It's very cute for what little there is. There are only six chapters and you can definitely feel just how few chapters there are while you're reading—it would have really benefited from a few more chapters, perhaps even just pushing it from six to ten—because even with what little there is and the feeling of wanting more you're left with, it's still very cute. Despite it being a short story, I still really liked the dynamic between Kasey and Dave.
The plot is very simple and straightforward; Kasey quits his job and decides to travel, and while he's hitchhiking he meets Dave, who's cold and stand-offish towards him—he pulls over to see what's up with Kasey but doesn't actually pick him up lmao—unbeknownst to either of them that they'd start working together just later that day.
I think that's a really cute plot. It creates great set-up with the conflict of these two men having already met and forming pretty poor opinions of each other just from their first impressions. And just from reading the plot you can imagine what these types of characters are, with Kasey being a kinder, happy-go-lucky traveler type who lives in the moment & in ideals, and Dave being the more quieter, gruff, intimidating personality that keeps to himself.
Dave is the "scary looking but secretly a softie" trope, which I honestly always love. It's so hard to fuck that trope up for me. But seeing him quickly being shown more as rather introverted and unarticulated rather than rude and standoffish was really cute. Him being scary and rude was more of a misunderstanding than who he actually was. The setup and payoff with his photography hobby was also really adorable, it's something you read and hope eventually for yourself one day.
Kasey too I really liked. I really resonated with his character; he didn't like his life as it was so he decided to just change it, to go on the road and follow where the wind takes him and I think those types of traveller archetypes are always an interesting read. The unrest he had living life as he was is something really relatable. And as a character, I feel like the best way to describe him is like "golden retriever energy," even though that's kinda cringe.
Small thing I usually don't notice, possibly because it's rarely unique, was the setting. I really liked the setting for this story; I want this was a Western BL, which might explain it. It's set in the desert, in a small little rustic village. There's a scene where Kasey and Dave go up to the Grand Canyon and I just kept thinking about it as I write this. I dunno. It stuck with me . . . Which now I can see why this BL is named after that scene.
Like I mentioned before though, this story is pretty roughly impacted by its shortness. It's cute for what it is and it does the best it probably could with just six chapters . . . But it's still just six chapters. The relationship is left feeling pretty shallow and too-quickly developed, you don't get too good of a feel as to why these two men like each other, even though their scenes are cute.
Also this is such a tiny thing, but. They never kiss. That sucked. They should have kissed ╥﹏╥
Omg I love this so much, it's incredibly adorable and I like the characters. But I feel like a lot of things are missing and I wish there was more to this than what we have now :((
THEY NEVER KISSED FUCK THEY DIDN'T GAHHHHHHHH...super cute and wholesome and unique storyline. Just reread it and I love the art style... It's unique and the scenery is also gorgeous.
