A Lovely Night

Nick stood before the New Moon Theatre, checking his phone periodically for the time. He was waiting for his date, dressed particularly fancy for the occasion, and had arrived early to make a good impression. It was his first date with her, to be truthful, and he wanted it to be as perfect as possible. First on the schedule was the play that he had suggested, then onto dinner at a nearby classy restaurant where he had made reservations; the fox wanted to pull out all the stops.
But as the time of his date approached, he got more and more nervous. She was taking her time in arriving there, but he chalked it up to the subway system running a bit late. Fortunately the subway entrance was just next to the theatre, so he would see her as soon as she reached the steps. But as the evening grew older and the streetlamps started to glow, Nick was practically sweating in his suit, nervous beyond belief. He checked his phone, the play was about to start in any minute.
He heard footsteps down below and his face lit up at the prospect of seeing his date rush up the steps. But before he could see who it was, his phone chirped and his attention was pulled to the glow of the screen.

…

Judy was excited for her date. She had just finished a case and her friend wanted to celebrate. The next thing she knew, he had organized an entire night for the two of them, their first date together. He didn't reveal everything he had planned, but he did ask her to meet him in front of the New Moon Theatre. Unfortunately, paperwork had kept the bunny at the precinct a little later than expected and she was rushing to be on time.
She hastily decided on wearing a sky blue sundress before heading out to the subway. Luckily for her, the theatre was just next to a subway entrance, so Judy was certain that she would find her date waiting for her at the top of the steps.
Running out of the train car when it arrived at her stop, she was dead-set on apologizing for being so late. But when she arrived at the steps leading to the street her phone called out, alerting her of a message.

…

"CANCELLED?!"

The bunny and fox looked at each other in surprise after they had shouted the same thing. Nick noted how cute she looked in her sundress, but she wasn't his date. He was waiting for an elegant vixen, the same vixen that had just texted him to cancel. He was reeling internally from the thought of him actually going out of his way to try and make this a good date for the ungrateful female. But he didn't let it show to the bunny that was staring at him.
Judy thought the fox looked sharp in his suit, but he wasn't her date. She was expecting a hare to be waiting up there, but the clueless buck had just cancelled on her with a text. Decidedly annoyed, she stomped up the steps to street-level.

"Expecting someone?" The fox asked her as she passed by.
"As a matter of fact, yes," Judy answered. "Except that someone is an idiot for cancelling on me."
"Well if it's any consolation for you, I just had the same thing happen to me," the fox replied as he started walking beside her.
"And what? You're expecting me to be a stand-in?" Judy glared.
"Woah. Don't kid yourself, Fluff," the fox defended. "I'm just trying to make conversation. As of just now, my plans for tonight went out the window."
Judy rolled her eyes before offering her paw.
"Judy Hopps, I'm sorry that your date cancelled."
"Nick Wilde," the fox replied as he shook it. "And I'm sorry for the same."

"So, do you know any good places to eat around here?" Judy asked suddenly.
"What? Now you're asking me out to be YOUR stand-in?" Nick inquired.
"No!" The bunny pointedly argued. "I'm still new around here and I haven't eaten since noon! It was a legitimate question!"
"Alright! Alright! Don't get your ears in a twist," he tried calming her. "There's a café just down the street."
She walked off in the direction he indicated without a word.
Only after he said it, Nick realized that a bite from the café sounded nice. So with nothing else to do himself, Nick followed after the bunny down the street, cancelling his reservation at the fancy restaurant at the same time.

Judy easily found the café Nick had mentioned, taking a seat on the open terrace. A waitress came by and offered her the menu, which the bunny happily took. She browsed the many plates offered before deciding on a pasta salad. Just as she was about to call the waitress to place her order, she noticed that the table in front of her was now occupied. And as the newcomer's menu fell as well, Judy felt a little annoyed to find it was the same fox as before.
"Will you quit following me?!" Judy exclaimed, gaining the fox's attention.
"What? I can't go to the same café that I recommended?" Nick defended.
"Yes," the bunny admitted. "But do you HAVE to sit there? The terrace is literally empty!"
"Maybe I wanted to be able to talk some more."
"Well if you wanted to talk, then you could've asked me."
"You looked busy with the menu."
"I have ears, I'm not deaf! Now do you want to sit here or not?" Judy demanded as she motioned to the seat in front of her.
The fox got up from his spot in silence, moving over to the seat just across from her. The waitress chose this moment to move in and take their orders, which Nick gave with a suave smile. Judy, on the other hand, couldn't help but scowl during the entire exchange.

"So, you said that you're new here?" Nick asked after the waitress left.
This distracted the bunny long enough for her scowl to disappear.
"Yes, actually," she admitted. "It's been about a month."
"Okay, why the move?" The fox asked, genuinely intrigued.
"For my job, of course," Judy laughed. "I work for the ZPD."
"As what? A secretary?" He questioned, meriting a frown from his company.
"No. I'm a cop."
And just like that, Nick's nervousness came back with a vengeance.
"Oh. Uh… Sorry, I just didn't-"
"Make me out for a cop?" Judy finished, with a smirk. "It's fine. I get that a lot. I mean, who expects a bunny to be a cop, right?"
"Yeah. Right," Nick chuckled nervously.
The fox looked towards the inside of the café, expecting for the waitress to come with their orders, but the inside was just as quiet as the terrace.

Judy looked up at the night sky, admiring at how the moon peeked over the tops of the buildings.
"It's such a lovely night out," she unconsciously mentioned.
"Too bad it's waste," she heard Nick respond.
The bunny looked at him confused.
"What?"
"It's a waste," he repeated. "We both got dumped by our dates tonight. And even if we decided to call THIS a date, it wouldn't work between the two of us."
"I'm sorry?" Judy asked; shocked by what he was saying.
"I'm just saying, you're not my type, there's nothing between the two of us."
"Okay, first of all," She responded in a raised tone. "I think I would be the one to make that call. And TWO, this is NOT a date."
"Well I'm glad we cleared that up," Nick replied matter-of-factly.
"I agree."
As if on cue, the waitress came to their table at that moment with both of their orders ready; Judy's pasta salad, and a toasted sandwich for Nick.

The pair ate in relative silence and promptly paid for their orders. Judy politely said farewell to Nick and started off towards the subway station. The fox begrudgingly followed her there, seeing as how he had used the subway to get to the theatre in the first place.
"I thought I said goodbye back at the café?" The bunny rhetorically asked as they both waited for the train to arrive.
"Well I'm sorry to say that I need to take the train to get back home," he dryly replied.
"Whatever," Judy sighed as their train made its stop.

The train ride was made in equal silence, but Nick was surprised to find that the bunny was getting off at the same stop as him, and even more surprised to realize that she was heading in the same direction as his apartment. The bunny caught on to his tailing and stopped in her tracks ahead of him.
"Okay, you're cute and all with your 'escorting me back home', but you can drop it now," Judy declared as she confronted him.
"Look Carrots, I'm not escorting you or anything," he replied in exhaustion. "I just happen to live down this way."
She only scowled in response before turning around and continuing on her way.

The constant following of the fox was starting to get on Judy's nerves, but she started to relax as her apartment building came into view. A quick skip of the steps had her opening the door and closing it behind her as she stepped inside. Only to hear it open and close again.
"You have got to be kidding me," the bunny growled without turning around.
"Not even if I wanted to, Fluff," Nick simply replied as he started going up the steps to the next floor.
Judy followed him up the steps and grew even more annoyed to find that he was on the same floor as her. She absently walked down the hall to her apartment, blocking out the fox for the first time that night. But just as she was about to open the door, he called her out from right behind her.
"I hope you had a good night, neighbour," Nick wryly said as he entered his apartment.
Judy just blankly stared as the fox closed the door on the apartment facing hers. She then proceeded to bang her head on the door-frame in an attempt to remove all existence of the annoying fox from her memory.

AN: This little piece was inspired by the song and dance sequence 'A Lovely Night' from the movie 'La La Land'.