"OPEN MIC NIGHT"

The bulletin board at the front of the Zootopia Police Department had a new flyer thumb-tacked to it, and no one was more proud of that than Benjamin Clawhauser, the officer at the front desk of the Zootopia Police Department, because he had come up with the flyer's contents himself. As he stood eagerly admiring his work Officer Judy Hopps walked over. She took a look at his face, then at the flyer.

"Hey, you got it up!" she said to her friend. Clawhauser had been Judy's friend since the first day she had been on the police force. When he had asked her for help on the flyer she eagerly agreed.

"I did! I can't believe it!" Benjamin glowed.

"Hey, what's all this about?" Nick Wilde said as he walked over to the rabbit and slightly overweight jaguar. Nick had been Judy's partner on the force for quite some time now, but to Judy he was more than just a coworker. Taking off his aviator sunglasses – which he wore everywhere, it seemed – he took a good look at the newly hung flyer.

OPEN MIC NIGHT HOSTED BY ZPD OFFICERS

ALL FUNDS RAISED GO TO KITS IN NEED

$5 PER MAMMAL

Come see the mammals in blue put on a show for the benefit of Mr. Kite's Foundation for Orphaned Kits. All are welcome to attend!

TUESDAY, JUNE 27TH, AT

"A mic night?" Nick asked.

"I've been planning it for weeks now," Clawhauser said with a hint of excitement in his voice, "and the city council approved it!"

"You went to the city council? Why not just Bogo?"

"Well, things have been a bit awkward between Bogo and I ever since I caught him playing with the Gazelle app…"

"Oh yeah, I remember that…" Nick said, trying hard to stifle a chuckle. He sipped his coffee so no one would notice his attempt. It didn't work so well.

"Well, we're off shift," Judy said, "see you tomorrow, Ben!"

"Bye, guys!" Clawhauser replied, not looking away from his masterpiece.

"You should go do the open mic night!" Judy said as she unlocked the door to the apartment she and Nick shared.

"No way," Nick replied close behind the bunny, "you're the talented one. You proved it during that whole Bellwether crisis."

"Still, that's acting. This is music."

"And you think I'm musically inclined?"

Judy said nothing, but she did point to the acoustic guitar in the corner.

"You did serenade me with 'Wonderwall' that one time."

"That was one time."

"So? You can totally play guitar! You scream 'open mic night'!"

"But Carrots! It's bad enough the other officers don't know we're dating, imagine if they knew I play guitar?"

Judy knew what Nick was thinking. He was trying to keep a cool image among the guys at work, which is why he kept his relationship with a rabbit a secret – pred & prey didn't really date (it being taboo at the time), but Judy's family had known (and most of them were ok with it), as well as Gideon Grey. But Nick liked to have an image.

"They'd think that was cool, hun." Judy rebutted without pause.

"Nah, they're into more manly things, like paintball."

"… I like paintball."

"And you kick my tail in it every time- see what I mean?!" Nick yelled, flustered.

"Hey, keep it down in there!" one of the neighbors yelled through the wall.

"Nick, just let go of what you want people to think of you and show them who you really are." Judy said, hugging the fluffy fox in front of her.

"… Did Gazelle sing that in one of her songs?"

"No, silly" Judy chuckled, "everyone thinks that."

"Almost everyone!" the neighbor yelled again. Nick kicked the wall, and there was silence after a muffled "Ow…"

Several hours later the little bunny was fast asleep. Nick, however, was wide awake. Those words…

"show them who you really are…"

They got him thinking. A lot. Silently he got out of bed, grabbed his phone and, without changing out of his pajamas, picked up the guitar and walked out of the apartment.

Finnick was awoken by the sound of a loud knock on his door. Still half-asleep, he glanced at his alarm clock. Three in the morning. Thinking that it was part of whatever he was dreaming about, he started to doze off again. Then the knocking returned. Groggily, Finnick got up and made his way to the front door. Opening it he saw Nick holding a guitar in his arms.

"Nick, do you have any clue what time it is?" the little fox said, a very frustrated tone in his voice.

"Finnick, I know, I just need to borrow a little space here."

"At 3 in the morning?!"

"Yes, I know, Finnick, but it's important."

"Doing a stake-out? Cause I know the guy across the street is suspicious."

"Oh? How so?"

"HE FEEDS THE BIRDS, MAN!"

Yep. Finnick had been drinking that night.

"Look, I just need a little space to practice with this." Nick waved the acoustic guitar in Finnick's face.

"But how will I sleep, man?"

"Taken care of." Nick pulled out a pair of the biggest headphones he could carry – not quite elephant size, but large enough for a bloodhound. Silently Nick put the headphones on Finnick and threw him into bed, football-style.

"Nighty night!" Nick said as he shut the bedroom door. He took a seat in Finnick's not-so-clean kitchen, put the phone on the table with the guitar tab he needed on the screen, and started strumming. He tuned a string a little; it snapped. Nick knew that might happen, so he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of them. Fixing the problem, he tuned it again, and finally got the note he wanted. Then, he began to play.

It was certainly not as simple as Wonderwall, that's for sure. But he would do it, because Judy had a point.