A tiny thing coming from daydreaming with someone you may recognize.
The first idea was imagining someone getting jealous his balloon wouldn't pop like others. It quickly became the fact that, either the balloon is really strong, either the guy never had a balloon before, and maybe both, and it slowly turned into this.
Enjoy!
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There once was a man that never knew about balloons.
It wasn’t that he never had one, he literally never saw one, or heard about them. Quite shy and introvert, he never went to parties, or got people mentioning them to him.
He barely noticed them too the day he went to that fair. Like ribbons or other decorations, he couldn’t give the exact name of everything he had around and was too busy looking at all the delicious looking food or try those scary yet exciting rides.
At a point, however, he did noticed that people were carrying those weird spheres on what he thought were sticks. Something floating by itself sounded impossible!
He wouldn’t have paid that much attention, if there wasn’t THIS balloon.

On a stand, like all the others, there were balloons. He saw the name along with the price, but what he noticed was a balloon, bigger than the others, and having the shape of a raccoon!
Amazed by this new thing, he went to the stand, and obviously bought it. Showing the string, the vendor was rather unaware of what he was doing when this guy said he wanted “The big one”. All his balloons were looking the same, and seeing this big one pulled from the pack stunned him. He didn’t try to get it back, too puzzled to think about it before the customer went away.
This balloon sure was awesome! The man discovered that the sticks were strings, and that this cute thing was fighting gravity all by itself! The surprise quickly faded, as he pulled the string down to look at this “balloon” closer. It was a cute little plastic raccoon that looked empty! By curiosity, he poked it, and was amazed by how light and bouncy it was! The poke became a gentle squeeze, and the squeeze a small hug. It was so soft and nice! And little noises were coming with every movement!
The day passed nicely, and the man enjoyed making his balloon bounce around. Curious about what the others were doing, he carefully watched some people pass, but trying to not look like a stalker.
The first thing he noticed was how awesome his balloon was in comparison! Nowhere around would he notice a balloon as beautiful, as shiny, as cute, or nowhere as big as his balloon was!
There was a few of them just releasing the string. He noticed that most of them just seem to not care about the balloon leaving them, and a few looking scared and running after, as if the release wasn’t intentional. He looked at his balloon and shrugged. It didn’t feel like something fun to do anyways. Well, its floating was fun! But he would rather keep it close to him.
However, the surprise was higher when he noticed that some people seem to know a trick to make their balloon disappear like magic, among with doing a fun loud noise! Unaware of what it exactly was, he also saw people using more balloons when h was seeing them again, so was thinking they would come back, and apparently with another colour sometimes. Curious, he saw someone squeezing their balloon tightly to do it, but no matter how many squeezes he gave to his balloon, even tight hugs, the balloon just made funny noises, which was already good!
Some people were stomping their balloon to do it. He looked at his balloon and shrugged. It was a bit too big for this, and the position wouldn’t be comfortable enough to pressure the balloon. However, he saw people sitting on their balloon, and it did the thing! Most of them were laughing or looking happy while doing so. He went to a nice patch of grass that didn’t seem too rough for him to land on, and eagerly sat on the balloon. But surprisingly, the balloon did hold well! More funny noises, the air went more to the head and the limbs, and a bright blush on the raccoon’s face, but not much more!
A bit sad that it wasn’t working, he started to be a bit jealous. Why was his balloon not doing the magic trick? Maybe it was defective… However, it was so big and cute, he wouldn’t want to trade it…
He brought it home. Not able to do the trick, his balloon was still an awesome toy! Less scared to release it, he giggled at the balloon bouncing on the ceiling. After a good shower and a good dinner, he gave his balloon a good snuggling session, still wondering how to do the thing, but also enjoying the soft texture…
He eventually fell asleep with the balloon in his arms, under the blanket. The balloon was quite happy too. Its new master is all snuggly. Unaware of what his master really was trying to do, for a balloon like him, all the hug and sitting were like an usual play.

The day after, he obviously went back to the fair, and of course brought his nice balloon! The rides felt like not a good idea, but he did took his balloon for a walk. The fair also had a bunch of spectacles. However, he noticed his balloon started to get a lot of attention, and went away from the crowds, sitting away and watching the shows from afar while hugging the toy, both watching the shows. Along with the stroll, he also trying to peek at other balloon owners, and saw a few more doing THAT thing. Along with the previous try, he also noticed people removing the string to take the part it is tied to, and would blow into it. He got amazed to see the balloon growing, getting slightly bigger, before doing THAT thing! Finding the end of the string was rather quick, carefully untying it without letting the balloon go slightly trickier, but undoing the knot sure was hard! He never did it before, and it almost was a puzzle to him. However, after a bit, he managed to open the balloon, and got surprised by the gas flow coming from it. Once understanding how to hold it, he blew, and blew. It wasn’t fast seeing the size of the balloon, but he did feel that the balloon was growing! Time passed, and from big, the balloon became huge! Yet, it hasn’t done the thing that he wanted. The string got tied back, and the balloon got harder to manoeuvre, he did spend a good day watching shows from afar with his balloon close to him!
But a small issue happened when he came home. He never thought that making his balloon bigger would make another issue: The balloon would barely pass through the entrance door!
Struggling, tiring efforts, a lot of grumping… But eventually, the balloon came in! All the funny noises the balloon did while all the pushing… Even if the man noticed he would have to do it again to put his balloon through his bedroom’s door!
After quite a struggling moment, and a lot of creaks, the balloon was eventually in the bedroom. After taking care of himself, he spent a long time of the night blowing into the toy. The light noise of his breath and the sight of his balloon growing more and more were so nice! The balloon never did that thing though. However, the balloon was as tall as the man now, and still so big and cute!
Tired, he did try again to squeeze it tightly, again. It was tighter than before, but so good… After the hug, he put the balloon on his bed and sat on it. Gently riding this giant toy, it didn’t took long before he got the idea of using this toy as a giant mattress!
He snuggled the balloon to sleep. He sure was happy of his wonderful, soft, cute, comfortable balloon. And this one was still unaware of what he really tried to do. Wanting to make its master happy, the balloon was taking all this abuses with the pride of an awesome balloon!

The night quickly ended, and the waking up was coming with soft noises. The man opening his eyes to the sight of a giant raccoon holding him in his arms. That was so peaceful, he gave a gentle kiss on that adorable nose, watching it blush and smile, and went to get out with his balloon again… Before understanding he wouldn’t be able to take it out of his room seeing how bigger it got! Pensive, he took a plate to hold his breakfast, and came to eat on his brand new bed. Gently making it do noises as he was eating, he was pensive of what to do. Today was the last day for the fair, so he should probably spend more time there before it was too late! Kiss the balloon, he told it that he would come back later. This time without a nice balloon taking his focus and a part of his sight, he walked around. Curious as why there wasn’t any other of those cute balloons, and just the round ones everyone had. Someone did THAT thing in front of him again, but he got too shy to ask how they were doing that. His mind got rather focused on his balloon waiting for him at home, the day felt slow. He later ordered a serving of candy floss, he enjoyed it and noticed something new. As he was looking around, someone, holding the stick of a fully eaten candy floss, he used it like a knife and strike a balloon. The balloon did the trick quickly at the delight of the owner! Curious about how it happened again, he wondered why the stick did the thing. Looking at his own stick, as if it could be a magic wand to do the magic trick, he however dropped it in a trash can. Not wanting to carry a trash around. There must be another way! But not too long after, someone got a large bundle of balloons, probably discounted from the end of the event coming.
The guy took a seat on a bench, the man looking at the large bundle of those colourful orbs. His balloon was bigger than them all, but this was still nice… But as he got lost in his mind, the person pulled out from his bad what looked like a safety pin. Wondering what they wanted to clip, the man saw the pin getting unclipped, its shiny tip getting risen, and a balloon did the thing at the moment it touched the shiny skin! And another one, and another, all the balloons magically disappearing one after another by the mere touch of that thing! It was so easy, the man thought it must be linked to the prick, explaining what happened with the stick earlier… Eager to try this, he went back home. He thought on the path that he didn’t asked how you do to make the balloon appear again, but he’ll probably find out!
The owner came back, finding his balloon floating on the ceiling with a smile. The man gave the smile back and went in the kitchen where he had his stuff to prepare appetizers. Finding a small box of toothpicks, he took one and pricked a finger with its tip. It wasn’t as pointy as a safety pin, but way more than the stick from earlier! Smiling, he went back in his room with the pick hidden in his hand. Seeing his massive orb on the ceiling, the smile widened. Maybe his balloon would do exactly like the others this time!
The balloon was looking like waiting for him and wagging its tail. If he had to try this, maybe he should try making it huge before! String and knot went untied, and the man added more air in his balloon . Fssssh, fssssh. He got tempted to try it quickly, but he wanted this first time to be truly amazing!
It was rather long, and tiring, but the human watched his balloon being so big it was both pressing against the bed and the ceiling. So big and cute, he wanted to try it so hard, but this giant cutie was looking just perfect for a hug. Squeezing the balloon between his arms as hard as possible, it didn’t happen once again, and all the funny noises were so nice and loud…
Balloon sure felt up for another hug. Looking outside showing the day was still bright, a long fun session sure sounded nice! Laying on it, the man was still wondering why his balloon wasn’t doing the fun trick when he was squeezing or pressing it down like others. But it wasn’t important now. This big raccoon face was so adorable, he planted a kiss on that big nose, making the face blush brightly! Trying to cover its face with his giant paws, the owner sure melted from so much cuteness. Wanting to give it a surprise, the master spread his arms to hug the giant balloon nicely, and giving a large smile to his balloon, he poked that tiny little wooden spike into this beloved belly. It exploded with the loudest boom he ever heard!

A bit dizzy, but glad that his balloon was just like the others, he laughed looking at all the scraps spread around. The jealousy of people able to do a magic trick faded as it sure was fun! Waiting for the balloon to come back, it started to be long, and realisation slowly came to him along with sadness. He later bought more balloons, and browsed on the internet, learning about popping and how definitive it was. He never found anything about big raccoons balloons however…

Opening his eyes wide, the balloon looked around. Bigger, more beautiful, and cuter than any other balloons around him on that stall. He was puzzled. He was so big, so strong, and the master was looking so happy! Why did he feel breaking?
Another master was coming, however. Time to be a brand new big, cute balloon, noticing a wonderful squirrel tail this time. He’ll try to not be disappointing this time!