Heyy! Okay, this was totally inspired by Mooncatcher's 'Here's How It Goes', read that first (it's like a bunch of prompts) and then read #21, that's what this is of: "They write what they love about each other on pearly, sun-kissed balloons then let them go on windy days, watching until the pair of silver-and-blue wink and disappear into the cloud-plumed sky."

Okay I'm sorry is it just me or is that just a really beautiful sentence? Because it was so beautiful I had to write a story of it. And I fear I may have butchered it a bit.

You see, I have this thing about AUs where I don't do them, so this was going to be a total AU where there were no gods and it was just them as friends and then more but then I couldn't do it, so halfway through it starts following the books, so basically everything's the same in the books except that Annabeth and Percy know each other from before and arrive at camp at the same time (when Percy arrives) and like Luke is already there with Thalia as the tree and everything else is the same. Except the balloons. These are all related to balloons. Sort of.

Oh yeah, and one more thing, this is sorta in three parts, Sally's POV, Percy and Annabeth's POV, and then Frederick's POV. And there are breaks in between scenes, the tone sorta shifts in them so you really have to pause sometimes between scenes or else it's weird.

Anyway, just read the thing. And tell me what you think.

Sally looked out the kitchen window of the Montauk beach cabin to check on her son and his best friend. She smiled as they looked upwards, releasing their balloons—a blue one for him, a silver one for her—up into the sky.

She remembered the first time they'd done it, the first time they'd met. It was a beautiful summer day, and Sally had the day off for once, so she and Percy had gone to Central Park. He had seen one of the balloon men and demanded to get one—blue, as per usual—along with a bag of cotton candy.

Another girl was there, about the same age as Percy, buying a silver balloon. She had wrinkled her nose at Percy and his obvious enthusiasm.

"It's just a balloon." She said hotly. Her father, who'd just bought her her balloon, didn't seem to hear her, as he was talking rather intensely on the phone.

"But it's blue!" He'd replied, all happy in the way only five-year-olds can be, oblivious to the fact that life wasn't fair and ignoring the memory of an absent father and an abusive step-father—Sally pushed the thought out of her mind. He was happy, and it was because of a blue balloon, and that was all that mattered.

"Blue's a really plain colour. That's why I'm getting a silver one. More distinctive." The little girl smirked—if little girls even could. "Do you know what distinctive is? My dad taught it to me just a few weeks ago."

"No." Percy furrowed his brow. "Mommy, what's dist-distinky—"

"Distinctive." The little girl corrected. "It means unique. Different."

"Well I like the colour blue. I think it's dis…" Percy gave up. "Unique." He said instead. "It's the colour of the ocean. And silver looks like grey. That's sad and boring."

"Silver is better than grey, and anyway, grey's not boring. My eyes are grey."

"My eyes are green."

"No, they're aqua. They're the colour of the sea. The sea's not blue, it's aqua and turquoise."

"Well then why does everyone say that the sea is blue?"

"Because some people are stupid."

"Mommy!" Percy gasped. "She said a bad word!"

"Daddy, he's being a tattle-tail!" The little girl tugged on her father's shirt, and he looked down at her.

"Who's this, Annabeth?" He asked. "A new friend?"

"No." Annabeth pouted. "He's not my friend. I don't even know his name, and he said that silver is like grey and grey is boring."

"My name is Percy. And it was because you said that blue was plain! You said it first."

"Alright, let's not fight, okay, Percy?" Sally decided that then would be a good time to cut in. "Let's just go around the park some more."

"I think we should go too, Annabeth." The father said, shooting a somewhat apologetic look at Sally. She smiled in reassurance, even though she had no idea what she was doing. Percy was generally a very friendly and nice person, even if others were not nice to him, and this was the first time this had never happened.

"No, I know what we should do." Annabeth said. "We'll write down why our colour is the best, and then decide which one's better based on what we've written."

"We can write them on our balloons and then let them go, and whichever one is higher up first wins." Percy's face lit up at the idea, and Sally tried not to hide her face with embarrassment. "Mommy, do you have a marker?"

"Daddy has one, right Daddy?" Annabeth turned to her dad, who wordlessly handed her a sharpie, a look of hopelessness on his face.

"Are you sure you want to do this, Annie?" He asked apprehensively. "I mean, there are other things you can do, we don't have to let a newly bought balloon go."

"Yes, this is what we have to do. Right, Percy?"

"Right." Percy frowned. "Only, I don't spell well. Can my mommy write it for me?"

"You can draw." Annabeth allowed.

They spent the next hour sitting at a bench, waiting for their children to finish drawing and writing on their balloons, passing the marker around and adding their own things on each other's balloons, Percy scribbling an 'Annabeth' in big letters onto her silver balloon and her responding with a 'Percy (Seaweed Brain)' onto his. (He added a 'Wise Girl' onto hers after that.)

Her full name was Annabeth Chase, five years old, and her father was Fredrick Chase. His wife left him with her when she was born, but he was engaged to another woman, to be married in a few months. Annabeth didn't seem to be very happy about that. He seemed very happy. Sally decided not to say anything about Gabe except that he was her husband.

When they finally ran out of space on the balloon, the two children stood up on the bench and let the balloons go, watching as they spun around together, the strings tangling with each other, rising higher and higher until they were merely specks against the vast blue of the sky.

~0~

Percy and Annabeth became fast friends. They'd ended up going to the same school together that fall, and the day after school ended, they demanded that Sally and Fredrick—and yes, Annabeth supposed that Helen could come too, she was her new mother, after all (but Gabe was not invited)—take them to Central Park.

The first thing they did was buy balloons—a blue one for Percy, a silver one for Annabeth. The second thing they did was buy ice-cream—mint-chocolate chip for Percy, chocolate for Annabeth. After they'd finished their ice-cream and run around what seemed like the entire park, they stopped in front of the zoo to write on their balloons.

The first time, they wrote about what they liked about their colours. This time, they wrote about what they liked about each other, switching balloons so that Percy wrote on Annabeth's and she wrote on Percy's. 'Best Friend' was the first and biggest thing Percy wrote, in sprawling and uneven letters along the arc of the balloon. Annabeth copied it onto his blue balloon.

They didn't stand up this time, merely lifted them up into the sky and let them go, watching them twirl around in the sky as if dancing, the wind bringing them up and away.

"C'mon, Wise Girl!" Percy grabbed onto his best friend's wrist as the bell rang, pulling on it until she shouldered her backpack and followed him. It was the last day of school, and that meant balloon time.

Percy wasn't sure what about their balloons he loved. He just knew that his favourite part of the year, aside from his birthday, was balloon day, the last day of school when he and Annabeth would write about each other. He always started with a huge 'Best Friend' and then 'Wise Girl,' before adding more words and phrases, new ones each year to be added along with the typical 'smart' and 'nice'.

They met their parents outside the school, where they took them to Central Park. Helen was there too, with a double stroller where Annabeth's baby brothers were. She and Frederick took a walk around the park with their sons while he and Annabeth wrote on their balloons. Percy pretended to be annoyed with what Annabeth put on her balloon so that she wouldn't notice that her dad had gone. He knew that Annabeth didn't really like Helen, and liked the fact that her sons were taking up more of Frederick's time even less.

"Why did you put… com…" Percy squinted, pointing at a word. "Compas…"

"Compassionate?" Annabeth suggested. Percy pouted.

"I wanted to read it." He said.

"Sorry. Compassionate means you're kind to everyone."

"I am?"

"Yeah. You're nice and friendly to everyone."

"Are you? Should I put that on yours?"

"Do you think I am?"

"No. But you're nice and friendly to me, and only me, and I like that more. What's the word for that?"

"I don't know. I think it's just being a good friend."

"Okay." Percy found some space near 'Best Friend' and put 'Bestest and greatest good friend ever - always nice and friendly to me (but not other people)'. And if he had to ask for the spelling of a few words, that was between him and his mother. And Annabeth, who probably added 'endearingly idiotic' to hers somewhere there after that. Percy saw it but didn't ask her what it was. (Instead, he asked his mom when they were on their way home. He couldn't decide if that was mean of her or really nice.)

They finished before Frederick and Helen came back, but Percy found that he could stall no longer, the misshapen owl that he was drawing finally finished and Annabeth's fit of hysterical laughter over as well. They stood up, exchanging balloons and grinning at each other as they raised them into the air. This, Percy decided, was what he loved about balloon day, along with all the writing on their balloons; holding hands as they watched the blue-and-silver dots disappear into the slowly greying sky.

~0~

They are eleven, and graduating fifth grade. It isn't a big thing, but they will be going to a new school, and that's scary. But not too scary, Percy decided, since they will be with each other. It sucked, though, because the last day of school is also graduation day, and that meant no balloon time. He and Annabeth had spent days upon days trying to figure this out.

"Why can't we just do it some other day?" Annabeth would ask exasperatedly. "It'll still be the same."

"Because I'm going to Montauk the next day, we don't have time for balloon time once summer starts!" Percy would remind her.

"Then before summer!" She'd suggest, but Percy was adamant about it not happening before summer started.

"We met during the summer, balloon day has always been in the summer, it's going to be in the summer this year."

"They why don't we just not have balloon day until you get back?"

"I don't get back until soooo late, though! And you still have to go to your grandparents and we'll miss each other!"

"Right before school starts?"

"No. Come on, Annabeth, think! You're the smart one!"

It was Helen who'd thought of a plan for them, although inadvertently. Her parents wanted to see their grandchildren, but they lived in California and couldn't make the way over to New York. She and Frederick would have to take the boys over to Cali, but if Annabeth didn't want to go, she didn't have to. After all, they weren't her grandparents. Annabeth had cried buckets at Percy's house that day. He'd never hated Helen more than then.

Sally had come in with a plate of blue cookies and a face full of new concealer and had, after hearing the story, immediately invited Annabeth to Montauk with them over the summer.

"That's a great idea, mom!" Percy enthused, and Sally went to make the call.

So after graduation, they stopped by Central Park on their way to Montauk, Sally driving Gabe's smelly car and Percy and Annabeth giggling about 'Smelly Gabe', as they had nicknamed him. They wrote in the car, music playing and windows down once they were far enough from the city, singing out the lyrics and tying their balloons to the handle of the car, just so that it didn't fly away prematurely.

They didn't even wait to see the cabin they were staying in, only ran out into the sand, and kept running until the waves hit their ankles and they could feel the wind on their faces, grinning at each other. This time, they tied their balloons together, because they could never be apart. They would always be together. They held hands and watched as the balloons rose higher and higher in the sky, mingling with a few kites in the area. Their faces turned upwards to the sun, the light making their eyes squint and faces scrunch up, but they looked until they could see them no more, and their silver-and-blue balloons had gone up into infinity.

~0~

"Smelly Gabe hits my mom." Percy had appeared on Annabeth's doorstep, looking distraught, so she had let him in and led him to her room. It was Sunday, a school-night, and getting pretty late, but it was also almost the end of the year and they didn't have any homework, and anyway, Percy needed her.

"What?" It shouldn't have come as a shock, as Gabe was terrible, but it did, along with a sort of white-hot anger, because how could such people exist? And how could he hit Mamma Sally, of all people? She was the nicest person ever! "What are you going to do about it? Are you going to tell someone?"

"I… I don't know." Percy started crying. "And I don't know how long this has been happening, and he doesn't hit me, but it still happens, and I don't know what to do, so that's why I came here, because you always have a plan and—" Percy broke off as he sobbed onto Annabeth's shoulder. "Why do bad men exist?" He mumbled into her neck. If this had been any other time and any other situation, Annabeth would probably have blushed at the feeling of his breath against her skin and his face pressed against her and just his closeness, and her pulse would have quickened and her mind get fuzzy in that way that it had been recently with Percy. But this was serious stuff and definitely not the time to think about silly little crushes.

"I don't know, Percy, I only know that they do exist. And one of them is your stepfather, and you have to do something about it."

"Like what?"

"You should tell someone!"

"But… What if it makes it worse? Like when the boys and Nancy bully me and it gets worse when I tell the teacher?"

"This is different. This is more serious. A lot more serious."

"But then, if it's different, why hasn't my mom told anyone yet? Why doesn't she leave him if he's a bad man? Mom is a good person!"

"I know. And I don't know why Mamma Sally did the things she did, but I'm sure there's a reason." An idea hit her. "Okay, how about we get a balloon—we have a few water balloons from the boys' birthday party last week—and we fill it up and write everything we hate about Smelly Gabe, every bad thing, and then we pop it? We can get a lot of balloons and chuck them out the window, if it makes you feel better. And if someone comes in to ask us what we're doing and why, we tell them the truth so that it's their problem now, too."

"That's a great idea! I knew there was a reason I liked you." Percy kissed her happily on the cheek, which this time did make her blush and her pulse quicken, but he was pulling her downstairs to get the balloons, and this was Percy's time, time to make him feel better, and not time to think about silly crushes, so she pushed the feelings away.

And if they 'accidentally' hit Helen as she walked outside to see what was going on, that was just a little bonus. Plus, Helen couldn't actually get mad when Percy explained what was going on. Just tell them not to do it anymore. (They just popped them with a pin in the bathtub instead, Annabeth wearing her swimsuit and Percy just without a shirt so that they wouldn't get too wet.)

That year, in Montauk again, since Helen had decided it would be an annual thing to go to California, they got Mamma Sally a balloon too, and filled it out first. They helped her carry their things into the cabin too, before dragging her out and giving her her balloon.

"Read it first, so that you can see all the reasons why we love you and you're the best mom ever." Percy said solemnly. "And then we hold hands and let them go into the sky." As if Mamma Sally didn't know how it went by now. She had seen them do this for seven years.

Percy watched his mom until she was done reading, past the parts about Gabe and even the slightly embarrassing part Annabeth put about her teaching her how to use a tampon, until she made it to the big 'I love you's on the other side of the balloon, tears streaking her sun-kissed face. Annabeth couldn't really watch, so she only looked at Percy, watched as his eyes filled with tears as well. They released the balloons into the sky and hugged, but today was not a very good day to have balloons out, it seemed, because they whipped away from each other, the wind howling and clouds gathering faster than Annabeth had ever seen in her life. The weather had sort of been stormy as of late, so it wasn't too shocking, but she felt a stab of anger at how their Balloon Day had to be so not-sunny. They couldn't even follow their balloons with their eyes, only run back into the cabin as rain started to pour.

(That day, Mamma Sally had made them hot chocolate to drink and told them stories, mostly about Percy's father, who was out lost at sea. She didn't talk about Smelly Gabe, but Annabeth suspected she was talking about Percy's dad because of what they wrote about Gabe. Mamma Sally never talked about Percy's father. And then the world had gone upside-down and chaotic, things going too fast for her to figure out, because why was Grover here, with goat legs for feet? And why did he mention their pre-algebra teacher, who had disappeared one day at a field trip and was replaced by some other woman who thought she'd been teaching them the entire year? And why was there some angry bull guy chasing after them? But then things got even more confusing as the car was tossed and turned and she couldn't really see, things were too dark, but Grover was beside her and Percy was jumping to the side as the bull man—Minotaur—barrelled past him, and then Mamma Sally was being squeezed to death by him and Percy was screaming, worse than Annabeth had ever heard him scream, and then he was on the Minotaur, plunging something downwards—and then she was in a hospital room, and Grover was there, ready to explain things to her.)

~0~

"I don't know, Annabeth." Percy said as she led him out of the burning gym, Tyson behind him. "Mom said that Chiron didn't want us to go this summer."

"That means something big has happened and we're going to find out what. Camp needs us."

"They've got other people."

"Percy, how can you say things like that? Camp needs everyone she can get, and that includes us. Now are we going to go or not?"

"Can we tell mom first?"

"Urgh!" Annabeth threw her arms up into the air. "Fine! Here." She thrust her phone at him. "Hurry up, I don't want more monsters coming our way." Percy was quick, not listening to his mother's protests. "Done?" He nodded, handing her phone back. "Good. Now we're taking the Grey Ladies' taxi."

"The what?"

"Don't ask questions!"

"What about Balloon Day?" Annabeth froze.

"You almost died today, and you're thinking about Balloon Day?"

"Well…"

"I can't believe you." Annabeth paused for a second to pinch the bridge of her nose. What did she write every year on his balloon? 'Idiot?' "There are balloons at Camp's store, we can always do it after we get to camp."

"Promise?"

"Yes, promise. Pinky-promise." They linked pinkies. It was getting late, and they needed to go already. Annabeth was getting impatient.

"What if there are no silver ones?" Oh my gods. "Since, you know, it's unique and all."

"Then I won't get a silver one! Percy, this is really very low priority, and it's all you're going to get. Alright?"

"Fine. But Tyson gets one too."

Annabeth tried not to scream. She didn't like Tyson. She didn't like cyclopes. And Tyson was a cyclopes. Granted, Mamma Sally said it was okay and that Tyson wouldn't hurt her or Percy, Tyson was nice and sweet and rather like a baby, but that didn't mean she had to trust him. Or get him a balloon. "Fine. Now let me summon the taxi."

"Summon the what?"

"Tyson, please shut him up."

They didn't end up doing the balloons until they met the party ponies after their quest, which was too late in Percy's opinion, but come on. Balloon Day really was a pretty low priority. It was just the two of them again, no Tyson, since he was playing paintball with the ponies and no Grover or Chiron, since they were talking about Pan. But it took pretty long anyway. Annabeth had a lot to put on his balloon.

They didn't hold hands this time, but Percy tied their balloons together, and they raised their weary faces up at the sky and watched as their balloons—blue for Percy, of course, and luckily for Annabeth, a silver one—winked out of existence. She wondered briefly if he'd seen the small thank you on his balloon. She sure saw the tiny, messy print saying 'you're a genius' on hers.

~0~

Annabeth got a green balloon the next year, from the camp store. She wanted sea green, her new favourite colour, but they didn't have, so she settled with emerald green. Percy drew a silver—grey, he insisted, which wasn't sad and boring anymore—streak along both their balloons. It took up space, but she wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Percy's stayed blue, and they watched on the beach of Camp as their balloons climbed higher and higher into the sky. She wondered if maybe the sky had been so heavy because of all the intense feelings they put into these balloons, released into the atmosphere. Or maybe it was just heavy because it was the sky. Yeah, that was probably it.

~0~

"I don't think we should do the balloons this year." Annabeth didn't know what possessed her to say it, but she could only remember a sharpie flashing as numbers were written on Percy's arm, Luke's warm smile at her, asking her to join him, the words of the prophecy ringing in her ears. A single choice shall end his days. She was sort of disappointed when Percy barely gave a fight about it. Maybe it was because he couldn't think of anything to write on hers. She could probably write a plethora of reasons why she liked him. And another of reasons why she hated him.

~0~

Percy was with Rachel on the last day of school. Annabeth was at camp. They didn't write much on their balloons, although at least they did it. Annabeth wouldn't have been surprised if he'd left right after camp to introduce Ballon Time to Rachel. Maybe it'd become their thing instead of a Percy and Annabeth thing. She didn't stay to watch the balloons spiral into the sky.

~0~

"Hey." Percy said, causing Annabeth to turn around. They had gotten together just yesterday, and she was on the moon.

"Hey." The giggles behind her told her that she probably looked like a lovesick teenager, grinning like a maniac at her new boyfriend.

"I thought…" Percy gestured at the balloons in his hands, and Annabeth's smile widened, if that were even possible. "Since Balloon Day kinda sucked this summer, I thought we could try again."

Percy wrote 'Girlfriend' instead of 'Best Friend'. He also put a quick 'why I love Annabeth Chase' on it, blushing slightly as she read it. She kissed him as they let their balloons go, and they pulled away just in time to watch the last of them disappear into the cloudy sky.

Frederick Chase wasn't the best father in the whole world. He wasn't the worst, either, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was that he loved his daughter regardless of the fact that he sometimes ignored her, or was too preoccupied with his second marriage to remember his first.

But that also didn't mean that he knew what Annabeth was talking about when she asked to have a silver balloon the day of her graduation. Or why she looked happier to see it than her own father.

"Thanks dad!" She said, grabbing the balloon. "Percy's taking me out before we meet up with you guys for dinner." She said, as if that explained it all. There was a half-second of awkward silence before Helen decided to break it by saying congratulations. Annabeth was gone before Frederick had even figured out what it was she had been talking about.

"They do it every year." Sally, who had approached them with her son and husband, told him as they walked away. "Every summer, since they first met. You remember the first time, don't you, Frederick?"

"I… Yes, but I didn't think they still did it."

"They write about how much they love each other." Sally's eyes lit up, and suddenly she had a notebook in her hand and she was scribbling furiously, muttering under her breath, "They write what they love about each other on pearly, sun-kissed balloons then let them go on windy days, watching until the pair of silver-and-blue wink and disappear into the cloud-plumed sky." She closed the book, as if satisfied, and grinned at her husband. "Well, it's not always windy or cloudy, but it sounds nicer this way. Plus," she added, "Percy told me that Zeus showed him all their past balloons, taken by Aeolus, so wind works."

Frederick always marvelled at how easy Sally's relationship with her son was, how there she was in his life, how he was always so honest and open with her. He never could have that type of relationship with Annabeth. But it didn't mean he wasn't going to try, no matter how late he was.

~0~

Frederick knew Percy Jackson. He was there when his daughter first met him, and for a long time the two friends had met more often in the Chase household than the Jackson household (Smelly Gabe had been there for a while). He knew that he was his daughter's best friend and then boyfriend. He liked Percy Jackson. But that did not mean he was close to him.

So when Frederick answered the door one Saturday, Percy was the last person he'd been expecting. He knew Percy went to school now in California, with Annabeth, which would explain why he was here, except that it didn't, not at all.

Since the last time Percy had appeared unannounced at the Chase house, without her, Annabeth had been in trouble and the world at stake, Frederick panicked immediately. Hey, it made sense.

"Percy! Come in, come in! Is there something wrong? Is Annabeth alright? Why're you here? I mean, of course, you're always welcome here, but is there anything wrong? Is—" Frederick's frantic talking was cut off by Percy saying smoothly,

"Nothing to worry about, sir, there's nothing wrong."

"Oh." Frederick sighed in relief. "Then is there any particular reason why you're here? Without Annabeth?" It was sort of funny, how even though they lived relatively nearby (not like when she went to school in New York and he was in California) he and Annabeth still rarely talked and saw each other. They tried, but were obviously not first on each other's minds when they thought of family.

"Well, I wanted to talk to you. Just you." Percy looked suddenly nervous, which was weird, because what demigod who faced monsters and death everyday nervous about talking to someone he'd known almost all his life? Frederick closed the door, which had been left open in his haste, and led Percy to the living room. He knew what this was about.

"Alright then, let's talk. Care to tell me what about?" He asked as they sat down. Might as well be polite, right?

"Well, your daughter, really. Um. I. Um…" Percy took a deep breath and then said, really quickly, "Iwannamarryyourdaughter."

"Pardon?" Frederick had to tell himself not to laugh. He remembered being in the same situation with Helen's parents, and there was no way he was letting Percy off that easily just because they already knew each other well.

"I'd like your permission—no, sorry, your blessing—to marry your daughter." Percy repeated, calmer this time.

"And why is it not asking permission? Why're you only asking for my blessing?"

"Because if I asked for your permission than I'd have to ask Athena for permission and she'd say no, and then I'd have to be that horrible person who marries someone even though her parents told me not to." Percy paused. "Or I'd die." He added.

"...Right. And how old are you, again?"

Percy blinked. "Twenty." He said.

"Uh huh. Isn't that a bit young?"

"Um… Not for demigods, sir. I mean, I was supposed to die at sixteen. It's a miracle I'm still alive. Most die before they turn twenty. And most people say you should wait because you're still too immature to have a good, proper, mature adult relationship, but I'd say our relationship is pretty serious and mature, seeing as we trust each other with our lives, literally. And like, I know there's no one but her for me, she knows there's no one else for her. We've been living together for two years, and we know each other like the backs of our hands. We fight, but what couple doesn't? Honestly, I'm just sort of afraid that if we wait any longer one of us is going to die fighting some monster, or even pissing off some god or goddess. We've got lots of enemies."

"Okay, I guess that's reason enough. But, first, I need to see the ring." Frederick had no idea what he was doing, but he might as well appear to not have made up his mind before Percy had even walked into the house, so that Percy didn't think he already loved him like a son. It was better to make him work a bit more, wasn't it? Besides, compared to Athena, he's easy.

"That's not ready yet." Frederick raised his eyebrows, and Percy started talking, more nervously again. "Leo helped me design it, we're making it an imperial gold that can turn into a dagger just incase, because she's sorta been missing her dagger ever since she first lost it in—" Percy cleared his throat. "Anyway, then we actually have to get imperial gold from the Romans and/or Hazel, who's also going to get us a diamond, preferably not cursed, I asked my dad to get me two little pearls, since I can't get it myself or Annabeth will know—heck, she probably already does—and Tyson said he'd put it all together for me. Piper and Leo are working on the box. She said something like it having to look cool or else Annabeth would say no just to make me sweat or something. Personally I think it's all a bit much, but." Percy shrugged. "It's Annabeth, half the time I think she'd rather just get everything over and done with, the other half I think she expects this huge thing and I'll never be good enough. I figure might as well try for more and she'll either be satisfied or very happy." Percy frowned. "Or she'll get mad at me for making all my friends work to make the ring and everything…"

"She'd love it." Frederick assured. "I'm sure she'll love it, no matter what. As long as it's from you, she'll take anything." Frederick frowned. "Well, anything that wasn't crap." He amended, and the two laughed. "How are you going to propose?" Now he was just curious, nothing else.

"Oh… Well…" Percy blushed. "You know about Balloon Day?"

"Balloon… What?"

"Balloon Day. You know, the first time we met we did that thing with the balloons, and we've been doing it every summer since? I'm going to ask her to marry me on the balloon. Like, I'm going to write my speech on it. Or maybe just the question, depends on when she catches on."

"You're not going to attach the ring on the balloon, are you?"

"Should I?"

"…No."

"Okay then, I won't. I trust you know Annabeth as well as anyone else, probably better."

"Then you're wrong. You probably know her better than I."

"I don't count, Mr. Chase." Percy smiled. "But you do know Annabeth well. You raised her. Others may have helped, but it was you, really. Just because you two aren't as close as you would've liked doesn't mean you don't love each other and you don't care for each other or don't know each other. Annabeth loves you, Mr. Chase. Don't forget that."

"Thank you. Yes, I… Maybe we should see each other again, catch up."

"I can pass the message, if you want."

"But then she'll know you were here and she'll wonder why." Frederick frowned. "No, it's not like I can't contact her. I'll do it myself." He looked up again, smiled. "As long as I'm invited to the wedding, you have my blessing, Percy Jackson." He said.

"Thank you, sir." Percy stood up, and Frederick followed. "Now I've got to go, I told Annabeth I was running and errand, so I actually have to go show I was actually successful or she'll get suspicious. Knowing Annabeth, she already knows." Percy shrugged. "Nice seeing you again, Mr. Chase, and thanks for you blessing."

"Of course." They shook hands, and Frederick led Percy out of the room.

Percy showed him a video a few months after; Annabeth was laughing behind the camera and Percy was pouting, telling her that 'that's not fair you're not allowed to do that that's my line!' before the camera zoomed in on their balloons, one silver one and a blue one, both of which had 'Will you marry me?" in big letters. A hand—Annabeth's—reached over and wrote with a sharpie 'yes.' on both balloons. The camera followed the balloons as they were released into the sky, and finally Frederick understood Sally's sentence as he watched them circle each other, rising higher and higher into the atmosphere, these pearly, sun-kissed balloons of silver and blue winking and disappearing into the cloud-plumed sky. It was sort of bittersweet, seeing those balloons go. It was as if, without knowing it, he'd let go of his daughter and watched, still standing rooted to the ground, as she rose higher and higher, someone else as her lifelong companion, until finally she rose too high for him to follow and he couldn't stay there any longer, he couldn't wait for her to come down, when he knew she never would. He'd just have to trust that her husband could take care of her in the way that he himself never could.

I was half-way through when I had this thing where I was like, hey, this is sort of like watching someone drift away from you, the balloons symbolise other people and you're still on the ground and then I HAD to do Frederick's POV instead of just Sally, Percy, and Annabeth the way I'd originally planned it, but then I was stuck because Frederick doesn't matter so what scenes would I do? So these last two aren't really balloon scenes. Obviously. But whatever, I think it's nice.

Tell me what you think, Constructive Criticism is always the best form of... criticism... okay I meant... Review?