Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ron made his way to the classroom that he’d been sent to watch.

They hadn’t told him anything really about why he was to watch this teacher in the first place, only said teacher’s name and the room number that he taught in.

The blond had no clue why the Starset Society was interested in Professor Dustin Bates, but he knew that the man had to be important in some way.

Finally finding the classroom, Ron merely leaned against the doorway to observe at first. Dustin was up in front, talking animatedly.

But God, Ron hadn’t expected him to be so young.

Or to be so hot…

The professor was dressed in slim black jeans and a long sleeved white button down shirt. He had the sleeves rolled to his elbows and it had obviously been tucked into his jeans at some point. But since he was moving around and gesturing so much, his shirt had come partially untucked. A long black tie fluttered around him as he walked, and Ron thought he saw hints of a tattoo on Dustin’s arm.

By this time, quite a lot of Dustin’s students had noticed the visitor leaning against the door, and thus, Dustin noticed their distraction.

“What’s got you guys so distr-oh...hello…?” Dustin frowned. “Who are you?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your class. I wasn’t told when you didn’t have classes, so I had to guess.” Ron got up from leaning on the door frame and came into the classroom. “I’m Ron DeChant and I’m just gonna sit here and you can ignore me until your class is over.” The class laughed and Ron grinned winningly at Dustin while the professor glowered at him.

“I’ll be sure to do that,” he said haughtily and went back to teaching, pointedly not acknowledging the blond any further. Ron, laughing softly to himself, took a seat away from any of the students, in the back of the classroom. However, he did notice that Dustin kept glancing at him, then catching Ron’s eye and looking away.

Finally once the class was over and all the students gone, Dustin started gathering up his stuff.

“I have like an hour until my next class so we can talk, but you’ll have to put up with us going to a cafe. This is my only chance to eat lunch and I’m not about to skip that.”

“That’s fine,” Ron said mildly. “I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Just say whatever you have to say.” But Ron stayed silent until they got to the cafe and had gotten a table. Dustin had gotten food, but Ron had just bought a coffee for himself.

“So why are you stalking me again?” Dustin asked between bites of his sandwich.

“I assure you, I’m not a stalker. I was sent to talk to you, to make you an offer.”

“An offer? About what?” Dustin leaned forward, curious despite himself.

“A job of sorts. I’m from an organization called the Starset Society. We’re a group that, at its core, is trying to spread a message. The details aren’t important for right now, but in essence, we’re trying to keep rich people from using technology to get richer and also to use the message as a warning. It was sent from the future to warn us, right here and now in 2013, of a potential disaster.”

“This is a joke right?” Dustin leaned back, looking around suspiciously. “Like, this is for a project of some sort isn’t it? Because it’s not funny, that’s for sure.”

“It’s not any kind of joke, I’m afraid. It’s far from a joke, in fact. The founder of the Society, Dr. Aston Wise, he asked me to find you and talk to you about this.”

“Well you can tell him that I’m not interested in him or his fake Society. Seriously, who would believe this?”

“Honestly, I didn’t expect you to. Not many people do the first time we contact them. I don’t even know why Aston asked me to tell you about this, but you must be important in some way to the Society for him to be this insistent about it.”

“Well I don’t want to be important; I just want to go about my normal life thanks.”

Ron opened his mouth to reply, but his phone vibrated in his pocket at the same moment. When he took it out, he found a text from an unknown number that simply read:

“ Ask him if he has strange dreams.”

Ron knew immediately that it was from Aston. He looked up at Dustin, who was getting ready to leave, looking irritated.

“Hey, before you go.” Ron paused when Dustin looked angrily at him.

“What?” The professor snapped.

“Do you have weird dreams?”

Chapter Text

He saw Dustin pale slightly, knew he’d hit on something. “Do you?”

“E-Everyone has weird dreams!” Dustin said defensively, curling his arms around himself. “Nothing unusual about that!”

“Yeah, but yours are different aren’t they?” Ron asked softly, and was rewarded by Dustin plopping back down in his chair.

“How’d you know?”

“Lucky guess on that last part. For the dreams thing, Aston texted me and told me to ask you that.” Dustin sighed heavily.

“Yeah, I have weird dreams...weirder than the average person’s.” Ron, on a whim, reached forward and covered Dustin’s hand with his own.

“About what?” he asked. “I mean, if you feel like telling me. If not, I totally understand.” The dark haired professor took a shaky breath.

“Can...can we trade numbers so we can talk about this later? I have to get back to set up my next class.”

“Sure.” Ron put Dustin’s number in his phone and gave him his, then walked the professor back to his classroom.

“You gonna be okay?” Ron asked as they stood outside the room. “You’re not going to go and do anything crazy are you?”

“Have other people? When you’ve told them about the Starset Society and all of this?”

“I haven’t witnessed anything myself, but I’ve heard stories.”

“Well that’s...reassuring…” Ron laughed and patted Dustin’s shoulder, not missing the way the professor’s cheeks turned faintly pink.

“If it’s more reassuring, I don’t see you as one to do anything like that.” Dustin laughed shakily and straightened his tie in a nervous movement.

“Yeah, I feel so much better…” he said sarcastically and Ron snorted.

“You’re a little shit under that pretty face and button down shirt; I like it.” He was only teasing to try and make Dustin feel better, but the shade of red that the professor turned was a pretty nice payoff too.

“I-I’m done with my classes at six so…”

“I’ll call you,” Ron reassured.

~~~

Ron was sitting in his hotel room, just writing down his thoughts about his initial meeting with Dustin. It was something he liked to do whenever Aston had him talk to potential new recruits, whether he was the one to recruit them or not. Sometimes multiple people talked to one potential recruit, and Ron found it helpful to have info to pass along.

He was just finishing up his sentence when his phone vibrated on the table. Frowning, slightly irritated at being interrupted in his thoughts, Ron answered it.

“Hello?”

“H-Hey, it’s Dustin. Dustin Bates.”

“Oh hey. I wasn’t expecting you to call me.”

“I was done with my classes so I figured...I’m not interrupting you or anything am I?” Dustin sounded young over the phone, even younger than he’d looked, and nervous.

“No, no you’re fine. I was just finishing up some work actually, so you have good timing,” Ron reassured.

“Oh! Well that’s good.”

“You wanted to talk didn’t you? That’s why you called?”

“Yeah...about my dreams...and I guess about the Starset Society…”

“Oh you’re willing to listen to me now?” Ron teased and he heard Dustin stammer slightly.

“W-well I suppose...I mean…”

“It’s fine, it’s fine, I was just teasing you.” Ron laughed softly when Dustin made an angry noise. “So do you want to meet up somewhere, get dinner maybe?”

“Sure.”

“I’m assuming you live near the college campus then?”

“Yeah, right outside it actually.”

“Alright, if you give me your address, I’ll come pick you up and we can find somewhere to eat there,” Ron offered.

“Oh! Sure, thank you.”

After Dustin had given Ron his address and they’d said their goodbyes, Ron called Aston to give him a brief update on where he was going and how he’d gotten on with his first meeting with Dustin.

Chapter Text

Ron texted Dustin when he was outside the professor’s house to let him know that he was there. The outside of his house was pretty, small and neat. A text drew him from his thoughts and he looked over at his phone.

“Come on in. Sorry I’m not quite ready yet.”

Ron laughed softly, and parked his car so he could head inside.

He didn’t know what he’d been expecting Dustin’s house to look like, but the inside was just as neat as the outside, small but well decorated. Ron had gone up to a framed picture on the wall and was inspecting it when Dustin came out from the other room.

“Hey sorry I was running a bit late. One of my students has been having family troubles and she needed a willing ear.”

“Let me guess...you were that willing ear?” Ron turned to Dustin with a grin. The professor was dressed casually in jeans and a hoodie, his hair fluffy and still slightly shower-damp.

“Of course! Poor girl has been too stressed at home to get much work done, so I wanted to make sure she doesn’t fail my class. She’s only a freshman too; I feel so sorry for her.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet? Smart too, to have a masters.” Ron gestured back at the framed diploma on the wall that he’d been looking at. Dustin smiled bashfully and rubbed the back of his head.

“I mean...what can I say? I like teaching.”

“I’m sure you’re great at it. From the little I’ve seen, you’re pretty good. Shall we get dinner then? I don’t know about you, but I’m starved.”

“Sure! I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve kind of got a place already in mind.”

“Knock yourself out, man. I have no clue what’s good around here. You just have to give me some directions.” They headed out to Ron’s car after Dustin locked his house up.

“Nice keychain,” Ron commented. Dustin’s keys swung from a keyring that was attached to the watch end of a pocketwatch, that was clipped to his jeans by a chain.

“Thanks.” The professor tucked the watch and keys part into his front pocket. “I don’t know where it came from. I’ve just kind of had it for as long as I can remember.”

“Mysterious,” Ron teased as they got into the car. “You’re a man of mystery, Dustin Bates.”

“Yeah, like my dreams…” Dustin muttered. Ron waved a hand dismissively.

“That can wait until after we’ve eaten. We can talk about more pleasant things for now.”

“Like what?”

“Like where we’re going to eat.”

“Oh! Right, if you take a left on this street coming up here at the stop sign, the restaurant is on the left.”

“Pretty close to your house. You come here a lot?” Ron asked as he maneuvered into a parking spot.

“I do actually. I really like this place; it’s nice and all the staff are really friendly.”

And Ron supposed Dustin really must come there often, because not only did the woman who sat them know his name, but so did the older woman who took their drink and food order.

“You’re very popular with the ladies,” Ron teased and Dustin went red around the ears.

“Yeah, especially the older ones,” the professor grumbled. “I swear, every time she talks to me, she looks like she wants to pinch my cheeks.” Ron tried to hide a laugh at the image, but failed spectacularly.

“I can see why.”

“Are you always this much of a jerk?” Dustin asked with a frown.

“Only to people I like,” Ron said simply. “You should feel honored.”

~~~

They ordered food and chatted about normal, mundane things and ate.

“You’re right, this place is really good,” Ron commented after they’d finished. “I wish I was staying here longer so I could come here more.”

“You don’t live here?” Dustin asked and Ron shook his head.

“Nope, I just move around from hotel to hotel pretty much.”

“That must get lonely,” Dustin said softly.

“Sometimes,” the blond admitted. “Though I sometimes team up with other people from the Society and I talk to new recruits all the time, and there are a lot of people in the Society itself.”

“Do you like it? Working for them?”

“Yeah actually. We’re spreading an important message and it’s necessary to inform people about that message and recruit as many people as we can.”

“And Aston? Is he a good guy?”

“I think you would like him. You two would get along.”

“Will I get to meet him?” Dustin asked, looking curious.

“If you want to, yeah.”

“I’d like to. I want to ask him so many things.”

“About your dreams?” Ron asked quietly and Dustin’s face went somber.

“Yeah…”

“Why don’t you tell me about them? Then I could get back to Aston about it and he could give me some info to pass along to you.”

“That would be great.” Dustin took a deep breath, steadying himself. “Alright...now a lot of this is gonna be strange, but…”

“I assure you, I’ve probably heard stranger,” Ron reassured with a smile.

“If you’re sure…” Dustin said doubtfully. “Well, I’ve been having these dreams for as long as I can remember. They’re clear but not clear at the same time. Like, I see a lot of little scenes, but they’re so clear in what they are. They’re kind of like memories in a way. It’s mostly landscape actually, the things that I see. It’s not Earth either, clearly not Earth. The sky is always sunset orange, all day, until the sun goes down, no matter if it’s ten AM or three PM. And when it is daytime, there are two suns.” Dustin’s voice had fallen into a lulling lilt, almost as though he were telling a story or a lullaby to a child. “The leaves on the trees are bright silver, and when that second sun rises, it makes them look like they’re on fire, shining almost as red as the grass in the fields. And I’ve only seen it a few times, but there’s also a huge tower encased in a glass dome in the middle of the city.” Here, Dustin paused to take a drink of his water. He then smiled at the look on Ron’s face. “I told you it was gonna get weird.”

Chapter Text

“No, it’s...well, it’s kind of strange, but it’s fascinating too! You’re a really good storyteller; I can see why you’re a teacher.” Dustin laughed, blushing faintly at Ron’s praise.

“Oh thanks...I mean, there’s a ton more, but the description of this...other world is the most clear to me.”

“If you could paint, that would make for an awesome painting,” Ron commented.

“Well you’re not wrong.” Dustin got up. “I’ll be right back if that’s alright with you. I always get a little weirded out myself after talking about this stuff.”

“Take your time; I’ll be here.” Ron waved a hand nonchalantly and leaned back in his seat.

Dustin headed to the restroom to splash some cold water on his face. Talking about his dreams really did weird even him out sometimes. They were so real, like he’d actually been to this completely alien place in real life. Drying his face with a paper towel, Dustin caught a glimpse of his face in the mirror on the wall. Something looked off about his eyes, so he leaned in to take a closer look.

There were multiple points of light in his eyes.

Almost like stars…

Dustin blinked a couple of times, but the illusion remained. He reached up to touch just under his eye, and then raised his fingers up right in front of them to see if there was just a light reflecting in them. There was no light on his fingers, so Dustin raised his hand to shade his eyes, just in case.

Then gasped as the darkness brought on by shading his eyes only made the lights in them brighter and more intense.

“Holy shit,” he breathed, staring at his own eyes in wonder. He’d taken an astrology course in college just for kicks, but none of the star formations looked even a little familiar to him.

So absorbed in his reflection, Dustin was caught off guard and squeaked when a hand planted itself firmly on his shoulder. He whirled around to face a stranger who was, for some reason, wearing sunglasses even though they were inside and the sun had long since set outside.

“Can I...help you?” Dustin asked warily.

“Your name is Dustin Bates, is it not?”

“Uh yeah but how do you know that? I don't think I know you.” The man seemed to be staring closely at Dustin and after a moment, nodded to answer some unsaid question.

“Neither my name nor my purpose are important right now. I need you to come with me.”

“What? Why should I do that?” Dustin made as if to pull away from the hand on his shoulder, but the man’s fingers only tightened almost painfully.

“Ow! Hey what the hell?”

“I need you to come with me right now,” the man repeated. “For your own safety. That man you came here with, Ron DeChant? He’s dangerous, and so is the organization that he works for.”

“The Starset Society?”

“The very same. Now, I need you to follow me, quietly and calmly.”

“Wait, how do I know I can trust you? How do you know about the Starset Society? I thought it was some big secret.”

“I’m from a society that opposes Aston Wise and his fraud of an organization. We’re called the FEC if you must know. Come now, time’s wasting.” As the strange man was saying this, something suddenly started burning Dustin, a hot flash of pain through his jeans from his pocket.

“Ow!” Dustin flinched, his outburst causing the man to release his grip of the professor’s shoulder in surprise. Dustin dug in his pocket and pulled out his pocket watch, which was currently red hot, but somehow not burning his hand. As soon as he touched the watch, a feeling of dread came over him, a feeling that was telling him very loud and clear to get away from this man as quickly as possible. Dodging away from the guy’s hand, which was on its way to grabbing Dustin’s shoulder again, the professor ducked out of the bathroom.

And promptly ran into someone.

Chapter Text

Dustin struggled for a minute before the person caught his shoulder to steady him.

“Hey hey take it easy! It’s just me!” Dustin sagged in relief at Ron’s familiar voice.

“Thank God…” he breathed.

“What the hell happened to you? You look pale as a ghost.”

“There was this guy…” Dustin looked behind him, now paranoid that the man would reappear if mentioned or thought about. Ron frowned and touched Dustin’s shoulder gently.

“C’mon let’s get out of here. I already paid for our food.” He handed Dustin his hoodie and ushered him out of the restaurant.

“You’re shaking,” Ron said softly, reaching out to curl a comforting arm around the professor’s shoulders. “Are you okay; do you need to sit down?”

“N-No, let’s just leave please.”

“This guy...what did he look like?”

“I dunno exactly. It was kind of dark in the bathroom. I think he was wearing a suit...oh, he was wearing sunglasses! I remember that because it was so odd that he was wearing them inside.”

“Did he say what he wanted?”

“Yeah he wanted me to go with him, which I obviously wasn’t going to do.” Dustin leaned against the wall of a building near the restaurant. “He said that you were dangerous and that Aston and the Starset Society were frauds. I didn’t believe him, just so you know.”

Ron looked both horrified and furious at the same time and he reached out and took Dustin by both shoulders gently.

“Dustin…” he started seriously. “Dustin, did he tell you if he was from another organization?” Dustin opened his mouth to respond, but then froze, staring at something behind Ron’s back. Ron turned his head the barest amount to see a tall man in a suit standing outside the restaurant, clearly looking for something.

Or someone…

He heard Dustin’s quiet “shit” and turned to look back at the professor, who had gone sheet white again.

“Is that him?” Ron swore when Dustin nodded, and took his own coat off, sliding it over Dustin’s shoulders and pulling its hood up over the professor’s curly hair. “There, hopefully that should be enough to disguise you.” He pulled the hood of his own hoodie up. “And me, for that matter.”

“Why, does he know you?” Dustin asked in a low voice as they started walking again. Ron smiled mirthlessly, cold enough to make Dustin flinch.

“Yeah, you could say that we know each other. Now, did he tell you what organization he was from? I’m pretty sure that this is the same guy but…quick, just indulge me.” But Dustin just shook his head, clutching at the blond’s sleeve, clearly scared. “Dustin please…”

“He’s dangerous…” Dustin whispered. “He’s dangerous; I know he is. I don’t know how I know that. Why do I know that?”

“Dustin!” Whirling so that he was standing in front of the professor, Ron took Dustin’s face in his hands. “Look at me! What organization did he say he was from?”

“I don’t remember!” Dustin was aware that his voice had risen above a shout, but he was too panicked to care anymore.

“Yes you do, Dustin please…”

“He said he was from the FEC…” Dustin said after a long pause and Ron swore softly, dropping his hands from the dark-haired man’s face.

“I knew it...it is the same guy.”

“Who is he? And who’s the FEC? I’m so confused; why do they want me?” Dustin asked.

“Probably because Aston is interested in you. They know you’re special somehow.”

“I told you, I don’t want to be special!” Dustin was well and truly freaking out now, the adrenaline having given way to pure fear. “Is this your life, because it’s terrifying! If it’s like this all the time, I want no part of it!”

Ron saw the FEC agent look over curiously at them, drawn to Dustin’s loud, panicked voice. The blond swore and took Dustin by the arm, intent on getting them safely to his car.

“It’s okay, it’s gonna be okay Dustin,” he soothed, rubbing the professor’s shoulder. Dustin’s breathing was slowly starting to even out again as he got ahold of himself.

“Sorry, sorry I didn’t mean to freak out. It was just so out of the blue and…”

“No I get it. You get attacked when you’re already so unsure of yourself and everyone. But I can assure you that Aston is the good guy here. I promise.”

“Now Ron, are you quite sure about that?” Dustin squeaked and his fingers curled in Ron’s sleeve. The blond whirled to face the man who had been harassing Dustin.

“You!” he spat.

Chapter Text

“Joshua, you stay away from Dustin! He wants nothing to do with you and the FEC!” The man, Joshua, ignored Ron and chose to address Dustin instead.

“Are you sure that you can trust him?” he asked, nodding at Ron. “You’ve only known him for a day, not even.”

“I’ve known you for even less time!” Dustin fired back. “And he didn’t accost me and tell me to come with him. He at least explained somewhat why he wanted to talk to me.”

“Oh ho, the little Time Lord has some fire after all huh? And here I was starting to think that I had the wrong person!”

“Time Lord?” Dustin looked at Ron. “What’s that?” The blond shrugged at him, clearly just as confused.

“Ahhh he doesn’t remember!” Joshua laughed. “Makes it all the easier to bring you with me if you don’t have any of your little toys!” With that, he reached into his coat pocket and brought out a strange handheld device. It looked to Dustin like some sort of taser, but the end pulsed with an odd red light rather than electricity. Before either of them could do anything, Joshua lunged forward, surprisingly fast for his large size, and pressed the glowing end of the device to Ron’s ribs. The blond cried out and fell, and Joshua took the opportunity to grab Dustin’s arm.

“Now you’ll come with me, like it or not!” Dustin yelped and struggled, but the man’s grip on his arm was too strong. The professor was about to completely freak out when he felt his pocket watch start to burn against his leg again.

Starting to get an idea, Dustin struggled his free hand down to the pocket that the watch was in.

“What are you doing, you silly boy? Nothing you have in your pocket can help-ah!” Dustin had managed to fish the burning watch out of his pocket and press it against the arm that was holding him. And even though the warmth of the watch hadn’t really burned him, it sure seemed to hurt Joshua an awful lot. Dustin pulled out of his grip and ran to help Ron, who was already starting to get to his feet.

“Are you alright?” the professor asked, reaching out to help Ron up. “What even was that thing he hit you with?”

“I’ll be fine, and I’ll explain later. Let’s just get out of here.”

“I’m not complaining about that.” They got back to Ron’s car and started the drive back to Dustin’s house.

“Are you sure you’re okay going home?” Ron asked. “There’s a very good chance that they know where you live.”

“Really?” Dustin was starting to look pale again. “Oh…”

“I’d say you could stay with me, but my hotel room only has one bed. Do you want me to stay with you?”

“You wouldn’t mind?”

“Not at all, if you want me to. We’d just have to stop so I could get some stuff from my room.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind? I’m sure I’d be fine.”

“I honestly don’t mind, Dustin. Besides, it would help my peace of mind too, and I want to know more about those dreams of yours if you’d be willing to tell me more.”

“Really? You know, you’re the first person I’ve gone into depth about my dreams with. Everyone else just seems to brush me off when I try to talk about them.”

“They have to be important in some way, I’m almost positive. Aston thinks they’re important in any case.”

“Tell me about him,” Dustin said softly. “Aston, tell me about him.”

Ron obliged him as he pulled the car into the parking lot of the hotel that he was staying at.

“He’s a really smart, really nice person. He’s a little weird sure, but I think we’re all a little weird, eh?” Ron let them both into his hotel room before going to gather a few things into a backpack. “You remind me of him; I said that before, didn’t I? He was probably a lot like you when he was younger.”

Dustin sat down on the edge of the bed, fiddling with the chain of his pocket watch.

“Can I see it?” Ron’s voice pulled the professor out of his reverie.

Chapter Text

“Huh? Oh sure.” Dustin unhooked the watch from his jeans and handed it to Ron. “It was weird though, before that guy, Joshua was his name? Before he started talking about the FEC, it heated up. Like some kind of warning almost. And then it did it again when he grabbed me. It heated up and I burned him with it, but it didn’t hurt me at all. It just felt warm.” Dustin was aware that he was babbling, but he felt so weird watching Ron inspect his watch.

“Like a warning you said? That’s weird...almost magical. But it has to be something scientific. Maybe something to do with your heart rate. Though how it would sense that is beyond me, or why it would sense that in the first place.”

“I dunno. There’s nothing really that special about it that I can tell.”

“Really? Have you ever opened it to see what’s inside?” Ron set his bag on the floor and sat down on the bed next to Dustin.

“I have tried, but it’s stuck or something.” The professor reached over to point out the clasp. “It’s not rusty or anything but it’s stuck.”

Ron fiddled with it for a moment, trying to open it to no avail.

“Huh that’s really weird. You’re right, there’s no rust on this thing, no reason why it shouldn’t open.”

“Yeah I’ve tried everything. Various tools, every one that I can think of that could open it. I’ve even taken it into shops, but no one can seem to open it.”

“Very strange.” Ron handed the watch back to Dustin, who secured it to his jeans and tucked it back into his pocket. “Shall we go then? We can talk more at your house.” The professor nodded and Ron got up, slinging his backpack over one shoulder and grabbing his keys. He then held out a hand to Dustin to help him to his feet. The dark-haired man blushed faintly but accepted the hand, noticing when Ron winced slightly.

“You’re hurt...he hurt you.”

“I’ll be okay; I told you that.” Ron smiled fondly at Dustin’s concerned look. “I promise you I’ll be fine.”

“You’re gonna let me look at it when we get back to my house,” Dustin said stubbornly and the blond laughed softly.

“Alright, alright you can play doctor if you want. Just don’t go getting any ideas, mister.” Dustin’s blush grew more pronounced.

“I-what? No, that’s not what I me-”

“Uh huh suuuure.” Ron laughed at Dustin’s put-out look. “I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I appreciate the gesture.”

~~~

Though Ron really did seem like he was in a fair bit of pain as they got back to Dustin’s pretty little house. He was holding himself very stiffly, his arm pressed to his hurt ribs as if to brace himself and not move too much.

“Here, give me your stuff; I’ll go throw it in the guest room for you. Go sit and relax.” Dustin took Ron’s bags and nudged the blond towards the couch. When he came back, he had a small first aid kit in hand.

“Well look at you, mister prepared,” Ron teased, grinning at the professor’s resulting surly look.

“Yes, I’m such a boy scout, having a first aid kit when I live alone. You’ll be thanking me for being prepared in about five minutes.”

“Oh I don’t doubt that. But it’s fun to make you mad.”

“Just be quiet and let me see where he hit you,” Dustin grumbled.

“You just want me to take my shirt off, don’t you?” Ron asked with a sly smile, and Dustin swatted his arm none too gently. “Ow, don’t hurt me; I’m already hurt here!”

“Then don’t be a brat and let me see.” Ron made a lascivious face, but obediently stripped his hoodie and T-shirt off. Dustin pulled in a startled breath at the patch of bruised and blistered skin that the action revealed.

“You’ve been running around with that? I let you drive with that? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I’ve done more with worse wounds,” Ron said reassuringly. “Don’t be so worried.”

“That just makes me worry more! Jesus christ, what kind of job is it that you’re doing that you’re getting so badly hurt so often?”

“It’s not the safest job, I do have to admit.” Ron hissed when Dustin carefully started to clean the wound. “Easy there!”

“Sorry sorry! Your shirt was rubbing against it, so I wanna make sure that I clean it really well.” The blond let out a breath and leaned back against the couch as Dustin continued to clean the wound on his ribs.

“Your hands are way more gentle than the nurse that Aston hired though,” he murmured with a smile. Dustin huffed softly but smiled back nonetheless, moving on to put something antibacterial on the wound.

“I have the antibacterial spray stuff, so it’s gonna sting a bunch. But I think it’ll be better than rubbing anything on that any more.”

“Do whatever you think is best, Doctor Bates,” Ron said with a strained grin. His face was pale and drawn, and Dustin wanted to stop poking at the wound as soon as possible.

“Do you need anything before I do this?” He asked. Ron silently held out a hand, and the professor looked at it questioningly for a minute, confused. “Wh-?” Then his face changed to one of understanding and surprise. “Oh! You want…?”

Chapter Text

“Please,” Ron murmured and Dustin’s expression softened. He reached out and took the blond’s proffered hand, squeezing it gently. Ron gave him a grateful, slightly embarrassed smile and Dustin flushed faintly. He then started to spray the antibacterial spray on Ron’s ribs. The blond hissed again, fingers tightening on the professor’s hand desperately.

“Almost done, almost done…” Dustin murmured, trying to be soothing. He grabbed some bandages and neatly wrapped Ron’s ribs as best he could. He peered up at one point, caught Ron just watching him and flushed, ducking his head back down. Ron’s skin was warm under his fingers and Dustin finished up hurriedly, feeling flustered and overheated all of the sudden.

“There, finished.” The dark haired man leaned back, packing the stuff back into his first aid kit and setting it aside for the time being. “How’s it feel?”

“Sore but good enough for now. Not like we can go to a hospital anyways,” Ron said matter-of-factly.

“What even was that, that he hit you with?” Dustin asked, heading towards the kitchen to get them both some much-needed glasses of water.

“Looked like some kind of modified taser. Thanks.” Ron took the glass of water and aspirin that Dustin handed him, knocking the pills back easily. “I’ll have to tell Aston about that; I’ve never seen anyone from the FEC use one of those before.”

Dustin sat down heavily in the chair next to the couch.

“I don’t want to be mixed up in this,” he said softly.

“I know.”

“I’m scared…” This came in an even softer tone, almost inaudible, and Ron made a sympathetic face.

“If it makes you feel any better, I get scared because of all of this too. I’m scared for you.”

“Are they going to come after me tonight?” Dustin asked, fear writ obviously across his face.

“I don’t know,” Ron admitted. “But I don’t think so. That’s what they want though, to make you scared and paranoid. They want you to make a mistake, to expose yourself again so that they can grab you. I’ve never seen them come after someone we’re trying to recruit on like the first day though.”

“God, it’s only been a day…” Dustin whispered. “It feels like it’s been a week. I don’t know if I can last through an actual week of this…”

“You can do it,” Ron reassured. “That’s why I’m here still, to help you.” Dustin sighed, leaning back in the chair heavily.

“Oh, do you mind if I call Aston?” The blond asked. “I should probably tell him what happened today, since it’s so unusual.”

“Go ahead,” Dustin said with a wave of his hand. “Is it really that unusual though? That someone would come after me?”

“On the very first day that I tell you about this? Yes, it is. Usually if we contact someone, it takes them a couple days at least to find and observe the person. But I’ve never seen them go this hard after someone.”

“That’s not worrying or anything…” Dustin muttered. “I feel so special.”

“You’ll be okay. We’ll make sure of that.” Ron pulled out his phone and dialed a number.

“Do you want me to leave or…?” Dustin asked, and the blond shook his head.

“No I’d actually rather you stay and tell your side of things.”

“Oh right...my dreams.” The professor sat back down, looking glum.

“Well not just that. You said that Joshua cornered and approached you and asked you to go with him. I’m sure that Aston will want to hear that story as well. I’m gonna put this on speaker so you can hear it too.” Dustin nodded and Ron put his phone on speaker just as the call connected.

“Ron! It’s about time you called! I was starting to get worried that something happened.”

“Well, something kind of did happen. That’s actually why I’m calling.”

Chapter Text

“What? What happened? You said that you were going to meet with professor Bates; is he alright?”

“I did meet with him and he is alright, but we had a little altercation with the FEC.”

“Already? Tell me about it.”

“I’m actually with Dustin at his house right now, and I think that he can explain it better than I can since he was the one who was approached.”

“Someone from the FEC approached a potential recruit on the first day that you told them about us?”

“Dustin?” Ron turned to the professor. “Would you tell your side of the story?”

Dustin swallowed nervously and Ron was struck again by just how young he looked.

God, what was he doing, destroying this poor guy’s life like this? Dustin had seemed so happy in his quiet, normal life. Had Ron ruined that for good?

He reached over to lay a reassuring hand on Dustin’s arm, nodding when the dark haired man looked at him questioningly.

“It’s okay,” Ron murmured. “Don’t be scared; this is so that we can keep you safe.”

“Don’t leave out any details,” Aston’s voiced sounded over the phone. “Even the smallest thing could be important.”

“No pressure or anything,” Dustin muttered, but he began nonetheless:

“I assume Ron told you that I have...strange dreams and I did tell him about some of them, but I really don’t feel like explaining about it over the phone and twice in one day. I guess I’ll save that for when I actually meet you. So I’ll start after that. I left to go...compose myself after I told Ron. I always feel so uneasy after I tell someone about my dreams, so I went to the bathroom to go splash some water on my face or whatever to calm down. I guess leaving Ron was a bad idea on my part, but I didn’t know that I was in any danger. And um…” Here, Dustin paused to glance nervously at Ron. “I haven’t told Ron this yet but I noticed something weird about my reflection. It was kind of dim in the bathroom and I could see like...weird spots of light in my eyes. Like constellations or something. Except that I took astrology in college and I still couldn’t identify any familiar patterns in the lights. So maybe they’re not stars, but that’s what they reminded me of.”

Here, Ron interrupted Dustin by taking the professor’s face in his hand and turning it towards him so that he could inspect Dustin’s eyes closely. The dark haired man flushed and wriggled out of Ron’s grasp.

“Quit that! I think it’s too bright in here to see them anyways.”

“Go on with your story, Dustin,” Aston advised and Dustin shook himself back to his task:

“Right...so I was obviously preoccupied and didn’t hear the guy come in, so he scared the shit out of me when he grabbed my shoulder. He also already knew my first and last name. He was wearing a suit and also sunglasses, even though it was dark outside and we were inside. He said that I should come with him because Ron was dangerous and that you and the Starset Society were frauds. He told me that he was from the FEC. I told him that I didn’t want to go with him, but he wouldn’t let my arm go.” Dustin paused here for breath, looking a little panicked again. “He scared me...like I knew that he was bad and that I shouldn’t trust him. But I don’t know how I knew that when I didn’t even know about the FEC and I’d never seen this guy before. I just...knew…” The professor was rambling again, looking pale and out of it, so Ron settled his hand back on Dustin’s arm to try and ground him and bring him back to the present.

“It’s okay Dustin...he’s not going to hurt you; I’ll make sure of that.”

The dark haired man took a breath and nodded.

“Sorry...where was I?”

“Tell him about your watch,” Ron prompted gently. “I think that’s a big part in this.”

“Oh, my pocketwatch? You think so?”

“Spare me no detail, Dustin,” Aston reminded. “What about this pocketwatch?”

“It’s just a pocketwatch I’ve always had. It doesn’t even work, so I just use it as a chain for my keys and wallet. Until now, the only kind of strange thing about it is that it won’t open. It’s not rusty or anything, and I’ve even taken it into a shop to get it checked out, but no one can seem to open it.”

“You said that was the only strange thing about it until now?” Aston asked.

“Yeah.”

“What about now?”

“It’s happened twice now. The first time was right after the guy, Joshua was it, told me that he was from the FEC. It heated up on its own in my pocket. I wasn’t by any source of heat, but it got really hot. But it also didn’t actually burn me; it was more like a warning of sorts. And the second time…”

“The second time?” Aston prompted, sounding curious.

“After Ron and I left the restaurant that we went to, Joshua followed us. Tried to get me to go with him again. He called me a...time lord? Whatever that is...and said that I didn’t remember. I have no clue what he was talking about. But then he pulled out this weird thing…”

“It looked like some kind of modified taser,” Ron supplied. “Kind of like the one that you have, Aston.”

“Yeah, and he hit Ron with it. So then he used that as an opportunity to grab me again to force me to go with him. I couldn’t get free, but my watch started to burn again. I don’t know where it came from, but I got the idea to try and burn Joshua with the watch and it worked. Even though it doesn’t hurt me, it seemed to actually burn him.”

“And now here we are,” Ron said from the couch. “Confused and worried.”

“Mostly worried,” Dustin muttered. He’d been up pacing the entire time he’d been recounting what had happened, but he sat now, though he was still nervously toying with the chain of the watch.

“Well, I was very worried about the FEC coming after you so early, as I’m sure Ron is too,” Aston said. “But I believe I now know why they’re making moves after you so early in the game, professor Bates.”

“You do?” Ron asked, leaning forward a little, as much as his hurt ribs would let him.

“Yes. I’m not fully 100% sure, but I do think that I know the reason. However, I do need time to do a bit of research in order to be completely sure before I tell you. Besides, I don’t want to tell you over the phone in any case. This is of a very sensitive nature and I’m not sure if they’re monitoring  Dustin’s home. You did well in staying with him, Ron and I want you to continue to do so until I call you in.”

“How long will that take?” Ron asked. “Obviously I’m worried about Dustin’s safety. They could try something again, and we might not get so lucky in escaping next time.”

“Oh I have no doubt that the FEC knows where Dustin lives and are watching his house. Hopefully, this shouldn’t take too long and I’ll go as fast as I can. If I’m right, then Dustin is an extremely valuable asset and getting him to safety is a priority.”

“Why can’t I just bring him in now?” Ron asked.

“They’d be expecting that, for you to run straight to the Starset Society. Best to lay low for at least a day here. Makes them wonder and gives us time to prepare. So just lay low as best you can and stay safe. I’ll be in touch.” With that, Aston hung up, leaving Ron and Dustin in stunned silence.

“Is he...always like that?” Dustin asked after a minute and Ron laughed, breaking that awkward, tense silence.

“Yes, always. He’s very eccentric, to put it kindly.”

“I can see why he’s in charge though; he seems like he gets things done.”

“He’s a strange boss, and I have a strange job, that’s for sure. But I don’t think I’d have it any other way.”

“Yeah, could you imagine working some boring nine to five office job after doing this?” Dustin laughed. “It would probably be a lot safer though.”

“Oh, I don’t know. Offices can be pretty dangerous,” Ron joked. “Gotta watch out for those gatherings around the water cooler. Never know what they’re plotting about over there.” The two both dissolved into some much needed laughter until Ron broke off, clutching at his hurt ribs.

“Ow okay, note to self, don’t laugh a lot right now.”

“God I’m sorry! I didn’t even think-”

“It’s okay, I needed to laugh a little” Ron said with a wave of his hand. “Today has been way too grim already.”

“Yeah it’s been a very long, very strange day,” Dustin said with a yawn. “I’m just glad that I’ll get an explanation for all of it soon. I’ve been wanting one for my dreams for years.”

“How long have you been having these dreams?” Ron asked, leaning back on the couch and looking at Dustin.

“Gosh, ever since I can remember. Probably since I was around 10? Maybe younger than that, but I can’t remember, and I really don’t bring it up with my parents. Kind of a sore topic between us.”

“Oh? Yeah, I remember you said before that no one ever likes talking about your dreams.”

“Except for you and Aston,” Dustin interjected. “But yeah, whenever I bring it up, people get...too weirded out I think. I weird myself out though, because I can remember the dreams so well and they’re so clear. Like, people always tell me that their dreams are pretty vague and even if they aren’t, that they end up forgetting most of them either after they wake up or after a while. But I can tell people about my dreams very clearly every time, for years later obviously.”

“So you don’t have other dreams? About anything other than this other world?” Ron asked and Dustin shook his head.

“Not really. It always leads back to something related to it. I seriously have like twenty notebooks filled with info from my dreams. I don’t have a new one every night. Most of them are repeats, but sometimes from a different angle, or I’ve dreamed the same dream so often that I can focus on different things every time.”

Ron looked awed and impressed by all of this.

“You should  bring some of those notebooks with us so that Aston can look at them. I mean, if you’re okay with that.”

“Maybe...I haven’t looked through some of the older ones since I wrote them.”

“Did you just start to write them down and it just became a habit?” Ron asked. Dustin hesitated a little, glancing down at his hands. He’d gone a little pale again, picking at his nails in a nervous manner.

“Dustin?” Ron murmured. “Are you okay?”

“No...it wasn’t my idea to start writing my dreams down. It was my therapist’s…”

Chapter Text

“Your therapist…”

“I don’t go see them anymore,” Dustin said quickly.

“Dustin it’s fine if you want to see-”

“It was when I was ten,” Dustin interrupted. “My parents made me go.”

“Oh Dustin…”

“They thought that I was crazy, and probably rightfully so. I mean, what would you do as a normal parent is the son you adopted started talking about these crazy clear dreams that are about another world?”

“You’re...adopted?” Ron asked softly. Dustin nodded, seeming close to tears, and Ron reached out to put a hand on the professor’s shoulder. “Hey, we don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. It’s obviously a hard topic and you’ve already had a weird day.”

This must have been Dustin’s breaking point, because he just burst into silent tears and kind of fell against Ron’s shoulder.

“Shhh I know, I know.” The blond reached over to rub Dustin’s back. “Trust me, I know how you’re feeling. Well...maybe not all of it, but most of it.”

Dustin sniffled softly and Ron handed him what was left of the water in the professor’s glass.

“Here, drink. It’ll help.” Dustin took the glass obediently, draining the remaining water. “Maybe we should turn in for the night huh? Some sleep’ll do you good.”

“What about in the morning?”

“We wait for Aston to call. I wouldn’t think he’d take too long, but you never know. I trust that he probably won’t take more than a day. So we might have to occupy ourselves for that one day.”

“I think we can do that,” Dustin said with another wide yawn.

“C’mon sleepy, let’s go to bed,” Ron teased, grinning when Dustin glowered at him. “You gotta show me where I’m gonna sleep anyways.”

“Oh right! Guest bedroom’s down this hall, first door on your left. Bathroom’s right there, straight across from the guest bedroom on the right, and my room’s on the end. We’ll have to share a bathroom though, sorry. I don’t often have guests over.”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind,” Ron reassured. “You seem pretty clean so it’s not a big deal.”

Dustin laughed softly. “Yeah, my mom’s a bit of a neat freak, so if I left my house a mess, she’d probably kill me. Oh...adoptive mom that is…”

“I knew what you meant,” Ron said, brushing it off easily.

“Well there’s clean sheets on the bed and towels under the sink in the bathroom if you wanna shower either now or in the morning.”

“Are you showering tomorrow? I’ll just work around you.”

“Ah...I showered tonight before we left so I’ll probably shower tomorrow morning. I usually get up pretty early though so you don’t have to worry about being in my way. It’s not like we have anything to do tomorrow I guess, if Aston wants us to lay low until he calls.”

“We’ll find something to do, don’t worry. Get some rest either way.”

“I’ll try...I’m exhausted but I don’t know if I’ll be able to get to sleep.”

“Well, rest in any case. Read a book or something.” Ron smiled. “Good night Dustin.”

“G’night Ron,” Dustin said softly before turning to go to his room.

Ron went into the guest room, finding his bag where Dustin had put it on the bed. He dug through it to find his pajamas and his laptop.

Leaving the laptop on the bed, he scooped up his pajamas and headed to the bathroom to start the shower.

He’d told Dustin that he would work around him, but truthfully, he liked and preferred to shower at night anyways. It was relaxing to him and allowed him to think things over.

Which he really needed to do right now.

Ron flipped the shower on, and then sat down on the closed toilet seat to wait for the water to warm up.

He really wished that he could talk to Aston again, wished that he could ask more questions. He wanted to know more about Dustin, about the professor’s weird, realistic dreams.

Ron realized that Aston knew why Dustin was so important, why the FEC had come after him so early.

He was also wondering about what Dustin had said about the star-like lights in his eyes that he’d seen in the restaurant bathroom.

What was going on with Dustin?

Was he even human?

If not, then what was he?

Chapter Text

Ron sighed deeply, giving into the urge to bury his face in his hands.

He was so confused; he hadn’t ever been this confused about a recruit.

But by now, the shower had gotten warmed up, so Ron got in, letting the warm water and steam calm his thoughts.

The then realized that he’d had to maybe use Dustin’s shampoo and body wash because he’d hadn’t thought to bring any. He’d only been planning to use the hotel’s provided shampoo and stuff until he left.

Hoping that Dustin wouldn’t mind, Ron reached for the shampoo bottle. He’d maybe have to go get a travel bottle if he was going to be there for any length of time.

However, that meant leaving the apartment, which meant either leaving Dustin alone or taking him outside.

Ron did figure that even if he took Dustin with him, at least he’d be there with the professor to protect him, as opposed to just leaving him alone.

The blond finished up his shower and got out to dry off, still thinking about the events of the day and what he should do.

He’d just gotten dressed when he heard a loud, panicked cry and a thump from the direction of Dustin’s room.

Immediately thinking that something had happened to Dustin or that the FEC had come back, Ron tore out of the bathroom and down the hall to Dustin’s room.

“Dustin?” The blond flung the door open to find the professor on the ground, tangled up in the blankets that he’d obviously dragged off of the bed with him. “Dustin, are you okay?”

Dustin simply made a miserable little sound, and Ron realized that he was crying again.

“Whoa hey, hey.” The blond knelt on the ground next to Dustin and gently took the professor in his arms, not missing the dark haired man’s flinch. “Are you okay? What happened?”

“I-I had…” Dustin paused to try and catch his breath. “Nightmare…”

“A nightmare?” Ron blinked. “About what?”

Dustin merely shook his head mutely, still shaking visibly.

“Never had a nightmare before...never saw that before…”

“What did you see? Was it still about that other world?”

Dustin nodded, burying himself closer to Ron’s chest, clutching at the blond’s T-shirt with both hands in an instinctive manner to ground himself.

“And what did you see?” Ron asked softly, not wanting to upset the dark haired man, but wanting to know what he’d seen.

“Fire...smoke and fire and destruction ...it was terrible. War and death and…” Dustin trailed off with another distressed sound. Ron tightened his arms around the slim, shaking form, trying to comfort the professor.

“And you’ve never dreamed about this before? Not even when you were younger?”

“God no, I would have remembered that .”

“Hey maybe it was just stress,” Ron said, trying to be reassuring. “I mean, it makes sense.”

“Maybe…” Dustin said quietly. “I guess I’ve never been quite this stressed or been in this kind of situation before.”

And now Ron felt bad again, because he was part of the reason why Dustin’s life was so stressful right now.

“I’m sorry,” the blond whispered. “This is all my fault.”

Dustin looked up at him in confusion, face pale and tear streaked.

“What?”

“I fucked up your life. The Starset Society just kind of swooped in and turned your whole life upside down. You had this great, normal life, but then I come and talk to you and now you’re being stalked and you’re in danger in your own home.”

“Oh Ron...you didn’t choose to be assigned to me or whatever. You couldn’t have known that all of this would happen. I don’t blame you at all. I don’t even blame Aston. He obviously didn’t know either. It’s not anyone’s fault.”

“I still feel bad.”

“You don’t need to.” Dustin smiled sadly. Ron wondered how this had gone from him consoling Dustin to the professor consoling him. “Hey Ron?”

“Hmm?” the blond looked down at Dustin, who was frowning up at him.

“You showered...did you use my shampoo?”

“Ah…” Ron flushed and looked away, feeling caught by Dustin’s dark gaze. “Yeah, I didn’t think to bring any. I was just using what the hotel had, so I didn’t have any. I really hope you don’t mind; it should just be for this one shower. I was thinking about going out and getting more anyways, but I wasn’t sure-”

“Ron,” Dustin interrupted him. “You’re rambling.”

“Huh? Oh sorry.”

“But you were saying about getting more?”

“Yeah, tomorrow. I just wasn’t sure whether that would be a good idea, what with Aston telling us to lay low and everything. I don’t want to put you in any danger.”

“Well I’m not overly concerned about you using my shampoo and stuff, but if you really want to go, I think we’ll be fine.”

“I think if I go, I’ll bring you with me. It seemed like a safer idea than just leaving you here alone.”

“I can’t believe that we have to do this much planning over going out and getting some shower stuff,” Dustin mumbled.

“Again, I feel like that’s my fault for putting you in this much danger that we have to plan out going to the store.”

“Well it’s not, so don’t worry about it,” Dustin said firmly.

“Are you feeling better though?” Ron asked and the professor nodded.

“Yeah...calmer now at least. That was a really terrifying nightmare. I think I’m gonna write it down and then try and get back to sleep. You should sleep too.”

“I will, I just have to do some writing myself.”

“About what, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Just my thoughts. I like to write stuff down about whatever is going on with my current recruit. Sometimes multiple people from the Society will visit one recruit, and I know that I like it when people have notes that they can pass along to me. So I try to have notes to pass along as well, even if I’m gonna be the only one talking to that recruit.”

“So you’ve recruited other people too?”

“Yeah, a couple so far.”

“Well, then I won’t keep you from your thoughts.” Dustin got up off the floor, and Ron realized that the professor had basically been sitting in his lap the whole time. “Good night for real this time...hopefully.”

“Have good dreams for the rest of the night,” Ron said with a smile as he got up as well to go back to his room, shutting Dustin’s door on his way out. He headed to his own room and started up his laptop to do the note-taking that he had mentioned to Dustin.

He just liked to write down general thoughts about each day, as well as thoughts about the recruit that he was currently talking to, and information that Aston had given him at the start of the mission. (Dustin’s notes were the longest by far, both with some information about Dustin and Ron’s own thoughts. He’d had a lot to reflect on in the past day).

The blond settled down in bed with his laptop and started typing, picking up from where he’d left off earlier in the day before he’d taken Dustin out to dinner.

How had so much happened between then and now?

It felt like a week had gone by, when it had really just been a day.

Ron yawned and stretched, his fingers and back having cramped up from typing so much. He finished up writing down what had just happened with Dustin’s nightmare, wondering if the professor would be willing to talk about it, so that Ron could maybe record it and send it to Aston. He doubted it, since it was so fresh and scary to Dustin, but maybe if he timed and explained it right, he could get the professor to talk about it. But he didn’t really want to push Dustin into talking about something that he didn’t want to.

Ron kind of figured that the dark haired man would have gotten enough of that in therapy.

That was another thing that he felt would intrigue Aston, the fact that Dustin had been forced into therapy because of these weird dreams.

That and the fact that Dustin was apparently adopted.

Ron included all of this in his notes and sent them off to Aston, figuring that he would be interested in all of this, and that maybe it would help him in whatever he was doing.

The blond closed his laptop, setting it to one side so that he could go to bed. He figured that he would need a good night’s sleep for whatever would happen tomorrow. He was hoping that the rest of their time would be uneventful until Aston called them in, but realistically, he knew that was wishful thinking on his part.

Still, it wouldn't hurt to get some rest.

Chapter Text

Ron woke up to some delicious smells coming from the other room.

He didn’t remember where he was at first, was confused at this pretty little room that so obviously wasn’t his hotel. He could hear someone singing softly, so he decided to get up and see where the singing and the really good smell was coming from.

When he stepped out into the sunny hallway, everything that had happened yesterday came rushing back to him.

He had met the new recruit, Dustin Bates, that he’d been sent to talk to, they’d gone out for dinner to talk about Dustin’s weird dreams and had been attacked by the FEC. He remembered calling Aston and remembered that he was in Dustin’s house so that he could better protect the professor from the FEC, who wanted him really badly for some reason.

Ron made his way down the hallway to Dustin’s kitchen and found the professor there, cooking some kind of breakfast and singing softly along with the radio that was in the windowsill above the sink.

“Whatcha making there earlybird?” the blond asked tiredly and Dustin jumped a bit, obviously having not heard Ron come into the room. “Jumpy.”

“I didn’t even hear you come in. I couldn’t sleep, so I figured I’d make us breakfast. Sorry if I woke you up.”

“Nah, I’m a bit of an early riser myself. What time even is it?” Ron asked.

“Like nine thirty. I’ve been up since like six.”

“God, you really did get up early. Did you have another nightmare?” Ron asked in concern, but Dustin shook his head.

“No, I just woke up and then couldn’t get back to sleep. Maybe I’m still paranoid from yesterday or something...but it’s fine. I’m usually up that early, planning lessons and such. My earliest class is at eight AM, so I’m used to it.”

“Oh, that is early. I don’t envy you there,” Ron teased. “I remember those days.”

“You went to college?” Dustin asked, looking curious.

“Yeah, just for my bachelor’s though. That’s where I met Aston in the first place and I started working for him during school, so then when I graduated, he offered me a full time job, just helping out and recruiting people.”

“Sounds nice. What else do you do for him?”

“Oh, this and that, related to my major. I do all sorts of engineering related things, plus recruiting people, so it keeps me busy.”

“Oh, you went to school for engineering too?”

“Yeah, I dabbled in a lot of science related things. Plus I learned a bunch working under Aston. He’s a smart guy.”

“I’m excited to meet him.” Dustin set a plate of food in front of Ron.

“I could have made my own breakfast, you know. You didn’t need to get up and do this.”

“I had nothing better to do, and I wanted to. So eat and don’t complain.” Dustin sat down opposite Ron with his own plate. “Otherwise I’ll make you do dishes.”

“I’ll do dishes if you want. You cooked, so it’s only fair. Unless you have a dishwasher, in which case, I’ll put the dishes in the dishwasher for you.” Ron grinned at Dustin, who frowned at him.

“Fine, if you’re so eager, then you can do dishes.”

“Yes dear,” Ron teased and felt Dustin try to kick him under the table. “Hey, rude! I just offered to do dishes for you!”

“Are you being serious? You’ll do the dishes?”

“Yeah, I’m not rude like someone I could mention.” Ron grinned. “But thank you for making breakfast.”

“Did you decide if we’re going out today or not?” Dustin asked. “I remember something about you wanting shampoo maybe.”

“Oh, right. I think I might call Aston and ask him how long he’s gonna be before I make that decision. I also would want his input on whether it was worth it, and whether or not to bring you along.”

“Would he be up this early?”

“Probably, but I think I promised a certain someone that I’d help him with the dishes,” Ron said with a wink.

“Oh god, you don’t need to! I was only joking!”

“I told you, I offered to, so quit whining. If you don’t want me to do them all, then I’ll at least help you out.”

“That makes me feel better actually,” Dustin said meekly. “I’m sorry, you’re my guest. I don’t want you to have to do my dishes.”

“I honestly don’t mind, Dustin,” Ron soothed, gathering his dishes and taking them to the sink. “You’re letting me stay in your guest room and you made breakfast for us. I’d feel bad if I didn’t help out in some way.”

“Well alright, I’ll let you have your way,” Dustin acquiesced. “But I’m not making you do all of the dishes. I’ll help.” He got up to bring his own dishes to the sink. “I’ll wash and you dry okay?”

“Don’t have a dishwasher then?” Ron asked and Dustin shook his head.

“Never got around to it. Usually I don’t mind doing dishes though. Gives me a break from grading papers sometimes.”

Ron laughed, grabbing a dishtowel and going to take the dish that Dustin handed him.

He got distracted however, by his phone ringing on the table where he’d put it. Frowning, the blond went to answer it.

“That’s weird, I wonder if Aston is done already. That’s fast, even for him.” He picked the phone up to answer it, putting it on speaker so that Dustin could hear it too. “Hello?”

There was nothing but silence for a minute and Ron’s frown deepened.

“Hello?”

“Maybe it’s a wrong number,” Dustin suggested. Before Ron could answer, a voice finally emitted from the phone.

“Ahhh DeChant, it is you after all,” the voice purred through the phone. “I was wondering if I’d gotten the wrong number, but that is you isn’t it? And you’re with Bates. What good luck I have, being able to reach you both.”

Chapter Text

“Who is this?” Ron snapped. “How did you get this number? It’s not listed under my name.”

“Oh, nothing is impossible to find in this day and age you know.” Ron glanced up at Dustin, who looked scared and uncertain.

“And how do you know about Dustin?”

“Again, I know a great number of things. But let me ask you a question now. Does the name Joshua ring a bell for you?”

Ron swore softly before answering.

“Yes, why?”

“Oh, only that I’m his boss.”

Ron immediately hung up the phone, looking panicked.

“What was that?” Dustin asked, looking pale and concerned. “Joshua’s boss? So he’s with the FEC too then?”

“I’m pretty sure he’s the head of the FEC…” Ron said softly. “Now I really have to call Aston and fast. I hope they weren’t able to get our location from that phone call. I’m already worried that they were able to find this phone number.”

“Why?”

“This is my work cell. One that was given to me specifically for Aston to call me on. The number’s not supposed to be available to just anyone.” Ron pressed a number on his speed dial and set the phone back down, sitting back down himself. “And he knew about you too, which worries me even more.”

“Well, Joshua knew about me too, so don’t you think that he would have already known about me? He was probably the one who told Joshua to come after me.”

“That’s true. But he also knew that you were with me.”

“Lucky guess? Or more likely, he put two and two together and figured that you’d stay with me in order to protect me. That’s what I would think if I were in his place.”

“Well I guess you didn’t get that master’s degree by being pretty,” Ron said, trying to lighten up the mood. “C’mon Aston pick up the phone already.”

“He’s probably busy with whatever he was doing,” Dustin said soothingly. “He might be a minute. I know when I get into research, sometimes it’s hard to get me back to the real world to do anything.”

“Yeah Ron, is that you?” Aston Wise’s voice came from the phone. “Why are you calling me?”

“Who’s Joshua’s boss?” Ron asked brusquely, getting right to the point. “Because he just called me on my work phone. And he knows that I’m with Dustin.”

“Whoa, wait what? Run that by me again.”

“Joshua’s boss just called me on my work phone, which shouldn’t be able to happen.”

“No, it shouldn’t. I made sure those phones were safe for our members to use in secret.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought too and then I get called by a member of the FEC.”

“And not just any member,” Aston said in a somber voice. “Joshua’s boss is the leader of the FEC. Of the entire thing.”

Ron saw Dustin’s entire face go pale and the professor looked at him in alarm.

“The leader of the FEC just found out your phone number and knows that I’m with you? And possibly now knows where I live if he didn’t already know before?” Dustin buried his face in his hands. Ron, pretty much lost for words, looked between the dark haired man and the phone.

“Aston?” he said uncertainly. “What do we do now?”

“I would have said to stay put, but this is a whole different matter now. I want you to bring Dustin here now. As quickly and quietly as you can. Don’t use public transport, but I’d suggest using Dustin’s car instead of yours, Ron. Less of a chance of them recognizing it. Disguise yourselves as much as possible. I’ll maybe send some people just to make sure you get here safely. Got it?”

“Got it,” Ron said firmly, looking over at Dustin, who had raised his head to listen. “Got it Dustin?”

“I hope so.”

“You’ll be okay Dustin, I promise,” Aston said convincingly, though whether he was trying to convince himself or Dustin more, Ron couldn’t quite tell.

“We’ll be on our way soon. Should Dustin bring anything?”

“Yes, pack a bag. I’m not sure how long you’ll be here, but plan for at least a week. We have to figure out why they want you so badly, and get them off your trail at the same time. I think once they know that we have you, they should hopefully back off a little.”

“Yeah, hopefully. Maybe they’ll try harder,” Dustin muttered.

“Well, let’s look on the bright side for now and focus on getting you two back here safely.”

“Will do. See you soon.”

“Hopefully in one piece.” With that cheery ending, Aston hung up the phone, leaving Ron and Dustin in stunned silence.

Chapter Text

“Well, that was unexpected, to say the least,” Ron said.

“You’re telling me.” Dustin ruffled his fingers through his curly hair. “So what should we do?”

“We do what he says. Pack a bag and prepare for the worst. There’s no telling whether the FEC know that we’re leaving or whether they’ll attack us.”

“You think they will? Attack us, I mean?”

“Honestly? I don’t trust anyone from the FEC further than I could throw them. Any of them. So I’d rather be prepared for the worst rather than not be prepared and get surprised,” Ron said gravely and he looked like he knew intimately, what getting “surprised” was like.

So Dustin was inclined to trust him in these sorts of matters.

He went to pack a bag , throwing in a couple weeks’ worth of stuff, just to be on the safe side. Like Ron had said, it obviously paid to be over-prepared when it came to the FEC. He came back out to find Ron packing up his own stuff.

“Almost ready?” Ron said, turning to smile at Dustin.

“Ready as I’ll ever be I guess,” Dustin said reluctantly. “I’m not super stoked about being hunted and having to leave my own house, but...I know I’ll be safer with you guys.” Ron reached over to put a comforting hand on Dustin’s shoulder.

“I’ll make sure you get back here okay? You won’t be away forever.”

“Okay…”

“Do you trust me to do that?”

“I do trust you,” Dustin said firmly, and found that he really did believe that. He did trust Ron to make sure that he would be okay.

“Then let’s head out. I think that the longer we stay here, the more chance we have of getting attacked. At least while we’re moving, we’re somewhat safe.” Dustin nodded and followed Ron out of the apartment, locking the door behind him.

“Here, put this on.” Ron handed Dustin a hat. “It’s not gonna help much, but the more disguise we have, the better.” The professor looked doubtfully at the hat in his hands, but put it on anyways. Ron had pulled his own hood up, both for a disguise and because it had started to rain lightly.

They hurried to Dustin’s car, Ron going to the driver’s side door and holding out his hand.

“I know where we’re going,” he said by way of explanation when Dustin looked at him in confusion. “Probably better for me to drive. I can get us there faster.”

Dustin reluctantly detached his keys from the chain on his belt, car key, house key and pocket watch all on one ring, and handed it to Ron. The blond smiled and tweaked the brim of Dustin’s borrowed hat.

“Promise I won’t hurt your car either. Hat looks good on you by the way.” Dustin blushed a bit, hiding it by quickly getting into the car, throwing his bag in the back seat.

“Is it yours?”

“Yeah, I always buy one from the place that I’m staying at so that I can use it as a disguise. That way, I just look like a tourist.”

“Your hair is kind of distinguishable…”

“Is that supposed to be an insult?”

“No, no!” Dustin waved his hands. “I’m just saying, it’s very bright blond!”

“I’m just messing with you. I know it’s pretty noticeable, but it’s an easy thing to hide.” Ron drove quickly down the streets, following the GPS that he had set up on the dashboard of Dustin’s car. He did take a couple of unnecessary turns, Dustin noticed, but the he just figured that was Ron’s way of losing people who were potentially following them. So he decided to relax, leaning back in his seat as Ron drove.

“Will this be a long drive?”

“Fairly, so you might wanna make yourself comfortable. This is your car, so I have faith that you’ll be able to amuse yourself easily.”

“I could tell a story if you wanted. You said that I was a good storyteller, and I have plenty.” Dustin reached into his bag and pulled out a couple of notebooks.

“You brought them!”

“You said that Aston might be interested in them, so I figured I should bring them along. Plus, then if anyone decides to break into my house, they won’t be finding them.”

“That was smart thinking. How many of them are there anyways?”

“Close to twenty. Maybe twenty. I don’t exactly keep count but there are quite a few.”

“No wonder that bag looked so heavy,” Ron teased. “I thought maybe it was all that makeup you use.”

“Hey!”

“C’mon, your face can’t be that pretty naturally!”

“It’s all me.”

“That’s just insulting to the rest of us you know. How often do you make people feel insecure about their looks?”

“That’s mean! I hope I don’t do that, god. Everyone deserves to feel like they look good in their own right.”

“You’re such a genuinely nice person, you know that?” Ron glanced at Dustin. “Is it possible for you to even be mean?”

“Nope. I’m a robot, programmed to only be pure and kind to everyone. I malfunction if I try to even think something mean about someone else.” Dustin laughed when Ron snorted loudly.

“You know, I wouldn’t doubt it.”

“But no, I try to be nice to everyone, but there are some people who just don’t deserve kindness. Like Joshua...he tried to hurt us. Or his boss...they don’t deserve my kindness.” Dustin frowned, his eyes gone dark. “I hope I can help Aston enough so that you guys are able to…”

“I’m sure you will be,” Ron interrupted quickly. “I have no doubt in my mind about that. Now why don’t you pick your favorite story to tell. Doesn’t even have to be about your dreams. Just your favorite story to tell in general.”

“Most of my stories are from my dreams. They make for pretty interesting ones anyhow,” Dustin said nonchalantly. He reached into his bag, digging around a bit before pulling out an older looking notebook. “I already told you a bit about the city that I dream about, so I figure I’ll tell you about what’s inside it. This is one of the first dreams I had, and I actually don’t have it often so…” He waggled the notebook. “May need this to remember some details, but like I’ve told you, I remember pretty much everything from these dreams.”

“What dream do you usually have?” Ron asked.

“Oh, probably the one about seeing the entire city. I have ones about walking along the streets quite often as well.”

“So, what’s this one?”

“This one,” Dustin began, voice falling into what Ron had privately dubbed his “storytelling voice”. “This one’s about that tall spire that’s right in the middle of the city.”

Chapter Text

“Ah, you talked about that a bit. Isn’t that the one that you said was encased in some sort of dome?”

“That’s the one. It’s this huge, tall spire that’s in the middle of the city, in the middle of this equally huge glass dome. I think it’s kind of considered like their city capitol, if one could apply Earth terms to it. I’ve been inside it in this dream; they use it for much the same purpose as we use our capitols.”

“So for like legal stuff?”

“Mostly, yeah. They also seem to use it for academic purposes as well, so I’m wondering if it’s some sort of school as well? But it’s beautiful. I know that, and I’ve taken about zero archeology classes in my life. I still know how to recognize beautiful architecture. It’s all red and orange-ish stone, like each stone is a marble of all these sunset colors, and they’re all polished until they’re sea rock smooth. They’re not shiny though, they’re matte. That’s why they remind me of those rocks that you find on the beach, the ones that you know have been tumbled over and over. That’s what this stone is.”

“Sounds pretty,” Ron commented.

“It is. And there’s all these winding staircases up to the top, and plenty of windows to let in light. What with the sunset sky, the entire thing kind of glows all the time. It feels very warm and inviting despite being a place for such serious things.”

“What’s the glass dome for?”

“Just aesthetic as far as I can tell, though it might also be some kind of protection against attack? It covers the spire and it looks like there are some buildings around it, so I figure that’s where all the legally important people live.”

“You said your nightmare was about war…”

“Ah...yeah...I do think that it might be a shield of some kind. I’m sure it has some purpose other than to look cool.”

“Is there water on this planet? What do the people eat?” Ron sounded really curious now and Dustin laughed.

“Yes, there’s water, I’ve seen oceans and other bodies of water. As for food, a lot of it is similar to Earth food. I’ve seen people eating bread and meat, though of what sort, I couldn’t say. I don’t know what animals they use for meat, nor what they use to make the bread. They have other things too, like vegetables and fruits I’m assuming, but I couldn’t even begin to think of what they could be. You’re awfully interested all of the sudden.”

“I may or may not be trying to distract you to the fact that I think we’re being followed.”

“What?” Dustin’s eyes widened and he glanced in his side mirror. “How can you tell?”

“That black car there has been following us for a while.”

“Oh. Good eye.”

“Well, that and I can feel your pocket watch heating up. Seriously, that’s how warm it is, I can feel it on my leg.” Dustin looked down at where his keys swung from the ignition. There was a good couple inches between his watch and Ron’s leg, so for the blond to be feeling the heat from it was…

“What do we do?”

“Try to lose them and hope that I can, or hope that Aston really did send someone to help us.”

“There are a lot of variables here,” Dustin remarked. “A lot of ways for this to go very wrong.”

“Yes, but if we do nothing, things will definitely go wrong. So I at least have to make it as hard for them as possible.” With that, he whipped the car around a street as quickly as possible, making Dustin yelp.

“Easy with my car, DeChant!”

“It’ll be fine, don’t worry.” Ron was grinning from ear to ear, glancing in the rearview mirror every once in awhile. “Gotta lose them somehow, right?”

“Yeah, I didn’t mean break my poor car though!”

“I told you, I won’t break your car. Trust me, we’ll be fine and so will your vehicle.” Ron took a couple more turns before continuing on his way, following the GPS. “Just let me know if you see that car again. Actually, here.” The blond reached down and unclipped the pocket watch from the keyring it swung from. “Might as well use the resources we have. That thing was a pretty good indicator that something wasn’t right.”

Dustin caught the tossed watch, cradling it in his hands as they drove.

“You really think this thing is important?”

“Well think about it. It’s protected you three times so far. I don’t know how it's doing it, but I think it’s somehow able to sense when you’re in danger before you even realize it.”

“Or when I don’t know that I’m in danger at all,” Dustin said, recalling the sense of dread he’d gotten about Joshua when he’d touched the watch the first time.

“That too. I just don’t know how it’s sensing this.” Ron tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. “It can’t be sensing your heartbeat. Not if it’s heating up when you don’t even realize that you’re in danger.”

“I wish we had more time to test different theories,” Dustin said wistfully and Ron laughed. However, he sobered quickly when Dustin yelped, tossing his watch from hand to hand.

“Dustin?”

“It actually burned me! That actually hu-” Dustin cut himself off with a gasp, fingers of his free hand going to his head.

Chapter Text

“Dustin, are you-?”

“Turn left on this street,” Dustin interrupted him suddenly, voice pained and raspy. Ron shot him a curious glance but obeyed, quickly turning the car down the street that Dustin had specified.

But looking in the rearview mirror, he caught sight of the black car that had been tailing them. It obviously hadn’t caught Ron’s abrupt turn down the street and continued straight on.

As it did so, Dustin relaxed, slumping back in his seat with a sigh.

“What the hell was that?” Ron wanted to pull over, but he didn’t figure that would be particularly smart in their situation. “What happened to you?”

“I-I don’t know…” Dustin said quietly. “I just...felt that we should turn left there.”

“Well we’ve lost them for now, so your little hunch helped out in the end.”

Dustin stayed quiet and slumped down, turning his watch over and over in his hands moodily.

There was silence for a long moment before Dustin’s phone broke it, ringing from the cup holder where he’d automatically put it.

Ron jumped, then looked to Dustin, who shrugged.

“Should I answer it?”

“What’s the number?”

“Oh, it’s just from the university. One of the professors calling me probably.” Dustin answered the phone. “Should only be a minute. Hello?”

“Don’t be surprised.”

It was the same voice from before.

Joshua’s boss.

The leader of the FEC.

“Is DeChant with you?”

“Yes…” Dustin said softly, fingers curling around his watch tightly. It wasn’t heating up any though, which meant they were probably safe for now.

“Act like nothing’s wrong and listen to me. I need to ask a little favor of you.”

“Do I owe you a favor?” Dustin asked coldly.

“You need to tell me where the Starset Society is located.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because I can help you. Aston just wants to use you as a science experiment. If you tell me where the Starset Society is, I can put an end to it for good. Do you really think you’re the first person they’ve lured into their grasp? You’re one of many, many people who fell for Aston’s lies. But if you help me…”

“No, I don’t think I can do that, sorry,” Dustin said conversationally, acting like he was just telling another professor that he couldn’t do something for them. “You should probably ask someone else.”

“Insolent brat, I’m trying to help you! You don’t know anything about where DeChant is taking you. You don’t even know him that well. What if he’s just lying to you, flirting with you to get you to trust hi-”

Dustin hung up and put his phone back in the cup holder, trying to keep his hands from shaking.

“Dustin? Who was that?”

“Oh just...someone from the university trying to get me to come in for them,” Dustin said, forcing himself to smile. “Not like I can really do that right now, yeah?”

He didn’t know why he was lying to Ron. It would have probably been smarter to just tell him that Joshua’s boss had called him.

But something about that last statement…

Because how did Dustin know that Ron was trustworthy? He’d saved Dustin’s life and all, but what if Dustin was just really being led somewhere to be someone’s experiment?

So he just stayed quiet, reclining his seat and letting the radio softly fill the silence.

~~~

“Are you hungry at all?” Ron asked, about an hour later. “I think we’re safe to stop for a bit and besides, I’m starving. It’s been a long time since breakfast this morning.”

“I could eat something,” Dustin said with a shrug.

“Awesome.” Ron pulled off at the next exit and found them a nice, quiet-looking diner to eat at, one of those places that had a little bit of everything and served breakfast all day.

Dustin slid into the booth across from Ron and almost immediately, an older waitress descended on them, all sweet smiles.

“Good afternoon gentlemen, what can I get for you today?”

“I’ll have a coffee please,” Ron said, perusing the menu. She noted it down and then turned to Dustin, who had removed his hat and was ruffling his hair.

“And for you?” And oh, Ron knew that look, figured Dustin got that look from women of all ages quite a bit.

The “I Want To Pinch Your Cheeks No Matter How Old I Am” look.

Dustin didn’t seem to notice however, and he looked up and smiled.

“I think I’ll have a coffee too.”

“Two hot coffees coming right up. Needed something to warm you up? Nasty weather we’re having,” The waitress said conversationally.

“Yeah, driving has been fun,” Ron said with a smirk.

“On a vacation, are we?”

“Something like that. Was hoping to find better weather out this way though.” Dustin admired Ron’s change of subject from why they were driving back to the weather.

“Well, for the sake of your vacation, I hope you do too. I’ll bring you your coffee, give you two a little time to look at the menu.”

Ron watched as she bustled away, then looked back at Dustin, grinning slightly.

“What?” Dustin asked, noticing the look.

“Seriously, do all women give you that “I Wanna Pinch His Cheeks” look?”

Dustin blinked, looking confused.

“Do they?”

“From what I’ve seen, yeah. And I know that look, since I’m usually on the receiving end.” Ron propped his chin in his hand. “Guess you’re so cute that it just distracts them from me.”

Dustin glowered at Ron, blushing slightly, until the waitress came back with their coffees. They put in their food orders and settled in to wait. Dustin cupped his hands around his mug, looking outside to where the rain seemed to be slowly letting up. He pointed this out to Ron, who groaned in relief.

“Thank God, I wasn’t sure how much more of that I could take.”

“I could help out with the driving if you want,” Dustin offered, but Ron just waved him off.

“You’re fine, I’m used to driving a lot. I just like to whine about it. A little rain never bothered me.”

They both looked up as a solitary man came in from outside, shaking his umbrella out briefly before taking a seat.

“He sat kind of close to us,” Ron murmured under the soft music that the diner was playing, something classical and instrumental, Dustin now noticed. “How’s your watch?”

Dustin felt in his coat pocket for it, but his hand only came in contact with the inside of his pocket. A search through his other pockets produced the same result: nothing.

“Huh, must have left it in the car. It’s probably just on my seat.”

“Go get it.”

“Ron it’s probably nothing…”

“Still. I have a bad feeling about this and my bad feelings unfortunately usually aren’t wrong.”

Dustin shrugged and took the keys from Ron, putting his hat back on in preparation to go back out into the now-drizzle. He unlocked the car and smiled when he saw the glint of gold on the passenger seat.

“Knew I left it here.” He reached out to grab it, when a hand abruptly grabbed his upper arm in a vice-like grip.

Chapter Text

Dustin cried out and whirled around to see an unfamiliar face looming in his vision.

Yet however unfamiliar, he knew immediately that this guy worked for the FEC.

“Let me go!” He’d dropped the watch when the guy grabbed his arm, and struggled to try and grab it so that he could use it to get away like he had with Joshua.

“Oh no no no, you’re not going to use that pocket watch on me. I saw what it did to Josh.” The unfamiliar FEC agent pulled Dustin away from the car, and spoke into an earpiece he had. “I’ve got him, let’s go before DeChant notices anything’s wrong.”

Dustin yelled again, hoping to get someone’s attention, but it looked like they were the only ones in this parking lot and for a moment, Dustin cursed tiny, side of the highway diners.

“Shut up, you little pest.” The guy shoved Dustin against the car, knocking the wind out of him and sending him sliding to the wet pavement. The other man had exited the diner now and was heading towards them. Dustin could only hope that Ron had noticed something was up and would come investigate.

“Got him alright, Brian?” The other guy said as he approached. “Good, get that pocket watch too. Boss will be wanting to take a look at that.” The guy who had pushed Dustin, Brian, leaned over and picked up the pocket watch from the floor of Dustin’s car, inspecting it curiously.

“Put it down,” Dustin hissed, struggling to get to his feet. As before, when Ron did it, it just felt weird for someone else to hold the watch. But unlike when Ron had held it, having this guy hold it made Dustin feel sick and wrong .

Brian just grinned at him and put the watch in his coat pocket.

“Josh was right; this one’s feisty. What are you gonna do without your precious watch to hurt me?” He hauled Dustin to his feet and started to pull him to their car. Thinking on the spot, Dustin let his legs go limp under him, stumbling into the FEC agent heavily, and then falling to the ground when Brian let go of him in his surprise.

“The hell are you doing? Cooperate here and we won’t hurt you.” Brian made to grab Dustin again, but Dustin lunged to one side, trying to avoid him. “Shit, Pete, grab him!”

The other man caught Dustin easily, but as Dustin had thought, this had bought him enough time for Ron to notice what was happening and to come investigate.

“Dustin!” The blond yelled.

“Ah shit, it’s DeChant. Nosy little shit…” Brian, who seemed to be the leader of the two, went to shove Dustin into his car. Dustin managed to dodge his grab again and reached out to push the pocket that his watch was in against Brian’s side. Brian yelled in pain and reached into his pocket to fling the watch away from him, hissing when his hand touched it. His palm, when Dustin saw it, was bright red and starting to blister.

And he would have caught Dustin again, because Dustin had gotten distracted by his watch sailing across the parking lot.

Only something flung between them stopped the FEC agent, and they both looked at it curiously.

Then smoke started billowing out from it, and Dustin realized that this was his chance to escape, making his way towards Ron, who grabbed him and pulled him towards the car.

“Wait, my watch!” Dustin yelled, looking around frantically.

“I’ve got it, I grabbed it when he threw it.” Ron looked like he was in pain and Dustin suddenly remembered the blond’s hurt ribs from where Joshua had tased him.

“Are you okay?”

“Good enough for now.” Ron whipped the car out of the parking lot and down a couple of side streets before heading back to the highway. Dustin managed a shaky sigh and Ron looked over at him.

“Alright there champ?”

“Barely.”

“You’re a little troublemaker. If you hadn’t caused them so much trouble and taken so long, I wouldn’t have noticed anything was wrong until it was too late.”

“Where did you get a smoke bomb from?” Dustin asked and Ron grinned.

“Oh, that wasn’t me.” He jerked a thumb behind him and Dustin turned to see a silver car following them. He must have looked worried because Ron was quick to reassure him.

“Friends of mine. They’re with the Starset Society.” Dustin smiled slowly and Ron patted his arm.

“Oh, here.” He handed the watch back to Dustin, who took it with a sigh of relief, and tucked it securely back in his pocket. “I don’t think we’ll be stopping again until we get there unless it’s an emergency. My friends will be following us the rest of the way there just in case. Glad Aston sent backup after all.”

They drove in silence for a while until Dustin’s phone alerted him that he had a text message. He looked down at it and frowned.

Remember what I told you. My offer still stands.

Chapter Text

“Hey, wake up. We’re here.” A hand nudged Dustin’s shoulder, gently shaking it until his eyes opened, blinking sleepily.

“Wha?”

“We’re here sleepyhead,” Ron repeated, smiling at him. “C’mon, let’s go.”

Dustin got out of the car tiredly, stumbling when he tried to stand on numb legs. Ron caught his arm, steadying him until Dustin got his bearings.

“Sorry…” Dustin said with a sheepish grin.

“It’s okay, long drives will do that to anyone. I remember when I drove for like ten hours straight. I don’t think I was properly steady for like a day.” Ron patted Dustin on the shoulder. “Got your watch? Good, then let’s go see Aston.”

“Wait, I get to meet him? Right now?”

“Right now.” Ron took Dustin’s wrist, leading him down several long, winding hallways. Dustin kept trying to peer into any rooms that were open, but only got a small glance before Ron was pulling him on.

“I’ll show you around after this. I’m sure Aston wants to hear from us and make sure that we got here alright.”

Dustin nodded but continued to sneak little peeks into different rooms that they were passing. Most of them were dark and closed up, their occupants probably gone for the night, as Dustin had seen that it was pretty late in the evening before he’d gotten out of the car. But there were some rooms that were still open with the lights on. Most of them looked like labs of some sort, with equipment both familiar and foreign to Dustin.

What was this place, the Starset Society, and what did they do here?

Ron stopped in front of a door, labelled “Doctor Aston Wise”, and knocked.

“Come in,” A familiar voice called. Ron opened the door and tugged Dustin inside. “Close the door behind you, if you would, Ron.”

The man sitting behind the desk looked up when the door closed with a click. Dr. Aston Wise had some gray hair, but his eyes were alert and intelligent.

“So, this must be Professor Bates.” When Dustin nodded, he stood up, offering his hand. “I’m Aston Wise, nice to finally meet you.” Dustin took the offered hand in a brief shake, then Aston gestured to the chairs behind them. “Sit, sit. Do you want anything to eat or drink? I understand you’ve been driving most of the day, and what I have to say may take a while to explain.”

“I think I just want to know how I’m involved in all this,” Dustin said quietly. “If you don’t mind.”

“I figured you’d say that.” Aston reached behind him for a glass and a bottle, and poured himself a whiskey. “Ron, I’m assuming you’d like to stay for this.”

“Of course! I’m not gonna just leave him now.”

“Fair enough.” Aston took a sip of his drink and sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Dustin, you were adopted, weren’t you?”

“Y-Yeah…” Dustin said, taken aback by the question. “How’d you know?”

“Ron wrote about it in his notes that he took about you. How old were you when you were adopted?”

“I think I was a bit older to be honest. Maybe thirteen?” Dustin smiled ruefully. “My poor parents. Adopting a teenager and then having to send him to a therapist because he has weird dreams constantly.”

“And you’ve always had these dreams?” Aston asked.

“Ever since I can remember.”

“Hmmm…” Aston took a sip of his drink. “You said that you can remember them in some detail? Would you be willing to have them written down if you dictated them to someone?”

“I can do you one better.” Dustin pulled out a notebook from his bag. “My therapist had me write them down, and I guess that became a habit that stuck even when I wasn’t seeing them anymore. These are all dream recountings from when I was thirteen to...just the other day.”

“Well…” Aston looked impressed. “May I?”

“This is the first one, so it’s the oldest.” Dustin handed the notebook over. Aston flipped through it for a couple minutes.

“You said that you had a dream the other day?”

“Yeah…” Dustin admitted. “More of a nightmare, really.”

“Is that unusual?”

“I don’t ever have nightmares. All of my dreams are about that place. I don’t remember ever having a nightmare, and certainly not this one. I’ve recorded every dream from the past seventeen years, so I’m pretty confident in that.”

“What was this nightmare about?” Aston asked.

“What does this have to do with anything?” Ron interrupted. “Does this have anything to do with what you discovered about Dustin?”

“Patience, my dear Ron, I’m getting there.” Aston slammed the rest of his drink easily. “Go on, Dustin.”

“It started with me being dropped...somewhere outside the city,” Dustin began after a deep, stabilizing breath. “There was smoke and fire everywhere, everything was burning. If I could compare it to anything, it looked like a bomb had gone off. I don’t know if it was a bomb, but it certainly did enough destruction, whatever it was. I could hear yelling and screaming. It hadn’t quite gotten to where I was, the fire. Looked like whatever it was, it was aimed at the city itself.”

“What about that dome?” Ron asked. “The one in the middle of the city?”

“It was still standing. There’s this dome,” Dustin said in explanation to Aston. “In the middle of the city, like Ron said. It looks like someone sat the dome of a snowglobe down on top of the buildings there. I think it protects them, the buildings and people that live in it.”

“That would make sense,” Aston said. “Many civilizations have their most important things near the center, to protect them better against attack. Though these people seem like they have something to fear, not only from the ground, but also from the air.”