The sun had started to set, turning the sky orange and casting long shadows across the grass and water of Central Park, but the humid summer air still held onto every mote of heat of the day. The only reprieve from the heat was the hint of a breeze, carrying a bit of cool air off the surface of the water of the Reservoir. There was a sparse population of people throughout the park, some sitting on blankets or benches, others standing and chatting. Most walked, alone or in small clusters through the evening heat and lengthening shadows. And then, of course, were the stubborn few on the running paths, jogging or sprinting through the heat as if in defiance of the angry orange orb that hung in the sky. Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. The gravel path underfoot made satisfying noises each time Will's foot came down, and he propelled himself around the circuit, more than half way through his second lap now. Battered grey sneakers beat the ground, off rhythm, as fatigue had set in shortly after the first lap. His black t-shirt, emblazoned with a purple Gatchamon on the front, clung to his back, damp and sticky with perspiration. 

He hated running in the heat like this, when the air was so thick you could almost cut it. But it beat being able to hear the humming of the electricity from the poorly grounded sockets in his apartment when he got home. It would be better than smelling the unchanged litter boxes from the apartment three doors down from his, no matter how much air freshener he sprayed. His senses had been on overload all day, and he was determined to run until his knees gave out if it meant getting a reprieve from the overwhelming stimulus. In this heat, however, that point might be approaching faster than he'd anticipated. 

Three-quarters now. Almost. Will could see up ahead his starting point, an arbitrarily chosen spot on the north side of the Reservoir where he'd started running... Fifteen minutes ago? Twenty? He hadn't set a timer on the phone stuffed into the pocket of his grey shorts, but wouldn't have wanted to break what little form he had left now by digging it out anyway. He could swear he could feel the weight of the air slowing him down, hot and humid, draping across his shoulders like a wet, heavy blanket. It didn't matter though, he was almost there, each crunch of gravel under his feet bringing him one step closer to the end of the lap. 

Will gritted his teeth, pumping his lean arms and legs with renewed determination as he saw his finish line in sight. Fifty steps. Thirty steps. Twenty. Just a little more... Pushing himself over what was, probably, almost definitely the point he'd started, he staggered from a run to a jog to a stop, making his way off the gravel and into the grass to make way for the other handful of people as stubborn or foolish as himself. Will was stooped over, knees bent and he placed a hand on one to support himself as he breathed heavily, his other hand wrapped around a half-empty bottle of water. Gathering himself enough after a long few seconds, he straightened up, his breathing still heavy and heart thundering in his ears as he cursed the heat with the little breath he had.

Good lord it was hot. Quin supposed that made sense, owing to the fact that it was summer, but when you could taste the air things started feeling a bit ridiculous.

School had been utterly horrendous lately. It was almost as if the professors had taken it personally that students had decided to take summer session classes and had retaliated in kind. Finals week had just finished though, and that left Quin with a blessed week of respite before she started it all over again.

Even when she was wildly busy with school, running was something that helped Quin clear her mind. The rhythm of the breathing, the footfalls on the pavement, the sweating, they were all cathartic and each time she finished a run Quin found herself in a place that was kind of zen. Somewhere in the exercise, she managed to lose herself and simply become one with her surroundings.

At least when the weather wasn’t launching personal attacks against her existence.

Today, Quin felt anything but zen and wondered how so many people were just trucking along like this kind of heat was normal. Pretty much as soon as she had started her run today, Quin had wanted to quit and had quickly moved from a more paced run to a simple jog. Even that was getting tedious.

Trying to focus on the backs of the people in front of her for inspiration, Quin found herself irritated at just how much she was sweating. Sweating was par for the course and generally a good thing, but ugh this was just excessive.

As she ran, one of the people a ways in front of her veered off of the path and doubled over. Despite the fact that this was New York, Quin decided it would be more than rude to not stop and ask for help and made her way over to the man who was now standing up, but still looked pretty rough.

”You okay?” she asked as she came up even with him, pulling her earbuds out of her ears so she could hear, ”This weather feels like a personal attack.”

"Pff.... Yeah..." Will managed to sputter out in response, his words as much an exhale as proper speech as he gasped for air. He waved his hand dismissively, as though trying to brush aside the concern in the other person's voice, while trying to collect himself enough to give more than monosyllabic responses. That part took him longer than he would have liked, and he held up a single finger, wordlessly asking for a few moments with the gesture. Will tried his best not too feel embarrassed as he took the next ten seconds to breathe, finally getting enough air into him to answer properly. "Yeah, I'm good."

Will might have felt awkward at the concern of the red-headed stranger, but hearing her words, he couldn't help but nod in agreement with her comment on the weather. He dragged the back of his forearm across his forehead and looked up at the setting sun, either squinting at the light, or glaring at it like a hated enemy. Probably both. "Tell me about it. Dunno what I did to piss off the sun, but..." Will scoffed, giving a short, breathless laugh and shook his head, dropping his gaze from the sun and back to face the person speaking with him. 

"Sorry to worry ya," The young man apologized, his free hand tugging the front of his shirt off of his skin where it had adhered itself to his torso, flapping the fabric back and forth to try and get some relief from the heat. The idea of throwing himself bodily into the Reservoir was becoming more and more tempting, even with the consequences of fines and the questionable cleanliness of the water.

Will tried to keep his legs moving a bit, lifting one, than the other, shifting weight from side to side. He vaguely recalled somewhere that if you stopped completely after a run, that's how your legs lock up on you... or was it supposed to stop cramping? Something to do with your legs hurting less, regardless.

Past the concerned stranger, he could see a few others still making the circuit around the track, each of them suffering with the heat in varying levels, evidently there were a handful of others as stubborn as the two of them. After he'd recovered enough to hear the music being pumped out tinnily from her earbuds over his own breathing and heartbeat, he flashed her a smile. "Hope you didn't interrupt your run on my behalf."

The man was struggling and Quin wondered for a moment if he was going to be okay. He held up a, ‘just a second’ finger and the redhead stayed where she was, giving him a minute to catch his breath. Clearly he’d ran far harder than Quin had and it was only fair.

When the man was ready to talk, he agreed about the weather, insinuating that somehow he’d been the one to piss off the Sun.

”Ahhhh, so it was you” Quin said amiably, ”I was worried it was me.”

Quin could tell the man was trying to keep his legs from locking up and again, Quin admired the tenacity to run like that on a day like today.

Had she interrupted her run on his behalf?

Quin shrugged and grinned a little sheepishly, ”I might have been looking for an excuse to dip out. You were very convenient that way. I’m Quin, by the way.”

At Quin's accusation that he might have been the cause of the sun's angry disposition Will couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter. In spite of his fatigue and the sweltering heat from the aforementioned irate ball of fire hanging in the sky, he couldn't help but appreciate some humor.

As she replied to his other question, admitting she'd been looking for an excuse to quit her run (or at the very least she was polite enough to pretend she was) and introduced herself, he nodded back in greeting. "Will." He offered his own name simply, breaking into a grin as he played along with the joke, "Glad I could be so helpful. Least I can do after I brought on a day like today." 

The young man brought a hand up to his eyes, shielding them from the light of the sun as he watched the few runners more durable or stubborn than the two of them still making their circuits around the gravel path, giving his head a shake of disbelief, his ears tuned to the pleasant crunch of gravel underfoot as they pressed on through the evening heat. 

"Run here often?" he asked, turning his attention back to Quin, one eyebrow raised in question. "Or was the weather just too nice to pass up the chance?"

”Nice to meet you Will…” Quin said, then laughed as Will gamely took responsibility for the abhorrent weather. One never knew for sure though, this was New York, a mutant with weather powers who could only cool the temperature down with a sub 7 mile was not out of the question.

There were still people running and now that she had stopped it seemed to Quin like they were the worst kind of masochists, running because they liked the pain. Some runners were like that and on a day like today, they were showing their mettle.

Will spoke again and Quin looked back in his direction, shrugging slightly, Only sometimes, I thought there might be a breeze off the water, but I was clearly wrong about that…”

Quin shook her head and glanced up at the sun before shaking her head, ”What about you? I don’t think I’ve seen you out before.”

"Yeah, I was hoping the water would make things a bit more bearable," Will responded as Quin commented on the breeze, or lack thereof, coming off of the Reservoir proper. "Guess I've been makin' all kinds of poor assumptions with the run today." 

Will combed a hand through his hair, pushing the sweat damp hair off of his skin where it had been clinging, wiping his hand dry on the leg of his shorts. Ugh, it really was an awful evening to be out trying to run. And of course he'd be striking up the only non-work conversation he'd had for days while he was sweating out of every pore.

He cocked his head to the side in a slightly exaggerated expression of thought as Quin asked about how often he was here. Will gave a non-committal shrug, accompanied with a small shake of his head. "Eh... I'm here often enough, on one of the paths or another." He answered, gesturing vaguely to the rest of Central Park. "Usually come out a bit later at night." Will explained, following her gaze up to the sun and squinting at the light. "And today's really showin' why I made that a habit..."

Will dropped his eyes from the sun and back to Quin, blinking away the sunspots dancing in his eyes as he did. "So... I dunno about you, but I am absolutely cooking out here." He laughed, looking past her and slowly scanning the landscape of the park around them, looking for any sort of shelter from the furious sun overhead and mentally trying to recall if they were anywhere near a place with cold drinks and air conditioning that wouldn't break his wallet. "If we're both callin' it quits, you want to at least find some shade?"

Thoughts on water and a breeze seemed to be a common denominator and Quin had to wonder how many of the other people on the trail had thought the same as they headed out this evening.

Standing there, the sun actually hurt a bit as it beat down and Quin wondered if maybe she should have worn sunscreen. Wasn’t sunlight supposed to get less intense as the day went on? She’d been spoiled living in New York.

Will apparently frequented various areas of the park, but usually later in the evening. That explained why Quin had never seen him before, though she supposed the sheer size of the park and the number of people who were there every day was just as easy an answer. Still, small talk was small talk and the redhead nodded at the explanation. ”That does explain things.” she said, ” I usually run early, but summer session is over and I slept in, then it was too hot so I waited…fat lot of help that ended up being.”

Will was still cooking and Quin nodded, agreeing with the sentiment. It really didn’t seem like things were going to get better any time soon.

Did she want to find some shade?

Quin wasn’t generally in the habit of wandering off with guys she met at the park, but it was the middle of Central Park and Will still looked half dead from the run.

”Sounds like a plan…” she said, ”As long as you don’t think the sun is going to follow you wherever you go.”

"Be a bit of a neat trick, wouldn't it?" Will smirked as Quin mentioned the bit about the sun following him, but he waved one hand in a dismissive gesture as he continued. "But, nah... Don't think I know how to manage that." 

It was probably a bit odd to go asking someone you'd met for all of a minute and a half to hang out for a chat, but, it also seemed like it would been rude to just walk away after a conversation had been struck up. 

'Hey, thanks for worrying about me, but go away now!' ... Yeah, it seemed a bit crass. Besides, Quin seemed nice enough -- even showing concern for a total stranger, so he wasn't all that worried. And it really was nice to be chatting with someone where he didn't have to plaster on a customer service smile and thank them for their business.

Having spotted a shady patch of trees a bit more north of the Reservoir, he started making his way towards what he'd hoped would be some relative cooler air, casting a look over his shoulder to Quin. "Summer session?" Will inquired, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "Taking some classes then?"

”The perpetual tan would be nice, but I’m not entirely sure the heat and radiation would be worth it.” Quin responded when Will pointed out it would have been a neat trick if he could have gotten the sun to follow him.

They were walking now though, towards some trees. Shade was definitely a good thing, especially when it seemed like the sun was going out of its way to be offensive. As they walked, Will asked about her classes and Quin had to laugh a little, ”You could say that.” she said, not wanting to point out that ‘a few classes’ was an understatement.

”Law school.” she added for context, ”There’s really no such thing as summer break.”

They were nearing the trees now and Quin didn’t want the conversation to lull, lest things get awkward, ”What about you?” she asked, ”School? Work?” she didn’t want to assume, after all.

As Quin explained what she was going to school for, Will's eyebrows raised, the expression on his face showing he was clearly impressed by Quin's vocation of choice and the demanding education it entailed. "Law school? Dang..." He gave a small chuckle and shook his head in mild disbelief, "I barely dragged myself through law in high school. Must be a tough course load." 

As they walked along, sharing small talk back and forth, they broke the tree line and managed to get away from the direct glare of the setting sun. Will could feel a knot of tension almost immediately loosen as the worst of the heat let up. The air might have still been more sticky and humid than he'd prefer, but at least without the sun's glare beating directly down on his head it became a level that he could tolerate. 

"Ah, y'know..." Will responded to the inquiry into what he did himself. "Never did figure out what I'd study after high school." He shrugged before continuing, "So for now, I took up the noble task of makin' sure everyone gets their coffee in the mornings." He chuckled, a small smirk on his face. "Just a barista at one of the cafes downtown." Will explained, in case his attempt at humor fell flat, or lacked clarity. 

Now that they could take shelter beneath the canopy of branches and leaves, he planted himself beside one of the trees, leaning his back against the bark, taking some weight off his tired legs. Will took the opportunity to uncap the bottle of water in his right hand, lifting it to drain the remainder of the now unpleasantly warm water. 

"Not what I thought I'd be doing." Will admitted, sounding a little thoughtful as he spoke, some of the humor in his voice giving way to a note of wistfulness. "But, life's weird, yeah?"

Quin just nodded with a bit of a smile as Will reacted to the revelation that she was in law school. ”There’s a reason lawyers have a reputation for being such miserable people. I’m a firm believer that law school breaks something in us.”

There had been several times that Quin had wanted to quit, that she hadn’t seen a path forward for her in the field and almost walked. She hadn’t though, mostly because she didn’t have a clue what she’d do then, or what would happen to her internship, her apartment, or anything else if she didn’t graduate.

They’d made it to the shade now and Quin sighed in mild relief when the cover from the sun almost immediately helped to mitigate the heat. The sun had really had it out for them.

Will was explaining now what he did and Quin had to empathize with the whole ‘not knowing what to do’ thing. Quin had handled that by jumping into pre-law. Will had handled that by serving coffee. Honestly, it sounded awesome. Going to work, working, coming home and not thinking about work until the next time you had to go. What was that like? Quin didn’t even have an actual job yet, but there was always something.

Coffee wasn’t what Will thought he’d be doing, but life was weird? Quin laughed a and shook her head a bit, ”I know exactly what you mean.” the redhead said ”Sometimes it feels like you’re a spectator in your own life and things just happen whether you want them to or not.”

That was deep for small talk though, wasn’t it? ”But here I am talking to one of the people who actually makes this city run. I’m a firm believer that without the coffee shops the New York economy would collapse. I tend to drink tea, but have been known to have a latte every now and then. I’m sure nobody has ever asked you this before, but what’s your go to?”

”Sometimes it feels like you’re a spectator in your own life and things just happen whether you want them to or not.”

Will nodded his agreement to the statement in response to Quin's words. She'd certainly summed things up better than he'd managed to. Suppose that made sense, you had to be pretty sharp to be in law, right? And present things well. Regardless, her words struck a chord with him. Spectator was a good word for how he felt, more dragged along by the currents and events of life than carving a path. He'd been reactionary at best, passive at the worst.

Heavy stuff, for only knowing someone for five minutes. So he was grateful when Quin seemed to notice the same and offered up another line of conversation, commenting on his job and asking about his preferred choice of coffee. 

"You and me both." Will grinned back at Quin, half in jest as she commented on NYC shutting down without coffee shops, "The amount of people in New York running on nothing but espresso and spite is wild." The man gave a small laugh at the sarcastic emphasis in Quin's voice as she asked about his go-to choice of beverage. "Nah, not ever." He retorted, matching her tone good naturedly before he continued. "But, usually people askin' that are actually wantin' a recommendation on what they'd like." Will's expression turned thoughtful for a moment as he paged through the different caffeinated concoctions he could recall, and which would be his favorite or considered a standby. 

Will, after a few seconds of thought, provided his answer. "For me though? My go-to? Gotta swear by cold brew." He shrugged and grinned in a vaguely sheepish manner. "I know, not all that exciting. But it's easy to make, can be as strong or weak as you like, y'can make it hot or cold... Just reliable, yeah?" Will paused, one finger tapping against the empty water bottle in his hand idly before following up. "Beyond that? The Dalgona coffee trend was kinda fun, brought instant coffee back into vogue... And shaken espressos are killer on a hot day like this."

"How 'bout you though?" Will asked, raising an eyebrow quizzically at Quin as tried to turn the conversation away from him gushing about coffee for the next ten minutes. "What made you decide you wanted to take up a law degree?"

Espresso and spite. That was such an excellent way to explain a vast majority of the people who lived in New York that Quin actually laughed out loud, nodding emphatically. ”And without the coffee they’d just have spite and then where would we be?”

Will didn’t need to worry about Quin wanting a recommendation for herself, she’d been sincere when she said she vastly preferred tea. Loose leaf tea. Preferably steeped in a press right at the table and not in bags.

Will took the question she’d asked seriously though and Quin found herself curious what he would say. Maybe something new would strike her fancy based on what he said and she’d find herself interested in coffee.

It was a simple answer, but sometimes those really were the best. Cold brew. It was versatile, customizable, and easy. Quin nodded ”I feel like I heard somewhere that it has less acid too?” something about the cold brewing process…

Dalgona coffee? Quin didn’t think she’d heard of it until Will explained a bit further and understanding lit her features, ”Is that the frothy one? I never tried it, is it actually good?” she’d assumed that it was just trendy rather than actually good, but if a professional was recommending the drink….

Shaken espressos were also good. They really weren’t Quin’s cup of proverbial tea, but it was also good to know.

Will shifted the conversation away from coffee then and back to Quin, her choice of major, and the wildly complicated reason why she’d chosen law. There was no way she could get into the whole reason now and she shrugged, ”It’s just kind of what I was supposed to do, you know?” she said, ”Things were set up for me, people have expectations.”

Quin smiled a little sadly, ”It’s complicated, sometimes I wish it wasn’t.” They’d veered away from pleasant small talk again though.

”You from New York originally?” she asked, wondering if Will was a rare born and raised New York native.

Will nodded in response to Quin's first comment on coffee, confirming that her faintly remembered fact was in fact true. More-or-less at least. "Yeah, cold brew tends to have less acid, more mellow..." Will paused, thinking for a moment. "Guess I've never actually done the science to see if it's true, but..." He trailed off with an unconcerned shrug. 

"And yeah, Dalgona's the frothy one. Sorta looks like brown sugar soft serve on milk. Big fad for a bit." Will continued, gesturing with his hands in a poor attempt to try to help with visualizing the drink. 

As Quin responded to his question about her schooling, he could almost see the shift in the mood in the air, and Will listened closely to her words as she gave him her explanation. It wasn't quite dismissive, and he'd be hard pressed to say Quin's tone was anything but polite, but it left him with no doubts that there was no further discussion to be had on the topic.

Here he thought school would have been a safe bet for conversation, but well...  ”It’s complicated, sometimes I wish it wasn’t.” Quin's voice seemed to stick in his ears, and he simply nodded both his understanding and his agreement with the statement. Things did have an unfortunate habit of being complicated. And it usually sucked. 

"Me? Nah." Will shook his head with a small laugh as he replied to her question about where he originated from. "Been here, 10? 12? 12 years now. Don't have much of an accent anymore. Grew up in Canada. Toronto. Moved at the start of high school." Ah. High school. That'd been a special kind of rude introduction to NYC. Not his favorite year by far.  

"How 'bout you? New York your whole life? Or are you the globetrotting type?" Will asked, trying to keep the conversation light -- seemed he had a knack for bringing up heavier subjects than intended. "Or any place you dream of going?"