Freedom for the Hellhound
is a Helluva Boss fanfic by Austin Ferrante.
One day, while running an errand for Blitzo, Loona gets help from a nerdy boy at a bookstore. When the guy, Caleb, is pestered by a bully, Loona ends up empathizing with him a little too much and lies about being Caleb's girlfriend to get her off Caleb's case. Now they have to do a fake date to keep up appearances, but before long, the fake chemistry gets to be a little too real. Much to Blitzo's chagrin.
This fic provides the following tropes:
- Alpha Bitch: Alivia is a bully who torments Caleb whenever they run into each other. The whole plot kicks into motion when she picks a fight with Caleb within earshot with Loona.
- Amicable Exs: The story ends on a bittersweet note with Caleb and Loona's relationship over before anything can really develop from it, not helped by Caleb seeing Loona kill a giant shark monster in her true form, but they end on good terms and both in a better place then when they began.
- Bittersweet Ending: Loona and Caleb do have a friendly conversation where they mutually break up on good terms, and Loona gets Blitzo to threaten Alivia and Gabe into stopping bullying Caleb. However, Loona not only breaks up with Caleb, but cuts off all contact with him entirely, ending the story by deleting their texting history for a fresh start on life.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Blitzo is utterly mortified that Loona is dating a human and tries to talk her out of it. Even when he seemingly concedes, he forces Moxxie to stalk her to the beach to spy on her and make sure Caleb doesn't do anything untoward with her.
- Defeat Means Friendship: When recounting how he found the perfect romantic date spot for him and Loona, Caleb says he chased a man who mugged him and found him passed out there. They since became roommates.
- Genre Savvy: Why Caleb doesn't want to learn the truth about what Loona is after seeing her true form, he's consumed enough media about hidden worlds to know it rarely ends well for regular people who enter them.
- Hidden Depths: Caleb in abundance, at first he looks like your stereotypical geek but he's actually in pretty good physical shape, can play the guitar, can cook, keeps a clean home and is really good a ring swinging.
- Interspecies Romance: Loona, a hellhound goes from fake-dating to actually dating a human.
- Original Flavor: Hews fairly close to the series' sense of humor and Dramedy.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: Initially, Loona agrees to a fake date with Caleb to spare him from further heckling about her lying about them being in a relationship. However, she ends up being drawn to his winning personality when he turns out to be her type (species notwithstanding).
- Second Love: Part of what motivates Loona to give Caleb a chance is lingering disappointment from finding out Tex is taken and that she could never compete with Beelzebub.
- She Cleans Up Nicely: At first Caleb seems to be a stereotypical nerd, wearing Nerd Glasses, an Einstein T-Shirt that says "Science Rules" and some really flat hair. When Loona sees him at the beach however, he's traded his glasses for contacts, combed his hair into a pompadour and is surprisingly well-built.
- Wham Episode: Chapter 6 is an emotional rollercoaster that starts with Loona and Caleb's first genuine date, only for Loona to feel guilty about using him as a rebound and confessing as much, seemingly snuffing out their romance before it could truly begin. But it doesn't stop there, Caleb is attacked and nearly killed by a mutated shark and while Loona does save him, it comes at the cost of him seeing her true form, splattered in blood and gore no less. Caleb understandably runs away screaming and Loona is left deeply depressed.
