This was a Secret Santa prompt, and my first posted contribution to the FE:A fandom! It's a gift fic for GreenPokeGuy; I hope you like it! Merry Christmas! c:
The idea had happened due to boredom, which is usually how all good (bad) ideas start. It began innocently enough during the pair's walk around town when Owain had pointed to the bunch of balloon tethered outside of the small balloon shop and how it reminded him of the time his dad had shown him and Lucina the magic of helium on the human voice at his birthday party when he was younger. The pair of them had laughed at the way Vaike's voice had become high and squeaky, and it had become even funnier when he had started doing impressions of friends and family. Even Chrom, who was originally against the idea, claiming it would put ideas into the children's heads (which it did), had cracked a smile at the fun. (He would later deny the smile; after he'd shown them two balloons' worth of helium, Vaike complained about the headache he'd gotten from it, and Chrom used that as a very good reason to the kids as why not to do that.)
It being a lazy Saturday afternoon with nowhere to go and nothing to do, and being completely amused by this memory Owain had shared, Cynthia had decided for the both of them that that was how they were going to spend the day, doing the same thing Vaike had shown Owain with the balloons.
They entered the shop and heard the little bell above the door ring. The balloons were in the front of the store, but the pair meandered around the shop for a few minutes looking at the other various party supplies the store sold before attempting to try to get the balloons, both to not look suspicious and to try to work out a story. Finally they went to the counter, telling the clerk the story they'd made up about coming to buy balloons for their friend's upcoming birthday.
"Sorry, but I can't sell helium balloons to a pair of kids without a parent present." the clerk had said after hearing their request, pointing to a new sign behind him on the wall which further explained this. "We had to put this sign up because too many kids have come in here and bought helium balloons and ended up in the hospital because they thought it'd be fun to suck the helium. I just can't do it. Feel free to come back when you have an adult or parent present, though."
"But we're not kids." Owain protested. "And we really need to get our friend these balloons for his birthday. We promise that's what they're for."
The clerk did not seem to believe him; he stared at the pair raising one eyebrow, quickly making them both uncomfortable.
Cynthia turned on the charm here, having half planning this and half improvising on the spot. She let out a deep sigh and grabbed Owain's hand.
"Okay, we tried. C'mon, Owain, guess we wont be getting our dear, sweet friend balloons for their birthday." she said, pursing her lower lip after she said it. The clerk still didn't seem amused.
"Come on, please just let us get balloons for our friend's birthday. We're not going to do anything but give them as a gift." Owain pleaded, as Cynthia still pouted.
Either the combination of their attempted pity had worked or the balloon clerk didn't want to see the pair any longer (or he was simply a pushover); the convincing of the clerk was done, and the task of picking a bunch of balloons began.
Owain and Cynthia were in happy spirits as they picked the balloons for the bunch totally intended for helium consumption.
Once back to the house, there was only one more potential thing which could and might stop their fun: Lucina and his uncle were going to come over to the house later that day. That could go one of two ways: she would either join in on the fun, or she would go to Chrom and inform him and probably Lissa of what was to happen, who would then come to Owain and Cynthia preaching about how dangerous and silly it was, especially since they had both seen the news segments that the clerk had told them about the kids ending up in the hospital because of the helium. Hopefully it would be the first one.
Owain made sure the coast was clear before he and Cynthia carried their balloon bunch across the living room to his room, making sure not to make a sound. Once inside his room with the door shut, they let go of the balloons and watched as the bunch floated to the ceiling. Each pulled one separate string, their first of the ten balloons available, and sat down cross legged on the floor from each other.
"Okay, are you ready?" Owain asked.
"I think so. But you go first." Cynthia replied.
"Okay." Owain carefully untied his balloon, and put it to his mouth, ready to inhale the air. Cynthia counted him down, and after only a slight hesitation, he did it.
"Is it working- oh!" he was surprised at the sound of his own chipmunked voice, and Cynthia giggled. He smiled and took another breath, puffed out his chest, and opened his mouth to speak again. "Haaaah!"
Cynthia broke up. "You sound like a chipmunk preparing for battle." she managed between giggles.
Owain blushed slightly, waving one hand. "Well, don't let me have all the fun, you have a balloon too." he said, his voice returning to normal from the helium.
"Here goes nothing!" she said, bringing her balloon up to her mouth and inhaling a bit. "Haaaah!"
The pair of them broke up, it was impossible not to. They quickly got themselves under control and prepared for more fun with the balloons.
That was, until the balloon Cynthia had suddenly popped, scaring her and causing her to scream. Owain jumped at the sudden noise, and a moment later, jumped again at the sound of his door opening.
"Owain! Oh, what are you doing?"
It was Lucina; apparently she had arrived at the house earlier than Owain had expected. There was no sight of Chrom yet, which was probably a better sign.
"We're just messing with helium balloons." Owain said, nodding to the bunch of balloons behind them.
"Mine just popped and it scared me, but-" Cynthia added, but Lucina cut her off quickly.
"Messing with helium balloons? Don't you know how dangerous and stupid that is?" Lucina asked, suddenly worried. "We saw the news stories about all those kids! You're trying it because of that time your dad showed us at your party, aren't you?"
Owain brought a hand up and scratched the side of his head. "Well, uh, actually-"
"There's nothing better to do! And it's not like we're intending to get high with it or anything, we're just having fun. You should try it." Cynthia said.
Lucina shook her head immediately. "I will not partake in this. It's dangerous and stupid and-"
"We know, we knooow. You said that already." Cynthia reached for another balloon and pulled it to her. "If you're not going to try it, just watch."
She untied the string from the balloon and put it to her mouth to inhale again. She took it away from her mouth after a moment and pinched the thing so no air would escape.
"Hellooooo, Lucina!" she said, grinning. The corner of Lucina's mouth twitched slightly, but she stood her ground. Cynthia took another inhale and tried again to make her laugh.
"Come on, this is funny stuff!" she said. This caused Owain to laugh, and in turn, Lucina let out a quick, short laugh.
"Okay, okay, it's a little funny. But it's still pretty dangerous." she said, still smiling.
"You worry too much. We're fine." Owain said, putting his balloon up to his mouth again, and inhaling. "Join us!"
His voice came out higher than Cynthia's, which caused Lucina to laugh again.
"Okay fine, that is funny." she said.
"Hey guys, check this out, who am I?" Owain asked, and inhaled another mouthful of helium. He puffed out his chest and spoke again. "Anything can change!"
"You're Chrom!" Cynthia giggled. Lucina was silent.
"I would be mad, but you sound exactly like him, so I guess I'll let it go." Lucina said, though slightly less amused. "But how about instead of impressions of people, you do accents?"
"Accents? Like..."
"Like a pirate accent." Lucina said. Owain and Cynthia each inhaled the last bit of helium from their balloons.
"Yarrrrr!" was the synchronous response, before the two broke up laughing at the combination of sound and accent.
"This is funny and everything, but it really can't be safe, you guys should probably stop now..." Lucina said.
"We're just getting started!" Owain replied, reaching behind him to get another balloon.
"Maybe she's right, Owain." Cynthia said, throwing down her deflated balloon. "This is fun, but I'm starting to feel really light headed. Didn't you say your dad got a headache from doing this?"
"He did, but it went away. Come on, we still have all these balloons left."
Shaking off the lightheaded feeling, Cynthia agreed. Lucina was hesitant, but decided to open a window to let some fresh air in and to prolong their headaches from coming if possible, nevertheless.
A few balloons later and it hadn't stopped, but instead of continuing with impressions of people or funny accents, the pair had taken to singing snippets from various songs.
"Caaaaan you feel, the love tonight?" the pair sang, sitting next to each other on the floor with one arm slung around the other's shoulder, before busting into laughter again.
"Alright, I think you two have had enough helium to last yourselves a lifetime now." Lucina said finally, standing and grabbing the remaining balloon bunch.
"No, there's still enough for a few more each- ugh." Owain had let go of Cynthia and attempted to stand, only to sway in his spot. He grabbed the side of his head with his hand and closed his eyes.
"Yup, you're definitely done. This is over." Lucina decided, and grabbed the remaining balloons out of the air, holding the strings in one hand.
"Probably a good idea. I have that headache your dad mentioned, Owain." Cynthia complained, rubbing the sides of her head with her hands.
"I'm fine." Owain insisted, grabbing at the balloons Lucina was holding. She jerked the arm holding them back, out of his reach, and he nearly fell forward onto the floor in his attempt to grab them from his cousin. At the same time, one of the balloons popped, causing the three to jump.
"That's definitely enough." Cynthia agreed, still rubbing her temples. "It was fun, but maybe it wasn't such a bright idea to use that many balloons."
"Lucina, you can't tell your father or my mother about this. They'd kill me if they knew we'd gotten these balloons after all those news stories we saw!" Owain said, his eyes suddenly widening as if what they had done had been something illegal and they were going to get into serious trouble.
"Owain, it's not like helium is an illegal drug or anything, stop being so worried." Cynthia told him. "It was fun while it lasted, and now we know not to do it again because we will get a headache. That's all."
"She's right." Lucina said. "And don't worry, I won't say anything."
"You promise?" he asked.
Lucina nodded. "I won't say anything, really. It was a nice source of entertainment for a while, but I won't be sharing it."
"Okay, good. Now, some aspirin for that headache of yours." Owain said. Cynthia nodded, standing slowly. Owain held her hand and the three of them exited the bedroom, off to find the medicine and get some fresh air. The remnants of the fun remained on the floor of Owain's bedroom like dead fish, a few of them in pieces since they had popped. The single balloon that Lucina had saved had floated back up to the ceiling, the string almost touching the floor.
Once the headaches were taken care of and the balloon pieces picked up and disposed of, the pair agreed that while the adventure of the helium balloons had been fun, they quickly discovered that they wouldn't be doing that again any time soon.