Calibrations

California 2014

"You didn't actually answer my question, Figment," Pepper said. "What are we going to do?"

Figment thought about it, but he could barely concentrate when his stomach was growling like this. He hadn't eaten since he had left 2019, and now, he was suffering for it. "I don't know, but I'm hungry," he said. "Let's get something to eat."

"I don't know if that's a good idea," Poison said.

"Are you kidding?" Youngblood said. "I'm starving!"

"You know, if things get really desperate, we could just eat Poison," Revenge suggested.

"Fuck you!" Poison shouted.

While the others argued over what to do, Revenge took matters into his own hands and started digging around in the refrigerator. "Still no vodka?" he complained as he rummaged through Alien and Frank's food.

Figment sighed and asked, "Is there anything else in there?"

"Uhh...let's see," Revenge said. "There's a couple of sandwiches, some pasta, some chocolate cake..."

"Cake sounds good to me," Pepper said.

"Yeah, me too," Youngblood said.

"I was kind of hoping that we could have an actual meal, not just dessert, and besides, Frank's going to be mad if we eat the whole cake without him," Figment said. All of a sudden, his stomach growled again. He was in no position to complain. "Alright," he said. "Chocolate cake it is."

Revenge took the cake out of the refrigerator and cut it into pieces, leaving the biggest slice for himself. "How is that fair?" Youngblood asked as Revenge put almost half of the cake onto his plate and immediately started eating.

"Just a small slice for me, Revenge," Poison said. "I'm on a diet."

"Starving yourself for two days is not 'going on a diet,' Poison," Figment said.

"Quit lecturing me," Poison said.

Figment was done. He'd said that to himself many times before, but he swore it was true this time. He wouldn't put up with his past selves and their bullshit any longer. He could leave them all behind and go to 2016 by himself.

Then, he glanced out the window. Bandit was pretending to play her cardboard guitar, and Frank was standing next to her, showing off his best air guitar moves. Watching them almost brought a tear to his eye. He still couldn't get over how small Bandit was, how Frank loved her as if she was his own child, how perfectly he fit into his strange little family.

As he watched them, he remembered why he had gone back in time in the first place.

Figment looked back at Poison, and he decided to have some sympathy for him. Nine years ago, he had been in his exact position, and besides, he needed Poison's help if he was going to save Frank.

"I'm just telling you things that I wish I knew earlier," Figment said to his younger self.

Poison kept on complaining, but he reluctantly took a few bites of the cake. Meanwhile, Figment wolfed down his food. The cake was sweet and delicious, and his past selves looked like they were enjoying it too.

"We might want to find a better place to hide," Figment suggested as soon as he was done eating. "Someone could walk in and find us at any moment."

"Who cares?" Poison said. "All they'd see is me being fabulous, and I don't see any problem with that."

"Yeah, but imagine trying to explain why there are five people named Gerard Way in the kitchen," Pepper said. "I'm with Figment. We can't let the others find us, and we need to find a better hiding spot if we're going to do that."