unknown number (Ace x-reader)

the exhustion

  Ace kept rereading the note. Where did it come from? Why his car? When was it placed there? What's it supposed to mean?
  He tries not to think about it on his way to work. Parking his car in the same spot he always does, and he heads off inside the building. The elevator takes forever to eat to the first floor, so he had time to think.
  Then he steps onto the elevator and pushes the right button for the floor he works on; the fifth. Once the elevator doors open, he's greeted with the sight of all his friends crowded around a woman.
  His eyes meet her (e/c) colored ones, a smile crosses her lips and she waves at him. He casts his gaze down and just tries to be unnoticed as he makes his way to his seat. Luffy turns to see what the woman was smiling at, and when he sees his brother, he rushes over to him.
  "Ace! Come meet our new co-worker!" he follows Ace to his desk. "You didn't get to meet her-are you on the phone?"
  "I have to make another appointment with my therapist," the older one holds up his phone and spins around in the chair. "He wasn't there yesterday... so I have to reschedule."
  "So... you missed the party... for nothing?" Luffy's face drops and Ace skids to a stop to look at his brother. This is it, this was what Ace was afraid of. "Who is that therapist? I'm gonna go beat the-"
  "No, no, no! Luffy! You can't do that!" Ace jumps up and covers his mouth. "He had family issues. I'm not holding that against him."
  This wasn't at all what Ace expected. He expected disappointment in him, not anger at the therapist. Luffy breathes angrily from his nose before he licks Ace's hand.
  "Ew! Luffy! You're disgust-hello? Oh, yeah... I'm Ace... and I'm calling in because..." he explains his circumstances and ends up making another appointment for next week. "Thank you. I'll be there."
  "You wouldn't have to if your therapist was there yesterday," Luffy grumbles before he looks at the clock and rushes to his desk to start his work. "We'll continue this discussion later!"
  Ace shakes his head, his brother really is unpredictable. He glances over at the new girl, who has now taken her seat with Robin helping her get set up. Sanji is leaning on the wall separating her desk and his watching the two women. Ace rolls his eyes before he tries to focus on his job.
  But he just can't, because his mind keeps bringing up that he's not like everyone else here. They all seem to be confident in who they are, and he doesn't even have a clue.
He's almost sure that by the time he has to go home, that he's got nothing done and that today was just a waste of effort and his employer should really just fire him. He's one of the last people to leave, the only people he knew that were left was Robin and the new chick. That's only because she's having problems with the system and Robin's trying to help her out.
He stops as he notices a slip of paper in between the glass and windshield wiper again. He looks around to see that his car is the only one to have it. He takes it out and pockets it for later.
Currently, he just wants to fall asleep and forget about the day. Forget about the fact that he doesn't know what his purpose is. He leans back in the seat as the garage door closes behind him.
He waits a few minutes before he drags himself out of the car and into his house. His fingers take off his shirt as fast as he could and he kicks off his shoes before he falls onto the couch. It felt like he was suffocating.
He closes his eyes, they feel heavier than normal. He felt like today was the day that he's just going to give up. The unknown caller flashes through his mind and he lets out a sigh.
Some days, he wishes that she'd call him again. Other days, he wishes she had never called. That she never helped him hold onto life. That he had just died then.
Then he remembers the paper on his car and pulls it out of his pocket. He's think that it's a ticket, but he notices that it's another note. The same handwriting on it as the day before. This time, a different message is sprawled onto the paper.

Before you give up, think about why you held on for so long.

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