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Nick has never been known to be shy when it came to telling a good story. It’s just something he is good at, since story-telling is a big part of the con-artist’s business. In the (highly unlikely) event that he would ever tell this story, however, he would be have to think long and hard on where to even start. Because for Nick himself it begins when he finds himself with an armful of bunny who is exploring his muzzle with her own lips as urgently as if her life depended on it.
He might be a bit hazy on how they got to this point but he’s never been one to let good fortune slip through his paws and pulls her closer, running a clawed paw slowly down her bare back. The needy moan he elicits in response is enough to make his head spin and her excited scent, that intoxicating mix of earth and rabbit and female, does the rest to shatter his normally so collected, calculated manners. He lifts her up towards him, feeling the soft touch of her feet on his sheath, tantalizing and so sensual that he-
Nick jostles awake.
Calling it a rude awakening would be a blatant understatement as the first thing he notices is his head pounding like on the first day after enormous criminal training. Nick has woken up enough times with a hangover to identify the condition by instinct. The sun shining in his eyes is just added insult to injury.
When he moves a paw to cover his face, he is aware enough to notice that the simple movement seems to drain most of his strength. He is really out of it today, so he closes his eyes and tries to go back to sleep until the problem improves on its own. But something won’t let him. Did he really just have a wet dream about his best friend? That feels just wrong to him on so many levels. But at the same time he can’t deny how good it felt. With the rest of his world dunked in misery right now, those fleeting memories are all the good he can feel then and there. And, he realizes with mild surprise, he is still popped out of his sheath, his knot still half-inflated. It felt so real. He can’t remember a single dream that has ever felt so real, like he can still feel her soft fur on his pads and smell the scent of her in the air.
He takes a deep breath only to realize that the scent was indeed still in the air. At the same moment another fact clicks into place and he realizes that this isn’t his own bed because he has the sense to not let the sun into his bedroom. Waking up in unfamiliar places isn’t in itself something that would rattle Nick, and the bed certainly seems clean and comfortable, but the scent has half the alarm-bells in his head ringing.
Then small paws move against his back again before grabbing into his fur and pulling him closer and now he realizes there’s no blanket yet his back is a lot warmer than his front and that’s definitely a second breathing pattern in the room. There go the rest of the alarm bells.
He hears the sharp intake of breath as Judy awakes and does the first thing he can think of, rolling out of the bed. And falling squarely to the floor when his weak limbs can’t support him as expected.
“Nick, how- ow! Ow! Ow!” Judy moans and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out her head isn’t in any better shape than his own. She’s leaning against the wall with eyes closed and paws against her temples when he uprights himself again.
“Morning, Carrots,” he says, a bit of at a loss at what to say next. His brain hasn’t finished starting up despite all alarm bells which tells him a lot about just how draining last night has been, but it’s enough to realize that this morning got off to an awful start. And the look in her eyes that’s getting closer and closer to panic every second says that her own train of thought isn’t any more positive.
“Oh my gosh, did we-?” Her gaze wanders up and down. “Nick, cheese and crackers! Cover yourself!” She pulls her ears down over her eyes, while Nick realizes that he is indeed still standing at attention and pulls his tail around to cover himself. It isn’t enough, really. He needs his clothes but they aren’t in sight! “Sorry,” he mumbles, looking around the small room.
“Do… do you remember anything?” Judy squeaks, peaking out from beneath her crossed ears.
“Nothing,” he says, shoulders dropping. He hasn’t decided yet if this was a curse or a blessing, given the situation. “Only that we went partying? With… colleagues? Fangmeyer? Claws? I think?”
“Oh gods, what if they know? What if everyone knows?” she wails. That would be even worse, Nick realizes, but right now he has a panicking bunny in front of him.
“Whoa, hey, Carrots, no jumping to conclusions here.” A thought is forming in his head and Nick hopes it is fast enough. “I mean, look around. For all we know, nothing might have happened.”
“What do you mean?” she asks.
“The bed,” he gestures. “You, me, we’re clean. Now I don’t know about rabbits, but with us canines, there’s usually enough of a mess that you can tell what went down. And I don’t think we were in any form to clean up after ourselves, with how my head is feeling.”
She hesitantly checks herself and the sheets. “Yes, but-” she looks away, just gesturing at his crotch.
“Oh, uh, I had a dream. That’s all, I swear!”
“Uhuh, a dream. And was I by chance in that dream, as well?”
Nick’s ears fall. Shit. Now she has him doubting it, too, and he’s wondering if you can even dream when black-out drunk.
“And also… clothes?” she looks around, her eyes trying to avoid him and failing miserably.
“Yeah, I got nothing,” he has to admit, really wondering what the hell he was thinking last night. Or what they both were thinking to be precise.
Okay, Nick, your best friend is panicking because you just woke up naked in bed together. What do you do? Not letting go of his head he has to concede to himself that he isn’t awake enough for this. Not by a long-shot. Hugs usually work well on her in stressful situations, but – he looks down – bad idea. “Judy, my eyes are up here,” he says with a bit of snark.
Her ears snap back over her eyes. “Sorry! Oh my gosh. This can’t be happening…”
“Let’s stay calm, Fluff, okay? We have some… conflicting evidence here, so I think we should investigate this before filing the case, right?”
That elicits a soft chuckle that only sounded a bit hysterical. “Oh-kay? So we… reconstruct the crime scene?”
“Interrogate any possible witnesses,” he nods. “But carefully. Let’s not let them know that we know nothing, right? Mammals will tell you a lot if they think they can get away with it.”
“Standard interrogation practice. And gather some evidence. Like our damn clothes. Maybe get a black-light lamp.”
He smiles at how quick she’s getting into the spirit of it. But this is familiar and safe. Not like waking up naked next to your best friend. And what the investigation will bring to light… well, he stops himself from thinking that far ahead yet. And so does she, he realizes. They both need time to sort through this one on their own. “Let’s split up to cover more ground before we have to face our colleagues in the bull-pen again tomorrow.”
“Right. I’ll start here with the apartment then.”
“I’ll start in the pub. It was the Mugshot again, right?”
“No, they had pool tables. I remember that much.”
“Oh, right, we took them to Steve’s. Okay. Any other places to put on the list? Where, y’know, something might have happened?”
He sees her getting struck by a thought and then folding in on herself as if embarrassed. “The- oh, I can’t… okay. We’ve probably walked back from Steve’s? Since it’s just a few blocks over from here? So, maybe, on the way from there? There’s a park, right?”
“You would- that’s… really?”
“I don’t know! I was drunk, apparently!”
Nick signals that he means no offense from it. “It’s alright! It takes two to tango, after all. We can check the jam cams, but we can’t check all of Savannah Central. Or check every possible location where something could have happened in twelve hours. I mean, our colleagues might get a tad suspicious if they found us creeping around the locker rooms on our day off.”
She’s giggling a bit at that thought and he takes it as a win.
After grabbing some water and finding some spare clothes for Nick, he heads home to properly get dressed before diving into the investigation.
###
Once Nick has left, Judy suddenly finds the apartment to be oppressively quiet, and not just because in comparison to her first one it is so sound-proof one can assume that rabbits built it, no. She just can’t be alone with her own thoughts right now. Even though she agrees with his implied recommendation that they split up for a while to clear their heads, she needs to talk to someone. But for the first time in months it can’t be Nick.
She slumps on the couch to go through her phone contacts. Her parents would be her last choice in this, but maybe… Ethan? She has had a couple of talks of this kind with her older brother in the past. While outwardly Ethan always came across as the staunchest defender for casual sex and not getting tied down, Judy has seen past his facade in the past when he unexpectedly helped her after some bad experiences. He has also been one of the few older brothers who understood perfectly well that she didn’t need protecting from the big, bad world.
She calls him up; five rings until he accepts the call, looking sleepy and just out of bed but his movements so practiced one can tell this is how he usually looks around noon. “Hi, Ethan!”
“Oh, Judy, hey! That’s a surprise.”
“This a bad time?”
“Nah, I got time.” He sat down at some table and stood the phone in front of him. “And you look like you need to talk. What’s up, sis?”
“Yeah, I- oh crackers, where do I even start?”
“Got a hangover?” he asked with a tiny smile.
“That’s the least of it, but it certainly doesn’t help,” she admits, hoping the painkillers would kick in soon.
“Woke up somewhere you didn’t expect?”
“No, in my own bed.” Her shoulders sacked.
“Oho!” he smirked. “But maybe with somebody you didn’t expect?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“Hah! Way to go, Jude! Didn’t think it’d take you that long.”
She can only pull her ears over her eyes to show her frustration. “No, Ethan, this is bad. This is my best friend we’re talking about!”
“Aw, don’t be like that. You’re like the only mammal I know where that would be a problem.”
“But it is! It could cost him his job because fraternization is expressly forbidden between-”
“Whoa, hold on, Jude, you’re talking about Nick?” he asked.
“Of course we’re talking about Nick, for Firethorn’s sake!”
“Alright, alright, just making sure.” He leans back again, deep in thought. “He’s not cool with this?”
“I- I don’t know. Things are… a little bit different here in the city.” Explaining the social habits of different species is beyond what she feels up to (or even qualified to) now.
“Okay, no sweat. But why do you think that your boss might find out?”
“Well, we went to a pub with some of our colleagues yesterday and that’s the last thing I can remember before waking up half an hour ago,” she explains, as detached as she can manage.
To his credit he almost manages to hold back the snicker. “You really never do things half-way, sis, eh?”
“No,” she sighs. “I guess I don’t.”
“How did he react?” Ethan asks after a moment.
She has to shrug. “It was hard to tell. I think we both panicked a bit, but he actually calmed me down somewhat.”
“So now knowing if you both still got a job today is your only problem?” Ethan asks.
She catches her quick “yes”, thinks about it. Can she even imagine things getting awkward between them? It’s hard, so no. “What if they kick him from the force? Or relegate him to another precinct in Tundra Town? Without overlapping shifts we’d hardly see each other anymore!”
“You’re afraid of losing your best friend that way.”
“Yes!” she almost shouts it.
He just stares at her for a few seconds. “You’re not in love with him, are you, Jude?”
“What? No! We’re just friends. Don’t you start on that, too.”
He gives her a tender smile. “Alright, I got it. Just don’t want you to miss out. You remember what I once told you, right?”
“Yes, you sack of corn, I remember.” One of the few fond memories of her own college days.
“Well, don’t forget it! Because when you do meet someone who really anchors you in the here and now, and then, three months later, you can still remember what you both ordered in that little diner, then you know you got somebody to hold on to.” He winked.
“And when will you find somebody like that, Ethan?” she teased.
“Oh, I meet them every day,” he says, laughing silently. “I just can’t allow myself to get tied down with just one person and rob all others of those pleasures.”
She rolls her eyes where he can see it but still has to laugh. “Right. Well, I don’t think it really applies here.”
“Hmm. You feeling a bit better at least?”
“Yeah, thanks. Better get going now, still a lot to do today.”
“No rest for Jude, I know how it goes,” he smirks. “Let’s catch up soon, okay?”
“Will do. Bye, Ethan!”
The screen goes dark and Judy is once again left with the decision of where to start. And if – for the first time in her life – she really wants to see this investigation through.
###
Nick in the meantime has arrived at home (using a key he once left in a flower pot) to put on some clothes that have a much lower chance of getting him arrested for public indecency. He has to avoid the siren’s song of his bed, however, for if it were up to him, he’d crawl under his sheets and screw finding out what really happened. A little patch of missing memories wasn’t so bad to him, mammals would make up stuff to fill the blanks all the time. But it is important to Judy, so he gets himself cleaned up with a shower and leaves to find the first potential witness.
Hope for actually fixing this whole mess he has none by now. He fucked up. Only five months in and he royally fucked up, probably costing him his shiny new job and maybe even his best friend. One part of him just wants to cut his losses and go back to plan the next hustle, but a new part, one re-awoken by the selfless rabbit, isn’t ready to give up yet. Not while she hasn’t given up.
Taking the metro to Steve’s is convenient, except for the loudness, and all the smelling mammals around him and the sun. Steve has known him for a long time, but Nick still isn’t going to risk telling him more than he has to, because he wouldn’t put it past Steve to try and pull his leg on that night if he could.
“Steve, hey! You up yet?” he calls into the empty bar room.
It takes half a minute until the wildebeest sticks his head through the door of the back-room. “Nic’las? What brings you here at such an early hour?”
“Missing some keys,” he says, making up a story on the spot, knowing full well that his keys and phone are going to be inside his missing clothes, wherever those might be. Hopefully not here.
“Well, take a look,” Steve says, gesturing at the lost and found bin behind the counter.
Nick is surprised, however, when he finds not his keys, but his phone in the basket. It is still locked and at half battery, so he pockets it. Overplaying his surprise, he keeps talking. “Thing didn’t get too rowdy last night, did they?”
Steve chuckles. “No, your friends were well-behaved while they were here.”
“Just makin’ sure. Some cops can get really enthusiastic after a few mugs.”
“Ah, you don’t know, do you?”
Nick’s smile almost drops. “Know what? I might have lost sight of some of them, that’s why I’m asking.”
Steve just shakes his head. “You and your friends left around midnight. I think you went with ol’ Banks to the drumming.” He chuckles at the sight of Nick’s shocked face. “For what it’s worth, you had a really good time here, though.”
“I- right. Banks.” Nick doesn’t remember shit, he just nods along, a hand playing absentmindedly with his phone. “I should… check up with him, too. Maybe he got my keys.” He was sprouting nonsense now because the drummings were rather large events and if his keys fell out of his pocket they’d be embedded in the Rainforest soil now, stamped on by a few hundred enthusiastic paws.
“Bring your friends back any time, Nic’las, they were great guests, especially that Clawhauser!” Steve calls after him.
Nick just nods and leaves. A part of him is hoping that Steve is pulling his leg now, but something tells him he isn’t. Banks, the drumming, at least it means he has his next lead. And it also explains why he so overshot his own limits. Nick is well aware of the kind of drunk he is, but with nip all bets are off the table. The one silver lining is that nip has been legalized for a few months now so bringing his cop buddies can’t get him into trouble.
Back on the trains, he opens his phone and checks the recent photos. Some of which clearly weren’t made by him which might explain how his phone ended up in the lost and found bin? He can picture Clawhauser forgetting it somewhere after snapping these. Most of them are of him and Judy. One of Judy, him and Steve at the counter, heads together and raising their glasses. Wolford and Fangmeyer, arm in arm and…singing? Ben making a selfie next to Nick and Judy, grinning like a mad-mammal. Judy sitting on his lap, a stein of beer in her hands, as big as her head. (Uh-oh.) Another one of them playing pool that he absolutely has to send her right now, he is sure it’ll cheer her up, with a short message of: “life of the party”. As midnight approaches on the photo timeline, some photos are getting a bit blurry. On one he’s getting dragged somewhere by Judy – again nothing new – and another is her sitting on his shoulders, while in a booth. That seemed a bit unusual, but nothing to be concerned about. They both looked positively drunk at this point. And this all happened in less than three hours before midnight?
When did they even get home after the drumming, he wonders, staring at the city rushing past.
###
Try as she might, Judy hasn’t been able to summon any of her usual optimism for this investigation. Not making any breakthroughs yet hasn’t helped either. At least nobody has rung her up to tell her that she is going to be a meter-maid for the rest of her life, and yet a part of her can’t shake this anticipation of dread. This day could well turn out to be on the level of that awful press conference last year, a day she only looks back on in her nightmares.
The analogy held more than a hint of bitterness for her. The only press conferences she has been able to stomach taking part in since have been ones that Nick handled, despite technically being the trainee. There have been questions directed at her, of course, but with him at her side, keeping the reporters distracted, she at least hasn’t been too paralyzed to answer. If he was taken from her side now…
Her phone buzzes, tearing her out of her dark contemplations and she freezes. Could this be it? Should she even look? Of course she does. Then she realizes it’s from Nick. And seeing a photo of herself sitting on his shoulders to play pool at a table that is clearly too big for either of them suddenly has her shaking with barely containable laughter in the middle of the street. She makes it to the next park bench to sit down before doubling over, hardly noticing the looks she gets.
“did we win?” she texts back before continuing on her way to the party supply store to buy a portable black-light lamp. Maybe she has been over-concerned there for a minute. This is Nick after all; how could this be a storm they couldn’t endure together?
###
Nick just misses her reply when he exits the train and takes the ridiculous amount of stairs up to the level where Banks is known to dwell. It would be a pain to rouse him at this hour, but no greater than what he’s already feeling.
How could he have been so blind? Coming to the Rainforest District during the day has been quick to bring back some old memories, including some times with his mother. It was a little reverie after the last five months, which felt like rolling with the punches and getting dragged along by the energetic bunny. He loved it, absolutely, but it was so one eighty degrees different from the well planned-out life he made himself as a hustler. And what does he remember from those five months? Every. Single. Week. What does he remember from the last five years before he met her? Barely a damn thing.
It has been right there under his nose the whole time and he’s never seen it. Others have, though, and now the comments, the betting pool, it all clicks together.
Except now it doesn’t matter, because he’s totally lost it before he could even begin to appreciate it.
But he is not going to give up just yet. If he can’t fix it then maybe he can find out ways to do damage control – even if he has no idea how, not yet. A couple of colleagues at the pub might be handled with bribes to keep quiet, but the drummings, those were large events with up to hundreds of mammals participating in the clapping, stomping and stick-beating. Social media might already be brimming with snapshots and there was nothing he could do about that. But he can talk to mammals so that is where he is going to start.
###
Judy found a black-light lamp of the right size and is on the way home when something on the newspaper stand catches her eye, nearly making her drop the expensive lamp. It is a picture of herself and Nick, wrapped up in a blanket together, together with the headline: “Hero-cops getting closer?” And on top of everything it is the Tundratown morning news.
Resigning herself to the fate that apparently she has been out of her mind last night she buys the paper, even if she feels they can already close the investigation at this point.
Maybe she should start looking into open police positions in Deerbrooke County.
###
It takes all day to follow their leads and when they meet up – again at Judy’s place – they’re both drained, both mentally and physically. It isn’t just the lack of sleep, and hours of detective work, that have pushed them to this point, but effort in pushing down this foreboding feeling they share after digging up everything they can, hoping to catch a break against all odds, but never really getting it.
In front of them, strewn about the couch table are most of the physical evidence pieces. The newspaper, flyers, their clothes from last night, and some printed police reports. Next to it are Judy’s laptop (displaying more social media photos) and her little notebook.
“So, shall we get this over with?” she asks, glancing over at Nick who looks like he might take an unscheduled nap at any moment.
“Sure. I don’t think we’ll unearth any more hints today so let’s see if it’s enough,” he says, as if they both didn’t know it’s probably more than enough. But they had to keep a brave face now. “Let’s start with the clothes. You haven’t texted me anything about them yet.”
“Ah, yes. I found them in the wash kitchen downstairs. Lacking any other evidence I’d say we dropped them right as we came in, threw them down the stairs and then went upstairs naked.” She can see him growing worried. “But I’ve been all over the apartment with a black light and it’s clean. I even checked the shower and there’s no hairs from you.
Nick visible relaxed. “Good. And I guess we ditched the clothes for the same reason that I found sand in my fur.”
“That is my theory as well, yes.”
He slowly nods, filing it away. “Good. Now that that’s out of the way, let’s start from the beginning.”
“The bar,” she says and scrolls up in the photo album. “There’s pretty thorough photographic documentation of our time there.”
“The only time we were unaccounted for is when we vanished into the back-alley.” His face is begging her to have an explanation for it and luckily she has.
“According to this police report,” she holds it up. “We were stopping a mugging in progress.”
“Oh, wow. Bet they never saw that one coming. I sure didn’t! It’s unusual that so many cops are at Steve’s bar. Or that…” he’s flipping through the report “…two lions get taken down by one bunny.”
“And one fox,” she adds, smirking.
“I’m sure I let you do all the work again. Anyway, moving on. Soon afterwards we accompanied Banks to the drumming. He and several other eye-witnesses can attest to that.” He holds up the flyer for the drumming and Judy for the hundredth time wishes she could remember that event.
“What else do they say?”
“Only that we got really into it. And it’s a big crowd sitting in large circles. Nothing I have heard indicates that we were ever out-of-sight or, um, behaving in ways that were note-worthy. Otherwise there’d be photos, I’m sure of it.”
“Okay then. If we don’t get run out of town soon, I’m definitely going back to that. Just without the nip this time,” Judy says.
“Next one is in two weeks,” he says. “In any case, this was the shortest stop because less than two hours later we were sighted on the other side of the city.” He holds up another flyer.
“Together with Fangmeyer and Wolford,” she adds, scrolling to the relevant section of photos. “Do you have any idea how or why we got there?”
“Not a one,” he sighs. “I’ve heard of those parties from Finnick but have never been to one myself, as far as I can remember.”
“It looks pretty,” she says, looking at the huge fire around which various mammals were dancing. “And it certainly explains the sand in our clothes.”
“Unfortunately, it’s also a much smaller event.”
“Barely a hundred mammals,” she deadpans.
“Right. While there are some very shaky photos of us dancing-”
“Look at you go, Wilde.”
“- there’s a lot that could have happened there. We just don’t know.”
She looks over the photos again, trying to disprove his hypothesis. “Well, it’s pretty open terrain, right? So, y’know, it’s not like we could have gotten some actual privacy there.” She sees him flinch, just a little bit. It isn’t a topic that he is as comfortable with as her. Different upbringing and all, is what she’s guessing.
“I guess you’re right,” he finally says.
“Which brings us to the forth station of last night.” The one she’s been dreading.
“Tundra Town,” he confirms and grabs the morning paper that has their faces on the front page. “Didn’t see that one coming. Look, it’s Kevin! I thought Raymond was making things up. How did we end up partying with those guys?”
“I have no idea, Nick. But just read the article. It has interviews with a few mammals who were present and one of them even mentions ‘unnatural behavior’ and-” She stops as he puts a finger on her muzzle without looking up.
“It says here you took down a polar bear to defend me, Carrots.” He looks up. “Thank you!”
She’s just shaking her head, hoping he’ll get serious again soon. “I don’t remember anything.”
“There’s usually a lot of roughhousing with those fellas. And equal amounts of vodka. I can just imagine it: a lot of Mr. Big’s men are still pissed at me switching teams. Could have been Kevin who made some drunken remarks about that and I know how you get when somebody does that.” He smirks as if everything would be solved already.
“Nick, but that interview!”
“Oh, ‘Alistair W.’ made those remarks. Judy, he’s more specicist than even your grand uncle from what you’ve told me. Us sitting there in that blanket is more than enough for him to start spewing that unnatural fraternization crap. He wouldn’t be happy if we sat next to each other and left an arm’s length of space.”
“Oh, okay.”
“I can only guess why we’re sitting wrapped up like that, but if any earlier photos are an indication, then we both weren’t dressed for Tundra Town that night.”
“No, I guess we weren’t,” she agrees, looking over at their piles of clothes.
A moment of silence as they both gather their thoughts.
“Huh,” he says. “So, that’s it, then?”
The realization slowly dawns in her as well. “Apparently that’s it. One train-ride home – traffic cams confirm that – and then we just fell asleep, which, after nearly eight hours, I can believe.”
“Yeah, I’m surprised we made it home after all that.” He let’s out a long breath. “No other theories open?”
“Can’t think of any.”
“After all this worry and excitement,” he says, shaking his head. “It’s almost…”
Judy has seen a lot of Nick’s mask over the last year. It’s just his default expression even if he’s been dropping it more and more when they are alone and he thinks she isn’t watching him. Or, in very rare instances, when a genuine emotion surprises him. She’s made a little game out of it, just for herself, to catch those moments, catch more glimpses of the fox behind the mask. And today she is rewarded once more when, between relief and the practiced relaxation, she spots something else. She might not even be able to name it, was it not resonating within her that very moment.
“Disappointing,” she mouths, completely taken aback. She should be feeling relief – and she does! – and yet…
Nick looks just as surprised as her. “Yeah,” he chuckles nervously, not yet realizing that it was her who said it out loud, not him. “Crazy, isn’t-mmmmpf!”
He doesn’t get further when she tackles him and presses her muzzle to his, aggressively, because when Judy Hopps is unsure she glosses over it with even more determination. For a moment, Nick stiffens, but before uncertainty can overwhelm her to the point of breaking away, she feels his arms on her back, pulling her closer.
For moments or minutes – she can’t tell anymore – they are locked in the dance of their tongues, his canine one being just as intoxicating up close as it had looked from afar. Not that she’s ever imagined doing this with her best friend, no! But she can’t help but look sometimes, when he licks his chops. And maybe she’s looked up some things online.
They breathlessly break apart again.
“Right,” Nick says, fixing her with a grin, “I forgot you can’t let disappointment stand for long.”
“And neither should you,” she purred, still feeling all tingly. “Can’t tell me you weren’t every bit as enthusiastic here.”
“Oh, but I am used to a life of disappointment,” he smirks. “I’m just following your lead.; your very… infectious lead.”
She has a most unwelcome thought intrude on her. “Nick?”
He looks up at her in alarm. “What is it?”
“You could still get fired for this. You’re still my trainee at the ZPD.”
“You know I never was one for following the rules, Fluff.”
“You sure about that? I’d really hate to-”
“Hey, if you want this, too, I think it’s easily worth keeping a little secret.”
Her resistance crumbles all too willingly so she reaches up to stroke his long chin. “You got me there.”
She feels his eyes darting over her body and it sends a pleasant shiver down her spine so she decides to stop playing around and pushes him down on his back. “When I’m through with you, you won’t even be able to spell disappointment.” It sounds over the top even to her own ears, but it has the desired effect. His eyes grow wide for a moment before he can get his smirk back on. “You might be in it over your head for once, Cottontail. An old cynic like me isn’t dislodged easy-mmmph.”
She shuts him up with another kiss and then nearly forgets what her hands are doing, namely opening his shirt buttons. Eventually she has to break away to look down.
“Need help?” he teases.
“You worry about your own hands, Mister,” she says, pushing her butt back against them. He takes it to heart and let’s one paw wander upwards, slipping under her shirt, the coarse paw pads dragging tantalizingly over her teats. It makes her own paw clench so hard she accidentally pops the last shirt button clean off. “Oh my goodness, yes.”
“Just as soft,” he murmurs, dragging his muzzle over her neck.
‘As what’ she wants to ask, but the sensation of his hot breath seems to steal the words right from her mouth. She reaches up to bury her hands in his neck, wanting to burrow herself fully in his luxurious chest fur, but – “Shirt,” she manages to get out, panting.
He obligingly pulls it off her and then there’s finally nothing between them that could dull the fantastic friction of his fur against her own as she rubs her chest against him. Nick let’s out a deep, satisfied growl, one that vibrates right through her body and makes her neck-fur stand up. “Ohhh, I haven’t heard that one since we hunted down that serial arsonist,” she says.
“I don’t get that excited every week,” he says, also panting. “Gods above, Fluff, the things you do to me.” He’s dragging his tongue up the side of her neck, causing her to meep in surprise.
“Want me to stop?” she teases, halting her full-body massage for a moment.
“Don’t even joke about that,” he breaths, dragging a set of claws tenderly down her spine.
Judy wouldn’t believe she can have such a strong reaction on him and seeing it now, she revels in it, drinks it in, together with his delicious musky scent and the careful attention of his paws. She absolutely needs him to feel just as taken care of, and luckily she has some tricks up her sleeve. Bit by bit, she wriggles upwards until she is nestled snugly under his chin, then reaches up to scratch the base of his ears. “How’s this?”
A stifled moan escapes him. “Whoever- taught you that…?”
“I looked it up, dummy.”
“Hrmmmm, Judy, that almost makes it sound like you planned this.” His paws are getting bolder, teasing her lower belly and the insides of her thighs, making her insides squirm in anticipation.
She lets out a shaky laugh. “I wish I could say that. But no, that was just curiosity after seeing you scratch yourself when you thought nobody was-” her breath hitches as one paw grazes her outer folds through the thin legging. “-looking. Take them off already,” she breaths into his ear.
“My, aren’t you an eager bunny today,” he says. “Not unlike that one time I dragged you to the Mystic Springs Oasis.” One deft pull and her leggings and panties were gone.
“That was just for show and we both know it,” she laughs.
“And what an amazing show it was. I enjoyed every second of it.”
She softly smacks him upside the head, then pulls his muzzle down into a kiss while grinding her hips against his chest. The sensation is spurring her on to even greater haste, her core burning with need now.
Nick must have picked up on that because he unceremoniously grabs her with both paws – large enough to engulf her entire chest – and lifts her until her back is pressed against the high backrest of the couch. With a mischievous glint in his eyes he leans forward until his head is between her knees and his muzzle snugly between her legs.
His breath feels even hotter against her crotch and without seemingly conscious thought her legs cross behind his head, drawing him in even more. He breaths deeply in and out a few more times while rolling his eyes to show his pleasure.
“Like the smell of bunny, huh?” she manages to quip. His answer consists only of a short, single lick but she can barely stifle a cry and for a moment forgets about wanting to keep in control. “Oh, please! Stop teasing, Nick!”
Nick obliges her then, lapping at her outside and inside, each lick sending waves of delight through her whole body. He manages to get a little deeper each time until her paws are clawing into the upholstery and her leg muscles are contracting unwillingly. He manages to roll with it, opening his long muzzle wide enough to envelop her whole crotch, sending his tongue even deeper. The pleasure inside her is mounting so fast, she’s sure she forgets to breathe for a moment. His sharp teeth on her belly are the last straw, making her sensitive nerves scream in delight. The orgasm is tearing through her so fast she seizes up for a moment, her world shrunk down to her body, Nick’s teeth and tongue and the rough linen under her back, each sensation burning itself into her mind under her overworked senses.
When she manages to look down again, his head is resting fully on her belly, adorned by a grin that is half smug and half adoring. Half of her body’s muscles aren’t obeying her yet, so she settles for petting his ears. “That- that was cheating.”
“You expect something else from an old hustler?”
“Just… gimme a second.” She hopes that’ll be enough. “I- I may have been a bit pent up.”
“A bit, huh,” he echoes with an easy smirk. “Last time you looked this out of it was after we tried that super-spicy food at Bhen’gal’s grill.”
“You remember that?”
“It’s only been a few months.”
“C’mon, fox, I’m not done with you, yet,” she says, pushing herself off the upholstery and down into his lap. “But we’ll need to get rid of those first.” She wiggles around on the bulge of his pants and – oh, it’s looking big already.
“You sure you wanna go there, Fluff?” he asks, clutching her to his chest as he stands up. “I may be a bit larger than your average bunny.”
She rubs her chin all over his neck fur in an almost possessive gesture. “Only one one way to find out, Slick.”
He’s opening his belt with one paw and she helps him slide down the pants with her feet. His broad paws are massaging her back as he sits down again and she realizes he’ll keep pampering her unless she takes the reigns. He can be just a bit too selfless at times – which only spurs her on even more to make him happy.
Pushing away from his chest, she sits down in front of his foxhood. It did indeed not need coaxing out of his sheath anymore, and up close it’s looking even bigger than this morning, the tip reaching up to her ribs as she is sitting on his legs. But Judy has never been one to get intimidated by daunting tasks and she sure as hell isn’t going to start now when she needs to take care of her fox. So she starts with her paws, gripping him softly and running them up and down his length, cradling the inflated knot when she reaches it. The look she gets from him, so warm and relaxed and with a bit of reverence, tells her she must be doing something right.
But she’s not going to settle for less than giving it her best. “Time we found out how deep the rabbit-hole goes,” she says and stands up, pulling his muzzle down for a kiss and holding it while she slowly lowers herself down onto him. She has to wiggle a bit to line herself up, eliciting a growl from Nick that sounds half feral, one that gets only louder as she starts sliding him inside.
Then she has to pause again as she gets stretched quite quickly but also to savor the warm, full feeling of Nick inside her. The fox is at a lack for words, quietly panting and caressing the base of her ears.
“You okay there, big guy?” she asks with a smirk and wiggles her hips to get a bit further down.
He makes a noise like being strangled. “Damn, Judy! It’s- oh gods, this is too hot.”
“Oh? And what if I do this,” she says mischievously and clenches around him. He yips in surprise, and the instinctual response of rolling his hips forward surprises both of them. Suddenly she’s in it a bit deeper than expected, stretched beyond the comfort level and shooting waves of pleasure and pain through her frayed nerve endings. Her cry is testing how sound-proof the walls really are.
“Shit, you alright?” he says, quickly keeping her steady her with both paws.
She’s nodding quickly, just as reflexively trying to assuage his concern though she’s still not done seeing stars. “It’s fine; just going to pause here for a second.” When she gets over the initial sensation of getting torn apart, the feeling of being locked together is more intense and better than ever. “Wow, I think I can feel your heartbeat.”
He pants and brings a thumb around to tease her belly until he’s dragging his coarse pad over her clit. She whimpers, clutching her hands into his chest fur to hold on for her dear life, trying hard to stay relaxed and not inadvertently clenching around him again. Moving with his rhythm, she begins rolling her hips back and forth, feeling him poke her in places she didn’t know exist, while feeling his muzzle on one of her ears, the teeth adding another sensation to the cascade of pleasure inside her.
When he drags his rough tongue alongside the inside of her ear she can’t help but giggle.
“Tickles?” he breaths impishly.
“Very. There’s better uses for that tongue,” she counters, tilting her head up to show him how.
Then, emboldened by the lack of pain, she wiggles her hips some more to get him in deeper, slowly, because he is still getting wider. The renewed intensity has her breathing quickly again and then, finally, she feels his knot pushing against her. She doesn’t need to look down to tell it isn’t going to fit, not here and now and without any lube. But that’s okay because she figures she can bring her thighs together a bit and massage him like that. He yips in surprise and presses a bit harder against her belly until she’s seeing stars and her hips move on their own again, grinding against him. She can even smell his excitement around him now, adding an extra tang to the musk, spurring her on even more.
Nick is almost curling around her now, one paw massaging where they are joined, the other teasing her teats again, sending wave after wave of pleasure crashing over her until her breath hitches, her legs stiffen and she moans into his chest, shaking softly.
“Oh, fuck, I felt that, too,” he breaths into her ear and holds her steady as the orgasm rolls through her.
She tilts her head up and pushes another needy kiss on him. “Go on. I can feel you want to.”
His breath is as ragged as hers now. “So badly, Judy, you have no idea.” With one paw on her butt and one against her cheek, he slowly lifts her up a bit. The friction is driving her crazy and she can’t wait to be lowered again, but Nick is going slow and deliberately, rising just a bit to meet her each time, driving a little deeper with each thrust until she feels like she can’t possibly take in any more.
“Judy,” he murmurs, over and over, tilting her head up so he can press a deep kiss on her, holding her there, while his hips do the work. She is lost in his embrace, barely managing to snake her arms up around his head while he drives into her, swapping breaths with her until she doesn’t know where she ends and he begins. His warmth, around and inside her, his familiar scent, his paws all over her, all fanning the fire of her need.
She feels when he’s losing his rhythm, his claws digging into her fur and his motions becoming short and one-sided, only trying to push deeper into her while he’s curling around her body. He’s shuddering, inside and around her, her own body following suit, like an extension of him. Warmth is filling her world, as she can’t help but tighten around him, her nerves frizzing as if hit by a low-voltage taser and she collapses against him with a soundless whimper.
They stay like this until he manages to slump to the side, dragging her along and on top of him and then settling his tail over them. She nuzzles into his chest, using the sound and feel of his heartbeat as her anchor in reality.
Once she can grasp a coherent thought again, she realizes he’s absently licking her head, grooming her. The thought makes her giggle, a tiny motion, yet one that resonates through both of them. He pauses his grooming. “You still here, Fluff?” She hums, more content than she can ever remember feeling and takes a deep breath, the fox musk now mingling with the smells of their love-making, creating a new, comforting aroma, one she wants to commit to memory with the rest of the night.
Nick’s thoughts must have taken similar routes. “So, I’d say this is mission accomplished.”
She cranes her neck to look up at him, curious. “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m pretty sure I won't forget about this night any time soon,” he smirks, tracing her spine lazily with a paw in a way that makes her toes curl.
She smiles, for once not knowing how to say everything she wants to say. But that’s okay, she figures. They’ll have time for that. Instead she presses a quick kiss on his muzzle. “Here’s to making memories.”
The light, content sound he makes sounds somewhere between a growl and a purr and she wants to hear it every day from now on. “To making many more.”