Hey guys I wanna thank everyone that viewed, followed, favorite and reviewed this story. Also wow 1k views, I never expected to reach a hundred, so thanks everyone. And don't forget to review and say what you guys think of the story, be merciless.
This chapter is… a lot bigger that I thought it would be.
4° Vacation Day
"..and I said 'It's your word against yours' and played the record from my pen, then the rest of the police department walked in and arrested her." Judy have been telling the story of how she and Nick had resolved the Night Howler incident so many times in the past four days that her jaw was getting sore, she thought that by now the story would have been spread by word of mouth but every one of her relatives wanted to hear the story from the bunny that lived it. She obviously had omitted the parts where Nick had told her his childhood trauma and their fight after the press conference.
"Wow I can't believe that my little niece did all this, you must be very proud of her right bro?" Her uncle Mark asks excited while looking at Stu, who's nodding.
"Yeah but I worry all the time that she is in danger in the city." Judy rolled her eyes, her dad said that but he was there every time she told this story, listening more attentively than everyone else. He then looks at his wristwatch and puts his paw to his head.
"Sweet cheese and crackers it's 3p.m. already, I was supposed to go with Kaz make the delivery to Gideon two hours ago." As he got up Judy held his arm.
"Why do you need to go with Kaz, can't he make the delivery alone?"
"No Gideon freaks out for some reason when he sees him, so we always send someone with him." Sensing a chance of escaping her family Judy yells.
"LET ME GO." Judy then blushes a little as several of her relatives are staring at her, she quickly gets up and turns to her father.
"Stay here Dad, I can go with him, I want to say hello to Gideon, it's been so long, I can introduce him to Nick as well, he would love Gideon's blueberry pies." Stu gives her a worried look.
"Are you sure Jude, you should stay home resting you know, that arm isn't healed yet."
"Dad I have a broken arm, I'm not an invalid and besides Kaz and Nick will do the lifting." Judy scoffs.
"I don't know Jude." She gives him a pleading look.
"Please Dad." Seeing this Stu gives up and sits again on his chair.
"Okay Jude the Dude, but don't tire yourself alright, Kaz must be waiting for me near his pickup truck by the barn."
"Thanks Dad." She gives him a hug before bolting out of the room.
When she gets out of the burrow she chuckles happily, for the first time in four days she was free, she would have to spend some time with Kaz but even that fact was bothering her that much, granted that Nick would go with of course.
As she approaches the barn she spots several of her little cousins and siblings standing still while some others were seated on the ground near Nick and Kaz, who were seated in two of the chairs she and her aunts had used the day before, while staring at the kids with a serious look on their faces.
She stops besides Nick and stares dumbfounded at the scene, a large gridded square was draw on the ground, and each of the kids in the board stood inside their own square. Just as she was going to ask what they were doing both of them seemed to finally notice her.
"Hey Carrots." Nick says without averting his eyes from the kids.
"Hi Judy." Kaz says while looking at her with a smug smile on his face.
"Hey guys, what is this?" Then Nick snaps with a grin while pointing to a white bunny.
"You horse, kill that pawn." The kid walks to a black bunny, that Judy recognized as being one of her little nieces May, and takes her place at her square as May makes her way to Kaz who hands her a lollipop from an small bag by his side, then the girl sits near the other kids who all have o lollipop on their mouths.
"Tower walk three squares in front of you, check." Kaz looks at Nick who grunts and says.
"Don't think you won again Pink, I will get you this time." Judy paw grabs Nick's face and turns it to her as she berates scaring both of them.
"WHAT YOU TWO THINK YOU ARE DOING." Nick nearly jumps out of his chair while Kaz just leans away from her, all the little bunnies ears lowered at her display.
"We..we were just playing with the kids Carrots." With an apologetic smile and ears flat against the back of his head he gives Kaz a pleading look, who then breaks out of his shock.
"Woah woah, calm down no one is getting hurt here right kids." She looks around as the kids approach them leaving their places at the board game.
"Yeah aunt Judy we were playing chess, I was a pawn." The dark brown rabbit looks at her proudly. She releases Nick's face and pets the little boy making him giggle before she gives an angry frown to the two adults by her side.
"You two were using this kids as chess pieces." She says with a disappointed voice while still glaring at Nick.
"And you were bribing them with…lollipops, Kaz you know you can't give bunnies candy, the sugar will make them restless later." She was bursting with anger, if her arm wasn't broken she would be strangling him.
"I know that, that's why I gave them carrot flavored sugarless lollipops." Smiling while crossing his arms he continues.
"It's not my first time Judy, I know what I'm doing here." She throws her arm up in frustration.
"And does my parents or their parents know what you are doing here Kaz?" His smile falters but Nick interjects.
"C'mon Judy everyone is fine here, the kids are having…well, were having fun before you started screaming at us." She stares Nick, he only calls her Judy and not some silly nickname when he is serious. He has his con'man smile back on and his emerald eyes are gazing at her showing that he would not back down from this fight. She turns to the kids who all look scared of her, sighing and dropping her ears she hears Kaz speaking softly.
"Hey I'm sorry, me and your uncle Mark played like this when he visited Boss last time so I really thought this wasn't a big deal, but I won't do it anymore if you want okay?" She still wanted to beat him but kids looked at her pleadingly, as she groans defeated.
"Okay, sorry I overreacted a little." Kaz smiles again and gives the bunnies his bag of lollipops.
"Here kids, for your hard work." The bunnies swarm around the bag for a while, before spreading around leaving behind torn pieces of plastic.
"Wow they are like a shoal of piranhas." Nicks says making him and Kaz laugh a little as they turn back to Judy.
"Hey do you know when Boss is gonna get here, he is two hours late for our delivery."
Judy ears perk up as she remembers the reason she is here.
"Oh Dad isn't coming, instead I'm going with you today." She turns to Nick.
"Nick do you want to go and meet my friend Gideon?" Nick giggles.
"What and miss one of his famous blueberry pies, of course I'm going Fluff, we have been waiting all afternoon for this." As they get up and store the chairs in the barn she asks.
"What do you mean you have been waiting?"
"Kaz told me that this Gideon fella makes great blueberry pies, we would have gone sooner but he said we had to wait your dad." So he was going even if she haven't showed up and asked, this thought made her a little angry but she calmed herself remembering that Nick protected Kaz just a while ago and if they would have fun with or without her then it better be with her, preferably in a good mood.
"Mr. Fox." A childish voice makes the three turn around as six very small bunnies stand there.
"Hey kiddo." The small black bunny wearing a yellow dress puts both paws behind her back as she shyly glances at Nick.
" Mr. Fox, can we touch your tail?" The girl says timidly and as she sees their pleading puppy eyes Judy's heart melts.
"Awwwwwn." She then turns to Nick expecting him to be as moved as her, but what she sees makes one of her ears drop and her face contort in confusion.
Kaz and Nick both have theirs jaw's dropped and the faces with eyes filled of horror as if they had just witnessed a murder. Nick's ears are flattened against the back of his head and Kaz usually pale skin is now marble white, the look at each other for a few seconds before looking back to the kids. Kaz starts clearing his throat averting his gaze while Nick readjusts his tie over and over while looking the other way. Judy notices that both of them are now blushing.
" Mr. Fox?" The kid asks again with more confidence this time. Nick looks at her with his mouth still hung open, as Kaz just stares at him he mumbles.
"Sorry kid."
"O-okay, sorry ." The kids all nod with sad faces before turning around and running to the burrow. Only when the kids are already distant both Kaz and Nick start relaxing as they sigh relieved. Kaz is cleaning cold sweat from his forehead and Nick has a paw on his chest. Suddenly they notice the pounding noise that Judy's foot is making.
"Sorry Carrots, it's just that…" Nick stops and looks at Kaz who nervously picks his keys from his pocket.
"Uhm…we are already very late so…." With this they start walking in the direction of a blue pickup truck loaded with boxes. Judy stands still with her jaw dropped, frozen in confusion.
"What the…" And she dashes after them.
When she catches up Kaz is seated on the driver's seat and Nick on the passenger's.
"Sorry Carrots I got shotgun." She was going to say something but instead she entered the car and got on the backseat as Kaz drove out of the barn and Nick began telling one of his bad jokes. They were not telling her something.
After they get on the road and Nick finishes his joke Judy finally speaks.
"Nick did something happen?" Nick stops laughing and gives her a confused look.
"No Carrots, why?" She couldn't believe it, he had just lied to her, she saw him stealing a quick glance at Kaz before he answered her, even if his voice didn't falter, she knew her partner well enough to tell he was lying. She shakes her head.
"No, It's just…if something happens you will tell me right?" She looks at him pleadingly. His face turns serious.
"Judy you know I would never hide anything from you." Except for this he thought.
Hearing this words Judy felt relieved and casted away all doubt she had.
"Thank you Nick, that means a lot to me." Their eyes met again, she gazed into the emerald oceans in his pupils and it filled her with determination, now was the time.
"If you ever suspect that he is hiding anything, you just need to ask someone to check the higher shelves." Kaz said mockingly causing Nick to laugh out loud, she glared at Kaz's back wanting to kill him, that joke killed her moment. Groaning she threw her back to her seat and leaned her head on the window staring angrily at the road.
Nick knew that his partner was not in high spirits, she really hated being called cute or small, even if it was a friendly joke. He then remembered that Kaz took off his bunny cap when entering the truck so that the ears would not bend against the truck's ceiling, picking up the cap he flattened back his ears and put it on while holding a laugh in his throat when seeing the face Kaz made when looking at him.
"Hey Carrots look here, guess what I am." He was smiling like a child with a new toy.
"Nick what…?" He snickered.
"I'm a box Fluff." Both males began laughing while Judy rolled her eyes giggling.
"Har har Slick but you're never going to be a funny." She then started laughing for real accompanying Kaz who was laughing so hard it seemed he was going to die. Nick removed the cap while turning back in his seat happy that his friend was in a better mood.
As the laughter dies Judy cleans some tears from her eyes, she hadn't had such a good laugh in a while, but as she sees the cap on Nick's lap she realizes she never seen Kaz without it until now. She looked at him curious about how his ears would look, but at the top of his head there was nothing but hair, raising an eyebrow she nudges his shoulder.
"Kaz why do you have no ears?" Kaz chuckles and Nick rolls his eyes. Her ears drop a little as she says.
"What, he doesn't" Nick leans toward Kaz and pushes away some strands of Kaz hair on the side of his head. Judy's jaw drops as she stares at his right ear, she never saw anything like that, it was round, flat and it didn't look like flexible like hers or Nick's.
Nick almost laughed at the face she was making, he controlled himself just because he had the same reaction the first time he saw it. As he turns his head back to Kaz prepared to make a snarky comment about the situation he notices something is wrong, Kaz's eyes are darting back and forth from him to the road and his face is blushing so much that it's almost red. He opens his mouth slightly to ask what is wrong but then he realizes. He didn't notice before but he had been rubbing the soft part near the base of his ear with his fingers. Taking his paw away from Kaz ear and turning his head away while hiding his embarrassment he states.
"So Carrots that's quite a view isn't it?" Judy happily bounces in her seat still staring at the human's head.
"I never seen any ear like that, how can you hear with it?" Hearing this Nick silently sighed in relief that she didn't notice it, he didn't want her asking things he wasn't sure how to explain.
"Like everyone else I guess, why is it that strange?"
Kaz cursed in his mind that he asked this stupid question while looking straight ahead doing the best he could to hide his reddened face.
"Well it's just very different from what I'm used to." Judy says while scratching her neck. She looks at Nick expecting him to have smartass comment about this but instead he is quiet, looking at the window while holding the bunny ears cap tightly in his hands.
"Kaz, why do you use that cap with fake ears?" Nick's ears stand up as he hears this question, he joked a lot about the cap since he met Kaz but he never asked this, he always thought he wore it as a joke of some kind, he slowly turns his head to look at him waiting for an answer.
"Yes and no." Nick's ears flicker, what he means with that.
"Hey Pink don't go hiding anything from us now, you know I can reach the top shelves." While grinning. Judy shot an angry glance at him.
"Yeah Kaz what did you mean by that?" The truck then begins speeding down before it stops in front of a small pink bakery. Judy looked around, she hadn't noticed that they already had entered the urban area of Bunny Burrows
"I'll explain in the drive back Foxy." Turning to the bunny in the back.
"Judy can you go inside and see if Travis is there, if he is ask him to make sure Gideon stays out of my way, then you call us." Judy looks at him confused.
"Wait, why? Who is Travis?"
"Travis is a ferret, if you find Gideon instead, ask him to find Travis and seriously…do not tell Gideon about me." The tone of his voice as he emphasized this last part made Judy shiver a little, she nodded before exiting the truck and entering the bakery.
The inside of the bakery was very welcoming, the walls were painted yellow and there were a few orange tables with green chairs around it that seemed perfect for a family or friends reunion. Judy walked leisurely before stopping in front of a balcony with a glass display of several pies and cakes that watered her mouth.
"Hello, how can I help you today?" She looked at the direction of the voice and saw the ferret, he had a light pink uniform, hat and a simple white apron, on his nametag it was written Travis. She immediately remembered who he was, he was Gideon's friend from the day he scratched her face.
"Hello Travis I'm Judy Hopps." The ferret face went from curious to happy and then to a saddened expression.
"Hello Judy, long time no see." He scratched his arm and continued.
"I-I'm just want you to know that I'm sorry…about what happened back then and I want to thank you for forgiving him, it meant a lot for him and for me too." Judy places her paw on his arm.
"Thanks Travis." Seeing her smile the ferret face shone with happiness.
"So Judy do you want something to eat for you it's on the house, just wait I'll call Gid here he will love seeing you." Before she could say anything else the ferret bolted for a door behind the balcony.
"She is taking a long time in there." Kaz whispered annoyed while resting his forehead on the steering wheel, he hated making deliveries to this place, even if the food they sold there was good, he did not notice that Nick had been gazing at him for a while.
"Pink, can I touch your ear again?" He watched as the human raised his blushing face questioningly before nodding and resting his head on the wheel. His paw gently pushes his hair out of the way and he sees Kaz shift in his seat as starts slowly caressing his ear. After a while Kaz turns his head to look him in the eyes, he can see the human dark blue eyes staring at him. Nick's mouth open slightly as they slowly start to lean forward one another in their seats, their faces getting closer and closer, his heart thumping furiously in his chest.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH." Both of them jump at the sudden scream, Nick is clenching his chest as his heart is almost exploding while Kaz holds his head, whining after head butting the truck's ceiling.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". Hearing another scream Nick turns to him scared.
"What the hell is that Pink?" Still rubbing his head he looks to the fox.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". Rolling his eyes he says.
"Damn it, she had one job."
Three minutes earlier
Travis reappears from the door accompanied by Gideon who is holding a plate with a piece of cake on it.
"Heya Jude, mighty good seein you here, com here."
The chubby fox place the plate at one of the tables while pulling a chair and holds it as Judy sits. After that he and Travis sit on the other side of the table.
"Thank you Gideon." He then pushes the plate near her.
"When Travis tol me you wer here I got you this piece of carrot cake." Judy eats a piece of the cake.
"Wow Gideon, this is amazing, it's much better then the ones they have in Zootopia."
"Thanks Jude." He looks at her left arm with an worried expression.
"Is your arm okay?" She eats another piece of cake before answering.
"Yeah, I just broke it while arresting a bear but it was nothing serious. One month of recovery is all I need according to the doctors." She takes another bite at the delicious cake.
"So I took this time to visit my parents, I even brought along my partner in the ZPD."
Both Travis and Gideon had happy expressions. Travis then says.
"Well, as long as it's nothing serious then I guess it's okay. And if you need anything, anything at all you can call us okay." She smiles and nods.
"Thank you guys." Gideon giggles a little and asks.
"So Jude when ar you going to bring your partner here, I want to thank him for helpin you and keepin you safe." She points at the blue pickup truck parked outside.
"Actually Nick is there with Kaz, they are g…" Gideon interrupts her with despair in his voice.
"K-K-Kaz is here?" He looks at her with tears forming in his eyes. Judy stares at him confused about his reaction and as she answers she doesn't notice Travis trying signalize her to stay quiet.
"No Kaz is there with Nick, they're going to carry today's delivery." Gideon's face then went blank she looks at Travis who is facepawing with both paws, then Gideon begins.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". Judy drops her fork as she looks scared at the fox.
"Gideon what's wrong?" She stands up and walks to his side holding his shoulder as he shivers.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". She looks terrified at Travis who is hugging Gideon trying to calm him down.
"Travis what's going on?"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". The ferret answers whithout looking at her, focusing his eyes on the fox.
"He is terrified of Kaz, like really scared."
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". The bunny stares at him despairing.
"How do you make him stop." Then they hear the door opening as Kaz bursts in followed by Nick. Seeing him approaching Gideon starts shaking much more violently, with tears rolling down his face, as he prepares to scream again Kaz stops in front of him with an angry face as he open his mouth reveling several flat teeth and four point fangs.
"HISSSSSSSS." The hissing sound he made irritated her ears and sent shivers down Judy's spine causing her to jump away from the human. Gideon rolled his eyes up in their sockets and fainted, nearly causing Travis to fall as he tried to hold the fox. Travis, still shaking a little gives Kaz a weak smile.
"Thanks Kaz." Smiling apologetically to the ferret Kaz responds.
"Do you need help carrying him." He nods and looks at the fox.
"Help me get him to our bed in the second floor." Kaz picks Gideon with one arm as he follows the ferret, leaving Nick and Judy alone.
"Sweet cheese and crackers did you hear that?" Supporting herself by placing a hand in a nearby chair she looks at Nick still chocked.
"Carrots, that fox almost woke the dead, I think everyone in Zooria heard him." Nick jokes, sitting comfortably and smelling Judy's unfinished cake.
"Not that Nick, I mean Kaz, did you hear him just now, he looked like a savage." She recoiled at his angry face.
"I'm sorry I didn't mean."
"It not me you should be saying sorry for Carrots." Nick scoffed before dropping the angry look seeing her ears lowered.
"Alright, I know you didn't mean it that way Carrots, just take care with what you say in front of him okay, he is much softer than he looks." As he finishes they hear Travis and Kaz coming out of the employer's door. Judy asks Travis worried about Gideon.
"Is he okay?" Travis nods at her with a timid smile.
"Yes don't worry Judy, this is not the first time it happened." Her ears perk up.
"It's not the first time?" Kaz speaks with an annoyed voice.
" space up there does this every time he sees me or knows I'm around, so now when it happens I just scare him a little to make him pass out." Judy looks angrily at him.
"That's horrible Kaz." Travis gets her attention and shakes his head.
"Actually, It's better this way Judy, I prefer to see him sleeping peacefully than…."
"Screaming for hours." Kaz complements while Travis nods weakly.
"Yeah."
Kaz looks at Nick who is observing quietly the whole ordeal.
"Let's grab those boxes Foxy, then we can get a blueberry pie." Hearing about the blueberry pie Nick jumps out of his chair.
"See Carrots, this is how you motivate someone to work." He says while licking his lips before the duo exits the bakery and starts unloading the boxes on the pickup truck.
Travis sits back on his chair and Judy follows him seating on hers. She looks at her cake, but she had lost her appetite.
After half an hour of carrying boxes from the truck to the bakery's storage Nick and Kaz start browsing through the menu before ordering two large orange juices. When Travis goes to the kitchen to pick their orders Nick approaches Judy who still haven't finished her cake.
"Hey Judy are you feeling better now." He places a paw on her shoulder causing her ears to rise a little bit.
"Thanks Nick I was just a bit shocked that's all." She turns around to look at him but at the corner of her vision she saw Kaz, she was sure he had done something bad to Gideon but Travis kept changing the subject when she questioned him. She was about to call him when Travis returns.
"Hey guys here are your drinks." They grab the glasses eagerly and gulp down the cold juice, sighing satisfied the human says.
"Thanks I really needed that, can you get us one blueberry pie for takeout too." The ferret nods and he goes back to the kitchen.
"Finally, I thought you had forgotten about it Pink." Nick laughs, playfully elbowing his arm earning a few chuckles.
"How could I forget the blueberry pie I promised my Foxy after all your hard work." He elbows Nick's shoulder laughing, Nick then elbows him again before they start an elbow fight with each other.
Judy stares at them when she hears he saying 'my Foxy', she forgot all about Gideon and the whole fiasco that just happened, she could just think about what she just heard. 'Could he and Nick be' she thought but quickly started denying it. There is no way they are...Right? Of course they aren't, they are just two good friends, after all they were both males and from different species. At this last thought she got a little sad, she and Nick were from different species too…
"Hey earth to Carrots." She looked up to see that Kaz had already paid for the pie which box Nick was holding, and that they both were waiting for her at the bakery's entrance door. She quickly got up and said her goodbyes to Travis, whishing Gideon a good recovery and apologizing again for the whole mess.
On the drive back Judy was standing quietly in the backseat, while Nick and Kaz were discussing how to divide the pie among themselves. After they agreed on four slices each she spoke out.
"What did you do to Gideon?" Kaz glances at her.
"I didn't do anything, he has been like that ever since I first met him, when I was making a delivery last year." Judy dropped her angry glare, Travis had said something like that too.
"So every time I go there, the Boss tags along to make sure Gideon is out of the way, kinda like what you had to do today." He had a hint of accusation as he said these last words.
"Sorry." Glancing at the sad bunny Kaz sighs.
"Sorry Judy, it wasn't your fault, I should have explained better." Judy cheers up a little, sure the human was still a jerk but he was trying to make her feel better and that was sweet of him.
Wanting to change the topic Nick coughs and picks up Kaz's bunny cap.
"So Pink remember this?" He spins the cap around his fingers, grinning. Seeing the cap Judy leans forward with her ears perked full of curiosity.
"Alright, but just if she promises not to take it personally." Nick and Judy look at each other confused before she nods at Kaz.
"There is that inclusion initiative, that should make it easier for humans like me to get jobs outside the military right." They both nod again.
"Well, when the initiative passed, many humans tried it, but almost all of them didn't get any jobs." He sighs.
"Apparently other mammals were scared of us or thought we were strange, so when nobody hired those that tried the initiative they tried to come up with solutions."
"What does this have to do with the cap?" Judy asks.
"I'm getting there." Clearing his throat he continues.
"One guy, Daniel something, had this theory that other mammals were scared of us because they couldn't relate with how we looked, since we don't have tails, our muzzle are non-existent and our ears and noses were so different."
"So he had the idea to wear a piece of clothing to make us more relatable to others, it couldn't be a fake tail or muzzle because it would look stupid and probably would make things worse, so he came up with the eared caps." Nick and Judy stared at the cap while he continued.
"He chose the ears based on the fact that we are known as a violent race, so using predator ears would not work, so when choosing from prey ears he thought about bunnies, bunnies have cute ears after all." Judy was about to say something but Nick shushed her, earning him an angry glare.
"Then they made the first lot of bunny caps and started testing it."
"Testing how?" Nick looked at him trying to figure what needed to be tested for a cap to work.
"They took pictures of humans with and without the cap, showed to other mammals and asked which of those humans they thought that looked less dangerous and more trustworthy and everyone chose those wearing the caps." Judy then asked.
"How do you know all this, are you making this up?"
"This is common knowledge from where I'm from."
"Okay, so just because you put bunny ears on that cap people are more friendly to you?" Judy snickers.
"Yes the cap always works, people pay too much attention at the cap and when they notice they are already at a conversation with me." He says smiling.
"That's bull, right Slick." Nick nods grinning smugly.
"Sorry Pink but I have to agree with Carrots on this one." Kaz then laughs.
"But Foxy, when we met the first thing you noticed was my cute cap, remember?"
Nick raised one of his paws with a pointed finger ready to remark him, but then he remembered that the first thing he noticed when they met that day was that his face looked cute, so he just nodded and coughed awkwardly looking at the window.
"You got me there Pink." Seeing the approaching burrow he heard Judy sigh.
"Finally we're home, I can't wait to take a shower and go to bed, today was stressful."
Nick gives her a fake offended look.
"Says the little bunny who didn't carry any boxes from the truck." To which she responded with an eye roll.
After the pickup truck stopped they said their goodbyes and parted ways. Arriving at their shared house Nick made his way into the kitchen.
"Hey Pink where's the plates again?" Making his way to the bathroom Kaz says.
"The closet below the sink, in the middle drawer." Nick ducks in front of the drawer, as he looks for dessert plates.
Finally finding what he looked for he was about to close the drawer as he saw something hidden behind the piles of tableware, giving in to his curiosity his paw reached and grabbed one of the two hidden objects. His eyes shone with mischief
"Pink you and I are going to have fun with this later." He whispered to himself before storing the object again and closing the drawer, serving himself one slice of pie he made his way to the couch, turned on the tv and started eating.
5° Vacation Day
Nick had been helping Kaz set up the Hopps for the last two hours, as he felt the cold wind he looked up to the gray sky. The weather forecast told that it would rain heavily on Bunny Burrows starting later this afternoon and stopping only in the night of the next day. Stu said thet they nedded to make sure the stand was ready today so that they could choose the best location for it, he also had went home and was going to return with a canvas that was supposed to protect the stand from the rain but he was late. He felt something pat his shoulder and as he turns Kaz says.
"We're finished here, we just need the canvas now." Nick stretches his back.
"Good, I'm starving can't wait to eat another slice of that blueberry pie." Kaz back give him a few satisfying snaps as he stretches it, he then looks at Nick.
"We had lunch three hours ago how are you starving?" Nick then puts his aviator shades on.
"What can I say I'm a growing fox, I need sustenance."
Kaz scoffs as he leans back on the stand.
"Easy for you to say Foxy, you're not the one cooking." Nick crosses his arms and says with a smile.
"Do you think I can't cook Pink?" Kaz crosses his arms mimicking him.
"I'm sure of it." While grinning and giving him a challenging look.
Nick knew what Kaz was trying to make him cook for them so that he could relax for some days but he couldn't just walk right into that, his pride as an ex-conman wouldn't let him.
"So how about this Pink, I have a deck of cards in my bag, we play a few rounds of poker and the winner chooses what dishes the looser has to cook for the next week, deal?" The human scratches his chin while thinking about the proposition.
"Deal, but I want to check that deck of yours before we play." Nick gives him a fake outraged air.
"Do you really think I would try to cheat at a gentlemammal's bet Pink?" Making Kaz chuckle as he says.
"When trying to avoid work? Yes, Foxy." Suddenly Kaz throws both hands to the sky while pretending to be thankful for a miracle, confused Nick turns around to see that Stu, Boonie and Judy are approaching the stand.
"Finally Boss, I thought I would grow old and die here." Taking the canvas from Stu's hands he starts covering the stand with Nick's help.
"Sorry guys, Boonie wanted to see the stand and Jude said she wanted to help". Boonie and Judy look at their work in awe, Boonie then comments.
"You boys did a really nice job here, I can't believe you two already finished everything."
"Yeah guys, normally it takes until nightfall to finish." Judy complements and Nick giggles as he says.
"Well Carrots, when you get two masons that are higher than three feet tall things usually go faster." Judy's foot stomps the ground but Boonie laughs.
"Don't pay attention to her, she is just mad because she wanted to help you two with the stand." Boonie says placing a paw on her daughter's shoulder, making Judy's ears drop in embarrassment.
As they finish with the canvas, Kaz looks at Judy before saying.
"I have been saving my days off so that I could enjoy the fair this year, if you want to help, you could stay with Boonie at the stand to help selling during the fair, this way they wouldn't be short staffed." She looks at him with her mouth hung open, if she did that she wouldn't be able to enjoy the fair with Nick.
"OH MY GODNESS, you could help me during the fair…so do you want to help your old mother just like you did when you were little?" Judy looked at her mother pleading eyes, she wanted to say no, she really did, but she had not visited them for more than a year and her parents had took that absence very hard, this would mean a lot for her mother. She gave her a happy look and smiled as she said.
"Of course Mom." Boonie squealed happily as she hugged her daughter. Stu walked closer, smiling as he placed a paw on Judy's back, he then looked at Kaz and said.
"Kaz as we agreed you have the next four days off, you also can take the rest of today off, It's going to rain soon so let's get going." Since him and Nick were looking at Stu they didn't notice that Judy was glaring daggers at the human's head.
As they were making their way to the parking lot Judy heard Nick and Kaz listing several food names, curious she tagged along them and asked.
"What's going on Slick Nick?" They stop talking about food, Nick grins smugly.
"I just listing everything I will want to eat the next week so that Pink can start preparing himself." Kaz spins his pickup keys on his fingers as he says.
"Keep dreaming Foxy, you already lost this bet you just don't know it yet." She asked curiously.
"What have you betted on?" Arriving at their destination Kaz starts unlocking their ride as Nick answers.
"Who loses at poker today has to cook everything the winner asks for the next week."
A drop of water falls on her head.
"Good luck Nick, see you guys tomorrow." She quickly runs and enters her father's car, while Kaz and Nick say their goodbyes from inside the truck, protected from the rain.
When Kaz parks the pickup in front of their house the rain is already strong, both of them stay seated for a while preparing themselves. They jump out of the truck, closing the doors hastily as they make a dash for the terrace. Before entering the living room Kaz wipes his hair with his hands and Nick spin his body as they try to get some water off their bodies.
After that each of them took a warm shower and got changed into clean clothes.
Kaz is wearing a blue t-shirt and black boxer shorts while Nick is wearing red shorts and the t-shirt that earned him his nickname, a black t-shirt with the words "I AM FOXY" stamped on it in a golden color.
Nick picks his deck of cards and hands it to Kaz who laughs.
"I was joking Foxy I trust you." As they seat in front of each other in the kitchen Nick starts shuffling.
"Are you sure Pink, there's no crying later." Kaz then realizes.
"Foxy what are going to be our chips." Nick smiles as he makes his way to the sink's closet and return with two bottles of whisky and two small glasses.
"One for each of us, one glass equals one chip, whoever finishes his bottle or passes out first loses." Nick was smiling from ear to ear, he could keep his alcohol very well and was sure his poker face was better. Kaz gave him a worried look.
"Foxy, are sure about it, this stuff is strong, I don't know if you can handle it." The fox rolled its eyes and mocked.
"Is that why you hid it from me?" Scratching the back of his neck Kaz said.
"Actually I'm hiding it from the kids, when I started working here one day I got back from the fields and saw one little bunny passed out in front of the house, he had drank a little from an open bottle that was on the table." Nick's eyes widened.
"And how did you keep your job?" The human chuckled, pointing to the cleaning material in the corner of the kitchen.
"After making sure he was not hurt I hid all three bottles of whisky, then I grabbed that gallon of bleach and putted it on his hand before called the Boss and Boonie, the kid got grounded and he didn't remember anything." Nick nearly dropped the cards he was shuffling as he laughed.
"Damn Pink, never let Carrots know that." He then started distributing the cards as they began their first round.
One hour had passed, Nick had drank half his bottle and Kaz had drank just one glass more than he and both of them were tipsy but they were far away from getting smashed, it looked like the disqualification for passing out was not going to happen.
Nick looked at his cards again, he had nothing this round.
"I raise to two glasses." Kaz said with his gaze distant and his face frozen pensively. Nick couldn't believe he had a good poker face, you could usually read the human just from his expressions.
"I fold." He gulped down one glass of whisky that burned his throat, it really was strong, he had not read the 65% label on the bottles before having this idea.
"Hey Pink, wanna take a break for a slice of pie?" Kaz nodded weakly.
"Sure I'm starving." Nick then clears the cards of the table while Kaz goes to the refrigerator and cuts two slices of pie. Nick's mouth waters when he sees the food and as soon as the slice is in front of him he starts voraciously eating it.
Kaz stares at his slice of blueberry pie, using his fork to play with it. He quickly steals a glance at Nick who is eating happily before he turns his gaze to his plate again feeling his face heat up. He didn't know what to do with this feelings, Nick was his friend, his only friend, the only one that ever treated him well, who accepted him for what he was, the only one that cared for him. He did not care for him because someone put them together on the same squad during the war and their survival depended of each other, he genuinely cared for him, he was his only true friend. And that's why he did not know what to do, he never had felt this way towards anyone. These past five days had been the best days of his life and he wanted Nick to know it, to know how he felt, but what if he scared him away or disgusted him, they were both males and they were so different. He didn't want to lose his friend, he didn't want to take the risk, it was too high, but deep down he knew that he had to do it, their time were too limited. Each passing day Nick's imminent departure was getting closer and after that…he would be alone again. Tears tried to form on his eyes as he thought this, he couldn't endure it again, not after having this taste of what real happiness is.
"Kaz." He hears Nick's voice softly calling his name and shifts his gaze to him, who has a face full of concern. He stares at him, his red fur, the black tips of his ears, the cream colored fur that went from bellow his muzzle and disappeared on his shirt, his emerald eyes…all which would be gone once he had to go back to Zootopia, to his job…to his life. He had decided, he didn't want to be just a memory Nick held dear when remembering of his vacation. He wanted to be a part of his life. If Nick didn't want him as he wanted Nick, if the solitude was inevitable, then at least he would have no regrets, he would never wake up at night asking himself 'what if I have told him'. He had made his mind.
Nick's voice was cracked, he knew it but he couldn't help it. He finished his pie so fast that a few pieces of it were still around his muzzle, he was going to make a joke about that, but when he saw Kaz he lost his voice, all he had managed to do was calling his name. He was playing sadly with his food and when he heard him and looked up Nick froze, he had really sad look, his face was blushed at some places and pale in others, his mouth was contorted and tears were forming in his eyes. He clenched his fingers, he could feel his heart becoming heavy at this sight, he wanted to help him, he wanted to say that everything was going to be okay, he wanted him to smile, he wanted to never see him make such a sad face again.
Suddenly Kaz face changed from one of sadness to one of resolve, this sudden change broke Nick out of his thoughts. A little relieved that his friend seemed better, he cleared his throat and asked.
"You don't want your blueberry pie Kaz?" Nick watches as the human leaves his seat and walks stopping by his side, feeling his arms around his torso as he stoops until they are at the same eye level.
"The blueberry pie I want is this one." He says affectively before leaning towards him and kissing his mouth where a piece of blueberry pie still resided.
Nick's mouth hangs open, he stares at Kaz for a moment their eyes locking with each other before he jumps onto him.
6° vacation day
Nick wakes up, he slowly opens his eyes and without moving he looks to the clock on the bedroom's wall, it is marking 4:57a.m., smiling, he closes his eyes again. He can feel the human's face buried in his fur and his breathing on the back of his neck. He can feel Kaz's embrace as he spoons him. Not wanting to wake his partner, he stands still until he feels a shift in Kaz breathing. He gently starts adjusting the position of his naked body, careful to not break his embrace, until they facing each other. Nick watched as Kaz opens his eyes and gave him a warm smile. They stood there looking into each other eyes as they listened to the rain. Nick recalled last night events, how he jumped onto him pulling his mouth toward his own, kissing passionately as they stumbled through the living room and fell into the couch, feeling their paws caressing each other's body as they undressed. He blushed when he remembered that once they were naked Kaz lifted him from the couch and placed him onto the bed while kissing him violently.
Nick approached him until their mouths were almost touching.
"Morning Pink, sleep well?" Kaz gives him a small kiss on the nose.
"Best sleep of my life Foxy." They keep looking at each other for a while until the human finally speaks.
"I wanted to tell you that this wasn't an one night thing for me." Nick stares into his eyes as listens.
"I want to be part of your life, to go live with you in Zootopia when you return." He feels one of Kaz's paws caressing his neck.
"I love you Nicholas."
Nick heard Kaz suppress a scream when he was kissed, when they finally separated he said.
"I love you too Kaz." Nick embraced him and buried his head at his lover's neck, happily snuffing his scent.
As he heard Kaz sniffing he looked up at his face and saw that he was crying.
"I'm sorry Nick, I'm just so happy." He kissed his cheek where one tear was rolling down and said.
"Oh you humans, always so emotional."
They lied on the bed for ten more minutes before getting up and going together for a shower, while cleaning their bodies Nick's ears lowered as he noticed several flesh claw marks and one bite mark on Kaz body, he didn't remember being so savage last night. After drying themselves and brushing their teeth they exited the bathroom. They picked the clothes they were using last night from the ground and since they weren't really used they put them on. Kaz then said.
"I will change the sheets."
"Good idea, it smells like the seventies in here." Nick looked at the bed, it was full of the things he expected to see, except for the blood. Seeing this, his ears flattened against the back of his head as he walked towards Kaz and embraced him.
"I'm sorry for the injuries Pink." Kaz gave him a little kiss on his head.
"Don't worry Foxy, I will survive."
After this Kaz put the dirty sheets inside a bag before going outside while staying under the terrace to avoid the rain. He opened the small garage, inside there was a washing machine that took half the space of the place. According to Boonie, Stu only noticed he had miscalculated the size of the garage after finishing the foundation for the house, so he decided to keep it that way as storage.
Nick was waiting for him, seated on the couch when he returned. The fox waved a blanket before asking.
"Want to Pawflix and chill?"
Kaz smiled as he snuggled with his fox on the couch. But instead of turning the tv on Nick turned to him seriously.
"Kaz, I wanted to ask you something." He nodded and waited.
"I love you and that's not going to change, but a lot of mammals out there will see us and they will treat us badly." Nick sighs before continuing.
"I got through a lot of discrimination on my life, and I just wanted for us to maintain our relationship a secret, at least for a while. I just need some time prepare before dealing with their bullshit." Kaz pulls Nick closer to him as he says.
"You can have as much time as you feel you need, I will never let them hurt my Foxy."
"Thanks Pink." They kiss before turning the on the tv. With Nick's head leaning on his shoulder as they snuggled on the couch, Kaz grins while thinking he had never been so happy in his life.
She had never been so bored in her life, because of the rain all her family and relatives were stuck in the burrow, so the only way she could find to not go insane was to lock herself in her room while listening to the rain. She tried calling and texting Nick's phone several times but he never picked up, at one point she thought about walking through the rain and surprise him with a visit but she didn't want to get dirty with mud and knowing that Kaz would be there discouraged her even more. The clock on her wall marked 3p.m., groaning she threw herself on the bed, if she wasn't doing anything she might as well sleep she thought.
