This story ain't exactly a romance. This story ain't exactly a drama. This story ain't exactly anything. But it is a story.

This is a strange one, people. Strap yourselves in and crank the dial up to 11!

"I DON'T GET IT"
Part 1

By: I Write Big

"This place reeks of wet fur," Nick thought to himself.

Granted, the open air stadium helped alleviate his nose immensely. He couldn't begin to imagine the stench he would be choking on if the Gazelle concert was indoors. With nothing better to do, he decided to observe the mammals dancing around him to the eardrum shattering song. Most were keeping to the beat but others, to Nick's bewilderment, were gyrating far too quickly as if they were at a completely different show. Some seemed to be getting rather intimate which made him raise an eyebrow. He could've sworn this was a song about going out of your safe zone and being adventurous. That could be interpreted as taking a romantic risk, but the upbeat warm tempo lent more towards following your dreams and never giving up.

The fox's musings were interrupted by a swift bump to his side. The culprit was the energetic bunny who had eagerly invited him here tonight as a Police Academy graduation gift. He saw the glint in her eyes and knew she wanted him to move. Nick inwardly sighed.

"Eh, basic festive rhythm. I got this." Nick resorted to his default dance move. A little hip swivel with some arm movement and suddenly he was part of the crowd. Judy seemed happy enough with his efforts and turned her attention back to the stage. Almost immediately, he felt a cramp creep up his leg, which forced him to slow down.

Taking deep breaths, he focused his attention to the stage for something to distract him from the pain. The spinning, pulsating, hypnotic lights were basically a dumbed down laser show. The same 10 second loop kept repeating itself over and over. "Left, right, left, right, spin, spin, up, down, twirl. Boring." His attention lazily drifted to the large tiger background dancers. "Surprised Fluffbutt isn't freaking out about those outfits. They're practically flashing the audience. Pretty sure there are kids here." He decided to give the headliner some attention. "Wow… If I had a girl with those kinda hips..."

He felt Judy tug on his arm. He looked down and was a little confused by the concern she was showing him.

"You okay?" her yell was barely heard over the endless cacophony.

"I'm fine. Why?" he shouted back.

"You stopped dancing," she pointed out.

Nick gritted his teeth and forced a smile, "Don't worry about it. Just a sore muscle." Her gaze hardened.

"Carrots, come on, we don't have to go?" Nick dragged his feet as they exited the stadium. While he was angry at himself for ruining the night for her, he was grateful for the peace and quiet.

"You're obviously not having a good time," she folded her arms.

"I'm having a great time! Let's get back in there before they lock us out. You already bought the tickets."

"For you, Nick, this night is about you." She took out her phone and scrolled through the screen, "Now, I don't care what was going on in there. If it was too crowded, too loud or whatever. We don't need Gazelle to have a good time. The two of us can have our own private concert right here!" The well known opening notes of 'Try Everything' started playing from Judy's phone speakers. She resumed her bouncy dancing and put on the most childish grin. Nick had to stop himself from laughing.

"Show me what you got, Nick."

He uncomfortably stared at her, "Uh..."

"Just you and me," she tried her best to reassure him.

"Excuse me," interrupted a firm voice. A domineering honeybadger in a tight security t-shirt was calling to them from the gates. "You can't do that out here."

"Do what? Dance?" asked Judy.

"Once the gate closes, the parking lot becomes private property," the guy informed with a tired glare. "You wanna party, you need to be indoors until the the show ends."

"Are you serious?!" Judy stepped towards the security guard, "What kind of stupid rule is that?"

Nick calmly took the phone from her paws and stopped the music. "Not a problem, my good mammal, we'll take our fun on the road. You have a nice night," he walked Judy towards the streets.

"The nerve of that guy! Some mammals just aren't happy unless they ruin someone else's day! I swear, if I get parking duty again, I'm gonna track down his car and-"

Nick pressed her phone back into her arms with a sly smile, "Don't say anything that could incriminate yourself, officer." He rubbed her head and stepped onto the street corner, "Don't worry, we can order a Zuber and listen to something on the radio."

"We don't have to call it now!" she desperately searched on her phone. "We could go to a karaoke bar or a jazz club! I heard the record store just got the new Ewe 2 album!"

Nick pinched the fur between his eyes as Judy spiraled into an idea-spewing mess. "Why do all of her suggestions sound the same?"

"Carrots," he put a gentle paw on her shoulder, "I had fun. Don't stress yourself out."

She didn't look up, "You don't like Gazelle, do you?"

"...What?"

"That's what this is all about," her ears drooped. "Pop isn't your thing."

"Carrots..."

"But I stupidly thought, 'Hey, everyone loves Gazelle! Nick will be so excited to go!'"

"Will you let me-"

"I knew I should've asked what kind of music you were into, but after everything we went through together… I'm so sorry, Nick, I wanted this to be a surprise."

He watched her slump on the curb and hang her head in her paws. He rubbed his fingers across the phone in his pocket. Before he could change his mind, he took a seat and held it out for her. Little by little, she peeked out of her shame ball at him.

"What's this?"

"There's nothing weird on it, trust me," he prodded her with the green phone.

With a little apprehension, Judy took the device and pressed the home button. "Draw a blueberry," he instructed when she got to the lock screen.

She gave him a look before tracing a simple circle. She tapped the quarter note zootunes app button. The screen turned white for a couple seconds before the standard album folders appeared. She instantly went to 'Favorites' and waited with bated breath.

It was empty.

Judy blinked. She went back a page and chose 'Top 10.'

Barren.

"Here, let me speed things along," Nick hit 'Library' and the screen showed endless white.

Judy turned to the fox who was avoiding her gaze with a hint of embarrassment.

"I, uh… I don't get it," she said.

"Yeah, me neither, hehehehe," Nick chuckled nervously. He smiled widely at her but it was clear that the message wasn't getting across. He cleared his throat, "Music. I don't get music."

"You don't… you don't buy music?" guessed Judy.

"That too but, no, what I meant was I don't listen to songs, I don't go to concerts, karaoke bars, jazz clubs, record stores or any of that because…" he searched for the right words, "I don't get it."

Judy blinked. "I don't get what you mean by you 'don't get it.'"

"Ugh!" he growled in frustration. "You know the feeling you get when you stop a crime before it even happens? The rush of a job well done? Feels good right?"

Judy nodded.

"And when you hear music you like, does it also feel good?"

"Yeah… Not necessarily the same good, and it depends on the song, but I get what you're saying," she agreed.

"Well, when I hear music, I feel… nothing," his voice cracked with the last word. He expected her to overreact again and powered on through, "So you see? It wouldn't have mattered if you brought me here or some underground grunge scene. It's all the same to me and is most definitely not your fault. I don't wanna hear anymore of this 'I messed up' crap, okay?"

Without looking at her, he took back his phone, stood up and called a Zuber. The next several seconds were unbearably silent.

"This isn't something you like to talk about, huh?" her ears perked back up in the corner of his eye.

"Real conversation stopper when someone asks who's your favorite artist and you can't even name one."

"What about Gazelle?"

"Sure, now I can name her, but if you asked me yesterday, I would've said, 'Who? The one with the nice hips?'" Nick immediately regretted those words. "Not that I knew she had nice hips yesterday! Did I say 'nice' again?"

"Bahahaha!" Judy gripped her sides, laughing deeply. "Hips? Jeez, Nick, you're a charmer."

The fox snickered along with the bunny, relieved the awkward tension had disappeared. "This isn't going to be a problem?" he asked after she'd calmed down.

Judy scratched her chin, "I mean, I've never really heard of anything like this. But we're partners. That means sticking together no matter our different tastes in music... or lack thereof." She then gave him a playful smirk, "You bet your tail I'm gonna bug the heck out of you about it. And hey, look on the bright side! The next time we face a criminal mastermind who's using music to take down Zootopia, you'll be our ace in the hole."

"Oh joy, can't wait," he deadpanned.

A car pulled up nearby. "Zuber for Nick!" the driver shouted.

"This is still your night, Nick," Judy followed him to the car. "What do you want to do?"

"Oh, I'm up for anything."

"Really? Would you say you want to try everything?" she wiggled her eyebrows at him and chortled at her own pun.

"Sure," he shrugged obliviously.

She pouted, "You're no fun anymore."

END PART 1

This is a story about all the little moments where music's lack of effect on Nick effects Nick's life, his job and his relationships.

Like I said, this is a strange one.