trouble 》junick

Chapter 2: First Impressions

Nick finished his filing before half twelve, approximately six hours before work finished. He decided to go out for lunch, then pretend that he still had work to do and piss about on his phone in his office when he got back.

Greeting Clawhauser on his way out, Nick happily walked out of the ZPD, a half-lidded smile on his face as he flicked his sunglasses over his eyes. He wasn't really very hungry, so he decided to just get a cup of coffee from his usual café. For some reason, Nick was in an abnormally good mood considering he was assigned filing. He didn't know why, but he just thought today would be a good day.

As he was walking down the street, one paw in his trouser pocket and the other holding his polystyrene cup, he noticed the streets of Zootopia were peaceful, as they normally were at around lunchtime. The sun was shining and there was just no rush to be anywhere for anyone. The adults were at work and the kids were at school - well, most of them.

Nick had to admit, he wasn't looking where he was going. He was too busy admiring the beautiful scenery around him, therefore failing to notice the small bunny walking in the opposite direction to him until he bumped into her. Whipping his head back around to the bunny in front of him, Nick raised his sunglasses up onto his head, giving her a nice smile.

She looked fairly young in her pink plaid shirt and blue jeans, and Nick took her for at least a high school student, if not that then a college one.

"Watch where you're going, grandpa," she muttered, pushing past Nick and continuing to walk past him.

Nick spun around on his feet, furrowing his eyebrows as he jogged to catch up with the young bunny.

"Grandpa?" He asked in confusion. "Darlin', I'm eighteen."

The bunny scoffed, not looking up at Nick.

"Yeah, and I'm Gazelle's cousin. Run along, fox," she replied sarcastically, pressing the button on the crossing meter and waiting for the green man.

Surprisingly, the insult hurt Nick, which made him slightly angry. He was letting a little bunny get to him when, in the past, he'd had cans thrown at him when he was walking down the street.

"What are you, fifteen?" Nick asked, putting a paw on his hip. "Shouldn't you be in school, little bunny?"

The bunny turned around abruptly to glare at Nick. "Actually, I'm seventeen. And I got excluded."

The green man flashed on the traffic lights and a series of beeps sounded through the air. The bunny turned on her heel, stuffing her paws in her pockets as she strolled across the street. Nick decided to follow her, as she seemed like she was troubled - and because he deserved an apology.

"You got excluded?" He asked, jogging to catch up with the bunny again.

She groaned. "Yes, are you as deaf as you are stupid?"

Nick furrowed his eyebrows at this, tossing the empty coffee cup in the nearest bin once he crossed the street.

"You may not have noticed, but I'm a cop. So, you may want to pay me a little more respect if you don't want to get arrested," he warned and the bunny spun around on her feet so that she was walking backwards.

"Arrest me? What for?" She asked, raising her eyebrow in confusion.

"You got excluded, you say? So how about public disruption?" Nick suggested. "You know, I can easily go to your parents."

The bunny scoffed. "Good luck with that, they live back in the burrows."

Nick stopped walking for a minute, his eyebrows hurting from all the furrowing of them he had done.

"Wait, so what are you doing in Central Zootopia?" He asked, his feet not moving to catch up with the bunny.

"Stuff!" The bunny called out over her shoulder, and just as Nick was about to jog after her, an alarm on his phone went off, telling him to head back to work.

Nick sighed and straightened out his tie, turning on his heel and glancing at the bunny over his shoulder one last time before heading back to the ZPD.

'So much for first impressions,' he thought to himself as he turned the corner.

~*~

I don't know if you would classify this as getting interesting, but it's definitely a start! 😂