Judy was the first to arrive for her and Nicks dinner, not that she expected anything else. The fox wasn't known for being on time to much of anything, but Judy was already used to him being 'fashionably' late all the time, so she waited patiently for him as she read the menu. It was a nice Sunday evening, and the location of the restaurant made for nice scenery around the eastern part of Savanna Central; so she decided it would be nice to pick a table outside. They were going to be eating at one of their favorite restaurants in the city- 'The Elkhorn'. It served a good variety of delicious prey and pred foods.
Fortunately, she had started feeling a lot better since yesterday morning. With the help of rest and ibuprofen, she was starting to become her usual self. She just hoped Nick was the same way. Something seemed off about her fox when he called; the sudden invite to dinner was unexpected and a little odd. The bunny already knew he was having some troubles after Friday night; she just wants him to be fine.
"Hey there, Carrots," Judy heard. She looked up to see Nick walking towards her with a large smile. Surprisingly, he wasn't wearing his usual tacky Pawaiian shirt with tie, and lightish brown pants. Instead he wore a nice black t-shirt, and a pair of blue jeans. At least he looks happy, Judy thought to herself.
"Hey, Nick, how are you doing today?" She asked him with a delightful smile of her own. Nick walked up to the table and took a seat across from her.
"All things considered, I'm doing pretty well," Nick said happily. Hopefully things will be a lot better soon. "How about you?"
"I can't complain. Better than yesterday, that's for sure," Judy replied.
"I know how you feel. Who would have thought that a bomb could do that to someone," Nick laughed, gaining a chuckle from Judy. On the outside Nick seemed cool, collected, and confident as usual, but on the inside he was freaking out. Nick's asked plenty of mammals out before, but Judy was something else; she was special. For him, she was the real deal and not some throw away chick like so many before her. That's why it felt like his insides were twisting in knots.
Just then, a deer waiter came over to take their order. Judy asked for a fruit salad, and Nick ordered cricket soup.
"I don't understand how you can eat bugs," Judy stated in disgust; she could never see the appeal to them. Nick gave her an amused smile.
"Have you ever tried them?" Nick canvassed.
"Well, no," she admitted.
"Then how can you judge me if you've never tried for yourself?"
"I don't know, it just seems gross," Judy expressed.
"Hey, you can't knock it 'till you try it," the vulpine pointed out. A sudden smirk appeared on his face, and Judy noticed it immediately. Judy already knew what he was going to suggest.
"There is no way I'm trying bugs," she asserted. "And there isn't anything you can do that will make me." She folded her arms, being firm with her decision.
Fast forward a little while later and Judy is holding a spoonful of cricket soup inches away from her mouth. "I can't believe you talked me into this," she huffed.
"Come on Carrots, one bites not going to kill you," he quipped.
"Fine," she mumbled, looking at the spoon distastefully. She quickly sipped down the soup and let the taste set in her mouth. Surprisingly, it wasn't as bad as she thought; not something she'd prefer, but it wasn't the worst thing.
"Told you," Nick said smugly.
"Yah, yah," she waved off, pushing Nicks food back to him. The two started eating and eventually the topic of the incident came up again.
"Besides us almost dying, it's crazy to think something like that would happen here," Judy voiced.
"Certainly interesting," Nick replied. "But I wouldn't say crazy. You give this city a little too much credit." Ever since Nick met Judy, he had grown to love the city like he once had; opening his eyes up the great things it had to offer. But he also understood the darkness in the city. Zootopia had crime just like any other large city in America; just like New York, or Los Animales.
"That may be true, but you know me always an optimist," The bunny gave a smug smile.
Nick smiled back, but his mind wasn't on what she was saying. He was just trying to figure out how to admit his feelings. How do you tell your best friend that you love them; especially with the background she has. He knows she's loving and has an open mind, but there are some things people believe that can't be so easily swayed.
"Are you okay, Nick?" Judy asked, noticing the spaced out look Nick was giving her.
"I'm fine," Nick replied , but he knew Judy didn't believe him. She had gotten really good at reading mammals thanks to the master himself, Nick Wilde. I guess it's now or never the fox realized as Judy stared him down waiting for a truthful answer. Here goes nothing.
Nick let out a small sigh, and looked softly at his bunny. Judy noticed his sudden mood shift and became slightly concerned.
"How long have we known each other, Judy?" Judy became increasingly confused by his question, but knew whatever he meant by it is serious because he used her real name; he never uses her real name.
"Almost two years now," she answered.
"A lot of things have happened in those two years, wouldn't you say?" Nick wondered, getting Judy to slowly nod. She could tell he was stalling for something, she just had no idea what had him acting like this.
"Damn, I wish I could just spit it out," Nick stressed, dragging his paw down the back of his head. Judy shifted uncomfortably, but waited patiently for Nick to say what he had to say.
Finally, Nick decided to just go for it. He knew that He was getting nowhere as He tried to beat around the bush. The best way to do this was to be straight forward with her. He leaned forward in his chair and took Judy's paws into his own. She was surprised by this action, but didn't fight it. Nick gazed into the violate eyes of his love interest, being taken away by the beauty of them.
"Judy you may not know this, but you've made a giant impact on me and my life. You've changed me in so many ways for the better, and I'll never be able to thank you enough for that. You are the most amazing, sweet, loving mammal I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. I've been holding this in for quite some time, but I need to just come out and say this," he paused for a moment, both of their heart beats increasing dramatically. "Judy Hopps, I love you. I love you more than anything or anyone I've ever loved before. You make my life a life worth living, and I'd love to be with you."
Judy stared back into the green eyes of the fox, and was at a total loss of words. Her mouth hung open as she stared at Nick with shock. This had been the last thing she would have expected to happen when she agreed to come have dinner with him. Her heart was thumping loudly and her thoughts raced a mile a minute.
Nick waited expectantly of her, hoping that she'd have the answer he desired. He was starting to become increasingly nervous with each passing moment she didn't answer. That's when Judy did something that broke the poor foxes heart; she pulled her paws away out of his.
"Nick, I… we," Judy stuttered for the right words, but couldn't seem to grasp anything. How was she supposed to respond to that? So instead of saying anything, she did possibly the worst thing she could have done. Judy got out of her chair and started to walk away.
Nick wanted to call after her, but he knew it would have been pointless. His heart seemed to shatter as she walked away, and every step the bunny took was like her walking over the remains. He felt a lump begin to grow in his throat, and tears started welling up in his eyes. He poured out his heart to her, and she couldn't even give him an answer.
Nick threw a fifty dollar bill on the table, leaving most of the food uneaten, and took off back towards his apartment. He always knew this was a possibility; he had planned for it, but the way she just got up and left him… it hurt more than anything else she could have possibly done.
In a secluded part of Zootopia, far south near the delta that separated the bottoms of Savanna Central and Sahara Square, a group of rowdy animals were in a decent sized house celebrating over a recent successful job. They were rounded up by a table with an assortment of different types of alcohol, and a feast of food. They whooped and hollered in drunken bliss over the haul they had scored.
"Who'd a thought robbing a bank could be so easily," a drunken fennec slurred out. "We should have come here years ago."
"You weren't even with us years ago, asshole," the honey badger, known as Michael, undermined.
"Oh, right." The fennec tittered.
"But Lil J's got a point, it was pretty simple," the hare interjected.
"Says the guy who couldn't even kill a couple of cops," Michael taunted. "Seriously, Gav, you had one job."
"Oi, sawed off you pissy little smegpot," the hare retorted, swinging his beer around. The two of them continued their drunken banter as the fennec passed out and fell out of his chair from drinking way too much.
"For hell sake, would you two shut up!" The room fell quiet as a raccoon and grizzly bear walked in. All eyes fell upon the raccoon as everyone waited to hear what the boss had to say. "Now pass me some booze," he grinned, gaining shouts of approval from the other two.
The raccoon walked over to the table, stepping over the passed out fennec, and climbed into a chair. "Hey Jack, you mind taking care of Jeremy for me?" He asked, followed by taking a swig of his drink.
"Yah no problem," Jacklyn sighed, "He never could handle his alcohol," she said as she picked up his limp body and took him upstairs.
"Damn, it's been a hell of a week!" the boss, Geoff, expressed excitedly. "that heist was exhilarating. I don't know what it is, but Zootopia just makes me all jittery," the raccoon chuckled. He looked around at his crew with a proud smile. They'd been through a lot with each other, and their most recent job just added to the long list. He knew he could trust each of them with his life, even…
"What the hells wrong with him," Geoff asked pointing over to the masked wolf who has his arms crossed. "I thought we got over wearing the mask everywhere."
"He's just pissed that we let those cops live," Jack answered, entering back into the room.
"And how do you know?" Michael asked.
"Because I know all of you very well," Jack stated. "So trust me when I say he's pissed because you let those cops live," she said, pointing over to Geoff. They all looked over to the wolf wanting to know if that was the reason. The only response they got was a low growl, but that's all they needed.
"They don't even matter," Geoff waved off, "We need to be focusing more on the big picture," he said, gesturing to the room around him. On the eastern wall was a giant map of all of Zootopia with certain areas circled for future plans. On the southern wall was pictures of different places and animals, all with a purpose for their plan. "Starting tonight, we have a whole lot more to do. Besides, I'm sure these cops will show themselves again, and that's when you can kill them."
The wolf remained silent. He still didn't like the idea of having two cops as witnesses for their misdeeds. There was a nagging in the back of his head that told him he should have ignored Geoff, and capped the two anyways. He did, however, like one thing his boss said; he would no doubt kill that fox and bunny the next time he saw them.
Judy quickly entered her apartment and slammed the door shut. Her breathing was short and quick as she tried to comprehend what had just happened. She couldn't believe that Nick would just come out and say something like that. To have her best friend say that he loves her and then go off like that was too much for her. Then she just had to go and run off. She knew how stupid it was of her to do that, but she just couldn't stop herself. Judy looked up to see a pair of blue eyes staring down at her worryingly.
Judy had left Hayden at home to go and hang out with Nick. Hayden had made himself right at home, and was already well familiar with the place; mostly where all the food was kept. He had been lounging on the couch watching some Criminal Minds, one of his favorite shows, when he heard Judy burst through the door in a mad panic.
"Are you alright, what's wrong?" Hayden asked with much concern. He's done a lot with his sister, been through quite a bit with her, and out of all that time he doesn't think he's ever seen her this freaked out.
"I… I have to sit down," she said in a low voice. She walked over to the couch and sat next to her brother, slouching down as low as possible. The unstable bunny needed someone to talk to, and Hayden has always been there for her.
"Soooo, you want to talk about it?" Hayden asked after waiting in silence for awhile.
"Its Nick," She partially told him, getting the buck to sit up straight in a protective manner. Judy might be the older of the two, but that wasn't going to stop him from being defensive over her.
"What?! What did he do," Hayden exclaimed. He better not of done anything bad to her, or he would have to have a talk with the fox. But from what Judy has said about Nick, he doesn't seem like the animal that would do anything bad; especially not to Judy. So what could he have done to cause her to freak out so much. That's when Judy did something that Hayden least expected; she started to cry. Judy was definitely an emotional bunny, but it was very rare that he had ever seen her cry. What Has that fox done to you?
"He… he…" she tried to say it, but couldn't stop herself from sobing. So much was going through her head and she didn't know how to feel. The there was her just running off; she felt so bad for doing that. It was tearing away at her heart. "He told me that he loves me," she cried out. Hayden reared back slightly, taken back by the reason for Judy's breakdown.
"I'm sorry, but is that supposed to be a bad thing?" Hayden asked, not quite sure why this was causing her so much distress. But the thoughts that ran through her head scared her more than almost dying in a fiery explosion only a couple days earlier.
"Yes," she wailed, causing Hayden to jump from her sudden shouting.
"Alright, alright, just calm down. Get yourself together and tell me what happened." Judy nodded and took a few deep breaths as she tried to compose herself. She hates crying, it makes her feel weak. She finally got herself to settle down and wiped away the tears in her eyes. She took a final deep breath, then explained everything that happened at lunch.
"Seriously, you just left him sitting there?" Hayden questioned.
"Yah," Judy whispered, ashamed of her actions.
"Judy, you know I love you, but that's a dick move," he commented.
"I know," she yowled. The bunny almost lost it again, but she held the tears back.
"Okay, but what's wrong with this?" Hayden asked.
"Because… because I think I like him too," she admitted softly. Hayden thought he was confused before, but now he is just completely lost.
"I'm going to need some clarification," He told her.
"Its complicated," Judy gave the default answer of not wanting to explain herself. Hayden just gave her a look that told her that he wasn't wanting any of that crap.
"Fine," Judy heaved. "You… you know how we were raised," She said. "You know what we were brought up to believe." Finally understanding what this was all about, Hayden gave a slow, knowing nod. But he's a little surprised to hear it coming from her; Judy's always been the open-minded one in the family.
"Come on Judy, you of all mammals shouldn't be bothered like this. I mean you didn't freak out over hearing that I was bi," he pointed out.
"I know, but this is different," she groaned, "Sure I support you for who you are- I love you no different than any of our other siblings- and other interspecies couples don't bother me, but now this concerns me." Judy had her face buried into her paws, the rabbits mind swirling with many thoughts. "I guess I'm just terrified of what mom and dad would think," she finally admitted.
The buck knows the feeling all too well. There's a reason he has only ever told Judy about his preferences; he's not to thrilled to find out how their parents will react if he ever tells them. The thought always causes a shiver to go up his spine. They are nice bunnies, but they are pretty strict when it comes to their beliefs.
"I would love to help you, Jude, but this is something you have to figure out for yourself. I'll support whatever you chose to do, don't doubt that, but other than that it's solely up to you," Hayden said, wishing that he could be more helpful. It's just that he had gone through the same thing with coming to terms with who he was. It was kind of hard at first, because like Judy said they had grown up around certain beliefs, but he's happy now and that's all he can wish for his sister.
Judy nodded woefully, but she understood what Hayden meant. This was all her choice of how things went no matter how hard the decision might be.
"But," he said gaining back Judy's attention, "You need to apologize to Nick."
Nick sat slouched on the end of a bar, gazing longingly into his drink. He slowly moved the glass in his paw, thinking of the events that transpired hours earlier. After what happened he went home and had a bit of a meltdown, then decided to drink away his sorrows; going to a personal favorite that was close to his apartment. He'd downed a couple shots of vodka in his first couple minutes of being here, before ordering a larger glass of whiskey. Now he sat semi-drunk sipping slowly on his drink.
Was he mad? To be completely honest he was pissed; a little at Judy, but mostly at himself. He grumbled about how could she just get up and walk off without saying anything. Who does that? "You have no one to blame but yourself," he murmured softly to himself. From the moment Judy slip her paws out of his he had regretted everything. He knew he shouldn't have said anything; he should have kept it all to himself and suppressed his feeling just like he had been. But no, he had to tell her and now their whole relationship was probably ruined. He was dreading the conversation that would inevitably happen tomorrow at work. If only all this could be just a bad dream.
"Nick?" The intoxicated fox slowly turned his head to whoever was calling his name. Walking towards him was a tall, skinny silver wolf in his early thirties that the fox recognized from work- he being the forensics specialist of the precinct.
"Hey, Earl," Nick lazily waved at his coworker, then returning to his drink.
Earl has talked with Nick on a few occasions; mostly work related for when Nick and Judy are on a cases. Plus everyone knows him around the precinct: firstly, he's the first fox officer, so that gets you some attention; secondly, him and Judy are usually a hot topic among other officers for a couple different reasons. Earl had just gotten off work and decided to get a drink, and when he got there he saw Nick sitting alone looking like crap.
"Everything all right?" the wolf inquired in a friendly manner.
"Not really," Nick stated bluntly downing the rest of his drink, then signaling the bartender to poor him another one. Earl took a seat next to Nick, being a little worried.
"How many drinks have you had," Earl asked.
"Not enough," Nick said as his drink was getting poured.
"You know you have work tomorrow. Your going to regret this in the morning," Earl warned.
"Don't really care at the moment," Nick replied. Earl looked at the vulpine with much concern wondering what had him acting like this. Nick is usually a very laid-back, high spirited animal; this just isn't the fox Earl knew.
"You want to talk about it?" Earl wondered. He knew they weren't really even considered friends, but he cared for all his fellow officers.
Nick gave off a small chuckle, "Sorry, but I'm not that drunk." This caused the wolf to frown; all he wanted to do was help his colleague. Nick then did something that gave Earl even more concern for him. He took his new drink and downed the whole thing in one gulp.
"What the hell, Nick," Earl exclaimed with shock.
"Alright, now I'm drunk enough," Nick slurred with a drunken smirk. Ignoring the burning sensation in his throat, that really hit the spot. He went from slightly tipsy to completely drunk in a matter of moments, and now he couldn't even remember why he was so depressed.
Earl wanted to smack Nick for what he just did. "Damn it, Nick, what the hell is wrong with you?" Earl seethed. He knew he couldn't just leave the fox here; he was a drunken mess. He also couldn't help him very much because he had no idea where he lived. But he realized I do know someone who does.
"Another round," Earl heard Nick cheer. He turned around and saw the boar behind the bar about to pour him a drink. "You don't need any more drinks," Earl said, stopping the boar from giving the already well intoxicated fox anything else. Nick glared at the wolf grumpily. "You're no fun," he whined, acting like a kit.
"I'm calling Judy so she can come and pick you up and take you home," Earl explained. Nick's ears perked up hearing Judy's name.
"You're calling Carrots?!" He asked happily. "I really like her, she's so nice and pretty and…," Nick giggled as he trailed off with what he was saying. Earl gave the fox a questioning look about what he just said, but decided to ignore it and blame it on the alcohol. All I wanted to do was have a drink, the wolf sighed as he dialed up Judy's number. It rang a couple times until there was an answer on the other end.
"Earl?" the lupine heard Judy ask in confusion.
"Hey, Judy, sorry to bother you so late, but you need to come down and pick up your partner."