"So, what do you think, Carrots?"

"You never said that we are going to-" Judy was at a loss for words. She kept her mouth open and waited for something comprehensible to come out. It didn't happened, though.

It was unbelievable. A few hours before, when Nick asked her if she wanted to go with him to a 'cool' place he had just found out about, she could have swore that he only intended to make her feel better after some embarrassing events of the previous day. Yet, as it turned out now, he still mercilessly wanted to continue their 'hustle game'. It was a brutally savage move from him, but that was the point of it all – and Judy knew that she couldn't let him get any closer to the winning position.

The rules were simple for such a tricky game – "Don't let him know that you love him and he can't do the same too. The one that will reveal their feelings first is a loser; the other one is a winner."

Too bad that it was easier said than done.

All things considered, she decided that it would be the best for her if she calmed down a bit. So, the bunny took a deep breath, in the hope that she won't sound too hysterical, and finished the sentence, somewhat dramatically gesturing at the unusual scenery, "That we are going to a beach for nudists!"

Around them there were many animals of different shape and size having a real good time, every one of them fully naked. The whole place was giving Judy flashbacks about the 'naturalists' club, which she had visited with Nick during the Night Howler case. It was some time ago, but she still could remember her initial shock the moment she saw that yak owner's butt... And then her eyes caught even more once they entered the actual oasis. A lot of different animals swimming in a huge pool, the hippos playing with a beach ball, a group of bears rubbing their backs against the trees - that sight was definitely something that Judy would remember for the rest of her life. It took her a while to pull herself together again, but her determination to finish the case and prove Bogo wrong was stronger than her feelings caused by some temporary unpleasant situation.

"What? You don't like this place? Aww, what a shame," Nick's husky tone brought Judy's attention back to him. Her eyes landed on the red tod, who was now busy unfolding a large, blue blanket and laying it on the sand. His back was facing her and she couldn't fully see his face, but she could swear that he was smirking.

Judy looked around. Putting that one little but crucial detail aside, the place looked like a pretty standard beach during the summer days. The warm sand under them burned a bit, the waves were rhythmically going up and down, crashing into the nearby rocks. Somewhere in the close distance there could be seen some snack bars and ice-cream stalls. The golden sun, which was embraced by the almost sea like blue sky, was shining above them, caressing gently their fur. A perfect summer atmosphere creating a perfect summer afternoon.

Well, unfortunately, it wasn't that perfect for Judy – mainly because everyone were naked.

"You-" Judy started, her expression changing in a second. She hesitated for a moment, knowing that she needed to be careful with her words. She couldn't act too over the top; however, if she tried to come off as totally apathetic, he surely would get suspicious.

But what if Judy behaved just like 'normal' Judy Hopps?

"Let him think that he's winning and then catch him off guard later."

Having that idea in her mind, the bunny pointed accusingly her finger at him and spoke, "You knew exactly what you were doing."

"I've got no idea what are you talking about, Carrots," Nick stated, turning his head and glancing over at her. Just as she predicted, a sly smirk was plastered on his face. At the end of the sentence, he sent an innocent wink, which caused her heart to beat a bit louder.

"Ugh..." She placed her paws on her face in the attempt to hide a quite visible blush. There was no point in arguing any further. Neither from her point of view, nor 'typical' Judy's. Instead, she sighed and decided to ask another rather important question, even though she already knew the answer to it, "Am I supposed to take my clothes off now?"

"Come on, don't be so shy," Nick leaned over, making their height difference look somewhat smaller, so they were almost eye to eye. "It's not like I haven't seen you naked before."

"Don't mention it!" She exclaimed, her mind instantly cringing at the very thought of that scene. How many times he could bring it up again and again, only to make her feel ashamed?

…

But then again, it was Nick. After all, what else she could expect from him, especially when they were during their 'hustle' game? It was obvious that he wouldn't be holding himself back.

"You know, if you don't want to get out of your clothes then you can leave," Nick chuckled, which only confirmed Judy's assumption that he had never taken his words too seriously. It was rather obvious that he didn't want her to leave, however, in order to convince her to stay the tod had no other option but to act like he wouldn't care if she did. "At worst I'll have to find someone else who would be good enough to want to spend time with me… Maybe some vixen? Or another bunny like you? I see a lot of candidates around here."

Ouch. That was another cruel move from him that Judy wasn't prepared for.

"Oh, fine," After a few seconds of awkward silence between them, she turned around and started unpacking her things. Once she opened her own small beach bag, the first thing her eyes landed on was a pink bikini. It was probably her favorite – though, to be truly honest, she mainly took that one to see Nick's reaction to her body in it. It was such a shame she couldn't wear it nor show her red foxy friend how good she looked in it.

"Now, thinking about it…" It was quite weird that Nick had everything prepared, and she wasn't only thinking about towels and other things needed for spending an afternoon on a beach. Earlier that day, once they had been done with work and left the ZPD building, Nick showed her his new car, which he bought, as he said jokingly, for their 'date'. The vehicle was quite impressive – Judy could instantly tell it was completely new and probably cost a fortune. The car was entirely red, which reminded her of the foxy owner, even though that surely wasn't the designer's intention. Some part of her mind was telling her that there was some story behind it all, especially since she knew that while Nick wasn't so short on money as he used to be, he still wasn't that rich for sure. Later, they drove straight to the beach, only stopping by her apartment but not his. How he had time to prepare all that stuff for the beach, was another question. And then, there was a moment when he told her to not put her bikini on and wear it under her usual clothes, explaining that there were changing rooms somewhere in that place… It was clear that it wasn't a coincidence.

He had planned it all. And what's even worse, it was almost surely not the end of his sly intentions.

"If I have to do this, let's not waste any more ti-" Knowing that there was no point in further reflections, she turned around, so she was facing Nick again. She had no idea what was coming next. A high-pitched sound, which could be described as a shriek, escaped her throat.

"Sweet cheese and crackers!"

Nick was standing in front of her, grinning proudly, no clothes on him anymore. His green Hawaiian shirt and gray pants were lying on the blanket, the tie next to them on the beach bag. Now, Judy could see that the tod was attractive undressed just as he was with his usual clothing on. The sunlight exposed his red fur with a cream colored belly and his figure. He was slim built, rather far from being muscular or anything, but that wasn't a drawback at all. And then going a bit lower, where his crotch was, she saw…

"Like what you see here?" She instantly looked the other way, a burning blush appearing on her face. It was too late though. She had already seen it, and there's no way she would forget about his… manhood so quickly. Or rather like ever.

"He's so…" The bunny was basically screaming inside, telling her mind to stop and not think about what she wanted to think.

"…Well endowed," She slapped herself mentally.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" Judy still tried to convince her mind, but it was no use.

"It's called a hus-" Nick started, though, he had no idea how harshly and quickly Judy would respond.

"Do not even dare to finish it," Now, he was the one who got caught. He shuddered after hearing the tone of her voice. It sounded like she was not playing with him or just teasing – it was a threat. He decided that backing off would be the best idea, so he said nothing.

"You…" She hesitated for a moment, thinking how far she could go with her words. Finally, she opted for possibly the least intimidating option, "Bastard."

"Now… I'll undress myself. So just turn around! Go to the water if you want. But don't even try doing anything, Slick," She huffed, her voice much more calm now, and turned around, hoping that he would listen to her, so she could undress herself with a peace of mind.

"You know that I would never, like ever, try to do something that would make you feel uneasy. I'm a real gentlemammal, after all, sweetheart," He said, his tone soft with a noticeable spark of his theatricality, as he headed towards the water. Judy didn't reply to him, instead she let out a quiet groan and began removing her clothes.

A moment later, she joined the red tod in the water. When he saw her, he chuckled under his breath, hoping that she wouldn't hear it, mainly because he didn't want to make her mad again.

Judy was next to him, the water barely touching her knees. One of her paws covered her breasts, the other one was blocking the view of the lower intimate part of body from unwanted glares. Nick's grin widened seeing how vulnerable and shy she was. Knowing that sooner or later she had to expose herself fully, he came up with some excellently devious idea. He was aware that her reaction would end up so much worse than he could ever imagine, but you live only once, right?

That's why you have to live life to the fullest.

"This is not a safe zone, you should know. Especially for a bunny like you," He stated mischievously as he approached her, his cunning smile not leaving his face.

"What are you talking about?" Judy took a one cautious step backward, and she almost fell over and landed in the water doing so. Distracted, she noticed too late that Nick was preparing himself to attack her with a splash, his paws already touching the water, "Wait, no-"

In a split of a second, entire Judy's front fur became wet. Her reaction was almost immediate and she squealed as the water, that at first felt quite cold, splashed all over her.

And then she noticed that the tod wasn't smiling because of her reaction. When that splash of water hit her, she instinctively put her hands in front of her face, covering her eyes. The problem was that, at the same time, she exposed the more private parts of her body, while not even being aware of it.

"Nick, I swear…" Her expression said it all. The tod was going to pay for what he had done.

And that's how they spend their time together in the sea. The war that just begun was filled with splashes, shrieking, shouting, laughing. Occasionally, someone landed under the water, but it wasn't a big deal, since both of them had a lot fun.

At some point, a one thing that Nick had said before came back to Judy's mind.

"…Maybe some vixen? Or another bunny like you? I see a lot of candidates around..." She knew that he wasn't serious, but still… If he teased her in such a cruel way, she could the same. So, when she noticed some nearby group of bucks, who had stopped playing a volleyball, just to look in their direction, or more like at her, she only sent them a wink and swayed her hips a bit more.

She earned a jealous glare from Nick. However, to her surprise, he said nothing and only muttered some words so quietly she couldn't her him. She was a bit disappointed, even though she figured out that he probably understood her intentions.

Still, it was worth a try, though.

Some time later…

"Slick, you know that I could kill for ice cream," Judy told him, her voice a bit muffled, since she was busy eating the delicious dessert. She gave him a smile, "So, thank you that you've bought a one for me."

They were walking along the sea, coming back from the ice cream van. Judy insisted on buying something refreshing and simultaneously tasty. Nick only bought himself a can of cola from the vending machine. The pair was heading towards a place where the tod parked his car. They already took their things, Nick was carrying both his and Judy's bag under his arm. As they were making their way to the parking, the sun was setting. The sky was slowly changing its colour, now having an orange-golden tone.

"Calm down, my bunny," Nick was still looking forward them, however, he had to admit that the sight of Judy eagerly licking strawberry her ice cream was quite tempting – he rarely saw her happy like that. "You don't want to hurt anyone, do you?"

"Let's just go," She rolled her eyes at his words.

A few minutes later, they finally reached their destination. The car was, thankfully, still standing in its place.

Nick took the keys out of his pocket, unlocking the door. Before he entered the vehicle, he turned to the doe.

"Hey, Judy." She took her focus away from ice cream and looked at her friend curiously, "Do you want to go to pizzeria with me? I see that you are quite hungry, and believe me I would snack something too, so I thought that maybe you would join me."

"Hmm, I'm not sure if I can believe you," She gave him a smile, still looking at him questionably but with a bit of playfulness. "What if it turns out that inside that 'pizzeria' there will be some hidden club for naturists?"

"Don't worry about it, it's a normal restaurant," He assured her, chuckling at what she had said.

"Am I wrong or… Is this a date?"

"Yeah, it is. A 'friendly' date. So, are you in?"

She hesitated for a moment and then made a decision.

"You know what? Take me wherever you want. It's not like I have better things to do in my home."

"Then, what are you waiting for. Hop in," He said as they both entered the car and drove away. A ride had started as they headed towards the restaurant to spend night together on their 'friendly' date.

"Oh, poor Carrots. Little she knows what I prepared for her. There's no way I'm not winning that game. I will make you confess your love, Judy."