A 'Nice' Saturday Meeting [Nick/Peony]

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony had not been having a goody day. While, Saturdays were one of her absolute favorite days of the week, this one just wasn't turning out to be a very good one. It'd started off like any normal Saturday (except for the lack of Oolong Tea and working in a Flower Shop). Peony had woken up, eaten breakfast, taken a shower, got dressed, and begged Zira to go outside. 

Of course, she'd been limited to the street that their house stayed on. So, her trusty kazoo in hand, Peony stepped out the door, wearing her favorite shirt that was specially made by her mother and some shorts that she'd recently gotten. Her imagination soon getting put to work, Peony was transferred to a world with no faults. It was just her, and whoever she dreamed up to be inside. Today's adventure had been shaping out to be one with pirates. Skipping down the sidewalk as she pretended to be a pirate exploring a deserted island, the pup made no effort to pay attention to her surroundings, eventually finding herself off of the street she'd been told to stay on. Suddenly, the small pup was knocked out of her own world, when an all too familiar voice came into earshot. Peony froze and looked around quickly, her heart beginning to race. 

It was Micheal.

"Well, would you lookie here? It's the orphan." A sour, mocking voice came out. Peony turned around, her ears falling back in fear as she saw the intimidating bobcat cub stand behind her, giving her a death stare. Behind him, a lion cub and a lamb.

Peony could feel herself start to quiver. She couldn't stand them. Each and every one of them were her bullies - the reason why she hated school. She wanted to punch them so badly; and yet, she didn't. All because of a promise she'd made to her parents after her first fight. And she'd made it to both them. It was definitely a promise she intended to keep.

"I'm not an orphan." Peony growled, clutching her kazoo tightly as she turned to walk away. But as she began to take her first step, one of them came up and pulled her back. 

"Uh-huh. And I'm a mouse. What'cha got there, orphan?" A female voice asked. It was obviously the lion cub, Flora. Peony felt the back of her neck begin to bristle. Taking a deep breath, Peony lowly growled back to them. 

"Nothing of your business, Flowerbutt." Peony smirked at her own little nickname she'd come up for the lion. Pushing away from cub's grab, Peony began to walk away. But that was when she heard Micheal order something to Flora and the lamb. 

"Get it." Suddenly, a storm of pawsteps could be heard charging after her. Peony softly gasped and picked her own paws, bolting off, holding her kazoo tightly with both paws as she did so, even if it did look dorky. Peony made a sudden sharp turn into an alleyway, hoping she'd lose the bullies. But, to her, dismay they were prepared for the turn, and followed her down the alleyway. And to make matters worse, what had seemed to be an alley was just a dead end. Peony turned around, backing herself up against the wall. She watched as Flora and the lamb cornered her, Flora holding a paw out for the kazoo. Peony shook her head and closed her eyes tightly. 

Just as she was suspecting, the lamb had pushed her down, while Flora swiped her claws at Peony's cheek and side, while grabbing the kazoo.

"No!" She cried once the kazoo had been robbed from her. She looked up at Flora, who was examing the kazoo.

"What are you gonna do? Go cry to your mommy and daddy?" Flora rolled her eyes and continued looking at the kazoo, muttering to herself as Micheal came up. "What do you want me to do with it?" She asked him.

"Nothing. I just wanted you to take it from her, really. She's so small and weak - it's kind of funny." He laughed. Peony growled, taking a step towards Micheal.

"Give it back, Micheal!"

"Or what?" Micheal asked, shriveling his nose up."Are you gonna go to your cop friends? Like a wimp?" He asked, leaning forwards as his ears laid back. "Like a baby?" Peony winced. It was true - that was what she was going to do.

"I.. I'll.."

Micheal rolled his eyes and straightened up. "This is getting boring. Come on guys, let's go to the arcade. I'm sure there's something better there than this orphan." He said, turning around and walking away from Peony. Flora huffed and threw the kazoo on the ground, following Micheal. The lamb was sure to follow after them.

Peony leaned forward and grabbed her kazoo from the ground and stared at it. Shaking her head, Peony clutched it and wandered out of the 'alley'. Looking around, Peony realized she was somewhat close to the Zootopia Police Department. Maybe they could bring some joy to her - they would understand. They always did.

The pup scurried inside of the building, looking up at Clawhauser with wide eyes. "Can I stay here for a bit?"  She asked. The chubby cheetah had seemed a little shocked at Peony's scruffy looking appearance, but, as always, he nodded and allowed her to stay. Not staying around him long enough to hear what he did next, Peony went and stood around, looking for someone to interact with, since Clawhauser seemed busy with something for once.

[Nick Wilde]

Nick had not been having a good day. This month, his shift rotation meant that he worked on Saturdays--not that he particularly minded that. He'd been so used to setting his own work schedule as a hustler that it didn't really matter to him which two days he had off; really, it was just having a more structured work schedule at all that had taken some getting used to. Besides, there was actually something nice about having weekdays off. It certainly made grocery shopping a less crowded, frustrating ordeal.

...and now he was thinking about how grateful he was that he could go to the grocery store on a Tuesday. Man, had he become boring.

Anyways, the real issue with this day had been that Officer Wilde was still on his own. With Judy still out of town, the fox had been forced to handle many of their usual duties alone, which somehow made them all that much less enjoyable. It was painfully apparent when he was filling out paperwork, but--and this surprised him--it felt even more so when he was actually out on patrol. Not having to listen to Judy's upbeat playlists for six hours at a time was only a small consolation when he had no one to talk to the whole time. At least, no one who wasn't a suspect or in the midst of some kind of emotional crisis, as animals in need of the police tended to be.

So it was with some reluctance that the fox was wrapping up his break. The morning had been relatively uneventful, so he'd actually spent fifteen or so minutes on the treadmill in the ZPD gym and rinsed off before grabbing a burrito from the station cafeteria. (He had yet to master the kind of self-control and discipline needed to actually pack lunches for himself, and could not swap coffee for a lunch made by Judy while she was on vacation.) As he made his way out of the station, though, the sight of a familiar wolf pup distracted him from all these thoughts.

Nick raised a brow, offering Peony a small smile as he drew closer to her. "Hey kiddo," he greeted her, his smile giving way to a more concerned expression as he noticed her own appearance. "Wait a minute, are you alright? What happened?"

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony jumped. She hadn't really been expecting anyone to really notice her sitting in the chair. Turning, the pup realized that the voice belonged to Nick.

"Wait a minute, are you alright? What happened?" He'd asked. Peony could feel her ears fall down - she knew she couldn't lie to him, and say that she was alright... But if she did tell him, she'd be acting like a wimp - a baby. She couldn't let him think of her that way too.

Peony looked up at Nick and shrugged. Should she tell him? The question was still lingering around her mind. The small pup could feel the frustration welling up inside of her tiny body - threatening to boil over and make her lash out at the nearest animal. And that animal just so happened to be Nick. She didn't want to do that to him. Nick was cool! She wanted him to like her, and not think of her as some weirdo pup. She wanted to tell him s badly about what happened, but she couldn't. They'd find out.

She couldn't lie, though. Another promise she'd made to her stupi-

Peony winced, a troubled look crossing her face. The smaller-than-average pup's paw flew to the edge of her shirt, the pads on her paws feeling over the familiar stitched flowers at the edge. Tears threatening to spill out of her eyes, Peony glanced back to Nick.

She shook her head softly. Maybe she could tell him. 

"You have to promise not to tell anyone," Peony said, looking up at the fox officer. "not even Ivan. Not him, especially not him." She finished. It hurt for her to say that. Not even Ivan? Heck, Peony told Ivan everything. She hated hiding things. But this... This was different. She'd been hiding the bullying ever since her mom died. Her father had no idea that she was still being bullied. Peony had managed to hide it, in order to keep him up and going. The habit just stayed with her as she moved to live with Zira and Ivan.

The pup had managed to keep it a secret from them so far. She didn't want them to worry about her. They had better things to do than waste their time on her. She'd already moved in and stolen so much time that they could have spent together with her. Peony couldn't put the burden of bullying on their shoulders. 

[Nick Wilde]

Nick scrutinized Peony as she began her internal debate. There was something unsettlingly familiar about this picture: the small, somewhat disheveled child with sad, wary eyes who blatantly couldn't decide if she should open up about what was going on. Granted, he imagined the poor thing must be incredibly rattled after what had happened to her father, but somehow he felt that this wasn't so easily explained.

So what was it? The fox actually found himself hoping that Peony had done something wrong--perhaps broken something of the Tigorovs', or even narrowly gotten away with lifting a candy bar at a nearby convenience store. If that were the case, he could just give her a stern lecture, threaten to tell her caretakers if it should happen again, and then soothe her nerves with a frozen lemonade or something. All he needed was a pipe to smoke while he dispensed his fatherly advice, and it would be like he was lifted straight out of an old afterschool special.

But, again, Nick found himself doubting this interpretation. He simply wished that he felt the same disbelief about the conclusion he'd been avoiding--the very one that Peony was mulling over whether or not to disclose. After all, he himself had been the target of bullies through much of his younger life, and he recognized the signs in the little wolf standing before him. Whenever he'd done something wrong, the fox had generally had a lie or excuse prepared; but when he'd been mocked or hurt by other children, he'd kept the matter to himself entirely. He'd been just as intent on keeping his mother from worrying as Peony had been her father--and now the Tigorovs.

Not to mention, crying to his mother would hardly have convinced anyone that he wasn't letting it get to him.

"You have to promise not to tell anyone, not even Ivan. Not him, especially not him."

Ohh, he really really really hoped Peony had done something forgivably naughty. He wasn't sure how he was going to respond if his greater suspicion was confirmed. Getting down on one knee to put his green eyes level with Peony's, Nick nodded slowly. "Of course," he promised softly. "Kid, what's going on?"

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony slightly stiffened as Nick made his promise. She was really going to go through with this. She needed to take a breath, looking down as she sighed and then looked back up at him.

"Kid, what's going on?"

Where did she start? With the fight? When she first started to get bullied? The small pup gulped, her gaze locking onto Nick's green eyes.

"I.. I.. Um.." Uncertainty began to shine in her eyes. "There are these.. kids.." Peony looked down, her ears falling as she let some silence settle in between them. She needed to think about what she was going to say next, and how she was going to say it.

"And.. They've been... hurting me..." The pup could feel herself choke over her own words as she silently spoke them. It was so simple to say it in her mind. Why was it so difficult to say it out loud?

"H-hurting me... and teasing me because... because.. I'm an..." Peony looked up at Nick, tears pushing at the edges of her eyelids, her light blue eyes showing the years of hurt that she'd kept to herself all this time. She didn't want to say the word.

Peony felt tears fall down her cheek, some stinging the claw marks that stayed on her left cheek. "I could fight them... I could fight them all and make them sorry... I could scare them away... I did it before... But.. Now, I can't." She whispered fiercely, looking down as she grabbed her shirt, her eyes closed tightly. "I made a promise.. A-A promise to my mom that I wouldn't... Because.. Becuase she was scared... And worried... And sick... And.. And..." Peony wiped the tears away, looking up at Nick miserably.

"I just want to punch them. unch them soo badly."

[Nick Wilde]

The sincere concern on Nick's face would probably have surprised most of his coworkers. Even having laid out his internal struggles to Judy, he still preferred to mask his negative emotions behind a smarmy grin and pithy sarcasm; that he would openly appear troubled was almost unheard of. But it wasn't as though he needed to hide that from Peony. Unless the wolf pup was far more devious and manipulative than Nick knew, she wasn't exactly in any position to take advantage of his emotional walls coming even slightly down.

"There are these.. kids.."

Oh, hey, the worst was true. Nick didn't need the clarification to understand that she was being bullied, as it was written all over her face. (Specifically, she looked as though she'd been in a scrape, though her traumatized expression was also quite a hint in itself.) All at once, the fox felt a mix of emotions: pity for Peony, anger at the other children who saw fit to hurt her, and some mostly-repressed sadness at the thought of his own experiences as a kit. That last one, he felt certain, he would never admit to.

At least, not when one of the other police officers might hear.

"H-hurting me... and teasing me because... because.. I'm an..."

Nick's ears fell back. Again, Peony didn't need to finish her sentence for the fox to know what she meant: orphan. It wasn't as though he'd been spared that pain himself, he knew some children had so little decency as to go straight for that cheap shot. As if losing one's parents wasn't already a painful enough experience, it was just so delightful to be mocked for it. It wasn't as though he had chosen that life, and he didn't believe for a second that Peony had, either.

"I just want to punch them. Punch them soo badly."

"I know the feeling," Nick muttered ruefully. He glanced at the main entrance, then locked a thoughtful gaze back on Peony. "Sorry, kid, that's...that's rough. But unfortunately, punching them's just gonna make things worse." As a police officer, he supposed it was his responsibility to help steer the little wolf away from vigilante justice; really, though, he wasn't thinking so much like a cop at this moment. Leaning in a little, he put a paw on Peony's shoulder and spoke softly. "They want to see you upset, to know that they're hurting your feelings. You punch 'em, then they know they won."

Getting to his feet, Nick decided to try and lighten the mood. "Tell you what--why don't we help each other?" he offered more brightly. "I could use a partner for my patrol today, what with my partner gallivanting off to Bunnyburrow. And if we come across these bullies of yours, maybe we see about getting them to leave you alone. Sound like a plan?"

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony's ears lifted as Nick began to speak. A few tears fell from her face as he talked, obviously speaking from experience. Her head slightly tilted as she wiped her eyes, ears completely forward as she listened. Punching wasn't the answer. She knew that - she just didn't want to accept that as the answer. They deserved to be punched. Punched in the face and stepped on the tail. But Nick was right. He had to be. She nodded as he stood up, sniffling a little bit.

"Tell you what--why don't we help each other? I could use a partner for my patrol today, what with my partner gallivanting off to Bunnyburrow. And if we come across these bullies of yours, maybe we see about getting them to leave you alone. Sound like a plan?" The fox offered. Peony's light blue eyes brightened up towards the end of the sentence, her answer obvious.

"Okay! Where are you patrolling?" She asked, sounding a bit more excited than before. Peony's tail wagged a little bit at the thought of riding in an actual police car. Her thoughts flew back to Nick's advice, the helpful words still somewhat floating around her mind. She glanced towards the entrance, her mind already beginning to work out what they could find out on their little patrol. Wiping her eyes, Peony stood a little straighter as she grabbed her kazoo off the chair.

[Nick Wilde]

Even though he had expected his offer to lift Peony's spirits, Nick couldn't help but be relieved when he saw the effect it had on her. The smile that brightened the little wolf's face was like a sunrise breaking through morning fog, and it warmed Nick's heart in a similar fashion. Of course, he would have demurred if anyone pointed that out; after all, his own agenda had been served here. He wasn't going to have to spend his shift alone, and clearly that was the only thing that mattered to him. After all, God forbid that anyone but Judy realize that Nick Wilde had a heart.

"Okay! Where are you patrolling?"

Amusement tugged the edges of Nick's mouth up when he saw Peony grab her kazoo. He didn't know what the instrument's story was, but he knew the wolf, and that alone told him the story was probably as bizarre and rambling as it was interesting. "Downtown and Savanna Central today," he answered as he rummaged in his belt pouches for something. After a few moments, he produced a slip of paper that glinted golden in the light streaming in through the station's large windows. With a brief pause to reflect on how he shouldn't have bothered standing up yet, he knelt down and showed it to Peony.

It was the same sort of sticker he had once borne proudly on his own shirt--a shining badge that read 'Junior ZPD Officer.'

"Now listen, if you're going to patrol with me, you've gotta take the ZPD oath," Nick said with an air of grave dignity. Clearing his throat officiously, the fox continued. "Do you solemnly swear never to betray this badge, your integrity, your character, or the public trust? And do you swear to uphold justice and truth for the citizens of Zootopia?"

[Peony Rìluò]

Peony's ears fell forward as the district's name slipped out of Nick's mouth, almost missing the mentioning of Downtown. Savannah Central? Even though her old home had been relatively close to the other district, Peony had never been. A new place sounded fun and exciting, and it was a good way to get the morning's earlier events tucked away.

The wolf pup's head tilted before she could even muster a word of excitement. Nick had grabbed a paper and held it up, taking something off of it. Light blue eyes scanning the paper, Peony leaned forward, her paw still holding her kazoo tightly. A sticker? she asked herself quietly, her eyes still observing it closely as he pulled it off of the sheet.

The pup quickly straightened up again once Nick began to speak, holding the sticker up with a sense of... dignity? Peony's ears were pointed straight as she nodded, quickly picking up on his seriousness. Her tail was stiff as she puffed her chest out, brows furrowing as she stared Nick in the eyes. This had to be some sort of serious ritual.

"I promise," Peony stated, her eyes widening as the suddenly locked onto the sticker.

---

Nick Wilde - Sorry for the long wait! >.>;