Chapter Text
"It's four steps, Nick."
"That's what I'm doing, Carrots. One… two… three…four. See?"
"I see six steps, is what I see."
"Clearly the Mammal upstairs had to compensate for your ears in some way."
She wanted to scowl at his wisecrack, but the smile she was fighting to hide peeked out from behind the curtain of her disapproving glare. Nick noticed, smirking slowly at her as she uncrossed her arms, huffed, and took his paws back into her's. His lopsided grin tilted into a genuine one, and he wriggled his fingers in her light grip.
"I think I've finally found something you're bad at," Judy joked, swinging their arms a bit before beginning to move.
"Unfortunately, you're wrong," Nick answered matter-of-factly, staring at her feet as Judy showed him the motions again. "Or fortunately, depending on which side of this relationship you're standing on. I tend towards hating when you're right. But I digress– I happen to be extremely good at dancing, Carrots. I'm a regular Fred Asbear. Salsa, mamba, waltz–"
"Asbear could swing, Nick. Plus, this is just the first step! You do realize I can't teach you anything else until you get this?"
"–foxtrot, of course–"
"Did you really just–"
"–even square-dancing–"
"You can square dance but you can't swing?"
"That's irrelevant."
"What… what are you… what?"
Nick pressed a paw to Judy's muzzle and shook his head with theatrical gravitas, as if they were caught in a life-or-death situation and her silence was the determining factor. "Less talking, more dancing, fluff-butt. I've got an undercover case to prepare for."
Rolling her eyes, she stepped away from him. "Alright. Show me what you were doing again."
With false bravado, Nick jauntily imitated whatever it was he'd been watching Judy do for the past hour. "There," he took a bow. "Perfect."
"You're adding an extra step on the third and fourth beat. Which is a common mistake!" She added hastily, like Nick needed the comfort of knowing he wasn't a solo screw-up. "It's the weird pause. Just shift your weight through your body instead of trying to balance it out with the other foot."
"Like this?" He attempted a poor parody of whatever "fancy" footwork Judy had displayed.
Judy swallowed her frustrated sigh, holding a paw up in the air to stop Nick. "Nooo. Like this." She performed the sequence, looking expectantly at Nick when she was done. He shrugged, so she repeated herself. This happened a total of four times before she was standing right in front of Nick with knit brows.
"Nick, it's not that hard, c'mon, just– wu-oAH!" Judy stumbled as Nick grabbed her hands and pulled her forward. She fell into step with him as he perfectly executed the rocking motion, then segued alarmingly smoothly through several different moves from the swing and various other ballroom dances.
As the lively beat– which had been blaring tinnily through the pathetic excuse for a sound system the ZPD had tossed at them (apparently being the best two detectives on the force still didn't merit the better equipment. Or maybe it was just Nick's history with abusing the volume)– came to an end, he pulled her into a dip (of the merengue variety), beaming at her as her ears brushed the ground and their chests rose and fell in tandem.
"You knew this entire time!" Judy panted, eyes bright with energy. "Sneaky little…" She didn't bother finishing her sentence, just smiled widely up at him before pressing a quick, unexpected kiss to his mouth.
When she pulled away, Nick followed after her, craning his neck to keep up the kiss. Judy laughed, but her amusement was cut short when Nick pulled her up from the dip, paws sliding eagerly from her side to the bottom of her thighs, tugging gently.
She got the hint and thought that she really shouldn't take it. But somehow, Judy still found her upper thighs squeezing Nick's sides as she crossed her ankles behind him. "Nick, we can't, I'm supposed to be bringing you up to speed on the dances you'll have to know–"
"Oh, we'll be dancing. Takes two to tango, right? And I happen to be very good at the tango." He grinned at her, half-lidded gaze warm and inviting while his eyebrows wriggled suggestively.
Judy stared at him, fingers clasped behind his neck. They really shouldn't. They were technically working. This wasn't a good time. There wasn't even anywhere convenient to engage in–
"Plus, that closet across the hall is pretty roomy. Scoped it out before you got here." He pressed the pad of his paw into the small of her back, forcing her closer to him so that he could nudge her ears with his muzzle, and she practically melted to the floor.
Judy buried her face into the ruff of fur on his chest, breathing in familiarity and comfort. "You just have all the right moves, don't you, Wilde?" She chided fondly, voice muffled.
"Oh, Carrots," Nick answered, equally as affectionate as he spun on his heel in the direction of the closet. "Only cause I've got a good partner."