Insecurities

Defence

It was another day at the university, Barry and Caitlin sat with one another in the library, talking and getting along as they did often. Barry was helping Caitlin with a piece of physics work that she had. It wouldn't be long until the pair had to go to their first lesson, one they had together, as a matter of fact, being chemistry. Due to a timetable change, she had been swapped into Barry's class, simply due to a certain teacher leaving.

As it was time to leave, the pair walked through the building towards the science facilities, side by side, Caitlin clasping her books in her hand whilst Barry had everything thrown into a rucksack. They entered the room and found their seats, unfortunately for the both of them they were situated on completely opposite sides of the classroom. They were currently studying covalent bonding of atoms, for both Barry and Caitlin was a somewhat dull topic, as the two were already very familiar with said topic, being top of their class. Half way through the lesson they did a small practical, where they were allowed to choose a partner, so naturally they paired up, completing the task at hand.

When the lesson ended, the duo met up outside of the classroom to go and get lunch together, as they had done the past few days, since they met. Whilst they walked towards the lunch hall, they received a few sniggers and whispers from people around them, but honestly, neither of them cared as all they needed at the current moment was one another's company. 

"Sorry about them," Barry said, before continuing with "I get it all the time, I guess I've just got used to it."

"It's okay, I got it a lot at my previous university and schools, I am used to it as well. Back then I was very alone with literally no one to talk to, so most people simply made fun of me."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore, despite not being that great, I'm here for you," Barry said, looking over towards her.

"You aren't as bad as you say," Caitlin replied, looking back into his eyes.

The pair were now walking through an outside area of the school, and as Barry was about to speak up, two people walked in front of them, side by side, smirks on their faces. The female had her hands on her hips and the male had his arms crossed, looking down at Barry and Caitlin. Barry recognised these two people, being Iris West, a student that had always picked on him ever since he had joined this school, and Julian Alberts, another student from his forensic science specialist class, who always tried to shove his intelligence in Barry's face and attempt to prove that he his better than him in every way he possibly could.

"Well, look who got himself a girlfriend," Iris said, the smirk still present on her face.

Barry looked over to Caitlin with a look as if to say 'don't worry about it', but was interrupted by Julian speaking;

"Well, Allen, are you going to say anything?"

Barry and Caitlin just sort of remained to stand there, awkwardly looking either at one another or at a slight angle towards the floor. Iris and Julian continued to simply tease the pair, not exactly achieving much but not proving to be anywhere close to stopping. After a few more sentences they started specifically picking on Caitlin, saying;

"May I ask why on Earth you decided to be friends with him? Barry is awful, I really fail to see what you see in him that is even remotely worth your time. You know, you are a good-looking girl, you would be much better off with me, come on, I will show you what a true relationship is like," Julian finished, coming across extremely creepy, with somewhat of a seductive tone in his voice. He moved his hand down to take a hold of hers, to which she quickly tugged her hand away, Barry seeing that she was really traumatised, noticeably seeing tears forming in her eyes as she stumbled back, trying to maximise the distance between her and Julian.

"Come on, you have nothing to fear..." Julian started, walking towards Caitlin, however being stopped by Barry walking in front of him, blocking his path.

"Hey, leave her alone, you don't deserve someone as great as her, why don't you go and find someone else to traumatise?"

"Oh, look, Barry's getting defensive," Iris said, speaking up, to continue with "trying to protect your girlfriend  Barry?"

"She may not be my girlfriend but she is a great person and doesn't deserve to be treated like that from you two, so leave her alone. Pick on me all you want but leave her alone. I really don't care what you think as long as you aren't terrifying people."

"Okay fine, Barry, we will leave you and your little girlfriend alone," Iris teased, before grabbing Julian's attention and walking back into the building, laughing as they walked off.

Barry walked over towards Caitlin, who was clearly terrified and spoke up.

"Hey, let's find somewhere to sit down."

Caitlin just nodded, following Barry to a nearby bench, where the couple sat down side by side, Caitlin shuffling closer to Barry, slightly leaning against him.

"I'm so, so sorry. You don't deserve to be treated like that, I will try my best to prevent it from happening again. I'm sorry I did an awful job at helping you, I'm not really good at these things."

"No, you did a good job. I should've helped stand up for myself, instead of hiding myself away,"

"Not at all, how he acted towards you was completely wrong and you acted how any normal person would have. I don't usually speak up to people like that, admittedly it scared me as well but I just felt like I needed to try my best to defend you, no matter what it meant for me. Sorry if I completely messed up the whole defence thing though."

"Barry, you did a better job than you think, thank you so much for standing up for me, in all honesty, no one has ever stood up for me like that, you are the first."

"I am? That's surprising, you really are a good person, I care about you and it hurts me to see you get spoken to like that, and to see you scared."

"Thank you, that really means a lot," Caitlin replied, shifting closer to Barry.

"And like I said before, you are much better than you think," she replied with a smile.