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ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING
x. SOUL SEARCHER

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   SWEET DREAMS WERE DANGEROUS. They were Riley Stark's kryptonite, and she knew it. She couldn't help it. Being blessed with a sweet dream rather than her usual nightmares was once in a blue moon. Therefore, after everything she'd been through, could you really blame Riley for thinking her afternoon with Peter Parker was just a lovely dream?

   Two days had passed since then, and surprisingly, not much had changed. Nothing had to, considering they'd been close friends for so long. All that really changed was the fact that they held hands and openly told each other, "I like you," without becoming complete nervous wrecks all over again.

   "I like you and all, Riles, but this is torture!"

   Riley's hand was intertwined with Peter's as she pulled him through the forest. The fragrance of dirt and flowers flooded their senses as the morning sun bathed them. "Uh-huh," Riley dismissed.

   Peter insisted, "I mean it! On Sunday mornings, people go to church. Instead, you're dragging me into the devil's lair. This is the worst first date ever."

   Riley offered the Queens native a cheeky smile. "Who said this was a date?"

   Peter faltered. "Uhh, well..."

   Riley nudged his side. "I'm kidding," she promised. "I think you're overreacting a little, though. We're just going to visit Roman! He's harmless. The worst he'll do is call you a creative insult!"  

   Scoffing, Peter reiterated, "I'm sorry, harmless? Were you not there when he kicked your ass?"

   Riley immediately stopped in her tracks, releasing her hand from Peter's to speak expressively. She scoffed. "He kicked my ass?" she echoed. "I think you might've hit your head!"

   "Well, I know you did," he teased, nudging her side playfully. Riley laughed at the diss as they continued down a dirt path. "Seriously though. Why can't Roman be a cool alien? Like E.T!"

   "Uh, Roman's cooler and prettier than E.T," Valor opposed. Before Peter could disagree, their conversation fell short as a small cabin was spotted in the near distance. "Promise me you'll be nice?"

   See, ever since Roman returned to Riley's life, she had this extreme urge to help him by having him befriend Riley's companions. This would further prepare him to assimilate back into society. Additionally, Riley felt guilty for blowing Peter off all week, so she figured that by forcing the two boys to become acquaintances, she was killing two birds with one stone. Riley was just hoping that they wouldn't take the stone and try to kill each other, instead...

   Riley wasn't sure why Roman and Peter disliked each other. She figured it had to be a guy thing, but then again, the most she knew about boys came from movies. That was what prompted her concerns.

   "I'm nice," defended Peter. "It's him!" Riley sent him a knowing look. "I'm being serious!"

   "And it's adorable," she taunted, pinching his cheek endearingly. Peter blushed at the action. "I mean it, Pete. I really want you guys to be friends. Roman's important to me, and so are you." When Peter still seemed unsure, Riley wishfully added, "Roman said he was willing to try."

   "...He did?" Peter skeptically queried.

   "Mhm," she hummed. "So will you try? Please? For your favorite superhero ever?"

   Peter scanned the general area. "But... I don't see Iron Man anywhere...?" Riley just scoffed, pulling away from Peter and strolling ahead. Peter was quick to run after her, shouting, "Aw, c'mon, Ghostie! Don't ghost me! I promise I'll try my best!"

   Riley laughed victoriously as she marched onward. Peter followed closely behind her, bumping her with his shoulder lightheartedly.

   Once they entered the cabin, Riley announced, "I'm back, shithead!"

   Peter stifled a low laugh as he scanned the weathered cabin. He remembered Riley explaining that she had to announce her entrance every time she visited Roman to prevent another fight between the heroes with raging PTSD.

   After a moment, Roman emerged around the corner in all his glory. Peter hadn't gotten a good look at Roman last week, so when he saw the alien in the natural light, Peter was bewildered.

   At first glance, Roman looked like a normal, presumably Korean guy. His hair was fluffy and black. His doe eyes were brown and held haunting shadows of his past within them. However, when the light struck Roman, iridescent colors stained the walls like he was a kaleidoscope. The sunlight on his body exhibited that his eyes weren't brown, but they were instead black with colorful galaxies swirling in them. His skin shined as though his body was composed of a star.

   Roman's eyes flickered a shade of yellow-green when he noticed Peter. He loudly sighed. "There's a spider behind you," Roman deadpanned.

   Riley shot him a pointed look. "Roman, be nice."

   Roman held up his hands in defense. "All I said was the truth," he swore, his gaze locked on Peter. Roman's stare sent shivers down Peter's spine. Roman wore a sly smile before turning his attention back to Riley. "So, why's he here?"

   Peter bunched his eyebrows together as he leaned closer to Riley. "I thought you said he wanted to be friends?"

   Roman immediately howled with laughter at the statement while Riley sheepishly mumbled, "I lied!" Before Peter could reply, she hurriedly added, "I'm sorry! I didn't want you to back out on coming here at the last second!"

   "I don't know how you fell for it," declared Roman while wiping away a nonexistent tear from his face. "Riley's a terrible liar."

   "Am not!" Riley quarreled. "I was trained by the best of the best. You just think everyone's a bad liar 'cause of your dumb powers!"

   "Dumb?" he challenged. "You mean the ones that have saved your ass time and time again?"

   Riley was at a loss for words. She merely crossed her arms in defeat while Peter chimed in. "You have powers?" the boy questioned. Fascination subjugated his thoughts. Suddenly, it felt like Peter Parker was just a little boy again watching the news reporting on the 2012 Battle of New York, where Valor and Roman were on the frontlines.

   Roman shrugged. "They're alright," he dismissed.

   "Um, they're amazing," Riley quickly disagreed. This caused Roman to smirk again.

   "I know. I just wanted to hear you admit it."

   Rolling her eyes, Riley took Peter's hand and dragged him into the living area they once camped out in. Roman followed behind nonchalantly. Peter studied his surroundings, seeing the various objects scattered around the hut. It seemed that Riley had unearthed ways to make the old cabin in the woods a place that didn't seem too bad living in. Like always, Riley brightened every place she touched.

   "As you know, I've been trying to catch Roman up on everything he's missed," reminded Riley, sitting down on the floor. She peered back at the alien. "I figured that since we're pretty much all caught up on everything, you could tell Peter about your home? You know, for bonding purposes?"

   Roman clenched his jaw. For just a split second, his snarky demeanor vanished and instead, a timid boy was on display. "...It's not that interesting," Roman hesitated.

   Riley raised an eyebrow, studying him carefully. Roman locked eyes with her as silence subdued the cabin. They stayed like that for 20 seconds before Roman muttered, "Fine. You're lucky I like you."

   A small smile appeared on Riley's face. "Thank you, Roman," she lightly replied.

   "Where do I start?" Roman inquired, leaning back. "Our asshole king and his poverty fetish? How my people are just spawned to life like a shitty video game? Maybe—?"

   "Maybe from the beginning?" suggested Riley, to which Roman just sighed again.

   "Alright," he grumbled. Peter leaned forward, eager to hear Roman's story. "I come from a planet named after its creator, Asteria. She's a Goddess, the mother of stars. Those who came from Asteria were called Stellites."

   "Like small pieces of stars. Get it?" Riley chimed in, causing Peter to nod. Roman groaned, unhappy to reminisce on his past.

   "Right. Anyways," he dismissed. He tugged his head to the side lazily, leaning his back against the torn apart couch. "I was a member of my planet's Royal Guard practically my whole life. I was recruited when I was still young because of my powers."

   "How young?" wondered Peter without realizing it. He hesitated before hurriedly saying, "Uh, if you don't mind me asking."

   Roman pursed his lips. "Maybe 90 or something like that," he estimated. "So, basically, really young."

   Peter nodded slowly. "Right... Basically," he agreed. Riley smiled at Peter's reaction.

   "On Asteria, some of us were born with gifts. Others weren't. If they were, their abilities were always unique to someone else's. Some were pretty similar, others were completely different. There was always something that made them unique though, which was why our Royal Guard was so highly valued," Roman elucidated.

   Enthusiastically, Riley commented, "Roman was one of many with a gift. That, plus his ability to fight made him rank really high in their army."

   Peter kept his attention trained on Roman. He was so intrigued to know what made Roman so special. His gift had to be something Peter could only dream of.

   Sensing his curiosity, Roman explained, "My gift is that I can see into the souls of everyone and see their true essence. I can figure out everything there is to know about someone in a matter of minutes. Once I've seen enough, I can possess their minds and control them. It's temporary, but you'd be surprised by the things I've learned and the things I've possessed."

   Peter's eyes nearly popped out of his head upon hearing this. "Seriously!?" he blurted. "That's awesome!" And it totally explained why he felt like Roman was constantly searching through his soul.

   "I know," coolly mentioned Roman before mentioning, "The only downfall is that since everything about everyone is apparent to me, my essence is transparent for everyone in return."

   Peter furrowed his eyebrows together. "What do you mean?"

   "He can't hide anything from anyone," Riley clarified, "no matter how mysterious he pretends to be. Remember how his eye color changes with emotions? That's not a cool little quirk. It's supposed to be his weakness."

   As Peter absorbed this information, Roman sighed. "My powers are the reason I died," he unveiled.

   Riley turned to Peter, knowing that Roman wouldn't want to reminisce on his death. "You know those super big Chitauri that looked like flying worms?" she wondered. "Well, a big flock of them were heading for this group of buildings that were being evacuated. Roman saw them and was able to save everyone by possessing the flock all at once."

   "They're simple-minded, so learning their essence was easy. But I'd never tried possessing so many at once... so I pretty much died from overexertion," he dryly reported. "It's not that honorable."

   Riley glared at him. "It's heroic, stupid," she protested. "Without you, we would've lost more than half of those that survived."

   "I guess," Roman dismissively uttered. "But it's just a reminder that I did what I should've done when Thanos invaded my planet and..." He closed his hand into a tight fist. "...and killed my people."

   She frowned. "You were scared," Riley gently reminded him. "There's nothing wrong with that."

   When Roman looked back at Riley, his eyes were a deep shade of blue. That was when it clicked in Peter's brain. Roman wasn't necessarily furious at the world for what happened. He was in despair, filled with regret. Peter would have never guessed that Roman had such a hard exterior due to the regret he carried on his shoulders. It reminded Peter of Riley.

   Roman gazed back at the rotting hardwood floor. "I know," he muttered. He scoffed. "Believe me, you tell me that so often that "scared" must've been my birth name."

   Peter was mute. Dozens upon dozens of questions about Roman and his life fogged up Peter's mind, but he didn't want to force the alien to recount his past more than necessary. Whatever he went through in addition to what Peter now knew, it left Roman completely traumatized. Peter would hate being asked relentlessly about all the things that haunted him.

   Roman's attention shifted back to Peter. "I see you for who you really are, Spider," he matter-of-factly stated. "Just because it's easy to get on your nerves doesn't mean I dislike you. I have better things to do than worry about Riley's guard-dog boyfriend."

   Peter's face contorted, perplexed. "What... What makes you think I thought—?"

   Roman reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Please tell me you're joking," interrupted Roman. "I just told you I can see someone's true essence!" He groaned again. "I thought you said this dude was smart!"

   Rolling her eyes, Riley defended, "He is! Your power's just confusing to understand!" She turned to Peter. "He's trying to say that he saw that you were skeptical about him, but you don't need to worry because he's just a big, traumatized teddy bear."

   Roman's eye twitched. "That's... one way to put it..."

   Riley smiled. "Uh-huh! Plus, you can trust Roman's word. He's always really honest 'cause of the whole eye thing." Then, she paused and glanced back at Roman. "Hey, why don't you just wear sunglasses?"

   "'Cause wearing sunglasses won't change the fact that I'm not scared to hurt someone's feelings," he simply answered, drawing a laugh from Riley. "So when exactly can I leave this place?"

   Riley frowned. "I haven't found a way to contact anyone yet that doesn't involve leaving," she revealed.

   Peter found himself tracing Riley's fingers with his hand mindlessly. "Too bad you can't just go up and fight someone for their phone like we could in a regular emergency, you know?" pointed out Peter.

   Riley nodded. "Yeah, too bad we can't—Wait," she suddenly realized. Her eyes widened as she looked back at Peter. "You're a genius!"

   Peter and Roman exchanged muddled glances. "Huh?" wondered Peter.

   "You're a genius!" Riley repeated. She grabbed his face and kissed his cheek zealously before jumping onto her feet. "I gotta go! Roman, just wait here. I've got a plan!"

   Roman raised an eyebrow. "You said that last time, and I ended up in this shitty cabin for a week."

   But Riley was already halfway out the door. "No time for explanations! I'll be back!"

   Roman and Peter stared at the door she walked out of. The two were silent for just a moment before Roman rolled his eyes and commented, "What a weirdo."

   Peter smiled, once again in awe of his girlfriend and her enthusiasm for helping others.

   "Agreed."

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

i know this was a sorta filler chapter, but can i just say?? i love roman. i really do.

the thing is, i wanted you guys to see what the world/everyone sees roman as at first glance. in his case, he seems like a pompous ass. i wanted to make that clear without shoving his entire backstory down your throats. does that make sense? roman is very important to riley's story, and i wanted to include some facts about him for future reference!

i put a LOT of thought into roman's character to help push the fact that he's more than what he seems. there's also some symbolism that helped me compose roman's character! for example, roman is quite literally a broken star. his planet was essentially a star and the people of his home were known as "star pieces", but in roman's case, he's a broken piece of that star. because, you know, he's traumatized from the past and he's learning from it. this is a BIG contrast to the gang because they've already grown up and moved on. roman's been left behind in many cases and regrets what he did (or rather didn't) do to help his people...just like someone we all know and love!!!

ALSO... get this... roman = a broken star, riley = the sun (aka a star), the center of the universe that keeps everything aligned and orderly...... which shows how similar, yet different they are and why they get along so well!

anyways, i'm gonna end this note here b/c i wanted to push roman's character onto yall... because i'm proud of it hehe. i hope it wasn't too confusing (and if it was, tell me so i can make adjustments!). byeee yall are the best <3