Happy Birthday

"Alright Bogo, let's see what we got today. Security request… Justin Beaver fan rally. I didn't even want to know why… Field trip interview. Will get Hopps and Wilde to do that later… Or maybe not. What else… Hm? What's this…? Oh… Interesting."

*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.*

"Some nights, I stay up…"

The sudden noise that filled the room brought a grey paw scrambling over the bed counter, looking for the source that is an infernal alarm clock. The owner of said paw would have normally gotten up in an instant but felt abnormally tired from a late night's sleep. It reached the snooze button after a few seconds, bringing the small bedroom back into silence. The paw once again fell down, its owner returning to blissful sleep.

*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.*

"…I wish that this all would end…"

The noise returned again in a while, disturbing the resting rabbit from her sleep once again. And again her paw reached the snoozes button, only to have no effect on the repeating beeping and song. She looked up with groggy eyes and pulled the alarm clock's plug from its socket, shutting it down. The thought to get out of bed almost made it to her before she fell again into her dreams.

*TOOT. TOOT. TOOT.*

Another sound came through, waking her up once more. She looked up with half closed eyes and saw that it came from her phone that was on her table. Still sleepy, she hid under her blanket to block the noise out as she waited for the phone to become silent. The sound stopped, but it was replaced by a familiar voice instead.

"Hey, Carrots!"

"Nick?" she asked groggily, her first thoughts thought it was a call as his voice continued from the phone.

"Sneaked this in just for fun and with the fact that you might never hear this from me in person, I might as well say it now. Just in case. You're gonna be late, bunny!"

Officer Judy Hopps' eyes suddenly shot wide open, jumping out of bed to reach her phone. The time was 6:35! She had 25 minutes left before she was late for work! Judy Hopps! Late!

It was all like a blur. The rabbit jumped into the shower, hopped out of her bathroom and into the kitchen, into to her bedroom, back to the kitchen, and out of her apartment with her police suit on and a slice of bread in her mouth.

She jumped into a bus that was just closing its doors, hopping over the payment box to place her fare as she took her seat for her landing. Judy's foot tapped impatiently as she looked at her watch again. 6:47. 13 minutes!

With the bus halting right at the stop, she burst right through its doors, running and bouncing as fast as she can possibly go. Animals just saw a grey blob move between them, staring at an empty part of the sidewalk confused as the wind from the speeding object's tail rushed through them.

Judy burst right through the doors of Precinct 1 station, panting ferociously as she searched for the clock above the reception desk. Relief filled her face when she saw the time.

6:57.

She sighed heavily as she relaxed, catching a slower rhythm of breath.

ZOOTOPIA

On her way to the briefing, she found her partner, Officer Nicholas Wilde, near one of the vending machines right outside the bullpen. The fox pushed a few button before picking up a can of iced coffee, opening it immediately before taking a sip. The bunny approached her partner from behind.

"Morning, Nick!" She greeted with cheer. Nick turned around with eyebrows up in surprise.

"Carrots? I thought you weren't going today. Or at least be late for briefing. Guess I was wrong." The fox wondered out loud, confusing the workaholic rabbit.

"What makes you think I won't go today?" Judy curiously asked. Nick opened his mouth to speak when he stopped for a second, his surprised expression turning into a smug smirk.

"Oh… Never mind. Forget what I said, Dumb Bunny." Her partner said with innocence as he passed through the door. Judy remained confused, a wary feeling accompanying it. Something was definitely up.

As she entered the bullpen, she noticed a few things different with her colleagues. While the other officers were doing their usual morning conversations, a few either waved happily at her with more joy than usual or passed a smirk with the same mischievousness Nick's had. One of latter was Mchorn, her usual seatmate other than Nick. She climbed unto one of the large chairs where her partner sat as well, looking at him with a cautious face. He returned a sly smile to her as Chief Bogo entered with a clipboard in hoof

"Alright, everyone to your places. We got four items to talk about today, but I most go to the most important one." He announced at his podium, saying the last one with the same sneaky smile everyone else had when he spotted her, confusing her again.

"I have been waiting for this for a long time, and was quite disappointed we missed it last year." Judy still did not have an understanding of what was going on as Nick laid his arm behind her place in their chair. Her eyes looked around before falling on a nearby calendar, seeing a particular day encircled in red marker.

At first she felt a bit happy, but that was immediately placed the by recognition, concern followed panic as she began realizing what today meant. She turned to Nick with a scared face, causing the fox to smile with malicious intentions as he realized she discovered what today was.

"So let's stop hopping around the subject."

The Pun. Oh the pun. The pun was always the calm before the storm.

"This one is a real howler…"

"We need to acknowledge the elephant in the room..."

"I would be lion if I said this was not important…"

"I can't think of anything with hippo…"

"Judy…"

The 10-second tradition.

"Happy Birthday."

Whether it was rabbit reflexes, the academy's training, or simply pure luck, she internally thanked whatever let her duck down quickly as Nick swung his arm around where her neck was supposed to be, missing it entirely and causing him to stumble sideways into the chair.

Judy didn't relax as she saw the massive rhino fist of Officer McHorn head straight towards her, the larger animal grinning with mischief. She desperately jumped from the chair and into their table before instinct launched her right into the table behind her two seatmates.

That fist still headed somewhere, and it punched Nick right in the face…

"AH!"

…Before sending the fox face-first into the ground.

"Whoops. Sorry, Wilde." The rhino officer apologized with his deep voice while Nick just silently raised a thumbs up from his downed position.

The rabbit was about to relax before looking behind, seeing grinning Grayver launching a paw at her, as if he was to give a large high-four to her back.

"Happy Birthday, Hopps!"

Judy yelped as she dropped her entire body onto the table surface, watching as the wolf's paw merely graze the tips of her long ears. She then launched herself into the table across, jumping on Stripe's head as a stepping stone right into one of Savannas' ear as the tiger tried to catch her, hitting his own forehead for missing the jumpy rabbit.

She hanged unto Francine's ear, climbing on top of it before launching herself to stand on the other ear as she evaded the trunk of the laughing elephant. Judy leaped through the mane of a laughing DeLion before landing on the space between the tables, turning around instantly towards her applauding co-workers, with ears high on alert and violet eyes wide in panic.

"Alright, that's enough." Chief Bogo's rough voice cut through the animals, causing the cheers to fall softly as Judy relaxed as much as she can as she returned to her chair, shaking with adrenaline.

"Can't say I am delighted that your still alive, Hopps." The buffalo said with mock disappointment as the rabbit shown a frown on her face. A smug smile returned on the Chief's face as he saw a familiar officer pick himself from the ground.

"But I'll settle for what I have." He said with satisfaction as Nick climbed unto the chair, rubbing his head on where it was hit. The fox still held onto a defiant smile, though.

"Glad to be of entertainment, chief." The fox exclaimed, giving his superior a light salute. Chief Bogo rolled his eyes, clearing his throat before placing his glasses to read what was on the clipboard.

"Back to business…" As the water buffalo began talking about a dysfunctional traffic signal system, Judy glared at her fox partner, placing considerable distance between both of them as the fox gave a sheepish expression. Guilty? Yes. Apologetic? No.

ZOOTOPIA

"I can't believe you! You deliberately avoided warning me of that death trap!" a mad Judy scolded Nick as their fellow officers filed out of the bull pen to do their specific assignments.

"Come on. You wouldn't honestly believe that they would actually kill you?" Nick reasoned, looking back at his partner who continued glaring at the fox.

"Almost everyone there is more than three times my size!" Judy loudly reasoned in response. Nick rolled his eyes at her.

"We all talked about it. Nothing more than light shoves and noogies." He tried reassuring her, but that didn't make the situation any better.

"You all talked about it!?" The bunny shouted in disgruntled revelation. The fox face-pawed as he realized his mistake.

"I wasn't supposed to say that. Forget about it. Let's just get to Clawhauser while we wait for these kids to show up." Nick urged his partner who was facing away from him with a frown as they left the briefing room.

"But seriously, Judy. Happy Birthday. Will you forgive me, already?" Nick pleaded with sincerity.

"Hard to forgive someone who helped planned your death." Judy said with annoyance in her voice, still looking away from her partner.

"You weren't gonna die."

"Die from fear alone, maybe?"

"Eh. Was worth a try. Good thing I got plan B." Nick shrugged off before taking a handkerchief and suddenly wrapping it around Judy's eyes.

"Hey! Nick? What are you doing?" The rabbit demanded as her vision was cut from her. They continued to walk however, not stopping for a second as Nick tied the blindfold.

"Just trust me, carrots. It's my little way of showing how much I care."

"Like what you did a while ago when I trusted you before we entered the bull pen?"

"I'm going to ignore that." Silence followed for a while as Nick guided Judy towards wherever he was bringing her to. As they approached the front desk, Nick gave silent signals to Clawhauser who began setting up their surprise in excitement.

"Seriously Nick, take this blindfold off." The rabbit officer demanded after they stopped for a while.

"Do it yourself." Judy heard Nick from in-front of her. She took of her blindfold, determined to remain frowning until shock filled her face.

Behind Nick and Ben was a long, colorful banner with the words "Happy Birthday, Judy Hopps!" that stuck on the wall after the front desk. She looked to her to co-workers to find they were both holding a small carrot cake with candles lit up. The letters on the cake formed her name along with a small symbol of a rabbit head.

"Happy Birthday, Judy/Carrots!" Both Nick and Clawhauser said at the same time, waiting for the response of a completely surprised bunny. She was having conflicting feelings inside. She wanted to stay angry at Nick to prove her point, but the surprise, the banner, and the cake and all the positive vibes that came with them was winning the internal battle she had with herself. Her paws were still on her face to hide her dumbstruck expression, closing her eyes tightly and opening them again before glaring at her partner.

"…You dumb fox! Why won't you let me stay mad at you?!" Her angry voice and sharp glare was betrayed by the appreciative smile forming on her face, along with a small tear falling out of one her eyes.

"Come on. You know you want to." Nick taunted her with his arms wide open for a hug after he and the cheetah placed the cake on the desk surface. She lost her resolve to stay mad, walking into her partner's chest with one paw wrapping around him while the other hit his chest repeatedly.

"I hate you. I hate you so much." Judy said with grin buried in Nick's uniform, continuing to hit her partner softly as he returned the hug.

"You bunnies and your emotions." Nick teased her as he ruffled her head. She broke off the hug, looking at her best friend with happy eyes.

"Thanks, Nick. Thanks, Ben." She said gratefully, going to Clawhauser to hug the large body of their receptionist who gave a warm hug back.

"Anything on your birthday, Judy! Make a wish!" Clawhauser stepped back from the hug to let her move in front of her carrot cake to blow the candles out. She did it with ease in a few seconds, seeing that there was a portion of the cake that was already cut. The chubby cheetah stepped back in with a paper plate and plastic fork and placed the slice on the plate before serving it to Judy.

"We cut a slice for now. We'll keep the rest of the cake for later at quitting time." Judy took a bite at the cake, the familiar tang of frosting and carrots swiveled around her mouth with a pleasant smooth sensation.

"This is good cake. Where are you going to keep it at this time?" She asked the fox and the cheetah who were placing it back in a box which she didn't see a while ago.

"The stash." Both of them said, one with obvious joy and smile on his face while the other with a flat expression and a disgruntled tone. Before she could pry any further, sounds of a crowd came through as the doors of the police station opened to reveal a big crowd of children enter with a few teacher chaperones.

"I think those are the kids you're supposed to tour around, guys. Don't worry, I got the cake." Clawhauser said as he hid the cake in the stash while Nick and Judy fixed their uniforms to look neat.

"That cake better still have most of it left when we get back, Ben. I pitched in half of that." The foxed teased, prompting the cheetah to throw him a raspberry. Nick pulled out a pair of shades from his fatigues frontal pocket and placed them on his head while Judy fixed her police hat in place. Both nodded to each other before walking towards the kids, few having looks of complete admiration as the officers moved closer.

"Hello, everyone. I'm Officer Judy Hopps and this is my partner, Officer Nicholas Wilde. Welcome to Precinct 1 Police Station."

ZOOTOPIA

Both officers were at the checkout, leaving the station with Judy carrying a small bag of items that was not with her this morning.

"This was one of the best birthday's ever." Judy said with a jolly smile on her face.

"Sounds like you had a blast." Nick observed with the usual sly smile on his.

"Cake, kids, presents, almost good enough to make up for being squished today." Judy glaring judgingly at Nick, who continue to smile innocently, before reflecting back a soft smile of her own. "A real treat it is."

As they walked to the bus station, Judy opened the small bag to look again at the different gifts she received from her friends that she opened after the school's tour of their police station."

She received a variety of items from her fellow co-workers, such as new phone case from partner's Wooler and Dasher and a Gazelle album from Clawhauser. Inside was a small box with two adorable, as well as most likely expensive, earrings from Fru Fru Big which could have been an entire jeweled chestplate for the shrew. There was also a post card from Finnick and a birthday card from Flash with a written birthday greeting inside. (Nick said that it took an entire hour for the sloth to write down the first sentence.) The bag itself, a string bag with arctic camouflage design, came from their snow leopard co-worker, Officer Kalamity.

"Speaking of presents, carrots, I still haven't given mine." Nick revealed, prompting his rabbit partner to look at him curiously

"Wait, none of those things were your presents? The cake? The surprises?" Judy exclaimed as she enumerated each of the different ones that happened that day.

"That's a cake. Clawhauser's idea even. Who gives cake as a birthday present?" The fox stated and asked flatly.

"I know Ben would love one."

"Shush."

They sat down at one of the benches at the bus stop, with Nick looking through his pocket as he searched for something. He found it and face a curious Judy Hopps.

"Anyway, here it is. Happy Birthday, Carrots." The fox said as he gave two pieces of pink paper to his partner as she examined what it was. Her curiosity turned into shock before exploding into excitement that caused her to suddenly stand on the bench.

"OH MY GOSH! TICKETS TO THE ROSE PARK GAZELLE CONCERT!" She screamed in joy, hopping up and down in place as Nick watched in amusement.

"Yup. This Friday, 7 O'clock sharp. Row A." Judy froze in her inward celebration, looking at her partner in disbelief as she checked the tickets again to see that they were seated right in front of the stage.

"Front Row seats?! How did you even get these?! Ben told me normal tickets were out of stock a week ago when I asked him to get me one!" She exclaimed in pure shock. Forget price, these tickets were in such high demand that even online purchase would be a miracle.

"Remember that I know everyone in this city?" Nick bragged with a knowing voice. Judy looked at him with a suspicious look.

"You got these legally, I hope?" She accusingly questioned with her arms crossed, still holding onto the tickets, nonetheless.

"C'mon, Carrots? Give me a break. Of course I did." Nick defended with mock pain. The rabbit continued to look at him suspiciously before breaking character by releasing a warm smile and hugging her partner again.

"Thanks, Nick. Now it is definitely the best birthday ever." Nick nodded and placed an arm around her while holding his phone above in picture mode.

"Selfie?" He asked as Judy giggled and placed her own arm around him and showed the tickets in front of the camera.

"Selfie."

ZOOTOPIA

The buzzing of a cellphone was followed by the gadget being picked up by a manicured hoof to see the message it received.

"Hey, thanks for getting me those tickets. I owe you big time."

The message brought a smile to the owner of the hoof as she replied a message back to the person.

"You know you could have asked for backstage passes, too."

"And let her die of heart attack? I'll give it to her as a wedding gift or something so that she spends an entire day thinking she's in a dream."

She rolled her eyes as she texted her reply.

"You sound like quite the friend, Nicholas."

"You should know that yourself. That's how I roll."

"Anyway, not a big deal. Just think of it is my way of repaying you for what you did for me on the 6th grade."

"Wonders what a bit of glue and an apple will amount to for tickets in the future. Thanks again, Zelle."

"Anytime, Nicholas."

'Zelle' giggled before hearing a knock on her lavished door, revealing a large tiger that was her bodyguard, back-up dancer, and friend.

"Boss says to be up in 5 minutes." He says with a thick accent, prompting her to stand from her chair and walk beside him through the corridor.

"Old hog never seems to slow down, doesn't he?" She ask with humor in her voice

"That's what he gets for being the manager of the Angel with Horns."

"I still don't know if that is a compliment or an insult."

"I don't know if dancing with shredded tights is a compliment or an insult." The tiger joked as he gestured to his own outfit.

"You know you love it, Adu." His companion teased as she stretched her arms. Adu looked like he was about to defend himself, then shrugged in acceptance.

"Eh. Maybe, Gazelle. Maybe."

Disclaimer: I do not own Zootopia or Some Nights. (duh)

Just an author's note:

I hate you, fandom. I hate you so much. I never wanted to ship them. I was fine with them being best friends for life or something, to continue making these things. Now the only thing I think about is how it will be if they ever adopt and start a family of little foxes and bunnies. The tension of a predator and prey relationship is something I enjoy reading now. I hate you all.

In retaliation, I will do my best to frustrate you with fluffy moments without a hint of romance XD MWAHAHAHA. I hope.