Author's Note: Less intense, as promised. This jumps to post-movie events.
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Partners in Crime
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The trouble came out of nowhere, and for once, it seemed like Nick was the last person to catch on.
His first clue was Clawhauser. Instead of the usual small talk, the cheetah gave him an uncomfortable look, halfway avoiding his eyes, as Nick made his way toward the Bull Pen for the morning debriefing. If that hadn't been enough to warn him, the silence that descended as he entered the room was. It didn't help that Judy wasn't there, and to save himself from the uncomfortable atmosphere, he shot off a quick text her way, asking if she was sick. There was no immediate reply.
Instead of handing Nick an assignment, Chief Bogo waited until most of the officers had left the room to address him. "Officer Wilde? My office, now."
"Sure thing, Chief..." Nick kept his tone deliberately light hearted, but his wit deserted him temporarily as a horrible thought occurred. He couldn't stop from voicing a question, throat suddenly tight. "Say, Chief...did Judy call in today?" He chuckled slightly, inexplicably nervous. "I have to say, I'm never forcing another carrot down my gullet again if they don't keep you from getting sick, let me tell you..."
Bogo didn't reply, and his stare was far from reassuring as he gestured for Nick to go ahead of him through his office door. The door clicked closed, followed by the lock turning in place. Silence stretched as they took their respective places; Bogo behind his desk, Nick in the chair across from him.
Bogo tossed a magazine on the desk, the cover facing toward Nick, and finally spoke. His eyes never wavered from Nick's face, as if waiting for the fox to blink.
"Officer Hopps requested a personal day."
Nick didn't reply, relieved and somehow more worried at the same time. His eyes jumped to the magazine. He leaned forward slightly, tensing as he took the headline in.
Fox "friend" pretends to take a bite...
Bunny enjoys it.
Nick went still, the instinct to make himself small kicking in as his ears went back. The only thing that moved were his eyes, as he studied the magazine as if it might jump up and bite him.
Toward the bottom of the page, the incriminating words made their roles in the ZPD clear: "Keeping the streets safe? Judy Hopps, first bunny ZPD officer, loves her partner's use of force."
It was the front page of one of the more infamous rags, which meant this had to be at the check-out line of probably every grocery store in Zootopia. And of course the timing was just too perfect - it had been published Saturday morning, the day after he and Judy came off a month long case requiring nightly stake-outs. For his part, he'd spent most of the weekend in his apartment, asleep. The only place he'd visited was Marge's 24 Hour Diner down the street, at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
Sweet cheese and crackers.
Nick's face burned. As with most tabloids, a "candid" photo took up most of the page. In this case, it featured a surprisingly clear photo of himself, with Judy pinned underneath him. His mouth, pulled back with all his pearly whites showing in an expression that screamed predator, was on Judy's neck. The photo was zoomed in close, at an angle that hid most of Judy's face, giving just the wrong impression...
Half horror inducing, half sexual innuendo. Nick kept staring, with the feeling that it was time to wake up now, as he read the headline over again. But this was no nightmare. He needed to study it, to think...
Then it finally clicked, and he could breath again. He leaned back, frowning. "Chief, it's a smear. This is..."
Bogo cut him off. "I have one question, Wilde. Are you in a relationship with Officer Hopps?"
Nick's train of thought went off the tracks, as Bogo's unblinking eyes stared him down. Feelings he'd kept at bay for the better part of a year suddenly felt exposed, scrutinized, as if the chief could read his thoughts. Nick put on his best poker face.
"Sir, of course not. She's my partner on the force. I know the rules." Under his words, an entirely different train of thought took place, as he stared up, meeting Bogo's hard stare with one of his own.
Believe me, I've thought plenty about how she'd be dragged through the mud, and you know as well as I do that it's not because we're partners on the ZPD. A predator, especially a male, pursuing a female prey animal...? You think I needed this rag to know exactly what the city would make of that?
"Take a close look, sir. I know it's been a year now, but this is definitely from the Natural History museum, when I faked going savage to get the confession from Bellweather. Someone must've grabbed the security footage and waited."
Nick couldn't entirely hide his rising anger. Judy's going to get dragged through the mud anyway, and the irony is, I've denied how I feel every day to spare her the shame.
Bogo's eyes widened, dropping to the tabloid. He pulled it around to have another look himself, as he placed his spectacles on his face. His expression opened up as he stared at the image, and he hmmed, all judgments forgotten, replaced with concern.
"A delayed attempt at revenge, perhaps..."
"I would agree, sir." Nick could've gone on, but didn't trust himself. Nothing he could say on the fly would be good right now, and in this moment he couldn't afford to give his thoughts away.
"I can tell you're angry, Officer Wilde. I would be too. This is, well...I'm relieved it's not real, and I apologize for jumping to the wrong conclusion. We'll do everything we can do put the record straight, starting with getting that security tape. I think a press conference is in order, once we have the footage ready, to demonstrate the context..."
A loud knocking at the door interrupted Bogo, just as a buzz came from his desk phone. Clawhauser's breathless voice jumped from the speaker. "Chief Bogo? Judy...I-I mean, Officer Hopps is on her way to see you..."
"Noted, Clawhauser." Bogo stood, and he had the door unlocked a moment later.
As Judy entered, Nick's heart jumped to his throat. Her fur was slightly rough, un-brushed looking, and her chest was rising and falling rapidly, as if she had just sprinted all the way from her apartment. She wasn't even in uniform. Her eyes jumped past Bogo, locking onto Nick, and she walked toward him. Nick rose, unable to speak, and noticed that there were wet tracks in the fur on her face.
She'd been crying.
Judy's wide eyes stayed on Nick, as she still worked to catch her breath. "Chief Bogo...? I need...to set...the record straight." Nick looked down, as his heart plummeted to somewhere below the ground, and he wished he could follow it there. He couldn't stand to see her face when she said the words...
"I'm in love with Nick Wilde."
"Of course, Offic..." Chief Bogo stopped, belatedly taking in her words. An awkward silence opened up, as Nick kept staring at the ground with suddenly wide eyes, certain that his ears were playing tricks.
Two gentle gray paws found his. They were so small, and lacked the razor-point claws he possessed, instead featuring a set of, by comparison, blunt digging tools meant for rooting up vegetables, for making a place to live under the ground to avoid predators like foxes...
"Nick...?" Judy's voice had a telltale wobble. She was near tears. "I – I ..I love you."
Nick finally looked up, unable to hide his worry, lowering his voice and wishing with everything he had that Chief Bogo wasn't standing right there. He returned Judy's grip, squeezing her paws slightly. His voice was even...but the truth was, he was frighteningly close to tears himself, and now more than ever, he couldn't afford that.
"Judy, you don't mean that...c'mon, don't be a - a dumb bunny. I know you. You're trying to make a point, but all you'll end up doing is ruining your caree..."
"I don't care, Nick!" She was crying again, and the lump in his own throat doubled in size. Judy plowed ahead, tearing through every protective wall Nick had ever raised in his mind, one after another. "I don't care. I'm in love with you, and...and it took this stupid smear job to make me see it. Please..."
Her paws jumped to his face, and he couldn't look away. "Just, I've been going crazy the last two days. I've been thinking, turning everything around and upside down, and..." She bit her lip, her eyes flashing with fear for an instant, making Nick want to reach out to comfort her, even as he held as still as he could, trying to keep that part of himself at bay.
"Nick Wilde, I might be delusional, but I keep thinking that, maybe...d-do you love me too?"
Nick stared at her beautiful, hopeful eyes, and was overwhelmed. Chief Bogo remained silent, but the weight of his presence symbolized the eyes of Zootopia right then. Judy was asking him to confess to something that would tear her life to pieces, and even after a year of living in the big city, did she really get that...?
"Judy...Judy." His throat closed up. He couldn't lie to her. He couldn't tell the truth. His mind hung, jumping back to his early childhood, before the tame collars had been banned, then later, to when he'd been so hopeful only to be muzzled as a cruel joke, and on...through a catalog of every incident in his life that had led him toward the cynicism that had defined him, until Judy had shown up and somehow changed everything.
Nick's vision wobbled, turning the room into a kaleidoscope for an instant, and then the tears he'd been denying finally flowed. Judy's thumbs gently brushed his cheeks, and she snorted softly, still crying herself. "It's okay. It's okay." She smiled, and he knew the game was up. "You don't have to say it out loud." Judy leaned up and in, her eyes turning coy for an instant as her nose brushed his, sending a warm tingle straight to his toes. "Dumb fox."
Then he gave into the embrace, and she was hugging him as he leaned down to wrap his arms around her tiny frame, breathing in her scent in deep, intoxicating gulps.
And in that moment, everything was right in the world, because whatever happened next, Judy would be with him.
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Author's Note: In a world where one group of people (predators) used to quite literally dine on another group (prey), I'm thinking that crossing that line into romance would be extremely taboo, at best. The biological differences are still very much on display in their food preferences and tendencies (as with the wolves still howling), and physical characteristics. They aren't humans, after all- they are physically very, very different creatures. With that premise in place, I think a romance between a predator and prey animal (especially when they are historically natural predator/prey, as with foxes and rabbits), would be viewed as, well...creeptastic, on the part of the predator.
As for the prey animal in the relationship, I think they'd probably be seen as someone who wants to be abused, and is happy to willingly play the part of a victim in a relationship that could never, due to their biology, work in any sort of balanced way. I think both predatory animals and prey animals would have issues with it, for different (or even the same) reasons (and the tabloid kind of hits the nail on the head, so to speak). In a nutshell, I'm guessing the "biology" comments made by Judy and the doctor working on a cure for predators going savage in the film was the tip of the proverbial iceberg, when it comes to prejudices in Zootopia.
And I have clearly thought about this *way* too much! A review would be appreciated – I'd love to hear your thoughts too! :P
