Zootopia House of Cards: King of Diamonds
I had so much fun with my first story, Zootopia House of Cards: Queen of Hearts, that I decided to write another card based story. This is the second story in the House of Cards Series. In this story I will explain once and for all why Nick Wilde is always so lucky with cards! Warning gambling and fluff!
I do not own the rights to Zooptopia or any of its characters. This story was written solely for the reader's enjoyment and without any profitable purposes. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious.
Thrippp! Thrippp! The cards made an almost musical sound to the lean fox in the tacky green tropical shirt and mismatched striped tie as he shuffled the deck. With the practiced eye of a street hustler, Nick Wilde glanced at each of the three other mammals sitting at the kitchen table as he gave them the kind of smirk that only a red fox can give. Sitting to his left was his old friend and former partner, a big eared fouled mouthed fennec fox dressed in his usual black and red striped bowling shirt, to his left sat a thin raccoon in a dark green polo shirt and well ironed khaki pants, and in front of him was his work partner and best friend, a grey furred rabbit in a pink and blue checkered blouse and white slacks.
"You gonna stare at the bunny all night or play cards?" the little fox snapped as he reached over for his bottle of brew and took a sip.
"You're such a gentlemammal as always Finn," Nick sarcastically replied as he began to deal the cards, three face down to each player. "Five card stud boys…excuse me, and lady…three down, two up."
A few minutes later the raccoon threw his cards down and cursed as the fox raked the pile of money towards him and grinned. "You're being a sore loser now Cooper?" he asked the raccoon as he sorted the cash by denomination into neat stacks in front of him.
"No Nick, it's just your too hot tonight and I want to know why?" Jack "Sly" Cooper huffed as he sat back in his chair and sipped his drink.
Nick leaned back and grinned at the other three players sitting around the table. "It's simple, you just need to learn to read your opponents," he happily answered with a chuckle as he picked up the cards again. "Take Finn for example, when he has a bad hand he frowns more than usual."
"Stuff it Wilde!" the smaller fox gruffly growled as he took another swig of his beer and then burped, before wiping his muzzle with the back of his paw. "Did you forget who taught you how to play cards to start with?"
"Then the student has surpassed the master!" the raccoon laughed and then flinched as the small fox tossed a peanut at him, before he gave him a candid version of the evil eye.
"Ah yes and then there is you my dear Mister Cooper, it's your tail that gives you away," Nick quickly continued as he hunched forward and played with the cards by shuffling them before spreading them out in a line on the table and then flipping them over.
"What about my tail?" the raccoon asked as he drained his drink and shook it to make the ice cubes rattle.
"The end of your tail flicks like a cat about to pounce when you have a good hand," the fox answered with a smirk as he stacked up the cards again and began shuffling them.
"I'll have you know that we raccoons don't swish our tails fox!" Jack snapped as he sat his drink down and frowned at it. "We use our tails for balance and that's what makes us so graceful!" Picking up his glass, he stood and slightly staggered as he began to walk towards the kitchen, only to trip on the chair's leg and stumble into the fox.
"Real graceful!" Nick laughed as he gently pushed the raccoon away.
Standing straight, the raccoon looked down at him and scoffed. "At least I don't use my tail like a fan, swishing it back and forth every time I see a certain rabbit!" Turning the raccoon stepped into the kitchen and poured himself another drink, ignoring the glare that the fox now gave him.
Nick glanced over at Judy, who grinned at him. "Like a fan Slick?" she giggled. "But it is such a nice tail too."
Finn rolled his eyes at her comments, "Get a room you two!"
"As for you Fluff," Nick said as he tried to salvage the conversation. "You bunnies are so emotional, which is why you should not play cards with the big boys!" he laughed as he flicked one of the cards onto the table, it was the ace of diamonds. "I can read you just like this deck."
Judy frowned as she looked the fox squarely in the eye. "So tell me again Slick, even with all that you have told us, what is the secret of your extraordinary winning streak?" She glanced over as Cooper joined them back at the table and the raccoon gave her a little wink.
All three friends leaned forward in their chairs as Nick gave them one of his trademarked smirks again. "What can I say, some of us are just naturally lucky!" he scoffed as he tried to balance one of the cards on the tip of his paw.
His smirk quickly turned into a frown and his ears drooped flat across his forehead when the raccoon tossed a pawful of cards onto the table. "Or some of us are sly cheats too fox!" Jack chuckled. "Look what I found you were hiding." The fox looked like he was about to object when his wallet also landed with a thump on the table.
"That's the thing about raccoons," Jack added as he leaned back in his seat and grinned as he swirled his drink. "We're natural thieves or so they say and some of us are great at pickpocketing too. But what do you expect, we always wear a mask!"
Nick looked around the table and saw the frowning fennec fox, the grinning raccoon, and the disappointed looking rabbit. Shaking his head, he pushed the pile of cash back into the center of the table. "Is anyone up for double or nothing?" he halfheartedly joked.
Not long after they divided up the cash and everyone took back what they lost, Finn and Jack left leaving Judy behind to help clean up their mess. Wiping his paw on the dish towel, Nick casually leaned against the kitchen counter and looked fondly over at the rabbit.
"So Carrots, you don't have to run off right away. There's still time for at least another hand or two of cards," he said as she stopped and turned to face him. "How about a couple of rounds of strip poker?"
"Ha!" she laughed as she put her paws on her hips like she always did when she was going to make a point about something. "You want me to play cards with a cheat?"
"I'll let you deal," he huskily replied as he walked over to the table and picked up the cards. She blushed some when he winked and smiled at her.
"How do I know that you aren't hiding more cards somewhere on you Slick?" she asked as she stepped closer and took the cards from his paw while looking up into his emerald eyes.
"You'll have to take my word for it fluff…" he began to reply as he looked down into those amethyst eyes.
"Why should I trust you?" she softly asked as she blinked and stepped away.
He reached up and rubbed his neck with his paw as he gave her an embarrassed look. "It was only a game and I wouldn't have kept the money," he sighed. "I'm sorry."
Judy looked down at the deck of cards and then surprised the fox by chucking them over her shoulder as she stepped into his arms. "Maybe I should strip search you first," she cooed as she pushed up on her toes to kiss him.
They didn't pick up the scattered cards until the next morning.
Next week the final story in the series: Zootopia House of Cards: Two of Clubs