unknown number (Ace x-reader)

the appointment

  The week passes quickly. Each day, he's gotten a new note. He also still has needs to meet the new girl. He hasn't even heard her name, she's always busy when he's on break, and vise versa. He took the whole day off to prep for the appointment.
He's never been to another therapist before, so he's not quite sure if it's normal, but he always feels uncomfortable around his. It's like he has nothing better to do but judge his clients. But, that's kind of his job though... so maybe Ace just doesn't enjoy the way his therapist just says everything with a monotoned voice.
He sits in his car for a few minutes trying to give himself some courage. Finally, after one more breath, he steps out of the car. The couch inside the room always feels stiff.
It's like no matter how many people let everything off their chests, the chair just absorbs it all. Ace pulls his leg up to his chest as he waits for his doctor to come back from whatever he said he was doing. Ace honestly wasn't paying attention, he just wanted to get this over with.
"Alright, I'm back," the man walks into the room and takes his seat, his clipboard resting on his lap. "Let's get this started, shall we?"
"What's been going on? How have we been?" his voice gives off the vibe that he couldn't care less about how Ace has really been doing. He's just asking because he needs to be paid.
"Actually, this past month has been really bad," Ace bites inside of the bottom of his lip. "For some strange reason, I've been having this reoccurring dream... where I'm being left behind."
The man hums as he scribbles something down on his paper, "Describe it for me."
"It all starts with a baby... me, I suppose. And then... I'm back with Luffy and Sabo... then... he dies. Sorry, Sabo... Sabo dies. Luffy... ends up leaving because I couldn't save anybody... because I'm useless..." Ace lets out a shaky breath. "And then... I end up falling apart... and then... everything that happened a couple years ago happens."
  The therapists eyebrow raises curiously at this, "What? What happened a couple years ago?"
  "I got a call from and unknown number... and the person... they... they gave me advice," Ace runs his fingers through his hair before he lets out a sigh. "I wonder if the person on the other end knows, the day I accepted that call, they saved my life."
  "An unknown number called you... and the person on the other end... could tell that you were distressed?" the man's voice comes out smooth, his eyes watching Ace's reaction. "So they gave you advice?"
  "Yeah," he swallows before he stares at the doctor. "You think I'm crazy?"
  "I'm not calling anyone crazy," the pencil stops on the paper. "I'm just asking a question. Sometimes dreams can be so vivid that we think they are reality. I'm just saying that a person who happened to call the wrong number would listen to someone else's pro-"
  "You think I'm insane. You think that I dreamt up the one thing that keeps me living?" his chest starts to hurt. Could it all be false? Is it like he said? Was I just imagining it?
  "Ace, calm down," he lets out a small breath, trying to think of the way he can fix what he said to make it softer. "Listen, I don't think you're insane. It's just... that when people are having a bad day, they dream realistically and it seems to be reality. Most people won't go out of their way to help someone on the other end of the phone. You were probably just dreaming the things that you wanted to hear."
  "Then what about the notes?" he mumbles under his breath. "I get notes on my windshield that-"
  "Those are probably just fliers trying to prom-" the alarm interrupts the man as it signals the end of his session. Ace gets up and leaves, he doesn't even wait for his doctor to tell him anything.
  He gets to his car and lets out a sigh. He reaches into his back pocket and pulls a tiny slip of paper. Somehow the person who's been leaving the notes knew that Ace wouldn't be at work, so they left two.
  One had written on the front: For Tomorrow. So he unfolds it, and it causes him to smile slightly. Maybe, he can look forward for tomorrow.

You need bad days to truly enjoy the good ones.

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