Long term, Short term: Prologue
By Zaddict16
On a sunny day in Zootopia, the world seemed to be flowing perfectly. The criminal activity seemed to be dwindling down a little bit and the word "litter" didn't even look like it was a word worth defining in the dictionary. Every officer in the ZPD were hardworking, focused, educated mammals. Who always put their work first ahead of everything. Well, more or less all of them.
The sun came shining in through the blinds covering the window in his apartment and lit up the room like a disco ball. Sleeping and exhausted from the previous night of staking out a warehouse for twenty hours straight, and with A LOT of coffee and only six bathroom breaks that his energetic bunny partner allowed him to use, he was completely wiped out.
"Aghhh!, stupid sunlight!" Nick said, agitated as he covered his face with his paw to block the sunlight streaming into the room.
Nick then gave out a frightful yawn and sat up on his bed as the sun beamed directly at his face. Nick then stretched his arms in opposite directions and felt his joints loosen up and heard a crack. Groggily he glanced over at his alarm clock saw that it was already eight-thirty and the bullpen meeting was about to start at the ZPD.
He shook his head and thought to himself "Ah, there's no point, by the time I even get out the door the meeting's going to start, I'll never make it".
Nick then reached up behind him and pulled the chain down to lower the blinds and stopped the light from flooding into his room. He then laid back down and thought about what happened yesterday with the stakeout at the warehouse.
The stakeout ended up to be a bust, a false tip given by someone, which Nick suspected to be a prank by one of his fellow officers to get him and Judy together for an extended period of time. Probably because they had some kind of bet going on whether he would seal the deal or not. Nick wasn't even sure if that was the case. Secretly though, Nick did hope that it was, because he really enjoyed spending time with Judy.
Even though it was during work and Judy kept yelling at him to shut up most of the night because he kept complaining that his phone was dead, he still enjoyed her company. Nick, that night, was tempted to just lean over to Judy and just kiss her right on the cheek. But naturally he was afraid of what Judy's reaction would be. He was afraid of her leaning over and punching him right in the face, at the very least for not being professional. He could tell that she liked it when he did that, but only when they were off duty.
When they arrived at the ZPD after the stakeout was over, Nick's description to the Chief for the report they had to file didn't help the matter. As it was "This was just a HUGE waste of time". Nick then received a very angry glare from the Chief and got another one of his "inspirational" lectures about taking work seriously and threatening to put him on parking duty for a month.
As usual Nick nonchalantly nodded and mechanically smiled and didn't really pay much attention to what he was saying, seeing as how he got those lectures quite often. But Chief Bogo always turned the tables when he threatened to place Judy with a more attentive partner and give him with task of getting donuts for Clawhauser as his main job. Nick then paid FULL attention and pleaded him to give him another chance.
And as usual, the Chief then gave him another chance to prove himself, just for him to slack off and break it a couple of weeks later, again.
"Alright Wilde, you have ONE more chance to prove you can take this job seriously, if you can't then I will just tell Officer Hopps that you're too much of a idiot and slacker, and that you aren't a sufficient enough partner for her" Nick remembered him saying.
"So, if you want to keep Judy as your partner, then I suggest you shape up, AND DO YOUR JOB!". "Yes sir, won't happen again, sir!" Nick said ready with another sarcastic comment but held it back, for his and Judy's sake. He did NOT want to have that conversation with Judy and tell her that the Chief split them up because of his own stupidity. Nick knew that the Chief didn't really want to split them up because if he did, Judy would have no one that she truly trusts beside her in the field. He also knew that the Chief LOVED to see him squirm.
He was scared of the Chief for sure. But he was TERRIFIED of Judy when she got mad, especially at him.
"But anyway" Nick said to himself smiling, and brought his paws up to his face and rubbed his emerald eyes. "Judy, I wish you were here" Nick said and closed his eyes, and then realized that Judy was probably going to kill him later for skipping work but he was too tired to care right now.
He then contemplated for a moment and said to himself "OK, maybe I care a little bit" and smiled. He then smoothed his body back onto his warm bed and wrapped the covers around him and fell fast asleep.
Judy. He dreamed about Judy and her "cuteness" as he would describe it. He dreamed of her "fluffiness" and just how the way her nose twitches in excitement whenever she sees him. How her eyes widened with hope and prosperity. Something he promised to himself that he would NEVER forget, and hoped she promised the same for herself.
And about how soft her fur was, and just the way it glistened when the sun shone on it. How warm her breath was when she got close to him, causing his fur to stand on end. And not that he would ever admit it to her but, just how fluffy her tail was, and how cute it looked. And just the way how she always seemed to smell like blueberries, even when she denied it when he teased her of wearing blueberry perfume just because he liked it. Just the way when she walked by him, the air filled with such a sweet and succulent aroma that he would eat the air if he could.
And the crispness of the air when she was near him, the scent of "heaven" as he described it. Ah, he could smell it right now even, breaking through the awful stench in his room, the delightful smell in the air, how he loved it, and especially who it was attached to.
Realizing how apt of a description that he was thinking about, Nick slowly opened his eyes and discovered that he was face to face with a fuming bunny, standing right on top of him.
Nick jumped back in surprise and banged his head on the wall behind him and yelled "Carrots! What are you doing here! How did you get into my room!?".
"I have my ways" Judy replied, grinning malevolently while holding up a folded paper clip in one paw and a bobby pin in the other.
"Seriously Carrots, your going all MacGrowl on me now?" Nick said sarcastically.
"It doesn't matter if I am or not" Judy replied as she placed the paper clip and bobby pin in one of the pockets on her belt.
"The only thing that matters now is you getting up and GOING TO WORK!" Judy yelled, causing Nick to cringe in fear at his partner on top of him.
Judy then punched Nick in the shoulder and smiled and said "It's called a hustle sweetheart". Nick frowned at Judy realizing she literally had him cornered, against the wall and in the argument.
"I mean C'mon Carrots?" Nick said and shifted his body weight towards the window, as he was trying to get up from the awkward position Judy had forced him into. "You should've at least knocked on the door" Nick said and gestured his paw at the door, clearly trying to distract her to look to where he was pointing so he could escape. She didn't take the bait.
"I guess you should get me a key then" Judy said and laughed, being totally serious, but trying to lessen the impact on Nick's conscience. As Judy laughed, Nick noticed something familiar to him, but not that he's ever seen in her eyes before. The hint of longing, no, the NEED for Nick to let her into his room. And not only his room, but he suspected a deeper element as well, a long sought desire to be let into his life.
"Nick, hello, is anyone home?" Judy said to him, snapping him out of his dreamy state and back into reality. With a smug grin spreading across his face he replied "Well I'm not sure if anyone is home, seeing as how a certain bunny didn't knock on the door and decided to lock pick the door". Judy rolled her eyes and saw that he was the same old Nick, one that she knew, hoped that she would NEVER forget.
Judy then swiftly leaned down VERY close to Nick, something that caught him completely off guard, and she said "Nick, I'm going to give you fifteen minutes, if you are not showered and dressed presentably by then".
"I will be a VERY angry bunny" Judy threatened and raised a clenched paw in front of Nick's muzzle.
Nick swallowed and slowly nodded at the bunnies intention. Judy then smiled and said "Great, LETS GO!".
"Uh Carrots, I would because you literally just threatened me but, I can't because your kind've standing on me" Nick replied, and gestured at Judy's feet on his stomach.
"This still counts as your fifteen minutes you know" Judy said and smirked.
Nick's eyes shot open as he threw the covers off of him, and onto Judy, sending her tumbling onto his bed.
"Really Nick!" Judy yelled after him as he jumped off of his bed and ran to the bathroom and turned on the water.
"Hey, that wasn't my idea of you standing on top of me" Nick said back.
Judy sat down on Nick's bed and smiled at the thought of what she saw Nick wearing as he ran to the bathroom. She saw that he was wearing the EXACT carrot boxers that she bought him for their one year partnership "anniversary" that he repeatably said that he didn't wear.
"Oh you sly, dumb, handsome fox" Judy said to herself not realizing Nick could hear her.
"One, thanks for the compliment, and two, why are you still in my room?" Nick said.
"I thought you said you were going to get me a key" Judy replied, and smiled.
"If you keep coming in here unannounced by lock picking the door then no" Nick said flatly. Judy slightly frowned at his comment, but smiled to herself knowing that he was only joking. Probably.
"BUT!".
"There it is" Judy thought to herself and rolled her eyes.
"If you actually call ahead or, at the very least, knock on the door next time instead of lock picking it, then I'll get you a key" Nick said, and even though Judy couldn't see him, she knew he was smiling.
"So I think in about five minutes, I'm going to go out there and check if your still in here, if you are..." Nick said and chuckled.
"I guess you'll get some strong memories of the Mystic Spring Oasis, won't ya Carrots" Nick said and then full out laughed.
Judy eyes widened at what Nick said and her thoughts dashed back to her trip to that establishment. The embarrassment and the uncomfortableness that she felt going in there, she swore to herself that she would NEVER feel that uncomfortable around "naturalists" ever again. Give or take a couple of exceptions when it comes to who it was.
"Unless you want to see me in my birthday suit" Nick teased and Judy could tell that he was waving his tail around, taunting her to leave and stand in the hallway.
"Oh come on Nick, grow up" Judy said and snorted while thumping her foot on his bed.
"Hey, don't you break my bed in there, I can hear your foot!" Nick said sharply.
"OK, fine Nick, I'll stop thumping my foot" Judy said and grinned while speeding her foot up.
"Carrots!". "Don't make me come out there!" Nick yelled.
"You won't do it Nick" Judy teased, and realized what she just said. "Watch me" Nick said, he opened up the door, and walked out of the bathroom.
Judy swiftly pulled her ears down and covered her eyes with them to shield her from Nick. Judy heard footsteps, each step sounded like it was a mile away, but also as if they were right in front of her. Judy heard the soft sound of his paw pads hit the carpet, each time getting louder and louder until he was standing right in front of her. She felt him rub the fur on her forehead with his paw, and soft it was, she blushed at the fact. Judy then heard Nick give a hearty laugh and she couldn't help but smile.
"Relax Carrots" Nick said and reached down and slowly lifted up Judy's ears that were covering her view of him. Judy braced as she felt the warm embrace of his paw as he touched her ears, sending a chill rippling through her fur.
Judy stared into Nick's eyes, those emerald eyes of his, as if it was some sort of instinct, for protection and comfort. She focused on his eyes and tried to block everything else out.
Nick then gave a slow chuckle and said "Seriously Carrots, it's fine" Nick said and brushed her ears down to behind her head.
Judy blushed as she realized that Nick was wearing a bathrobe and she didn't see him put it on when he was in the bathroom.
"What happened to your birthday suit" Judy asked sarcastically.
"Well I was originally going to wear it, but they were all sold out in stores" Nick replied with a smirk.
"Next time though, I'll order it on online ahead of time so you won't miss out on "multitudinous opportunity's" to see me wearing it" Nick said and smiled and sat down on the bed next to Judy.
Judy hesitated at first because he was only wearing a bathrobe, but after a couple of seconds, Judy moved closer to him and snuggled up close to his chest.
"Carrots, you know I'm wearing pants right?" Nick said, grinning.
"Sly fox" Judy replied and laughed.
"Don't worry Nick, one day I'll love your birthday suit". "Oh, and Nick, one more thing" Judy said.
'What is it my adorably cute little bunny" Nick said and grinned.
Judy then swiftly punched Nick in the shoulder and smiled and said "First, one day I'll let you call me cute, MAYBE!" Judy said. "Second" Judy said and snuggled up even closer to Nick then before.
"I love you Nicholas Piberius Wilde" Judy said and buried her face into Nick's chest. Completely taken aback from the sudden response from his long trusted partner and even greater friend, he knew she had feelings for him, and he knew that she knew that he had feelings for her as well. But Nick was utterly stunned at the forwardness of her statement. He could use this as a way to mess with her though, to make her second guess herself and then tell her he was kidding. Just to see the look on her face.
"And then she would fall right into my trap" Nick thought to himself and grinned.
"As a friend right?" Nick said with a straight face and somehow, some-way, contained his amusement. Judy's ears drooped and she slightly pulled away from Nick and looked up at his face, she saw the seriousness written all over it. "What do you mean?" Judy asked, her voice quivering.
"Well, you mean as friends right, nothing more?" Nick said but couldn't stop a slight smirk tug at the edge of his lips.
Judy caught the smirk that he was so desperately trying to hide and smiled herself at Nick's slyness.
"Well if it's just as friends-..." Judy said and swiftly jumped up to Nick's height on the bed and wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him towards her and kissed him right on the lips.
Nick so was shocked by Judy's action that everything around him seemed to stop. It was as if reality, life, even time itself stopped dead in their tracks and gave the two mammals a moment of safety and happiness.
After what seemed an eternity, Judy pulled away from Nick, smiling.
"Was that satisfactory enough?" Judy asked coyly.
"I don't know, should we do it again?"
"And you're right by the way Carrots" Nick said and flashed a toothy grin.
"If that's just as friends, then I don't ever want to change" Nick said and saw Judy's eyes beam with happiness.
"Hey Nick, can I ask you something?" Judy said.
"Shoot" Nick said.
"Well I was wondering if you would-..." Judy said but paused and brushed her ears down as her cheeks flushed with pink.
"Go ahead Carrots, I'm listening" Nick said and slid her paw into his and gave it a little squeeze for reassurance.
"I was wondering if you would like to go out to dinner with me" Judy said, her cheeks completely pink and her nose was twitching like crazy.
It took Nick a moment to process her sentence, but after a awkward silence Nick's face broke into a wondrous smile.
"Your asking me out on a date?" Nick said teasingly.
"Why, do you not want to go?" Judy asked, her voice catching in her throat.
Nick chuckled and said "No, I would love to go on a date with you Judy". Judy looked up at him, she saw the sincerity in his eyes, a sign that he really would love to go on a date with her.
Judy fidgeted around on the bed next to Nick and felt her paw brush up against something very soft. She looked over and saw her paw instinctively petting Nick's tail that was lying next to him on the bed. She felt her foot start to thump on the ground. She didn't even have to look but she knew that Nick was amused by it.
She glanced down at the floor and saw Nick's phone lying on the carpet next to her foot. She reached down and picked it up and pressed the unlock button. "Hey Carrots, you found my phone, I've been looking for that for ages" Nick said, his voice cracked just enough that Judy could hear it. Nick slowly reached for his phone in Judy's paw but she suddenly pulled away from him.
"Ah, ah, ah, not yet Slick" Judy said and waved her finger in front of his face. "I still have put the date of the date into your calendar, so you don't forget".
"Carrots, just let me see my phone, I can do it myself".
"Not on your life, I'm not letting you forget to even put it in" Judy said and pulled away from Nick even further.
"One, I'm not the one who forgets stuff, and two, give me back my phone Judy!" Nick said and shifted closer on the bed to Judy.
"Why, you got something to hide?" Judy asked curiously.
"JUDY!" Nick roared causing Judy to flinch and give Nick enough time to lunge at her.
Thanks to Judy's amazing reactions she barley dodged Nick as he crashed into the wall behind her. She went flat on the bed and rolled onto the floor below her. Hearing a deep growl from Nick she turned around from her crouched position and saw Nick on all fours. She gazed into his emerald eyes, eyes that were now bloodshot with anger and fury. She heard a gasp come from herself and felt the one thing she hoped she never had to feel with Nick.
Fear. She felt it run through her. She felt it control her actions and caused her nose to twitch crazily. Her ears fell down to her back and felt her body automatically scoot backwards on the floor from what was in front of her.
"Nick, stop, why are you this angry, what did I do?" Judy said to the hulking beast looming before her.
"JUDY. GIVE. ME. BACK. MY. PHONE!" Nick yelled and lunged at Judy again. Judy again successfully dodged him but even closer than the last time.
"Nick, WHY!" Judy screamed. Nick soared over Judy again, this time he landed smoothly on all four paws and his claws dug into the carpet on his floor as he landed giving him extra grip. Judy looked at Nick's phone in her paw, the thing that made Nick go insane with rage.
"Nick, your going down a path I can't follow" Judy thought to herself.
"Judy, please, give me my phone, I can't let you see-..." Nick said, his eyes softening a little, his expression vague.
"Nick, tell me, what can't I see, what-".
"NO!" Nick cut her off and his expression was full of rage and anger once more, his teeth barred and his tail sticking straight out.
Nick stepped closer to Judy. Each step he took forward, Judy took a step back.
One forward.
One back.
One forward.
One back, until Judy felt the wall against her back, restraining her from moving behind her any more. She stared at Nick, she saw those same eyes as before when she pulled the phone away from him. Even though her instinct was to run, to run as fast as she could away from her attacker, she ignored them and looked deeper into his green eyes. She saw something else, something new, she had never seen before in him. She saw fear, not for himself, but for her and what would happen if she found out what was on his phone he so desperately wanted to hide from her.
The snarl brought her back to reality. It brought her back to the real world, where she realized that she was face to face with a angry, rage filled fox. He took another step closer causing Judy to press up against the wall as flat as she could, but there was no escape.
As Nick stepped closer he gazed at Judy, he saw the fear in her eyes, he saw her nose twitching, he saw her eyes tearing up from what he was doing to her. His nose touched hers. He felt her nose twitch and start to make his own kind've itchy. He felt his anger and rage melt away as he calmed down.
"What am I doing!" Nick yelled out loud to himself. He pulled away from her and stood up on two paws, sensibly. He put his paws on his head and dug deep into his head, drawing blood.
"Nick stop it!" Judy yelled and jumped up to try to rip his claws from his head.
"No, Judy, I can't stop, not after what I just did!" Nick said and turned away from her. He couldn't bear to see the disappointment in her eyes. She was the one person that helped him, the one person that actually cared about him. The one person that loved him.
"Nick, here, you can have your phone back" Judy said and layed his phone down on his bed. "I don't care what you didn't want me to see, the only thing I want to see is you calmed down" Judy said, her voice slightly stern but affectionate more than anything.
"No Judy, I can't, I just can't calm down after what I did, just to stop you from seeing something I've been hiding for a while now" Nick said, choking on every word. He began to loosen his claws a little bit but then strengthened them even tighter when he saw his blood on the fur of Judy's arm.
"Nick stop, your hurting yourself" Judy said and ran over to him and put her paw on his arm.
"That's the idea" Nick said and took another step back from Judy.
"Nick, stop, I'm not going to let you get hurt anymore".
"No, Judy stay away from me!" Nick said, his expression was horrified, not at anything else, but at his own actions.
"Nick-".
"NO JUDY, stay away from me". Nick said and moved further back.
"You know I can't".
"Yes you can, stay away from me Judy, I'm a monster" Nick said, his voice stern.
"No you're not Nick, you're not a monster, your a fox. You're my fox" Judy said, her eyes tearing up, not at what Nick did to her, but at what he was saying about himself.
Judy turned around and jumped up onto the bed so she was at his height. Judy placed her paw on his chest and forcefully grabbed his tie with her other paw and pulled him towards her, and planted his right on her own.
Nick retracted his claws and released them from his head and slowly wrapped them around Judy, pulling her towards him.
Both of them were crying at the events that just previously unfolded, the darkness in the room didn't seem to go away unlike last time. Nick pulled away from Judy a couple seconds later, crying and panting.
Judy was about to speak but was cut off from the radio on her belt. "Hopps, we need you and Wilde at the ZPD, NOW, no dily dallying, Bogo out".
Judy grabbed the radio off of the clip on her belt and pressed the respond button and held it up to her mouth. "Okay Chief, were on our way, Hopps out".
Nick looked at Judy with a torn expression on his face. He then stood up and unwrapped his arms around Judy and sighed.
"Looks like we better get going then" Nick said and reached down next to Judy and grabbed his phone off of the bed. Judy inwardly frowned at him, that he decided after all that, he was just going to take his phone and leave.
Judy looked at Nick, seeing that he had already replaced his torn and guilty expression from before with his signature smirk.
"Well I don't know about you but I'm going to get dressed, I still got that fifteen minute death threat hanging over my head" Nick said and chuckled, keeping all of his emotions bottled up on the inside.
Nick turned around and walked in to the bathroom and turned on the water again, leaving Judy sitting on the bed once more. As Judy was waiting for him to get ready, she was deep in thought at what possibly could of made him act so crazy. What could possibly make him attack her like that. "What is on that phone of your's you didn't want me to see?" Judy thought to herself. "The only thing I could think of that would do that is-. Is, me".
Judy looked at the door to the bathroom with a concerned look on her muzzle. "I don't think he was being selfish and not showing me something important, I think he was preventing me from seeing something that he still doesn't have the courage to show me yet" Judy thought to herself.
"C'mon Carrots" Nick said, causing Judy to jolt in surprise at how fast he got ready, as he was fully dressed in his police uniform and his fur looked as if he took an hour grooming it.
"First one to the car gets to drive" Nick said with a smirk.
Since Judy was still shaken from what happened earlier, she didn't acknowledge his comment and looked at him blankly.
"Okay, I guess I'll be driving then" Nick said while grabbing his keys and ran out the door. Judy realized he didn't shut the door to his apartment, so she ran out into the hallway after him.
"Nick, you forgot to shut the door!" Judy yelled.
"Are you sure?".
"Yes I'm sure, you're door is wide open!".
"Are you sure, your sure?".
"Yes,...no, maybe?" Judy said and looked behind her, seeing that the door was clearly wide open and he had tricked her.
"Ha, ha, got you again Carrots!" Nick said laughing all the way down the hallway.
"Dumb fox, that wasn't even funny!" Judy said after him and rolled her eyes.
"It was to me!" Nick replied back, still laughing.
"You really don't let anything get to you, don't you Nick".
"Or anyone..." Judy thought to herself and walked over and put her paw on the handle of the door.
She looked into the room to see if she or Nick forgot anything. She clenched her paw on the handle, threatening to crush the metal like it was tissue paper, as she saw the rips in the carpet from Nick's claws. Her features creased in anger and then transitioned into sadness at what transpired earlier in this apartment.
"Nick, what are you hiding?" She whispered to herself and quietly closed the door.
Unknowing to Judy, if she just walked right to up Nick's mattress, knelled down and simply looked underneath his bed, she would of gotten her answer.
Hello all!
This is my third story for Zootopia. And just a quick shout out to AngloFalcon for helping me with clarifying on how people write their stories at their own pace. Thank you for that advice, it really helped me think how to actually start this story and shape it to my NEEDS and WANT'S. (And hopefully your guys/gals liking as well).
And just so every one knows, it's going to get pretty complicated with Nick and Judy and how everything play's out. (Also I have a poll on my profile, PLEASE vote on it as it will determine the future of this story. If you don't vote, well let's just say "I have a bad feeling about this fanfic then"). :)
Like and comment on what's your favorite part of the story and PM me your theory of how you think it will work. (Also, on a side note, check out AngloFalcons profile, he has very well done stories on there. I highly recommend them). Cheers! :)