unknown number (Ace x-reader)

the letdown

Not a day goes by that Ace doesn't remember the girl who called him that night all those years ago. He wonders what she's up to, if she's happy. Her words stuck with him, it caused him to change.
  Sure, nothing changes completely and he still has those days where he feels horrible. But he's never given up, it's never come to the point it did that night. He goes to a therapist every once in a while, but he doesn't feel like they tell him anything that she hasn't already said.
  He tries to visualize what she would look like if he were to ever run into her. He's curious as to where she was born, if they were from the same area. It's not like he could look up the area code to the phone number.
  It's been forever since he heard her voice, if he heard it again, he doubts he'd be able to recognize it, "Excuse me, can you move? I need to get out of here and this is the only working elevator."
  "Of course!" he turns around and lets out a sigh, "Oh, it's just you Nami."
  "Who else would it be, Ace?" she rolls her eyes as she stares at him, folding her arms over her chest. "Are you feeling okay?"
  "I'm fine," he gives her a smile before he fixes his tie and swallowing. "Is it a little hot in here, or is it just me?"
  "Ace, you're always hot," she watches as the elevator door closes behind him, a sigh escaping her lips. "Look, you just made me miss the elevator down... now I have to wait for it to come back up. So Ace, tell me what's bothering you."
  "You know when I had that breakdown a few years ago?" he presses the down button again, sighing internally as she nods.
  "Everyone does Ace," she drops her arms before looking at him with worry in her eyes. "Are you sure you're feeling alright? If you need to talk about it..."
  "You'd just charge me money," he shakes his head and gives her a half-smile. "I'm going to therapy. I already have someone to talk about it to. It's just... there was something I haven't told anyone but Pops. There was this girl..."
  "Ace, I don't want to sound rude," her gaze grows hard again. "But I don't have time to listen to you complain about your love life."
  "No, she called me... it was from an unknown number, like she didn't want anyone to know... she could tell that there was something wrong," he runs his fingers through his hair as he tries to think of a way to explain it. "She listened to me... Nami... she's the only reason... I made it through that night. I just-"
  "Ace," she places her hand on his shoulder as the doors open again, and she gives him a smile as she slips through them. "Maybe you should actually tell your therapist this. Or even Luffy. We're here for you, but I don't think I can handle you talking to me about suicide."
  "Nami, can you jus-" the doors close again and he shakes his head. I probably sound crazy. As if anybody would call someone and listen to all their problems.
  He goes back to his desk before he sits down, he could be doing so much more with his life. But here he is, working at a dead end job, helping nobody. Sure, all of his friends are here, but most of them are only here so that they can work towards something better. I don't know what I want to do.
  He shakes his head, placing it in his hands. That night still feels vivid in his brain. He can still feel his nails in his knee, smell the dusty air, taste the salt of his tears. Maybe it's a good thing I have appointment with my therapist today.
  He takes in a deep breath before he lets it out, "Ace! We're having little party after work today to welcome our new co-work–are you okay?"
  "Hey, Luffy," he looks back up and clasps his hands together, his elbows resting on his knees. "I'm fine, but I can't make it to the party... I'm busy after work today. It takes a while to get there and back... so I'll be out of commission."
  "W-what?! O-okay, what about tomorrow?! I can reschedule!" Luffy perks up and grabs his brother's hands. "I'm sure none of them would mind because it wouldn't be a great party without you!"
  He shakes his head and pulls his hands away from Luffy's, "No, enjoy your party."
  Luffy pouts, but he knows that he can't talk him out of it, so he stalks away. The rest of the day, Ace can tell that Luffy's upset, but he doesn't want them to feel burdened just because he can't make it.
  Once he steps out of the building, he heads to his car. Without much of a second thought, he heads to this therapist's office. Once he arrives, they tell him that his therapist left work early because of family problems and that if he wants to reschedule, he'd have to call tomorrow.
So he goes back out to his car and sits back in the seat. A single thought runs through his head, about how he let down all of his friends for this. Halfway through his trip home, he notices a piece of paper in his windshield.
He stops and exits the vehicle, he takes the paper. It shouldn't be a ticket, the parking was free and he did an amazing job, so what is it? He turns it over to see words scrawled onto it.

Always tell yourself this, you can make it until the sunrise.

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