A/N: Hey everyone! I know you're all waiting for the final installment of Embrace It, but this story was actually a fun little project I did with the Admiral, Cimar of Turalis WildeHopps! It's called the What If? Collaboration, and you can find it on his page. This has been finished months ago, so the next part will be up tomorrow! Woot!

Anyways, enjoy! This is my attempt at writing simple fluff, so I hope it works out ^^;

~Star

Disclaimer: Zootopia is not mine.

~o.8.o~

Heart pounding, paws shaking slightly with nervousness, Judy Hopps felt frozen in place before the suddenly ominous door in front of her. 'You can do this, Hopps.' She thought encouragingly to herself as she stared at the door knob. 'You're the first bunny cop. You can take down a rhino, and you solved three cold cases in your first week!' That being said, she felt very naked in her civilian clothing, her pep talk not amounting to much.

"Are you going to stand there all day and stare at it?" A male voice suddenly spoke from behind her, causing the doe to jump slightly. She whirled around, coming face to face with another rabbit. He was white with odd black stripes on his face and ears, dressed in a brown muscle shirt and black jeans. His blue eyes were slightly curious as they observed her.

"What? No." Judy stammered out with an embarrassed chuckle, a paw reaching up to tug at one of her ears. "I just…" She sighed. "I'm not very good at this."

Understanding dawned on the buck's face, and he offered her a soft smile. "Most people that come here aren't to begin with, but that changes quickly." He offered her a paw. "Name's Jack Savage, and this is my dance studio."

"Judy Hopps." She smiled as she took his paw and gave it a firm shake.

Jack quirked an eyebrow. "The Judy Hopps?" At her nod, he whistled as he opened the door for her. "Wonderful! Well, come on in." Judy followed the buck into the studio, the sign above the door reading: Savage Steps Dance Studio.

The buck continued as he led her in. "I will admit, I'm curious as to why you want to learn how to dance."

A long-suffering sigh left Judy. "The ZPD is having its Annual Charity Gala in a month, and since I'm the first bunny cop…my presence is mandatory." She grumbled the last part, clearly unhappy with the turn of events. Having spent her whole life trying to achieve her dream job, she had never given attention to pursuits other country does often pursued, such as cooking, music, or dancing. It just wasn't in her agenda, and her tomboy disposition made it unappealing.

Now, she was kind of regretting not giving them at least a peeking glance.

Jack gave a soft chuckle. "Well, you came to the right place then," he said as he led her across the studio.

Judy took this moment to take it in. It was fairly large; the space being rented in a part of Savannah Central that was occupied mainly by larger mammals. It made the "small" studio more than spacious for small mammals like themselves. The hardwood floors were waxed, the gleam adding a warm feeling when in contrast to the soft yellow walls. A large mirror with a balance bar took up an entire wall, and there were already a few mammals practicing in front of it.

"This place is very homey," Judy commented as they reached the reception desk.

"Thanks." Jack smiled as he made his way back behind it. She noticed the slight blush on his ears, his expression suddenly sheepish. "My business partner picked out all the decorations. I think she did a good job."

Her lips tugging into a knowing smile, Judy couldn't help herself. "She?" The doe could admit to herself that she'd been expecting the polite buck to come on to her. Ever since she'd made it as cop, bucks had been trying to date her. It was annoying, painful in an embarrassing sort of way, and sometimes, downright demeaning. She was glad that would not be the case here.

His blush deepened as he coughed into his fist, averting his gaze momentarily. She giggled. "Anyways, we have five teachers at the moment, including myself, and only one is available to take another student. His name is Nick, and he'll be here in another hour or so, if you don't mind waiting." Jack gave her an apologetic smile. "He's not much of a morning mammal, so his shift starts at ten."

"That's fine. I'll just go grab a snack, then. How much will these classes cost? And..." The two rabbits took the following moments to hammer out the details and decide which package Judy wanted to buy, before settling on the one that seemed to meet her needs. It entailed two classes a week for three weeks.

She hoped it would be enough.

When Judy came back to the studio fifteen minutes to ten, the door no longer caused her irrational fear, though she did still feel out of place. Now that it was a little later in the morning, there were a few more mammals in the studio, and she watched as they gracefully moved across the dance floor.

Making her way over to the reception desk, she noted that there was an arctic vixen occupying it, rather than Jack. The vixen was beautiful, her fur a dark brown since it was summer. Her eyes were a striking blue as she smiled at the doe.

"Hey there! My name's Skye, how can I help you today?"

"I purchased a three-week lesson plan with, uh, Nick? I think that was it?" Judy muttered the last part to herself, feeling unsure once again, and it frustrated her. She was never unsure, for pea's sake!

"Yes, Jack told me." Skye said as she typed away on her computer. "Nick should be here soon, so you can do some stretches until then, and I'll direct him to you once he arrives."

Not sure what the vixen meant by stretches, and not wanting to make a further fool of herself, Judy decided to take a seat at the benches on the opposite wall, and wait until her instructor arrived. As time ticked away, she began to wonder what type of mammal Nick was, and realized she forgot to ask what species he was. 'Not that it matters.' She thought idly. 'I'm just curious. I mean, it would be awkward if he was a large mammal.'

Lost in her thoughts as she was, she snapped back to reality when the door to the studio opened, and in walked a red fox tod. He was dressed in black sweatpants and a white tank top, a forest green duffle bag draped over one shoulder.

Her nose twitched.

While Judy no longer had an issue with foxes, her friendship with Gideon a testament of that, she was suddenly apprehensive of this fox. Why? 'Because he's…he's…hot.' She thought with a blush warming her ears as she cast her gaze away from the predator as he made his way to the reception desk. Having no experience in that department, she always felt like a kit when in the presence of a mammal she found attractive, and this was no exception. She just hoped he would go away quickly so she could focus on her dancing.

So focused was she in ignoring the hot-fox, as her mind had helpfully labeled him, and everything around her for that matter, Judy started slightly when a male voice sounded from in front of her. "Judy Hopps?"

Her head jerked up at the sound of her name, and wide amethyst met friendly emeralds.

The red fox smiled as he held out his paw to the rabbit doe gazing up at him with the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen. "My name's Nick Wilde, and I'll be your dance instructor for the next three weeks."

"N-nice to meet you." Judy managed to get passed her suddenly dry throat, her paw disappearing within his much larger one. Her nose wouldn't stop twitching.

Seeing her reaction to him, Nick's smile became strained as he released her paw. "Well, let's get you started, shall we? We'll be occupying the space over there." He pointed to a small section of the studio floor near the mirrors that would be more than enough for them.

Getting up, Judy followed Nick as she tried to get her nerves under wraps. She felt herself heat up even more with embarrassment as he gave her a once over.

"What you're wearing today will have to do, but I recommend coming to the next session in clothes that will allow for comfortable and easy movement." Nick instructed, and his professionalism calmed her slightly.

Glancing down at the jeans and pink flannel shirt she was wearing, she saw his point. "Okay."

Pleased with her compliance, he then led her into a series of stretches that were both similar to and different from the ones she did for her own training. Having something a bit familiar gave her a slight confidence boost.

Sensing that her nervousness around him lessened a bit as they worked through the stretches, Nick decided to break the ice with some small talk. He found it helped a lot with the smaller mammals he taught. "So, just to be sure, you're the Judy Hopps, right?"

Judy allowed herself to chuckle at that as she moved out of a stretch and into another one, following Nick's lead. "Yes, but it's not that big of a deal, honestly. I'm not even the only rabbit in the ZPD anymore." And it was true. After just hitting her one year mark a few days ago, another rabbit had joined the ZPD at precinct five in Tundratown. His name was Jeffrey Leaps, and while she hadn't met him yet, she heard he was promising.

"It's because you're the first." Nick said as he stood to his full height, bringing one arm over his head, his other paw coming up to further pull it down to stretch out his arm muscles. "The firsts of anything are always memorable since they're the ones who break the molds placed upon them." He glanced down and their eyes met and held, a bit of his admiration shining through. "I'd say that's a big deal, Ms. Hopps."

"P-please, call me Judy." The doe stammered, her ears and cheeks flushed with warmth.

"Very well, Judy." Nick smiled, paws on his hips. "Now that our stretches are done, we can begin planning out the next three weeks. But first, let's talk goals. Why do you want to learn to dance, Judy?"

"Well," Judy felt her cheeks warm even further at having to admit it for a second time that morning, "I'm not very good at dancing, and the ZPD is having their Gala in a month…I don't want to make a fool of myself." 'Especially when it took so much to prove myself to them.' She thought with determination.

"I see." Nick said, a slight frown on his face. 'No passion. This is going to be boring, no matter how pretty she might be.' A smile replaced the frown before she could notice. "Since those events are usually filled with mammals who care more about flaunting their wealth than dancing, we can start with the basics, and work our way from there."

Judy had a retort on the tip of her tongue at that, but found it twisted when the tod placed his paws on her arms. She squeaked, her ears red as they pressed against her back, nose twitching as Nick quickly removed his paws from her.

Now, the tod openly frowned at her. "Judy…"

"I'm sorry, you just surprised me!" The doe explained, flustered. Tugging at one of her ears, she averted her eyes with embarrassed shame.

Nick took her in, the defensive body language, her twitching nose, and sighed. "I don't think this will work, Ms. Hopps."

"What?" Her head snapped up to look at Nick, surprised by this turn of events. "Why?"

"Because I can't teach someone who is afraid of me." Nick said softly, his expression one of resigned disappointment.

"That's not—I'm not afraid of you, Nick." Judy asserted as she frowned up at the tod, confused as to how he could have come to such a conclusion.

Charismatic as he was, Nick was especially sensitive to the body language of those around him. Particularly that of prey. "I know the signs of when a mammal is afraid of me, Ms. Hopps." He pointed to his nose, giving her a pointed look. While he hadn't scented fear coming from her yet, he could scent her nervousness and uneasiness to his presence.

"But I'm not." She insisted. "I'm…" Judy blushed at the thought of telling this tod she found him attractive. In fact, she'd rather die than admit that. Instead, she decided to go for a little white lie. "I'm just nervous about dancing…I'm…I'm really bad at it." Okay, so it wasn't much of a lie. She really was bad at it, but it wasn't the whole truth. He didn't need to know that, though. "But I want to learn. Please...give me a chance."

Giving her a dubious look, Nick stared at her for a good moment, taking in her determined expression. Her nose was still twitching, and her scent was still nervous, but she seemed adamant about ignoring it. It was the spark of passion he saw within her amethyst eyes that made him give in. 'The moment I scent fear, I'm ending this.' "If you insist, Ms. Hopps."

"Please, call me Judy." The doe insisted, giving him a tentative smile.

He couldn't help the soft smile that tugged at his lips, nor did he fight the desire to tease her. "I don't know, you look more like a 'Carrots' to me."

"Carrots?!" Judy laughed, not at all insulted by the name. In fact, she was relieved by the play at some humor. "My name is Judy!"

"Nah, definitely Carrots." Nick nodded to himself seriously, paw under his chin, before he gave a soft chuckle. "Alright, let's get started. First, the frame." Remembering how she reacted to him touching her, Nick tried a different route. He brought his right arm up to shoulder height, his elbow bending and his paw positioned higher than his elbow. His left arm was in a similar position, with his paw on the same level as his elbow.

"This is the frame for females." The tod informed the doe. "You want it to be strong."

Taking in his pose, Judy did her best to imitate it. Lifting her paws in the air, she felt silly without having a mammal there, but trusted Nick and his instruction.

Spotting a few weak points, Nick dropped his arms and came up beside Judy. Paws hesitating in the air around her arms, he met her gaze. At her nod, he placed his paws on her arms, adjusting their position in the air and testing their strength. When he was satisfied, he nodded. "This is the base and frame for every dance."

"Okay." Judy nodded, her face full of determination. 'I can do this. I can do this. I can…'

Nick then did something unexpected once again. He took her right paw in his, and then took her left paw and placed it on his shoulder, the difference in height forcing her to adjust the frame slightly. He then placed his free paw on her waist, their bodies moving a bit closer to make up for the height difference.

Heart pounding, ears burning, Judy looked up at the fox.

Nick smiled down at her apologetically. "I'll see if I can find a mammal more your height for you to practice with when you know more. This will have to do for now. I'm going to take a step forward with my right foot, and you'll take a step back with your left, okay?"

"Okay..." Judy said, her voice wavering a bit as her eyes lowered and zeroed in on their feet. She felt her confidence fading as Nick began to take the first step.

Somewhere between Nick taking that step forward, and Judy taking her step backwards, their feet got tangled, and with an undignified yelp from the fox, the two of them went plummeting to the floor.

Amidst the giggles from the others in the room, Nick managed to get his arms under him and hoist himself up. "How…?"

"I'm sorry!" A voice squeaked from under him.

Tipping his muzzle downward, he realized Judy was under him. Even with her ears draped over her face, he could see the blush in them.

"I told you I was bad at dancing." Judy continued, her paws coming up to tug at her ears.

"But...that was one step!" Nick protested in disbelief as he moved off of her, still unable to comprehend how they ended up on the floor from one simple step. Judy's embarrassed squeak had the fox's ears pinning down against his head. 'This is going to be more work than I thought.'

~o.8.o~

For the second session that week, Judy ran down the hallway to the dance studio, more than a bit flustered as she clutched her duffle bag closely. 'I can't believe I'm this late!'

Everything had been going according to schedule, and it was nearly fifteen minutes to the end of her shift when they had gotten a call for a bank robbery on Elm Street. Fortunately, they had been able to catch the robber-a platypus who had been in their bingo book for a while now-with no casualties. However, it had taken up more time then she had thought, and after a quick text message and an apology to Nick, the tod had been very understanding and agreed to keep the studio open for her so they could have their lesson.

Dressed in pale lavender workout sweats, she arrived at the door and crouched by the potted plant by the entrance, her paw digging around in the fake soil for a bit, as per Nick's instructions. Loud music could be heard playing through the door as she quickly found the key. Opening the door, the loud music made her wince slightly as she made sure to close it behind her. Turning around, she was mesmerized by the vision before her.

There was no one inside the studio save for herself and Nick. She wasn't sure what type of music was currently playing; some oddly hypnotic combination of rock, orchestra, and dubstep. Whatever it was, the fox moved to it with fluid grace and passion. Each gesture was focused, driven with such force that the almost angry element to it made the doe wonder if perhaps he had had a bad day. Most of her focus, however, was stuck on the thought that the tod was topless, and she was privy to every ripple of lean muscle under his russet fur.

Her nose twitched.

As the music came to a sudden climatic ending, Nick spun himself before ending in a crouch with his paw pressed against the floor as the song ended, panting heavily.

There was a beat of pure silence before Judy realized she needed to breathe, her gasp filling the silent room save for Nick's panting. The sound caused the fox's ears to perk up and his eyes to meet hers through the mirror. He gave her a smile as he panted, slowly rising to his feet as he did so.

"Hey, you made it, Carrots." Nick panted as he walked to a stool to the side where a towel and several water bottles rested. Grabbing one, he chugged it swiftly before grabbing another. This one, the tod upended over his head, the water saturating his fur before he shook himself out. He then grabbed the towel and passed it roughly over his fur. Once he was done passing it over his head, he caught Judy staring at him.

"Sorry." He said sheepishly. "We can't sweat, and I hate panting. I find this to be the quickest way to cool off."

"It's...fine." Judy tried to say passed her suddenly dry mouth. She then flicked her gaze to the radio on the floor by the stool. "What were you doing?"

"This is going to be more work for me if you can't tell I was dancing, Carrots." Nick teased as he grabbed the ends of the towel and looped it around the back of his neck, holding on to them as he turned to face the bunny. There was a smirk on his maw and a twinkle of mischief in emerald eyes.

Judy rolled her eyes at that, her own lips tugging into a smile. "You know what I meant. What were you dancing to?"

"That? It was a routine for an audition."

The doe's ears perked with interest at that. "Audition?"

Nick gave a breathless, almost bitter chuckle. "What? You thought this was my career choice? To be a dance instructor?"

Judy flushed at the patronizing tone the fox had taken. "I-I-"

"Don't worry about it." Nick said dismissively as he waved a paw at her. He then proceeded to pull the rolled up towel from around his neck, working the slightly damp cloth through the fur of his chest to further dry it, his back to hear.

As her amethyst eyes watched him absently, Judy mulled over the words of the fox. After a beat of silence, the doe asked a question. "Why did you want to be a dancer?"

The fox paused in his motion, back still to the doe, his ears angled towards her. She stared at his back silently, waiting for him to answer. When she thought he would continue to ignore her, NIck let out a soft sigh.

"I'm sure you're familiar with the opinion most mammals have of foxes." Nick began in a somber tone. He was still facing away from her, so he didn't see how guilt flitted across her face for a moment, for at one point in her life, she had shared those feelings. "Shifty, sly, can't be trusted. It's made finding honest work difficult for a lot of us."

Feeling for the tod, Judy opened her mouth to say something-anything-when he turned around, and she was stunned back into silence by the passion setting his eyes ablaze.

"But when I dance, they're forced to acknowledge my skill. They can't accuse me of cheating, because you can't get good by taking short-cuts." Nick placed a paw on his chest. "When I dance, they don't see a fox. They see me." Sometime during his passion-induced spiel, the tod had closed the distance between them, less than a foot keeping them apart. Judy watched transfixed as the light in emerald greens dimmed slightly, their gazes locking. "When I dance, it's the only time I feel...free."

The last part was said in a whisper, their gazes fixed on the other's eyes. Something in the air changed; a spark zinging between the two mammals. Judy couldn't stop her eyes from dropping for a second to his lips, before bouncing up to meet his gaze. She felt a deep flush swamp her ears as she found Nick's eyes settled on her own lips.

Abruptly, Nick's eyes widened and he turned his face away from her. It was then, as the fox brought a paw up to his maw to cough into it awkwardly, that Judy noticed just how close the two of them were.

"Let's, ah," Nick cleared his throat, his ears a bit red. "Let's begin the lesson."

And so, an embarrassed fox and bunny began their second dance lesson together.

~o.8.o~

And that's a wrap! The final part will be up tomorrow! I hope you guys enjoyed it :)

Ja ne!

~Star