s t o r m s

[kingscrcwn]

kvating​:

with nearly everything feeling up in the air, even his friendship with adam, he’s looking for solid ground beneath his feet. even more so than he usually is. hoping to avoid the awkwardness, he’s been dodging adam ever since the bonfire. it isn’t as difficult as he thought it’d be, but it feels wrong. reemerging from the cabin of the orion, he hands a soda can off to don in silence. being alone with don is odd; there’s no better way to put it. roman can count on one hand the number of times they’ve been alone since they’ve met. they are perfectly okay friends, it’s just that he’s never sure how much of himself he’s allowed to be around don. it makes him slightly uncomfortable, but he appreciates him — especially lately. rome takes a seat on the bench, outstretching his legs the best he can within the confines of the small space. cracking the tab on his own drink, he takes a sip before tilting the can towards don’s face. “how’s that jaw doing, hot shot?” / @kingscrcwn​

they've known each other for years, yet being around rome sometimes still feels like hanging out with a friend he barely knows. don will take the fault for that. he's never made much of an effort to fix it. he loves roman as much as the rest of their ridiculous gang, he does, it's just that circumstance hasn't always been kind to them. there was often something between them; they're always too busy being more attached to other people to give each other the proper space. but it comes and goes in waves, the ever growing and shrinking of don's discomfort around him, and today it isn't so bad. they were on the same side of the fight -- the mess -- that was the bonfire night, so it feels like they have solid ground to stand on. a bonding experience, if you will, getting punched with your bros. careful fingers take the offered soda can and don sinks further down on the seat before he cracks it open, too. "it's fucking killing," he mumbles, taking a gulp of his drink and sighing as he brings it back down. he's a known fan of escaping eye contact in conversations, but this time he turns his face to rome, to assess the other's cheek. "you? at least it hasn't gone full chipmunk. it was... not fun seeing you spit out blood. it looked pretty terrible."

[kingscrcwn]

ofhenri​:

it’s a common occurrence during the summer to find henri sprawled out on the floor, gnawing away at his nails as he rifles through polaroids. today, however, he’s devoid of a smile or a hum as he does so. looking down at the one or two shots of crackling embers he’d got from the bonfire before things headed drastically south the night before. there’s one photo that stands out to him, however. one he clutches closely to his chest as he stands up and makes his way languidly to don’s room. all before he raps his knuckles on the door three times to the tune of she’ll be coming round the mountain — just as he always had when they were kids. “… hey,” he says softly when the door opens. “… you feeling okay? i know last night was, uh, a lot.”   ( @kingscrcwn​ )

between icing his jaw and the crippling flashing memories of last night, don hasn't had much time for sleep. he feels guilt, sitting somewhere high up in his stomach, weighing him down. he replays the conversation with adam in his head a million times, in an obsessive loop, trying to figure out what they could've done differently. maybe he should've been nicer. softer. spoken with less of the anger of someone who'd seen his friends almost die, and more with the love of someone who's afraid of losing his best friends. and yet, it seems like he's losing them anyway. the familiar knock pulls him out of his incessant thinking, and he sits up on his bed, from where he'd been staring at the ceiling. "hey," he calls back, just as quietly. he almost nods at the question, a knee-jerk reaction to insist he was always fine, but this is henri. he can probably be more honest. so he shakes his head, and rubs a hand across his eyes. there's a melted bag of previously-frozen peas by his bedside table that he'll have to hide later, to avoid his mom's lecture about wasting food. "a lot is one way to put it. it was a shitshow, huh. are you good?"

[kingscrcwn]

griffinfm​:

he could be imaging it, but adam swears he can see worry flash on don’s face as he approaches. now he’s thinking a little bit harder about the silence he’s gotten from one of his best friends over the past few days. he decides that he won’t lead with that, treating don the same way he would if he was acting normal. his reply earns a laugh from adam. “at a restaurant? yeah, no shit.” even if he doesn’t acknowledge it, adam doesn’t miss don’s tone. suddenly, he’s not so sure that there isn’t anything wrong. he decides to test the water. “wanna take your food back to mine? i can swing by and pick up henri on the way.” it’s an innocent offer; one that’s been both extended and accepted countless times. if don rejects him, he’ll know to push a little bit harder.

it's somehow worse that adam is treating him like nothing happened. because something did happen. something pretty fucking huge happened and don finds it within himself to be angry at the fact that his best friend can just go around brushing it off. don doesn't take a near-death experience so goddamn easily. he has too much to lose. maybe in a few good years he can laugh it off, but it's still too fresh, in his opinion. "no, it's fine," he says, shaking his head and averting his gaze. "just gonna take this back home." he could make up an excuse -- helping his sister with homework, helping his dad with the car --, anything that would fill up the silence, but the words die on his tongue soon after they've crawled up his throat. he doesn't want to lie. 

[kingscrcwn]

alinafm​:

“ah.” alina nods, humming in response. there’s an edge in his tone that’s hard to ignore. she isn’t surprised. sure, their friends disliked each other in high school and the kooks picked fights every other week, but, for the most part, that was water under the bridge. she wrinkles her nose at the mention of drinking tap water. “you’re certainly welcome to drink tap water, if you want to, i guess.” that teaches her to try and do anything nice for them. they go back to silently stocking the fridge. “do you think there’s any treasure to be found? or are you just going along for everyone else’s sake?”

don almost rolls his eyes again at her dramatic distaste for tap water, but refrains, if only because he's trying to avoid the headache that so much eye-rolling could induce. he's conscious of not letting alina ruin his day completely. he hums to her gracious offer, and continues to load bottles into the fridge in silence. distantly, he hopes this will be the end of it, and that they can awkwardly say bye and get on with their days after. but he doesn't find himself too upset when she speaks again. "yeah," he lies in response. he doesn't think there's a treasure. he thinks they're humoring a mourning friend, and quite frankly, he thinks it's starting to go too far. and as much as her question begs for honesty, he can't bring himself to give it to her; he doesn't trust her like that. and he's not desperate enough to talk about it that he would admit to it to anyone, he can still lie. "i think it has to be somewhere. and i think we can find it." he pauses and looks up at her. "you really don't?" his tone is not accusatory -- it couldn't be, given he doesn't believe it himself. but he's curious. 

[kingscrcwn]

griffinfm​:

immediately after taking on the duty of getting dinner together that evening, adam shed the responsibility of cooking and placed a takeout order. luckily, he knew that as long as there was food, rome would be content. turning as he tucks the takeout bag under his arm, adam’s face lights up as he notices don. “donny!” he calls out on instinct, already moving in his direction. it’s only once he sees don that he realizes how little the two had spoken in the past few days. and now that he thinks about it, how quiet the entire group chat had been. the concerns are fleeting; adam doesn’t think anything’s wrong, or at least, he can’t think of anything that would be. “what’re you up to man?“ / @kingscrcwn

don has been actively avoiding the rest of the group, he'll admit to it. except for thalia, of course, because that would be impossible. but everyone else he's been giving the cold shoulder to, and taking some time for himself to think, because things have been... rough. insane. ridiculous. he doesn't know how to begin processing it. so when adam calls out to him, he actually feels something freeze down his spine, and dread fills his chest. he feels guilty for reacting like this to one of his closest friends, but he can't help it. "hey," the word is drawled out, his eyes uncomfortably shifty. he shoves his hands into his pockets, and tries to will the words to come out of his mouth in a gentler way, but they just pop out curt and sharp. "not much. getting food."

[kingscrcwn]

alinafm​

her cast makes it difficult to move around and that, coupled with the fact that alina isn’t accustomed to doing any heavy lifting on her own, means that she’s brought a little wagon with her to carry the case of water. she pauses at his question before nodding. “sure.” she steps outside again to pull the case inside. “it’s just water. just in case.” volunteering the house had been a last resort, and she hadn’t thought much of it at first. now the strange thing was the knowledge that, at any given moment, they were just a few minutes walk away. she must have been still a little loopy if she had offered up her home to be used by people she didn’t even consider friends. alina rips open the case of water and places them neatly inside the fridge. “you guys get any further on your little treasure hunt?” it comes out more condescending than she means it to be.

for a moment, don considers the implications of simply bolting out the door and away from this conversation. it's not the worst thing he's had to endure, but small talk with alina feels so stiff and unnatural that he'd probably rather do anything else. little treasure hunt, she says, and he doesn't hold back on the dramatic eye roll in response. "we're working on it." it sounds harsher than he intends. he picks up some of the bottles to help place them into the fridge, carefully avoiding bumping into alina at any point in the process. "you know you can just drink tap water, right," but thanks, he still wants to say. he still doesn't. 

[kingscrcwn]

withfires​:

@kingscrcwn​

“it feels really weird to be, like, going out to eat and shit when there’s still so much going on.” thalia combs through her hair with both of her hands, using the window next to them as a mirror. she’s only been back a couple of weeks and they’ve already been to freddie’s at least six times. it’s the only place in the outer banks with a decent veggie burger. being in california for so long has skewed her perception of just how vegetarian-friendly the world is. “but honestly, i think we all deserve a break from this wild goose chase treasure hunt. i’d do anything for adam but i’m not sure that this is that… productive.” she picks one of the fries off of the pile in the basket in front of them, twirling it in a pool of ketchup before taking a bite. she’s been too apprehensive to bring this up to the whole group — she knows it’ll only make things worse. but don practically lives in her head, and already hears her stream of consciousness, so it doesn’t hurt to talk to him about it. “i don’t know. maybe i’m just stressing over nothing. i should be happy. we’re together again.”

don is still pressed about everything that happened at mrs. mckee's house. he's barely even talked to the others since then, feeling upset and tired from all of the running in circles around this treasure thing. it feels good to sit with lia again, though. to remind himself they're still all in one piece and that's what matters. "i don't think it's stressing over nothing, to be honest," he murmurs, taking in some of his own fries, staring down at his burger in thought while he chews. "i don't want to be the one to say it, but i'm... i don't know if we're getting anywhere with all of this," he sighs, slumping back onto his seat. it feels terrible to be the first one to give up when it came to his friend's wild dreams of finding a missing father, but... he was starting to believe this would be more harm than good for adam. the key he'd hidden burned a hole in the back of his mind. thalia would kill him if she knew. "it's nice to be together. i like that you're back," he shoots her a genuine smile that turns mischievous when he reaches to steal a couple of her fries. "but it's like, when we're talking near death experiences, i'd say that's crossing the line."

[kingscrcwn]

alinafm​

don was a tricky subject in alina’s history. if she feels remorse for absolutely anything, it is her treatment of him and what had been their friendship. she was only nine — but it’s old enough. she knew it then and she knows it now. don bailey didn’t deserve what he got. the tricky part is that she doesn’t quite regret it. it makes navigating any situation with him awkward and uncomfortable. now that she’s been thrown into the mess they’re in with all their talk of treasure, they’re seeing more of each other than they would ever want to. when she walks into the guesthouse, alina pauses at the sight of him. “hey,” her tone is stilted, and she is somehow uncomfortable on her own property. “i was just gonna stock the fridge.” the winthrops have people for this, but given the sensitivity of what adam and his friends were up to, alina thought it best to keep them out. / @kingscrcwn​

out of all things don doesn't love in this whole adventure thing, having to see so much of alina is top three, for sure. there's an oddity that comes with seeing her, like he can't quite figure out what to do with himself. he floats somewhere between wondering if he should be overly polite to the point of irony, or play it cold and act all high and mighty. in the end, he doesn't hold a grudge, not that he's aware of. he knows now that they could've never stayed friends, they're so completely different. and in his opinion, he got the better end of that deal, by finding lia, rome and adam, so. he looks at her when she calls in greeting, and he knows his own tone comes out just as stilted. "hey--, yeah," he scratches at his jaw, for lack of anything better to do with his hands. should he say thanks? probably. but the word feels heavy on his tongue, and it refuses to come out. instead, he tries to be politely helpful. "need some help with that?"

[kingscrcwn]

DON BAILEY'S INSTAGRAM —

featuring: mostly content of his friends, his sister's stylish braids, corny emo movie screenshots, and one (1) photo of himself that he was forced to post 

template credit: x / x

[integrahellsings]

[kingscrcwn]

... introducing — DON BAILEY

                    [ the brains ]

FULL BIO !

full name: adonis otto bailey

nicknames: don, donnie, (anyone is free to add more)

birthday: april 25th, 1998 ( 22 )

zodiac sign: taurus

positive: practical, intelligent, protective

negative: stubborn, anxious, secretive

mbti: ISTP, the inspector

enneagram: type 6, the loyalist

alignment: lawful neutral

temperament: phlegmatic

a tl;dr of the full bio + some hc's:

has two much younger siblings, a boy (12) and a girl (10), and feels like he is responsible for them. his parents are often away working and doing what they can to provide for the family, so don always looked after his siblings. he chose not to go to college under the pretense that his family needed him home, but he's mostly just scared at this point to take that leap; it's too much money involved, on top of the emotional strain that moving away would be, and he got scared.

a smart boy, who was very ashamed of being a nerd somewhere along middle school (looking at u alina), but he regained his confidence once he met thalia, adam and rome. along with henri, this crew means the absolute world to him, 10/10 he'd die for them. he'd rather they all stay alive and in one piece, but if he must.

despite loving his little found family a lot, he is also very guarded about things. he doesn't like talking about why he never went to college, and he'll shrug it off saying he just didn't want to if anyone asks. he has a lot of anxiety and he has a hard time talking about anything too touchy-feely so he often bottles things up like a fool instead of having much needed heart-to-hearts about himself. but he's v open to having deep conversations about anyone else's problems.

even if he's off school, he still spends a lot of his time reading and studying. keeping his mind always busy helps him feel less anxious. this means late nights with his nose stuck in books, and he is often sleep deprived and will take a nap anywhere if he's left unsupervised for long enough. snorlax energy.

he's very protective of the people he loves, which is also why he can get very logical whenever they are off on their adventures. he just wants everyone to be safe and mostly unharmed! voted most likely to scream his head off and get really angry when someone puts themselves into real danger. not quite dad energy, more just... stressed overwhelmed babysitter energy.