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1
Pursuit
The first time Nick asks, they’ve just cuffed their suspect after a lengthy on foot pursuit all throughout Sahara Square. They haven’t even caught their breath yet, their hearts still pounding in their chests, the sound of their blood rushing in their ears when Nick, paws on his knees, attempting to catch his breath, blurts out “Marry me!”
At first it seems as though Judy hasn’t even heard him, busy as she is pushing their handcuffed perp into the back of the squad car that just pulled up. Finally, she turns to him, a wry smile on her face. Her smile splits until she’s cackling like a hyena, her laughter ringing in his ears. “Hahaha, good one, Nick. Let’s get this cheating cheetah back to the station, yeah? Last one to Bogo’s office completes this week’s paper work. What d’ya say? Are you game, or are you too chicken? Bawk bawk!”
Nick makes as if to clarify that, despite the question coming unbidden from his lips, he’s actually completely serious, mouth open, finger in the air. Thinking better of it, he simply slides into the passenger seat, smirk set firmly on his face. “You’re on, Carrots! Oh, and by the way? Your chicken imitation is terrible. I'd hate to see you do that in front of an actual chicken. They'd be so offended," he chides, his right hand mockingly held to his heart. Judy simply rolls her eyes in response.
2
Obnoxious
It takes him a while to build up his courage and ask again. He thinks he’s found the perfect moment; they’re enjoying an early night off-shift at her apartment, browsing gnatflix for something to watch as Judy ate her dinner of Carrots for One and Nick helped himself to some of the blueberries she’d brought back for him from her most recent visit to Bunny Burrow. As usual, Nick offered her a handful, fully expecting she’d turn him down. To his surprise, she challenges him to throw one in her mouth from his position on the couch to her, standing at the microwave, waiting for her dinner to ding!
Never one to back down from a challenge, Nick swings his arm back like a professional bearball player and throws a blueberry in her direction. Judy slides to the side, ducking her head to catch it in one fluid motion. They share a laugh, her eyes glittering, just as the microwave announces that her carrot was ready.
Joining Nick on the couch, Judy had insisted that they watch Moolan. It’s her favorite Disney movie, and she can’t believe he’s never seen it. It’s in that moment, as they’re settling in to watch the movie, she reaches her paw out to grab another handful of blueberries from his, and he turns to her. “Hey, Hopps…Carrots…Judy-“
“Yeah, Nick?”
Naturally, it’s at this exact moment that Judy’s obnoxiously loud next door neighbors start in on their seemingly nightly argument, consisting mostly of
“Shut up!”
“No! YOU shut up!”
ad nauseum. And here Nick had spent his entire life thinking wolves were dumb dumbs. That was before his girlfriend lived next door to antelopes, the likes of which he wanted to claw. Hard. The moment totally ruined, Nick resigns himself to devising yet a third way to propose to her.
“Nothing. I’m just really looking forward to this favorite movie of yours. …Do they even have cows in China?”
“Oh hush.”
3
Delicious
Admittedly, putting the ring inside of a carrot cake was…not Nick’s brightest idea. Sure, Judy loves carrot cake as much as the next bunny, but, it turns out, so does Clawhauser. Clawhauser with his sweet tooth- the ZPD’s foremost devourer of all things sugary sweet and delicious.
It’s no surprise really that the cake lasted all of five minutes in the break room. It’s just a shame the ring went down Clawhauser’s esophagus right along with it. Nick’s annoyed, sure, but he can hardly blame Clawhauser. The cake was supposedly really good. He’d picked it up from Jerry Jumbeaux Jr’s ice cream shop, specially made, serving for one.
Nick wants nothing more than to be angry with Clawhauser, and he is, but, covered in sugar and crumbs, grinning a sheepish, guilty grin, Clawhauser has one of those faces that’s practically impossible to stay mad at. His biggest problem now is determining how to cover this up. He’d told Judy he had a surprise for her waiting in the break room, and now that surprise was sitting in Clawhauser’s stomach.
Luckily for Nick, no explaining away or lying was necessary quite yet. The radio buzzed to life with news of an armed robbery over at Yaks Fifth Avenue, and Judy was eager to hop along to the scene of the crime, any and all promises of a surprise totally forgotten. Nick is only too happy to follow her lead, already planning how to ask again. They say it’s the fourth time that’s the charm, yeah?
4
Telephone
Normally, Nick would be absolutely and totally averse to proposing to a woman on her birthday. The whole shtick was played out and overdone. He wasn’t one for clichés unless he was pulling a classic hustle, and those days were long behind him. Considering this was to be his fourth attempt after three failures, Nick decides he doesn’t care as much. It is Judy’s birthday, and Nick is determined to make her special day as special as possible.
As luck would have it, international pop star Gazelle is performing in concert tonight. Nick wouldn’t call himself a huge fan of her music, but Judy is, and that’s what matters. Besides, this coincidence seemed especially fortuitous when he remembers that another one of Gazelle’s concerts had technically constituted their first date.
Returning to the scene of the crime, so to speak, in order to propose is yet another proposal cliché Nick could really live without, but he figured Judy might find it sentimental in all the right ways, and he’s honestly just desperate to ask her and get the question out in the open finally. Knowing everybody, as he does, Nick had used a connection or two to rig the billboard behind Gazelle to read “Carrots, will you marry me?” at the halfway point break during her set. He can just picture it now: “Carrots, will you marry me?” Judy’s stunned expression turning into a slow smile, a warm embrace, the two of them featured on the NuzzleCam as the text fades to show couples in love throughout the arena.
Well, that’s how it should have been. Sadly, it seemed his message had gotten lost and mistranslated in some sort of whacky game of telephone. He supposes this is his fault for rambling on to his friend-of-a-friend-of-a-friend who hooked him up with the sweet deal for this opportunity, but whatever the reason, what was supposed to say “Carrots, will you marry me?” came out as “Carrots, get your carrots!” By the time the jumbotron switched to the NuzzleCam, Judy had already gone to concessions in search of carrots for herself. Nick slowly dragged his paw down his face. Universe: 4 Nick: 0
Who knew proposing was this difficult?
5
Thunder
Nicholas P. Wilde knows everybody. It’s a talent- one he prides himself on immensely, having served him well as a con artist and one that continues to serve him well as a member of the ZPD. The better you know someone, the easier it is to hustle them, plain and simple.
That said, Judy had 275 siblings. Two hundred. And seventy-five. She wasn’t kidding when she said bunnies were good at multiplying. Obviously, Nick had known that, but this was his first time ever meeting a bunny family, let alone being invited into one’s home. Needless to say even Nicholas P. “I know everybody” Wilde was having trouble keeping track of the other 275 Hopps siblings. Additionally, despite being the only fox in attendance, Nick wasn’t the only significant other, so there were…honestly Nick had lost count, but with that many siblings, there were at least half as many siblings-in-law or sibling significant others.
All in all, it’s a pretty nerve wracking affair. He has a brand new ring burning a hole in his pocket, and he kept waiting for the perfect opportunity to take Mr. and Mrs. Hopps- Stu and Bonnie, as Bonnie had insisted he call them, aside and ask for their blessing before finally, finally proposing to their daughter. Of course, with this many bunnies milling about the farm and the fact that they are all gathered here to celebrate Bonnie and Stu’s own anniversary, finding the time was looking nigh impossible to say the least.
He wonders briefly if Judy, what with all her modern sensibilities and whatnot, would be offended by his asking for her parents’ blessing- wonders whether or not he should leave that task up to her. With this in mind, his mind’s made up. He is asking her tonight at dinner.
Or…he would have asked her tonight at dinner. Sadly Judy’s younger brother Brian proposed to his girlfriend Eileen right at the top of the meal, totally stealing Nick’s thunder. Knowing Judy deserves a proposal as special as she is, Nick holds back, begrudgingly clapping his paws together in light of Brian and Eileen’s new engagement. He lets out an exaggerated sigh at the table when he thinks Judy’s too preoccupied in the good news to notice.
“Hey. What’s wrong? I mean, I know we Hopps can be a lot to handle, but-“
“Hey, hey, Carrots. I’m fine. I’m just a little tired is all. Honest. Your family’s lovely. Your parents, while perhaps rightfully a little apprehensive, are perfectly lovely hosts. Thank you, for bringing me home with you to meet everyone.”
Judy nods, seeming to take his answer in stride. It’s true, meeting the entire Hopps warren in one day takes a lot out of even the most agile fox, but mostly he’s just bummed that he’s been beaten by the universe, yet again. Who knows when he’ll manage to make the time and screw up the courage to ask her yet a sixth time.
+1
Evidence
Nick’s sitting in the break room, looking exhausted, head in his paws, when she spots him. She can relate. The day’s events- yet another high speed chase against Flash, this time accompanied by a friend of his, the two drag racing down the heart of Tundratown- had her equally exhausted.
They were just about the only animals milling about the ZPD. It had been a relatively slow day for crime in the various Zootopia boroughs and it was now nearing 11 pm. Judy finds herself unbelievably glad for this fact. Now finally, finally feels like the perfect moment. In a stroke of genius, she grabs her carrot recorder pen off of her desk, and joins Nick in the break room.
Sauntering in behind him, she calls out to get his attention “Hey, so I uh, I had a question. I was wondering if you knew anything about this?” and she brandishes her pen, her paw hovering over the play button. She watches his expression as what looks dread flashes across his face. She can almost hear him thinking “Oh, nuts. What self-incriminating thing did she catch me saying on tape this time?” Old habits die hard with this one, clearly.
Screwing up her own courage, knowing that she has never known when to quit, Judy clears her throat, takes a deep breath, and pushes play.
She watches as his ears perk up, detecting the first notes of what appears to be not his, but her voice.
“Will you, Nicholas P. Wilde, sly, dumb fox, my partner on the force and in life, please do me the honor of being my husband? Will you marry me?”
Everything is still for a moment. She screws her eyes shut, hoping against hope that she hasn’t read the signs and situations all wrong throughout the past several months. When she opens her eyes again, she sees that Nick still hasn’t moved, paralyzed…by shock or by fear or even disgust, she doesn’t know.
He turns to face her with his full body, a smirk immediately playing at his lips, and he sprints over to her, swoops her into a big hug, and kisses her emphatically on both cheeks over and over again.
“Dumb bunny. I can’t believe you’d even have to ask. Of course I’ll marry you!”