Zootopia. A large city where anthropomorphic predators and prey live in harmony and where "anyone could be anything"... at least that's what Nickolas Wilde over heard when he first met the rabbit-cop, Judy Hopps. The pair weren't on the best of terms during their first meeting. One was an over-excited cop while the other was a con-artist and a pessimist to say the least. Over a string of unfortunate and elongated events the two animals were able to accept each other and work together as a team, to the point where the cop had asked the con-artist to be her partner.
And he said yes.
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The time was about four-thirty. The smell of the morning fog still lingered through the city as a new business day begun. Although most busy animals get up at this time to head to work, a particular fox still wasn't used to his recently new schedule. In a new apartment that had only just been moved into, the only pieces of furniture were that of a petite table with a clock radio, a small mini-fridge and a rustic armchair, which the fox had been using over the past couple of weeks to sleep on. There was no doubting that his attitude had been poor over that time due to the lack of sleep and irritability of trying to get some shut-eye without being uncomfortable.
"Nick..." A small voice echoed through the empty room. "Nick?" Tiny paws made their way up the armchair and toward the fox's ear. "Nick... rise and shine you sleepy fox!"
Only just beginning to stir, Nick let out a large yawn and sat up a little, the ceiling light being turned on blinded him for a few seconds.
"Morning, silly." The voice said. Edging his eyes open as much as he could, he spotted the silhouette of a young rabbit standing in front of him. Using his right paw to block out the light, the fox smiled a little.
"Hey, Carrots." Nick said softly, his voice raspy due to it's neglect during the night. Although Judy was very determined to help him get into the sleep-work-sleep routine, he doubted it would actually work. After all, he knew he was a stubborn fox.
"Ready for another day at the ZPD, partner?" She said quickly, trying to brighten up the morning for him. Nick didn't know how she did it; being so energetic of course. Even when she was exhausted, Judy still tried to put on a brave face. He wished he had that kind of a mind set, especially when she was standing right in front of him with her uniform already on.
"I wish." Nick responded blandly. "Five more minutes?" He begged, yawning a little.
"Oh come on, Nick. You gotta get up or your never will!" The fox smirked.
"Good. I'll see you at lunch." About to lie back down, the rabbit's ears drooped a little, in return making the fox stay attentive toward her a little longer.
"Nick..." She begun, her voice turning a little somber. "You didn't get much sleep again, did you?" Knowing there was really no point in lying, the fox shook his head and grunted a little in frustration. The bunny sighed. "You have to get a bed, Nick. Or at least something more comfortable than that."
"Hey-" Nick retorted teasingly. "Don't talk about Dianna that way!" He said, running his paws over the arms of the chair.
"You named you arm-chair?"
"Wha- do you blame me? I'm living on my own with no other animal to talk to but you... " Nick answered with a dramatic tone in his voice. "Besides, you live how many blocks away?"
The bunny squinted up at the ceiling quickly, mumbling numbers under her breath before quickly returning back to the conversation.
"Twelve blocks." Judy responded promptly.
"Exactly, Twelve- wait, you counted?"
"Considering I've been walking here for the past two weeks to get you to work on time... yeah, I counted." It was true. After moving into the apartment for his new job, the bunny had dropped around almost every day to wake him up, especially when they had done a stake out the night before. The fox had found no reason to not give her a spare key... which most mornings he openly admitted he regretted doing. Nick was a little surprised, but swiftly returned back to reality.
"Anyways, what's the time?"
"Four-thirty-five." Judy responded, taking a glance at the clock radio that sat opposite them.
Nick grunted again. "Why so early? Normally you get me up at five-thirty-"
"That is for me to know and for you to find out." The bunny hastily responded. "Now come on!"
The fox cocked an eyebrow, a questionable look on his face. It wasn't often that Judy had announced she had some-what of a surprise for him. The last time she did that, she had given him a new pair of aviator sunglasses, which of course he still used to that day.
"This isn't some very early meeting with Chief Bogo that I wasn't told about, is it?" The fox asked, stretching in his place.
"Wha-Nick, no! Of course not! I wouldn't get your hopes up for that!" The bunny retorted. "Wait... you really think I would do that?"
The fox chuckled. "No, Whiskers. I was just teasing you." Judy's face played a sigh of relief.
Nick slowly made is way off the arm-chair, beginning to shiver as he did so. He only had a thin t-shirt on with a pair of shorts.
"Geez," He stated. "It's really cold..."
"All the better to get your uniform on quickly then, huh?" The young rabbit smirked a little, a hand on her hip. Nick smirked back.
"Sly Bunny."
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"Where exactly are we going?" Nick straightened up his uniform with his right paw, specifically his badge. He seemed to find that he could never put it on straight without the help of Judy. In his left hand he carried a small ice box that held his 'supposed' lunch. Judy suspected that he only had it on his mammal so that she would get off his back about not eating anything during the day.
"If I told you, I'd ruin the surprise." The rabbit responded happily.
The pair walked across yet another set of traffic lights, taking the total of the blocks they had walked down, to four. It was notably cold outside on the streets too. Normally in this kind of weather, Nick would try wearing a longer sleeved top... but he always hated the feeling that they had on his fur, so he would revert back to his green, short sleeved, button up shirt despite the temperature.
His navy-blue police uniform on the other hand was different. While the normal long sleeve shirts he wore irritated his fur, his uniform was surprisingly comfortable to wear. The insides of the sleeves were a nice smooth fabric. It wasn't the kind that would rub against or clip at his fur like, for some reason, his other shirts did. Perhaps he just needed a wardrobe update?
After a few more minutes of walking, Judy stopped suddenly, Nick having to double back in order to meet back with her.
"What's up, Carrots?" He questioned the bunny, inspecting her body language. Her ears weren't droopy, so she definitely wasn't sad. Her nose wasn't twitching either, indicating she wasn't scared also. Judy's feet laid flat on the ground, unlike when she was upset or frustrated... so obviously Nick had done nothing wrong to cause the bunny's actions.
"It's Jumbeaux's Café..." Judy said dreamily, staring into the store that was yet to be opened.
"Oh, yeah!" Nick responded after a quick glance up at the store sign. The door in front of them was huge with a large frame of wood surrounding clean glass. Usually the only time either of them had seen the Cafe was when it was buzzing with customers of the Elephant kind. It seemed eerily odd to see the establishment so quiet and empty. "I was trying to get a jumbo-"
"You were trying to start a hustle the first time we met." The bunny cut in, raising an eye brow at the fox.
"For the record, I didn't try: I did." He gave the bunny a sly smirk, his signature move that allowed him to get away with... almost anything. The young bunny's expression slowly transformed into a smile as she began to remember old memories.
"Yeah, I should have seen it coming. I just can't believe it's been a little over nine months since..." She looked back at the fox, smiling. "And look at how you've changed. You completed training... and now we're partners." Nick smiled largely.
"I only got through training because I had a tough little bunny helping me." He nudged her softly. "If I was doing that for myself... I don't think I would have passed a single assignment. I probably would have quit right at the beginning."
"Don't be like that, Nick!" She said. "I only provided encouragement, you did the rest."
"You did more than encourage me, Carrots." He bent down to her level, giving her a thankful smile. "You changed my life."
Judy smiled back, leaning in and hugging the fox tightly to which he willingly returned the affection. After a few seconds the pair broke apart, Judy rubbing her right eye for a second before beginning to walk off again. Nick swore he saw a small tear there before she rubbed it away. Maybe he was just seeing things... but he was definitely curious to why she may have teared up in the first place. What specific thing triggered that?
Quickly catching up to the rabbit, Nick thought it would be best not to inquire about what had occurred. Despite the fact that curiosity was eating him alive from the inside out, he really didn't want to push Judy to tell him anything. Of course he was concerned, but he didn't want to say something stupid due to his lack of sleep.
Once a few more minutes had past, the bunny glanced down at her phone, checking the time.
[4:58am]
She nodded satisfactorily and looked up to her right and stopped walking. Another cafe stood in front of her titled The Fox and Hound tea-room. The cafe's sign was traced in a new coat of gold paint, the font of the name written with beautiful cursive letters that was still able to be understood. She'd been planning to take the fox to the cafe ever since she found it through 'Mammal Pages'.
"Are we stopping here, Cottontail?" Nick camee up beside her and looked up at the cafe name. He raised an eyebrow due to the title. "Fox and Hound Tea-room, huh?"
"Yes, and yes." Judy replied, a hand placed on her hip.
"Is it even open?" Nick walked up to the cafe's window, peering inside to see if any mammal was in there.
"It should be in a few minutes. I booked a table for five."
"At night?"
"No, now silly!" She exclaimed, giggling to herself.
"I didn't think places like this opened so early." He stared at the door. It was surprisingly too small for any tall mammal to get though. "Why the small door?" The fox asked, pointing to the entrance.
"First of all, Fox and Hound, Nick. This cafe is made for smaller mammals, mainly of the canine kind." Nick stared up at the store, his ears perking up and his tail beginning to wag slightly. He'd never been into a cafe specifically made for smaller mammals before. " And secondly: no, they normally don't. But this one normally does open early, considering the amount of wolves that get up at this time."
"What do you mean?" The rabbit rolled her eyes.
"Have you ever counted the amount of wolves that work at the ZPD alone?" Judy questioned.
"No," he responded. "But I'm guessing you have?"
"Yep." The bunny said proudly. There was in fact 5 wolves in their role call, plus another 12 that hung around reception sometimes. Judy was positive there would be a few more that she hadn't seen before.
The rabbit watched the happy-excited look on Nick's face. Her shoulders hitched up at the sight of his stance. She'd rarely seen him this excited before, even though it did look like he was trying to look relaxed at the same time.
"Surprise..." Judy muttered loud enough for the fox to hear, smiling a little. Her nose twitched lightly, scared at he may not actually like the effort she made. She'd never taken him somewhere before to eat, which made her even more anxious. The fox didn't move, still staring at the cafe.
"Why." He simply said. Judy was taken aback, a little confused.
"What do you-"
"Why did you do this for me?" The rabbit fell silent. Why did she do it for him?
"B-because... I thought you'd like it. Something different, ya know..." The bunny began to ramble, twiddling her paws together while looking at the ground. Judy felt as if she hand failed and woken Nick up an hour early for seemingly no reason. She felt so stupid inside, her brain beating itself up over and over again.
The rabbit was so caught up in her own thoughts and fear that she didn't notice the Fox approaching her. Her nose was twitching furiously as a result of her inner dialogue ranting in her mind. Nick, without a second thought, latched onto her bunny with his paws, hugging her tightly. Judy's rambling immediately stopped.
"N-Nick?" She questioned, very confused. Was he not upset?
"Thank you." He muttered, giving the bunny a quick squeeze, his ears folded back. The bunny was so confused that her nose had stopped twitching all together.
"I... I thought you didn't like it..." Nick frowned, pulling away.
"What?" He said with a breathy voice. "How did you get that idea?"
"You sounded uninterested... as if I had wasted your time." Nick sighed, bringing Judy close to him again.
"Not at all. You can never be a waste of time to me... never." He pulled back again, his paws still on the bunny's shoulders. "I love it, Judy. Really, I do! I've never been to a café that is designed for smaller mammals-"
"Miss Judy?" A voice called from behind them. Nick jumped slightly, a little startled from the sudden voice. His tail raised and his eyes peeled, he turned around and smiled faintly.
"Ehh, yes?" The bunny shyly responded.
"Your table is ready. Sorry to keep you waiting." Nick nudged Judy, a small proud smirk on his face. His tail had returned back to it's bushy, fluffy self.
"Oh, thanks!" The bunny replied, smiling thankfully. The voice had come from the café's entrance, in which a buck (male rabbit) stood. He couldn't have been much taller than Judy, perhaps a few centimetres, excluding the ears. Probably around the same age too, with a base colour of light brown fur and white patches. His attire consisted of navy blue jeans and a checker shirt with sleeves rolled up to the elbows.
The officers made their way to the entrance, Judy leading the way. "Thank you for reserving a table on such short notice..." she glanced at the rabbit's name tag. "...Christopher."
"It's no problem, really. Although, it's not every day that we have customers booking a table for opening time."
"No kiddin'." Nick muttered under his breath. It was five o'clock in the morning. Christopher guided the pair into the café and to their table. It was a very nice looking place, hipster themed. The walls were an antique white with scattered paintings and canvas prints with mammal-motivational quotes on them.
"So Christopher," Judy started, sitting down at their table opposite Nick, who had placed his ice cooler on the ground next to him.
"Please, Call me Chris." The buck insisted.
"Oh... Chris," She corrected herself. "When I booked the table I was told that some-mammal called Dorian was going to be opening up..."
"Dorian?" Christopher questioned to himself. "You must mean Dorian Kempton." He answered. "Yeah, I'm not quite sure where he is. You're right though, he was supposed to open up and work on the morning shift with me... Maybe he called in sick?" He shuffled his feet a little, scratching the back of his neck. "Why do you wanna know?"
"I was originally told to find him to be seated, but I guess it doesn't matter."Judy concluded, shrugging her shoulders. "Thank you, again."
"No problems. Just shout when you're ready with your order." With that, Christopher made his way out to the back of the cafe, possibly the kitchen or staff area.
Judy looked up at Nick, his chin resting on his right paw. "You know," He began. "I reckon this is one of the nicest things any-mammal has done for me." Nick smiled thankfully. "I'm so paying you back for this though." The young rabbit just beamed back. Although she didn't really want Nick to repay what she had done, she was happy knowing he was enjoying himself.
A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to my brand new fanfiction "Zootopia: White Flag". I'm sorry, not sorry, that this first chapter was so long. I would have cut it into two sections where the scene kinda splits (hence the paragraph dividers), but the first part of the chapter would have been too short to leave on it's own. Oh well...
I hope you all stick around and enjoy the story with me. I will be planning the story 3-5 chapters ahead of what I'm writing at the time, and even while I'm writing I always have 3-5 chapters still in draft mode, excluding the chapters that are being planned. So hopefully that means every 1-3 weeks you guys get an uploaded chapter, depending on how busy I get.
Please leave support in the comments and maybe even some feedback or thoughts on anything really. It just lets me know that I'm doing something right! :D
~WickedWorks aka: The-Fluffy-Dragon Cosplay
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