"Not bad, Wilde, not bad," Nick said to himself, dusting his hands off and looking at his mostly empty new apartment. He proudly put his hands on his hips and surveyed the clean apartment space. It was still cozy, but not cramped. Nice location; close to the subway, good view out the window, even a little room for furnishing. "Doesn't leak, doesn't smell weird... well, actually it kind of smells weird because it doesn't smell weird? Anyway... being on the up-and-up is finally paying off."
Nick walked around, looking at the suitcase of his belongings, and the humbly-sized fridge he just plugged in. It was empty. "Welp, I should probably go stock the larder before my stomach hears that I don't have any foodstuffs." Nick felt rather pleased with himself as he headed into the elevator to go downstairs and out of his apartment building.
As he got outside, across the street he noticed a gray rabbit sitting on a bench at the bus stop. Their head was bowed low, and they appeared to have a box clutched with their paws that was resting on their lap. Nick shielded his eyes from the sun with one hand and looked at the ears. Black tips.
"Judy...?" Nick looked both ways, then decided to jaywalk over to her. She was sniveling and sobbing. Feeling an ache in his chest, Nick sat down beside her. "Heya, Carrots." His voice was soft. Judy gave him a small look, her purple eyes damp and the whites reddened by crying. She cringed and looked away from him, continuing to sob. Nick decided not to talk until Judy did. She sobbed some more. The sound made Nick's ears flatten against his head, as if they no longer wanted to take in the hurt bunny's sounds. Nick's eyebrows turned up a bit. He gently moved his arm around her to help comfort her, but, to his surprise, Judy slid away from him, shaking her head.
"Nuh-no...," Judy said, taking in a shaky, gasping breath. "Not in public..."
"Ah-as you wish," Nick nodded. "Never known you to pass up a little TLC... something happened, huh? Um... th-that's not anyone there, in the box...?"
"Nuh-no," Judy gave a pained smile and then hiccuped, letting loose another sob, "just a stupid housewarming gift for you."
"Tell me what the matter is, bunny," Nick pleaded, "and if I can help." Judy took in a few shaky breaths, trying to center herself.
"I saw..." Judy began, rubbing her eyes with one hand as she kept the other protectively on the box. "I saw a female cheetah on the way over. She was just minding her own business, and a female buffalo went and shoved her for no reason. The cheetah looked so baffled and scared... and the buffalo just said 'I'm watching you, predator'..."
"Egh..." Nick shook his head. "Some mammals, right...? It's got you really shook up, though."
"Because it's my fault!" Judy's mouth twisted into a toothy grimace, tears threatening to well forth again. "That... that press conference! Ugh!"
"Now just hold on a second here," Nick said, holding a hand out in caution. "That was..." Nick counted on his fingers. "That was two years ago! You can't go blaming yourself every time a prey turns their nose up at a predator!"
"But I opened the door..." Judy said weakly, "I gave legitimacy to mammal's latent prejudices and hatred."
"As I recall, you also bagged the sheep responsible for this whole mess," Nick's voice had a warm, pleasant reassurance to it.
"We," Judy turned her head to him seriously. "We bagged her. But that doesn't help, does it? We just took the physical threat away. I already did the damage. The news outlets... they barely spent any time on the resolution, just all the riots and rallies I caused."
"Rgh, don't get me started on the media," Nick clutched at his knees. "They'd rather expound at length on a catastrophic accident like an elephant tripping and killing thirty-some mice than spend ten minutes talking about a bunny who tried very hard to rectify her mistakes."
"I think the worst part is..." Judy said, pain evident in her voice as it cracked a bit. "I'm... I'm not forgiven." She bowed her head, sniffling quietly. Nick's mind shot back to the things she had said to him at the press conference, and the way they had made up at the bridge.
"Wuh-wait, Judy," Nick said, his pulse suddenly quickening. "I may have not said 'I forgive you', but I would have hoped that risking my life to help the city and training for nine months to become a cop that'd always be by your side would have sent the message..." Judy looked at him and gave a tiny smile. He did see a pleasant hope to it, which set his mind back at ease.
"Not you, Nick," Judy said softly. Her face brightened up a few more shades. "Hey... you used my first name."
"Oh, uh, so I did," Nick chuckled, scratching one of his ears. "Don't get used to it. That's a special treat." Judy gave a tiny giggle, then hiccuped.
"How is it that you can make me smile when you're being a total jerk?" Judy gave another tiny laugh, then very, very weakly punched him in the arm. He barely felt it. She gave a sigh. "I'm not forgiven by Zootopia itself, Nick. I'll never be able to erase that day. I still get weird looks by predators every now and again. They looked at that press conference, then turned off the TV, and closed their minds about me. They don't think Judy Hopps is a hero, not at all. They think she thinks predators could just go savage at any moment; that they're something to be feared. They didn't hear the speech she gave to the police graduates. They don't care what she did right, just what she did wrong."
"Yeah, I guess that's a big problem with us as mammals," Nick grit his teeth, folding his hands together and leaning forward a bit. "I guess the media wouldn't thrive on bad news if people didn't just love to fill their hearts with negativity. But who cares? Who cares if the whole world thinks you're a dumb bunny? I know better." Nick put his hand to his chest, having a proud look on his face.
"I dunno, Nick," Judy smiled. "I can be pretty dumb. And the whole world? One tiny bunny is nothing against those odds."
"Just think though, every life you change, every criminal you put to justice, everyone you touch with your words, if they're willing to use their ears, that is..." Nick went on, gesturing emphatically with his hands. "You are making the world a better place, Carrots. You are. You're going to have a big list of everything you did right, and then just that one blot of what you did wrong."
"Don't downplay it, Nick," Judy chuckled. She was beginning to look more convinced, however. "It's a big blot. I'll never be able to be a politician. All they'd have to do is play that video in every single attack ad. Not even anything else needed for context. Just... there she is. Yup. Hates predators."
"Hey, that's just ten percent of the vote, we predators," Nick dismissively flicked his hand up. "And you'd have the pred-haters on your side!"
"Nick!" Judy laughed. "That's a very important ten percent to lose! Could make the difference! ...Makes the difference to me." Judy gave Nick a very tender look that caught him rather off guard. Nick smiled at her, then an entirely unpleasant groaning sound erupted from his stomach. Judy laughed lightly in the sudden outburst. "Oh, okay! You hungry?"
"Just a bit," Nick laughed, rubbing his stomach. "How about you?"
"I could eat," Judy shrugged, giving one nod.
"Well, why don't we go somewhere, you and I?" Nick clapped his hands together and rubbed them.
"Nick..." Judy narrowed her eyes, her voice suspicious. "That sounds an awful lot like a date."
"Call it what you like," Nick clicked his teeth twice. "I'm hungry, and I don't think you have had enough fox time for today."
"People will... people will stare," Judy looked away. "At a fox and a bunny sharing a meal. A predator and prey. Especially me. 'Isn't that that speciesist bunny'...?"
"Hey, don't go back there, bunny," Nick gently turned her head toward him. "Instead, why don't we practice our best disdainful looks? We could give them to anyone who dares turn a scornful eye to us."
"Disdainful looks?" Judy looked amused. Nick narrowed one eye and put on a reproving-looking smirk with his eyebrows slightly turned up, while tilting his head. "Nick, you goofball. How's mine?" Judy lolled both her head and her ears, tilting her head down slightly and rolling her eyes all the way up to look at Nick, while her tiny, triangle-shaped lips remained pursed.
"Oof! I am chilled to my very core, miss," Nick gave a humble bow with his eyes closed.
"Okay, I don't want to carry this all evening, so maybe go put it up in your apartment while I search on my phone for what's good vegetarian eating around here?" Judy held the box towards Nick.
"All right," Nick nodded. "Thanks for the gift."
"Don't thank me till you see what it is," Judy smirked. "And no opening it till you get home!" Nick nodded and headed up into his apartment.
"Well, I'm technically home," Nick grinned, and opened the box. He retrieved a nice, solid-color mug that had the words "World's Okayest Fox" printed on it, each word a different color. Caught off guard, Nick laughed a loud, genuine laugh. He carefully placed the mug away on his counter, turning it so the words faced him. "Well! I love you too, Carrots."
Nick's smiling face tilted a bit, and his brow furrowed, but his smile remained. He reflected upon the words he said. Then, he shrugged, heading back down to meet the bunny.
Those words were true, after all.