~THUNDERSTORM~
~A Oneshot Tribute to Rick Griffin's "Zootopia: Night Terrors"~
Thunder clapped and echoed across the city, waking Judy Hopps from her light sleep. She sighed discontentedly as she set up in her bed. She reached over and clicked her phone. No text or call from Nick yet…. she thought. Judy often mused about how her brave and sly partner on the force, Nick Wilde, could fear a little thunderstorm. The cankerous storm growled again throughout the city, a lightning flash lighting up Judy's tiny apartment. Then, almost as on cue, she heard a soft buzzing. She smiled gently and looked over at her phone. A solitary text message was on the screen from a contact called Dumb Fox. Judy opened the message. [Carrots.]
[Blueberries.] Judy responded, grinning.
Nick responded within seconds. [You know the drill.]
Her grin widened. [Do I know the drill? Yes. Yes, I do, you scardy fox.]
[Har-har, sly bunny.]
Judy laid back in her bed again with her phone and yawned sleepily. She noticed it was well past midnight. [Need me to call you?]
It took Nick a few seconds to respond. [Not yet.] The text was almost immediately followed by another. [Do you know why canines dislike thunderstorms?]
She thought for a second. [No.] [I just thought it was my extra-brave partner who was scared of the witty bitty storm.]
[Well, aren't you helpful tonight.]
Judy sighed. [I'm sorry, Nick. Tell me why canines are scared of thunder.]
It took Nick over a minute to respond. [Thunder makes canines skittish. The loud noise and bright lights make us lose control, we can only think about getting away.]
Judy paused before she started typing. She knew that even though Nick was her partner, he very rarely opened up to her. The moments when he let down his walls for her were fleeting, and she knew how easy it was to chase these transient moments away. She decided to keep going down the joking route in an attempt to keep his mood light. [Amusement parks at night must be mortifying for you, then. ;) ] When Nick didn't respond, Judy tried to do an about face. [Thank you for telling me, Nick.] Thunder crashed outside, lighting up the sky again. After Nick still didn't respond, Judy began to get worried. [Nick…?]
[There's someone outside my window.]
Judy's breath caught in her throat. [What? Are you sure?]
[Yeah, I saw it when the lightning flashed. Hold on, I'll check it out. Be right back, bunny. ^*_*^ ]
Judy began to panic. [Nick P. Wilde! Don't you go out in that storm!] No response. [Nick!] Still nothing. After a few minutes, Judy's panic started to turn to fear. [Nick, I'm going to call you now.]
When he still didn't respond, Judy called. The phone rang and rang before she finally heard his voice. "Hello?"
"Oh, thank the heavens… Nick! Why didn't you answer me?!" Judy exclaimed.
"Hello?!" Nick's voice responded.
"Nick…?"
"I can't hear you!" the voice said.
"Nick, it's Judy!" she quipped in aggravation.
"…Just kidding! You've reached the voicemail of Nick Wilde! You know what to do! Leave a message, maybe I'll call!"
Judy growled in anger. When she heard the beep, she screamed into her phone. "NICHOLAS PIBERIUS WILDE! Answer your phone! …AND CHANGE YOUR VOICEMAIL!"
After nearly fifteen minutes had passed with no text or call back, despite her many missed texts and voicemails, Judy's fear was replaced with dread. What if something had happened to her partner? She couldn't even think of being able to do her job without her fox, or even live her life. She had decided to resort to her last ditch effort: the one number she was told never to call unless it was an absolute emergency. She pulled up the contact information for Chief Adrian Bogo's personal cell phone. Her thumb hovered over the call button. He would be furious at her for calling him at one in the morning just because Nick was scared of a storm…. But what if he's hurt…? Judy thought to herself in horror.
Just as she had decided to go through with the call, a text finally came in from Nick. [Judith Laverne Hopps.]
Judy immediately called him. "YOU!" she yelled loudly at the top of her lungs.
"Not so fun when I use your first name, huh?" Nick answered. His voice sounded strained from terror. "Hey, open your door. I'm a little soaked here." He terminated the phone call.
Judy started to angrily call him back when her nostrils were assaulted with the vile smell of wet canine, followed by a knock on the door. "He didn't…." she muttered to herself. She marched over to the door and opened it slowly, revealing a very drenched and miserable-looking Nick, who was trying his best to smile sheepishly at her.
"Hey, Fluffbutt," he said, attempting to smirk. His eyes were wide, and his pupils were dilated.
"Nick! WHAT are you doing here at one in the morning?!" Judy huffed.
"Well, good to see you to, Carrots," Nick responded. "Can I come in? I'd like to at least dry off a bit."
Judy's mouth was set into a deep frown. "You nearly gave me a heart attack…." she said as she stepped back to let Nick in. She went into her bathroom and tossed him out a towel, which Nick gladly took and began to vigorously dry himself off, trying his best not to drip all over Judy's floor.
"Nick, what happened?" Judy asked. Nick looked down and away from her, not saying anything. "Look at me, fox. You're already in enough trouble-," she started to chastise, but was immediately stopped when Nick looked at her. She saw a look on his face she had never seen before, and a look she hoped she would never have to see again. He was nearly on the verge of tears. She noticed the teary-eyed look was not one of fear, but almost like one of shame. Judy felt like she had a knot in her throat when she saw her partner's hurt expression. She put her hand over on his arm tenderly. "Nick…."
He took a shaky breath before he started. "Yeah, the mysterious person outside my window? It was a tree. A damned tree, Fluff. It just… it looked so much like a mammal standing there, that I wanted to go check it out. Only when I did, an exceptionally loud clap of thunder got to me. I panicked. I just took off running, and by the time I came back to my senses, I was out of the Fox Commons. I didn't know entirely where I was in the dark. When the thunder clapped again, my senses went into overdrive and I found myself running again. Only by the time I realized where I was… I was in front of your apartment building. I ducked inside, regained my composure, and came up here," Nick explained, silent tears running down his face.
"Oh, Nick…." Judy said lovingly as she leaned in to squeeze him in a tight hug. Nick didn't even try to combat the sudden sign of affection, nor did Judy mind that her fur was now wet as well. "Has this ever happened before?" Judy asked as she pulled away.
"No," Nick stated simply.
Suddenly, a realization dawned upon her. "So, Blueberries… your first thought in your instinctive panic was to come to the apartment of your sly bunny?" she beamed happily. As the thought settled in on her, she had to admit it felt good that Nick's first instinct was to go to her.
Nick grinned softly. "I guess it was. I can't even get away from you outside of work, Cottontail," he quipped.
"Well, I'm okay with that. You can spend the night here, okay?" Judy said.
Nick truly smiled for the first time since he arrived. "Okay."
Judy busily started making up her small couch for Nick to sleep on. "Sorry if it's a little too small for you, Slick Nick."
"Aw, with the night I've had, I thought you'd let me have the bed," he smirked.
Judy jutted her hip out. She snapped her fingers and pointed to the couch, smiling. "Not in your wildest dreams, Wilde," she responded. Nick chuckled as he put his hands out and laid down on the couch. After they had both got settled back into their respective sleeping places, Judy spoke. "Goodnight, dumb fox."
"Goodnight, sly bunny," he said affectionately with a yawn.
At some point throughout the night, Nick was awoken again by the loud thunder. He felt the same instinct that had brought him to Judy's apartment to begin with take over once again. This time, however, it brought him up from the couch and into Judy's bed with her. Judy was immediately awoken by the paws of her partner wrapping around her. She started to protest, but was quickly silenced when she felt his fluffy tail wrap around her, pulling her tightly into his chest. She was surprised to find a contented sigh coming from both herself and Nick. Within seconds, they were both back asleep in each other's embrace. They stayed like that until morning, long after the storm had dissipated, perfectly content to be in the presence of one other.
~FIN~