Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia, I am not affiliated with Disney in any way, and I do not own any of these characters.
Nick and Judy stopped for lunch in a dusty galleria parking lot in Sahara Square. Their assignment today: canvass the surrounding neighborhood in search of a gang of teen Cheetahs who were drag racing each other in the streets, sometimes in broad daylight when they were skipping school.
Before they left the precinct, Nick had jokingly asked Clawhauser if he was ever a drag-racing Cheetah. Ben dropped his half-eaten donut in surprise. 'Me? Nah. I was in the programming club. I was never very cool.'
'You had me fooled, Benji.'
'Really? Thanks, Nick!'
The Fox saluted him as he walked out and Judy shook her head, not having the heart to loop Clawhauser in on the sarcasm she heard in her partner's tone.
When Judy got back into the car with her salad, she took one look at the radio and rolled her eyes.
'What was that?' Nick asked, peering at her over his turkey with beetle sandwich.
'You know what it was. You changed my radio.'
'Did I? Why yes, I believe I might have done that,' Nick admitted after an exaggerated thoughtful pause. 'See, you made the unilateral decision that you were going to drive again today, even though you told me yesterday that I could drive today —'
Judy gave a scoff and started to reach for the dial to switch off Lion Richie with extreme prejudice, but Nick grabbed her paw. 'Oh, I don't think so, darlin'. I'm co-pilot. I get to control the radio. Those are the rules.'
The Rabbit cop turned to him with reproach in her eyes. 'That's not a thing. You just made that up.' She dropped her paw and took an angry bite of salad. 'You're doing this on purpose to be a pain in my tail. You know I can't stand your old mammal music.'
She knew that would get him. Nick nearly dropped his sandwich in outrage, and this time he wasn't acting.
He removed his sunglasses with deliberate slowness and stared at her. Judy's mouth started to twitch into a smug grin.
'Excuse me. Do mine ears deceive me? Did you say 'old mammal music'?'
Judy gestured to the radio, which was now playing 'Pig in Pink' by the Psychedelic Furries, as if it spoke for itself.
'No! No way! You cannot call this old mammal music - there is a classic movie named after this song!'
'Classic - another word for old.'
He put both paws on his ears, flabbergasted. 'How can you say that?'
'It's older than me,' she stated in a matter-of-fact tone, still fighting to hide her smile. She couldn't believe he hadn't figured her out yet.
'You've never seen it, have you?' Then he stopped and gave her a shrewd look. 'You're messing with me. You have to be.'
'Do you want to drive now?' she asked sweetly.
'So you can control the radio? I don't think so, missy. You're going to listen to this music until you admit how good it is.'
She lolled her head back and groaned. 'Oh come on, you're going to punish me? What are you, my father?'
His eyes widened. 'I am not that much older than you! And I really don't appreciate your attitude, young lady!'
Judy finished her salad and passed him the empty container asking, 'Could you throw this away, please?'
'Fine,' he grumbled. He wasn't too put out because he didn't even have to get out of the car - he just rolled down the window and lobbed the lunch wrappings at the trash can that stood a few feet below. The salad container and his balled up sandwich wrapper hit its mark on the first try.
'Swish,' he said appreciatively. He knew that if he had missed, Judy would have made him get out and pick it up.
When he turned back though, something terrible had happened.
He was no longer hearing the Bengals singing 'Macaw Monday'. His scheming, sly bunny of a partner was darting her hand away from the radio dial. No, it was definitely Gazelle's vibrato that was now ringing in his ears. Angel with horns, his fuzzy foot.
He gave Judy a withering glare. She grinned, the picture of innocence, and put the car in drive.
'We had better get going, we have streets to patrol.'
'Sure thing, partner.' Nick put his sunglasses back on, then leaned forward and turned the radio back.
A/N:
Thanks for reading my first Zootopia fanfic! If you enjoyed it, please favorite or review! And if you want to read more like this, I encourage you to follow me. I have a longer story in the works, which should be coming soon!
(FYI, Pig in Pink is Judy's favorite movie. She watches it every year on her birthday. Don't tell Nick.)