it against the wall where it blew in a shower of sticky goop.
Mr. Canis frowned at the mess, holding Elvis back before he could lick it off the walls. “This is going to happen every year, isn’t it,” he muttered.
Puck turned back to Sabrina, every inch of him oozing confidence and superiority. “Nice try, ugly. But you can’t out-trickster the Trickster King.”
Sabrina sighed and shrugged her shoulders. “Oh darn, I guess there’s always next year.”
Veronica, still sipping her coffee, caught Sabrina’s eyes and slowly began to inch away from Puck, leaving her husband alone beside the fairy, too engrossed in his own coffee to pay attention to what was happening.
Red glanced at Sabrina before pushing a present towards Puck. “This one is from me,” she said.
Puck pulled the box towards him with an eager grin. His fingers scrambled for the edges in the paper, tearing tape and ripping snowmen in half in his haste to get it open. The box exploded in a spray of glitter and perfume.
Henry frowned down at his coffee cup, bits of glitter floating in the liquid, and sighed forlornly. Granny patted his shoulder and smiled, “Next year, lieblings, we’ll open presents outside.”
Puck blinked, pink and gold glitter fluttering from his eyelashes as he gaped.
Daphne giggled. “You look just like a fairy now!”
Sabrina grinned and winked at Red, who gave her a small, satisfied smile. “Smell like one too. Gumdrops and sugar plums.”
Puck turned to her, still sputtering in disbelief. “How did you . . .I had minions guarding the trees.”
Sabrina felt her vindication increase when bits of glitter puffed out with every word. It would take days for all that to wash off. And he would have to take a shower. Two birds with one stone. She leaned down, close enough to whisper, but not close enough to risk getting glitter on her clothes. “I’m the Queen of Sneaks, glitter-fairy. Don’t forget it, or next year, it’ll be much worse.”
From the glint in his eyes, the challenge had been accepted. And maybe he was covered in glitter and grinning, broad and excited, with that light in his eyes. And maybe it made her chest twist, her breath catch, and excitement of her own bloom in her chest. And maybe she was already thinking of plans for next year, of tricks and sneaks and ways to beat him to the ground.
And maybe Christmas wasn’t going to be like the quiet ones she remembered having before. But, really, she was starting to be fine with that.
