Zootopia - Blurring Lines

Chapter One - Judy

A/N: This being my first fanfiction (or even, document over 2000 words), I would really appreciate any creative criticism or ideas being left in the comments. As I am a high school student, I do have various obligations (homework, exams etc.) which need to be fulfilled, and as such, I may not push out a chapter very often. I should be able to write (hopefully) at least another chapter over the school holidays before my nose is pressed back to the grindstone.

Enjoy!

The muffled thunk of a mug hitting the table punctuated the silence in the office. My ears twitched, and my tired eyes slowly rolled upwards to find the source of disturbance.

'Hey, Whiskers,' said a familiar smirking voice. 'Didn't know you were planning a sleepover at work.'

I yawned as I took in my surroundings, which now resembled a nest of papers.

'Oh, no,' I mumbled groggily, 'how long have I been out? The chief won't like paying me for taking a nap'.

'Only a few... hours' teased Nick, grinning and scratching the side of his face nonchalantly.

I swung my chair squeakily around to face the clock, which seemed to taunt me with its confirmation of Nick's statement.

It was an hour past the end of my late office shift. I groaned.

'Why didn't you wake me up earlier?'

'Well, I dunno about bunnies, but us foxes tend to wanna sleep for as long as we can.'

'Yes, but in a bed would be nice,' I replied, rolling my eyes hugely.

Nick pretended to consider this for a moment. 'I dunno Fluff, you looked pretty happy to me.'

'Oh, shut up' I said, trying to feign annoyance but ruining the effect by smiling. However irritated I was with myself for falling asleep in the first place, I was grateful that the thought had eventually crossed Nick's mind to wake me up.

'Come on, Carrots' he spoke softly, offering a paw. I grabbed the coffee off the table with one paw and allowed myself to be lifted out of the chair. Taking a small sip of the boiling liquid, I forced my stiff legs to move. As I reached the door, I glanced backwards and caught Nick looking at me with something like... pity? Seeing my gaze, he quickly turned and begun the process of making our shared desk look presentable again.

That seemed nice of him... with his track record of 'jokes' I supposed I was lucky I hadn't woken up with Zu-Tack stuck in my ear fur. But he had brought coffee and was now covering up the mess I'd made.

Shaking my head wearily, I made my way outside into the night air still thinking about the day's events. We'd gotten through sorting eight stacks of paperwork, which was now being swept off the floor. Oh, well. The joys of having a boring office duty in the Resource Department twice a week were lost on both of us. At least it meant I got to spend time with Nick. His presence by my side made office days, if not enjoyable, at least bearable.

My mind swirled back to yesterday, when we'd had an actual assignment in Savannah Central.

I stopped, dumbstruck, and my ears flew up in alarm. My thoughts whirled. Could that be it? The reason Nick had been treating me strangely... Nick had, more or less, asked me whether I loved him. I'd answered yes because, well, I do love him... but I didn't think he took me seriously. And did I even like him in that way? What had seemed a simple enough comment on his personality at the time might have meant more to him than I was expecting... I wondered silently, gazing upwards at the dark sky. He'd been behaving, well, strangely toward me, ever since the Night Howler case, and even before he was inducted into the force.