Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ 30 Days of Drabble ❯ Day 20: Pease Porridge Hot ( Chapter 20 )

A/N: You say Pablum; I say that's pretty much just porridge. Mush sounded more disgusting, though, so I went with that. Well, that and I kept hearing Carol Burnett's voice in my head saying, "And we're not having hot mush for lunch today. We're having cold mush." (Annie) And I realize that pease porridge is made with peas, not wheat. I just like the way it sounds for a title. [Rules for this challenge are in chapter one.]

Day: 20
Date: March 1, 2010
Prompt: pablum /PAB-lum/, noun: 1. Something (as writing or speech) that is trite, insipid, or simplistic. 2. (capitalized) A trademark used for a bland soft cereal for infants.
Fandom: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Characters: Duo & Quatre
Disclaimer: Bandai, Sotsu and Sunrise own Gundam Wing. I just use the characters for my own amusement and with any luck at all, your amusement as well.

Pease Porridge Hot

Quatre gave the perfectly innocent bowl sitting on the table in front of him a look that would usually be reserved for witnessing a particularly disgusting act. "Duo," he began, keeping his voice calm and even, "What is this?"

The other boy plopped down in a chair across from Quatre, plunking his own bowl down hard on the table. "Poor people food," he replied just before he shoved a big spoonful into his mouth.

Quatre resisted making a face at Duo's enthusiastic enjoyment of the meal and poked at the contents of his own dish with the edge of his spoon. Whatever it was in the bowl stuck to the spoon in big clumps, much like a badly mixed batch of paste. "Alright, but what is it? Is it even food?"

To demonstrate, Duo shoveled in another mouthful, chewed it in an exaggerated manner and then swallowed it before responding. "It's called mush and I'm eating it so it must be food."

"I've seen you eat canned cat food," Quatre replied. But then, he supposed, the word "food" was in the description.

"This is less meaty," Duo provided with a grin. But when Quatre held up the pasty spoon between them, Duo seemed to take pity. "It's just wheat meal and water."

Quatre didn't look convinced. "That's it?"

Duo nodded and offered his friend a spoonful. "C'mon, try it." He wiggled the spoon under Quatre's nose. "It's not really good," he sing-songed, "But it's not awful either. Yum yum. You're not gonna make me do the choo-choo train, are ya?"

Quatre rolled his eyes and gently shoved Duo's hand away. "Fine, I'll try it, but if it turns out that you're feeding me paste..." He steeled his resolve, scooped up a medium-sized bite, squeezed his eyes shut and then dove in.

He rolled the bland mixture around his tongue for just a moment before swallowing and then swallowing again to finish getting it down. It really was as pasty as it looked. Right. It was just as Duo said. It wasn't good. In fact, it was as far from being good as you could be without slipping into bad and that also confirmed Duo's statement that it wasn't awful. If asked, though, Quatre would definitely say that it was tolerable but that he would not agree to eat it again. He'd finish his bowl, but that was it.

"Duo, is this your way of getting out of cooking duty?"

The boy in question, blinked and then said, in the most innocent tone he could muster, "Would I do something like that?"

- End -