Author notes:
Hello everyone, at last, I could update my fic, sorry for taking almost a month but this chapter was too complicated to translate, I hope you like it. Again, I want to give special thanks to my friends of /co/ Zootopia discord group for their support and especially the user Eh for the hints and exceptional and intensive corrections he did in this and the previous chapter, Thank you so much, you helped me a lot! Also, I want to thank Dexios for their good wishes and hints, I started using the Grammarly app you suggested me and it have helped a lot to improve it, Thank you very much!
I hope the waiting have been worthwhile, I wish you like it. Here you have the third chapter of my fic, Read and review, please!
Chapter 3: Bar confessions
Joe's was a small bar at the border of Sahara Square, mostly visited by predators, but it wasn't too odd to see some prey here too. Actually, the barman and owner was a huge but kind hippopotamus, the old Joe. It was a dark and smelly pub, but a nice place to get along and not too expensive. The night was young so the bar was half capacity, and on one of their red leather tables was seated two foxes. Finnick has already gotten rid of his costume and was only wearing a black and red tee and beige pants. On the other hand, Nick kept wearing the same green uniform, but without the gloves and the cap. The orangish fur mammal hasn't finished his first beer while the tiny fox was about to order his third round.
"What are you up to, Finnick? You've never been so nice."
"Well, I'll get to the point; boy, all day I've noticed you've acted very strange." he made a little pause to finish his beverage "The whole day you've been very distracted and too unfocused for you own good. Also, in the last hustle you totally lost control; I'm very grateful for what you did for me putting that witch in her place, but both of us know this business, we just can't lose our temper, especially you, 'cause you are the most calm of the two."
"Yeah Finnick, I know." he answered him sadly "I'm sorry, it never will happen a…"
"It's for the bunny, ain't it?"
"What? No! Of course not..."
"Son, I've known you for a long time, you may have mastered controlling and hiding your feelings but today of all days, you suck."
"Finnick, I don't really wanna talk about it." he took another sip of his beer.
"You know, I hate to poke my nose in your personal life and vice versa, but, as your business partner, this is not gonna work if you don't let me help you, come on boy, I already gave you some free drinks. Don't make me go back to the van and get answers with my baseball bat!"
"You won't leave me alone until I tell you, isn't it? Ok, you win."
Nick gulped down the rest of his beer and began telling Finnick about all his adventures with Judy, including when she asked to join the police and become her partner. He also told the fennec fox how he felt betrayed with Judy's speech, he felt the experience of the Ranger Junior repeated again with her words and when he tried to confront her, he realized she was afraid of him just because he was a predator.
"Tell me honestly, after all the moments you spent together, do you really think she didn't trust you? I mean, why did she'd a-a-a-sk you to…? Pfff Ha, ha, ha, sorry, I still can't swallow it…. Why did she'd ask you to be his police partner?" he tried not to laugh "Hahaha, I mean it, but haha, heck, it's too funny thinking you as a real fuzz haha..."
"Finnick, seriously I'm beginning to regret about..."
"Sorry boy, I do my best to don't crack up… Anyway, do you really think she'd ask you something like that if she considered you a threat?"
"Of course not, but I was too mad at her and after thinking carefully, I realized it, but it was too late. That's why I feel very uneasy because I couldn't control myself it became into a tempest in a glass of water. Maybe I was right about being upset, but I shouldn't have been so rude with her."
"Do you like her, ain't it?"
"Yeah… well... No! Not in that way!" Nick explained embarrassed while Finnick was just chuckling "What I mean is, for the very first time I've found someone who I think could understand me, someone who even not being a fox knew first-hand the feeling of being rejected or judged before even know you. Two days ago I haven't given a crap about someone like this, that's why the first time we met I didn't care, but after all the things we spent together, especially the incident at Rainforest District, when I see her there, being treated so unfairly, watching how her dreams were being crushed after have struggled so much; in this moment, I saw myself as a little, naive, helpless fox who once tried joining the Junior Ranger Scouts and was rejected for the same reasons, because he wasn't what everybody expected. I couldn't allow someone else suffer the same way and in desperation, make the same mistakes I did." Nick paused for a moment and sighed. "For the very first time in more than 15 years, I just realized it's possible to care about someone else, and the very least that I could do was support her. I think it was the only thing someone can do, someone like..."
"A friend?" Finnick cut him off.
"Yes… I think so, or at least, I was it for some hours."
There was an awkward silence, Nick had tried to stay away from any social or affective bond, Finnick was the closest mammal he could consider a friend, but like he said early, he didn't poke his nose in the big fox's business and only considered themselves as hustle partners. Flash and the rest of the mammals who knew Nick, even if he called them friends, are nothing but good relationships for his own interests and nothing else. Because of this, the idea of considering Judy a friend sounded too bizarre and astonishing for him. Maybe this was the reason he couldn't get the bunny out of his head easily.
"Answer me only one thing, Nick. Before arguing with her, you considered being her police partner. Why? And be honest, I promise I won't laugh."
"I… I dunno… I… maybe I did it all of a sudden, maybe I felt compromised, or maybe, after all the things we achieved together, the investigation, the asylum's infiltration, to arrest criminals and to help other mammals, everything was… So… So exciting and gratifying. I felt if I had recovered something I thought I had forgotten years ago as if I was a child again… Oh heavens Finnick, please tell me I didn't just say that, I probably sounded so pathetic." said the fox grimacing to himself.
"Just a little, hehe. Son, if you wanna hear my advice, the answer is crystal-clear."
"Oh yeah?"
"Look for the bunny and have a talk with her, she probably felt bad or even worst about it, just tell her you don't bear a grudge against her, amend things and there you go."
"Bah! It's not that easy Finnick, she must think I really hate her, or maybe she doesn't wanna see me again." the tallest fox said lowering his ears "And even if I wanted to give it a try, we'll be very busy tomorrow, we have to think in new hustles, the pawpsicles won't make for themselves."
"To hell with that! Forgot about it for a moment, even if you'd have a second chance to change your life. What? Do you really want to keep doing this? Both of us aren't into this business because we like it, we did it for need, but if we got a single chance to change it, we take it all of a sudden."
"What, would you do it?"
"You wouldn't, boy? Didn't you just plan to leave me for the girl and become a real fuzz?"
"Finnick, I'm not..."
"Nope!" the little fox waving his left paw to prevent he speak more "Don't apologize boy, I ain't even mad, as I told you earlier, I understand you, I'd do the same, I think there are better ways to make a living than pretending to be a little kid and wearing a silly costume for 40 bucks a day."
Nick was genuinely amazed by his partner's solidarity. It seems they weren't too different after all.
"Also, you can't use me as an excuse to not going to look for your bunny friend."
"And… What will you do without me? Will you look for an honest job or what?"
"I'll do something better." Finnick pulled out a white card his elephant friend gave him early "I'll try my luck with Susan, maybe I won't earn as much I earned with you, but it seems a stable job, recently make a living at Zootopia is becoming more and more complicated since the incident."
"Wait a second. Susan and you have been talking about something big in the city. What's going on?"
"You don't have a clue, do you? Since yesterday they don't stop talking about it on TV." Finnick turned back to see the bar owner "Hey Joe! Would you mind turning on the News, please?"
The big hippo stopped washing beer mugs, picked up a TV controller and turned on the TV, the first channel in screen was the popular news channel ZNN, both foxes turned to watch it; a beautiful snow leopard was the anchor for the nightly news who announced the next message:
'... and this is why the Natural History Museum will stay closed until further notice. In other news, some hours ago, another case appeared of a mammal acting savage, the same way the original 14 missing mammals were found yesterday. This mammal has been identified as Rick Bitey, a 28 years-old opossum classified as a predator. At Tundra Town's Main Square, many citizens saw an opossum scratching and biting trash cans, they called to the local asylum because they thought he was an animal suffering from mental faculties, but after he attacked a giraffe who worked near the place, the citizens called the police in order to subdue the dangerous predator. The police caught the opossum and the giraffe received immediate medical aid for minor wounds, both animals will remain under observation indefinitely to guarantee their health and to find a possible cure for this unknown disease that has turned 16 mammals savage so far. all of them, predators…'
"Well, besides the mysterious savage mammals case, I didn't notice anything odd, if you're talking about how they blame subtlety predators, it's pretty normal, they always have feared us and talk crap about us, isn't it?"
"Shut your mouth and keep watching."
'... they are still investigating the causes of this strange behaviour in mammals and suggest to all the citizens to keep calm and continue with your lives as normal. In case you see a mammal acting odd, remain calm, call the ZPD and walk away to prevent any incident. Now, let's end the news with…'
"Thank you, Joe, you can turn it off now."
The big hippo did what the little fox requested and turned off the huge screen, then, the bar came back with its usual noises.
"Really Finnick, this city has discriminated against us forever, especially for being foxes and..."
"Ok," the tiny fox cut him off "now pay attention around you."
Nick turned back to see all the mammals at the bar. In less than a minute, he noticed the sad and anxiety faces of most of the animals, many of them were very worried. Some of the predators and the few prey were talking on phone. He was able to hear phrases like 'Did you watch the news?', 'Are you ok?', 'Keep away from any predator and come home!' among other things, even some mammals at the bar asked for the bill. Nick felt the rejection again and the disdain he'd felt years ago, not only for being a fox but a predator. That's how he got Finnick's point of view.
"You maybe can't remember it, but about 30 or so years ago, there was a very similar incident that threatened the relationship between prey and predators. Fear and chaos surrounded the whole city, our kind were the most affected party, but prey also experienced hard times. The absence of predators caused collateral damage to the economy and lifestyle of any kind of mammals. Many months later, the conflict was solved and things returned to normality, apparently. But all the side effects, lost jobs, broken friendships, fear and disdain between species are still present to this date. Susan and I still remember those dark times, and the savage mammal case sounds very familiar to the other incident. I didn't wanna believe it, but after this awful day and the rhino's reaction, I can't stop but remember those hard times."
"Ok, ok I get it. But isn't it too early to jump to conclusions? It's a more advanced and modern age, maybe they'll find a cure next week or..."
"So begins boy, with fear." Finnick said very seriously "Mass hysteria is a problem once it starts, it's very hard to stop; if mammals are this scared for single savage opossum… I don't wanna imagine what would happen with many more cases with injured mammals or worse. I wanna believe it's gonna end soon or it won't be a big deal but, in my experience, I only can tell you one thing..."
"Finnick..."
"Brace yourself for the worse." he sentenced gloomily "Ok, maybe I was overreacting a bit ha, ha." he said in a more relaxing tone after seeing Nick's scared face "But don't let your guard down, if you want to patch things up with your friend, you have to do it as soon as possible, before the city's atmosphere get worse."
"Ok Fin', I'll do that, thank you so much for every..."
"Papapapa!" Finnick cut him off waving his front paws "Say no more, I haven't done anything more than helping a business partner, let me worry about myself; if you really want to thank me, you and your girlfriend owe me one round until you solve this, right?"
"Ha, ok Finnick, I'll do that too."
It was night and Nick was resting on his bed but couldn't sleep, he was thinking about everything; about the things Finnick told him; about the savage animals and especially about her. He carried the little carrot pen recorder with both paws, the one the naive but brave bunny had given him. He couldn't remember why he didn't get rid of it even if he was mad with Judy, the same way he threw away the fake badge and the ZPD application, but in the end, he felt calmer because at least he had a little something to remember her by. He kept thinking about what he was going to do tomorrow when he saw her again… He may have exceptional communication skills but he was afraid of being speechless around her. Some minutes later, he left the pen recorder on his bedroom desk and tried to sleep.
"Ok Carrots, tomorrow I'm going to fix this whole mess."
The fox closed his eyes and some minutes later he fell asleep thinking with the idea of seeing his little friend the next day.