The woods: Seven/Fiach
The early-summer damp in the air was the kind that hung heavy and swollen, packing each breath tight into Seven’s lungs, and it made him wish for a storm to roll in over the lake. They were spectacular out here this time of the season, and would usually bring at least a few hours of relief from the heat. He was used to the humidity, yeah, and with the breeze right off the water it was never as bad out here as getting sun-baked and breathing soup at River and East 161st heading home from an afternoon Yankees game. And it was absolutely better than the arid heat back in Vegas, no fucking contest. But that still didn’t keep him from catching hopeful glimpses of the sky through the trees as he slowed his run to a jog, then gearing down to a walk with his hands on his hips. And the sky just remained that earnest blue, without a cloud in sight.
Seven reached up and tugged the elastic free from where it’d held his hair back in a bun, as his lungs worked hard to cut through the humid air and get the oxygen all the way in without feeling like his chest was clamped hard in a vice. The ends of his hair were sand-dark with sweat when he swept it all back from his face again, collecting the stubborn strands that had clung to his temples, then re-tied it with the elastic.
“Shit, Tommy’s right,” he muttered, glancing along the path ahead of him as he slowed and watching the white tip of Devi’s tail peeking out from the underbrush where she’d chased something small and fuzzy. He cleared his throat against the taste of pennies and raised his voice a little, pulling up the hem of his t-shirt where it was still dry and using it to scrub some of the sweat off his face. “Remind me that I need to quit smoking!”
By the time dropped the shirt and looked up the path, Devi had crawled out the other side of the shrubs - mercifully no blood on her muzzle this time - and stood looking back at him with a quizzical tilt to her head, ears pricked high while she also listened to the sounds in the woods that Seven couldn’t make out. Then she was bounding off around the next turn and Seven whistled once, long and low to remind the dog to stay close until he caught up.