"Aaaaaaand, done!" Nick said as he finished typing on his computer's board. "That's one report finished and filed! What means that this work is done, and this fox cop can finally enjoy his weekend!" Nick said happily, before standing on his seat and looking over the divisor of his cubicle.
"What about you, Carrots? Done with your report?"
"Almost..." The rabbit said to the fox. She was very focused, as Nick could clearly see from the look on her eyes, which barely even blinked as they looked at the screen, following each letter the bunny typed without even looking down at the keyboard.
Man, she is so focused on everything... Nick said, I like it about her...
The fox had a smirk on his face as he watched his partner finish her report, before pressing the buttons to send it to Bogo via email.
"Okay, now we can go." Judy said to her partner, with that, the two of them parted ways for a moment, as they went to their respective locker rooms to change their clothes.
And the mammals on the locker room were talking a lot. At least on Nick's side.
"I'm just not comfortable with it." Said a bear, "I mean, I understand that reptiles are now allowed to live in the city after all that happened, but I feel uncomfortable with one of them living in my building."
"I don't see the problem." Said Fnagmeyer to this. "I have this family if iguanas who just moved next doors, and they are supper nice. Their hatchlings are super cute too. But it was a bit awkward when I walked on the wife nursing her egg while I ate my omelet..."
"That's not the same, dude." Grizzoly said, "Those are iguanas! This guy who moved in is a Komodo dragon! They are, like, super venomous! What if he starts dripping venom everywhere? I don't want to get sick and die!"
"You know what? You are being too dramatic." Wolfard said, "I mean, the reptiles have been on the city for, what, a year already? And they have not caused any more problem than any mammal. Actually, I kind of think they are way more chill than most mammals. Some are even friendly! Like that snake... what was his name again?"
"Gary." Nick said casually as he put on his shirt. "His name is Gary, and I kind of expected you to remember it better, considering that he helped save the city."
"Oh, yeah! Back when Bogo dispatched you and Hopps after him on that undercover assignment." Wolfard said, "You two still keep on touch with him, right?"
"Game nights every second Saturdays of the month." Nick confirmed. "You think karaoke is fun? Try playing Prance-Prance Boogie with a snake. Seriously, that snake has no legs, but he can dance better than me."
"Second Saturday of the month? Oh, then you guys going to have one tomorrow, no?" Wolfard asked.
"Yep, and already looking forward to it." Nick anseered, to that the wolf said:
"Well, lucky you. Tomorrow I gotta meet my girlfriend's parents, and that is something I don't look forward to. Seriously, her dad is an old military dog who used to be a captain in some foreign base, and just the stern way he looked at me when I saw him on her front door made me whine. I wish I could ditch that dinner..."
Those and more words were exchanged between everyone as Nick made his way out of the lockers, meeting with his friend Judy just outside. She had changed to her civilian clothes as well, and she and Nick took the train back home together."
"You sure you don't want to come with me?" Nick asked to Judy as both held onto the tails to taller animals while standing on the subway. "That bar Fin and I go is not a cop bar, but it is not a criminal den either. It is a nice place, actually. Best Sahara Sunrise cocktail you ever tasted. You should come with us."
"Sorry, Nick. I don't drink." Judy said, "Besides, I am going to the academy early tomorrow."
"Carrots, you are the only person I know who goes to the academy early in the morning on the first day of your weekend off." Nick said to his partner. Judy smiled at him, but then she caught something on the corner of her eye.
A crocodile on a red jacket was sitting on a bench. He was typing on his phone as he sat in there. He was the only reptile on that wagon, and everyone else was at a certain distance, and casting him glances. At some point, he noticed a pregnant cow standing right by his side, and then he smiled at her while scooting over and offering her a place to sit.
To that, the cow glared at him as if he had just insulted her, and turned away while leaving the croc there, looking a bit surprised, and then looking down as he went back to typing on his phone, now visibly upset.
Seeing that did not sit well with Judy, who wanted to go there and talk to the croc, but that was right when the train arrived at her station, and she had to drop out as not to lose her stop, wishing Nick a good night.
As Judy made her way out of the subway, she could not help but think that, even after a year of sharing the city with reptiles, the mammals of Zootopia still had a hard time accepting them.
Perhaps it was because of their long history of political conflicts and dramas, or maybe it was just because it was hard to let go of past prejudices, but it was not so easy for everyone to get along, something Judy was already familiar with.
It was hard for reptiles to get jobs in most places, and most of them still lived in the pseudo-habitat that was Reptown, which Judy thought looked more like a ghetto the city built in a rush, and many of them still complained about being denied rental applications on wealthier parts of the city.
This did not bode well with the rabbit. It made it seem that everyone still mistrusted and looked down on reptiles.
Like she and Nick used to do.
They had not been kind to Gary when they first met him. Back then, he was a reptile who was not only on the city without being allowed to, but that was also suspected of having devoured an herbivore, so some people could justify Judy and Nick's weariness of him. However, the more Judy thought about it, the more she realized that their edginess and mistrust of him was mostly based on prejudice, much like Judy herself when she first moved to Zootopia.
She only started thinking that maybe they were wrong about Gary being a bad animal when he saved her from falling into an industrial grinder when they followed him into the sand-processing parts of the Climate Wall. If he had not grabbed her ankle with his tail, Judy would have been grounded to dust just like the sandstone used to make all the sand in Sahara Square.
And he saved her life after she was so harsh and merciless to him... Judy still felt awful as she remembered that, just like she felt awful when she remembered the aftermaths of the press conference back during the Bellwether Case.
The rabbit, however, shook her head.
We are getting better. She said to herself. Reptiles have been allowed to immigrate to Zootopia after it being proved that all the stories of them being 'cold-blooded and emotionless killers' was proved to be hogwash. Now they can get jobs and salaries and they can buy apartments. Most of them choose live in Reptown because it is close to Sahara Square and they favor the warm climate.
Things will get better with time. We just can't forget about acceptance and cooperation. This is the most important. Judy told to herself as she made her way into her building.
Pronk and Bucky were, once more, yelling at each other and banging the wall. This time the subject was something they both would be doing on Saturday for their next anniversary. One of them wanted to go to the museum, while the other wanted to go to the skating ring. They couldn't come to an agreement and, as it happened in most of these occasions, it descended into shouting and one yelling at the other to "shut up".
Luckily, Judy had grown so used to this after living next doors to them for so long that she was barely even bothered anymore. She just changed from her usual clothes to her pajamas and hopped on to bed, pulling her covers over her. She looked at the side and saw the digital alarm clock on the nightstand showing it was 9:30.
Perfect time to go to sleep so she could wake up early to make her morning jog before heading for the gym and being the first one at the door when they opened in the morning.
The rabbit sighed, resting her head on her pillow and closing her eyes was she relaxed and allowed herself to be guided to sleep.
Something's not right... Was Judy's first thought as she stirred awake. She could notice some luminosity through her eyes, which told her it was morning already. This meant that he alarm-clock had not started beeping at 4:15 in the morning, like she had set it to. It was obvious from the light that it the sun was rising. At this time of the year, it meant that now it was close to six in the morning, way past the time Judy had planned to get out of bed.
However, that was only the first wrong thing that Judy noticed. The second being that the bed she was laying on felt different from her own bed.
The third was that she was not alone in it.
"Nick!?" Judy squeaked as she looked at the fox laying by her side. Nick lifted his head, startled at the squeaking voice with eyes half-lidded in sleep, which soon widened as he looked at Judy and realized her wad in a bed with her... and that they were both naked.
"Sweet cheese and crackers!?"
"Where are we!?" Nick said, looking around and seeing that they were not on the dinge two-room apartment he rented in Downtown, but in tent made of reddish tissue.
"Why are you asking me!?" Judy said, "Yesterday I was laying on my bed!"
"And I was on the bar having a drinking competition with Fin!" Nick said, "I met him in there, and then we went inside and then we started dancing, and then we decided to make a tequila-drinking competition, and I was on my tenth cup! Gosh, did I got so drunk that I went to your house and brought you all the way here!?"
Nick sounded very alarmed at the prospect, especially considering how it seemed to imply that he had been the one to remove Judy's clothes, as well as his own...
Then, something happened.
They both hear a familiar voice groaning, as they felt something around them moving. That was when they realized that the "bed" they were into was just a cushion, and that the "frame" of said bed was just a body covered in bluish scales coiled in a heap.
"G'mornin'." The snake said as he lifted his head, his yellow eyes blinking unevenly as his forked tongue flapped in the air.
"Gary!?" The two mammals said in shock as their snake friend looked at the two of them.
"Oh... Nick, Judy... hi." He said with a smile, still sleepy. "What are you guys doing in my house...?" Then he yawned and blinking, taking a look around.
"Hold on... that's not my house..."
As Gary came to this realization, he and the two mammals on the tent were soon realizing they were in quite the situation.
They were all naked together in a tent and they had no idea how they even got there.
That as when Nick noticed something in the corner of the tent, an old polaroid with a bunch of photos by the side.
"Maybe those give us a clue?" Nick said, as he, the bunny and the saw viper all gathered to look at the pictures.
The first one showed them out on the street, all of them were smiling while Nick was using his hand to hold the camera and snap a picture of them as they huddled together for the old-style selfie. Gary had a tie around his neck and the fox and bunny were wearing clothes they were both sure they had not wore when they got off work last night.
Next picture showed them all on a tent, with Judy looking at the camera as she snapped her own picture. On the background, Gary was coiling Nick while helping the fox off his clothes.
Next picture showed Nick and Judy, now only on their underwear, kissing.
And the following picture was Judy, only on her underwear, kissing Gary.
And then a picture of Nick, only on his underwear, kissing Gary.
And then there was a picture of Gary kissing both Nick and Judy at the same time.
And, as a continuation of the last one, a picture of Gary with Nick and Judy's heads inside his mouth.
"SWEET CHEESE AND CRACKERS!" Judy was now crouched on the ground, covering her face with her ears.
"So that's why there's fur in my mouth..." Gary said a little absent-mindedly. He was, however, freaking out over this, as much as Nick and Judy.
"Okay! Okay..." Judy said, "No panic. Now its not the time to panic. Right now, we gotta understand what exactly happened last night, and how the three of us ended up in this... situation. We gotta know for a fact what happened... then it will be time to panic. Okay, where are our cellphones?"
As it turns out, the phones were on their discarded clothes, which had been put neatly by the entrance of the huge tent they were all in. Gary went to check on them under Judy's request, to see if there was any information on them.
"Yeah, I guess this is awkward, ain't it?" Nick said as he rubbed the back of his head.
"This is more than awkward Nick!" Judy said to the fox. "The ZPD has strict rules on confraternization! This could cost us our jobs! Ohhh, I don't know what I would do if my family found out about this! My parents would never let me hear the end of it! Do you know how conservative those two are!?"
"You know, I always thought bunnies would be more liberal about stuff like that..." Nick said. before Judy could answer, Gary said:
"Uhhh, guys... I just found your phones and..." The snake was looking at the phone as he spoke this, and he seemed quite awkward.
"What?" Judy asked. "What is is? There are photos on them? Or a video? Show me! No! don't show me, I'm scared of seeing it..."
"I just want to ask..." Gary said to the two. "When you went to sleep yesterday, it was Friday 18th, right?"
"Uhhh, yes?" Nick said, "Why do you ask?"
"Because both your phones..." Gary said, flipping the phones while holding them with his tail to show the mammals.
"Say today is Sunday 20th."
Nick and Judy were shocked and, as they both checked on their phones, they realized it was true.
Judy, thinking that maybe someone messed with their phones, even went online to check, and she saw it was true. Everything online said the day was Sunday 20th.
The three animals on the tent then realized that they had not just forgotten the previous night.
They had forgotten the entire previous day.