(Saturday, April 9)

The next morning, it was business as usual at the ZPD. Benjamin Clawhauser was sitting at his desk and was just finishing up breakfast, when Judy entered, looking slightly more upbeat than usual.

"Morning, Judy!" he said with a mouthful of Lucky Chomps, with milk spilling all over his uniform. After a moment or two, he giggled and tried to awkwardly clean himself up.

"Morning, Clawhauser," Judy said, trying not to laugh at the cheetah's predicament.

After swallowing, Clawhauser remarked, "You're in a good mood today. You must have seen Gazelle's new video."

"Ooh, I've been meaning to check that out…" Judy said, before realizing she was getting off topic. "I, uh… I went on Z-Harmony last night."

Clawhauser was silent, his mouth agape for a few moments, before a huge smile appeared on his face. "You're kidding."

"What can I say?" Judy asked, shrugging. "You convinced me."

"You gotta tell me everything," he said eagerly.

"Um…" Judy looked at the clock. "I should probably get to roll call, but I promise I'll tell you the details later."

"Oh, sure. Go right ahead," Clawhauser said as Judy headed over to the break room.

—

For Nick Wilde, today had been a pretty good day.

They had been doing one of their usual hustles in Sahara Square, when they caught the attention of a lioness. As it turned out, not only was she very wealthy, but she was also extremely naive. The two foxes walked out of there with more than enough money to make up for the previous day's disappointments.

Finnick was practically jumping for joy, which was a sight in itself. "All hail the stupid rich mammals!" he exclaimed.

Nick smiled. "The world could use more of them. It would sure make life easier for us."

Finnick laughed for a few seconds, then he paused, looking somewhat uncertain. "So, uh… do we just go home now?"

"Tell you what, pal," Nick said. "How about we go out for some drinks. My treat."

Finnick gave an especially sly smile. "Man, I knew there was a reason I hung out with you!"

The two of them had found the perfect bar alongside the easternmost side of Sahara Square. It wasn't known for being a particularly 'nice' place, which was why Finnick liked it so much. The shorter fox had insisted upon alcohol, and even though Nick didn't typically like to get drunk, he decided that a small amount of alcohol couldn't hurt.

"So tell me," Finnick said. "How's life been treating you, man?"

Nick shrugged. "Can't complain. Actually, last night I went on that site you were telling me about."

"Z-Harmony?" Finnick said with a look of disbelief in his eyes. "You don't seem the romantic type."

"Neither do you."

After a pause, Finnick shrugged and took another gulp of his drink. "Fair point. So, have you been matched with someone?"

"Uh… yeah. Some girl named Judy. She's nice enough, from what I can tell."

"You know," Finnick said, "I've been talking with Sophia for over a week now. I can give you some pointers."

Nick rolled his eyes. "Right, like I'm gonna ask for dating advice from you."

"Hey don't misjudge me. I'm a ladies man. Just ask Sophia." After a moment or two, Finnick leaned in close. "You know, the other day I let it slip that I've been making my living as a part time crook. And do you know what she said to me? She said, 'Ooh, a bad boy. I love it.'"

Nick stared at his friend, slightly shocked. "Are you serious?"

Finnick gave an especially toothy smile. "Girls dig bad boys."

"She digs bad boys." Nick corrected. "Not all girls do. Judy probably doesn't."

"You never know, dude. You've only had one talk with her."

Nick thought back to his conversation with her. "Well, she did say that her favorite movie was Mad Yax: Fury Road. And she seemed to like Pup Fiction."

Finnick laughed. "Dude, she likes bad boys."

"Are you sure?" Nick asked.

"Positive," Finnick said. "Trust me, you tell her that you're a criminal and she's gonna be all over you."

—

Judy was heading home, her mood slightly dampered after a day full of paperwork. But throughout the day, at least she had something to look forward to. She would be chatting with Nick again tonight.

On the one hand, Judy felt almost guilty about how much she was anticipating it. It felt like one of those movies where the girl falls in love with the guy despite knowing next to nothing about him. But Judy had to remind herself that this was not a movie. She wasn't in love, at least not after one night. This whole thing was just a little change of pace.

She found herself thinking, 'Maybe Nick turns out to be the love of my life. Or maybe he turns out to be a really great friend. Or maybe he ends up being a jerk and I was just wasting my time."

In the end, the only way to know for sure was to keep logging on to Z-Harmony.

—

When Nick arrived home that evening, he went straight to his laptop. And immediately after opening it, he was greeted by the sound of a notification in the upper right corner of the screen

Z-Harmony

Judy has invited you to chat!

Nick took a few deep breaths. He wasn't sure about the advice Finnick had given him, but he was feeling slightly tipsy and was willing to give it a try. He logged onto the site. And before he knew it, he had been connected.

"Judy?" he asked.

After a moment, he heard her voice. "Hey there, stranger."

Nick smiled, but was uncertain of how to continue. "So, uh… did you miss me?"

On the other line, Judy was smiling. "You know, I kinda want to say 'no' just to see how you would react, but… yeah. A little bit." Judy thought back to her day at work. "But, if you really want me to be honest, that's mostly because my job is exceptionally boring."

"Wow, exceptionally boring," Nick remarked. "That sounds like an oxymoron right there. What do you do for a living, anyway? Are you just slaving away in some rusty old office from dawn till dusk?"

Judy hesitated before saying, "Something like that." She wondered how she was gonna tell this guy that she was a cop, especially after setting it up like the most boring job in the world.

"Well," said Nick, "You make me glad I don't have to do that."

"Well, what do you do then?" Judy asked, curious.

Nick could feel his heart beating faster, and he didn't know how much of that could be attributed to the drinks he had earlier that day. "…It's sort of complicated."

"Try me."

Nick took a deep breath in. "Judy, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"How do you feel about bad boys?"

There was a pause that seemed to go on for an eternity before Judy finally responded, "Bad boys? What do you mean?"

Nick tried to explain it to her in the most basic way possible. "You know like, the guys you see in the movies, with the leather jacket, cigarette, and motorcycle."

He then realized that his interpretation of a 'bad boy' did not describe himself in any way, shape or form.

"Well," Judy said, "I like the motorcycle part."

"I don't have a motorcycle," Nick sheepishly admitted. "Or any of that stuff, really."

Judy started laughing. "So, basically what you're saying is, 'do you like bad boys?' 'No?' 'Good, because I'm not one!'"

"No, that's uh… that's not what I meant to say." Nick was beginning to wonder just how much the alcohol was affecting him.

But on the other end Judy was laughing. After a moment or two, she calmed down and said, "Nick, from what I've seen so far, you are not a bad boy."

"But you don't know me," Nick said, and he was slowly starting to realize that he sounded less like an effortlessly cool guy and more like a total wimp trying to convince everyone else that he was cool. And on top of that, Judy didn't even sound like she was into the whole 'bad boy' thing.

Stupid Finnick. Stupid alcohol.

After a few deep breaths, Nick said, "Let me try this again. First of all, I had a few drinks earlier today. I don't normally drink but today was a special occasion. Second, you asked me what I did for a living. And, when you get right down to it… I'm a salesman. I sell various items at various venues. And… every once in a while I bend the rules a little bit. So when I said I was a bad boy, I don't know, I guess…"

"-Wait." Judy's voice had suddenly become deathly serious. "You haven't actually broken the law, have you?"

"What, no!" Nick clarified. Sure, his hustles were sketchy, but he prided himself in the fact that he had never gotten arrested because he technically never broke any laws.

Judy sighed. "That's a relief."

Nick was feeling a bit relieved himself. He chuckled. "Boy, you really don't like bad boys."

"It's not just that," said Judy. "The simple fact is, I can't have a serious relationship with someone who's broken the law."

"And why is that?"

Judy took a deep breath. "Because I'm a cop."

Nick almost fainted right there on the spot.

—

Author's Note: If I had a nickel every time autocorrect changed "Finnick" to "finicky"…

Anyway, this chapter was super hard to write, but I'm proud of it and I hope you all enjoy it. The next chapter probably won't be up until after Thanksgiving, so I hope you all have a happy holiday!