Point A to B
#1 of The Broken Mask
Things were not going at all the way he expected. Nick Wilde had been forced to adapt to a lot in his time as a hustler and even more since meeting the sweetly optimistic bunny cop. But this? This was waaaay outside of the norm.
I know, my stories are random. I decided to jump on the Zootopia bandwagon, playing a trumpet all the way to fuzzy-wuzzy world.
Yes, this is a fluff piece. There will be multiple chapters. There will be an ending. There will be romance, drama, action, violence, buddy cop moments, sexy moments, fuzzy butts and cotton tails.
And for those of you who might recognize my icon, yes it is from Spintherella. And yes, I did obtain permission to use it. :)
** Point B**
He wasn't exactly sure how they had ended up like this.
Well, that wasn't true; he had a very clear memory of every moment that had taken him from point A to point B, and no doubt those memories would haunt him for some time to come. But that didn't mean he fully understood why he had his partner pressed against a tree in the Rainforest District, both of her legs hiked up with her paws resting on his thighs to compensate for their height difference as his paw slipped past the now unbuckled waist of her standard issue ZPD slacks. He was obviously as insane as she was, something that he continually tried to convince himself of when his fingers wedged and squirmed their way into her briefs. He almost managed to stop himself, almost managed to think for a moment before the adorable bunny chirred her approval and arched her hips and completed the motion for him. He was dumbfounded when his palm cupped over a heat that he had never felt from a vixen before, and perhaps even more dumbfounded when his middle digit pressed inward all too willingly until he felt that same wet heat wrap around it. This drew a sound he had never heard from from his partner and best friend, sort of a high pitched whimper/cry as her small paws dug into the front of his uniform. Tiny claws gripped and pulled him towards her so hard that he almost slammed his muzzle into the tree he used to prevent them from falling.
The growl that left him came when he suddenly realized that he didn't care anymore, and the tiny tremble of instinctive fear that raced through the bunny in response only caused his arousal to surge higher. His paw was no longer still as the shock was wiped away by need, pressing against the slick folds of her sex until the tremble of fear was washed away by another delighted sound and her paws once more pulled harshly on the front of his uniform. His free paw grasped the curve of her hip almost too tightly, dragging his partner closer to him so give himself easier access. He could taste her in the air around them now as his nostrils flared to drink in the scent of aroused bunny and his eyes narrowed to slits as he looked down at her. Her pulls were an obvious indication of her need, and that need went far beyond what his fingers could provide. It thrilled him as much as it terrified him.
He wondered if this was how she had seen him when he had gone 'savage' and stalked her in the museum? He certainly felt a little savage at the moment, as he started to pump his paw between her thighs and his finger into her pussy. His mouth watered at the sight of dazed, feral pleasure on her face when she whimpered and surrendered herself into his paws. She was so amazingly wet, unbearably hot as she started to rock in time with him, that dainty little muzzle parted and panting as she opened violet eyes to look up at him. There was no proud 'First bunny on the force' in those eyes; no happy go lucky, supremely optimistic mammal left in her. Just a need that he understood was real and urgent. The front of his own neatly pressed uniform pants started to feel like a cage as he hardened and if his paws had not been so full of horny bunny, he might have taken the time to reach down and ease the ache that had started the moment she had lost her mind.
This was not how he had pictured this day ending...
Point A
"Hopps! Wilde! You're up!"
The all too familiar voice of the polar bear drill instructor still managed to cause Nick's stomach to clench. Fond memories of being told exactly how often he had died in the various Districts sang through his mind with all of the appeal of a cackling hyena's mating call. Not that he didn't get it. The number of times he had managed to escape death while on the Night Howler case, many of which had been pure luck, had shown him a dangerous side to the city that even he had not been aware of; the side that slick words and a closed off demeanor had not be able to protect him from.
Of course, the very reason for his survival was the brighter side of the coin. Before he even had the time to pull himself out of the too large chair, the grey and white bunny had all but bounced her way into the front of the "Danger Evasion Techniques" class with an exuberance that made her... Her. A cocky little smirk played over his muzzle as he dropped to the floor and walked over at the pace of a lazy stroll until he stood beside her.
"Careful there, Carrots," he said, his gaze fixed on the class as the drill instructor started to go through her speech about how important it was to evade and distract a larger mammal rather than directly engage. His gaze turned to her as his grin widened just a bit, showing the tips of his canines to the one bunny he was sure would never flinch away from the sight. "You act this happy in every class, and people will start thinking that you like being chased by a fox."
He found it amazing that she managed to look as adorable as she did when she was doing her best to glare up at him, long ears folded back to match the mostly playful annoyance in her eyes. And because she was wearing that one piece blue on blue on blue outfit that she always wore to these training sessions (he wasn't even sure exactly what it was called, so he went with 'workout outfit' since he had never actually seen her jog wearing it) she was not doing anything to dispel it in his eyes.
"Oh, ha ha," she quipped in reply, giving him a nice, solid smack in the arm with her tiny fist. It stung, of course. She might have been small, but he knew very well that she packed a punch. As did the huge rhino that sometimes joined them for these little demonstrations. For that matter, so did most of the force by now. Her ears perked and her smile beamed when he reached up to rub at his arm with a grunt. "You know full well that you would never catch me unless I wanted you to."
His face went perfectly blank and even a little bored when he looked down at her, his mouth opening for his best witty comeback...
"If you two are finished flirting, can we get on with it?" the polar bear groused in an anything but playful tones that had both of them snapping their attention to her.
"Yes, ma'am," the fox said with a salute that wasn't entirely sarcastic. "Officer Hopps was simply reminding me that even rabbits find me irresistible."
This drew snickers from some of the class, which turned into scattered laughter when Judy replied, "I think you misheard me. I said irritating. As in, you're a pain in my..."
"Enough!" Though the commanding tone itself was broken just a bit by a cough of laughter from the large female. "Just get on with it. Some of us have other things to do today!"
"You never let me catch you," he reminded her as they turned towards the open mock-up of a Central Zootopia street. He cast another quick grin at his partner, this one far more sincere as he watched her drop down into a run-ready stance with her front paws on the grass, strong legs bunched under her, and her rear in the air. That outfit really did highlight every curve on that little bunny body, didn't it?
Keep it cool, Nick. Friend and partner. No way you're going to screw this one up. She doesn't need to know...
Not so easy to say when she glanced back at him with that bright smile and those sparkling eyes trained on his with challenge in them. "Because that just wouldn't be as much fun." With that, she was off like a bolt of grey and blue into the training course. Her head start was meant to be a small one; the course was called 'Evasion', not 'Chase' after all. So only a little more than a second later he was off after her.
He was faster than her, and they both knew it. The stronger limbs of a predator meant long strides with short gaps between, and wiry muscles that had been honed during academy training propelling his body forward with a speed that had surprised them both when they had first run this little course together. That didn't mean that she couldn't more than keep pace, as the wide paws and long legs of her species allowed every thrust of her legs to turn into a long hop, making it seem like she was flying rather than running. Their combined speed drew murmurs of admiration from some of the onlookers, except for the one female cheetah who remained bored and unimpressed.
He tried to anticipate her next move as he gained ground, but that was easier said than done. It wasn't just about knowing the move she might make, it was about knowing when she would make it. A fact that was proven clearly as she pivoted to the right and dashed off so suddenly that it took him a full half second to even start to turn after her. That half second allowed her to increase the distance enough that he fully lost sight of her when she dove feet first under a car on the pretend street. He had seen this a dozen times, and had learned that the quickest way to catch up was not to go around the car... But over it. A high jump and a quick leap to the hood and he was ready to close the distance again.
But she wasn't running at the other end of the car as he had expect, which made him pause, his eyes darting from side to side as his muzzle curved into a frown. "Carrots..?"
"Com'on, Wilde! Keep up!"
He whipped around to the sound of her voice and the breathless laughter that came with it, and saw that she had climbed out in the same direction she had entered and was already well on her way to being out of reach. Panting slightly, he rolled his eyes but couldn't help the grin that formed as he did his duty and reversed direction over the tip of the car. "Sly bunny..."
Then the misstep at the end of the car sent his left paw sliding out from under him and with a solid thump of his knee slamming into the trunk of the car, he went feet over head off the end of the car to land solidly on his back. A growl escaped him as he curled in on himself, his paws gripping his knee as he groaned. The sound of his pained growl and the commotion as the other students called out to ask if he was all right caught her attention, and far quicker than the rest of the mammals heading his way to help, she pivoted on a dime and raced back towards him. "Nick!"
Pained green eyes turned towards her as she rushed to him, the look of concern that was written all over her face making it all the more satisfying when that concern turned to surprise as he rolled and braced himself on all fours to leap at her. She gave a little 'Oomph!' when his body collided with hers, and he felt her smaller form leave the ground for a second before they ended up in a pile on the asphalt.
"Gotcha!" His muzzle parted wide in a delighted laugh as he straddled her hips with his knees a second later and pinned the panting bunny to the ground with paws pressed into her shoulders. He didn't even mind the instinctive twitch of her nose when he leaned over her, predator over prey. "I told you, irresistible. Officer Nick Piberius Wilde, wins out over the unbeatable wonder bunny!"
"You cheated!" she huffed, though she didn't exactly look wounded by it. In fact, now that the twitching of her nose had stilled, she was clearly doing her best to keep her herself from grinning. And was failing, the corners of her muzzle bending up just a bit now and then as he congratulated himself and a round of applause came from the rest of the class.
"Exactly," came the voice of the drill instructor beyond them. "And let this be a lesson to all of you. Just because your perp looks like they are down for the count doesn't mean that you can throw caution to the wind. Always approach a suspect as if they are a threat, even if they are..."
Nick sort of lost track of what was being said at that point. His wide grin remained as he held his partners eyes, and as his breathing slowed and evened out, he started to realize that there was something odd about Judy today. Something... Different. He couldn't quite put his claw on it, not right away. His own nose twitched now, nostrils flared a bit as he leaned closer to her, not even fully aware of the fact that he was doing it. Funny thing was, he saw her nose twitching, too. Not the same quick, uneven, getawayfromthepredatorbeforeheeatsme twitching that he had seen as he pinned her. It sort of matched the slightly dazed look that came into her eyes, slow and in time with her breath as if she were trying to find the same change in him that he was trying to find in her.
"All right, Wilde. Enough gloating," came the voice of the polar bear, which was just enough to snap him out of whatever had caused him to lean so close that his nose was almost touching hers. "You and Officer Hopps have Rainforest patrol in half an hour. The rest of you, get into your assigned pairs and try not to trip over your own feet."
He pulled himself back, up and off of her in less time than it had taken him to tackle her, and it was only a lifetime learning not to show more than he wanted to be seen that allowed him to crack a careless grin when he reached down for Judy's paw. He saw something that he never wanted to see from her when she looked up at him; a flicker of uncertainty in those violet eyes, and ears that were folded back as if she didn't really know if she could trust him or didn't really know who he was. It only lasted for a moment, and then it was gone as she grasped his paw and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet.
"Come on, Carrots," he said easily, releasing her paw and giving her a hip bump. He was relieved to see the confused uncertainty in her eyes clear away almost instantly as she returned the affectionate gesture. "Today, you buy lunch for me. Nicolas Piberius Wilde, conquering f..! Oof!"
"Only if you beat me to the cruiser!" she called out as he rubbed his ribs where her elbow had landed, and then watched the grinning bunny as she started off towards the women's locker room with a quick wave.
The green eyes of the fox followed her until that cotton tail of hers vanished around a corner and out of sight before he let his mask slip into something calm and emotionless.
Collected.
Controlled.
Buried.
Starting the walk towards the men's locker, he had a moment where he wished he had pockets in his sweats to shove his paws into so he could clench them without worrying about someone seeing. All the same, when a jaguar gave him a friendly wave as they crossed paths, Nick raised his own paw in return. His grin had even returned, his tail held high and his ear erect. He could have won an award for keeping the persona of the careless fox in place even as he stripped down, stowed his sweats in his bag, and grabbed a towel. It wasn't until he stepped into the shower and found it empty that he let the act drop, and turned the shower on so hot that he was sure it would remove all traces of scent.
No way you're going to screw this one up. She can't get to you if you don't let her know.
He leaned his head against the cool tiles as he tried to clear his mind of the scent of the best friend he had ever had under the nearly painful heat of the beating water. He allowed it soak into the red and white of his fur for a few minutes before he released a low sigh and reached for the soap.
She doesn't need to know that you love her.
Point B
This was not how he had pictured this day ending, but he simply couldn't muster the will power to fight it. Not that she had actually given him much of a choice at first. The first few moments after the drug dealers had slipped away, his only thought had been making sure that she didn't vanish into the night as she fled from him in terror. And the moment she had stopped? The moment his small, beautiful, much beloved bunny had turned back to him things had gone from bad to... He couldn't even decide it this was worse, or so much better.
His body knew the answer it wanted, and his mind was so clouded with need as her paws moved to his shoulders so she could pull herself closer to him that he couldn't seem to find the intelligence to think of an intelligent argument. Not when she wrapped her arms around his neck and huffed hot, quick little breaths into the fur of his neck. Breaths that seemed to match the pace of his paw against her and the finger inside of her, sending tingled sliding erotically through every follicle of fur on his body. It wasn't simply that, he knew. He could feel the way she sucked in his scent with every quick rise and fall of her chest, feel the tremble race through her when she released each breath and arched herself into the needy pace. The part of him that loved her more than life itself also felt the way she rubbed her muzzle into his fur, spreading her scent over him in a gesture that would have been possessive if she had been a vixen. A small rumble rose in his chest as she did this, and he found himself returning the gesture against the side of her neck where her vest and shirt didn't quite reach. Would she even understand what it meant? Would she want to keep his mark on her once this temporary insanity had passed?
He wasn't even sure who was setting the pace anymore, but he knew that there was a wild and sensual beauty to how easily she moved against him, fit against him. But he was also fully aware of the fact that he was literally twice her size, canine, and even his finger felt like it was being held in a painfully hot vice of needy bunny flesh, so this perfect pairing of pace and lust was an illusion. His body didn't want to listen to reason, and the ache of his cock against his boxers and slacks demanded that he release her long enough to release himself. She had enough of a grip on him now that he knew he could move at least one paw away from those eagerly pumping bunny hips, reach down between them, and...
No! No no no, Wilde. You will not do that. You will not hurt her like that.
He would give her this, because she wasn't exactly giving him a choice at the moment. And if he knew anything about females of any species, he knew she was close. Her breaths were becoming uneven gasps, strangled little sounds were escaping her as she tried to chirr or moan or both at the same time but the lack of steady breathing made it impossible to manage either. His paw tightened on her hip as he pulled her down against him as if he intended to take her right then and there, but instead he angled his palm to press against the mons and then curled that single digit with every thrust.
And that was all, and he knew it the moment her paws slipped off of his thighs and strong legs wrapped around his waist. His paw was trapped between them, immobile, but she no longer needed his help to come to climax. She was already there, and the steady motion of her hips came to a stop as she ground herself into his paw for one... Two... Three second before her entire body started to tremble and tighten against him. The heat between her thighs and between the tight entrance of her folds spiked as he felt slick heat ripple and squeeze rapturously around him. Her breathing quickened to an almost insane pace before she parted that tiny muzzle of hers and bit him on the shoulder hard enough to tear a growl from him. The paw that no longer needed to hold her hip moved up, sliding up her back until he found her ears and wrapped his paw around them.
Nick stopped short of trying to remove her as she came, realizing that the pain of the bite, while surprising, had been minor. Not deep. He knew it would bruise, but she had not been trying to hurt him. He felt her trembling and gasping against him as she held the bite, which was mostly holding his shirt now, just as he felt the ripple of her pussy around his finger become a steady squeeze and pull. And damn, but he knew that she would have felt amazing if he gave into his own urges.
Instead, he ran his own trembling paw over the length of her ears soothingly. Slow, long strokes that caused the bunny wrapped around him to visibly weaken as an actual moan escaped her against his shoulder. He took that as a good sign; a very good sign. That combined with the way her fingers moved to slide through the fur at the back of his neck in a caress that was anything but wild and hungry gave him hope that she was coming down.
"That's it, Carrots," he murmured softly against her cheek, taking this moment to breathe in her scent. A scent that was all around him, surrounding him, soaked into his fur as much as his scent was soaked into hers. He was unaware of the flickering blue lights heading down the road in their direction.
"I'm here. I'm not leaving you. I love you, and I'm never leaving you..."
Point A
"Hey, Carrots. Where are an elephants sexual organs?" he asked with a dopey grin, looking over at her through the dark aviator sunglasses with perked ears even as she groaned and rolled her eyes.
"Nick, I'm trying to drive," she said, keeping her eyes on the highway in rout to the Rainforest District. After a moment of silence, she tapped her paw on the steering wheel as she glanced in his direction. Waiting patiently for curiosity to get the better of her, Nick took a long sip of his coffee as he watched her. They had been partners for three months now, and he knew that sooner or later... Finally, with a windy sigh, she waved one paw for him to continue. "Okay, fine. Where are an elephants sexual organs?"
"On their paws," he said, the grin all but splitting his muzzle. "Because if they trample you, you're fucked!"
"Nick!" He burst into laughter at the slack jawed look of shock that came to that adorable bunny face. It wasn't the first time he had told her a crass or sexual joke. The pregnant camel had just been a warm up. He took a bigger gulp from his overly sweet coffee again as she gave him a dirty look. A look that lasted for all of five seconds before her muzzle scrunched and her paw snapped up to cover it as she gave a little snort of laughter that soon dissolved into a fit of giggles that had him wondering if he was going to need to take the wheel. "That's horrible!"
"Ah, come on," he chuckled himself as he set the coffee into the cup holder and leaned back while. "You know your day wouldn't be half as much fun without my jokes."
He stretched his arms over his head slowly to work the kinks out of his muscles as he ignored her quick eye roll. These post-training shifts were going to be the death of him, and he was certain that he would have to mention to Bogo that he was not a Tod in his twenties like most of the still mostly rookie classes. That argument might fall on deaf ears, he suddenly realized, because he HAD managed to catch the uncatchable Judy Hops in the last class. This fact lifted his spirits and made every little ache worth it.
An instinctive little tickle at the back of his neck made him lower his arms, and when he glanced at the rear-view mirror he found himself looking right into her eyes. Not an unusual occurrence, except she wasn't looking into his eyes. She was staring at his chest, and his arms with her eyes ticking back and forth between him and the road. And ears that were almost always high and alert were turned towards him with an intent that was somehow more intense, almost enough to make them tremble. It was also hard to miss the fact that the insides of those ears were a darker shade of pink than normal.
The moment she realized that he was watching her (or maybe she realized that she had been watching him) she quickly averted her gaze back to the road and gripped the wheel a little tighter. And there is was again. That change. Sometimes subtle, something that he was not wired biologically to identify. But even over the scent of semi-fresh coffee, he realized that the scent in the car had changed. The scent of his partner had changed. There was a new sweetness to it was the best he could describe it, though it was subtle. And it made his belly tighten when he realized the reason he had very nearly made a fool of himself in front of a dozen other ZPD officers.
"So," he began, reaching up to tug at the collar of his uniform as he quickly turned his gaze out to watch the city on his side of the car roll past. "That's a nice perfume you're wearing today, Carrots."
Smooth, Wilde. Now just reach down, open the door, and jump into oncoming traffic...
"Wait, what?" he heard her reply as he contemplated the idea that being road kill might be preferable to having this conversation. Her voice was a little shaken, a whole lot embarrassed, and confused all at the same time. "You can smell that?"
"Fox nose," he reminded her, as he reached up to tap the corner of his muzzle with one finger as he turned his gaze to her. He was glad that the dark lenses of the glasses were keeping his eyes mostly hidden, otherwise she might have noticed the way his gaze dropped when she shifted her hips in the seat. Dropped and lingered before he cleared his throat and continued. "It's not something just anyone would notice, and even I've only noticed it twice."
There was a long moment of silence between them. Not the general, comfortable silence that sometimes fell when the daily morning banter was finished, or they were both contemplating the case they were assigned at the time. This silence was loaded. With what he couldn't exactly say, or didn't want to think about, but it certainly wasn't the everyday friendly buddy cop silence that he was used to.
Of course, most days didn't include him realizing that his partner was in heat.
It wasn't until they turned onto the exit for the Rainforest District and started to cruise the streets of their patrol rout for the latter half of the day that she spoke again.
"I'm sorry. It's not normally this strong," she explained, and when he turned to her he could almost see the blush burning under her fur. Her eyes flicked quickly towards him, and then just as quickly away when she realized that he was still watching her. He watched her paw tap-tap-tap on the steering wheel for a long moment as she did her best to do exactly what they were here for, before she puffed herself up and released a long sigh. "I'll take care of it when I get home tonight. And use a stronger scent neutralizer before work tomorrow.
"Look," she continued, even though he had already decided not to comment. The idea of her 'taking care of it' tonight made him wonder if cold coffee in the lap would be an effective way to keep his sheath from thickening further. "It's not like I can't do my job. It's perfectly natural, and something that every female in BunnyBurrow has to deal with at..."
"So, what lucky rabbit has you so stirred up twice in one day?" he cut her off as he turned his gaze to watch the greenery of the district, not really all that interested in a lecture on the reproductive cycle of rabbits. Of course as soon as the words left his mouth he realized that he had no interest in knowing what young buck had caught her eye, either.
When she didn't respond right away, his quirked eyebrow popped up over his sunglasses when he turned his gaze back to her. She was gripping the wheel again, and he swore if she blushed any harder she was going to burst into flames. Another quick glance came his way, though this time her gaze rested on his face for a moment, before darting down to... Him. His chest, his arms, his uniform, in the exact same quick motion that he had seen in the rear-view mirror. Then those large, beautiful violet pools snapped back up to his face before she slunk down lower in her seat and refused to look at him again.
He was a sly fox, but he was apparently a very stupid fox, too. And he certainly looked the part when his muzzle dropped open while he stared at the flustered bunny. Two times that day, and both times the only male anywhere near her had been him. The twitch of her nose when he had pinned her hadn't been about predator and prey, and that look she had given him in the mirror had come only moments before the change in her scent.
He snapped his mouth closed as he felt heat rising up his own neck, a heat that thankfully she wouldn't be able to see reach his ears due to his fur coloring. Clearing his throat, he reached up with one paw to slide the sunglasses down a bit. Deep emerald green eyes watching her over them as he started to slide on his best mask to fit the moment: charming, sly fox.
"Don't do that, Nick," she demanded in a small voice as the color in her ears deepened again. "That look is not helping. Just... Tell me another joke, something to distract me so I can focus on the job."
"All right," he agreed, leaning back in his seat after a moment and setting his glasses right on his face. It was obvious that she didn't want to feel that way about him, and while that fact and the rejection that came with it stung, he accepted as just another level of keeping their relationship steady over allowing himself to want more.
He opened his muzzle to start the requested joke, then paused when he saw a weasel and a ram in the shadow of a tree. "What would a ram and a weasel be doing hiding under a tree?" he wondered aloud. He reached up to slip the shades off completely as he watched a wad of money and a tiny plastic bag filled with blue powder change paws, and was instantly alert.
"I don't know, what?" Judy quipped, her tone obviously relieved that he had decided to take her advice and start with a bad (but somehow funny) joke.
"No, Carrots, 996 in progress," he clarified quickly, checking his taser and side arm. He had to give her credit as she did the same, and after a nod to confirm each other's readiness, jumped out of the other side of the cruiser as if nothing had happened moments before.
Perfect partners. Best friends. Stay focused, Wilde.
Sunglasses back in place, he joined her and started his normal casual stroll towards the tree where the deal was taking place. Face perfectly blank and muzzle held high to make him look larger than he was, he stayed a step behind Judy as they crossed the abandoned street. The ram spotted them first and froze in the process of stuffing the tiny bag into his pocket.
"They're going to run," he muttered in a tone so low that he knew only she would be able to hear him. "In three..."
The weasel took notice of them, and his already large eyes seemed to widen by a size or two.
"I've got the ram. Two..."
"ZPD!" Judy called as she increased her pace towards them. It was a wonder she didn't run everywhere. He could very nearly see the energy in every step she took as she left the road and her large paws vanished into the underbrush. "You're under arrest!"
"And that's three." He was already side stepping into the obvious direction the ram was going to take, when the ram bolted. "ZPD! Don't move!"
Of course, the command was ignored and he took off in pursuit at a pace that the ram couldn't hope to match. He often wondered why that was even a part of procedure sometimes, because they never stopped. In the corner of his eye, he saw Judy dash after the weasel in a loping sprint that never failed to make him grin. It was no secret that the first and still only bunny cop in the ZPD was a force to be reckoned with on the mean streets of Zootopia. Her reputation out on the streets was such that even large predators managed to be intimidated when she came onto the scene.
Focusing on his own chase, as short as it was likely to be given the plodding run of the ram in front of him, Nick leaned forward and picked up the pace. When the ram tried to take a sharp turn in an attempt to throw him off balance, his many, many chases after that ridiculously agile bunny more than paid off when he pulled the turn much quicker. He managed to catch the back end of the ram's coat, a bleating cry of alarm escaping the mammal before he used his greater strength to rip himself out of Nick's grasp and turned to face him. Horns down.
"Whoa there, big guy," Nick said, his arm held out even as he braced his legs for the charge that he already saw coming in the desperate herbivore's eyes. When it did come, Nick did what he knew would be the last thing the ram expected; he ran into it rather than away. Just as his muzzle would have been crushed by the rushing horns, the agile fox dropped into a slide that sent his back paws directly into the spindly legs of the ram, causing the larger mammal's inertia to propel forward a few feet through the air before he came crashing head first into the sidewalk.
Pulling his radio from his belt, he stepped over the unconscious ram. Still breathing, eyes closed, unmoving. "This is Officer wild. 10-52. Suspect is unconscious. Medium sized ram, might be mild head trauma. Corner of Pine Martin Luther Drive and 72nd."
His head whipped around when he heard a haunting shriek echo through the rain forest, back toward where...
"Carrots!"
Most animals in Zootopia were capable of running on all fours, but didn't do it because it seemed less civilized than their metropolis was comfortable with. Nick was on all fours and tearing through the underbrush as he ran towards the source of the scream, his heart hammering in what felt like his throat when he dodged a tree and came to a skidding stop behind a building. The blue clad bunny-who had never looked as painfully tiny as she did in that moment-was lying, curled into a tight ball and trembling in the center of a walkway.
"Carrots!" he prayed desperately as he rushed to her side, dropping down beside her and reaching out to touch her shoulder and roll her over. "Judy, can you hear me? Common, look at me, Carrots."
He had expected her to be injured, expected to see some sign that she had been attacked or even worse, stabbed by the weasel. What he did not expect to see was the beautiful face of his partner covered in light blue powder as her unfocused eyes tried to turn towards him. His gaze darted around, and his suspicion was confirmed when he saw the broken bag of blue dust inched from where they were. He had never seen this particular drug before, and it hadn't been in any of the recognition classes in the academy. The weasel had obviously used his own product to escape capture.
His instant fear was overdose, and trembling paws lifted her light body from the ground as he whispered, "It's going to be fine. An ambulance is already on the way. Stay with me, partner."
He saw it happen, though seeing didn't give him to time to react. Her pupils dilated to the point that almost all violet was blacked out, and her nose twitched quickly as a terror so deep and primal came into her face that he felt it tremble down his own spine. The shriek that she released this time was panic, deep and sudden, and before he would react she had planter her rear paws into his belly and kicked off to send him flying in one direction and her the other. The breath more than knocked out of him, he could only struggle weakly to his feet as he watched her drop to all fours and stare at him with eyes that he didn't recognize, but fully understood.
Savage.
Before he even gasped enough air into his aching lungs to call her name again and cleared the spots from in front of his eyes, she turned and darted into the trees. Away from him. He understood instantly, even as he battled the swimming in his head as oxygen flow returned with a few shallow, quick pants. She was a prey species. Savage predators hunted prey, and savage prey ran from predators. Ran from him.
"Carrots," he managed to croak out, and even saying the word made his lungs ache for another breath. He knew that if she got lost in the district, it would be weeks before they found her, if they even found her. Groaning slightly, feeling as though he had been hit by a truck, he followed his nose as he stumbled forward and after her in the fastest run he would manage.
Point B
Run. Hide. Stay hidden, but ready to run.
Stay hidden, but ready to run.
Cowering under a canopy of vines that had grown between the trunk of a fallen tree and an odd, hill shaped structure with windows that frightened her almost as much as the fox did. But because the fox triggered every run and hide instinct, she couldn't run to find a better hiding place. So many strange sounds. The very ground under her paws seemed to tremble as the fast moving machines raced over the roads in the distance. The scent of so many different animals, so close to her but out of sight, was so strong that it made her nose burn and caused the feeling of panic to rise. Her muscles frozen in place, except for the constant trembling that wracked her every time she heard the fox's strange calls being carried through the forest.
"Carrots..."
Hunting her. Tracking her. Following her scent. Or maybe the scent of the strange blue powder that had been left mostly behind on the ferns and leaves as she dashed head first through them in her panicked flight. He was getting closer. Her fur bristled and then flattened as she tried to make herself smaller by pressing herself close to the underside of the fallen log. She could hear every step he took, every crunch of brush under paws, every pause and gasp for breath.
Yes! She had kicked him. She'd felt the soft underbelly of the predator under his strange coverings as she had kicked him with all of her adrenaline fueled strength to keep from getting eaten. And she had escaped. He was injured, or weakened. Moving, but too slow to catch her. She could run again, she could find another spot. A spot far enough away that the fox would give up, stop the chase.
She heard him again, even though her ears were pressed flat against her head. A grunt-close enough to a growl to make her cower- and a scrambling of paws on the log she hid under. Then footsteps moving up the log, directly over her. That strange sound came again. Not a growl. Not a snarl. Not a yip. But that didn't matter. He was too close. She had to run! Now!
Powerful rear legs bunched as she heard him scraping just above her, shuffling through the vines that shielded her until she saw the red of fox paws break through. Panic shot through her, and with it a fresh burst of adrenaline she bolted out of her hiding spot and ran towards the edge of the tree line again. Run! Hide! Stay hidden, but...
"Judy!"
She heard that sound again, louder with an edge of fear in it. The fox was afraid? Foxes were to be feared, so why did she hear fear in the sound it kept shouting into the forest? At the sound of a groan and a thump into the forest floor, she was compelled to dig her feet in and skid to a stop. Compelled to turn and investigate. She saw the fox then, in his strange blue coverings, lying on his back in the brush. Gasping breaths, uneven breaths, desperate breaths even as he turned deep green eyes towards her and tried to struggle to his feet. He was hurt...
Of course he was hurt. She had hurt him to escape him!
No. No, of course he wasn't hurt. He was still moving towards her, still had the strength to stand even if she saw his legs wobble. Wobble and crumple under him so he had to catch himself on one paw as he dropped to his knees. He was still then, except for the harsh sound of each wheezed breath.
Now, run now!
Nose twitching quickly, breathing in the humid scent of the forest around her and that of the fox chasing her, her body did not obey the instinct to flee. One tentative paw reached forward, touched the ground and was followed by another. Towards him. Into the danger the fox represented, into the jaws of...
Alright, get in here. Okay. You bunnies. So emotional...
Her fox. This was her fox. Instinct still demanded that she run, hide, stay safe, stay away, but she knew that this predator was hers. She had no idea what that even meant. But the familiarity of the scent struck her then, and with it came a different sort of fear. He was hurt! Hesitant steps gave way to a quick dash towards him, a dash that stopped when he raised his eyes towards her and primal fear screamed danger, run!
But she didn't. Her heart was racing so quickly that she felt it might burst in her chest, and that tiny pink nose was twitching so rapidly that her muzzle almost ached. But she stayed close. She almost flinched away when he reached out towards her with one paw, her eyes darting to the tips of each claw, but she stayed until he touched her. The touch of the predator was so soft on her face, as soft and hopeful as the eyes that watched her as she tilted her head into the paw that cupped her cheek.
"That's right, Carrots. It's me. It's Nick. I won't hurt you. I won't let anything hurt you."
Those strange sounds again. She didn't understand them, but the soft hum of his voice was pleasant, his touch was soothing, his fingers so gentle and his scent so inviting. Without a sound, and without further protest from instinct, she hopped closer to him and then stepped under his larger form, her head tucked under his muzzle as she took in the scent of his fur with deeper, slower breaths. And when he moved to sit, she followed him. No longer wondering why, no longer feeling fear, she climbed into his lap and allowed him to wrap his arms around her light frame.
Safe. So perfectly safe and warm where she was, with her head resting on his chest and the quick beat of his heart in her ear. Surrounded by his scent, reveling in his touch as she felt it slide over one of her ears and then the other. She could tell that he was still afraid, could feel it in the way his paw trembled when he touched her even as his breathing started to slow and become more even. But it would be alright now. She didn't know how to tell him, didn't know how to explain to him that everything was alright now because he was with her.
So she would show him.
She tilted her face and paws up at the same moment, placing her front paws on the front of his odd blue covering so she could feel the steady rise and fall of his chest against her fingers. Assuring herself that he was calmer now, no longer hurting, and no longer suffering. Suffering that she remembered she had caused him; by kicking him, running from him. A warm breath escaped her muzzle as she pressed her face into the cream colored fur under his muzzle, with the tip of her nose lightly rooting around through his fur to release a comforting series of light squeaks.
"Okay, now that... Is... Adorable. Where's my cell phone when I need it?"
The soft rumble that came from her fox when he chuckled uneasily didn't startle her, didn't frightened her any more than the light drag of his claws through the fur one the outside of her ears did. No, no. Not fear. A shiver raced through her at his touch, at the feeling of his dark claws brushing across the skin under her fur in a way that that caused a sudden tightness between her thighs. Turned her squeaks into a softly feminine whimper. She knew she was in heat, just as any bunny would know. But it had been a background sensation, a tiny niggling feeling that she had been able to ignore until...
And, oh, he smelled so good. Not at all like a buck might, not at all like she would have expected now that she was this close to him. And it was anything but soothing now. Maybe because she felt as safe and comfortable as she was, the very fact that he was a predator made the spice of that clean, delicious, male scent cut through any objection about the fact that he was fox. Her paws clenched on his chest, gripping the blue cloth as she pulled herself up his body until she could nuzzle into the side of his neck. She felt a change in him as she huffed into the soft red and cream of his fur, a sudden awareness of what was happening. It wasn't surprising. She could smell herself, too, almost as clearly as she could smell him. The tingle spread to an ache when his arms came around her, which became a need that she had no interest in denying. Feeling the heat rise in his neck as the pace of his heartbeat quickened against her paws assured her that her fox wanted her as much as she wanted him.
"Carrots? Oh. Oh! Oh damn, that's right. You're in - Look, Fluff, I don't think you want to do anything that you're going to regret later..."
As soon as the strange sounds had started, his paws had stopped moving. When the sounds had continued without end (she was not feeling particularly patient at the moment) she decided to end them by shifting her hips in his lap until she could feel the outline of his sheath through the cloth that separate them. Then she pressed down against it, grinding her hips in a back and forth motion until she felt the friction and the quick tingle of pleasure that seemed to spread
"...and as good as you smell right now, I certainly don't want to do anything that you'll regret laaaahoh! Damn it, Judy... Not helping."
The change in the sounds, and fact that his arms tightened around her and pulled her closer was more than enough sign to know that she had gotten her point across. And it was also enough for her to realize that he was not the only one wearing the strange coverings. Panting through her nose and still rocking her hips to make sure that the light pulsing she felt between his thighs wouldn't calm, her gaze turned towards the blue slacks and belt she wore. Nose twitching and brow furrowed, she reached down with one paw to shove at the belt. Strange that she had never noticed it before, hadn't felt the weight of all of the small boxes and metal bits on it, as if it belonged around her hips. Now it, combined with the blue slacks were in her way and she shoved harder. She released Nick entirely, leaving herself straddling his hips as both paws tugged and yanked at the restrictive clothing. It wasn't moving!
Panic started to rise again quickly. The feeling of being trapped, contained, unable to break free of the belt made her paws scramble in a desperate attempt to remove it as she rolled off of her fox and writhed on the ground in an attempt to wiggle out of it. Why wouldn't it come off?!
Strong paws gripped her by the shoulders in mid struggle, and it was only the fact that his scent surrounded her again that prevented her from kicking out to escape when he lifted her off the ground and drew her back to him. She didn't stop her efforts, didn't stop shoving and clawing at the confining atrocity that now felt like a cage. She felt her fox stumble a bit, but regain himself by bracing a paw against a nearby tree trunk. A trunk that he leaned her against as she propped her rear paws onto his thighs, both paws now shoving the belt down. She felt the pain as it started to squeeze down her wide bunny hips, a direction it was not meant to go but that didn't stop her. Once it was off, she could...
"Stop, Carrots! Stop!"
Wide violet eyes snapped to her fox at the urgent tone, her nose wiggling quickly as she panted against the rise of fear. But though his tone had been hard, his paws were gentle as he reached down between them and started to work at one of the metal loops on the belt. Of course. He was a fox. Foxes were clever.
Sly fox.
It only took him a second, and after three quick motions there was a blessed loosening only a moment before he drew the belt from her hips and carefully dropped it onto a pile of leaves. She glared at it accusingly with narrowed eyes before she turned her attention to the remaining cloth. This all had one purpose, after all. The heat between her thighs had not cooled in her panic, and certainly hadn't cooled when Nick had picked her up mid panic attack as if...
Nick.
Her eyes widened as she stopped pulling at her slacks in the same moment that one of his dark red paws came down to rest over both of her gray ones. The fact that this brought his paw so close to the ache of her sex made sparks of heat race through her, though his only action beyond that was to speak to her.
"You really need this, don't you, Carrots?"
She heard the reluctance in his tone, but when she turned her still wide eyes up to him-eyes that now recognized him as who he was-she could see so much more than just that. Concern was primary in those deep green eyes of his, but there was also longing, lust and a hunger that made her stomach tighten.
Yes, yes she needed this! She needed, but even as she thought of opening her mouth to express how much she needed hi, she realized that her legs were still confined. The heat between her legs was still bound in that annoying blue cloth. The primal need to mate and the instinctive fear of being trapped made her writhe against him again, struggling until she managed to free her paws so she could claw at it again. Why wouldn't it come off! How much longer was she going to have to...
She grew still again when a dark paw reached for the button and deftly flipped it open. Then that paw, which looked so large and so perfect to her right then, tremble and hesitated for a moment before it drew the zipper down at the front. She felt the relief instantly, the relaxing of the fabric gripping her hips and relished the freedom that was soon to come when she wiggled out of them. She tensed when instead, she felt the brush of silky fur and the warmth of a strong paw sliding into them.
This wasn't expected. She wanted to mate, she wanted her fox on top of her and inside of her. The part of her mind that was slowly coming back tried to find the words to tell him, until that paw was wedging between her work briefs palm first. The intimate touch that was so close to that aching sex between her thighs that she didn't even notice another moment of hesitation. She simply released a low chirr of approval and pleasure as she braced her legs against his thighs and arched her hips into him until she felt his touch against her sex for the first time. As strange as it was, as completely outside of the realm of the settings that she had seen in her dreams when they did this - because there had been many, many dreams - it was still one of the most amazing things that she had ever felt in her life. She could have blamed the heat, or the fact that a large part of her was still savage enough to simply take that bolt of pleasure that came from his touch and run with it.
But she knew that wasn't it. That wasn't the whole of it. She had wanted him to touch her for months now, to step past the boundaries of their friendship into something deeper that she just knew was right between them. And this felt... So right. Her legs trembled when one thick finger first carefully explored her outer lips, and then sank into the aching need between them. She heard a little gasp from him even as a strange cry was pulled from her own muzzle as she clamped down around him, her fingers gripping the front of his shirt and pulling him closer on reflex. She didn't even register the grunt or the sound of his other paw slapping into the tree to stop the forward momentum, but when his body stopped moving towards her, she simply closed the distance herself.
When he growled, she very nearly came. Her whole body trembled with it, and her nose twitched rapidly as the scent of his own arousal mingled with hers. Thinking wasn't much of an option beyond the point when his paw started to move without her help, the pad of his palm nestled against her folds and adding delicious friction thanks to the tight space between her briefs. The spike in sensation caused her head to drop back and her eyes to fall closed, a hot bolt of primal lust that was nearly painful shooting all the way through to the tip of her tail. Her grip on the front of his uniform tightened as she drew herself closer to him, a motion that he reciprocated by squeezing her hip and roughly pulling her closer of his own accord.
When she managed to open her eyes again, she found him watching her. There was a hint of the more primal nature of the fox in him now, too. She could see it written across his handsome muzzle, and shining behind his eyes. It was more intense than it had been in the museum. She had been impressed by his act then, and for a moment had almost thought that he had gone savage. But the look in his eyes now was no hustle; the light behind green eyes was hungry and aroused, almost pained as he held something of himself back. She wasn't given time to wonder what that something was, because he certainly wasn't holding back with his paw.
Even as her hips worked to match his pace, she wanted more of him and worked to get it. All but crawling up his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck, pressed her mouth into his throat, and allowed herself to sink into the scent of him. The heady musk of male fox draw in through her mouth and nose, allowing his scent to linger on her palate and flood her mind all at once until she started to suck it in greedily. Rapid inhales and exhales warming his fur with her breath, but seemed the right thing to do as she heard him released a pleased sound of his own as his grip on her tightened. She thought that was the moment, she cried out in another strange sound that she didn't even recognize herself when he pulled her hips down towards him. Instead, the finger inside of her changed angle and reached deeper; spread her wider until it curved inside of her and the pad of it brushed some unexplored part of her that made her hips buck and her vision fill with spot as a wave of pleasure radiated out to the tips of her toes. It was so intense that she almost kicked off of him, almost tried to squirm away. She found herself wrapping her legs around his hips instead, and was thankful for it when the peak came only seconds later.
Judy was once more lost in the mind of a savage, though this time that slip into her more primal instincts had nothing to do with the drug. It had everything to do with the way she felt, and the sensation that radiated out from her sex and spread throughout her body. Her mouth parted to scream his name, but instead latched onto his shoulder with her front teeth and bit down as hard as she could. She didn't taste fox, which she would later realize was a good thing, but she held that grip on the wedge of his uniform as she cried out into it. Her body tried to follow that sensation, to prolong it by humping against the paw between her thighs with a need that she had never experienced before she had allowed a predator to touch her. And it was so achingly good that she didn't want it to end, didn't want it to slowly slip away like it already was. Her body tightened around his finger when she felt his paw wrap around her ears in response to the bite.
No, don't pull me away! Please. I want to stay right here...
Then that paw was stroking her ears soothingly, dragging his fingers over the sensitive length of them with such care that it caused her to release a breathy moan into his shoulder as the orgasm ebbed and slipped slowly away. In its place was a feeling of simple, calm bliss as he held her and soothed her. Her own, smaller paws moved over the back of his neck in turn, easing her fingers deeper into the fur as she clung to him. She knew that she was fully herself again, surrounded by the scent of fox and desire, still shaking as aftershocks caused her sex to tighten around his finger now and then.
But none of that mattered when he spoke to her again, what had been strange sounds to her before now clear and fully understood. And she would never forget them, even as the world around her started to fade from blissful and warm gray, to blissful and warm black.
"I'm here. I'm not leaving you. I love you, and I'm never leaving you."