Where is the smut you promised us?
-good question. Still have no answer for you, I´m sorry. Someday it´ll be finished.
For now I just get on with the story. Or at least with what I feel like writing. Hope you can still enjoy it a little.
As always, big thanks to MrShurukan for correcting it.
Have fun reading.
Zootopia – Springtime Circumstances
Chapter 48 – Way too humble (POV Nick)
Working undercover was close to impossible for Judy and I. Since there were black sheep in every single ZPD department of the city, and since they all heard of our little briefing-room raid, they all were as careful as they could be, naturally. Max and Daniel were quite easy to be recognized as well in the meanwhile, so they were no option for undercover work either. And since we couldn´t just tell the whole city that there were corrupt cops running around everywhere, we had to pick them apart one by one. That was a lot of work and took a lot of time. Also, it was dangerous, especially for Judy and I. Everybody knew us and they all still talked about us. We had a lot of enemies in the meanwhile.
Naturally, our flats weren´t safe anymore, and we didn´t want to stay this whole time in Sarah´s, Ivonne´s and Rico´s place either. We really liked them as our friends and they liked us as well, but it really was a little too crowded for a longer stay.
So short but effectively, Judy and I moved into a new flat together. We were even closer to the City-centre now, and that was good in case we needed to get something from there quickly. Money was not an issue, and since we spend every day alongside each other anyway, moving together was the best choice we could make. We both anticipated that to happen eventually, and now we really did it.
Today we went back to my old flat for the first time since our fight there. I wanted to get a few things I would have liked to keep, and since we had all of Judy´s private stuff in the trunk of our car already, it now was my turn. So we picked up the body protection armour and riffles once again, in case somebody was expecting and waiting for us here, and then we simply went for it. I was a little nervous though. The door has been open this whole time since it happened and we had no idea what to expect. I just hoped they didn´t steal any of my important documents or stuff like that. Leaving it like that for so many days was a little reckless, probably.
When we arrived at the door, I opened it just as I was used to it, stepped into something very slick and slippery and right away landed on my back very uncomfortably. Judy found that a lot more amusing than me, naturally.
"Ouch" I complained, "…shit, I totally forgot about that…"
"Looks like you´ve out-smarted yourself, Nicky!" she commented with a happy giggle.
"Seems like it…" I sighed while lifting myself off the ground carefully. My whole outfit was stained in olive oil.
Judy used the towel that was still laying in the middle of the puddle and jumped over that to cross it. I followed her and closed the door behind me as good as it was possible.
"You should get a towel for that later" she told me with an amused chuckle, "The Chief is going to kill you if you get that oil onto the seats of his cruiser…"
"I got yelled at for less than that, Carrots" I sighed, before I took a closer look into my living room, "…holy shit…"
POV Rico
Today, finally, Ben gave me the finished mix of the song we recorded. The one I played for my friends and roommates a few days ago. Pyro Heart.
He got it done with perfecting it this morning and just now copied all the raw data and the complete mp3 file onto my flash drive. Then he handed it over to me with a confident smile.
"That really sounds good" he told me in all honesty, "I never knew you actually have some talent…" he added jokingly.
I just grinned about it proudly, playing around with the flash drive in my paws.
"So, here we are…" he grinned a moment later, "Now where is that magical stuff you promised to get me?" he asked while taking a sip of his coffee.
Although our shift had just begun, it would still take a lot of time until something happened here anyway. We always were the first ones here. So there was enough time for a quick phone call.
Just so he could see it, I opened up Judy´s contact on my phone and put her on speaker when I started the call.
"As if…" he Ben grinned as the beeping of the connection was to be heard, "…as if that´s her real phone number…"
Just in that moment she answered. That shut him up pretty quickly.
"Hey Rico!" she greeted me with a happy giggle, "…what´s going on, how are you?" she asked.
"Oh hey, Judy!" I answered her, "I´m doing great, thanks for asking! What about you guys? Found a new flat yet?"
"Yeah" she affirmed, "We got the keys already and we just went to Nick´s old flat to get some of his stuff…"
"How bad is the damage?" I asked casually, because they told me about their fight in there earlier.
"It´s not that bad actually, but have a guess who just ran into his own trap and landed on his bum…" she chuckled.
"I totally forgot about that stupid oil…" we heard Nick grumbling in the background. I couldn´t help but slip a little chuckle because of that.
"…hey Rico!" Nick then greeted me as well, "…You handsome devil, how are you?"
"I´m fantastic" I smiled, "…thanks for asking. I was just calling because I wanted to show you guys something pretty cool..."
"Yeah?" Nick asked in excitement, "That sounds good already!"
"Making music for us again?" Judy asked excitedly, "Oh I can´t wait for that!"
"Yeah, kind of…"
"Awesome" Nick told me through Judy´s phone, "When and where?"
"Are you guys down to visit me in the studio today?" I got to the point straight away, winking Ben shortly who was listening closely, "I could show you around a little if you want…you know…meet my colleagues and stuff…" I proposed.
"Oh hell yeah! Sounds great!" Nick affirmed, "…but we´re still a little busy with moving stuff around right now…"
"I need to work as well right now, don't worry. I would have supposed at the end of my shift, about 4PM? Does that work for you?"
"Oh that fits us perfectly" Judy agreed on that, "We´ll be there!"
"Awesome!" I told them happily, "I´ll text you the correct address later…"
"Alright, cool!" Nick told us, "I´m excited!"
"Me too, see you later guys! Have a good day!"
"You too" Judy told me for the farewell, "Bye hotshot, see you later!"
"Later!" I ended the call contentedly, before I put my phone back into my pocket and remained grinning at Ben in amusement.
"That´s quite a lot of effort to make me believe that" he chuckled, "How much did you pay them for that?"
"You´re still not believing me?" I asked in amusement.
"She just called you ´hotshot´" he laughed out while shaking his head with a big grin, "Those guys are famous people, he especially! You don´t really want to make me believe that they´re talking to you like good friends would…"
That just made me grin even wider. He had no idea how stupid he would look this afternoon. I already was shaking a little in anticipation.
"Keep on grinning all you want" he chuckled, "I´m not believing you that until you prove me wrong…and that won´t happen. They have no idea of your existence."
I just shrugged my shoulders with a mysterious smile and reached out for my cup of coffee once again. I couldn´t hide my anticipation though. That just was the best feeling ever.
"Just what is wrong with you?" he asked in disbelief, "I´m a little scared of you in the meanwhile…this stuff can´t be healthy for you…"
"I would say that my health is even better since I´ve gotten to know them…" I chuckled, "I´m less stressed because of all the sex, I´m much closer to my roommates and every day I spend with those lovely people is exciting and just awesome. I´m pretty sure I´ve never been more-healthy in my whole life before…"
He still shook his head stubbornly. He still thought I was out of my mind.
"I bet you twenty bucks that we won´t see any police officers here today, especially not those two" he sighed finally, "And I mean it! I need to wake you up somehow…"
This was only getting better.
"Deal" I said while offering him to shake my paw on it, "And we´re going to eat pizza for those twenty bucks someday after work."
"Whatever" he chuckled while shaking my paw, "But we better get to work now, shall we?"
"Yeah" I agreed while following him into the recording room, "Let´s get this over with…"
POV Charlie (red fox, hospital)
It was about 2PM in the afternoon and somebody knocked at my door suddenly.
"Come in" I told them.
At first, I expected to get visited by Suzanne who was coming to "check out on me" once again, but it wasn´t her. The red fox who came in this time was a lot more muscular than her, and he also didn´t wear a white hospital uniform. He wore dark blue shorts and a simple white muscle-shirt. He was not alone either, a very familiar bunny lady followed him into the room and closed the door behind them. She wasn´t wearing her police uniform right now either, but it was obvious who they were. It didn´t look like they were very mad at me, but I couldn´t help myself and fear them a little, him especially. That beast of a police officer was the reason I was tied onto this bed in this hospital, and I didn´t have the urge to experience that for a second time.
There was no doubt that he could entirely rip me apart with that body of his. Just seeing him made me shiver with fear. He wasn´t mad at me though, quite the opposite.
"Hey buddy" he greeted me softly, "Mind if we disturb you for a second?" he asked.
"Hey…" I just greeted back carefully. More wasn´t possible right now.
"Just like Jack did, hopefully" he began, "I came to say sorry."
He left that standing in the room for another moment and I just nodded slow- and respectfully.
"…I know that it was not your idea and that you just were following orders" he clarified, "…and I´m sorry that I didn´t start throwing tables sooner instead of you. It was just a reaction."
"I…I´m sorry too…" I told him in all honesty, "I should have considered it again. I know just how dangerous that stuff is and I just realized how bad this could have been for your health as well…"
"…well" he sighed, "We all survived it. And I really cut down his ego for that as well, I can tell you that!" he added with a chuckle.
"He´s good at what he does …" I told him, "…but he is a little out of control sometimes…"
Nick simply nodded with an understanding little smile.
"Was a pretty good performance from you though" he grinned at me then, "I believed you until you jabbed that needle into my skin…"
"Thank you" I smiled proudly, "…but that was a once-in-a-lifetime-performance."
He just nodded with another little smile. We seemed to be cool with that, and it took me another moment to fully realize it. But his respect meant quite a lot to me, and hearing those words out of his mouth really lifted my mood even more.
"Hope you get better soon" he told me for the farewell, as they already turned around to leave the room again, "…hope they take good care of you" he added with a little wink. Hearing that, I couldn't hide a little grin anymore. I knew exactly what he was talking about. That answered a lot of questions suddenly.
"Thanks for stopping by" I let them know before they left, "Really appreciate it!"
"No problem! See you later, pal! Have a good day!"
POV Rico (a few hours later)
"Alright guys" I told the whole orchestra that was here to practise the new movie soundtrack with me, "I think that´s it for today, great job everybody!"
"Wohoo!" Irene shouted lowly but joyfully as ever, "Rico is happy with something!"
I knew the brown furred hare since quite a while as well in the meanwhile. She was playing the violin for most of our productions and she also volunteered to help me with recording my song last week. I just smiled a little at what she said and gave her a quick little wink. Just like the others she was on it to pack her instrument already, but I didn´t want her to miss the big surprise either of course. I was just thinking of something to make them stay a little longer, but then I just got what I needed.
"But it´s true, Rico" our pianist Ilya agreed with Irene´s statement, "Where does all that good spirit come from all over sudden?"
I took a short look at the clock on my phone. It was five to four in the afternoon.
"Just wait for another few minutes and you´ll see it for yourself" I told them with a mysterious little smile.
Ben, who was already collecting all the microphones from the instruments, still just shook his head about hearing it. "Forget it, Rico!" he sighed, "That is not going to happen…"
"What is not going to happen?" Irene wanted to know excitedly.
Just in that very moment my phone began ringing and showed Nicks contact on the screen. I winked her shortly, then I accepted it.
"Yeah?" I asked.
"Hey Rico" Nick greeted me, "We´re here, can you let us in?" he asked.
I just couldn´t hide a little grin. They really came and they were just on time.
"Yeah, sure! Give me half a minute!" I told him, before I ended the call and began moving towards the hallway already.
"Just stay were you are" I told them, "I promise you´ll like this!"
"Okay…" Irene chuckled while shrugging her shoulders.
I went into the backyard behind the production studio and ran into their arms right away. They had found the right entrance already.
"Hey Rico!" Judy greeted me happily, "So nice to see you!"
"Likewise!" I greeted her back while hugging her quickly.
"So this is a real movie production studio?" Nick asked in excitement, "This is so epic!"
"You think?" I asked while replying to his little fist bump.
"Totally! And I always wanted to see a recording studio as well…"
"Right this way" I told him, "You´re about to meet the whole orchestra in just a second" I informed them, "We´re just finished with our shift…"
"Oh that´s so cool!" Judy giggled while following me down the hallway, "And you´re the boss of all that?"
"Well…yeah…sort of…" I chuckled, "I´m the composer…so they kinda have to listen to me…but overall we´re all working on the same project and I´m playing with them as well most of the day…"
"That sounds like so much fun" Nick commented with great interest.
"Well, not always…" I chuckled, "But most of the time it´s pretty cool" I told them loudly so everyone could hear it, just as I led them around the final corner.
That sudden wave of energy that went through the room was impossible to describe. That was one of the coolest moments I ever had.
As soon as they saw us coming in, everybody in the room froze immediately. Ben stopped dismounting microphones, Irene stopped collecting her note-sheets and the others stopped their entire body movement as well.
"Judy, Nick" I told them, "Let me introduce you to the team…"
"Hey everybody!" Nick greeted them warmly while waving a little. Judy smiled as well happily, and they both couldn´t hide a little smile when I went towards the baffled Ben and patted his shoulders a little. I was enjoying this far too much and I just couldn´t help myself.
"Here we have my very talented sound technician and editor Ben" I introduced him, and then I just stared at him and waited for a reaction. He still wasn´t quite able to move yet.
"I…I…I…" he stuttered, as Nick decided to join us and offer him to shake his paw.
"Hey pal" he smiled, understanding my wide grinning actually, "Nick Wilde, nice to meet you!"
"I…I… …holy shit!" he gasped, "I´m going to pass out!"
"Why?" Judy asked with a little smile, "What´s the matter?"
"Holy hell!" somebody else whispered, "Is this real? Am I dreaming?"
"…I think they can´t quite believe what they see" I explained the situation.
"I´ve heard that before…" Nick chuckled while waving it off, "…but it didn´t take you too long either, did it?" he asked in amusement.
"Oh my god!" Irene screeched in total joy and disbelief, "This is sooo cool!"
Without any shyness she was coming towards us now and I could nearly feel how happy and excited she was.
"I´m such a big fan of you guys!" she told them, "I´m so happy to meet you personally!"
"Oh thank you!" Judy told her with a friendly little wink while hugging her shortly, "Nice to meet you too!"
"I…I really didn´t believe you" Ben finally found his voice again, "I´m so sorry!"
"Sorry for what?" Nick chuckled in amusement.
"For not believing him. I though he made all of that up when he told me about it."
"We make no difference for anybody" Nick clarified for him, "And there is no need to treat us any different either…"
"But…but…you were on TV! And in the news…"
"But that doesn´t make us anything better than you, does it?" Nick asked back with a little chuckle.
"I…I don´t…know."
"No" Nick shook his head distinctively, "It doesn't. Rico is awesome, so are his roommates Ivonne and Sarah and so is every other mammal of this city, including you and this whole orchestra. There is no need to make yourself smaller than you are" he added with a little chuckle, "I told that to as well Rico already."
I nodded to affirm what he said. Ben still thought he was dreaming, apparently.
"I´m so baffled right now" he confessed, "But I´m glad that I´m not dreaming! …because I´ve been dreaming about this since quite a while already…"
"Aww" Judy commented happily, "It´s nice to meet all you guys too!"
They kept on shaking paws with my colleagues until everybody was happy and it was quite funny to watch all their reactions.
"So, Rico?" Judy giggled, "Didn´t you want to show something to us?" she asked, "Where is the big surprise?"
"Yeah, right!" I agreed, "Follow me!"
I led them into the editing room, activated the AMPs once again and presented them the flash drive I held in my paws.
"…since you all threatened to kick my butt if I wouldn´t show that to anybody…"
"Oh yeah!" Nick smiled in anticipation, "…finally! I´ve been waiting for that!"
Ben, Irene, Ilya and all the other guys who hadn't left the studio yet had followed us into the editing room and it became pretty crowded in here all over sudden. But everybody still kept their respectful distance to Nick and Judy. Everybody except for me apparently. I´ve never felt more comfortable in here before.
I opened the mp3 file on the editing computer and fired up the mix for them.
"God, I´m so in love with that song" Judy commented while listening. Nick couldn´t stop smiling either.
"Here you go" I chuckled, after the song faded out softly at its end, "What do you think?"
"Why do you even ask what we think?" Nick grinned proudly, "That´s bloody awesome!"
"There is just one thing missing" Judy chuckled with a dirty little smile, "… and that´s you naked and playing the guitar…"
Hearing that left my colleagues even more dumbfounded. I couldn´t help but grin about it stupidly.
"What are you talking about" I grinned back at her, "I have no idea what you´re talking about."
"Full of surprises this guy, isn't he?" Nick asked them with a big smile.
"Y-Yeah…" Irene agreed, "Rico, why did you never tell us about all this?"
"Because you wouldn´t have believed him" Ben answered that question for me dryly, "That´s what happened to me, and now I feel really stupid."
We all couldn´t help but chuckle about that happily. Nick laid his arm around his shoulder for a moment to console him a little.
"That song is pretty cool by the way!" Irene complimented, "Not sure if I told you that before..."
"The violin especially, isn´t it?" I asked her in return with a little wink.
"Oh, what would I give to see that whole thing live!" Nick told us with a motivating little chuckle.
"Yeah!" Judy agreed with him, "That would be so cool!"
"Let´s do it" Ben supposed right away, "I´m down."
"How about we make a little YouTube video out of this?" Nick suggested suddenly.
"Like…from the recording session?" I asked, "You think that´s cool?"
"Are you kidding me?" Nick asked with a motivating grin, "That´s going to be awesome!" he chuckled.
"I´m in!" Irene agreed on it as well, "This is so exciting!"
"Yeah? You guys are all down for it?" I asked, also directed at all the others who helped me recording that song.
"Sure" Ilya agreed, "Why not? Sounds like fun to me!"
POV Ben
It was like I was in a dream. Like Rico really infused some drugs into my body and I saw hallucinations before me. At first I believed that he would simply disappear when I would shake his paw, like he would turn into some fairy dust that blew away with the wind, but he was real. Very real. And so was his beautiful and equally sympathetic girlfriend. There was so much positive energy in the room because of them and this immediately turned into the most exciting day I´ve had since a very long time.
"…alright" I managed to speak up once again, "I´m going to ask somebody to help us filming quickly! Maybe we can borrow one of the big cameras…"
"Awesome!" Nick affirmed happily, "This is going to be so cool!"
Motivated by his words I went on my way.
I couldn´t help but still laugh at myself. In front of Rico I clearly looked like an idiot right now, there was no way of denying it, but at least I wanted to be a cool idiot and not the one who acted upset because of it. And they were so nice to me anyway, how could I not help them with shooting a music video? It finally felt like I was doing something special in here once again.
When I told the filming crew at the set that Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde were in our studio, nearly all of them followed right away. I wasn´t sure if that was cool or not, but now I couldn´t change it anymore anyways. I felt a little bad for it, but when we arrived back in the studio, they were just as relaxed about it as they were with us. Nick and Judy greeted everybody with the same amount of respect they were given, shook everybody´s paw and just seemed to have a really good time overall. I didn´t upset them in the slightest.
Rico had set up his acoustic guitar in the meanwhile, the cream and beige coloured pug had installed the three microphones I gave him back above the strings of his piano and Judy watched very closely how Irene got her violin ready once again. The two bunnies seemed to be best friends already, although Irene still was a tiny little shy in their presence. But so was I. So were all of us, apparently. Everybody but Rico, who was as relaxed as always. He wasn´t scared of them at all, not in any perspective. Not from the fact that they were police officers, not from the fact that he also was a male fox, not because he was the SMA this year and neither because Judy seemed to genuinely like him. They seemed to be very close friends, just as Rico told me.
"Where have you guys left your uniforms today?" the grey and black fox asked our guests while setting up his singing mic.
"Undercover purposes" Nick chuckled light-heartedly.
"Suits you guys well too" Rico told him with a big smile, "Although I really like that blue as well…"
"You´re such a sycophant, Rico" Judy giggled.
"Am I?" he asked back in amusement.
"I believe he´s just fishing for compliments" Nick told us teasingly.
"Yeah, and he surely has a point" Judy grinned, "…but Rico that video-setup is still not good enough as it is right now" she let him know while she was hopping off the piano smoothly and walked up to him right afterwards.
"I´ll be the director of this video I just decided" she told him, "…and there is so much wasted potential!"
"If you say so…" he chuckled in amusement, while she literally went up to his stomach and started undoing the buttons of his blue shirt. She didn´t stop undressing him until he was all naked on his upper body.
"Hell yeah, Rico!" Irene giggled happily, "Show us what you have!"
"You have been dreaming about this for a while" he grinned back at her, "Haven´t you?"
"Oh for sure!" she giggled, "I like where this is going!"
"Can I be your assistant director, carrots?" Nick asked her with a dirty grin, "…because I would take the rest of his cloths as well if I were you…"
"Good idea, actually!" she grinned in agreement.
"Nope!" Rico stopped her with a big smile. Then he pointed at the other male fox in the room, "That´s his part, sweetheart!"
"So you wanna have the SMA in your video as well?" she asked while thinking about it shortly.
He just shrugged his shoulders a little. "Why not?" he asked then, "Would be great to have both of you in the video, that would really make it awesome!"
"Alright" she agreed, "Nick, you´re fired as my assistant! Get out of that shirt, you´re going to be stripping for us I just decided!"
"Oh yes, please!" Irene agreed with an excited little giggle, "More sexy foxes!"
"Oh really, Carrots?" Nick sighed at his girlfriend.
"As if you hadn´t done this often enough already" she grinned at him, "That won´t make a big difference anymore either…"
"Yeah" Rico agreed with her, "…and you can´t just leave me alone with this…"
"Oh yes I can, you sexy devil" he chuckled.
We all couldn´t help but smile at that conversation. Nick and Judy really were good sports about it. They were just as likeable as we´ve seen Nick in the SMA show already.
"Well, I would say two cute foxes are better than one cute fox…" Irene suggested boldly but with a little giggle.
Judy pointed at her just after she said it. "She is my new assistant director now!" she announced with a big happy smile.
"Alright!" she giggled, "Why are those two still wearing any clothing?"
"You´ve heard her!" Judy chuckled at the foxes, "Stop resisting already! What are we waiting for?"
I was not the only one who was excited about all this. All the colleagues who weren't helping with the video shooting followed me into the editing room behind the big glass window and began setting it up with great excitement. They even installed a Spotlight above Rico´s position quickly and changed the whole lighting in the room a little to make it look more appealing. They had not only one but three of the big cameras with them since I told them about our idea of a music video. This really could get good actually.
"God that´s so hot" Diane, a colleague from the camera crew whispered, "Never knew Rico were this cute either…"
"I never knew he could write songs like that" I chuckled.
"This is so awesome!" she giggled, "What´s his song like?"
I just pointed through the window into the recording room, where Rico gave the other musicians the last few instructions, "Just listen, he´s about to play it right now…"
It was just in that very moment when Rico pulled the first few stings of his guitar. They were filming him and the band from three different angles and I made sure the audio levels were all on point.
"I´ve been dancin´, with the devil on my shoulder - till the mornin´ breaks.
And I get nervous, every time he pulls me closer - that I´ll sink too deep.
I keep treadin´ through the water – I keep tryin´ to stay afloat
Before the ship can pull me under – pull me under
Guide me home – Guide me hoOome
I know you´re there – my ocean flare
My firework, when the whole worlds hurts you light the dark – Pyro Heart."
Judy was walking up to the singing Rico slowly. She shortly picked up his fluffy tail and let it slide through her paws before softly dropping it back onto the floor once again. He wasn´t lying here either, they really weren´t shy of coming close to him. I was just so fascinated by that that I nearly forgot to watch the Microphones.
"Wow" Diane commented, "His voice is so freaking sexy!"
Judy climbed onto Ilya´s Piano once again carefully and watched him playing it with big eyes. She really was fascinated by what he was doing as it seemed. It looked like he had quite a hard time to concentrate in her presence though, but he still managed to get it right and made it sound really smooth and enjoyable. By the look of his face it was clear that he didn´t regret staying longer for this. I´ve barely seen that cute little Russian this excited before.
I was so in love with that bunny already. She was so much cooler than I´ve always imagined it in my head before and Nick seemed to be fine with everything she was doing. But I was proud of Rico as well, I couldn´t deny that it was quite exciting to watch him perform right now.
A few moments later Nick smoothly joined them in between the instruments as well. Just like Rico he was naked on his upper body now, and when he danced into the light and the focus of the camera finally, we really got to see the huge scar that went across his back.
"Wow…" one of my colleagues commented, "That is quite a cut!"
"Oh, what would I give to spend a night with one of those cute little foxies!" Diane giggled.
"Which one?" I asked with a big grin, hoping I could tease Rico with that later.
"Both of them" the Coyote confessed with a dirty smile, "Both of them at once."
Nick was closely watching the musicians as well with great interest, and it honestly looked like he had the fun of his life with that. When Rico hit the chorus of his song for the second time, the red fox went towards the piano slowly but surely, lifted Judy off of it carefully, put her back down on her feet and began dancing with her slowly.
"Goddamn that´s good!" somebody else from the guys behind me commented, "And that song is great too!"
I nodded in agreement. "Full of surprises our little Rico, isn´t he?" I chuckled.
"He could really stake a career on that video. This is going to blow up anyway with Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde in it…"
Just when Rico began with the last few lines of his song, Nick and Judy stopped staring at each other lovingly and then walked up to the singing grey fox, careful not to stumble over the microphone cables.
"Guide me home – Guide me hoOome – I know you´re there – my ocean flare
My firework, when the whole worlds hurts
You light the dark – Pyro Heart.
Pyro Heart, Pyro Heart
Pyro Heart, Pyro Heart"
Rico ended his song with all the passion and feeling he had left in his voice. I never knew he could bring up this much power, but that was just breath-taking.
"Wow!" Diane commented, "That is so hot! Why did I never hear about this earlier? I think I have to reserve myself that grey fox before he gets famous…"
"Not a bad idea actually" I commented, "…but you´re probably a little late for that" I added with a little chuckle while pointing at him.
Judy was sitting on Rico´s shoulders all over sudden and rubbed his ears from above. Nick seemed to be cool with that as well. He just patted his shoulders now with a proud little smile.
The song was over but they still kept on filming it a little longer.
"Yeah!" Nick shouted excitedly, "That was awesome, guys!"
"Yeah? You liked that?" Rico asked with an unsure smile while Judy was still massaging his head.
"Are you kidding me? We´re finally going to have some good music playing up and down the radio stations!" he grinned, "And that video is going to blow up like a bomb!"
Judy agreed by nodding, but Rico still shrugged his shoulders.
"Just look at you!" Nick encouraged him, "Nothing gets close to you when you have a guitar in your paws! Trust me, the ladies will fall to your feet after seeing that video!"
I opened the door to the recording room in the meanwhile and the others followed me as well.
"I know I would" Judy giggled, "And your voice could melt solid blocks of ice by the way" she added with a happy little wink, "Not sure if I ever told you that…"
"Next time we´re going for the springs you´re going to notice what I´m going through all the time…" Nick chuckled at him while we joined them.
"Nah…" Rico waved it off, "…I don't know…"
"Goddamn that was hot, Rico!" Diane told him with a dirty grin, "Do you maybe… wanna get a drink with me later?"
"See!" Nick grinned, "That´s what I´m talking about!"
"I recorded this song just for fun, initially" Rico waved it off, "I never really thought of starting a musical career with this…"
"But you could" I told him noddingly, "That will get a lot of attention."
Rico still didn´t seem to be quite comfortable with that situation. Everybody kept staring at him though, including Judy who was still sitting on his naked shoulders and massaged his head carefully. God how jealous I was at him for all that.
"Well…we could try it, right?" he said with an unsure expression.
"You really should" I told him with a motivating grin, "That´s your chance if you ever got one…"
"Yeah, Rico! Do it for your mom" Judy encouraged him, "She´ll be so proud of you!"
We all kept staring at him while he was still thinking about it.
"Alright…whatever" he agreed with it finally, "Why not?"
POV Nick
I was so proud of him. I loved his performance, I loved that simple but somewhat powerful video we made and I loved the spirit that was among all them. It was so funny to watch how nobody could believe what they just witnessed, especially Rico´s soundman and editor Ben who still kept on staring at him with big eyes.
That surely was a big surprise for his colleagues, but in no way a bad one I believed. I had so much fun being here.
"Hey Ben" Rico asked him with a big grin, after he had put Judy back down onto her feet carefully and helped him with the microphones, "What about the twenty bucks you owe me for losing your bet?"
"Yeah, yeah…" the hedgehog just sighed, "You mean the twenty bucks you wanted to invest in Pizza for all of us?"
"Exactly."
"What did you bet on?" I asked with great interest.
"He just wouldn´t believe me that I know you two personally" Rico grinned.
"Yeah!" Ben sighed a little louder, "You were right, okay?"
"…not if his life depended on it" Rico kept on rubbing it in, "He just told me that I was day-dreaming…"
"Yes! …I didn´t believe you!" the hedgehog confessed with another sigh, "You won that bet, I´m not even denying it!" he added with a chuckle.
"…Then you would have believed him even less if he told you about how I arrived at his home the first time we met him…" I chuckled.
Rico nodded to affirm what I said, Judy just giggled a little.
"Yeah. They ran through a snowstorm after being kidnapped by those drug dealers…" Rico explained to them, "And officer Wilde himself arrived at our door half way frozen and completely naked!"
"…just like in that video that went threw the news?" Ben asked.
"That´s exactly what happened ten minutes earlier" I affirmed, "Rico and his roommates truly saved our lives on that day."
"Wow…" he chuckled, "Yeah, I would have believed that even less…"
"Pizza sounds like a great idea to me" Judy told us happily in between her selfie-session with Irene.
"My god, Rico you lucky little fox! A naked Nick Wilde ringing at your door for help?" Diane grinned, "Oh how much I would have wished that they had rang at my door for that…"
I just winked her shortly to test her reaction. It was quite funny to watch, predictably.
"Seeing that is quite a punch into your ego as a man, let me tell you that" Rico grinned at me, "But yeah, my roommates were quite excited as well…"
"Yeah, yeah, playboy!" I chuckled, "…tell us, what happened in the Springs when Anita brought you that dull old six-string?"
"Wait…" Diane asked in jealousy, "You went to the mystic springs with them as well?"
"That was so much fun!" Judy affirmed with gleaming eyes, "Only their volleyball-skills could be a little better…"
I just shook my head about that stubbornly, "You´ll see, Carrots. Next time we´re going to beat you without a problem!"
"For sure we do" Rico agreed, "No doubt about it!"
"We´ll see, fluff-butt" Judy grinned, "You still got to prove that to me."
"Can you…I don't know…tell me about something like that before it happens?" Diane asked boldly, "This is not fair!"
Rico just gave her a little wink for that question. Ben shook his head about it in disbelief.
"See, Rico!" I chuckled again, "It began already. Just wait for another week and you can´t hide from all the offers anymore!"
"You have fun with that, don't you? You really like turning everybody´s world upside down!"
"Maybe…" I grinned shamelessly, "…Wanna go to Ivonne´s pharmacy later and watch her colleagues for their reactions?"
"Sounds like fun" he agreed, "…but I´d be down for a slice of Pizza right now also…"
I nodded in agreement. Then I took a quick look at the whole crew that was still here. "Alright" I chuckled then, "Let´s go everybody, let us eat some Pizza!"
They all really liked to hear that, apparently.
The camera crew quickly began packing up their stuff as well, and a few minutes later the studio looked just like before.
"Where did my shirt go all over sudden?" Rico wondered loudly, after he has been searching for it in the whole room.
"Good question actually" I agreed, "I remember to have parked mine on the chair over there…and now it´s gone"
"Well, well…" Judy grinned happily, "Looks like those have been confiscated for a certain reason…"
"A very good reason" Diane affirmed Judy´s words.
"See?" I asked him, "She does that to me all the time! And she gets away with it every time…"
"I would not even doubt it" I chuckled, considering that we were talking about Judy.
"I´m sorry, Rico" Judy giggled, "But I couldn´t resist it. Looks like you´ve got to go eat Pizza like this now…"
"Goddammit" Rico sighed while shaking his head with a little smile.
"You´ll get used to it, Playboy" I waved it off laughing, "And I believe that I know what I´m talking about."
"Yeah, I believe that too" he agreed, "But at least we´re not alone, right?"
Hey Ilya, thanks for being here with me and helping me with this. This would be so much worse without you, I just felt like mentioning that once again. Thanks.
Here we are. I´m not quite sure what the next one will be about yet, but I´m pretty sure I´ll come up with something. The next thing I really want to finish though is the 46.8, that´s been taking me far too long already. Still can´t promise anything though, I´m sorry.
See ya later, take care
~wurrfolf