Nick was surrounded by a warm haze, floating peacefully through space. So this is what it feels like to have a cloud hug you, he thought blissfully, relishing in the sensation. The fox smiled softly as the pinkish haze slowly flew past him. No stress, no worries...BAM! Nick felt his body slam to a screeching halt as he ran into a cold, hard wall. The warm haze quickly vanished, replaced by aching pain where his snout had contacted the barrier.
"Are you alright, Nick?" Nick heard Judy yelp, as he began to regain his bearings in reality. Nick scrambled to sit upright, realizing the "wall" he had ran into was indeed not a wall, but rather a floor. Looking up, Nick was greeted with the face of his bunny partner, eyes wrought with confusion and worry.
Nick rubbed his temples, and responded in a gravely voice, "I'm alright, but Carrots, where am I and what the hell happened?"
Relieved her partner wasn't actually hurt, she replied, "Don't you remember, silly, we're on the train to Bunny Burrow to go camping, and I do believe you fell asleep, and landed face first onto the floor. But I'm no detective...yet," Judy's face had on Nick's trademarked half-lidded smirk, and her voice sounded slightly too sarcastic to be telling the whole truth.
Standing up, Nick put the two and two together. "You pushed my arm out from supporting my head, didn't you?"
Judy avoided Nick's eye contact, "I may have given your elbow a little encouragement to slip. Besides, I didn't realize you would practically dive onto the ground. I hope I didn't hurt you too much,"
In reality, Nick's pain had already subsided dramatically, but decided to play along. "My orthodontist will be furious with the damage you have done! Now I'll only be the second most handsome fox in Zootopia, and I'll be riddled with chronic pain,"
Ignoring Nick's dramatism, the bunny had an idea brewing in her head. Quickly, she stood on her seat to be equal to Nick's height, leaned over, and gave a short kiss on the canid's nose, and sat back down as fast as it had begun. Nick stood, dazed at his partner's audacity, comprehending the sudden affection. The fox's cheeks were surely as red as the fur that covered them, and felt the previously cold train car now seemed unbearably hot. How does such a small gesture get to me so much?
Realizing he had been staring blankly without a response, Nick exclaimed, "I think the pain is gone now," and hurriedly assumed his seat next to the bunny, avoiding her gaze.
Judy grinned, content with the effect she was able to have on her fox. Her fox, she thought again. To anyone else, that kind of possessiveness would sound creepy, but it sounded so natural when referring to Nick. The two were still relatively new friends, but already they were inseparable. Physical interaction wasn't awkward, rather, it was common. A shared touch between friends. That's right, just friends….
Right on cue, a small giggle escaped from Judy's lips as a certain white-tipped tail flicked across her leg. "Oh, I'm sorry, Carrots. I swear that thing has a mind of its own," Nick quipped, while moving his tail to the other side of his body, out of reach from Judy, and going back to enjoying view outside.
"It's no problem." Please move your tail back oh my goodness it was so soft please please please move it back and brush it up against my leg.It took all of her will not to blurt out her inner desires to the fox. Instead, it was the bunny's turn to blush. This was already shaping up to be an interesting trip.
"Welcome to the Bunny Burrow Station. Next stop: Podunk County," rang the monotonous announcer throughout the train. Judy shot up from her apparent slumber at those words, clamoring to get her large bag of supplies. She turned around, confirming Nick was doing the same, when she noticed a large dark spot encircling just his right shoulder.
"Nick, what happened to your shirt?"
"Fluff, you happened. Apparently my arm makes a pretty good pillow." The canid pulled out his phone and turned it around to show to the bunny. Judy was appalled. On the screen was a photo of her, hugging her partner's arm, and mouth (unflatteringly) agape on his shoulder, a line of drool clearly visible, along with Nick's dramatically annoyed expression. "You should probably close your mouth before you start drooling again," he quipped, walking past the shocked rabbit to the train door. She marched around, prepared to give a remark, but couldn't decide what emotion she felt: angry that he took the picture, embarrassed that he saw her in such a state, or even happy that Nick was comfortable enough with her to allow it to happen in the first place.
Regardless, it could wait. They had a more important issue at hand now: Judy's parents. The partners exited the train and the first thing the fox noticed was smell. It didn't smell of… anything. The stink and grime that penetrated much of Zootopia was absent. Besides the train station and buildings around it, there were simply miles and miles of field. It was quaint, but refreshing. Slightly less refreshing was the two lapines in front of him. Nick had a lot riding on this first impression, and it was now or never.
"My parents!" squealed Judy, blazing past to greet Stu and Bonnie, tightly embracing her two parents. "Mom, Dad, this is Nick!"
Nick waved and shook the two bunnies' hands. "Hello, I came to return Judy to you. I think she's defective,"
All three of the lapines laughed. This is going well!, thought Nick. Now I just have to keep this up!
Stu finally responded, "It's great to finally be able to attach a face to this 'Nick' Jude has told us so much about. It would have been nice to know that he was a fox ahead of time, though…"
Fuck.
A/N: I'm back! I've been on multiple trips, and now that I'm back to reality, I had to totally relearn how to write (not that I've ever been good at it).
I hope you enjoyed this, and while I can't promise I'll have more chapters soon, it won't be for a lack of trying!
