3rd person P.O.V

Every animal has a great weakness. 

Everyone knows that.

It's like how some elephants (although none that Nick or Judy knew) were scared of mice in particular.

A big animal scared of a small critter. It made no sense to anyone but those who were elephants.

And like the elephant, Nick Wilde had a fear of his own. And while stereotypes claim that he is a "Sneaky, sly, stealthy, good-for-nothing fox", deep down, he knew there was some things he couldn't be.

For one, he was sneaky, he used to be a con artist after society dubbed him as the "stereotypical fox".

He was very sly and very stealthy, ask Judy, the only bunny or animal that ever got to know him.

"Good-for-nothing"? Now that stereotype got to him more often than than he had expected.

Not because it was a lie - which- on its own is, but because of the assumptions animals had gathered from that stereotype.

Even Nick had a great fear, much to his displeasure. He didn't want anyone knowing of it, not even Judy for that matter.

A fox having a fear?! He was a PREDATOR. The only thing that was meant to be scared was his PREY.

Judy - for instance.

A bunny her size with no fear- well in Nick's eyes at least.

She was a cop who would rather fight criminal masterminds along side him than farm carrots.

Nick wasn't one to judge her choices however, she broke her stereotype as a "token bunny". Had he broken the stereotype that "foxes have no fears"? The answer was simple: no.

And he felt no need to testify against it. Nick wasn't one for change. He'd rather swallow it up whole- reputation was everything.

He never wanted to let them see that they got the better of him.

And while trying to mask this feeling, Judy was trying to uncover it.

She was a very observative kind of bunny, taking details in and writing down just about anything that may help find the answer, in this case it was her partner Nick.

He would always shrug it off as a "no biggie" or change the subject rather quickly.

Judy wasn't sure what was up but she wanted to find out.

Nick usually opened up to her during times when he was tired, his brain wasn't functioning properly- not that it does all the time- and he was less wary of what he was saying- still, not like he did all the time.

So the simple solution was to go out with him and tire him out, hopefully bringing him back to his apartment just in time to interrogate.

The plan was simple and way to easy for Nick to even notice.

She called her friend up almost immediately. He answered lazily, like he would every weekend.

Judy could only imagine Flash, their sloth friend, handing him the phone.

"Sup Carrots?" His voice called.

"Not much! I was wondering if ya wanna go out for ice cream?" She inquired, hoping that if he stuck to his usual routine-

"I was about to have a nap!" Bingo!

Judy grinned. "Oh I know that, that's why I chose now to go out! You foxes always like to sleep!" She muttered.

"Well that's me Carrots-" Nick yawned, "lazy."

"Which is the entire opposite of foxes actually, usually they are-"

"Sneaky, sly, mischievous, bad- I get it!" He exclaimed.

Judy went silent. All this energy had suddenly been emphasised in one sentence, perhaps a clue to what she needed to know?

"I-I'm not trying to stereotypically label you!" She squeaked, "I was just wanted to go out and hang with you!" She insisted.

The other side of the line went silent. "Nick?" She called. Had fox stereotypes have something to do with Nick's peculiar attitude?

"I-I'm sorry Nick- I know you hate when someone does that- I'm stupid, I'm sorry... I didn't mean to..." She pleaded.

A sigh was heard in the speaker. "Nah I'm cool... Sorry bout that Carrots... Just have stuff on my mind, perhaps going out will take stuff off my shoulders... How about ice cream?" He suggested.

"U-uh sure! I'll see you in about five minutes then in front of that cafe around your place?" She said, slightly relieved he wasn't mad.

"Sure thing- see ya Carrots!" The phone line had gone dead as Judy sighed.

It had to be something about a stereotype. Something uncovered however. It was established already that not all foxes were sneaky, sly or stealthy.

And Judy herself had proven they all weren't bad.

So what would it be?

It wasn't until she met up with him in person that she reveal her findings and her hypothesis.

To Nick, he was surprised she had gotten this far. She was so close to figuring out his secret that he was scared.

Would she find it overly ridiculous? He already argued against most of those beliefs, he didn't feel like he needed the world to know he was scared of things to.

They ate their ice cream in silence until Nick decided to invite Judy over for some movies.

Judy knew he'd eventually fall asleep on the couch or something so she agreed.

The walk back to his apartment was relatively quick, arriving at the main building well within five minutes.

Judy pressed the button to go up on the elevator, being on the 30th floor, it would have taken far to long to take the stairs.

Even Judy would have been to tired and out of focus to interrogate Nick.

With a small chime, the empty elevator doors opened and allowed the two friends in.

Nick presses the number 30 button and waited with Judy until they reached his floor.

He sucked in a breath. "Floor 22...23...24...25..." He muttered under his breath, watching the digital numbers change at the top of the sliding door.

After the 26th number however, a banging sound was heard as the small screen flickered.

Judy grasped the hand railing as the lights drained from the metal box.

Nicks heart began to race.

"I think the power is out!" Judy called, pulling out her phone. The emergency lights flickered on as she began to type away.

"What happened?" Nick asked.

"Black out! The entire northern side of Zootopia had a massive power failure! Looks like we are gonna be stuck for a couple of hours..." She sighed, switching off her phone.

It was only then that she noticed Nick's position. He sat in the corner of the elevator, hugging his knees to his chest. His eyes were shut and his breathing was shaky.

He was obviously uncomfortable at their current predicament. Scared if Judy had to call it one thing.

And then it clicked.

This had been what Nick was worked up about over the past few weeks.

The stereotype that predators had "no fears". Especially foxes.

Had Judy not told him to not worry about those things? What had happened to "don't let them see they get to you"?

So what if he was scared? It was a natural part of life. Judy sat beside Nick, placing a paw on his shoulder the best she could, seeing as Nick was bigger.

She could feel him shake. Quietly, she spoke up. "Are you okay?"

Nick looked up and smiled sheepishly. "Y-yeah! N-never better! W-what makes you s-say that?" He asked.

"I can tell you're scared... It's okay to be you know... Fears are what protect us from danger." She reasoned.

"Yeah but it's hard when you're not meant to have fears..." Nick whimpered.

"That's a stereotype Nick- I now understand why you were so upset before... You don't have to be! It's not your job to live up to everybody else's standards." She said.

"Doesn't help the fact that I'm scared of tight places..." He muttered.

"You mean claustrophobia?" She asked. Nick nodded his head. "Even I have that you know, it's not easy right now, especially with this situation in our paws but I can assure you the power will come back and everything will be okay."

"You?" He scoffed. "How can you be scared of this?" He asked.

"Nick, do you not hear yourself? Of course I'm scared! Just cause I'm a bunny who is a cop doesn't mean I'm fearless." She reminded him.

"But you're much more fearless than me..." Nick pointed out.

"It's not fearless, Nick. No body can be fearless. Perhaps you confuse yourself with brave. A person who is brave isn't fearless, they are someone who has fears but attempts to pull through them- the very thing you are doing!" Judy exclaimed.

Nick went silent. "I guess that makes sense." He muttered.

"When have I never made sense?" Judy grinned as he opened his mouth to reply. "Don't answer that." She laughed, holding a paw up.

Soon enough, she was standing up and helping Nick up from the floor. "Thanks." He muttered, barely inaudible if it weren't for Judy's sense of hearing.

"No problem." She caught him off guard. "I know what it's like to try to be up to everyone's standards... But you just gotta pull through, ya know?" She smiled as a rumbling sound was heard.

The elevator started to continue its journey up the building, opening once they reached the 30th level.

"Looks like the power shortage wasn't so bad after all huh?" Nick said.

"Nope, it wasn't!" Judy grinned, following Nick into his apartment.

They sat on the couch and began to watch a movie until about half way through, like Judy predicted, she could hear the soft snores of Nick asleep.

She turned the TV off and smiled at him.

Although all animals were once what you could call the "stereotypical animal", they had all evolved into smarter, crazier and more unique animals.

Even if that meant breaking the stereotypes and proving the world around you wrong.

Zootopia was a utopia were you could be anything.

That was true- to a certain extent., Judy had realised.

Was the path to "anything" easy? Hell no! But was it worth it in the end?

Well... You would have to ask Nick about that one but Judy can assure you that the answer is most likely a yes.