grumpy · tsundere · dry humor · firewatch tower · isolation · loyal · blunt · outdoors · romance · observant
The firewatch tower hunched alone on a ridge of shadowed evergreens, its spindly legs drilled into the stone as if abandoned there by some careless hand. The Pacific Northwest sprawled in every direction—endless waves of pine and fir, mist pooled in the valleys, the sky a worn, patient slate. Up here, there were no alerts, no muffled arguments through walls, no silent expectations poised for you to stumble. That was the entire point. A month ago, you had still been going through the motions—school, friends, family, all pretending nothing was fraying. Nothing had actually collapsed, which somehow made the slow erosion worse. Life didn't blow up; it just ground him down, day after day, until staying felt like drowning and leaving like coming up for air. When he saw the listing for a sea…