By lunchtime, Nick was down in the dumps. It wasn't his fault, oh no. He had done everything right. Mostly. Maybe. Didn't really matter. He was staring down at his sandwich, something that he had gotten mostly because he needed something. He would have skipped out but of course, who wouldn't let him do that? That bunny. That partner of his that he trusted but wanted to hold by her ears and see her fume.
It wasn't her fault either. He'd had to attend the meeting in the bull pit in a coffee splattered uniform. Some of the officers snickered, but most of them left him alone. They could tell he wasn't pleased. Next to him at the time that violet eyed rabbit hadn't said a word. But he could feel it next to him. That slightly curled up back. The way her ears were tilted back instead of straight up. He didn't even want to breathe in that meeting, because he knew she'd laugh.
After the assignments were handed out, he somehow ended up with patrol duty. The major cases had already been handed out and Bogo had informed the two that even before the fiasco with the leopard, he had planned to give them the patrol assignment. So Nick had gone to grab his spare uniform. No luck, as it was in his apartment. Dirty. Which was why he was in his spare uniform.
'Could have sworn I had better luck,' was all he could think at the time. Now, he knew better. After riding in the larger vehicle (Judy drove, lurching all the while) his uniform had dried. Smelled like cinnamon and cream, which made him feel small when the antelope had pointed out that he smelled quite "pretty" that morning. Thank god they were bringing in that antelope, because Nick was ready to eat it. Metaphorically, of course. The antelope had thought it was funny that they were arresting it; people still found their partnership a bit of a joke.
Now, he was at his desk. Staring at the sandwich before him. Mostly vegetables, because even predators had learned to eat those to survive in Zootopia. It was hard to get meat other than chicken; for some odd reason, very few of the breeds of foul had adapted like the rest of the mammals. Insects certainly weren't. So his snack was some fried grasshoppers. He liked them- they were crunchy, soaked in fat, and just tasted delicious.
About the time he planned to bite into his veg-wich (he really wasn't a fan of the sandwich company at this point) in came his partner. She hopped into the seat next to him and immediately got to work on a report. He still couldn't say her name, he was frustrated. Screw the sandwich.
His paw dug into the grasshoppers and he popped one into his muzzle. Immediately he signed and leaned back, enjoying the taste. He closed his eyes, wishing the day was over. Instead, he heard a groan behind him. His eyes opened and he turned his head.
"Nick, how can you eat those?" His partner stared at him with those violet eyes. Those damned violet eyes. He couldn't help but feel lost in them. When she fixed those eyes on him, he felt like she could ask him to do anything. Felt like she could get him to admit anything. Well, not ANYTHING, but mostly anything. Of course, at times those eyes made him annoyed. Sometimes she had this air about her that made her seem more threatening. But not right now. Right now they just bore into him.
"Easy. Like this." He grabbed a few more and tossed them back, crunching away. His partner turned up her nose and made a disgusted noise. He just wiped his paw on his dirty pants and went back for more.
This was how their lunch went. The normally chatty duo instead seemed to avoid each other. Nick was busy with some crunching, and his partner worked on her report of the morning. As their lunch break ended, he jumped out of his chair and stretched. The afternoon would be long, but now he didn't think it'd be as long. Behind him he heard a thump. And then more thumping.
He turned himself sloppily, not hiding his annoyance at the day. He'd been on the force just over two weeks and since he'd started the Academy almost six months ago he hadn't had a day to just be himself. So he wasn't going to hide his frustration today, he needed a day to cut loose. As soon as he faced his partner, he felt her grab his tie and suddenly his back was bent and he felt like he was a foot shorter.
"Get over the coffee." He averted his eyes, sighing dramatically. Even annoyed, he found himself thinking of ways to tease the fluffy mammal before him. "We all have bad days. Today wasn't the best for you, but it's okay. Get over it. I'm still here, right?"
He rolled his eyes. "Yet you're disgusted by my lunch. I smell like a perfume right now. We had patrol, which was boring. Not exactly batting a thousand." His tie got tighter and he felt himself pulled lower. He reached down, trying to swat away her tiny gray paw without dropping his fried snack, there were only a few left after all. "Trying to add strangulation to the list of completed craptastic things today?" He felt a small smirk trying to come on. Trying.
He couldn't look at her. He kept his eyes away. If he looked into those big eyes he might not be able to keep it together. "Fine, Fluff. Want me to cheer up?" He indirectly saw her ears perk up at that. "Try one. See if I'm so wrong about food." It wasn't his first try to get her to taste test a grasshopper. She wasn't big on fried foods. Nor on insects. So it was always a fun game to see if she'd give in. Still hadn't to this day, despite a few lunches on the job and while he was training. Even with a few left, it would be a great way to tease her. Which would make him feel better.
Not to his surprise, he saw her look down as she let go of his tie. Again, she'd cowered out. 'Oh well, more for me,' he grumbled to himself in his mind. Maybe with a few more he'd get through the day. Suddenly she was quite close as she grabbed his foreleg and pulled his paw up, grabbing one of the few insects left. She was shaking but she tossed it in her own mouth. Dumbfounded, Nick dropped his jaw.
"That was mine, thank you!" he heard himself say as he pulled the bag away. She just kept munching away before he heard her gulp.
"You told me to. Now cheer up already, Nick. It's making the day worse and I don't like it when you're in that mood. It reminds me of when I found you at the bridge." She looked up at him, her cheeks doing that little bouncing motion.
He felt himself get a little red. He'd acted immature at first, sure, but she'd deserved it that day. So when she brought it up he always felt a little sorry. He felt slightly uncomfortable as he looked down, admiring the stain's shape.
"I'm uh… well, sorry there Carrots. I didn't mean to-" his voiced cut mid -sentence as he nearly fell over, feeling Judy almost push him over to grab at his bag. He jumped back, holding them up. "What was that for?"
She looked up at him, holding a few more in her hand. He realized his bag was almost empty now. "These aren't too bad, actually. Maybe you were right about them." She tossed another in her mouth as she passed him.
"Those are mine, thank you!" He quickly found himself in step next to her, staring at her head from the side. "I didn't say you could have all of them. Give 'em back, Fluff."
She turned her head and stuck out her short tongue. "Nope! I want to see if I can figure out this taste." She hopped forward towards the door.
"Eating after me now, Carrots? Talk about invasive!" Nick shouted behind her, seeing her stumble as she turned around, coughing. She had apparently been in the middle of eating one of his favorite things. Luckily, most of the other officers were on their rounds so only Clawhauser had noticed the exchange. It made it funnier than he'd expected it to be to him. Somehow, Judy had made him go from angry and annoyed to thinking the day might not be so bad.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have had this up less than twelve hours and already have a few favorites, a few follows, and a few reviews. This is also my first story, so that's promising to me. A few things if you've made it this far:
Firstly, the whole "Let's jump into a romance" thing that people are doing is not this. They have a great romantic tug, but their friendship is important. I do think it's a neat idea, but to get there I'd have to write quite a bit to make it happen. If you're up for that, better strap in. Although I won't make you have a brake check like Judy.
Secondly, I'm trying to keep to the characters. The descriptions and characters from the movie were great, and I don't want to do them injustice. So I'm trying to keep their major quirks and baubles stay but build on it. I want this to be a believable thing.
Thirdly, I may bump up the rating later. This story, as you may have noticed, is very much like Disney level. Except more mature. To build on the themes, gotta get a bit bigger, a tad darker, and slightly warped. You've been warned.
Fourth and final, for those two reviewers who asked me to put more content out, I'm a college student pulling full time hours at a job as well. Slightly under-appreciated in my books. I will post as often as I can, but there is no current schedule for this sucker. Just working on it when I get a chance. I also do not have an editor, so any major flaws should be reported ASAP please. I will try to make sure they're fixed (or explained) before moving forward.
Hope you all enjoy!
Jay AKA Pyre
