"Congratulations! The simple fact that you're standing here reading this means you've made a glorious contribution to my moral, and this story's progression. As founder and CEO of Furry Aperture Science, I thank you for your participation and hope we can count on you for another round of chapters." -Furry Johnson. Black Lives Matter, BIPOC Lives Matter, LGBTQIA2+ Rights and Lives Matter. If you claim to stand for these beliefs but get irritated when I mention them, there is a problem you need to address.
9th Peelian Principle: To recognize always that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder and not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with them.
I've said this before, but it bears saying again. The first Peelian Principle is to prevent crime and disorder. Prevent, not punish. If a police officer job becomes so boring that they sit on their ass every day, rescuing kittens and helping old people cross the street. . . Then that police agency has succeeded in its role. It's not if you solve 40 break-ins, it's if your city only has two or three, or none. Reactionary policing is trash. It doesn't matter if you get there in 5 minutes after the crime, the crime has still happened. And that's why it's important to invest in more than just policing to deal with crime. You need to tackle the factors that caused the crime, such as homelessness, drug addiction, and mental health issues. If you can't stop the cause, then do you really care about 'stopping' crime?
The story continues, as we get a new perspective of our two fools. After all, Nick is only one side of this strange, increasingly complicated friendship.
Disney owns this world. I have now faxed my requests to you, Disney. C'mon, respond.
One-Hundred and Ten Days
Judy thumped up the stairs, carrying the bag of groceries glumly. Normally she loved to race up the stairs, with whatever she had, as it was one hell of a workout. But, today was not one of those days where she had the energy for it.
Both physically, and mentally. She sighed, shaking her head with a frown as she rounded the stairwell landing again, and continued up to her floor. All in all, she had to admit it was not the best birthday she'd ever had.
Not to say that she liked birthday parties or any of that tacky stuff. It was always too much pomp and circumstance for her, and she hated having all the attention on her for something as simple as just being born. If anything, the smaller the celebration the happier Judy was.
She guessed it was hard to be too excited by birthdays when you had over two hundred siblings. It felt like every week, someone had a birthday coming up. And in some cases, there was more than one birthday on the same day.
Judy was glad that she was older now, as birthday's always seemed to carry less significance when you started into your twenties. Now that she was 24. . . Or 25, she supposed. . . the formula for each birthday was basically the same for every year.
She woke up to the text messages from her family, and her close friends back home, filled with good wishes. She responded to the messages with gratitude and rolled out of bed to start her day as usual. After she got dressed, Nick met her in the living room for their morning stretches and exercises, and they had some healthy cereal for breakfast.
And then, they went to work, like any other day.
Her parents promised to send her a present, and it was 'in the mail' (probably something like a scarf, or underwear). But other than that, she expected no presents and wanted none either. She was an adult, with a well-paying job. If she wanted something, she'd buy it for herself.
That was one of the reasons she wasn't having the greatest day. There was only one thing that Judy had wanted to buy herself for her 'birthday', and that was tickets to see the upcoming Gazelle concert. All year, she'd been waiting for Gazelle to have a concert on a day she wasn't working, and finally, she had an opportunity.
The fact that it was around her birthday was a coincidence, but one she was willing to jump on the day that the ticket sales were released. The moment they were off shift, she hopped on the ticket website and searched for the event as fast as she could. It wasn't fast enough. Her heart sank when she saw the 'Out-of-stock' label, only a mere 5 hours after they'd been put on sale. All she wanted was one general admission ticket. . .
For the next few days, she called into every radio station that was giving away tickets, in the vain hope of winning. But, no luck there either. She checked online for any scalped tickets, but the prices were absolutely outrageous. Judy had car payments, after all. No matter how tempting the ticket was.
Nick did his best to console her, reminding her that the concert was still going to be televised live, so they could enjoy it from home. Have any snacks they want, and get to see everything from the comfort of their couch. A decent consolation offer, but, it was still not the same as seeing the performance live. But she'd just have to settle with the couch and Nick. . . Not that settling for Nick was at all a disappointing reality.
Speaking of Nick, that brought up the other part of why this birthday sucked. She was fine with just text messages from her family and friends, and nothing more. But, if there was something that she did want, it was to be able to celebrate her birthday with Nick. Not even a party, she'd settle for a simple 'happy birthday' from the fox.
Originally, she'd planned to bring it up a few days before. That wasn't so bad of an option and didn't seem 'needy'. But, between work and other things, she either forgot about it when she should've. . . Or didn't feel like it was a good time to bring it up. And now, it was the day of. And that was a problem.
There was something about telling someone that it was your birthday on the day in question. It seemed. . . She didn't know, kind of weird. It was like demanding that someone pay attention to you. Which, granted, was kind of what she wanted from Nick. She just wanted to enjoy her birthday with him, she didn't need or expect him to do anything special.
Also, she didn't want to cause him to 'scramble' to get a birthday present or anything like that. Especially given the fact that. . . Well, she didn't exactly have any ground to stand on for present 'reciprocity'.
She missed his birthday, during the three months that they were. . . Well, going through a 'rough patch' as friends. . . She didn't get him a present then, even though she kind of wished she had the chance to. She wished all of that hadn't happened. . . Although at least it turned out okay in the end, right?
Either way, even if she didn't tell him the fox was smart enough to pick up that there was something wrong with her, as she spent most of the day pretty glum. A lot of it was the memory of losing the chance for tickets, but she couldn't deny that she was also somehow hoping that Nick would somehow figure it out. Maybe check Furbook, and see her birthday there or something. Wait, he didn't have a Furbook. . .
For their workday, they seemed to attract the odd calls as per usual. They were called to a 'neighbourly disagreement' down in the suburbs, a fairly regular occurrence for police officers. Usually, it was not that difficult to deal with, and it just required a little bit of negotiation on both sides. However, it was what the disagreement was about that made it really strange. At first, when the dispatcher gave them the description, Nick and Judy thought that dispatch must have misheard what was going on there. That couldn't be something that someone actually, legitimately called 911 about.
But no. It was indeed what dispatch had told them, right down to the letter. An older female deer had called in a complaint on her neighbour, a male zebra. What was the complaint? Well, the zebra was mowing his front lawn, and some of the grass 'clippings' had fallen into the deer's garden. . .
Judy had hoped that it was all a joke. A cruel prank, that was just wasting the police's resources and time. But alas, the female deer was dead serious about it. She wanted her neighbour to come over and remove them, or she wanted them charged. For what, Judy didn't know, grass clippings weren't well defined 'offence' material. Judy did her best, being familiar with horticulture, to explain that the grass clippings would actually provide nutrients to her flowers.
But, she wouldn't have it. It looked 'bad'. So, she and Nick had to walk next door and talk to the neighbour and informed him of what was going on. To which he responded with reasonable confusion. It was natural to be confused at such a thing, the two officers certainly were.
Naturally, he refused to 'remove' the grass. Nick explained that they were required to come over and talk to him about it, just because it was part of the complaint. After a short, somewhat humorous chat (both the officers and the zebra could barely believe that was the complaint), they came back over to the female deer's house and explained the situation in the plainest terms they could. They'd gotten the Zebra to agree to come over for a 'discussion' to resolve the issues, but they both knew how that was likely to go.
Judy was almost certain that the deer was going to complain about them later. It wasn't their fault that nothing could be done, and that nothing should be done in that situation. Both of them made that very clear in their notes, just in case that complaint did roll down the pipeline. They brought the neighbour out and had the two talk it over, and the zebra neighbour did agree to put up a 'blocker' the next time he mowed to reduce the amount that made it to her side.
But naturally, and reasonably, he refused to remove the clippings that were already there. While they eventually agreed to those terms, it was clear that there was a high chance the deer was not 'satisfied' that they hadn't tried to force the neighbour to clean up her flowerbed. But, that was crazy.
They couldn't do that kind of thing. Unfortunately, that entire escapade literally wasted two hours of the pairs time, and just had to help enforce her already unhappy mood. It sucked when they were called to such issues, especially since they didn't really have a lot of things that they could do for either of them. There weren't any police training manuals for grass clippings.
It was clear that the neighbours had more issues than just the grass clippings, but what were they supposed to do? Book neighbour therapy sessions? Did that actually exist? Maybe hire a mediator, which they did hand out cards for some mediation help to likely no avail. Judy was pretty sure the deer threw it out, and it probably wouldn't have worked anyway.
Ah, it didn't matter, as she reached the landing of their apartment. The day was done, and Judy could finally relax and enjoy the evening of her first day being 25 years old. And whether he knew or not, at least she was spending it with her friend. Who, unsurprisingly, seemed to be aware that she was upset today. And even though he didn't know why, he did try his best to cheer her up during their shift, constantly trying to put a smile on her face with his silly antics. Which, he did, several times as usual. But while he was doing it, he never once asked why she was upset.
A good thing, for a few reasons. One, he understood boundaries enough to know that if she wanted to tell him, she would. Judy was the kind of rabbit that didn't want to have to talk about all of the issues she faced in her life, she just wanted people to be there for her when she was done. It was one of those things that were great about him, probably because he felt the same way when he was having a bad day. Rehashing why often made it worse, rather than just trying to make someone's day better.
Two, if he'd asked, she would've had to come up with a lie. As great as it would be to tell him that it was her birthday then, it was still the same issue as before. 'I'm upset because it's my birthday' sounded so weird, and petty.
She just. . . wanted to have a good time with her close friend, on her birthday. In order to do that, she needed to figure out some way to bring it up, without seeming like she was begging for attention. . . Was she really overthinking all of this?
Regardless, when they got home, he asked if she could head to the local grocer to pick up a few things for dinner. He said he was going to start supper while she was gone, and make some nice soup or noodles, a normal play for the fox when he wanted to make her smile. Nick's cooking always cheered her up, especially when he went all out as she suspected. And if he needed a bunch of extra stuff, he was probably going to pull out all the stops.
Although, being in the grocer was also not the greatest idea when you were a little down. She glanced at the bag, shaking her head as she saw the plastic container of carrot cake muffins. That was her 'birthday cake' for the night, and she was going to try her best not to eat all twelve by midnight. They looked so good in the store. . .
You know what? Screw it, she was going to tell him. He was doing all this to cheer her up, he deserved to know why she wasn't having the best day. He wouldn't think badly of her, except maybe that she didn't tell him sooner. She'd do it after dinner when they were watching some stupid thing on the TV, or whatever they would do after eating. She'd say something like 'Well. . . I guess I'm 25 now', or some stuff like that. Yeah. That was a good idea, that didn't seem so attention-grabbing. Then it would just seem like she was stating a fact, late in the day. After all, what would it say about her if she chose not to tell her closest friend that it was her birthday?
As she pushed open the floor door, she began to walk with more pep towards her apart. . . .ment. . . . door. Her nose wiggled, as she took in deep sniffs of the aroma filling the hall. It was sweet, gentle, and immediately made her start to salivate. That aroma. . . . could only be coming from one apartment. She snorted, shaking her head. The sneaky fox.
She took in a deep breath of the wonderful smell of banana bread as a smile spread across her face. He sent her out of the house. . . Just to cook her something she liked, huh? He would do that kind of thing, wouldn't he? It was kind of stupid, honestly. She would have avoided buying the stupid muffins if he'd just told her the truth. Banana bread was way better, in her opinion.
Judy loved his carrot cake. But, his banana bread was something special. Growing up in a family of bunnies, carrot cake was usually the dessert of choice. She had a lot of it, even though Nick's recipe was definitely one hell of a version. However, banana bread was fairly new to her. Nick's banana bread was the first she'd ever tried, and it quickly became one of her favourites.
That would explain why most of the things on the list were pretty random. It didn't make sense for any recipe she'd ever tried, but at the time she didn't suspect such 'foul-play'. Although with the fox, she should've known better. She chuckled, shaking her head as she walked up to the door. He was such a dumb dork.
But he really was one hell of a fox. . . Of a close friend. Didn't know anything about why she was upset, but was still willing to spend a bit of time in the kitchen trying to cheer her up. . . It was one of the reasons she had a lot of different feelings for him.
With a snort, she reached for the doorknob and turned it harshly. Screw it, she was just going to tell him now. He'd know she wasn't demanding attention, she wasn't that type of rabbit. He wasn't that type of fox. She had to shake her head, thinking about how silly she'd been about this whole thing as she pushed the door open and walked through the entryway. While she closed the door behind her, she gazed to the right, expecting to see the sly fox standing over a loaf of fresh-cooked banana bread. Like the cheat he was.
But, as she took in the scene of the kitchen, her mouth fell open in surprise at the sight she saw. That was. . . Not a loaf of banana bread.
There was indeed a. . . 'thing', of banana bread-like substance in the kitchen. Only, it was circular, sitting on the cooling rack with the nearby cake tin discarded, and a large bowl and spoon beside it. It was. . . A banana bread. . . cake?
The fox was standing there, with an expression reminicint of if she'd caught him stealing from a cookie jar. He was standing in the middle of the kitchen, concerned eyes fixed on the rabbit as he held a plastic package of candles in his jaws in what seemed to be a desperate attempt to rip the package open with his fangs.
A. . . Package of candles. . . Was. . . this. . . ?
"Uhrrrm. . . . Hrpy Birfdy?" He mumbled out before he slowly pulled the package from his mouth as a slight smile twitched on his face. The package looked absolutely mangled, as Nick cleared his throat loudly in embarrasment. "Ahem. . . that's, happy birthday. Fluff." He repeated, as her brows fell in confusion.
"How did. . . You. . . ?" She asked, as she carefully set the bag of groceries on the ground. How did he know it was today? She never said anything about her- "My parents." She hissed out, in childish betrayal. They told him, didn't they?
He smiled, chuckling a confirmation of her suspicion. "Yeah, your parents told me. . . . You trapped me here with them for hours, don't be so surprised. I certainly interrogated them to find out more about a 'Miss Judith Laverne Hopps'. . . Nice kit pics, by the way. They emailed me a folder, every last one was a gem. You were absolutely adorable. Still are, but that's another story entirely. . ." The fox jokingly flirted, as he set the pack of candles down on the counter, and leaned forward with a childish expression.
She frowned, shaking her head as she walked up to the counter between the two. Why did the fox always have to harmlessly flirt with her? If he didn't have the gumption to go further. . . Wait, no. She looked at the little cake, the candles, and the big bowl of. . . it must have been some kind of frosting? There was also a big pot of noodles on the stove that she could see, filled to the brim with vegetables. She loved homemade noodles. . .
She huffed, shaking her head. He knew, all this time, and he kept it all a secret just to surprise her. "You really did all of this for me?" She murmured, as the fox shrugged.
"It's not that much work, Carrots. . . Although to be honest, I think I may have screwed up the frosting. . ." He murmured, as he looked into the large bowl with a distressed expression. "I attempted to make a carrot flavoured frosting thing and. . . Well, now I'm not sure about how it went. I'm scared to try it." He whimpered, one ear falling down as he shook his head. The fox was acting, wasn't he. . .
But still, that did sound like a pretty tasty thing to try and make. . . Judy reached out and snatched the big spoon out of the bowl, and looked at the orange-ish sticky mass on the end.
It did look odd. . . But, looks never meant much. She immediately took a lick from the spoon, more than willing to risk it. After he did all of this, she was more than willing to sample what he'd made. Besides, orange was one of her favourite colours.
She smacked her lips, as she tasted the strange experimental frosting. It was nice and thick, that was the first thing she noticed. It was surprisingly less sweet than she expected and very carroty. But, in a good way. One ear tipped to the side, as she took another tentative lick. She was usually not a fan of frosting, it was usually way more sweetness than the rabbit liked. But this. . .This was good.
"Well?" Nick asked cautiously, as he leaned forward on the counter with curiosity. "How is it?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. She had a feeling he'd tried it himself, and just wanted the rabbit's opinion. Which, given it was her cake, that did make sense. . . But, if he was committed to his lie of not trying it. . .
She moved the spoon quickly, and wiped a big smear over the fox's cute black nose, as she instantly grinned and started to giggle at the glob of orange hanging on Nick's surprised face.
That look lasted for a moment, as a childish smirk formed. "Har-de-har-har, Carrots. . . You still haven't answered my question. . . Don't make me wipe my frosty nose on you." He teased threateningly, as he leaned forwards towards the rabbit. A. . . tempting offer. She imagined that would be pretty funny.
She laughed and took a step back. "Now, Nick. You do that, I'm gonna rub this spoon all over you." The rabbit responded, wielding the spoon in front of her as the fox menacingly leaned against the counter. "Just taste it, slick. I think you'll like it." She responded seriously, as she shook her head at the foolish fox. She knew he probably already tried it. . . But, now he needed to get that blob off of his nose.
She couldn't imagine the fox making something and being scared to taste it. He narrowed his eyes at her for a moment before he seemed to relent as his tongue darted out and sampled the clump on his nose. He licked a few more times, with a possibly fake quizzical expression, before he finally spoke.
"Not too bad." He murmured, as he finally leaned back up and crossed his arms. "It's not too sugary. . . Now, do you think I should put it on the cake, or just leave it off?" He asked, foolishly revealing his actual questions.
She shook her head, as she walked back up and offered the spoon to the fox. "Put it on the cake, of course. What else are you going to do with a whole bowl of frosting?" Judy mocked, shaking her head as Nick delicately plucked the spoon from her paws.
He grinned, as he shrugged and picked up the frosting bowl gingerly. Judy leaned on the counter, wondering if there was any way she could help him finish. It might be her birthday, but she loved the idea of working with him in the kitchen. "I don't know, I could always do, this" Nick responded, as he lifted the frosting bowl and swiftly attempted to upend it over her head.
She hopped back quickly, raising her paws above her head as she tried to avoid any falling onto her. Meanwhile, the fox laughed, shaking his head at her as he put it back on the counter. Oh yeah. . . She guessed it was a little too thick to pour randomly. But still, she huffed as the fox began to layer it onto the cake with the spoon haphazardly. She lifted a finger, waving it at him threateningly. "You be careful Nick. If you make a mess with that stuff, I'm going to make you clean it up."
Nick's eyebrows flew up, as he continued working on the cake. "Oh? So, if I poured on you, I'd have to clean you up? I'm guessing I'm not allowed to lick it off, am I?" He retorted back with suggestive brows, as her ears began to blush. And then, he opened his mouth and stuck the tip of his tongue out. . . And started to drool on the countertop . . She shuddered, as he laughed and shook his head. That was another image that she. . . Nope, she couldn't let her mind wander . . . That damn Nick, why did he have to tease so much.
Stupid fox. . . He always had to be so innocently flirty, didn't he? Even the first day they met, he flirted. And he never seemed to mean a single bit of it. "Forget it, Nick. Never mind, I'm not going to help you finish this." She muttered as she lifted the bag of groceries onto the counter. "I'm going to have a quick shower, you can put all your 'groceries' away."
She turned, and quickly began to stamp away to the bathroom, as the image of the fox licking her face hung in her head. Let alone licking other things. . . He was such a damn tease. Did he even realize how badly he affected her all the damn time?. . . Now she couldn't get those thoughts out of her head, again.
"Sounds good, 'birthday bunny'. . . I'll have dinner and cake ready before you get out. . . I hope." He added as he continued to haphazardly smear the frosting onto the cake. It didn't need to be pretty, they were going to devour it anyway.
As for whether the food would be ready by the time she got out. . . Most likely, yeah. It would be a long shower. The damn fox.
By the time she got out of the shower and dried off, the fox had more than finished preparing both dinner and the cake. And, he had put away the groceries like she'd asked him to, like a good fox.
Like a very good fox.
Nick was special to Judy. . . She couldn't repeat that enough to herself, with the way she made him feel some days. And now, this happened. He planned all of this, for what had to be almost a month. He let her think for an entire day that he didn't know it was her birthday, to cook her a nice dinner and a cake. . . . Just to surprise her for her birthday. He really had a heart of gold, didn't he?
Now, after finishing their noodles, they were sitting on the couch 'watching' some television as they laughed, chatted, and they got ready to dig into the banana 'cake'. First, she blew out the candles, of course. He made such a great effort of tearing the package open with his teeth (and throwing candles all over the place, she noticed), she had to use them right? Naturally, Nick demanded to know what her wish was, but she wasn't telling him. Not ever, otherwise, it wouldn't come true. Those were the rules, weren't they? She wasn't superstitious, but, she wasn't going to risk it either.
As for the cake itself, as expected, was awesome. Judy praised his cooking, as per usual, as he pretended that somehow he wasn't a fairly good cook. But, he was, and he was just going to have to accept the praise. Before she tasted it, she wasn't terribly sure about the carrot-banana combo together. But it actually really worked fairly well, in her opinion.
There was some comedy show on the tv, but the two weren't paying much attention as Judy started on her second slice of cake. She was originally only going to have one slice, but it was too good not to have seconds.
As she ate it eagerly, Nick suddenly paused and set his plate down. She looked up at him, smiling. "What's up?"
He raised a single digit, as he reached over and grabbed a small envelope off of the coffee table. "Before I forget. . ." He murmured, as he finished chewing a bit of cake, and swallowed. He held it out to her chest, with a big smile. "Happy birthday."
She chuckled, as she took the envelope from his paws. A cake, dinner, and a birthday card, all from her best friend. For a 25-year-old bunny, she couldn't imagine wanting anything else on her birthday. Although to be honest, the card wasn't that necessary, considering he literally presented her with a cake. But, she would keep it anyway. She opened it and pulled the card from the envelope.
"To my best friend," She read the outside of the slightly-tacky card (they all were tacky). But then, a small glint of steek caught her eye at the top of the card. She could just barely see the nub of the small paperclip wedged in the top, clearly indicating more than just words inside. . . Nick. . . . She shook her head, as she looked up at the fox across from her. He was watching her with obvious anticipation, like the fool he was. He was giving her money, for her birthday? She didn't need anything from him. . . Just him here was more than enough. "You know I didn't need a gift, right?" She reinforced with a nod, as she wondered if she should just give the cash back to the fox. He did need it more than she did, what with her promotion and all.
"Open the card, fluff." He muttered, with a jerk of his head towards her. Yeah, maybe it was rude of her to think about giving a gift back. . . Although, that still had limitations, depending on what she found inside. She snorted, rolling her eyes as she opened the card.
"Fine. . . But if it's too much money, I'm. . ." She trailed off, as her eyes immediately tracked to the yellow strips of paper fixed to the paperclip. Nick chuckled a bit, as her ear tilted to the side in confusion. That wasn't green like money, what had he. . .
Her thoughts drifted off, as she focused on the words on the strips of paper. Savanna Central Stadium, Zootopia Reunion Celebration, Gazelle. A bunch of other words about dates and stuff, and there in the corner was the 'seat' location. VIP Area 2R. Wait. These were. . . ?
"Wh. ." She started to say, as Nick watched for her reaction with his sly smile. Judy looked up at him, her head shaking slightly. It was impossible. They were all sold out, she knew they were. She'd tried her hardest to get them. And yet, these had to be. . . "Nick. . . How? What did you pay?" She murmured, confused. How did he get tickets, let alone VIP tickets? Did he buy them from scalpers? Oh spirits, how much did he pay, just for her birthday?
The fox let out a single chuckle, as he shrugged. "Not, as much as you're probably thinking, fluff. . . See, unlike you, a wonderful but silly bunny trying to buy tickets like a regular mammal, I decided to utilize the tools I had at my disposal: that tool was Ben. . . He bought up a bunch of tickets for people as soon as they were on sale. Some for him and his friends, a few apparently for Bogo and a few other officers. . . And two, for you." He murmured, as Judy looked back down at the card.
Sweet cheese and crackers. . . Two VIP tickets. . . Nick looked away, with a shrug, reading her expression easily. "Yeah. . . I figured you might want to take a friend along or something. I'm available, by the way. I haven't been to many, but aren't concerts are usually more fun with oth-"
Judy launched across the couch and wrapped her arms around the fox's neck. She squeezed him tightly, as she buried her face into his shoulder as small tears of joy trickled down her face. This damn fox. . . He was so, so good at plotting things. Using Ben like that. . . Why hadn't she thought of that? No wonder he'd comforted her about losing out on tickets so easily, and with such an upbeat attitude. . . . He already had a set reserved and waiting for his foxy butt to pick up.
"Thank you, so much Nick. . . Of course, I'll take my best friend with me." She mumbled into his shoulder, squeezing tighter as he chuckled softly. Judy didn't care what it seemed like, she needed to hug him for this.
It felt good, to hug him like this as she held onto him tightly. His smell was so comforting, as she listened to the fox's heart beat rapidly. But, after a few seconds, the fox gently patted her on back, likely signalling he was unsure of what to do. The pats felt good. . . But honestly, she just wanted the fox to squeeze her in a hug. . . She wasn't going to ask for that, though. That'd be weird. "Ah. . . Good. . . I've never seen a Gazelle concert before. And while I'm not a huge fan of Gazelle, like a certain bunny I know, I've heard her shows are fun. . ."
She laughed, as she shook her head and pulled out the hug. She wiped the tears out of her eyes with her paw, as she looked at the fox across from her. And, she started to chuckle. "Mmm. . . I can't wait to see you flailing around, dancing to the music."
Nick's ears flapped back. "Excuse me? I did not say I was going to be dancing at this thing. . . If you can call that dancing. I can dance, but not that mosh-pit style stuff. Don't worry Judy, I'll have fun standing on the sidelines."
She snorted, rolling her eyes. "Mhum, I'm sure it won't take much to make you come out of your shell, though. . . Even if I have to coax it out of you." Judy teased him, as he shook his head at her.
He narrowed. "I'd like to see you try, fluff." He dared her, as she just grinned back. Judy was more than certain that she'd be able to get him moving. The fox wasn't that hard to encourage. But then, his smile dimmed a bit. ". . . Thanks for inviting me. . ."
She let out a huff, as she shook her head. Of course, she was going to invite him. "After everything you've done for my birthday. . . And everything else in my life. . . how could I not bring along my best friend? And before you get the wrong idea, I want you to come, I don't feel obligated at all, you dumb fox." She added, cutting off any of those crappy thoughts that he might have.
He was really her best friend, and closest friend she'd ever had now. Nick was very special to Judy, a mammal that she couldn't possibly replace. She never wanted to, either. He could stay her best friend forever, and she'd be happy. Mostly happy, anyway. And in about 4 and a half months, Judy would no longer be Nick's FTO anymore.
119 days until Judy could ask him out on a date, so she could see how much was really behind those little flirts of his. Approximately, give or take a week or two to not seem too sudden with it. She didn't want to seem weird, or anything like that.
Still. . . What she wouldn't give to kiss his stupid face right now. Let alone the other things she thought about in the shower.
If. . . He was interested, anyway, and wasn't just one of those overly flirty mammals with no intentions. If he didn't want to go out with her. . . Well, that'd suck.
One week later
Okay. Maybe Judy was a little bit excited at the concert. The whole thing was exciting, especially since it was in celebration of Judy's efforts to help mend the rift between predators and prey. Granted, she helped enforce that divide at one point. . . But, that was a long time ago. And Nick and Judy fixed it, together. Which was yet another reason to celebrate, be energetic, and get a little too excited.
It was great, being there with Nick, and dancing to her favourite songs. Seeing Gazelle live was awesome, up there with her tiger dancers doing moves that Judy could only dream of pulling off. And maybe Judy did try and get Nick to get into the music by giving him a nice hip check during the songs. He'd been just sitting there, bobbing his head to 'Try Everything' like his foxy butt didn't want to start dancing. Scandalous, considering how much he seemed to like the music.
And maybe, or maybe not, she directly 'hip-checked' his groin with her butt. It wasn't. . . Intentional, exactly. . . Happy accident? No, just an accident, she wasn't trying to assault his privates with her butt. . . Did she? Listen, dancing next to the fox that you had a crush on kind of did some things to your decision-making processes. Especially in the middle of a mini-binky of joy, and just being so. . . Pumped up.
Sweet cheese and crackers. . . She couldn't blame alcohol, and she really wished she could. But, she and Nick didn't start drinking until they went to Annette's diner after the concert. She would call it Renaud's Kitchen, but, it was safer to just avoid the proprietor's ex-husband's name entirely. Besides, it was Annette's, no matter what the sign outside the door said.
Delilah innocently joked about them coming in on a 'date', but the fox and rabbit were quick to shut that down yet again. Judy may have gone a little overboard with the whole 'we're only friends thing'. Nick had gone pretty quiet for a while after that . . She was embarrassed about her 'miss', still. She wanted to make it clear she had no intentions with it, even though she kind of did and though the accident was kinda flirty. . . . But then, she suddenly thought about what she said there looked to Nick when she was vehemently enforcing that they were just friends. . . Spirits damn it all. . . Well, at least he didn't seem upset now. . . Right?
They had a quick dinner since it was pretty late. But that didn't stop Judy from having a little bit to drink. Mainly because she was so embarrassed, for two things now. . . Nick didn't say anything about what she said, nor the little 'mishap' she had. . . There was no way he didn't 'feel' that, though. She certainly felt a lot of him.
Maybe he thought it was an accident. . . Yes, it was definitely an accident. But, hey at least it worked, right? The actual purpose she had worked, she meant. He ended up dancing the whole night long and seemed to enjoy himself for the most part. That was all she wanted, for him to enjoy her birthday present with her as much as he possibly could.
By the time they called a taxi at the end of the dinner, they were both a 'bit' tipsy as they piled into the car for the drive home. A 'bit'. It was fine. They didn't work until the day after tomorrow. More than enough time to recover
Heading up the stairs, they supported each other (with the help of the rail, she had to admit) as they scaled each floor carefully. All the while, they idly chatted and teased one another as usual. Judy complimented Nick's dancing, Nick bashed his woeful attempts to dance.
It didn't matter if it felt weird if you moved with the music you looked fine. The whole point was to have fun, she argued, which he certainly seemed to. He seemed to relent that he had a good time when they got to the apartment door and navigated their way to the trademark couch.
Originally they thought they'd throw something on the TV. Y'know, to watch until they got tired. But no, they never managed to find the remote between their long drawn out chats about. . . Well, she didn't really know what, she was barely paying attention. Random drunk stuff probably.
To be honest. . . Judy wasn't really paying a lot of attention. Mostly because she was drunk and tired. But also because she was busy thinking about the fox sitting beside her in a more objective format.
Judy wasn't entirely sure the exact moment that she started to have feelings for him. He was always handsome, and sexy. She was aware of that as soon as she met him. At the time that was offset by the fact he was a con-fox. But then. . . Well, they got to know one another, and she didn't mind him so much.
Then the whole 3 months apart, and everything after that. . . She had only admitted the attraction to herself a little while ago. But, she had to admit she had those. . . underlying feelings for a fair amount longer than that. . . Especially when he went to the academy.
She just didn't think about her feelings that much before then. They were nondescript 'friendly' feelings, she thought. It was what having a close friend was like, right? But now, it was obvious, and she couldn't ignore the fact that she was attracted to Nick. . . It did help to see another interspecies couple out and about, that foreign couple downtown. If a wolf and a rabbit could be together. . . Then, maybe her feelings for him weren't that out of line, or unrealistic. But until FTO training ended, there was nothing that she could do about it. It was wrong, for several reasons. For one, consent was complicated, when she had so much career power over the fox. She could have him fired at any notice.
Then there was the whole 'could she be subjective' if a relationship started during training. Something that even she wasn't sure she could do. Objectively she would say yes. She was sure she could. . . But they would never see it that way. She could never truly know until it happened, too. And the truth was, it was safer for her to wait until she could ask him out with zero drawbacks.
This was all banking on the thought that Nick was actually going to be receptive to any advance she made. As much as she'd like to assume his harmless flirting meant anything, she was also aware that he did the same flirting with others as well. It might've just been his personality, being that kind and sweet to get his own way. It was his talent, after all, with that silver tongue of his.
She didn't want to think about this anymore. It was depressing. And pointless, for a while longer. She sighed, as she yawned loudly. "Aaah. . . . I think I'm going to head off to bed now. . . Thanks, Nick. . . For the tickets, you know."
Nick chuckled, drunkenly, shaking his head. "No. . . thank you for bringing me along. . . And, y'know, everything else you've done for me. . . . . I don't know where I'd be without you, Carrots. . ."
"Oh, shut up fox. . . I'm too tired for your dumb butt. . ." She murmured, as she glanced at her phone. She didn't want to have to deal with any mope from the fox right now, she was too tired for that. 00:27 flashed back at her, as she let the phone slip out of her hand. He chuckled in response, shaking his head. But, that seemed to be the end of the fox, too, as she laid down across the couch.
110 days, she reminded herself as she snuggled into the nearby headrest. 110 days until she could ask him if that silver tongue had any seriousness to the flirts. . . Or, maybe she'd lead with something a little less impuslive. . . She didn't want to scare him off, if he didn't feel the same level of attraction . . . . Ah, however this couch was comfy. . . Judy wasn't going to waste time getting up and going to her bed. . . The couch would be fine, as she quickly drifted off to sleep.
The fox blinked, as his mind wandered back to the concert. As if his mind had possibly strayed very far from it, the whole night. "Y'know. . . You gotta work on your hip-check aim. . . . Carrots. . . .. ya kind of, um. . . Hit the wrong thing, there. . ." He murmured, snorting as he remembered his silly look after she hit his. . . 'groin' area. It was an accident, he knew. . . Harmless.
But other parts of his body didn't know, and he was so glad that no one was paying attention in that huge crowd. God damn it, he even blepped. He never blepped, why did her ass make him blep. (Okay maybe he knew why, but still). Nick was just trying to make it less awkward, bringing it up. It happened, it was an accident. It might be permanently burned into his memory, but it was nothing. He wanted to make sure she knew that he wasn't. . . You know, mad about it, or anything. . .
When the rabbit didn't answer, his drunk brain just decided to consider the conversation anyway. Like an idiot. "It was. . . . Really fun, going on that friend, date, thing. . . . . . . I really like being around you, Judy. . . I think I-" He murmured, finally realizing what he was saying almost too late
He turned to look at the rabbit with concern. "I mean, that, in a friend wa. . ." He trailed off, as the rabbit snored softly into the couch.
Oh. . . She was asleep. And with that thought, Nick became very aware of the crap he'd been rambling about. And he became very pleased to know the rabbit was completely conked out beside him, spewing stupidity. It was good she was asleep, he was being stupid right now. . . And drunk, five paces from admitting he liked her. Meanwhile, the rabbit continued to snore loudly.
He snorted, as he carefully, and slowly lifted himself off of the couch. The rabbit did have the right idea. It was time for him to head to bed too, he supposed. Let these thoughts disappear into the aether, and let the drunk stupidity go away. But, he should do something about Judy, laying there on the couch. . . Nick was a smart enough fox to know that she'd wake up if he picked her up, and carried her to her bed. Especially since he'd definitely fall over at some point if he could even manage to pick her up drunk.
However, he could always get her a blanket. He wandered behind the couch and stared between the two bedrooms as he thought about what to do. It was just to make sure she was comfortable, which was the right thing to do. He looked at her bedroom door first and decided that was a bad idea. He didn't have permission to go in there and wasn't going to break her privacy just to give her a blanket. Which left his blanket. . . He didn't have a spare.
Oh well. He thudded his way into his room and pulled the blanket off. He dragged it back to the couch with zero grace before he carefully laid it across the couch and the rabbit in the corner. By then, she was snoring and drooling into the couch cushion, like the adorable creature she was. He'd attempt to give her a pillow, but he had a feeling she was just fine the way she was. Let alone he'd never be able to lift her head properly.
As soon as the blanket landed on her, the rabbit instinctively grabbed it, and snuggled into it with the most adorable grunts he'd ever heard. . . He smiled at the beautiful sight of the snug rabbit, thinking about how nice it would be to crawl on the couch with her and cuddle her. Would she squeeze him, like the bl-
Nope, time for bed, as immediately jerked his vision away from her. He was not even going to let his drunk ass think about that. That was horrid, he was such a terrible fox. . . He turned and immediately started thudding his way back into his room. He was just drunk and dumb, but that thought was extra stupid. And, literally illegal, he reminded himself as he entered his bedroom. He closed the door behind him and immediately stormed over to his bed with a lacklustre flop.
Drunk, tired, and this dumb childish crush was giving him all the wrong ideas now. . . He needed to be more careful, or he could ruin the one friendship he really had anymore.
New rule. No more drinking around Judy. . . Not only because of the cuddling thought. Rather, he'd almost told her some things that he'd never be able to take back. Things that. . . Judging by what she said in the diner today, would disgust her. . . They were just friends, exactly the way it was meant to be.
He wasn't risking blurting out a drunk admission. . . Their friendship was way more important than his silly feelings. . . Sooner or later, the crush would go away anyway.
Meanwhile, the rabbit cuddled the Nick-smelling blanket carefully, as her dreams became filled with orange crimson and cream fur. . . 110 days were at least a lot shorter in her dreams.
And at least in her dreams, the fox could never say no to her.
The two sat in the car, sipping their coffees in the darkness of the night. Like they had for the last two nights in the more industrial parts of Downtown. They were on the watch for a break-in artist, who'd been hitting the area pretty hard lately.
The MO was always the same. Two guys, one white truck. They'd park out on the dimmest lit fence area, and cut through the fence with pliers.
They'd break whatever shop door there was, and go in and steal as many tools as they could while wearing masks. But they never stayed longer than 30 minutes, if they could help it before they ran out and drove away.
It seemed to be random, without much order to which shop they hit in the area. This business was one they hadn't hit yet, and there were a few other cops across the city staking out some of the other high-probability targets.
They were parked in the neighbouring parking lot, with all the lights off. Lights weren't important to the predator partners, whose eyes were more than adept at peering out of the dark parking area and watching the business carefully.
However, it had been three nights with nothing so far. And, the two were eagerly waiting for the radio call that something else was going down at one of the other locations.
Wolfard sighed, as he continued to scan the lot across the road. "Yeah, not exactly an exciting way to spend a night, is it? C'mon, relax. We'll be here a while." Fangmeyer chimed in, as they took another sip from their coffee. They were right, the window was between midnight and 4 AM. However, the whole 'not a good way to spend a night thing', was very wrong to the wolf as he looked at his partner seated beside him.
He smiled and shrugged as he relaxed back into his chair. "It could be boring. But, I have you to chat with while we wait, which makes it a good enough time. I don't think there's a single officer that'd I'd rather be stuck in a confined space with. . ." He idly flirted, knowing that it would probably sail right over their head. A good thing, considering that he was still testing the waters with his feelings. . .
Fangmeyer laughed, shaking their head. "Oh, I don't believe that for a second. . . I'm sure there are more fun mammals to be stuck with than me. But, thanks. I'm glad it's you I'm stuck with, too. . . You at least listen to me when I start talking about musical theory and stuff."
The wolf nodded, shrugging. "It's not that much of a chore, to be honest. It's something I don't know about, and I'm pretty attuned to learning from you by this point. . . Besides, it's fun. . . I like talking to you." It was all true, he had to admit. He didn't care about musical theory before, but when Fangmeyer talked about it he was instantly interested in learning. It wasn't that bad, either, it was somewhat interesting. But, only if Fangmeyer was talking.
Fangmeyer rolled their eyes. "Yeah, you think it's all fun. My parents had me take music theory, in addition to regular band class in high school. I don't want to know the trash I know, it's just stuck in my head. . . . Your parents ever do anything like that to you? Throw you into some course you didn't want?" They asked, innocently.
However, Wolfard's smile disappeared, as he shook his head. "No. . . No, they didn't. . ." The last time he spoke to his parents. . . He must've been 13, or 14 or something. Not the last time they tried to talk to him, but the last time he ever had a conversation with them. Because screw them, and their opinions.
Fangmeyer nodded, seemingly picking up on the bad memories that were running through Wolfard's head. It wasn't their fault though, and Wolfard didn't blame them for bringing it up as he nodded quietly. "Ah. . . . . Sorry. . . What do you think of the new guy in charge of the K-9 team?" they asked, attempting to shift the topic onto something better. That was the attempt, at least. This particular bit of 'shop gossip' was quite the divisive topic in the breakroom. To Wolfard though, he had some pretty clear feelings about the officer in question.
He sipped his coffee, before shaking his head. "He gives wolves a bad name. . . . And officers, too." There were very few mammals that Wolfard could genuinely say that he hated. After all, most of the criminals they dealt with had issues themselves and needed help. Yet somehow, that wolf made it into that group, sitting right next to his parents. Beyond a few politicians, and some other officers, the list was fairly short. Fangmeyer nodded, likely in agreement as they took another sip of their coffee.
And then, Wolfard saw it. He narrowed his eyes. "3 o'clock, white truck. . . Is that the same one from the street cams?" He asked as he set his coffee cup into the holder. He watched as it pulled over to the fence, and turned off its lights. . . They were definitely following the MO so far.
The big cat focused on it and nodded as they reached over and snatched up the radio. "Yep, that's our guys. . . What'ya say? If we get 'em, celebratory dinner?" They murmured as two individuals in black clothing and masks stepped out, one holding a pair of bolt cutters. Wolfard would bet his bottom dollar that was them.
"Sure. McDonkey's as usual? . . Let's call 'em in." He muttered, as Fangmeyer clicked the radio and let the other cars know what was up. First things first, get the cavalry coming if you can. They had approximately thirty minutes to wait, might as well wait for backup.
Two of them against two officers. Not bad odds, but it was better to be safe in case the two had weapons. Unlikely, but no sense not being safe. Police blindly wandering without a clear advantage was how weapons got drawn. And, after they got them. . . They could go, and hang out for another break together, and chat. That was more than enough for Wolfard to want to take every precaution possible. He wanted that burger date, whether it was a real date or not.