The sun shone in the sky. It was a beautiful afternoon on the city of Zootopia. All across the streets of the bustling metropole, the mammals of the city went back and forth.
Lions, zebras, horses, antelopes, elephants, llamas, gnus, tigers, brown bears, mice, and all kinds of other mammals moved across the city, all of them citizens dealing with their own everyday business and affairs.
This was one of the things that made Zootopia such a special of a place. It was one of the big cities with the greatest range of resident species. From the smaller species to the biggest, both prey and predator. From all kinds of natural biomes.
Some attributed this diversity to the building of the Climate Wall, which created the perfect environment for mammals of both tundra and desert, and to the presence of the complex irrigation system of the Rainforest District. However, the truth was that Zootopia received mammals of the most diverse species way before those additions were made to the city during the time of its modernization.
Zootopia was truly a sight to behold due to its population. Truly a monument to diversity and coexistence between mammals.
Still, there were some kinds of mammals that were harder to see around the city.
Certain mammal species were considered endangered, for one reason or another. It happened before of certain species of mammals going extinct, either by war or as an indirect result of the actions of another species (or several), causing this specific type of mammal to be considered lost on the table of species. It could happen to other species, and some species actually suffered a certain risk of going extinct, for whatever reasons it was. There were simply not as much animals of that specific species as there was of wolves or sheep, for example.
Among the endangered species, a famous example were the pandas. The big, black and white bamboo eaters were among the endangered species, and there were not many of them left on the world. Some attributed it to the series of epidemics that plagued their homeland in the last hundred years, and caused their numbers to dwindle at an alarming rate. Today, however, pandas were recovering, as their numbers were increasing steadily with the support of the other mammals. They were still endangered, though, as they would take decades to recover themselves from this state, what meant that they were still a rare sight. Even in Zootopia.
There were some pandas on the city, though, and they did attracted a certain attention from the other mammals. That could be rather inconvenient at certain moments. For example, when you actually wanted to not be notice by others.
That was the problem a certain panda was having as he tried going across the street as unnoticed as possible. He was wearing long pants, a pair of shades on his face, and a hoodie pulled all the way up. All of that to hide his characteristic black and white fur that would give him away as a panda. He knew that, in the moment he was identified as a panda, some people would show a real interest on him, with some even wanting to take selfies with the "cute and endangered mammal" to post on their Instaroar and on Muzzlebook.
Now, this panda was not hiding his nature as a panda because the attention he received of one could be annoying (although it could), but because, if people got interested on him and got close to him to ask for selfies, then they could actually recognize him. Then he would be swarmed by people in no time.
That was the price to pay when you were a famous actor. Johan has learned it right on his first week after his first great success.
Johan Panden was your average panda in many ways. His status as an endangered species granted him special treatment since he was young. His childhood was pretty much shielded all of his life, as he grew up being considered a poor, unfortunate and helpless black and white buffoon by everyone. That was the stereotype that pandas had to live with. Everyone expected them to be funny and adorable, even goofy, most of the time. Now, while he had a comfortable life, he found it annoying that people always made assumptions about him just for being a panda. The fact that he was just a tad bit overweight due to a glandular problem didn't helped at all the image of the "chubby and adorable" panda.
However, Johan always had, since he was young, a passion for movies. Especially martial arts movies. Johan would always watch any movie that had an awesome fighting sequence on them. Even if it was a movie with an awful script, Johan would go through the pain of watching it only if this meant watching an amazing choreographed fighting sequence.
This passion for movies was what led Johan to pursue both a black belt in three different types of martial arts and a career as an actor.
His goal was to be an actor of amazing movies. Action movies. With frenetic action from beginning to end and fighting scenes that would make the Moletrix looks like one of those cheap arts movies.
However, as it turned out, pandas weren't exactly sought in high demand for action movies.
Comedies yes, but not action movies. He was offer a few jobs on action movies, actually, but only to serve as a supportive, comic-relief role.
It seemed that even his triple black belt could not allow him to overcome the stereotypes regarding his species.
The fact that his glandular problem still made him overweight as an adult certainly didn't helped. People apparently were not very keen on seeing a fat main character of an action movie.
Johan did continued his career, however, doing smaller roles on television and doing some theater, and he slowly built a name for himself as an actor. He has always been dedicated to the roles he played, no matter what they were. This was how actors made a name for themselves, after all.
Then, eventually, he achieved the dream of every aspiring actor: playing a big role on a big movie by a major movie studio. Not only that, but he would be the main character!
According to the people doing cast selection, Johan was exactly what they had been wanting for the role of that specific movie. From his acting skills to his triple black belt and also his top-notch physical form. Even his body type was perfect for the script!
He even had the exact species, as the main character of the movie was a panda like him!
However, Johan felt hesitant into accepting the role.
It turns out, this role played with the stereotypes of pandas. The main character was a fat, clumsy, goofy, even a little dim-witted, panda. One that was prone to go make mistakes and make a fool of himself, and that spent nearly half of the movie tumbling down. Those were the kinds of stereotypes that he grew up with, and that he wished he could actually break instead of perpetuating.
However, as he read the script, he found out that it was a nice movie. It had a good pacing, the script was good (albeit with a few flaws), and it had a good combination of seriousness and humor. And it was an action movie! Well, action-comedy, but still action. Besides, it had some pretty sweet action sequences, including the ones of the main character, whom, by the way, turned from a clumsy guy into an actual warrior near the end. It was the kind of movie that ended with a positive message of "you can do anything if you believe yourself", what put it more targeting the younger audience. However, it seemed like a good enough movie for Johan, so he decided to take his paw at it, and give his very best as an actor.
Two years of production, a few trailers that produced an excellent return from the public, and then it came the night of the global premiere. The curtain opened and the movie started rolling...
After the post-credit scene, the public was all standing on their feet, letting out a thunderous applause. The movie was a success, and it received stellar reviews from all around.
Kung Fu Panda was a worldwide success.
And Johan, as the main actor of the movie, playing the main character, the lovable-but-badass panda Po, became an overnight star.
From there on, his life stopped being simple like it was. From there, he had a much busier schedule. From attending to public events and interacting with fans, to the production of the two sequels that spawned from the movie.
Sequels have the fame of not living to the original movie, but both sequels of the movie proved to be as much of a success as the first one, what only helped to make the franchise all the greater.
In fact, Kung Fu Panda became such a hit that it formed a fanbase all of its own. All manners of products from toys to posters, and everything in between. The franchise was so successful that it even spawned the short movies and even the animated and live action spin-offs, both on television and on streaming services. Not to mention the shameless rip-offs of smaller studios and international production...
However, no one could replace Johan as Po. He was the guy who played the original Po on all three movies, and he was the one who made the character as great as he was, with his amazing acting on the essence of the innocent and pure Dragon Warrior and with his martial arts skills allowing him to fight like a true kung fu master would.
That was why he was so famous.
And it was also the reason why he was trying hard to go unnoticed right now. He didn't needed to be swarmed by fans again.
Going out on the street was so much easier before Kung Fu Panda made him ascend to a meteoric fame. However, he didn't regretted being a star, not at all. He just wished that he could have more time for himself since he became a famous actor. Honestly, being able to go out on the street without needing a disguise would have been great already.
Well, the price of fame, right? Better be professional and deal with it, always being careful to not let the fame go to your head and turn you into complete jerk, like it did to that horse who became such an butthole that now he was pretty much an outcast in the whole acting world.
"Another victim of Hollywool", was how they called him. Johan met the guy once and, on his opinion, Bojack was just a huge butthole.
Johan definitely didn't wanted to become like him. Which was why he was always sure to treat everyone around him nicely. From his fellow actors to his producers, and especially his fans.
He fully intended to do it once he met the winner of the contest.
Johan pulled out his phone, unlocking the screen, which showed him along with Teresa Clawsen, the actress who played "Master Tigress" on the movies. She was pulling Johan on a hug with one arm while making a "victory V" with the other paw. It was easy to see that she was squeezing Johan's neck pretty hard on the photo, since the panda had his tongue out of his mouth and cheeks puffed.
Teresa was a very close friend of his', an actual friend, not only a "work friend", due to them working so much together on the movies. Some of the fans suspected that there was a romance between them, but those were just rumors. Teresa was a lesbian. She and Johan were only very good friends. Still, the public seemed to enjoy having their little fantasies. The amount of "TiPo" (and "Tehan") fanfics and artworks online was staggering, not the mention the lengthy discussions about their "relationship status" on the chatrooms of the Kung Fu Panda fan websites and online communities.
Putting those thoughts aside, as Johan has other things to worry about at the moment, he had some other compromise to deal with.
He checked on his phone, and saw on the GPS where it was indicating for him to go.
Okay, turn on the next street and go forward for ten or twelve meters, and then it should be right on my... right.
Johan followed the directions precisely, and he soon was seeing the place. Johan was familiar with Bug Burgas, as they were "the best fast food chain for predators on the country", according to their own advertising. He knew that they did had the best cicada chips Johan ever had, and that their grasshopper shake was truly divine.
With this in mind, Johan made his way across the street and walked into the store. Zootopia's Bug Burgas were not too different from the ones around Hollywool. The design was slightly different, but not massively, and Johan could still recognize the style of the famous insect-based snack franchise.
Okay now, you are here. Johan thought to himself. You're looking for a fox wearing blue and white stripped shirt and a wolf wearing a purple hoodie.
Johan pulled his own hoodie more over his head, and scanned the store through the lenses of his shades. Eventually, he caught sight of the two mammals he was looking for. They were both sitting on the corner of the store. Literally, they were on the literal end of the line of tables, sitting together on the end of the line, nearly as if they wanted to avoid being seen.
Were they both thinking about me? No, I don't think that was the case...
Johan made his way to them, and he could see them better as he approached.
The fox was around four feet tall, maybe a bit taller, and he had the common coloration one would expect from a red fox, red fur and cream muzzle, and he also had a tuft of hair-like fur on the top of his head that had been brushed in an interesting way, an a pair of blue eyes. Talking to him was a six-and-a-half feet tall wolf, who had fur in shades of grayish-blue, with a mass of fur around his neck and on his face like a mustache, and with amber-colored eyes.
One thing that the two had in common, other than the fact of being both canines, was their physique. Just like Johan was overweight, even for a panda, those two also seemed to be bigger than they were supposed to be for their species. The fox certainly seem plumper than a red fox was supposed to be, considering they were species that evolved for speed and swiftness. The wolf too was fatter than most other gray wolves, as he had a wide belly and arms as thick as the fox's.
They were busy talking to each other, so they did not noticed the approach of the panda who was coming into their direction, until Johan stood just a few feet away from them and cleared his throat.
The two stopped talking and looked at him.
"Gideon Grey?" Johan asked to the two. He was mostly focused on the wolf, expecting him to answer, but, to his surprise, it was the fox who answered:
"Yeah, it's me... and who are you?"
Gideon seemed a bit uneasy as he looked at the panda. Well, perhaps it was normal to be uneasy around a mammal you never saw before that suddenly came your way to talk to you.
"Gid..." Said the wolf, and the fox looked at the bigger canine, before looking back at the panda.
That was when Johan lowered his shades, smiling at the fox while showing his green eyes. Green was a very rare eye-color for a panda to have, and this was what made Johan be all the more special as a panda, and what made him much easier to recognize. That was why he wore those shades in the first place.
Gideon looked at him for a few moments, before his own blue eyes widened, and a long gasp escaped his mouth. This one was so loud that Johan got a little worried that it could attract the attention of some of the other patrons of the place.
"Hey, hey!" Johan said, "Calm down, man. Breathe."
"I-i-i-i-i-it's y-y-y-you!" Gideon said, stammering all the way as he spoke. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Y-you a-a-are actually he-he-here! Sky, he is here!" He said, turning to the wolf. "He is here! Po is actually here!"
Johan could not help but get worried when he heard the fox call him by that name.
"Please, not so loud, I'm trying to keep a low profile here!" Johan said to the fox, looking over his shoulder, and then back at the vulpine. "Also, you know that my name is not really 'Po', don't you?"
"I'm really sorry about this." The wolf said, placing paws on the fox's shoulders, as if to hold him down before he could fire up like a rocket and go through the roof. "He is just really excited to see you. He is your biggest fan."
"I am!" Gideon said, and then he repeated, in a more controlled manner:
"I-I am. I really am. And I cannot believe you are here!"
"Yeah, I got that impression." Johan said, "May I have a seat?"
The fox's answer was immediate, and he offered him the seat, and he also said that he would pay for anything that he wanted, but then he said that Johan would probably not want anything of the menu, since they only served predators there.
"I'm actually a huge fan of the cicada chips and of the grasshopper shake." Johan said, surprising Gideon.
"Pandas are part of the carnivora family, like the other bears." Johan explained to the fox. "We mostly eat bamboo and other plant life, but we are predators in nature. It is more people who assume we are prey, but I do enjoy a carnivore meal once in a while. So, you will really pay, or do I have to pull out my wallet?"
Of course, Gideon's answer was that Johan didn't needed to pull out his wallet for anything. He would pay for anything that he wanted to eat. He would buy him the entire menu if he wanted to.
"You better not regret this later on." Johan said to the fox, "Pandas do have a huge appetite."
However, the look of sheer adoration as he looked at Johan told that the fox really wouldn't mind nor regret paying the panda to eat anything he wanted.
"I could not believe when I saw my e-mail and that message saying that I won the contest!" Gideon said to the panda. "When I heard that there was a 'spend a day with your idol' contest to spend a day with Johan Panden himself, I knew that I had to enter! What if I won? I mean, there was a chance I could not win, since there were over a million other mammals entering the contest, but then I did won! The e-mail was right there, on my inbox, telling me to answer saying the time and place of our meeting! I could not believe it! Did I say that already? I feel like I'm repeating myself. Sorry! I'm so nervous right now! So, since I heard you were spending a while I Zootopia to appear on a show, I knew it would be better to mark the meeting here in place of Bunny Burrow, you know, to make it more convenient for you. Oh, and I hope you don't mind that I brought my boyfriend. What, did I introduced you? No? Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! I was so nervous it completely slipped my mind!"
"Mr. Panden, I'd like to introduce you to Skyler Pawne, but I call him Sky." The fox said, introducing the wolf, who nodded at the panda, who nodded back at him. "He is a great fan of your movies too! We both are! But you know that already, right? I mean, why would we enter the contest if we were not your fans. Boy, I was so surprised when I found out I'd got to spend a whole day with you!"
Gideon looked at him with a lot of admiration, nearly as if a cub who was meeting Santa Paws in person for the first time in forever after never having been able to catch a glimpse of him during Christmas night.
"Yeah... me too." Johan said, and Gideon looked at him.
"Yeah, of course. I mean, I was the one who guessed right how many jade beads there was on that huge pot. I even did it by accident. I mean, I just typed the first number that came to my head, and I worked! There was no way of knowing that I could win. I mean, you didn't planned to just pick up one of the comments you liked and chose this person as the winner, right?"
"No, I didn't." Johan said to the fox. "In fact... I didn't planned this contest at all."
This caused the fox to stop and look at the panda, and so the wolf was looking, with a raised eyebrow.
"It was all my manager's idea." Johan confessed to the two. "To be completely honest, I had no idea this contest was even happening."
Johan explained to the two that he had been in Zootopia to take part on those programs that Gideon mentioned, when he suddenly heard some commotion online about people asking if it was true that this "Gideon Grey" had won the contest. Johan's first reaction to this was asking "what contest?"
Only later, when he talked to his manager, he found out that the koala had gone behind Johan's back and started this contest with the jade beads into a pot, and that the one wo guessed the exact number of beads on said pot would earn the right to spend an entire day with Johan.
"I wasn't too happy with him when I found out." Johan confessed, "But, that was how it was. Thanks for choosing to meet here in Zootopia, spared me another travel on the trains. But, you did kind of choose the only day of the week I had as a free day." Johan said, "I have compromises on all of the other days."
"O-oh..." Gideon said, becoming crestfallen as he heard that. "I-I'm sorry about that..."
Johan looked at him, and immediately regretted having been careless with is words. He passed the impression that Gideon had actually caused him problems. There were few things that made Johan feel worse than to feel like he had disappointed or offended his fans, the people that made him famous and to whom he owed everything.
"Hey, don't be like that." Johan said to him, "I'm not upset, really. If anything, I'm glad you picked up a day I had free. This way I don't have to cancel or reschedule anything else."
Gideon looked up, and he saw the panda looking back at him with a smile.
"I'll always be up to spending some time with my fans." Johan said, "Especially the ones you look really nice, like you. Look forward to our day together, all three of us."
Gideon looked at the panda, and he couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you, Mr. Panden."
"You're welcome." Johan said to Gideon. "And, don't call me 'Mr. Panden', makes me feel like I'm almost ten years older."
"Sorry." Gideon was quick to say. "So, do I call you Johan?"
"My friends call me Jo." The panda said, smirking at him, and the fox hiccupped as he heard that.
"O-o-o-okay... Jo." Gideon said, "M-m-my friends call Gid."
And so, it began Gideon's day with his favorite movie artist in the whole wide world. With his wolf boyfriend accompanying right by their side.
As it turns out, Gideon truly loved the character of Po. Like, loved him with all his heart.
It was not only the fact that Po, as a character, was pure and innocent. It was not even only the fact that Po was a brave character who faced the problems head on without backing down. It was not even only the fact that Po was a total badass who won against overwhelming odds.
All of those things collaborated to make Po the panda who Gideon loved. However, more than all of that, Gideon could not help but feel some sort of connection with Po, as they were... "kindred spirits", on the words of the fox himself.
"I was always chubby..." Gideon admitted, putting both hands on his belly as he looked down. "Since I was a kit. I was not slender and elegant like my Ma and my uncle Bob. I went after my Pa. Was very insecure because of it. Other kits picked on me for being a 'pot belly'."
Jo looked at him, and he could understand why Gideon sympathized with the character of Po.
On his essence, Po was an underdog. He was an underdog because he was of a species known for not being inclined to being a warrior or strong. However, more than that, he was an underdog because he was overweight. Totally different from those swimmer and bodybuilder-types who usually made the role of hero on practically every single action movie Hollywool produced.
And Po himself was aware of this. On the first movie, Po himself admitted that he was insecure about himself. That he was insecure for being a big and fat panda that others looked down upon. Po was, deep down, self-conscious, and he wanted to change so he could feel more confident about himself.
And, in the end, Po realized that he didn't truly needed to change. That all he needed was to have more faith on himself. Sometimes, that was all it took.
As it seemed to take for Gideon to turn his life around.
"And a lot of therapy." The fox admitted to the panda, "I needed that to stop projecting out my anger at others and being aggressive and hostile to mask my insecurities."
Those words seemed like something that he memorized from hearing the therapist he just talked about say.
"I was a real jerk back then..." Gideon admitted, looking down in shame. By his side, Skyler placed a paw on his shoulder, rubbing it on a comforting manner. This seemed to make the fox feel a little bit better. Johan looked at the two, and soon he decided it was better for them to continue the conversation.
That was mostly with them asking him some questions about how it was to be an actor, and how he felt about being so famous. Gideon also asked some personal questions to Jo, like what were his favorite things about his own movies, and what were his favorite foods and if the guys he worked with were really his friends.
"And you like working alongside the birds and the reptiles?" Gideon asked the panda, "They are not aloof or cold like people say out there?"
"No way. They are super cool." Jo said to the fox, "Sizza is the nicest girl you have ever met, and Kuarlo is one of the smartest guys I know. Did you know that he has three degrees? He got all of them on the Zambezia University, back on his country." He explained to the fox, speaking about the actors who played Masters Viper and Crane, respectively.
"And what about the guy who plays Master Mantis?" Gideon asked him, and immediately added:
"I mean, the guy who voices him. I know that Mantis is computer generated, because bugs don't talk and stuff. But, what is the voice actor who makes his voice like? Do you even interact with him?"
"Kenny? Yeah, he is cool. He is super nice too. Always making jokes and making the voices of his other characters. I mean, a lot of it is childish, he mostly is a voice actor for children's cartoons, but he can make some good voices. Did you know he voiced a few monsters in horror movies?"
And so the talk progressed, with more questions about Jo's career and life, before Jo was allowed to make his own questions to the fox and wolf, and that was how he got to know about how they met. As it turns out, Gideon hired Sky as a helper on his bakery, and from there they fell in love.
"Wait." Jo said, as the said bakery was spoken about in more detail. "You mean 'Gideon Grey's Real Good Baked Stuff'? Its your bakery? You are the Gideon who owns it!?"
Johan was surprised for finding out that, just like Gideon was surprised on finding out that Johan Pandel, of all people, knew about his bakery.
"Dude!" Jo said to him, "I tried one of your raspberry pies once! A guy gave them to me once! It was the single best pie I had in my life! I have been ordering them once every two weeks ever since!"
"You are the one who makes the bi-monthly raspberry pie order!?" Gideon said, completely shocked. "Oh my gosh! I can't believe it! I knew it was someone in Hollywool who was ordering the pies, but I would never imagine that it would be you of all mammals!"
That was a surprise that was welcome by the two of them, with Jo saying to the fox how much he loved the raspberry pies he made, and how they were now his favorite on the whole world.
Now, hearing your idol tell you that you make the best pie in the world? That was something that would make anyone get butterflies on their stomach.
"I'll not charge for them anymore." Gideon said to the panda, "From today on, I'll send them to you for free for the rest of my life!"
"Hold on, Gid." Sky said to the fox, "We can't afford to send two free pies every month. That is how smaller bakeries go bust. Let's keep charging for them. At least until we've grown enough that two pies a month are just a drop in our bucket."
"But, Sky!" Gideon said, "It is Johan Pandel!"
"I know, and I'm a big fan of him as well." Sky said, "But, as your boyfriend, employee, and future associate as the guy who will one day be your husband, I say that we hold off from giving free stuff until we are sure we can afford it."
Gideon had no choice but to agree with it, and Jo, who was watching, could not help but notice how nice those two seemed.
They were a bit all over him, like most of his fans. However, they were not in a creepy way. Those two were actually pretty nice to talk with. They were both pretty down to earth and they had some interesting subjects to talk about.
The wolf was his fan as well, and he was a composed kind of guy, the type who would have appreciation by his idol without invading his personal space. He was certainly not the kind who lost control over his emotions as soon as he was face-to-face with his idol, and would show as much respect with him as he would for any other person.
Gideon was a bit more of a fan-boy, but he was the kind who would realize when he was being too invasive or inconvenient, and he would step back and apologize for having been improper. He was a bit too apologetic, but it was easy to say that it was because he truly didn't wanted to cause problem and, even though he left his emotions get the best of him for a few moments, but he would soon recover and keep more in control.
They were both obviously his fans, but they were both pretty chill. Jo was very thankful to this. For a while, he had been worried that whoever won the contest would be the kind of crazed fan who would be all over him, trying to rub his belly without permission and who would kiss the ground he stepped on.
Or the kind who would try to steal his underwear from his drawers after breaking into his apartment.
It was good to know that Gid and Sky were not like that.
Jo might actually enjoy spending the day with the two.
They continue talking as they eat their food.
"I was so pumped up when I heard there would be a Kung Fu Panda 4!" Gideon confessed to the panda.
"We both were." Sky said, and the fox nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, totally!" Gideon said, turning to the panda. "I hope it is as cool as the previous ones!"
"Yeah, everyone expects that." Jo admitted to the fox. The panda then confessed to the fox that there were times when he, as an actor, was afraid that people would not be open to his new movies. It was probably a common worry, even if you yourself enjoyed the role you played and the script given to you. There was always a chance that the public would not like it, for whatever reason it was.
"I was more than a little worried about Kung Fu Panda 3, to be honest." Jo confessed, "I mean, the first two were very much foot on the ground, but the third one went straight to spirit warriors, chi magic, living jade statues and giant energy dragons. I was afraid that people would think it was too much."
"I loved the third movie." Gideon admitted, and he was totally honest as he said that. Jo was much thankful to hear that. "Just like I know I'll love the fourth. And, between us two, what is the fourth movie be about?"
"Gid." Sky said to the fox.
"What? It was announced last year!" Gideon confessed, "They'll probably start releasing the trailers anytime soon! Look, can you at least give me a hint? Oh, will Tai Lung make a comeback? I read something online about Tai Lung coming back! I hope he does, Kai Snowden is such a hottie! I mean, not that you are not, Jo. I mean!"
The fox blushed madly, as he looked down, and Jo couldn't help but chuckle at how goofy the fox was being. The wolf joined in chuckling, as he put an arm around the fox and pulled him closer to himself, telling the fox to "relax a bit before he exploded".
Man, Jo really felt like he would be enjoying spending the day with those two.
"So, since it seems that we are all done eating." Jo said to the two. "What about we go somewhere else in the city to spend our day together?"
This suggestion was gladly accepted by the other two. So, as soon as they paid their bill, they both went their way out in the city.
Once more, Jo had to wear glasses and a hoodie, to avoid calling too much attention. The two understood it was to avoid having them swarmed, and they were both okay with it. They both ended up going along with it, as they suggested for them to go into places where they would not call too much attention.
They ended up agreeing to go into a park. They continued to have their conversations, and this time they talked about much more trivial subjects. Just everyday things that you would talk about when you were only after a relaxed conversation. Meanwhile, they stopped by the small pond on the park to see who could make the small pebbles skip the most on the surface of the water.
They had to flee really fast when one of the pebbles Gideon threw skipped on the water in such a way that it hit a rhino sitting on the other side of the pond on the eye.
"I'll get you for this, you darn pelt!" The rhino cried out as he chased after them. This guy turned out to be pretty insistent, and they needed nearly ten minutes of running after they finally managed to lose him. After this, they were all pretty winded.
"Man..." Jo said to the two, "And I thought that making that aerial choreography for Kung Fu Panda 3's final fighting scene was tiring."
This caused the two canines to laugh, and Jo couldn't help but laugh along with the two of them.
After this scare was done, they saw that they were close to the "B-Strike", one of the most popular recreation franchises of the country. Soon, they decided which place they wanted to go next.
This place had everything to cater to all tastes and wants of mammals that came in. Jungle laser tag was a popular one. Jo and the other two formed a team and they fought with another trio of mammals. They lost, but they all had a blast.
Next they went to the "canine's favorite game", as it was advertised on the door. It was a plain room with machine mounted on one wall. The machine would whirr into action, and then it would thrown a tennis ball to the other side of the room. Immediately, the canines rushed after it, grabbing the ball with their mouths and then depositing it on the "return spot". Then the machine would throw another ball, and they would repeat the process.
Johan only watched the two canines to it for a while, wondering why it was so fun. However, it was only a matter of time before he decided to join in.
As it turns out, running after a ball on all fours and returning it by holding it on your mouth was pretty fun.
Jo was totally oblivious that it was always the same ball, what meant that he was having a ball on his mouth that was drenched on the drool of the other two...
However, the thing that attracted their attention the most was "Paw of Fury". And no, it was not the name of a fancy fighting game. Instead, it was the name of a dancing game.
Jo could be the kind of guy who loved kung fu and action movies since he was a cub. However, another thing that he loved was dancing. He got hooked on it when he was a pre-teen, and he was starting to notice other mammals on a romantic way. He noticed somehow that mammals who were good at dancing tended to attract the most attention. So, he joined on a dancing club back in high school. In two years, he was the best dancer on the school.
That was how Jo was. Once he put his mind into something, he gave it his all. It was like that with both martial arts and acting, and so it was with dancing.
Jo didn't got as many dates as he had hoped, but he found out he loved dancing.
He walked into that machine, and he totally rocked on those panda paws.
He made handstands, side-sweeps, even backflips. He totally owned the machine with his amazing moves, and everyone soon was around him as they looked at the panda on shades and a hoodie putting on quite a show on the dancing machine.
Gideon was the one who started the cheering:
"Go for it, Jo! You rock!"
Soon, the entire crowd was chanting:
"Jo! Jo! Jo! Jo!"
At some point, Jo finally stepped down from the machine, when a last backflip nearly made him lose his glasses and nearly made his hoodie fall back. Luckily, he was able to keep both of them on his head, and no one found out who he truly was.
Everyone was, however, sad that the skilled panda was coming down from the machine, as they all had wanted to see if he had more awesome moves.
He had, but he better not press his luck too much. He was already pressing it a lot by having all of this attention on him on the first place.
He did, however, scored the highest score on the machine. Now the number one score belonged to "JOP"
And, with that, the three of them made their way out of B-Strike, all of them feeling pretty happy and pumped up. As well as a bit sweaty. And hungry.
Jo treated all of them to a dinner on his favorite place there in Zootopia, which turned to be a nice restaurant with a homie atmosphere and a menu that catered to both herbivores and carnivores alike. They even served steak in there!
It was not real meat, though (although such thing was legal on other countries, especially those inhabited by reptiles). It was a synthetic steak made through long and complex processes (too complex to explain on this story), until it became identical to the real steak. Now, you needed to have tried a real steak to say it for sure, but some "qualified specialists" assured that it was identical to the real deal, from the texture to the flavor.
Sky ate one of those hungrily, while Gideon was happy having fish, and Johan stuffed himself with a mix of both herbivore and carnivore options.
The three of them could be all of different species, but they still had in common the fact that all of them were pretty big eaters. And, since the one paying the food had a Master Black Card, they were sure to enjoy themselves the most they could.
That meal was delightful to them from beginning to end.
"It would only be better if there was one of your pies as dessert, Gid." Jo said to Gideon, as both panda and fox had finished their respective meals. Sky was still liking his plate clean of all of the gravy that came with his delicious steak. It was clear that the wolf enjoyed his meal as well.
From there, their day continued with a lot of walking around the city, some stops on the best places to rest and visit in Zootopia. They felt the wetness on their fur from the rainforest, got chilly on the tundra, and worked up quite a sweat on the Sahara, and all of them in the span of a few hours.
And, of course, they made lots of pictures and videos, with many selfies of the three of them on the best places of the city. Sky was the one taking them, or sometimes Jo, since they had the longest arms. Their pictures could be mistaken by being from places all around the world, but they were all on the same place.
The best place on the entire world. The city of Zootopia itself.
And, with their idol by their side, the city of Zootopia seemed all the more amazing for the gay couple. They were both smiling on all of their photos with the panda. Gideon, in particular, had a giant grin on his face as he stood so close to Jo that he could smell the sweat on the panda's body.
Such a tantalizing smell...
Then, at the end of the afternoon, they all stopped to have ice cream, with each of them ordering their favorite flavors.
"Vanilla with bamboo leaves, with sprinkles and crushed tea leaves on top and all covered with caramel." Gideon said, as he knew exactly the flavor of ice cream that Jo loved the most. "You said it in an interview for a magazine three years ago."
Normally, Jo would be a bit worried about someone knowing exactly how he liked his ice cream, or about something that he said to a random magazine years ago. However, after spending a whole day on the company of the fox, talking and having fun with him, Jo felt oddly at ease with what the vulpine said. He knew that he didn't needed to be worried about the chubby fox, neither about his chubby wolf boyfriend. They were both pretty chill.
"This day was so great!" Gideon said happily, as he ate his strawberry ice cream. "It was magical!"
"Yeah, I liked today too." Jo admitted to the two. "Seriously, I haven't had such a fun day in months. Not since we started doing the action scenes and fighting sequences for KFP 4. Which I still cannot tell you guys about." Jo said right as he noticed Gideon seemed ready to ask something. The fox then went back to his ice cream.
"Yeah, we all had fun." Sky said to the other two. "This was surely the best three-way date I've ever had."
"Sky!" Gideon said, blushing as he looked at his wolf boyfriend. Sky, on his end, could only laugh at his small fox boyfriend. Jo, on his end, could only look at the two of them, and smile to himself.
He truly liked those two. He felt relaxed and safe around them. More so than he did around most other animals. It was nearly as if he had known them both for years, and not only a single day.
Perhaps they really were kindred spirits.
Now, as the day was coming to an end and everything was dark, it was time for them to end their day together and go their separate ways. Jo was going to go back to his apartment and the two will go back to theirs', except that...
"You don't have an apartment?" Jo asked the two, and they both seemed pretty embarrassed about this. As it turned out, today had been a crazy day. With the success that Gideon's bakery was doing on the last weeks, they have been with a lot of work to do, even with all of the new helpers they have hired recently. Even more now with the plans to expand and maybe open one bakery or two there in Zootopia.
They have been busy all week, and they nearly forgot about how Gideon had won the contest. They only remembered on the night of the previous day, and they had to run to have everything settled so they would not end up losing their contest, waste a chance to be with their greatest idol in the world or (even worse and more unthinkable) forcing Jo to end up being stood up.
As if that was not enough, they had nearly overslept and then they rushed to the train station so they could arrive on time to meet Jo on the Bug Burga. In fact, they only arrived there three minutes before Jo himself.
They were in such a rush to get there from Bunny Burrow that they didn't even thought about booking roundabout ticket. Or a place to stay the night.
They could just go to the train station and get a train, but they would need a ticket to even go inside. Due to how late it was, it would be a problem.
Sky managed to book them a ticket back to Bunny Burrow on his cellphone, but their train would only be departing on the morning of the following day. And, since the two came there in such a rush, they forgot their credit cards and only brought little money, so it would be hard to find a place to spend the night that they could afford.
Once more, Gideon cursed his own clumsiness, while Sky thought that maybe he could be a little less lazy and distracted...
"You can stay at me place." Jo offered, causing the two to look back at him.
"E-e-excuse me?" Gideon said, sounding like he could hardly believe that.
"My place is not far from here." Jo said to the two. "My manager had booked me a room on the palm hotel, but I had a change of heart when I saw that it was swarming with people holding signs with my picture and name. I decided to stay on a smaller place here in downtown, so no one would be bothering me too much. So, since you guys have nowhere to stay the night before you go home tomorrow... well, if you don't mind sharing a room with me..."
"Mind"!? He was serious?
They both would LOVE to spend a night with him! As guests, of course.
Gideon once more started stammering and tripping on his words as he accepted Jo's request, while Sky was, once more, much more relaxed and composed when accepting the panda's offer. In fact, he was the one who took offer and accepted the offer for both of them while Gideon was too busy tripping over his own words, and the fox was thankful for his boyfriend for answering for them both.
Jo had noticed by now that Sky was the chiller between the two of them. He had this chill attitude all of the day, although it was obvious that he was also pumped for meeting Jo. The panda was once more glad that those two were the chill kinds of super-fans, not the obsessive, scandalous type that would try to lick his face when they had a chance...
So, the two of them followed him in direction to his apartment.
True to his words, the place he was staying was smaller than the famous Palm Hotel. Like, a lot smaller. It was certainly not a five-star establishment.
However, it was not all shabby. It was actually pretty nice, even though it was definitely not the type of place where one would expect to find a famous movie star. That certainly made it perfect to a movie star who wanted to lay low while staying on the city.
"I think I should let you guys know, I'm kind of a messy guy." Jo told the two as they walked up the stairs. "And I was not expecting visits, so sorry if the place is a mess."
They both told Jo it was okay, and the panda soon was reaching on the pockets of his hoodie, fishing out his keys and fitting them on the lock and opening the door.
Truth to the panda's words, the place was not on the best cleaning status. There were clothes on the floor and some empty soda bottles and pizza boxes on the counters. It was not a pigsty, but it was clear that the panda was not obsessed about cleaning, and that the building had no room service whatsoever.
The two canines coming with him, however, didn't minded it too much. Although their noses twitched as they picked the smell of the dirty laundry, which reeked of panda sweat...
Jo told the two to "get comfortable" as he allowed the two to walk into his messy apartment. Once they were inside, Jo locked the door behind himself and sighed.
He walked forward into his apartment, tossing his keys on the plate by the nightstand they usually stayed, and he removed his glasses and his hoodie.
That thing was hot. However, Jo needed to use it when he went outside, as to avoid his fans coming at him and swarming him. It has happened enough times, in enough different places across the country, that he learned not to relax too much.
Sometimes it sucked being the star of such a successful franchise. However, Jo would never regret having becoming an actor. He would never think that his fans were nuisances. He would never allow himself to become an arrogant and bitter star who only cared about his own convenience and saw his loyal fans as nothing more than stepping stones for the top. And he certainly hoped he would never grow old to become a bitter old man who would look down on his past glories and resent the younger, rising stars.
Still, Jo would be lying if he said that sometimes his fans got a little overwhelming on their adoration. He wondered if Gazelle also had to deal with that?
Anyway, Jo felt relieved for taking out his shades and hoodie inside of his home. Or whatever place he was calling home at the moment. He only knew that it felt good to relax on a closed environment without having to worry about someone coming at him squealing and begging for his autograph. As he placed the shades on the nightstand by the side of the keys, and his hoodie on the coatrack, he felt like he could truly relax and be comfortable.
Then, he proceeded to remove his shirt. He placed it on a pile of used clothes. He didn't minded letting the clothing accumulate for a while. He would be taking it all to the drycleaner on Sunday, like he usually did. Then, he proceeded to unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants, and to remove them as well, revealing the green boxers he wore underneath.
He only stopped when his pants were nearly at his ankles, and he was about to step out of them.
He froze in place, before looking over his shoulder.
Gideon and Sky were both looked at him. The fox with wide eyes, and the wolf with a raised eyebrow.
A few moments of silence followed this, before Jo said:
"S-sorry..." There was a blush forming on the panda's face. "I-it's just that... Well, you see I... I'm kind of used to live by myself and... well, I kinda like to... hang out on my underwear when I'm at home."
He was covering himself with his paws as he said that, while the other two looked at him. It felt like one of the unused scenes they made when they were filming Kung Fu Panda 3, were Po is surprised by his friends when he was taking off his pants to give them to his goose father to wash.
Right now, Johan was having a much better idea of how embarrassed Po must have felt.
"I'm sorry..." Jo said, and he started raising his pants again.
"N-no!" Gideon said, making the panda stop on his tracks. Jo looked at the fox with surprise. Sky was looking at Gideon as well, with the same raised eyebrow. Gideon, seeming like he realized what he just said, has started to say:
"I-I mean... Y-you don't n-need to be dressed- I mean, bashful! Y-you don't need to be bashful. I-I mean i-it's your house and y-you don't need t-to be ashamed of being c-comfortable in your own a-a-apartment."
"I-I mean, t-there's nothing wrong w-with wanting to be on y-y-your underwear when you're at home. I-I mean, S-Sky and I like to do that as well, when w-we're on o-o-our own home..." Gideon confessed, seeming as if he was not even thinking on what he was saying. "Y-you don't need to be shy about it. I-I mean, you don't need to feel like you need to... well... I mean..." Gideon's voice trailed, and he only looked down, a blush on his face.
Sky looked at his boyfriend, and then he smirked.
"Yeah, like Gideon said." The wolf spoke. "No need to be shy. After all, we are all adults here." He was smirking as he said that. "Actually, since you just told us to get comfortable, why don't we all do just that?"
Gideon and Jo took a few moments to understand what Sky was suggesting. Once they did, they both blushed harder.
So, in a matter of minutes, the three of them have ditched their clothes. Sky left his own on a pile near Jo's clothes, while Gideon left his' neatly folded and placed over a counter on the kitchen. Now all three of them stood on their underwear, with Gideon wearing his green briefs while Sky wore a pink jockstrap.
The wolf seemed very much comfortable, while the other two were still a bit bashful.
"S-so..." Jo said to the two. "You two still hungry? I got some leftovers on the fridge..."
The two gladly accepted. Jo had some leftover Chinese food, which he shared with the two of them. They all gathered on the couch, and they agreed to watch some TV as they ate. It was just in time for one of Jo's favorite things on television: Animerica's Funniest Videos.
There was just something about seeing some random lion you barely know trip over and fall flat on his face on the screen that was just gratifying, not to mention funny. That was why the program was such a success, on the first place.
They all had a good laugh as they enjoyed the show and ate their noodles with shrimp. Once more, Jo found out just how at ease he could be with those two. He was not the kind of guy who would hang around with someone only on his underwear. Especially someone he knew for literally only a day. However, as they watched those videos, ate the leftovers and talked among each other about which segments of the show they thought the funniest, the awkwardness in between them was vanished at a very fast pace.
It was as if Jo had known those two for years at this point. Enough to be more than comfortable with the three of them being only on their underwear on his couch. And very close to each other physically, once the couch was not the biggest. He almost didn't minded that Sky was still talking selfies of the three of them.
"Don't worry, I won't post these." Sky said to the panda, "They are just for myself and Gid, for when we want to remember what our favorite star looks on his underwear."
Jo still blushed at this, but he was surprisingly chill with that. Even when he noticed that the Wolf seemed to be giving closes to his underwear as he took those pictures.
All in all, what started as a fan meeting his star after winning a contest turned into three guys having a guys night together as if they knew each other for their entire lives.
After the show was over, and so was the food, they agreed to all watch the sports channel. MBA was always a popular choice, including for guys who were real sucker for sports, like Sky was. Gideon was not much for them, but he has been discovering a passion for sports since he started dating Sky. The wolf's passion about his sports were surely contagious.
And today it was his favorite team playing.
It was only a matter of time before Sky was cheering and yelling at the TV as they watched. He was pretty vocal. Enough for Jo and Gideon both tell the wolf to tune it down, as to not bother the neighbors. Sky, of course, was considerate enough to keep his voice on an acceptable volume for an apartment.
And so, the night proceeded, with all three of them on the couch watching the basket game. It seemed that this was how they were all going to end their night.
(this story has a smut part, but I had ot crop it due to FF's rules)
(if you want to see the smut, go check my other account on AO3)
"Uhhh, Jo?"
"Hm?"
"Can we have your number?" Gideon asked, and this made the panda look at him in surprise, and so did Sky.
Seeing the pair of eyes on him, Gideon realize that he may have made a request that was just a bit too daring. The fox was already apologizing profusely, saying that Jo probably didn't wanted two strangers to have his numbers, and that he probably would not want to have them calling him.
However, Gideon was surprised when Jo said:
"Actually, I would like having you two calling me. I really like you two."
Gideon and Sky were surprised at this, as the panda smiled at the two of them.
"I'd love to give both of you my number. As long as you two don't do spreading it around..."
They both promised they wouldn't.
And that was how Gideon and Sky had their idol added to their contact lists...
