Chapter Text

His commute was not half as bad as it could have been, and the weather was nice. The sun hung undisturbed by clouds in the sky above the city. The bus made its way steadily through the morning traffic, the monotone sound of its engine melted into the background as Tobias focused on nothing in particular, trying in vain to make himself small and inconspicuous in his seat.

Moletech had managed to stay neutral in this conflict for an impressive stretch of time, but the growing unrest was forcing the hand of management. They were working on solutions to segregate the workforce.

Tobias and Kevin would be mostly untouched by this, as they already worked by themselves in the small IT department. Tobias knew it would affect them nonetheless, and in some ways it already did. For one, they never ate in the cafeteria anymore, instead opting to have their packed lunches by their desks.

In some aspects, Tobias had to admit this was an improvement. Eating with a fellow predator meant he could have his tuna sandwich without the looks of nervous colleagues on him. He could feel them wondering when the tuna would not be enough to satisfy him anymore.

“If you don’t mind me asking Toby,” Kevin suddenly said during their lunchbreak, interrupting the steady sound of crunching sea urchin shells.

“You’ve been awfully quiet today. Everything alright?”

Tobias took his time chewing his mouthful of sandwich before answering. He had not told Kevin about Hazel, and he was unsure if he should. Tobias had never been one to talk openly about his private life at work.

The weekend had been tough for Tobias, even if Lilly had kept her promise and called him from Hazel’s phone both Saturday and Sunday. He expected she would call again today, updating him on her progress in school and her enthusiastic quest to make as many friends as possible.

However, Hazel never came on the line.

“Mom says hi!” and that was all he had heard.

He did not know why Hazel suddenly did not want to talk to him, and it confused him. He thought she would keep in touch.

“It’s just that some friends had to leave the city,” Tobias finally answered. “I miss them.”

Kevin nodded in understanding, giving the large tiger a friendly pat on the back.

“A lot of friends being torn apart by this,” he said, seeming to think something over before adding: “Hey, I know we’ve never been close or anything. But if you need a friend, you got one here.”

The otter pointed a clawed thumb to himself, offering Tobias a friendly smile.

“Thanks Kev,” Tobias said, sincerely grateful. It would have been nice just to sit down for a normal beer with someone for once.

“Don’t mention it,” Kevin said, returning to his lunch. “We preds got to stick together now, not as many of us as of them, you know. If anything, this whole thing has shown me who my real friends are.”

Tobias gave him an agreeing nod, but something in the way Kevin spoke made his lunch sit uneasily in his stomach.

Bunnyburrow was its usual picturesque lush green. The blue sky was dotted with the occasional cotton cloud, casting shadows that travelled softly across the green and golden fields around the Burrow homestead. It seemed forever caught in the status quo, largely unaffected by the events in the big city that could just as well be on the other side of the world.

Hazel sat in the shadow on her parent’s porch with a half-empty glass of sweet tea in front of her. Inside, the house was calm. With only twenty or so bunnies living in it, the mostly underground house saw much of its two hundred capacity unused.

Lilly was having dinner at her father’s house today, leaving Hazel to her own mind most of the afternoon. At least Buck had been more than happy to have Lilly move closer. Hazel suspected he had struggled with a bad consciousness with how little he managed to see his daughter from his first marriage. His new wife had been nothing but kind, and included Lilly in her kits’ activities without a moment’s hesitation.

And though Hazel was glad Lilly got to spend more time with her father and her half-siblings, it was bitter-sweet to see how happy Lilly was in the large family.

The slight vibration on the table in front of her made Hazel glance down at the shining screen on her phone. It was yet another ZNN news update, and her heart did a little hop in her chest before she realised it was just a traffic update. She had been on her toes waiting for the next attack, praying it would be any animal, any predator, anything but a tiger.

The thought of Tobias made a ball tighten in her stomach. She should have called him.

From the conservative comforts of Bunnyburrow, the true nature of the feelings she harboured for him had become alarmingly obvious. It was not like they had not been there before, but they had somehow been dormant, only making themselves known as a warm glow at the root of her heart.

After the separation on the platform of Zootopia Central Station, she was feeling a deep longing which nature could not be mistaken for anything else. It was this certainty, the very intensity of her own feelings that caused her trepidation.

Now, after nearly three days, she was too embarrassed to pick up the phone herself. Hazel had no idea how to explain to Tobias why she had not called earlier. She regretted not having at least said a few words after each time Lilly had spoken to him.

Unsure of how he would react to her calling him now, Hazel hesitated with her paws to her chest, watching her phone light up again with another news update.

When his phone vibrated across the coffee table, Tobias’ heart did not skip as much as it had the first time. He realised he should be happy Hazel let Lilly call him at all, though he could not help the tinge of disappointment he felt every time he picked up and it was not Hazel’s voice greeting him.

“Hi little Lady” he greeted warmly, turning off the colourful cartoons he had been watching. “How was school today? Did you get any new friends?”

“No” a warm voice answered, making him jolt upright in his sofa. “But I’ve met some old ones”

“Hazel” an involuntary smile of relief drew the corners of his mouth up as he said her name, his paw quickly running through the fur on his head. “Hi”

“Hi”

The line fell silent. He had longed to talk to her for the entire weekend, but now he had no idea what to say.

“H-how’ve you been? Is everything alright?” He finally managed, pressing his phone firmly against his ear.

“Yes” Hazel answered a little hesitant. “I’m sorry Toby”

“Why?” Tobias could feel his heart sink. He had not heard from her in days, and when he finally did, she began with apologizing. It made him assume the worst.

“I haven’t called you, and I wish I could offer you an explanation, but I can’t. I don’t know why, I just-” Hazel shook her head, watching the breeze play across the green grass in front of the porch.

“It’s fine,” Tobias assured her. “I’m just glad you did”

Hazel smiled as the calm, deep baritone of his voice resonated within her. Whatever concern she had felt before melted away as Tobias’ calm voice filled her ears.

“I’d almost forgotten what you sound like already” she mused, not really having meant to say it aloud.

Tobias chuckled warmly, making Hazel’s ears hot as she realised she had, in fact, said it aloud.

Thankfully, Tobias seemed to sense her discomfort over the phone, and did not mention it. Instead, he asked conversationally:

“So… how’s it being back in the Burrows?”

“Green,” Hazel said, taking a deep breath of fresh country air. She could not deny that this would always be her home, more than any apartment in the city would ever be.

“Green?” Tobias asked, laying down on his couch with a paw underneath his head.

“Yea, every time I come back here, I realise how much greener everything is, and open. Even with the parks and trees in Zootopia, it’s just never the same”

“I can imagine” Tobias said, closing his eyes to shut out his apartment that had begun to feel more and more like a cage recently.

Hazel suddenly realised something, making her both surprised and a little embarrassed at the same time.

“Toby… I’ve never asked you where you’re from”

She thought back past the weeks they had known each other, and not once had they talked about his family. It made her feel incredibly selfish, remembering all the times she had told him about her past.

“Nothing interesting there I’m afraid” Tobias answered, a little surprised at her sudden change of subject.

“Zootopia born and bred, only cub, the folks moved down to the sunny south in their old days. That about sums it up. My life has been pretty uneventful up until now”

“Still, I feel bad for never asking,” Hazel said, tucking her feet underneath herself in the large woven chair. “That’s what one normally does when getting to know someone”

“Well, we haven’t exactly gotten to know each other under normal circumstances, have we?”

Tobias could not help the tinge of melancholy in his voice, suddenly wishing he could see her. He wanted to have her in front of him, to be in the room with her. He wanted so badly to see how her lips moved and how she always ran her paw over her ears when she talked. He actually closed his eyes to try to imagine it.

“No, I guess not” Hazel answered in a low voice.

“But I can’t help but wonder” she continued. “If this had never happened, this savage-mess I mean… Would we’ve gotten to know each other at all?”

Tobias fell silent, finding himself glancing over to his kitchen where Hazel had been sitting on his countertop just last week.

Contemplating her question, he thought back to that day on the bus when Lilly had gotten lost in Savanna Market Square. If everything had been as before the crisis, he would not have worried about Hazel thinking he was following them. He would have just gone home as usual, hit the gym and gone about his afternoon.

He probably would not have noticed them sitting beside him on the bus at all. Just some other mammals sharing his commute that he never paid much attention too.

“Probably not” he finally concluded.

It was peculiar how a situation that should have torn an even larger divide between prey and predators, had resulted in the exact opposite. Instead, be it by chance or fate, it had created the perfect circumstance for them to grow closer.

Hazel looked down at her sweet tea, feeling herself growing emotional again. She tried her best to swallow the growing lump in her throat. The emotions that had rendered her a teary mess on the platform of Zootopia Central Station still played fresh in her mind.

“But I’m glad we did,” Tobias added, and Hazel could feel a warm shudder go through her.

“So am I.”

Hazel gazed over the lush fields again. In the distance, a small truck was kicking up a cloud of dust from the dry dirt roads cutting through the landscape.

“I wish you were here, Toby” Hazel said, her eyes following the cloud of dust as the truck made its way towards the farm.

Tobias mouth went dry. There was nothing he wanted more, and hearing her wanting the same was both sweet and agonizing at the same time.

“It’s safer without me there” Tobias imagined what an incredibly unnecessary risk placing a tiger in the middle of Bunnyburrow would be.

“I don’t want to believe that” Hazel said, realizing she sounded almost childishly stubborn.

“Doesn’t make it any less true” Tobias countered, his voice low and somber.

Hazel smiled sadly into the air, blinking back her own tears, just managing to keep them down. Down the road from the Burrow homestead, Buck’s old blue truck came into view. She could just make out the yellow of Lilly’s jumper in the passenger seat.

“Ah, Lilly’s coming home now” Hazel said, clearing her throat. “Maybe we’ll Muzzle Time you later?” She offered, standing up from her chair and waving towards the approaching truck.

“Both of you?” Tobias asked hopefully, longing to see her face again, even if it only was on a screen.

“Yea” Hazel said. “Both your little ladies” she added with a smile, earning her a warm laugh from Tobias.

“I’d like that”

“Take care Toby”

“You too Hazel”

The following week passed with them falling into a routine of text messages during the day and Muzzle Time in the evening. Lilly would sometimes take Tobias on a tour, shakily holding Hazel’s phone with the camera pointing around the house. Most of the time he would not be able to see much more than worn wooden floors and glimpses of comfortable furniture, but he did not mind one bit.

Each time, it felt like his tablet was a magic mirror through which he looked into a different reality. A place of wholesome home cooked meals and endless open fields, where Lilly could play safely outside, and Hazel had a calmness about her that made her even lovelier than before.

And as much as it hurt to not be a part of it, he was grateful for its existence.

Saturday was turning into late afternoon, a time when the streets would usually be buzzing with life as Zootopians prepared for a night out. However, Tobias was almost alone as he made his way towards his apartment with his gym bag slung over his shoulder. He had found a gym a while back in a predominantly predatory area of the city, but it was quite the distance from his apartment.

It was nothing fancy, but it had the equipment he needed, in addition to a basketball court and an outdoor tennis court. The last fact had surprised him, but he guessed even he had his biases towards the less affluent parts of Zootopia.

Finally home, he rushed through his shower and meal, settling in his couch with his i-Paw in his lap for what had become the favourite part of his day.

Hazel’s mild features filled the screen of his tablet, the image rocking a little as she positioned her phone in front of her.

“Hi Toby,” she greeted.

She was in the kitchen, the heart of the Burrow homestead, and one of the few rooms with windows. Sturdy oak cupboards lined the walls, hanging above several feet worth of countertops. Terracotta coloured tiles covered the floor, in addition to the walls between the cupboards and countertops. Hazel’s father had bought the tiles at a discount, and being the frugal bunny he was, he had not seen the point of getting different tiles for the backsplash.

Hazel had propped her phone up against some cookbooks in the windowsill above the sink. Several paper bags with various vegetables lay on the sturdy kitchen table behind her, and she was in the middle of cutting a head of cabbage.

“My turn to make dinner” she explained, holding up the large kitchen knife. “So I hope you don’t mind me multitasking a little.”

“Not at all,” Tobias said, repositioning himself in the couch to hold his tablet more comfortably. “How many are you cooking for?” He asked, eyeing the already impressive pile of chopped cabbage on the cutting board.

“Oh, just 45. One of my sisters are visiting with her youngest kits,” she said nonchalantly, not looking up to see Tobias’ baffled expression.

As if on que, one of the three doors leading from the kitchen to the common areas flung open, and what Tobias thought looked like a horde of tiny bunnies stormed into the kitchen. Leading the onslaught of bunny kits was Lilly, who was screaming with glee as she held a yellow ball above her head.

Lilly did a sharp U-turn, running between Hazel and the kitchen table, finding just enough time to glance up at Tobias on her mother’s phone screen.

“Hi Toby!” She yelled, before disappearing out of sight, followed by her cousins.

“Lilly!” Hazel said sternly, though with a warm tone in her voice. Lilly was too focused on keeping the others from getting a hold of her ball to listen, and had jumped up on one of the counters in an attempt to get away from her cousins.

“Excuse me one moment,” Hazel said apologetically to Toby, before she as well disappeared out from sight, though he could still hear her.

"Y'all keep out of the kitchen if you ain't helping me!" Hazel scolded good-heartedly, ushering her nieces and nephews out of the kitchen together with Lilly.

Tobias had never noticed the drawl in her voice before. Her vowels were slightly drawn out, and her sentences had become more melodic. Maybe years living and working in the metropolis of Zootopia had polished it away, and it was now slowly resurfacing. He had to smile.

“And you know Gramma’s gonna have your tails if she catches y’all playing ball in the house!”

You can take the bunny out of the country, but never the country out of the bunny. Tobias thought to himself, not able to conceal his amusement.

“Sorry about that,” Hazel said, reappearing on his screen, resuming her chopping. “They’re an energetic bunch.”

Hazel noticed him smiling and paused her chopping to look up at the phone she had propped up in front of her.

"What?"

"Nothing," Tobias said, though he was still smiling. Hazel raised a questioning eyebrow at him, the movement being mimicked by her ears, as one lifted halfway with her eyebrow.

"Bunnyburrow suites you," he said with a shrug. "You seem happy"

Hazel gave a small smile, resuming her meticulous chopping of cabbage.

"I'm not going to lie, I like it here. It's home, it’s where I always imagined I would eventually move back to and settle down, but.." She kept her eyes on the chopping, not wanting to meet Tobias' eyes on her screen. "Not under these circumstances," she finished in a lowered voice, scoping the chopped cabbage in the boiling water she had ready on the stove.

Tobias remained silent, unsure of what to say.

"How are you holding up? Is work alright?" Hazel asked in an effort to change the subject.

"Fine, I guess," Tobias said with a sigh. "I just keep to myself, eat lunch at my desk, go home and stay away from crowds."

"Doesn’t sound fine," Hazel said, looking at Tobias face on the small screen. "I worry about you, every day," she added, putting the chopping board in the sink. "My heart jumps at every news update"

Tobias ears grew warm, as they did every time she in some way revealed that she cared about him. He just hoped it was just as much as he cared about her.

"I'm fine, Hazel, I'm just glad you and Lilly got out."

Every day he could feel the tension growing, like a rubber band that was minutes away from snapping. The political climate was toxic; Mayor Bellwether tried keeping the parties in check, but as of now, the quarantine was inevitable. There had not been an attack in a few days, but Tobias knew that as soon as one did, the Mayor would bring down the quarantine hard and mercilessly. He did not wish for Hazel and Lilly to be there when that chaos broke loose.

Still, he felt hollow. He had not realized just how much their meetings meant to him, how much their interaction had given him some feeling of normality. Without it, the reality of the situation and uncertainty of the future made his days gloomy and monotone. Seeing their faces and hearing their voices through his i-Paw tablet was a poor substitution. He missed having them close. Though he had only gotten to hold Hazel a precious few times, he ached for it more than ever. Wishing with every fibre of his body to hold her in his arms again.

"I miss you," he said, his voice soft and low. He could not see anyone else in the kitchen with her, but was mindful of big ears somewhere out of sight.

"I miss you too," Hazel replied lowering her voice to match his. "I- I knew I was going to, but I didn't realize how much or that I-I would feel..." Hazel was stuttering, nervously running her paws over her ears, draping them over her left shoulder.

"I know," Tobias said.

Hazel gave him a nervous smile, continuously smoothing her paws over her ears. She wanted to say so much, to express how complicated this was, even if it could be so easy had they not been who they were, and had it not happened now. But every attempt she made at forming a sentence boiled down to nothing before she could express it.

She ended up laughing in frustration, letting out a low sigh:

"You're a tiger."

Tobias could not help but laugh with her. Because that was what made this complicated, the proverbial elephant in the room that neither of them had mentioned.

"That I am. A rather big one," he said.

Hazel gave another nervous laugh. “And I’m a bunny.”

“Yes. A beautiful bunny.”

Hazel could feel her heart jumping in her chest, her ears grew warm and she was sure the insides were blushing to a bright pink. Tobias’ eyes were on her, unwavering and so bright amber it made her cast down her own gaze.

The possibility that this, seeing her on a cold screen, was the only way he would ever see her, made Tobias’ chest ache. The uncertainty of the future pressed on him with a sudden urge to leave nothing unsaid.

“Hazel, I don’t know if this will ever be over, because right now it looks hopeless,” he began, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes as if he was jumping from a height that scared him too much to look.

“But I need you to know that I’ve fallen in love with you.”

Hazel’s breath hitched almost soundlessly. Her paws, which had been smoothing down her ears, froze mid movement. Tobias took advantage of her speechlessness, rushing his words before he lost his nerve.

“And I know this is unusual, and that our species- that we are so different- makes this complicated. But if by any miracle, things do go back to normal, and you can come back, would you be willing to try?”

Hazel swore her heart would beat right out of her chest, and she was pressing her clutched paws against it in a feeble attempt to keep in its place. A warm numbness spread out to the very tips of her fingers, and she slowly realised she would need the use of her voice. But it felt as if it was trapped somewhere in the back of her throat.

“Yes,” it came out as nothing more than a whisper, and she repeated herself in fear that Tobias had not heard her the first time. “Yes I would.”

“Really?” Tobias asked hopefully while studying every inch of her face for confirmation. He did not dare to exhale fully, still breathing shallow as he waited for her to repeat her answer.

“Yes,” Hazel repeated for the third time, finding the full use of her voice again. Though still feeling dazed, she did not want to waste another moment.

“Because I love you too.”

Tobias’ face slowly broke into a pure smile, and he laughed. A warm, genuine laugh that poured out of her phone and filled the large kitchen, wrapping itself around her. Hazel could feel a joy she had not felt in months. Even if the kitchen was empty, for a moment, it was as if Tobias was right there, standing beside her on the terracotta-tiled floor.

It was intoxicating, and Hazel could not keep her own bubbling laughter down. It danced around the room, blending harmonically with his deeper tone.

“I think I fell for you the moment you bought me half a gallon of coffee,” she added, not able to hold back a giggle.

Tobias burst out in another fit of laughter, covering his face with his paw for a moment as he re-lived the embarrassment.

For a couple of wonderful minutes, everything was right in the world. The “what if's” of an uncertain future did not exist for a while. They let themselves just be happy, allowing themselves to hope for a future and carefully begin to imagine what it would be like sharing it.

An angry hiss from the stove broke through their laughter, making Hazel's ears jump up at an angle before she disappeared of Tobias' screen with an "Oh shoot!"

She came back into view with a pot so large Tobias was actually a little impressed she was able to lift it. She dumped the cabbage into the waiting colander in the sink, sending a cloud of steam up into the air.

"Sorry, I almost overcooked the cabbage," she huffed, shooting an embarrassed smile at Tobias smiling face in the windowsill. The laughter had not quite left her voice.

"I should probably take part of the blame," he chuckled. "I think I distracted you."

"You could say that," she said, looking down at her paws, suddenly feeling shy. "I'll have to start on the carrots."

She took a paper bag from the table behind her and began peeling carrots, all the while smiling and shooting glances at her phone. Tobias just enjoyed watching her in silence for a while. The setting sun was shining through the windows in golden rays, bringing out the fine hairs of bronze in Hazel’s fur.

"Did your parents grow those?" He asked conversationally, wanting to break the silence.

“No, my parents grow cabbage and sweet potatoes,” Hazel answered while peeling the carrots with skilled efficiency.

“Oh.”

“What?” Hazel asked, glancing up at him teasingly. “Did you think all bunny- farmers grew carrots?”

“Of course not, I just-”Tobias began before catching the tone of her voice. He sent her a half smile, shaking his head. “That wasn’t fair, Hazel.”

“I know, sorry,” she chuckled.

“I actually bought these carrots,” she added, her face falling into contemplation.

“So?” Tobias asked, raising an eyebrow at her expression. Maybe buying carrots instead of growing them carried some kind of stigma he was not aware of. Whatever the reason, it seemed it bothered Hazel a little.

“Do you remember Judy Hopps?” she asked unexpectedly, making Tobias even more confused. The name seemed familiar, but it took him a couple of seconds to place it. It was a name that brought him back to the day everything had taken a turn for the worst.

He had been at work. Kevin had been watching a press conference in relation to the missing mammals case that had been linked to the then Major Lionheart. Tobias had been trying to fix a bug in a rather long code. Annoyed, he had asked Kevin to turn it down, only for the otter to eagerly wave him over to his desk. The young Officer Hopps had just taken the podium, ready to make her statement.

At the time, Kevin had actually been quite the fan of the first ever bunny cop.

“She sets the bar for all us smaller mammals, you know?” Tobias remembered him saying once. “Showing the world we are so much more than cute ”

He had never seen Kevin as upset as he was after that press conference.

“Yea, Officer Hopps” Tobias nodded. “Why do you ask?”

“I bought these from her” Hazel said, referring to the carrots.

“She’s in Bunnyburrow?” Tobias had honestly never thought about what happened to her after the whole Lionheart- scandal broke. Then again, he had had enough to worry about during that time.

“She grew up a few farms over,” Hazel said, chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip. “I remember her from when she was just a little kit playing dress-up” she mused. “Never thought she’d actually make it. And today, she just looked so sad and defeated”

Hazel sighed, her shoulders slumping as she looked up at Tobias.

“I’m just glad Lilly didn’t recognize her from TV. I think that would’ve been awkward for everyone.”

“Yea,” Tobias agreed. “I bet she just want to forget being involved in the entire thing.”

He looked at Hazel standing in the warm glow of the country kitchen. The stark contrast to his own cold apartment was almost painful.

“This whole city is a rotting mess because of it, but I guess it would’ve been regardless” he looked out the windows behind his TV. The sky was turning crimson behind the Zootopian skyline, and Tobias tried his best to not associate the deep red with blood.

“I guess so” Hazel said hesitantly, carefully chopping carrots into perfectly thin slices. “I just wish it wasn’t.”

“I know,” Tobias said, looking at her softly. “But you just made it a little better.”

Hazel cast her eyes down, and Tobias could swear he saw the inside of her ears blushing before she pushed them over her shoulder again.

Their conversation continued loosely for the best part of an hour, often interrupted by longer stretches of silence where Tobias would just watch Hazel go about preparing dinner. Sometimes their eyes would meet, and they shared a smile that quickly turned into laughter for no particular reason.

The bunny kitchen held a lot of cleverly planned solutions to maximize space, and Hazel found herself explaining things to Tobias which to her seemed perfectly normal.

Tobias found the process of pulling out the different sections of the kitchen table to accommodate the large amount of dinner guests especially fascinating. The table held several extra plywood boards that fit into different slots, extending the table to run almost the entire length of the kitchen. When Hazel had lived at home, they had two of these tables, and even then she remembered some of her older siblings being seated by the counter.

“I’ll have to call them in for dinner,” Hazel finally said, after finishing setting the table.

“Of course, I should probably have dinner myself,” Tobias said, though a little disappointed that he would have to hang up.

Hazel nodded, suddenly nervous again. “Well, until tomorrow,” she said, looking at him with her paws folded in front of her. They had already said it once, but the words were still so new to her that she could feel her heart racing in anticipation.

“I love you Toby.”

Tobias let out a short breathless laugh. It would take him some time to get used to hearing her say that.

“I love you too.”

Tobias rolled over on his back on the couch, his i-Paw resting on his chest as he looked up at the ceiling, his eyes not really focusing on anything. As every night after the curfew, the streets outside his apartment was eerily quiet. The sound of far off police sirens carried through above the rooftops. Tobias closed his eyes, purposefully ignoring them.

He would get the news of another savage attack soon enough anyway, it could wait until morning. Tonight, the only thing he wanted to think about was Hazel. Her voice was playing on repeat in his mind, and he focused all his energy on remembering everything about it, and nothing else.

I love you Toby.









