Chapter Text
Before the Failure to Arrest Antony Snootley
They’ve been working together for a week and Nick feels like an idiot. This shouldn’t have happened. He’s not supposed to care for her the way he does. The late night phone calls while he was in the academy, celebrating his graduation, her over-enthusiasm for them to do just about anything. He’s never had anyone in his life want to spend this much time with him, except for maybe his mom when she was alive. God, he knows that sounds so gross. Just add an Oedipus complex to the list of things wrong with me.
Judy says they can’t do things by sitting around. She thinks no one will ever give them another case to solve if they don’t jump ahead of the game. Judy wants to bust this anteater she heard about by bribing Clawhauser with donuts. She wants to do it even though Bogo won't assign them the case. Nick can do this arrest, or so he thinks. They can treat it like a hustle because that’s what he knows how to do.
It’s the night before they report back to work and Judy asks, “So, we should pretend we’re a couple with a kid?”
“Yeah, Carrots, the kid factor always works. Before you came long, Finnick and I had a pretty good gig going.”
Judy snorts.
“Hey, we did fool you.” He points out.
“Not for long,” she quips back.
“It still worked.” He shrugs.
“Anyway, l need to be good at this undercover thing. The better I am at it, the better I’ll be at saving the city. You’re already good at it from your hustling days.”
Nick shrugs. “If you follow my lead, you’ll be fine.”
“We’ll probably have to pretend to be a couple a lot since we’re partners. I don’t know what it’s like to be a couple. I’ve never dated anyone.” Judy says in a matter of fact tone. As if she’s discussing something banal like she’s never tried pineapple on pizza before.
Does that mean she’s never been interested in anyone, or she doesn’t want to date in general? Nick decides it’s inappropriate for him to ask those questions. Anyway, if she were to date anyone, it certainly wouldn’t be him. She’d need someone who was type-A, an overachiever with big ambitions for their career. Sure, Nick’s now a cop, but he isn’t studying manuals all night in his free time. Work is work, but for Judy, it's her life.
“I’m not a dad and I pretended to be one.”
“Yeah, but I want to be professional. I need to walk the walk, talk the talk, y’know?”
“What do you want me to do, find you a boyfriend on a dating app? Believe me, I know no good contenders.”
“No, silly, I can get a little experience with you.” She says straightening up as if preparing for a performance.
“I’m not following. What do you want me to do?”
“Let’s walk like a couple now. Act like one, but don’t hold back at all. I need to know what it feels like to be a girlfriend or a wife.”
“Girlfriends and wives are different titles, Fluff.”
She rolls her eyes, ”You know what I mean.”
“Don’t let all the girlfriends and wives hear that, but fine, I’ll help.” He concedes because his life has never made any sense. It should be par for the course that when he realizes that he’s in love with the bunny he works with, she asks him to pretend to be her boyfriend and refuses for him to go easy on her. Wonderful.
When they exit the restaurant, Judy looks at Nick expectedly. “Well?”
She really wasn’t gonna let him get away with this.
Nick takes her paw. “So, we would hold paws for starters.”
He takes her paw and it feels nice, even if it’s fake.
Judy squeezes his paw in return. “Okay!”
They walk two blocks, with Judy talking nonchalantly about things he missed at the precinct while at the academy. Nick’s physically there, but he can’t really focus. The last time he held paws with a girl had to be when he was 20 years old, a whopping 13 years ago. He had a girlfriend then. The only official girlfriend he ever had, and that relationship was the definition of toxic. There’s a warmth and security that Judy’s paw offers that no one else’s ever has.
“Okay, what other PDA should we practice? What about when the guy has his arms around the girl and then they hold paws simultaneously?”
More PDA? “You mean this?” Nick releases her paw and puts his paw around her shoulder.
Judy quickly grabs his paw to squeeze “Yes, exactly!” She sounds excited, but it’s for research purposes.
Nick wishes he could feel the same way about this as if it was just an exercise for work. It couldn’t feel more natural. He has to deflect. Make him think less about his feelings.
“More paw holding? You sweat a lot.” She didn’t sweat. In fact, he couldn’t imagine a more perfect paw.
“Ugh, I’m not sweating, Nicholas.” Judy quickly unlatches her paw from his, obviously trying to check if she was sweating.
He couldn’t handle any more close contact without her realizing he likes her.
They reach her apartment. “Come in,” she beckons.
The worst idea she’s had, actually. “But your nosy and noisy neighbors,” Nick argues.
“Because they talk so loud and I have to hear everything they say, I know they’re not gonna get home until like 1 AM tonight, apparently. Do you think I’d invite you in if they were here?”
“Judy, I can never predict what you’re gonna do.”
“Well, that’s why you love me, no?” She teases.
She has no idea how true that statement is.
They walk into her apartment which honestly is a step up from his. Sure, it’s minimal and her neighbors are loud in all ways, but she doesn’t have to fear her ceiling might violently fall in due to elephants.
“You can check out all the case files I pried out of Clawhauser on my desk. You’re sure Finnick will join us for this?” Judy says as she sets down her bag.
“The price was right. I’m still shocked Judith Hopps is willing to shell out cash to get help outside of ZPD resources. That has to be breaking some rule within the ZPD, no?” He chaffs.
Judy sighs, “I’m only doing it because you said this was the best option. No one is gonna take us seriously if we don’t get this guy. We have to show them Hopps and Wilde still have it. We’re not just one-hit wonders.”
Nick rolls his eyes. “I told you what those idiots say doesn’t matter. I’m sure in time we’ll do something good again.”
“It has to be this.”
“All right, partner,” Nick surrenders and walks over to check out the case file.
While Nick mulls over the file, Judy is deep in thought planning as always. He doesn’t want to lose her, so he’ll do this. If he can’t work with her, he’s not staying at the ZPD. Nick hopes their plan will be successful. He’ll distract Antony with Finnick and Judy will find the contraband.
Judy interrupts his thinking, when she blurts out, “I know I’m getting way ahead of myself, but if we do solve the Antony case, Bogo might want us to do more undercover work as a couple and then—”
Nick turns around to face her. “Slow down. Isn't it premature to think about future work we’re gonna do before we’ve even started working on the case that specifically hasn’t been assigned to us?”
“But we’re obviously gonna solve the Antony case tomorrow, so why wouldn’t I think ahead?” She asks, confused.
“Because we can’t get ahead of ourselves? We don’t know for sure…”
“Oh, Nick, you’re supposed to be a clever fox! We literally saved the city. Solving one little smuggler case isn’t gonna be a big deal!” She shoots him an annoyed look.
“It’s not going to be so easy, I think we should—” He’s cut off.
“I think you need to be more positive. Can I just continue saying what I was trying to say earlier?”
Nick resigns himself to the fact that she’s not going to understand that the Antony case might not run as smoothly as she may think. He sighs, “Go on.”
“I need you to kiss me.” She announces without any hesitation at all.
What? That was absolutely not what he was expecting.
All he can manage to blurt out is, “Why?”
“Because….because I’ve actually never kissed anyone before.” She looks slightly embarrassed, but not as embarrassed as someone normally would be at 25 years old when admitting they’ve never been kissed.
Nick doesn’t judge her though. She was an odd girl who lived in a closed-minded place. How to respond, though, is another story. The best he can manage is, “I don’t see how this has anything to do with the Antony case for tomorrow, or any other cases?”
Judy looks at him incredulously. “How can I pretend to be a good girlfriend or wife if I’ve never kissed anyone?”
“I don’t think the two are mutually exclusive.” Nick has got to talk her out of this. He can’t kiss her. That would be the worst thing. It would only remind him more of what he can’t have.
“I think they are. We may even have to kiss at one point for a case and I can’t be all flustered because I’ve never done it before!”
Nick looks at her incredulously. “Let’s focus on reality here, Judy. Why would we need to kiss in front of Finnck tomorrow when we’re pretending to be parents of a disabled child?”
Judy taps her foot in frustration. “It’s not just about tomorrow! I don’t know I want to just get this over with because I do feel it’s something I should’ve done before pretending to be in a relationship.”
When she’s set her mind on something, she doesn’t change it. “So… you want us to kiss?” He asks carefully.
“Yeah, just so I can experience it and if need be, I can handle kissing you.”
Handle. Nick knows he’s gonna get hurt, but that’s how life is for him. Maybe he’s not destined for true happiness.
“Okay, if this is really what you want…” Nick says, abandoning the case file on her desk. He takes a very nervous step forward.
They look into each other’s eyes. She’s eager and curious. Nick is downright terrified. Even more scared than he was when he had his own first kiss, which happened when he was older than he would've liked to be.
If he does too much, she might be offended. If he does too little, she’ll be upset that he didn’t give her a real first kiss.
She notices how conflicted he is and in true Judy fashion, she wants to dive in headfirst without hesitation, “Let’s just kiss.”
Judy leans toward him, fearlessly, and Nick gulps.
I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.
He pictures himself escaping from the Cliffside Asylum with her through the plumbing and almost falling to his death in the Rainforest District, but being saved by her. If he could survive that with her, they could get through this without making the situation awkward.
Nick cranes his neck down because of their height difference. She looks back up at him with her lips parted. The whole world has stopped. The apocalypse could begin outside and Nick wouldn’t notice.
He closes the tiny space between their lips and kisses her. The kiss is just a simple press of their lips together at first with their arms at their sides.
Judy starts to experiment and opens her mouth a bit which sends a shiver down Nick’s spine. She never said she wanted to learn how to make out.
He opens his mouth in return and puts his paws around her waist. She feels warm and fits perfectly against him.
Judy wraps her arms around his neck to pull him closer, but in doing that she disrupts the rhythm they had previously established. She pulls away for a second with a giggle, and it’s the best sound Nick’s ever heard, “I’m sorry.” She says in a sweet voice.
What Nick should say is, “It’s okay I think you’re good now. You’ve had your first kiss, let’s talk about the case.” Instead, he hears himself say, “It’s okay, like this.” Nick puts his paw on her cheek and leans forward again and kisses her softly to show her how to resume kissing.
Judy lets him and doesn’t pull away. Before he knows it they’ve been kissing for a few minutes and Judy is walking them backward. Her legs hit the side of her bed.
She pulls away and says, “Kiss me here.”
Nick swallows. “There?” He gestures with his head towards her bed.
“Mhm.” She lays herself down.
Nick feels a jolt of arousal run through him. She’s laying herself out for him. He’s screwed. He should stop this now, but this is everything he’s dreamed about. Instead, Nick finds himself crawling up her body reverently, thinking if this is a dream, he hopes it doesn’t ever end. He actually had a few dreams like this back at the Academy. He shamefully took himself in his hand when he’d wake up from them and wished that the dreams would stop.
Their lips meet again. For someone who has no experience, her kisses are a bit clumsy, but they’re pretty damn good. Nick lets her lead, but it’s getting harder to hide his arousal and he’s worried she’s going to notice. Unconsciously, his paws start moving around on her body. He squeezes her side and carefully tries to avoid touching her chest or ass.
Don’t go too far. Don’t do it.
“Okay, okay,” She breathes and moves her face to the side to end the kissing.
Shit.
Nick looks at her with wide eyes and his mouth agape. He feels like an idiot.
“I now know what it’s like to kiss.” She lets out a small nervous laugh.
“Uh, yeah,” Nick replies, unsure if he should apologize. Maybe he got too handsy. He creates distance between them by getting off of her and sitting at the end of her bed.
Judy sits up and says. “Okay, I think I’m ready to pretend to be your wife or girlfriend or whatever.”
Nick nods and gets up, “I should, uh, probably start heading home. It’s getting pretty late?” He looks over at her clock radio. It’s adorable that she has one when she could just use her phone.
“Sounds good.” Judy gets up as well to walk him the few steps to her door. “I’ll send you some pictures of the case file, so you can take another look.”
“Thanks.”
Before he’s about to leave, Judy punches his arm. “We’ve got this partner! We’re gonna kill it tomorrow!”
Nick flinches at her arm punch. “Yeah, I’m sure we will. Have a good night.”
“Night!” She says while he closes the door.
He has not a clue how he’s supposed to just pretend like nothing’s happened and everything is just fine after they just made out. What hurts the most is that she’s unfazed, It really was just something to cross off her list.
Nick knows their partnership is going to consist of her making rash decisions and him following her along at every whim, even if he doesn’t agree, all while being hopelessly in love with her.