Archive of Our Own ^beta

Well, so much for all her efforts on scoring with Vortex. The guy had a girlfriend, and it sounded pretty serious. All that effort to get close to him had been a waste of time. However, Loona did manage to score a chance to go out to some hound parties where she could hang out more with her own kind. Maybe she could even find a hot guy at one of those? She watched the moon slowly rise up from her window at the office before looking down below. Blitzo was, once again, parking in the spot they won while using his air horn to mock Verosika from her office. Honestly, it was childish seeing him do such a thing, but then again, that was Blitzo. If only he knew that Verosika and her crew had left hours ago.

Moxxie and Millie had left via bus to head home while Loona was forced to order pizza and just wait until her adopted guardian was done acting like a six-year-old. She instead decided to spend her time texting Tex after remembering to ask for his number when they returned from the human world. Just because she failed to nap him as a boyfriend didn't mean she couldn't get to know him.

Tex: Blitzo still parking in that spot?

Loona: Yeah, at least he's letting me eat pizza off his credit card.

Tex: Gotta admit, it's amusing that he's taking such a victory so seriously.

Loona: Seriously? I think it's pathetic.

Tex: You think that's bad? Verosika got drunk when we got back and started cursing Blitzo like a whiny baby. What's sad about all this is that we can quickly get another parking spot. But she took the loss like she lost a damn championship match. I may like working for her, but damn she can be just as obnoxious as a kid.

Loona: I guess that's another thing we got in common.

Tex: True, but at least your dad seems to care about you. Mine never did. 

Loona could feel her heart jump upon reading that before a small blush appeared on her cheeks. Quickly, she typed: He's not my real dad.

Tex: Yeah, about that, look, I know it's not my business, but are you sure you weren't too hard on him at the beach? I mean, he did seem genuinely concerned for you. And like he said, he did adopt you.

Loona frowned upon thinking about that fight. Truth be told, she still felt that what she said was too harsh even for her. It was just that Blitzo could be so annoying sometimes. It wasn't like she was a little kid at the orphanage always crying because nobody would adopt her. She was an adult! And Blitzo only adopted her when she was seventeen! 

Loona: Look, I admit I feel a bit guilty, but you have no idea what he's like! He's always calling me pet names, adoring me, and wants to always do stuff when I don't want to! I'm not some puppy! I'm a grown woman! 

Tex: Sound to me that he just wants to spend time with you. He kinda sounds lonely.

Loona: Trust me, he's not. He gets laid as least once a month. 

Tex: No, I mean he sounds like he doesn't have many people in his life. Well, then again, if what Verosika told me is true, I guess it's not a surprise.

This actually made Loona widen. Truth be told, she didn't know much about Blitzo's past other than he was in the circus for most of his life, and he had problems with his family. Most of the time, he kept anything about his past closed shut while pushing the conversation elsewhere. Even when Millie asked if there was any family he wanted to invite to celebrate his birthday last year, he insisted that everyone at the company was his family.

Loona: What did she say?

Tex: Ehh, not sure if I should say...

Loona: Come one, I promise to make up with him if you tell.

Tex: Fine. From what Verosika told me, his parents died when he was sixteen. Apparently, some big fire burned down the entire circus they lived in, and almost everyone died except for him and his sisters. 

"Shit..." Loona muttered, whimpering. From what she learned from the orphanage, her own parents were also killed, but she had been very young when it happened, so she had no memories of it. 

Tex: Yeah, so he was put into the adoption agency with his sisters, but none of them got adopted. So when they turned 18, they were kicked out of the streets. 

"Wait, what?" Loona said eyes widened. 

Loona: What do you mean kicked out?

Tex: You didn't know? Law says any orphan over 18 can be kicked out and onto the streets since they aren't kids anymore. Orphanages don't get paid government funds if they're taking in adults.

Loona: They just let them live on the streets?!

Tex: Yeah, you didn't know what?

A dark realization suddenly made its way into Loona's mind as she gulped upon thinking how close she was to becoming a homeless vagrant. Blitzo had adopted her only six months before she officially turned eighteen, meaning if he hadn't done so, then Loona would have had nothing but the clothes on her back and a few possessions. She knew of kids at the orphanage who tried to leave on their own and make a living on the streets with illusions of grandeur of being the next Overlord. Most of them ended up dead in a few weeks. Others were forced into becoming beggars on the street or forced into prostitution. Then some became addicted to drug addicts. 

Loona didn't once think that the orphanage would kick her out once she turned eighteen. She just assumed she could live there until she found a place of her own. Then again, she was always the oldest child growing up in the orphanage. Everyone else always seemed to get adopted every year she was there except for her. She spent all her life waiting for a loving couple to take her in, but instead, they just ignored her. After so many years of hoping that she could become someone's daughter, she just gave up and decided to not care about anyone but herself.

And then, out of nowhere, Blitzo adopted her. 

Tex: You still there?

Loona: Yeah, just...thinking. Anyway, what happened next?

Tex: Well, all three tried to get jobs, but none of the circuses would take them in. Blitzo did some amusement park work, his oldest sister became a prostitute for Valentino, and his twin couldn't find a job, so she got addicted to booze and drugs that were draining their little income."

"So that's why Blitzo was working at Loo Loo Land all those years ago," Loona muttered. That was one of the few things he never was afraid to talk about in his past, but that was mostly a rant on how much he hated robot clowns or something. 

Loona: What happened next?

Tex: A few months later, the older sister disappeared, maybe she got killed or something, but she ended up never coming back. Blitzo tried to keep his twin sister in line while supporting them, but it wasn't enough. His twin became an addict to drugs, always spending the money they earned on it until she got busted for some stuff that even HELL thinks should be illegal. That's how Verosika and Blitzo met. She visited her mother, and Blizo was visiting his sister in jail. Guess tragedy brought them together or something, but that didn't last long."

Loona then recalled something when she turned eighteen. Blitzo was alright with her drinking or having sex with various people, but she could not take or buy drugs under any circumstances. One night she had decided to test just how strict that rule was and came home with some angel dust to try when Blitzo spotted her with it and took it from her. She was going to argue with him, but it was then that he gave one of the few severe and scariest faces of utter rage that she had ever seen on him, to the point that Loona even whimpered in fear. She could still remember how harsh his voice was that day:

"Loona, you can drink as much as you want, fuck as much as you want, and even shed fur around this house. BUT UNDER NO FUCKING CIRCUMSTANCES ARE YOU TO BRING DRUGS INTO THIS PLACE OR EVEN AT WORK! CAUSE GOD HELP ME I WILL SPANK YOUR ASS SO RED YOU'LL LOOK LIKE A FUCKING BABOON!"

Was his sister's addiction problem the reason for that? Was he afraid of Loona turning down that path. Well, it worked since Loona never dared to disobey that order ever.

Plus, there was something else she remembers. Thanks to doing jobs for Prince Stolas, a few other high ranking demons asked for their services. When this started happening, Blitzo surprised everyone by stating there were a few Overlords and Nobles they were never to do business with. One of them was the infamous Valentino. That was one of the few times that Moxxie and Blitzo had ever agreed on something since the Overlord was known to be a very dangerous individual, but maybe it also had to do with the fact his older sister disappeared while working for him? 

The more she thought about it, the more Blitzo's life really did seem similar to her own, but also different in many ways. Both had lost their parents, but Blitzo was older than her when it happened and still had his siblings. She had nobody, and she lost her folks when she was but a baby. Both were raised in an orphanage afterward, with nobody adopting them. Only for Blitzo, he got kicked out and had to fend for himself with his sisters, both of whom met bad ends despite his best efforts to protect them. 

Was the reason he was so desperate to make I.M.P. a family was because he felt he failed his first one? Loona turned her head to a photo on her desk that showed all four of them celebrating their first kill together with the dead human's head on the desk. Millie was kissing Moxxie on the cheek while Loona and Blitzo gave out peace signs and happy grins. Blitzo was so proud of the first job that he took them all out for dinner.

Tex: Loona? You still there?

Loona: Yeah, just...gonna talk to Blitz. I'll text you later.

Just as she got off the phone, the front door slammed open, and Blitzo marched in with a happy grin on his face. "Well, glad I got that out of my system."

"It took you five hours to get over the fact you won a bet for a parking spot?" Loona asked with her right eyebrow raised.

"Hey, it takes you five hours to shed your fur, so I don't want to hear complaints," Blitzo said before checking out the pizza box, only to find it empty. "Aw, you couldn't leave one for me?"

"Next time, come in when it's here like I tell you," Loona replied before looking at her phone. Blitzo was starting to back up when she thought back to what she learned. Taking a heavy sigh, Loona got up and stared at Blitzo, who was packing up for home. "Hey, Blitz?"

"Yeah?" he asked, zipping up his bag.

"... I'm sorry." He dropped it on the floor before turning to Loona, who had her arms crossed while keeping her gaze away. "I'm sorry about...what I said at the beach..."

"...Did Moxxie or Millie bribe you to say that?" Blitzo asked.

"I'm trying to apologize here, you asshole!" Loona growled with her eyes lit up. 

"Sorry! Sorry!" He replied, holding his hands up before sighing. "And I guess I should apologize too. I didn't mean to make you so angry."

"Look, it's just..." Loona took a deep breath. "I'm not a kid, Blitz. I'm an adult. I know you like to think of me as your little girl , but I'm not. I had to live in that orphanage on my own for seventeen years before you took me in! I'm not saying I'm grateful just..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "I want to be able to live my own life as well."

"...I just don't want anything to happen to you," Blitzo replied, sitting on a nearby chair and looking at the floor. "Look...I know you're an adult...but I really do care about you, Loona. I didn't just adopt you out of the blue. I...well..."

"...you saw me as yourself before you got kicked out, am I right?" Loona asked, which made Blitzo's head jerk up. "I found out what happened to you. You're parents. Siblings. Everything. Is that why you adopted me? Because you didn't want me to end up like you?"

Blitzo was silent for a while before he got up, walked over to his office door, and opened it. He came back a few moments later and held a photo but kept what was on its front hidden. "What I am about to show you is the most prized possession I have, Loona. This is...this is more important to me than anything in the world. Please... please be gentle with it."

He slowly handed it over to Loona. She turned it over and felt her mouth drop by what she saw. It was a family of five imps all dressed in trapeze outfits. Two adults, male and female, held each other with charming smiles as they waved at the camera. Next to them was a tall, beautiful looking teenager who had long flowing raven color hair and a gentle smile that could warm your heart. On the bottom, posing with their heads side by side, Blitzo had to be twelve, if she was to guess, and a lighter-skinned tone female version of himself with a different horn style. 

Loona slowly gave it back to Blitzo and asked, "You're family?"

"Mom. Dad. Tillie. And Barbie Wire," Blitzo answered as a tear dripped down his cheek. "I thought I had the best life in the world until I was sixteen when someone started a fire that killed my parents, my friends, and everyone I knew in life save for my sisters. After that, it was just us against the pentagram. Nobody wanted us, even when we were legally adults, and we did whatever it took to survive. I soon lost Tillie, who I never saw again after she did some job for that jackass rapist Valentino, and Barbie...she was never the same after the fire. She just kept getting high day after day until...she went too far and ended up in jail and rehab."

"Do you still see her?" Loona asked.

"Last time I did was three years ago," Blitzo grumbled as he shook his head. "Whatever drugs she took messed with her mind so bad she can barely speak anymore. She's pretty much a vegetable. She might as well be dead by that point."

"Blitz..." Loona whispered as she slowly put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm... I'm sorry..."

"...I didn't want it to happen to you," Blitzo muttered as he raised his head and looked at her straight in the eye. "That orphanage I took you from? The same one I grew up in, only you had a better caretaker. I went there to honestly burn the whole place down because I was just so angry with everything. When I saw you...and learned you were like me...so close to adulthood with nobody to take you in...I just couldn't help it and adopted you."

"You didn't know if that was going to happen to me too," Loona pointed out even though, deep down, she knew that was a lie.

"Loona, trust me, you would have been dead in five weeks best," Blitzo said, shaking his head. "When I took you in, I swore I would treat you like family. I may not have known what it was like to be a father, but I wanted to try my best." He wiped his eyes as he looked at his photo again. "You. Millie. Moxxie. Hell, I'll even say Stolas. All four of you are the family I choose to have because I don't...I don't want to be alone anymore. I can't get back my old life...so I just want to try and make a new life." He turned to her and nodded. "I know I screw up, Loona. Trust me, I know. But...believe me when I say this...I...I do care about you."

"...Fuck it." 

Loona walked over and hugged Blitzo for the first time in her life. The imp was so shocked he didn't fully realize what was happening until he slowly wrapped his arms around her. "Blitz, you may not be my dad, but you are the closest one I got." She then smiled at him and winked. "So, yeah. I care about you too."

"Loony," Blitzo smiled and wiped his tears before nodding. "Thanks."

Loona nodded back before making for the door. "Anyway, let's get home. We can stop and get something for you to eat on the way back."

"Hey, Loona?" She turned around to see Blitzo smirking at her. "I'm still going to get you to call me 'dad' one day."

Loona chuckled before walking out the door. Maybe there would be a day when she would call him "Dad" for real. But until then, he was just Blitzo. Still, if a day ever did come? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad.