AN: Shorter chapters then the main story of Distilled Dreams to help fill in the AU around the OCs that will be reoccurring. Much like some side quests while they add to the main story they are not necessary to the main plot so feel free to skip them if you wish. I hope you enjoy.

Distilled Dreams: Side Stories

A Bandit to Steal a Bunny's Heart

Chapter Four

Rocky moved his chair from being across from Aubrey to next to her once they had finished dinner and half of the bottle of wine Rocky had brought. While they ate they talked about little things. Funny stories from their jobs, a couple of stories from when they where kits, what food they loved and hated, and several subtle questions from both of them about the relationships they had in the past mixed in. He split the last half of the bottle between their glasses filling them nearly to the brim and picked up the empty dishes from the table that Aubrey had yet to grab. "Where do you keep the glass bin and do you want me to wash or dry?" he asked as he sat the dishes next to the sink.

"Huh?" Aubrey asked surprised by the offer to help with the dishes.

"You made dinner the least I can do is help clean up after it," Rocky said with his hip pressed against her. Slowly moving sideways to gently move Aubrey away from the center of the sink and picking up a sponge. "How about I wash...you know where everything goes once its dry."

"Okay," Aubrey said reluctant to step away from the bit of contact she had with Rocky. She had to take a step to the side however so he could use both hands to clean. She glanced down in confusion when she felt something brush against her hip. Rocky's tail had followed her when she had stepped away. Looking at Rocky out of the corner of her eye while he handed her a cleaned plate she could not tell if he was doing it on purpose or not. She did not try to swat it away like she had done countless times to the paws of bucks in the diner. The small spot of warmth it provided was a comfort she wished she could lean into as he handed her clean dish after clean dish.

"Well that's the last one," Rocky said snapping Aubrey out of her thoughts as he held up the silverware they had used. When she took them Rocky quickly gave the sink a quick scrub, wrung out the sponge, and washed his paws. He turned to take the towel to dry them off but Aubrey beat him to it. He stood partially frozen as she dried his paws for him.

"Your paws are so different them mine," Aubrey said quietly putting the towel down once his paws where dry and held them with hers. Slowly she turned them while running her paw over them. The long thin fingers looked frail but she knew they where strong and dexterous from what she had seen as he scrubbed. He claws had been blunted but not recently and an edge of their natural sharpness was beginning to show again.

"Please stop," Rocky said his voice and body trembling at her touch. He could barely think clearly enough to say just those two words with the waves of feelings traveling though his body from his paws.

Aubrey dropped his paws and took a step back realizing what she had been doing. "I'm sorry!" She said her ears drooping and she clinched her paws in the bottom of her shirt. "I don't know why I did that..." She waited as he stood their rubbing his paws together. "I...I didn't hurt you did I? If you want to leave I understand..."

Rocky had to take several deep breaths before he could reply. "Its...okay...you didn't hurt them," Rocky said rubbing his paws together hoping, and dreading, to erase the feeling of her paws on them. "Raccoon paws are just...very sensitive. Sometimes if someone touches them when we don't expect it we...get overloaded with the feeling." He was tip toeing around what she had done to him. She had been gentle with his paws running her own ever so lightly over them...so intimately over them. With one last deep breath he felt close enough to normal to smile. "I'll go if you want me to...but since you didn't know about my paws I cannot fault you for being curious about them. Besides except for telling you about a couple of decent food stands in Downtown I haven't really told you anything about Zootopia."

His smile perked Aubrey's ears up and slowly her own lips twitched into a smile as she relaxed. "Thank you for staying and I am sorry again."

"No worries," Rocky said walking to the table and taking a sip from his wine to help calm his nerves. "I don't suppose you have a map? It's a bit easier to wrap your head around the city if you have something to look at."

"Mmmmmmm..." Aubrey hummed with her eyes closed thinking. She opened them and walked over to some shelves behind the sofa. She had to bend over at the waist over the back of the sofa as she knelt on the cushions to get to the atlas near the floor. Her tail twitched back and forth in the air as she stretched to get the book she wanted without falling over the sofa. "I think I remember there being one in here!" She turned around to find Rocky abruptly turn his head to look at a generic painting of carrot fields in bloom on the wall. Her ears burned red realizing she had just given him a full view of her ass with how tightly her jeans stretched over it. She walked to the table and set the book down trying to act like nothing had happened. "Alright lets see," she flipped to the index and turned to the pages she needed, "Here it is!" She turned only to find Rocky standing next to her already.

Rocky leaned over looking at the map. It was far more basic them he was use to seeing even for an overview of the twelve districts that wrapped around Downtown. "Well for an overview its not bad but come by the construction trailer sometime. I have some maps with a lot more detail then this."

Aubrey looked at the map. Compared to the maps of Bunnyburrow this one held a lot of information. Streets cross-crossed the pages and the different districts where shaded in different colors. It even had subway entrance markers on it. "There needs to be more detail then this?"

"The Rain-forest District has seven official levels stacked on top of one another and several areas that technically fall in between levels that you can only get to from the level above or below but not the other. I really hate jobs in the Rain-forest District." Rocky said turning a few pages until he found the section dedicated to just the Rain-forest District and its various levels. The closer in maps showed even more streets, pedestrian walk ways, zip-lines, and a dozen more ways to travel between the levels creating a three-dimensional labyrinth of a district.

Aubrey ears fell at trying to find a way though that mess of streets. "Okay I see your point. I think we can scratch off the Rain-forest District as a place I will live."

"Speaking of...you don't have to say but how much do you have or how much are you willing to spend a month in rent?" Rocky asked flipping back to the over view map. Aubrey whispered the answer into Rocky's ear. He winced. For Zootopia it was very low. "Alright that will limit options but how about I give you an overview to start." He waited for Aubrey to nod biting her lip nervously while looking at his paw as he pointing the areas out. "Alright so in the center of it all you have Downtown. The City Hall, pretty much all of the main government buildings, Police Headquarters, the really fancy restaurants and clubs, stuff like that. Some of the high rises are apartments or condos but you would need a few extra zeros at the end of your budget to get into them. Northeast of Downtown you have Tundra-Town and Sahara Square to the southeast with the climate wall separating them. Unless you have enough arctic or desert hare in you they are pretty much out too."

"I can handle the cold and the snow," Aubrey said in defiance. She had already dismissed the desert climate of Sahara Square as she would be a puddle of melted bunny by the end of the first day.

Rocky just raised an eyebrow. "The warmest it has ever been there is fifty degrees in summer when they need to melt the snow pack for water in the other Districts otherwise the normal is no more then twenty and in winter its negative thirty to fifty. Not to mention the scheduled weekly blizzards."

"Yeah like I said Tundra town and Sahara Square are out..." Aubrey said changing what she had said before to Rocky's chuckle. She bit one of her nails seeing how much was already off the table for places to stay.

"Southwest of Downtown you have Savanna Central. Lots of housing there that could work. Most mammals that need to be close to the central parts of the city and cannot live in the rain-forest, tundra, and desert climates live here. Little Rodentia is tucked in here pretty much right in the middle of the district boarders with the Rain-forest District and Sahara Square with half of it in Downtown and half is in Savannah Central. Considering your size there isn't anyway you could stay here short or renting out an entire building and knocking all but the walls out. Even then there would be just enough room to stand up in."

Aubrey chuckled scooting closer to Rocky and drinking from her wine glass, "If I didn't know better that sounded suspiciously like you where calling me fat."

Rocky laughed once he saw the playful glint in her eyes and the grin on her face. "Not fat just too big-boned for the area." He joked taking the playful swat of her paw to his arm before continuing, "Northwest of Downtown is the Rain-forest District which I recommend traveling though via subway or tram instead of trying the roads. Connected to the Rain-forest District is the Marsh District to the west the Meadow District to the north and the Canal District in between those two. The Marsh District are a swamp connecting to the Marsh Lands and not somewhere I think you would like. The Canal District is pretty nice. Artificial rivers and creeks surrounded by forest land. Meadow District is pretty much just what it sounds like one big meadow that is the gateway district to the Greater Meadow Land. Just as the Tri-Burrows area is next to the Greater Meadow Lands the Burrows District is east of the Meadow Land. In all honesty getting a place there would be easiest..."

"No," Aubrey said immediately, "I don't want to trade one Burrow for another."

"I understand plus the commute is terrible into the other Districts even with all the Subways and public transportation. So connecting Tundra Town and the Burrows District is Mammal Mountain. Its a natural mountain that they used to contain artificial climate from Tundra Town and the snow pack on it is what helps the city store water for when its needed. Its more of a recreational district but had a few residential areas for those that like the mountain climate. The view is great from up there but you really have to pay for it if you live there. Lots of public hiking and climbing tails on the Burrows District side and skiing and slopes on the Tundra Town side. It is also one of the main entrances to the Nocturnal district."

Aubrey looked at the map in front of them where Rocky was pointing to a small symbol of an open gateway tucked at the base of the mountain. She quickly found the same symbol again in Downtown, Savannah Central, Tundra Town, and Sahara Square. "I don't see the boarder line for the Nocturnal District. Is it all underground?"

Rocky nodded and turned to the page that was dedicated to the Nocturnal district. "Its the largest District overall but few people pay any attention to it outside of the main strip. Great night life all day and night long but outside of the main strip it is nearly pitch black with a lot of regulations on maximum permitted light levels."

"Yeah I'll pass on that District too. Bunnies and night vision don't really go hand in hand."

"You would think with those ears you could echo-locate," Rocky said running his paw along the outside of one of Aubrey ears. He heard her gasp out a moan and quickly moved his paw away. "Oh crap...I shouldn't have done that..."

"Its okay," Aubrey said panting slightly and leaned forward resting on her paws on the table and the other on Rocky's thigh keeping him in place. She could feel heat spread from where he had touched to the rest of her body. She took a deep breath trying to ignore the heat settling between her legs. "But I think I know how you felt when I was pawing your paws now. Bunny ears are very sensitive too. How did you put it...sometimes if someone touches them when we don't expect it we get overloaded with the feeling." She kept her paw on his leg and took a long drink from her wine glass. Rocky mimicked her taking his own glass in hand while trying to ignore his body's reaction to hearing her moan and he warmth of her paw oh his thigh. "Okay that's eleven districts and Downtown," Aubrey said moving her hand off of Rocky and straightening up. "Whats the last?"

"Out...Outback Island," Rocky said shaking his head slightly to clear the edges of desire and alcohol from his thoughts. "An artificial island south of Savannah Central and Sahara Square. A lot like Mammal Mountain its a recreation District with some of the best beaches and resorts in a thousand miles. Smaller shops and hotels with a couple of mega-mansions on the island for the obscenely rich. Nice place to take a vacation without having to leave the city."

"Alright so by the sounds of it Savannah Central is my best bet," Aubrey said finishing off her wine and leaning into Rocky resting her head on his shoulder while flipping to the pages that held just the maps for Savannah Central on it.

"Most likely...I live there too," Rocky said finishing off his own wine and wrapping an arm around Aubrey, "Rents not terrible once you get a little ways from where the boarder with Downtown is. A few spots where its better to stay away from at night but not too many. Enough mammals are looking for roommates there too if you want to save some money."

"Yeah..." Aubrey said snuggling closer into Rocky's side looking up at him, "Something to think about in the morning...its getting late and both of use need to be up early tomorrow...neither of us are very big and we finished off that bottle...you should stay here tonight...with me..."

"...the sofa looks comfortable I can stay on it..." Rocky started to say before suddenly drawing a breath in. Looking down she saw Aubrey had began tracing her paw lightly over his.

"I was hoping you would spend the night with me," Aubrey said leaning in and pressing her lips to his giving him a genital kiss. She drew back when he did not respond to the kiss. "Oh...I am sorry I thought...never mind I just got carried away...stupid bunny..." she said standing and trying to move away as tears began to well at being rejected only to be stopped by Rocky firm grip on her arm.

"Aubrey...I need to know that its not just the wine talking...if it is I don't want you to wake up in the morning regretting anything...I don't want to hurt you like that...I don't want to ruin what, I hope, we are both feeling for each other..." Rocky said loosening his grip to the point he was only touching her not holding onto her once he said his peace so she could easily pull away.

Aubrey placed her paw over his and rubbed it softly. "I am not drunk enough to pull some random buck I don't care about into my bed and I've swatted enough lustful touches away to know yours isn't like that." Slowly he pulled Rocky from his chair by his paw and started to lead him to the bedroom. After a few steps she suddenly she found herself spinning around and pulled into a close embrace. Her gasp of surprise was silenced by Rocky's lips pressing against hers and his arms wrapped around her holding their bodies close together. She blinked in surprise for a moment before closing her eyes and melting into his embrace deepening the kiss as her arms found their way to his back and pulled him closer to her.

AN: ….and fade to black. Mwahahahahaha

Well now I am at a fork in the road. Down one path I just leave it to your imagination on what happened between this chapter and the next when it comes out. Down the other path they are both fully grown and there isn't any kits around like when Vivian and Johnathan had their private moment in the main story so I don't feel any awkwardness about writing any explicit happening and putting it up where it is allowed as a new side story so those who want to avoid explicit content.

Decisions decisions

AN2: So I ended up deciding to write out the explicit content and post it over at A03 under the name Distilled Dreams: Fade to Black.