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The rest of the day had gone by without a hitch, (Y/N) for once seemed to be in high spirits while Judy remained ever so optimistic about their future in the ZPD. Helping that young fox and his son gave the two best friends the first push into what it felt to actually help someone for once.

And, for just a moment, (Y/N) felt that becoming a police officer wasn't so bad after all.

The young grey fox watches as her friend type out another ticket, before leaning over a midsized red car and placing the paper neatly between the windshield.

The reflection of the car moves, and (Y/N)'s ears perk up when she sees the same small baby fox, sporting his same gray elephant onesie, waddling across from inside an alley.

Judy, who seemed to have taken notice to the young mammal as well, smiles and hops down from the car before waving.

"Hey little toot..toot." Her words cut short when she sees the fox carrying a rather large glass jar and places it underneath the opening of a drain pipe. (Y/N) frowns, and looks up to see the red fox from before, Nick, shaking down the melted jumbo pop from earlier.

The red slush runs down the pipe before emptying itself into the jar below, and Nick grins before sliding down the roof and grabbing onto the drain to make his way down towards the concrete.

He grabs the jar, along with two others and loads it into the back of a large punk styled red van, with two characters painted on either side.

Judy and (Y/N) watch as they pass by, and their jaws go slack when they see not Nick, but the small supposed baby fox driving the van instead. His two paws stretching to reach the wheel as he sucks on a dummy, with his red furred complaining smiling beside him sporting a pair of sunglasses.

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The two meter maids follow the duo, and find themselves parked infront of a snowy street in tundra town. They spot the van off to the side of the road before looking out to the snowy park.

There, they spot the tiny fox imprinting his paws into the snow, before carefully stepping back and placing two popsicle sticks inside either print.

Then Nick comes along and pours the melted jumbo pop inside the molds, and they repeat this action several more times before waiting for the juice to harden.

(Y/N) watches the scene with a raised brow and a slightly impressed smile. She has yet to notice the increasing crease in her friend's brow or the upturned of her small lip.

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After tundra town, they follow the two to a secluded street outside of central Zootopia. Nick, now having placed the now popsicles into a cart labeled 'Pawpsicles', strolls just outside of a small bank.

He waits patiently, and straightens his posture when a clock beside him reaches just after noon, and a swarm of Lemmings waddle out the bank, all following in a single file.

The red fox smirks, before raising a popsicle in the air. "Pawpsicles! Get your Pawpsicles!" He calls, and catches the attention of a Lemming. The small creature departs from the line, and the rest quickly follow close behind.

(Y/N) watches from behind a car, as one by one each tiny critter receives a Pawpsicle, and munches it down rather quickly before regarding them into the dumpster alongside the road and continuing way past down an alley, keeping their original single filed line.

Once all the Lemmings are gone, the dumpster opens from the front, and the tiny fox once again emerges, and pulls a trolley filled with discarded popsicle sticks.

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Within a sectioned off part of the city, tiny mouse workers scurry about building shops, factories and other sorts of architecture using whatever types of wood is provided.

A mouse driving a forklift stops when a large stack of wood is placed indirect of him, all bonded and tied together by elastic bands.

"Lumber delivery!" Nick announces with a smug smile, his partner standing close behind. The mouse workers scurry frowns when he sees the wood, and raises a brow.

"What's with the color?" He asks, motioning towards the half red stain staining one section of the wood.

Nick's smile drops quickly. "The color?" He repeats, before thinking for a moment and nodding. "It's uh, red wood."

What he had yet to notice, was (Y/N) and Judy, both crouched within the tall grass of the construction site. The rabbit balls her paws into fists, smashing the dirt and small pieces of grass between her nails.

The fox, however, seemed unfazed, and simply gazed up at the smirk adorning the red foxes face. She had to admit, as wrong as it was, she could respect the hustle.

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Nick quickly counts the money earned from today's hard job, and hands half to his little accomplice. "Way to work that diaper big guy!" He grins as the smaller fox scurries off into his van, before slamming the door shut.

"Hey! No kiss bye bye for daddy?" The fox mocks, his arms open and face pulled into a fake pout.

He spits out the dummy harshly, and glares at the red fox. "You kiss me tomorrow, I'll bite your face off." He threatens lowly, and starts his van before placing a pair of shades atop his long face.

"Ciao." He says in a deep, gruff voice, uncharacteristic considering his small size and big round eyes. He drives off, leaving Nick alone to count his money in peace.

That is, until a calm, gentle voice speaks up. "I've gotta admit, you had us fooled to a 'T', congrats." Looking up quickly, the red fox smiles when he sees (Y/N), calm as ever with her paws stuffed into her pants pockets.

Beside her stands an angry Judy, whose face morphed even more when she catches the smug smile directed towards her best friend.

Nick shrugs, and takes the pawpsicle between his teeth and gestures to the two of them. "It's called a hustle sweetheart." He winks towards the fox, who all but scoffs.

"You are such a-" she's cut off before she could finish.

"A no good liar!" Judy yells, and points angrily at the fox, who simply puts a hand over his heart in mock hurt.

"I'm not the liar! He is!" Quickly he points to his right, and Judy quickly whips her head around. Seeing no one, she turns back, only to see that not only Nick, but (Y/N) have disappeared behind the other end of the street, their tails being the last thing she sees.

Quickly she scurries after them, her feet rapidly tapping against the floor as she walks beside her best friend. "All right, slick Nick, you're under arrest." She huffs, and her annoyance grows when she sees him hand her friend her own popsicle.

(Y/N) hesitates, and quickly takes the treat before putting it in her mouth and looking away guilty as Judy groans at her.

"For what?" Nick asks simply, his eyes continuously darting towards the gray fox beside him.

(Y/N) hums in thought. "Oh I dunno, selling food without a permit? Transporting undeclared commerce across borough lines, false advertising, am I getting all these Judy?" She asks plainly, to which her friend just blinks up at her rapidly.

"R-right." She says, nodding to her friend in thanks. But a piece of paper thrusted into her face blocks her view, as Nick shows her the back and front.

"Permit, receipt of declares commerce, and I didn't falsely advertise anything. Take care." He says quickly, and the trio stop at a red light, and wait for it to change green along with an old porcupine.

Judy huffs, and jumps to stand infront of the fox. "You told that mouse the popsicle sticks were redwood!" She yells, and Nick grins.

"You were following me?" He laughs loudly, and makes eye contact with (Y/N). "I'm touched." He says in a fake whisper, and his grin only widens when she scoffs.

She doesn't say anymore, so Nick takes the popsicle sticks out of his mouth before placing it between Judy's pointed fingers. "That's right, 'red wood', with a space in the middle, wood that is red." He taps the stick into her paw, before walking as the light flashes green.

(Y/N) has no trouble keeping up beside him, but keeps looking back as Judy struggles to maneuver between the heard of wilder beasts that are walking the opposite direction.

"You can't touch me carrots, I've been doing this since I was born." He gloats, and Judy huffs.

"You're gonna wanna refrain from calling me carrots."

"My bad, I just naturally assumed you came from some little carrot-choked Podunk, no?" He calls behind him, before addressing the fox next to him. "And you? Do I just address you as 'bushy tailed' or do I get the pleasure of knowing your name?"

(Y/N) frowns, "Firstly, my tail isn't bushy, and secondly, we both grew up in BunnyBurrow." Judy catches up to them finally, and stomps her foot when she sees Nick snatch a handful of blueberries from a nearby vendor who seemingly doesn't notice.

The fox hums, and gives her a smile. "Okay, tell me if this story sounds familiar." He pops a blueberry into his mouth and offer some to (Y/N), who quickly refuses. "Naive little hick with good grades and big ideas decides, 'hey look at me! I'm gonna move to Zootopia where predators and prey live in harmony and sing 'Kumbaya'."

He continues, his smile gonna as he looks down pitifully at the small rabbit infront of him. "Only to find, whoopsie, we don't all get along. And that dream of becoming a big city cop? Double whoopise. She's a meter maid."

"And whoopsie number three-sie no one cares about her or her dreams, and soon enough, those dreams die, and our bunny sinks into emotional, and literal squalor living in a box under a bridge.." his long rants continuous, and he stops as they turn into an alley and come across a loose fence.

He picks it up quickly and sets it aside. He turns around, and looks (Y/N) up and down before sighing. "With what? Some vegan gone fox who can't tell if she's predator or prey and continues to file down her claws because she herself has no actual clue of who she is?"

"Who, just follows her own friend around because she has no dreams or ambition of her own?" His words cause (Y/N)'s face to completely drop. She stops short, and just stares at him, her eyes blurry with each word he so carefully roses her way.

"..till finally, they have no choice but to get go back home.." he stops again, and his voice drops gently as he speaks to (Y/N). "You're from BunnyBurrows, is that what you said? Then how about a carrot farmer?" He snarks, his annoyance of having the two follow him around finally snapping.

(Y/N) lets out a breath, and Nick eyes her. "I'm sorry, but that's the truth." He says softly, yet his eyes only held pity towards the young fox.

Finally, he turns and walks away down another street. Judy takes a moment to compose herself, before placing a small paw atop her friend's shaking arm. The two breath in deep, before following him once more. They take a step out, and scramble when an elephant nearly crushes them, and they manage to run and hop out of the way just in time.

"Be careful now, it won't just be your dreams getting crushed." Nick calls out, a smug smile on his face. Judy huffs, and tugs her frowning friend along.

"Hey! No one tells us what we can or can't be! Especially not some jerk, who never had the guts to try and be anything more than a popsicle hustler!" Judy finally snaps, standing straight infront of the still smirking fox while (Y/N) continues to try and avoid looking at him, her fur on edge and flushed with embarrassment.

Nick simply shrugs. "All right look." He bends down on his knees to get to Judy's height, and refuses to look back at the sulking gray fox. "Everyone comes to Zootopia thinking they can be anything they want. Well you can't, you can only be what you are." He stands back up and clears his throat, before adjusting his tie and pointing down at Judy.

"Sly fox, dumb bunny."

Judy grits her teeth. "I am not a dumb bunny." She forces out, her throat tight and uncomfortable from his words.

Nick all but smiles, and glances down to her feet. "Right, and that's not wet cement." He snickers when he sees her look down in worry to find that she has in fact, walked straight into a long line of wet cement, and the beavers who were working on it all scowl at the back of her head.

He goes to move, and jerks back when (Y/N) steps infinity of him. "And what does that make me, huh?" She snarls, her teeth only slightly baring as her ears are flattened against her head yet we posture was simply that of someone too tired to argue.

The two stare at eachother for a long time, so long in fact that (Y/N) had time to notice the small flecks of gold swirling in the foxes deep green eyes, and Nick notices the small black dots that were barely visible on her cheeks unless you were standing right infront of her.

It takes him a moment to talk, yet he hesitates, (Y/N) notices by the way his jaw clenched and his mouth slightly parted itself to speak.

"Pitiful, there's no other words, you're just pitiful."

With that, he quickly turns to leave, and (Y/N) takes in a deep breath. Her chest is tight, and she doesn't even register Nick sarcastically bidding them farewell until she sees that he's no longer infront of her.

Her frown deepens, and the fox clears her throat before turning to her friend and giving her a small smile. "Forget him, he doesn't know what he's talking about." She says quickly, and wraps her arms around Judy's waist to life her out of the wet cement.

Despite her words, that dull ache of regret forms deep witting her chest. That nauseating uncomfortable feeling that makes you second guess every single thing you have done up until now, and now the grey fox can't help but wonder if that jerk was right.

If everything he said, from her not knowing who she was down to her simply following Judy around like a dog was true.

A ringing takes over her mind, and (Y/N) doesn't even register her friend tugging her along back home until she sees the sun begin to set, and her tail droops against the ground.

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