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A bunny quietly scurried through the overgrown wilderness of the dark, foreboding jungle that surrounded him.
The bunny in question was surprisingly tall, lean, able to slip away at a moment’s notice, as any good prey should be capable of.
The bunny passed by an eye-catching stream, stopping to take in the breathtaking sight for just a moment before continuing on down his path.
He stopped yet again at a more open area of the usually claustrophobic jungle.
Bushes lay on the outskirts of this small patch of barren land. The rabbit knelt down and started scavenging through some of the bushes, hoping to find something to snack on.
Upon finding the riches that would solve the growing, growling pit in his stomach, the rabbit held a sizable handful of small yellow berries in his off paw as he grabbed some sticks with the other paw and moved to the center of the empty space.
Dropping the sticks to the ground, he wrapped the berries inside a cloth that he held onto with his teeth. He had eaten this type of berry raw once, when he was young and had no idea how to start a fire, but he had matured since then, and he knew the best way to prepare this type of food.
After taking a bit longer than the bunny would’ve liked to start the fire, making him thankful that no one else was there to laugh at his embarrassment, he dropped the berries into a rudimentary bowl carved out of stone that he then carefully placed atop the fire.
The bunny stood back and watched the berries cook, his attention completely enraptured by the sounds of the fire crackling and the nearby stream flowing, its constant currents slightly increasing in its intensity. He wanted to take a peek at the stream again, but he knew his food would be done soon, so he continued waiting, albeit rather impatiently.
That choice would be his undoing.
Resting on an elevated mound of dirt just by the stream was a fox. She was small for her species but nonetheless fearsome, having overpowered animals several times her size before.
The fox had detected the scent of a nearby bunny and began to follow it.
Just as she’d hopped, the bunny was too distracted by the light of the fire to notice her, the light itself only giving away his position even further in the otherwise dim forest.
The fox held her paws up as she approached the bunny, flexing her fingers in anticipation.
The fox got closer and closer, to the point that she was almost breathing down the bunny's neck, except for the fact that the bunny was so much taller than her.
The bunny seemed tired. Not excessively so, but his lack of awareness and general stillness indicated to the fox that he wasn't operating on 100%.
As if that has ever stopped her from claiming her prey before.
The fox slowly, ever so gradually, lifted her paws closer to the bunny, who had still not noticed her. Seeing how easy of a chance this was, the fox backed away before lunging at the bunny and-
“Gotcha~!” Judy teased, having caught Nick off guard yet again.
Nick tore his attention away from the light of the microwave and looked down to see his partner dangling off the ground, her arms firmly wrapped around his torso. Nick rolled his eyes at the ‘attack’, glancing back at the TV and the jungle-like pattern on the living room’s wallpaper before returning his gaze to the microwave.
Nick and Judy always had movie nights in the evening before their days off so they could get all that they could out of their free time.
On one such movie night not too incredibly long ago, Judy had disappeared into her room, before rushing back out dressed in a fox onesie not too dissimilar to the elephant onesie Nick used to make Finnick wear back when they ran hustles together, even having little fox ears on the hood.
Judy had gotten it mainly just to see how Nick would react to her wearing it. Despite the fact that she had had to hide the thing around the apartment for a week straight, the end result was absolutely worth the price of admission. Judy had never seen the sly fox so speechless.
Around one week later, when Judy had already moved on and forgotten about her trick, Nick got her back.
Judy had stayed late at work to finish up a report, and by the time she got home, she was tired. Not too tired for movie night, but tired. So when she saw her fox dressed in a bunny onesie, waving to her from the kitchen as if nothing was different, she could only make a face that Nick probably would've used as blackmail if he had his phone on him at the time.
From there, they’d sporadically wear their respective costume pretty much whenever they felt like it, which happened to be a lot as they were genuinely comfy pajamas. It soon became a tradition engraved in movie night itself, as they now often ended in quiet cuddling sessions in their ludicrously soft PJs that they called ‘cuddle time.’
The sound of the microwave’s timer snapped Judy out of her recollection. She let go of her ‘bunny,’ dropping down at least a good foot onto the ground.
Nick took the bag of popped popcorn out of the microwave. He flexed his claws and cut into the bag in a way that he knew would annoy Judy before emptying the contents of the bag into two bowls, one bigger than the other. Nick handed the larger bowl to Judy. His ‘fox’ needed to eat, after all.
Nick closed the cabinet he’d gotten the bag of popcorn out of, looking up in time to see Judy leap over the back of the living room couch. She bounced on the couch cushions, unintentionally causing some of her popcorn to fly out of the bowl and land all over the living room floor, couch, and even her onesie.
“Oh, cripes.” Judy hissed, cringing at the mess she'd made.
Nick chuckled as Judy scrambled to pick up as many popcorn flakes as she could before the five second rule took effect. He strode over to the frantic ‘fox,’ who was still clearly embarrassed.
“Fluff, relax. It's ok.” Nick said calmly. Well after the five seconds were up, he reached down and plucked a pawful of popcorn flakes up off the floor, one of which he promptly popped into his mouth.
“Eww…” Judy scooted away from the ‘bunny’ as he chewed the flake.
Nick stared directly into the eyes of the ‘fox’ now sitting far away from him as he flicked another piece of popcorn into his maw. “The floor adds flavor, Fluff.”
“You're so gross.”
“You invited me to live with you.”
Judy huffed, a reluctant smile forcing its way onto her face. She had done that, and she’d never once regretted it.
Carefully setting her bowl down on a small fold up table on her side of the couch, Judy picked up the TV remote off the same table. “Alright, what are we watching tonight?”
Since the TV was already on their preferred streaming service, Judy started scrolling through the ‘recently added movies’ section to see if anything would catch their attention.
“Hey, that new Spider-Bunny and FoxPool movie’s out.” Nick said, nudging the ‘fox’ lying next to him. “Wanna check it out?”
Judy’s foot thumped excitedly as she scrolled back to hover over the movie’s icon. She'd always had a fondness for superhero stories, as overly idyllic as they often were.
Nick didn't even need to look down to know where that thumping sound was coming from. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
With that, the two mammals settled in as Judy hit play.
Sometime later, Judy had already nearly eaten all of her popcorn and they were barely even a quarter of the way through the movie. Not that she was even keeping track of that, considering how zoned in she was on the film in front of them.
Spider-Bunny landed on the ground and glanced up to see the fellow masked vigilante she’d been hunting down hanging upside down while stuck in her web.
“Finally.” Spider-Bunny huffed, holding her knees as she caught her breath. She strode up to the captured fox, who was hanging low enough that both of their eyes were level with each other. “I've been searching for you for days. I know who you are… your powers, and-”
“You know,” FoxPool cut in, picking at the webs with his claws. “Whenever someone ties me up, that usually happens before the white stuff-”
Spider-Bunny grabbed the fox by the neck, her eyes narrowing.
“Ok, we're- ow. We're doing choking now, ok.” FoxPool coughed. “H-honestly, tough grasp ya got.”
“They are so gonna be a thing.” Nick muttered in-between pawfuls of his popcorn.
Judy was confused. “What are you talking about? Spider-Bunny clearly hates him, and FoxPool talks like this to everyone.”
“This world is in danger.” Spider-Bunny said pointedly, her grasp on the fox’s neck unwavering. “I need you.”
“Sheesh, at least dinner and a movie first-”
“I need your help.” Spider-Bunny specified, her words leaking like venom through her clenched teeth. “And until you're willing to cooperate, I’m gonna leave you strung up like this. Got it?”
FoxPool stared blankly for a few seconds, his mask covering any and all subtle changes in his face. He could already feel blood rushing to his head, which wouldn't kill him, but would annoy him enough so that he'd wish that it could.
FoxPool tilted his head down (or would it be up?) towards the billboard he was webbed to and sighed. “What’s in it for me?”
“Well, for one, you and the entire universe don't die a painful, horrific death. And two, well…” Spider-Bunny leans closer to the fox, her voice dropping to a whisper. “I might actually follow through on that dinner and a movie.”
Judy blinked. “Huh.”
“See, I told you. The sparks are already flying.” Nick said, smirking in victory. A small, dumb, inconsequential victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Actually, maybe not.
As the film progressed, Spider-Bunny and FoxPool continued to banter with a strong undercurrent of romantic tension. Romantic tension that, oddly enough, the film itself entirely glossed over, FoxPool not even making any witty remarks about it.
Spider-Bunny continued to have drama with her rabbit boyfriend due to her double life getting in the way of things, only FoxPool was there to crack jokes and provide “relationship advice” in the largest air quotes imaginable.
Judy, who had gotten rather invested in the two superheroes’ budding relationship, partially due to her projecting herself and her partner onto them, was disappointed, and slowly becoming annoyed, as the plot continued to act as if there was nothing but platonic comradery between them.
That’s when it hit her.
It was so obvious, to. It was in their names for Aphrodite’s sake.
They, the movie’s two main characters, were a bunny and a fox. Of course they wouldn't end up together in the end.
It was a big budgeted superhero movie by a major film studio, of course it wouldn't touch on something as risque as pred/prey relationships. The movie had to have as much broad appeal as possible so it could make as much money as possible. So what about trying to spread a message? So what about trying to make the world a better place?
Judy’s bowl of popcorn sat unfinished and abandoned next to her on the couch as she slouched against her ‘bunny,’ absentmindedly playing with the fake floppy ears on his hood.
It was just a movie. She shouldn't be so hung up on this.
And yet…
“... Nick?” Judy whispered, not even paying attention to whatever big final showdown was happening on the TV.
Nick cranked the volume down, ready to listen to her every word.
“If I were… a fox.” She wanted to stop talking, she knew it was stupid, but the thought was eating away at her. “Would you… prefer that?”
Nick craned his neck down to see the ‘fox’ burying her face in the stomach of his onesie.
“Well, that might've made things a bit easier for me, but…” Nick reached down and slipped a hand under Judy’s hood, flipping it off of her head.
Judy’s ears flopped out, pointing straight up for a few seconds before dropping and falling backwards as her surprise faded.
“Well, a funny thing happened when this bunny forced her way into my life and…” Nick tilted his head backwards, letting his hood slide right off his head. “Let's just say she changed it for the better.”
Judy sighed with contentment, anxiety leaving her with every scratch her fox gave to the back of her ears. She knew it was irrational, but that's just how she was sometimes. Nick always tried to be patient with her and he still loved her regardless of her issues.
“Is it safe to say that movie time’s over?” Judy asked.
“Yep.” Nick nodded, flicking the TV off and setting the remote down. “And that only means that-”
But Nick couldn't get another word in as his bunny tackled him with a hug. He fell onto his back as Judy rubbed her face against his neck, breathing in his natural foxy scent.
Movie time was over, and cuddle time had officially begun.