While Miss Hufflethump was the living embodiment of a Sunday nap, Nick and Judy's new instructor was a holiday firecracker. Everything about her was spritely, energetic, and intense. While Nick had been impressed with Judy's tenacity in comparison to her size, this new instructor was even smaller and yet somehow scarier.

The lamb had arrived a week or two ago, riding in on a fancy carriage from Savannah Centre. Nick had already visited the Zootopian capital for his university studies, but for the rest of Judy's siblings, including Judy herself, the fact that they were going to have someone from so far away staying in their home was very exciting.

Miss Bellwether was a lamb who made up for her lack of height with her loud laugh and endless eccentricities. She wore glasses, like Hufflethump, but hers were much larger and made her eyes looks that much more magnified. She was going to be their new 'public relations assistant', something that honestly made sense to Nick, since he was sure the only public interactions Miss Hufflethump had was snapping at Nick and Judy about salad forks and soup spoons.

"It's all about image!" Bellwether would always say, a determined glint in her eye. "We have to make sure your image is perfect!"

"What else is new?" Nick would mutter to Judy, and she'd smile politely.

Today was no different. It was a crisp September afternoon, the kind when the air was fresh and clean and smelt of apple trees. Most of Judy's younger siblings had returned to school, making the house slightly quieter, for which Nick was grateful. Lately, the littlest ones had taken to following him around, begging him to give them piggy-back rides or play with his tail. It was like dealing with baby Judy all over again, only this time it was worse, because there was like, 20 billion of 'em.

The three (Nick, Judy, and Bellwether), were seated in 3 chairs on the manor's veranda. The fall breeze wafted over Nick's fur as he sat back in his chair, sipping some carroty punch drink and mulling an ice cube around inside his mouth. Judy was seated in a chair beside him, posture straight and stiff.

Ever since the…er…pie incident (something neither had verbally acknowledged since it happened), Nick couldn't help but notice she'd been extra suck-up-y. She had her corset on every day (he could see her itching at it, no matter how proper she was trying to be), she always said her 'please' and 'thank-you's,' and didn't so much as raise a complaint about anything at all.

It was becoming more and more frustrating, to say the least. Nick missed his Carrots, even if he'd only seen her for what felt like mere moments. He missed the bunny that'd giggled at his jokes, the bunny that'd climbed mountains with him, the bunny that he'd danced with…

She was a people-pleaser, and right now, she was trying to please her parents, even if it went against the fabric of her very being. It wasn't fair, Nick grumbled, chewing on the ice cube, They should listen to her, or at least cut her some slack.

He glanced over at the bunny beside him, but she didn't return his glance. She was entirely focused on Bellwether, who was currently chattering away in her chair across from theirs.

"Anyway, what was I saying?" Bellwether paused, furrowed her brow. "Oh! Right! So, your parents want to make sure the public doesn't regret this whole Unity Proclamation business. It's really important that the preds don't see this as some big joke, so, basically, no more public puking, okay?"

She laughed at this, her voice high and straining and sounding like it might crack, but it never did. Judy sat there, shifting uncomfortably and offering only a small, forced laugh.

"So, uh," Nick said quickly, trying to change the subject, "What's the plan here? I mean, what do we have to do to make sure mammals know we're serious?"

"Right," Bellwether replied, wiping tears from her eyes as her bleating laughter died down, "So, we're going to be having a little tour!"

Judy hesitated. "A tour?"

"Yes, Judy, a tour. I'm gonna be carting you two little lovebirds to every district in the land! That'll give you a chance to be shown off to the public, in a controlled sort of way. We'll show you off, kiss some babies, and most importantly, show everyone that preds and prey can live in harmony, fall in love, sing kumbaya, you get the gist."

Nick saw Judy's eyes gleam at this. "So…I'll get to see the other parts of Zootopia?" She asked.

"Yes. That's exactly what I just said. You're gonna have to keep up here, Judy. Anyway, before that, I'm going to spend every minute until we leave making sure that you two are completely and absolutely ready to meet and greet!"

Nick eyed her. "What does that mean, exactly?"

"It means you two are going to be the talk of all of Zootopia. We're talking like, the biggest wedding ceremony since King Lionheart III married his second cousin."

"That was like, 100 years ago…" Nick muttered.

If Bellwether had heard him, she didn't pay it any attention. "Anywho," she continued, "We're gonna have to make sure you two are picture-perfect! The dream couple! Honeymooners! Soulmates!"

Nick and Judy exchanged quick glances. Nick wondered if Judy was feeling as weirded out as he was. Sure, he liked Judy and all, as a friend, but soulmates? That seemed a little extreme.

"Are we sure this is even going to work?" Nick asked, leaning forward, "I mean, are people really gonna buy that we fell in love with each other? Everyone knows we were arranged to be together."

"Listen, foxy," Bellwether said, rubbing at her temples slightly, "Your parents aren't paying me to have decisions on politics. I'm just here to polish you up and make sure everything looks nice and shiny and romantic."

Nick shrugged and sat back in his chair. "Fine."

"And the first way I'm going to do this is by making sure that you two look professional. Nick, sit up and spit that ice cube out. You look ridiculous. Judy, smile. You look dead."

Both Nick and Judy adjusted themselves, looking slightly startled to be called out.

"Now, do you love each other?"

Nick was happy that he'd ditched the ice cube like he'd been told, because he was pretty sure he would have choked on it. "W-what?"

"You're supposed to be in love!" Bellwether sighed, looking up to the roof of the white veranda. "That's the entire point of the whole thing."

Judy's cheeks were flushed pink. "We are," she answered dutifully, "I mean…I guess…"

"Yeah," Nick added. "We're…ah…crazy about each other."

Bellwether's expression was flat. "Wow. I totally believe you guys," she said dryly.

Nick and Judy just glanced at each other again, sheepish. "We didn't know it'd be so…involved," Nick replied for the both of them, "We just thought we'd have to get married and it'd be over."

Bellwether laughed again. "Oh, no, no, no. No. You're going to be public figures for the rest of your lives! Every eye will be on you!"

"Oh." Nick swallowed the mounting weight of the whole situation and proceeded onward. "So…how do we make sure that people believe it?"

"By being in love!" Bellwether said simply, "Or at the very least, doing a good job of making everyone believe you are." She glanced between them, scrutinizing their awkward expressions. "Kiss her."

Nick didn't need an ice cube to choke this time, he simply did it on his own tongue.

To quote Judy, sweet cheese and crackers.

Judy's eyes widened as Nick fell into a fit of choking and clearing his throat and coughing nervously. "I don't think that'd really be appropriate," she said quickly.

"Y-yeah!" Nick said hoarsely. "I mean, we can just hold paws or whatever."

"You can hold paws with anyone," Bellwether replied dismissively, "Not someone you've crossed species borders and divisions to fall in love with. If you two can barely be near each other, how do you really expect anyone to believe you're living in romantic harmony?"

"By taking our word for it?" Judy offered weakly.

Bellwether gave her a look.

Nick turned to look at Judy, who was currently looking slightly terrified. "Okay then," Nick said, taking a steadying breath, "We'll just…do that then."

Judy blinked at him, and he could hear her sharp intake of breath as he swiftly leaned over his chair and pressed a kiss to her cheek, right where her gray fur met the ring of white around her mouth. There. The world, as far as he could tell, had not ended. "Mwah," Nick added half-heartedly, trying to make Judy smile. It worked, kind of. He saw the faint flicker of one pass her face as he pulled back, and she brushed her ears behind her head nervously.

"There ya' go," Nick said, turning back to Bellwether. "A kiss."

He was expecting her to congratulate them, or at least give them some kind of pat on the back, but instead, Bellwether looked appalled.

"Are you kidding me?" The lamb cried out, exasperated. "You look like you're wishing your grandmother a Merry Easter. I need to see a real kiss! One that won't cause hundreds of preds to fall asleep and wake up wanting a revolution."

Nick highly doubted that would happen, no matter how good or bad their kiss was. However, at the current moment, Bellwether was staring down at them, nostrils flared, and Nick would be lying if he said he wasn't the least bit scared of her. Like he'd said, for such a small mammal, she was intimidating.

"Sorry," Nick mumbled, feeling a blush start to creep over his cheeks.

"Do it again," Bellwether instructed tiredly.

Nick and Judy locked glances again. "Sure," Nick said, and his voice sounded like it wasn't his own.

Judy just looked at him. Instead of being slumped against her back, her ears were now raised high and alert, and her nose kept twitching. "Yeah," she replied meekly.

The two just looked at each other for a solid 10 seconds or so, both waiting for the other to make a move first. Once more, Nick took it upon himself to finally lean in closer, cheeks burning now. He'd kissed other mammals before (okay, so more like one), but that had just been silly, teenage hormones. This was Judy, someone who he'd grown up with, someone who used to fling mashed carrots at him and chew on his ears. Someone who'd been his close friend, as well as his worst enemy. Someone who embodied a sea of different emotions in his life, a sea he found himself often drifting in.

It's just a kiss, Nick told himself, and with that, carefully placed his mouth over hers.

Their mouths didn't fit together perfectly. Nick had to lower his head downwards to meet her height, and yet tilt it upwards and to the side to make sure his nose didn't bash into hers. Their kiss was stiff, muzzled pressed together just the right amount, but not too much. Not as much as a real, passionate kiss. There weren't any sparks or fireworks or angels singing, or any of that other stuff that was supposed to happen when you kissed your "one true love." Instead, he noticed that she smelt of timothy hay and lavender. How had he never noticed before? Her fur was soft, but not in the annoyingly fluffy way that his was, but in a slick, smoother way.

After what felt like an appropriate amount of time, Nick pulled away. He was thankful for the cool breeze wafting through the air, for he felt like his whole body was flushing hot with embarrassment. He couldn't look at Judy and Judy couldn't look at him.

"How was that?" Nick asked, keeping his gaze firmly directed at the lamb in front of him.

"Better," Bellwether said decisively. "We'll work on it."

Nick never thought he'd miss Hufflethump, but at the current moment, he'd give anything to be in the middle of a salad forks lesson right now.

Dinner had not gone well.

After Bellwether had gone on about how GREAT their lessons had gone (Judy was still unsure of whether she was being sarcastic or not), in vivid detail, her parents and the majority of her siblings had a good laugh at her expense.

"Well, at least it's good to know she listens to you," her father had joked to Bellwether, which had left Judy simply steaming.

Not listen to them!? All Judy ever did WAS listen to them! She married who they wanted her to, she wore what they wanted her to, she followed every rule and speech and dance move and mannerism and fashion style and she always listened to them.

She was gripping the edges of her seat so tightly she thought her paws might fracture. Her heart had sunk and at the same time was pounding fast and hard in her gut. Worst of all, she felt like crying, actually crying, but she wouldn't let herself, she would remain composed, she wasn't going to break down, she wasn't.

"MayIBeExcusedFromTheTable?" She instead said in one breath.

She barely heard her mother's confirmation before getting up and hurrying away from the table. There was a ringing in her ear and she felt exhausted both physically and emotionally. She just wanted to rip her dumb corset off and crawl into bed and take a long nap.

She'd just entered her bedroom and was right about to close the door when a certain fox slipped in behind her.

Judy jumped back, startled. She hadn't even heard him following her. "Nick? Where did you come from?"

"My parents," Nick said dryly, shutting the door behind them, "Are you ok?"

Judy blinked up at him, flustered. This was their first time talking directly to each other since the whole kissing thing earlier, an event she still wasn't completely over yet. "What do you mean?" She said thickly.

"You were clearly upset," Nick shrugged. He sauntered past her and flopped onto her bed. His brow furrowed as he looked around her bedroom, and even more so as he grabbed one of the many bunny plushes off her bed and examined it.

Judy walked over and sunk onto the bed beside him, making sure to keep a good foot or two of space between them. This caused half of her body to hang off the edge of the bed, but there was no way she was going to get any closer, on her bed of all places.

"So, what's up?" Nick asked, tossing the bunny toy up in the air and catching it. He said it in that casual, nonchalant way of his, like he really didn't care, but Judy could see past that now. He was far more thoughtful than he let on.

"It's nothing," she said quietly. Her gaze was focused upwards as her eyes intently studied the brocade designs molded into the ceiling. "I'm just tired."

Nick rolled over onto his side so that he was looking at her. "I know that's not true," he said in a high pitched voice, moving the stuffed bunny's head as if it was talking. "Tell me the truuuuuuth Juuuuuudy."

"Sweet cheese and crackers!" Judy flushed and rolled her eyes at him. "Are you drunk?"

"Please," Nick snorted, setting the plush down, "The only alcohol you guys have around here is carrot wine, which, by the way, is disgusting."

"We have more," Judy said defensively, thinking back to the family's wine cellar. It was in an actual bunny burrow, in the basement under the manor.

"Where?"

"I'm not telling you," Judy said with a small smile, "If this is how you act sober," — she motioned to the bunny plush — "I don't want to see you drunk."

"Carrots," Nick whined, giving her a puppy dog pout, "You're a jerk."

Judy gave him a wry smile and looked away again, eyes returning to the ceiling. "So I've heard."

"No matter," Nick said confidently, "We foxes have excellent senses of smell. I'll find it eventually. But stop deflecting, I know that something's up with you. Your little bunny foot wouldn't stop doing the thumping thing during dinner."

Judy shrugged. She could feel that ringing in her ear again, and her eyes were starting to sting. "I told you, I'm fine," she said, and her voice came out so strong and reassured she almost believed it herself.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong!"

"Is this about earlier? With the—" he paused, "kiss?"

Judy blushed. "No."

"Tell what is it?"

"Nothing!"

"So, by nothing you really mean something."

"No! Why do you keep asking?"

"Because I want an answer I'll actually believe?"

Judy cringed, ears stiffening. "Fine then! I'll act for you too, then! I'll tell you I'm fine and pretend to be so until you believe it! Is that better?"

Nick was silent, frowning. His gaze scrutinized her, pierced her. Had she hurt his feelings? Was he angry with her?

"I'm sorry," Judy said timidly, lowering her gaze. "I-I shouldn't have snapped at you. I'm just…I'm so tired of pretending."

Nick continued to say nothing. Judy thought she'd gotten to know the fox so well, but now she couldn't read him at all. She didn't know what to do and she was just so tired and she wanted life to be simple.

"Please say something," she pleaded, hating the silence. "I'm really sorry."

"It's just…" Nick began, running his claw across her bedspread idly, "I notice things. And no offense, Carrots, but your parents are kinda terrible sometimes."

Judy froze. Her mouth fell open helplessly, unsure of whether to be angry or defensive or in agreement with him. "What?"

"It's just — they never seem to listen to you!" He explained, "And they get mad at you about dumb stuff, like getting sick. You never get to do what you want to do. And your idea of rebelling is just forcing yourself to be happy about doing whatever is that they want you to do!"

"That's not true," Judy replied quietly, though even as the words left her mouth, she knew they weren't true.

"You know I'm right," Nick said, giving her a stern look. "They should listen to you. Especially your mom."

Judy looked away from him, heart torn. The teenage, hormonal side of her wanted to snap back, to disagree, to defend.

But…

Were her parents really that bad? She loved them, always would, but thinking back…

You're a lady! And you're too flighty for your own good! I know you're not happy about the situation, but—

Where are your manners, Judith? Your ladylikeness? All those lessons with Miss Hufflethump and with your tutors! Did they mean anything to you?

Do you think he'd want a wife who'd be running around town at night, acting foolishly?

Well, at least it's good to know she listens to you.

"They've never been proud of me," Judy mumbled, still not looking at Nick. "At least, they've never told me they were. I doubt they are."

"I think they're proud of you," Nick said hesitantly, "I think they're just too hard on you, is all."

"No," Judy shook her head, "They're not." As she continued speaking, her words came out more strained, broken-sounding. Pathetic. She felt herself holding back a lump in her throat, suppressing all the hurt, frustrated feelings that she'd been holding back for years. Before she could even fully think about it, more words came spilling from her mouth, rushing, rapid, relentless.

"A while back, when you were still away, I really wanted to be a constable," she said hurriedly, speaking quickly as if to get it all out before she lost her nerve. "I know it probably sounds stupid, but some of my brothers and cousins are, and I just thought it'd be really nice, you know? To actively help mammals and make a difference. I practiced and I studied for months and months, and I wanted it so badly, but my parents said no. They said it wasn't ladylike. Like, all I can ever do is embarrass them. I'm an embarrassment."

Judy's gut clenched as she crumpled and cracked, finally breaking down into tears. She curled into a small ball as a catastrophe of different emotions engulfed her. On the one hand, it felt relieving to get all these suppressed emotions off her chest, to finally say what she was really feeling. But on the other hand, the minute she'd thrown all these buried emotions off her conscience, the weight of it all fell tumbling down, crushing and overwhelming her.

She cried and she sniffled and she wept, feeling embarrassed and ashamed.

Goodness, she couldn't believe that she was crying in front of Nick, but she couldn't stop. It felt so good to just get it all out of her, right down to every last hiccuping sob.

There was a rustle of her bedspread as she heard Nick swear under his breath. Before she could so much as blink, with one jerking movement the fox had pulled her head in against his chest and wrapped his arm around her waist. Her ears smushed against his torso, and she felt her body begin to reverberate with the steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

Her cries died down to sniffling whimpers as her nose was filled with the scents of violet musk and spice. It wasn't until now that Judy was suddenly and abruptly aware of just how different she and Nick were, species-wise. Nick was big. He took up the majority of the length of her bed (though to be fair, her bed was designed for bunnies), and even with her head nestled right under his muzzle, her feet barely met his.

And yet…

This felt even better than their kiss. Their kiss had been awkward, forced, uncomfortable. This was soft, soothing, warm. Nick holding her like this wasn't something done to please someone or to practice a charade. It was real.

"If it means anything to you," Nick said slowly, "I'm proud of you."

"For what?" Judy hiccuped, voice sounding muffled.

"Because you're a good mammal. You're really nice and thoughtful and…good. You care about things. Real things. And you want to help others."

Judy sniffed, burrowing her face closer to his chest. His heart was still beating slow and steady into her ear, one beat, two beat, three. "Thank you," she whispered.

"On the other paw, I can't really disagree with the annoying thing though," Nick said, and Judy could practically hear the smirk he probably had on his face. "I have several witnesses who will testify to you pouring salt in their tea, or destroying their carrot cakes."

Judy snorted, and hiccuped, and her hiccups turned into giggles, and her giggles into laughs. "Shut up," she mumbled, face still nestled in his torso.

Nick chuckled before falling silent, though this time it wasn't as tortuous as the last time. "We'll figure this out," he said after a moment, "It won't be like this forever."

Judy was slightly unsure as to what he meant by 'this.' Her parents judging her? The betrothal? Being forced to do things she didn't want to do?

She thought about questioning him, but at the same time, she was so comfortable right now, and thinking…questioning…just seemed like far too much effort.

Instead, Judy chose to just nod and close her eyes, allowing herself to drift off to the sound of Nick's heartbeat, its rhythm like a lullaby.

One beat, two beat, three…

Ba-dum, ba-dum, ba-dum...

The grandfather clock struck 1 am, echoing throughout the Hopps manor. Nick glanced down, surprised that so much time had passed. His mind felt slightly hazy and he was unsure of whether or not he had drifted off.

Judy had. The little bunny was still curled up against him, fast asleep.

Nick pulled away gently, cradling Judy as if she was made of glass (she wasn't — she was tougher than that, she just didn't know it yet). He pulled back her bed sheets and tucked her under them, smoothing her ears flat against her back. With a small smirk on his face, he slipped the bunny plush he'd been messing around with earlier into her arms, ensuring that'd it be the first thing she'd see when she woke up in the morning.

"Sleep tight, dummy," he whispered, and with that, he quietly exited her room and returned to his.