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Daily Free-Write May 30, 2022: Finnicky Baby (Abandoned Storyline) Pt. 9
🕑 Added 2022-05-31 08:59:14 +0000 UTCNote: This is the old storyline to Finnicky baby which I am re-writing currently. Although I don’t think it felt quite right for the characters, I think you will perhaps still find it a fun read! Big changes coming in the rewrite of this storyline, which continues where Freewrite pt. 6.5 left off!
Finnick was very happy that Nick had started to make time for him, and Nick was relieved that the little guy was getting back to his normal adorable self - at least when no one else was around. However, that all changed shortly after when Finnick decided to do something nice for Nick and wash and Iron his clothes.
[nick and finnick go out for ice cream, they spend more time cuddling; nick sees judy still, but not more than once a week; or if it's the same day... nick goes out for some reason? Maybe to get something for them to do together! Like make pizza or some toys.... Something for finnick...]
"That fox probably hasn't ironed a thing in his life," said Finnick, shaking his head as he gathered up Nick's laundry from the various places he had draped it in the living room. Nick was known for his crumpled outfits as much as he was for his casual demeanor. Finnick, in contrast, took very careful care of his clothes, even the baby clothes that he called his 'business attire'. Especially the baby clothes he called his business attire.
"Now how long has it been since he's washed these," Finnick asked himself as he reached for Nick's favorite pants, which were draped over the radiator. As he lifted the pants away, he heard a sudden clatter on the ground.
"What the.."
He picked it up and recognized it as his old pacifier.
"What the fuck is this?"
*****
Meanwhile, Nick was finally going with Judy to sign the paperwork to begin his Academy training for ZPD.
"You're really doing this," said Judy, almost as if she didn't believe it.
"I'm really doing this," said Nick, almost as if he didn't believe it.
The two of them walked up to the police station and through the front door, where Officer Clawhauser greeted them at the front desk.
"Well, hello there. And what can I do for your two today?"
"Clawhauser," said Judy, "I'm impressed! You're so attentive today."
"Oh yes, it's my new glasses. Turns out cheetahs can have terrible eyesight too. Who knew!"
"Are you sure you have terrible eyesight, Clawhauser? I mean, just last month you spotted a donut across all the way the dance floor in a darkened club."
"No, yeah, I'm sure. You see I got this new app, that..."
"Ohhh kay," said Nick, cutting in. "I'm already nervous about this and this isn't making things any easier. I'm here to turn in this... application..."
Clawhauser took up the papers in his hands and looked at them and back up to Nick.
"Oh em geezles! You're joining the ZPD?! Oh man, we are making history here. First we get the first bunny officer, and now the first fox! I love it! Uh but... I don't remember giving you these forms..."
"Judy had them ready," said Nick, through is teeth. "They were even filled out."
"Hey, hey, c'mon," laughed Judy. "You make it sound like you didn't want to join the ZPD."
"Hey, it's like I told ya carrots, I've got a rep-"
"You've got a rep to protect. Yeah, yeah, I've heard it all before. And don't call me carrots here," said Judy, "I don't want to develop a-"
"Hey, Carrots," said a tiger cop walking by.
"Nickname," Judy finished, her ears flattening out in annoyance.
Clawhauser laughed. "That's Judy, always prepared. Alrighty dighty. I've got your paperwork here, and we'll get back to you in about, oh...," He spun around in his chair until he was facing the pair again, "now."
Nick looked to Judy, then back up to Clawhauser. "...and?"
"Congratulations! You are now an officer."
"Wait, are you serious?" asked Nick. "There's not a test or anything?"
"Of course I'm not serious," laughed Clawhauser. "You'll have to go to the academy first. Also, test can be done over in the testing center."
"We have a testing center?" asked Nick.
"Yeah, it's in the basement," said Judy. "Next test is in... oh, look, 15 minutes! Let's go!"
"Wow, what a coincidence," said Nick. He got the distinct impressions he was being railroaded, which is something he was used to being on the other end of.
Nick soon found himself staring down at a paper test in a room full of other applicants - some obvious meatheads, and some who were probably not cut out to police a crosswalk. He stared down at the sheaf of mind-numbing questions and sighed.
"I thought I left this behind with school..."
In about five minutes, he had breezed through the test, sighing, he stood up with the test in his hand.
"Sir, there is no getting up during the test," said the Pig Proctor. "If you leave, you-"
"I'm finished," said, Nick walking up to the front of the room and plopping down his completed test.
"Wait, you're- seriously?" asked the tester, flipping through the test to confirm what Nick had said.
Nick stepped out, surprising Judy, who had been waiting in front of the room almost as if standing guard.
"Nick, you finished already?"
"Yup. And no, I didn't just fill in all the answers with 'C'," said Nick. "So if that's all for today..."
"Not quite," said Judy. "There's still the medical exam..."
"The medical exam?" asked Nick, arching an eyebrow.
Nick soon found himself in the ZPD examination room while a rhino doctor gloved up his massive hand. Nick gulped, while Judy looked on, as chipper and excited looking as ever.
"Is that everything?" asked Nick, walking bow-legged out of the examination room with Judy. "Can I go home now?"
"There's just one more thing... The psychological examination and polygraph..."
"Oh, boy," said Nick, as Judy led him down the hall to a room with a single chair and a car battery with electrodes coming off of it.
"Have a seat," said an Angry looking rhino. He then clipped Nick's balls to the battery and zapped the shit out of him.
"Yipes! I don't know nothin', copper, ya hear?"
"Darn, guess he's solid. You can take it from here, Carrots."
"Here too?" asked Judy, shaking her head. She took the burned up Nick by the hand and led him out. Finally, he could go home.
*****
"Thank goodness that's all over," said Nick, stepping on the bus to home. "I'm sure they won't accept me anyway, but it was worth a shot.." He sighed. It seemed almost too optimistic to think that the ZPD would let a fox officer into their ranks. But then, there was Judy, and nobody would have guessed that there would be a rabbit cop either until she came along.
"At least that means I don't have to worry about breaking it to Finnick," he mutterd to himself... still, the thought plagued him as the bus made its way to their apartment. It was practically walking distance to his apartment, so he was back in no time. He always felt better after a bad day when he came home to a happy little Finnick.
"Honey, I'm hoooome!" said Nick, stepping inside. The apartment was quiet. He stepped inside and looked around. "Finnick?"
There was an ironing board set up and a stack of Nick's clothing neatly folded and pressed. It looked like the iron had dripped on some of it leaving little drips on the fabric.
"Wow, he ironed for me? What a good boy! I never Iron. Huh... what's this?"
Nick bent down to pick up Finnick's pacifier.
"Huh, that's weird, he musta dropped it..."
Nick picked it up, spinning it on his finger as he strolled over toward Finnick's room and knocked on the door. The door creaked open, and Nick could hear a faint sound on the other end, like sniffling and huffing. He peeked his snout in and caught the scent of Finnick nearby..
"Little guy? You in there...?"
Nick poked more of his head in until he could see Finnick hunched over, wiping his eyes with the back of his forearm. He was in his adult clothes.
"What do you want?" he asked, in a sullen tone.
"No- nothing, buddy. I just got home. I wanted to see how you were... uh... doing?"
"How could you?"
"I... W-wha?" Nick was totally caught off guard. Did Finnick know that he had taken the ZPD test? "L-listen, buddy. I, uh, I don't know what you think you saw, but I can explain..."
"Explain this," said Finnick, shooting Nick a middle finger, and jumping down off the bed to finish zipping up a very full duffel bag. "I'm done crying over you. I'm going back to my van."
"Buddy, wait. I'm sorry, okay. I was gonna tell you I'm dating Judy. I was gonna tell you about the ZPD. Really, I was! I just... was waiting for the right time... Shit, I only mostly did it because Judy wanted me to. I know they're never gonna accept a... what?" Nick's fast talking faltered as Finnick began to laugh. "What's so funny?"
"Oh man," he said laughing and putting his hand over his eyes and running it back through his head fur. ohhhh man. fuck you. Is that what you think this is all about? You asshole?"
"Whoa, whoa, language! That's not the little guy I know and love..."
Finnick's ears went up and he blushed, turning them pink inside before he folded them down. "S-shut up. You don't get to use that word. Not now. Not since I found this," he said, swiping the pacifier out of Nick's hand. "Care to explain why I found the pacifier I lost after the purple puma job in your back pocket?"
"I, uh, I found it. I was planning on giving it back to ya..."
"Lies! Lies, lies, and more lies. I thought we had an understanding. I thought we were tight. Now this?"
Nick stood there, his mouth hanging slightly open. Anything he said at this point was probably going to make things worse. He knew that. So he just stood there and listened, hoping his little buddy would burn himself out. He could pick up the pieces after.
"Yeah, I remember that night. I thought I heard someone outside of my van. It was you, wasn't it? Wasn't it?" Finnick screamed, fighting to hold back the tears and keep his question from turning into a wail of anguish.
Nick was silent.
"You knew." he said, his voice quiet as he looked down at his paws. "And you used it to your advantage. Just like everything else you do."
Nick's ears went back and he frowned, hurt.
"No, no it's not like that, toot toot. I just... I followed you to your van one day to find out why you were angry and I saw you doing the diaper thing and calling me- I mean... your, uh, fox plush Daddy... I just..."
He made them into two tiny fists and looked up at Nick. "s- s- so what you- you- you- …" he took a breath and spoke with more authority. "you saw me getting off and you assumed you could just manipulate me and insinuate yourself into my life because of how I get off? And you thought that would be okay?"
Nick dared to speak, holding his paws up to quiet his friend. "Well I just assumed since you-"
"You assumed I would be easy pickings because I had a crush on you. You figured you could get into my pants. And you did. You did it Nick. Contratu-fucking-lations."
Nick furrowwed his brow, confused. "But I thought you wanted-"
"That's a biiiihihihiig assumption, Nick. You didn't even ask me first. What the fuck, Nick?! You can't just go on manipulating your friends like that."
"W- well, I… uh, I mean I-" Nick suddenly felt Angry, his eyebrows coming together. "Hey, man. You're the one that bought a plushie and pretended it was me. I could have been a dick about it but I wasn't. So why are you?"
"Fuck you, Nick. I thought we were bros, man, but you're still telling lies. Lies upon lies. How much of any of this is real, man? Do i even know you?"
Nick was tongue tied as he saw the last months of his life unraveling before his eyes. For once, he didn't have a good comeback to throw out in response.
"Ugh!" Finnick said looking down at his paws in disgust. "I wasted my SAVINGS on this."
"Buddy, I still lov-"
"You know what, save it. I'm done. Goodbye Nick. And this time I mean it."
Finnick grabbed the duffel bag, stumbling under its weight as he stormed out and slammed the apartment door.
It took Nick a second to process what had just happened. And then the panic began to hit. "Oh no… Oh no. I fucked up, I. Fucked up," he said, slumping down to the floor and holding his head.
Comments
Yeah I had a problem with this storyline. There were too many problems with the motivations, and thoughts of the characters. It really wasn’t clear, for example, exactly what Nick was hiding from Finnick about him and Judy and how much Finnick would reasonably know. I actually wrote the whole story through to the end before going back and deciding to rewrite all of part 2. It takes a lot of thinking to figure out where things went wrong and why. That’s why ch. 7 and 8 were slow in coming - it’s hard to come back after such a discouraging realization. But now it’s time to continue it, so I’m sharing this as an interesting background to what happens behind the scenes in my writing. Not the first time I’ve had to do a rewrite though usually it’s just a scene or chapter and not 8 chapters!
Huh, interesting read.
