Warmth - A BFDI Puffball Fanfiction

~Market~

She was ready for her first outing-

Well, not counting that early visit to the doctor, that is.

The little puffling cooed happily as Fries carried her in a little warm bundle.

The sun felt amazing on her fur...and there was a scent wafting through the air.

Such a delicious scent that she took in.

~~~

Fries smiled as he looked down at Puffball, gently stroking the tufts of pink fur poking out of the bundled blankets she was wrapped in. The Goiky farmer's market was set up today, and he had decided to take her out- hopefully to find some of the natural foods eaten by her species.

He had actually done some pretty hard research on the puffball species- their social habits, habitat, and most importantly, diet, as Puffball was starting to transition to solid foods. She had actually taken some snaps at his dinner, most notably being the time she tried to steal a whole turkey drumstick- struggling to float off with it in her mouth.

That was another development- she had started to fly.

Of course, her flight was extremely rudimentary, as she could only hover a few inches off the ground, but she could at least levitate in place for a good couple of minutes before returning to earth. It wasn't uncommon for her to float around Fries as he prepared her meals, and there were definitely a few times where her flight would get in his way- once resulting in an accidental haircut.

But he was proud of her development- hell, even her sight was developing, and she was no longer solely reliant on scent and sound. And now, she was weaning.

Fries glanced down at the list of puffball-preferred foods that he had gathered from his research. Most of it was meat- mainly that of small mammals and birds, yet there was also a note of food-based objects being eaten by puffballs- a fact that definitely made Fries a bit nervous. But other than that, there was also a handful of fruits that wild puffballs enjoyed.

One of the more interesting things he had discovered in his searching was the differences between the diets of male and female puffballs. Apparently, male puffballs preferred to eat a good amount of fruits and seeds, whereas the females tended to be more carnivorous, despite both sexes relying heavily on meat for survival. And Puffball definitely upheld that notion- she was quite the little carnivore. Always stealing bits of meat, even when it was raw on the counter.

Just as this thought had popped into Fries's head, he noticed something.

Puffball was gone.

The little ball of fluff must've wriggled her way out of Fries's arms while he was lost in thought, leaving an empty blanket and a panicked Fries in her wake. The potato box's heart pounded as he began frantically looking for the missing puffling.

It didn't take long for him to find her.

"HEY! GET OFF THAT!"

Right behind Fries was a fisherman's stall, giant tunas hanging from the stand's roof. And latched onto one of the hanging fish, growling and digging into the flesh...

Was little Puffball.

The object running the stall tried to shoo her away, yet Puffball was absolutely determined to take a big ol' bite out of that prized tuna. "PUFFBALL! GET DOWN FROM THERE-" Fries yelled out as he ran over to the stall, pulling the ravenous puffling off of the large fish. Yet when he pulled, there was a loud "SHRRRIPP", and Puffball tore a giant piece of fish meat off in her mouth, quite pleased with her impromptu snack. The potato snack began to apologize profusely to the fish monger, who demanded that Fries buy the fish Puffball had just taken a chunk out of.

That wasn't so bad...right?

Well- it wouldn't have been, if she hadn't decided to take a bite out of the biggest fish in the stall.

Fries looked at the tag on the fin, his heart dropping as he read the price.

"50-pound Yoylese Tuna: $2,000"

~

Luckily, after some negotiation, Fries had struck a deal to only buy the meat around where Puffball had bitten, allowing him to only pay $50 rather than the full $2,000 for the fish. But after that little incident, he was sure to keep a firm hand around the mischievous puffling.

Fries continued his shopping, stopping in front of a small bake shop stall. The object behind the counter smiled brightly at him. It was a red pushpin, holding a platter of fresh-baked cupcakes in her hands. "Hello there, can I interest you in a cupcake?" The pushpin had a unique voice- staccatoed after every word- pointy and sharp, just like the metal point protruding from her head. Puffball almost immediately popped her head up from the blankets, taking in the scent of the delicious cupcakes sitting directly in front of her. The pushpin smiled down at the little puffling, her eyes widening in joy. "Oh my pin factory! That puffling is adorable!" The pointed object reached behind her, producing a tiny sample cupcake, offering it to Puffball, who happily snatched up the sweet treat. Fries patted her fluff, before looking up at the pushpin in front of him. "Aw, thank you. I rescued her a few months back- but she's been quite the handful!" The red pin laughed, reaching out to stroke Puffball's soft fur. "Well- I'm sure you'll raise her up great!"

Fries thanked the pushpin- who's name he learned to simply be Pin, and began to head home. But as he turned, he heard Pin call his name.

"Y'know, I really hope we get to see each other again, Fries. I think we could be great friends!"

Oh boy, if he only knew.

~~~Author's Notes~~~

Puff's a naughty little fucker, huh.

Don't you love when your child/pet/whatever-the-fuck-puffball-is-to-fries goes off and tries to eat a $2,000 fish?

Also- that ending wasn't an illusion to a Pin/Fries ship- just a reference to how they're gonna end up competing together lol.

I've been trying to slowly add more familiar characters into this story, since, y'know-

It's a BFDI fic after all lol.

Anyway, this is a pretty long chapter, hope to see y'all next chapter!

-Fire