Chapter Text
Dwayne kicked himself. Hard. Why did he come up with a stupid nickname for the Tim robot? Why did he use that name while dressed as his alter ego? Better yet, why did he decide to talk about said robot nickname on the air as himself with the two people his alter ego conversed with most frequently? Sammy and Ben are journalists , investigators by nature (especially over the last couple of years). Of course they would be able to connect the dots, especially with Dwayne now handing them the information on a silver platter.
What was it that Sammy always said? That he was just some idiot? Well, he sure did prove that tonight.
He realized his mistake as soon as it happened and tried to cover it up, making up some story about hearing The Dark’s nickname for Tim 1000 over the radio at some point. But words can’t be unsaid. Not over the radio. Not to Sammy and Ben. They caught on immediately, making stupid jabs at The Dark’s accomplishments, trying to get Dwayne to dig himself into a bigger hole. They thought it was funny, Dwayne realized. A joke. Something to make light conversation about.
He hung up eventually, too caught up in panic to realize until after the fact that he had responded to “the Dark” instead of his actual name. He buried his face in his hands, hoping against hope that they would drop the topic, or at least stop elaborating on it live on the air. But this was Sammy and Ben, so of course they didn’t.
Didn’t they understand what was at stake, here? Who would come after him—after his fiancé— when they discovered who The Dark really was?
He stood there for another minute before springing into action. He grabbed a box from the hallway closet as he had done many times and brought it to the living room. It was a fairly nondescript box and that was intentional, as it held all of Dwayne’s gear for his nights as The Dark. He rummaged through it for a minute, grabbing some things that might be able to provide some protection. He didn’t take the suit (as that would be far too conspicuous tonight of all nights) but he did put on his combat boots. They were worn in several times over by now, but they provided comfort as well as stability. And he could really use a bit of both of those at the moment.
Just as he finished tying his shoes, there was movement behind him.
Dwayne whirled around toward the sound, his eyes wide and his heart trying to pound out of his chest. For a second, he was sure the Science Institute had already infiltrated his house, that they were going to kill him (or worse) in response to his break-in several months back. If it had been any other night, he would probably have recognized the shadowy figure earlier, but that moment he couldn’t perceive who it was until they emerged fully from the hallway. Thankfully it wasn’t a deadly assassin, but rather his very confused, very concerned fiancé, Kirk.
“H-hey,” he stammered, trying to slow his heart rate. “I didn’t realize you were still up.”
Kirk made a strange face. “I was worried about you.” He glanced at the box, then at Dwayne’s attire—he was ready to leave and it showed. “I thought you were staying home tonight, hun. Didn’t you have an interview with Ben and Sammy scheduled?”
“I did, but...” Dwayne trailed off, feeling the rush of panic hit him again. “Something happened, Kirk. I—I let something slip that I shouldn’t have and now we both may be in danger.”
“What?” Kirk asked, alarmed. “Let something slip? How would that—?”
“They figured out I’m The Dark,” he said in a rush, forcing himself to meet his finance’s gaze.
Kirk jolted with wide eyes and Dwayne felt a sharp pang in his chest. He hated upsetting Kirk. It seemed like he was only doing that more and more often since he started being The Dark.
Dwayne stared down at the ground, barely registering that tears had started rolling down his cheeks. “Ben ambushed me about helping Tim Jensen with his robo suit and I let my guard down for just a second and—” He cursed, shoving the tears from his face with his palms. “You need to get out of the house.”
“ What ?” Kirk demanded, shaking his head. “I’m not leaving you!”
“You have to, please . I’m not going to stay here and try to be a martyr, I’m going to go down to the radio station. I have to try to fix this before word gets around for good and I need to know that you’re safe. We both know what the Science Institute is capable of. There’s a chance that they were listening to the transmission and are already on their way here.” Kirk looked so torn and the tears in his eyes ripped into the fabric of Dwayne’s being. “Please,” he repeated, his voice cracking. He didn’t know what he would do if Kirk suffered for his stupidity.
After a tense moment of deliberation, Kirk pulled Dwayne into a crushing hug. “I don’t like it, but I’ll do it for you.”
“Thank you.”
“Thank me by coming home safe.”
Dwayne nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
Kirk pulled away, wiping his own tears, and said, “I know you will.”
If he wasn’t afraid they were under threat of an impending attack, Dwayne would have tried to assuage his poor fiance’s fears. But time was not on their side. And he has every reason to be afraid , his mind whispered. He numbly turned and picked the box up off of the couch. He needed to hide it somewhere else. Keeping it with either of them or putting it in a closet would be too conspicuous should someone come looking for evidence. He thought for a moment, then took the box into the kitchen and slid it into the back of one of the cabinets. With the kitchen supplies in front of it and a few things strategically placed inside, the box was suitably camouflaged. Well, he hoped it was camouflaged. He didn’t really have time to find a better hiding place.
When he turned back to the living room, Kirk was emerging from the hallway, fully dressed with a bag slung over his shoulder.
“I’m guessing the farm would be a bad idea?”
“Probably,” Dwayne said solemnly, thinking now that he should probably call and tell his parents to make sure their doors are locked. Not that locked doors could stop his enemies if they really wanted to get inside.
Kirk nodded. “Okay. I’ll head to that out-of-the-way hotel in Big Pine. I know they’ll be open.”
Dwayne made a noise of assent as they walked out the front door, locking it out of habit (for whatever that was worth). After another hug and a reminder to stay safe, they parted ways and drove off into the night.
As he drove, Dwayne’s chest felt heavy and an ache was leeching into his bones. He should have just canceled the interview and gone to bed.
~~
Ben’s phone buzzed. They remembered to put it on vibrate before the show, thankfully, so they felt it rather than heard it, which saved them a sarcastic comment from Sammy about “being a professional”. They waited until Sammy took another call, then slipped the phone out of their pocket. Who was awake at 4:30 in the morning? They squinted at the screen.
Dwayne Libbydale: Hey we need to talk
Ben stealthily glanced at Sammy to see if he had noticed, but he was in a heated debate with Doyle about ice cube demons, so they figured they could get away with typing out a response.
Me: Talk about what? I’m on the air, dude, just call in. Or get your buddy The Dark to call in.
Dwayne Libbydale: I’m outside. Cut to break and let me in. Please.
Ben frowned down at the screen.
“Ben are you on your phone?” Sammy asked incredulously. “Seriously?”
Ben winced, glancing at Sammy apologetically, then back at their phone. “Uh, I think we need to cut to break.”
“Break? We just had one like—“
“Like five minutes ago, I know. Just—just put on that long one I was saving for the last hour.”
“The water safety compilation?”
“Yeah, that one.”
Sammy frowned, shooting Ben a look, but positioned the tape to play. “Alright, guys, gals, and non-binary pals, we’ll be back right after we do whatever the heck Ben wants us to do.” He pushed a button and the tape began playing, taking them off the air. “Great, now what’s so important?”
Ben tapped a quick message, then slid off their headphones and exited the booth. “C’mon, Sammy,” they said, motioning for the other to follow.
“What?” Sammy hurried to take off his headphones and follow suit, surprised at how fast his best friend could move with such short legs. “Where are we going?”
“We have a visitor!”
“ What ?” Sammy asked incredulously. “Who? Was that who you were texting?”
Ben shot a reproachful look backward. “Just...try not to get upset, okay,” they said grimly as the two reached the door. They swiftly unlocked and opened it, revealing Dwayne on the other side.
Sammy glowered, turning to Ben. “Why did you invite The Dark to our studio?”
“I, uh, I didn’t, Sammy,” Ben said, shrinking slightly under Sammy’s gaze. “Dwayne texted me, said he was outside and that we needed to talk.”
“I’m standing right in front of you, Stevens,” Dwayne deadpanned, a bit of ice creeping into his voice. “You could just, you know, ask me.”
Sammy crossed his arms. “What do you want? You couldn’t just call in like everyone else, huh? You had to march down here and pull us away from our jobs because you’re just that special, right?”
“I don’t have time for this.” Dwayne ground out, looking over his shoulder at the parking lot behind him. It hadn’t changed since the last time he checked—empty, save for his car and one he assumed belonged to Ben—but that didn’t ease his nerves. “We shouldn’t be talking out here. It’s not safe.”
“I agree, let’s take this inside,” Ben said. They ignored Sammy’s muttered protests and led them to their office, which thankfully had a chair for each of them.
Ben sat and Sammy followed, fixing the newcomer with a withering look that didn’t seem to have any effect. As Dwayne collapsed into the chair across from them, Ben watched as the anger and just overall energy drained from his body. He looked exhausted .
“Hey,” Ben started, uncertainly. “Are you...okay?”
Dwayne was silent for a moment, pressing his lips into a line. “When I came back to King Falls, I wasn’t planning on all of... this . On fighting crime.”
“So you are The Dark!”
“ Yes , Stevens,” Dwayne hissed. “Are you proud of yourself? Can I finish my story now?”
Sammy opened his mouth to retort, but Ben put a hand on his arm, hoping their co-host would take the hint and simmer down. They only had so much time during the ad break, after all.
“I had just finished college,” Dwayne continued. “I was looking forward to coming back to my hometown, visiting my family, settling down with my fiance. Having a normal life.” He hummed, an apparition of a smile crossing his face, then a grimace. “I guess my first mistake was thinking life in King Falls could be normal.”
A chill ran through Ben. They’d asked Dwayne if he was okay and didn’t miss how the question was avoided. Looking at their friend now—the shadow under his eyes, the hunch of his shoulders—the answer was clear.
Dwayne ran his hands over his arms, his gaze on a fixed point downward. “Six days after I moved back, Kirk was mugged on his way home from the grocery store. When they called me to the hospital, I was terrified . Seeing him laying in the hospital bed unconscious like that…” he trailed off, shaking his head. “We never used to have crime like that in King Falls. Sure, maybe there were small crimes where people broke bs laws, but it wasn’t ever violent. Something had changed in King Falls. And with Gunderson in charge of law enforcement, I couldn’t see how anything was going to get better.”
“So you decided to take things into your own hands?” Ben asked.
“Yes,” Dwayne responded, quiet. “Kirk’s my entire world, how could I sleep knowing I wasn’t doing anything to prevent something like that from happening again? Even if it meant dressing up in a ridiculous costume and making a fool of myself, I could still help people. Stop crimes before people got hurt.” He paused. “I felt like I had to. It was that, or—”
“Or watch the person you love get hurt again.”
Ben’s head turned sharply at that and Dwayne blinked, refocusing at Sammy’s words.
“Yeah,” Dwayne said. “Exactly.”
Sammy averted his gaze, trying to suppress his facial expressions. He looked down, distantly surprised that his arms were wrapped around his torso. He was...conflicted, to say the least. As much as he was frustrated with The Dark, as much as he wanted to hate him, he couldn’t help but see himself in Dwayne’s story, put himself in Dwayne’s shoes. If it was Jack in that hospital bed, wouldn’t Sammy have done the same? Wouldn’t he go to the ends of the earth if he thought it would keep Jack from harm?
Isn’t Dwayne doing a better job than him at keeping his fiance safe?
“Hey, you alright, Sammy?”
“Why did you come here, Dwayne?” Sammy asked, sidestepping Ben’s question. The fight had leached out of his tone; now he just sounded tired.
Dwayne didn’t answer immediately. There was still a small part of him that was certain they were being listened to, and his scans of the small office did nothing to assuage those fears. He sighed and looked between the two radio hosts before him. “Honestly, outside of my family, y’all are the only two I know I can trust in King Falls. And you’re the ones who sort of put me in this situation, so I figured you might be able to help me out of it too.”
Ben held up their hand. “Wait, put you—what are you talking about?”
“Y’all are well acquainted with the Science Institute, yes?”
Sammy exchanged a glance with his co-host. “I don’t know if I would go that far, but yes, we know what they’re capable of.”
“Then you understand the danger someone may be in if there was evidence suggesting they were The Dark.”
“Oh…”
“Yeah,” Dwayne grimaced. “I…I admit I was extremely foolish on the air. I know y’all are smart and capable journalists, of course you would latch onto any information I let slip. I just didn’t think you would, y’know, out me live on your show. ”
Sammy swore. “I didn’t even consider that. Are you okay? Kirk?”
“Kirk’s going to a hotel out of town and I called my parents on the way here, they’re locking the farm down.” A bitter laugh bubbled out of him. “Not that anything we do can stop them if they set their sights on us.”
“Hey, now don’t think like that,” Ben scolded lightly. “We can still salvage this.”
“Can we?”
“ Sammy! ”
“I just—I don’t know how to fix this, Ben,” Sammy whined. “What do you expect us to do, print a retraction ? If the Science Institute heard our show—and we know they love stalking us—then Dwayne’s already screwed!”
Dwayne wrapped his arms tighter around himself. “I mean, yeah. Yeah, you’re right. I’m probably screwed.”
“No, that’s not what—” Ben cut themself off, the words dying in their throat. The group lapsed into a few moments of silence. “Would you be able to leave town for a bit?”
“No, I can’t,” Dwayne responded immediately. “If The Dark goes missing coincidentally at the same time as this whole ordeal, that’s as good as publically unmasking.”
“But if you go back out there, they could still capture you!” Ben hissed.
Dwayne kind of shrugged. “That’s a risk I take every night. They haven’t caught me during an excursion yet.”
“ Yet ,” Sammy murmured softly.
“I don’t really have a choice in the matter anymore,” Dwayne reminded them. “There’s too much at stake. I just…wish I was strong enough to handle this responsibility.”
Sammy looked at his watch. “Shoot, Ben, we don't have much time left. The ad’s almost over.”
Ben nodded. “Let’s wrap up, then. Dwayne, what’s your plan? Where are you going to go?”
“I…” he trailed off. He hadn’t really thought that far ahead yet.
The radio pair shared another look, seeming to communicate telepathically for a moment. Sammy broke eye contact first, appearing to have come to a begrudging acceptance.
“If you insist on remaining in town,” Ben started, “then you’ll need a safe place to stay since your house is…well…”
“Compromised,” Sammy offered.
Ben nodded. “Yeah that. If you need to, you can crash at our place until this dies down.”
Dwayne sat back in partial shock, partial confusion. “Are you serious?”
“Deadly,” Sammy quipped back.
“T-thank you.”
“It’s the least we could do,” Ben said seriously. They ran a hand through their hair. “Okay, yeah, we’ll go do some damage control in the last part of our show and we’ll get in touch when it’s over. For now, just—just lay low. We’ll figure this out, okay?”
Somehow, Dwayne doubted they would be able to do much. But he appreciated the gesture, so he just nodded.
The thirty seconds it took Sammy and Ben to lead him back to the front door were silent and tense. They exchanged their goodbyes quickly, Ben once again reminding him to stay safe, before he was alone outside of the little radio station for the second time that night.
It was distinctly quieter than normal, the wildlife sounds in the surrounding forest substantially absent. With how frequently he spent time gallivanting around King Falls as The Dark, he’d grown to feel comfortable with the various sounds around him. The quiet was much more ominous than the supernatural things lurking in his little town at night.
Dwayne hastily made his way to his car. This day couldn’t end fast enough.