So, I watched Zootopia in English two weeks and I loved it! Watched it again on Saturday, this time in German (the English version is better. in my opinion). Anyways, I was inspired to write this little oneshot. Normally, I'd feel more confident if I had the movie on Blu Ray but that's gonna have to wait until the release. So, without further ado...
Zootopia and all its properties belong to the Walt Disney Company. I'm only borrowing for entertainment purposes.
A Glimpse In The Life of A Fox And A Bunny
A lot of things had happened since Officer Judy Hopps, with the help of con-artist Nick Wilde, had solved the Night Howlers case. For one, Judy was welcomed back to the Zootopia Police Department and she had moved into a new, bigger apartment. Nick now attended the police academy and had, for the time he went there, moved in with Judy as her housemate. She had a spare bedroom in her new apartment where Nick could sleep and retreat to if he needed to be alone. Living together was not so bad; they both actually liked it, though there were times they got on each others' nerves. For one, the stress in the morning, especially when one of them occupies the bathroom. No matter how fast one was, the other would always complain they needed too long. Then there were their different personalities – Judy was uptight and neat, Nick was laid-back and a little slob. More than once, they both had fights because of this but in the end, they worked it out. And it was not like they constantly fought, the rabbit and the fox shared many happy moments together. Judy helped him any way she could to get him through the training. It was important to her that Nick would pass, join the Zootopia Police Department and become her partner. She knew she did not want anybody else to be her partner, ever since Nick helped her with the Night Howlers case.
A deep friendship had formed between them, one neither of them could have ever imagined the first time they met. But this just showed that it was not the outside and associated stereotypes that counted, but rather the inside. However, something more has started to develop between them ever since Nick moved in with Judy, maybe even before that. They looked at the other lovingly when they were not looking, they shared tender moments and they tended to flirt with each other. It was so obvious for anyone who could see them that they felt more than friendship towards one another. For anyone but the fox and rabbit in question. Nick thought Judy would never be interested in a relationship with him and vice versa. So, they said nothing to keep things smooth and not awkward between them.
At the moment, Nick and Judy sat on their green couch and watched a show on DVD Clawhauser had told Judy about the other day. In fact, he lent her his DVDs the day before, though they had not gotten a chance to watch them until now. It was about a pie maker who could revive the dead with a touch of his finger and rekill them when touching them again. He used his ability to help a private investigator solve cases of murder while simultaneously running a pie shop. Despite the plot about murder, the show's setting was bright and whimsical.
"Wow, the first thing that poor guy hears about his childhood sweetheart in twenty years is that she died. I kinda feel sorry for him", Nick commented after the scene where the private investigator told the pie maker the name of the murder victim.
"Kinda? I really do feel sorry for him", Judy responded, leaning forward to grab a carrot stick from the bowl on the coffee table. They kept watching the rest of the episode and two more after this one, making little quips about a scene or line and laughing at the funny parts. Some time while watching, Judy snuggled up to Nick, who put his arm and his tail loosely around her. She absentmindedly covered her body with his tail and stroked it thinking to herself how soft it was. She could not stop caressing his tail; it was like her paws moved on their own. Nick shot her an amused look.
"If I had known you like touching my tail so much, I would have given you the chance much sooner", he commented with a smirk. Judy, whose fur around her cheeks had taken on a pink color, hit him.
"I am not touching your tail", she retorted despite doing just that.
"Really? Then it must be lemmings walking down my tail", Nick's smirk grew wider. The pink color on Judy's cheeks turned red and she stopped stroking. Nick laughed and gave her a squeeze. She chuckled, hitting him playfully, and resumed her actions.
"Would you rather have lemmings running on your tail?", she asked with a smirk. Nick pretended to think about it.
"Nah, they don't feel so nice."
Judy raised an eyebrow:
"Oh? Did you have lemmings running on your tail before?"
"Nope."
"Then how'd you know my paws feel better when you can't exactly compare, huh?"
"Oh, I'm pretty sure about this, Carrots."
Judy shook her head but smiled nonetheless.
"Crazy fox", she mumbled looking up at Nick.
"But you still love me", he responded and poke her side. The only answer he received was a muffled giggle. Nick stared at her, an amused smile across his face. He poked her side again – another muffled giggle.
"Don't tell me my little Carrots is ticklish", he commented with a mischievous glimmer in his eyes. Before Judy had any time to react, he started tickling her. The rabbit tried to hold back her laughter, biting her bottom lip. But the longer Nick moved his hands up and down at her sides, the harder it was for her to hold back. At first, only small gasps and tiny giggles escaped her. Soon, these turned into a couple of "hahahahas" with the occasional "stop!" thrown in-between. However, Nick was having none of it and so, it did not take long for Judy to laugh out loud without being able to form a coherent word. She tried to escape from him only for him to pin her down underneath him, not unlike the way she was under him when he pretended to be under the influence of the Night Howler. In desperation, Judy used her strong legs to kick him in the stomach, perhaps a little too hard. Nick gasped in pain, holding his stomach.
"Oh my gosh, Nick! I'm so sorry!", Judy apologized, her eyes wide in shock at her action. She reached out for him, wanting to see the damage. Nick just smiled lazily at her.
"Should have known better than to assault a bunny like you", he tried to tease her, even though he was clearly wincing.
"I didn't hurt you too much, did I?", Judy worriedly asked. Nick waved her off.
"Oh, I'll live. But maybe we should go to bed before anything else happens."
"Maybe you're right. I have an early day tomorrow, as do you", Judy responded, hopping off the couch and turning the DVD Player off. While she was tidying up, Nick went to the bathroom to brush his teeth and to change into his pajamas. Judy did the same later, after he was done.
"Well then, good night, Nick", the rabbit bade the fox.
"Night, Carrots", he responded with a smirk and sleepy eyes. Judy smiled adorably at him so that it just made him want to hug her and squeeze her. But he refrained from doing so, he did not know how she would take it and he did not want to risk any more kicks from her. Least of all in lower regions.
"Until tomorrow", Judy whispered, about to enter her room when... "Hey, what do you mean? A bunny like me?"
A few weeks had passed since that night. Judy stood on the same stage she stood on a year ago when she received her badge. Now she was there, giving a speech to inspire the new officers to try and change the world and make it a better place. Deep within her, she hoped the new officers would take her speech to heart and not judge an animal for what they were but for whom they were. It did not matter how big or small one was, whether they were predator or prey – as long as they had dreams and worked hard, they could become anything. Judy herself was such an example, a small, cute bunny among an assemblage of gigantic, strong animals. One would think it could only end badly but if anyone had ever proven themselves to be capable of the hard work a police officer had to endure, it was Judy. After all, she had not worked her whole life towards her goal of becoming the first bunny officer for nothing. And now, a year later, she was present at another milestone. For this time, the first fox to ever attend the police academy graduated. Judy could not be prouder of Nick. Who, after their first meeting upon each other, would have thought it would have come to this? She reflected on their adventure together, on everything that led to this moment when she gave Nick his badge and they saluted to each other.
Later, in the evening, after Nick and Judy had gone home and changed out of their uniforms and into their everyday clothes, they went to a nice little restaurant to celebrate his graduation. The unlikely pair sat at a table in the corner, eating salad and conversing with each other. They spoke of their times at the police academy, comparing their respective experiences there. When this topic was exhausted, they switched to other, silly things, like how they got the holes in donuts, what would the offspring between a frog and a pig be called, if one could develop precognitive proficiencies after being struck twice by one and the same bolt of lightning, if it was possible to set the moon on fire and so on.
"Maybe the moon will take on caramel color and become as soft as a marshmallow", Nick joked.
"What? Are you saying the moon looks like a marshmallow?", Judy chuckled.
"Of course, top view", Nick shrugged with a lazy smirk. "Or bottom view, take your pick."
"And let me guess, you think it would taste like a marshmallow too if you were to eat it?", his bunny partner said, lightly poking his chest.
"Nah, more like a chocolate chip cookie", he responded, lightly nudging her nose with his finger. Judy laughed.
"You are one crazy fox."
"Yes, but I'm your fox", he smirked at her.
"Are you?", she pretended to think. "Yes, yes you are."
After dinner, the pair went home for the night, probably with the intention to watch a movie before hitting the hay. It was quite late, after all, but neither of them felt particularly tired. Well, it was not like the two were as fit as a fiddle; it was however not like they would fall asleep on the spot. If anything, one could say they were feeling idle. So, once Nick and Judy were back in their humble abode, they first changed into their pajamas and Judy went to the kitchen to get the snack while Nick first zapped through several channels to see if he could find a movie on television before looking through the Blu Ray collection. Most channels he came across were either just some uninteresting shows or boring movies. He came across one motion picture – a tragedy about predator and prey falling in love – and he was just about to change the channel when Judy spoke about from the doorway to the kitchen:
"Leave that one on. I've seen it once before, it's really good."
"If you say so, Cottontail", Nick shrugged, placing the remote on the coffee table. Judy walked over to him, put the bowl of popcorn right next to the remote and took a seat next to him.
"It really is", she insisted. "Just wait and see."
"I'm gonna trust your word on this."
Judy made no comment to this but instead leaned against Nick's side and silently watched the movie. It was a musical taking place in the Fifties about two rivaling gangs – a predator gang and a prey gang. At a dance, a former member of the predator gang met the sister of leader of the prey gang and they fell in love. They dreamed of running away and living together in peace. But circumstances led to the gangs' leaders' death as well as to the ex-member of the predator gang being shot. In anger and grief, the female prey threatened to kill every member of the two gangs who had arrived to the scene and herself but could not bring herself to. In the end, the two gangs made peace with each other, something that was still uncommon between predator and prey at that time. Back then, these two still hated one another – minus the kill or being killed thing – though it was also the time when the animosity started to fade. Still, predator and prey being love was something unheard of, even scandalous. Nowadays, animals were more open-minded. While prey and predator usually preferred to be with their own kind, not necessarily species, there were still some prey and predator couples.
"So sad", Judy sniffed after the movie was over. Nick looked at her to see she had been crying, there was big stain made by the tears she shed on his shirt. He chuckled and shook his head while she turned the television off.
"You bunnies, so emotional", he commented. Judy looked at him with her big, violet, tear-filled eyes and narrowed them.
"Don't tell me it didn't get to you because it did. I heard you sniffing."
Nick inwardly cursed her superb sense of hearing. The film indeed got to him but he tried to keep his reactions down. Obviously, he had not been quiet enough. Then again, maybe she still would have heard him. Still, he could not deny he could identify with the two main characters. He had imagined himself and Judy in their situation and the thought of her dying because two gangs hated each other – even though it was the male and not the female who died in the movie – saddened him. He did not think he would have anything to live for if she were gone. It was her, after all, who turned his life upside down and changed it for the better. If she had never appeared in his life, he would still be conning animals out of their hard-earned money and he would still be lonely.
"Okay, I admit it, it got to me", Nick confessed. "But only because it got me thinking."
"No, really!? You can think!?", Judy exclaimed in mock surprised. Nick laughed dryly at her with a less than amused expression on his face. She took his paw in both of hers and gave it a squeeze. "No, seriously though, what did you think about?"
Nick gazed deeply into her eyes as though he wanted to stare in her soul or let her see his. Judy felt herself blush due to the intensity of his gaze. She was so absorbed in him that she nearly missed what Nick admitted:
"I was imagining us in their situation."
Judy's jaw dropped in surprise at his words and the way he said them – with so much sadness and heart. He looked at her as if he was scared she would be gone if he blinked once. She wanted to reassure him, to tell him she would always be with him.
"I don't know what I would do without you, Judy. You're the most important animal in my life."
She could not hold herself back anymore, she jumped up, threw her arms around his neck and kissed him. Nick's eyes widened. Was this really happening? Was something he had been secretly dreaming of for months really happening? But before he had to time to response, Judy pulled away and was back on hear spot next to him.
"Sorry", she apologized, nervously chuckling and playing with her ears. "I... I don't know what came over me... Just forg-"
She never got to finish her sentence for it was now Nick who scooped her up and pressed his lips against hers. Judy's eyes also widened for a moment but closed them as she melted into the kiss. She caressed his fur from the back of his head down to his neck and back up. One of Nick's paws rested in her back and the other on her waist. Time stood still for the fox and the rabbit. There was nothing except their own little world.
"Wow...", was all Judy managed to utter after they parted. Her eyes were half-closed and she had a dazed smile on her face.
"I've wanted to do this for a long time", Nick confessed in a whisper, still holding her.
"Me too", she admitted, rubbing his nose with hers.
"Kinda figured that much out, seeing how you jumped at me and kissed me", he smirked. Judy chuckled and shrugged her shoulders. The two gazed at each other blissful silence until Nick voiced a question they both had on their minds: "So, does that mean we're boyfriend and girlfriend now?"
"I would like to think so. I don't kiss anyone if I don't intend to have a relationship with them", now it was Judy's turn to smirk.
"That's good to know, girlfriend", Nick responded. "But how about we hit the hay now? We could perhaps cuddle a little?"
He looked at her with puppy dog eyes. Judy chuckled and nodded. Nick, holding her bridal style, stood up, walked to his bedroom door, which he opened with his arm, and went inside. He made his way towards his bed, where he laid his new girlfriend gently down before joining her. The new couple got under the covers and into each others' arms, soon drifting off to sleep. Life could be funny sometimes, one could never know what to expect. No one, least of all these two, would have ever expected that a fox, who once made a living conning other animals, and a starry-eyed bunny to become friends, partners and lovers.
Hope you all like it. Don't hesitate to leave constructive criticism!