Title: Nostalgia

Written for sm_monthly theme: Bubblegum

Rated: PG-13 for language



For the long years that the world had been asleep, it had lost most of its human population, along with many once-common species of plants and animals, and a great deal of organic components that had fallen victim to natural biodegradation. There was, however, a lot of metal, foam, and plastic that had fulfilled its prophecy of being indestructible, and there was a lot of it to be found.

The Queen found a case of Mountain Dew that still had some fizz and flavor. She graciously volunteered to be the first test subject, and killed seven cans in two hours.

Jupiter found a bronze medal from the Mexico City Olympic games in the men's long jump underneath several inches of sand on the banks of the Nile. She kept it, never knowing exactly why.

Zoisite started a collection of plastic Starbucks cups that ended up numbering in the thousands, after which he destroyed them, disgusted.

Jadeite found a 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge in an underground concrete bunker, and spent the next year meticulously restoring it, crafting most of the engine parts himself, and using a metric ton of magic to get it running again. He named it "Pickford" and did not let anyone touch it without his careful supervision.

Every small discovery was significant, in small way, to someone, so they always brought their discoveries back to the palace, regardless of the object's value.

"Look what I found," Mercury announced in the King's office, interrupting a meeting with his guard.

"Is it edible?" Zoisite asked straightaway. He had been in the field the day they found the Mountain Dew, and they had forgotten to save him one. He hadn't gotten over it.

"Nope." She tossed the pack on the table. "Found it up in the Northeast today. Thought the former American schoolboys might like it."

Nephrite reached for it first, a boyish smile spreading across his features. "No shit!" He opened the cardboard pack, and pulled out one of the markers.

Endymion read the writing on the pack. "Mr. Sketch Scented Markers."

"Holy—" Zoisite snatched it up and dumped the markers out on the table. "I haven't seen these since I was a kid! Goddess, I swear I spent most of first grade high as a kite from huffing these things."

"Good find," Jadeite said, popping the top off of a blue marker and inhaling deeply. "Still smells. Blueberry." He inhaled again.

Mercury pulled up a chair and sat next to Zoisite, who tore a paper off Endymion's desk and started scribbling. "Thank you for this. These things used to be like, currency in my elementary school."

They spent a few minutes passing the markers around and inhaling the scents. Mercury and Endymion watched them silently, knowing their minds were back hundreds of years, in another time, and on another continent.

Kunzite chucked the brown one back to the center of the table. "Ugh. Why did they make the brown ones smell like cinnamon? It reminds me of that wicked disgusting fake cinnamon fluoride they used at the dentist."

"That crap was gross," Nephrite said, scribbling a yellow line down the scratch paper and bringing it to his nose. "I used to ask for the mint fluoride because it tasted like paste."

"Toothpaste?"

"No, regular paste." The circle of strange looks he received momentarily confused him. "What?"

Endymion's expression was halfway between disgust and amusement. "You ate paste? The kind that came in plastic jars with the wand it in?"

"In kindergarten, yeah." More stares. "What?"

Jadeite threw the orange marker at Nephrite's chest. "You were the paste-eating kid, weren't you?"

"Hell yes I was the paste-eating kid; that shit was great. I think I ate an entire jar once on the playground." He quickly huffed the light blue marker. "What?"

"That's fucking gross, man." Endymion groaned. "Now I'm not sure I want a former paste eater as one of my kings and guardians."

"Shut up. Everyone ate paste in kindergarten."

Jadeite shook his head. "I licked a glue stick on a dare. That's as far as I got."

"I ate a piece of chalk once," Zoisite said, sketching a quick purple star before bringing the marker up to his nose. "Nana freaked out and took me to the hospital. It got me out of school so I ate another piece the next week."

Mercury let out a giggle. "Did you go to the hospital again?"

He capped his marker with a click. "No. She just made the teacher move my desk away from the board."

Nephrite held the red marker up to his face and inhaled. "I think I ate chalk, too. Well, chalk dust. And some pencil shavings."

"What the hell is wrong with all of you?" Kunzite said, tossing his marker away. "I did kindergarten twice and I never ate my school supplies, you freaks. How did any of you survive to adulthood?"

Endymion reached for the pink marker, wanting to see what the hype was about. "Smells like bubblegum."

"Pink is always bubblegum," Jadeite explained. "The weird one is the light blue one, because it's supposed to smell like mango, which it doesn't, it smells like fruity crap instead."

"Gross, licorice." Zoisite rolled the black marker away. "No one liked this one."

"I liked it," Nephrite said.

"You would, you weirdo paste eater. I wouldn't be surprised if you ate these markers, too." He quickly checked the box. "See, non-toxic. A few of these and a jar of paste and you're all set."

Nephrite turned his attention to Endymion. "You're really enjoying the bubblegum, aren't you?"

Endymion smiled and inhaled again. He had almost forgotten the smell of the candy, how it always reminded him of sunshine and concrete, the beauty of cities that were just recently rebuilding from the rubble.

Nephrite watched him carefully, timed himself, and then darted forward like a snake, pushing the hand that held the marker against Endymion's face, leaving a bright pink streak down his face. Pretty quick for a paste-eater.

"You dick!" He rubbed at his face, his fingers coming away pink. Moments later, his arms were pinned down by Kunzite, who had snuck up behind him and grabbed him in a bear hug. "Ah, you fuck, let me go!"

Mercury made a noise, but didn't stop the other three guardians from grabbing the darker-colored markers and jumping up to join the fray. He tried to bite their fingers as they went to town on his face.

But then, Jadeite got too bold, and reached across Endymion's head and drew a slash mark of dark green down Kunzite's pale hair. "Hey, what the—" He released Endymion's arms: a mistake, as he was unarmed, and the holder of the pink marker turned against him in a flurry of bubblegum scented vengeance. The others quickly followed suit.

Mercury ran across the room and started flickering the light switch like a schoolteacher just as Jupiter entered the room. "What is going on?"

Endymion popped up, his face covered in four different colors of scented marker. He took one last swipe at his attackers, catching Zoisite under the chin with bubblegum ink. "What's going on? Your husband's a paste eater. That's what."