#michael italiano blurbs

I’ll settle for the ghost of you

Part I/Part II/Part III/ Part IV /Part V

English ain’t my first language! Any feedback is welcome. Keeps us writers going. ✨✨

word count:3.4k

warnings:slight injuries, toxic and abusive relationship (not with Dan bear).

Like many races before it, this one wasn’t that good for Daniel. He seemed off even before they went on the flight, even before the week had started. Believe me, Michael tried everything from “Let’s vent” until everything was off his chest, to let’s talk about the problem for 24 hours and forget about it. Even after all of the attempts to be a good friend, Michael felt like Daniel was holding back, that he wasn’t telling him something.

Something needed to happen before Daniel left Monaco. Without a second thought, Michael assumed that this was connected with her. Daniel’s moods, especially since the two of them got pretty serious, became extremely dependent on the stuff related to her and the situation that he was faced with when he was back in Monaco.

Michael didn’t like that at all. More than once, he tried to prove to Daniel that this was unnecessary torture. He never tried to pursue him to try it on with other girls-he wasn’t that kind of friend. And it wasn’t the fact that he didn’t like Y/N, because he did. They had met multiple times, and he had walked in on both of them fast asleep on the sofa in Dan’s apartment when he was dropping off some food for him. Even then, his Aussie pal was holding her so tightly that she couldn’t get out of his embrace. Most importantly, he had seen the way Daniel looked at her. That kind of look was something he hadn’t seen in Daniel for quite a while, so he knew that his friend was in deep, but at the same time, he knew how much this was hurting him. He wasn’t able to fully have her. But God forbid him from trying to bring her up in conversation. It was off-topic for the last week, and so Michael only proved his suspicions that the mood, the standoffishness, and the loneliness were all because of her.

Michael watched the date as the race went on. Hands pressed tight, hoping that Daniel would turn this around and get a semi-okay race. He did not want DR to add even more problems to his shoulders. So lost in his thoughts for quite a moment, Michael didn’t even feel the phone vibrating in his back pocket and then he just ignored it. Because surely nothing was more important than keeping up with what was happening with Daniel. When the vibrations didn’t stop, Michael quickly pulled out the phone, expecting it to be his phone and ready to completely turn it off. But then he had to stop. It wasn’t his phone, after all, it was Daniels’, and the screen read “My Lovey.” Michael quickly looked around the garage as if making sure that no one saw that, practically ripping his headphones off before sprinting somewhere more private.

Hesitant for a moment, he felt weird picking it up because he didn’t know what was happening. Michael didn’t know where the two of them left off. Maybe Daniel cut it all off and him picking it up would only make it worse.

At the same time, Michael knew that he wouldn’t be able to sit still for the rest of the race if he knew that she had called and he hadn’t answered. So he did, but he didn’t say anything for a moment.

She called out for Daniel a couple of times, then Michael heard a loud banging noise and her screaming, “Fuck off, Jack, fuck off.” Some threats, some words that should’ve never been said to anyone, let alone a woman, then she cried again as she called for Daniel.

“Y/N,” Michael called out. He could tell that she was fidgeting with her phone. “Shit, the wrong number, I’m so sorry,” but he quickly interrupted her, “No, Y/N, it’s Michael. Everything’s okay. What’s going on? ”,“ and even though he knew what was going on at this moment, it also made him understand Daniel’s emotions when it came to her. Because Michael’s mind was racing as he tried to piece together a plan to help a girl on the other side of the world who was struggling and terrified.

He heard her struggle again as the shouting got louder, "Hey, try to keep calm, okay? I’m going to call a few people to make sure someone’s with you, "Michael wasn’t even sure if she could hear him through the banging that was in the background.” “No, no, you can’t call anyone! I don’t even know why I called Daniel, "but Michael knew why: because she needed someone. She was in a situation where she needed someone to protect her.

"Listen to me, it’s going to be just fine. Soon this will be over. Do you hear me? ”, she knew that he couldn’t see her, but she nodded her head because she trusted Michael even though they weren’t close. In the meantime, Michael pulled out his phone to dial a call to one of his mutual friends, not wanting to end the call with her and leave her on her own once again. “He’s going to kill me. You dumb bitch, you thought he wouldn’t find out! ”, Michael knew that he wasn’t supposed to hear those words that she was whispering, but they only proved how serious the situation was. He contacted the same guy who went to check on the apartment the last time, but when they quickly turned to call the police, she felt like her body ran cold for yet another time that night. “No, Michael, no police, please you don’t understand…” and he wanted to tell her that it was going to be fine, but there was no other option. It had to be done. But he didn’t make it that far.

The phone on her side went dead. The same way it died on Daniel all those weeks back. There was no answer. He texted her multiple times. He texted from his phone as well, but there was nothing. A dead end.

Some people called for him to come back into the garage, but how do you focus on anything else after all that? All he could think about was her safety. What was happening back in Monaco? Even more, his mind wandered to Daniel. He would have to keep this a secret for at least till Daniel was done with all the meetings because he couldn’t cover for him once again, knowing full well that the team would not be happy. How was he supposed to tell Daniel all of this? How do you bring something like this up? What do you say?

The race flew by in seconds. Daniel managed to turn it around and it was a good race for him at the end. Michael knew that his friend was going to be happy and that only made it harder. Daniel’s car was brought back to the garage, and he stepped out of it. Michael dreaded the moment Dan was going to walk up to him. How does one lie to a friend? How do you pretend that everything’s okay when you know that it’s not? How do you keep a secret about someone’s loved one being in danger?

“You’re okay, mate?”, Michael knew he messed up right at that moment because if Daniel had managed to catch onto it straight away, there was no way he would’ve managed to keep this going for long. “Great race, DR. Good job, proud of you”, but he could tell Daniel wasn’t buying it. Michael was relieved that some of the team members came to congratulate Daniel on the race and bring some decent points to the team. But his struggle began again before they even walked to Daniel’s room for a quick moment of rest. Daniel asked for his phone, and Michael knew that he couldn’t give it to him. “New team orders,” he quickly said, “No phones before the end of the interview session.”

Daniel frowned at that. Now it was Daniel’s time to worry because this wasn’t like Michael. They would crack jokes and Michael would try to mess around, not to mention that from the moment they met and the whole time Daniel was in his room, Michael was on his phone. That never happened. It wasn’t like him. Michael was the one to tease Daniel about how much he uses his mobile phone, so seeing Michael using the phone so often was extremely bizarre for Daniel.

Daniel did his interviews, answering every single question, and Michael’s strange behavior slipped out of his mind for a moment, but he was reminded of is the moment he came back to his room and found Michael holding Daniel’s phone typing away.

Daniel crossed the room in a couple of steps, ripping his phone out of his friend’s hands, and then he saw the contact name. Michael was texting Y/N. Daniel didn’t know what came over him, but the sudden anger and jealousy that raged through him were out of this world. He felt like punching Michael in the face right now, which he had never felt before. “What the fuck are you doing texting her?”, he shoved Michael slightly, “Daniel listen to me…”, “What the fuck are you doing texting her? ”, Michael said nothing , and it only made Daniel’s blood boil more.

“First you introduced that dang rule about no phones, now this. How long have you been talking to her? ”, Michael took a deep breath before stepping to the side. “She called when you were in the middle of a race. Panicked and crying, "Daniel quickly unlocks his phone, scrolling through the messages that Michael sent to her. Not a single responds to any of them, and it’s been more than an hour. They looked like panicked messages, desperate messages from someone who is extremely concerned. When Daniel lifted his eyes to look at his friend, he realized that he hadn’t seen Michael this worried in quite a while, and Michael was good at keeping his emotions in place.

"What happened? Why did you tell me straight away? ”, their scuffle was long forgotten as Daniel realized how serious the situation was. “I’ve called some people; they’re on their way there, and so is the police.” If the first part didn’t concern him enough, the end of the sentence surely did. Daniel had overheard you two arguing several times, but it had never escalated to the point where the police would have to intervene. Daniel suddenly felt sick as a cold shiver ripped through his body, “Did anyone reply?”, but Michael just shook his head. Still, in his racing suit with all the stuff left behind, Daniel stormed out of his room. Michael straight after him. There was no way that anyone was stopping him.

The main difference between flying home now and the last time, when Daniel was sick and worried about Y/N, was that now Michael was with Daniel worrying just as much. Michael, at this point, didn’t even remember all the stuff that he told Daniel. It all became a blur.

At the beginning of that motivational speech that he was selling to Daniel, he was comforting his friend, but then towards the middle, he crossed the line where he was telling things that were also comforting him.

They tried to keep up with their friends back in Monaco as much as they could. So before the flight and when they landed in Monaco, the messages that were coming through were short and non-descriptive. Most of them end with “We’ll talk about this more when you get here” or “It’s all fine now.” Yet those messages didn’t comfort Daniel much. He was sure the main threat was eliminated, but he wasn’t sure what the damage was. He still didn’t know what happened, so when he finally reached the apartment complex, Daniel couldn’t even wait for the elevator to go to the first floor, jogging upstairs, skipping every other step on his way.

He reached the fifth floor at lightning speed. The doors in front of him were closed and he stood there for a moment, not sure of what was going to wait for him when he opened them. Bunched up at the entrance stood a couple of his friends and a police officer that was still hanging around. Daniel didn’t know what to say. This situation still felt surreal. He felt someone tapping on his shoulder, Michael nudging him slightly, “Go to her, I’ll sort everything out here.” Daniel only nodded his head.

When he saw her, Daniel felt the air getting stuck somewhere between his lungs and his throat. There she was set on a sofa, not a single emotion on her face. Meaning that Daniel couldn’t even read her and he wanted to so he could evaluate the situation better. From where he stood, he couldn’t see her face fully, but then she turned to him, probably due to the sound in the corridor, and that’s when the expression on her face changed. It switched from someone who was completely unfazed by whatever the world was throwing at them to someone terrified and utterly unfazed.

The thing that immediately worried him the most was the slight cut on her forehead, followed by a light bruise that was forming right around it. Yet Daniel didn’t have much time to process that because she started crying and his first instinct was to go there and wrap his arms around her. She tightened her grip around his torso as much as she could. Hands clenching the material of his hoodie. Her body was shaking as she tried to be as close to him as possible.

Daniel finally felt her heartbeat and that’s when the realization of actually losing her kicked in. Before, he had convinced himself that no matter how bad the situation was, he was going to go there and she would be sitting in his apartment. There was no other outcome. Seeing her like this, especially with visible bruises, proved to him once again how bad this actually was.

Daniel shook those thoughts away, leaning in to kiss her hair, “I’ve got you.” But his mind couldn’t stop wondering. He was here in his apartment with her in his arms, yet he still couldn’t help but think about her boyfriend. He was mad that Michael was the one to act upon the situation. He was blaming others, blaming himself, blaming the situation, the universe, blaming everything and anything for what happened to her. For every whimper she let out, the only words he could say were “you fine,” “I’ve got you,” and “I’ll keep you safe,” as blunt and simple as they may have sounded. Like a mantra. The mantra that was supposed to protect both her and him.

When Daniel felt the muscles in her body finally loosen up, he pulled her slightly away from him so he could take a better look at her forehead. He knew that it would’ve been great timing to joke about how somehow they always ended up with her getting hit in the head, but this time around, this was a completely different incident, something that needed to be seriously addressed. As much as Daniel knew, now more than ever, the timing of bringing her ex up would have be stupid.

“Have you been to the hospital? Did anyone make sure that this wasn’t a serious injury? ”, but she just shook her head no, “Well, then let’s go. I’ll take it to the hospital,” Daniel said, but she remained motionless. “There’s no point in pretending that this isn’t serious. I hate to break it to you, but you have a cut on your forehead”, and when she flinched slightly at the raised voice, regret took over Daniel because he knew that he was approaching this in the wrong way.

He took a hold of her hand before pressing it to his lips, “Lovey, do this for me, okay?” He could tell she was against this idea by the look she gave him, but he she gave in. Knowing full well that Daniel would never let this go.

The drive to the hospital was as blurry as Daniel’s trip to Monaco. With them waiting in line, the doctor asked all kinds of questions. She denied every fact and took every chance there was to say that this wasn’t due to an abusive behavior. It was an accident. She fell and hit her head on the corner of the island in the kitchen. That’s how she referred to the injury. She did call Daniel her boyfriend, yet he wasn’t sure why he questioned that choice. For a second, he didn’t know if he should feel proud and happy that she did that, or was it just because she didn’t want to be alone, so the only way that Daniel could be with her was as if he was a family member or someone close to her. But he gave up on questioning it. At the end of the day, the most important thing to him was that she was safe.

The cut ended up being nothing too serious, and she didn’t even need stitches. Just like back at the apartment, they didn’t talk much. Daniel would catch her looking at him as if she wanted to tell him something, but she never ended up saying anything. Finally, Daniel realized just how many emotions were fighting inside her, but he chose not to pressure her. He needed to give her time and, most importantly, love. Love was what she needed and Daniel had plenty of it for her.

Many times, back at the hospital and on their way back at the apartment, she would reach for Daniel’s hand. She wasn’t looking him in the eyes because, too preoccupied with what was going on around her. Such small but significant gesture. Daniel quickly squeezed her tiny hand with his much bigger one, hoping that it was enough to comfort her for now. Due to a lot of stress that she was exposed to, and then the adrenaline she fell asleep in the car with Daniel’s hand protectively resting on her thigh. As gently as possible, Daniel carried her back into his apartment.

Only Michael was still there. The two Australians exchanged looks before Daniel carried her to his bedroom to make sure that she was comfortable and finally resting. He stopped to gently run his fingers through her hair and took a moment to appreciate every single breath she took.

Although the look on Michael’s face quickly washed even the smallest amount of happiness off of Daniel’s face, “She’s all good?” Michael asked when he noticed that Daniel had walked back into the kitchen. “Yeah, nothing too serious. Doctor did say that she was not far off from a big concussion”. The silence fell upon them until Michael couldn’t take it anymore.

“He was already gone when they came here”, Daniel only nodded, “Mate, she didn’t even file a report,” Daniel wished it was different but at the same time those words didn’t surprise him. He didn’t expect it to be any other way, knowing her and how attached she was to the sick bloke.

Daniel’s silence irritated Michael; “No, but do you understand that this is a very serious shit?”, he asked, turning to his longtime friend. But Daniel didn’t know what to say because he knew this was wrong. He knew that this needed to be different. “I’ll talk to her…”, “Now this needs more than talking! This could have ended badly,” but this time Daniel interpreted Michael, “I know! That’s why I’ll talk to her. ”

After that, they said nothing else. Daniel didn’t manage to do anything after the conversation with Michael either. In the same way, Daniel felt that he couldn’t talk with Y/N, he felt like he couldn’t talk with Michael, so he went back to the bedroom. Even if it felt kind of creepy, he sat on the other side of the bed and just watched her sleep, knowing full well that sleep would never find him tonight. There were too many thoughts running through his mind, too many words he wanted to say, things he wanted to ask her, things he wished he could make her understand.

She mumbled something in her sleep, discomfort visible on her face, so Daniel quickly lowered himself to her level, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m here”, he said for what felt like at least a millionth time that night, “It’s just a dream. I’m here with you, and I promise you that one day I’ll make you see that this is not how your life should be. You deserve better and I could give that to you. You just have to trust me. ”