[A/N: Dedicated to amazing thoseotherthings, for freaking out over this Au with me. If you haven't seen the TV Show Chuck, watch it. All seasons are on Netflix and it's amazing. This drabble is heavily inspired by it, but you absolutely don't have to be familiar with the show to read the fic!]

It was a complete accident that Nick started working for the Zootopian government.

Falling for his handler was an even bigger accident.

When he'd gotten tangled up in all of the government's secrets, the ZBI (Zootopian Bureau of Investigation) had sent the best of the best to train him, their top spy, the world-class, bad-ass, international master of espionage, Judy Hopps.

Who just happened to be under 3 feet tall (ears included).

And a bunny.

"Are you serious?" Nick had grinned upon first meeting Judy. The two were in an underground base located underneath Savanna Central, video conferencing with the chief and head of the organization, Bogo. The base was huge, and if not for the lack of windows, Nick never would have guessed that they were 100 or so feet under the surface of Savanna Central. Judy was standing beside him, wearing a white button-up tucked into a pair of black slacks. "This is Judy Hopps?"

"She's our best agent," Bogo had threatened in a warning tone, to which Judy smirked smugly at Nick. "And she will be both training and monitoring you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It's her job to keep you safe, and make sure you're fit enough to join the force."

"Well, yeah, that's all great," Nick said dryly, slipping his paws into his pockets, "But don't you think it'll look a little odd to have a bunny suddenly tailing me everywhere I go?"

"That's why we'll have a cover," Judy answered for Bogo. She waved a manila folder out to Nick, looking a little too eager. "I'm going to be your girlfriend."

If Nick had been drinking something, he would have done a spit-take. Instead, he just choked on his own breath and laughed incredulously. "What?" He waited for the punchline, but it didn't come. Judy simply looked at him, violet gaze unblinking and unamused. "Okay," He said slowly, removing his paws from his pockets and crossing them across his chest. "But, I don't think that's going to work either, since I already have a girlfriend."

"Actually, according to our records, you haven't been on a date in…5 years?" Judy mused, flipping through the manila folder. "Gosh, you must really not get out a lot!"

He froze, gaping at her. "How did you—"

"It's my job to know everything about you, Wilde," Judy shrugged simply, snapping the folder shut and looking up at him. "If you're really that worried about our cover, it'll only be temporary, and it'll all be fake. And once I'm done training you, we'll never have to see each other again. So, do we have a deal?"

She held out her paw to him, and he eyed it carefully.

It's just temporary, he reminded himself. And fake. Clearly fake. Because the only situation in which he would ever date a bunny would be one in which she was secretly training him to become a government spy.

"Fine," he sighed, shaking her paw. "It's a deal."

Bogo cleared his throat, and the pair turned back to look at him on the screen.

"Remember, Hopps," The buffalo said sternly, leaning closer to the camera to look Judy right in the eye. "Training him is your mission. If you strike out, it'll be your ass on the line."

The bunny nodded and stood up straighter. "Understood, sir!" She chirped, saluting him. "I won't let you down!"

"Yeah, Chief," Nick nodded, giving his own half-hearted, and only slightly sarcastic salute. "I mean, how hard can it really be to just teach me a of couple spy moves?"

The chief snorted, and ended the conference call, leaving Nick to face Judy.

"Well, Nicholas—"

"Nick."

"Nick. We've got to get started! I've already taken the liberty of changing your Muzzlebook relationship status, and I've already moved into the apartment building across from yours. We train every morning of every day. If you compromise our cover to anyone, I'll be sent away, and they'll ship you off to headquarters, away from your friends and family. And believe me, you don't want that."

He blinked at her, just trying to process everything that she had said. "Uh…yeah. I don't."

"And no matter what, you have to remember one thing." She pulled down on his tie, yanking him down so he was exactly at her eye level.

Nick looked into her eyes, breath catching in his throat. "And what would that be?"

"Trust me."

As it would turn out, Nick was extremely out of shape, something Judy was more than keen to point out.

"Is this really all you got, Slick?" Judy panted, hopping in front of him with a smirk on her face.

They were training in their underground facility, suited with boxing gloves and helmets, and Judy had managed to knock him down exactly 5 times. For someone so small, she was damn fast.

"I wasn't ready that time," He griped, lying on his back and staring up at the ceiling. His view of the fluorescent lights was quickly blocked off by the sight of Judy peering over him. She hadn't even broken a sweat. "Crime doesn't wait for you!" She insisted, yanking him up with a strong tug on his arm. "Look at me, I'm an international drug lord."

He laughed. "What?!"

"Focus!" She ordered, hopping in place and holding out her fists. "I'm an international drug lord, your mission is to take me out. How are you going to stop me?"

He wrinkled his brow as he tried to remember. "A…swiping knee-kick, followed by a Guillotine choke."

She nodded in approval. "Do it."

He tried, he really did. He darted forward, raised his leg for the kick, but Judy was quicker. She blocked his kick and with one swift movement had him back on the ground, pinned underneath her.

"Nice," she panted, but all Nick could focus on was how close she was, and the feeling of her breath on his face. He found he suddenly felt dizzy. "But you still need some work. We'll work on it tomorrow, we gotta practice your knife skills next, you were really bad last week…"

She peeled herself off of him, but Nick still lay there, wrists tingling where her paws had been. He chalked it up to being shocked over being pinned down by a rabbit half his size, because he couldn't afford to view it as anything else.

They were only a cover.

It was slightly unnerving, the feeling of being constantly watched. When Bogo had said Judy would be monitoring him 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, he hadn't been exaggerating. Nick apparently knew too much, and they couldn't risk letting anything malicious happen to him. So that explained why one evening, Nick glanced out his apartment window to see Judy watching him from across the street. Well, he assumed it was her. It was dark, but it was her apartment window, and last time he'd checked, there weren't any other bunnies with motivation to spy on him with binoculars.

The sight amused him more than it startled him, because she really did look funny, a dark silhouette with tall ears and giant lenses pressed to her eyes. Nick knew this kind of thing was going on, just last week he'd learned that they'd bugged his apartment, thanks to Judy casually pointing out that he had a nice singing voice.

"You were listening to me in the shower!?" He'd yelped, which only made her smile more.

"24 hours a day," she'd teased in a playful tone, and Nick had groaned and buried his face in his paw.

Needless to say, he wasn't getting a lot of privacy lately. Though binoculars — was thatreallynecessary? Maybe he oughta give good 'ol Carrots a little call. He dug in his pocket for his phone, dialing her number in what was becoming a practiced motion. He really needed to put her on speed dial already.

He looked back out the window as she picked up her cell phone, answering it with what looked to be a loud sigh. "Yes, Nick?"

"Hey, I thought you were supposed to be good at this spy stuff," he quipped, smiling at her through the window. "I could see you from a mile away, Carrots."

"It's only you, Nick," Judy reminded him, "I don't exactly have to worry about my location being compromised."

"I'm just watching TV," Nick sighed, "Do you really have to monitor me all the time?"

"Anything could happen to you," She said gently, "I have to make sure you're safe."

"Well, that must be boring."

"It's my job."

"What do you do when you're not doing your job?"

"That's classified."

"Oh." He was silent as he looked at her through the window, unsure of what to say next. He decided to lighten the mood. "Well, I could strip," he teased, and he could practically hear her blush. "Ya' know, give you a little show."

"As…interesting as that would be," Judy snorted, "I've already seen all you have to offer, Wilde."

"Wait…what?"

"The bugs have a visual feed."

Nick felt his face heat up, and he groaned loudly. "Of COURSE they do! Why wouldn't they? You guys just have to invade every last inch of my privacy, don't you?"

She gave the hint of a laugh. "That's right."

He eyed her through the window. "So, what's with the binoculars?"

He saw her shrug. "I got nothing better to do. Sometimes it's fun to do things the old-fashioned way."

He hesitated before he spoke next. "You could uh…come over, if you wanted. You know, monitor me up close and personal."

Judy didn't speak for a moment, and albeit for the crackle of the phone silence, his apartment was dead quiet as he waited for her reply. "I don't think that's such a good idea," she finally said. "We've got a lot of work to do tomorrow — you still need to practice handling guns and bomb diffusing. Get some rest."

Nick ignored the sinking feeling in his chest and nodded. "Yeah, you're right, sorry."

"Goodnight, Nick."

"'Night."

She hung up, and Nick felt that sinking feeling even stronger, becoming harder to ignore.

He was going to have to start learning to, though. He was a spy now, and as Bogo kept reminding him on a weekly basis: emotions would get you killed in this kind of business.

So he took a breath, sucked it up, and decided tomorrow he would stop stressing over Judy Hopps.

That didn't stop him from having a little fun with her though. He unbuttoned his work shirt and pulled it off, tossing it aside with a wink.

Judy's silhouette seemed to shake, as if she was laughing, and she raised her paw to give him a thumbs up.

Nick smiled back, and turned to head off to his bedroom, all the while reminding himself:

It's only temporary.

She came to visit him at work, well, his old work. Cover work. Or was it technically his real work? Either way, Judy Hopps showed up to the dingy electronics store he'd spent the majority of his time at before the world decided he was going to become a spy. She was holding two coffee cups, one for herself and one for him, made exactly to order because she knew just how he liked it — just like she knew everything. She'd ditched the guns, determined glare, and black suit, instead donning a floaty lilac sundress and an innocent smile that made her look like any other goody-two-shoed, carrot-loving bunny.

20 bucks said that she still had the belt of pocket knives still strapped around her upper thigh though.

"Damn," Finnick had snorted, seated at the customer service counter beside Nick. "How'd you lock that down?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Nick snorted, because he really wouldn't have. He left Finnick to deal with the honey badger who was angrily going on about how her iPawd wouldn't turn on even though she'd bought it from here just yesterday, and went to meet Judy in the middle of the store.

Judy bounced to a stop, and Nick hated himself for thinking that she actually looked cute. "Hey, sweetheart!" She smiled, handing him the coffee cup. "I missed you this morning!"

Except that was a lie, because they'd spent the morning practicing French, because he had to learn different languages now if he was going to be a spy (as if he didn't have enough to deal with already).

But they were only cover-dating, so as far as Nick was concerned, they'd spent the morning apart after a long-night of cuddling on his couch, watching TV and feeding each other popcorn, just like a real couple.

"I missed you too!" Nick smiled back, and Judy gave the faintest hint of a nod.

She glanced around the store briefly before standing on tip-toe as much as she could, pressing her nose as close as she could to his. "Kiss me," she whispered into his ear, never once faltering in her cheery, carrot-loving bunny smile.

His eyes widened, and he glanced down at her. "What?!"

"We're dating, aren't we?" She hissed through her teeth. "Your co-workers will never believe it unless we sell it."

Nick glanced up to see Finnick indeed eyeing him, though half of that was resentment over Nick leaving him to deal with the angry customer.

Fake fake fake fake fake. It's all fake.

So, forcing a similar, cheery, bunny-loving smile onto his face, he lowered his head to give her a light peck.

There.

Judy seemed to have other ideas though, as she wrapped one paw around his neck and hoisted herself into the air, legs wrapping around his waist — and yep, she was definitely wearing the knife belt around her thigh. She kept her free paw on her coffee cup as she leaned in to whisper in his ear, "You're needed at headquarters, now."

Nick froze, still taken aback by her wrapped around him, all while trying desperately to hold her up with one paw and not spill his coffee with the other. Not to mention that he could feel her rapid little heartbeat hammering against his chest, and smell the scent of her honeysuckle perfume filling his nose.

To anyone else, it looked like an eager girlfriend trying to sneak her boyfriend out of work, and that's what Nick kept reminding himself, it was only for appearances, it was all fake.

So why did he really wanna try that fake-kissing thing again?

He swallowed. "Like…now, now?"

She gave him a look.

"Now it is," he agreed, and Judy leaped off of him and took ahold of his paw tightly.

Nick walked them both to the customer service desk, where he gave Finnick a hastened excuse for having to duck out for a bit.

"Whatever," Finnick said as the honey badger walked out in a huff. "You gotta do what you gotta do man."

"See you later, Finnick!" Judy chirped, waving goodbye and tugging her cover-boyfriend out the front door.

The fennec fox simply shook his head, watching as the two left to do completely normal,real couple things. "Bunnies," he snorted.

As it would turn out, those completely normal, real couple things would be his first field mission.

"We think you can handle it," Bogo said over another video conference.

"But I've only been training for a month!" Nick protested. "How could I be ready?!"

The chief raised an eyebrow. "Agent Hopps told me that she thinks you're ready."

Nick felt his heart skip a beat, and he turned to his left to look at Judy, but she stared determinedly at the screen, not flinching even once.

"So," Bogo continued, "We're going to start you off with something simple. We've intercepted some transmissions from a smuggling ring, we think they're planning an exchange in Sahara Square today. I need you to go to the drop off location, intercept the package, and detain the smugglers."

"And what exactly are they smuggling?" Nick asked.

"Enough Night Howlers to make the entire city go nuts," Bogo answered, and Judy visibly cringed. "I'm sure you're familiar with the effects?"

Nick nodded. His poison identification lessons with Judy were paying off already.

"Great. Now go. The drop off is at 3, I sent the coordinates to your phones." And without so much as a goodbye, he ended the call.

"Let's suit up!" Judy chirped, turning to head down the hall to the armory. "I need to get out of this dress…"

"Why did you tell Chief I was ready?!" Nick exclaimed, stepping in front of his bunny partner.

Judy put her paws on her hips and looked up at him. "Because I think you are," she said simply. "You have a lot of potential Nick, and you're never going to discover it if you stay here underground. You've gotta try!"

Nick hesitated, and she reached out her paw to hold his gently. "I won't let anyone hurt you. You do trust me, don't you?"

He glanced down at their intertwined paws, sighed and nodded. "I do."

"Then let's do this."

The drop-off location turned out to be a swanky hotel, which was thankfully air-conditioned — Nick had never been fond of the Sahara Square heat.

"Alright, Nick," Judy whispered as they entered the hotel, arm-in-arm. "Keep an eye out for any suspicious-looking mammals. Be prepared to strike at any moment."

"Got it, Fluff," Nick nodded with a smirk, "And may I just say, you make a cute tourist."

They were both dressed to blend in with the other Sahara Square tourists, Nick donning a Hawaiian shirt and khaki shorts, Judy a floral romper and large sunhat. Both had on sunglasses, and a small arsenal of knives and guns tucked away in the most unexpected of places.

"Don't call me cute," Judy said in a warning tone, but she was smiling because eyes were on them and it was showtime.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Nick teased, "Just following the cover."

"Nick," She gave him a pointed look. "We're not a cover."

Nick's brow furrowed in confusion before it dawned on him. He glanced around, nodding. "Right. We're a thing. A completely real relationship."

She nodded. "Exactly."

Nick took his phone out of his pocket and held it out to her. "Well, darling, you think I could get a photo?"

She eyed him. "What?"

"What kind of real couple doesn't have any photos together?" He asked, "We're supposed to sell it."

"Right now?!" She exclaimed, looking around the hotel lobby. "On a…" She lowered her voice and leaned in closer, "Mission?"

"We still got at least 25 minutes before they're supposed to show up. It'll only take a second, Carrots."

She looked hesitant, shifting her weight from one foot to another, but eventually sighed. "I guess you're right," she said, removing her sunglasses. "Just keep it quick."

He had to kneel down so she was in the frame, and even then she had to stand on tip-toe. She took his sunglasses off and tucked them into his shirt for him, and just that small action was so cute and domestic, he lost himself for a moment. They both leaned in closer and smiled into the camera, and Nick took the photo.

"Cheese and crackers!" Judy smiled, looking down at it on his phone. "We look…"

Like a real couple.

But her voice trailed off, and she coughed, straightening up. "Let's get into position," she said, slipping her sunglasses back on.

Nick nodded and tucked his phone away. "On your orders, Fluff."

The drop-off wound up happening 5 minutes later than they'd expected. It had been Nick who'd spotted the suspect first.

"Shady-looking leopard with a duffle bag at 5 o'clock," he hissed to Judy.

She nodded. "Good work, Nick," she whispered, and they got up from their seats to go apprehend the criminal. "Let's get our guy."

If only it'd been that easy.

The leopard had taken off the minute Judy had approached him with her badge, leading them on a wild chase through the hotel. It was a busy Friday afternoon, and the hotel was crowded with mammals Nick had to slither between and maneuver through. Judy used her bunny instincts to her advantage though, leaping gracefully and skillfully through the crowd.

Nick was impressed, to put it lightly.

The leopard whipped a pistol out of his pocket and fired off a couple of rounds at them as they pursued him up an emergency staircase, but one-by-one, they all missed. Judy was shouting orders at him to cease and desist immediately, but the leopard only shouted back some colorful and offensive language in reply.

Nick was counting the floors as they ran higher and higher up the staircase. There was only so high they could go until—

The leopard kicked open the door leading to the hotel roof, a flat expanse coated with gravel. There were no other buildings in the vicinity, no other way out other than straight down, 30 floors to be exact.

"Stop right there!" Judy ordered as the leopard glanced around the rooftop frantically. "ZBI!"

The leopard held up his gun and Judy darted forward to leap up and kick it out of his paws. The gun, as well as the bag, fell to the ground, and the leopard and Judy immediately began fighting for it.

Nick leapt forward and grabbed the bag of Night Howlers, but was kicked back by the leopard. Nick held on tightly to the duffle as he was flung backwards, the metallic taste of his own blood filling his mouth.

"NICK!"

The fox shook himself off and stood up, one paw on the bag, the other on the gun he whipped out of his pocket. The leopard had long since crossed the line, and now, Nick was ready for afight.

He wasn't ready for what he saw next.

The leopard had his large arm wrapped around Judy's tiny neck, and was squeezing, causing her to gasp for air. He had his gun pressed to her temple, and was smiling, actually smiling, at Nick. "Give me my bag," he demanded. "Now!"

"Don't do it, Nick!" Judy insisted, squirming in the leopard's grasp.

Nick looked between them helplessly, aiming his gun with a shaky grip.

"Give me the bag, fox!" The leopard ordered again, "Or it's lights out for your dumb bunny friend here!"

Nick could see Judy's teeth clench, and he knew every muscle in her body had to be fighting off protesting that she wasn't some dumb bunny. She kept her composure though, instead looking Nick right in the eye. "Take the shot, Nick!" She hissed, whimpering slightly when the leopard squeezed her even tighter.

Nick's heart was hammering wildly, and he hesitated. If he accidentally hit Judy…

"NICK!" Judy yelped again, and Nick turned to look her directly in the eye.

She narrowed her eyes, nodded.

Trust me.

So he took the shot. It hit the leopard right in the knee, causing him to stumble backwards, which gave Judy a window to squirm free from his grasp and bunny-kick him right in the chin. It was enough to make the already stumbling mammal fall backwards, where she finished off her takedown with a punch to the face, knocking the leopard unconscious.

Her romper was ripped across the stomach, her sunhat long gone, and she had blood on her fists, and what looked like a couple bruises, but she still turned to look at him, panting slightly. "Y-you okay?"

Nick just looked at her before he burst out laughing, not meaning to sound slightly hysterical. "AmI ok? You just…you…you could have died! I…shot…I shot someone…"

Judy smiled gently at him and let out a heavy sigh. "You did great, Nick." She peeled herself away from the passed out leopard and pulled out her pager. "This is Agent Hopps," she said briskly, speaking into the small device. "Requesting backup and transport. I'm sending my coordinates now."

"Is every mission like this?" Nick asked as she ended the call. "You know, guns, near death experiences, immediate peril?"

She smirked. "Only the fun ones."

Judy walked Nick home that night, holding his paw, as she always did. They'd gotten cleaned up at headquarters, where Bogo congratulated them on a job well done, but not without reminding them that there was still another suspect out there: the mammal intent on buying those Night Howlers. Which meant there was going to be more missions, and a hell of a lot more training. At first, Nick had been hesitant, after all, his idea of a good day usually involved not almost getting shot up by a crazed leopard. But now, as he looked down at the bunny at his side, he decided that maybe, just maybe, it wouldn't be so bad.

It was late at night, and even though the streets were bustling with nightlife, Nick couldn't stop chewing something over in his mind. He was slowly becoming more and more aware of the fact that the one person he spent virtually all his time with, he knew absolutely nothing about. All he knew was that she was Judy Hopps, master spy. He didn't know her birthday, her likes and dislikes, or where she grew up. How had she become a spy? Had she ever killed anyone? Had she ever been in love?

He turned to look down at her again, and his heart did the annoying skipping-thing he was starting to get accustomed to.

It couldn't hurt to ask, right?

"Hey, uh, Fluff?"

She looked up at him sweetly. "Yes, Nick?"

"Is it alright if I ask you something…personal?"

Her smile wavered, and she looked uncertain. "You know that kind of stuff is classified," she reminded him. "The less you know about me, the better."

"I know, I know," Nick insisted. He told himself that he was being stupid, but it was too late — the frustration was already bubbling up and his aching curiosity got the better of him. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, putting both paws on her shoulders and looking her right in the eye. "It's just that…you know everything about me, and I feel like I don't even know who you are! Like, what's your favorite color? Or hobby — what do you do when you're not saving the world? Or your middle name? Just something, anything."

Judy was silent as she looked up at him, her gaze cold and concrete.

Nick waited, hoping, eyes pleading, but Judy didn't so much as flinch. Seconds dragged by, cars rushed past, and as time went by without receiving an answer, Nick gave up.

"Fine," he sighed, pulling away from her. "I'm sorry." He turned to walk away, shoulders slumped. "I shouldn't have asked."

Fake fake fake fake fake. It's all fake and you're an idiot and you're emotions are going to get you killed.

"Laverne."

It was no more than a quiet whisper, but Nick still caught it anyway. His ears perked up, and he turned back around to face her, looking at her curiously. "…What?"

She didn't look at him, but repeated herself. "Laverne. My middle name is Laverne."

Laverne. In any other situation, Nick would have laughed, because God, what kind of middle name was Laverne, but Nick was so distracted by the fact that it was finally something real to their fake relationship, he couldn't say anything at all.

"This is your apartment," Judy said, and Nick looked up and realized that they'd been stopped in front of it the entire time. "Get some rest."

Before he could even say goodbye, she crossed the street to her own apartment, leaving Nick to stare after her.

Looking back, he didn't mean to — not at all. After all, she was a spy, and a bunny, and he knew for a fact that she would never see him as anything more than a mission, something to accomplish, check off, and move on from. But it was too late — he was falling for Judy Hopps, the world-class, bad-ass, international master of espionage — his handler.

So he took a breath, sucked it up. After all, he had to stop freaking out.

It was just a cover.