Disguise Chapter 1: Beneath the Fire Within, a zootopia fanfic

CAMPFIRE
CH00: Beneath the Fire Within
I do not own Zootopia.

A training session in the middle of the Rainforest District woods came to be a momentous starry night for an observant Nick Wilde.

For those, who have already read the Disguise section (original content), this is the official prequel to that same story – which I have properly edited so that this story would be reflected within its developments. I assure you that Campfire would add much depth to it.
For new readers, expect a hustle of emotions.

This portion is rated T. The next chapters would be M.
There is an insights section after the main story. If you want to indulge in my personal thoughts, feel free to sympathize with the background.

Enjoy the campfire.

- O – O – O – O – O -

"Nick, what are you doing?"

Nick Wilde barely tilted his head sideways to acknowledge the presence of the one and only Judy Hopps.
Her voice, almost haunting, echoed stronger than the ﬁre crackling against the gently buzzing darkness
"Nothing," was his lazy slur.

Any words he expected, however, were turned down as the bunny just silently sat down beside him.
A light stare offered him the view of Judy placing her legs in front to a more comfortable position of proper weight distribution.
Then there was simple silence, like he was meant to expect her leaning closer to him.
It was one of those unusual moments when he actually felt calm with not teasing the bunny, and how nice it actually was.
Some trails of thoughts suggested maybe she felt the same, and it was an alluring enough of an idea to make his tail swish a time or two.
Softly and silently, he subconsciously brushed against the soil behind him, like he was simply sipping a cup of coffee from the ZPD's ﬁrst floor vending machine.

Ahhh...
That was a bummer thought.
They were most deﬁnitely not in any premises around the Sahara Square, and his tail eased to a stop.
Judy probably noticed the subtle change and fortunately cleared her throat to speak, "No nothing, Nick. What you're doing is unusual. You don't just stare at others while they sleep."

Nick raised an eyebrow as he looked down at the smiling bunny, who shrugged casually.
"Well, you were staring too, then. At the ﬁre? Then happened to be me?"
Judy seemed to challenge the reach of his eyebrow with a smug expression.
"But you were awake. The Chief isn't nor was any of us."
The fox hummed in amusement as he acknowledged the conﬁdence in her voice, following himself with an apparent glance at the sleeping buffalo in tight uniform. "Well, he is my nearest subject,"
Nick huffed. "Besides, if this team of "top ten ofﬁcers" had actual tents and not just sprawled around a campﬁre - which looks nice admittedly - would staring in the same direction be justiﬁed?"

Judy properly chuckled at his jest. "As Chief Bogo said, we shouldn't rely only on our tools as police officers. For that matter, we now have this training of resilience in an isolated place."
Nick rolled his eyes. "You even memorized that."
"Yes! And no part within that statement justiﬁes ogling fellow ofﬁcers." Judy grinned.
The fox narrowed his eyebrows. "And am I supposed to bite the bait now?"
Judy shrugged once more, before taking a pair of cuffs from a pocket and spinning it by a ﬁnger.
"Or I can arrest you now, shifty fox."
Nick sighed. "Can't I say anything in defense ﬁrst?"
The bunny glanced at an imaginary handheld watch, before mustering a serious look at him.
"You. Have. A. Minute."

"Okay. First." The fox made small grunts as if considering his flow. "Ogle is a bad choice for a word. I was only staring, as I have ﬁrmly established with my mental suggestion of actual tents."
Judy rolled her eyes even as Nick continued.
"Second. Any person at slumber gives the fun part of staring. We all look so peaceful and bothered by nothing. The face isn't contorted and looks well-rested." He gave a quick glance at all the ofﬁcers. "Not that I see anyone with signs of having nightmares. That would also be interesting."
"Ten."
Nick raised his hands slightly with a face of mock conﬁdence. "And Chief's orders. I am currently the one in watch for suspicious creatures who might sneak up on our sleep and bite us like savage predators hungry for prey."

Judy closed her imaginary watch and sighed in disappointment.
"Negative two seconds. You receive a penalty, Ofﬁcer Wilde."
Nick tutted humorously. "What could that be?"
The bunny acted contrary to her statement, however, as she pocketed back her cuffs. Then she chuckled. "You step back a little and give me more of the campﬁre's heat."
Nick followed suit with his own pleased reaction. "Oh, feeling cold, Ofﬁcer?"
"Yeah," Judy drawled casually. "I don't have any of my stuffed toys to snuggle to."
The fox shrugged as he crawled a bit backwards, but not even as far as a hands breadth.
"Penalty received. What's next?"

Judy idly traced a ﬁnger on the ground directly between them as she spoke. "Do entertain me."
With her pause being almost a slur, Nick just made an acknowledging grunt as he waited for the rest. Just as it was about to feel uncomfortably long, however, Judy added, "Why were you staring at the others?"
"I told you... or implied it anyway. I was just being idle." Nick shot a quick look at her moving ﬁnger. "Just as your little hand, which seems to have a mind of its own? I mean, who wouldn't be bored being on "guard duty?""
"I want to feel convinced..." Judy continued with a low tone, focusing her eyes on her ﬁnger at motion then stopping her tracing a few seconds later. "Frankly, I don't."
The bunny looked up at him with an unreadable glint in her gaze, one act so rare to see from her.
She kept a solid eye contact for a short moment before settling down in a position looking directly at the campﬁre. She remained silent afterwards.

Clueless would be an understatement to how Nick felt being actually unable to comprehend his partner's expression. Looking at her gave no ideas for where he should start his reaction with.
However, a shifting gaze made him notice the drawn lines on the ground which he initially thought were just scribbles.

Most of the lines would have been passed by as just nonsense but an actual observant attention to a speciﬁc part of Chief Bogo's presentation of the regulations for the team-building in their initial meetup 12 hours ago was enough to give a hint.
What the illustration showed was that of their current base and everyone's sleeping positions.
Ten squiggly lines around the base campﬁre and Nick wondered why the illustration being similar to a sun or even a clock's ﬁgure did not cross his mind ﬁrst.

The Chief was indeed his nearest subject and the succeeding parts of their formation were randomized, according to the ofﬁcer himself. While Bogo did mention that the decision was not meant to hold any signiﬁcance, some ofﬁcers surmised it showed an emphasis of "dispersion" in the supposedly wild setting - though a rather weak assumption.
Nick, however, thought it was because the Chief did not want any "potential intimate partnership" to occur, especially in an isolated area - after a signiﬁcant portion of the usual ZPD buzz became more inclined in the topic of romance.
Checking the formation made him notice the rather suspicious alternation in gender with each individual.
Chosen "top ten" so he did say.

Judy was somewhere directly perpendicular to his feet's direction. While the Chief was on his left, the other adjacent side from his position was Fangmeyer, who had already openly established that she was not interested in any relationships for her young age. And who was up to doubt her anyway?
Alas, his observations only made him all the more confused. If not the complexities of a female mind, what else could it be that bypassed his logic?
Her reaction continued to confound him as he grumbled audibly.
"I... don't really know what you might possibly mean? I'm sorry, Judy."
"What?"

He was given a sudden look, deﬁnitely a puzzled one, quite similar to his surprise at how he quickly realized how poorly he just blurted out an apology.
At least, he got her attention again... and maybe he could actually ask for any clariﬁcation.
"Just what I said." Nick breathed deeply, and then exhaled a signiﬁcant amount. "I am a bit taken aback." At Judy's impenetrable gaze, the fox continued, "I can't comprehend what the lines you must be thinking along now could possibly be. And I don't want to assume. Isn't the Chief-"
Nick halted himself, before sighing once more. "What is it that we have here, Carrots?"

For a moment, her gaze turned gentle before it reformed into something more coy, or seemingly so, as she spoke, "I can actually believe that."
Nick saw her hand within their distance twitch a bit in place, as if she was trying not to show anxiety.
That was deﬁnitely a more readable bunny.
"Maybe I'm just tired. Maybe I was just remembering things. Maybe I insinuated myself with a selﬁsh thought.
"Carrots..." Nick hovered his hand close to her shoulder, and he did not ﬁnd himself stopped.
"That's..."
Judy paused for a moment. She resumed shortly after with a much lowered voice.
"That's much better..."

Even with her uniform's shoulder pads, Nick could actually feel tingling warmth across his ﬁngers and he allowed it to linger in his silence.
"I thought you were... not ogling really. Staring is enough. But it's the interest really. I don't know what you must be thinking a few minutes ago and even now. I'm..." The bunny paused as she raised a hand to her chest, while the fox grunted gently to acknowledge the action.
Admittedly, he did not think of the bunny as one who could be affected by such disposition - as he did so by skipping the thought in his previous assumptions - but neither rejecting nor leaving it now was going to do any good.
He was pretty sure his partner also had the thought as she pursed her lips in consideration.
"Yeah." Judy turned her head slightly away before adding, "At least, I'm pretty sure you now get me. I really am just a-"

Strange how he had already expected what direction her words were going to take.
Swiftly had he moved and placed a ﬁnger on her lips, just in time to gently slash the rest of her statement away.
"Envy is unbecoming of you, Carrots. And more so for the already 'drastic' effects it has on you right now."
The fox gave a small smile to give assurance of his control.
Judy could only blink silently as Nick continued, "Now, I'm planning to remove my ﬁnger soon but you're gonna have to lay down with the pessimism. Let's have an interesting chat."
Nick's smile grew to a grin as he slowly stirred his ﬁnger away. "Did you know I actually found it uncomfortable staring at Fangmeyer, out of all the people here."

The fox allowed his partner a few seconds to register his words, taking particular interest in her careful change of emotive expression. "Are you telling me you're bothered that Fangmeyer is hot?"
Nick raised an eyebrow at her statement, amused and impressed at the same time. "Nothing of that sort. I mean, I can be pretty open with relationships. It just so happens I had a different eye for her."
They had to spare a look at the mentioned tigress which made Nick chuckle. Said canine was sleeping in one side, with a gentle paw under her chin. "And she has a different or rather oblivious eye for anyone among us."

"Yeah. Francine was the one who couldn't believe it the most." There was a soft chuckle as she murmured absently, almost to herself. "...relationships, huh?"
"Right. And I'm the one petty open with those," Nick repeats in amusement.
Judy hummed, before giving her friend a curious look. "...and what does that mean exactly?"
"I don't know..." Nick spared the rabbit a look and smiled lazily, as if challenging her logic.
Judy rolled her eyes humorously. "Right. I don't know either."

At least, her tone had deﬁnitely gotten lighter.
The interesting part of it all, however, was that the silence he had found warmth from a while ago could have actually been such a dreary moment for her.
He couldn't turn his side of the coin to check out hers... at least, until the previous stuff happened.
Was he overthinking things?

"Well..." Nick yawned as he laid himself down and leaned backwards by his arms, looking up the starry sky. "I'm honestly trying to think of a good analogy... and I can't think of one."
Judy easily followed suit and followed with words he could almost hear a smirk from. "Slick Wilde not having his way with words?"
He afforded a slight tilt of his head to her direction. "More like Slick Wilde isn't used to spending the night with a cute bunny."
"Don't call me-"
"-cute."
Nick smirked. Judy only furrowed her eyebrows but did not really object to it more as she rolled her eyes and continued instead, "And second, we are talking about Fang. Your interest in Fang."

"Right." Nick uttered another inevitable yawn, hanging a hand over his mouth for a few seconds.
"You're intentionally making it long!" Judy accused with a coo. "Look at me, I'm not even affected."
"Well, even if I did look at you, I was on guard duty since two hours ago. You were asleep through that time. Besi-" The fox chuckled as he felt another one coming. But he stopped it just in time anyway. "Okay. My body may be overreacting."
"Saying it yourself!" Judy scoffed humorously. "Besides, aren't yawns supposed to be infectious?"
"That differs from one individual to another, Carrots," Nick spoke conﬁdently. "Do you think an elephant with big heaves of breath would yawn the same way as how a small bunny like you does it?"
The bunny rolled her eyes as they both chuckled afterwards.

"Okay. I'll give you a short break with the interrogation, Slick." Judy shrugged, somewhat uncomfortably against the ground, but hummed cheerfully as she raised a ﬁnger upwards. "What do you think about constellations, Nick?"
"Non-existent to the bored eye. The opposite for interested people," the fox offered in a readily monotonous tone, much to the amusement of the other.
"So what kind of eye do you currently have?" Nick found himself shortly glancing over her direction again, giving himself a sight of petite happiness to which he just silently grunted at, before staring back up with her.
"I can say I have two existent eyes with shared existent interest."
"Great! That's a nice start."

Judy momentarily lowered her hand to rub it against her other hand, seemingly in excitement, and raising it back up with renewed vigor in her voice. "Any constellations you recognize?"
Nick raised a curious eyebrow. "Normally, you'd challenge your companion into ﬁnding the constellation you ﬁrst found so that there would be a proper start... like a conversation."
"Guuhh..." Judy's hand visibly wavered. "I am not your casual stargazer, Nick."
"That's where you're readable now, Carrots." The pleased fox hummed as he raised one of his hands to touch the bunny's, slowly holding it next and making a circular motion with it.

"Okay... you got me," Judy admitted sheepishly. "Buuut, what are we doing?"
"Nothing," Nick said casually. "You think I know anything about constellations? Any information about them wouldn't have helped me in my hustling years."
"What? But you-"
"Pokerface, Carrots. Never let others see that they get to you." The fox hummed as he stopped the circular motion of their hands. "Look. If I adjusted your ﬁnger and pointed it somewhere to this direction, I'd still look like one who knows more stars than the number of his tail's fur."
"Exaggeration doesn't help." Judy chuckled nevertheless. "I get your point though. But then again, there goes the only topic I could think of."

"Well, your random topic made me curious about another random topic." Nick grunted as he went and continued tracing lines using Judy's ﬁnger.
"Okay, what is it?" The bunny whispered, with hints of excitement.
"If you didn't know about constellations, what did you do during nights when you were young?"
He felt a slight tug from Judy's hand, before realizing she was gesturing for permission in control, although the fox still held on. "I can ask the same about you! See here..."
Nick could swear he could hear a cheerful smile creep into her voice itself as she traced out a clear number. 87.
"Your birth year?"
"Maybe it is!" Judy rolled her eyes. "Silly, it's the number of family members we had by the time of these particular stories."
"Interesting," Nick voiced out, genuinely curious. "How'd you know the exact number anyway?"
"You just do!" The bunny offered unhelpfully, not that it was important.

Judy adjusted her raised hand a bit to allow its other ﬁngers some freedom of movement, and Nick soon found himself an improvisation of a storytelling medium.
"That doesn't look like any other hand puppet I've ever seen," Nick teased.
"I don't have any markers. Nor do you. So we'll settle with my wild ﬁngers," said Judy as she comically jerked her ﬁngers to the fox's direction, mimicking the trajectory of hostile air weapons.
"I'm not going to get scared by pale imitations of your family members," said Nick as he himself raised his ﬁngers to offer an immediate counter to her advances... like a short and simple intermission for the topic change.
It lasted for a good while and it was strangely amusing - how her ﬁngers moved, but still ever so gently.

Yet he found himself holding her hand completely. "Got ya!"

"Ni- No! Not the biologically savage predatooor!" Judy squealed as she weakened her resistance.
Blank.
"You ﬁve bunnies are now my hostages," Nick stated with a lopsided grin. "And I request to hear each of your stories to tell!"
Fazed.
"Skkeeewy fooox!" uttered Judy in a high-pitched voice, moving her smallest ﬁnger.
Warm.
"You have quite the voice," growled the fox as he motioned his grasp to change its target to that one single ﬁnger. "I pronounce you ﬁrst!"
Strange.
"Nooo! Not my nephew!" Her little finger jerked frantically... but alas, Nick shooed the rest away.

As their ﬁngers almost froze to a halt, Nick absently recognized the stirring feeling within him.
Judy, however, continued as if there was nothing wrong... from what he could tell off her mannerisms.
He couldn't really focus on her face from his angle but she still spoke jovially, which one would assume to have a bright smile, one which he would like to appreciate by getting a chance to have a simple stare at it.
It was weird but...
"Meet one of the bunnies in the next four generations under me. His name is-"
A peculiar hazy feeling, tingling with innocent curiosity.
"You see, each generation presents a unique part within the "hierarchy" of the family members," the bunny chattered on, oblivious to his lost thoughts. "And it so happened that I was to care for this particular group of kits. There we also have River."

Nick frowned. "You lived by a river back then?"
Judy looked confused for a moment before chortling at him, "Silly Wilde. You have to listen to me. This ﬁnger speaking up is called River."
"Oh," the fox muttered lamely.
The bunny allowed him his mistake with a chuckle and just continued instead. "See, she had a pretty good imagination for her age. You'd think she was named River because of all the words flowing out of her mouth..."
Nick managed to take the cue accordingly, with a smirk. "I assume you thought of that pun just now. Gosh, I'm proud of you, Carrots."
"Why, yes. Thank you!" Judy hummed boastfully. "But really, she had like, the shiniest eyes among the next few generations. And that's speaking a lot! She got her name from her almost faded eye color."

How fun it was to get distracted in her vivid chatter... almost entrancing.
Plus, her intricate presentation of her story did not feel like any annoying drawl you'd hear from the Chief when he initiated meetings.
The fox came to know how the so-called River was one of the reasons she did not get the chance to go much outside, for being rowdy inside their home tunnels with movements apparently guided by the Wyld, a rather simple deviation from its word origin but admittedly amusing from a kitten indeed.
It was not any story he would have really enjoyed much, except for keeping track of character attitude for background information – one trait he unapologetically still kept from his hustling days, but Judy somehow gave her distant memory a beating heart.
It made him ponder just how different would had been if he had met the bunny much earlier than the Nighthowler case.
If anything, would he have been fond of constellations just so he could impress her with calculated ﬁnger pointing beside campﬁres and sleeping ofﬁcers?

The warmth of their hands together only gave him a vague clue.

"Well, that's really what happens with a bunch of naughty kittens. Normally though, it's my aunts or uncles sharing stuff. They like to boast their stories. Cotton's for my thumb though. She's my absolute fave!" Judy gave a short silly laugh, as she left her pinky motionless for the rest of her ﬁnger movement. "I'd tell you about all of them but I'm pretty much surprised we managed to stay still like this for a while now. Not that I complain..."
"Carrots. See, if River was a wonderful set of eyes and words alike..." Nick slowly lowered their hands together as he gave his partner a gentle look; only to ﬁnd himself with two violet eyes already staring back. "My stars, you're beautiful."
An immediate jump in both breath and heartbeat made Nick blink in surprise as he realized what he had just said out loud.
Totally unnatural of him.
But her ears visibly lowered and possibly even reddened in effect.

Judy's face showed clear evidence of confusion and shock.
How lucky it was for him if he were to admit... since it provided sincere pleasure for him to see the bunny with such a priceless expression, honest and sincere.
But it might as well had been complete disbelief for what he had just said, which was...
"Terribly sudden of me, Carrots. But I..." Nick paused as he initially went for a chuckle, but he sighed instead. "I mean it. You see..."

By that time, they were already lying on their sides, looking at each other intently - which Judy tried anyway, before focusing on their still holding hands.
She twitched her hold a bit, but it was all there was to it.
"Carrots, back when I had a partner..." Nick paused as he noticed the silent but evident gasp on her mouth. "A different one, yeah. I never told much about myself. Nor-" He actually hissed as he felt his voice break. "Nor do I think I will tonight, it's a long talk, but..."
Just as she slightly squirmed her hands moments ago, so did Nick put emphasis as he held them more tightly. "I don't have a good past, Carrots. All this absent gazing reminded me of those long nights looking up at the sky that quickly lost their calm."

Much to his surprise, Judy looked back up at his gaze, with eyes shimmering with what seemed to be uncertainty. Or tears.
"But tonight... it's beautiful. Simple and silly but beautiful. And it's also because of you here."
"You are beautiful, Judy."
A halting silence drawled over them, broken only by deep breaths and nature's wind.
The bunny ﬁnally answered but with just a simple statement. "Nick, I don't know what to say..."
The fox blinked solemnly. "Neither do-"

Their ears perked up as Chief Bogo suddenly sneezed, making them instantly let go of each other's hands.
Judy was just about to stand up but Nick had other ideas.
He shoved his back over the direction of the Chief's and pulled Judy in front of him to a stiff embrace.
He could swear something shimmered off her face but he could not conﬁrm it yet.
"It's too late," he whispered. "Stay silent for a while."
The bunny lowered her ears accordingly just so none of her ﬁgure peeks out from Nick's whole body.
A basic plan, but the fox could not risk getting any of them - especially 'her' in trouble just for offering emotional support for his terrible disposition.
Judy did not get to say any more words as she just huddled closer to his chest, slightly tickling him with how she seemingly snuggled her face.

It was still a complete risk, however, as he had no idea what the Chief was doing... or if he really just sneezed and went back to sleep.
Nick maintained a ﬁrm stature and raised his head in alertness... which only made him realize that Judy was trying to muffle her sniffles by pressing harder against his uniform.
It was rather heartbreaking to see her that way.
How did the night come to progress that way?
How did his silence become such a harrowing feeling?
Why did-

Nick held one sharp breath as his eyesight caught some movement behind them.
A shadow or two it could be have been but there was certainly a form of movement, almost sneaky enough to have had him miss it.
He was about to turn his head around to ﬁnally check on the Chief when his eyes ﬁnally caught the culprit.
A certain tigress' tail.
Just the type of ofﬁcer one would not want to get in trouble with... currently awake and looking at him. They did talk about Fangmeyer minutes ago and her natural stoic look, but her current expression surprised him.
It asked for silence.
One would mistake it for the eyes of a predator who was just about ready to pounce greedily on a Bug Burga. However, her gentle tail movement - which was what caught him off-guard initially - indicated she planned no harm. Whether his guts were actually something to go for, Nick did not really have much choice.

As for the Chief... the fox gave himself about a full minute of wary silence with not just Judy but also Fangmeyer, as he tried to gauge the situation.
Nothing signiﬁcant happened, except for the snores of Wolford which grew louder.

What surprised him next, however, was how he was suddenly given a smile, by Fangmeyer herself... before the tigress glanced at the Chief's direction then just rolled her body to a different side.
There it was.
He was practically being given a pass from both sides - directly or not, it did not matter.

He was back to being isolated with Judy. It surprised him how overwhelming the feeling was.
How fluffy her ears felt against his paws. How he also wanted to touch her face.
If he were to stay with her like this forever, no longer would he feel alone under a starry sky.

It was a signiﬁcant number of seconds later before he realized that Judy had also gone quiet, except for the occasional groans she would make - probably asking for what was still happening.
As much as he wanted the moment to last for maybe 'a little bit' longer, he couldn't allow Judy to hang over his personal sadness.
A relationship should never work that way.
So as resolutely as he could, he raised her head gently by a ﬁnger on her chin.
Tempted he was to even just kiss her forehead, but instead he whispered softly, "It's alright now."

Judy mumbled something incoherent, to which Nick hummed in question.
"What is it?"
"I still don't know what to say."
Nick gave one last concerned look over the direction of the only tigress in the team, before chuckling as he allowed himself one pat on her head. "How about we go wander a bit in the rainforest, eh?"
"Yhor on jushy," said Judy as she pressed her face once more against his chest.
"I won't forget this moment." The fox cleared his throat and whispered handsomely. "Judy's favorite position. A head butt embrace with Nick Wilde."

There was a tinge of playful regret as the bunny raised her head to give him a grumpy look.
"You bunnies... So emotional."
"I'll take the offer of the walk, but not too long..." Judy relieved Nick from her weight and stood up, offering him a hand. "And not too far."
The way her eyes blinked told enough of how she deﬁnitely wept, but aside from that was something about what she said which felt somewhat... secure for him.
It was not any police ofﬁcer kind of safety.
It was a different being's presence making up hope for his sadness.

How lucky he was to have Judy Hopps.
"Come on, Nick."
But was she fortunate to have met him?
"You know I don't usually do this bad stuff."
Her face did not show any indication.
Nor did his heart tell him about a piece of it.
But for what it was worth...
Nick took the gentle hand, and he felt something more than his physical weight being lifted.

Whatever it meant, he was willing to sink deeper unto the feeling, as long as Judy Hopps would be there.

"Hey."
There was a momentary lack of words inside the van, as if there actually wasn't any person inside.
"Hmm. Finn?"
Nick was about to raise a hand to his chin to ponder about it when he heard the grumpy voice speak.
"What happened?" But it was on a rather surprising tone, a stubbornly gentle one.
"We gazed at the stars last night."
"You aren't lying," Finnick stated piercingly from the driver's seat. "But there's something next, I can tell."
"...I let her see that things still get to me."
Another short silence preceded as Nick slowly stepped to the front seat. "What are you doing?"
"Don't go over here yet!" Finnick stated as his ears perked up alert, before grumbling in frustration. "And don't call me Finn."

Nick felt a signiﬁcant weight from a beat of his heart.
"Yeah. My apologies."
"So, what happened?" Finnick prodded.
The red fox sat down, letting a ﬁnger trace along the van's side door. "I was on guard duty, supposed to be alone," Nick started cautiously, trying not to make it feel like he was trying to ﬁnd out what the other was doing. Though strangely silent and with no brash movements was deﬁnitely not Finnick's style. He wouldn't want to break his concentration.
"It was honestly pretty uneventful. Since savage animals aren't really a thing now - who knows what will come next? We only actually focused on careful movement around the site. We even passed by Ficus Drive..." He had a short sudden inhalation of breath as he realized he pretty much cut every part of his story short, but he was stopped ﬁrmly.
"I see now."

Their silence traded yet another set of words and vague feelings, which Nick found himself feeling strangely comfortable with.
Perhaps any wall of his, no matter how high, had already been built a sturdy ladder by such a small fennec - making him capable to see through after all. Well, they had been partners for a very long time.
If anything-
"Bring me a cig here."
Nick hummed in acknowledgment as he started looking around.
"Still in the same spot."
The red fox blinked in realization, before chuckling softly as he went outside the vehicle.

He felt his four paws touch the ground as he crouched and looked below the van.
Just as he saw the pack of cigarettes under one of the wheels, he heard carefully rushed steps from the inside and the back door being closed.
Nothing wrong... rather, it was even nostalgic. Back at their hustling times, they used to live by the same peculiar signals.
So Nick got himself the cigarette pack before leaning comfortably against the van.
Other than keeping an eye or two on the passing strangers, he pretty much had the time for himself.
...but no, he wasn't going to light a cig.
'Not ever,' he surmised as he playfully spun the pack in his hands, the cigarettes rolling almost to a drop before going back in swift rotations.

It was quite an entrancing act, strong enough to block any distracting thought.
"Nick?"
The fox looked up and was surprised to ﬁnd a tigress none other than Fangmeyer.
"Oh, pardon me." He immediately stood up and patted some dust away from his still worn police uniform while in contrary; the other ofﬁcer had some casual gym clothes on, ﬁrm enough to highlight her broad shoulders. "I can ex-"
"Is your-" The tigress simply gestured to van. "-inside?"
"Naaah. That's why I was waiting here." Nick shrugged, as he gracefully pocketed the cigarette pack.

"Okay. See..." Nick raised an eyebrow at the rather unusual display of meekness.
"We're both pretty sure we saw each other last night."
Fangmeyer acknowledged his attitude and gave a small smile. "Yes, I did. But I didn't eavesdrop. No lies. And I would not tell anyone before any of you did."
"Well..." Nick drawled conﬁdently. "What are you curious about then? This isn't really a good setting for a long talk."
"It's ﬁne with me," she said as she inclined her body against the brick wall. "I was just going to the gym, but with last night's activities, maybe I can give it a rest."
Nick was given a rather friendly look, with an offer allowing him to lean back against the van again.
"Yeah. Made me curious though. Gym after that exhausting night?"
"Fulﬁlling," the tigress corrected humorously. "It was a nice work-out either way."

"You do know that we usually don't talk right? I mean, apart from all the soda breaks and the riddle mornings."

Nick hummed as he gave himself the sight of her ﬁgure, looking at her. With nothing but a simple curious eye.
Fangmeyer only raised an eyebrow, indicating attention to his vague disposition. "Everyone starts off that way with each other. I just-"
"Happened to see Ofﬁcer Wilde silently embracing Judy Hopps," Nick interrupted bluntly. "Without that, you would have just smiled at me when you passed by."
"I wouldn't have," she answered rather calmly. "Way before that, I already saw you looking at the rest of us with not a calculated eye but a curious one. That got me interested in you."

Nick lowered his mouth in a small surprised but pleasant smile. "Oh, is that so?"
"Just like how you're looking at my body now. Most people do that in perversion or admiration..." He was given a serious look by the next words. "You don't."
"Fang, who prefers to be oblivious in relationships and affection, giving me interest?" Nick smirked.
"Call me what you want. But you sparked something in me. I thought you were just another cunning fox who happened to like a rather innocent bunny." Fangmeyer paused to place emphasis. "Maybe you're something more than a transparent mask of deceit."
"What?"

"And you being hesitant on something? Usually, I'd say you're confused about it. Feelings they call it." Her tail swished as if trying to follow her pace of words. Evidently, her furrowed eyebrows indicated carefulness in forming a thought. "But you're Nick. You don't become confused. What I believe I see from you is a troubled fox, deep inside... and Hopps maybe can't feel through the mask."

"Woah. Woah. Woah. Slow down now." Nick sighed rather heavily. "I'm hearing all this from ZPD's supposedly best cop right now. Don't I have any say on this?"
"Hmm." There was a strange twinkle in her eyes as she considered him. "Why don't you give me a cigarette ﬁrst?"
Nick decided he did not have much choice and entertained his coworker.
Whatever Finnick was doing inside, he better not suddenly jump out or make a mess out of the situation. Well, it was meant to be his time anyway.
He was about to mention his lack of a lighter when the tigress took one from her pocket.
"I don't think I have ever seen you smoke," Nick said honestly.
"I rarely do this," Fangmeyer answered softly as her initial puffs came out with ease. "Not even ZPD stress can make me smoke. I treat it more as a moment of contemplation. And this one's about you."
"I really have no escape from this, eh?"

Fangmeyer looked up as she blew another cloud. "Well, I won't be long really. I'm actually surprised I got to say something coherent about what I thought about you from last night. Plus, I think it's going to rain."
"Okay." Nick shrugged. "Fire your rounds then."
"What upcoming signiﬁcant events are you aware of?"
"Hmm? Not Carrots' birthday as far as I know," the red fox started lightly before humming in consideration. "The opening of the new amusement park in Tundratown? Gazelle's upcoming album and personal signing? Or are you talking more about like the Chief's temporary reassignment to the Tri-State along the Burrows?"
The tigress grunted in amusement. "Okay. I didn't know most of that stuff. But you'd know about Gazelle from Clawhauser anyway." She lowered her cigarette to give him an earnest look. "How about the-"

The fox blinked as he heard quick steps from the inside and instantly thought about speaking up for a signal... but the van's back door opened up much sooner, with just enough reaction time for him to jump to the side.
"Nick, it's do-"
They were both greeted by a somewhat disheveled fennec who wore a fond look... which instantly turned to anger. "What did you do this time?!"
"She's not even in her police uniform, Finnick." Nick smirked, giving the tigress a polite nod.
"No worries." She gave the fennec a lopsided smile. "I was just about to go anyway. Thanks for the smoke, Nick."
Nick frowned. "But-"
"Oh, your buddy already knows what I'm about to say." She tossed her cigarette stub in a nearby trash can as she turned around. "Or rather, whatever his hand is holding does."

Nick had no idea what she meant so he only turned around in confusion.
"Uh, you got all of that?"
"I..." His previous anger quickly shifted to that of a surprisingly sweeter expression once the tigress had gone around the corner. "Come inside, Nick."
The red fox raised an eyebrow before humming stubbornly to give the other a challenge.
"I don't appreciate being told around by my buddy... whose actions are apparently known by a police ofﬁcer."
Finnick sighed, almost grumbling his next words, "No way did she know what exactly I did. Look here." The fennec raised the object he was hiding behind his figure, revealing a handmade mask.
"I made something for you."
Nick gasped in instant recognition of its intricate design. "Why do you-"
"I did my part. Now get inside," Finnick said in a tone not worth ﬁghting against. "We have a masquerade to sneak into."

- O – O – O – O – O -

"I can't really say much."
- Finnick

X Insight01 X
"[...] I don't want to assume. Isn't the Chief-"
Nick halted himself, before sighing once more. "What is it that we have here, Carrots?"
Nick doesn't know what Judy could possibly be thinking (since he didn't assume Judy to be of a jealous type). Since any part of his logic wasn't false or offending, he thought the Chief somehow imposed on their interactions. But why would he blame the Chief for that? He'd just be pointing fingers blindly.
POINTING fingers is all there is to it, a play all around the star gaze concept.

XInsight02X
"I don't have a good past, Carrots."
Stargaze is just that - a random topic presented. But it has significant weight in thought.
So is the rest of their "lives" unpresented yet.
Any amount of random knowledge is in fact reflective of a pile of moments in life, and Nick not knowing or caring about stars speaks much about my characterization for him.

XInsight03X
It was not any story he would have really enjoyed much, except for keeping track of character attitude for background information – one trait he unapologetically still kept from his hustling days, but Judy somehow gave her distant memory a beating heart.
The warmth of their hands together only gave him a vague clue.
Let's face it. Even from the actual movie, Nick and Judy barely know each other – much like the observable stars in the sky. There's so much beyond what's in front of their characters.
This is also reflective of the chapter title: Beneath the Fire Within, which sounds repetitive but has depth depending on the dimensions of the person.
They served so much purpose as two strangers as a deep introspective thought from me.

XInsight04X
Fangmeyer
"And you being hesitant on something? [...] you're Nick. You don't become confused. "
Fangmeyer is a very neat representation of my thoughts, but her trouble in putting those very thoughts is similar to how I tried to actually write her.
I feel like I characterized her pretty strongly and different for what she would have been in the actual thing. I settled with Fangmeyer as their "emotive escape" - whom they talked about... another spectacle of interest.
For me, she's a mellow version of Nick, and a very objective one at that.
Probably not as smart as the fox with words but firm in not only poise but also disposition.
Finnick already had his ladders built, but if there's anyone who's gonna straighten Nick's nerves, it's her.
She's going to punch a hole in his wall with a bare fist... with consent of course.
She may prod about him, but only out of curiosity.
She doesn't want to get involved BECAUSE she knows Nick.
Maybe just a bit through his mask, but she respects him, begrudgingly.
Her smoking is an absolute form of respect.
I don't really think of their pasts in a way that they could have possibly already met - if that would be the case, they would be plot enhancers.
The characterization of Fang here suits an asexual being, because she's mellow unlike me who is an open pansexual.

XInsight05X
Nick Wilde
"But tonight... it's beautiful. Simple and silly but beautiful. And it's also because of you here."
Nick is a flexible character to put my thoughts into; and much of it, and his thoughts, are very much similar to mine to be honest.
Anyone observant is a good channel, if not a story of introspect and thoughts.
I tend to dislike overcrowded spoken words, like there should be a distance between each statement and not just "" after each "".
Most readers would just pass by a fanfiction's words, but how do I voice something abstract within me anyway?
Through characters' observations!
Parts of me revolve all around them, all like talking to myself prodding my thoughts out

XInsight06X
Judy Hopps
"I don't know what to say..."
The rabbit is a representation of the innocence I perceive of myself through what I see in strangers.
As observant as I can get, there is still so much wonderful mystery that I cannot touch nor see through a person. And that mystery is something one should tread along carefully.
She's a gentle caress to my spirit.

XInsight07X
Finnick
Perhaps any wall of his, no matter how high, had already been built a sturdy ladder by such a small fennec - making him capable to see through after all.
A minor appearance, but a significant representation of Nick's past.
Finnick is the closest we know of a father figure to Nick, and a very caring one at that.
If Nick had a mask for his emotions, Finnick serves as his casket for those same emotions – the fennec contains his fragile shell.