You Started It

by inescapablecliche

I saw you trying to hit the "door close" button in the elevator but I made it in and then I pushed every single button to make you later for work, but now we're stuck in this fucking elevator as it stops at every single floor and I don't know what to say other than "you started it" AU

Based off of a Tumblr prompt that made me laugh. Hope you enjoy.

Martha xx

Not my characters.

It could have been any other person. It could have been any other day. But no, it had to be him, and now. Adam Parrish lamented his situation as he sprinted along the corridor to the elevators. He was used to waking up early and getting little sleep; he'd worked morning and night jobs for most of his life. Sadly, having just moved to a new area for college, he wasn't working yet and had settled into a lazier routine. It was just Adam's luck that he managed to oversleep on the first day at college; he had been planning to arrive early to explore campus. Luckily, this meant that despite his late awakening, he could still make it in time. As long as he got the next subway; which left in ten minutes. He would have to sprint there. Why did I have to get a top floor apartment?He wondered, not for the first time. But he knew exactly why. In a building like this, being on the top floor was not a luxurious penthouse experience. It meant cold air, insects and smoke coming through the window. It meant small rooms and many flights of stairs unless he chose to use the temperamental elevator. However, it also meant cheap rent.

Anyway, in emergencies such as this, he was thankful for the shitty little elevator. He ran around the corner, his messenger bag banging hard against his hip.
"HOLD THE DOOR!" He shouted, spotting a boy entering just ahead of him. The boy turned around and Adam noticed a slightly pitying look on his face as he pressed a button on the wall. Adam breathed a sigh of relief before he realised the doors were closing.
"WHAT THE HELL, MAN?" Adam ran harder and managed to stick his arm between the doors just as they were about to shut. The other boy somehow managed to look completely guiltless as Adam stepped inside, breathing hard from his sprint.

"Sorry. I'm in a rush." The boy glanced at him a slight smirk to his mouth. There was a secret humour to the unassuming words. "Ground floor?" He asked, eyebrow raised. Something about the other boy's laughing eyes and harsh mouth frustrated Adam. He didn't answer. Then, to the surprise of both Adam and the boy next to him, he reached out and slowly dragged his hand across the buttons on the wall, lighting them all up.

"Are you shitting me?" The boy's smirk had come back now but his voice held the inflection of someone annoyed. "You sprinted all the way here and you're going to make yourself late just to spite me?"
"Looks like it." Adam replied.
The elevator shuddered to a halt. The doors opened; no-one was there. They shut again. The first of twenty. The other boy sighed.

This continued for the next five floors. Adam disliked the silence but he wasn't about to initiate conversation. The other boy looking as if talking was the only thing that could make this situation worse. Then, they heard the noise. A sharp, metallic sounding squeal combined with the shuddering rumble the elevator normally made as it drew to a stop. After a bump, they were still. They waited expectantly but the doors didn't open. Adam pressed the open button on the wall but nothing changed.

Then the lights went out.

Adam heard the other boy's sharp intake of breath.
"Fuck this." There was a sound significantly like a wall being punched. "You happy now, pretty boy?"

Adam sighed and said the only thing he could.

"You started it."