The sky was cloudy and a few lonely raindrops hit the windshield. Judy couldn't keep herself from smiling as she breathed in the smell of rain and manure that filled the car. It was a smell she knew well. It smelt like home. On the radio a familiar guitar riff started playing.

"Oh, I love this song!" she exclaimed and raised the volume.

Nick scoffed. He had been looking out at the passing fields for several minutes, apparently not minding the strong wind on his face from the half-open window.

"You love all these hillbilly songs," he said. "We've been listening to this podunk pop for like an hour. I think it's time to change the station."

"You ain't in Zootopia anymore, city boy!" Judy said cheerfully as she patted the steering wheel in time with the music. "Country music is what the radio has to offer out here."

"Then here's an idea: how about we listen to some silence?"

"Well, aren't you grumpy. Still sad because that waitress wouldn't give you her number back there?"

Nick looked back at her with a look somewhere between offended and mortified. It was probably staged but she wasn't completely sure.

"Are you insinuating that I was flirting?" he exclaimed, a paw to his chest. "At some diner in the middle of nowhere? And more importantly: that I'm sulking?"

"Yes, yes and yes."

"I'm going to sulk even more now for that remark!"

"That's okay. You're adorable when you're grumpy."

"Now that just defeats the whole purpose."

Judy giggled and gave him the lightest of punches in the arm without taking her eyes off the road.

"Hang in there, city boy. Just half an hour left till we get to Bunnyburrow."

"Mademoiselle, that's almost 2000 seconds of empty fields, podunk pop and the smell of poo. You think I can make it?"

Judy rolled her eyes and decided to not explain the finer details of manure.

"You know, I think you secretly looove this 'podunk pop' as you like to call it," she said. "I think it's your guilty pleasure. But you believe you have to diss it to appear cool. Cool Nick can't listen to dorky music from the countryside, now can he? No, sir."

"I'm a grown fox in my thirties, Carrots. Do you really think I'd care about that?"

"Do I think you want to maintain your cool city slicker image? Yes. Yes, I do."

"Pah! Maybe I just have a more refined taste in music than you, my young friend."

"Whatever, you know you love it," she said with a wicked smile and turned up the volume even more.

"Do I know that? No. No, I-"

"Country roooadds…!" Judy sang along with the radio, staring at Nick with a huge grin.

"Oh come on…"

"Take me home…!" she bellowed to drown out any protests.

Nick groaned but couldn't hide a small smile. Judy wiggled her eyebrows at him as she kept on singing at the top of her lungs. Nick rolled his eyes back at her but couldn't hold back a laugh now.

"Oh, fine," he sighed, still smiling.

"...Bunnyburrow!" they sang together. "Mountain mama…"

They kept singing all the way to the last refrain before Judy let out an excited squeal.

"You know the lyrics!" she exclaimed, totally forgetting to put any smugness in her tone.

"Doesn't mean I like it."

"Maybe not... but I bet you do!"

"...Sometimes."

"I knew it!" Judy pumped her fist in triumph.

"Even so, it still gets kind of annoying after an hour, you know."

"Whatever you say, my country-lovin' hillbilly."

"Well, aren't you suddenly smug."

Judy snickered before she gave him a smile.

"No, just happy." she said. "I will treasure the memory of our country-singing forever."

"In secret, I hope. Don't forget, I apparently have a cool image to uphold."

"Of course. Seriously, though, shall we turn off the radio? I don't mind the silence if you mind the music."

"Nah, it's okay," he said even as he turned down the volume when the next song came on. "I'm just being sour because I haven't had my caffeine-kick yet. And I know I've said this several times now, but what kind of diner doesn't have coffee?!"

He emphasized every word of the question as he stabbed the air with his paw in frustration.

"Nice waitresses though…" Judy mumbled with a slight blush.

"Yeah…" Nick smiled at the memory. "Though let me tell you, if I actually had that waitresses' number, I would still happily trade it for a cup of coffee right now."

Judy laughed out loud.

"You sure know how to make the ladies feel special, Wilde," she said. "When we get to Bunnyburrow, I'll buy you a huge coffee and a muffin as thanks for coming along on this trip. How does that sound?"

"Almost like heaven, Carrots." Nick answered, making Judy smirk.

"You know, maybe this music is like coffee," Nick said after a moment of silence.

Judy blinked, not prepared for this unexpected comment.

"Like coffee? Because it gives me too much energy and you can't handle it?"

Nick snickered.

"That too, I guess. But no. I used to hate coffee, believe it or not.

"Say whaaaaat?"

"Oh, yes. It took years before I learned to love that sweet, bitter taste. And at first I only liked it because I associated it with hanging out with people I liked. Mom always assumed I liked coffee for example."

Judy's ears involuntarily jumped up at the mention of Nick's mother. Nick chuckled to himself, likely to the memory of many unwanted cups of coffee.

"Power of association, you know" he continued. "Drinking coffee while being happy together with someone I cared about and all that. So I guess the smell of good coffee is still the smell of good memories to me. So hey, keep this up and I might go through the same journey with country music."

He added the last part with a shrug as he leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Judy looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"That… was in a roundabout way one of the sweetest things I have ever heard you say."

Nick laughed and bumped his paw against her shoulder.

"Sentimental bunny," he mumbled.

"Yeah, love you too, sentimental fox."

Nick chuckled and gave her a thumbs up without opening his eyes.

They fell into a comfortable silence after that. Nick had closed the window as the rain was getting more intense. In the distance, they could already see Bunnyburrow. Nick opened his mouth in a huge yawn. Another familiar country song was playing on the radio. Judy took a deep breath of the smell of home and smiled to herself.

Welcome to this hodgepodge of one-shots! Hope you enjoy them and feel free to tell me what you think. So far, they are all stand-alone stories, so you can read this collection in whatever order you like. If you feel like reading in an in-universe chronological order, you can read the chapters in this order: 9, 3, 2, 7, 1, 6, 10, 8, 4, 5.

I don't know why my brain conjured up the image of Judy and Nick singing Take Me Home, Country Roads together. But I decided to write it down, and suddenly there was all this stuff about smells, memories, friendship and coffee there too.

So apparently the Zootopian equivalent of John Denver thinks Bunnyburrow is almost heaven, rather than West Virginia. And I'm disappointed that Podunk pop apparently isn't an expression in real life.