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23. Band!AU
When Uhura entered the soundbooth, Bones McCoy was sitting in a weathered looking kitchen chair, tipped back on its back legs and braced against the wall. His feet were propped up on the stained coffee table and a battered cowboy hat was pulled down low over his eyes, nonchalant as could be. Only the constant beat of his drumsticks tapping out a rhythm on his thigh indicated he was even awake.
Though, he’d have t’be, with the way Jim and Spockstar were harping at each other near the microphones like a couple of henpecked coyotes. The drummer’s cadence never faltered, but what was visible of his face was set in a deep scowl. They were wasting valuable studio time.
Sensing Uhura’s arrival, Bones canted his head back further and peered at her from beneath the brim of his hat. He nodded acknowledgement to the base player, “…hey, darlin’… figured y’went home by now.” He wouldn’t have blamed her. It was pushing 2am, and the Band was no closer to a resolution than they’d been at Midnight.
Enterprise NCC-17 was one of the hottest rock sounds on the music media stream today. Their debut album had skyrocketed on the charts, going double platinum in a matter of 6 months. And with all that success (and money, Bones couldn’t forget about the money…), had also come a ridiculous amount of pressure to perform well on their sophomore album. It was proving to be easier said than done, especially when their two principle song-writers couldn’t even agree on the difference between ‘who’ and ‘whom.’
Sighing deeply, Bones twitched the brim of the cowboy hat further up on his head with the end of one drumstick. He immediately resumed drumming against his leg, a habit so deeply ingrained in the older man that it was often an unconscious action. Blinking at his bandmate, he quirked an eyebrow, “…wanna go get a smoke and watch the sun come up?”
They had nowhere else to be, anyway.