Undercurrents - a Zootopia FanFic by The Cubist.
A/N – Please feel free to ignore any and all music suggestions {between braces, such as this}. All music is available on YouTube, and a curated playlist can be found at
tinyurl com/undercurrentsmusic
use a period rather than a space.
A/N 2 - Edits. Grammer and, spellung fixed, vague language expanded on, content added.
Now, on with the show.
{Björk - Jóga}
Judy Hopps woke with a very slight start. She breathed in deeply as she gently stretched, coming slowly into wakefulness. There was a strong, pleasant, musky scent in her nose, a bed of softness above the warm surface she awoke on. The warm, gently rising and falling surface.
Wait.
This wasn't her bed.
And that scent. In her head it caused the briefest tickle of panic in her hind brain, quickly smothered by an overwhelming sense of security, of contentment – which was when her eyes shot open.
She knew that scent.
It was Nicks, and it was way stronger than she'd ever smelled it before, even in his apartment.
…which was probably because I fell asleep on his flipping chest, she realized.
Very, very carefully, Judy pushed her muzzle out of Nick's fur, finding herself slightly stuck to his chest due to drooling on him in her sleep. She simultaneously felt disgusted at herself and brutally embarrassed, and just a little bit panicked.
She had to get out of there, without waking him up.
Now was absolutely not the time – nor Nick the person - to try and figure any of this out.
With her head up, Judy looked around and realized it was still night time, and that they were on his couch. She was more-or-less sitting on his lap. Nick still dozed beneath her, seemingly unaware that she had woken up. Apparently he was a deeper sleeper than his snatched naps inside their cruiser indicated.
Exercising as much patience and care as she could, Judy gently slid off of Nick and to the floor. Thankfully he did little more than snort and shift in his sleep.
Judy crept up to the door, slowly and gently unlatched it, eased it open, set the pawle twist lock, and eased it closed behind her. She finally relaxed when the door latched shut with a soft click.
She slid to the base of the door, head in her paws. Oh, cheese and crackers. How did that happen? How did I let that happen? I don't have any idea what this means. What he meant. Why it felt good to wake up there. This is wrong, isn't it? This is… Not the time or place to be doing this.
Judy checked her phone – 4:13am. ZTA subways ran every half hour this late, and if she hurried, she could catch one back to Pangolin Arms in Savannah Central from the station down the street. With a mission to focus on, Judy found it much easier to corral her thoughts; pushing everything to the back of her mind, she stood up and marched herself out of the apartment building out onto the city streets and the subway waiting below.
{Tom Waits - 9th Hennepin}
On the ZTA Inner Loop, in an empty subway car, Judy sat cradling her chin, looking at the floor, waiting for the announcement for her stop.
She couldn't stop smelling Nick. His scent was all over her. Worst of all, she couldn't decide if that bothered her or not.
The subway lurched to a stop at Pack Street, and Judy watched a tired looking grey wolf got on the car, noting his casual gait and lack of lumps that would indicate a concealed weapon. He was staring at his phone when his nose twitched. Then he gave a few deep sniffs, obviously scenting something, and followed his nose up to look at Judy, who he found looking right at him. His eyebrows rose in a look of surprise and some discomfort, and Judy caught a glimpse of her reflection in one of the subway windows.
Her face fur was a mess – distorted from being mashed into a vulpine chest and fixed in place by drooling on that chest for hours. She scrubbed at it with her paws, trying to get it to lie more normally, and gave the wolf a hesitant smile. The wolf, judging this encounter to be well below the expected weirdness level of a late night ZTA train, shook his head, rolled his eyes, and turned back to his phone.
Judy resumed her ponderous pose, trying to tease out a better sense of her feelings as the car jostled and bounced down the uneven tracks. All she found, however, was a kind of white-noise static. She felt kind of happy, but also kind of sad, and quite confused. What she felt most keenly, however, was a lack of information. As much as she took pride in being able to read Nick on the job – and indeed, their ability to communicate non-verbally was a huge asset as partners – she was quickly realizing that she just didn't know what he was thinking outside of the work environment. As much as he was her best friend, she realized she really didn't know Nick very well – certainly not well enough to glean anything more from her alcohol-distorted memories of last night.
All too easily, however, his smirking, sarcastic, quippy sense of humor reared its head high in her mind, and Judy was forced to simply cross the idea out of her head that anything with a deeper serious meaning had occurred. It just didn't fit, not into what she knew about the fox.
She sighed. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he wouldn't be waiting at the end with a smirk and a "Gotcha!" That handsome, knowing smirk and half lidded emerald eyes.
Nope! Judy thought, shaking her head. This has to be a joke of his. Still, though she doubted any sincerity on Nick's part, deep within her heart was the faintest glowing ember that wished that he was.
Thankfully the subway ride wasn't far, and Judy found herself in her apartment not long after 5am. Opening her door and staring down her narrow room at her small bed at the end, sleep felt like the furthest thing from her mind. There was simply too much noise in her brain to relax.
With a noise of frustration, Judy stalked in, grabbed her shower bag and a change of clothes, and spun to march right back out – what she really desperately needed right now, she decided, was a shower, and to scrub Nick's scent out of her fur.
Judy tromped down the hall to communal bathroom, and after returning some of the beer she had borrowed to its natural habitat, found an empty shower stall and turned on the faucet. She stripped down and hopped into the steaming shower spray.
One of the few luxuries of her apartment was the nearly endless hot water. If you could get into a shower, you were guaranteed a warm one for as long as you wanted. Feeling the knot of anxiety she had unknowingly been carrying in her shoulders finally beginning to unravel, Judy rested her head against the institutional-blue tiled shower wall, ears drooping down in front of her, enjoying the simple pleasure of the hot water running down her body. After a minute she grabbed her bunny-fur shampoo and started to lather up.
{The Hives – Knock Knock}
Judy scrubbed herself ear-tip to toe, happy to wash away the physical reminders of the confusing night before. Rinsed off, she drew a deep breath through her nose, enjoying the patchouli scent of her soap, and… the scent of that damn fox. Judy sniffed at her arms, legs, and ears, trying to see where she'd missed a spot, and eventually concluded that the odor was coming from her head. She lathered up her head again to get the last of it.
After she rinsed her head again, she drew in another deep breath, and… there it was again. Nick's scent. With a sharp exhalation, she poured a bigger pile of soap into her paw, and scrubbed viciously at her head with her blunt claws, desperately trying to get the scent out. Another rinse, and she sniffed again, nose twitching. Her soap, the bleachy smell of the shower room, and rising above it, THAT DAMN FOX.
With a noise of frustration, Judy tried once more to scrub out Nick's scent mark, to no avail. Feeling how light her fur shampoo bottle (sent from home by one of hippy sisters) was getting, Judy gave up.
Judy was mad as hell. Nick had scent marked her. That wasn't something that any mammal took lightly, not bunnies and especially not (she knew) foxes. For the sake of some joke, he'd claimed her? Marked her as his? Made her property? Judy had plenty of patience for Nick's sense of humor – it really was part of why she liked him so much – but this was a step way, way too far.
Toweling and blow drying off, Judy decided that some girl time was exactly the order of the day. No one other than her co-workers were likely to be up at 6am on a Saturday, so, while walking back to her room and fingering the towel around her neck, she paged through her phone, looking to see who might be available.
Judy decided to text Francine Trunkaby about meeting up. While they were the polar opposite of each other, size wise, they were both young, single females in the big city – and once Judy had so grandly proven herself as an officer almost a year ago and integrated more completely into the force, they had become fast friends, particularly because they happened to be the only female herbivores at precinct 1. Hopefully she could help Judy sort out the mess in her head.
Judy sent to Francine: "hey Francine, wanna grab breakfast this morning?"
The response came a few minutes later, as Judy was finishing up picking out an outfit for the day: "sure just finshd morning jog meet you at Pandera svana centrl park?"
"20 min ok?"
"yuh"
Thankfully, Judy's boarding apartments were only about a 10 minute walk from Savanna Central Park, and the Pandera chain location there, which served all sizes and types of animals. Judy set out in a flannel shirt from home and pair of yoga pants that hugged her lower body, showing off the work she put in to stay in peak, crime-fighting condition.
{The Shins – New Slang}
Francine was waiting for Judy when she stepped into the Pandera, wearing a tent-sized t shirt and running shorts with head and wrist bands.
"Heya, Hopps. Hope you don't mind, the large mammal meals take forever to make so I already ordered for myself."
"Of course not! I'm just glad you were already up. I really need some girl talk - you wouldn't believe the night I had."
Judy stepped forward and completely unselfconsciously gave Francine's left leg a tight hug. Francine leaned over and wrapped her trunk around the bunny, exchanging as much of an embrace as the two vastly different-sized mammals could manage. As she released her, Francine breathed in through her nose, and made a face.
"Phew! Judy. Did you forget to shower? You smell like a fox."
Judy blushed a little, her ears darkening, her nose twitching.
"Yeah, I know… Let me grab some food and I'll tell you about it."
Francine nodded, and hearing her name being called out, picked up her order from the kitchen – a massive salad bowl full of greens.
Judy ordered a carrot-ginger muffin and a coffee, quickly joining Francine at a table with extra-tall chairs for smaller mammals.
"So," Francine said between bites of salad, more greens wrapped in her trunk, "last night."
"Yeah…" Judy sighed, gathering her thoughts, "Yesterday was sort of an… anniversary for me and Nick."
"You guys closed the Night Howler case a year ago, right?"
"Right. Also, it's the same day we kind of… made up after I got back to town after being gone for that month."
"Made up?"
Judy looked down at her coffee, still feeling shame from her actions a year back. "I did more than mess up a press conference back then. I hurt Nick, personally, when I said some of that stuff. I had been home for a month and stumbled onto the missing clue for the case, so I rushed back into town to fix things - specifically with Nick. I apologized to him and begged his forgiveness, and I was very lucky that he forgave me and let me be his friend again. Anyway, it's a happy memory for me, at least, so I brought him a pie to celebrate."
"It seems like things didn't go so well, then... Was it the wrong kind of pie?"
Judy laughed, peeling the wax paper off of her muffin and taking a bite. "No, he loved the pie. That had nothing to do with it. I was a few beers deep at the end of the night, so things are a bit hazy, but I remember leaning on him watching TV because my balance had gone."
"How many beers did you have?" Francine asked, her expression clearly saying she thought it had been a lot.
"Not many. My balance just happens to go first when I drink. Anyway, the thing is that I don't remember much after that, but I woke up this morning… curled up on his chest. And apparently he scent marked me sometime last night."
"Oh geez. What did he say?"
Judy looked a little guilty while she answered, "He didn't say anything. I didn't give him the chance, really – I snuck out this morning before he woke up."
"Oh, Judy. Why'd you do that?"
"I… I don't know. I was confused and conflicted about how I feel about the whole thing, other than being mad at him for scent marking me."
"Why does that make it so much worse?"
"Scent marking is about territory for predators, right? It says I'm his property! You just don't do that unless you're, like, really, really involved with someone."
"Wow. That is very not cool."
"I know, right?!"
"Not to mention, you have to walk around smelling like a fox for days!"
Judy nodded emphatically, taking a sip from her coffee and another bite from her muffin. The she sighed, folding her arms on the table and laying her head down on them, cheek to back-of-paw. Her ears drooped back as she said, "Yeah. So, I'm mad at him for that. But I don't know. I feel like I'm not really mad that he did it - I think I'm more mad that he did it as a prank."
Francine, mid bite, rotated her paw in a circle to encourage Judy to continue.
"I don't know. I'm just confused. I don't know what I feel right now."
"Well… what does Nick make you think of?"
"Huh?"
"You know. Like, word association, or something."
"Oh. Uh… well, um, he's clever, and sarcastic, and funny, and he makes me laugh…" Judy trailed off.
Francine motioned with her paw, again.
"Err. He's thoughtful, and has a warm heart, somewhere in there," Judy smiled, her eyes drifting closed as she turned her head to rest on her other cheek, "he really cares. And he's so smart, and makes me feel so safe and relaxed. And handsome… for a fox, I mean," she quickly recovered, abruptly frowning as she seemed to realize what she was saying.
Francine chuckled, "You've got it bad, Judy."
"Got what?" Judy asked, straightening up, her ears perking.
"You've got a crush!"
"On Nick?! No. No way. He's not my type. Too much of a prankster. Walled up and distant. And he's a fox. Not just any predator. Like, the exact species my instincts are hardwired to be terrified of."
"Oh, come on, Judy. You guys obviously get along great, and I know you're above specieism."
"That's not what I mean. Of course I'm not scared of Nick - not even a little bit. I trust him with my life every day! It's just... different, when you're talk about love and sex and hormones. That's all physical, instinctual stuff."
"Maybe. But, wires get crossed up all the time with that kind of thing - maybe it's part of what attracts you to him?"
"Look. Whether I have a crush on him or not – and I do not, for the record," Judy said as Francine rolled her eyes "– we've never talked about it. He's never made any advances toward me."
"Until last night?"
"Yeah, 'make Judy a confused mess by putting her drunk butt on my chest and scent marking her.' He's got the moves."
"You don't know he's just pranking you," Francine said.
"I do. It's just another hustle, except I get to be the butt of the joke this time."
Francine paused, tapping her blunt nails together, and said with some hesitation, "You know, Judy, it probably wouldn't be bothering you so much if you didn't have some feelings for him."
Judy sighed, putting her head in her paws, ears drooping over them to flop onto the table. "I… maybe you have a point, Francine. But it still doesn't change anything. There's no way this isn't some big joke to him. It just doesn't make sense any other way."
"Did anything else happen last night?"
"Other than the event making me question my own feelings and the nature of my friendship with my work partner and best friend? Nope, that about covers it."
The pair paused in their conversation, both finishing off their respective breakfasts.
With another big, anxiety leaden sigh, Judy said "Thanks, Francine. I really appreciate you listening."
"No problem, rook!" Francine winked at Judy.
Judy giggled, finishing her coffee. "Hey. You're only a Corporal. Only a rank above me!"
"But what a rank it is!"
"Enough about me. How was your week?"
"Not anywhere near as exciting as yours ended up, according to the reports I read," Francine said, leering at the bunny.
"Oh carrots. That was one experience I'd rather not repeat. Nobody needs their privacy invaded like that."
Francine laughed, "I don't know, though. Putting a fetish club in an apartment building is kind of asking for that to happen, eventually."
"You still didn't answer my question, Francine."
"Oh, you know. Just patrol work. Nothing more dramatic than a bar fight."
"I hear that. At least we get to make the world a better place, somewhere in there."
"Right between kicking skateboarders out of a park and drunk perps puking in the back seat, right?" Francine chuckled, then said "Sorry, I've gotta get home. Laundry day today, you know?" while extending her trunk toward Judy.
Judy tapped her fisted paw against the tip of Francine's trunk. "Oh, I know it. Mine only takes one load, though."
"You don't get these kinds of curves without paying the price, rookie. Will I see you at the station gym for yoga tonight?"
"You can bet on it. Have a good one, Officer Trunkaby!"
"See ya, Officer Hopps!"
And with a wave and a grin, they both left the Pandera, heading opposite ways to their respective homes.
{FAILURE – Pitiful}
On her walk back home, Judy pondered Francine's suggestion. Did she have a crush on Nick?
On that smarmy, sarcastic, smiling, handsome, caring, protective fox? The one who anchored her ideas about life and what a mammal could be?
Nah. Couldn't be.
They were too different.
And they were just friends, after all. He had said it himself just last night.
But doubt crept into her mind, into the confusing mire of half-feelings that last night had upended her life into.
Well…
Maybe. Deep down, somewhere, where the ripples wouldn't show above the water.
But probably not.
A/N – Another chapter for your reading (and hopefully auditory) pleasure. Comments and questions are again, always welcome.