"What are you gonna do, prissy boy?" Bast snidely demanded, glaring at Teb from where he stood above him. Teb refused to answer, or even look up, as he quietly picked up his books from the floor. Too used to Bast's bullying, despite being two years older than the freshman who liked to make his life hell, Teb figured it was better to just ignore him. Eventually he'd get tired of not getting a response and either go away, or try to move on to physical abuse. So far, Bast hasn't been quite brave enough to try the physical route, but Teb was ready for it regardless.
While Teb wasn't the most athletic guy, he'd taken several years of self-defense classes to make sure that he'd always be able to protect himself. That, plus the yoga he did every morning and evening, made sure that his body was covered in lean, wiry muscle and strong enough to be able to throw off most opponents.
They'd gathered quite the crowd in the hallway around them, the other students watching as Bast continued to throw insults and expletives at the still silent Teb. He recognized a few of his friends watching in concern, and sent them a subtle shake of his head. He could handle this.
Until Bast found his sketchbook that is…
"What the hell is this?!" Bast laughed scornfully, carelessly flipping through Teb's book of designs. "What are you, a girl?! Oh this is just too good, you are so pathetic!" He was too busy laughing to see Teb standing up defiantly and snatching the book from his hands.
He stuffed the notebook into his backpack with nary a blush, he wasn't embarrassed about his dream to be a designer, rather the opposite. He was proud of the clothes that he had dreamed up. Turning around and slinging his bag onto his back, Teb began to walk away with his head held high, only to be stopped by a hand grabbing his backpack and ripping it backwards.
"Where do you think you're going, girly? I didn't say that I was done with you." Bast grinned menacingly as Teb's books once again scattered to the floor. Teb simply watched with a raised brow, wondering if he was about to cross the line. He didn't want to resort to violence, but it was probably about time for Bast to get what he deserved.
Bast had only just pulled his hand back to throw the first punch, causing Teb to shift into a defensive stance, when Teb heard the voice of an angel of vengeance call out through the crowd.
"Get out of here, you vultures! Out of my way!"
Somehow Teb managed to go as pale as a sheet, and blush as red as an apple at the same time.
Aloy. Teb thought to himself in awe as a short girl with long red hair elbowed her way through the crowd, dismissing people as she went.
Aloy Sobek was the star athlete of their school, the pride of the Braves, being one of the top students in archery, equestrian studies, and wrestling. She was known for her fiery red hair, always pulled back in several braids, as well as an equally fiery temper. Despite her many strengths in school, she'd always been somewhat of a social outcast due to being homeschooled by her parents for most of her life, causing her to be extremely awkward in most social situations.
Bullying was one thing that Aloy could not tolerate, and she always stood up for the downtrodden students, no matter who they were. She and Bast were constantly at each other's throats, whether it was because of his bullying or her being a better Brave than he could ever be, though they had yet to come to blows for it. Aloy always preferred tearing down her enemies with her wit rather than her fists, a trait she'd learned from her mother, Elizabet Sobek, one of the world's leading scientists in physics and robotics.
Teb had always admired the younger woman, but could never work up enough courage to talk to her. Instead, he poured his budding affections into his designs, with Aloy as his muse. Dark red dresses embroidered with orange and blue flames, tan jackets with bright blue trims, things and colors that remind him of her. He can already see new designs from the way she storms forth from the crowd like an ancient Valkyrie, bent on avenging the oppressed.
"Bast!" Aloy barks angrily. "Bugger off and leave him alone!"
"Well, if it isn't little 'Miss Perfect' come down from on high to correct our behavior!" He scoffed mockingly. "Nobody asked you to interfere, so get lost! This is my business!"
"I'm not perfect, Bast, but I'm leagues better than you!" She retorted angrily before smirking. "And if you put even half as much effort into training as you do bothering literally everyone, maybe you would have gotten the position of team captain in archery instead of me… but probably not."
The people around them let out loud exclamations and laughed, causing Aloy's smirk to grow as Bast turned red.
"We all know that the only reason you're team captain is because your daddy gave it to you." He hissed angrily. "Must be nice to have everything handed to you by your parents!" He gave a smug grin at his perceived victory.
"Riiiiight! My dad totally just gave it to me because he's the coach." She rolled her eyes. "It had nothing at all to do with the fact that I shot literal circles around you!"
As the crowd laughed again, Bast exploded in rage and swung at her. She grinned and neatly dodged out of the way, and did so for several moments. Eventually, though, she tired of playing with him. When the next punch came, she grabbed his arm and twisted, pulling his arm around behind him and shoving him up against the locker.
"That's enough, Bast! Walk away, before I drag your sorry rear to the nearest teacher just like this."
Bast hesitated for a moment before begrudgingly nodding. When she released him, he shoved her back and stalked away towards Teb. In a last move of defiance, he shoved Teb's sketchbook out of his hands onto the ground once again, breaking the binding and sending papers everywhere.
Aloy turned to the people surrounding. "Alright, folks! Show's over! You can all scurry away now!" She turned to Teb. "Are you alright?"
Teb could only stare in awe at her for a moment, until her face grew even more concerned and he shook his head to clear it. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay." His friend Petra winked at him and wagged her eyebrows suggestively before she walked away, with Sekuli throwing a big grin and thumbs up over her shoulder as she followed her. Teb groaned as he knelt down to pick up his pages, trying to hide his blushing face. Some best friends. "Thank you, by the way."
"It's no problem. I've been itching to confront him for a while now." He felt her kneel down beside him and start picking up papers.
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that! I've got them!" Teb said frantically, gathering papers together as quickly as he could. Please don't find them, please don't find them, please don't-
"I don't mind helping, Teb." She paused for a moment as some of the drawings caught her eye. "Wow! These are really good, Teb! Amazing!" She started flipping quickly through all the papers in her hands, admiring them one by one, until she came upon the first drawing of herself. Shocked, she stared at it for several moments, then raised her eyes to Teb. He had his hands covering his face, and what little she could she was covered in a deep red blush as he moaned miserably to himself. Looking back to the drawing, an answering blush bloomed on her face.
It was a drawing of her walking carefully down a long staircase, as if she were a princess entering a ballroom. He had drawn her in a beautiful, floor-length evening gown of the deepest midnight blue, small crystals glittering like stars in the fabric, with her hair let down in curls. She looked beautiful, elegant, and unreachable.
Aloy kept looking through the drawings, each one of her and always in different aspects of herself. Hunched over a book studying with glasses sliding down her nose, wearing a comfortable sweater. Aiming down an arrow with an intense look on her face. Laughing with her friends in the school cafeteria. Did her really see her like this? They were all drawn from a distance, as if the artist was afraid to come any closer. It made her a little sad.
"I'll… I'll destroy them. Tear them up and burn them, and you'll never have to see me again." Teb said, face down and looking anywhere but at her. Aloy looked at his outstretched hand and snatched the pictures closer to her chest protectively.
"NO!" She cried, surprising them both. Teb's eyes snapped forward to stare at her in shock. Lowering her voice carefully, she continued. "No, don't do that. They're beautiful."
"But I drew them without your permission! I should have asked…" He continued miserably.
"I don't mind…" She whispered, looking at the first drawing again. A fresh blush bloomed in her cheeks as she looked up at him and smiled crookedly. "Nobody's ever really seen me like this, let alone made something so beautiful because of me." She placed them carefully into his hand and stood. "Promise me that you'll keep them?"
Teb could only nod dumbly. She smiled bashfully and turned to walk away. She'd only made it a few steps before she turned back towards him.
"By the way, I can teach you how to defend yourself if you want, in case Bast decides to keep being a moron."
"Oh, I already-" Teb stopped and shook his head, he wasn't going to miss this chance. He looked up and smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that, if you don't mind."
Aloy grinned hugely, a bit of red on her cheeks. "Good. I'll talk to you later then!"
"Yeah." He sighed dreamily as she walked down the hall to her next class. "Talk to you later."
He couldn't help jumping in the air, arm raised victoriously.
A/N: ME TOO, TEB! ME TOO! Normally I don't do these, AUs really aren't my thing to write and I generally try to keep things as lore-friendly as possible, but this idea jumped up and slapped me in the face as I was driving home from work. Hopefully it doesn't suck! There will be at least one more part to this.