Gazelle looked out of her penthouse window onto the moonlit and glowing streets of Zootopia below. To be honest, she was still in total awe of it all. The fame, the celebrity, the wealth, it all hit her so fast in the past five years. She had no idea what to make of it, but she did know one thing. When she was just a poor girl in Colombia, she would have never dreamed of this.
But here she was, living the life she'd always wanted in the city that had become her's. She had grown to know, love, and even represent the living, breathing, and colorful city Zootopia was. She loved the city, and she genuinely cared about all of its inhabitants. This was her refuge, her sanctuary, her home. But something was still wrong…. Something she still had to hide, even in the city that she loved so much.
A shuffle from underneath her bed's covers didn't snap her out of her thought. "Honey, are you alright?" a deep, masculine voice groggily said.
Gazelle sighed. She didn't turn around to reassure her lover. "It's alright, James, go back to bed."
More shuffling and the springs of the mattress being relieved of their weight had shown that he was not having any of it. Gazelle felt soft arms of orange and black, stripes of the predator who was born to hunt her, wrap around her softly, nestling their hands on her stomach. Then, a muzzle resting on her shoulder, sharing her view of the city. "I know how you get, Gaz. It's okay, you can tell me what's going on." A kiss on her cheek reassured her. "I love you."
She couldn't ignore her boyfriend any longer. Finally, she gave up and leaned into the tiger she loved, feeling his soft, fluffy chest, the toned and stretched muscles that covered it. Turning to the predator, she kissed him on the lips, drinking in his rough tongue.
"Can we talk about this laying down?"
"Of course, babe. Everything's better on a bed" he said, earning a chuckle out of the gazelle.
"Ay, ay, ay, you are such a child."
"You love it."
"You know I do."
Another kiss invited the two young lovers over to the bed, where they both settled into the covers, laying face to face in their underwear, paws stroking each other wherever they could touch. Paws, arms, faces, hips, and backs, all were fair game that the two were very comfortable with.
"Now, honey. What's wrong? You know I don't like to see you sad" the tiger began with a genuine love about his voice.
Another sigh emanated from her feminine lips. "I don't want to have to hide anymore, James."
"Hide what?"
"Don't play stupid with me, Tigre, you know what I'm talking about."
The tiger drew her in closer, pressing himself into her. "You don't want to have to hide us… is that right?"
Gazelle nodded. "You know, with the paparazzi, the cameras, the flashing lights and interviews everywhere… It just gets exhausting. It makes me feel like I can't be myself. It makes me feel like I can't love you like a lover should."
"Baby-"
"I just feel so guilty that I have to hide you like something I'm ashamed of. I feel like I'm making you feel bad every time I have to deny you, but I love you so much."
"Baby, I understand. I don't take it as an insult that we're keeping things a secret, okay? Listen, baby, I love you. And I understand you. But please, gazelle, don't feel guilty, okay? I see you starting to cry, I don't like that."
"No, baby, it's an insult to you. I feel like a horrible girlfriend because of it."
"Don't talk like that"
"It's true, I should be proud of-"
The tiger stopped her lips with a deep, passionate kiss.
"Are you ashamed of me?"
The Gazelle froze for a moment. There were so many answers to that question, and none of them yes or no.
"I don't know, James" she said. "It's just… It's not clear to me where I am with you."
"Do you love me?"
Instantly, without any thought, she replied, "Yes, more than anything else."
"Why?"
"You're just… You're funny, but you're so kind and caring. You always do your best for me and for everyone else around you. I just…. I feel like you're always doing your best for the people you love."
"And does any part of that have to do with the fact that I'm a tiger?"
A pause filled the air. "No." She placed another kiss on his lips. "But I do kind of like that about you, too" she added, trying to be a bit seductive.
"Oh, you are scandalous. I didn't know you were into predators like that" he said with feigned shock.
"Please, I've been with you for a year, James. I've learned to enjoy a little bit of the hunt."
The two shared a laugh. This tiger had a way of doing that, she thought. Turning any sad conversation into something that could be laughed at.
"But if I were a gazelle, you'd love me the same, right?"
"I'd love you exactly the same if you were a gazelle, or a lion, or an okapi, or an ibex."
"And if I were a shrew?"
"Now you're pushing it, amor."
Another calming laugh.
"Then why are you hiding it, sweetheart?"
There was silence.
"Is it because you're afraid of all the attention you're going to get from the news?"
More silence. "Yes. I don't want them to start pushing a microphone into my face and start asking me to explain why I am in love with a predator. I just want a happy relationship. But the moment we make it public it's going to become a crusade over interspecies relationships."
Gazelle stroked her tiger's exposed chest, slowly running her hoof down his body. "I just…. I don't want this to become about politics. It should just be about two people who are in love with each other. It shouldn't get any attention at all. I don't want it to get any attention, I just want us to go to a nice restaurant together, sit down, and be treated like adults who are in love, not like a predator and prey breaking nature. No paparazzi, no cameras, not even any special treatment. Just a boyfriend and girlfriend having fun."
The tiger sat up on the bed. "Then let's not make it a press release. Let's just hold paws, go to a restaurant together, and have a civilized date like the 27 year olds we are. Let them figure it out on their own. That sound like a plan?"
"The paparazzi are still going to take pictures."
"Then ignore them! Act like they're idiots for reporting such boring and humdrum news. 'Newsflash, couple goes out on a dinner date'. See it for how ridiculous it is, and just laugh them off. Take it in stride, honey."
Gazelle sat up. When he put it like that, it made a lot of sense. "I guess you're right, hon" she said, shifting over to sit on his lap, wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. "How does the Victoria fine dining restaurant sound?"
"Come on, now, I want to be able to pay for your dinner. I don't think that's in my price range."
"Don't worry about that, James! I get that you don't get paid a lot, I don't love you for your money."
"No, I want to treat you right. Besides, how about something you'd like a little more that a poor young pilot like me can afford. How about La Zootopiana?"
"Mmm, now that you think about it… that sounds better. How does 6:00 sound for you?"
"That's perfect, hon." The two kissed each other passionately. "And don't worry. We'll just ignore the odd looks and have our meal. You don't mind if I eat fish in front of you, right?"
"Baby, we've been living together for three months now. You've had fish in front of me hundreds of times."
"You're right, I don't know what I'm worried about."
The tiger nuzzled his girlfriend's shoulder. "You think they'll think I'm one of your backup dancers?"
"Oh, please, imagine trying to explain that you were a netjet pilot who flew me on a world tour and happened to stay in hotel rooms in the same hallway every night."
"No, I could be one of your backup dancers! Remember last week when you had me try on the fancy underwear and show off for you?"
Both of them exploded in laughter. "Shut up, James, you idiot!"
The laughter calmed down a bit.
"How did I even grab your attention anyway?"
"Obviously it was when we were in Paris. Remember that night at the bar, a year and a half ago?"
"Ah, yes. That cheesy icebreaker. 'This is your captain speaking, would gazelle please come up to the bar and give me her autograph'?"
"I don't know what you were thinking, to be honest! Were you trying to hit on me?"
"Well, no, I was still looking for a tigress back then, but I did want your autograph. And maybe just to get to know you a bit. Customers who know their pilots on a personal level might pay us a bit more."
"You gold digger!"
"Hey, if you were living on a Pilot's salary, you'd do the same thing. But... after a whole night of talking to you, I did want to keep on being friends with you. Even before I knew I loved you, you captivated me."
The Gazelle put a hoof up to her heart. "Oh, James. You're too sweet."
"And then when we kissed for the first time six months later… You had my heart, baby. I was your's from that point forward."
The two stared into each other's eyes for a good while. They had a calming effect on each other in an odd way. Their breathing settled, they locked lips, and paws started to wander. The tiger was so large compared to the gazelle, but it didn't matter to the two of them. Gazelle loved the way James could just surround her, and James loved the way she melted into him like a place of shelter. Paws kept wandering, and the atmosphere turned more and more amorous with each passing second.
"Honey, you don't have a security camera… do you?" James said, noticing a blinking red dot on the ceiling.
Gazelle immediately stopped her exploration of James' body and threw up the sheets to cover herself, turning to notice what she immediately recognized as a paparazzi rat, carrying a small camera and recording the whole conversation they had been having. She immediately got furious.
"Tu estas un pervertido!" She shot up and threw a glass of water she kept on the nightstand directly at the rat. "Chinga usted! Chinga tu madre! Chinga tu familia!" She continued to swear vehemently in the most vulgar spanish she knew, throwing all manner of items at the rat as James got up and tried to catch him. "Tu no tienes un verga! Tu no tienes los huevos!" The rat scurried away as fast as possible, James' paws rushing furiously to catch the intruder. "Métetelo por el culo, rata!" she said, unplugging her lamp and throwing it for it to hit James square in the face on accident.
The rat scurried away when James grabbed for his face, collapsing onto the bed in pain. "Ah! Dammit, honey, what was that for?"
She gasped and rushed over to the tiger. "Oh, no, James, James, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you! I meant to get the rat! Oh, please, baby, are you okay?"
"Dammit, I think I'm bleeding a bit. Can you check?"
The tiger was, in fact, bleeding. Profusely, even. It quickly became apparent to Gazelle that he'd have to go to the hospital for some stitches.
"Oh, no, honey! You need to see a doctor! Come on, get dressed! We can't go to the hospital half-naked like this!"
"I'll get dressed and drive myself, honey, you don't have to go if you don't want-"
"Stop talking nonsense, James! I want to go with you and make sure you're okay. You don't have a choice, I'm going with you!"
After a long, difficult, and brutally honest explanation in the emergency room about what had happened, James got the stitches he had needed and was sent home with Gazelle. The drive home wasn't silent, the two had talked about taking care of the wound until it healed up. Gazelle offered apology after apology and James kept reassuring her that it was all right. By the time they had gotten to Gazelle's penthouse, the blood on James' shirt had stained.
"Honey, go change real quick, you're covered in blood."
"Sure thing." He changed in the bedroom while Gazelle set the cream he'd use on the wound for a couple weeks on the nightstand. As he was taking his shirt off, he started to talk again.
"So… talk about an awkward third wheel" he said, trying to be funny, but coming across more solemn and sad.
"James, it's okay."
"How could they do that to us?" he asked, taking off his pants and searching the drawers for new ones. "I mean, did they really have to film us making love? I can't even romance my girlfriend without eyes watching us? If we were in public, I wouldn't mind, honey, but our bedroom?"
"It's probably all over the internet and Z News by this point."
"Are you saying they're allowed to do that?"
"No! It's absolutely illegal! But that doesn't stop people from talking! That rat didn't even have the common decency to at least stop filming when we were clearly having an intimate moment! I'm going to have to sue somebody!"
The tiger sighed, and changed underwear. He decided he'd just leave tomorrow's shirt and pants on the dresser and put them on in the morning. "I guess I understand why you wanted to keep this a secret for a while."
"Oh… no, James, don't say that."
"Hon, am I a liability to you?"
Gazelle froze. "Wh- what? How could you talk like that?"
"Am I just going to bring attention that you don't want? I love you, hon, but I don't want to force you into a living hell just to be with me."
"James, you stop talking like that right now! Life with you isn't a living hell. It's a slice of heaven. You think this isn't the first paparazzi rat that's tried to get into my intimate life?"
"There's been more?"
"It's just a part of being a celebrity. A part I don't like at all, but I know how to handle this. I've already contacted my lawyer, he's probably going to be able to get the film off the internet and the TV."
James paused. "Okay."
Gazelle looked at her phone. "It's already on Z News that we're together. They're going to be asking us questions on our date tomorrow. I can probably find some way to reserve a table at La Zootopiana so that we can eat in peace. I know it isn't what we had hoped, but we will still go on a date." She moved over to her tiger, curling up next to his significantly larger frame. "And tomorrow, I'll check to make sure there are no rats, and we can try to have some more fun after the date."
The tiger purred.
"You boys, so easy."
"Hey, you know you like easy."
"I love easy, James."
The two caressed each other to sleep.
Gazelle still managed to look out the window of her penthouse before sleep took over. Perhaps this was a good thing, she thought. No, it was certainly a good thing. Now she had nothing to hide. She loved a tiger, and a tiger loved her. And even if she'd get tons of questions about it, Zootopia would be a little more like home.