Chapter 1: An Unexpected Turnabout
A dark, wooden door stood before her, one she knew very well. For it wasn't just any door; no, it was the door that led into Nick's apartment.
It was Friday evening, and they had finished their shift at the ZPD hours ago. They would always meet on Fridays for their weekly 'bad movie night'. After heading to her apartment first and grabbing the movie she had rented earlier that week, Judy returned to Nick's apartment and stood before its door, awaiting entry.
Today's work had been very mundane: both he and herself had been working tirelessly in their small, shared and enclosed cubicle filling out seemingly endless pages of paperwork. The only things keeping them sane were their constant small talk and one short coffee break.
She had been quite naive, Judy thought to herself, for as much as she liked the police work, she despised filling out the papers and reports, even rivalling Nick's resentment towards the matter. Not that the bunny would admit to the fact openly, of course.
No, she always strived to do an immaculate job at anything and everything she did, so much so that she had accrued multiple warnings concerning her overly extensive reports in the six months between her reinstatement as a police officer and Nick's graduation from the ZPA alone, after which he joined her on the force as they had planned all those months ago.
She has tried to be more punctual in her writing since then, getting mixed results.
But the worst part of her career was that—unlike she thought before joining Precinct One—at least half of her daily work consisted of precisely that: accurately retelling the happenings on the beat and alphabetising folders.
Yet, despite having such an ordinary day, the upcoming movie night would be far from it—if she got her way.
Judy was just about to continue that train of thought when the door that she still stood in front of opened slowly to reveal the long muzzle of her partner-in-crime as it creaked inwards.
'Or would it be partner-against-crime?' she mused.
His russet-coloured fur looked as fluffy and well-kept as always as he gazed at her with excitement in his green eyes. His ears were pointed attentively towards her, with his tail swishing slightly behind him.
He had changed from his police blues into his usual set of casual wear, consisting of khakis and a mind-dazzlingly bright Pawaiian shirt, complete with an equally loud purple and red chequered tie.
"Carrots! I see you brought a movie; what are we watching this time around?" He smiled, eyeing her thoroughly, noting her equally simple yet stylish-looking apparel. The bunny was clad in black leggings that beautifully clung to the curves of her lithe body and a plain grey hoodie with her hood still drawn up, her ears sticking out of the top in specifically tailored bunny-ear holes.
She fought the urge to hug him. "Don't you want to invite me inside, Nick?" she asked, mock pouting.
"Are you sure you want to enter a fox's den this late at night?" he kidded, his usual cheerful, teasing demeanour shining through.
Nick was always one to tease her endlessly; therefore, she decided to play along once again and retort. "What's the worst that could happen? Are you gonna eat me?" She wiggled her brows suggestively.
"If you continue like this, I might be forced to do just that— Now come on, we are burning moonlight!" He stepped aside, inviting her to come on in with a casual hand motion, a minuscule flush hidden in the red pigmentation of his fur.
She knew his apartment as if it were hers; of course, she did. After the whole Nighthowler 'incident', she often met with Nick while his application at the ZPA was still being processed.
Such positions often being filled with sloths—as this was one employment seemingly overrun with them—caused several weeks to go by until Nick was finally told of his enrolment date to the ZPA. That was despite Chief Bogo pulling favours left and right to get him there as soon as possible.
The chief hadn't had much choice in the matter: the sooner Hopps got herself a partner who could put up with her on a daily basis, the sooner that energetic bunny was out of his fur. As it was, he had to repeatedly assign her a new partner, as his officers were eventually worn out by working with her.
He wouldn't want to unnecessarily bloat her ego, but he found her work to be irreplaceable; therefore, he didn't want anyone impeding her potential. The fox seemed promising, especially considering Judy vouched for him; the chief considered her to be a good judge of character after having worked with her for some time.
Despite Nick's reluctance, she convinced him to let her help him along, as the upcoming training would be an excruciating six-month-long exercise in both mind and body; she knew his fate all too well.
She had made a plan and put it into action, ensuring Nick would come out of the academy in one piece. They met up—Nick more or less of his own volition—and she imparted her police knowledge onto him as best she could in addition to working out with him.
After attending one such workout/police-knowledge session, he decided it hadn't been such a bad idea, after all.
Besides all that, they had gotten together casually each Friday to watch a terrible movie or series, joking about the movie's lack of professionalism both in starring and execution while often eating take-out. Even now that he had graduated, they kept up this weekly get-together. It wasn't like they didn't see each other for long periods of time: they worked side-by-side.
During his time at the ZPA, Judy had been calling him nearly every other day, concerned about his well-being. Procedure stated that recruits' carrot-phones be taken away for the duration of their training, but, luckily, Judy was able to get around that regulation for Nick in no small part due to her good standing with Major Fridkin, the ZPA's drill sergeant.
The tod's residence consisted of a single square room at the entrance, featuring a combined kitchen and dining area to the left with all the usual kitchen appliances one might expect, including a surprisingly sparsely used microwave.
The small dining table wasn't in use often either, as they both preferred to eat on the couch, which was part of the small living room to the right. The room further featured a medium-sized flat-screen television mounted squarely to the wall, with a small coffee table between said TV and the long, green couch.
The floor was made up of smooth, dark oaken planks, the walls were plastered with a dull green wallpaper, and the ceiling was plain white. Overall, Nick's apartment conveyed a look of brightness, following a rustic style of furnishing. Here or there, several paintings hung, depicting scenes ranging from beautiful forest landscapes to detailed colourations of some of their ancestors walking on four legs. Furthermore, all windows were equipped with dark curtains to alleviate his sensitive, nocturnal eyes during the daylight hours.
All in all, the main room alone was far superior to her shoebox of an apartment, boasting about three times the square feet.
From this room, two doors branch out, both at the far side of the entrance. The door on the left side led into an ordinary black and white tiled bathroom—the only noteworthy feature being the stand-in shower—while the remaining door, to the right, led into Nick's bedroom. She never went in and only saw glimpses of it now and again; she was well raised, after all, and respected his privacy. He had never directly asked her to go into there.
'Yet…'
The tod closed the door behind her; green eyes now met purple.
"'Rats On A Plane', seriously, Carrots?" They always tried to pick movies that neither knew much about, only going by the rating to select their candidates. "That's like… the worst movie in existence!" he exclaimed, further making his concern known by raising his hands above his head; he had skimmed a review of that particular movie some time ago.
"Exactly," she stated bluntly, smiling up at him deviously. "It's 'bad movie night' after all, not 'mediocre movie night'."
"Right…"
They didn't fail to notice that their recent conversations were unusually strained; brushing aside that fact for some time now, they made their way to the couch, and Judy inserted the VHS tape into its predetermined slot. Soon after, the TV flashed to life, now showing the menu of the film.
"So Fluff, where do we order today?" he asked as both of them sat down a short distance apart.
"Oh, I don't know. How about this Asian place down the road? They have lots of dishes to choose from!"
"That doesn't sound half bad," he exclaimed jovially.
She showed him the menu on her carrot-phone, and after several minutes they had decided on their respective dishes, with Nick ordering promptly afterwards.
"It's gonna be about half an hour," he told her after concluding his order. Then, after replacing his phone in his pocket, the fox finally started the movie once he was sitting down again.
The movie began playing, and they were contently watching the exposition. Having read the cover of the movie earlier, Judy knew what the film was more or less about.
Apparently, 'Rats On A Plane' plays solely on a flying plane made for medium-sized mammals, heading across all of Animalia in an inter-continental flight. Most of the actors were various species of rats. Rats in the cockpit as pilots and co-pilots, rats as flight advisors, and even, for some reason, several rats in trench coats as passengers.
The movie is a coming-of-age story about 'Demy', a young mouse who landed a job on this very plane as a dishwasher in the onboard kitchen. Despite his extensive experience as a chef, he begrudgingly accepted his employment: rats thought little of mice except for smaller, weaker versions of themselves, so he had no other choice.
The movie had just finished all the necessary introductions and reverted from a flashback to see the plane rising into the sky and Demy starting to head into the kitchen. But precisely at that moment, they heard a knock at Nick's door, leading Nick to quickly pause the movie before briskly turning to Judy.
"Hold up, Fluff; I'll get it."
Having paid for their food, Nick returned to the couch and set the plastic packaging on the coffee table. The fox made his paw into a fist, leaving one digit outstretched, and pierced the plastic bag containing their food with it. Dragging his digit up, the plastic was surgically severed—not unlike a hot knife through butter—revealing the steaming food-filled boxes to the pair.
'Those claws are sharp…,' she thought, staring open-eyed at the display in front of her.
Seemingly catching on to her train of thought, Nick winced instinctively, concern flashing in his eyes, and he remarked the claw at the end of his digit. Then, facing Judy, he placed both of his paws in front of his chest in a defensive manner. "Oh, I didn't even think, Fluff. I am sorry; I should have just unfastened the knot at the top."
Slightly amused by his concern, she grinned. "It's fine—no big deal, Slick."
As concern slowly subsided, he decided to grab his food and started digging in with the provided fork.
They had both ordered fried noodles with plenty of vegetables. Nick's portion additionally contained several eggs to account for his higher protein need as a predator.
Talking little, they continued to enjoy both the movie and their food for a while.
"I must admit, Fluff, these Noodles are to die for." He looked at her, a dopey yet tight-mouthed smile plastered on his muzzle.
"Mhh," she mumbled, vigorously shaking her head, her mouth full of fried goodness.
At this point, Demy was washing yet another dish as the head chef started to faint and rolled off the clearly visible stage; therefore, the next best chef filled the now-vacant position, and so on and so forth, until they were missing a cook at the bottom of the line. Against all previously established logic and hatred built towards Demy, he was gladly allowed to be the now missing Vegetable chef.
He cut and diced the ingredients with such fluidity and grace it rivalled the best chefs Judy had ever seen. It seemed as if Demy were the only actual chef in the whole cast, his acting being second-nature and arguably the best thing about the movie as a whole.
It was now that Judy contemplated their relationship once more. There was something that bothered her, something that she had wanted to address for a while now…
Nick seemed to observe the movie attentively and shovel a forkful of noodles into his muzzle now and again. Then, as she continued to look at him, there it was—he was doing it again: he opened his muzzle as little as possible, shoved the food inside briskly, and closed it again, continuing to chew with his mouth shut. The tod looked almost strained, mirroring his earlier behaviour while grinning.
This was not the first time Judy had noticed these specific idiosyncrasies of his; she had never commented on it thus far. He ate and talked normally, it seemed, yet changed into this sort of eating whenever she joined him, much to her displeasure as she couldn't understand why exactly he was doing it.
'Why is he acting differently around me?' She couldn't comprehend it. They were partners on the force and trusted each other unconditionally, so why is he behaving so strangely? Deciding this was one too many times for her to let slide, she looked at him, raising one eyebrow in confusion, a slight look of ire on her face.
"Why are you eating this way?" Judy decided to be blunt about it as she enjoyed being a direct kind of mammal and, in turn, receiving straightforward answers.
He looked her straight in the eyes, emerald green meeting blazing violet, a look of genuine confusion on his muzzle, not really catching on. "Eating what way?"
"Nick!" she started annoyedly; he shrank in on himself. "You eat and smile with your muzzle shut tight. I can tell you force yourself, but that is only while I am around; you don't act like that toward anyone at the ZPD. So what is the matter with this?"
"Oh, that. Well… yes," he hesitated, pausing the movie.
"You better have a good explanation for this, Nick." She wrinkled her brain, searching for a reason why Nick could be behaving this way and spouted the first thing that came to mind. "Is it that you don't trust me?"
"Now h-hold on, Judy, y-you know that I-I trust you!" he explained frantically, stumbling over his words in an effort to present himself. At last, he decided he couldn't get around the topic any longer. "You may not be aware of it, but… all predators are required to take special classes during school."
"Special classes?!" she repeated incredulously.
"Yes, special classes. I am serious, Judy. We are taught how to act around prey mammals so as not to needlessly scare them. For example, we are to close our mouths while eating, to prevent showing our incisor teeth—for one thing. We are also meant to file our claws and crouch when facing smaller prey, all in an attempt to appear less threatening. That ended up working well for me in my, uh… 'less reputable business ventures'." He coughed awkwardly, balling a fist and holding it in front of his muzzle as he did so; his muzzle briefly formed into a downtrodden expression.
Judy listened intently; being a prey mammal herself, she obviously never received such classes and was unaware of their sheer existence up until now. At first, it baffled her.
'Behavioural classes for predators?'
But as she continued to think about it, the pieces started falling into place, and it began making sense to her as to why predators would be educated about such a topic.
As part of history class, Judy remembered learning about their long-gone savage past, in which predators hunted prey down mercilessly and devoured them to nourish themselves. It had been a time of great strife, survival of the fittest reigning supreme. Through evolution and the formation of civilization, predators and prey learned to live together. Still, numerous remnants of this age gone by remained one of them the—sometimes more, sometimes less pronounced—respective instincts of predator and prey.
That is why Judy occasionally gets frightful upon picking up on Nick's or other predators' scents or why she freezes or goes limp for a short time when she gets surprised: she briefly switches into freeze or flight mode in such instances. But, of course, she knows what is happening and promptly curses herself for reacting in such a primitive manner every time, especially when Nick, unwillingly, is the cause of those instinctual behaviours.
'I should be stronger than that!' She scolds herself all too often.
Those same instincts are the reason why some predators just can't help themselves and chase after fleeing mammals or thrown objects, the latter behaviour being often observed among canids, as Nick had explained to her. Unfortunately, that applies to said fox as well. He, on occasion, seriously considers dropping to all fours and making a mad dash after yet another fleeing perpetrator on their city patrols. Not only would he be faster that way, but it would also just… feel right for him to do so.
Considering all of this led Judy to one absurd, nonsensical conclusion.
"Nick, do you t-think that I am s-scared of you?" she half stuttered in a dangerously calm but forceful voice. The raging inferno of her anger slipped through her casual outward appearance in the form of her eyes, staring daggers into Nick's soul. He hit a nerve.
"Judy it's n—"
"That I'm JUST SOME PREY!?" She raised her voice with every word, practically yelling at the end of it, her ire surfacing more and more. Hot, liquid fire flooded her veins as he fumbled for words to rectify the situation.
"Now, J-Judy calm down; it's not like that." He shrinks in on himself, holding his paws in front of himself in a defensive stance on the couch once again. "It's just ingrained into my head; I don't even think about these things for the most part. Now, please don't get this the wrong way, but you are prey, and I am a predator. I didn't mean to upset you; it's just instinctual at this point to behave like that towards any prey. I am really sorry if I hurt you."
Judy was awestruck at this revelation.
'He thinks I am inferior to him?' she thought, this myriad of information clouding the reasonable part of her brain.
"So you are saying that I am weaker than you, that you need to hide yourself from me, lest I get scared?!" she continued decidedly, a hair's breadth away from wailing again.
"No, of course not! I didn't want to demean you. But, Judy, it's just… just—"
"SAY IT!"
He sighed. 'Apparently, there is no other way now, is there?'
"I am scared," he states, more than a hint of resignation in his voice, lowering his head to the space between them.
"You a—"
Unwilling to stop his confession now that he was going full tilt, he went on. "Yes, I am scared. I know there's no reason to restrain myself around you; you are unlike any prey—any mammal—I have ever met: you are special. But I am scared of losing you. Scared of myself, pushing you out of my life without realising it." He paused, sighing again. "In part, yes, I do it out of instinct, but when I think about it… you just mean so much to me. I couldn't bear to do anything wrong—no matter how minuscule or nonsensical it may appear to both of us. To lose you like that would be the end of me."
"We have been working together for so long now; we are basically a couple already," he continued further.
Utterly transfixed by the turn of events, Judy barely managed to utter her following words. "C-Couple? W-W-Where are y-you go-going with this Nick?"
"I love you, Judith Laverine Hopps, and I don't want to lose you. That's why I act like this: I don't want to lose what we have—what we could be. That's why I don't talk as openly as I should; no, as you deserve me to."
Lengthy consideration led her to her umpteenth revelation this evening. "So is that why I have never seen you eating meat or fish in front of me, never ordering from the predator menu when we watch movies or go out for lunch?! You are afraid of driving me away?" her throat was hoarse from all the emotions, a wet shimmer now forming in her eyes.
"Yes," he sighs, frowning, his eyes mirroring hers as he continued to speak in a sorrowful voice. "You are right. I am an idiot for thinking this could ever work out. We are so different: we are polar opposites! I should just leave you and stop making this worse between us." His frown deepened, tears now staining his cheeks.
Judy was openly crying now as well. But as she saw him standing up, a new kind of expression entered her face, joining her sadness, overwhelming it nigh fully: determination.
Hopping off the couch in a heartbeat, she ran towards Nick, who was slowly walking towards the front door.
Needing time to think things over, he intended to leave his own apartment and her behind.
She jumped in front of him, blocking his way, held her arms out above her head, towards his muzzle, and blurted the first thing that came to mind; the only thing she thought could save this situation.
"I love you too, Nick!" she howls, frantically trying to stop him from stepping out of her life. Losing her best friend, her partner, her… boyfriend… her… mate even?! She couldn't stand it; she wouldn't allow it.
As soon as she said it, she yanked her paws on her muzzle in terror. They stared at each other wide-eyed.
Nick was surprised beyond belief that his love was seemingly being reciprocated in kind; never in his wildest dream did he think it possible… well, maybe in the wildest of them all…
'A fox and a bunny… ridiculous… she would never… or would she?' He had mostly accepted that she wouldn't want to be with him; the fact maimed him. But, to his surprise, not only was she not leaving, but she was also actively trying to stay with him: that sparked an ember of hope in him.
After a few seconds, Judy decided that there was only one way forward; she lifted her arms up and towards him and embraced his lower chest in a tight hug. Nick was astonished but quickly lowered himself onto one knee to face Judy at eye level and reciprocated the hug tightly.
Large russet paws suddenly wrapped around her lithe frame, causing her to tense briefly. 'Damn instincts!' she cursed for what seemed like the hundredth time in recent memory.
Judy relaxed shortly after, relishing in their warm embrace. She laid her head upon his shoulder, feeling his surprisingly soft fur on her muzzle's underside and inhaled deeply. The fox musk quickly filled her nostrils, causing her heart to quicken as she hugged him tighter.
They spent what seemed like an eternity in each other's arms, both continuing to sob slightly. Then, finally, Nick stood up and walked back to the couch to sit down; without exchanging a single word, she followed him. The movie was long since forgotten.
Nick held his head in his paws; Judy stared at nothing in particular—both heavily in thought.
She decided to break the silence, at last, mainly having composed herself.
"Nick, I… I really want to make this work. I loved you for a while now, and you can't believe how happy it makes me to hear those words from you, but… all this time, I thought it impossible you, a fox, would take a liking to me, so I never said anything. Sure, we tease each other, and we are at each other's side almost every hour of the day, but that's part of the job, and the teasing is just how you are—after all." It seemed so far-fetched, so unbelievable that… you… and I…," she trailed off but continued shortly after that.
"And even when I denied the impossibility of it all, ignored our species, our instincts, our habits: our countless differences. Even then, I didn't dare ask you at the risk of losing you. I thought about losing what we had, our friendship, our partnership on the force… hell, we work so well together!" She paused. "A life without you isn't worth living… I just couldn't risk that!"
Nick pulled her to himself in a side hug, smiling gently at her, moved by the doe's words. "Huh… seems like we thought alike, eh, Fluff?"
She faced him, her face a mix of contentment with a pinch of remaining sadness at their emotional outburst. "Yeah," she said finally.
They sat in silence for several minutes before Judy spoke up, facing him. Raw determination now painted her face, her voice demanding but polite: she would confess to him in no uncertain terms.
"Nick, I want all of you. I want your gentle, teasing, Pawaiian-shirt-wearing, dopey-grin sporting self, but also Nick, the predator. Your claws. Your fangs. Your savage instincts. Everything. I love you for who you are, all of you. And I won't compromise on anything. I won't hide anything from you, and I expect you to do the same for me."
He thought for a bit, facing her, on his muzzle a hopeful yet somewhat-tight-mouthed smile, continuing to be unusually mature; Judy chalked it up to the seriousness of the conversation at paw.
She knew beforehand that she wanted to address the status of their friendship, but she couldn't have conceived the level of raw emotions being poured out by the bucket load that evening.
"Fluff," he said sombrely. She opened her eyes wider, entirely focused on him now. " I love you, you know that. I won't hide anything from you again, I promise—you deserve as much." He sighed before continuing again. "But, I'm gonna be honest, Judy, I am uneasy constantly; I can't let loose around you either. Both of our instincts just get in the way. I think if we go at this slow, we might just be able to work it, though. Would that be alright with you?"
"I would like that," she replied honestly, nodding slowly.
They had both needed to waver a bit in their demands and settle on something less drastic: they knew this to be the only way forward.
His casual demeanour fully reactivated on a dime, and a smirk landed on his muzzle. "Would you look at that, Officer Cottontail? We still have some noodles left!" His smirk turned into a cheshire grin, almost hurting himself from the strain, showing off his incisors and rows of teeth fully for what might have been the first time to Judy as he slowly parted his maw greedily.
It only lasted for a short moment, though, as he realised what he had been doing by watching Judy's facial expression quickly change for the worse.
The harrowing display in front of her—every tooth as sharp and deadly as a kitchen knife—in combination with his fox musk, and the fact that he was literally right next to her, led her neurons into overdrive, her prey instincts rearing their ugly head in the most substantial manner she could remember.
RUN … PREDATOR … TEETH … HIDE … RUN … BLOOD … DEATH …
The primal side of her brain threw endless permutations of her situation back at her: a vicious predator right next to her, baring his teeth at the meek prey that she was.
'What was she doing here?' her brain asked her. She had to get away as fast and as far as she could from him, lest she got eaten alive!
But, before she could form a single coherent thought in the hopes of preventing her from acting out on her foolish instincts, she slipped out of Nick's grasp, scrambled backward frantically, and hit the arm of the couch shortly after. Her nose was twitching fearfully, her ears limp, and her limbs refused to obey her commands. The bunny's eyes were wide as dinner plates as she watched him fearfully, stiff as a statue.
As suddenly as this panic attack had set in, it went away again, leaving her to look around wide-eyed. Judy now realised she was a reasonable distance away from where she originally was: in Nick's embrace. Putting a hand to her chest, she felt her heart pounding like a drum, her body still filled to the brim with adrenaline.
The moment she calmed down slightly and made a conscious effort to release some of her unfounded tension, the bunny became more aware of her surroundings, still, seeing Nick now at the opposite end of the couch at the far arm from her. His face was a mixture of fear, worry and a big heaving of indecisiveness as he shrank further into himself. The fox held his legs with his paws on the couch, face buried in his knees, ears splayed against his head, and claws and teeth hidden as if his life depended on it.
The now quickly subsiding fear gave way to a zealous fury.
Anger at herself, at losing control like that; sadness that their relationship still seemed so far out of reach, worry of what Nick might think of her now… All of these emotions danced around her head, seeking to gain supremacy within her mind; rage ultimately won out.
Nick was worried about her. He accidentally showed her a hint of his primal side once, and she reacted so strongly…. The tod had no words for it: he was utterly crestfallen. Then, feeling guilty and not wanting to worsen the situation even more, he curled up further, sobbing.
But now the tod witnessed in horror as Judy began thrashing and flailing about madly, beating on the sofa, a primal expression in her eyes he had never seen on her before. Anger was now joined by sadness; they vied for dominance once more as her internal struggle continued.
He cursed himself for letting his muzzle part as far as it had; his giddiness must have gotten the better of him. 'It's my fault; it's all my fault! And we just talked about this,' he sighed internally, slowly uncurling himself. He now adopted an authoritative tone in hopes of stopping Judy before she hurt herself or him.
"Judy."
No response.
"Judy!" he said firmly once more.
No response, still.
"JUDY!" he yelled once again, hoping she would finally hear him out. He thought about snarling or growling to guarantee her paying attention to him but ultimately decided it was too much of a risk and not worth the cost.
Judy looked at him and stopped abruptly; her tearful eyes were now plainly in his view. What was once anger at herself and her instincts was now sadness; the rage had eroded and left Judy a sobbing, heaving mess on the couch.
After several seconds had passed, Nick went on to try and calm the situation further. "Judy, I'm sorry. Please calm down. I shouldn't ha—"
She cut him off, resignation permeating from her calm yet impactful words. "No, Nick, I am sorry; I shouldn't have reacted that way. I understand if you don't want to deal with me anymore, I can't even look at your teeth without cowering in fear—I am worthless... You should just get yourself some vixen and leave me alone…."
Her words tore him asunder; he opted to continue talking calmly but decisively. 'Should I approach her… but… I can't risk making this worse!' he ranted to himself.
"Judy, stop talking like that immediately. I don't want some vixen: I want you, Judy, not anyone or anything else; you are perfect. You have helped me so much since we met; I can't hope to ever thank you enough." He paused briefly. "Please do me a favour and stop crying. It's not nearly as bad as you make it out to be," he half lied before pausing once more; her reaction had been quite violent, and he was still taken aback by it.
"We all make mistakes; I should know, right? Besides, we are at the beginning of all this, don't beat yourself up about it. I don't know what to do either, but I hate to see you crying like that… it… it breaks me, Judy," he finished through a thick veil of tears.
Judy mulled over the words that he spoke: they made sense; they really did, but she couldn't help shake the feeling that she was the sole reason this evening escalated to what it did.
She couldn't continue—he was right; this self-deprecating talk was getting them nowhere.
Despite that fact, she reminded herself that all he had done was smile at her in excitement, and she went ahead and ruined the evening! The sight of his incisors, alone, put her brain into overdrive. How was she going to make this work? Would she ever be fit to be his girlfriend? This was a challenge unlike any she had faced before, though, that was for sure.
She always tried to be stalwart, working so much harder than anyone else to prove them wrong. To prove them all wrong. She became a police officer, despite everyone screaming at her that she couldn't.
Her family was against it, deeming it too dangerous an undertaking. The few dates she had had were against it as well, stating similar reasons; they wanted her to have kits and stay at home like any other doe.
The academy had been hell on Animalia, the parkour clearly not designed with mammals of her size in mind; large predators, such as canines, felines or ursines, were often seen in law enforcement, as opposed to small prey like herself. This obviously led her into countless difficult situations, her stature too petite to correctly contend with her larger colleagues head-on; she had to find different means of overcoming her literal obstacles rather than simply applying brute force as everyone else did.
And after all that, she was looking at indefinite parking duty, with no respect or acknowledgement from the chief or any of her co-workers. Their opinions ranged from amused belittlement, seeing her as little more than the product of the animal inclusion initiative, to outright disdain for her mere presence. Her being valedictorian, the best of her class, was wholly ignored due to her species; the fact that she was a small prey mammal, and therefore apparently 'unsuited for real police work', as Chief Bogo helpfully pointed out to her after she had complained about her constant assignment of parking duty.
It took the whole Nighthowler scheme and Nick's help to finally prove to everyone that she was more than that little rabbit everyone thought of as a cute mascot. No, she was Judy Hopps, a perfectly capable police officer, making the world a better place every day.
And if she could do that, get over all those hurdles despite what everyone thought possible, surely, surely she could lead an interspecies relationship with a fox, with Nick, with her best friend and partner. Right?
She wiped her arm over both of her eyes sharply, her ears standing up straight. She elected to give this another try.
'I don't know when to quit,' she thought to herself, gritting her teeth.
The doe crawled towards Nick and opened her arms wide, pleadingly, leaving him to bridge the gap.
He noticed her advance but was too afraid to do anything: to move away or move towards her. He never knew this fearful side of her; her earlier outburst left him clueless as to how she was really feeling right now.
"Come here, Nick, trust me. Please." She said it unexpectedly casually: Judy needed to placate him.
He looked up, seeing her stern yet pleading face through a haze of his tears. He didn't trust himself anymore.
'How might she react to anything I do at this point?' he pondered regretfully.
Yet he trusted her. Even if he didn't trust himself at that moment, he knew he could always trust her. So, carefully releasing his paws from his knees, placing his knees on the floor and widening his arms, he faced her and moved the rest of the way towards her on the couch.
They embraced tightly, Judy now without any kind of reluctance. She was determined to fight her instincts over Nick; she wouldn't relent. The evening had been way too emotional already. They both felt their respective confidence increase as they remained entwined.
Nick inhaled Judy's intoxicating yet soothing scent, and she, in turn, was being calmed by his much slower heartbeat.
After quite some time, their sobbing subsided, and they looked at each other, muzzles now mere centimetres apart once more.
"I—," Nick tried to say.
"L—," Judy mumbled at the same time.
"You go first, Fluff."
She sighed. "Look, Nick, I am sorry it came to this. I shouldn't have pressured you into doing something you aren't comfortable with; both of us clearly need some time to get used to all of this." She held her arm out and performed a sweeping motion to reinforce her point.
"I am sorry, too, Judy. I should have told you earlier; it wasn't fair of me: you deserve better. I get why you behaved as you did; I shouldn't have bared my fangs like that—I slipped." He paused. "We just need to work at it—together," he decided. "You are not the only one with their instincts causing issues; I have some of my own to contend with around you.
She eyed him quizzicallyquizically at that.
"No, Judy", he responded. "You don't have to worry. All I'm saying is that I need some time as well. We both made mistakes tonight: we need to communicate better if we want to stay together now. I promise you that I'll do everything I can for you.
"I promise that as well," she said, almost crying tears of joy for a change, having heard her partner's— no, her boyfriend's honest confession. She embraced him with all the strength she had, him returning the hug with equal fervour.
'You are too good for me…' they thought in unison.
Both remained contentedly within each other's arms, happy to have closed the discussion at last.
'If only he could drop his shirt… No! I am pushing it too far again!'
At last, he broke the silence between them, holding her at arm's length and gazing smugly into her violet eyes as he started reluctantly.
"So… uh, we do still have noodles to eat. Want to finish the movie with me?"
The movie. She completely forgot that there had been a movie in the first place.
"Only if you promise you won't hide your fangs from me ever again." She paused, reading his body language. "I know what you are thinking, it's fine, just… don't exaggerate it, for now, okay?"
"I just can't win with you, can I?" he teased, smiling naturally, showing just a hint of his fangs.
While Judy's eyes may have darted towards his agape maw, taking in the kitchenware on display, she didn't flinch and only froze very briefly. No, she purposefully looked into his eyes, seeing nothing less than pure adoration and love for her staring back from those emerald green irises.
And so they ate their remaining noodles in peace, laughing at the horrible acting of 'Rats On A Plane'.
It ended with Dory now owning his own restaurant in Pawris, oddly resembling the plane the movie took place in, run solely by rats and mice, both in equal parts, doing their best to serve all kinds of species in their restaurant.
While the movie might have been terribly produced, the message of inclusion and refusal to give up on one's dreams to achieve greatness didn't fail to impress either of them. That, together with the awe-inspiring performance of Dory's actor, made the film too good for bad-movie-night, as it turns out, they had concluded in hindsight.
At the end of the movie, they were both satiated and content with each other, knowing they had advanced their relationship a significant amount tonight. They knew that there would still be a lot to overcome for the both of them, but they had laid their hearts bare to the other, had torn down the old, battered foundation and had erected a new, unshakable one today that they would build on top of, now that they were on the same page.
The clock on the wall next to the TV read '11:52 PM' as the credits started to roll, and they stretched and yawned as one. Judy couldn't help but notice Nick's thrown-back, wide-open maw, yet she found she didn't mind it all that much after their long day. Sure, it still frightened her on an instinctual basis, but only briefly—she was getting there.
"So uh, you can stay here on the couch, wouldn't be the first time," he said matter-of-factly.
She contemplated whether or not it would be too much to ask if she could sleep together with him in his bed but decided that today had gone far enough.
"Oh yeah, it is kinda late. If you don't mind, I'll take you up on that offer, Slick."
"You know I don't, Carrots." He smirked, overly happy at her staying with him, incredibly relieved that he hadn't burned the bridge between them.
"Do I know that? Yes. Yes, I do."
And with that, they cleaned up and prepared themselves for bed—Nick in his room and Judy on the couch.
His intoxicating scent emanating from it alarmed her yet set her at ease at the same time.
'His couch already smells so much like him; I wonder how his bed will smell…' she pondered.
They drifted off to sleep, content with the progress they had made today. With the weekend to look forward to, everything would be fine.
Right?
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