"You know what? We should start a karaoke bar."
Sun Wu Kong, leader of Team SSSN and resident monkey faunus was a great guy. Strong, kind, popular with the ladies. Sure he was a petty thief. But that was just a small part of his persona that people focused on way too much. He even had many skills outside of fighting: Cooking, parkour, painting and graffiti as a subsequent bi-product were only a few of the many talents he possessed. However, one of the things he was best at was singing.
Most people didn't expect that. They tended to be so focused on his abs that they never suspected him of being a really good singer. When they did find out however, they were blown away. They wouldn't have expected him of being able to sing such beautiful songs. And they couldn't help but tear up at his rendition of Mirror Mirror.
What had always attracted him to singing the most is that it can change people's moods and feelings so easily. He had heard many stories of strangers falling in love, split families being reunited, all by the power of song. One of his teachers even claims made an ursa major fall asleep by singing it an ancient lullaby. He wasn't sure whether they was true or not, but he knew the effects singing had on people could make them laugh, cry and cheer. He also believed that singing could bring people closer together.
The idea of karaoke appealed to his belief. He remembered the events the school held. How students confessed their love to one another or patched up a misunderstanding in their relationship. Sage and Scarlet even had a falling out and yet they managed to become good friends again after they both sang a little apology into the mike. Sun thought that was awesome, and it made him appreciate singing into a microphone more than the average person.
So, Sun decided he was going to was going to start a karaoke bar with Neptune, whether he liked it or not. In all honesty Neptune thought it was a great idea.
But it could have been said at a better time.
"Really? You're saying this now?" The blonde's partner asked incredulously, decapitating a charging beowolf and stabbing another in quick succession. "You're saying this now with this happening?" He gestured to the grimm currently surrounded them, numbering well over two hundred.
"Yeah, why not? we got time." Sun waved Neptune off, blasting a couple ursa that were trudging towards them. "It's not like this is anything difficult."
"That's not the point!" Neptune insisted. "You always do this! We're in the middle of something important and then you start going on about something unrelated and I end up distracted." A loud boom echoed through the trees as Neptune blew up several fast moving creeps. "Every." Boom "Single." Boom "Time!"
"Hey, I can't help it if I come up with genius Ideas at bad times. Someone has to think of the future here." Sun began half-heartedly swatting a flock of bothersome nevermores out of the air above them.
"Do you even know how much it costs to run a bar?" The blonde shook his head, much like the beowolf who's face he was repeatedly slapping. Were it not for the fact that it was clearly dazed and had no real intelligence, the way it was sitting may have made it look like it was listening to the conversation, and offering it's own understanding of the price of establishments.
"Do you?" The blue haired man turned to face the blonde fully, accidentally slapping a pouncing creep with the butt of his glaive and looking even more incredulous than before.
"My parents own a bar! You know this! We visit them all the time!"
"Oh yeah." The dazed beowolf, which Sun would always remember as Jeff, let out a yelp as it was suddenly shot in the face.
"Then there's the karaoke machines." Neptune managed to skewer four nevermores simultaneously. "I remember them going for like, sixteen hundred Lien each. And that's if their relatively cheap models." Sun whistled, jumping off a pile of ursas.
"Man, and I was thinking about getting private booths and everything." He commented. Neptune shook his head as a couple creeps lost of their own.
"Again, you're just adding to the cost. We're not exceptionally loaded, are We? Why not just have a few public stages?" The blonde's brow furrowed. "Then you have to think about booze. Karaoke requires the courage of people to get up and sing, something many people don't naturally have." Sun nodded at that, almost forgetting about the giant beowolf he just blew the legs off of. "If they don't wanna get up there, the machines won't be used, and then they become a waste of money.
"We'll also need decent décor and good sanitation to convince people to stay." The blonde realised. "Overthetop stuff is, well, over the top. But you can't look like a regular bar either." Neptune nodded sagely. Then he realised what had been happening.
"You did it again!" He shouted. Wildly swing his weapon around in anger. Not even paying attention to the grimm he was hitting. "We're talking about running a karaoke bar right now and not finishing the mission! Every single time!"
"Dude, chill." Sun attempted to calm his partner down while repeatedly shooting an ursa major in the chest.
"Besides, what about Sage and Scarlet?" Neptune questioned, calming down long enough to shoot a bunch of overhead nevermores. "Where are they in all of this?"
"They want to go to Mistral and and work Freelance." Sun informed him. "Apparently the money's really good." Neptune sighed.
"Look, man. I'm sorry but the chance of you actually getting a karaoke bar running are super slim. Council hunters just don't get paid enough money unless we're talking pensions. Even then, unless you make the bar really popular fast, you're gonna end up foreclosed. So unless some stupid circumstances occur, there is straight up no chance."
"Eight years. Eight years and I still can't believe this."
"We saved the world, man. Of course we'd get compensation."
"We didn't save the world! We helped the the people who helped the girl save the world!"
Sun hadn't changed much over the years. Well, neither did Neptune really. But besides growing taller and getting a goatee, the blonde hadn't physically aged at all. He hadn't matured personality-wise either. The most drastic change in the past eight years had been that he now wore an ironed short-sleeve shirt and didn't wear shorts any more. Still wore the same shoes for some reason, nobody knew.
Neptune had started combing his hair backwards. While the messy undercut was still a favourite of his, what he was rocking was presentable, a look he had started developing after a scuffle with Roman Torchwick. Apparently it also looked good, or at least that's what everyone assured him. The Van Dyke was something he did like at least. It looked sophisticated. Well that was what he believed anyway. He had also surprised everyone by swapping out his jacket for a suit vest, but otherwise, he also hadn't changed much in the clothing department.
And then there was the bar itself. It was actually quite simple. Nice lighting, plain brown carpet, a couple several oak tables and chairs surrounding the four stages that were dotted across the large establishment. Most were occupied by human and faunus alike. At the back several doors with the words 'PRIVATE BOOTH' engraved into them.
"You're just mad because you were wrong. Also, you still won't admit it."
"Admit I was wrong about what, exactly?" Neptune was offhandedly cleaning a beer mug, "That the bar wouldn't work out? Clearly that's not the case."
"You trying to dodge what he said." Scarlet waggled a finger at him over the bar counter. He had changed even less than Sun, still wore the same outfit and everything. The difference from when he was seventeen was that he wasn't a mite any more. Sage, who had grown a glorious Ducktail in the last few years, also didn't seem impressed.
"Look, all you have to do is say 'I was wrong'." The green haired man said, chugging down what was left in his mug. Neptune felt his eyebrow twitch.
"Fine! I was wrong! You happy now?"
"Oh yeah." The blonde nodded, grin somehow becoming even more smug. He turned to his two former teammates. "You guys really should visit more often."
"Nah, we got friends and family over in Mistral." Scarlet waved him off. "We can't keep leaving the kingdom to 'get drunk with some old friends' on a regular basis."
"Yeah, we know." Neptune said bitterly. "At least promise you'll visit on special occasions."
"Of course." The doors to bar swung open, allowing the new arrivals to absorb the sights and be startled by the loud talking and music in the establishment. The bar was virtually full this evening, something that really only occurred on holidays or festivals. Today did probably count as a holiday, now that the owners thought about it. After all, it was only two years ago that the monstrous Tyrant had been destroyed, and with it the greatest threat Remnant had ever seen.
the music and sounds had become integrated into the owners' daily life, so it was easy to just tune them out. The new arrivals though...
"How are you two not deaf at this point? Jeez." Team RWBY always came in after a successful hunt. So on a bi-weekly basis, they would drink most of the bar's booze, order a private booth, and sing drunkenly at each other. "It's so loud it's possible to hear it on the other side of Vale!"
"Well it hasn't really stopped us before, Weiss." Ruby pointed out, taking an open seat next to Scarlet. "Sun, we need some of the usual, asap." The blonde faunus chuckled, fetching a couple bottles of from the shelves preparing a mug of cider, a Martini, a Screwdriver and a Strawberry Sunrise for the Respective members of Team RWBY. "Oh! And the usual booth." The red-headed leader added at the last moment.
"No drinking in the booth." Neptune reminded the girls. "I don't want to end cleaning up another 'incident'." As soon as the Screwdriver was laid down in front of her, Blake took a large swig.
"It was only that one time and you still won't get over it." She muttered. "I even paid for the damages!"
"Man, that was hilarious." Yang piped up, grinning through her glass. The cat faunus rolled her eyes.
"Bite me."
"Not in front of the children." Yang tutted, gesturing to the two other team members.
"Oh ha ha!" Ruby really couldn't hold her drink, which wasn't surprising to those who knew her. Neither Neptune nor Sun minded considering it was among the most funny things they got to see and she never got especially rowdy. "I'll have you know I'm the who killed the Tyrant and saved the entirety of Remnant while all of you!" She pointed at the three girls next to her. "Didn't do Jack! Clearly, I should call you should call you the children."
"You seem to be forgetting that we and everyone else was holding off a hundred goliaths. By ourselves." Weiss reminded her partner. "Besides, Cinder helped you. You can't take all the credit when it comes to the Tyrant."
"I can because I killed it." Ruby repeated in a slurred fashion. "Me. Not Cinder. Me." She slammed her mug on the counter, got off her stool, and walked further into the bar. "I'll be in the booth when you're all ready to come and apologise to your saviour." With a comic upturn of her nose, the redhead stomped off in the direction of the private boothes.
"Greeeat." Blake looked into her drink sullenly. "Screw it, I'm finished anyway. Hey Ruby, wait up." The remaining two members of Team RWBY sighed as their other friend left.
"See you guys later then. I'll pay after we're set up." Weiss and Yang followed the two, ready to sing the ceiling off. Or at least everyone but Weiss. Sage let out a tuneless whistle as they left.
"They're a fun bunch, aren't they?"
"Yeah." Sun beamed while Neptune took a shot of whiskey. "Though it's weird how after dealing with the biggest threat the world's ever known Ruby somehow is normally super humble about it." The blue-haired man next to him nodded sagely.
"So what's happening with JNPR?" Sage asked the two behind the counter. Neptune smirked.
"Apparently, Jaune proposed to Pyrrha." Sage and Scarlet both took a swig, and then immediately spit back into their mugs upon realising what had just been said.
"Wait, Jaune proposed?!" They had all expected Pyrrha to be the one to propose, because really she's the one who instigated the relationship and, if Nora was to be believed, was the one who took Jaune out on dates. It only made sense that she would be the one to get down on one knee and place a ring on the knight's hand. The fact that Jaune did it was not expected. At least by the people who knew him.
"You guys gonna show up for the wedding?" Sun asked. The two former members of SSSN nodded enthusiastically. After all, they had to that. "I also hear that Nora and Ren are finally going out."
"About time, if you ask me." Neptune piped up just as the song on the jukebox changed. "Oh hey, Caffeine's playing."
It was a regular day at the bar.
Well, 'regular' was completely relative when it came to Remnant.
Just a normal, regular day at the Sea Monkey.
A/N: RWBY is owned by Rooster Teeth Productions and was created by the late Monty Oum
All the songs mentioned are composed by Jeff Williams.