TW: Fluffs, Alternate Universe

Thick air created solid resistance, triggering each movement be turn into a struggle, as if walking had turned into a swim. The dense humidity tasted of bitter smells from bodies since long ago pushed through the same air. Clouds teased as holes within them had no care, letting sun peak through and heat the ground. Rythian's mind wandered while he thought about the exact degree of the pavement his sneakers crunched against. He naïvely tuned out the weather forecast that chimed out on his radio that morning, trusting that a day with sun was all he needed to know.

Feeling his arm jerk ahead of himself, Rythian fought to keep his balance. He watched the thrilled Husky snap its head back after sensing the pullback reaction on his leash. Rythian licked his dried out lips and smiled, reassuring the animal everything was fine.

Another curved turn along the paved park path in his run and Rythian swore his heart beat climbed higher up his body. It pounded against his throat and thumped in his ears. Swallowing thick saliva only cut off his paced breathing, bursting sudden sharp pants through his teeth. His entire body radiated heat from every part. He could feel his hands pulse along with is heart as he gripped the leash tighter. Rythian knew he couldn't afford a stop, the moment his momentum was gone and his feet stopped pounding on the ground, the exhaustion would catch up and crash into him, ending his run.

Sweat dripped down his forehead, gathering on his eyebrows with some slipping down to fall off the tip of his nose. The once baggy old t-shirt that hung off of Rythian's bony frame, now clung with damp spots trailing down his skin. His muscles burned and begged him to relax, but all was muffled underneath the rush of endorphins that encouraged Rythian to continue on.

Whizzing by another owner and their dog, Rythian could feel his pride swell as his Husky puppy not even at their ten month old mark, kept their eyes forward and couldn't care to belt out a bark. Thrilled to see the progress of training in action, they met another bend in the path that turned to a fork. Veering to the left, Rythian could feel his body tilt as he prepared for the direction change, listening to his thoughts cheer him on as his hard exercise was coming to a close.

A brief twinkle out of the corner of his eyes, captured Rythian's attention. Gawking over at the path he passed, the bright light flashed again, luring his sight to a man walking the opposite way. One more quick sting of light and Rythian found the cause to be the red heart shaped glasses on the man's face. With a swift reconsideration, Rythian weighed that the light came from the plastic buttons littered on the cat eared knapsack that bounced on the stranger's back instead. Shifting his eyes again, Rythian taxed his neck to capture another glance before he was too far away.

Lost in his inspection, Rythian's feet stumbled as he missed the beginning of the gradual downward slope of the path, leading the rest of him to topple with it. Instinctively attempting to save himself, his hands flew out in front of his chest, colliding his palms with the pavement so his head could avoid it. The expectant tug on the leash from the sudden stop still moved Rythian more than he wished it to. Dirt collected to his sweating hands as they slid along before he could hold himself still. Rythian didn't want to look at his knees, he could already feel skin was torn and that injuries were clearly present.

From his low position, the agonizing roll onto his back felt as if he was pushing double his weight. His joints popped as he breathed, feeling the dreaded fatigue pair brutality with the impromptu stinging wounds. Brewing a deep sigh from the bottom of his stomach and puffing it out towards the sun still didn't seem to help shake the defeat.

"That was quite the trip!" A clear voice seemed to shoot through the dense warm air, "Did you bring me back a t-shirt?" Smiling brightly at the joke, the once distracting face hovered above Rythian like a torment. Offering an out stretched hand, the man laughed as he blew hair out of his eyes. "Okay, yeah. That's probably a bit of a mean pun to make but, at least you had good form on your run before you met the ground."

The stones under Rythian's palms scratched along the pavement as he dragged his hand up off the ground. His brief pause to meet his knee, dusting off the dirt on his hand, stirred a short high noise from the stranger as his lips tucked up tightly to wrinkle his nose. "I just watched you fall on your face. I don't expect you to have clean hands." His arm bounced in the air to give a jovial gesture to take the offer without another minute of delay.

Rythian tried to hide his embarrassment as he grabbed the man's hand, feeling the mixed sweat and dirt between his fingers rub against the stranger's dry skin. He could feel questions bubble up about how the man could be out in the draining weather and not show an ounce of visible sweat, but as Rythian unfolded to stand back up he found himself again distracted by the pops of adornments the man wore.

The brightly laced high-top shoes lured Rythian's eyes downward to the animal sprawled out beside them. It was striped with orange fur bearing colours of a mod magazine with the hot pink harness strapped around its body. The only cue to its living state were the long drawn out breaths expanding its body even wider.

"Is that a..." The question drifted out with no end as Rythian looked back at the stranger's face. Lively green eyes peered over the top of the deep red plastic hearts, the glasses inching down even lower on the bridge of his nose when the man loosened his smile. Rythian could feel saliva catch in his throat, forcing out a cough, still feeling the stranger's eyes on him.

With a promptly released laugh, the glasses were pushed back up his nose by the hand wrapped up in the leash. "Yes, she's a cat." A gentle tug on the strap to stir the animal gave nothing new to showcase the answer, only an annoyed flick of ears as the cat continued to soak up the heat from the pavement. "Her name is Tiddles, and if I don't walk her once in a while she gets too restless and destroys the sofa!"

Mirroring the tug of a leash, Rythian reciprocated the introduction. "This is Ghost. He's a purebred Husky, nine months old so he's still very much a puppy."

Watching the stranger click his tongue and coo at the dog resurfaced the swell of pride. Ghost sat with a tilt to his head, fruitlessly trying to understand the man's baby talk, unrelenting about how adorable he was.

Finishing his last sugary remark to the dog, the man gave a fulfilled smile as he let silence fall. Rythian tried not to use his height to the advantage and look down to see the eyes behind the sunglasses, but the uncertainty about what was in his line of vision made Rythian curious.

A laugh behind his lips and the man's smile grew again, "And you are..?"

Closely mimicking his pet, Rythian's head changed angle at the question, before it all became apparent. A stuttered breath evolving into a laugh to cover it up, all tumbled out before Rythian could spark his mind to remember his first name. "I'm Rythian! I um... sorry about the whole pause. I think the heat is getting to me." A gawky scratch to his arm to dispel the embarrassment only caused Rythian to trip over his words, "A-and what's your name?"

Another peach cheek smile made Rythian want to curse that he couldn't see the man's eyes. "Call me Lalna, cause that's the name!" A jabbed thumb to his chest amplified his statement as he swept unruly hair out from behind his sunglasses.

Lalna's continued dramatic pose brought an airy laugh to burst unexpectedly from Rythian. He hadn't planned on it, finding nothing of real humour about the situation, but as the toe of his shoe twisted on the ground he tried to vow to keep everything under a cap.

"S-so!" Rythian struggled to distract from the palpable nervousness while Lalna continued smiling at him as if he had yet to notice. "How old is Tiddles?"

Pressing his lips together in a moment of contemplation, Lalna swung an arm to the side of his backpack. "Hmm, I've had her about three years or so..." His sound trailed off as an unmentioned click went unnoticed. "I don't know. Maybe five? She just followed me home one day so I have no idea."

Coming back around, Lalna's hand gripped tightly to a glass water bottle he pulled from the side pouch of his knapsack, "Here! Looks like you could use some." He held it in between his thumb and forefinger, presenting it using little effort. "Take a drink! Well, as long as you don't have like a cold or anything."

Shaking his head enough to rattle his brain Rythian accepted the offer without a second thought. "No I'm perfectly healthy." Popping the pink molded top as he tilted the bottle along with his neck he mumbled out a quick thank you. Rythian couldn't figure out why he agreed to the offer so easily only within a few minutes of conversation, but smacking his dry lips together he understood his eagerness.

Creating a mental note to bring his own water bottle on his next run if the weather continued its scorching, Rythian found the water slightly different from his usual tap. It was sweet, almost fresher as if he was drinking straight from a spring. In his brief gasp for air, his tongue finally placed the taste, "Mm, it... it tastes like strawberry."

Lalna adjusted his grip on the cat leash, "Yeah, I have a pitcher at home that I put cut up strawberries into along with the water. It adds a nice flavour!" Vivacious laughs popped out as Lalna watched Rythian chugged back the offered drink, letting stray streams of water fall down his chin.

Even as he wanted to swig the rest down, Rythian handed the half full bottle back a bit sheepish, hoping his actions were not perceived as rude. "Thanks again. I really did need that." He wiped up residue at his bottom lip, savouring the last of the cool water.

As he placed the bottle back in the knapsack's side holder, Lalna waved his free hand. "Well I didn't want you to sweat away the rest of your fluids and end up as a raisin!" Buzzing his lips to suppress another habitual laugh, he tipped up his sunglasses, removing them in a gentle lift. The plastic red arm popped into the corner of his mouth while Lalna mused over his next words. "Wow," His deep exhale let the glasses fall from his lips, "You did need it. Looking over you fully... you're certainly quite the dirty hot mess."

Rythian's breathing sputtered at the words. The verbal response he wanted to summon dissolved as he became aware his appearance was in shambles. Even a slight bend of his knees and he could feel how scrapped from the pavement they were, along with his sweat covered workout clothes, Rythian felt the need to cover his presence from Lalna's unceasingly scanning eyes.

Setting his sunglasses back on his face Lalna gave a trained quick tug to Tiddles' leash, stirring her from her short-lived sunny nap. "But, even under that layer of sweat, you're still cute." The stretch of his bottom lip between his teeth was overpowered by his comment, nevertheless served as his last communicative action.

Speechless and wide eyed, Rythian couldn't move a muscle as Lalna passed around him to continue down the path with Tiddles waddling merrily beside him. Another comeback lost on his tongue as his mind swirled, only being brought back by a wet nose nudge from Ghost.

"Wait!" Rythian's whip around was far past late with Lalna gone entirely from sight. "But..." A hand to his forehead, wiping away the settling perspiration, Rythian's whisper hardly became audible. "I was supposed to be the one to call you cute."

The sudden long groan of frustration startled Ghost, edging the husky to push again at his owner's side. "I didn't even ask for his number!" Rythian's hands slammed on his thighs, his aggravation continuing to climb as the realization hit him. Looking down to his companion with a fully cycled through sigh, Rythian's question streamed out more for himself than his callow dog.

"Do you think he'll come to the park again?"

Credit to idlepace on tumblr