IMPORTANT A/N PLEASE READ!:
First of all, yes, I am alive. Despite the fact I knew I was going to be busy, nothing could have prepared me for what was to come: passing my GCSE and then the entire charade of applying at a College. I was up to my neck in studying, but now I'm finally free until mid-October!
And then my piece of crap laptop broke down, taking the 3k something words I had written on this chapter down with it. From now on, I'll always have a backup, I learned my lesson.
After I post this chapter and then the next, I will write some more Zootopia oneshots (see my other Zootopia story, "Fox and Bunny Stew"). I will post a poll on which one you wish to see next.
And now my new laptop is a friggin ASUS ROG i7, so there's no way it'll break down again, have no fear, dear readers! ;)
Also, this chapter is well over 14k, so sit comfortably and get a beverage.
While I do have some MAJOR doubts about this chapter, I didn't want to hold my readers waiting any longer.
Nick drifted between sleep and wakefulness as a sudden lack of oxygen suddenly made him drift away slightly. He grumbled a little, but he focused on getting back to sleep, he sure needed the rest after last night…
He grunted as he once again felt all the air get squeezed out of him. Now his eyes snapped open, searching for the source of his sudden lack of breath.
It was Judy, cuddled up completely against his slender frame, her face buried into the soft fuzz on his chest. She fit so perfectly in there with her ears tucked underneath his chin as if she had always belonged there.
Her mouth was partly open and formed into a slight, yet incredibly meaningful smile, emitting the most adorable little coo-snores he had ever heard. He smiled as he remembered last night.
It wasn't just expressing love to Judy in the most intimate way possible that made him feel this way, it was Judy herself that fixed him. Her mere presence made him feel like a different animal. Quite fitting, as it was her that turned his life around and stopped him from living the rest of his life as exactly what society wanted him to be.
It was she that made him be a part of solving the case which nearly divided Zootopia and the world in two, she turned him into a cop, she made him feel like more than just a filthy scavenger, cursed by nature to be unable to survive except by trickery and unscrupulous behaviour. His life had no meaning without her. It wasn't just the physical pleasure of it all that made Nick feel like he had lived the most fulfilling life of his life, but he felt as if they had indeed bonded through making love, not just involved themselves in this for the sheer pleasure of it all.
Whenever he got intimate with his long-gone vixen girlfriends, it was all mechanical, the sheer primal pleasure of sex being the only thing that fuelled it. Nick had had many girlfriends in his time, being a hustler tended to attract a lot of foolish young vixens. However, even then he knew, deep down, that he didn't truly love them and that they didn't truly love him.
Having such a long string of girlfriends and sleeping with them was just his own way of lying to himself that there was someone who actually cared about him and looked at him as more than just a hustler and petty thief (although that is literally the only way that attracted them to him) and that there was someone who would mourn his loss.
Yeah, right…
The feeling of making love with someone he cared about was something new to him, something which made him feel like a virgin again. Nick realized that this was the first night since he had woken up from the coma in which he didn't have any nightmares.
He was plagued day and night by visions of him tearing the flesh of the mammal he loved the most haunted him like a hungry ghoul, not to mention that more often than not in those nightmares, Judy died and he continued feasting on her corpse until he woke up.
He had to spend every morning trying his best to get the taste of her blood out of his mouth, the hallucination created by the monstrous nightmare was this powerful.
No more, with her by his side. However, as he reflected on how much Judy had changed his life for the better and how she would continue doing so, Nick realized that he was slowly suffocating thanks to Judy's powerful snuggle.
Not that he minded that his bunny lover was the more cuddly one in bed, but her hugs were more like desperate death-grips. Ever so carefully, he pried her fingers off of him and scooted away from her. She moaned in her sleep and stretched a paw after Nick, but he was able to get away from her vice-like grip, fighting the urge to gasp for air as he did so. He knocked a few of Judy's bunny plushies off the bed while doing so.
Not that it mattered, most of the stuffed rabbits having ended up on the ground following their very active night. The once immaculately tidy floor was now littered with stuffed bunnies and the rays of the earliest hours of the morning peeked through the curtains, falling on Judy's sleeping form like jewels on a goddess. It illuminated her grey fur perfectly, her half-parted lips and her eyes, somehow looking almost as pretty as when they were open, revealing those two amethyst orbs.
She was just so… so… "Cute." Nick half-whispered those words as a smile found itself on his muzzle.
He still wouldn't dare say the "C" word in front of her, he still very much enjoyed being alive and not being the collateral victim of bunny-rage, especially now, when he had finally found true happiness by Judy's side.
However, the rays also illuminated Judy's shoulders and torso, exactly where her scars were. Where he had bitten and clawed her in a savage effort to rip her apart to feast…
Nick tried not to look. He really did.
But it was almost as if his own guilty mind forced him to do so as a sort of morbid punishment.
His chest felt tight once again, Judy's pristine room faded away, replaced by the dark, damp basement of the warehouse…
NO! Nick's paw rushed for the pills on the bedside table as the panic attack began to seize him. He popped open the lid with his claw, sending a few of the precious pills on the floor, but he didn't care, he picked one up and dry swallowed it. He heard Judy moan in her sleep and turn around.
He held his breath in order not to wake her. Nick focused on an exercise his cheetah therapist had taught him that would calm him: visualising his childhood street as well as the next block over.
"Burch Street… Higgins Drive…" he whispered, imagining the trashy, run-down, yet peaceful streets of his childhood. He never thought about those streets as something that would help him in his life later. As a kit, he had always just taken them for granted, in fact, he spent most of his childhood hating them, wishing beyond anything that he could live in a better part of Zootopia.
Now, thinking about them had the power to make him momentarily forget about that dreadful day in which he was forced to maim the mammal he loved the most. He looked back at her again, her peaceful, sleeping shadow covered in a white sheet, snoring without a care in the world.
He reflected on how at first he was reluctant to do it with her, as he was afraid he might hurt her due to their size difference, but he had been afraid for nothing, as one heavenly hour later, she had left him a panting mess and she didn't even seem winded.
A bunny girl this good at her first time… Nick supposed that some stereotypes really were justified. Not that he minded that this particular rabbit stereotype was true…
He realized that waking up before her was not something that would happen very often, due to him being nocturnal and what not, so he decided to take advantage of this situation somehow.
He could have woken her up by tickling her bare little bunny toes with a feather from a pillow.
He could have nuzzled her stomach and made her wake up laughing hysterically.
He could have kissed her, the best wake-up call of all.
Or he could have… no, he wasn't that much of a bastard. Or was he? A devilish smirk found itself on Nick's muzzle.
Yes, yes he would do it… Time for her to find out just how "exciting" it was to have a canine partner… Ever so carefully and subtly, he got back into bed and went over her.
"Wakey, wakey, Carrot-Juice…" he sang in a whisper. Judy turned around in her sleep and mumbled something that could have been translated into "just five more minutes…" Nick smiled as he felt Judy's warm breath tickle the fur on his paw. He realized that this is how he wanted to wake up every day for the rest of his life, with his bunny life-mate by his side, even if it did mean suffering her rib-crushing sleep cuddle.
But it was time she saw how foxes showed affection… Nick quickly gave her a light lick over her nose. Judy mumbled in her sleep and took her paw to her face.
"What the…" she said, cracking open her eyes slightly. It took all of Nick's willpower not to burst out laughing. Oh, this would be the best wake-up call ever…
Without wasting another moment, Nick began licking her fully and energetically from head to toe, making sure to emit a slurping sound everytime he did so. Judy yelped in surprise.
"What the!? Hey! Ew! Eww! Nick! STOP! BAD FOX! STOP! THAT'S GROSS!" she yelled, futilely trying to keep the large fox tongue from drenching her further. Finding a window of opportunity, Judy kicked him off the bed.
Despite grunting in pain and falling off, Nick continued to laugh hysterically as Judy jumped off the bed, creating a large puddle at her feet. She lurched in disgust as she shook the drool off of her. She glared at the laughing, soon to be comatose Nick.
"I'M COVERED IN FOX SLOBBER!" she yelled.
"Really, now? Wonder how that happened!" asked Nick sarcastically, throwing his arms up in a "I have no idea!" gesture. She angrily flicked some of the drool on his face, which didn't faze him in the slightest.
"Sorry, Carrots, this is how foxes show how much they love each other. Really, you knew what you were getting into when you said you loved me. Canines are… messy when it comes to expressing feelings." He said, earning a punch into his arm, which while it would undoubtedly bruise, he didn't want it to show.
"Be thankful you weren't wearing anything, bun-bun. Foxy drooly doesn't wash out." He said, this time getting on the bed to avoid the wrath of his bunny-lover. Judy sighed and facepawed.
"Way to ruin a blissful night…" she whispered. After saying that, her gaze softened.
"Last night was amazing." She cooed.
"Tell me about it, Fluff. You were amazing last night." Responded Nick, dipping his head down so he could touch his nose to hers.
"It was so amazing that the only thing that woke me up now wasn't a nightmare… but you." He said, stroking her ears. Her smile was what made him drop the bomb… Time to continue the hustle…
"Yes, you woke me up… hugging my tail like crazy." He said. Judy's jaw dropped.
"I did not!" she yelled indignantly. Nick chuckled while once again dipping his head down to her level, keeping only a few inches between them.
"You wanna bet?" he asked, grinning so much that it showed all his predatory teeth. Nick took his phone from the bedside table and browsed through a few apps before landing on the desired one: the video gallery.
Judy noticed that the latest video had the thumbnail of Nick shirtless and grinning in a dimly lit room. Her dimly lit room. It was then that she realized that he had filmed this last night.
"Sweet cheese and crackers…" she whispered as she cringed internally at what was about to follow. Nick pressed the thumbnail, causing the video to roll. Now that the video was on, Judy came to the conclusion that it had been, indeed, filmed last night. Most of the bunny plushies were on the ground. She never left her room this untidy, last night had been the first, mostly because she was too drunken on the ecstasy of expressing love to Nick in the most intimate way to notice, and then too tired to care. Nick seemed to be struggling not to burst out in laughter, both the real Nick and the one on the video.
"Alright, this is how cuteness incarnate looks like…" said the onscreen Nick. Judy stomped her foot and grunted in anger at Nick's use of the "C" word, which made her all the cuter to Nick. Then, the onscreen Nick turned the camera to something else.
Judy was in the bed, snoring lightly, the blanket covering her from the waist down. And she was hugging Nick's tail tightly.
Judy gasped and covered her mouth as she saw this. "Oh. My. Carrots!" she exclaimed in a shocked voice as she saw herself cuddling Nick's tail in her sleep. The onscreen Nick chuckled and angled his tail so that he tickled her nose slightly. She chuckled slightly, somehow without waking up, and pressed her face in the fuzz even further.
The onscreen Nick reached out to stroke her ears up and down and plant a kiss inbetween them. This caused Judy to moan in her sleep and grab more of Nick's tail, wrapping it all around her neck like a scarf.
How did she do that without waking up? Judy continued staring at the screen, eyes wide, slack-jawed. How had she allowed herself to melt like that? She looked ridiculous, childish, in over her heels in love, immature, and worst of all… she looked cute... Nick then turned the camera back to him.
"I'm starting to wonder if she took me just for my tail…" he said, propping his muzzle on his free hand, pretending to be pondering.
"Am I jealous of my own tail?" he asked in mock shock just before the video cut.
Nick continued staring at her shocked expression, giving his best con-artist victory smirk he could muster.
"I am so sending this to the entire precinct…" he said, punching a few apps. It took Judy a good three seconds to process that. She gasped and rushed for Nick's phone.
"NOOOOO!" she yelled, trying in vain to grab the smartphone from the taller fox.
"Sent it." Said Nick calmly. Judy jaw went slack and looked at Nick with a glare that was… mostly unreadable except for the extraordinarily obvious "I am going to kill you…" At this, Nick laughed and showed her the video gallery, which was now one video shorter: Nick had deleted the video.
"Just wanted to see your reaction. You kept loving my tail since day one, I just HAD to catch it on camera!" he said, shrugging. Judy let go of a sigh of relief.
"Why the heck did I get hitched with you? First you drench me in your own slobber and then you scare me half to death with the prospect of humiliation!" she half-yelled.
"Hey, those are some of the best things I've done in a while! Like I said, licking your partner is telling them that you really like them! Come on, you know you love me and every single one of my foxy weirdness shenanigans!" he said in an overly dramatic flail of his arms. Nick stood in suspense for a minute as Judy kept glaring at him, foot thumping.
Nick's ears flattened. Had he maybe gone too far?
"Yeah, way to screw up your first night of making love to her." He thought bitterly against himself. That is, until Judy's expression softened and smiled slyly, the smirk putting all his con-artist devilish smiles to shame.
"Do I know that?" she said in an all too familiar tone. Nick immediately brightened in joy.
"Yes, yes I- mmph!" she couldn't finish the sentence before Nick's muzzle was on hers. She instantly melted into the kiss, making sure that she was as close as possible to him. Not just because she wanted to feel his fur against hers as much as possible, but also for another reason…
Before she could say another word, Nick had scooped her up and carried her back the bed. Before he could make another step, however, a sharp pain exploded in his wrist and he was on the ground, Judo Judy standing over him.
"Not so fast, slick. I may have been pure until last night, but I have a "Once every 24 hours" policy." She said, grabbing his cheeks. As she did this, he felt an overwhelming wetness envelop his face. Wait a minute… He felt his face and his body where Judy had been.
Wet. She had made sure to be as close to him as possible to get payback for licking her. Drenched in his own drool…
"I'm going to the shower first!" she said, running away from him, waving her cottontail teasingly as she did so. NO! If something as viscous as his saliva remained on his fur for more than a minute, it would stick it together and it would be as grinding and tedious to wash his fur afterwards as that one time Chief Bogo had made them wipe graffiti off of City Hall as a "municipal a ssignment" (which was, in fact, punishment for persuading Wolford and Del Gato to leave their posts as meter maids that day in order to help them track down a bank robber). He chased after Judy. The shower would be his…
"Stop! Carrots you have short fur, you can afford to get it wet, I can't!" he pleaded as he continued chasing her out of the room and into the corridor. She dived into the bathroom, locking the door just as he was about to enter.
"Then you shouldn't have been such a dumb fox and kept your tongue to yourself!" she said cheerfully from the other side as he heard the water turning on. He sighed and slumped against a bookshelf in defeat.
Yet, at the same time… he wasn't upset or felt as if he had lost something.
Not at all. That was the magic that his precious Carrots carried. A smirk had found itself on his muzzle once again, even as he was thinking how hard it would be to get his coat to be as shiny as ever after this much waiting.
"Nick my boy… you are one lucky fox…"he whispered to himself.
"I heard that!" said Judy loudly over the water. Nick's ears shot up in surprise and then drooped in defeat.
She would so be using that quote against him for a week… But he still smiled.
"Sly bunny." He thought to himself.
"Dumb fox!" said Judy over the water. Nick gasped in shock. How did she hear him, he was only thinking!
"Don't think I can't tell what you're thinking about! Seriously, is there any other description possible right now other than "your little sly bunny?" " She asked. Nick burst out in laughter, almost knocking over the bookcase.
Oh, their life would be so much better now…
Hours later, they were both sitting on the couch, in a position much like when they woke up earlier.
It wasn't even noon, and yet Nick had managed to persuade Judy to binge-watch Netfurix shortly after she had cooked up a blueberry pancake breakfast (delayed slightly as Nick took an hour long shower to get all the sticky bits of his own drool out of his fur). Judy just sat on Nick's lap, leaned against him as much as possible, so content and relaxed that if it weren't for her half-lidded eyes, she'd have looked asleep.
Sudden jolts of energy in which she held Nick's paw like a vice and breathed heavily or even cried were present whenever there was an emotional scene, Nick always mocking her about bunnies being emotional, but she didn't seem to care, simply holding Nick even closer, not because she was truly scared or saddened (even though she was much more prone than Nick to shedding a tear at a TV show), but because she simply wanted to be as close as possible to her fox, and being unnerved by a mere sad moment from one of Nick's overly cheesy and sappy TV shows (like "The Flash" a show in which a sloth gets the power of super speed. Really? She only wished that the sloth who actually got that power was the Flash that they knew…) seemed like a decent enough excuse.
Just as Nick threw more of the fried crickets in his awaiting muzzle, Judy came to a realization: while her cheese-carrot nachos were nearly untouched and she made a point out of not eating too much junk food, she remembered that this was about the time she was supposed to jog at the park, followed by two hours in the ZPD gym.
Now she was sitting on a couch, stuffing her face with crisps and sickeningly-sweet soda. Judy snapped her head at Nick who continued shoving cricket-chips in his muzzle while Flash was fighting a wolf who could turn into poison gas. Yes, they had done it. And it was so cheesy and stupid that it was awesome.
"Nick!" she yelled suddenly.
"Yea, Cahhwats?" he responded, slurring his words because of his stuffed maw.
"You forgot that I was supposed to work out now! Argh, and I was just getting back into shape after my time in the hospital!" she groaned, kicking an empty soda can of Mountain Deer.
"I knew that, Hopps." Said Nick, graveling his voice in order to sound like a certain buffalo police chief.
"Just don't care." He finished smiling, stealing some of Judy's nachos right under her nose.
"Nick!" she yelled at him stealing her snack.
"What, I'm helping you maintain your diet! Mmm, the carrot mixes well with the nacho cheese!" he exclaimed, grabbing the entire bowl and stuffing his face with her snacks.
Judy groaned and picked up another can of Mountain Deer, popping it open. How the heck was he not fatter than Gideon Grey?
He ate mostly junk food and frozen stuff (except for when she cooked for him) and never went to work out or jog unless she forced him to do so or if Wolford, DelGato and the rest of the boys had a get-together at the precinct gym.
But she loved even that about him.
Her mother had once told her that you know you love someone when you also love all their little faults and irregularities. She had always thought that to be a bunch of moldy carrots, until now.
She didn't want anything to change about Nick, even if what he did would have made any healthcare expert kill himself. Just as she kept on sitting through Nick's overly cheesy yet stupidly fun TV shows, the doorbell rang.
Nick shot up and suppressed a scream.
"It's my mother!" yelled Nick before Judy could ask what happened. Nick quickly grabbed all the snacks and drinks and ran to the kitchen with them. Judy just watched Nick's panic dumbstruck. Why was he so worried? It was just his mother visiting him after he had a nearly fatal accident! Oh, well, it was more of a self-defense mechanism whenever parents came to visit, she thought.
Nick was already out of his stained shorts and white tank top and into something a bit more presentable: not the hideous shirt and tie that his mother vehemently disapproved of, but black jeans with a dark blue v-neck t-shirt Judy had gotten for him in an effort to mend his dreadful fashion tastes. Judy didn't need to worry about clothing, as even indoors during free time she cared about her appearance: black training pants with a dark-blue ZPD t-shirt.
"What if she finds out?" he asked in a whisper.
"Huh?" she replied.
"About us, I mean. I haven't told her that we love-" his voice was interrupted by another ring.
Judy swallowed a lump. She hadn't thought about that. While she wasn't planning on keeping her relationship with Nick a secret, she really wanted to tell it at her own pace. There was no way you could casually tell someone's fox parent that you've been loving each other behind their backs, heck, a bunny sleeping with a fox… as kind and loving as Miss Wilde was, she didn't know how she would react.
She wasn't nearly as worried as Nick, though, as she was sure that even in that eventuality, she would be able to explain how and why they loved each other, especially since Miss Wilde had made certain… subtle remarks after she found out that they were moving in together…
Nick opened the door as Judy moved beside him to greet his mother. Miss Wilde was an elderly vixen, in her sixties, but she looked no older than fifty, her muzzle only having the slightest hint of grey near her nose, the same emerald eyes of her son. She stood as tall as she could, back problems being completely absent, only standing a few inches beneath Nick.
She wore a cheap, yet respectable dark green dress and round spectacles, as well as a rather posh handbag, thanks to Judy, Nick and Bogo pressuring City Hall to give her a proper pension check.
Judy and Nick noticed she was carrying several plastic bags, most likely treats for Nick, now that he was back home.
"Oh, I'm so glad you're home, Nicky!" said Rose Wilde as she enveloped them both in a tight hug.
"Come in, Miss Wilde!" said Judy.
"Judy, dear, how long have we been over this? Just call me Rose, you make me feel ancient!" she chuckled as she removed her coat and handbag and made her way into the living room.
"Nicholas!" she yelled as she saw Nick desperately trying to clean up the Nacho crumbs and Mountain Deer cans off the couch.
"How many times have I told you not to make such a mess!? For God's sake, it's not even noon and you're already behaving like a couch potato! Goodness gracious, I'd have thought all that physical education at the police academy would have taught you to be more active!" she yelled at her son, much to Judy's amusement, who was snickering behind her. Nick's ears were flattened and his eyes were aimed straight at his feet as his mother lectured him.
"Nice to see you too, momma…" mumbled Nick.
"Good thing I brought you some proper, healthy food. Here!" she said, placing the plastic bags on the coffee table in front of the couch. Nick's ears went up and his expression turned to glee as he saw the outline of a pie tin through the bag.
"Is that…" Nick began, his mouth filling with water in anticipation. Rose smiled.
"Blueberry pie? Why of course, my dear Nicholas!" she said taking out the tin. Judy had to hold Nick by the tail to stop him from launching himself at the freshly baked treat. Judy didn't know why, but Rose Wilde was smiling widely and it wasn't just because she saw her son alive and healthy after he had been in a coma for weeks: no, it was a… knowing smirk.
"So, Judy, darling, you will have to excuse Nicholas for what he did this morning." She said, looking as if she was struggling not to burst out laughing.
"Huh? What did Nick do this morning?" she asked, feeling her chest blossoming with worry. What did Nick do in the morning? Well, he had lick-
Judy's thoughts halted as she felt her heart turn to ice. Oh no.
"You'll have to excuse him, us foxes, and canines in general, can't help it. Licking someone is simply the way we show affection, don't hold it against him." She said as casually as if asking what TV show they were watching.
Nick choked on the blueberry pie and quickly grabbed a half-empty can of Mountain Deer and poured it down his throat in a valiant effort not to suffocate to death. Judy's mouth was completely agape and Nick's eyes were as wide as onions.
It looked as if both of them had forgotten to breathe. Rose was just staring kindly at the both of them, the sweetest and gentlest of smiles being on her greying muzzle.
"You two smell like each other." She stated simply to the dumbfolded fox-bunny couple.
"And, you, Judy, smell like Nick's, well… morning breath. Nicholas, how many times have I told you to brush your teeth first thing you get out of bed?" she asked in a suddenly lecturing tone. Nick and Judy simply stood as still as the statues down in Growls Memorial Park, apparently both of them had forgotten how to breathe or blink. Eventually, however, Nick broke the silence.
"W-wait. You… approve of us?" he asked in a disbelieving, stuttering tone. The elderly vixen's kind smirk grew. It was easy to see where Nick had gotten his smirking abilities.
"My dear, sweet, Nicholas..." she said, a single tear running down her cheek.
"I wouldn't have preferred you to be with anyone else… She's the one who put your life back together, she's the one who reconnected me with you, she's the one who saw past your exterior and trusted you to be her best friend and partner, she's the one who finally made me proud of you, and most importantly of all… made you proud of yourself…" she said, sniffling. She slowly walked up to Judy and hugged her tenderly. Just as she was coming to back to her senses.
"Thank you, little bunny…" she said, tears of joy making their way past her eyelids. Eventually, Nick came out of his own state and joined the family hug, bringing the two people he loved the most in this world closer to him. For the first time since he had entered the halls of the ZPD, he felt like he had a family.
Only that this wasn't just a family in a collegial sense of the word, not just friendly banter with Wolford and DelGato or taking down crooks or playing pranks on Bogo. Sure, he trusted them all with his life and he loved every single one of them like a brother, but this was his true family. Blood.
"Sooooo… did you hear about the progresses in genetic science?" asked Rose, ruining the moment. Both Judy and Nick got out of the hug and looked puzzled at each other. The elderly vixen smiled and looked at the both of them with kindness and nervousness.
"Well… some scientists are aware of the problems that interspecies couples face and one of them is not being able to have kits. Well, they think that with proper research they could change-" she stopped when she saw the deep blush of the fox and bunny.
"Alright, alright, too far!" she said quickly. Judy and Nick's expressions confirmed that fact.
"-Judy, dear, if Nick starts licking you while you're asleep again, quickly catch his tongue! You know, there was this one time when he was a kit when his tongue got stuck to-
-Mom, can you please not bring that up?" groaned Nick. Rose smiled kindly at her son.
"I am merely giving your mate relationship advice, dear. And, here's another thing, Judy dear, if Nick says that he likes the way you smell or taste, don't take offense, us canines, you see, since we perceive everyone differently and are hyper-aware of our surroundings, so the smells of our loved ones, particularly our mates, bring great comfort to us. So if he ever says that he likes the way you taste or smell, don't think that it's because he's a predator or because he wants to eat- Oh Lord!" Rose exclaimed as she saw what effects her words had on her son.
Nick was breathing heavily and clutching his chest. How could she have brought up something like that after she knew what her son had nearly been forced to do? How could she have been this blind? But as she watched Nick hyperventilating, eyelids shut tight in a vain effort to send away the memories of digging his fangs into the flesh of the mammal he loved the most in this world, a single tear escaping his eye as he recalled her screams of pain and betrayal.
Nick wasn't in the apartment anymore. He was in the place of all his nightmares, the place in which his love stood bloody, just a few feet away from him. His visions and nightmares were always slightly different, but they always ended the same way: him mauling Judy to death and feasting on her carcass. It was always all too real. He could feel her screams carving their way into his ears, her hot blood staining his fur as it gushed out of her throat, her eyes…
This time, in this vision, Judy looked at him, not with sadness, not with fear, not with anger, but something far more calm, yet it was more terrifying than any of the emotion the Judy in his nightmares had shown: it was betrayal. The gaze of someone who had trusted someone with their life up until that point, only to be stabbed in the back. The gaze of someone whose best friend and lover killed them only to taste their flesh.
"Nick… why?..." of all the things she had said during his nightmares, her dream version had called him a bloodthirsty predator, a coward for not being able to fight the Night Howler and anything else his fragile mind could come up with. However, this had been the worst thing his traitorous brain had come up with. Nick screamed as light blinded him, such a powerful contrast from the dark basement in his dreams that his eyes were hurting.
"Judy!" he screamed. He knew that it had all been a vision, a "fear sequence" as his female cheetah psychiatrist had called it, but he didn't care. Logically, nothing had happened, Judy was alive and well and he was out of the Night Howler's influence, but he needed to know. It was something he could not help, a need to see Judy's compassionate amethyst eyes, a need to feel her fur, to hear her sweet, soothing words that she was alive and that everything that happened had not been his fault.
"Nick! I'm here! I'm here, love." She said, making sure to look at his as soon as possible, something she learned while dealing with his panic attacks that calmed him sooner.
"Judy?" he asked, his pawpads moving quickly to feel her slender, powerful frame. The doe smiled, placing a kiss on his forehead, holding him tightly.
"It wasn't you. The real you is here, I am here. Focus on me, Nick." Said Judy, cradling his head in a way Nick's psychiatrist had taught him, recalling everything the kind cheetah had taught her. Nick's sobbing had begun, nonetheless and she was powerless to do anything but hold him as lovingly as possible as she waited for his stance to pass, just like she had last night.
Wait, maybe… Judy rushed into her bedroom to retrieve the pills and grab a cup of water. As she did this, Rose Wilde fought the urge to hug her son tightly and sob into his chest as violently as possible, but she knew that it would probably worsen his condition. She had witnessed her son going through a mental and emotional breakdown just within seconds of her joking with his lover about canine romance rituals.
She had never seen her son in so much pain… not while he was in a coma with dozens of tubes and machines being the only thing that kept him alive, not after she kicked him out when he was eighteen, not when he was beaten up by his "fellow" cub scouts and crushed all his dreams and expectations, never. And for the first time in her life, she felt truly powerless to help her son.
It was always her son who picked himself back up after being put down by life. He was the one who made a living by braving the streets of Zootopia, he was the one who had the initiative to become a cub scout, he was the one who became a cop after a certain bunny had made him see himself for what he truly was.
She could only act on instinct as she held her son tightly while singing a long-forgotten lullaby that she knew put the long-gone tiny fox pup to sleep, and the same lullaby that had ceased his crying when he came back bruised and tearful from the scout meeting. She had only seen her son all grown up as a strong, independent mammal.
She had seen him become a police officer, she had seen him talk to the press all wide smiles and sarcastic quotes, she had seen him talking with cops six times his size as casually as if they had been friends all their lives, she had seen him rushing into danger without a second thought.
She had never seen her strong, proud son this… broken. She had heard of it from Judy, the doctors and Chief Bogo, but actually seeing him like this, especially knowing that something that she said was the source of it… was too much.
"I'm here!" said Judy, a bottle of pills and a glass of water in her paws. Nick had calmed down, but he was still breathing heavily, eyes shut tightly, a few tears making their way past the barrier. Judy took out a couple of pills and handed them to Nick. He only took one.
"Already… got one… in the morning…" whimpered Nick as he swallowed the pill. "Can't… overdose… might…" Nick didn't need to say anything else. Judy and Rose both knew what antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication could do in the long run.
Addiction, poisoning, loss of consciousness or even death were possible. That was why he was still going to therapy with his psychiatrist as well as group therapy with other Night Howler victims. After swallowing the pill, Nick visibly relaxed and he slouched backwards on the couch, the pill having worked its magic.
"I'm so sorry, Nicky…" sobbed Rose.
"It's not your fault, mom. Almost everything has the potential of reminding me of that day. I just need to look out and find a way to shield myself from such thoughts, even if I see something that reminds me of… that day…"he said, rubbing his mother's back in an effort to soothe her, as it was now his turn to calm his mother and assure her that everything was alright. The small family was cuddled around itself, Nick, Rose and Judy all hugging each other, each in the hopes of soothing the other.
Nick's phone chiming brought them all out of their thoughts.
"Huh, what is it?" asked Judy. Nick grinned as he looked at the screen. Seeing that smirk back on his muzzle was enough to warm the hearts of Judy and Rose.
"Remember Dr. Richard Mane?" asked Nick.
"Yeah, the one who treated you and then turned out to have a relationship with the antelope nurse." Recalled Judy.
"Well, his offer for a double date is ripe for the taking today! What do you say, Carrots? Ready to go on our first "official" date?" asked Nick.
Both Judy and Rose beamed at Nick, not just at the news of the double date, but at seeing him back and recovered so quickly.
"-Well, I'd better go now. I'm so glad you two finally realized how much you love each other! Seriously, I've been telling Nick so many times, "just tell her, dear!" but noooo, he had to be all concerned about-
-Yeah, yeah, momma, now we uh… have to get ready for the date!" said Nick, blushing, stopping her just before she continued her embarrassing speech. She had done more than enough of that for one day…
The earliest hours of the evening made the sun dip just below sea level, bathing the streets of Zootopia in a heavenly orange glow, all the hustle and bustle of city life seemed soothed and calmed beneath nature's art.
But Nick Wilde wasn't looking at the beauty of dusk, but at Judy Hopps, dressed in a bright purple dress which went with her eyes perfectly and a golden necklace with a green-orange jewel which (of course) seemed to resemble a carrot. Nick had never seen the jewel before, heck he had never even seen her with jewellery before, and she looked just perfect without it, but he had to admit that the slight glint of the carrot jewel in the dying daylight combined with how the golden chain hugged her slender neck made him appreciate her lapine beauty even more.
Nick himself was wearing a navy blue suit with a white shirt and a baby blue tie, which Judy had to admit went with his fur way better than that horrendous green Pawaiian shirt while the navy blue also gave him a slight sense of being a cop. It fit him perfectly.
They were both seated on the bench designed for animals their size in front of their apartment block.
"So…" began Nick. "When Richard and Amanda the antelope nurse came in on us… were you more surprised that they caught us or that they were just like us?" inquired Nick. Judy's ears flushed bright red and she chuckled slightly as she remembered that moment.
"I was just glad that they didn't consider it weird and we could continue kissing. God, first time making out and we get caught! What are the chances!" she said hapilly, punching Nick's shoulder as he himself started laughing.
First they get caught by his doctor, then by his mother.
God, they really sucked at this, didn't they? But as long as they were terrible at just hiding it and not actually doing it, she was fine with it, she thought as she cuddled up against her fox on the bench.
"Carrots, mammals are staring…" said Nick as she did so. Indeed, while many mammals merely shrugged it off and continued on their merry way, many stared at them for a second like they were naked and then trudded off hastily.
"Don't care…" she whispered.
"You'll ruin my suit!" said Nick, running out of arguments.
"So? My fur will only make it look better…" she teased. There was just no stopping a bunny girl when she wanted something romantic, was there? He had learned that the night before. Who was he kidding, they had waited for the lion and the antelope long enough. While they weren't late, they had both decided to get out of the apartment block fifteen minutes before they arrived, Judy was impatient... Nick closed his eyes and gave in to his doe's wishes, dipping his head down for a kiss…
"Hey... hey lovebirds!" they both heard. That sure got their attention.
They shot up and looked in the direction of the voice. Sure enough, an expensive orange sedan was parked in front of them, a lion at the wheel with his antelope mate beside him. They were once again, smiling widely as they caught them in the act…
The lion's bright orange mare shone in the dawnlight, giving him a proper appearance of a king. His square glasses evidenced his large, friendly hazel eyes.
He was wearing the classic jet-black tuxedo with a red tie, and he wore it quite elegantly, and the lack of creases showed that it was tailored.
Amanda the antelope had small, bright blue eyes, which were continued by her smooth, black and white lines beneath her eyes, the natural beauty of the fur around her eyes accentuated by make-up.
Her horns were quite short and thin, yet it made her even more elegant (her lion boyfriend always teased that if they were any longer she'd scratch up the roof of the car. A statement that usually got him a hoof in the ribs, but he never did stop teasing). She was wearing a simple, yet elegant red dress which accentuated her slender beauty and a discreet, yet beautiful gold necklace
"Can't keep your paws off each other, eh?" he asked chuckling as the fox and bunny blushed deeply once again. They could feel the mirror of the situation very well. How the heck did they allow themselves to get caught like this twice?
"Don't worry, we're the same." Said the antelope in a sweet voice.
"Exactly! I have no idea how she has such a soft touch, I mean, she's got hooves, they should- OW!" the young doctor finished his cheeky speech when the antelope smacked his upside the head with her hoof.
"They can be hard when I want them to be." She stated dryly, yet with a warm smile.
"Heh, heh… right…" he said, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head. This was their banter? Judy and Nick guessed they resembled the hospital power-couple in more ways than one…
"Well, hop in!" he said, getting out of the car and holding the door open for the two of them. Judy glared upwards at the large lion. Nick realized that it was at his use of the word "hop". "What?" he asked as he looked at Judy's peeved gaze.
"Ohhhh…" he said as realization dawned on him. Telling a bunny to "hop to it" or something along those lines was nearly as offensive as calling them cute. The lion then smiled widely.
"Pun not originally intended." He stated, causing both Nick and the antelope to burst out in laughter. Judy had a good mind to give the lion a good smack of her own, but she realized it was a bit too much to embarrass him in front of his date to the point of getting whooped by a bunny. (even if said bunny actually managed to take down rhinos)
The smiling lion went to the driver's seat as soon as he placed the fox and the bunny on the comically oversized backseat, stealing a kiss from his girlfriend before he turned on the engine, which she gladly reciprocated.
Judy and Nick were surprised by how natural they looked together, despite how… unnatural the whole situation was. Then again, if wonderful relationships like this would never happen, then why did they evolve in the first place? It was as if fate had made these two irregular couples meet.
"We're off to one of my favourite places. It's where me and Amanda had our first date." Said the lion.
"Nothing to take your mind off things and to heal up better than a double date. Doctor's orders!" said the lion chuckling.
"Heh, yeah. Thanks again for patching me up, doc." Said Nick.
"Don't mention it. Just doing my job." Said the lion.
"Doctor, you saved my mate's life. I had him by my side last night because of you." Added Judy before Nick could say a word.
"And I have her by my side because of you. You don't owe me anything." Said the lion doctor.
"More than that, I have my job because of you. I was able to save hundreds of mammals because of what you did during the Night Howler case." Said the doctor, suddenly changing his tone, and while they couldn't see his face, Nick and Judy were able to see his gaze turn nostalgic and painful in the rear-view mirror.
"Right after preds were believed to be going savage, I was fired, along with thoasands of other pred doctors. No one wanted a predator doctor. Six years of getting my degree and five years as a resident gone down the drain in a blink of an eye, no chance to get them back, regardless of the fact that I already had a stellar successful operation record despite only being one year in there. And she…" he stopped when he saw his mate dropping her head in shame. Judy half-expected her antlers to go droopy.
"I… I betrayed him." She said in a broken voice. Richard took Amy's shoulder and squeezed her gently, looking in her blue eyes kindly.
"No, you didn't, love. You were just afraid. How many times did I tell you that I forgive you?" said the lion, stopping at a red light.
"But… I abandoned you when you needed me the most. When everyone thought you were killer, when you were fired, I wasn't there for you. More than that, I… I called you killer and I accused you that the only reason you were dating me was that so you could… eat me…" she said, a few tears rolling down her cheeks. The lion didn't remain indifferent, he cradled her head much more gently than one would think that someone of his size and strength was capable of and kissed her inbetween the horns.
"It's alright, Amy. Don't cry. Know that even after you said that to me and while every single prey in the city turned their backs to me or even reported me to the cops for crimes I didn't commit, I never stopped loving you. I never hated you, not for a second." He said in a tone that made Nick and Judy realize that this wasn't the first time he was saying this to his mate. Amy chuckled.
"God, you're so cheesy." She said.
"One of my many qualities. Now stop these little antsy tears, you're upsetting the passengers." The antelope laughed and punched him lightly in the ribs at his terrible "antsy" pun.
"No, it's okay. We're glad to know that I'm not the only one who did that mistake." Said Judy.
"I… I reached for my fox repellent right after I held that damned press conference. He tested me and…" Judy's voice trailed off as she recalled discovering spiecesism within her that she didn't even know existed in the first place. It wasn't love for Nick back then, no, but it had been something…
"Well, we're lucky they love us. And we're lucky that we had the opportunity to learn from our mistakes." Said Amy to Judy, smiling kindly at the small doe. The lion kissed the antelope's forehead.
"Hey, it's not like I didn't make mistakes. That's what makes us animals. And that's what makes us unique." He said, large hazel eyes staring into blue.
"You guys can kiss. We won't mind." Said Nick, smiling slyly. The lion and the antelope then shrugged and nearly closed the gap. A loud honk made them all shoot up in their seats.
"Fucking predophile! If it were up to me, you'd all be put up against the wall and shot!" yelled an irate pig driver in an old rusty car. The green light still hadn't come on.
The lion said nothing, but glared at the large pig. The mammal was large and obese, even for a pig and wearing a stained white tank top. He looked almost like he was half-elephant.
"Yeah, keep glaring at me, you fucking savage! I'll tear you apart!" yelled the pig, popping the glovebox and retrieving something which resembled a tire iron, completely ignoring the fact that the large lion could have torn him to bits in a second. That was it!
Judy opened the window and hopped on the roof, Nick doing the same, taking care not to dirty their expensive suits.
"Yeah, and what the hell do you want, you into fucking each other as well?!" yelled the pig, getting out of the car, twirling the tire iron with an inexperienced move, hitting his own overgrown belly in the process. With a swift move, both Nick and Judy flashed their badges. The pig's skin went white and he dropped the iron.
"Officers Hopps and Wilde, ZPD. You're under arrest for verbal harassment and for hate-crime." She said, Nick simply putting on his sunglasses for his best "badass cop" look (his own words).
"Oh shit!" yelled the pig, getting back into the car and speeding away as quickly as the hunk of junk would allow him.
"You're not getting away!" yelled Judy, taking her radio out of her purse with the intent of calling him in. The lion got out of the car and stopped her.
"Enough, he's not worth it! I'm not in the mood to spend my romantic evening giving police statements to put some pig behind bars for two weeks tops, afterwards he gets out with an even bigger hatred towards couples like us!" he said wisely.
As much as Judy hated letting an offender escape, she agreed. She and Nick hopped back in the car through the window with a swift move.
Several cars started honking as the green light had been on for a few seconds and the lion's car blocked the way.
"Hey, lion, go after that bacon piggy and kick his ass! Don't let him talk like that 'bout you and your girl!" yelled a burly tiger in a sports car, obviously rather peeved by the speciesist pig. Richard ignored him and freed the road as fast as he could.
"Sorry about that, Officers." Said the lion.
"Nothing we can do about people like that, except ignore them. A circus needs an audience. When there's no one to give them attention, the circus stops and all that's left are the lonely, sad clowns." Said the lion wisely.
"Hah! Nice metaphor, bud!" said Nick. Judy had learned in history class long ago that the wisest and fairest leaders were usually lions. She could see why now…
"Here we are!" said the lion after a few more minutes. They were in Sahara Square, the scorching heat making Nick wish he hadn't put on such a hot, elegant suit.
While it was the last hours of dusk, the sun here still managed to remain powerful. The oriental buildings fit the artificial desert perfectly, and while there was nearly as much traffic here as anywhere else in Zootopia, it seemed oddly quieter.
The small, elegant buildings contrasted against the glass and steel megastructures Nick and Judy were used to.
In the distance, they could see the massive Palm Arms Casino, the towering, palm shaped establishment looking over the entire district.
The restaurant they had pulled up in had a vibe of exoticism that was unique even for Zootopia. The outside resembled a ruined temple like that of Pawbilon, several strategically placed overgrown weeds completing the desired look. While there were no visible windows, Nick and Judy realized that it was at least two-stories high.
Even though this sort of structure would have been seen more often in the Rainforest District, it still looked at home, several elements of Savanah architecture present in the temple. There was a cave-looking hole attached to the exotic restaurant labelled "parking". Judging by the size of the cave, this restaurant got quite a lot of customers.
"Ahhh, welcome, Mr. Mane and your lovely fiancé!" came a sharply dressed young leopard doorman with a cheery attitude. He was as thin as a plank, keen green eyes and a smile which rivalled that of Clawhauser. In fact, Judy thought, the only noticeable difference was that Benjamin was at least three times his weight.
"We're not actually engaged yet, Bengal." Said Richard with a smiling figure that made the fox and rabbit realize it wasn't the first time he told the doorman this.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I get to be the best man, right?" asked the leopard back at which the lion rolled his eyes and the antelope laughed.
"I see you brought friends! Wait… ARE THOSE OFFICERS HOPPS AND WILDE! OMG, THE SAVIORS OF THE PREDATORS! Let me get a picture!" said the leopard, his shaking paws taking a smartphone out of his breastpocket. Judy chuckled somewhat nervously at their "fan". Yup, definitely a distant relative of Clawhauser.
Richard laughed kindly as he got out of the car and handed the keys to the overly excited kid.
"Alright, you can ask for their autographs later, park the car now." Said the lion, holding the car door open for his date and then for his guests.
They all entered the peculiarly designed restaurant. Nick and Judy sighed in relief as the air conditioner from entrance greeted them. While the lion and the antelope may have preffered high temperatures, Nick had to fight with every fiber of his being not to pant like all canines do, but he had an image to uphold.
Zootopia's first fox cop panting like a canine hobo wouldn't have looked too good had a paparazzi spotted them.
The inside of the restaurant was unique, to say the least. The walls were made to look like they were made out of clay, yet there was nothing austere about their design.
On the walls, the fox and bunny noticed a tribal shield with two crossed spears, a ceremonial tribal mask as well as several paintings depicting ancient predator and prey tribes making peace.
A lion shaking paws with a zebra, their tribes standing behind them. Judy noticed that even the artist was aware that it was an uneasy peace. Their stares were blank, and their tribes stared daggers at each other, silently keeping their paws and hooves close to their spears.
Nevertheless, this uneasy peace led to the formation of Zootopia. And while some animals had moved past those cavemen that were imagining each others' heads on pikes while making "peace", others continued to listen to nature's instincts of fear and hatred, forgetting that the days in which those feelings were necessary for raw survival were long gone and were no longer necessary.
Thankfully, while Nick and Judy's achievements didn't have an enormous impact on pred-prey relations, they still made some animals think that if they were speciesist, they were no better than Bellwether.
The restaurants' patrons were mostly animals from Saharra Square, lions, cheetahs, antelopes, gazelles, hippos, rhinos, zebras, even a few hyenas, all sharply dressed conforming to the dress code. However, there were also mammals of all shapes and sizes from all over Zootopia, as this was quite a famous restaurant.
There were a few large rhinos and lions in tuxedos leaned against the walls. The fox and the rabbit's keen eyes, accentuated by police training saw almost invisible bumps in their suits caused by holstered guns, batons and radios, these were certainly bouncers. Various delicious smells hit Judy's nose and especially Nick's sensitive snout.
There seemed to be a lot of dishes with grilled crickets, bugs and protein supplements for predators, heavily spiced with traditional savannah spices, but Judy's nose also detected several types of salads, best of all, most of them seemed to include carrots. A young female gazelle hostess in a white shirt, black waistcoat and bowtie greeted them.
"Good evening, Mr. Mane, Mrs. Hoofston. I see you brought friends! So wonderful to see animals not let their own species limit their who they fall in love with!" she said with a warm smile.
"Hi, Ella, good to see you're working the shift tonight. We've reserved a table for four. As you can see, our friends are, well… of the smaller mammal variety." Said the doctor, finally finding the right words not to be offensive. The gazelle smiled.
"That shall not be a problem. Follow me." She said. They had been seated at a table quite close to the exit, yet sufficiently far away from the louder parts of the restaurant. Richard seemed to be a long-time patron here, most likely tipped kingly, it was only natural he'd get a good table, Judy thought.
The gazelle hostess went to two of the chairs and fiddled with some dials on them. Nick and Judy watched in awe as the seats rose closer to the table, the legs of the chair also ejecting a sort of ladder for smaller mammals to climb.
"Our facility is fitted for all types of mammals." She claimed proudly. While after climbing and faced with the lion and the antelope they felt every bit as small as they did at the ZPD, like there, they also felt important and like they were part of a group.
The hostess handed Richard and Amanda their menus and she also pulled out smaller menus for Nick and Judy from her inside pocket.
"A waiter shall come to take your order momentarily." She said, the same warm smile on her muzzle.
"I love this place." Sighed Richard as straightened his sleeves.
"It really is pretty amazing." Admitted Judy, still in awe how the rudimentary tribal artwork managed to still give this place an air of elegance. A natural spring was right in the middle of the restaurant, the cool water mixing with the air conditioning and the plants around the spring, giving the already cool air a pleasing smell of Savannah plants, mixed with the delicious smells of the restaurant's exquisite dishes.
"Well, Nick, it took someone else to drag us here in order for you to finally take me somewhere nice." Teased Judy.
"Come on, Carrots, we've only been technically dating for a couple of weeks, and I should remind you, up until yesterday I was in a coma! I'd have taken you to The Ambassador's if I had the time!" said Nick, his sly smile growing.
Sly fox: one. Dumb bunny: zero
"Really? Carrots? That's how you call her?" asked Amanda, seeming to almost burst out in laughter.
"Hey, as long as I don't call her 'cute' I'm fine." Said Nick, shrugging his shoulders in a "I didn't do nothin'!" stance.
"You better not call me cute in here. Don't think that I won't kick your tail just because we're in a public place." Said Judy threateningly, but playfully at the same time. Nick turned to the couple in front of them.
"Yeah. She's scary." He said simply, at which the lion and the antelope laughed.
"I think I should get my "pred" card revoked. She can whoop me in sparring training like I'm nothing! You know, I heard she once KO-ed a rhino with one kick in the academy. I only made it to tigers!" said Nick in his classic, sly, social animal tone with which he always hooked their ZPD fellow officers and swayed them with greatly exxagarated stories of his police tales.
Like how the incident of a wolf with a baseball bat he took down turned into two lions with samurai swords and somehow they still bought it. The lion continued chuckling.
"Don't worry pal, you're not alone. I honestly have no idea how my ancestors defeated antelopes. My sides are constantly bruised thanks to those hooves whenever I say something overly sappy to her, and don't even get me started on the horns!" he said in fake-terror, making a mock-shudder. His partner laughed and playfully nudged the lion with her horns.
"See? If she wanted, she could kill me right now!" he continued his playful speech. Judy and Nick laughed at just how much these two were just like them.
"This is exactly why I started dating this crazy horn-lady. I like to live dangerous." He continued.
"Likewise. Why do you think I like those teeth so much?" Amanda said teasingly, somehow managing to give the slightest sway of her hips while still remaining seated.
"Darlin', we're in one of the most respectable restaurants in the city, please don't start your stories of how much you like my teeth and… other things." Said the lion in a whisper to his horny (pun intended) partner, only Judy catching what he said.
"It's that lion freak again!" Judy's head spun over to where she heard that voice. Having such sensitive hearing, she usually filtered everything she heard around. This, from a table a few dozen yards away, somehow got her attention. It was a hyena couple, the male pointing to their table for just a minute, pretending to be eating his soup as soon as Judy laid eyes on him.
"They brought others too. A fox and a bunny! Is this becoming a goddamn pervert club? I swear, these guys only date to satiate their primal instincts! They imagine eating each other the entire time they're banging!" said the female in barely a disgusted whisper. Judy's ears drooped, the harsh words making their way straight to her heart. She stared blankly at her menu, pretending to be thinking what salad to order.
"Carrots, sweetheart, is something wrong?" asked Nick, noticing his lover's blank, sad gaze.
"Oh, nothing, nothing, just… lost in thoughts!" said Judy, forcing herself to smile and her ears to stand up. Nick raised an eyebrow, but continued to scan the grilled protein stakes and other meals for predators, the simple description of the exotic dishes making his mouth water, the price range… not so much.
"I tell you, these freaks should be put in special districts, away from the public. If they want to screw their natural enemy, so be it, it's a free country, but keep it away from civilized mammals." Judy heard again.
She didn't care enough to turn her head to see who said it. She was considered a freak… A freak for loving Nick…
It wasn't true. She didn't love Nick because he was a predator, she loved Nick for who he was, for his personality, for what he did for her and Zootopia, for the way he changed his ways and became one of the best cops in the city, for the way he treated her, his simple presence brightening her day…
But… what if it had always been in her subconscious? What if she really loved Nick because he was her natural enemy?
Now that she thought about it, she was the first of her siblings to date a non-rabbit, much less a fox…
Was she some despicable deviant? Some disgusting fetishist?
"Don't let them see that they get to you." Said a familiar voice. Except that it wasn't Nick, this voice was rawer, more patient. It was the lion, looking at her with a compassionate hazel gaze.
"You think I haven't noticed?" he said, moving his head slightly in the direction of the hateful speeches.
"Noticed what?" asked Nick, his ears flattened, figuring out that it had to do with his bunny's sudden change of mood.
"Some of our fellow patrons expressing their… views on interspecies relations." Said the lion as calm as a monk, yet his face clearly showed annoyance and even a hint of hatred.
"What!? Judgemental bastards, don't they know bunnies hear everything!?" asked Nick with indignation.
"Keep your voice down, Wilde. Like I said, a circus is no good without an audience. It's only dumb, sad clowns making faces for themselves. Why should we give them an audience? Why should we let them win?" said the wise lion rhethorically.
Nick calmed a bit and kept looking in the steak-imitation menu. But involuntarily, he focused his own hearing.
He heard it all.
He had tried to shut it out. He had tried to not let what others say affect him, like he had done so many times in the past. He couldn't do it. Why? Because back then he truly was nothing but a shifty fox.
Because back then, he had accepted who he was and had no intention of changing it. However now, he had changed.
He was no longer running petty scams and even pettier thefts. He was an officer of the law.
And so was her. And he loved her. He loved her for what she did for him. He loved her for showing him what truly was inside himself.
Indeed, change started with him. He remembered the way he hung out with his fellow cadets at the Academy. It was the first time other animals respected him. All the other mammals from his class all treated him with respect and like one of their own.
It was the first time in his life he had truly felt proud of himself. It was when Judy pinned the badge on his chest that he truly realized that he loved her.
And now, animals with the cursed prejudice that still lingered from the Dark Ages of predators hunting prey made Judy feel weak and disgusted with herself… It was one thing to have a disgusting pig in a rusty car curse at you, but respectable mammals at a posh restaurant saying things like this…
Don't give the audience to the circus… But what do you do when it's not a circus, and the instigators aren't clowns? They could have their minds changed. Then you can change the circus into something beautiful…
Nick glanced back at the hyena couple who were chatting (more like whispering) at a table quite a few yards away. Nick could see Judy struggling to lock out all of the harsh, cruel words sent by the hyenas as well as a few other patrons, but she was failing, a few tears finally leaving her amethyst eyes. It was then that Nick couldn't take it anymore. Seeing her pained expression, resigned, begging eyes leaking tears she looked just like when she was in the baseme-
Nick shook his head as the cruel memory struggled to take control. He squeezed his eyes shut and used what little effect the pill he took at noon had left.
"Sir? Here is the wine you ordered." Said a hippo waiter as he brought a bottle of expensive wine alongside two large glasses and two much smaller ones. When the waiter came to Nick's side, he skilfully only poured just enough to fill Nick's glass by a half.
"Can you fill it to the brim?" asked Nick. The lion and the antelope raised an eyebrow, but the massive waiter smiled and poured a few more drops with such skill that it looked as if someone Nick's size had done the job. This guy could pour wine into glasses that were pint-sized for him, while Nick struggled to pour soda in a glass without turning the kitchen into a mess.
Nick downed the glass in one go and glared at the hyena couple. There were others who had talked about them, but they were the ones who made Judy spill tears. Nick jumped off the seat.
"Where are you going?" asked the lion. "To take a leak." Nick bluntly replied.
"Hey, man, the toilet is on the other side!" Richard shouted, but he was ignored. It was then that the lion saw where Nick was going.
"Shit!" he exclaimed, getting up, but the soft, familiar touch of a small hoof stopped him.
"Let him." Amanda said simply. Judy glanced too at Nick and she gasped when she saw that he was going toward the hyena couple that were badmouthing them. She gasped and every single one of her instincts told her to go there and stop Nick from whatever he was going to do, but something told her that Nick had a plan that would work out best for all of them.
Nick stopped a little in front of the hyena's table. The male was wearing a simple, yet elegant black suit and his hair was combed backwards in a very neat, official fashion.
Pens and several USB sticks visible from his pocket made Nick deduce that he was most likely an office worker, came from work in a hurry, picked up his date and went here for a night out.
The female wore a simple, dark dress, and Nick had to admit that although hyenas were usually considered ugly by other canines, this lady could have probably found herself a wolf or coyote boyfriend quite easily.
From their clothing and their presence in the expensive restaurant, definitely upper-middle class. Nick noticed that the female was wearing an engagement ring, clearly engaged with the male.
Hyena stereotypes were usually that of street thugs. They were much worse than fox stereotypes.
While a fox was considered liable to lift your wallet, the hyena was thought to also slit your throat for it. Nick realized that this man had most likely had to fight stereotypes all his life to get where he was. His claws were under-developed, a clear sign of childhood malnutrition.
Clearly raised in the slums, doomed to become a drug dealer, maybe a gang leader at best.
Except that he defeated those stereotypes. He ignored everything other mammals said about him and his kind. He was a good mammal, with whom he could relate to. It would make changing his mind that much easier.
The hyena stood uncomfortably under Nick's gaze, pretending to be eating his soup.
"Can I… help you?" he asked when he saw that the well-dressed fox wasn't going anywhere.
"May I ask you a question, sir?" asked Nick, struggling not to show his anger.
"Go right ahead." Said the hyena, eyeing Nick suspiciously.
"Why do you love her?" he asked. The female dropped her spoon with a loud clank and looked slack-jawed at the fox while the male merely raised an eyebrow, but Nick managed to see that he was every bit as shocked and peeved as his fiancé.
"I… beg your pardon?" asked the man.
"You heard me." Said Nick simply. The hyena glared at the smaller fox, and he clenched his fist behind him
. "I am afraid that is not your business. Look, I only came here with my girlfriend in hopes of a wonderful night out, undisturbed by judgemental strangers." He said in a dry tone, barely containing his anger.
"So did I." replied Nick. The hyena looked confused at the smaller canine, until he realized...
His eyes widened and he stammered, trying to say something to excuse the hateful exchange of words he had with his date.
"Don't say anything, spare your breath." Said Nick dryly.
"However, allow to answer my own question. Your reply to why you love her is most likely because she made you see yourself as more than what you thought of yourself. That she loved you for who you were and put you on the right path. Well…" Nick pointed at Judy, who was grinding her buckteeth in fear.
"I can say the same thing about her." He said, raising his tone without realizing it, making some of the nearby patrons. Nick turned to them as well. He moved his suit jacket slightly, showing the badge pinned on his belt.
"I'd be on the wrong side of the law right now without her!" he said more enthusiastically to the crowd. The clients started mumbling.
"It's that fox cop!" he heard, among other things.
"So what was I doing wrong, hyena? Tell me? Loving someone?" he asked. The man began to say something, but Nick cut him off.
"Don't tell me, you were going to say that I can't simply because I'm a fox and she's a bunny, right?" he asked shouting, his failed panic attack still having injected aggressiveness into him. Most of the patrons were now looking at the fox, who without even realizing it, was now holding a speech to the entire restaurant.
"Oh, so we say that all animals are equal and that our dark past is past. We say that we got over our natural instincts. Yet, when someone does something which our evolution allows, we fire back by saying it's not natural!" Nick shouted. Nick sighed heavily and walked over to Judy, who was staring unblinking at her brave fox.
"And I love her… for what she did for me. Not because she's a bunny. Not because I want to "prey" on her, not because I'm some disgusting fetishist, not because I want to do something "rebellious". But because…" Nick paused to look into Judy's two tear-filled purple mists.
"Because she saved me. And I can't imagine my life without her. Why? Because I wouldn't have a life in the first place without her. I would have probably conned the owner of this place into buying expired ingredients." He said.
"And they…" he said, gesturing toward the lion and the antelope.
"They save dozens of lives every day at Zootopia's biggest hospital. Just a few weeks ago, I was one of those lives. And they love each other because they are two souls alike bonded by doing the most noble task a mammal could do." He said, finishing his speech.
He sighed heavily, realization finally dawning over him how much of an ass he had made of himself. He turned toward the lion.
"I just embarrassed the shit out of myself, didn't I?" he asked, ears flattened against his scalp. He was surprised to see Richard and the antelope smiling.
"Not quite…" said Amanda, her smile widening. It was then that Nick heard clapping.
First it was only a few mammals, but then it sounded as if the entire restaurant was clapping. Nick turned around to see nearly all the patrons clapping at his speech. He stared slack-jawed at them for a moment before a smile found itself on his muzzle.
He'd have taken a bow if Judy hadn't pulled him back onto his seat. She looked at him lovingly and… gratefully.
"Thank you, Nick." She whispered. She had never seen Nick that emotional, well, he had gotten emotional to her, but to see him in public like this… it made Judy understand just how much Nick was willing to change to make her feel as good as possible, even if it was just a couple making rude remarks.
And Nick was quite the speaker. Now that she thought of it, she was kinda embarrassed for letting those words get to her like they did, but it was all the better, as Nick was able to stir an entire crowd to his favour.
"Well, Officer Wilde… I guess I was wrong about the whole "circus" thing." chukled the lion.
"You weren't, Doctor. It depends on who is saying it.
These guys are all good, respectable mammals, they deserve a chance to have their minds changed. Meanwhile, that pig at the intersection... you were right that he wasn't even worth putting in a cell." Said Nick.
The lion smiled and looked around, the crowd's cheering having died down, but many were still looking kindly at the two irregular couples. He bent over and gave Amanda a quick kiss on the muzzle.
Instead of the disgusted faces and hushed whispers that would follow (which made him save the kisses and… other things… for the privacy of their apartments), the patrons still smiled, some even giving the lion a thumbs up.
It was quite late in the evening when they all got out of the restaurant.
The food had been some of the best Nick and Judy had ever eaten. They had to admit that although the Savannah seemed like a pretty barren place, it had quite the delicacies to enjoy.
It was later, when the owner, a lion himself, brought a bottle of his best champagne to the table, impressed and moved by Nick's speech. The lion had graciously accepted to only drink one glass, as he was driving.
And of course, no matter how much Nick and Judy insisted to pay for what they ate, Richard had still paid the full bill, not wanting to hear anything. While Nick and Judy had taken care how much they drank, it seemed Amanda had liked the champagne a bit too much…
She nearly fell as she stumbled on the steps that led out of the restaurant, but was caught by her sober lion.
While the day in Saharrah Square was scorching, the night was strangely chilly.
"Well, someone liked their liquor a bit too much…" chukled Richard.
"Hey, I'm… fine, you big oaf, It's just… these heels… made me stumble…" slurred Amanda, her sweet voice still finding a way to sound just as warm and welcoming. The lion arched an eyebrow.
"You're not wearing any heels, darling. Just hoof glitter." Laughed out Richard.
"Really?" asked Amy, looking at her feet. She cursed under her breath.
"Worth a shot…" she whispered, trying to take a few more steps.
"Oh, no you're not." he said simply, scooping up the lean gazelle bridal style as easily as picking up the morning paper. She didn't protest one bit.
"I should get drunk more often…" she said laughing, giving her lion a quick, but passionate kiss as she was getting carried.
"No you're not…" he teased, placing her in the passenger seat.
"You're a nurse, honey. Gotta stay healthy. What kind of a role model are you for your patients?" he asked, gingerly buckling her seatbelt.
"We're going straight to your place, don't bother dropping me off…" she said in a strangely predatory tone for an antelope, eyeing the lion like prey about to be captured.
He looked back at her with an identical gaze.
The fox and bunny laughed and gave him a thumbs up, while Nick gave one of his knowing smirks. They both got in the back seats without another commentary, Nick holding the door open for Judy.
"Well… thanks for an awesome evening, doc." Said Nick, taking off his suit jacket so he could relax.
"No problem. And thank you, Officer Wilde for showing me that some folks deserve a chance to be talked to. We can make respectable mammals without too many deep-rooted prejudices see us differently." He said, driving off into the Zootopian night Downtown. The many lights of the architectural wonders of the city shone through, the night truly being when the city came to life.
Judy glanced at the city's shapes and lights in awe. Even though she had lived in Zootopia for the better part of an year now, the spectacle of the most accepting place on Earth never ceased to amaze her. The lights only continued increasing in their spectacle as the lion approached their apartment block.
"Well here we are." Said Richard, pulling up.
"You know, Nick, Judy… it's been a pleasure and an honour. You should be the spokesmammal for the ZPD, Wilde! Well, anyway, you ever wanna hang out or if you need our help with anything…" the lion began talking, but was interrupted by Amanda grabbing him by his expensive tie.
"Oh, just let them go, chatterbox! We're going to your place, pronto, or I'm taking you right here in the car!" she half-shouted.
While she wasn't quite fully drunk, the effects of one too many champagne glasses definitely showed.
The lion chukled, fixed his small, square glasses and pressed a button on the dashboard which made the back doors open.
"See you later, Officers! I gotta take care of this… horny lady." He said laughing, earning him an antelope horn in the shoulder.
"That's the last time you're making a "horny" pun!" Nick and Judy heard as they waved off the lion and got into the apartment block.
"Well… that was quite the night." Said Nick smiling.
"I suggested Amy to go shopping sometime. I think the four of us will become great friends!" Judy said, being led by her sharply-dressed fox into the elevator.
"Just make sure she's off the bottle!" laughed out Nick. Just then, Nick's phone chimed.
He pulled it out of his coat pocket, looking at the text, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"What's wrong?" asked Judy. "It's from Harry." Said Nick.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Well…" he said, a half-smile on his muzzle.
"Looks like sick leave is over, Carrots." He said, showing her the text.
Alright guys, I know this chapter may have been a bit underwhelming after two months, but my college admittance and technical problems delayed me like crazy. Also, would you guys like to see Richard and Amanda in future chapters, maybe even their own oneshots?
I will soon be posting a poll on my profile with different oneshots/mini-series ideas. I will post an A/N once I do that.
