Chapter Twenty-Seven
Morning, Beautiful
Nick Wilde, breakfast in paw, pressed a large red ear apprehensively to his bedroom door. He heard nothing for a few moments, then a soft, stifled moan, or possibly a groan. Either way, it was definitely Judy. Lifting his head from the door and gazing at it steady, Nick took in a long breath before letting it out slowly, as Judy moans came again from behind the door.
As he stood there, the red fox knew, Judy could be doing any number of things, and he knew he was probably overthinking what he was hearing and that there could be any number of reasons for the sounds she was making... But, one in particular, was stuck firmly onto the forefront of Nick's mind. And it wasn't as though it was unjustified after all. There were only so many uses the fox could think up for a carrot-shaped device. Damn thing seemed to have no end of uses. Oh boy… He'd never be able to look at that thing the same way again.
Nick glanced down into his left paw which held a tray of steaming, but rapidly cooling, food; gazed across to his old, age-yellowed tumble dryer, as the washing sequence ended, and he observed the door again with a fate unknown within. He steeled himself and then, raising a paw, Nick tapped softly upon the firm, wooden door with a claw.
"Yes?" came Judy's voice in reply, instantly, not strained, not panicked. Just her normal, everyday voice.
"Erm... Carrots?" he started nervously, "I— I have your breakfast."
"Oh, thanks, Nick!" she called back. "Could you bring it in for me, or would you rather I ate at the table?"
"No... no, eat in bed if you want, I'm fine with that. I just wanted to check if I could come in."
"Of course you can come in, Nick," she called back, "you don't have to ask. But, thanks for the warning all the same."
"All— alright then." Nick winced as he turned the metal, 'L-shape' door handle, closing his eyes in trepidation as he slid it soundlessly open across the carpeted floor. He stepped in, felt the softness of the ground beneath his padded feet, and opened one eye ever so slightly. Then, he gawped in shock at what he saw.
"Hey Nick." Judy greeted, glancing up to Nick with her beaming, beautiful smile, before looking back to the notepad she was holding and writing something else down with her carrot pen.
"Urrgh, Judy," Nick asked, frozen, "wha— what are you doing?"
"Oh," she replied vaguely, adding a full-stop to the end of the page with a flourish, and flipping the notepad shut. "Just making some quick notes to the report for Bogo. I only managed to make half a report yesterday before I— well, erm... never mind. Fact is, he'll probably want this soon, and we need to let him know what's been going on anyway.
"But I heard... grunting!"
"I was thinking Nick, trying to remember as much details as I could about our investigation." Nick nodded understandingly, deciding it was best if he just let the conversation end there. Sadly... it didn't.
"Erm," Judy drew cautiously, "what... what did you think I was doing?" Nick looked carefully at nothing as he wordlessly crossed the room, and put down the tray of breakfast on the bedside table. Judy's cheeks lit up bright red as she put two and two together. She blinked, and blinked again, then her gaze rose to look at the fox. Nick hardened in the process of putting down her food as he felt that steely, cold glare penetrating him. He turned slowly, with a sheepish smile twitching on the corner of his mouth. A grin, which dropped entirely as Judy spoke.
"Wait!... Did you think I was—?" Judy stared at him, her eyes wide with shock and her mouth gaping. Nick was dumbstruck, his silver tongue turned to lead in his mouth as he struggled to think, no less act. He thought hard for a believable alternative to what he truly thought she was doing, and came up blank, his heart thumping loud in his chest, panic rising fast within him. But then, a tiny crack appeared in the veil of Judy's shock. The smallest of twitches in the corner of her mouth. Then, the crack of another smile appeared, a larger one, and this time the crack split right through her body.
Her shoulders started shaking as the silent chuckles built in strength and intensity within her. Soon after, it was impossible for Judy's body, which was small after all, to contain the swell of laughter building within her, and her mouth split into a wide smile as her fit of laughter filled the room, her head rocking back automatically to allow the vast quantities of joy to escape her more easily.
Nick joined in too, if a little nervously... and if only out of relief.
"Ooh, Nick, if..." She reached out smoothly and took his paw. She drew it close to her body and pulled Nick onto the bed beside her. Once settled, lying on his back close to her, Judy possessively held Nick's paw and rubbed his fingers, his palm and his claws across her cheeks and her sensitive lips, all the while, touching and fondling it in her own soft paws. Nick watched silently from beside her, more than content just to feel Judy's face and Judy's paws pressing into, and massaging his own. But his eyes moved from watching their paws, to looking into Judy's lilacs as she took a breath to speak.
"If I was really that desperate, Nicky, I'd come straight to you." She kissed his paw, pressed his palm flat against her cheek, then spoke again, her eyes practically sparkling with affection, "I know you couldn't resist a direct plea, could you?"
"Hopps, my darlin'," he replied warmly, feeling Judy's face with his palm, making her eyes drift shut and her cheeks tinge pink, "I can hardly resist an indirect one." Judy's lavenders, which had fallen shut, opened again as Nick's lips embraced against hers, her lips melting into the warm kiss merely another second after.
...
"God dammit," Jack Savage mumbled to himself from the floor above, flipping to the back of his notepad and marking down yet another line on the tally of kisses they had shared, "damn procrastinating lovers. Get a move on, would you? We don't have all day."
...
The affection ended, finished by Nick after a final little push of energy. He leaned back in the bed, a very satisfied expression on his face, as Judy looked on, more than a little disappointed. "Why'd you stop?" she asked, pouting playfully.
"Do you want your soup to get cold?" he smirked in return, then reached around behind him, picked up the tray of breakfast and held it beneath Judy's nose, which twitched expectantly at the appealing scent.
"Soup?" she asked, taking the tray, "What kind?"
Nick answered too quickly and nearly gave the whole game away, "It's chic— carrot! It's carrot soup."
"Carrot soup?" she repeated, picking up a spoonful of the solution and letting it drip out again. "This doesn't look, or smell, much like carrot, Nick."
"You know, that spiced kind."
She took a sip. Her eyes turned wide and her ears shot up at the pleasure of the taste, but she continued her line of suspicious questioning, regardless, "Then, shouldn't it be spicy?"
"I guess it's more of an herb really."
"Ooh, what kind?"
"Gee, I don't know!"
"But you made some yesterday!"
"Yeah I... did."
"Only, you've forgotten—?"
"No! No, of course not, that would be silly."
"Then what is it?"
"Well..." If foxes hadn't had limited sweat glands, a single drop would have been dripping down his forehead at this point. That slight slip-up of almost calling it chicken had made her suspicious. He had better watch himself, especially the need to pant that was trying to overwhelm his senses.
"Well," Nick tried again, "it was actually just a packet that came ready-made. Only I wanted to impress you by making it look like I made it myself." His eyes flicked up to Judy as he waited for the 'ahh, that was sweet of you'... but that never came. Instead, the fox was faced with another relentless question.
"Then wouldn't the packet say?"
"Yeah... packet. Only, I already threw it away."
"Well, you could fish it out of the bin."
"Can't, I just took the trash out." Judy gave Nick a weathering look, to which Nick realized he had won and a sly grin broke across his face. Judy grunted, picked out a small cube of something, which Nick knew for a fact to be chicken, with her tablespoon, or 'teaspoon' as it was used for by the larger Nick.
She sniffed it, cautiously. "Are you seriously telling me this is carrot?"
"Yep."
"But it's creamy-white and soft!"
"It's been specially prepared."
"Nick," she shot, dropping the spoon with a clang, "you cannot... make carrot... look, like, this."
"Maybe not the kinds you're used to," he retorted, adjusting his tie, auspiciously, "but I know a few types you've probably never heard of." To be honest, Nick regretted his choice of words the moment they left his mouth, and his smile fell into a look of worry, as a smug grin came onto the face of the rabbit, whose entire lineage were carrot farmers.
"Oh yeah?" she mocked, balancing the tray on her knees and folding her arms, "name 'em."
"Urgh... long carrots, short carrots, bent carrots, straight carrots, stale carrots, broken carrots, moldy carrots, cute carrots, bunny carrots, hairy carrots, mutant carrots, chocolate carrots, baby carrots, teenage carrots, grandpa carrots, party carrots, green carrots, mossy carrots, red carrots, ruby carrots, blue carrots, navy carrots, chopped carrots, sliced carrots, carrots that are vaguely reminiscent of phallic objects, carrot bear, carrot-bars, carrot buns, carrot cake, carrot eggs, carr—"
"What?" Nick looked to Judy's face. She was squinting at him with the same expression she had had when he had asked her how long would she have to keep apples buried in the ground before they were ripe enough to hang down from the sprouted.
"Carrot eggs," he repeated, "you know, the stuff you plant."
Judy shook her head slightly, squinting even more in one part confusion, and other part of disbelief. "Nick... those are called seeds."
"Not the ones I've heard of."
"Well... I don't know where you've heard them being called eggs, but they're seeds."
"Sometimes, maybe, but—"
"No, not sometimes. They're seeds, Nick, seeds!"
Nick raised his paws innocently. "I'm not saying you're wrong, Carrots. After all, who am I to argue with a member of the same family who grow such wonderful blueberries? All I'm saying, is perhaps, we're both right…" And it was then she started going into hysterics.
"But they're not eggs, Nick! Never in a million years are they eggs! They're seeds, nothing more, nothing less, seeds. They don't come from mammals, they don't hold embryos and they are not fluffing eggs! An egg is the oviform, organic vessel designed to hold the fertilized zygote until it forms into a sufficiently developed animal embryo, which grows within the protective calcium carbonate shell created during the ovulation process of all species of birds and fish and some species of mammal, whereas seeds—"
Silently, and while Judy was still talking, Nick slowly and expressionlessly rose from the bed. Judy was focused entirely on her explanation of basic biology, and kept on watching Nick as he paced out of the room, only vaguely aware he was walking away amidst her ignorance.
"— Seeds, on the other paw, are the matured ovule of a gymnosperms or angiosperms form of plant, containing an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective shell for the duration and maturation period of —"
The door shut. Judy stopped talking. "Oh…" That made her to stare down at her breakfast. She thought it was a little ill-mannered of Nick to walk off like that, but she also knew her lectures of plant husbandry could last for hours. So, she inserted her spoon, raised it to her mouth, tipped it down and swallowed... and it was then when realization hit her.
"Oh, sweet cheese and crackers." She threw down her spoon, growling, grinding her teeth and bitterly angry at herself for falling for it. "Nick, you fluffer!" she shouted at him, "you did that on purpose, didn't you? You know they're called seeds, don't you!? And only called them eggs to throw me off subject..."
She had been shouting anyways, but then it became a scream, "And I fell for it!"
...
Nick continued pretending he couldn't hear the rabbit's shouts of reprimands that echoed repeatedly behind the door. Instead, he opened up the door to his dryer and took out Judy's clothes: a light blue shirt, darker blue trousers, under vest... carrot-print underwear. For some reason, Nick was unable to progress further. He merely sat there on the floor, a pile of Judy's folded cloths to his left, an empty tumble dryer to his right, and a small pair of underwear in his paws. He sat there, staring at the floor quite some time. He couldn't understand why, but he had the overwhelming compulsion to make up a story to Judy, hide the panties and keep them for himself. Eventually however, he was able to drag himself away from the unbridled temptation.
He folded them, though he wasn't quite sure how to fold femammle's underwear, so it required a few attempts, before picking up the pile of freshly washed clothes and making his way back to the bedroom. He tapped on the door a second time, but otherwise went straight in.
"Your uniform, Carrots?"
"Thanks, Nick. Cleaned?"
"Yep. Washed and dried."
"Thank you, sweetheart," she smiled, still a little annoyed at him for the way he dodged telling her what the soup was, but quite unable to stay cross at him for all the kindness he consistently showed her. Judy took another spoonful of the half-consumed carrot soup, which turned out to taste as nice as it had smelt, while the fox lain down beside her as he had done earlier.
"Aren't you eating anything?" she asked.
"I'm good thanks." Nick watched with a smile at how much the rabbit was enjoying her meal. He knew this was a less than an honest way of getting her to realize she liked it, but it was for her own good really. He knew it was probably a typical predator attitude, but the idea that anyone could not like chicken, poultry of all foods, was preposterous. All Judy needed, like the build-up from the two of them having sleepovers, to living together, was to be acclimatized at a rate that suited her, and which Nick could judge with every meal she ate. Nick drew himself back from his thoughts with a smile, crossing his legs at the ankle, and bringing his paws up behind his head.
"So," he broke the silence, "what's with your parents and this whole sex after marriage thing? Seems kinda outdated to me. I'd have thought being rabbits—"
"— Being rabbits," she interrupted, "we'd all be pregnant by the end of our first heat. I mean," she continued, more patiently as she looked up to Nick, "you do know about our heat, right?"
"Ermm, yeah," he whispered... and he couldn't help the grin that split right across his muzzle as he said that, no matter how hard he tried.
"Good," Judy replied — a blush starting to form on her cheeks at that oh-so-sexy grin and the implication it was connected to — so she hastily looked back down to her food. "G-Good. Then you'll understand how important it is for my parents to employ strict rules to prevent it. It's a lot easier to have sex than to have a successful long-term relationship, after all. Just think of all the single mothers there'd be if they tried to pair off with the first buck they took a liking to. Just think how many of them would leave the mothers after the heat's worn off."
Softly, Nick's warm, red arm came slipping around Judy's body. He wrapped it around her, held her against him, leaned forwards and kissed her forehead as he spoke, "I wouldn't ever leave you, you know that."
"I know," she said, turning her head up to gaze at the wonderfully handsome fox she could now call lover. "That's why I was, and still am, in two minds about sleeping with you. You're so important to me, Nick, and I want to get this right."
"Me too, Jules." Reaching out, Nick soothed Judy's cheek delicately with his free paw as he leaned in, ministering her lips with his that was both long and tender, before he pulled back and spoke again, "Me too."
"Nick?"
"Yes, my dearest little bunbun?" he asked, his voice oozing with syrup.
"You've put paw marks all over my underwear."
"What? Where!?" he spluttered, panicked, turning sharply to see.
Judy just grinned, "Gotcha."
Nick's worried expression fell to a glum frown. "Yeah... right. And your Zoogle history is full of fox—porn."
Not missing a beat, Judy clicked her tongue and winked at the fox. "You won't catch me out that easily, Nicky ol' boy."
"Well then," he chortled, producing Judy's phone from nowhere and entering the password without complaint, "let's have a look then, shall we?"
"NO!" Judy leaped. The soup bowl flew into the air. The naked rabbit tussled the startled Nick for the phone with nothing covering her soft, gray-white body. Nick could do nothing but tense his grip on the phone — not entirely intentionally but due to the sight. The soup bowl came down. It landed on Nick's head with a wet squelch that made both of them freeze like water to ice. Both taken aback, Judy slowly reached forwards and raised the rim of the soup bowl that now covered Nick's head. She lifted it, and gazed upon the irritated, wrathful and very... soupy expression of Nick.
"Ooh," mumbled Judy.
"Hmm..." grumbled Nick. Biting her lower lip, Judy softly, gently, lowered the rim of the soup bowl back over Nick's head, chicken soup still running down his face and over his uniform. The fox was still motionless but for his tail that thumped down on the bed at short intervals.
"Sorry," she squeaked.
"You will be," he muttered. With those dangerous words of mischief, there was a click that was followed quickly by a blinding flash that made the doe to blink in reflex. She looked down at her naked body, across at the phone Nick lowered, then up into Nick's face as he held the rim of the bowl up with his free paw, revealing an almost savagely, devilish grin beneath.
"Nick," Judy started... "Nick, did you just—?"
"Arrh, not bad," he tittered, inspecting the photograph he had just taken on Judy's phone. "Not bad at all. I might even send it into PlayMammle!"
"Nick, did you just—?"
"Now lets see, contacts... contacts."
"Did you seriously just—?
"Ah, here we go! Now, who to send it to."
"Nick, you give me that phone."
"Well, there's me, obliviously, and there's Bogo, Clawhauser, Finnick... Mom and Dad—"
"If you want to live 'till tomorrow, Fox, you'll give me that phone."
"Of course, after what we did by saving the city, I'm sure Mayor Lionheart would be happy to have it printed in every newspaper, report and article in the city!
"Nick, you give me that phone right now or you're dead!"
"It's sure to raise his voting rates after all."
"Gurrghhha!"
...
Twelve minutes later, Nick and Judy stepped out from Nick's apartment. Judy stepped out first, holding the door open penitently for the poor fox as he shuffled out from several feet behind, her gaze dropping apologetically to the floor as he passed. The moment he had paced slowly past her, Judy ran to get ahead of Nick, unlocked the car, and opened the passenger-side door for him, humbly, speaking as he came nearer, "I'll-I'll driv—"
"Yes." She bit her lip and obeyed without question, opening the door and slipping in without comment. Nick joined her, slowly, a few seconds later. Judy remained motionless in the driver's seat. She stared blankly ahead of her without moving or saying a word. After some time, she risked a glance at Nick, who hadn't looked or properly spoken to her since then… while he held a large, white bag filled with ice against one half of his face. She looked back, her ears low with shame.
Eventually... Judy broke the silence, "Nick—" The fox just grunted in reply. "Nick, look, I'm sorry."
"Forgetaboutit," he mumbled in dejection.
"Look," she tried, honestly, "please... I didn't mean to hit you quite so hard." Nick lowered the ice pack he was holding to his head, turning to glower at the remorseful rabbit through his good eye... and tried to do the same with his blackened one.
"Judy... just drive the fluffing car!"
…
Author's notes:
Hesitance jumps around your mind,
Grooms decision thus chosen blind.
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