Lets Bully Roman

Feliks walked about the deck, his muscles straining against his robes. He should have gotten knew ones, but his pride had not allowed him to admit it to his father, he did not wish for their money, and he had simply not made enough on his own to do so.

They still fit.

And besides, if the boy was being honestly, his ego rather liked the intimidating way his muscles almost bludged out of the shirt.

Taking a deep breath of air, he smirked and let his gaze roam around the boat. He stuck his leg out as a first year passed, not even sticking around once the young one had crashed to the deck.

It was a new year.

And he was ready to start it.

Roman stood on the balcony, looking over at the water. Being on the boat again brought back a wave of nostalgia, and he realized that ever since second year, he'd spent the ride with Faye, in one way or another.

He smiled against the warm(ish) summer breeze. He couldn't wait to see her again. Especially after.... after the engagement. It sort of seemed unreal that they'd actually gone through with it. He'd always thought that they would find a way out, or that his parents weren't really serious about it. But now... he could physically feel it now. He didn't know how but he did. And it deeply disturbed him.

Roman sighed and turned around, only to turn right back again and pretend not to notice the thing that was behind him. He tensed a little, hardly breathing at all, and staring intently at the water. Maybe if he stayed still enough, he would remain unnoticed.

If only that were true.

"Well, Well, Well," he drawled slowly, his eyes landing on the boy on the balcony, "what do we have here?"

His steps were slow, measured as he walked towards the boy. He couldn't help the smirk that grew on his face as he took in his posture. Ritter had known he was there.

After all, the boy never tensed up like that around anyone else.

These children honestly made it too easy for him sometimes.

"Have a good summer, Ritter?" he raised an eyebrow as he slowly leaned against the balcony beside the boy.

Roman's heart sank a little as he heard Feliks' voice, Oh God.... He knew from experience that there was nothing for him to do but brace himself for a beating.

A sense of dread began to grow in the pit of his stomach, and he had to fight the urge to run as the boy appeared beside him.

"No," he gave an honest reply, "It was terrible, but thanks for asking." There was a certain bitterness in his voice that appeared only when he talked to Feliks. It was as if he was a person specifically created to bring out the worst in him. He wondered for a moment if there was a word for that. Hell, he was German. There probably was.

He furrowed his eyebrows, knowing that at any minute he could choose to attack, and since he was Feliks Chmerkovskiy, no one was likely to be a hero and stop him. Even if they tried, there was no way it would work. Roman was pretty much doomed from the moment he set eyes on him.

Feliks made a big show of sympathy, claping the boy on the back.

Of course the action was done much harder, making it closer to a slap than a pat.

"Well that is just too bad," he drawled, "It was cause you missed me so much, wasn't it? Hmm? Well don't worry, Ritter, I'm here now and everything is going to be juuusst fine. "

Roman winced as he was hit on the back. It didn't actually hurt that much, but his nerves were already on such an edge that he couldn't help it. Regardless, his back still stung for awhile afterwards.

He looked over at Feliks, itching to say something to rile him up. But part of him knew that this is what got him into trouble in the first place. Of course, that part of him, the rational, sensible part, was completely powerless at the moment. "Can you just hurry up and hit me already? It's much less painful than having to hear you talk."

"Oh but Ritter," he put a hand to his chest, pouting extravagantly, "I so enjoy these talks; the improve my vocabulary for my oh so simple mind. You don't want to responsible for not helping advance my education."

He smirked slightly and moved away, grabbing the back of his shirt rather roughly, yanking him away from railing.

"Though, I suppose it would be rude of me not to give you what you asked for, wouldn't it?"

Roman raised an eyebrow, "You're actually making me embarrassed to be around you. And you're the one who's beating me up."

He winced a little as he felt himself being roughly pulled backwards. The boy was starting to think that his purpose in life was to be a walking punching bag. Even his own mother was joining in on the fun, and he had the scar on his cheek to prove it.

Roman gave a tired smile, "Such a gentleman," and braced himself for the worst.

Picking the boy up slightly, he walked back to their original position, staring down at the water as angled Roman closer towards it.

"Well, then if you're so embarrased... maybe we should just get you away from me."

He made a show of glancing at the water, glancing at Roman and glancing back again.

"How do you feel like a swim Ritter?"

Roman smirked bitterly, "We both know that's not going to happen." It was true. The two of them always tended to run into each other, and when they did Feliks made sure to take advantage of the opportunity, no matter how much he tried to get away.

He looked down at the water, his eyes widening, "No way." Roman now tried to struggle against the grip on him, "No, no, no... Not even you would-" He turned to face Feliks, his fear completely taking control of his facial expressions, "Oh my God, please tell me you're not serious."

"Well I don't know," Feliks's tightened as the boy began to squirm and a smirk drew across his face, "As you're so found of reminding me... I might be too stupid to know what serious means."

He looked at the water, and then at the boy again.

"Would it really be all that bad? Just a little dip - I'm sure someone who heard your screams on the way down would come pull you out eventually."

Roman froze, staring at him in terror. If Feliks was going to actually go through with this, which he very well might, then there was nothing the boy could do about it.

He'd heard stories, too. Stories about kids that had fallen off the ship... Of course, none of them could possibly be true. They were probably made up by some older students to terrify first years.

Still... there was no telling what was down in the water. If you watched it long enough, you could sometimes catch a glimpse of a tail, sometimes even a spine or two. It was the reason very few people ever tried to swim in there, aside from the fact that it was so cold.

He tried to move, to keep struggling, but even his body had accepted the inevitable, and refused to move. He couldn't even bring himself to say anything, though that was probably for the better

The deck seemed... she wasn't sure why she had wandered out there. Below she had felt protected from the water, safe. At the very least she couldn't see it. However once upon deck she was completely reminded that water was all around her.

Pursing her lips, she squared her slim, weak looking shoulders, and with a determined look walked a little further out on deck. She would just... find Roman like she had wanted, and then take it from there. After all, she had fought to be here, she certainly wasn't going to waste the time.

Still, when she hesitantly turned the bend closer to the water, she had never expected to find...

"Hey!" her thin little voice roase sharply, stronger and more determined than one would expect from her slight form. "What do you think you're doing?"

Feliks smirked, his amusement growing at the boys obvious terror. What Ritter had yet to realize - what Feliks had been banking on him not realizing - was that there was a net, possibly for decoration, possibly for the exact method he was about to use it for presently, attached just below them.

It was tight to the ship, it would be hard to get it just by falling, but Feliks did pride himself on having good aim.

"Oh look," he drawled at the thin voice, his eyes trailing over to the girl with a smile, "You're girlfriend made it for the show Ritter. Why don't you wave her goodbye."

Giving the girl an obnoxious wave for the boy, he grinned, and let him go, heading straight for the net, that just barely hung into the water.

Roman's eyes widened in surprise, and for the moment, he entirely forgot about the water below him, "Faye?" It came out as little more than a whisper, and his throat was so dry, he was impressed that he could say anything at all.

But before he could get a good look at her, she was replaced by the rapidly-moving wooden boards belonging to the side of the ship.

The instant he closed his eyes, a loud smacking sound and a sharp stinging feeling all over his skin made him gasp.

His arms began to flail around in the numbingly-cold water, instinctively trying to bring himself upright, but something was pushing back against him, making him panic even more. He closed his eyes again, Just calm down, Ritter. It's probably nothing. Stop freaking out and be rational for a second.

Roman stopped moving, and took a deep breath. He frowned as he realized that his head was above water. In fact, a lot of him was above water. Oh Merlin, he thought as he looked around at the net below him, I'm an even bigger idiot than I thought.

He pushed himself back up into a sitting position, and looked back up towards the top of the deck, soaking wet and scowling.

"Roman!"

Eyes widening, the small girl forgot her fear of the water below, in favour of the fear for the boy who was falling towards it.

"Oops," Feliks said with a wide grin and a shrug. Then he had disappeared, gone before she had even reached the side of the boat.

Gripping on to the edge she leaned over, searching for the familiar head, "Roman!"

Her eyes scanned the area quickly, before locking on the boy, sitting rather safely in a net, his head well out of the dangerous water. She almost let out a sigh of relief.

"Oh thank the lord, are you-" once her fear for the boy had faded, her fear of the water returned. Her grip on the railing tighted, and her face paled visiably. She bit her lip and took a deep breath. "Are you alright? H-how are you going to get - do you..."

She glanced at him for a moment, trying to focus on his face, rather than the water around it.

Roman's eyes locked on to Faye, and sighed with relief as he realized that this must mean Feliks had lost interest. He was about to call up to her, but he stopped himself after he noticed something odd in the tone of her voice.

He did his best to focus on her face, but it was little more than a blur from where he was sitting. I should really get glasses, Roman thought as he shook his head and turned back up to Faye, "I'm fine. Kind of cold though..."

He frowned again and looked at the water around him, "Uhhh..." he bit his lip in thought, "What about a hover charm? That might work."

"I suppose so," she bit her lip as she looked down at him, the thought of having to use magic making her nervous, "But... I suppose I'll try. Just... I might, I don't want to but...."

What if she dropped him again? What if he didn't fall into the net this time. Rumaging in her pocket for her wand, she put all her energy in focusing on Roman floating back up to the deck.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" The small girl didn't let her energy waver on anything but what she was doing, too worried that she might drop him back down if she let it slacken at all. Her hand started to shake, and she could feel the low amount of energy she already had depleteing further, but still, she wasn't going to let it slacken. If she did then-

Just as her hand started to shake so bad she thought she would have give out, she saw the familiar figured float over the railing and with a slight tug of her wand, the boy dropped onto the deck instead of into the water when her arm finally gave up.

Walking as quickly as she could over to him, she flopped beside him, partly because she wished to check if he was alright, and partly because her own legs were refusing to hold her up any longer.

"Sorry," she whispered softly, going to grin, but her head swam slightly, and she had to closer her eyes, taking a deep breath, and forcing herself to say conscious. Once the spell had passed, she opened her eyes, and grined slightly again, "Sorry, I kind of... dropped you near the end."

Roman felt a large jolt as he hit the deck, and his vision became bordered with a sort of black haze, which was accompanied by him feeling very dizzy. Luckily enough, it passed within a few seconds, and he was finally able to focus on Faye.

"It's okay." He gave a small laugh, "I'm fine." He looked at her and noticed how much paler she looked since she last saw him, and how much thinner she seemed. If that was even possible. He absentmindedly began rubbing the scar on his cheek, which was a nervous habit he had developed within the last month or so, "Are you fine?"

He shook his head, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have made you do that. I hope it didn't take too much out of you."

"I'm fine," she said quickly, forcing another smile on her face to try and prove it, "Its nothing new really; I'll be fine."

She nodded her head, even thought she had long since believed 'fine' to be a realitive term, and she decided to ignore the nagging voice that was telling her that saying she'd be fine was a lie.

She followed his hand, and frowned slightly, brushing his hand away so she could touch the scar herself, "What happened?"

He frowned, noticing how frustratingly familiar the words sounded to him. Looking down at the floor, he muttered to himself, "Somehow I'm not so sure..."

The boy reached up and ran his hand through his wet hair, wringing it out as best as he could. He sighed and looked up at the sky.

"I..." Roman struggled with his words, wondering if he even had the courage to explain what happened, "I don't really want to talk about it." Faye would understand...

Faye bit her lip as she caught his words. Her own lips dropping down into a slight frown.

"Well... maybe thats because, because... maybe you shouldn't be. Sure I mean, maybe we shouldn't be sure that I'll- that I'm-"

She bit her lip and looked away before she had to finish that statment, before she could see what that almost statement could do to the boy.

She let out her a little breath at his words, feeling her own little bubble of frustration.

"Thats all we ever do isn't it? Not talk, Avoid topics. What else is knew. Is there anything we can talk about? How about the weather? Or are is it going to rain later so we'll avoid that topic too?"

Roman cut Faye off as she stuttered, his patience quickly growing thin, "You'll what?" He realized how harsh that sounded, and changed his tone so it was more sympathetic, "It's driving me crazy, Faye. I never know what's happening to you. You walk around like you're barely alive.... It kills me."

He bit his lip, feeling a crushing guilt as the veiled accusations were thrown at him. But a small part of him- that thought it wasn't his fault- wanted to rebel. Still, he managed to stay relatively calm, "I... I didn't want to put any more pressure on you."

Faye flinched slight at his tone, letting her eyes glance up at him for a moment, before looking back down at her lap, "Maybe I won't get better... I'm trying to say... I don't think- I don't think-"

She swallowed, still stuttering she began to pick at the hem of her clothes.

"Which makes you the sweetest most- But I need to know things Roman. Just because I'm-I'm... me, doesn't mean I can't take - not knowing creates just as much - I heard you were getting married from someone else. Do you understand that? I heard it from Kendera, not from you. I just- "

Roman stared at Faye, his eyes searching for some hint in her expression, "Something happened, didn't it? Something you're not telling me. You can't just pretend it doesn't exist, Faye! You can't just hide it away and hope-"

He cut himself off, realizing that he was being a complete hypocrite. But he wouldn't apologize. Just because both of them were at fault didn't mean he couldn't be angry. Right?

The boy glowered at the floor as he listened to her, her stuttering becoming progressively more irritating. "Did you really have to confront me about this right after I got thrown off of a ship?" He asked bitterly, squeezing more water out of his shirt with a frown. All the while, a thoroughly unpleasant feeling grew in the pit of his stomach.