Work Text:
Nick rubbed the back of his neck. It had been a long night last night. A long couple of nights, really. This drug case was taking up too much time. And Hopps wasn't even assigned to it. He exhaled slightly, looking out of the window of the undercover car irritably. He and Judy weren't assigned as partners on cases anymore, that was against protocol, but on large cases like this one they were often at least on the same team. But not this one. Judy was on some other case, taking her out to Outback Island every day. They weren't seeing each other as much lately...he didn't like it. He tried not to show it, of course. Kept a smile on his face for Judy. Judy got so worried about him when he seemed uncomfortable. It had gotten better once he had started on the antidepressants, but she still worried about him.
The driver's door clicked open and Bill Wolford slid into the driver's seat, passing him a coffee.
“Oh," Nick said, surprised. "Thanks."
"No worries, man," Bill said, "Black, right?"
"Uh-huh," Nick answered, nodding.
"All right," Bill said, sighing slightly, "let's do this."
They were on a stakeout again tonight. Five hours of sitting in a darkened car, staring out an abandoned alleyway waiting to see if any drug activity was happening outside the building across the street. Usually there was no one, but they had a tip that this was an occasionally-used drop spot, so they needed to patrol it. At least they weren't on the overnight shift. For those they had to stay in a grubby apartment for 12 hours -- three hours on, three hours off, etc. -- watching the street below for any activity.
Nick usually wasn't assigned with Bill Wolford. He didn't know him that well, but he seemed, well, fine. Judy knew him better than he did - the two of them had served on some LGBT rights committee earlier in the year. He had been surprised when he had heard that, thinking Bill must have been gay if he had volunteered for the committee. It seemed he wasn't gay, after all; now Bill was dating Sharla, Judy’s friend from — shudder — Bunnyburrow. That had made things a bit awkward between Bill, and Judy and him at work. Whenever they ran into each other in the break room they weren't totally sure what to say to one another - what kind of small talk was required - that kind of thing.
Although Nick seemed like a fox who didn't think much before he talked, he did. And small talk was important to him. It was how you got information from people. It was how you learned about people. And Bill never talked much. Judy said that she thought that was part of the reason Bill and Sharla got along - Sharla was quiet too.
Still, Bill seemed nice enough. And free coffee was nice, too. Soon they pulled into their location in a back alleyway and switched off the lights of the car. God, Nick missed these stakeouts with Judy. They were fun before they even started screwing and then after...well. Then things were very, very fun.
"So? How are things with Sharla, lover boy?" Nick asked after a moment, looking for something to break the silence with.
"Good," Bill said after a moment, taking a sip of his coffee. “…Good.” He sounded a bit distant on that last good. Oh no, Nick thought, repressing an urge to roll his eyes. If things were awkward between Bill and Judy and himself now, he could only imagine what would happen if Bill dumped Sharla. Judy made it sound like Sharla was completely besotted. God, it would be almost easier to murder him than deal with the awkwardness.
"Yeah?" Nick asked, after a minute of pondering the best ways to hypothetically murder Bill Wolford, "how long have you guys been seeing each other?"
“About two months now," Bill said after a pause.
"But you were seeing each other before that," Nick prompted. He knew the two of them met on some Casual Encounters Pred/Prey board. Bill grinned at him.
"Oh, that. Yeah, we were ‘seeing’ each other for about, I dunno, three months, before we started dating," Bill said easily.
"Huh. That's a long time," Nick said after a moment. "I would have thought those hookups don't last long."
"We got along, I guess," Bill said, after a moment. "I think we were both pretty lonely, to tell you the truth. It was nice to see a familiar face. Or, you know. Ass."
"Hah," Nick said, grinning at him.
"She calls Judy almost every day, did you know that?" Bill asked after a moment.
"Really?" Nick responded, surprised. "No, I didn't. Huh."
"I know, weird, right? What do you think they talk about?"
"I have no idea. How Jaguar is doing, maybe. The canines they're dating."
Bill nodded and took another sip of his coffee.
Bill's cell phone rang. Bill shot an apologetic look at Nick and answered it.
"Hi..." Bill said, looking out the window. "No, working....stakeout....With Nick, actually. Yeah. Oh. Look under that book I'm reading. On the nightstand. Found it? Good. OK...You too...bye." Bill clicked off the phone and leaned back slightly.
"She lose something?" Nick asked after a moment.
"Oh, her keys, she can never find them," Bill said after a moment.
"Can I ask you a question?" Bill asked suddenly. "Canine to, you know, canine?"
"Sure," Nick said, trying to give off an air of knowledgable canine in a pred-prey relationship air and hoping he wasn’t going to ask him something along the lines of ‘how to best break up with a sheep.’ Nick liked Sharla. She was weird as hell, but he liked her.
"Do foxes howl?"
The question surprised Nick so much he paused, his coffee cup halfway to his lips.
"Um, no," Nick responded after a moment. "Did you really not know that?"
"I mean, during..." Bill asked, trailing off and looking a bit embarrassed.
"Oh," Nick said. "Not really. Kind of yelping is pretty common, I guess."
"Is it involuntary?"
Ah, Nick thought as the penny dropped. He had heard that about wolves, but wasn't sure if it was a stereotype or not.
"It's...hm. I guess it's about as involuntary as any other kind of groan or whatever," he said after a moment.
Bill nodded, frowning slightly.
"Do wolves howl every time...?"
"Every time we come?" Bill said, laughing and shaking his head. "Nah. Think of how loud it would be at night in some neighborhoods."
"That's true," Nick said.
"It happened to me, recently," Bill continued, "and it seemed really...well, involuntary. It hadn't ever happened to me like that before."
Nick nodded.
"Sharla didn't really like it," Bill said looking down at his cup. "I mean, it came at like…the worst possible time. Sharla called it ‘farcical.’”
“Why did it happen at the worst possible time? Were you doing anything....well, different that time?" Nick asked, now getting genuinely curious. Howling had always perplexed him. "Were you drunk? I've noticed wolves coming out of bars are always more likely to howl more."
"Well, that's mostly just group dynamics," Bill said, rolling his eyes. "I guess maybe it's a little harder to control. But I wasn't drunk."
Nick eagerly waved him on to continue. What were they doing? This was getting good.
"Well..." Bill said after a moment. "You won't tell anyone about this will you? Except Judy. Wait," Bill stopped for a moment, frowning. "Maybe you shouldn't tell Judy. Maybe she will then go and tell Sharla you told her."
"They've probably talked about it already," Nick said rolling his eyes. “I think they’re getting dinner tonight, actually.”
“Oh, that’s what Sharla meant,” Bill said, taking a sip of his coffee, “she said it was ‘ironic’ that I was assigned with you tonight. I thought she just meant because of you and Judy, you know. Half the time I feel like I'm not totally sure what she is talking about...”
Bill sighed.
“Well…” Bill said thoughtfully. “OK. I’ll tell you. But maybe…don’t tell Judy too much, anyway, in case Sharla decides to get all tight-lipped. Well…have you and Judy ever done...you know, prey/pred domination/submissive stuff?"
"That?" Nick asked grinning again. "Yeah. Judy's into it."
"I can see that," Bill said, nodding. "She's pretty intense. You like it too?"
"It's fun," Nick said, shrugging slightly. "Whatever gets her going, I like." Nick grinned. "So, what, you had her all tied up and begging for it and you howled? That seems pretty understandable. Predator instincts leaking out and all..."
Bill blinked and looked surprised for a moment, and then quickly endeavored to make his face look blank. Nick watched this little performance, a bit confused. He took another sip of his coffee. The penny dropped.
"Oh," he said after a moment. "You said prey/pred dominant/sumbissive, right? Not the other way around…Wait, you thought Judy would be dominant?“
“Yeah, I don’t know,” Bill said, laughing after a moment. “She’s like always yelling at you at the office, I thought maybe…”
“Nope,” Nick said, grinning. “I yell at her in the bedroom.”
"Well..." Bill said, after a moment, hesitating. "Don't like...tell the other guys at the station..."
"I won't," Nick said immediately. "I don't think it's that weird, honestly."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I mean, I guess they say prey tend to like it more, but if they like it there's got to be something to it, right?"
"Yeah," Bill agreed. “I know. But everyone thinks it’s like…I dunno, weak or effeminate or something to like it if you’re a guy or a predator, so being both…I dunno. Anyway, I haven't, really, done that with anyone but Sharla, and things were getting more intense than usual and...the howl happened."
"Oh. Did it kill the mood?"
--
Bill had been lying on the bed on his back, Sharla was checking the ropes that were tying his arms and leg to the bedframe.
"Does it hurt?" She had asked him, giving one of the knots an experimental little tug. “Does your tail have enough room?”
“It’s great," Bill had breathed, "you can even make them tighter if you want..."
"Tcha," Sharla had said sternly, rolling her eyes at him. "Cool it, lover boy. This is just fine for our first time for this sort of thing."
Bill liked it when she was a bit dismissive of him when they were playing this kind of game. It was in the same category of feeling he had gotten as a schoolboy when he had deliberately misbehaved for attention. He grinned at her.
"You've come so far, Sharla," he whispered at her. "Remember the first time we tried this kind of thing? You tried spanking me and you were so gentle it was little brushes?"
She pinched his nipple for that, hard. He let out a little yelp of surprise, which turned into a little growl of pleasure.
Eventually, when she had been kissing his upper thighs and was just about to take him in her mouth, the doorbell had rang.
“Oh, Christ,” Sharla had muttered, standing up and rolling her eyes. “It’s that goddamn package Gareth has been waiting for. I’ve gotta go sign for it…”
“Really?” Bill moaned, “is this really the best time?”
“Oh, stop,” Sharla had snapped - Bill kind of liked it - “and, you know, stay there.” Stay there. Heh. As if he could move easily.
Then she pulled on a robe and hurried out of the bedroom towards the door.
And Bill had, well, missed her. Even though she was just gone for a minute, he had felt like he was aching for her. And he had been all tied up and excited, and some part of him felt like he couldn’t be with her, couldn’t protect her (from what? The UPS guy?). And another part of him felt irritated that she felt like she had to get the package — she had been walking on eggshells around Gareth, her roommate and brother. The reason, he felt, was that Gareth wasn’t thrilled about the amount of time Bill was spending at their apartment. So that was kind of confusing.
And, he had…well, howled.
And, well. He hadn’t been out in the foyer where a be-robed Sharla had been signing for Gareth’s package, but apparently the deer UPS man had heard the howl and become extremely concerned that a quote-quote “savage wolf” was lurking about in the apartment waiting to kill Sharla.
He had almost called the police, Sharla had said.
And when she had assured the deer that no, she was not about to get eaten by a wolf, the UPS deer had apparently finally realized that Sharla was wearing a robe at four o’clock in the evening on a Saturday and that her hair was messy. And he had apparently made a little comment about “freaks” and had made Sharla feel very…bad.
And so she had come back, very flustered and very upset and, well, a little mad at him.
“Why did you do that, Bill?”
“I couldn’t really…control it…”
“I don’t feel like it anymore,” Sharla had said, starting to untie him. "I think I've...lost the mood, or whatever. I'm all shaken up."
Oh, Bill had thought.
“He heard you, Bill, he thought…he thought you were some criminal when he heard you! And then when he realized he…ugh. The look on his face…”
Oh, Bill had thought.
“Well, so what?” he had asked, sitting up and rubbing his wrist where the restraint had been.
“So what? Well, it didn’t feel very good, that’s all…”
“People are going to say those things…” Bill said defensively. “Howl or no howl. Do you want me to hide?”
“I didn’t say that,” Sharla said.
“Are you ashamed of me?”
“Me? You’re the one who won’t take me to meet your parents until we are quote-unquote ‘more serious’,” Sharla had snapped suddenly, looking madder than Bill had ever seen her.
“What?” Bill said, frowning. “Well, that’s true. We aren’t that serious yet…”
“What does that mean!?”
“We aren’t living together yet, are we?”
“What? You can’t be serious with someone unless you’re living with them?”
“That’s…well, yeah, that’s usually when I begin to call a relationship ‘serious’…”
“That’s an insane barometer. It’s totally illogical. Why would you even set up such a ridiculous semantic system for yourself?”
“You’re doing that on purpose. You always do this. You start using bigger words when we’re fighting just to make me feel stupid —“
“I do not, this is how I talk—“
“I haven’t even met your parents, either—“
“They live in Bunnyburrow! Your parents live ten minutes away from here!”
“Well, you haven’t even told your parents that I’m a wolf.”
“They know! Gareth told them!”
“But you haven’t, have you? You never talk about me with them.”
Sharla looked at him, ashamed.
“That’s what I thought,” he had grumbled. “Maybe I should go, Sharla, I have to be at the station in a few hours…”
Sharla had visibly paled.
“Um,” she said. “Are you…are you breaking up with me?”
“No,” Bill said after a minute. “This is just a fight. People in relationships have them sometimes. You would know that if you had ever been in a relationship before."
“That was a shitty thing to say,” Sharla had said, looking…well, extremely hurt. “Maybe you should go.”
“Are you breaking up with me now?”
“No! Of course not! But just…go, or stay, or whatever. I’m going to take a bath.”
Bill had sat for a few minutes on the bed, rubbing the back of his neck. Eventually he had knocked quietly on the bathroom door and said goodbye to Sharla, saying he was sorry and kissing her and telling her how much he loved her.
And so…they had kind of made up. Kind of.
—-
“I’m the worst,” Sharla said unhappily, stirring the straw in her water and watching the ice cubes swirl around unhappily. "But nothing was decided. Am I going to meet his parents ever? Am I supposed to have him meet mine?"
“You are not the worst,” Judy said, frowning. “What does he mean, ‘not serious unless you move in with someone’? That’s odd.”
“I know, it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard,” Sharla said, rolling her eyes. “And why he felt like that was the perfect time to try a, I don’t know what you call it, a howling kink,” she suddenly gripped her glass a bit harder, “when I was out of the room and didn’t say it was okay or anything—why did he think that was okay? He knows I don’t like loud noises, he knows I’m shy. Wasn’t that weird?”
Judy hesitated for a moment.
“Yeaaaaah,” she said after a moment. “Didn’t he say he couldn’t control it, though?”
“Isn’t that just something wolves say in order to act like jackasses, though?” Sharla grumbled, taking another sip of her water. “Like when they come out of bars in the middle of the night and try to fight noise complaints?”
“Um,” Judy said after a moment, giving Sharla a look.
“Is that a prejudiced thing to say?” Sharla said after a moment, setting down her glass.
“Um,” Judy said after a moment. “Maybe? I mean…” she cocked her head to one side, “I’ve definitely seen wolves kind of milking the ‘I can’t control it’ defense. We usually let Fangmeyer or, well, Bill, deal with those noise complaints because they can better assess what’s happening.”
“But,” Judy continued, “I’ve seen on more than a few occasions wolves howl when they’re separated from their partner in a high-stress situation…if we have to separate them for, you know, questioning. And it always looks and seems involuntary. It’s sad.”
Sharla stared at Judy for a moment, frowning. Their entrees arrived.
“But I was just gone for a second—“
“Yeah, but it might have been kind of stressful for Bill…trying something new…”
“I guess…” Sharla said, after a moment.
“Wolves might den, too…” Judy said tentatively, after a moment. “Foxes do.”
“What is denning?” Sharla said, sighing and taking another bite of her salad. “Is this something that will explain Bill’s reticence to invite me over to his parents unless we live together? Is this going to make me feel like a terrible girlfriend?”
—
“And she is like, so protective of Gareth,” Bill said, sighing. “Like she feels so bad that I’m there a lot. It’s like, does she not want me there? But there’s no place at my apartment, so what are we going to do? And I asked her once if she wanted to get a new apartment, and she said no because hers was rent-controlled…”
“Oh,” Nick said, after a moment. “I should have told you this earlier. But we were so invested in getting all the particulars of this prey-dominant thing,” he said, chuckling, “did you know in the town Sharla and Judy grew up in people didn’t move in together until after they got married?”
“What?!”
“Yeah, I know it’s weird, but Judy thought she was being like really progressive for thinking she would move in with me before we got married.”
“You should see Bunnyburrow. It’s totally bizarre,” Nick said nostalgically. “They all live together in these huge houses. Because they have so many kids and siblings and stuff. Sometimes adult brothers and sisters will live together with their spouses. Everyone is running around together. You just don’t get that much time alone with your partner or whatever.”
“They don’t den,” Bill said after a moment realizing. “Is that what you mean? They don’t—“
“They don’t have this desire to set up a home pretty fast,” Nick said, nodding. “I know. The whole predator scene of moving in with someone quickly and then moving out if it doesn’t work out would be like, completely confusing to them.”
“Oh.” Bill said after a moment. “So that’s why she doesn’t want to move in with me, you think?”
“Have you directly asked her?”
“Well…no. But I kept hinting at it, and, you know. She didn’t seem very responsive.”
Nick nodded and, looking over at Bill’s face, knew not to say anything for a moment. Bill was looking very, very, very… thoughtful.
“You know what you should do,” Nick said, after a good five minutes of silence had passed, “Get a gag and ask her to gag you. Then you can howl to your heart’s content. They sell gags for canines. I’ve seen them at the place where we get gags for Judy. They’re kind of conical.”
“You gag Judy?” Bill asked, surprised. “Really?”
“Sometimes,” Nick said, shrugging yet looking exceptionally pleased with himself. “I told you. She’s into it.”
—-
“Why don’t you get a gag for Bill?” Judy said after a moment. “They sell them. A lot of them. I think they’re popular. It must feel kind of nice for wolves to howl, because there are so many noise-reduction tools specifically for wolves. Some of them claim wolves can howl without, you know, waking up other people in the same apartment. I don’t know if that’s really possible, though.”
“How do you know that?” Sharla asked, surprised.
“Well…” Judy said, after a moment. “Well, how do you not? Weren’t you involved in all that group sex stuff?”
“We never gagged anyone,” Sharla said shrugging. She grinned. “We were loud.”
Judy laughed and felt her phone vibrate. It was a text from Nick.
NICK: believe it or not, I am talking about how Bill needs to get a wolf-gag for his sexy times with Sharla. I miss you a lot. He thinks I am checking my email not relaying messages to you. How is your dinner going?
JUDY: I literally just told Sharla the same thing. We are completely on the same wavelength.
NICK: These two are pretty shitty at communicating, right? And this is me talking.
JUDY: Jesus, I know.
NICK: they’re pretty cute though…I want them to get married
JUDY: you want everyone to get married
NICK: weddings are a blast, you get free drinks and get to dance the funky chicken
“Who are you texting?” Sharla asked Judy suspiciously.
“Nick. Just talking about what we need to get at the grocery store.”
“You’re not telling him about this conversation, are you?” Sharla asked, suddenly looking worried.
“No, no…” Judy said soothingly. “Of course not.”