It is a known truth that there many, many things that hurt. Many are very much aware of this fact, and Nick was no exclusion. In complete honesty, he knew about this quite well.

Firstly, there was the every-now-and-then occurances that resulted in a small amount of pain. For instance, there was the action of accidentally stubbing his claw on the edge of his bed, which happened to him an embarrassingly good number of times. (He wasn't exactly sure how it continued to occur after awhile, but somehow it did.)

Then there were other things similar to that. The bumping of his elbow against the hard table. The bad slip and fall. He was quite familiar with those instances.

And then there were the things that hurt him a lot deeper, the moments from his past that he personally thought were better left undiscussed.

But if he were asked now in the present moment to provide an example of what hurt the most, it wouldn't be any of those things.

Walking through the open black gate to the city park, Nick turned his head to the side and caught sight of where his bunny was. He could see her sitting on one of the benches that outlined various spots around here, slouched with an evidently despondent expression across her muzzle.

The fox strolled on over to where she was sitting. Upon hearing her sniffle and watching her wipe the faint tear from her eye, he could feel his heart drop. This was his answer to what hurt the most—seeing his beloved bunny in a sad mood. After all, he knew that if she ever found him down in the dumps, she would feel the same level of concern for him.

The day hadn't exactly been the brightest, and Nick knew what the culprit was to her current mood. It had been the hurtful words of that prejudiced deer that Judy let get to her.

He couldn't change what had already happened. He didn't have the ability to change the views of that speciest cervid. But what he could do, however, is do his best to cheer his bunny companion up.

As he slowly stepped towards the bench, Judy scooted over a few inches so there was enough room for him to sit with her. Nick looked over at the lagomorph, who did nothing but let out a sigh.

"Judy…" the vulpine muttered.

Upon hearing her name, she turned her attention towards him, her ears starting to perk up once again after being droopy for some time.

"Don't let that deer's words convince you into believing what isn't true," Nick continued. "Someone that's a bad mammal could never turn a con artist into the upstanding, trustworthy fox that I am today."

He paused for a brief moment, darting his eyes to his side to see that the rabbit's natural smile was starting to come back.

"Thank you," Judy said faintly before sniffling once more.

"Now then," Nick said in response, "did you hear that story about the two goats?"

At his unusual inquiry, the leporine gave him a somewhat-puzzled look. "What?" she said.

"You know what I'm talkin' about," the tod replied. "The story about the two goats."

"I haven't the slightest idea of what you're talking about, Slick."

"I read about it last night, but I guess forgot to tell you about it. Anyway, these two goats at the local middle school were sent to the principal's office."

"Okay?" Judy said, still completely unsure as to what the fox was going on.

"But do you know the reason why they were sent there?" Nick asked.

"Why?"

"Because," the vulpine answered with a sly smirk, "they were butting heads."

The moment Judy realized that she had just fallen for a joke, she let out a chuckle. Upon hearing the sound of his bunny's laughter once again, Nick started to smile.

"I fell for that one pretty easily," the doe admitted once her laughter had stopped. "Thanks for that. Cheered me up a bit."

"It was my pleasure, Carrots," Nick answered with a nod of his head. "My pleasure."

Author's Note: Hey, everybody. Long time, no see?

Sorry that I haven't updated this in quite some time. Had some things going on irl, and writing had been placed on the back burner for awhile. But that's not important because I'm back and have been working some more stories. I've got some fun ones that I plan to put on here real soon.

Anyway, hope you liked this little story. I know that it was kinda short, but hopefully it was still an enjoyable read. Not exactly the greatest thing I could have came up with, but it came to me on a whim and just needed to get it written.

As always, let me know what your thoughts were on this. Your thoughts, good and bad, are always gladly appreciated.

'Til next time, everybody! :)