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The night was as quiet and peaceful as always near the ZPD, a gentle drizzle pattering against the streets.
Who am I kidding.
Sirens blared as police cruisers zipped across Savanna Central, nearly moving at the speed of light itself. Rushing through the city first in line was a horrified fox driver and an excited bunny cop chasing after a team of robbers.
Judy was in her element, shouting commands into the radio and laughing maniacally, while Nick desperately held on to the steering wheel. They swerved around a corner and were now directly behind the criminal.
“What should we do, Nick?” The grey doe’s eyes sparkled with passion.
Nick rolled his eyes, then immediately snapped them back to the road. “I don’t know! You know, I’m kind of new to this whole ‘driving in pursuit’ thing?”
“I thought you were mad that I was the only one driving,” Judy argued. Before he could reply, she pointed to their suspect.
“Quick, they’re driving away!”
They sped past the black tow truck, repeatedly yelling at the getaway driver to pull over through the PA system. Finally, the group gave in; when they removed their masks, they ended up being four lion teens who were barely old enough to have a license. They apologized profusely, but the two pawcuffed them anyway and sent them to the police station.
Judy sighed as she watched the vehicle disappear into the night. The sky was still pouring, drenching the two in water.
“What a night! Wasn’t that the most fun we’ve ever had on a chase before?”
Nick grumbled something about how he hated getting wet and wiped sweat off his brow. After a minute of comfortable silence, he spoke up.
“Seriously Carrots—I don’t know how you do it, but never let me drive again. Especially in this yucky weather.”
She laughed. “I think you did wonderful. At least we have all our limbs intact.”
That earned her a light play-punch in the ribs.
Our roles are reversed, she thought, somewhat happy about this new realization.
“Hey… I was thinking,” Nick started, cautiously rubbing the back of his neck. “Do you want to get a drink with me?”
Her eyes turned wide open with slight surprise, his suggestion catching her off guard.
He immediately backtracked as his ears turned crimson. “Uh, of course, if you don’t drink, then uh…”
“No-no-no-no! It’s not like that… obviously I’d like to go with you but…”
It’ll look like a date.
“I don’t know, I’ve just never seen you this flustered before,” she finally answered. This half-truth made Nick slip on his confident mask once more.
He scoffed. “I am far from flustered, if I do say so myself. What’s wrong with a drink between two friends?”
She shook her head then laughed awkwardly. “You’re right. We better hurry though, it’s almost nine and all the bars in this side of town close soon.”
“Not to worry. I know a place that’s open 24/7.”
*********
“So you’re telling me that this is where you grew up?”
The two strolled inside a dimly lit pub filled with vixens and tods. Many of the middle-aged men around their forties called out to Nick with warm familiarity as they shook paws or high-fived (foured?) each other.
Meanwhile, Judy practically glowed with wonder.
The two had gone to a secluded area which was primarily populated with foxes—it just so happened to be Nick’s old neighborhood when he was a young kit.
He nodded after waving to an old lady who recognized him from years back. “Yup. Sure brings lots of memories…”
He stared into space as Judy ordered two draft beers.
“What… kind of memories?”
Wincing, he took a sip of his beer.
“Well, too many that’ll just bring the mood down for everyone, but lots of great ones too,” he said. Mirroring his moves, Judy also hesitantly licked the drink. To her surprise, the cold and fluffy foam was deliciously refreshing while the bitter aftertaste enhanced its flavor.
Nick continued to reminisce through rose-tinted glasses. “Of course, as a fox, I always faced some sort of prejudice outside of town, but here? It was paradise.”
The bartender, an aging fox, tossed his rag over his shoulder and began to speak. “Nicholas Wilde. Haven’t seen you here since you stole liquor from me when you were in high school!” His expression stayed mad for the first few seconds, but his act fell apart as he burst into a hearty round of laughter. Nick uncomfortably chuckled and avoided Judy’s disapproving glare.
He continued on with his truth bombs. “Oh, if it isn’t the lucky bunny cop who has the heart of this little shit! Lemme tell you something, ma’am. If y’all ever tie the knot, please do me a favor and—“
“No, no! Hah, nothing you have to do for—uh—me,” Nick interrupted, giving him a glance that embodied how “wrong” he had perceived their relationship. Unfortunately, the bartender failed to understand what he was implying and gathered himself calmly.
“My apologies, my name is Charlie—but my friends call me Chuck.”
Judy, feeling very awkward and out of place, mustered a slight smile. “I’m Judy—“
“Hopps,” he finished. “You’re very popular in our community. We’ve been hoping you two would get together for the longest time, but we didn’t think we would come so close to—“
“Ahem!”
If looks could kill, Nick would’ve been charged for first degree murder.
Judy wished she could’ve removed herself from the conversation entirely. Instead, she chose to ask the man about Nick’s childhood.
“If Nick was such a troublemaker in high school, what other things did he do?”
He laughed while Nick looked absolutely mortified. “Well, when he was fifteen, he thought he could fool me by sneaking in a fake ID. You can imagine how well that worked out for a pubescent boy!”
Judy giggled, imagining a scrawny little teen claiming he was over twenty-one.
“Ah, that was only a couple years before this dumb asshat abandoned everyone. Are you still in touch with Mary?”
Nick’s eyes moved to the ground.
Chuck grimaced. “Touchy subject, I see.”
“I need some air.” Sighing, he stood up and walked away towards the open patio near the back door.
Only Judy and Chuck were left at the long countertop. Suffocating silence rang as her gray paws drummed on the varnished wood while Chuck casually pretended to clean a couple glasses. Before she could stop herself, she started asking questions.
“Who… is Mary? Was she Nick’s ex-girlfriend?”
The older tod’s smile was bittersweet. “Far from it. Marian Wilde is his mother.”
“Oh,” was all she could muster.
“You sound surprised.”
Judy’s face flushed. “Sorry, I know that was a weird assumption.”
“Well, you two are dating, so I thought it made sense.”
She shook her head profusely and smiled as if the idea itself was idiotic. “I promise it’s nothing like that.”
“Judging by the way he acts around you, I promise it’s exactly like that.” Chuck continued to fake-rub his glass cups before setting them down. “When Nick was only twelve, he began his con business behind his mama’s back. I dunno what happened between the two, but he suddenly stopped talking to her. He never stopped attending high school or anything, I just think he wanted a little independence or something.”
Her thoughts began to tangle as she tapped her feet anxiously.
Nick had always been a second priority to her before their big “talk” directly after they had saved each other from certain death. Obviously she loved having a work partner, but she overlooked his emotional needs and her own as well. Before knowing his past, she had always assumed he was just some cynic who failed to see the world was better than he thought, but she was clearly proven wrong. Now, after everything that had happened between them, she knew for a fact that Nick was not somebody she would ever leave alone.
She had to talk to him.
“I’ll be right back,” she told Chuck. He merely grinned with an amused expression on his face.
Judy realized it was still raining by the time she reached Nick staring out into the darkness. Night shrouded the two, but she could see moonlight silhouetting his distinct “foxy” shape.
They were so different.
Their morals, goals, beliefs, shape, size, species, biological grouping—everything was different about the two.
But she wouldn’t let that stop her anymore.
“Nick…?” She started laying a hand on his fluffy arm.
He neither pulled away nor came over to embrace her.
“What’s up?”
She heard him sigh. “Nothing, Carrots. We should go back.”
The moment he turned around, water from the awning hit his neck. Shivering, he clutched the spot where the droplet made contact and shook his head. “I hate the rain,” he murmured.
“But why?”
“It’s nothing.”
“Nick, convincing yourself that the problem does not exist doesn’t make it magically disappear.”
He scoffed. “Why does this matter to you?”
“Because you’re my best friend, okay?”
“Is that all I am to you?”
His words hit her like a truck. “What?”
He repeated his words, enunciating each syllable. “Is that all I am to you?”
Her mouth went dry as she struggled to come up with a response.
“For the past, what, one and a half years, I’ve been agonizing over you. You drive me absolutely insane, but I’m still…. I’m scared of doing something wrong to drive you away, and when I see you talking to another guy it makes me crazy because I know you would be better off with anyone else but me.”
Words would not form in Judy’s mouth, her mind racing with endless thoughts while her heartbeat drummed in her elongated ears.
“I know I never talk about my past. I thought it was just ‘cause… y’know, what I told you at the weatherwall? But… I dunno. If I tell you everything that happened, it feels like you’re gonna leave me or never give me another chance.”
“Nick,” she started, “I promise, my world is filled with people who have shut me down over and over again. It’s why I believe in second chances. Never will I ever leave you over a mistake you made years ago.”
Silence lay thick in the air, neither of them brave enough to say another word. Nick finally turned around and looked out the cloudy skies.
“I hate this weather because it was raining the night I walked out on my mom.”
Her eyes shot up. “What?”
“I…” he sighed. “My whole life was built on lies. When my mother found out about my conning business, she… she flipped out.”
Judy was still motionless as she processed the information.
“We didn’t talk for four years after that. I still lived under her roof, but we never had a proper conversation after the fight. As soon as I turned sixteen, I moved out.
Shortly after I left, a storm rolled in. I knew I still had a chance to turn around and apologize, but I was too angry. Even now, like fifteen-something years later, we haven’t spoken since. I honestly didn’t even realize she would still be alive. Or be waiting for me.”
Nick waited for her to say something, anything. Instead, he received the tightest hug with wet tears coating his Pawaiian print shirt.
“Nick,” she breathed, head buried in his chest, “one bad decision does not mean you have to hate rain for the rest of your life. Just because that fight happened once doesn’t mean you both will be carrying the same grudge forever.” She looked up at him. “Look at yourself. I know you’re regretting what you did, but that doesn’t mean your mother isn’t doing the same.”
She took his paw and dragged him outside where the awning wouldn’t shelter them. They both stood smack dab in the middle of the patio and looked up to see a violent downpour as if on cue. Her sensitive fur felt each and every drop fall onto her body. The feeling was exhilarating—she relished as she breathed in the misty air and finally met Nick’s eyes. But what she saw wasn’t disgust or resentment.
His eyes glowed with relief, an emotion so pure it could have filtered the muddy waters pooling in the cracks of the ground.
A shock rang through Judy’s mind.
She had never seen him like this before.
“Thank you,” she told him after a quiet moment of appreciation, “for… telling me this.”
He rolled his eyes, but gave her a genuine smile. “It’s you who I should thank. Besides, you don’t know everything about me.”
“I could say the same to you.”
“Well, guess I’ll have to stick around and find out.”
He leaned in and kissed her for the first time, the sensation sending a lightning strike through her heart. She felt as if she were in heaven as she inhaled Nick’s musky cologne, swimming in his embrace. His tail lightly brushed her legs and flicked back and forth with contentment.
It came to an end when they both pulled away at the same time, their eyes meeting with rain-soaked lashes.
“When did you become such a romantic?” Judy asked, hand on his neck.
He merely scoffed as if the answer was supposed to be obvious.
“Ever since I met you.”