It also started with one idea.
The idea for a treehouse.
In Judy's backyard, considering her family had quite a lot of land for a normal family, and could definitely provide extra room for a treehouse. Besides, Mrs Wilde didn't have enough money to spare for the materials, and Nick's backyard only had two trees, one that was quite old and creaky, the other more of small shrub (okay maybe that's an exaggeration, but it was nowhere near big enough to support a treehouse with two kits inside!). That's why Judy suggested to make it at her place. At first Nick didn't support the idea, worried that they would be pestered by Judy's siblings, but then she had suggested that they had a secret, hidden rope to pull down the ladder, so only they could get up and inside.
At that prospect, Nick had instantly agreed.
So one weekend, they set to work. Of course, one of Judy's older siblings, Tim, was helping them. The two young mammals wouldn't be able to create it all on their own, and Judy's parents were too busy tending to the family.
"So, there will be a little balcony, which will have a hole to be able to pull up the ladder," Nick explained to Tim, who slowly nodded his head, staring down at the blueprint with a paw to his chin.
"Yeah, and we'll have the roof covering over it a little, to shelter it so the rain doesn't rot the wood in the ladder," Judy added reasonably, which made Tim smile.
"So, do you want to have tin covering your roof, so the wood doesn't rot? We don't have the proper timber to create it, after all," the older buck asked, making Nick and Judy turn to each other.
"Mm, yes, that'll be appreciated," Nick spoke for the both of them, first nodding at Judy, and then turning his head to look at Tim.
"We don't know what weather conditions we have to face," Judy stated, smiling up at her older brother.
"Ok, I'll go get the tin, then," Tim nodded to both of them, motioning for them to stay seated in the grass. Nick smiled up at him, as the buck ran off, leaving them to going over their treehouse plans one more time. The best friends turned back to their messy plan, which at least looked a little like a treehouse, grinning excitedly.
"So, will we have a slide then Carrots?" Nick asked.
"Er, no," Judy replied sadly, sighing as she looked at their cylinder, which was meant to represent a slippery slide down the side of the treehouse.
"Ma said that it would be way too expensive. But we are still keeping the swing. That we can afford," Judy added excitedly, bouncing back from her sadness at the thought of her own swing.
"Yeah, I guess… but no Furlock Holmes getaways through the slide," Nick sulked, scrapping their whole game where Nick was Furlock Holmes, and Judy was John Watswan, his trusty sidekick who was always serious.
"Hey, don't look so down. We can still play Furlock Holmes; we'll just change the slide getaway to a swing getaway!" Judy cried to her downcast friend, who looked at her thoughtfully, tossing the idea over as he decided whether it was a good proposition.
"Yeeeeaah, I guess,"
"Yay! Then let's get to it!" Judy said, spotting her big brother, walking over to them while tugging two large sheets or tin for the roof.
This'll be fun!
"Carrots, can you please pass me that piece of wood?" Nick called down to his friend, who was working on the last bit of the ladder.
Judy looked up, and traced where Nick was pointing to, when she spotted the piece of wood he was mentioning.
"Don't worry, Jude, I'll get it," Tim said, jumping down from the now-completed-platform, landing with ease on the ground. He began to haul the wood over to Nick, who grabbed hold of it, trying his best to pull it up off the ground without success. He was just too small to carry something so big.
"Hang on, tiger," Tim chuckled, as he adjusted his grip on the wood, then lightly bouncing up, so he could push it on to the platform. From there, he jumped up, and gripped a branch, where we slowly inched his way on to the platform, careful not to break it. Tim then walked over to Nick, who was still struggling to pull the wood into the now forming treehouse, which was coming along quite nicely. At least to the two best friends.
"Alright," the buck groaned, yanking at the piece of wood, and pushing it up to lean against the wall. He went inside the house, and pulled the wood towards him, jamming it into place, for the moment.
"Hey Jude, can you pass me the driller and some screws! I need to drill the last bit of the doorway in!" Tim yelled down, as Nick peeked over the edge of the platform, right next to the hole in it, just as they had planned.
"Yeah, sure!" the young doe called back up, hurrying over to the tool kit. "I'll put it in the bucket, and Nick can give it to you!"
She grabbed the driller, and a couple of screws, placing them in the bucket, and then tugging on the rope. Nick quickly started to pull it up, as the branch the rope was resting on gave a quiet moan at the sudden weight. The fox kit grabbed the tools, rested the bucket on the platform, and then ran over to Tim, who was shifting the wood into place.
"Thanks kiddo," the buck thanked Nick, and then placed the screws into one of his jean pockets.
He bent over, and picked up the extension cord that was lying on the floor, which connected all the way into the shed, which had some power points. He gave it a good whir to check, and then clicked the screw into place. He checked the wood was in the right position, and then started to drill into the wood, through it, and then out the other side, securing it into place. He repeated this process three more times, and then unplugged the drill, wiping off a bead of sweat.
"Thanks Nick. You can give this back to Judy," Tim said, calling Nick over to the fox kit, who was hammering some nailed into the other side of the doorway, trying to be helpful, even if Tim had drilled on the other side a while ago. Still, the fox cub had wanted to help.
"Sure," Nick smiled, collecting the driller and its cord, then heading back for the bucket.
Tim followed the fox, looking down over the edge of the treehouse to see how his younger sister was doing with the ladder. In fact, Judy was doing quite well, hammering the last section of the ladder into place, huffing in exhaustion as she stepped away from her handy work.
"Hey, good job Carrots!" Nick called down to his friend, who looked up, a smile lightening her tired face.
"Thanks Nick! Are you coming down?"
"Yeah, I'll try," the fox kit cried back down debating his ways of getting down. He thought he should try sliding down the branches, until Tim cut in.
"No, I need you to stay up here, so that you can pull the ladder into place when we haul it up,"
"Oh, sure," Nick said, a little upset he couldn't even help putting the ladder together.
"Cheer up. I'll let you make the swing," Tim smiled down at the fox, which sparked a bit of excitement in the young fox.
"Yes!"
"Okay, sooooo," the buck started, as he jumped back down on to the ground, beside Judy' handy work. He viewed the to-be pull up ladder, tapping a foot gently on the ground, just like Judy did, thinking on how to come about this task.
"Well, there are three section, because there'll be a rope to pull the ladder up, and then it should fold up. So, let's attach these together, with some hinges. Or at least I'll call them that," Tim chuckled, as he started on the task, Judy watching on in fascination. The buck kept doing it along the three section of the ladder. When that was done, he asked Nick for the extension cord, and once he had that, he started to drill a hole, just big enough for the rope to loop through, at the base of the ladder. He repeated this on the other side, and then stood up, as he went to stand next to his sister who was beaming down.
"That looks great! Let's attach it,"
"Boy, isn't it great up here Carrots?" Nick asked, as he threw a blueberry into his mouth, crunching it as the wind cut through his fur, cooling him down from the heat.
"Yeah! I think I can see Ben's house!"
"Yeeeeah, I think I can too!" the fox kit agreed, as he looked over the house rooftops. Sure enough, he could see the orange roof of their friend, Benjamin Clawhauser, who they had met in their class at the start of grade 4.
"I wonder what he's doing,"
"Definitely not sitting in the best treehouse with his best friend," Judy smiled, as she leaned back on their little balcony. It had gone so well, and the ladder was the best bit. Nick may have had a bit of trouble with the swing, but with some of Tim's help, he had gotten there. And then, their treehouse had been complete.
"I think I'm never going to go back down," the fox kit had said, as they had climbed up to their treetop haven.
"Me neither," Judy agreed.
"As long as you make it back before dinner, it should be fine," Tim had chuckled, waving goodbye as he had gone to study. He was in university (college) now, so he had to do a lot of studying. At least that was what he had told Judy.
"And, we have that secret stash of chips!" Judy squealed, jumping back up and going to one of the corners, where they had leaned a bean bag against the wall, concealing several packets of chips underneath. They also had some stuffed into the actual beanbag, but they had both agreed it was only for emergencies.
"Hey, pass me the salt and vinegar flavour!" Nick cried over his shoulder, as Judy picked up some sour cream and chives.
"Sure," she smiled at her friend, as she walked over and handed his the chips.
"I thought you were eating the blueberries,"
"Finished them. And I'm still hungry, since I haven't had lunch," the fox kit reasoned, opening the pink packet.
"Ok then," Judy nodded, swinging her legs over the edge, looking into the distance.
"You know she said, halfway through eating her packet. "We need an oath of friendship, linked to the treehouse or something,"
"Yeah, we should," Nick agreed, licking his muzzle as he finished the last crumb of the chips.
"Okay then. Raise your paw," the fox obeyed, as Judy raised her own. "Repeat after me,"
"I Judy Hopps,"
"I, Judy Hopps," Nick sniggered, receiving a punch from Judy's free paw.
"No dumby, you're meant to say your name,"
"Alright, alright. I, Nick Wilde," he surrendered.
"Promise to always uphold this friendship, through anything and everything,"
"Promise to always uphold this friendship, through anything and everything," Nick repeated solemnly, looking over to his friend.
"There, done! Now we are official best friends," Judy laughed at Nick's confused face.
"But we were always official friends,"
"Yeah, but the oath seals it,"
"Whatever you say, Carrots,"
Whatever you say.
Heyooooo! Wassuo people? I hope you liked this little fluffy one-shot. I just felt like writing little Judy and Nick, again. Yeah, I don't have much to say, apart from I hope you realized I changed my username.
Welp, keep an eye out for FloofyFox ;)