summary: based on the song "close as strangers" by 5 seconds of summer.

pairing: daniel x female!reader

triggers: idk it's just sad

link to original post: https://youngbloodseavey.tumblr.com/post/166011800428/close-as-strangers-daniel-seavey

audio of the song is linked above.

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six weeks since i've been away, now you're saying everything has changed, and i'm afraid that i might be losing you,

it  was the beginning of why don't we's first ever international tour. they  were traveling across the world, playing to fans across each and every  continent. it was a dream come true. well, it was a dream that included  leaving every single person they loved for a whole six months.

and one of those people was daniel's girlfriend, y/n.

"i  miss you babe," she mumbled into the phone that was pressed up against  her ear. she laid on her bed, holding a pillow tightly to her body.

"i  miss you more baby, but we're almost done with the first leg of the  tour, which means i'll be on a break," he told her, staring up at the  ceiling of his bunk in the tour bus. they were somewhere in the uk,  daniel had lost track. it had only been six weeks of touring, but his  mind had already gone on haywire.

"i know, but we won't  even be able to see each other during your break because you have to do  a bunch of interviews and shit in new york, and i'll be here in la,"  she trailed off, voice breaking slightly as tears began to well up in  her eyes.

"baby, please don't cry. i'll be home sooner than  you'll know," he pleaded, the image of his girlfriend crying making him  impossibly sad.

"i know, i-it's just that it's only been  six weeks of you being away and it feels like it's been a lifetime, i-i  don't know anymore," she managed to choke out, making daniel's heart  ache.

"please baby, only four and a half more months until i can hold you in my arms. just hold on baby, i love you so much,"

"i love you too dani."

and every night that we spend alone, it kills me thinking of you on your own, and i wish i was back home next to you,

it had been two months. two whole months since daniel had seen the love of his life in person, and not over the phone.

he had just gotten off the phone with y/n, who had sounded more solemn  than ever during their exchange. it seemed as if each day he was away  she was losing more of herself, each phone call becoming more and more  dismal.

he stared at the ceiling of his bunk, thinking about y/n.

how was she doing on her own? was she taking care of herself?

it  had been forever since she had been completely on her own, since she  was always surrounded by either daniel or the boys. how was she coping?

he  almost started to cry at the thought of his baby alone. god, he wished  the tour could go by in a flash just so he could kiss her, hold her, to  be with her once again.

but it was a whole four months until he could. and those four months could not go by any slower.

oh, every day, you feel a little bit further away, and i don't know what to say,

"hey babe," she muttered into the phone, sounding tired and broken as ever. daniel's heart broke at the sound of her shattered voice.

"hi baby, i miss you," he said, being met with a sigh.

"i miss you too babe. how are you? how is the tour?" she said, trying to put a faux happy tone in her voice, but daniel saw right through it.

"it's going great, it's amazing to see all the fans and play to them. but we always talk about me. be honest, how are you doing?" he asked her gently.

"i-i'm doing great. how are the boys?" she answered vaguely, trying to divert the conversation. daniel's heart ached at her response.

"they're all doing fine, a bit homesick but we all are. but for real baby, how are you?" he heard her suck in a breath.

"i-i  have to go now. my class starts in twenty minutes. i love you dani,  forever and always," she managed to rush out, but daniel didn't fail to  take notice of how her voice began to crack at the end of her sentence.

"i  love you too y/n, forever and always," the moment the words stopped  flowing out of his mouth the phone beeped, signaling she hung up. daniel  nearly threw his phone into the wall in frustration. he ran a hand  through his hair, tugging at it in dissatisfaction. tears began to prick  at the corner of his bright blue eyes, which he hastily wiped away.

what was happening to his girlfriend?

are we wasting time, talking on a broken line?

"i-i don't know anymore daniel," she cried over the phone, voice crackling.

"baby, please, we can work this out," he pleaded, tears beginning to well up in his own baby blues.

"i  haven't seen you in months dani. months. all we have are these stupid  fucking phones keeping us together. i miss you so much it's painful. i  can't keep going on like this," she trailed off, whimpering into the  phone.

"i'll be home in two months baby, i'll be back before you know it," he tried to assure her, but to no avail.

telling you i haven't seen your face in ages, it feels like we're as close as strangers,

"i  know you'll be home in two months, but what about the next time you  have to go on tour? and from the way you guys are growing, the next  hundred times you tour?" she exclaimed. "i-i can't do it! i'm going  insane without you dani, and it's only been four months. what about when  you guys start touring for eight months? ten months? i-i just don't  know anymore dani," she cried out.

"baby, please," he said.  "we can stick it out together. we'll get through this, and i want  nothing more than to kiss you and hug you and just be with you. only two  more months baby,"

"i don't know if i can wait two  more months. i just want to see your handsome face in real life, not  through some stupid phone screen. every time we talk it feels like the  distance is farther apart than it actually is," y/n exclaimed, leaving  daniel in silence

won't give up, even though it hurts so much,

"i love you too much to let you go. we love each other too much to let each other go. i'm hurting just as much as you are from being away. but we can make  it through this, and we can make it through the next time. and the time  after that. our relationship it too strong to be cut apart by distance,  please baby,"

"i-it feels like i've been talking to  a stranger lately." she mumbled, quiet tears streaming down her face as  she sat in her dark bedroom. she hugged her pillow tightly, her eyes  fixed on a picture of her and daniel on her nightstand. they looked  happy, in love. completely unaware of the disaster that was yet to come.

every night i'm losing you in a thousand faces,

daniel's  heart shattered with each word she uttered. she was getting farther and  farther out of his grasp with each second. no, he could not lose on of  the most important things in his life. but it seemed like she was losing  herself even faster than he could hold on.

she was disappearing into a sea of millions of faces, drowning in a dark abyss.

"baby, please, i love you," he whispered, as his own tears began trailing down his face. and this time, he let them fall.

"i  love you too daniel, but it just doesn't feel right anymore," and with  that she hung up, immediately beginning to sob heavily the moment she  went offline.

and daniel laid in his bunk, halfway across the world, doing the exact same.

now it feels we're as close as strangers.