Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

*thunk*

The noise surprised Nick. After hours of staring at countless case files, only taking breaks to write down small annotations in the margins, the sudden noise brought him back to the real world. He glanced over his shoulder and noticed his partner wilting over her manilla folders, using the ridiculous amounts of paperwork as a makeshift pillow. The immediate silence of the room was only interrupted by small, soft breaths.

Nick sighed as he rubbed his eyes. They stung like he hadn’t blinked in hours. He slowly stood up and lazily thrust his fist in the air, feebly celebrating his victory over his partner in resisting the temptations of sleep. Reaching into his pocket, he walks behind Judy to pose for a picture. This was the first moment he’d beaten her at being even slightly responsible, dammit. Of course he was going to capture it! And, you know, rub it in her face whenever he could, obviously. Putting on his best zero-percent-tired-one-hundred-percent-responsible lazy grin, he stuck up two fingers behind and over Judy’s head.

*click*

Nick stowed away his phone and lazily collected all of the paperwork on his desk, shoving it into a folder, completely disregarding any form of organization. “Alright Carrots, let’s get you home.”

Kneeling down, Nick wrapped an arm against her upper back and behind her knees, cradling her small, fuzzy body. He slowly lifted Judy up from her desk, letting her lean against the back of her chair. Soon enough, her head naturally fell backwards, revealing a tiny smile as she slumbered. When he was finally standing up, Judy let out a tiny yawn, followed by soft, unintelligible murmurs and nuzzled her forehead into Nick’s chest.

-___--_--___-

By the time he reached her apartment, he could have sworn he was carrying a soft, furry ball with ears and a cotton-ball tail. The night was fairly brisk, so Judy had curled up into an adorable ball of fluff in order to stay warm. When he opened the door, only the sight of a gravely under-furnished apartment greeted him. Closing the door as quietly as he could, he walked over to her bed, one of the only pieces of furniture in the room. As he slowly pulled Judy off of his abdomen, she sleepily attempted to grasp at her portable, fleecy space heater. Unfortunately for her, her space heater was currently more coherent (and responsible!) at the time, and she found herself getting further and further away from her warmth.

“G’night Carrots”, Nick whispered, bringing his arm up to softly scratch behind one of her ears. He stood back up, turned around, and began to walk towards her door.

“mmnnnnoo.. nniiiiiiiiccccck”

Nick stopped. He wasn’t sure he was able to process this much adorableness. Walking back and kneeling next to Judy’s bed, he kneeled down and continued to scratch behind her ears, feeling her scalp rub up back against his hands. After a couple of minutes, she rolled towards the edge of the bed, grabbing his arm and clutched on, gripping it in the fuzziest hug it had ever experienced. It didn’t have a chance. Nick slowly tugged his arm back once, only to be met with a “mnnoooo”. He tried again. “mmmmnnnooooooooooooo”. He sighed. She nuzzled her cheeks against his fingers, only stopping when the strength of the grip on his arm changed from “fuzzy hug” to “crushed by fuzz”.

“Carrots.”

“no.”

*sigh*

He rolled his eyes and crawled under the covers, giving up on his neigh-impossible task of returning back to his home. He rested his other arm behind Judy’s head, scratching the back of her neck as he settled into his home for the night. She slowly gave up on her brutal attack on his forearm, redirecting her efforts to his torso. Maintaining optimal surface-contact-area with her furry space heater, she was finally able to rest, burying her face in Nick’s tuft of neck fur. He wrapped both of his arms around the small of her back, cuddling with her as if she were a stuffed animal. As he felt the warmth radiating against his chest, he slowly closed his eyes.

“yes.”

Chapter Text

The sun began it’s journey back to the skies, illuminating the sky in deep hues of pink and purple, letting its rays fill the otherwise empty apartment with its energy. As the room became brighter, sounds of birds rang true, transforming the formerly melancholic atmosphere into a stunningly less depressing home. The beam of light that permeated through Judy’s window was tracing itself up Nick and Judy’s bodies, slowly making the journey towards their faces. As the rays progressed into the room, they eventually rested upon Judy’s face. Wishing to extend her slumber further, she subconsciously buried her forehead into Nick’s chest, pulling herself closer into his sleepy embrace. In response to her movement, Nick clutched her tighter, moving her forehead into the crook in his neck. As the sunbeam progressed upwards, it soon flooded over Nick’s eyes, causing him to stir in his sleep. He nuzzled his face into her two floppy ears, partially protecting his eyes from the unrelenting sunlight. Finally, they won the battle over the vicious sun, finding comfort in each other and allowing them to slumber for another hour or two.

A slow, relaxed *ffssssshhhhh* was what finally woke Judy. She ignored the small breeze through her ears, passing it off as a draft from her poorly insulated window, continuing to rest with her eyes shut, wanting to extend her relaxation as long as possible.

*ffffssssshhhhhh*

*ffffssssshhhhhhhh*

She noticed that the air hitting her ears was warm, and she reveled in the extra warmth they provided. The warmth against her torso was pulsing. After a few seconds she noticed that the breeze moved in time with the cyclic absence of heat against her body. She pulled away from her warmth, giving herself a couple seconds to stretch her arms above her head. Judy rubbed her eyes, opening them slowly. Red. A lot of it. As her blurry eyes cleared she could of sworn she saw a-

“AAAHHHHHHHHHHH”

“WHAT WHAT what the-… oh. uh. Hey Carrots!”

“GET OUT WHAT ARE YOU DOING DO YOU EVEN-” Judy picked up her pillow and started whacking Nick across his face and chest “KNOW HOW SCARY IT IS TO WAKE UP NEXT-” Nick grabbed hold of the offending cushion. Judy wrestled against the pillow, trying to wrangle it from Nick’s grasp. He grabbed around her back and restrained her into a tight embrace, the pillow being tightly bound between them.

“Nick, let me go.”

“What’s the magic word, Officer Hopps?”

*sigh*

“Please.”

“Nah.”

Nick felt her ears turn into mini furnaces, heating up and turning more red each passing second. He nuzzled her scalp into his neck once again. Her breaths were sharper, the intensity of the air coming out of her nose tickled his fur. Reaching into his pocket, he took out the carrot pen. Clicking the top, it replayed the most recent recording. The recording sounded slightly tinny, but the voices and sounds were clear.

A sudden rustle of fur against bedsheets could be heard. “mmmmnnnooooooooooooo”. More rustling could be heard. It was a quiet, muffled wave of fur gliding across softer, finer fuzz.

“Carrots.”

“no.”

*sigh*

The pen’s recording ended with the sound of her creaky bed adjusting to the weight of a second mammal, followed by the slow breeze of the blankets covering both of their bodies.

Nick stowed away the pen, smirking at the heat that rose from Judy’s face. He didn’t need to see her blush, he could feel the warmth against his neck. He brought Judy closer in, resting his chest against her back as the added heat slowly died down to normal levels.

“I.. uh….. can explain?” Judy whimpered.

“It’s okay, Carrots. I know you love me”

Nick smirked as the heat rose once again into his chest. This was too easy.

“Oh, Fuzzy-Bun, I almost forgot.” He pulled out his phone and scrolled to his most recent picture. He reached over Judy’s arm and placed the screen in front of her face.

“NICK! DELETE!”

“Aaand what’s the magic word?”

“You’re the worst, Wilde.”

“I’m honored.” He hugged her tighter.

Her ears flicked up as she thought of an idea. The effect was not unnoticed by her cuddle buddy.

“Woaahhh Carrots, I know something's up. And I don’t like it. At all.” Nick readjusted his grip to restrict any funny bunny business from occurring. His adjustment left a split second of weakness.

She leaped out of her oppressor’s arms, ignoring the momentary chill of loneliness that shuddered through her spine. She deftly crawled under Nick’s button-down, reaching her arms through the neck hole and quickly detaching one of the buttons. She rested her body on Nick’s torso, nuzzling her cheek on his fuzzy stomach.

“You know, Carrots, even the vixens have the courtesy to take a fox out to dinner before they get in his clothes. I’m astonished at your indecency.” Nick smirked, wrapping his arms around the warm lump in his shirt.

Judy crawled up his chest. Nick could see her floppy ears inch out of the top of his shirt, seconds before Judy’s head popped out behind them. Her beautiful, shiny, amethyst eyes focused on his. They both paused for a second to appreciate each others presence.

Judy began to speak as she buried her face into his neck, “I’m not letting you move until that picture is gone”. As she spoke, the words slowed down and gently shifted towards an incomprehensible mumble.

Nick smiled. He brought his hand up to scratch in between her ears, kissing her on the forehead as she slowly drifted back into sleep, with Nick’s shirt insulating the shared heat between their bodies. He glanced down at her closed eyes, noticing her quick, shallow breaths, punctuated by the twitch of her tiny nose. He felt her tail wiggle against his stomach. He readjusted his grip on his bunny, rolling them onto their sides as he brought her into a tighter embrace.

“I can live with that.”

Nick gave a long, gentle kiss on her forehead, slipping into soft relaxation as she rubbed the base of her ears against his neck. Just as he was about to fall into a deep slumber, Judy whispered.

“I love you.”

A final click of a pen echoed throughout the room, recording their loving embrace forever.