High Specs

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"Fluff, I am not a little kit."

The Bunny gave him a look.

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…

"By that I mean I can make my own decisions in life."

The look intensified.

"Stop that."

"You know what you need to do," she reminded him, crossing her paws and running her fingers along her upper arm.

With a heavy sigh, Nick groaned and turned, pushing through a door and letting his ears perk as the bell rung above. Judy followed on in, watching him and, much to his annoyance, keeping a close watch as he walked up to the desk.

"Hello," came a voice, as a springhare in a white coat hopped up to meet him. Her conspicuously big eyes focussed on him, her smile only increasing. "Can I help you?"

"Yes," he said, relatively inconspicuously. "Just here to order… Well, you know. Kind of obvious really." And with that, he gestured over to the racks of glasses behind the counter.

"Sure!" the optometrist smiled. "If you could just hand over your prescription."

Looking down, Nick pulled out the papers from his bag and slipped them across, watching on as the large rodent took the printed-out sheets and began flitting through them. "I see I see, it's not too bad or anything, just for low light levels I guess."

"Just my boss breathing down my neck," Nick shrugged. "You miss one or two spelling mistakes and next thing you know you're being told you're half blind…"

"Well I mean if this was the other way around, I'd certainly recommend you wear glasses when driving and all," she rounded off, reading through. "You'd probably be fine in making out the reg number, but best practice…" She slowly trailed off, before looking up at Nick. "You're been sitting on this prescription for three years."

He shrugged. "As I said, I managed fine before…"

"Your eyes would be really been strained," she tutted, waving a finger up at him.

His ears went back. "Maybe I was exercising them."

"Tchhh," she said, turning over to look at Judy. "Can't admit there's something wrong with him, can he?"

The bunny nodded, only to be broken off by Nick. "You know, there are other places I can get glasses that I don't want or need."

There was a long pause, the springhare gulping. "Oh, of course… But I'm certain if you stick here you'll get the best service! And…"

"He ain't going anywhere without his glasses," Judy said, standing right in front of the door.

Nick gave her a death glare that she shrugged off, before the optometrist cleared her throat. "More seriously though, it might be worth doing a quickly double check. Your prescription might have changed in the meantime, especially if your job involved a lot of focussing on small text."

"It's fine," Nick waved off, putting his paw on his prescription. "Just…"

A loud Ahem came from Judy.

"I did take protective measures, if that helps."

"Protective…?" the springhare asked.

"-He zoomed in on the computer screen and wrote everything in font size twenty," Judy said.

There was a long, hard stare off, before the fox groaned and walked into the back.

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"See, no change," Nick said, sitting down afterwards.

"But it was better to make sure," Judy reminded.

She sided up to him, only to get pushed aside. Her foot drummed, and then her arms shot out. "Okay, seriously. What's your problem!"

"My problem," he spoke, turning around to level a gaze at her. "Is that I'm not appreciating you rubbing this in and managing my life like this. Can't you treat me like an independent, thinking mammal, for once?"

"I…" She hissed, before narrowing her eyes. "Not when you're not even willing to do something as simple as buying a pair of glasses you need, no! I mean seriously, what's your problem with this. You need reading glasses…"

"No I don't," he shot out, jabbing a finger down. "Bogo made me get them."

"Because you were making mistakes. Because you were getting me to read reports out loud… Don't think I didn't notice it. All this, all because you need reading glasses." She pointed at him, his anger staying.

"Well just let me get them and stop rubbing it in," he said, turning around to look at the options.

"Rubbing it in?" she asked. "Why am I rubbing… It's not like I'm teasing you or anything," she said. She held for a second before her ears fell. "Is that it… Did you used to have glasses and get teased for them? If so, I…"

"Yeah, make it that," he said, carrying on and looking.

Judy's nose twitched. "Okay, then what was it?"

"That. That tease thing with me as a kit. Sounded good enough for you."

"I…" she began. "Well okay then. You're an adult now and no-one is going to tease you. I mean, lots of mammals in my family wear glasses. My grandfather doesn't get teased for wearing them."

"Well he's old," Nick said, carrying on looking.

"I…" Judy's eyes flashed open. "That's it…"

He ignored her, carrying on looking.

"You're scared your getting old," she smirked, walking up and leaning up against him. "Old Mam Wilde…"

"What happened to no teasing," he said quietly.

"I…" Judy backed off. "I mean, it's not growing old really, it's… -I mean I'm not that far behind you," she said.

Nick gave a little huff. "Enjoy it while it lasts."

"You're not old," she said.

"I'm getting old," he said back, looking at her.

"I mean. You don't look old at all. Or even getting old."

"Well, thank you for not noticing the odd bits of grey fur I've started to find. Not many, but hoo boy they are there. And thank you for not seeing the little creaks and groans I'm starting to feel once and a while. But thank you very much for not seeing the glasses I'm about to, oh wait."

And with that he stood up, looking over a new set of glasses.

Judy looked at him, her nose twitching, before she looked down, ears drooping. "I'm sorry…"

…

"I didn't realise that it was getting to you that bad."

…

Breathing in and bracing herself, Judy scanned along the racks of glasses before picking them one out, hopping up and planting it on him before he could react. "Snazzy fox!"

Nick blinked back, looking at the narrow framed black glasses perched in front of him. He looked up at a mirror and, adjusting them, moved the end of his muzzle about before slowly widening his mouth into a small smile.

"You like it, execu-fox," she said, walking up and patting him on the back.

His grin grew. "Well, they look good, but if I am gonna wear them to help my sight…" He paused, picking out another pair of black framed glasses, only this time with no lower bar, letting the lenses drop a bit down below. "Meet your approval?"

Judy looked on and smiled. "Stylish and no longer short sighted, looks good to me."

Nick chuckled. "Then you better check your memory instead."

"Huh?"

"I'm long sighted…"

Judy blinked, before slapping herself. "Forgot. Dumb bunny."

"Fluff, I might need to take you to the dementia centre."

She laughed it off, only to feel a paw on her shoulder.

"You shouldn't laugh it off, it's for your own good," he said, leaning in closer.

"Nick. I…"

He couldn't resist. "Starting to feel old yet?"