His Drumming Heartbeat

Reliefs

Sitting behind his kit, headphones on, slumping in his seat out of frustration, Bakugo cusses to himself for what feels like the millionth time within the last thirty minutes or maybe even an hour. He wants to nail this more than anything, even though he has the opening down, but when the bridge kicks in, it starts mellow and then picks up gradually and persists in the same steady cadence the rest of the song has. His timing on it is shit—at least that's what he believes—but he's not admitting failure yet until it's time to quit.

"Hey," the ash-blond male shoots his head up and removes his headphones, glimpsing in the direction he heard his name. He detects Bella standing in the doorway with a couple of water bottles in her hands and asks a simple question, "you thirsty?"

She sports a plain white t-shirt, dark-washed skinny jeans, red and yellow crocs because why not, and her hair pulled back in a low ponytail. By the looks of it, she quit halfway through getting ready because only the foundation is on right now and not the rest of her makeup look.

"Sure," Bakugo sighs, setting his drumsticks down, "toss it."

Bella chucks the unopened bottle at Bakugo, and he grabs it with one hand; Bella walks over as the ash-blond male opens the bottle and takes a sip, not realizing how much he needs it. He's been concentrating on the drumming part, and he didn't even know he needed water.

The brunette sits down on one of the trunks for some of the band's gear, sits down with her legs crossed, and begins to have a conversation with him. "You're over-thinking that part," she expressed.

"You noticed?" Bakugo asked, irked.

He's not in the mood to talk to any of the ladies, for he's a bit angry at them for placing him in the position he's currently in, knowing it feels against his will, for starters. Not only that, a portion of him feels like it was part of a scheme for Lousie to get food poisoning from the start like fate is playing some twisted game he doesn't know about at all.

"Can't you postpone the damn live music video for a later date?" Bakugo questioned Bella, hoping she'd listen to him.

"Management and our record company have tonight marked," Bella clarifies, "so if we don't do it tonight, then we can't do it at all."

Bakugo groans in frustration, now comprehending he can't back out of this even if he wanted. Tonight's crucial to the other members, and he doesn't concede. He doesn't care if he sounds narcissistic because this is something the ash-blond male didn't think he would have to do on this tour; regardless, anything can happen while out on the road.

"It means a lot to Lynnette that you're doing this on such short notice, though," Bella noted.

"She's fuckin' batshit crazy," Bakugo mentions, "and I didn't agree to this, by the way."

"Yet here you are," Bella quips, "helping us out."

Bakugo rolls his eyes and mutters, "you guys are something else."

"Oh, I know," Bella says, giggling, "it's part of our charm."

Bakugo huffs out in annoyance and seals his water bottle to set it down next to him, not caring if Bella leaves or watches him screwing up. In his mind, the more he talks to anyone, the more he's wasting time to figure out the drumming for tonight's show numerous people watching it. He puts his headphones back on and puts on the music to drum the song again, wishing he could nail it this time.

Bella stands in the entrance to watch the ash-blond male play through the song, wondering what he's getting worked up about when he commented he's not nailing a precise part. She's timing the drumming piece, considering she's listened to it continuously when the band created the song. Regardless, while eyeing him play this song through, Lynnette's comment about him makes complete sense to her now.