The Sunshine Paradox

Noa Olivia Ashfield (pronounced Noah because her mother thought she was being clever by dropping the h and then doubled down by giving Noa a middle name that meant her initials spelt her first name) was just fed up with...well...everyone. People were just so...annoying. A person just had to look at the state of the world to see that humanity was stupid. Sure, individuals might be smart, but as a group? They were idiots. The collective noun for humanity should be called a disappointment.

Asher Caswell chose to look on the bright side of life. He knew it sounded trite, but he didn't really care. Sure, the world was a dumpster fire, but everything looked better in firelight...even dumpsters. Ash wasn't a dimwit or even an eternal optimist, and he wasn't avoiding the reality, he just knew-for his own mental health-that he needed to balance the darkness with the light, even if that light was a dumpster fire.

When Noa and Ash met, there were sparks-but not the good kind. Noa couldn't stand his sunshiny attitude and Ash couldn't believe someone could just write off the entire human race. They agreed to disagree for the simple fact that they needed to work together-but they both thought they had a chance at changing the other's mind. Noa had a perverse desire to show Ash just how disappointing the world was and Ash was determined to show Noa that humanity was not a lost cause.