Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Water. Nothing but water as far as the eye can see. Occasionally, a small speck of green can be visible, but it’s mostly the beautiful tropical blue Pacific Ocean waters. A plane flies over the water and eventually starts to land on the ground. Probably one of the biggest milestones in Nook Inc. was about to unfold. Tom Nook sat in his first-class section of the plane that was sending him, his nephews, and 3 other villagers to an island. Tom sighed as he felt the plane start to descend towards the island he bought just for this. The plane gently lands as the few passengers start gathering their belongings and bringing them outside the plane.

A month or so before today Tom and the Nooklings went to the island to inspect it, to see if it was fit to stay on for well who knows how long. Tom breathed in the fresh island air, a sense of worry starting to set in, his mind racing with thoughts of what was going to happen now. Yes, the island was considerably safe, but Tom’s dread started to sink deeper and deeper into his mind. What if the supply plane doesn’t show up on time every month? He doesn’t have his friends with them, they’re all back in the old town they used to live in. Would he even see them again? What if the old town falls because Tom isn’t there to sell homes there? No no, they’re are fine, Lyle Lottie and Digby are there, they can do their job perfectly fine! Tom breathes in again and goes to the center of the island where his tent is already set up. A blue jock deer, Bam, and a tiger cub big sister villager Tammy sat next to a fire talking to each other. Timmy and Tommy closely followed behind Tom Nook, holding the ends of Tom’s shirt. They were a little skittish due to the new change in surroundings and the fact Tommy nearly got bit by a tarantula the last time they were there.

Tom looked around, he noticed one of the villagers was gone. Tom blinked and tilted his head in confusion.

“Where’s the human villager? What was their name? Starry?” Tom asks Bam and Tammy.

“I think they went off to explore the island a bit,” Tammy shrugs.

“Didn’t I tell them to come here first?” Tom looks at the Nooklings.

“Well, they might’ve forgot!” Timmy and Tommy simultaneously respond.

Tom sighs, “Tommy, can you go find them for me and bring them back over here?”

“Yesir!” Tommy smiles, taking out a flashlight and the Nook Inc. flag, and runs off to go find Starry.

Tom takes in the surroundings again. It was springtime, March 20th. The temperature was comfortable. Not too hot but not too cold. The sun was starting to set so yes it was on the colder side. But it was still considerably nice. Tom sits down on one of the benches next to the campfire, Timmy sitting down next to Tom, cuddling him tiredly. Tom feels the fire’s heat radiating onto him, sinking into his fur, making it a comfortable feeling. Tom looks up at the sky, a crescent moon, visibly shining down on them. The grass was green with a hint of yellow in it. It was a little bit of an ugly color, but it was balanced out by the lack of light to make it more green. He hears Tommy and Starry coming back to the site. Tom’s ears turn over to Tommy’s giggling before his head does. Tommy was dragging Starry over to the campfire. Starry’s skin was tan with turquoise hair (obviously dyed) It was short but slightly curly, with bangs with a little gap in it. Their eyes were yellow, the fire perfectly reflecting to make their eyes look like they were glowing. They were wearing, jeans, everyday socks, pleather ankle booties, purple octagonal glasses, and a space parka

“Alright Boss, I got Starry!” Tommy giggles.

Starry sits down on an empty bench. Tommy rushes over to Timmy, knocking him off the bench by mistake. Tom stands up and picks up the two twins by the back of their shirts and places them both back onto the bench and pats their heads. Tom goes to where everyone could see or at least hear him.

“Thank you all for coming and purchasing a new island life. As you all should know, I am Tom Nook, and I would love to get to know all of you more than just your name and species! You’ve probably met my nephews, Timmy and Tommy. So let’s get to know each other, by saying your name and something you like and your preferred pronouns because we are all gonna be neighbors! I’ll go first, for example, I’m Tom Nook, and my pronouns are He/Him, and I like to golf in my free time! Now who wants to go next?” Tom Nook smiles.

Bam raises his hoove into the air.

“Bam, you go!” Tom points over at Bam.

“My name is Bam, my pronouns are also He/Him and I like sports!” Bam flexes.

“Great! Now let's go clockwise, Tammy your next!” Tom instructs.

“Ahem, My name is Tammy, my pronouns are She/Her and I like pasta!” Tammy chuckles.

“My name is Timmy and my pronouns are He/Him, and I like my younger brother Tommy!” Timmy hugs Tommy.

“My name is Tommy, and my pronouns are He/Him too, and I like Graffiti, it looks cool!” Tommy hugs Timmy back.

“Why didn’t you say you like me for your thing!?” Timmy gives a hurt expression.

“Can’t I be unique? I love you too, don’t worry, Timmy!” Tommy shrugs.

Tom chuckles to himself at the two, “Ok, Starry, your turn!”

“My name is Starry and my pronouns are They/Them and I like space, hence the name…” Starry, shyly says.

“Well that game was fun, now I think maybe we should start setting up our tents, well I mean your tents. Well, anyway, I’ll hand you out your tents and you can pick a spot to set up, and remember you can change the spot in the future, but it will cost money, yes yes…” Tom explains handing Timmy and Tommy the tents to give to the villagers.

Eventually, everyone finds a spot to set up their tents and they do so. Tom instructs the villagers to find some fruit alongside Timmy and Tommy. They eat and all just hang out for a while. The sun has set at this point. The burning fire and moonlit sky are the only light sources currently.

Timmy crawls over to a bag containing smore ingredients and grabs a few sticks. He walks around the fire handing out sticks, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. The little Tanuki then plops down next to his brother, grabbing himself some ingredients and sticking the marshmallow onto a stick.

“Now that we’ve settled down some, I feel like we should come up with a name for this island! Don’t you all agree, yes yes?” Tom suggests.

Everyone nods their heads and starts shouting out island ideas at the same time.

Starry speaks up, “Sunlicty Island?”

“Wow that’s a really pretty name, SUNLICTY ISLAND IT IS!” Tom cheerfully says.

Everyone agrees with the name and the island and the night continues. They eventually go into their tents. Tom lays down on his sleeping cot while Timmy and Tommy crawl into their sleeping bags. This was a new start for everyone. Tom feels his eyes try to close on his own and they eventually do so. Eventually, it’s just Tom and his dreams. Until the next morning.

Chapter Text

It has been a few weeks since they first arrived. Sunlicity Island was growing. There were currently 7 villagers (excluding Starry). Nook’s and Cranny was a normal shop and Blathers and the Able Sisters (well, Sable and Mable at least) also moved into the island. Isabelle wanted to help Tom so she’s also here. It was around 5 am, Tom just woke up from his sleep. He blinks and sees Isabelle passed out at her desk, drooling in her sleep. Tom chuckles to himself and puts a blanket on her. He then goes outside, It was rainy. Tom takes out his umbrella and goes to Nook’s and Cranny to check on the Nooklings.

The two kids were scrambling around getting stuff ready for when the shop was to open later. Tom helps them with putting up their stuff in the shop and then leaves afterwards. He walks around next to the beach for a while enjoying the rain and peace. He was at the northern beach when he spotted a boat. Tom didn’t really pay much attention to it since Starry has recently had a thing to put up boats as decoration for the island. But something still felt off about the boat. It might’ve been the sheer amount of smoke coming out of the chimney that set him off or how messy it just itself. But something seemed sketchy about it, that was certain. Tom just quickly walked past it like an 8-year-old running from the bathroom to their bedroom in the middle of the night in fear that something would reach out from the shadows to kill them.

Tom heads over to the museum. He would’ve gone to hang out with Sable but he knows she wouldn’t be awake or in the mood to talk so early. So he just heads to the museum Through the rain.

Tom entered the museum to see Blathers standing at his normal post reading a book. The owl glanced up at Nook after hearing someone enter. His neutral expression went to joy after he realized Tom was in the building now.

“Thomas! How come you’re in the museum? Not that it matters really, sometimes this job can get boring, anyway, how have you been? I haven’t really got to talk to you since Sable and Mable set up shop here!” Blathers yaps.

Blathers was really the only one with a non-American accent and that was a firm yet fake British accent he has used ever since he met Brewster back in the 5th grade. Blathers started using said accent to make Brewster proud since Brewster actually was British. You could either take it as a compliment or mockery if you are British and know the accent is fake, but most people don’t know that.

“Got, bored…” Tom shrugs, being hugged by Blathers.

“So what’s been happening for you lately?” Blathers asks, letting go of Nook.

“Not much, I was walking around the island, and I saw this boat on the northern shore. I haven’t seen a boat like that really, But who am I to judge Starry’s choice of decoration!” Tom laughs.

“Hey Tom, Celeste said she’s coming over to the island for a little visit!” Blathers brings up.

“I’m betting she’s just coming over for the chance of shooting stars tomorrow…” Tom says.

“Oh don’t be like that, Nook, I bet she misses her older brother!” Blathers retorts.

“Yeah, she probably does, but she’s probably coming over to see the stars, you know her, and besides, she’s told me how annoying it is when she brings up the Scorpio constellation and you start screaming because it’s a scorpion,” Tom explains.

“Whatever, she should know better than anyone to not bring up anything bug-related around me!” Blathers scoffs, crossing his arms.

“Fair point,” Tom agrees, getting a text from Isabelle.

“Hoo’s the text from?” Blathers asks, looking over Tom’s shoulder at his phone.

“Isabelle wants me to head back so I can record the announcements for her,” Tom responds, texting Isabelle that he’ll be back soon.

“I’ll see you later Thomas, goodbye! By the way, you should visit more often, it would be nice!” Blathers states.

“If I have the time to, I will! Bye!” Tom waves as he leaves the museum.

Chapter Text

“And that’s all the news, have a good day everyone, and be safe!” Isabelle smiles.

Starry puts down their phone and exits their bed, puts their clothes for the day on, and exits their house. Starry goes their the tree garden and picks some peaches off from a tree. They then go back to their house and each the peaches, and then exits once more. Starry walks around for a while, doing their everyday island chores. Picking the weeds, and digging up the fossils in the ground. They go fishing in the rain for about 20 minutes, catching some new fish, and then heads over to the museum to donate the new items. They walk around a little bit more before seeing a silhouette in the distance. They didn’t recognize the person so they went up closer to see a fox with a broken umbrella talking to one of their villagers, Sasha. Sasha soon leaves and Starry goes up to the new fox.

“Um, hello? Are you a new villager here or something?” Starry asks the fox as he turns over to look at them.

Their eyes were squinted, but Starry could see his yellow sclera and red irises. They were somewhat lanky, a scar visible on his shoulder and nose. His neutral expression went to an ominous smirk.

“Oh, I’m not moving in, I’m here to sell art~!” The fox responds. “So what’s your name, kid?”

“My name is Starry,” They answer.

“Starry… What a great name! Intelligent. Strong. I can already tell we’re gonna be pals. No, not pals… family~!” The fox says the name like an incantation. “My name is Redd! Crazy Jolly Redd!”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you, Redd!” Starry smiles.

“Say, Cuz how would you like to buy yourself a moving painting for the low low price of 498,000 bells?” Redd asks, moving next to Starry in an almost cartoonish way.

“That’s a lot of money that I don’t have…” Starry backs away slightly.

“Fair, fair… How bout I give ya a cousin discount? For only 4,980 bells you’ll be the proud owner of your very own moving painting~!” Redd asks.

“That’s more like it! I can actually afford that!” Starry smiles handing Redd the bells.

“It will be at your house tomorrow, for you to enjoy!” Redd smiles with his mouth open, showing his large sharp teeth.

“Wait don’t you need an address?” Starry asks.

“I don’t think I do, I mean, YOU’RE the island representative~! I think it would be very easy to find your house, Starry~!” Redd explains.

“I guess so, my house is the biggest on the island…” Starry ponders.

“Exactly cuz~!” Redd smirks. “By the way, if a certain tanuki asks who gave you the moving painting, just tell him it was an old friend of his~!”

“Ok, will do, bye Redd!” Starry says walking away.

“Goodbye cuz~!” Redd ominously smirks, rubbing his paws together, silently laughing to himself. “Oh by the way Starry, if you see me on the island again, you can come into my boat on the northern shore!”

“Ok, bye!” Starry says from the distance.

**Later in the early morning**

It was around 4 am on the island. Redd grabs the moving painting and wraps it. He leaves the boat and goes to the largest house on the island. He opens the mailbox and places the wrapped painting inside of it. Redd then quickly runs away. He stops, seeing the resident services building. Redd sneaks over to the window. He looks inside seeing Tom and Isabelle asleep.

“Aww, I forgot how adorable Nooksie is when he’s asleep~” Redd hums to himself and then quickly runs away.

He looks up to see a plane flying overhead. Redd tilts his head, his ears flopping to the side like a dog’s. Redd decides to see who’s getting off the plane. He sneaks over to the airport hiding himself. A raspberry-colored owl comes out of the airport. She had an oversized backpack with her. She takes in a breath enjoying the scent of the island. She takes out her phone to text someone and then walks onto the grass. Redd silently watches from a bush thinking to himself, “Isn’t that the brainiac owl’s little sister?” Redd shifts his position in the bush slightly. Celeste’s gaze turns to the bush. She studies it for a minute and then walks away. Redd sighs and runs off back to his boat.

Redd crawls into the boat and cartoonishly sits down in the captain's seat. The chair rolls away slightly. Redd tries stopping it but only makes it worse, falling off the chair onto his back. Redd crawls back up and puts the chair back up. He sits back into the chair and turns on the boat and drives it away from Sunlicity Island.

Meanwhile while on the other side of the island, Starry woke up and listened to the daily announcements Isabelle did and then went outside to grab the Moving Painting from the mailbox. They unwrap it, not paying much attention to the painting itself, and heads to the museum after digging up some fossils. Blathers was talking to Celeste (since she was over at the island). Blathers’ attention goes to Starry as they walk in.

“Starry! Good morning! So what fossils do you have for me to assess today?” Blathers asks.

“Morning Blathers, here you go!” Starry hands Blathers the fossils and waves at Celeste.

Blathers examines the fossils, “Well unfortunately the fossils are ones we already have in the museum, but if you assemble it correctly, you could make a Wooly Mammoth!”

“Ok! Oh yeah, I also got this painting from a guy visiting the island” Starry says taking out the painting and handing it to Blathers.

Blathers places the moving painting and then looks at it for one second before screaming, “OH MY MOONS, IS THIS THE REAL BIRTH OF VENUS!?”

“The what?” Starry asks.

“Yeah, what?” Celeste adds.

Blathers calms himself down before continuing, “And genuine nonetheless…” Blathers looks over to Starry before grabbing their shoulders and staring them into their eyes, “Hoo did you say gave this to you!?”

“A guy visiting the island yesterday…” Starry answers.

“What did they look like, what was their species, what was their name, was there any other things that made them distinct!?” Blathers demands.

“They were a fox, like a normal fox and his name was Redd… he also said cuz a lot, and said he was an old friend of Nook’s I think…” Starry blankly answers.

“Celeste, you keep the museum running until I get back, I’m going to resident services!” Blathers orders and runs out of the building with the moving painting.

After a few minutes of running Blathers barges into the resident services building. Tom and Isabelle turn their attention to the owl that just entered. Tom was doing something on his computer (probably work) and Isabelle was watering a plant. Blathers stands there for a second to catch his breath after running over there. Blathers slowly stumbles over to the counter and holds onto it so he doesn’t fall over.

“What happened to you? You look like you just saw a ghost and ran an Olympic marathon to get away from it!” Isabelle teases.

“Blathers, you ok?” Tom asks, walking up to the counter.

“T-the…the…f-fox…” Blathers pants, placing the painting (as a leaf) onto the counter before falling face-first onto the ground.

Tom takes the painting and displays it, seeing the artwork. Tom and Isabelle gasp in shock.

“Is that the Birth Of Venus!?” Isabelle asks.

“Y-yes…” Blathers mutters.

“Wait why is it here and not in Italy? Actually, hold that thought, I’ll let you catch your breath first…” Tom says.

Isabelle hands Blathers (who is still on the floor) a bottle of water. Tom picks Blathers up and puts him onto a chair. After a few minutes of regaining his energy, Blathers takes one final sip of water.

“Alright, so why is it here?” Tom asks the owl.

“Starry said they got it… from Redd… he was apparently here yesterday…” Blathers looks up at Tom.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE WAS HERE YESTERDAY!?” Tom asks.

“Sorry, not meaning to interrupt, but who’s Redd?” Isabelle tilts her head.

“Isabelle, you don’t need to know…” Tom glares.

“Redd is Thomas’s ex-business partner… He kinda robbed him and betrayed his trust, so we don’t talk about him that much,” Blathers answers.

“He’s an asshole, that’s what he is!” Tom growls.

Blathers and Isabelle both gasp at Tom Nook’s choice of words.

“Mr Nook, language!” Isabelle barks in surprise.

“Why? He is one! I’m not wrong when I say that!” Tom snaps.

“You see what I mean by, we bring him up… Tom chooses to say not child-friendly words,” Blathers looks over at Isabelle.

Tom calms himself down, “Isabelle, go find Starry and bring them over here so I can ask them about what happened…”

“I suppose I can… is there anything else you want me to do while I’m gone?”

“No,” Tom answers.

“Alright, on it!” Isabelle runs off.

Tom slouches down into his chair and growls to himself.

Chapter Text

Isabelle runs around the island before running into Ankha. Isabelle accidentally bumps into her, hurting both of their shoulders.

“Watch where you're going, Shih Tzu…” Ankha glares.

“Why don’t you, wrinkles?” Isabelle barks before running off.

Isabelle continues to walk around the island spotting Cole and Tammy, “Hi, Cole, Hi Tammy! Do you know where Starry is?”

“Uuuhhh, I think at the dock thingy on the east shore fishing or something…” Cole tries to answer.

“Yeah I’m pretty sure they’re fishing right now, but they might not be there… why are you looking for them?” Tammy adds.

“Mr. Nook wants to see them, thank you!” Isabelle runs off to the east.

Isabelle reaches the east coast and sees the only human fishing peacefully on the dock, their legs dangling over the dark blue Pacific water. The ocean was calm, the waves gently splashed against Starry’s legs and sandals. Isabelle walks up from behind Starry, her reflection in the water making her presence known.

“Um, Starry, Mr. Nook wants to see you…” Isabelle shyly speaks up.

“How come?” Starry looks up at Isabelle.

“I don’t know if it’s something Mr. Nook wants to say or not… so could you please follow me?” Isabelle asks.

The bobber in the water gets dragged into the water and tries pulling Starry in with it. Starry pulls against it and Isabelle grabs Starry by the waist to help them pull in the fish. The fish comes out of the water flying over them and then behind them. Starry and Isabelle fall over on top of each other. Starry sits up and grabs the obnoxiously large fish.

“What is that!?” Isabelle shivers.

Starry pulls out their phone takes a picture of it and sends it to Google Images, “Says it’s a fish called an oarfish…”

“Well, it’s creepy… I don’t like it…” Isabelle backs away.

“I think Blathers will appreciate this Donation to the museum!” Starry smiles.

“Yeah, I bet he will… Alright now let's go!” Isabelle gestures for Starry to follow.

**Later**

The two enter the Residents Service building. Tom was in the corner growling to himself and Blathers was playing snake on Tom’s computer. The two both look up and over to Starry and Isabelle. Tom immediately stops growling when he sees the two enter and puts on a cheery mask even though he’s still mad at himself for not checking the boat further.

“Starry, Isabelle, you’re back~!” Tom smiles.

“Hi, Mr. Nook!” Isabelle smiles back.

“Isabelle, I told you, you don’t need to call me Mr. Nook, just call me Tom!” Nook sighs.

“Sorry, Sorry…” Isabelle nods.

“So, Tom Nook… How come you asked for me to come here?” Starry asks.

“So… can you tell us where you got this painting from?” Tom displays the Birth Of Venus.

“Um, yeah, there was this fox guy, named Redd… Crazy Jolly Redd…” Starry looks up at Nook.

Tom clears his throat, “Starry… don’t talk to that guy, trust me, he’s no good!”

“But he seemed nice, He didn’t try hurting me and he gave me… whatever that is for 4,980 bells” Starry retorts (but not rudely)

“$4,980 BELLS!?” Blathers shrieks, now feeling lightheaded and dizzy. “THE BIRTH OF VENUS, FOR 4,980 BELLS!? THAT IS A DISGRACE TO SANDRO BOTTICELLI’S NAME!”

“Starry, his tactics are supposed to make him look and sound charming, But I’ve met him! He’s just a cheating, lying, greedy, conniving fox! Don’t trust him! He’s a horrible person and will take all of your money!” Tom warns grabbing Starry’s shoulders, a small blush on his face.

“But he doesn’t seem that bad…” Starry shrugs.

Tom takes a breath in, the blush fading slightly, “Please Starry, just listen to me, I don’t want you or anyone to make the same mistake I did with trusting… Redd… and I guess if you are going to buy anything from him… just make sure you don’t get too close to him and be careful what you’re buying is genuine and not one of his fakes…”

“Ok…” Starry smiles

“You can go back to what you were doing… just… be careful…” Tom sighs letting go of Starry’s shoulders.

“Ok, oh yeah Blathers, I have a fish for you before I go!” Starry pulls the oarfish out of their pocket and hands it to Blathers.

“Oh my- Thank you, Starry, I’ll be sure to put this into a tank when I get back to the museum, would you like for me to tell you about this specimen?” Blathers cheers.

“Not right now, but maybe later, bye!” Starry leaves.

Starry leaves the building. Isabelle goes back to her desk to work and so does Tom.

“I still can’t believe REDD of all people would sell something so valuable like the Birth Of Venus at the same price as a clock in a yard sale!” Blathers huffs.

“Redd does put discounts on things to trap a person in his sales. That’s one of the things I will give him credit for good business…” Tom sighs.

“You know Tom, you haven’t really explained to me who he is…” Isabelle looks up…

“That’s because I don’t like the fact that I was so stupid to actually trust him and think he was actually my friend…” Tom admits.

“Yeah, but what did he do?” Isabelle asks, looking over at Blathers to see if he’d say anything.

“He robbed Tom…” Blathers shrugs.

Isabelle’s jaw hangs open in shock, “Wait wait wait, lemme get this straight… Tom Nook, one of the richest people in the world, was robbed by a scamming fox!? Can one of you tell me the whole story for this, because this is the most interesting thing I’ve heard since Lottie told me she has a crush on my brother!” Isabelle grabs a bag of chips.

“Wait, Lottie has a crush on Digby, I didn’t know that!” Blathers chuckles.

“Yeah, no one has told Digby bout it, BUT ANYWAY, Mr. Noo- I mean, Tom, can you tell me about that!?” Isabelle asks.

“Fine Isabelle, but don’t get offended looking if I cuss at all when talking about him,” Tom sighs.

Chapter Text

Tom sighs, “It was a long time ago… I was… 15 I think? I went out to the big city to find my place in this world…”

**Flash Back**

*“I didn’t really know what I was doing back then, I just knew what I wanted… I met Redd in the city,” Tom explains.*

The young Tanuki ran around the city. He accidentally ran into a few people, a wolf, a cat, and, an alligator.

“Watch it, kid!” The cat hisses, dropping their backpack and the stuff inside it.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, I can help you pick that up if you’d like?” Tom backed away nervously.

“Look kid, I don’t know if you know who we are, but we’re in charge of this place!” The wolf growled, picking Tom up by his shirt and shoving him into a wall.

“Roger, calm down, I think they just got here, you don’t have to be so brutal…” The alligator jumped in.

“You're right…” The wolf sighed and then stared into Nook’s eyes, “But to be sure YOU don’t try messing with us, I’ll give you a little warning…”

The wolf was about to scratch Tom across the face but a angry voice spoke up, “HEY ROGER! WHY ARE YOU PICKING ON THIS GUY!?”

An angry fox stood outside the dirty alleyway. He glared up at the wolf, growling. His orange fur stood out against the monotone area.

“Well, well, well, look who’s tryin' to be a hero, fox boy, you know I can beat you up! Who else gave you that scratch on your nose, huh?” The wolf said tauntingly.

“Just let the raccoon go!” The fox growled threateningly.

The wolf just laughed, “Oh, you’re actually gonna try me! HAHAHA, Oh that’s fuckin' hilarious fox boy!”

The wolf dropped Nook onto the ground but the cat kept him from leaving. The wolf smirked and charged at the fox. The fox jumped up, grabbed his head, and threw it against the brick wall.

“I’ve been training to fight you, I’ve been gettin' better!” The fox laughed as the wolf slowly fell unconscious.

The cat and alligator quickly run over to the wolf and dragged him away before the fox could do anything else to the wolf. Tom sat next to the wall across from where the fox was, amazement but fear still drawn onto his face. The fox turned around and looked over at Tom. He slowly walked over to him.

Tom huddled closer to the ground and covered his face with his arm, whimpering, “Please don’t hurt me!”

The fox laughed, “Why would I hurt you? I just saved you!”

*“Redd saved me from a bunch of assholes when I first got there, I’d probably have some scars if he didn’t come in…” Tom sighs.*

The fox held out his hand to help Tom stand up. Tom looked up at him and smiled shyly.

“Heh, thank you…” Tom stood up wanting to thank them by name but not knowing it.

“Name’s Redd!” The fox said, “What’s your name, coon?”

“Tom, Tom Nook!” The tanuki smiled, “By the way, I’m a tanuki, not a raccoon…”

“Same thing!” Redd shrugged.

“Not really… but ok! Thank you, Redd!” Tom glared playfully.

“No problem, Tom!” Redd smirked.

The two exited the alleyway. They walk around the sidewalk together.

“So, you’re new here, right?” Redd asked.

“Yeah, I just moved in today, I was just heading to my apartment until I bumped into those 3 by mistake…” Tom explained.

“You should really be more careful around here, coon…” Redd sighed.

“Again, I’m not a raccoon, I’m a tanuki!” Tom irritatedly corrected.

“Whatever…” Redd shrugged off. “So, do ya want me to show ya round?”

“I guess it would be helpful for someone that knows this area better than me to show me around…” Nook looked over at Redd.

“Alrighty then!” Redd grabbed Nook by the arm and dragged him off. “So, Tom what brings ya here?”

“I just want to start a business basically…” Tom shrugged as he took in the surroundings of the city.

Multiple different people were walking around the city. Smoke poured out of some distant factories. It was messy around this area, trash was in the streets and on the sidewalk, and some homeless people were in the alleyways staring at the Nook and Redd.

“I don’t like the vibes of this place…” Tom hid slightly behind Redd.

“Yeah, this is the place where a lot of shady business happens, I don’t know why you decided to walk through here to get to your apartment,” Redd questioned.

“I’ve never been to a city before,” Tom responded.

“Fair point… But seriously Tom, you should try to avoid this area of the city at all costs…” Redd looked Tom in the eyes.

“Then how come you were walking through here?” Tom asked.

“Oh, it’s just a lil short cut I use it every once and a while to get to where I work!” Redd smiled as the two got to the other part of the city.

All of the sudden the atmosphere changed, It felt so different. There were no clouds in the sky and the sun shone brightly. It was colorful, unlike the other more saturated part of the city. The colors were so warm and inviting.

There were stands set up next to one another. They had different kinds of things in them, one full of fruits, another with ceramics, some with crystals/rocks, and others with flowers. Tom's eyes widened in amazement. The small stands did seem to have very good business, several people were shopping at them and they had a lot of money in their cash registers.

*“He introduced me to probably my favorite part of that city…” Tom reminisces.*

Redd continued to drag Tom by his resisting arm. Tom just wanted to continue taking in the surroundings and maybe browse at the stands.

A dog spoke out to Redd, “Hey, Redd, who's your friend?”

Redd went over to this bulldog that was selling ice cream and responded with, “Hi Greg! This over here's Tom, he just moved inta the city! I’m just showin’ him around some!”

“Nice to meetcha Tom, Name’s Greg!” The bulldog held out his hand to shake.

Tom gave him his hand and shaked, “Nice to meet you, Greg.”

“Well, we oughta go, bye Greg!” Redd smiled dragging Tom off.

“You know that guy?” Tom asked.

“Know 'em? I know everyone here! This is where I work!” Redd said as he showed Nook his stand.

Inside a stand, there were paintings inside. There were some closed signs next to the stand as well.

“Aren’t you worried someone is gonna steal those paintings?” Tom asks.

“Oh, my paintings aren’t good enough to steal! Besides the true business is something else!” Redd chuckled.

“What is that?” Tom tilted his head.

“I paint them! Ya see I will paint them either in the modern style where there are shapes everywhere, exaggeration, or like one of those renaissance paintings!” Redd took out a painting he was currently working on. “And then when I finish, I call them so they can pay and pick it up!”

“Hu, that’s cool…” Tom smiled.

“Yeah, that, or they purchase one of the pieces I already made and go on their way!” Redd explained more into depth. “So how come you came here, coon?”

“Oh, I just wanted to work… but I don’t really know what I’m gonna do…” Tom sighed, explaining once more to the same person.

“...” Redd thought for a moment, “Hey, what if we become business partners~?”

“What?” Tom tilted his head.

“Yeah, you don’t know what you want you want to do, and I need more time to paint… Why don’t we work together? We’ll split the money 50/50!” Redd suggested holding out his hand to shake in agreement.

“...You know what? Yeah, I’d like to be your business partner!” Tom shook Redd’s hand and smiled.

**End Of Flashback**

“He offered me a headstart on my dream and gave me advice for business… We became best friends…” Tom chuckles.

“Then what happened? What went wrong?” Isabelle asks.

“Well… Redd ended up running away, leaving his home after some sort of argument with his parents. So I let him crash at my apartment for a few months, but one morning I woke up… and he was gone… He took his stuff and all the money in my wallet… All my valuables were gone… I didn’t do anything to make him mad, he just left without saying anything…” Tom grimaces.

“So you just went back home?” Isabelle asked.

“Pretty much, I was fortunate enough that Sable let me stay with her while I got back on my feet” Tom smiles.

“Dang that must’ve sucked…” Isabelle nods.

“It did… and I thought I didn’t have to worry about Redd coming back into my life… but I guess I’m wrong since he’s selling art he stole, to my residents…” Tom growls.

“I could deal with him instead! So you don’t have to talk to him!” Isabelle suggests.

Tom thinks, then looks up at Isabelle, “Isabelle, I thank you for your help… but you really shouldn’t get involved… I don’t want him to hurt you… Or really anyone on this island…”

“I understand… but does he even know you own this island… maybe it would be better for me to go and talk to him if he shows up again, for your safety!” Isabelle argues.

“He wouldn’t physically hurt anyone… unless he was given a reason to… but if he shows up again, I suppose you can…” Tom sighs.

Chapter Text

A day that used to be great, but got ruined by the eggpocalyse. Eggs replaced the entire environment. Fish; gone, Peaches; gone, Balloons; gone. Rocks; gone Wood; gone. Everything; gone. Everything was replaced by eggs, and it was all because of one horrible fake rabbit, Zipper T. Bunny. Tom was messing with some papers when Starry and Bam came in.

“Starry, Bam, how are you doing, hm?” Tom asks.

Starry places a baggy onto the counter. The baggy opens, revealing multiple eggs.

“What’s that?” Nook tilts his head.

“Everything in this ecosystem has been replaced by eggs, the only thing that isn’t eggs are the bugs! It’s rare to even fish up a sea bass! A SEA BASS! ONE OF THE MOST COMMON FISH IS LESS LIKELY TO BE CAUGHT THAN AN EGG!” Starry flushes in anger.

Tom just stands there flabbergasted. He was about to say something but Bam starts talking.

“You have to get rid of that ‘rabbit’!” Bam slams an axe on the counter.

“Woah, calm down there we don’t have to go to those extremes!” Tom puts his hands up. “I could go talk to him if you need me to… I’m not chopping his head off though!”

Bam crosses his arms, “Ok…”

“I could chop his head off!” Isabelle smiles.

“What!? No! NO! Bad Isabelle! BAD!” Tom grabs the spray bottle and sprays a little water on her face.

“I’ll go talk to him… But I’m not killing him!” Tom sighs.

“Just bring the axe just in case!” Bam smiles.

“Fine, but I’m not using it!” Nook shrugs.

Starry and Bam then leave. Isabelle looks up at Tom.

“I could take care of it!” Isabelle suggests.

“No, I’ll be fine…” Tom raises his voice.

“Well, I’m just gonna tell you this now, Redd’s boat is parked at the northern shore of the island…” Isabelle shrugs.

“I know that I heard you say something about that in your morning announcements. And on my way to talk to this Zipper guy, I’ll tell Redd to go get lost!” Tom explains.

“Just be careful, you know I could go!” Isabelle persists.

“FINE! IF YOU WANT TO GO YOU CAN! I’m sorry, Isabelle, I shouldn’t’ve shouted, I just… never mind… just go…”

Isabelle grabs the axe and walks off.

“BUT THERE BETTER BE NO DEAD RABBITS THOUGH!” Nook insures.

Isabelle walks outside the resident services building and wanders around the island. She eventually finds the rabbit in a mini forest up against the tree, smoking a cigarette. He hears Isabelle walking behind him. He immediately drops the cigarette, stomps it out, and starts doing his little hop dance.

“Hey Zipper, it’s me, Isabelle, from the resident services… Could you lower the amount of the eggs on this island? The residents living here are annoyed… They can’t do basic things without having eggs get in the way…” The Shih Tzu asks.

“DON’T COME UP FROM BEHIND ME!!! Ahem, sorry, it just scares me…” Zipper shrieks.

“Is it because of the zipper on your back?” Isabelle cocks her head.

“What zipper!? I don’t know what you’re talking about, YOU’RE DELUSIONAL!” The ‘rabbit’ panics.

“...Ok sure, anyway, can you lower the amount of eggs, I think I heard Apolo say to Whitney that he might want to leave because of the eggs!” Isabelle changes the subject back.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t really do that!” Zipper smiles.

“. .. …What do you mean? You just take them off the island!”

“I said, I CAN’T DO THAT! Everyone needs to collect every recipe so they get the special item!”

“No one cares about your Easter items! The only holiday items anyone actually cares about are Christmas and Halloween!” Isabelle retorts.

“NUH UH! That isn’t true, dog girl! Everyone loves it!” Zipper smirks.

In the distance, they hear someone shout, “OH COME ON, ANOTHER FUCKING EGG!”

“Ignore that! That was just bad timing,” Zipper nervously laughs.

“Zipper, just get rid of some of them! It isn’t that big of a deal!” Isabelle growls, slowly starting to take out Bam’s axe, “That or do you want me to unzip that tacky costume!?”

“You wouldn’t dare-!” Zipper jolts backwards.

“Oh, I will!”

Isabelle acts like she was about to attack Zipper by jolting forward slightly, but not moving her feet. Zipper bounced backwards.

“Are you gonna comply?” Isabelle snarls.

“NEVER!!” Zipper shrieks.

Isabelle then lunges at Zipper and zips the zipper on his back down. “What are you even hiding? You, William Afton, knock-off!”

“I told you not to, now look what you’ve done!” Zipper’s eyes start to glow purple.

Isabelle backs away some after seeing his eyes glow. Zipper’s head tilts down like a ragdoll’s. Out of his neck come out these shadow tentacles that go at Isabelle’s wrists, ankles, and neck. Isabelle lets out a high-pitched loud scream that everyone on the island could hear. A few more shadow tentacles come out of his neck and hoists him into the air, and slowly starts making him come closer. Isabelle attempts to pull her arms up to cut the tentacles to get her free, but is too restrained.

“Don’t try fighting it, dog girl, you can’t do anything!” Zipper says, his mouth no longer moving as he spoke.

Another shadow tentacle comes from his neck to take the axe out of Isabelle’s hand.

“LET GO OF ME YOU FREAK!” Isabelle demands.

“Shh, that’s not happening! You clearly don’t celebrate our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ’s return to earth, You must be a demon!” Zipper accuses.

“I’M THE DEMON!? YOU’RE THE ONE THAT HAS TENTACLES COMING OUT OF THEIR NECK!” Isabelle retorts.

There was the sound of a gunshot. A bullet of some sort went through the head of the Zipper costume. After it was shot, the shadow tentacles dwindle down, and then the only thing left was the puppet’s skin, lying on the ground. Isabelle catches her breath. She looks over at where the shot was fired. To see someone approaching in a somewhat worried way. They were wearing a cloak and had a shotgun in their arms.

“Hey, miss, are you ok!?” The person asks, running up to them, and immediately checking her for wounds.

Isabelle, still in shock, just stands there. She then notices an orange fluffy tail with white at the end of it outside of the cloak.

“Wh- I’m fine- who are you?” Isabelle speaks, flabbergased.

The person pulls down the hood of his cloak to reveal that he was Redd, but Isabelle didn’t know that.

“Name’s Redd~! Crazy Jolly Redd!” He smiles, “And you~?”

“My name is Isabelle, I work at the residents’ building! I was sent out here to negotiate something with Zipper to get him to lower the amounts of eggs on this island, but we both know how that went. Um, thank you for saving my hide…”

“Hey, no problem, I do have a habit of coming in and saving people! Just be careful there, Isabelle, you don’t want to mess with any weird spirits! They’re dangerous!” Redd ensures.

“I’ll look out for them… I guess,” Isabelle nods.

“So, do you want to have some tea in my boat?” Redd asks.

“I really shouldn’t- eh, whatever, I don’t really ever have a break in the first place. Sure, why not!” Isabelle shrugs.

“I know Mr. Nook will be pissed at me, but maybe I could figure out why he stole from him!” Isabelle thinks to herself.

**Later in the boat**

Redd pours Isabelle a cup of tea and hands it to her, “Be careful, it’s hot… So, Isabelle, what do you do for work?”

“I work at the residents’ service building. I basically just help the citizens feel more comfortable here and tell the town rep what the island's star rating is, and what they can do to improve,” Isabelle shrugs.

“Huh, that sounds peaceful…” Redd sighs.

“Not all the time, I mean, you also have what you just saved me from,”

“Fair point!”

“So what do you do for work?” Isabelle cocks her head.

“Well, I make and sell art! …And froggy chairs, those things are very popular for some reason…”

“What art do you have?” Isabelle asks.

“Well, you can look!” Redd points to the side where the 3 pieces of art were.

Isabelle looks up at the Robust Statute, “... isn't that Discobolus? I don't remember it having a strap on its hand-”

“Mandela effect!” Redd smiles.

“So… you don’t have a boss, you’re your own boss?” Isabelle asks.

“Yep! Who’s your boss?” Redd pridefully says.

Isabelle hesitantly responds, “Mr. Nook-”

“Mr Nook? Wait, is his first name Tom?” Redd asks, his tail subconsciously starting to wave side to side.

“Yeah-” Isabelle awkwardly says.

Redd sighs and blushes slightly, “Man, I miss him, I wish I gave him a proper goodbye… Does he like, ever talk about me?”

“He kinda acts like you’re a demon or something that he let persuade him,” Isabelle answers, avoiding eye contact.

“That makes sense… I suppose… Isabelle, when you go back, can you tell him that I want to try and make up at some point? He can take as long as he wants… I just kinda want to be friends again…” Redd hides his blushing face with his paw.

“...Yeah, I could tell him that, but I don’t know if he’d want to, though,” Isabelle smiles.

“I’m not surprised,” Redd says, looking down.

“Well, it was nice getting to know you, Redd! You are really nice, even if Mr. Nook acts like you’re this big, bad monster… I should probably go back now before Mr. Nook gets worried. Thank you, Redd!” Isabelle smiles and grabs her stuff.

“No problem! Just tell Tom what I asked! Bye, Isabelle,” Redd waves as Isabelle leaves the boat.

Redd walks over to a corner, sits down, and looks up at the Robust Statue he forged and sighs. Outside the boat, Isabelle skips back to the resident services building. Tom looks up at Isabelle and smiles.

“Great, you’re finally back!” He smiles.

Chapter Text

Recently, a new person moved in. They were nice, but they kinda also acted like the Vegan Teacher. Her name was Trish, she typically wore an outdoorsy outfit. Blathers was just in the fish room feeding the fish on a ladder when he heard Trish come in. Blathers gets the slab of meat and tosses it into the shark tank.

“Hello Trish! How are you doing?” Blathers smiles.

A few people who weren’t from the island came into the room. Trish holds up a megaphone and talks into it, “RELEASE THESE FISH INTO THE WILD AND STOP GIVING THEM OTHER FISH!”

Blathers fell off the ladder due to her sudden loudness, “Wh- what are you talking about?”

“THESE FISH DON’T BELONG IN CAPTIVITY, RELEASE THEM!” Trish demands.

Blathers gets up, still flabbergasted, “You know they’re safer here than out there, right?”

Another person grabs the megaphone, “WE WORK FOR PETA! RELEASE THESE FISH!”

“I-I can’t just do that, you know, once we get a fish, the fish can’t leave-” Blathers stutters.

“NET HIM!” Trish orders as they start hitting Blathers over the head with their nets.

Blathers curls up onto the floor and holds his hands over his head. Marshall and Cole enter the room just to see Blathers getting repeatedly hit over the head with nets.

“...Poor Blathers-” Cole whispers to Marshall.

“Eh, at least it’s not me!” Marshall shrugs, leaving the room.

Starry then enters, “TRISH! Why are you hitting Blathers!?”

“BECAUSE HE WON’T RELEASE THESE FISH!” Trish shouts into her megaphone.

Starry grabs Blathers and pulls him away from the people hitting him, getting hit as well in the process.

“I get that you want to make sure these fish are ok in the wild, but do you really need to hit Blathers?” Starry asks.

“PETA won’t stop until every animal is where they need to be and they’re safe!” One of the people shouts.

“If you work for PETA and you start hitting an animal over the head doesn’t that go against what PETA goes for?” Blathers questions.

Trish and the others stand there processing the new information, “Yeah, well, I don’t think it counts for anthropomorphic animals!”

“And if you keep abusing ME, I will ban you from the museum!” Blathers threatens.

“How could you do that, huh? You’re the only one who works here, and we have nets!” Trish retorts.

Starry gets annoyed and pulls out her NookPhone and calls Tom, “Can you come down to the museum real quick?”

“Can I just send Isabelle?” Tom asks over the phone.

“She isn’t very intimidating-” Starry starts.

“We’re both coming…” Tom cuts Starry off.

**Later**

Blathers and Starry stand on one side of the tank while the PETA people stand across from them. Tom and Isabelle come into the room.

“Alright, what is going on?” Tom calmly asks.

“THEY KEPT HITTING ME BECAUSE OF THE FISH BEING IN THE AQUARIUM!!” Blathers wails.

“What?” Isabelle chuckles to herself.

“Ok, why did you hit Blathers because of the fish being where they belong?” Tom asks.

“THEY BELONG IN THE WILD!” Trish shouts.

“And people think I belong in prison, what’s your point?” Tom crosses his arms.

“Well, you do! Tom Crook!” Trish exclaims

“Really? If you really think that, why did you decide to come here, hm? Get out of the museum before I put you in house arrest and ban your friends from the island!” Tom threatens.

Trish stares at him blankly for a moment before leaving with the other people.

Isabelle grabs Trish by the shirt and whispers into her ear, “Stop harassing people, I have a shotgun at the residents' service building and I’m not afraid to use it!”

Trish then runs off in panic.

“YOU HAVE A SHOTGUN!?” Blathers screaches, overhearing the conversation.

“Isabelle, I told you not to bring that thing to the island!” Tom shouts.

“But what if a terrorist tries killing us!? You gotta stay strapped!” Isabelle whimpers.

Starry comes up to Isabelle and puts their hands together, breathes in, and then points their hands at Isabelle, “Have you ever played Doom Eternal? I have a feeling you’d like it

Chapter Text

Isabelle ended up playing Doom Eternal, and like what Starry said, she found herself to be obsessed. Tom, on the other hand, utterly concerned with this. Isabelle showed up to work wearing a Doom shirt and a Doom Guy mask she bought off of eBay. Tom’s eye twitched as he saw her wearing this stuff.

“Isabelle, why? Just why?” Tom sighed.

“Cause I can!” Isabelle smiled through the plastic mask.

“You concern me… first, you have a K.K. Slider obsession-” Tom starts.

“Still do!” Isabelle buts in.

“Then you brought a shotgun without saying anything, and now you’re obsessed with this M-rated game about a guy slaughtering demons! What’s next, you get obsessed with Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer!?” Tom asks wearily.

“Oh, leave me alone, I did nothing wrong!” Isabelle sits down and attempts to drink coffee through her mask.

Blathers comes into the building, “Tom, we got another one of the paintings, and oh my god, why does Isabelle look like Samus Aran!? Anyway, should we call the cops or something? These paintings keep getting stolen, and they are genuine! I don’t want to get us arrested for theft! There are only two empty spots left in the museum!”

“Oh god damnit, we’re gonna get arrested if Starry keeps buying these!” Tom slams his head into his desk. “Isabelle, I thought I told you to tell Redd to stop coming here! Did you even talk to him!?”

“I did, he seems like a pretty chill guy-” Isabelle shrugs.

“WHAT!? Oh great, just great! My assisent thinks that fucking theif of an ex is a chill guy!”

“Ex what?” Isabelle chuckles slightly in curiosity.

“Ex-best friend, ex-business partner, ex-boyfrie-” Blathers starts listing.

“We don’t talk about that last one!”

“Wait, you used to date him!?” Isabelle slams her hands on the table.

“We don’t talk about my past with Redd…Why did you have to bring it up, Blathers?” Tom asks.

“You’re the one hoo said ex, You could’ve worded it differently!” Blathers states.

“But yeah, Isabelle, me and Redd did… used to date…” Tom sighs.

“Awww, that’s so adorable!” Isabelle squeals.

“Sure…” Tom shrugs.

“Oh yeah, by the way, when I saw Redd, he asked if you two could meet up with him sometime, he wants to apologise, but he said you don’t have to if you don’t want to…” Isabelle remembers.

“HIM!? APOLOGISE!? Redd has never once said a sincere apology once in his life! It’d just be another one of his lies!” Tom exclaims.

“I dunno, it looked like it was genuine! Just give it a chance! Just see him once, and I’ll never pressure you into seeing him again! Maybe you’ll be friends again!” Isabelle’s tail wags.

“Yeah, only for him to rob so much more from me!” Tom crosses his arms.

“I kinda agree with Isabelle, Tom… Sure, he’s still a criminal, but maybe he really does want to be friends again! You've got to try giving him another chance!” Blathers sides with Isabelle.

“He’s going to rob me again…” Tom growls.

“Then make sure he doesn’t get into any of your accounts!” Isabelle smiles.

“I… FINE! But if I get robbed by him, I’m cutting a fourth of your paycheck off!”

“Ok!” Isabelle smiles.

Chapter Text

A month or so passed. The thought of Redd wanting to reconnect again lingers in the back of Tom’s head. Isabelle told Tom that he was on the island. Maybe Redd actually was not gonna pull the same shit again… Tom reluctantly decided to meet up with Redd. He stood outside Redd’s boat. Waiting.

Finally, after what felt like a century, Redd pops his head through the door, “TOM!”

Redd then pounces into Tom’s arms for a hug.

“Hey! Let go of me!” Tom snarls.

“Oh, right, I’m sorry, Tom! It’s just been so long and-” Redd trails off.

“That’s Mr. Nook to you, Redd…” Tom glares, not wanting him to call him by his first name anymore.

Redd blinks, “Uh, sure, ok… I guess Mr. Nook… I guess I kinda made it so you don’t want me callin’ you Tom anymore… I understand…Oh yeah, come on in!”

Tom enters the room, and the froggy chair immediately catches his attention, “Oh, so you’re selling something that isn’t a scam or illegal for once…” Tom mocks.

“Oh, shut up, Tom, er, sorry, Mr. Nook… It’s not like you haven’t done the same!” Redd retorts.

Tom glares at Redd. Redd’s ears bend down, and he smirks through a scared look on his face, “Heh, I’ll shut up…”

They go to a different room that was locked up. It was just a giant living space. A kitchen, living room, and dining room all in one.

Redd pulls out some tea-making stuff, “So, how come you’re on this island?”

“Well, I own it, the entire chain of islands around here I own…” Tom replies.

Redd chokes on the spit in his mouth, “Really?”

Redd's ears tilt down, and he smiles, still looking nervous.

“Yeah, you should be glad I didn’t hire some people to shoot you down…” Tom takes his tea and sips it.

Redd chokes again, but on his tea, “You wouldn’t do that… Would you?”

“I might… It really depends on you, though…” Tom nonchalantly responds.

There is a moment of silence.

“Here, let me refill your tea!” Redd says, stretching across the table.

Tom scoots away from him, “No, I'm good, I don't need more…”

“Right-” Redd smiles, sitting back down.

Another awkward silence emerges. Tom takes advantage of this to look around. There was a couch with blankets and pillows spread across it. There were two dirty plates in the sink and a half full laundry basket next to a washing machine that was next to a fridge. It was pretty dark in the room; the only light was a dim light from the ceiling, and some natural light from outside. Tom notices Redd is sweating bullets.

Tom decides to break the silence, “So, Redd, why are you on my island exactly?”

“Sellin’ art!” Redd pipes up, nervously, his voice cracking in the process.

“Fake art…” Tom mumbles.

“Hey, that’s not true!” Redd squeaks.

“So you’re telling me, you broke into museums and stole art? You’re crazy, fox!”

“Well, they don’t call me 'Crazy Redd' for nothin’! Besides, this time I’m being honest!”

“You’re joking, right? Like you couldn’t’ve actually… What am I thinking!? You always lie, why am I believing you right now!? Actually, don’t tell me if you did or not, cause I don’t feel like calling the cops right now!”

“Good, cause I don’t feel like goin’ to jail right now…” Redd chuckles, still nervously sweating. “So how bout we catch up some? What have you been doin’?”

“I don’t think I’m required to tell you anything… why the hell did you have the actual birth of venus, Redd? Did you forge it!?”

“Nooksie, I-” Redd starts.

Tom growls at him angrily at the name.

“Mr. Nook,” Redd rolls his eyes and continues, “I did go into the Uffizi Gallery, and I did take it! It’s their fault that they didn’t protect it better!”

“You have to be lying!” Tom snarls, “There’s no way that a fox like you, that probably sells crack on the dark web, can actually go into a museum and steal a famous painting! At least you don’t have the Mona Lisa or anything…”

“Who says I don’t?” Redd smiles, wagging his tail slightly.

“Redd, I swear to god-” Tom rubs his temples. The moment he looks up, he sees the painting in Redd’s hands. “You actually-”

Redd nods.

“But that’s- …I’m calling the cops…” Tom pulls out his phone and starts to dial 911.

Redd drops to his knees, “Wait, Tom- please don’t!!! I don’t wanna go back to jail!!!”

“Cry about it…” Tom snarls about to start the call.

Redd’s eyes widen, “Wait, Tom! How about we make a deal? I-I-I could work for you!! I can pay you back by working for you!”

Tom curiously pulls his paw back, “How so?”

A glimmer of hope sparkles in his eyes, “I can pay you… 75% of my earnings from my business!”

“Why 75?” Tom asks.

“Well, I need money to live, don’t I?” Redd responds.

“I guess so, but I don’t want to be associated with you and your work…”

“We can keep it secret! Every night I’m here, you can come here, and I can pay you! We can, I dunno, maybe watch a movie or something too!”

“You’re pushing it, Redd…” Tom snarls but then sighs, “But I suppose I’ll accept your deal… And I swear to God and Miyamoto, if you pull any shit, I will not hesitate to mount your head on my bedroom wall!”

Redd swallows a ball of spit that was in his mouth, “Y-yes, sir… I’ll be on my best behavior…”

“And then no more stealing!”

“Eh….”

Tom growls.

“Yes sir… Now do you wanna actually hang out or anything?? Redd asks.

“I really shouldn’t…” Tom sighs.

“You sure? Cause what if we watched that one movie… what was it called…?”

“Back To The Future?” Tom tilts his head.

“Yeah! I think I might have a dvd for it somewhere! We could just watch it together, like old times!” Redd hopefully says.

“Redd, I really don’t think I have the time, plus you're my sworn nemesis!” Tom repeats.

“Doesn’t mean we can’t watch it together! I mean look at that Mario guy inviting the guy that steals his woman to racing events!”

“Ok fair point, I’ll watch it with you then…”

“I’ll make us some pop corn! Nooksie~” Redd boops Tom’s nose.

“Don’t ever do that again, fox,” Tom hisses.

“You’re no fun…” Redd sighs in a playful way.

Chapter Text

Tom lies in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Drifting in and out of consciousness, he starts questioning everything he thought about Redd for the past 20ish years.

“Why is he trying to be with me?” Tom thinks to himself. “He took everything from me? There had to be some sort of hate he had for me… Right? Now thinking about it, he never actually told me why? He might’ve really needed that- NO STOP! I can’t seriously be thinking that he needed it! He stole it, just to steal it! THAT’S IT… I could go and ask him- I don’t think he’s gone yet, NO! I am not seeing that DAMN FOX… I mean, what if he ties me up, takes my wallet and tosses me into the ocean!? I need to stop thinking about this and sleep… Actually, what if I called Sable? I haven’t talked to her since she opened the shop… actually, she’s probably sleeping, I shouldn’t bother her cause I can’t sleep… I could talk to Blathers, he should be awake… not like he’s doing anything anyways…”

Tom takes out his phone and calls Blathers. No one answers.

“Why isn’t he answering?” Tom says to himself.

He calls again. Blathers doesn’t pick up.

“Oh goddamnit, PICK UP THE FUCKING PHONE YOU STUPID BIRD!” Tom shouts in frustration.

He hears a knock at his bedroom door. His head snaps over to the door and he sighs, “Come in…”

Timmy and Tommy enter the room. Timmy is hiding behind Tommy.

“Boss? Are you ok?” Tommy asks.

“You were shouting…” Timmy quivers.

Tom feels guilt wash over him, “I’m sorry, boys… did I wake you up?”

The two young Tanuki simultaneously nod.

“I’m sorry, I just couldn’t fall asleep, so I thought I’d call Blathers, and I got mad that he didn’t pick up…” Tom explains.

“You can go over to the museum, you know? Talk in person,” The twins say together.

“I guess I can…” Tom sighs. “I’ll see you two in the morning, now go to bed…”

“Ok, Boss! Goodnight!” The two nod.

Tom watches the two siblings leave. Tom puts on suitable clothes and leaves Nook’s and Cranny's. He walks over to the museum. He enters and sees a bunch of bugs and fish in containers and bones on the floor, all stacked up.

Tom looks around and doesn’t see the owl before calling out, “Blathers? Where are you?”

A minute or so goes by before Blathers flies out from the fish section of the museum.

“Oh! Hello, Tom! I was just putting up these donations Starry made!” Blathers smiles

“Why didn’t you do that earlier in the day?” Tom asks.

“Oh, I just got them about 10 minutes or so… Starry didn’t want to wake me up in the day, so they came over in the night!” Blathers beams.

“Is that why you didn’t pick up my call?”

“Precisely! Can we talk later, Tom? I need to put all of this… oh yeah, by the way, I got another stolen painting…”

“Oh great… Well, I guess I’m gonna leave… bye Blathers…”

“Bye, Tom!” Blathers waves.

Tom leaves the museum and just stands outside…

Tom thought of something, “Wait, should I go over to Redd’s boat to get the money?”

Tom walks over to the boat and knocks. He waits for a little while before Redd comes out.

Redd tiredly speaks, “I’m not open right now…” Redd notices Tom is standing in front him and not a customer, “NOOKSIE!!!”

“Don’t call me that, remember?” Tom growls.

“Right… w-why are you here so late?”

“The deal?”

“Oh, right! Come in and sit while I do the math and give you your money!”

“Ok…” Tom says, entering the boat and following Redd to the room he was in earlier.

Redd grabs the money he earned that day and a calculator. He counts the money and then puts it in the calculator. Redd finishes and hands Tom the money he calculated.

“Thanks, Redd… I’ll see you later…” Tom starts.

“Wait, do you wanna hang out?” Redd asks.

“It’s 2 in the morning, Redd…”

“And? Why were you up at all this early, huh?”

“I couldn’t sleep…”

“Well, maybe I can help with that~!” Redd smirks.

“And give me poison?” Tom questions.

Redd is caught off guard, “No? I was thinking I could just make some hot chocolate…”

“Oh… Ok…”

“Or cuddle~?” Redd smiles harder.

“You are pushing it, fox…”

“Sorry…”

“I guess I’ll stay for hot chocolate…”

“YEAH!” Redd cheers.

Redd makes the hot chocolate and gives Tom a cup of it.

“So? Do you wanna talk about anything?” Redd asks.

“Um.. sure… what have you been doing lately?”

“Makin’ art, sellin’ art, stealin’ art, and now hangin' out with you!” Redd smiles.

“You’ve been doing exactly that for 20 years straight?” Tom asks.

“Well, I didn’t start stealin’ art until Idk 8 or something years ago?”

“Why are you comfortable with telling me this?”

Redd shrugs.

“Ok… well, how is your family doing? Didn’t you have a younger sister or something?”

“Uh, yeah… she got all As in school… She’s got one more year of college. She’s trying to get a medical degree.”

“What kinda doctor is she trying to be?”

“I dunno, some sorta autopsy surgon, I don’t remember…” Redd shrugs.

“That’s cool…”

“Don’t you have kids or something? Timmy and Tommy? They’re the face of the plane parta your island thing, right?”

“Yeah, but they’re not mine, I adopted them…”

“Ah, ok… My sister has a daughter around their age if I remember correctly…”

Tom takes a sip of the hot chocolate, “How are your parents?”

“We’re not on speaking terms right now…” Redd sighs his ears bending down.

“What did you do to cause that, Redd?”

“I didn’t do anything! I’m just pissed at them… I kinda just stopped talking to them after I moved out when I was 19…” Redd looks away while saying this.

“What did they do to make you upset?” Tom raises an eyebrow.

“I don’t want to talk about it… Besides, if I explained why I’m pissed at them, you would just think I’m lying… Can we change the subject?”

“Right…”

“So… How are you parents?”

“I’m an orphan, remember?” Tom gives an unamused reaction.

“Fuck fuck, Tom, I forgot… Sorry if your pissed at me now… I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up,” Redd profucely apologizes.

“It’s fine…” Tom looks away from Redd sipping his hot chocolate. “But maybe Redd, you should try reconnecting with your parents…”

“Tom, I can’t… you have no idea but I just can’t… They just ruined everything for me… Besides, they don’t really like me anyway… I can talk to them durning the Christmas family reiunuion… but that’s it… Otherwise I don't want to...” Redd’s ears bend down further, his tail lying motionless on the floor.

Tom starts acting on instinct now, forgetting he’s supposed to hate him, reaching his paw across the table, “Redd, what did they do?”

Redd looks up at Tom, tearing up slightly before pulling his arm away from Tom’s paw, hugging himself, “My life would’ve probably turned out so much different- look, Tom, I don’t want to talk about it right now…”

Tom looks at Redd, sympathy shining in his eyes. Tom brings his arm backover to himself. Tom stands up walks over to Redd and hugs him. Redd processes for a second then he hugs Tom back, clinging to him like a child to their mother after getting lost. Tom looks at Redd giving him a look as if to say, “You can let it out.” Redd nods slightly before ugly sobbing in Tom’s arms and putting his weight on Tom.

“Shhh, it’s ok, Redd…” Tom says comforting Redd.

Tom picks up Redd, holding him bridal style. Redd’s tail wraps around Tom’s arm. Tom carries Redd over to a couch and sits down, Redd laying on his lap crying. They sit there like that, Tom just comforting the crying fox. Eventually they both fall asleep like this.

Morning comes, Tom wakes up first. He blinks before looking down at Redd who is sprawled out across Tom’s legs. Tom feels a smile start spreading across his face before he forces the smile away as Redd wakes up.

Redd yawns, looking up at Tom, “Huh, so I wasn’t dreaming…”

“Get off my lap, that was a one time thing, fox…” Tom forcing an angry expression.

Redd rolls off Tom’s lap landing hard on his arm on the floor. Tom stands up, feeling the blood flow return to his legs. Tom holds out his paw to help Redd up. Redd blinks, grabs his paw and stands up. Redd trips over his own tail, falling face first into Tom’s chest, Tom catching the clumsy fox. They look each other in the eyes for a moment before they realize how close they are to each other’s faces and Redd pushes himself off of Tom, both of their faces flushing in embarrassment. Redd guides Tom to the exit and does a quick bow before Tom leaves the boat. Tom waves as he steps outside, the sun blinding him. Tom walks away from the boat. Tom gets a decent distance away from the boat and stands behind a tree, pulling out his phone to check fix his fur and shirt. He glances at the time, seeing it’s nearly 11. Tom’s eyes widen as he sprints to the resident’s service building.

He pants outside the door before opening it and being greeted by, “MR NOOK! THERE YOU ARE!” and Isabelle running over and hugging him before checking checking Tom’s fur for anything that might explain why it took so long for him to get to work.

“Where were you!?” Isabelle asks, now checking his arms.

“I was, uh, doing some gardening! I got so caught up in it and lost track of time!” Tom lies.

Isabelle sniffs his arm, “You don’t smell like dirt or plants at all!”

Tom starts sweating, he can’t let Isabelle know he had an unplanned sleepover at his archnemesis's house. So he makes up another lie, “That’s cause I washed my paws and arms!”

“Riiiggghhhhtttt… You know, I’m just gonna choose to believe you instead of continue sniffing, even though I know you’re lying…” Isabelle squints at Tom before sitting down at her desk and taking a swig of whatever is in her cup (tea or whiskey, Tom didn’t know and wasn’t bothered to ask).

Tom sighed, relieved Isabelle didn’t push further. He sits down at his desk and starts doing work while questioning himself for everything that happened that previous night, questioning why he comforted Redd even though he hates him… right? The more and more Tom thought about it, he felt his thoughts getting carried away. Daydreaming about sitting in a meadow and making a flower crown out of roses and then placing the crown on Redd’s head. Tom felt his face heating up as he further daydreamed about it. His eyes widen as he realizes what is happening.

Tom speaks outloud. Loud enough for Isabelle to hear, “Oh my god, am I gay for him?”