The Long Game, A Zootopia Fanfiction

Fire Safety

Disclaimer: Zootopia and all related characters are owned by Disney. All other characters, product names, trademarks, and copyrights, belong to their respective owners.

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A few rabbits in the dining hall looked up from eating their breakfast as a giggling group of does pulled a sleepy-eyed fox into the room. Most of the rabbits in the room, however, had grown used to the red-furred addition to the warren and ignored the morning ritual the same way they would ignore any of their other siblings coming in for breakfast.

Nick sat down next to Janae with his plate and stifling a yawn said, "Good morning."

The pawful of teenage rabbits at the table with Janae had already finished their breakfast and stood up shortly after Nick arrived, "Back at you, Nick."

Nick put up a paw and let each of them give him a high-four as they left. Once they had all hopped away, Nick shook his head, "Waaay too much energy for this early in the morning."

Janae smiled, "You know what they say about the early bird catching the worm, right?"

"Yeah, except in the city, the early bird calls in its worm order for a noon delivery and then goes back to bed."

Janae snorted and went back to eating her breakfast.

Nick took a few bites of his pancakes, and then seeing Janae was almost done, he leaned her way and quietly asked, "So, have you called him yet?"

Janae coughed and almost choked on the bite she'd just swallowed. Recovering, she whispered back, "No."

"Why not?"

"I just haven't."

"You said he's really cute, so call him."

"Nick, keep your voice down..."

"Call him!"

Looking around the room, Janae pulled her phone out and held it under the table so no one could see her, "Fine, I'll text him, but if he doesn't text me back, I'm done. He's probably out doing something anyway."

A few taps later, Janae set her phone down next to her plate and ate the last couple of bites of her breakfast. Waving at her phone, she turned to Nick and said, "See, he's not interested."

Janae's phone buzzed. Grabbing it off the table before anyone noticed the noise, she unlocked her phone and opened the message. Seeing that it was a text from Dalton, Janae hummed, and then as Nick leaned over to sneak a peek at the screen, she hid the phone from him and said, "He wants to know when and where we, I mean, you want to meet for lunch."

Nick thought about the morning's duty with Buckstein and then replied, "Tell him to meet both of us at the 'Hoppin Good Eats' diner at 11:30."

"Alright," replied Janae as she typed furiously for a few moments and then sent her message. Quickly looking at Nick and then back at her phone, she held the phone against her chest and waited.

About a minute later, the phone buzzed again, and Janae quickly opened the app and read the reply. Smiling, she scrolled down to see the whole message, and then when she was finished, she locked her phone and held it in her lap as she sat and stared at her empty plate with the happiest smile on her face.

Nick waited and watched Janae for a few seconds and then cleared his throat, "Well?"

Janae, startled out of her thoughts, replied, "Oh, uh, he said 'okay.'"

Rolling his eyes, Nick picked up his and Janae's dirty dishes and left the doe to her thoughts as he went to change into his uniform and head into town.