At the knock Judy Hopps rushes to the door in bunny-speed.
Quickly, she opens it - and makes a mental note never to tell her parents that she opened the door to her apartment without checking the door viewer.
But there's only one creature in Zootopia who can knock that way - her partner and best friend Nick Wilde.
"Nick!" she greets him with a broad grin, and he replies with one of that sly fox-smiles.
"Carrots!"
He hands her a sixpack of her favorite carrot lemonade, the one he keeps on complaining tastes absolutely terrible, but no matter what other drinks Judy has stored in her fridge, Nick always happens to end up drinking 'Kay Karrot.
"So what's on the menu tonight?" he asks nonchalantly as he strolls over to her couch. "You know it's always a risk when you get to choose the movie for movie night."
"Says the fox who forced me to watch three hours of Sloth Comedy Club," she laughs.
Nick gives her a shrug. "Heh, technically, it was only one hour."
"I still don't think that counts as a movie."
"In my apartment, I decide what's a movie and what isn't," Nick replies.
Judy's smile turns into a big smirk.
"I'm glad to hear that," she says. "Because I decided that we are going to watch the first ten episodes of my favorite cartoon as a kid tonight."
She has to bite her tongue to not burst into laughter the moment his face falls.
"In my apartment, I decide what's a movie and what isn't," she repeats.
Nick chuckles silently.
"Sly bunny," he says.
"Dumb fox," she replies and laughs.
She turns her attention to her DVD collection.
"You know I think I never told you how much I like your new place," Nick announces behind her.
"No, you didn't. You didn't even say anything nice when I moved here six weeks ago."
"You mean when you made me carry up tons of boxes for you? I'll never understand how you managed to squeeze all that stuff into your old apartment, though," he goes on. "Besides, I did say something about your new place."
"I don't think 'It's bigger' counts as something nice," she responds with a roll of her eyes.
"Given your old apartment, it is," Nick says.
"No, it's stating a fact," Judy replies, as she puts in the DVD she has been looking for. The player immediately starts with these high humming sounds meaning that it's reading the DVD.
"That, too," Nick insists.
He has a point, sure. Her old apartment has been really, really small, not to mention the loud neighbors, but she had loved it there.
But of course, as soon as she had saved up enough she had started looking for a new apartment, especially because after one year of living there, these loud neighbors really had been meddling with her sleep cycle. Same goes for her night shifts, of course, but she loves her job too much to ever admit that.
And then she had found this little gem of an apartment, kitchen-cum-living room, bedroom, small bathroom. Still not big, but big enough for her.
"Popcorn?" she asks.
"Definitely," Nick replies.
"Salty or sweet?"
"Sweet."
"Gotcha."
Ten minutes later, the two of them have settled on the couch, a big bowl of sweet popcorn between them, each of them holding a bottle of 'Kay Karrot - which, of course, Nick had complained about at the first sip.
The opening theme of "Super Sarah" is coming to an end, and Judy is already all jittery and excited.
She used to love this cartoon so much as a kid. It's the story of a leopard girl called Sarah, who, with the help of a magical necklace, turns into superheroine Super Sarah at night. Judy had wanted to become a superheroine as a child before she learned that superheroines and magical necklaces don't exist which had made her set for a career at the police. But technically, it had been this cartoon who made her decide this path. So she can't wait what Nick is going to say about it. Of course, he's going to complain about the funny costumes and the simple plot, but he is going to get it for what it is as well.
Nick always gets these things.
She twists her mouth when she finds him flicking popcorn into the air and catching it with his open mouth.
That's okay. Nick still is going to get it. He always acts like he's not interested. That's one of his more appealing character traits.
What isn't okay is that every few seconds a piece of popcorn is landing on her head, her shoulder, her thigh.
She releases the breath she's been holding in a puff.
"Do you mind!?" she asks, pointing at her popcorn-decorated form.
"Oops, sorry, Carrots," Nick says. "I'll be more careful."
Of course he isn't, and when a piece of popcorn lands right on her nose, it's the final straw.
"That's it!" Judy cries out, grabbing a pawful of popcorn and throwing it at Nick.
Nick freezes for a moment, then turns his head ever so slowly, placing his bottle of 'Kay Karrot on the coffee table.
"So the bunny wants to play, huh?" he asks.
"No, Nick, I didn't mean…"
"Popcorn attack!"
Judy shrieks, bringing up her arms as Nick throws two pawfulls of popcorn at her. She somehow manages to put her bottle out of harm's way as she rolls off the couch and seeks cover behind her reading chair. Nick keeps bombarding her with popcorn, but she's about to strike back. She picks the popcorn from her body and when there's a break in the firing, she jumps out of her cover and throws all the popcorn she's got at Nick at once. Which is quite a lot, thanks to Nick's former bombardement.
Their attacks go back and forth until the bowl of popcorn is empty, and Judy rolls on the floor laughing while Nick does the same on the couch.
When she's finally recovered enough Judy gets to her feet and slumps down on the couch.
Nick sits up next to her.
"Oh geez," Nick says reproachfully, "looks like we're out of popcorn. Wanna make some more, Carrots?"
"And give you more ammo? That's a definite no way!"
Nick chuckles, as he picks popcorn from his fur and pops it into his mouth.
"Ew!" Judy says.
"Heh, it's still good!" he protests.
Judy shudders as she continues wiping herself clean from popcorn.
"Can we watch the rest of the episode in peace now?"
"It depends," Nick replies.
Judy raises a brow.
"If you're making more popcorn or not."
Judy sighs.
She decides to ignore him and turns her attention back to the TV.
"Heh, Carrots, I guess you missed a piece there on your shoulder," Nick says all of a sudden. "Let me help."
She turns her head just in time too see how he lowers his head to her shoulder, picking the popcorn up with his snout so very carefully. She can feel his lips brush against the cloth of her blouse, almost like a kiss, she can even feel the warmth of his mouth, and she stiffens.
When he sits back up, he's smirking again, but when he looks at Judy's face, something flickers in his eyes, and Judy can't tell what it is.
"You okay, Carrots?"
"I'm … fine," she replies.
"You don't look fine."
He looks concerned, actually, but then his face turns into angry mode.
"I can't believe it!" he calls out. "After all this time you're still afraid I'm gonna bite you!"
"I am not!"
"Then why do you look like you're about to have a heart attack!?"
"I am not afraid!" she retorts, the stiffness disappears from her body as anger takes her over as well. "I am … "
Surprised? Confused? Flustered? All at once?
None of this she can tell him, so she falls silent.
"You are what, Judy!?"
"I am … argh! Why did you have to pick it up with your snout!?"
This time, Nick stiffens. His ears droop and his eyes widen, but it only lasts for a moment.
"I don't have to explain everything I do to you," he says, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Yes, you do when it includes me!"
Nick sits there for a few moments, silent, motionless.
It makes the anger in Judy retreat.
"Why, Nick?" she asks again, but this time, there's no anger in her voice, only concern.
Nick inhales sharply.
"You know what!? Forget it! I'm out of here!"
And with that he jumps to his feet so abruptly Judy shrinks back in surprise.
Nick stomps away from the couch.
She doesn't even have a chance to stop him before the door snaps shut behind him.