Work Text:
When Judy was young, still just a child, she hadn't thought much of her not wanting to date anybody. 'I'm just too young,' she'd told herself, and had confidently continued doing things exactly as she'd always done before.
Growing up was a little more difficult. What hadn't worried her when she was smaller started to bother her now- why wasn't she dating people? Her older siblings had all at least dabbled in romance by the time they were tweens and she'd even spotted some of her younger brothers and sisters sneaking off for time alone with other rabbits their age. It was unnerving. She didn't understand. She wondered if maybe she just wasn't trying hard enough, and accepted the next date she was asked on without hesitation.
It got her two months of feeling sick to her stomach every time they held hands, and the vivid memory of the boy's crestfallen face when she told him she couldn't do it anymore.
"Well y'know Jude," her father told her later, "one of your mother's sisters- you know aunt Penny- well she married someone she hadn't so much as pecked on the cheek just because they were such good friends."
'I don't want to marry anybody though,' Judy had thought as she pushed her steamed carrots around her plate and ignored the cacophony of noise her siblings created. "Maybe," she said aloud instead, keeping her first thought to herself. He was really only trying to help, and her parents were both already worried enough about her wanting to be a cop- adding anything else to the mix would probably give them a heart attack.
Her parents both smiled at her and Judy felt her chest clench. Their warm, loving gazes would return to her often over the next few months, becoming less frequent as time went by, but always lingering in her mind during moments of distress. When she turned down the first person to ask her out for her junior formal. When she told her best friend she wouldn't mind being with somebody, she supposed. When she graduated high school and bid farewell to more than one pair of now ex-classmates already planning their lives together.
She fought back a grimace every time, but things got easier eventually. When she was just shy of eighteen she worked out there was nothing wrong with her, and a few months after that she confessed about it to her friend, late one night when they were chatting over the phone.
"Well... you know, you're really young. You're probably still just working things out."
A year after that, she confessed again to a different friend, one who had openly proclaimed herself queer since she was seventeen.
"I mean... you know, you're still super young, there's plenty of time for you to still find someone. Who knows? Things might change."
Both of them had sounded so sympathetic, so reassuring. Judy didn't bother talking about it with either of them after that. She graduated, made a life for herself in Zootopia, and managed to find the best friend- and partner- she'd ever had. Eventually she found herself wondering if she oughtn't try again.
The opportunity came after Nick had completed his training when they were off-duty and enjoying a day off together in the heart of Zootopia at a cafe named Shrewd Brews- a small joint they'd come to frequent since they'd first stopped by after Nick's graduation. The coffee was divine, but more than that, the family of shrews who ran the place were all terribly friendly and had taken a liking to the unusual partners and were excellent conversationalists. It was on that day that Mama and Papa Shrew- as they insisted they be called- asked Judy if she had a significant other, and when she jokingly insisted she was married to her work, they rounded on Nick to ask much the same question.
Nick had laughed, and much to her astonishment, had informed them that romance had never sat well with him. When the shrews nodded in understanding and the conversation moved forward, Judy was nothing short of stunned.
"You really don't wanna date anyone?" she asked him tentatively as they headed back to their car. "You're okay with that?"
Nick's ear twitched the way it did when he was surprised and nervous and annoyed all at once, and he glanced at her quickly before avoiding her gaze and attempting to act casual. "You okay with that, Carrots? Not too sad about missing out on a shot with the hottest fox in the city?"
He flashed her a grin and quirked his eyebrow, but Judy was surprised to see his shoulders tense in anticipation. As if he was worried. As if he was worried about her.
She shook her head slowly, a slow smile stretching across her face. "I think I'll manage," she told him, then cleared her throat and added, "Work aside, I'm- I'm actually not too hot on the whole romance thing either, to be honest."
It was as if the strings pulling his shoulders up had been cut as he sagged suddenly, all the tension leaving him in the space of a breath. "Really?" he asked, and when she nodded he grinned at her- a real grin this time- and slung his arm around her shoulders to pull her close in one smooth movement. "Guess we'll have to tell everyone to call off the epic romance they had planned for us, huh."
"Clawhauser's gonna be disappointed."
"Clawhauser's got the entire station's romantic lives planned out down to the dates and themes of their weddings. I don't think he's missing out on much."
"True. Wanna watch a bad movie when we get back?"
"Carrots, you know me too well."
They spent the rest of the trip back in companionable silence, climbing into their respective seats and turning up the radio.
"Thank you for telling me," she told him later as they entered their apartment and she set about making popcorn. "It's nice to have someone to share it with who doesn't think..." she hesitated, struggling to find the right words.
"Doesn't think you know yourself as well as they think you do?" he supplied from the other room. Her heart swelled as she listened to him rifling through their growing collection of old DVDs.
"Yeah, that," she sighed, punching numbers into the microwave and watching the first bag of popcorn inflate inside.
He didn't reply, but she could practically hear him smiling from the other room. They ended up picking some terrible romantic comedy Nick had picked up for fifty cents at a garage sale Judy didn't even know the name of and couldn't be bothered to check- something about a lady attending weddings or something- and sat pressed close together on the couch with the popcorn in their laps. When the protagonist finally submitted to her affections for her snarky love interest and kissed him Judy snorted, throwing a kernel at the screen and startling a laugh out of her partner.
"I might not know anything about romance," Judy huffed between giggles, "but I do love you, Nick."
Nick hummed and rested his head against hers, taking advantage of the distraction to steal the last of the popcorn from her bag.
"Hey-!"
"Love you too, Judes."
She punched him in the arm and he laughed and drew back, but Judy only seized him by the collar and pulled him closer. Another terrible movie was found after some quick channel surfing and the two settled against each other, revelling in each other's company. If they hadn't wanted anybody else before, they certainly didn't want anybody then.