2016, September 4

Downtown Zootopia, Packwood flats

9:32 AM

After Nick bid Judy goodbye (secretly knowing he'd see her again today once he and Mr Antonilope went their separate ways), he, Tim, and Mr Antonilope, drove to Nicks apartment in the superintendents car. The drive was mostly quiet, save the directions Nick gave, and the loud traffic they ran into. As they went through it, Nick noticed that Tim's ears would twitch at least every 5 seconds. The twitching stopped as the car gained distance from the traffic. Nick could tell that the noise must have bothered the young tod. As a fox who grew up in the city, he learned to adapt to the chaotic elements the city can introduce and understands how it may be too much to take in. And from the way Tim kept looking out the window at everything that passed by, Nick assumed he may be new to Zootopia. He made a mental note to ask him about how long he has he lived in the city as the rest of the drive went on.

When they arrived at the apartment complex, the foxes jumped out of the car while Mr Antonilope rolled down the window and gave some parting words.

"Alright, I got to go now. Remember, I'm coming back to check up on Tim's stay."

"I'll remember!" said Nick.

And just like that, the antelope drove off, leaving the foxes on the sidewalk.

"Thank you for letting me stay at your place," Tim said suddenly.

"No problem bud," Nick responded, "come on, let's head inside."

"Welcome, to Motel Wilde! And please: enjoy your stay here," Nick said dramatically as he and Tim entered the apartment.

"I don't mean to criticize you or anything, but it's kind of... bland," Tim said.

"We are sorry for the inconvenience, but we are currently in the middle of renovating the motel."

"Oh I'm sorry! Will uh...-a 5-star review make up for this?", Tim asked with a faint smirk.

Nick chuckled. "This kid has a good sense of humor. I like that," Nick thought to himself. "You know what Tim? I think you and I will get along just fine."

"Speaking of getting along, that reminds me," Nick remembered.

"Hey sport, can I call you sport? Anyways, is it ok if you keep a secret?" Nick asked as he walked over to the couch and sat down.

Tim's ears perked with interest and he sat on the couch with the older fox. "What kind of secret?", he asked.

"Well," he said with a grin, "since you want to know so badly, I happen to have a roommate."

"Wait, really?" Tim said in confusion, "Nobody said you live with a roommate."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Nick asked, masking his slight worry.

"No, it's fine!" Tim blurted reassuringly, "I'm just... confused about why nobody said anything about it."

Nick needed to tread lightly from here. He isn't sure how the young tod will react when he finds out the roommate turns out to be his partner. Then again, if Tim truly cared about how Judy felt when he forgave her the other day, it may be safe to tell him. Nick took a deep breath before he began.

"Well," he said uneasily, "the truth is, Tim, I think that the annoying antelope from earlier didn't know I had a roommate, which was probably for the best because... I don't think he would have liked the fact that I live with my partner."

Pause. Nick could feel the silence eat him up inside. Did he do the right thing? Should he have told Tim? Tim's silence didn't really help, but but Nick feared what he'd answer as he held his breath.

"Why would that be a big deal?" Tim broke the silence as he tilted his head to the side in confusion.

The ex-cons ears perked in surprise and felt himself breath again.

"Well," Nick thought, "that was unexpected. But it doesn't look like he does have a problem with prey and predators being together."

Back to the conversation, Nick replied, "Well you see sport, there are some mammals in the world that just... they don't like seeing predators and prey getting along, that rather return to way-back-when, when mammals didn't get along because they were either predators or prey, or simply because of their species' stereotype."

"But why can't they get along though? We're all mammals right?" Tim asked naively.

"Oh no," Nick thought, "He's just like me when I was... young."

The bitter memory was still fresh in his mind. He had never forgotten... that day. The day reality tore his dreams to pieces. Where who Nick thought who were his comrades... showed their true colors. Nick shook the thought away.

"That's the thing," Nick said slowly, "some mammals just... don't like how things are right now. I mean—... have you ever heard of Dawn Bellwether before?"

"I've heard something that come up before about that name, but I don't remember what it was. Why?"

"Do you know what happened with her?"

"No, what's it about?"

Nick proceeded to tell Tim everything he needed to know about the Bellwether conspiracy and how it nearly pushed the city onto the brink of civil war, how there was so much fear about your predator neighbor turning 'savage', and how Nick and Judy managed to solve the case. Although some details were left out.

Tim's face at the end of it all told Nick that he was stunned from it all.

"That's crazy!" the tod finally said, "And you and Ms hopps did all of this by yourselves!?"

"Yep. Every last bit of it is 100 percent truth," Nick responded with his signature smirk.

"But my point is Tim," Nick back to being serious, "there are preys out there, in the world, that just don't like predators. That... especially... includes us foxes."

"That's... horrible," Tim said distantly with his ears pressed against the back of his skull.

"I know," Nick said with a heavy heart, "but if you don't mind me asking, was there... anything your parents told you to do when you're around other mammals?"

Tim paused to think.

"'If you laugh or smile, make sure you don't show your teeth', and 'don't growl if you're angry.'"

"That's good. Do you know why they told you to do that?"

"My dad said that I shouldn't be afraid to show my teeth but my mom says otherwise."

"Wait, what?" Nick thought surprised, "why would his dad say that? Was his dad ignorant of what could happen? ...No. His dad would surely KNOW what prejudice against foxes was like! Especially since he was an adult! But then that could mean..."

"If you don't mind me asking," Tim interrupted Nicks thoughts, "is Ms Hopps doing okay? It looked like there was something bugging her."

"Yeah, she's doing fine," Nick lied. When he was still a con-artist, he went by some moral rules. One of those rules was to not scam or lie children. He really didn't want to lie to the young tod, but given that he cared to know how the bunny faired after their 'visit' to Zootopia General, Nick didn't want Tim to worry about her. As for Tim's father, that will have to wait. Nick didn't want to pressure the young tod if the father really was bad.

Suddenly, Nick got an idea to smooth things over. A sly idea. Nick got a sly, and devious idea.

"Speaking of Hopps," Nick said with a seemingly innocent grin, " since your teeeechnically staying at my partners place, why don't you cut it off with the 'Ms Hopps', and just call her... fluff."

"Fluff? Why that?"

"It's what her friends call her."

Literally as Nick says this, both of the foxes ears twitch as the sound of a jimmying doorknob reach their ears. "Speak of the devil," Nick thought.

And low and behold, it was the bunny. She stepped through the doorway and closed the door behind her. It took the doe a moment to acknowledge that Tim and Nick were in the room with her.

"Nick, did you-," she started.

"Don't worry Carr-Judy," Nick caught himself, "I told him we were roommates."

"Oh good," she said in relief.

Nick could tell Judy still felt uneasy by reading her body language. Her ears drooped to either side, her eyes looked somewhere else. Nick sighed.

"The only way you'll get over this is if you talk to him carrots," Nick thought.

Then, Nick got a lightbulb in his head.

"She's going to have my tail after this," Nick thought.

"Hey Tim," Nick asked the younger fox, "do you want something to drink?"

"Yes please," Tim responded.

"Right away good sir," Nick said playfully mimicking a British accent. As innocently as he could, he walked by Judy and whispered "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," in her long ear without looking at her directly. Then, he exited the living room, ignoring Judy's babbling as he did so.