It was their third date and the second time they kissed. The first time had been a rather awkward goodnight kiss as he dropped her off, they had sort of bumped into each other and realized their muzzles didn't quite fit the way the way they thought they would. It had been quite amusing and they had shared a small laugh over it.
This one was different; this one Nick had taken her to a bridge overlooking the pier and had slowly worked his way in. The excitement of it all was palatable as he brought his muzzle down to her smaller one. Her ears shot up as she went to meet him halfway, this kiss was deep and passionate and pulled his partner closer to him as he deepened it.
And that was the first real kiss Nick and Judy shared, and it was amazing before he spoiled it. As Nick brought his paws to her cheek and rubbed his thumb through her fur he felt three small lines stick up to meet him. He broke away from the kiss and looked at Judy with concern.
"How did you get those?"
"How did I get what," Judy said dreamily still quite entranced by the kiss, though growing irritated it was now over.
"Those scars?"
There was a change in her eyes, her ears suddenly drooped and she looked down and the street below her.
"It was a long time ago."
"That wasn't the question fluff," Nick said as he rubbed the inside of one of her ears. He was rewarded with a soft purr and an adorably derpy smile.
"If you don't want to tell me you don't have to, but I don't like the idea that some mammal roughed up my little carrots."
He smirked as he wrapped his arm around her and brought his tail around to complete the embrace. He ran his paw down her head patting her softly, his scent being purposefully transferred and yelling to the world that she was his. He finally had someone and he wasn't going to do anything to lose her.
Then she told him, and he realized what he had already done.
"When I was a kit," she began, nuzzling into his chest as she spoke, "I was, I was bullied. I was bullied a lot."
Nick looked down at her as she hesitated with every word, she stumbled over her words and he could feel her gauging every word. Then she finally said it.
"By a fox."
Nick's heart stopped. He felt an unease settle trough him as his mind began to work.
"One time, he, he uh, scratched me. It was bad, I didn't think so at first but it was really deep and well, I needed stitches."
Nick was dying, he had always considered himself an intelligent and observant mammal. He was a proud student of the art of perception, but apparently, he was blinder than his neighbor mister Feldman, and he was a bat.
This explained everything, his eyes twitched as he thought back at when he met her. When he met the girl in his arms that had changed his life.
He saw it all for the first time. The fox repellent, the fear, her speech. He winced as he thought of that terrible moment, the moment his world caved in again. But now he saw it in a new light before he had always been the victim, she proved that she was shallow and just like everyone else.
Not anymore, no, he had made her relive her past. He had shown her, reminded her why she carried the fox repellent. He had relived the day he was muzzled; she had relived the day she was mauled. And he had just walked away, he had ignored her as she called after him.
"I am such an asshole."
The words slipped from his mouth with a bittersweet flavor as it skipped its way through the air and into her ears. She perked up and looked at him in confusion, but as soon as she tilted her head up her lips were assaulted with his.
This was his apology and he was pouring his heart out to her in the form of this kiss. They melted into each other's arms as their lips opened for the other. They lasted until they had no choice but to breathe, and when they finally broke away Nick's eyes were damp against the evening air.
"Judy, I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"I was so focused on myself and what happened to me that, that I never thought that anyone could have ever been like me. I thought there was no way that, that you had ever experienced. I was wrong. You're just stronger than I was."
Judy smiled as she nodded knowingly, she placed her paw on his arm and this time, he doesn't flinch away.
"This is about that day isn't it?"
A small nod.
"Nick you don't have to apologize, I was the one wrong that day."
Nick rubbed his paw down her face as he kissed the top of her head.
"I was just as wrong Judy; I can see that now."
Judy smiled up at him and rubbed her nose against him.
"I guess we are both terrible people."
Nick smirked and chuckled as he tilted his head down at her.
"Want to be terrible together," he asked as they started walking down the road and towards the train station. Judy giggled and elbowed him lightly in the ribs.
"I love you, Nick."
He smiled, smiled like an idiot and he kept that smile all the way home.