Moxie watched the trail of smoke dissolve into the air before shifting his gaze back to the cars below. From up here, they looked small, like little bugs scurrying under the streetlights. The noise of the city felt far away, more like a low hum than the usual blaring chaos.

It was a long way down. A part of him always noticed that. Not in a scary way— more like a fact he couldn’t ignore. But this spot, this height on top of the apartment building, it was the one place where he didn’t feel crushed by everything going on in his life.

Nights like this were the only time he felt like he could actually relax. No work stress looming over him, no endless bills to figure out, no worrying about how his siblings were getting by. Up here, it was just him. No responsibilities, no noise, no expectations. No nothing.

For a while, he could just sit, let his mind wander, and not feel like the whole world was on his shoulders. Up here, he wasn’t the guy trying to hold it all together. He was just… Moxie, taking a breather.

That was until he was interrupted.

At the sound of the roof door opening behind him, Moxie scowled, unable to hide his annoyance. Of course. As soon as he thought he was going to have a moment of peace, someone had to come and ruin it for him.

It was one of his neighbors from the looks of it. He’d seen them around a few times, but never bothered to introduce himself. He wasn’t looking for friends and could care less about some rando.

But he did care now. Because they were ruining his alone time. Not that he would say anything though. He didn’t own the roof, they had just as much as much as a right to be up here than he did.

Didn’t mean he wasn’t pissed off.