Zootopia – Springtime Circumstances

Chapter 26 – That is why (POV Nick)

I gave the assistant panther lady a relaxed little grin as I entered the backstage area again, but she didn´t have anything to say or to complain about, luckily. I just wanted to get on that couch again and calm down for a few minutes.

Of course, Daniel and Max where grinning at me like there was no tomorrow, but I wasn´t mad at them anyways. The wolf and the lion still had the most of the backstage-girls around them, and they noticeably got even more excited when I arrived there again. The ladies were even pushing each other away to get a better view.

"What a great fucking performance!" Max greeted me excitedly.

"Thanks" I chuckled back, as I went around the fancy glass table and laid myself down onto the couch between them.

"You two weren´t bad either, your video was brilliant!" I stated, being honest with that.

"Glad you liked it, that was a lot of work!" Daniel smiled, "But this was your evening over all! Even the freaking Gazelle looked like she was in love with you a little" he said teasingly, because I was sighing about it in an overacted manner.

"Yeah, and the way you destroyed that tiger was epic!" Max commented, "…just look over there, he´s sitting all alone on his couch all over sudden!"

I just kept on shaking my head about all this with an ironic chuckle.

"You guys all are freaking crazy!" I sighed, also directed at the girls around us who kept on making selfies and photos with us in the background, "What did I get myself into again?" I asked ironically, before I sat up on the couch shortly afterwards. Lying was not very comfortable right now.

"I need to get back to the hospital soon, my back is starting to hurt again…" I told them, to make it clear immediately that I wouldn´t stay here all night.

"BJ to go?" Daniel asked with a big grin, referring to all the woman around us.

I just shook my head once more, "What do you think of me?" I asked in an obviously faked, ironic way.

"Damn, …really?" he asked, "But that is really relaxing, trust me!"

I couldn´t hide a little grin anymore. I believed I knew why they were talking about that.

"Didn´t I made my point clear about that already?" I chuckled.

"Come on, Mr. SMA!" Max told me, "Gotta life up to your title now, don´t you? At least tonight?"

"No, thank you, I don't" I smiled back politely.

I was still stared at from all angles. The girls weren´t really bothered about us talking like that, it even seemed to be quite normal here.

Nevertheless, it felt like it was the perfect moment to take a little revenge for all their laughter earlier.

"Come on guy´s, really?" I asked them with a big smile suddenly, "You should know me a little already! I wasn´t telling the truth about that!" I laughed out with a wide grin, "You didn´t really believe that, did you?"

The reason I did that was because I wanted to find out about their reaction to that lie, and that was even more funny than their faces before. They both seemed a little relieved about hearing that, so it clearly bothered them.

"Damn Nick" I thought to myself, "I can be an evil bastard sometimes!"

Also, the girls seemed to be very confused right now, a little staggered even. I loved that situation, I just realized that I could have so much fun with that.

"Well…yeah…" Max stammered, a little staggered all over sudden, "It sounded… it even looked convincing!"

"So…you lied in front of the whole city about that?" Daniel asked, equally astonished about it.

I didn´t nod or did I shake my head, I just shrugged my shoulders and grinned a little wider.

"Damn…" Max grinned suddenly, not knowing what to say. He obviously was a little relieved that I said it.

"That worked so brilliantly!" Daniel confessed, "You surely are a good actor!"

"Thank you" I told him in satisfaction, not acting like I was ashamed about it.

"You two seem to be a little relieved all over sudden" I teased them now.

They just looked at each other very shortly, but that was enough for me to prove it and burst out into a big laughter, this time a real one. It nearly began aching in my stomach.

"Nick" Daniel confessed, "You really are a savage sometimes!"

"Hahaha, you really fell for it!" I continued my shaking laughter, to make it look more realistic. It just worked perfectly, that was the most fun I had all evening.

"You little fucker!" Max chuckled ironically, "I never believe a single word of you again!"
"Really?" I asked, ambiguously once again, "…But you should! I´m not only telling lies" I grinned.

"I honestly feel really stupid right now!" Daniel confessed with a chuckle.

"That´s why he is the detective!" Max teased him, "…He is clever! We´re not, as it seems."

"Yeah…" I agreed, "But I told you I´d get my revenge for all that, didn´t I?"

Both of them still nodded, obviously a little ashamed about it now.

"Yeah, you did."

I lifted myself off of the couch again and slowly walked around the table.

"…and you did all that just for this one moment?" Daniel asked, still not quite believing it.

"Probably…" I grinned.

The girls around us still looked a little puzzled over all that, but it was about to get even better.

"What´s the average of a wolf?" I asked quite plainly, "About 6.5?"

"6.2" one of the Wolf ladies around our couch corrected with an amused giggle.

I just grinned at Max once more, I honestly wanted him to feel a little stupid about my little trick.

"Oh really, Nick?" he asked in slight annoyance.

"Your sigh of relieve earlier told me even more" I finished him off with an evil little smirk, "Be careful on messing with a fox my friend!" I added with a little wink.

"…excuse me for a second, got to comfort that tiger over there a little as well…I want to be fair to all of you…"

And with that, I simply left them alone where they were. Their faces where just priceless, like the literal meaning of "what the fuck?". It had worked even better than I believed it would.

POV Daniel

"Goddammit! This guy is a genius!" I chuckled, still looking after him like all the others. Max obviously didn´t like it very much what Nick just told him in front of all the girls, but he just couldn´t do anything about it. Luckily. But he wasn´t that mad.

"That brings showing off to a totally new level" he chuckled then, "I´m not even mad about it, there must be a reason why they solve nearly every case they get! …Just look at him, how absolutely authentic that sounded!"

"That…" one of the beautiful vixens around us found her voice again, "…that was so sexy! I don´t care about his real size, that alone got me wet already!" she giggled. The other ladies just looked like they agreed with her.

"Wasn´t looking that bad in the video" another one of them chuckled.

"What a pity he´s not interested in that" Max commented it dryly, not caring about it anymore whatsoever, "…but I could help you with that if you want!"

POV Nick

"Leopold?" I asked him lowly, trying not to scare him out of his trance. He was sitting alone on his couch, had a drink in his paws and just stared at the ceiling.

"Huh?" he asked, before he noticed me. He wasn´t even looking as mad as I had expected it.

"I came to say sorry" I told him calmly, "It wasn´t quite fair what I said."

He nodded a little.

"I´m sorry too" he confessed then, which surprised me a little, "I shouldn´t have said that either. I guess I really was just a little jealous…"

I gave him a little smile that said more than a thousand words. I was glad he changed his mind a little.

"I´m really not that proud about it" I told him, "I´m actually glad that this is about to be forgotten pretty soon again…"
Now he chuckled a little. "After that performance of you?" he asked, "That´ll be remembered in forever! Even the freaking Gazelle seems to be in love with you, and I´ve never seen somebody who she´d looked at like that! And I know her for quite a while…"

"And even if…" I sighed chummily, "I do not profit from that, I´m not interested" I told him with a friendly little wink.

"So…you´re serious with that bunny?"

"More than serious."

"Damn."

"I have no reason to act like an asshole" I repeated myself with a little chuckle.

"That works even better than it´s intended to, isn´t it?"

I just shrugged my shoulders a little. "Being friendly is not my invention, and I wouldn´t blame you for using that as well!" I told him.

"Why are you so nice to me all over sudden?" he asked me then.

"Have I been not nice earlier?"

He thought about it for a second.

"Yeah…right…it was me who began with that, wasn´t it?"

I just nodded a little. "But I see no point in getting on with that fight, nobody profits from that."

He nodded a little, and then he reached out his right paw for a quick fist-bump. I replied his gesture with a little smile.

"Better luck next year!" I wished him for the farewell with a competitive but friendly little smile.

"Good night, Mr. Seven!" he chuckled, as I went back to my original couch, "Enjoy your stay!"

I still grinned a little because that, before I arrived the others again.

"What did he say?" one of the ladies asked me with great interest, "Is he still mad?"

"No, he´s not, actually. He apologized" I said with a little shrug, "Just like I did."

She nodded with an impressed expression.

"What did you apologize for?" Daniel wanted to know, "For showing off your detective skills?"

"Are you guys mad about that now?" I chuckled with a big smile.

"Mad about what?" asked us a still very well-tempered Gazelle all over sudden, who just joined our couch right after coming from the stage.

Now, it were Max and Daniel who suddenly grinned very widely, predictably. But I wasn´t scared because of that, naturally.

"They´re a little mad because I just took revenge for the video they showed!" I told her, before they had a chance to stop me.

"That sounds good, I wanna hear that!" she chuckled, before she took a seat between Max and Daniel on the couch. She wasn´t even hesitating for a single second.

"Uhm…" Max stuttered, and I nearly fainted from laughter about their reaction.

"Seems to have worked out quite well for him, hasn´t it?" Gazelle teased them mercilessly, because Daniel still looked a little ashamed about it too.

"Nick, I hate you!" Max commented that dryly, because I still wasn´t getting it together.

"Explain it please!" Gazelle begged.

"He´s even better as an actor than as a detective!" Daniel told her then very dryly, "That worked out so well for him!"

"What did he act about?"
"What do you think he acted about?" Max asked ironically, "He just told everybody that lie just to find out about our reactions afterwards! And that told him more than a thousand words!"

Now Gazelle looked equally shocked as all the others have when I told them.

"What? Really?" she asked.

"That´s why he´s so good as a detective. He´s outfoxing people wherever he goes just because he has fun with that!"

"Wow!" she grinned, "That is good!" she confessed, looking at me now, "That is really good!"

I just kept on smiling mischievously.

"You sneaky little fox!" she giggled.

"At least I must not feel that bad about it anymore" Max added to that, and everybody was chuckling about it a little. Then, the others stared at me too. Just at me.

Probably because I still pulled off that mischievous smile again, it wasn´t easy to hide it anymore.

"But that video footage was not faked or edited, was it?" Gazelle asked then, and she had a good point with that.

Their expressions now where priceless.

"That´s what makes a good act a brilliant one" I now told them with a lot of self-confidence, and that seemed to be enough.

Daniel was the first one to get it, seeing his expression change again was more than just funny. It also was utterly satisfying because it worked so well.

"You weren´t lying in the show, where you?" he asked then.

"Nope" I confirmed with a wide grin, shaking my head, "I just acted like I was lying. Sorry to burst your bubble once again" I told them, hardly trying not to start laughing again, but it didn't work. I never thought I could have so much fun with this.

There was a big pause before they found their words again, I was still laughing my ass off.

"You little fucker!" Max yelled out, "Why would you…? What!?"

The others where laughing loudly as well now, but Max and Daniel were just shaking their heads. Max took another sip of his drink which he had standing on the table before him. I felt a little bad for them, but I would let it be with that anyways right now.

POV Max

The alcohol was running down my throat, and that felt satisfying right now. I couldn´t quite look him in the eyes after that. That hurt more than I thought it would.

"Remember when Daniel asked ´since when is he mean to us´ in the video?" Nick asked with a little chuckle, after he calmed down from his laughter.

"Yeah, yeah…" I told him with a big sigh.

"Scared now, Max?" Daniel asked lightheartedly.

"Shut up, Kitten!" he chuckled back ironically.

"Come on, guy´s! It´s not that important, is it?" Nick asked, "I didn´t mean it like that, I just wanted to take a little revenge! Who cares about that anyways?"

"You´ve just heard it yourself who cares about that" Daniel chuckled, referring to everybody standing around us and the whole audience half an hour ago.

"Just get over it, I´m not trying to humble you or anything. I wasn´t the one who started that topic, and from my point of view, we don´t have to bring up that topic ever again" I explained.

We nodded a little and that was followed by an awkward little pause of silence.

"Sound´s fair to me" Gazelle suddenly chuckled in great amusement, before she simply grabbed my glass of vodka and took a sip as well.

"Hey!" I chuckled, as she put the glass back down again, "I need that alcohol right now!"

She just grinned at me mischievously, she wasn´t bothered about my ironic complaining at all.

"I just picked that up from the buffet, now I have to go and get another one!"

"That is good!" she stated, "bring me another one of those as well, please!" she chuckled.

I dumbfoundedly kept on staring at her for a little moment. But my mood got a lot better again already. I wasn´t really mad at her of course.

I just recognized that Nick stretched his back a little again and pulled a painful expression during that. He still seemed to be affected by the pain of the wound on his back, and that was not unlikely. He really looked like he was done for this evening, and we couldn´t blame him for that of course. I was lucky he could even be here today.

"Alright, guy´s" he announced soon later, "That´s it for me today, I wish you a good night!"

"Good night, Nicky!" Gazelle waved him, and so did the others.

"Sleep well, Detective!" I chuckled for the farewell.

"Have fun with that picture in your head" he said with a little wink.

"Oh, I will, don´t worry!" I joked.

"Be careful not to get abducted out there!" Daniel told him ironically.

He just winked us one last time, then he went on his way. Just like that, he simply left us alone here. Alone with Gazelle and all the other beautiful girls. Somehow, I wasn´t too mad about it anymore. Daniel seemed a little more relaxed as well now.

"Ouch!" I interrupted the short silence confidently, which appeared for a few seconds after he left us. They all started giggling happily.

"Look at the poor Leonard over there!" Gazelle commented with a faked concerned tone, "Still seems to be a little mad about it…"

"Nick apologized to him already" Daniel let her know, "And he did too, as Nick told us."

"He is a good guy, isn´t he?"

"Well yeah…mostly…" I commented dryly.

"Oh, come on, Maxie!" she chuckled, "I´m sure he didn´t mean it like that…it´s really just a stupid girls topic…"

POV Nick

It took me nearly ten minutes to even get out of the backstage area. I was talking to all the other nominees, was taking photos with them and shook the paws of about a hundred people, before I finally reached the corridor that led me out of the building. The only thing I really wanted right now was getting back to the hospital, another set of painkillers and seeing Judy again. But it shouldn´t be as easy as I´d hoped. The whole street was surrounded by the press people, by dozens of supposed fans, and predictably they were all just waiting for me.

Right in front of the entrance in noticed Jennifer, still wearing her police outfit, just like she had in the audience.

"Hey there, Nicky!" she smiled, "How are you? I was just about to join you in there…"
I just sighed with a little smile while taking a short look at the totally excited people outside the door behind her.

"Guess you have go get through that as well right now" she chuckled.

"My back is aching" I mumbled, "And I don't want to answer stupid questions anymore…"

"What kind of stupid questions?" she teased me with a dirty little smile.

I just gave her an evil look for that.

"I´m just kidding" she chuckled, "I got my police car outside, I can bring you to the hospital if you want…"

"Yes please!" I told her, actually really thankfully about that offer. I would have to call a taxi otherwise.

With her on my side, I had a reason to leave this place very soon, because I must not let her wait for me. At least I hoped so, maybe that was believable.

Three steps out of the door and we got stopped completely.

"Officer Wilde!" I was screamed at, "How do you feel about the show…" it began, and it took forever as it felt like. We were barely moving.

POV Max

This night was totally crazy. Not necessarily a bad one, but just surreal on so many levels. First, we were on stage, then we had a great time watching Nick talking to Gazelle, got a lot of attention from the beautiful girls backstage, and now we were talking to the biggest Popstar of the City like she was a very close friend of ours. She actually seemed to quite enjoy our company. I always thought she would be one of the type who just left the building after a show and headed home into privacy. I thought that she wouldn´t even look at us once more after the show was over. It turned out to be the exact opposite of that. She even stayed with us when the backstage girls started leaving the couch very slowly.

There were quite a few SMA nominees left in the backstage area, talking in little groups, eating from the still freshly cooked buffet and drinking alcohol from fancy glasses. It actually was quite a nice and relaxing atmosphere. A few minutes after Nick had left us, the moose, who was the producer of this show, joined us at our couch for a second and thanked us for our visit and the great show we pulled off. He was a little sad that he couldn´t meet Nick once again, but when we told him that he wanted to go back to the hospital, he just waved it off with an understanding little smile and left us alone soon afterwards again. He also headed for the other nominees and talked to them for a while.

"You have a lot of fun with presenting this show, don´t you?" I asked Gazelle quite plainly after a short pause of silence. She wasn´t really mad at me for asking that.

"I do!" she confirmed, "This is so interesting for me! Not only because of the good talks, also because I´m not the middle point all the time…"

"That makes a lot of sense!" Daniel agreed, "Nick got pretty annoyed by that in just a few days…"

"It does get pretty annoying when they look at you like everything you do is pure gold wherever you go" she said, "I really miss being treated like just a normal animal!"

"Just ask me" I joked, "I got to endure this childish lion all day long!"

"Who do you call childish, Maxie MC average?" he asked back with a wide grin.

I really was a little annoyed by him bringing up that topic once again, but Gazelle still found our bickering really funny. She nearly choked on her drink because of the laughter that shook her.

"I like you two!" she later told us with a little giggle, "You´re just messed up and likable enough to be interesting!"

POV Nick

"Thanks a lot, Jenny!" I told her gratefully, after I finally got into the co-driver´s side of her police car and she started the engine.

"That´s no problem!" she chuckled, carefully maneuvering through the loads of people who have been following us, "Thank you so much for doing this!"

"For doing what? Talking about my dick?" I joked dryly.

She couldn´t hide a little laughter because of that, but she was blushing a little also.

"For coming here in general I mean…" she clarified with a little chuckle.

I just nodded with a consoled little smile.
"You´ve had enough of all this, haven´t you?" she asked me then, "You don´t seem to enjoy all the attention of the press…"

"Not really, no. It feels like I can never go anywhere again."

"Nah…I think that calms down again someday. And when Judy gets back up on her feet next week, that will change a lot of your current situation also, won´t it?"

"Guess you´re right" I confirmed with a little sigh, "I really miss her! My life seems to make no sense without her…"

"That day will come a lot sooner than you think right now, believe me!" she ensured with a warm smile.

"Hopefully."

That was followed by a little pause. I didn´t really have anything more to say right now. She kind of had, but she wasn´t sure of telling me, as it seemed.

"…Honestly, I´m a little jealous of what you got there" she told me then, "Not about her being with you, about how well you two get along together, how strong you are as a team…"

"She is the counterpart that´s always been missing in my life before" I told her, "I never thought I would find someone who I want to spend the rest of my life with, but I just got taught better in such a short period of time. You really never know when it hits you."

"But it all feels so…you know…unreachable…"

"Excuse me?" I asked.

"It seems to be impossible to…"

"Yeah, I´ve heard what you said, but why? Why do you think like that? What makes you think that nobody would want you?" I asked in all honesty.

"…you´re surely not ugly, far from it, and you´re very funny too! What more could a bloke want from a girl? And you´re a police officer, so you´re one of the most awesome people from this city!"

She noticeably was a little flattered by me giving her those compliments, but she still wasn´t sure about it.

"But I feel like I´m a bit of a bore. You and Judy, you´re always out there, doing crazy and brilliant things every day, undercover work and all that stuff. Even the research I did with Judy was a lot of fun. You have so much to talk about, so many great moments…"

"Jenny…" I calmed her down, "…you´re a medic, you´re talking to lots of criminals and dangerous prisoners every day. You´re full of little secrets, you can keep your cool when it´s needed, you were the witness of a freaking hostage taking…what else do you need? I wouldn't call that boring if you asked me!"

"But your life seems to be so…well…perfect compared to mine…"

"My life was not always perfect, and even right now I have some issues. Did I ever tell you about my life before I became a police officer?"

"No, you didn´t, I just heard that Judy forced you to help her with the nighthowlers-case somehow…"

"Exactly. There is a reason why I don´t talk about it too often, because I´m not really proud of my younger days."
"Really?"

"That's what I meant when I said that I am her counterpart. I was earning money with methods I wouldn´t exactly call perfectly legal. I have been on the other side of the law as well. Judy managed to rip me out of those miserable days, and that just using an orange little plastic carrot pen that has a little microphone inside it…" I told her.

"Wow, really?"

"That´s why I´m here right now."

That was followed by a little silence once again.

"Is that why you´re this good at reading minds?" she asked then, "Because you know what or how a criminal -or somebody with a little secret- would think?"

"You mean like that one last question that you´re a little too shy to ask me, but you wanted the answer to since we closed the car door´s behind us?" I asked her with a big smile, although it was not very hard to find that out after what happened in the show earlier.

"What question?" she asked with an ironic little smirk, just as she brought the car to a halt in front of the hospital entrance.

I just gave her that mischievous little smile once again, that told her all she needed to know, probably. Then I opened the door on my side.

"Good night, Jennifer" I told her with a little wink, "Thanks for the lift!"

"Good night, Nicky, see you later!" she grinned behind me, before I closed the door gently, "Sleep well, Mr. SMA!"

I wasn´t alone in front of the hospital, even now at nearly one o´clock in the morning. Even here the reporters where waiting for me, anticipating that I would come back to this place tonight. Getting into the building unseen wasn´t really possible, they were waiting exactly in front of the entrance, so I just sighed a little and went for it with that. There was no other way than facing it once again, although that would probably cost me the rest of my nerves. What a fucking night.

More is coming soon. (If you are still interested)

Have a good time ;)

~furrwolf