(Chapter1 was heavily edited if you did not see)
Alrighty, sorry about the wait on this. I spent the last month writing, deleting, and editing this to try and get it to somewhere I was okay with it. At one point this chapter was 12000 words long. (which I have since decided to chop up into other chapters) I've deleted probably about that much from this chapter alone but I'm done worrying about it for now and hopefully you'll all enjoy what is here.
Any reviews are welcome, I'm specifically looking for whether or not Nick/Judy are portrayed well and in character, as this is my first time writing them. Grammar and spelling will be worked on this weekend if I can.
Lastly this is unedited as you can probably tell. Anyone who would like to help edit pm me and I'll love you forever.
Enjoy!
Judy Hopps crept up on the police cruiser she shared with her friend and partner, Nick Wilde. Yesterday had been his first day on the force, officially anyways. He acted wide awake, and she dare say, excited to get out and make the world a better place. His words, not hers, really.
They had done very well their first day, after all, they had been assigned to a regularly quiet part of downtown to help ease Nick into everything. Even so, they caught a street racer and Nick's friend, Flash. They had let him off with a warning due to his clean driving record, and the fact that he was one of Nick's few friends. Not that Judy would ever admit that.
But now today, Nick seemed to do a complete one-eighty. He shambled into work just a few minutes before roll-call, and looked like he had just clawed his way out of a grave. While he was talkative and his usual sarcastic self just the other day, this morning she could barely get a mumbled hello from him.
And now, he was sleeping on the job.
'Time for some payback for all the times he's called me cute!' Judy thought, a familiar foxy grin forming on her face.
Judy silently as she could, crept up and opened the driver's side door, knowing that a fox's hearing could rival even her own. She carefully, with her one free paw, opened the door, jumping in and slamming the door.
Judy savored the jump from the fox, her grin nearly splitting her face at finally getting one over the tod.
"What's the matter sleepy fox? Didn't get your beauty rest last night?" Judy said, handing over an oversized Snarlbucks coffee. "One Zootopian style coffee, black, three shots of espresso, and four sugar for you!"
Though dim, the blue light given off by the police scanner and other equipment was enough to see by.
"Thanks carrots, I don't know what I'd do without ya." Nick said with a yawn, a stretch, and a sleepy smile directed at the grey doe as he took the offered caffeine. "I'm surprised you knew my favorite coffee." Nick said, as he sniffed at cup.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The bunny said, lowering her tea to the cupholder.
"Oh nothin fluff, just touched that you'd care so much about your foxy partner." Nick said, moving his free paw to his chest for dramatic effect, and taking a sip from his coffee. "Oooooh yeah, that's nice." The fox groaned, slouching back into the seat of the cruiser.
Judy tried for a moment to look angry, but couldn't hold in the small giggle at the fox's antics.
"Please Nick, it's too early for this." She said trying to poke at the fox, who danced out of the way.
"For what? I'm just touched my dumb bunny knows me so well." Nick said, wiping a fake tear from his eye, and taking a long drink from his coffee.
"Oh shush you… and you're the dumb one, fox." Judy said, sticking her tongue out at the tod.
They stared at each other, trying to look serious, before settling into a giggle fit at their antics.
"You've been bringing me my favorite tea the last couple days," She took a drink, giving a happy hum at the taste. " So, I took the receipt out of your pocket last week to see how much I owed you."
"Carrots, you don't owe m-"
"But what I want to know, is how you know that my favorite drin-
"Is a green tea, two pumps of lemon, two pumps of honey, one cream, and two ice cubes?" Nick said, grinning at the slightly stunned look on Judy's face. "I have my sources fluff."
He took a gulp of his coffee, and turned to the now frustrated, but smiling bunny. "And really, you don't owe me; it's my treat."
"Hmph…" Judy huffed, slightly miffed at Nick's secretiveness over something so silly, "Was it Fangmeyer?"
"Nope." Another sip at his coffee, grin becoming even wider.
"Francine?"
"Nope."
"Clawhauser?"
Nick just took another sip of his now dwindling coffee supply, and looked away from his partner. He tried, and failed, to hold back a smile as her face lit up in triumph at winning their impromptu game.
"Bingo! another case solved, detective fluff." Nick's smile only grew at the small amount of glee in the face of his partner.
"Not that I'm not glad that you're making friends, but when did you even talk to him? It seems like you're always with me." Judy said, a bit of a puzzled look coming over her face.
"Weeellll… Remember my first day?" Nick said, ears folding back slightly, and looked out into the dark street around them.
The more time Judy spent with Nick, the more she could see his tells, as few as they were. They were very hard to spot but she was getting quite good, a tail flick there, a change in posture here, and once in awhile a small shift in his ears would help her see how he was truly feeling, despite the mask he wore.
"Yeah, yesterday I believe?" Judy said with a teasing laugh.
"I kinda couldn't sleep, and I showed up almost an hour early. I offered to make a donut run if he told me what you liked." Nick said, eyeing the nearly empty coffee with an almost sad expression before setting it down.
"So why are you a zombie fox today?" Judy asked looking back up at the tod, his posture stiffening slightly.
"As you might be aware carrots, we fox are nocturnal, it took me just about every ounce willpower I had to drag my fluffy tail into the shower this morning." Nick said, "It'll just take some getting use to, don't worry 'bout it fluff."
Judy couldn't help but easily spot the lie from the tod, even after spending the last six months mostly away from him. But decided to let it go. If there was one thing she knew for certain, it was that pushing him further would only make him close up more.
"I actually spent a lot of time in the precinct the last six months, and got to be pretty good friends with Ben." Judy said, looking away from the fox, out onto the darkened street.
"Why's that? Did Chief Buffalo-Butt keep you on desk duty even after all that we went through with the missing mammals case?" Nick said, actually letting a bit of heat leak into his voice.
"No no, that's not it… It's actually my fault, really." Judy said hoping to placate the tod.
"What could you have possibly done to have Bogo put you on desk duty for six months?" Nick said with a confused expression. He began reaching for his coffee before stopping himself.
"Weeellll…" Judy said, ears dropping behind her head slightly, mirroring the fox's earlier actions.
"I kinda didn't really work well with the temp partners I was given. They all said I was a little bossy, or too hot-headed… so Bogo couldn't really give me anything ! I actually did have to learn a lot of stuff around the precinct!" Judy said, the words spilling out a little too quickly to keep up the casual face she was putting on.
"What could Supercop Judy Hopps, need to be taught about being an officer?" Nick said his smug tone and mask of a grin back.
" It wasn't so much learning new things, as gaining experience. Fake interrogations at the academy can only prep you so much for the real deal." Judy said, her own upbeat attitude showing through.
"And, the general procedure for rookies is that they would get partnered with a senior officer to learn to ropes." Judy said.
" So that's why I've got a cute fuzzy wu- OW!" Nick started to say in a sweet tone, before a punch from Judy landed in his side.
"That hurt you know." Nick said, rubbing the already forming bruise.
"And I've told you at least a thousand times not to call me cute." Judy said looking far to smug.
"Alright, alright… Is that why I have this, beautiful, strong, bunny as my partner?" The fox's own look smirk came back full force at the blushing doe in front of him.
Judy took a moment to collect herself from the unexpected flirting, swallowing once hoping to hide how much it had actually affected her.
"Y-you're not so bad yourself slick, you know that?" Judy said.
'Drat. Well he'll probably think I'm just an emotional bunny there's no way he could have figured it out.' Judy thought, just a bit of desperation slipping through.
"Wow fluff, pretty soon we'll have you flirting with the best of them! How will the bucks resist your charms?" Nick said, feeling a small twinge of his own, deep in his gut at the thought of Judy with another buck.
Nick got another punch in the side from the joke.
"Ow… carrots that was mean." Nick said with a slight whine.
"No! Nick I wasn't flirting! I was trying to be serious. Y-you did just about as good as I did in the academy, you even broke a few of my records!"
"Whatever you have to tell yourself, I know I'm irresistible an-OW!"
The hardest punch yet landed in the fox's side.
"Careful, your head might get so big it won't fit in the car." Judy said darkly, first still held up threateningly.
Nick rubbed at his now definitely bruised side, before leaning in close to Judy's face.
"Okay okay ha… I'm sorry, I'll behave."
You better… dumb fox." Judy grumbled a bit, successfully hiding what was left of her blush by tucking her ears back.
"Oh come on, you know you love me fluff." Nick said casually, finally losing the bit of self restraint keeping his coffee safe, and tossing the rest back down his muzzle.
"Do I know that?" Judy said, trying to look defiant, hoping to regain some dignity.
Nick glanced at her over the coffee cup, a small amount of apprehension hidden in his eyes.
"... yeah, yeah I do" A small sigh escaped the doe as her defiance crumbled, blush still hidden.
'That's the problem, fox!' Judy thought.
Nick set the cup down, before looking off into the darkened street. But not before Judy caught a small genuine smile on his face.
"So slick, see anything out there with your amazing fox night vision?" Judy asked. Deciding not to needle him for it, glad he was letting her see even a little bit of his true feelings. No matter how small it was.
" Well, the most movement I've seen so far was a wrapper blowing around in that alley over there," Nick said pointing down the sidestreet Judy could just make out in the early morning darkness. "So I'm gonna say no. Seems every sane mammal is still asleep."
The saturday morning was certainly a sleepy one, just a handful of cars had gone by in the half hour they had been sitting there, and even the racoon at the Snarlbucks had looked half asleep.
"Not everyone can have your limitless energy you know, fluff."
"I grew up on a farm, it was be a morning bunny, or become one."
"Well, I still don't think it's natural to have this much energy this early."
"Better get used to it slick. We've got the morning 7-3 shift the next couple months, at least."
"Ugh, I'm gonna die having to get up so early every day."
"Nah, I'll make you a morning fox yet."
"Oh god, end me now."
Judy cackled at this, unable to hold back at the over dramatic fox reaching up towards the sky. Shielding his face with one paw
"Are you sure you were a hustler and not an actor slick?"
"Acting is at least half the hustle fluff."
Nick trying to defend his acting skills sent Judy into another fit of giggles.
"Geeze fluff, you are giggly this morning. Did you sneak some booze when you went out to get coffee?" Nick said, mimicking a parental tone.
Nick managed to dodge this punch, saving himself some trauma, and gave a snicker of his own.
" Of course not! I don't even drink!" Judy defended vehemently. Still smiling at the equally happy fox.
" I don't know really… I guess, I guess I'm just happy, you're finally out of the academy, we are finally partners… we are going to be the best team this cities ever seen!" Judy said, her face lit up in excitement now.
Nick's own face softened a tad at the sight of the excited doe. "It nice to see you're so excited over having to spend so much time with this old fox, I'll do my best not to bore you to death."
"Shouldn't that be my line?"
"Nah, honestly I haven't really just hung out with someone that often outside of work, " Nick said, creating air quotes around work.
"Really? Why's that?"
"Hustles take a lot more effort than you'd think to pull off, fluff. And all Finnick ever wants to do is drink so, I'm mostly just a baby sitter for a tiny drunk fox full of rage."
"Don't tell him I said this, but I still think he was adorable in that elephant costume."
"If you liked that, you should have seen the giraffe version we were running for a few weeks back."
"Oh. My. Gosh. You're kidding! Do you have pictures?!"
"Woah, I value my life, thank you carrots."
Judy started laughing once again, Nick just sat back and looked pleased at causing the bunny to break into another giggle fit.
After calming back down, they settled into a companionable silence, just enjoying one another's company. Judy herself was in a great mood, and though he didn't show it, she could tell Nick was pretty happy himself if she was judging the slight upturn of his lips and the very small back and forth movement of his tucked away tail. Judy decided that now was the time to take a chance.
"Uhm Nick? Speaking of spending more time together, would you by any chance want to catch a movie after work? There's this new movie with Terry Horn, you know, the moose? Coming out that I wanted to see, but I didn't have anyone to go with and I didn'twanttogo-"
"Okay Okay Fluff slow down! It's okay! I'd love to go to a movie with you. What time did you say we got off at?"
Judy blinked once at his easy acceptance.
"Uh, three."
"Well looks like we've got a bit of time then." Nick said, looking at the clock which had just turned over to seven thirty-two.
They sat in a companionable silence as each retreated into their own thoughts.
'YESSSSSS' Judy was cheering and screaming in her mind.
To say she was was very pleased at how her spontaneous attempt to ask Nick on a not a date would be a major understatement. Though she may have completely ignored how she had started to ramble. Or how nervous she now was for tonight now.
Realizing she had been quiet for some time now, she turned back to Nick.
" Sooooo… I didn't know you drank." Judy said.
"Oh me? Hell no I just watch Finnick get drunk." Nick responded.
"Really? Why's that?"
Nick eyed the now empty coffee, as if wishing it would magically refill, taking a moment before responding.
"I just hate the idea of not being in control of myself, I guess." Nick said quietly.
"If you want to talk about it… I'm here. you know that right?"
"Thanks Judy." Nick said with a sad smile before flipping out his aviators from his pocket, and placing them on his face.
Both sat in silence as time ticked by, the sky had began to turn a mix of pastel blues and pinks, signalling the sun would be rising soon. Judy, finally able to see, gazed down the large hill they were parked on.
The rising sun revealed to Judy almost the entirety of Savanna Central, one of the few parts of the city that did in fact sleep.
This part of town was both the oldest and least busy, though in recent years development had picked up to keep pace with the ever increasing needs of the city. This resulted in an interesting mix of buildings. Hundred year old brick and mortar building mixed in with newer glass and metal buildings, and everything inbetween. Add in the fact that each held their own unique organic designs, and no two buildings looked the same.
Sprinkle in a hefty dose of trees, flowers, and other shrubbery and you get one of the uniquely chaotic spaces within the city, following no single theme unlike the rest of the districts.
Another result of having no large skyscrapers, was that on cloudless mornings like these, the sunrise was beautiful.
"Isn't this view great Nick?" Judy said
After a moment of silence from the tod, she looked over only to see him staring out his window, off into the sky.
"Nick?"
"H-hey carrots? A-are you seeing this too? Or did you slip something in my coffee?" Nick's usually calm and collected tone was replaced with...fear? Or unease at the least.
Judy jumped over the middle console and stood on the seat, between Nick's legs, and peered out the window to find out what had shaken the fox so much.
She looked into the light blue morning sky and almost instantly found what had caused his distress.
"Uh yeah… I think I see it." Judy said. "What is it?"
"I don't know… Some kind of creepy kite?" Nick tried to reason.
"I-I don't think so. Look it's too steady, a kite would be all over the place." Judy said growing more confused by the second.
"...It's almost like the sky grew an eye, heh." Nick said, his attempt at humor falling flat.
Their inspection of the eye in the sky was interrupted with the appearance of twelve more odd objects just barely visible, with one being much larger than even the eye.
"Alright, I'm calling this in," Judy said, reaching back over for the radio.
Suddenly, an intense white light forced Judy to shield her eyes.
"Ah! what the heck is that!?" Judy said trying to open her eyes and see what was causing the blinding light.
"I don't know," Nick said, before pulling Judy back into his lap, and putting his arms around her. "But I don't think we'll need to worry about much here in a few seconds."
His resigned tone was what told her this was serious.
"Oh." Judy said, eyes still closed, she turned in the tod's grip to embrace him.
"I don't want to die." She murmured into his uniform.
His only response was to hug her tighter to himself. As if that would protect them.
The light had grown so intense that Nick could no longer watch the approaching second sun. Choosing to instead close his eyes, and nestle his muzzle between Judy's ears. Both trying to find comfort in what might be their last moments together.
The light had reached impossibly intense levels, bleaching everything in a stark white.
And suddenly, the intense light was gone, as if it had never been there. They both slowly opened their eyes. Just to see the sky had turned a slight blue green, and massive metallic pillars dotted the sky all the way across the horizon, and the twelve odd object were completely surrounded by thousands more objects.
Almost as one, the pillars rocked backwards, as though stuck with enormous force from some unseen entity. Explosions engulfed the twelve objects completely obscuring them from view.
Then, the sound hit. The sound of a hundred thunderstorms condensed into one, magnified roar.
Nick and Judy both held onto each other for dear life as the sound rattled them, the car, and even the buildings around them; their ears plastered against their heads in an effort to defend against the sound.
Just when the sound was becoming too much to handle, everything stopped. An eerie silence following the cacophony.
Shifting off one another they both gathered at the window to see each one of the thousands of spacecraft as they both now unconsciously dubbed them, blink away. Until just a few small ships remained, traveling within a cloud what must've been the remains of the twelve large object.
The radio suddenly crackled to life.
"All units, please respond."
Both Judy and Nick were still in shock and just simply stared slack jawed and the now nearly empty sky.
"All units, please respond."
Nick and Judy both looked directly at each other, the shock of what had just happened clear on the both of them.
So naturally, they both started laughing.
Tears beading at the edge of their eyes. Both returned to clinging to one another like their lives depended on it. Just glad to have survived such a strange thing.
Aliens had come to Zootopia.
"...what THE CUTE FLUFFY CRACKERS JUST HAPPENED?!" Judy yelled, finally breaking out of her shock.
"I don't know for sure, but…. ALIENS FLUFF! ALIENS ARE REAL!" Nick shouted in excitement, his fear from earlier completely gone. " I mean they fired a giant death beam at us, but ALIENS!"
Nick's face was sporting a huge grin as he looked at Judy, his tail madly thumping in the seat behind him.
"Nick how can you be excited about this we just almost died! And what if they are here to invade like in all of those movies!"
"Well why would they stop the death beam if they just wanted to invade us?"
"Uh, maybe to eat us!?"
"Wilde! Hopps! You had better get your tails on this radio THIS MINUTE or I'll have you on parking duty for THE NEXT MONTH!" A voice blared from the police scanner.
Judy scrambled over to the police scanner and grabbed the hanging mic.
"Chief Bogo! Sorry sir, Nick and I were just a little shaken up by the, uh, aliens sir."
"Don't care. The mayor has called a press conference at town hall, and he wants you two there. It starts in thirty minutes. Be there. Bogo over and out." The Chief said, voice as intimidating as ever, even over the radio.
Judy glanced over at Nick, who was still smiling like an idiot. "Ready for a press conference Slick?"
"Born ready carrots." Nick said, though Judy just managed to catch the hitch in his voice.
Feel free to pm me any questions, or just drop a review and I'll try and respond.
Basically the main problem I was running into with this chapter was "is it okay to do so and so, will this read badly, etc etc" but from now on I'm just gonna go for it, and change it as needed.
Thanks! Till next time everyone!