try everything

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WOW, WE’RE NOT HOLDING BACK.

Fuck, Blossom, but like super respectfully and we can do it how she wants. I am free literally any place, any time, what who said that.

Marry Nick, because duh.

K...ISS TODD ON HIS CUTIE PIE FACE.

↳INSTAGRAM: @judyishopping uploaded a photo:

↳INSTAGRAM: @judyishopping uploaded a photo:

The closer that Judy shuffled towards him, the less anxious Nick seemed to feel. Though he felt nervous and ridden with stress after that cinematic experience, and there was no way he was going to forget about it any time soon, he still felt a sense in comfort in having her close by. Besides, it was kinda cold, and Judy was always cuddly and warm. Hooking his chin over the top of her head, he wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in for a cuddle, lapping up her body heat and enjoying the warmth that spread through him. Burying his face in her hair momentarily, he left a fleeting kiss to the top of Judy’s head, before pulling away and making his way down the street.

“C'mon, Carrots, it’s… cold, and, y'know, dark…” he called out, opting for an anxious glance over his shoulder. As nervous as he felt, he’d still never leave Judy behind, so he made sure she was still close behind him before he completely abandoned her.

As soon as his best friend came jogging towards him, eagerly trying to keep up as he strode away from her, he breathed out a sigh of relief. No matter how nervous he was, or how ridiculous she was being, he was happy to have her back at his side. Even if she was talking complete nonsense.

When the two of them stopped, standing stock still in the middle of the street, Nick twitched uncomfortably, his bones itching with discomfort at still being out in the open. There was no real, justifiable reason for him to be afraid – not that he was, of course – but that didn’t change the way he felt, and he couldn’t escape the flashes in his vision as he stared around him, convincing himself that he could see dear ol’ Bill Skarsgard lurking across the way in some dimly lit alley, all decked out in his Pennywise getup.

“Judy. He ripped his arm off within the first ten minutes of the movie!” he cried out, his tone coming out in a far higher pitch than he’d anticipated. Shaking his head, squeezing his eyes tight shut momentarily, he blew air from his cheeks in a petulant huff. “I’m just sayin’, Hopper, even if he was keeping Georgie in some kinda underground circus, like you say, he still ripped the damn kid’s arm from its socket.”

Even uttering the words aloud made him feel sick to his stomach, and he cringed at having to make himself and Judy relive it, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. Not when Judy was accusing him of being scared.

“Wh– what? Scared? You think i’m scared, Hopper?” he scoffed, shaking his head wildly in protest. Looking at her with complete, and total utter disbelief, he whirled on the spot, turning his back to her. What a ridiculous notion. He wasn’t scared, not by a long shot. Nick Wilde did not scare easily.

Before he knew it, though, Judy was slipping her hand into his own, and he let out a childish groan at the action. Shooting her a sidelong glance, the ghost of a smirk playing on his lips, he shrugged, before giving her hand a tight squeeze in return.

“Whatever, c'mon. It’s cold, and we’d better get in out of it before we catch something,” he insisted, still sticking to his halfassed story. Besides, the idea of even so much as the sighting of a red balloon made his whole entire body shiver. Shaking a little, he edged in closer to Judy, dropping his head against her shoulder momentarily, and nuzzling his face gently against her neck. “See, told you. I’m cold.”

The two of them kept walking, Judy keeping up a constant stream of conversation where Nick scarcely could, before eventually coming to a halt outside of his tiny bungalow. More often than not, he opted for heading home and helping his mom out where he could, knowing that she liked the company, as well as wanting Nick to keep an eye on Todd where he could. Even so, he liked the privacy of having his own home, and he didn’t like traipsing guys and girls into his childhood home after a late night out, so it was nice having his own space. Even if it meant Judy showing up whenever she so wished, befriending his one night stands, and fixing things that were perfectly fine.

“Alright, uh… home sweet home,” he muttered, furrowing his brow as he stared around him. With his free hand, he fished his keys out of his pocket, never wavering or releasing his hold on Judy’s hand. Awkwardly hovering, he finally dropped her hand, if only to wrap an arm around her waist, reeling her in and pulling her alongside him as he strolled towards his front door, Judy firmly pressed into his side.

“Y'know, it is late… And cold… and dark… You sure you wouldn’t prefer to just stay over?” he mused, his key dangling from the lock as he made no real attempts to turn it, his gaze on Judy instead. “I don’t want you walkin’ home on your own, y'know, it’s late, and…”

He trailed off, realising it was much too late to bother elaborating. Judy wasn’t an idiot, she knew him better than most. Not to mention, she’s a cop, and walking into far more dangerous situations than Cherry Grove on a school night kinda came under the job description. 

When Nick attempted to reason with her rose-tinted view of Pennywise the Dancing Clown, Judy nodded consolingly. Evidently, the movie had shaken up her best friend more than he had initially let out, and who would she be to tells him his fears weren’t valid?

“That’s true,” she said, wincing a little as she recalled the way the evil clown’s teeth had clamped around Georgie’s arm and ripped it off. She lifted her shoulder in a shrug. “I just thought that maybe it was some sort of optical illusion and when the Losers Club found Georgie again, he’d have both of his arms! And everyone would be really happy and maybe there’d be a musical number.”

She really did need to broaden her cinematic genres. It was hard for her to process what was happening when the ensemble cast of these new movies she found herself watching didn’t join forces with a number of animated fluffy animals to finish off the movie with a razzling, dazzling, show-stopping number. She had a distinct feeling that Nick would probably prefer those movies as well though, but made sure even the slightest inkling of that didn’t show on her face. She knew that Nick’s masculinity was very important to him and, as a good best friend, she wasn’t going to be the one to put a dent in that.

Instead, she swung their hands side by side before rolling her eyes at Nick’s dramatic outbursts and absently picking his hand up between both of their own, still keeping their fingers linked as her other fingers traced over the small cuts and scratches and whatnot littering Nick’s fingers. She knew they were probably the result of animals from the clinic scuffling around in his gently cupped palms, or papercuts he’d scored from rummaging through different patient files in a hurry on the days he helped his mom out. She let out a small ‘hmm?’ of acknowledgment at Nick’s question and looked up at him.

“You are acting a little scared, Nick,” she told him. But she didn’t think there was any shame in that, really. Her reassurances that Pennywise wasn’t real but it would still be perfectly alright if Nick wanted to sleep with a nightlight on died away when Nick pressed his face against Judy’s neck and she let out a peal of laughter. His cheeks were pretty cold, she’d give him that, and she pretended to wriggle away only to swing round in front of him and gently headbutt his chest; a weak attempt to halt him in his path that was soon deemed unnecessary given that they were outside of Nick’s house anyway. She smiled at the sight of the homely little bungalow and hoped that Nick wouldn’t be too freaked out now that she had to leave him, when Nick’s offer resonated with her.

“You want me to stay?” she echoed, nothing in her tone that suggested this was out of the ordinary. She figured Nick was pretending that this was for her sake even though she was one of the toughest cops around who could definitely handle herself on a dimly-lit walk home. Part of her, the more challenging and competitive part of Judy Hopper, half wanted to call his bluff and walk away just to see if he’d admit to needing her company because he was the scaredy-cat. But as she pictured herself walking home in the dark, passing sewage drains were anything could lurk in the darkness, she realised that she’d prefer to stay over at Nick’s.

“You sure?” she asked then placed her hands on her hips. “I should definitely be flattered, shouldn’t I? I mean, I’m one of the lucky girls who gets to stay over at Nick Wilde’s house? This is insane! Except, you do realise you’re not getting lucky tonight, right, mister?”

Her teasing ceased when a cold gust of wind blew by them and she shivered, still grinning as her teeth chattered. Gently elbowing Nick with her elbow, she nodded towards the key in his hand, signalling for him to open the door so they could both hurry inside.

... You’re moody.

Wait no sorry, that was rude. But you were being rude. Niamh and Nick are my friends. My grumpy friends, but that’s fine, we balance each other out!

Helping people! Upholding the law! Protecting the citizens of Cherry Grove! 

Whoever thought horror movies were a good idea was a moron. Whoever thought combining clowns, horror movies, and flesh eating child predators was a good idea, was a complete psychopath. Nick tried, with all his might, not to let Judy see the fear that was ingrained into his features. Gripping his hands tight against the armrests, his nails digging into the fabric, he stared straight at the screen, never flinching, never shying away, stifling the gasp that tore through his throat at that line about it being real enough for Georgie.

All in all, Nick wasn’t a fan, but he kept up the pretence. He put on a brave face as Judy gasped and squealed her way through the movie, tucking herself into his side and hiding away from the horror that was unfolding before their very eyes. Though, despite the act that he was putting on, he’d be lying if he said he hadn’t been a little terrified when Judy had upturned their tub of popcorn all over them, that quick flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye setting his heart rate to an all time high. He’d jolted upright in his seat, his leg kicking out involuntarily, his inner fears that Pennywise had somehow materialised right beside him in the middle of the theatre coming to fruition. Of course, it was only Judy, and Nick’s whole macho man charade had been pushed to its limit.

There really was no disguising the terror behind his eyes as he watched the scenes of the movie unfold, and he couldn’t even find it in himself to be relieved upon seeing the end credits appear on the screen. He felt traumatised, and he silently wondered why he and Judy had thought it would be a good idea to go and see the movie. As much as he loved Judy and spending time with her, he was well and truly regretting this decision, and he couldn’t help but think that if Farrah had been there he’d at least have found something about the other girl to distract himself. At least with Farrah he’d have been able to be the one burying his face in her neck, nuzzling away at the skin here by means of calming his own anxiety, and his newfound fear of clowns.

Nick sat in his seat for a few moments, still reeling from what he’d just witnessed. He was vaguely aware of the fact that Judy was talking to him, and out of the corner of his eye he could see all the other movie-goers vacating their seats, eagerly chatting about what they’d just seen. Nick couldn’t move, however. All he could think about was the walk home in the dark, and the possibility of returning home to find Pennywise gyrating in his living room, readily waiting to take a bite out of him.

He finally jolted back to reality upon seeing Judy’s hand waving rapidly in front of his face,  his best friend calling his name, trying to bring him back down to earth. Casting a sideway glance at his friend, he grimaced, before hopping up onto his feet at an almost alarming rate. Quickly, he snaked an arm around Judy’s waist, pulling her in, almost dragging her along with him as he eagerly attempted to exit their screening. “Time to get the hell outta here, carrots,” he insisted, knocking his shoulder against several strangers on the way.

When they finally made it outside, with Nick never stopping to ask if Judy needed to use the bathroom, or dispose of the now empty bag of popcorn she was holding, he stared around them at the mostly deserted street. Street lamps were flickering as they always did in Cherry Grove, and his eyes darted anxiously around him as he thought about getting the pair of them home before someone decided to jump them.

“You know what sounds great right now?” Nick mused. His arm still wrapped firmly around Judy, he barely registered the close proximity with which he was holding her, much too focused on the paralysing fear that had engulfed him head to toe. “Not walking home in the dark.”

Shaking his head, he exhaled slowly, before finally releasing his hold on his best friend.

“Alright, hopper. Lemme walk you home,” he insisted, offering her a meek smile.

He started walking, heading in the general direction that he only hoped would lead them to civilisation, and maybe better headlamps, when his brain finally whirred back into action. About ten minutes too late, he whipped his head around to stare at Judy, offering her an incredulous stare as he caught up to her words from earlier on.

“I’m sorry, Hopper, but what?!” he quizzed her, his words coming out in a shrill, high pitched cry. “You might be inclined to forgive and forget, but if I saw that dancing douchebag i’d be more interested in throwing him in a blender and forgetting we’d never crossed paths.” 

Judy had never exited a cinema screen so fast, even when she and her little sisters had gone to see the third Twilight movie then found out they were giving Jacob Black posters out for free in the lobby. She, Genevieve, Ruth and Elsie had all but sprinted past the other moviegoers so they could be their first to get their hands on said postered version of their favourite werewolf, but it was nothing compared to how quickly Nick was pulling her out. She had no choice but to follow him seeing as his arm was wrapped tightly around her waist. Why was he so eager to leave? She didn’t really fancy taking an IT poster home if that was why he was dragging her towards the lobby.

Nick bypassed the lobby completely and pulled Judy right out into the street, only letting go over her when they stood in the pool of yellow light granted to them by a flickering streetlight. Judy clutched onto what was left of her popcorn bag and shivered, the night-time breeze that whipped around her making her wish she’d had the foresight to bring a jacket.

“But, Nick… we kinda have to walk home in the dark,” she reasoned, leaning closer to him to soak up the warmth his body emanated. Nick was always super cosy.

The buses had stopped running an hour ago, neither of them had a car and Uber drivers in Cherry Grove were super unreliable. They were mostly college students looking to earn some extra money but sometimes they were too caffeinated to operate their vehicles or they accepted a lift then realised it meant they’d have less time to complete an assignment whose deadline loomed dangerously close, so they cancelled the ride. Judy knew her and Nick’s only option was to walk, even though it didn’t seem like Nick was crazy about that idea. He seemed kinda shaken up and she narrowed her eyes at her best friend, wondering if the movie had scared him more than he let on.

She stuck her hand into her popcorn bag, scooping up a handful of caramel corn while Nick nervously glanced around them. She wanted to reassure him that they were only in the streets of Cherry Grove and not the sewers of Derry, but her mouth was too full of popcorn to say anything and by the time she swallowed it, he had stridden off down the street and she jogged after him.

She skidded to a stop as Nick whirled around with wide, frantic eyes.

“What?” she huffed. “It was a perfectly reasonable theory. I thought that maybe he was just keeping Georgie in this really fun circus because he was lonely and wanted friends and that he’d let him go at the end and the Losers Club would visit him and stuff.” She wanted to write to Stephen King and tell him that she, rather narcissistically, thought that her ending was just a little bit better than the one he’d wrote. But that wouldn’t really help Nick calm down, would it? A cheeky smile played on her lips and she tilted her head up at her friend.

“Nick, are you scared?” she asked, teasingly. With a fond shake of her head, she slipped her hand into his and lead him the opposite direction down the street. “I think we should get you home first. You shouldn’t be wandering the dark in your own. Just in case you see any red balloons floating around.”