Chapter 3
Written by Anheledir
Edited by Cimar
Artwork by Koraru-san on DA and Ao3
Nick rang the bell to Judy's apartment nearly ten minutes after their usual time. With anybody else, this would be nothing remarkable, but Nick was usually a bit early. As was Judy, when they met at his apartment.
"There you are! I already wanted to send a search party for you. Did you get lost on your way up the two floors?" the gray doe snickered while giving him a hug.
"Something like that, Carrots," He smiled at her with his usual sly grin. "I got lost in my thoughts on my way home and missed the tram. So I took the opportunity and just walked."
"You walked all the way?" she grinned at him with a wink and walked over to her small kitchen. "I didn't think that you are capable of such a long march."
"Ouch, that hurts!" the fox put his paw onto his chest. "I'm in peak condition, just so you know."
"And you are late. Make yourself useful and peel the potatoes and onions while I'm preparing the sauce and grate the cheese." She winked while throwing his apron to him. It was only now that Nick noticed the apron she was wearing: Black cloth but with a printed body of a bunny in a bikini on it. It was a gift from him a while ago to tease her, and he never actually saw her wearing it. Judy noticed his puzzled look and grinned even more. "See something pleasing?"
It took Nick a short moment to sort his thoughts – this was not one of his fantasies, only a printed photo on some cloth. "Just being surprised that you eventually did go into rapture, actually wearing my little gift." He winked at her, striving to seem unruffled, but couldn't fully control his now more than slight tail-wagging.
Judy giggled, "It took me a while to return the favor, but I eventually found something appropriate."
Nick unfolded the piece of cloth in his paws and finally held up an apron with a printed torso-photo of a red fox, only wearing some black swimming trunks. He chuckled, put the cloth over his head and tied it behind his back. The rabbit watched him, a bit thrilled, her ears erect and twitching with her muzzle. Yes, it was only a funny photo on an apron. But with Nick's head on top and just a little bit of imagination, it nearly looked so real. When she finally noticed that she was blatantly eyeballing him, she dropped her ears immediately behind her head and turned around to mix the ingredients for the sauce – her tail still flicking unwittingly.
The dinner preparation didn't take very long. While Nick and Judy had to wait for their scalloped potatoes to cook in the oven, they played some cards and talked about their day at work. But the fox seemed to be distracted, as he was losing one game after the other and even when Judy played a wrong card deliberately, he didn't notice. After the gray bunny had finished her detailed description of what happened between Eliot and Chloe a few hours ago at Snarlbucks, she put her cards down and leaned against the back of her chair.
"Nick?"
"Mh?" The fox was still looking in his hand cards, not noticing that his friend already ended the game.
"What's the matter with you?" her voice and also her look seemed a bit worried.
"What do you…" he raised his head, noticed her posture and look and finally her discarded cards. "Oh – you already won! Then it's my turn again to shuffle the deck, right?" he collected all cards from the table with a quick smile, but the doe put her paw on his arm when he tried to get her cards, too.
"Nick, please. We are best friends, and it hurts when you are lying to me." Judy looked a bit sad, her paw gently stroking his fur. "You have not been yourself this whole evening. At midday today everything was still fine, what happened that it is still dragging you down?"
Nick sighed and looked down at his paws. How should he possibly explain to her that he was jealous on that rabbit she had met this afternoon after school? That would sound ridiculous, they should be happy when one of them finally found a potential mate! But he wasn't…
Heck, just seeing her flirting with that rabbit got you pretty badly.
Oh, shut up already…
Hey, I'm you, remember? Why not simply ask her what's up with that other rabbit, just to ensure some clarity. What's the worst she could say?
It was Judy's caring voice that stopped his inner dialogue: "If I did or said something wrong and hurt you, I'm really sorry, Nick. It wasn't on purpose, I promise. But please, don't say nothing or – even worse – give me a petty excuse." She carefully squeezed his paw and smiled encouragingly.
Nick snorted – maybe a bit forced – and raised his head to smile at her. "You did and said nothing wrong, Carrots." He collected the remaining cards and started to shuffle them. Judy's ears twitched slightly.
Nice try, slick.
"But I did or said something that's bothering you!" the bunny suddenly leaped from her chair and walked over to him, putting a paw on his shoulder. "Hey, it's me, your Carrots. We can talk about everything, remember?" she said with her cutest smile.
Nick groaned, his little bunny wouldn't allow him to just drop the subject now.
She can be more dourer than a hinny!
"It's just…" he started, but when he turned his head to face Judy, he paused and sighed slowly.
"Yes?" Judy was still smiling, knowing exactly that her fox had no chance against that look of hers.
"I'm just wondering why you haven't mentioned your new boyfriend. As you just said, we're best friends and can talk about everything. That made me wonder if he isn't approving you being friends with a fox and as a result, you maybe want to cut off our movie nights and…"
"Woah, steady on, Nick!" the bunny had put her paw over his snout to interrupt him, now staring at him without understanding. "What are you talking about? What boyfriend? Are you nuts?"
It took a few seconds until the information was processed by Nick's brain and in doing so, his ears – until now leaned against his head – slowly bobbed up again, too. "But I saw you talking with him after school while I took an occasional walk across the schoolyard. That rabbit had his arm around your shoulders, and you seemed to be well acquainted with him. I just thought that…"
Judy smacked his shoulder – not very hard, but it was enough to put Nick immediately to silence.
"You dumb fox!" the doe said irritatedly and rolled her eyes with a groan. "Okay, let me get this straight. First, he wasn't a rabbit but a hare. A subtle, but for us rabbits, important distinction. Second, I don't know him, he just came over and talked to me while I was waiting for Chloe. Third, he tried to get off with me several times despite my explicit rejection after the first try. I nearly broke his wrist just seconds after he put his arm around me. Fourth, in case I ever consider someone calling my boyfriend, be assured that you are one of the first mammals I will inform."
Mainly because I wish that you were that someone, Judy thought and took a deep breath before she continued with a soft smile, stroking with her paw over his shoulder where she had smacked him.
"But the most important thing is this, Nick: I would never ever abandon you or our friendship for anyone." The tod's green eyes were beaming, and by a whisker, Judy would have let herself get carried away – confessing to him all of her restrained feelings. But the moment her hesitations were on the brink of finally caving in, Nick started to laugh lustily.
"Oh, I'm really a dumb fox, Carrots." He put his arms around the gray bunny and hugged her firmly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have just assumed something and even showed you the cold shoulder for it."
"It's okay, I'm just happy we could resolve that tiff quickly." She smiled happily while returning his hug.
"And by the way, I like that earthy and somewhat sweet-tangy new scent on you. It's subtle and fits you quite well. A new deodorant or some kind of perfume?" Nick took a long sniff and hummed contentedly.
"Y-Yeah… something like that…" Judy muttered, being glad that Nick couldn't see her heavily blushing cheeks right now. "Just experimenting with something Chloe had suggested to me."
Oh, that devious chipmunk of a thylacine! Judy thought embarrassed.
Can't you just enjoy the moment? He likes your natural scent, so stop complaining already and be glad for Chloe's recommendation! Maybe she can even help you to seduce that handsome Red Fox? She has some insider information after all.
That's just wishful thinking, though. Nick and I are best friends, and I'm not going to risk – and probably lose – that for some theoretical possibilities and an inconsiderate flirt!
Aren't you holding up some kind of double standard here? You just said to Nick, that you two can always talk about everything. And yet you refuse to talk with him about your feelings.
That's… Something different! The whole situation occurred only because you didn't warn me that this hare was almost groping me but preferred to daydream about Nick! What kind of subconscious mind are you?!
Oh, I'm more like the naughty little part of it since you are never playing out on your fantasies. But just to get you right, you want to be warned well enough in advance when someone is groping you?
Hell, yes! Of course!
Well, in that case, I would like to point out that you two are already hugging for nearly a full minute and that soft and fluffy thing around your hip is a foxy tail – though, I'm unsure if that's still groping when you like it?
Oh, shut up… *internal growling*
The timer squeaked and informed them about the finished dinner in the oven. "Sweet cheese and crackers, it's already ready! Can you quickly set the table? I will look after our gratin!" Judy uncoupled a bit hesitantly, lingering in his embrace before, she leaped into the kitchen to hide her blushed cheeks from her friend.
After their talk, Nick was back in his usual mood, being all chatty and giving sly comments to Judy's story about Chloe and Eliot.
"So, he actually acted on his threats when he said that he would ask her for a date today." He snickered while finishing his dish and leaned back in this chair.
"Oh, he was gone head over paws for sure. Not quite sure where from that sudden confidence came though. For a second I even contemplated that he gave himself some liquid courage."
"Hm, unlikely. Not only that, Eliot wasn't drinking a lot when we had a night out, but Chloe would have smelled it for sure. And even more so when he actually planned ahead on kissing her." Nick chuckled. "You should have recorded that scene with your phone, Carrots! That must have been a sight for sore eyes."
"That would have been rude, dumb fox," she snickered, then added with a wink: "But with all those other mammals watching it, I'm pretty sure someone will put it on EweTube nevertheless."
"I would even believe that this mad stalker wolf recorded it by himself with a hidden camera. I hope you two didn't discuss too sensitive of topics beforehand." Nick laughed and started to clean the table, bringing the used dishes into the kitchen – not noticing Judy's terrified facial expression on his suggestion. "So, what movies did you select for today?"
"Eh…," Judy needed a few seconds to sort her thoughts. "Yes! Movies! Well, I thought we'd start with the animated movie RaBunzel. You promised Amie that you will watch it, remember?" the rabbit snickered when she heard Nick's groan from within the kitchen. Judy's little sister's fourth birthday was last weekend, and while she had a Muzzletime with her in the staff room to congratulate her, Nick teased her all the while to make Amie laugh: Grimacing, holding up two fingers behind Judy's head, … Since Amie met the red fox during her visit with a dozen other siblings in Zootopia, she was quite a fan of him – and his fluffy tail! And on her birthday she made Nick promise, to watch her favorite movie so they could talk about it the next time she would visit her big sister.
"Well, I love fairy tale movies…!" Nick answered a bit sarcastic and entered with a wide grin the living room. "Okay, what else?"
Judy chuckled and took two more DVDs out of a small bookshelf. "I bought the new SpiderFox with Tom Howland. As we didn't make it to the cinema when the movie came out, I thought you would appreciate it. And the last one would be Furtanic."
"You must be kidding, you really have a copy of that old schmaltzy movie?" he groaned while rolling his eyes. The gray doe laughed at his acting as he knew already that she owned that DVD. After all, it was a present from him after they had taken a cruise along Zootopia's shoreline and he had replayed the 'King of the world' scene at the bow of the ship. When Judy admitted she had never seen the movie, he bought her the DVD, and at that evening they made their first mutual movie night – and since then, every Friday for more than a year now.
"I would never have bought it by myself, you know? It was a present I got from a friend who seemed to love that movie and wanted me to watch it so bad, he not only bought me that DVD but also watched it with me together." She winked at him with a smug grin and put the RaBunzel disc into the player.
"Well, in compensation for watching a fairy tale and a romantic movie on the same evening I should be allowed to draw you like one of Jack Pawson's French females. How does that grab you?"
"Don't get fresh with me, slick!" Judy snickered and walked back into the kitchen. "Besides, you cannot draw so that would be a waste of time."
"But I could take a photo. There is a new picture filter for the Zoogle app making it appear like a real painting afterward!" Nick giggled quietly, and when Judy returned from the kitchen with a Blueberry Cream Cake in her paws, he made a quick snapshot of her – before he realized the cake and eventually stared at it wide-eyed and with his jaw dropping. "I-Is… t-that…" he could only stammer, licking his lips in anticipation.
"Is that your favorite cake I made as a small surprise for you? Yes. Yes, it is." She winked at him.
Authors Note
Hey everybody, Anheledir here! Well, writing this story was quite an experience. Given nothing more than the story name, the stage directions "Judy + Nick as teachers" and the surrounding setting of the P.I.X.A.R. machine, it took me a while to piece together a plot that is – hopefully – interesting and entertaining to read. This was the first time that I participated in such a group project, and if you had only half as much fun when reading as I had when writing, I count my contribution as a success. :-)
Some last Disclaimers:
Many thanks goes to Cimar/WildeHopps as Raiders of the Lost Orthography aka edit/review.
Chloe Marie Dapperclaw and Eliot Fanghanel are OC's by Koraru-San (Comic "The Mark").
Dr. Viktor Vandyke is an OC by Starfang's Secrets (Story "Embrace it")
Sven Brook, Evelin Hopps and other siblings are OC's from my story "Chronicles of Zootopia". s/12254372/1/Chronicles-of-Zootopia
The really great cover picture was drawn by Koraru-San – Thanks a lot again! :-)
AN: One more chapter to go. ;)