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It was just another regular day at the precinct. It was lunch time, and he and Judy were walking leisurely towards the entrance. She was walking backwards while chatting him up about something that happened the other day at her apartment complex, but he wasn’t paying attention to the story itself. He was listening attentively, though, to her voice; she could talk all day about nonsense and he would listen.
The moment they reached the reception, he saw out of the corner of his eye that Clawhauser was talking with somebody. That somebody looking remarkably like a fox, but he didn’t care. That is, until the animal turned towards them and exclaimed:
“Judy Hopps! What a sight for sore eyes!” He claimed with a thick country accent, at which his partner perked her ears to attention and her nose wiggled in recognition. She turned immediately.
“Gideon!” She all but hopped her way to the other fox —he could see it clearly now, it was indeed a fox— and stopped just short of tackling him. Instead, she beamed up at him. “What are you doing here? In Zootopia, I mean.”
“Just delivering some orders and thought to visit ya. Hope it’s not a bad moment?” He smiled shyly at her. She punched his stomach softly, a friendly gesture.
“Of course not. It’d be great if you called in advance next time, though.” She was all smiles and Nick was starting to get annoyed.
He finally reached them and cleared his throat, as if asking for attention.
“Oh! Right, I’ll introduce you. Gideon, this is Nick Wilde. My partner.” He couldn’t help the smug look that appeared on his face. “Nick, this is Gideon Gray. My, uh…” She hesitated. “Childhood friend?”
“No need to cover up for me, Judy. I-I know I was a jerk.” Gideon corrected her, then looked at Nick. “I used to be a bully, you see. Harassed the heck out of little Judy and her friends. Even scratched her once.” He looked deeply apologetic.
So that explains a lot.
Judy punched him softly again. “Now, don’t dwell on that. It’s in the past.” Then she smiled. “No hard feelings.” She said and to his annoyance, the other fox looked relieved. Grateful, even.
“Anyways, pleasure to meet you, Nick.” He extended his paw towards him. He grabbed it with a little too much force.
“Likewise.” His forced smile looked like he was about to murder someone, but he couldn’t be bothered to fix it.
The atmosphere was getting awkward and everyone noticed. Even Clawhauser, who was silently sipping at his soda looking entirely like he was watching a movie.
Nick finally released the other fox’s paw, who was smiling awkwardly. Judy was the first to speak.
“Wow, look at that. Lunch time’s almost over.” She looked at her nonexistent wrist watch. “Sorry, Gideon, we have to grab something before it ends.” She smiled apologetically. “It was great to see you, thanks for visiting.”
“Judy, wait.” He reached for the bag he was carrying. “I got you something.” From the bag, he pulled out what looked like a freshly baked pie. “It’s blueberry pie, your favorite.” He declared proudly, handing it over.
It isn’t, Nick noted. But kept his mouth shut.
“Aw, thanks, Gideon!” She received the pie, and almost immediately jumped to give the other fox a quick peck on the cheek.
This time, Nick actually growled, ears flat against his head. The other fox backed away.
“Haha, I should get going.” He declared nervously. “Bye Judy, bye Nick.” He waved at them and then at Clawhauser, who waved back. Immediately after, he turned tail and left quickly.
Nick was still glaring in his direction when Judy punched him on the arm, hard. “What was that?!”
“What?”
“That. You growled at him.” He acted like he didn’t do anything and turned back to their office. “Nick! I’m not asking you to be friends with all my acquaintances, but at least try not to scare them off.” She followed him, pie in hand. Looked like that would be their lunch, though Nick really didn’t feel like eating blueberries now.
Clawhauser looked at them from his seat, head resting in his paws and sighing dreamily. Anytime now.