summary: based on the song "ghost of you" by 5 seconds of summer.

pairing: daniel x female!reader

triggers: cursing, alcohol

link to original post: https://youngbloodseavey.tumblr.com/post/174947592918/ghost-of-you-daniel-seavey

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italics is a FLASHBACK. normal text is real time.

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here i am waking up, still can't sleep on your side,

daniel  rolled over in his bed, expecting to feel the sweet warmth of his  girlfriend y/n. but instead of feeling her comfort, he instead felt the  icy reality of cold sheets.

her perfume lingered on the pillow  that laid next to his, the smell of her so prominent to his nose it was  nauseating. it had been fifteen whole days since her precious head had  laid on the pillow.

daniel sat up, taking in the reality that her  side of the bed was empty. it had been over two weeks, why hasn't his  brain processed that she was gone?

why couldn't he accept that y/n had left?

daniel laid back down on his side of the bed, closing his eyes in an attempt to sway the pain from his heart.

"good  morning babe," y/n's eyes were bright, despite the fact that it was  eight in the morning. she pressed a quick peck on daniel's nose,  giggling as his face scrunched up at the sensation.

"good  morning baby," daniel's voice was raspy with sleep, propping himself up  on his elbows so he could get a good look at his precious girlfriend.

her  hair was wild from sleep, and her face was free of any makeup. and she  looked as gorgeous as ever, sitting in front of him in all her glory.  the sun shone on her, making her look like an angel in his eyes.

"c'mon  babe, let's get this day started," y/n tugged on his hand, urging  daniel to get up from bed. daniel resisted her grip, wanting nothing  more than to flop back down into bed.

"no," he dragged out  the "o", shaking from her grasp and burying himself back into the  mattress. "i wanna go back to bed," he pouted at his girlfriend,  shooting her his best puppy-dog eyes.

"daniel, we have stuff to do today," she reminded him, putting her hands on her hips.

"please baby, just ten more minutes," his pout intensified, and y/n took a moment to think over his proposition.

"fine,  but just ten minutes okay?" she sighed, flopping back onto the bed next  to daniel. he cheered internally, wrapping his arms around y/n and  pressing a soft kiss to y/n's forehead.

"i love you daniel," y/n mumbled closing her eyes and relaxing into daniel's embrace.

"i love you too y/n." daniel replied, taking a moment to look at the beautiful girl in his arms before closing his eyes.

daniel's eyes shot open, the memory sending a shiver down his spine.

there's your coffee cup, the lipstick stain fades with time,

daniel  shook the fatigue from his limbs, eventually willing himself to get out  of bed. he stumbled into the living room, surveying the mess of a room.

dishes, clothes, and bottles littered the floor, daniel having to kick some of the debris away to get through the space.

his azure eyes caught the familiar white gleam of her favorite coffee mug, the one with a picture of minnie mouse on it.

daniel  stopped in his tracks, approaching the coffee table. he noticed the  outline of pink lipstick on the brim of the mug, the stain in the  perfect shape of y/n's lips.

he gently picked up the ceramic cup  and rotated it in his hands, his thumb carefully grazing over the minnie  mouse logo. his mouth turned ever-so-slightly into a smile, remembering  her excitement when he had gifted her the mug.

"baby! i have a  present for you," daniel's voice rang out through the house as he  entered, his hand gripping a plastic bag with the disney store logo  emblazoned on it.

"babe, you know you don't have to get me  anything-" y/n walked in from the kitchen, her hands on her hips ready  to give daniel a lecture on buying her unnecessary things when her eyes  saw the disney bag in his grasp. "actually, you have something disney.  i'll allow this one slide," she laughed, sitting down on the couch.

"i  knew you'd want it, you can't resist anything disney." daniel let out a  chuckled, settling himself down next to y/n. his arm reached into the  bag, retrieving the minnie mouse mug that daniel had bought for her.

"i  know you've been wanting this for a while," he revealed the mug to her,  y/n's eyes instantly lighting up at the sight of the mug. "i hope you  like it baby."

"like it? i fucking love it!" y/n  practically squealed, taking the mug from his hands and staring at the  ceramic in awe. "thank you babe, i love you so so much." she pulled  daniel in for a kiss, pressing her lips to his.

"anything  for you darling," he smiled, pulling away from the kiss. y/n smiled back  down at the cup, before standing up excitedly.

"i'm going  to go wash this, i want to use it right away!" she exclaimed, rushing  into the kitchen with her minnie mouse mug in hand. daniel laughed,  leaning back into the couch as he watched the love of his life gush over  a mug.

daniel set the cup back down, sighing as the imprint of your excited face made its way into his mind.

stop thinking of her daniel. stop.

if i can dream long enough, you'd tell me i'd be just fine. i'll be just fine.

his  hands made their way to his hair, tugging at the chocolate-colored  strands in frustration. he sat down onto the couch, sinking into the  leather and wanting nothing more than for it to swallow him up whole.

he pulled at his hair so hard he thought they would uproot, squeezing his eyes closed in an attempt to shoo the thought of her.

"stop,  stop, stop!" he yelled, shooting up from the couch and onto his feet.  the familiar sting of tears set itself in daniel's face, beginning to  roll down his cheeks in bold streaks.

"daniel?" y/n's voice was  soft and laced with fatigue, her light footsteps padding towards a  frustrated daniel. it was 3am, and daniel had been staying up all night  slaving over a song he was working on for their third album.

"hm?"  daniel barely acknowledged the presence of his girlfriend, instead  going back to the guitar riff he just couldn't seem to get right. he  plucked out notes, the melody sounding amazing until he hit a wrong  note. "goddamnit!" he threw his guitar onto the couch.

"babe, calm down," y/n sat down next to daniel, placing her hand onto his shoulder.

"no!  the deadline for this song is in three days, and if i don't finish it  management and the studio will have my ass!" daniel exclaimed, throwing  his arms up in the air. he began to gather up his sheet music, rifling  through the papers in desperation to find the right one. "i was the one  who volunteered to finish the song, i can't let the boys down. i need to  finish this fucking song y/n,"  he said through gritted teeth, gripping  onto the papers tightly.

"daniel, what you need right now  is sleep. so put the sheet music down and come lay down, please," y/n  kept her voice soft, the sweet melody of her voice calming daniel in an  instant.

"i just-" he set the sheet music back onto the  coffee table. "i just can't let them down. this album is so important  and i have to get this done-" daniel rambled, picking his guitar back up  and readying himself to play the same guitar riff for the thousandth  time.

"the boys will understand that you didn't finish it  tonight," y/n stopped daniel from playing his guitar, placing her hand  on the strings. "you need sleep right now, you can work on it tomorrow."  she placed a delicate kiss on his knuckles.

"but-" daniel  started, but was interrupted by y/n softly kissing his collarbone.  "fine. but if this song doesn't get finished then it's your fault-" y/n  let out a laugh at daniel's statement.

"it's fine. you'll be fine. everything will be okay."

you'll be fine. you'll be fine.

her voice repeated the words in his head like a mantra, daniel beginning to pace around the room in a frenzy.

everything will be okay. everything will be okay.

his legs felt weak, and he had to grab the arm of the sofa to stabilize himself.

so i drown it out like i always do, dancing through our house with the ghost of you,

daniel took a few deep breaths, feeling his head spin.

music.  yeah, music always helps. daniel thought, stumbling his way to the  stereo that was carefully placed in the corner of the room. his hands  fumbled with the buttons for a few moments, before managing to turn it  on.

the only noise that came out was static, so daniel fiddled with a few knobs before a familiar melody began to play.

"there  goes my heart beating, 'cause you are the reason," the opening lyrics  for calum scott's "you are the reason" began to sound, leaving daniel  speechless in his tracks.

this was y/n and daniel's song.

"babe!  come dance with me!" y/n's excited voice sounded from the living room,  beckoning daniel out to meet her. the brown-haired boy emerged from  their bedroom, hearing the tune of y/n's favorite calum scott song  ringing through the room.

"fine, but just know i can't slow dance," daniel warned her, eliciting a laugh from the girl.

"i've  seen how you smooth-step babe, i know you have some waltz in you," she  giggled, taking daniel by the hand and leading him to the center of the  living room. "here, i'll help you." she placed one of daniel's hands on  her waist and took the other in hers, extending both their arms in a  dancing position.

the soothing piano melody of the song  made it's way into their hearts, and y/n began to lead daniel in a waltz  along with the melody.

"see! you're getting it!" y/n  exclaimed, seeing daniel's confidence in the steps grow with each  passing moment. he twirled y/n around, sending the both of them into a  fit of laughter.

the two resumed their four-step dance, waltzing around the living room to the gentle beat of the song.

"you're pretty good seavey," y/n smiled up at her boyfriend, catching his eye.

"you're not too bad yourself y/l/n." he pulled her close, the two deciding to simply just sway to the song as it came to an end.

soon the last note of the song played, y/n and daniel continuing to sway in each other's arms after the song had ended.

"you're  gorgeous, you know that right?" daniel mumbled quietly, moving his hand  so it softly made her look up at him. y/n didn't say anything for a  moment or two, deciding to instead look up into his ocean-blue eyes.

"i  love you." she leaned up and pressed a soft kiss onto his lips, her  hands going up to cup his cheeks. his hands made their way to the small  of her back, pulling her closer so their chests were flush against each  other.

after a few seconds she pulled away, her cheeks a  rosy shade of pink as a bright smile painted her features. daniel pulled  a stray strand of hair away from her face, his hand resting on her  cheek.

"i love you t-"

"no! stop!" daniel hit the  stereo, the technology being thrown off the table and crashing onto the  floor. the audio crackled before going to static, and daniel knew in an  instant that he had broken it.

and i chase it down, with a shot of truth,

"god-fucking-damnit,"  daniel mumbled, looking at the mess he had just made. "i need a drink."  he made his way to the liquor cabinet in the kitchen, deciding on a  simple bottle of jack daniels whiskey that jonah had gotten him for his  21st birthday.

daniel normally wasn't a huge fan of alcohol, but  in the past few weeks the liquid poison had become his best friend. they  numbed his heart, freed his mind of the torturing thought of her.

he  didn't even bother grabbing a glass, instead opting to take a swig  straight from the bottle. the bitter liquid burned the back of his  throat, but he swallowed it and relished in the warmth that flourished  in his stomach. he took another sip, stumbling his way back into the  living room and collapsing onto the couch.

"why, why, why,"  daniel mumbled to himself, taking a rather large gulp from the glass  bottle in his hand. "why did you have to leave me." more tears began to  make their way down his face, leaving wet trails in their wake.

"why  did you leave me!" he yelled, a fit of rage rushing through his body as  his arms swept across the coffee table, sending everything crashing to  the floor. including y/n's minnie mouse mug, which was currently in  pieces on the floor.

daniel's eyes went wide as he realized what  he had done. he got on his hands and knees while frantically gathering  up the ceramic fragments, not caring if they sliced his hand open in the  process.

"no, no, no, i'm so sorry y/n," he mumbled, gathering  the shards and carefully placing them onto table. his hands fumbled  around, trying to fit pieces back together but to no avail. it was too  far gone.

he yelled out in frustration, his hands going up to  cover his face as more tears began to make their way down his rosied  cheeks. he rubbed at his face, before his hands made their way up to his  hair, beginning to pull on the strands once again.

his eye caught  a flash of pink, daniel reaching out and picking up a fragment with an  outline of pink lipstick still perfectly intact on it. he studied the  piece for a moment, rolling it around in his palm as he reached for his  jack daniels bottle and took another swig.

he looked up and saw  the broken stereo lying on the floor, a tangle of broken parts and  mangled wires. another reminder of his sweet y/n, gone in a fit of his  own stupid anger.

"goddamnit daniel, look what you've done now." he mumbled to himself, taking a large gulp of whiskey.

daniel closed his eyes and imagined y/n in front of him, just as if nothing had ever happened. just as it was when he was happy.

"i love you daniel." her eyes.

"i love you daniel." her smile.

"i love you daniel." her touch.

"i love you daniel." her voice.

the  voice that haunted him with it's sweet melody and angelic timbre, the  voice that belonged to the single most important thing in his life.

"i love you too y/n."

dancing through our house with the ghost of you.