On the way back to the apartment, Loona cradled a sleepy Balin in her arms like a baby, as he tried to stay awake after their milkshake filled sunset cuddle in No-Name Town to end their day together.
If she was being honest, Loona had more of an amazing day than he did.
She couldn't recall having that much fun, especially with somebody else, since a big party she was invited to in the Gluttony Ring. Or... maybe ever, considering her isolated nature with other demons.
It was then her smartphone started ringing in her pocket. She wanted to pick it up right away, but seeing Balin in her arms, she quickly went over to a bench near the curb and rested him close to her, even if there were a few shady demons prowling along.
"Here you go, Balin." she gently spoke, wrapping her tail around him. "Now keep this wrapped around you just in case. Gotta take this quick."
The boy then yawned with a nod as he kept going in and out. After a while of not having so much fun, today's adventures really took a lot of out of him.
Loona then picked up her ringing phone to see it was her friend, Vortex, who was calling her.
Her eyes widened seeing this and quickly took it before it could go to voicemail.
"Yeah? It's Loona? Go for it?" she answered, trying to sound flat before nervously giggling.
"Oh. Hey Loona." Tex answered. "Is now a good time or...?"
"Yes! Of course it is!" she said wagging her tail fast before clearing her throat nervously again. "I mean, I don't see a reason not to talk, so... w'sup?"
"Well, me and Bee were wondering, it's been a while since the last party we invited you to, so you wanna party with us again tonight?
ELSEWHERE, in GLUTTONY...
Vortex stood outside he and his girlfriend's mansion in the Gluttony Ring.
"We've got your favourites this time. Heavy metal, beezlejuice with less of the sauce, all that jazz." he continued.
BACK TO THE CURB...
"Oh yeah, sure. Yeah, I'm down for a night of..."
Loona was about to finish but surprisingly stopped to think about Balin, as he tossed and turned a little in Loona's tail. She still had feelings for the gentle giant since they met during a bet during Spring Break between Blitzø and his ex, but she knew he had a girlfriend that he introduced her to at that last hound party, and on top of that, having Balin in her life suddenly became a priority.
So taking a deep breath, Loona ultimately made her decision.
"Loona? Girl, you there? You okay?" asked Tex through the phone.
"Actually Tex, I'd love to, but... I can't. Not tonight." said Loona in a calm tone. "I'm currently taking care of a kid."
"Oh, a kid? You a babysitter now?" Tex then asked again in surprise.
"No, no, it's not like that!" flushed Loona in defence. "Well... it's a little something like that. His parents were sent away and he's..."
"Oh man." gasped the male hellhound quietly. "Hope he's going strong so far."
"He is. We found him during one of our missions a couple of nights ago." she then looked down at the boy. "My colleagues like him a great deal, and frankly, so do I."
GLUTTONY:
Tex wasn't expecting this much of a 'sorry to decline' from his strongly independent friend, but he still understood.
"So you taking care of him until they get out or something?" he then spoke again.
"Yep. His name's Balin and he's a really cute kid."
"Balin, eh? Wow. Cool name." replied Tex with a little impression. "Is it okay if I speak on the phone with him?"
BACK TO THE CURB...
"Oh. I'll ask him." Loona then put her hand over her phone and looked to Balin. "Hey little bud, my friend Vortex wants to say hi to ya. Is that okay?"
"Is he a demon too?" Balin asked her curiously.
"Yeah. He's a hellhound, like me." she replied. "But don't worry. He's kind."
Balin then thought about it then gave Loona a little nod.
"OK, he said he'd like that." smiled Loona. "Just don't bring up the thing. He's still pretty upset about it."
"Gotcha. I'll chat to ya again in a bit."
Loona then held the phone down to Balin's ear as he nervously spoke.
"H-Hello?"
"Hey there, Balin. Name's Vortex." spoke Tex in a cherry voice. "I'm Loona's friend."
"Oh. It's, it's nice to chat with you Mr. Vortex." Balin then said happily, with Loona giggling at his kindness.
"Aww, it's okay, little man. I love the manners, but you can call me Tex." he chuckled through the phone. "All my other friends do."
"I'm... I'm your friend?" Balin replied excitedly.
"Mm-hmm. So it's nice to chat with you too."
Loona could see that Balin was starting to feel more brave talking to him. He may not have known what he looked like yet, but it was off to a great start.
"So you've been having fun with Loona, little man?" asked the male hound.
"Yes I am, Tex." replied Balin. "Loona's a very good girl who saved my life."
Loona blushed in awe hearing that from him. But only a little.
"Well that's very nice." said Tex in a smiling voice. "Say, how'd you like to meet with me sometime? Maybe tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow?" Balin replied in surprise again.
"Absolutely. We can get to know each other a little more. Does that sound fun?"
"Where would you like to meet me at?" Balin then asked.
"I do have a coffee run to do for my other friends in the morning, so why not the cafe?"Tex then suggested.
"I'd be happy to meet you there." smiled Balin in his cheerful tone.
"Alright little man. See you tomorrow then."
"Bye-bye Tex."
Loona then held her phone up to her ear again. "Guess I'll be seeing ya at the cafe too, eh?" she chuckled.
"Yeah, you probably will. See ya later too, Loona."
"You're the best, Tex. Thanks." Loona then blew him a kiss before hanging up. And blushing in embarrassment.
But shaking it off, she stood up from the bench and held Balin's hand gently as they continued the journey home.
"Hey, kiddo, thanks for saying all that about me." she said to him in a modest tone. "I don't really get those out here, but that was really nice."
"You're welcome, Loona." said Balin.
AT LOONA'S APARTMENT...
The three imps walked out of Loona's spare bedroom in her apartment with paint smocks on, having completed something very special for Balin.
"Ah, great work M&M." congratulated Blitzø. "Looks like Balin'll be living in paradise in no fucking time at all."
"I'll have to agree with you on that one, sir." Moxxie patted his shoulder.
"Don't make the moment weird, Moxx. I'm still your boss." the boss then spoke flatly as he walked up to the door.
Blitzø looked through the see-through hole in the door to see if the two returned yet or were about to.
"You did pretty damn good yourself, Moxx." Millie kissed her husband's cheek.
"Thanks hun." smiled Moxx, wiping a tear off of hers. "You okay?"
"Sorry, I'm just so excited to see the little guy's cuter face when he sees this." Millie started getting choked up.
"Yeah... so am I." said a rather warm Blitzø as he kept looking through the door hole. "I commend you also, Moxx. Who knew you were so good with paint?"
"It was one of my interview questions, sir." replied Moxxie flatly.
"But I haven't seem to put that to good use before today, haven't I?" Blitzø smugly shot back.
Soon, he saw the two walking up from the left side of the hall.
"Alright M&M! Places everyone!" the boss pathetically shouted in a whisper.
"Subtle sir! Subtle!" Moxxie whispered correctly.
"Shush puss! Shush!" Blitzø spoke back as he closed the spare room door with them in there.
Loona then unlocked the apartment door and walked in with Balin just in time.
As the boy laid down on the couch, Loona silently knocked on the spare room door then walked over to Balin before tickling his feet to get him to stand up. And it worked.
"Oh Balin." she smiled softly swishing her tail around. "I think the others have a surprise waiting in this room for you."
Blitzø then opened the door slightly giving him a thumbs-up and an excited smile.
Balin slowly walked over to the room holding Loona's hand again, as the boss imp opened the door more slowly to reveal in surprise... his newly designed bedroom.
The bland-coloured walls in the room were now covered in Navy-blue chalkboard paint, along with the ceiling which had little glow-in-the-dark star stickers and little planets hanging from it like a mobile. And there were a few more items in the room too; such as a gumball machine filled with M&Ms, a doggy alarm clock, and posters of different movies and musical influences like Queen, ELO, and the Beatles.
Balin walked up to the alarm clock and when he touched it, it went off with the puppy figurine on top coming to life, barking and licking his face. The little boy's laughter and happy expression warmed the others' hearts to see he liked all this.
Even Loona had to admit in secret, she was gonna have to dump the wake-up call treatment seeing as though this clock would do it for her. But she still intended on doing that for certain occasions.
"You guys did all this for me?" Balin turned to the others with an emotionally joyful look on his face.
"Yep. Anything to make you feel at your new home, champ." Blitzø ruffled his hair. "I made the design ideas for this room. Multiple times."
"And we've been working on this room all day, just for you darling." Millie explained further.
"AND I picked out the paint, the blankets, the decorations, all of it." Moxxie then finished as Blitzø put a hand on his shoulder for gratitude as he continued. "So whenever you feel alone in here at times, you can lay on your bed looking at the stars."
"Kinda reminds me of Stolas, saying that." Blitzø thought out loud hearing that.
Loona and the other two imps chuckled.
"This is why we had the day off. Isn't it?" he asked Loona with a smile.
"Surprise, kiddo." sang Loona with her arms crossed.
Balin then started getting happily teary and the gang soon noticed.
"Oh sweetie, what's wrong?" Millie asked quickly.
"I'm okay, Aunty Millie." sniffled Balin. "I love it so much. You're the nicest demons I've ever met."
"AWWW!" went Millie before she wrapped her arms tightly around him for a nice and warm hug. Moxxie and Blitzø then joined in while Loona just stood in her crossed-arms position but still smiled.
"Oh! And check this out! We also got you a little something else." Moxxie continued, as Millie broke the hug and opened the bedroom closet to show him his clothes stacked neatly on one end, but on another, was a wide-screen TV above a drawer he could put his movies and video games in.
"TA-DA!" the married couple sang, as Balin's mouth went wide open. Loona was just as impressed seeing this as well.
"Is that for me?"
"Yes it is, sugar." cooed Millie.
"We were just halfway through making this room and we thought; what better way to feel at home here than a little home entertainment?" explained Moxxie. "So... TV in your closet, and..."
Moxxie then grabbed the remote, and turned the TV on to show a little static buffering.
"Heh heh. Brand new things, am I right?" he chuckled.
Soon, the TV then turned on to show channels from not only Hell, but also from Earth, particularly the kid's home town in Australia.
"Wait... that's Better Homes and Gardens." Balin gasped as Loona chuckled as well, knowing what this meant. "But how did you...?"
"Good thing there's a cable intercepted from the human world down here." giggled Millie as she wrapped her arm around Moxxie's neck.
"Really? YAY!" cheered Balin in his happiness.
"So kiddo? Is there anything you'd like to say to Aunty Millie and Uncle Moxxie?" asked Loona.
"Mmhmm." replied Balin, before turning to each of the imps.
"Thank you, Uncle Moxxie." Balin then gave a blushing Moxxie a hug as he patted his head.
"Thank you, Aunty Millie." he then gave another hug to Millie, along with a kiss on the cheek which she returned.
"Thank you, Mr. Blitzø." Balin then gave him a hug, as Blitzø playfully ruffled his hair to make him laugh.
And then, the best for last. He turned to Loona.
"And thank you, Loona." he said, making his way over to her for a hug. Which she was willing to accept.
She kneeled down and opened her arms for him to embrace her, and with her tail swishing back and forth, they did just that.
The imps went 'aww' at the relationship again before Loona rolled her eyes at them with a smirk, having let them see that only once.
Blitzø then wiped his eye with a tissue, seeing his adopted daughter show some love for even a mere human child like that.
"Alright people, I've had one too many emotions for today. Who wants some pizza to celebrate?" Blitzø asked with an excited sniffle as he held up his phone.
"I call meat-lovers!" dibbed Balin in an excited mood also, making Loona laugh knowing she loved that flavour as well.
So as M went out to the couch to watch TV, Blitzø got started with the order as he watched Loona and Balin lay on the bed for a cuddle. He then smiled seeing him give Loona little scratches on her cheek, making her softly pant like a normal dog in private once again.
As he did that, Balin soon fell asleep on the bed, and both she and Blitzø chuckled noticing this.
"C'mon kiddo, don't you want pizza for dinner tonight?" she giggled in a soft whisper.
"Eh, he'll probably have it for brekky tomorrow." chuckled Blitzø some more. "Today must've taken a lot outta him."
"He does look cute whenever he's asleep anyway." Loona replied to her adopted dad before looking back at the boy and softly tracing along his back with her claws.
Soon, she yawned and decided to hit the hay with him too. "Perhaps I'll have some tomorrow too." she shrugged groggily, wrapping her arms around the boy. "Night, Blitzø." As she said that, Loona then saw Blitzø standing there all frozen-like. "What?"
"Oh, nothing." he replied softly. "I just love seeing you act so motherly for the kid."
"Ooh, shut up you." she snorted with a blush.
Blitzø then exited the spare... Balin's new bedroom as Loona took off his shirt and began putting on his PJ top, but before she could do his pants next, she felt him trying to reach for her tail in his sleep. So she wrapped it around his waist as he gently wrapped one arm around it to snuggle with, before he was completely out for the evening.
Loona found it quite adorable seeing him do that in his sleep and his PJs, she couldn't resist grabbing out her phone and taking a quick selfie of them together.
She positioned her phone at a high-angle to where they were sleeping, and with one eye open to look cool, she bleeped her tongue out next to the boy's cheek to pretend she was licking it as he slept before taking the picture.
After taking it, she decided to send it to Tex to show him he'd be meeting tomorrow morning, with a message saying:
"Look who's excited 2 meet U tomorrow."
MEANWHILE, AT THE PARTY...
As Tex was filling up kegs of alcohol for his girlfriend's party, he then got a notification on his phone and picked it up to see Loona's message and pic of her with the kid.
The human kid.
Tex was even more surprised than ever seeing this. Despite a little worry, he became more intrigued than ever. His worry soon disappeared when Loona texted again, saying:
"U mind keepin' this a secret 4 me?"
Smiling, Tex then responded saying: "No prob, Lunes. Can't wait." knowing what a friend she was to him and a true friend she was now being to the boy. One he was hoping to be too.
BACK AT THE APARTMENT...
Blitzø tipped the delivery boy for four boxes of pizza that were delivered to the doorstep.
As he was about to walk over to the dining table, he spotted Balin and Loona sleeping peacefully together with her tail wrapped around him and couldn't feel more proud of his daughter-on-paper for doing this.
So grabbing his phone with his free hand, he quietly took a photo of the moment before slowly shutting the door and slowly walking over to the couch where Moxxie and Millie were sitting with their plates of pizza.
One thing was for certain. Blitzø was right about Loona acting like a mother figure for Balin. And deep down, ... she knew it too. No matter how hard she'd try to deny it.
A/N: See y'all in the next chapter.
