Alphabet AU Challenge

C is for College: Stair Wars (Kellic)

hi ok as you can see i chose "college" for the letter "C" and i used a prompt from one of those super long AU lists and this one was focused on college AUs. so yeah. the prompt was "we started racing up the three flights of stairs to class for some reason and we can't stop" bc i love Kellic being competitive and i needed to write this

—

Kellin's starting to think that he should work out more. He has to run up three flights of stairs to get to his chemistry class, and he's really not enjoying getting heavily winded by the time he reaches the room. The building actually does have an elevator, but he has to have a key to be able to use it. He doesn't, obviously, because he's not handicapped and he's not injured (although he's briefly considered purposefully breaking a leg just so he has an excuse). Thus, up the three flights he goes.

"Eh, you'll be fine," his roommate, Justin, tells him when he complains about it. "You're still alive."

"Barely," Kellin adds from where he's flopped face-first on his bed.

"It builds character," Justin replies smoothly. "Determination. Bravery. All that shit."

Kellin snorts. "Easy for you to say. You don't have to do it."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. You'll be fine. Maybe you can find someone else who has to do it and complain with them about it."

Kellin just flips him off.

—

The next day that he has chemistry, he notices someone else from his class a few steps ahead of him on the first flight. The guy—short and brown-skinned, with long, dark hair and some fairly simple name that Kellin still can't remember—is going up fairly quickly, and it takes Kellin a moment to realize that it's because he's hopping the stairs two at a time.

"Showoff!" Kellin calls without thinking; he can't help himself. His impulse control is shit.

The guy—Kellin decides that he's going to call him "Stair Guy"—glances over his shoulder and sticks his tongue out, pausing on one of the last few stairs. "You're just jealous 'cause you're slow," he calls back.

Kellin makes it up the next couple of stairs before responding. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," Stair Guy says, rounding the corner and starting up the second staircase.

"Oh, it's on," Kellin says, adopting his newfound opponent's technique and climbing the rest of the first staircase two stairs at a time.

Stair Guy, unfortunately, is already halfway up the second flight. "Ooh, looks like someone wants a little competition!" he exclaims.

"You bet your ass I do!" This strategy is fast, he'll admit, but it's also a lot more short-lived, and he's not going to spend all his energy early on just to fall apart at the end. This means war.

"Catch me if you can, motherfucker!" Stair Guy yells, pulling himself up to the third and final staircase. He's still ahead, but Kellin's catching up.

"What's that sound?" Kellin yells back as he reaches the third flight only a few seconds later. "Oh, it's the sound of me catching up!"

It's too late, though—Stair Guy has already made it. "What's that sound?" he repeats, turning around and looking down with a stupid smirk on his face. "Oh, it's the sound of me winning! Ha!"

Kellin rolls his eyes as he makes his way up the third flight. "You are so childish," he huffs, even though he's aware that, well, he started it.

Stair Guy shrugs. "You're the one who couldn't resist calling me a showoff." What a cocky asshole.

"Fuck you," Kellin says pleasantly, still only halfway up the staircase. "Rematch on Wednesday."