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Nick Wilde didn’t propose.
Common misconception said he did. He was the masculine, cunning, handsome fox, and everyone knew, despite his sarcastic attempts to conceal, how much he adored her. And what of her? Judy was an optimistic, idealistic, hard as nails go getter whose warm heart was apparent in her violet-blue eyes.
But it should be emphasized, he didn’t propose.
No one asked what happened when they got engaged. They assumed it was politeness when people silently declined to know the intimate details of their relationship. After all, they were partners in law enforcement, and it took mountains on top of hills, on top of golf lawns of paperwork to ensure neither of them got transferred once the nature of their relationship was made public.
If you asked them, which nobody did, there was no proposal. Nick was ninety nine percent positive, no lies and no cheats, there was no engagement; long term or short term.
Lets take a step back into the past; approximately thirty-one and a half years ago. Zootopia’s café district was particularly pleasant that day. Maybe due to the warm weather, and out of the blue they decided to attend it on their off day. Admittedly, it wasn’t a date day or a date night to be. It was a casual, chill, in desperate need of getting our minds off of that last case outing, and both sides were more than willing to rejoice in each other’s company in a non-work setting.
Ever since joining the force, Nick had taken to coffee at an almost religious degree. He was rarely found without a cup of espresso in his right paw, and the burning hot sensation managed to stir his senses in the right way during early mornings. But it was the afternoon, and he didn’t need it then. Didn’t stop him from slurping it quietly as Judy nibbled on her carrot stuffed pita bread.
“Nick?”
“Hmm…”
“Lets do it.”
Do it had a lot of connotations. Sometimes it meant do it, as in sexually, and this usually left Nick a very happy fox. Other times it meant lets go out-to eat, lets clean out the gutters, lets do it had too many interpretations that he couldn’t count on his paws. But when he looked at her, lowering Animal’s recent issue on the table, he seemed to know what she meant, and he pulled back, confused.
“Wait-now?”
“Yeah, why not?” She grabbed a napkin and patted her mouth, “It’s an off day. Courthouse isn’t busy, and we could always have Flash or Frou Frou as a witness.”
It happened quickly, he remembered. She was dressed specifically for the occasion, and where he thought he’d be upset at the suddenness, he dropped his espresso and laughed, “Whatever you want, Judes.”
She was right. The Courthouse was having a slow day, and Frou Frou was waiting for them in the lobby. Another baby protruding in her stomach, she was more than excited to be a part of this momentous occasion, and by three o’clock they were legally married. Their honeymoon didn’t come into effect until a year later, and from there they moved at their own casual place. Children entered their lives, grew up and grew out, grandchildren came and did the same-all types of grandchildren, their family was never small, and he didn’t mind it, considering he had been an only child.
Bad guys came and went, were acquitted and imprisoned, the world changed around them, for the better and for the worse, and they watched it together, moving and striding to a future they couldn’t quite grasp but were willing to try.
“Hey Nick?”
“Hmm…,” he was reading the recent issue of Animal’s, was drinking a cup of tea in the early morning. He forgot which one of the kids got him stuck on herbal tea; he’d never tell his thirty-two self where he sunk to, higher than they ever believed.
Judy was reading a mystery novel, lounging on the loveseat, “Lets do it.”
“Wait-now?” He lowered the magazine and stared, and he wasn’t surprised to see her eyes set on his, filled with determination. It was titillating, and his vision started to blur.
“Yeah,” she piped softly.
“Lets go,” he grinned.
Their second honeymoon was better than the first, far more adventurous than they initially planned, and no one could say who proposed the idea in the first place. It just seemed to happen on its own.