"What shall we do today, Finn?" Nick asked, slapping the hood of Finnick's ever-deteriorating vehicle. The fennec fox was on the hood, and jumped a little at the loud sound.
"Screw you, Wilde," Finn muttered, plucking a slip off of his windshield wiper.
"Maybe Jumbeaux's?" Nick asked airily, stretching luxuriously. He checked his phone. "Ol' Jerry's there, but it's been three years since he's seen us. Maybe he's forgotten what I look like."
"The elephant suit's still at the wash after the 'incident' we ran into last time with the grubfurters," Finnick glared in the red fox's direction before dropping to the ground.
"The mustard still won't come out, huh?" Nick looked like he had actual concern on his snout as he planted one paw on his hip and one on his cheek, but Finnick didn't seem to care either way.
"Either way, I got a parking ticket," Finnick waved the slip. "Gotta go take care a that. I'll use the ol' 'cute mammal' on 'em."
The taller fox blinked. "Didn't you just get a ticket? This seems familiar; think I'm having deja vu."
"No?" Finnick grunted. "First one in a long time." The fennec scrabbled up into the driver's seat. "Now scram. I gotta go get my fur and claws did so I look my best when playing up the fluffiness."
"Ooh, send me pictures," Nick cooed with his paws clasped together, "oh- and if you want to keep the cute angle, be sure to talk as little as possible."
Finnick casually gave Nick a rude gesture as he drove away.
"Hmph," Nick smirked, kicking at the ground and shoving his hands into his pockets. His smile vanished once no one was there to catch it.
Of course, he had enough money to take a day or two off from the whole "hustling" thing. Finnick wasn't even that great to hang out with, so he probably wouldn't have insisted on going with the grouchy fennec even if he wanted him to. All of that coupled with a complete lack of obligations on Nick's part left him free. He was free to explore his city, do what he wanted, take in the sights.
The freedom was paralyzing.
"What to do..." Nick tapped his right foot as he looked around the subway station for somewhere to go. He could see a museum, visit one of his acquaintances.
Call some friends to hang out, maybe.
Nick smirked, despite himself. He didn't have "friends", he had "contacts". He had people that owed him, and people that he owed. And he had his business partner Finnick. The only reason the two worked so well together is that they shared a similar disdain for the city and the world at large, and that they were both foxes.
The fox's eyelids came down as he stared at his phone. To his surprise, he'd actually gotten a text. He flinched, wondering if it'd be from either one of his parents.
Ah, good, it was just from Jacob, a bartender at the Wet Wolf Whistle.
[Can you do me a favor?] The text asked.
[What's up?] Nick replied noncommittally.
[Daughter's graduation is today. Can you cover for all or part of my shift at the W3?]
Nick scowled. He wanted to say no. Here was a horse who had his life together and was getting to celebrate something as mundane as his little foal graduating elementary school. Hardly an accomplishment, Nick thought. What, would they start handing out medals for being born within the next few years?
[Sure. What's the shift?] He replied, sighing.
[Six til' close.]
Nick supposed he should. After all, Jacob had taken a mild liking to Nick, or at the very least a tolerance. During one of Nick's many less glorious periods, he'd found himself in need of a job, and he picked up a few temporary shifts at the W3, where he mostly washed dishes. Jacob taught him how to do the whole bar tending thing as well, and showed Nick some of his skills. The fox still had no idea how the horse managed to pull off half of the tricks with the glasses, given his hooves.
[All right, but you owe me!]
[Thanks so much, Wilde. Traffic should be light tonight. I owe you.]
The fox retreated home to change. One of his many eclectic outfits included a long sleeved shirt and a vest that'd be perfect with one of his father's bowties to complete the dress code there at the bar.
He sighed as he affixed the tie to his collar. He thought about his father, how he had left the family to pursue a job with a clothing firm, then came back nearly penniless, mooching off his mother, who took him back, until he could get his own modest clothing shop up and running. Nick's teeth grit. He felt like he was getting back at his father for his many missteps with each misadventure he wore one of his father's ties to.
His mother and father would try to get in touch with him, try to bring him back to the "light", but Nick was too cynical for that. At least he knew he wasn't following his moral compass, whereas his father's was just plain broken.
"Sorry, folks," Nick said to himself, looking at his slightly cracked mirror in his dumpy apartment. "The prodigal kit isn't returning any time soon."
He adjusted his tie and smiled his practiced smile into the mirror. The sharply-dressed fox stood out against his dismal living area like a shining beacon, or so Nick lied to himself.
"Ah, someone who has it together," Nick gestured at himself sarcastically. "Tell me, young fellow. How do you do it?"
Nick was cleaning a glass as he saw a twenty-something bunny come into the W3. She looked gray, and not just in color. She had a haggard, tired face as she leaped up to the bar, seemingly barely having the energy to do so.
"Evening, young lady," Nick sidled over to her. "What can I do for you?"
"Mug of beer, bunny-sized," she muttered. "Whatever's on tap. House, don't care."
Nick grabbed a small mug and deftly spun it between his fingers, tossing it behind his back and catching it in front of the fountain before slamming it down and filling it to the top with frothy beer. The bunny looked at the proceedings with a blank expression, one of her cheeks resting heavily in her paw.
"Thanks," she took a big swig of the brew and set the mug down firmly.
After tending to his few other customers, Nick found himself going over to the dry-looking bunny, curious about her for some inexplicable reason.
"Say, have I seen you around before?" Nick wiggled an index finger as he mentally grasped onto something like a tiny recollection.
"Well, I come around here often enough," the bunny shrugged, taking another swallow of her drink. "Uh... you ever been around the ZPD? Tried to enlist?" She looked at him coolly. "...Arrested?"
"Oh no, not me," Nick grinned after a moment's hesitation.
The gray bunny got out her phone and scrolled through her pictures and showed one to Nick. They showed three female officers: a tigress, an elephant, and a bunny, her.
"Judy Hopps," she said. "One of the poster girls of the ZPD."
"Oh, right..." Nick nodded distantly. "Right, there was some to-do about the ZPD hiring a bunny."
"Tch," Judy muttered. "Yeah." She pushed her mug forward. "Top it off, will ya?"
"Sure," Nick complied, sliding the drink back over. "How long have you been with them?"
"About three years," Judy sighed.
"Everything you hoped?"
"Nope," she said flatly, drumming her fingers on the counter and looking away, enunciating her words. "Not at all."
"Aw," Nick smirked. "How come?"
"I'm a meter maid ninety-five percent of the time," Judy grunted. "I've gotten to do a traffic case once. Other times I just go give speeches to schools about how 'great' it is to work for the ZPD. How great the 'Mammal Inclusion Initiative' is."
"Ah yes, that thing," Nick laughed. "Lionheart and Bellwether are pushing it kind of hard, aren't they?"
"It's a farce," Judy spat derisively. "It's a bunch of lies. They want figureheads... mammals who don't normally work in specific areas, just so they can show how 'accepting' they are."
"Mm..." the fox nodded, cleaning a glass.
"The Chief hates me, so I get the bottom of the barrel assignments to keep me out of the way," one of the bunny's gray and white paws came slamming down on the bar, where it actually shook it a little.
"So you came to Zootopia buying the hype," Nick sucked at his teeth, shaking his head. "Tsk tsk tsk."
"Yeah, like an idiot," Judy sneered. "And now I sell the hype. 'Anyone can be anything'. Ha."
"Hmhmhm..." Nick laughed with a playful cynicism. "You moved from your home and saw that bright coat of paint Zootopia is shining with, only to find that underneath that is a bunch of bugs. And not even the tasty kind!"
"Every day's a joke with me at the tail," Judy growled, her face scrunched up in both anger and hopelessness. "I give parking tickets most of the time. I'm not making a difference to anyone! 'Cept maybe in their wallet." She held out her hand. "I wanted to help people... really make someone's life better. But I don't think I have. Not even a single animal. If I've inspired anyone... it's just duped them into thinking they can make a difference too. Ugh, it makes me sick."
"So what you're saying-"
"And that's not even the worst part!" Judy's ears came up as she interrupted Nick, sitting up alert. "My parents are proud of me!"
"Oh, I can think of worse things than that," Nick wore a careful smile.
"They were the ones that told me I couldn't do it," Judy explained. "That bunnies can't be cops. Never will be. But now they- ugh- they brag about me. Like a meter maid is something to be proud of. Like having the most janitorial position at the ZPD is something to be proud of."
"So... quit," Nick said calmly.
"Excuse me!?" Judy's brow scrunched and she looked up at the fox incredulously. He shrugged.
"Quit," he repeated. "You're obviously not happy. Why work for a system that doesn't value you? Why perpetuate the lie?"
"I don't- I don't quit," Judy sneered. "I worked very hard to get to where I am. I graduated the top of my class. I... I should be doing more... I should be valued!"
"Here's one of the sad truths about Zootopia, sweetheart," Nick leaned on the counter, getting closer to the bunny. "It's not some theme park. It's not an equal opportunity employer. Sure, it's one of the only places you can see almost every mammal there is, hence the 'zoo' in the name. But there's one thing that's missing."
Judy cocked her head, stuck somewhere between angry and confused.
"You," Nick explained. "There's no 'u' in Zootopia... it's not a utopia. It's just a city full of a bunch of different animals with different ideas about how they want to run their different lives. And you know what they hate more than anything else? Having their views challenged."
"Wh-what do you mean?" Judy asked, entranced by Nick's sudden shift in tone from jokey to serious.
He pointed at himself. "Nick Wilde. Fox. Sly, shifty, sneaky. Criminal. Right?"
"Well..." Judy bit her lip. "I've seen a fair share pf your kind getting booked at the ZPD."
"My kind. Sure. Hmh, you asked if I'd been arrested almost straight away," Nick smirked, turning his finger at Judy. "Judy Hopps. Bunny. Energetic, simple-minded. Farming roots. Am I wrong?"
"I wish I could say you were," Judy grumbled.
"So, why waste effort trying to convince mammals any different?" Nick shrugged, shaking his head. "Foxes are gonna be sly, bunnies are gonna be dumb, and raccoons are gonna go through trash."
"Hey!" A slightly sloshed male raccoon to Judy's right piped up. "Don't judge. There'sh neat stuff in there."
"You've yet to show anything for it, Jeff," Nick smiled at him patiently. "Also I think that'll be your last one for tonight."
"So you think I should just... go home," Judy frowned. "Go home, spread my legs, and squirt out a family, like every other bunny doe."
"Didn't say that," Nick shook his head. "You should do something where you feel valued."
"I just..." Judy wrenched out a large, toothy sneer. Her eyes started to mist up. "I wanted to make a difference. I worked my whole life for this. I trained, I studied. I worked- I worked as hard as I could. And for nothing."
The fox swallowed at the bunny's discomfort. It wasn't really amusing him as much as it had when she had just taken her seat.
With a short sniffle, she blinked away her tears, looking up. "Sorry. Emotional bunny. You know how we are." The self-hatred in her voice was thick.
"I do know that," Nick nodded seriously.
Judy folded her paws, looking smaller, like she was going to start shivering. Her glass long since empty again, still she remained. She looked up at Nick earnestly.
"So... what do you do to be happy...?"
Nick's muzzle scrunched briefly, almost imperceptibly, as the question ran him through.
"Well, you could surround yourself with friends," Nick shrugged uneasily, looking up. "Ah... take up a new hobby or indulge in some of your own? Go exploring..."
"How about you though, Nick?" Judy wondered.
Nick's pleasant mask cracked, just a little, his semi-permanent smirk fleeing his face. It felt like no one ever called him by his first name.
He leaned over a little and said, in a low voice: "I'm a fox. I fake it."
Judy seemed alarmed as Nick suddenly snapped back to his jovial mood and responded to a call for another drink from the other side of the bar. Her mind buzzed, and not with alcohol.
Feeling tired in more ways than one, Judy waved him over after a few minutes for her tab. Paying it, she looked up at him.
"Hey, do you... do you usually work at about this time?"
"It varies," Nick replied vaguely with a small smile.
"...All right, good night," Judy said cautiously, sparing him a glance as she walked out of the bar.
"I think she wush curioush about you," Jeff observed.
"Go home, Jeff," Nick grumbled, but then more pleasantly: "Don't drive yourself."