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Baby Mine

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She couldn’t breathe. The smoke was all over the tent filling every crevice and spot as well as every single tube in her lungs. It was so thick that she couldn’t see anything either, what little of her surroundings that she could see of her bedroom was overshadowed literally by thick, putrid smoke. The female imp fell from her bed with a thud as she tried to get away.

As the darkness finally took hold, the only thing that came to mind was a name. A simple name that she had given to her son so very long ago, a son who stood before her and was trying to help her despite the risk to himself.

Her son.

Blitzo.

Baby Mine is a Helluva Boss fanfiction by GRGrimm2001, where Tilla Buckzo actually survives the fire, but has been in a coma in Sloth Ring's hospital all this time. As soon as she wakes up, she immediately tries to find her family. As it turns out, things had gone worse in her absence...

Beware of spoilers!


Baby Mine contains the following tropes:

  • Abusive Parents:
    • On top of what's already known about him, Cash never bothered to tell Blitz, Barbie and Fizzarolli that Tilla may have survived the fire, letting them all believe she was dead for 15 years, letting them all spiral into traumatic habits. Barbie even reveals he held a fake funeral for Tilla, presumably because it was easier to just believe she was dead to not have to worry about her anymore. Additionally, he also wasted no time in selling Fizzarolli to Mammon when the latter offered him a literal boatload of cash.
    • After a fight between them, Stella slapped Octavia into an ice sculpture, which causes her to need stitches. She later reflects that, unlike Stolas, Stella actively belittles all of her interests, even directly saying her clothes made her look fat.
  • Adaptational Context Change: Blitz and Stolas' Big Damn Kiss. In canon, it is after the imp rescue the Goetia prince during the trial. Here, during their heart-to-heart talk, after understanding Stolas' depression and crippling self-doubt, Blitz showcases that he does care about the Goetia prince and that he's better than what he thinks of himself by kissing him.
  • The Big Damn Kiss:
    Fire. That was the only way to explain it. A deep and burning fire more powerful than the one that had left its scars on him.

    Reignition. A burning passion and desire to be with the owl in front of him was fully awakened now. He’d missed this so much. The feeling of Stolas’ beak against his lips, the dancing of their tongues like performers in a tango, the feeling of the bird's feathers against him.
  • Broken Pedestal: Stolas admits to Octavia that he hides his depression and his injuries from Stella's abuse from her to Avert this.
    Stolas: I didn’t want you to think less of your mother.
    Octavia: She fucking hurt you, Dad! *Stolas flinches* So many fucking times!
    Stolas: I…I just…I wanted you not to have to worry about me. You were so young. I didn’t wish to ruin your childhood with our marital issues.
  • Broken Tears: Blitz lets one out twice when Tilla visit the I.M.P. office for the first time, the first when he tries to attack her while accusing her of being an impostor, the second is after Tilla prove herself to be the genuine article, backing away in fear of ending up hurting her again.
    Blitz: No, No, no, no, get away from me! *Rapidly scoots away from Tilla*
    Tilla:Baby, it’s okay. It’s me.
    Blitz: No, no, stay away. I–I almost hurt you again! I don’t…I refuse to be the reason you get hurt again!
  • Challenge Seeker: Belphegor is implied to be one, as one of the reasons Tilla is spared from her medical bill is because she's intrigued with both her rare neurodegenerative disease and the fact that she was in a coma for no reason, no matter how many times the Sin of Sloth tries to wake her up.
  • Commonality Connection: After Blitz's outburst when Tilla shows up at the office, Moxxie can't help but rethink everything he knows about his boss, including how similar they are when it comes to how much their mother's death had shaped them into who they are now.
  • Death Faked for You: In chapter 12, Barbie reveals to Tilla that Cash, in spite of being the one to bring Tilla to the hospital, still hosted a funeral for her, which is the reason none of them questioned her death.
  • Dressed to Heal: In this fic, Belphegor is described wearing a doctor's coat over casual pair of sweater and jeans.
  • From Bad to Worse: Stella, who abuses Stolas, starts to lash out towards Octavia, as shown when the latter tries to secretly go to Sloth Ring's hospital for her face to be stitched from a recent injury, and Tilla learns, as the imp stitches the young Goetia, that Stella had slapped her to an ice statue out of frustration.
  • Internal Reveal: During Blitz's Broken Tears, Tilla learns that Blitz's the one responsible for the fire that burns the circus and that he's been blaming himself for the deaths and injuries from it, including Fizzarolli's injuries and Tilla's (presumed) death.
  • Like Parent, Like Child: Loona has a secret hobby of painting she keeps hidden in her room, which is mostly about horses, one of Blitz's passions. Tilla suggests she show it to Blitzo because she thinks it will make him happy.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: As it turns out, Stolas was never told that Blitz was bought to be his playdate when they were kids.
  • Lying to Protect Your Feelings:
    • A short-lived one; When Stolas learns that Blitz was bought to be his playdate when he was young, he asks Tilla how much. Tilla tries to lie that he's worth several hundred thousand soul Dollars, but the Goetia prince can tell that she is lying and begs her to be honest with him. Stolas didn't take well when he learns of the true price.
    • A long-term version; Stolas hid his depression and the fact that Stella had been physically abusing him during Octavia's childhood so that his daughter's innocence wouldn't be ruined by her parents' marital issues.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: Learning the truth about how Blitz became his friend during his childhood puts a new context to Stolas' deal with him for his Grimoire in his mind, which he certainly believes to be how Blitz sees it.
    Stolas: No wonder he was so angry with me. Our deal was just a fucked up adult mockery of that day! *Vomits to the trash can again*
    Tilla: You couldn’t have known. *Rubbing Stolas' back*
    Stolas: I should have though. Maybe then, I could have told him that he was worth so much more than any of that.
  • Off the Wagon: When Tilla, Blitzo and Fizzarolli look for Barbie Wire, they're all disheartened to find her in a drug den, with the implication that Blitzo costing her her job as well as running into her again caused her to go back to doing drugs.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It is pretty telling for the I.M.P. employees that something terrible was going on between Blitz and his mother if their cocky, jerkass boss managed to get driven into panicking and sobbing mess by her presence.
  • Polyamory: Loona is revealed to be dating both Bee and Vortex in chapter 6.
  • Poor Communication Kills: Lampshaded by Stolas after finding out the real circumstances behind his and Blitzo's childhood friendship, realizing he could have assuaged Blitzo's concerns about being Stolas' cheap sex toy if he had bothered to just tell him that he loved him.
  • Reports of My Death Were Greatly Exaggerated: Blitz, Fizzarolli and Barbie Wire thought that Tilla was dead from the fire.
  • Resolved Noodle Incident: Blitzo reveals the reason he was in prison during the flashback in "Exes And Oohs" to his mother when explaining how he and Moxxie met-he and Loona were in a bar in Greed when someone tried perving on her. Blitzo promptly attacked the guy, who turned out to be the son of a major banker, who had Blitzo arrested for daring to "attack his innocent son". Tilla goes from furious at her son for getting arrested to more understanding once she learns that.
  • Something Only They Would Say: Tilla singing her lullaby is what convinces Blitzo & Barbie Wire that their mother in front of them is neither hallucination nor impostor.
    "Baby mine, don't you cry. Baby mine, dry your eyes. Rest your head close to my heart. Never to part, baby of mine.
    Little one, when you play, pay no heed to what they say.
    Let your eyes sparkle and shine. Never a tear, baby of mine.
    If they knew all about you, they'd end up loving you too. All those same people who scold you, what they'd give just for the right to hold you.
    From your head down to your toes, you're not much, goodness knows.
    But you're so precious to me, sweet as can be, baby of mine."
  • Spared by the Adaptation: The premise of this fic is that Tilla Buckzo survives the fire, only that she's in a coma until now.
  • Stress Vomit: Stolas gets overwhelmed with guilt and vomits several times when he finds out that Blitzo was only around him during their childhood because Stolas' father literally bought him for what amounted to pennies, realizing just how his own Grimoire arrangement must have appeared to Blitzo.
  • Thought They Knew Already: When Stolas tells Tilla how he and Blitz first became friends during their youth, Tilla tries to correct him that Blitz was not there on his own volition, but that there was a transaction with Stolas's father involved on that day. This causes Stolas to suddenly shatter the teacup on his hand while asking her to repeat the last bit, causing Tilla to realize that the Goetia prince was kept in the dark about that by his father.
  • Took a Level in Cheerfulness:
    • Tilla's presence in the I.M.P. leads to less hostility between the casts; Blitz apologizes for his jerkass & stalker behavior and promises to be better, Moxxie & Millie forgive him, and there's less strain between Blitz & Loona.
    • Thanks to Tilla talking to Stolas and explaining Blitz's side to him, the Imp and the Goetia prince have since made up and mended their relationship.
  • Trespassing to Talk:
    • After hearing about Blitz's relationship with Stolas (as this is somewhen after Apology Tour), Tilla sneaks into Stolas' mansion to hear the prince's side of the story to learn more and figure things out.
    • Downplayed, as Tilla comes to Asmodeus' mansion as Belphegor's messenger, but the task does allow her to visit Fizzarolli in person.
  • There Are No Therapists: Averted; While it happens off-screen, there are repeated mentions of how Blitz and Stolas are starting to seek therapy after their talks with Tilla.
  • Uptown Girl: Lampshaded; Tilla's coworkers express surprise and question how both her sons and her granddaughter managed to get hooked with big names in Hell (an Ars Goetia noble and two of the Seven Sins), something that Tilla herself is unable to answer.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: After the events of "Apology Tour", Loona tore into Vortex for singing at the "Anti-Blitzo party", seemingly uncaring that he was slandering Loona's father.
  • You Can See That, Right?: When Tilla first visits I.M.P., Blitz mistakes Tilla to be his guilt-induced hallucination before Millie walks in and asks if Tilla is a client, causing Blitz to Double Take and ask his employee this.

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