(A/N) I'm still alive.
In all honesty, I'm not sure why exactly I've been gone for so long. My mental state has been steadily improving, but after taking a break from working on my fanfics sometime back in January, I just never got back around to it. I started to a few times, but I've had so much other stuff on my mind.
I'm not even going to try and promise when I'll update again, considering how that has gone for me in the past. But I am feeling very interested in fanfiction again, and I want to keep writing this story. I just hope some of you out there are still interested after over half a year of silence.
This one is a little bit shorter than some of the others, but it is (hopefully) setting the scene for several more to come. I've been eagerly looking forward to writing about Nick and Judy's teen years, as well as developing feelings. After all, I've had this labeled as 'Romance' and rated T since 2019, so it's about time I live up to that, right?
Alright, that's enough. Let the seven month silence be broken.
Over the next several weeks, Nick's study visits with Judy continued and started to get more frequent as time went on. At first, he still felt a little awkward about going over to see her so often, especially since they hadn't really talked much about everything that had happened over the last year, but he soon started to forget about all of that as the visits became both more productive and more enjoyable. After a little over a month, he had almost forgotten that he was going there to learn and improve his grades, and simply looked forward to them as a way to spend time with Judy.
His grades did improve, however, and it was clear that Judy's tutoring was paying off. Part of this was due to the fact that Nick had begun working extra hard to ensure that his parents would see a visible improvement in his schoolwork, and wouldn't think the tutoring sessions were pointless. Though, he also started holding back after a while, worried that they might instead think he had outgrown the need for a tutor. He didn't want to lose his only time with Judy, not after it had been so long.
Admittedly, he still saw here in the halls at school occasionally, and he knew he could always go find her and talk to her there, but so far he hadn't worked up the courage to try to talk to her outside of their tutoring sessions. With the tutoring, he had an excuse to be around her, but he worried that asking her to hang out simply for the sake of it might frighten her off. He didn't know how fragile their new friendship was, and after everything they'd gone through already, he didn't want to risk it. Plus, there was a part of him that just really didn't want to get rejected. It was safer if they stayed this way, for now.
Finally, December rolled around and Nick was getting ready to go over to the Hopps' for his last tutoring session of the fall semester. Winter break was about to start and Judy's family was going to be very busy during the holidays, so she wouldn't have time to tutor him again until January. That was alright with Nick; it wasn't that long to wait and he honestly didn't really need the tutoring as much as he had before, but he was still looking forward to starting back in the new year. He didn't want his time with Judy to end just yet. He just needed a little longer, and maybe then they would be close enough that hanging out outside of tutoring would become a real possibility.
"Could things really ever go back to the way they were?" Nick wondered. "It's been such a long time since Judy and I were best friends. But it really feels like this could be a second chance for both of us."
"Nick!" his mother called. "Are you almost ready? We need to leave really soon because your father has to go by the—"
"I'm ready!" Nick announced.
He rushed out of his bedroom, throwing his coat on as he hurried outside after his parents and Brendan. Apparently, they had some errands or something to do today, but they were going to drop Nick off at the farm first.
Nick jumped in the car and buckled up quickly, excitement already building in him as his dad pulled out of the driveway and started down the road. It was a short drive, as usual, and Nick threw off his seat belt and jumped out of the car as soon as his dad parked.
"Goodbye! See you later!" Nick said, waving as he ran up to the Hopps' front door.
Standing by the door, arms folded, was Judy. As usual, she already had her backpack on and was ready to head out to the shed.
"A little late again, aren't we?" she observed.
"Yeah…" Nick chuckled nervously. "I think it's because my dad drives slow. I told him today was important!"
Judy smiled knowingly.
"And I think it's because someone doesn't have a very good sense of time," she said.
"Well, what can I say?" Nick shrugged. "We foxes are so good at everything else; gotta have a weakness somewhere, right?"
Judy shook her head, laughing slightly. She jumped down from the porch and turned to head off towards the shed, gesturing for Nick to come along.
"You are something else, Nick, that's for sure," she said as they walked.
"Really?" Nick asked with fake surprise. "Whoa, how did you know?"
Judy chuckled again, this time with a little less effort to hide her amusement.
"I just have one question," Nick continued.
"Yes?" Judy inquired, still smiling.
"You said I'm something else, but…" Nick started. "What am I something else than? There's gotta be a standard you're working from, right?"
"Sometimes, Nick," Judy laughed, "I can't even tell if you're being serious or not. Oh, look, here we are! Just on time. I hope you remembered all of your stuff this time."
"Ha!" Nick said. "As if this clever fox would ever forget!"
"Whatever you have to tell yourself," Judy replied.
As usual, she led the way into the shed and up the stairs to the secluded room where their tutoring sessions took place. The temperature had been dropping every week since they started, but today it was so cold that Nick could still see his breath inside the building.
Nick sat down at the foot of the bed with Judy across from him, and took off his backpack to pull out his schoolbooks and some extra paper. He also ended up pulling out some candy wrappers which he quickly crammed back inside the backpack.
"The clever fox only carries around the essentials, is that right?" Judy teased.
"Hey, you don't know what I was gonna do with those!" Nick replied.
"Well, I'm not sure that I want to now…" Judy said. "Anyway, let's see here…last week we were going over—oh, where is it…?"
Digging through her backpack, she pulled out a few carrots, gave them a confused look, and shrugged before taking a bite out of one of them.
"Essentials?" Nick guessed, grinning.
"Oh, shut up," Judy replied. "At least mine's food, not trash."
"Well, I'll have to take your word for it," Nick said. "I'm not putting one of those near my mouth."
Judy suddenly put the carrot down and gave him a look like he had just said something unthinkable.
"Seriously?" she said. "But how can you not like them? They're, like…one of the best foods there is! Have you ever even tried one before?"
"Have you ever tried fish?" Nick countered.
Judy made a face and quietly put the carrots back in her backpack.
"Fair enough," she conceded. "Alright, get out your books, because today we're going to start going over the stuff that'll most likely be on your exams in the spring."
"How do you know what's going to be on the exam?" Nick asked suspiciously. "Are you getting fed secret inside information from the school staff? Ha! I should have known you were in league with the authorities, Carrots! I guess my cover has been blown—"
"I know because I have more than a hundred older siblings who've been through seventh grade already," Judy said. "And…wait, did you just call me 'Carrots'?"
Nick snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. Judy only sighed and shook her head again.
"You're a strange one for sure," she concluded.
"Hey, you know they say 'you are what you eat,' right?" Nick laughed.
"Well, in that case," Judy said, "maybe you should just eat me and then you'll know all of this stuff instantly."
Nick chuckled uncomfortably, not saying anything. Judy, picking up on the awkwardness, cleared her throat.
"Sorry," she said. "I…should have known that was a stupid thing to say."
"It's…not your fault," Nick replied. "I mean, I'm not offended; it's just…well, the last time we talked about me being a predator and all of that stuff…"
"I know," Judy said. "Really, though, I should know better than to say something like that. I know you're not actually dangerous or anything like that."
"Huh?" Nick said, taken by surprise. "You…don't…think I'm dangerous?"
For some reason, this notion didn't sit well with him. It wasn't as if he wanted her to be afraid of him, but…something didn't feel right.
"Do you want to be dangerous?" Judy asked.
"Well…I don't know," Nick said, shifting uncomfortably. "I mean, that's how predators are supposed to be, right?"
Judy stared at him for a few seconds, frowning.
"But…you don't want to hurt anyone, right?" she said.
"No, of course not!" Nick answered quickly. "It's not about that…"
"What is it about then?" Judy asked.
"It…" Nick started, suddenly at a loss for words. "I don't know. Can we…just forget about it?"
"Um…sure, I guess," Judy said hesitantly.
A few seconds of awkward silence passed, during which Nick wished he could just sink into the floor and disappear. The exchange was already reminiscent of conversations they'd had over the last few years, and none of those had ended well. As much as he didn't want to admit it, Nick was afraid that he and Judy still had a lot of unresolved issues that weren't going away.
And truthfully, Nick didn't really know how he felt about the whole predator/prey thing. He knew he didn't want to be like Trevor and Vanessa and push everyone around, but still…something about the way Judy looked at his predator attributes made him uncomfortable. Even after everything they had been through, it seemed like she still thought he needed to be a little less like a predator and a little more like prey in order to be acceptable.
"Why was I bothered by her saying I'm not dangerous?" he wondered. "That doesn't make sense. Is that what I want to be…? I never wanted Judy to be scared of me before, and I still don't, but…something just didn't feel right when she said that."
Thankfully, once Judy got back to tutoring Nick, they soon forgot about the awkward exchange and the tension in the air cleared up. The two both relaxed and soon enough Nick found himself thoroughly enjoying the session, as usual.
By the time they finished and Nick packed up his stuff to head home, he was feeling a lot better. Sure, there may have been an awkward moment there briefly, but spending time with Judy was still a lot of fun and it wasn't something that he was going to let be ruined by a few weird conversations like that.
When Nick got back to the house and saw his mom there to pick him up, he was still thinking about the last session. It was really fun, though he couldn't place exactly why that was. Sure, hanging out with his friend was always fun, but lately something felt just slightly different.
"Did you have a good time, Nick?" his mom asked.
"Yeah," Nick answered, getting in the car.
"Well, you seem a little distracted," she noted. "Is everything going ok? Any subjects you're still struggling with?"
"No, it's fine," Nick said. "I'm just…working through the problems in my head. It's easier to remember if I think about them more often."
"Ok, then," his mom said.
Nick wasn't sure if she was completely convinced or not, but she didn't ask any more questions. On the short drive home, the fox's mind was still racing through earlier events, already wishing the next tutoring session could come sooner.
Before long, they arrived back at home and Nick rushed off to his room for some space to think, and he stayed there for several hours. He sat down on his bed and just stared at the wall, unable to take his mind off what had happened at the Hopps farm. There was nothing that should have made the tutoring exceptionally exciting as far as he could tell, yet somehow he couldn't help but shiver when he thought about it.
He had been feeling like this for weeks, but now it was so obvious he couldn't take his mind off of it. Time went by and Nick stayed where he was, mulling over everything he could remember about that morning until finally a realization jolted him out of nowhere.
"No, that's not possible," he told himself. "That's not…that can't be…"
"There's no way!" he whispered.
Even as he said it, he knew by the widening smile on his face that there absolutely was a way. Nick held his paws to his head and mouthed a squeal like he hadn't done since he was a little kit. He quickly covered his snout, afraid someone would hear. Then he had to hold in a laugh as he amused himself with his reaction, rolling across the bed.
"I like Judy," he mouthed, feeling even giddier at the confession.
Now January definitely couldn't get here soon enough.
It was the first day back to school in January, and Judy was excited to see Sharla waiting for her in the cafeteria. Math had been particularly irritating today, and she was relieved to have a chance to sit and relax before going back to more classes.
"I wonder how Nick's doing on math…" she thought.
"Hey, Judy!" Sharla said, waving to her friend.
"Hi!" Judy replied. "How was your winter break?"
She sat down across from her friend, starting to eat her lunch.
"Well…it was alright," Sharla answered. "But my mom's starting to drive me crazy. I'm glad to be back so I can talk to you. How was your break?"
"Same as always, I guess," Judy said. "Locked in a house with hundreds of bunnies, at least thirty of whom are still James's minions. Chloe's been enjoying herself, though, reading everything she can about predator history…"
Sharla giggled.
"Your sister definitely has a thing for predators, that's for sure," she remarked. "Wouldn't be surprised if I found her making out with Trevor in that old classroom."
Judy almost spit her food out.
"What?" she exclaimed, laughing confusedly. "You…are you being serious? You really found them—"
"No, no, no," Sharla laughed. "I didn't actually see that; I just said I wouldn't be surprised if I did."
Judy frowned.
"Wait…how come?" she asked.
Sharla looked at her like she was insane.
"Um…isn't it obvious?" she said slowly, as if she wasn't quite sure how to explain it. "I mean…we've always kinda known that Chloe has a thing for predators, right?"
"Yeah, but why would she just go make out with one out of nowhere?" Judy asked. "Seems kind of random."
She chuckled a little, but Sharla's expression of bewilderment only grew. At this point, Judy was starting to get a bit worried.
"Well…isn't that kind of…what you do with someone you have a thing for…?" Sharla said uncertainly.
"I guess it's what some mammals do," Judy replied.
Sharla frowned again. Judy continued eating but stopped when she realized her friend still looked confused.
"What?" the bunny asked, starting to feel concerned.
"So…out of curiosity," Sharla said, "if you…happened to, you know, like someone...wouldn't you want to…well…"
"What?" Judy repeated, still confused. "Make out?"
"Well, yeah," Sharla said.
"Not really, no," Judy answered.
"Like…not at all?" Sharla asked.
Judy frowned, starting to feel concerned. She wasn't sure why this was so important to talk about all of a sudden. Then again, she was about the age Chloe had been when she started talking about stuff like that…
"Why are you asking about all this, anyway?" Judy inquired.
"Well, I don't know," Sharla replied. "You're my best friend. I talk to you about pretty much everything. So…you're saying you…don't have a crush on anyone?"
She was looking at Judy with wide eyes, full of interest. Judy frowned.
"I…I mean I don't, but…I didn't tell you I didn't, so how would you know?" she asked, now very confused.
Sharla frowned, looking thoughtful for a moment.
"It's just that the way you talk about it makes me feel really weird…" she said quietly, looking down.
"Wait, huh?" Judy said, confused. "Are you saying you…you like someone?"
Her face lit up and she looked over at her friend with wide eyes, their confusing conversation all but forgotten for the moment.
Sharla winced, starting to sink down into her seat.
"On second thought, I…don't know if I should say…" she said quietly. "You'll probably just think I'm weird…"
"No, not at all!" Judy replied quickly. "You can tell me anything, I promise!"
Sharla was silent for a moment, fiddling with the wool on her face and trying not to make eye contact. Judy felt bad for her; she wasn't sure if what they'd just talked about had made her friend more uncomfortable talking about this, but it probably hadn't helped.
"Ok, yes, I do have a crush on someone," the sheep blurted out quickly, still barely looking Judy in the eyes.
"That's great!" Judy said cheerily. "I mean…I think it is? I don't know; I've never felt that before… I'm sorry. I'm making this worse, aren't I?"
"N-no, it's fine!" Sharla assured her. "I…I don't really know how to feel about it myself, actually. But...um...you don't think it's weird?"
She looked at Judy hesitantly, as if trying to prepare for the worst.
"Sweet cheese and crackers, does having a crush make everyone this nervous? It's a miracle anyone ever gets together, then…"
"No, I don't think it's weird at all," she said. "I mean, most of my older siblings have had a few crushes before."
"Yeah, it's just that you seemed…uncomfortable by the mere idea of mammals kissing," Sharla said uncertainly.
"What?" Judy exclaimed, almost laughing. "That's not what I meant—"
"No, it's ok," Sharla said. "My mom already thinks I'm way too young to be thinking about that anyway. Well, she thinks Laura's too young to be thinking about it, technically. There's no way I'm telling her I have a crush on someone."
"Isn't Laura about to graduate soon?" Judy asked.
Sharla nodded.
"It's ok, though, you know how my mom is," she continued. "She's still convinced the preds are controlling winter to freeze us to death so they can eat our corpses."
Judy almost choked, holding in her laughter while she carefully swallowed.
"What?" was all the bunny could think to say.
Sharla shook her head.
"You really don't want to know," she said. "But, uh…that's why I prefer to talk to you about most things."
"You can tell me whatever you want to," Judy replied. "Do you, um…want to say who it is?"
Sharla flinched, and then started nervously fiddling with her wool again.
"I…um…" she started. "Maybe…maybe not yet…if that's ok…"
"No, that's fine," Judy said. "I just want you to know that if you ever want to tell me, I'm here to listen. And I promise I won't think you're weird."
Sharla still looked unsure, but she smiled a little at her friend's words.
"Thanks," she said.
The next few weeks, Judy found herself busy enough with homework that she didn't have much time to think about her conversation with Sharla. Between that and the fact that it was nearly impossible to find a quiet place to study at home, and she was also trying to make sure she understood the material enough to help Nick the next time they met up, her schedule was filled.
By the time she finally let herself take a break, she didn't know what to do with her free time, and decided to take a walk out to the shed where she tutored Nick. She was almost there when she noticed Chloe walking back her way. As soon as the older doe noticed her, she smiled and ran up to her.
"Hey, Judy!" Chloe said, waving. "I haven't seen you out here in days! Been busy?"
"Yeah," Judy confirmed. "Catching up on homework. And then I have to make sure I understand it enough to help Nick… Maybe I should ask him to tutor me."
"Aw, hey, you could always ask your big sister!" Chloe said. "I had to do all that stuff too, you know!"
"Aren't you busy, though?" Judy asked. "I don't want you to get behind on your own stuff—"
"Oh, it's not a problem, Judy!" Chloe insisted. "I'm an expert at getting stuff done at the last minute, I can spare some time! Hey, do you wanna walk with me? I found this place at the edge of the farm where I like to hang out."
"Sure, why not?" Judy said with a shrug.
"Awesome!" Chloe exclaimed. "Oh, but don't you dare tell anyone else about it! As far as I know, no one else in the burrow knows about it, and I'm not about to let the army of little ones find my thinking spot!"
"I promise I won't tell anyone," Judy said, holding her paws up. Sometimes she forgot how downright scary her sister could be.
"Great!" Chloe said, smiling brightly again.
The cream colored doe began skipping off in another direction, and Judy followed behind her. She had to jog a bit to keep up with her energetic sister, but she figured this was probably a good thing since she'd been inside so much lately.
"So," Chloe said. "Anything interesting happen in school recently? Has that one bunny been causing you any problems again? I forget her name…Sally?"
"Oh, Samantha?" Judy supplied. "I haven't seen her much in a while. At school I mostly just see Sharla now. It's…different."
"Hmm," Chloe said thoughtfully. "Yeah, a lot of my friends moved on over the years, too. I think I drove some of them away for being, you know, me."
"That's not your fault!" Judy said. "If they didn't like hanging out with you, maybe you're better off not being friends…"
"I guess so," Chloe agreed. "But hey, on the plus side, there's more chance the cute mammals will notice me if I'm by myself!"
Judy laughed, shaking her head.
"Well, I should tell Sharla that," she said.
"Wait, does your friend have a crush?" Chloe gasped, whirling around excitedly to face her sister. "Already? You're…oh, huh, I guess she's about the same age I was. Yikes. Time sure does fly."
She made a face and then turned her attention back to walking, muttering something mostly indistinct about how her life was ending too soon. Judy wasn't really paying attention; her mind was focused on her and Sharla's conversation again.
"Hey, Chloe?" she said, after walking in silence for a few minutes.
"What is it?" Chloe asked. "Oh, and we're almost there. Relay nothing of what you're about to see!"
"Yeah, I got it," Judy said, rolling her eyes a little. "Do you think it's…weird that I haven't had…you know, any crushes yet?"
"Uh…not really, no," Chloe replied. "You're still pretty young, so if you're not worried about it, I don't see why it would be weird."
"I don't know," Judy said. "It's just…you said you were my age, and Sharla's the same age…"
"Yeah, but…you probably shouldn't base your expectations on what happened to me, because as Mom can tell you, nothing I've done was normal," Chloe explained.
"Oh, and there's another thing," Judy continued. "Don't ask me why we were talking about this—I really don't know—but Sharla seemed surprised that I wasn't interested in…making out?"
Chloe burst out laughing.
"Don't worry about her," she said, still chuckling. "Her mom's the one who used to lose it when kits would hold paws, said it was inappropriate or something. I doubt she has a very rounded understanding of those things. Just give her time."
Judy nodded. Part of her was still confused, but she wasn't entirely sure what it was that wasn't clicking, and she didn't want to overwhelm Chloe with too many questions.
Luckily, they soon arrived at Chloe's secret place. It was a small clearing behind a ridge covered in trees, with a few boulders near the side of the hill. Chloe sat down on one of the boulders and sighed, smiling.
"It's pretty small, admittedly, but at least it's secluded," she said. "Wanna hang out here for a while?"
"Actually…I should probably head back pretty soon," Judy answered. "I need to make sure I have everything ready for when Nick comes over again."
"Alright, then," Chloe said. "But hey, feel free to come here if you need to get away for a while. It won't bother me if you're here; you don't drive me crazy like some of our siblings do…"
"Thanks. I'll see you later, Chloe."
"Bye!"
With one last wave, Judy started back towards the house, feeling exhausted.
At least she was going to see Nick again soon. That thought put a smile on her face as she walked home. After being so busy lately, seeing him was just what she needed to brighten her mood.
(A/N) wHaT cOuLd ThIs MeAn?
I am so relieved to finally have this chapter finished. This story has been stuck here for so long and I'm ready to start moving forward with it now. I hope to be back with another chapter as soon as possible, but given my track record, I won't make any promises.
Until next time.
