December 31st, New Years Eve, snow covered the whole of the concrete jungle, the base element of Zootopia. The sun had set and in its wake the gently falling frost that had claimed the central part of the massive city, slowly resembling Tundra Town in the stark white the flakes caused. That same monochrome hue for the massive structure of Precinct One, pride and joy of the mammal officers in blue.
"Soooooo much paperwork! Is this really what I traded in two-hundred bucks a day for?" The fox complained in the small whiney tone from the comfort of his reclined seat, his desk littered with assorted reports and important notes. The end of his first year as an officer, that same time last year he wouldn't have imagined himself where he was now. The truth was life had taken a great turn from where he was just one year prior. All in part because of the determination of one mammal.
"Stop complaining." A more energetic, playful and chipper voice played from the chair just behind and opposite of his, seated in place at the mirrored desk. The very same rabbit that had changed his life so wholey.
"Hey, you're right. Just making the world a better place one paper cut at a time." He mocked with a dramatic tone. That same rabbit swiveling in her chair at the same moment as the fox, the two meeting challenging eyes, a tension in their furrowed expressions… A beat, then another before both broke into warm smiles. He knew better, a steady job where he was respected for his effort as opposed to being looked down on for it. 'Life Couldn't get better,' the thought constantly present.
"Yea, yea, I get it. Paperwork sucks, we still have to do it though." She stated with her own confident smirk and a raised brow. "And you don't get to pawn it off on another rookie like last time, Slick." She said pointing a paw threateningly at him.
"Who? Me?" The fox made a dramatic gesture of placing a paw innocently over the center of his heart. "Why I never, and here I thought you trusted me, I would never-"
"Officer Wilbur already let it slip that you managed to rope him into writing up a couple of your reports. You're lucky Bogo didn't slap you with a month of ticket duty for that one." She said with a hint of worry. "I know you like playing with fire Nick but eventually you're going to get burned." She made a concerted effort to express her displeasure with his antics with a look that oozed with concern and caring.
"Alright, alright I get it. Don't give me the bunny look, it's too cute." Even at his best he didn't have the reaction time to intercept the small grey and blue blur that tackled into him sending the chair and him tumbling to the ground. The next thing he knew he was on his back, looking up at the muted ceiling, a nicer shade of grey in the form of that rabbit straddled across his chest looking down at him. Her expression not as muted in the way it warned. A silent conversation the two had many times over the last couple months.
'Cute?' Her glare warned.
'Won't use that word again.' His laid back ears and empty open palms, a sign of surrender.
'Don't lie to me Wilde!' Her glare responded, aided by a clenched paw. Nick couldn't help but think it Cute. And as psychic as she seemed to be in their little non verbal discussion she asserted that fact by planting the clenched rabbit fist into his shoulder.
"Ow." Nick began but instead of any sincere pain he laughed rubbing at the sore spot.
"Don't test me Wilde." She emphasised with her clenched fist again.
"Alright, alright, I give." And like that, both their verbal and nonverbal discussion ended, the rabbit waiting against his chest a moment or two longer before the two disengaged awkwardly, Nick using a decent amount of force to right his large chair, a byproduct of being one of the smallest officers on the force meant non fitting office furniture, something the two had grown accustomed to. "So, how was Christmas with your parents?" He asked, the two holidays, both Christmas and New Years he found causing him to miss out on a lot of time with his favorite rabbit. Both having put in for holidays matching the other, where Judy would spend the holidays with the family Nick didn't have any to do the same, the alternative being desk duty or partnered with someone else, a thought he wasn't very fond of, instead electing to simply match her vacation days.
"Oh! The same as last year. Passing out the presents took over an hour just on its own, the dinner was massive this year!" She continued on, listing off the events with a big smile, accented by her large rabbit incisors. She looked around seemingly at nothing, recounting the holiday spent with wild gestures. "Everyone asked me all sorts of questions about being an officer in Zootopia, Granpap didn't miss out the opportunity to complain about me having a fox partner." That part allowed Nick a small opportunity to chuckle.
"Well now Carrots, your Papap's just looking out for you, after all us foxes are red because we were made by the devil." He made as devilish a smile as he could earning a chuckle from the stout rabbit herself as response, a simple act of dismissal that he felt oddly comforted by. She started again, one note after the next of the holidays. At first the mentions were detailed, vivid and he focused on them fervently. From her father's trouble with the watering system on their massive farm having multiple breaks due to the cold, to sister gossip, one by one the subjects grew further out of his focus. Nick himself just took to resting his muzzle into his set paw, already lost in the long drawling memory the rabbit continued to recollect. He was haplessly taking in the image in front of him with an unknowing smirk. He sighed contently to himself drawing it to memory.
Her ears, long marked at the ends and a strong telling of the rabbits feelings. Like now, he took them to note their tall proud stance to help inundate her flourishing, ecstatic retelling of stories with her family while on holiday.
Her nose, he would hesitate to use the word 'cute' but felt it justified given her lack of strong serious characteristics. She hated the use of the word, given its connotations, then again Nick wouldn't miss an opportunity to tease her. He was far from a dumb enough animal to claim she wasn't serious though, her drive was on another level from anyone he knew, an inspiring, magnetic quality.
Her eyes, deeply violet, a nearly cosmic hue that he couldn't readily compare to many things, a showing of how unique the color was. They were pools of raw, rabbit emotion, they were idols of determination and ingenuity. More than that though, he knew them for their compassion and sympathy. The set looked at him, focused-
"Nick?" The quiet tone asked, the fox lost in his own greedy musing.
"Hm?" He barely droned as the set of eyes furrowed at him.
"You with me partner?" She asked leaning forward from her own adjacent chair with a curious look. His eyes widened realizing that she wasn't recounting a story any more, the whole of her focus on the goofy, half lidded and clearly infatuated expression.
"Sorry fluff, just tired." He made a show of stretching to the full extent of his limbs, it wasn't entirely a lie, he hoped a decent enough deterrent from his embarrassing moment.
"Same, your reports finished?" He refocused, she was holding a waft of loose papers and reports. He hurriedly grabbed his own from the desk just off his left shoulder. With a challenging smile he mirrored her, holding them forward.
"Yup, you and I won't work together again till next year." He smirked, her own expression confused, worried, a beat then.
"Oh, yea, duh. 2016." She made a show of bopping her own paw against her forehead. "Dumb bunny, New Years." She laughed before smiling warmly.
"So when's your train to Bunny Burrow?" The two exited their chairs, a small descent to the ground before collecting their coats. Falling in step beside one another, a routine. She radiated energy, he knew that but more than that he felt warmer every time he was in it, he smiled more than he used to, a more sincere one than the cocky smirks and suave charm he wielded otherwise.
"Tonight. Around Elevenish, ticket at 'Marshland' station." She stated simply, their steps were echoed quietly across the floor, the last couple of days spent performing overtime to placate their Chief, Bogo, given their timely use of vacation hours.
"Oh, thats right passed my apartment. How many days did you get off?" He asked, he couldn't even help the sardonic tone his question took. The question was framed more in a way that asked himself how many days he would be without that same warming aura.
"Same as you, just two. Can't afford that many days off, large crime spikes this time of year."
"Can't have that, Carrots." He hummed lightly with his noncommittal volume. Their direction quickly took them right past the reception center just off the officers cubicles. A portly seemingly sugar fueled cheetah, ever present, manning the reception desk at the center of the entrance of the precinct.
"Judy, Nick!" Benjamin Clawhauser beamed, a fanged smile from ear to ear. "You clocking out the last time this year?" The cheetah seemed unphased by the long hours and dark night that had fallen over the building. Just outside the large windows shown the frosty welcome the front entrance threatened.
"You know it, denying the precinct the honor of my amazing presence for a couple days, what will the place do without me." Nick mocked sarcastically putting the back of his paw over his face theatrically.
"The Chief might say otherwise." The rabbit responded.
"Oh, Chief loves me and you know it." The fox quipped, the two passing their combined paperworks to the cheetah. "What about you Benji, any plans for the holiday?" The fox leaned an arm on the rabbit's head before she rapidly swatted the gesture away with a pointed, warning glare eliciting a chuckle of his own.
"Oh, going to hit up the Animalia New Year's concert, Gazelle is performing to end out this year and welcome in the new one." The cheetah openly boomed with excitement, his paws up against his cheeks as he almost squealed with anticipation. "What about you two?" the cheetah asked despite himself.
"Visiting the family." It was a common response, the energetic rabbit made a constant, concerted effort to balance out her vacation time with family, especially during holidays. The two sets of present eyes set on the fox.
"You know me, just gonna hang out with some friends from the old life and drink away the last of this year." Nick shrugged behind his trained smirk, he didn't offer much more than that.
"Alright, well enjoy your vacation time you two!" Clawhauser offered with a wave while they left. As they exited through the front of the building the cold air greeted them about as well as the small ice flakes and wind could.
They started their trudging walk through the snow, West bound from the precinct in downtown Savanna. They walked in mutual quiet for several blocks, every other block he caught himself mulling over the features of that same rabbit companion over and over again. 'Ears, nose, eyes.' He listed off, even noting her tail, each time he found it more and more difficult to keep convincing himself otherwise. 'Can a fox like a rabbit. Maybe.' He concluded with that same goofy expression.
"You keep staring Nick."
'Uhoh,' He realized he was caught again. "Sorry fluffs, just not gonna see my favorite rabbit again for a few days." He said reactively, he meant it to be less telling but it still ended up coming out of his mouth more personal than he intended.
"Same partner, won't see my favorite fox for a couple more days." She smiled back.
"I'm your favorite?" He dramatically sighed. "Good, had me worried I was still fighting for the top spot over your baker friend or Finnick." He challenged.
"No, Gideons come a long way but you're my partner, we've been through a lot." She said without any room for mistake in the seriousness of how well she meant it. "Though Finnick when he's in 'uniform' for a con makes it a tough decision." She said sarcastically, earning a laugh from her fox companion. He nudged her as he laughed, an open bellowing set of laughter. She nudged him right back the two finding purchase in their small endeavor to trade shoves and pushes as they laughed. It continued that way, small conversations beginning and ending every couple of blocks, each time they ended in a closer proximity to the other. Block by block it got darker, not as a product of the already lost sun but instead by the district change from Savanna Central to the Rainforest District, fewer lights and a thick canopy of trees stopped the moonlight and draped the beautiful district and gentle spars rays of light that broke the rare openings in the thick foliage. By the time the two couldn't physically get any closer to each other, still warm goofy smiles plastered across their expressions, they arrived. A rickety old apartment complex just on the border of downtown of Savanna Central and the Rainforest District.
"Well, this is where we split ways." Nick began looking up, even though the buildings lights and warm appearing exterior weighed on him, he was in no hurry to leave that same radiant aura the rabbit exuded. When he turned to bathe in its warmth one last time for the holiday, it turned cold. The rabbit looked oddly mortified for just a second before she attempted a poorly held mask. His own expression instantly furrowed in surprise, it was a rare thing to see that same living embodiment of happyness. "Hopps?"
"Yea, guess you're right. I'll see you next year." Her tone, even without his experience reading mammals, it held a sad edge to it. An instinct he knew all too well without explanation, it urged him to pursue whatever caused that change in expression and dampening of her mood. Instead he was hit, a welcome projectile, that same grey rabbit moved into his space hugging him closely, he was caught by surprise between the sudden gesture that conflicted with that worried expression.
"There, there Judy." He patted at her shoulders before hugging her tightly in return. "You'll only miss the pleasure of my company for a couple days, sure the family will love all the time they get to spend with you." He said deepening the warm hug, a greedy sensation, a 'want' to embrace as much of that exuded warmth.
"Say that again." She said through rasped breaths into the front of his coat, barely a mumble escaping.
"Hm? Well only a couple days till you get to see this handsome mug of mine again." He chuckled.
"No, the first part." She emphasised that simple importance by shoving him lightly. It took him all of two seconds.
"There, there Judy." He said again patting her back as he hugged to her. She almost seemed to burrow further into the hug, tightly gripping into his coat.
"Again." Was all she muttered. This time he was no longer confused by her request.
"Judy." He said it in a soft, warming tone, the warmth of his breath caught in the form of a cloud when he exhaled the words.
"Thank you." She mumbled deeply enough into the coat that he could even feel the heat from it that time, the two stayed there amicably for a moment or two, if asked, neither of the two mammals wanted to count any moment of that time. The two eventually did break apart, the fleeting warmth still present in its place.
"You bunnies, so emotional." He smiled back, the rabbit brushed away the small remnants of tears forming at the corners of her eyes. The fox was at a loss of how to interpret that motion or her own reaction to their holiday separation, it was a chilling but oddly warming sensation in his gut.
"Ha, think you can survive another couple days without me?" She said through bleary eyes, sniffling as she did.
"I'll do fine Carrots, our holiday will be over before you know it. Tell the family I said hi will ya." He smiled again, he couldn't remove the dumb smirk across his muzzle no matter how he tried.
"That makes one of us then, it feels crappy not having a partner to fall back on, I don't know what I'd do without you." She almost sounded like she was ready to cry again.
"Don't say that, you were a great officer before me, you would still be one without me, Fluffs." He said warmly, he was sure of it. She rolled her eyes before chuckling, far less sure than himself.
"I'm not as sure about that. Hey! You should come with me next time we get vacation hours, my family would love to finally meet you nose to nose." And like that, that same warming sensation was multiplied by a magnitude that he couldn't comprehend.
"Maybe Hopps, we'll see." He made a quick motion of checking over his phone for the time. "You better get moving though or you'll miss the transit." He made a motion of tapping the wristwatch he didn't have to help warn her.
"Oh, yea. Guess I'll see you when I get back, Slick."
"Yup, see ya then, Carrots." He nodded waving at the rabbit who just as quickly made their way down the dimmed street of the rainforest district. She rapidly disappeared in the shadow of the districts canopy. Long after she had, he remained in place allowing his smile to slowly fall into a tired neutral line instead.
His apartment was never anything special in the usual sense, just past the landlords was a set of stairs to the basement. The previous utility room, mismatched and varied sizes of water and gas pipes strewn along the walls and center support beams of the converted living space. It wasn't much, but to that former con it was home in a very real way. Scattered second hand furniture made up the cozy livable element of the patterned estate, missing or removed walls in between what was originally different parts of boiler rooms and storage spaces.
One pipe would bellow on, rocking back and forth when water passed through it for the random residences higher up in the building. The rattling noise had grown rhythmic over the last couple of years he remained there. A small window that held the only external light from the dark space, excessive lighting not only unnecessary to the nocturnal canide but also a literal hinderance. Still the small ray of light that broached the small window was a very welcome sight. Making his way over to what passed as a closet, he dressed down out of his professional blues in place of a comfortable t-shirt and boxers. His next destination was the makeshift kitchenette, the mini fridge that suited his size as a species, it held the first of many beers that would make up his New Year's routine. He turned on a small space heater in the form of an old thrown out electric fireplace that had belonged to a larger species of some sort. His final destination that night, the recliner that faced that same mesmerizing heating device, parallel to the only small window the place had. A small rectangular basement window just near the ceiling's height.
He watched the snow billow against the wafting winds outside, he imagined his eventual tipsy state would help make the simple act of wind patterned sleet appear even more amazing. Neon lights of some of the more industrial buildings out across the canopy were an oddly mesmerizing sight, a sort of controlled version of New Years fireworks. Looking back at the pretend kitchenette for the small green pulsing light of the microwave clock, it read just after ten, a quite, self indulged prayer that his rabbit companions trip would be a safe one.
The thought of a warm, welcome farm, surrounded by family, celebrating simultaneously the beginning and end of two years. Envy, he confirmed with a smirk, he couldn't complain though, as much as he was jealous of that rabbit his life had greatly improved at their own effort. The serene moment just outside the window caught up with him, slowly tired lids took their toll, heavy in that each time he blinked they grew increasingly difficult to open again. He brought his legs up to the seat alongside the rest of him, bringing the warm knit fabric up right after, he felt himself falling into a heavy sleep.
'Life couldn't get better,' his last silent remark to himself as his conscious day came to an end.
Knock, knock, knock
The sound barely caused the fox's ear to twitch, hardly a comparable note to the backdrop of occasionally clicking and clanking pipes. Several moments passed without another competing sound.
Knock, knock, knock!
The fox shot forward with a start, a single deep breath and a groan. He looked around for the offending sound that fought him back to the conscious world. The dark room greeted him, the pulsing light of the microwave, the snow that had consumed half its way up the small basement window but nothing more. He began to lay his head down again to go back to sleep-
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Each rasp of the loud knuckles against the door made itself very pronounced. "Hey, stop abusing the poor door! I'm coming, sheesh!" The fox bellowed, rising from his chair with a groan.
Knock-knock-knock!
The more rapid knuckles was more immediate, quieter than the heavy hits earlier, it was still louder heard with him just on the other side of it. He wasn't due for rent and Finnick still wasn't very fond of his new blue blood, the fox failed to guess who the door abuser was. With a single heavy flourish he swung the door open in a wide arc, instantly regretting the bright light that blinded him.
"What!" He yelled up to the lion landlord, squinting from his momentarily blinded vision. They didn't respond, he moved his paw to help shield from the light revealing no one was there in fact.
"Hey Nick." The rabbit just below the field of his glare said. A slow moment to let his vision settle on them.
"Officer Hopps?" He said disapprovingly. "What are you doing here?" He whined through a tired, raspy yawn, his tongue lolling out as if to help emphasis. "What about your train ride?" He continued to squint through the blaring light.
"Got a message, turns out the whole place is reserved already, busy siblings making their own families decided to reserve all the spare rooms, can you believe it!" She said brushing right past him and into his apartment.
"What? But I thought your farm had a massive underground burrow? What like 275 siblings or something like that, with guest rooms? How?" The tired fox tried and failed to meet the quota of active brain cells needed to hold a conversation.
"Yea, but between my brothers and sisters in their mid twenties already with a couple litters of their own they reserved all the extra rooms this New Years, Mom and Dad texted me when they found out, while I was at the train station." The rabbit flipped on a light at about the same time Nick managed to close his front door, the new assaulting light causing him to wince in its presence. Again he failed to assess the image in front of him, in place several sounds, glass, plastic bags and containers.
"Sorry to hear that." He lied.
"So I thought 'I'll spend New Years with Officer Wilde!' instead." She huffed, messing with the other sounding objects, Nick's eyes finally adjusting to show the set of plastic bags, a bottle of wine and a half finished pack of beers. "So I brought New Years goodies!" She said jovially gesturing to the small offering of snack foods and alcohols.
"Beer, wine and-" He grabbed at the first plastic container. "Blueberries? Are you trying to seduce me Officer Hopps?" Nick smirked chuckling to himself.
"Don't start with me Wilde." She relayed her own smirk.
"How did you know I was still here? I told you and Clawhauser that I was going out drinking with Finnick?" He tilted his head looking over some of the other fruits and vegetables.
"Come on Nick, I know you and Finnick haven't been on good terms since I pinned that brass badge on you." She said sardonically, Nick's own mood souring, looking down with his ears splayed out, a rare insight of that fox. "Sorry. He'll come around." She said reassuringly, he only nodded. "Anyway, so I figured we can drink to the New Year!" She made her way over to his mini fridge, an almost practiced motion, she moved through the wannabe apartment as if she owned the place in that moment. She returned with a happy hop to her step, one of his own chilled beers offered to him, the fourth of her own pack of six in her other paw.
"Thanks." He took it smiling, the two in unison pressing the tabs on theirs, the crisp sound of the can opening. "Cheers." They clicked the two aluminum cans together before starting in on their next respective drinks of the end of the year.
"You have a fireplace!" She suddenly yelled out, he instantly took in a sharp surprised breath, sputtering the drink as he coughed up the beer that made its way down the wrong tube. Hacking up the liquid he looked over the rabbit who was for the most part enthralled by the pretend space heater.
"No, it's not real, just electric." He coughed again hitting his chest with his closed fist. Try as he might to dislodge the liquid and continue to choke it up, the rabbit already made a direct move for the small living space. The whole of his rented basement was essentially a studio apartment, small divides only noted by furniture, tarps or larger mammal bed sheets that hung from the protruding overhead pipes that divided the 'bedroom' which was just a small corner with a rhino filing cabinet and an elephant pillow that acted as his bed. None of the mismatched or odd fashionings seemed to deter the rabbit, instead they seemed to further absorb her in the odd estate.
"This place is huge compared to mine! How much does it cost you?" She marveled over the room.
"Well, it's not really an apartment exactly. Sorta hustled the landlord for the basement, renovated it to suit me and viola, Casa del Wilde!" He ended with a noncommittal shrug and his usual smirk before joining her next to the space heater. "Think I pay, what like three and a half hundred? And besides just about anything looks big compared to your little shoebox of an apartment." He enunciated the final word while making air quotes, she shot him a glare.
"It's not a shoebox, it suits me just fine." She challenged crossing her arms defiantly.
"It's over priced, has no utilities with walls as thin as paper." He countered. "Face it Carrots, you live in a shoebox?" He ended with a victorious laugh.
"Don't have to be such a jerk about it." She responded quietly, shattering the confident, assured mood the fox had garnered in that moment.
"Oh, come on Hopps, you know I'm just teasing." He said dejectedly. "Hey how about we dig into some of this lovely fruit you brought over." He made his way back over to the assorted small containers on the would be table, setting the already half drained beer down in place of his favored snack.
"Well maybe I don't want to share anymore." She glared back at him, the challenge was on as soon as he grabbed the small container of blueberries. He made an exaggerated motion of popping it open and swiping a small paw full of the blue berries, sticking out his tongue. "Don't do it Officer Wilde." She threatened pointing at him. He was a glutton for punishment from that particular grey opponent, he put one berry on his tongue.
"Mmm, delicious." He smirked chewing on the single offering, he should have known better than to think the threat idle on the part of the now sudden grey blur that tackled him for the second or third time just since the sun went down. And not unlike before he was looking up at that same grey fur with an amethyst glare that bore down on him.
"I warned you Nick." She began fighting him over the remaining blueberries locked at the end of a clenched paw. The two fought over the small assortment of sweet berries. The sound the fox made started as a chuckle that grew louder, and louder still until the fox was laughing, deeply, utterly, bellowing laughter. Tears formed, his attention lost, just the opportunity for the rabbit to pry his clasped, clawed digits open, swipe the remaining blue berries that she promptly shoved into her own mouth.
"HA!" She confirmed her victory, but instead the fox just continued to laugh, entirely from his gut with deep intakes of breath. "What are you laughing about." But he didn't respond in any cognizant way, barely managing rasped, incoherent sentences up at the furrowed expression she wore. "What-ha-what are you-laughing at!" It was contagious, in all honesty he didn't know why he was, all he knew was that their antic had again caught him in a fit of laughter. He wasn't sure how much of the alcohol was still coursing through him, but their continued momentary laughter only seemed to prompt more laughter, neither knowing why they were. The night wasn't much different from that.
It was the most content moment of recent memory, a couple berries, a friend and some teasing was all it took to improve his mood so dramatically, he lived for those moments. They continued on like that, fruits, some vegetable with assorted dips, stories, eventually beer ran out and was replaced by wine as the year effortlessly flew by.
"And that's how I conned a narwhal into purchasing non-existent shares in a 'natural springs' water bottling company that wasn't even real." The fox smirked to himself proudly. "Just don't tell anyone, pretty sure that one's still under some sort of statute of limitations." Judy had, not unlike himself, become more susceptible to his poor stories and jokes the more they drank. Openly laughing at the retelling of his many different stories, ones that he admitted to himself he may have stretched out the worse parts of them each time he told them over the years. Carrot shaped recorder pen and notepad in place she wrote down the long drawls of jokes and stories. Unless she hosted some just as wasted mammals, he doubted they would take to the stories or jokes as well as she was.
"No way, Slick, how were you never arrested before!?" She took another sip, finishing off whatever numbered glass she had in paw, Nick himself didn't know how far past sober he was. When that same rabbit made to get up for another glass, falling back in place squarely beside him with an omph.
"Woah there, Hopps. Swear to drunk i'm not God Occifer." She groaned making a motion of getting up again only to dizzily fall back into his side, reaching an arm around her shoulder this time to steady her. "Alright, time to call it." Taking the small glass before setting the two aside.
"Yea, think you might be right." She again groaned against the squinted blurry vision of a fox who just shook his head with a smirk. They sat like that, just on the floor next to the small shoddy electric fireplace, its red pulsing light against fake plastic logs was more homely than it ever had been to him in that moment.
"Thanks for seeing out the old year with me Judy." He sighed contently pulling her deeper into his side with the same paw slowly rubbing gentle, comforting circles into her shoulder. She looked up seeing that same warm, content smile he wore so rarely before burrowing into his side, relieving her own contented sigh.
"Wouldn't be anywhere else." She whispered into his side.
"Hm?" He curiously asked unable to hear the muttering.
"Nothing, you big jerk." She chuckled, he laughed the same. Nick felt that same exhaustion from before that rabbit suddenly broke into his boring and quiet end year routine. His head slowly, tiredly fell onto hers, his thumb absentmindedly still casting circles where it remained holding her to his side.
Seconds, minutes, it didn't matter in that moment to him, if time itself stopped, he would be the last mammal to complain. Still time had to make itself known when he peaked from between two barely squinted lids, the microwave clock announcing the hours in its usual pulsing light, a few minutes past midnight.
"Hey, Judy, we missed the New Year." He smiled amicably looking down at his companion, no response from the closely held rabbit at his side. He loosened his grip letting her fall away from him slightly to find her eyes closed, asleep, he smiled at the adorable sight. Her brows furrowed and her nose began to twitch as if an offending smell was caught, instantly shattering his place in that moment. Her paws uselessly reached and batted at nothingness, her eyes clenching harder before darting her head back into his side where her breaths steadied again with a relieved sigh that matched his own. He was still squinting against the same opposing light that fought him.
The night was over, he knew that much. Gently he picked up the small rabbit, it took a little effort on his own part to carry her with his own feet fighting him every step and protesting against his lack of sobriety. Eventually he made it to his destination, the corner housing the makeshift bed. Just as soon as he set her down she seemed to act out the same performance as before with his side. An almost angry expression 'Hey I was comfy!' It spoke wordlessly to him before her nose twitched, she sought out a smell and burrowed into the comforting bed.
"Do I know i'm falling for this rabbit? Yes, yes I do." He whispered leaning down to move the beds blanket over her. A little closeness and inebriation was all the excuse he needed to forgive the small gesture of lightly kissing the rabbit's nose. It twitched rapidly while he made his way out of the divided, makeshift bedroom. He didn't notice the small movement his sleeping partner made rolling over, Click, the muffled snapping of the carrot pens button releasing.
That fox had a smile on his muzzle, it wouldn't go away, he knew that as he went through the day's final motions, putting away perishables, turning out the lights and again setting up in his favorite recliner to look out the small rectangular portal to the outside that was his window. Light layers of snow had claimed it, glowing in the dark as the thin layer of sleet took on the hues of assorted neon lights and fireworks just beyond it. Blues, yellows, reds, greens and dozens of others till only a soft green pulsed within the room catching his attention. Judys phone with a constantly pulsing light. He groaned, reaching unceremoniously for it from his seat, refusing to sacrifice his comfort a last time. Its offending light blipped on and on again every couple of seconds. With a click and a swipe the device came to life blinding him again for a moment with its bright screen. The little envelope icon surging with a single '1' number on it. He pressed it.
1/1/16, 12:01, A.M.
Hey Jude the dude! Sorry you couldn't make it this year, everyones wishing you a Happy New Year! We'll see you next time you scrounge up some vacation time. We love you, sleep well.
StuHoppsFamily
He read it over with a furrowed brow again, whatever semblance of privacy that should have stopped him was gone with most of his higher brain functions at that moment. He readily scrolled up through some of the more recent messages to sate his curiosity.
12/30/15, 9:00, P.M.
Sorry guys, Chiefs not letting any more officers call in their vacation time, crime apparently won't even take a break on New Years, keeping this bunny busy. Gonna have to miss this New Years Party, tell everyone I'm sorry, I love them, I miss them.
JudyHopps
12/30/15, 9:21, P.M.
Sorry to hear that Bunbun, everyone wants you to know they love you and miss you and they hope you enjoy the New Year! So what are you going to do for the holiday?
BonnieHoppsFamily
12/30/15, 9:23, P.M.
Probably a quiet, calm evening out with some of the other officers and my partner!
JudyHopps
The dull, tired fox mulled over the listless message history. Two days ago the history read 'Didn't Judy have a ticket and go to the station?' The thought ran over inside his head for several seconds, he knew that she was cleared for vacation no differently than himself. A knowing smirk fell on his expression as the realization of the con that was pulled over on him. "Sly bunny." He whispered to himself 'Dumb fox.' The rabbit's voice played out in his memory as he sat the phone down.
'Life couldn't get better.' He thought to himself questioning behind closed, tired, heavy eyelids. He wondered just how many times that shifty rabbit was intent on proving him wrong.