Hopps' Family

The afternoon express train departed Zootopia, heading for Bunnyburrow. One of the passenger cars had a small dome-shaped second-floor observation platform specially made for small animals. Inside the dome-shaped window stood two animals, a bunny and a fox, but despite the fact that they were standing closely to each other; that they were a couple, there weren't any major conversation between the bunny and the fox for the first 10 minutes of the ride, and soon enough, the fox decided to break the silence...

"Carrots, you seem busy?" asked Nick.

"I'm texting my sisters," said Judy, busy typing her smartphone with her cute little paws.

Soon, they went back to silence mode. The typing noise coming from the bunny's phone annoyed the fox. He, once again, thought of something to talk about, until he saw her wearing the exact same clothes as yesterday night in Gazelle's concert...

"Do you think we should wear a bit more… formal?" said Nick, wearing his usual light green Hawaiian shirt with his red-and-blue stripes tie.

"Casual wear is fine. They won't care," said Judy with her eyes focusing on the phone screen.

"Okay, what are we having for dinner?" said Nick as he attempted to break the silence once more.

"Carrots? I'm not sure—"

"So do all rabbits eat carrots only?"

"Nick, please let me focus here. I'm trying to reply all my sisters' messages but they just keep sending me, 'is Nick your boyfriend, is Nick your boyfriend?' God, so annoying..."

The look on her nervous face and her droopy ears made it very clear to Nick that she haven't told her parents about their relationship. So, he took out his black smartphone and started typing.

Nick: hi carrots :)

No replies...

Nick: u did tell your parents about our little secret, did u not?

Judy: what do u mean our little secret?

Nick: cmon, the 'u know u love me" secret? I bet u haven't told them, am i right?

"Nick, you're right, you're absolutely right. There, I said it, happy now?"

"Carrots, it's okay. Your parents will be excited to see me."

The little bunny sighed. She pocketed her phone away and looked out of the dome-shaped window to check if they were there yet.

"What's the matter, afraid of saying 'I love you, Nick!' to your parents? If that's the case, then—"

"You're a predator, Nick!" said Judy, looking nervously at her soon-to-be official boyfriend.

"So what, they think that I'll eat them all?"

"No, what I'm trying to say is that... some of my sisters and brothers... They don't really like being around with foxes, I mean, you know Gideon Grey, right? They have a history of being bullied by him, like me."

"Okay, am I Gideon Grey, no, I'm not so don't worry."

"But still, I'm worried that you would feel unwelcomed."

"These things happen. I'm used to that anyway, and if you insist on not letting me be with your family, then I wouldn't. No harm done."

"Don't, don't," said Judy, holding his hands. "Nick, thanks for joining me, I really am, I mean, I kinda want them to get to know more about you, so I invited you to our family dinner, but I'm just not so sure about revealing our little secret, instead I told them you were my partner and a good friend of mine."

"Carrots, the moment you said about bringing me to your family dinner, is the moment they started to guess who I am and what is the connection between you and me, so instead of being passive aggressive, let's be honest and tell your family about our little secret, I mean, we'll do this together, like, haven't we always been?"

"You're right... Sooner or later, we have to let them know," smiled the little bunny.

"There we go; the look on your positive face will surely persuade your parents," said the fox, kissing the bunny's forehead.

"Nick!" said the dumb bunny as she hugged the sly fox tightly.

The cute couple hugged as they watch the outskirts of Bunnyburrow getting closer, and the orange-ish sun set down behind the open fields.

"Carrots, is that your family?" said Nick as he looked out of the window and saw tiny little bunnies holding a 'Judy has a boyfriend' home-made banner.

"Yup, 275 sisters and brothers, 1 mum, 1 dad and 1 old grandpa."

"And, you know all their names?"

"Of course! Let's go down there and say hello."

The train had finally stopped at the station. The 3 types of train doors opened simultaneously as passengers, mostly rabbits who worked in the city, stepped out of the train, and behind all the exiting rabbits, stood the couple holding hands, but as the crowd of little rabbits shouted, "Judy has a boyfriend, Judy has a boyfriend!" they immediately let go.

The sound of cheering made Judy felt back home again, but for Nick, his mind was preoccupied with the sign beside the station which indicated the ever-increasing numbers of rabbits in Bunnyburrow.

"Mum, Dad!" shouted Judy.

As they both exited from the train, Judy's siblings ran to greet her and Nick, in which most of them hugged both of his legs and grabbed his tail like he was a stuffed animal.

"Okay kids, leave the fox alone," said Bonnie, Judy's mother.

"Listen to your mother or no TV for tonight!" said Stu, Judy's father, and soon the herd of rabbits let go of the stuffed animal fox.

"Mum, Dad, you're here!" said Judy as she hugged her parents one by one with kisses on both of their cheeks.

"Where's Jill?" said Judy who couldn't find her big sister.

"Oh, Jill and your big brothers are baking blueberry pies."

"That's great, mum. Nick loves blueberries."

"Speaking of Nick, Judy, you have a lot of explaining to do," said Stu.

"Your father's right, sweetheart," said Bonnie.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Bon?" responded Stu immediately.

"I hope not, I mean, are you dating a fox?"

"Guys, claim down. This is Nick, my partner from ZPD."

"Hi, I'm Nicholas Wilde. Nice to meet you," said Nick as he shook hands with Judy's parents.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Wilde. I'm Stu Hopps, Judy's father."

"I'm Bonnie Hopps, Judy's mother. Nice to meet you too."

"So... That's it? He's not your boyfriend?" said Stu.

"Well, actually, we are more than just partners..."

Judy paused for a moment, and saw her confused parents and a constant fixed smile from Nick who clearly wanted Judy to be the one revealing their little secret.

"Yes, Nick's my boyfriend..."

"Oh, my daughter is... dating a fox..." said Stu with a nervous chuckle.

"Well, Stu... isn't he... adorable?" replied Bonnie awkwardly. "Oh. Why don't we all go back to our place, have dinner... and get to know more about your boyfriend... Nick, huh, Stu?"

"Yes, yes. Judy, you have a lot of explaining to do!" said Stu as he took one step back away from the fox, and said, "Kids, it's time to go home!" and quickly walked away.

Soon the herd of rabbits followed his father and mother back home, but it didn't stop the little ones cuddling the fox along the way.

"Okay now. I think he has had enough, so let him go, guys, c'mon."

"Alright, Judy..." said one of the little bunnies.

"Judy, thanks."

"Nick, I hope you could understand that... my parents have always wanted me to date my kind..."

"I get your father's point, I mean, after all you are good at multiplying, huh, am I right?"

"Nick, stop it!"

"Your kind is SOooo good at multiplying, that the population sign couldn't even catch up."

"You mean the sign beside the station? It's fake, Nick. They put the sign up so animals like you will know how GOOD we are at multiplying."

"Is that a fact?"

"I'm serious; we really put that sign up just to joke about it."

"Haha, I didn't know bunnies have a good sense of humor."

"Speaking of funny, I hope you won't find it funny when you see our house."

"Ha, don't tell me you're all living in burrows?"

"Close enough, follow me!" she yelled as she raced along a path to the top of a hill.

"Wait up, Carrots!" said Nick.

The fox ran with all his might but still couldn't catch up with the bunny. Soon, they both stood on top of a low hill overlooking Judy Hopps' family house.

"Wow, you guys actually live in a burrow? Look, there's even a TV antenna sticking out of the hill, and windows along the hilly slopes!"

"Glad you find it amazing. I think your height should be able to fit through most of our doors, but I don't think you'll be comfortable with your head touching the ceiling, especially in my small room..." Judy paused for a moment, thinking about the stuffed bunnies and posters and other valuables that were moved to the city. "Well, what's left of it anyway: a bed, a desk... Oh wait, I have video games that we can play together. Let's go!"

"Alright, Carrots, I'm right behind you..."