Zootopia belongs to Disney. Spider-Man belongs to Sony.

He had considered just staying in his cell when she came. His tirade from last night had left him a bit more weary and angry than usual. He figured living with her would give him plenty of opportunity to get her back. How he would do that, he didn't know yet. The only thing that gave him pause was the fact that he was going to be in the same house as this bunny who was responsible for his current life, and as this fox, who hated his guts.

"Ready to go?" said Judy.

Danny turned to look at her from his recumbent position, his paws under his head. "Yep." He laid his head back on the pillow.

Judy cleared her throat.

"Oh. Now?" he asked, looking up again.

"Yes. Now. Unless, of course, you want to stay here, have a guard set on you twenty-four seven."

"Nope. I'm good. Let's go."

"Great!" She turned and walked beside him.

He snorted at the turn of events. The city wanted to put him away forever and instead, he was given freedom at the price of staying with this cute little bunny who was nearly half his height, minus the ears. He was curious to see how long that would last, though the same thought injected dread into him.

He was given his old bodysuit. It had been repaired and was as good as new, which he appreciated. The scratches on his chest had long since healed, but he didn't want too many reminders of that evil leopard.

Nick was already in the car, looking at his phone. Judy got in the car, Danny followed, taking the back seat, and relaxed on the comfortable cushion.

"Seatbelt," she said, looking back at him.

He scoffed. "I don't need to wear a seatbelt. Trust me, if we crash, the car won't break me; I'll break the car."

She shrugged. "Ain't turning the car on till it's around your waist."

After staring at her for a moment, he pulled the seatbelt around him and snapped it in place into the socket. He'd never used one before, but the mechanism was pretty simple. An idiot could figure it out. "There."

She smiled before turning the car on and taking off. Danny wondered what their place was like. Apartment, or house? Or a hole in the ground? Heh.

"Wait. Don't tell me you two live at the mall."

Nick snorted, putting his phone away. "Nope. Carrots is taking you to the torture chamber."

"We're getting you some new clothes," Judy corrected, glaring at Nick. "You can't just wear that old black onesie all the time."

"Yes I can. And- onesie?!"

Nick chuckled inwardly at the offpaw comment. At least there was something they could agree on. Once they were inside, he immediately began to drift toward a section that Judy loathed. She rolled her eyes. Ever since she had known this fox, he had always gone for those horrendous Pawaiian shirts. He went on wearing them two years into their partnership, until just before their marriage, when Judy bought Nick a set of new Downtown Pipeline clothes and insisted that he wear them lest he wake up dead. Eventually, he broke and tried them on, considering them decent enough, considering the new chapter in his life. He had built up a much better taste by now, but he still kept many of his old clothes, which rankled Judy to no end.

After trying on, like, thirteen or fourteen outfits that he pretended to hate, he came to a sweater that, except for one design on the front, was solid black. He looked at the emblem, a large, white spider. Oh, now that was a sweater that he could relate to. He was basically part spider. He tried on a thirty. WAY too big. Twenty-five. Still too big. Nineteen. Just a hair too small. Twenty. There it was. He knew it was the perfect size. He slowly reached for it, but the moment his paw touched it, another kid around his age, a puma, grabbed it. The strange cat symbol was drawn on the front. He'd also been seeing even more of that.

"Hey. Let go, I grabbed it first," said the puma.

"Yeah, well I saw it first, you dork."

"Don't care, it's mine."

"Ok, fine," said Danny, holding his paws up and backing off.

"Ha! Wuss!" He turned and began to walk off.

SS!

The kid nearly tripped and fell, waving and barely catching himself with his other foot.

Danny walked up to him and grabbed the sweater, pulling it from the surprised cat's paw. "I'll take that. Thank you."

"What'd you do?!" he asked, trying to pull himself out of the webbing. "What is this stuff?!"

"Don't worry, it'll dissolve," he said nonchalantly as he walked away.

"Mom!"

He left the kid yelling for his mom as he walked back toward Judy.

"What happened?" she asked, hearing the kid yelling.

"Ha! Some dorky kid wanted this but I got it first."

She looked at him skeptically but then just picked up the sweater from his paw.

"You want... this?" she asked, feeling like it approached a goth style. "It feels kind of... redundant... wearing your own fur color. Nobody will be able to tell where this ends and you begin. You sure?"

"Yeah, black is my favorite color."

Judy took one look and said, "Danny, why not have more options to choose from? You know, like, pick a few different colors and styles?"

"Well, I've kinda worn nothing but black for the past several years. I'm a black panther. It just makes more sense to keep it solid black all around, right?"

"No, it doesn't," she said bluntly. "Pick out three different outfits, and I'll get this one too."

"Ugh, fine," he grumbled, which Nick smirked at. He seemed to have been taking quite a bit of amusement at her expense lately. Danny looked over a few clothing items. He noticed yet another sign with Gazelle's face, her lips accented with red lipstick. He had been seeing a lot more of Gazelle's likeness lately: on billboards, magazine articles, posters, but not as many ads for concert tickets. It was strange; she was more known for her music than for her modeling. Why the big change all of a sudden? He picked out a pair of blue jeans and a solid, dark blue shirt that had the logo, Eastern Eagle in block letters down the side of the torso. He also grabbed a polo shirt, a long-sleeve shirt, and two more pairs of blue jeans. Bringing them back to Judy, he asked, "Better?"

She smiled. "Much! Ooh, this one even matches your eyes!"

Danny tossed it in the cart. This bunny was nice, but boy was she stubborn. While Judy was busy trying on a winter coat for herself, Danny couldn't help but snicker as Nick laid something between a pair of shirts, hiding it effectively. They found a few more outfits, Danny choosing a few varieties with Judy giving several suggestions. He couldn't help but admit that he looked good in the ones she picked. Judy definitely had an eye for a nice-looking outfit.

The clothes were rung up and put in bags and they all walked toward the car.

"Wait, what is this?" Judy muttered, noticing a strange item in one of the bags. "Maybe it was a mistake." She pulled it out and instantly realized... "Nick!"

"Yes, sweetheart?" he asked, whirling around with his paws innocently behind his back. She held up the shirt, a red and orange Pawaiian shirt designed with sunbeams glistening off of the leaves of palm trees.

"This is one of your 'It's called a hustle, sweetheart' moments?"

"Absolutely," he said, gesturing his index finger toward her. Danny was amused by the whole display. He'd have to ask about this hustle thing later on. She groaned with a quick roll of her eyes as she threw the shirt back into the bag, marching toward the car. He hadn't shown this kind of passive-aggressive behavior in a while. He was trying to get to her.

"Dumb fox," she said as she climbed in.

"Ah, I think that time it was the other way around," he said.

She looked at him with her own overly-sweet smile. "Dumb. Fox," she repeated saccharinely before backing out of the parking lot. She drove a bit slowly, apprehensive as to how Danny might take his new (temporary?) place of residence.

"Well, here we are," said Judy with forced cheerfulness as they stepped out of the warm night and into hers and Nick's house.

"Here we are," Nick deadpanned.

"Here we are," said Danny quietly.

The house was larger than he had imagined. It was tucked into a nice corner a few miles from the precinct. When he walked in, he was greeted with a large, spacious living room with a couch and a pair of chairs that seemed to be joined together by an armrest that had two cup holders embedded into it. There were decorations up on the walls - pictures, ornaments. It was a little cold but in a refreshing way. And it smelled like... lemons. It was actually really nice. Would've been a good place to break into at some point.

Judy went to Danny's side. "Come on, I'll show you your room." He slowly followed her to the hallway on the left, past the small kitchen, and into a room. She turned the light on. Inside the room that was, again, larger than he expected, he found magenta walls, a small table with a drawer, a large... piece of furniture, and... his eyes widened at the sight. A bed. Of the kind he never thought he'd find himself sleeping in.

He slowly stepped to the bed, placing his paw gently on the mattress. He didn't see it, but Judy was smiling. "You like it?"

He nodded. "Never had one of my own before."

"Your own room?"

"A bed."

Judy's smile faded and her eyebrows slanted.

"At least, not one like this," he clarified. He'd had a bed before, of course, but never one this soft. Or big. Or... artful. It was primarily reddish-brown, but some lighter shades of red were sewn into the fabric. He'd never seen a mattress like this before.

After a moment, she smiled again. "Well, it's yours now. Tell me if you like it." He looked at her and nodded slightly. She began to close the door.

"Judy?"

She opened the door again. "Yes?"

Thank you; you're not what I thought you were; I'm sorry. He hesitated, then shook his head. "Nothing."

"Ok," she said with a smile, then closed the door.

Looking quietly at the door for a moment, she walked toward the kitchen to start dinner. She looked toward Nick, but he didn't notice. He was reading an article in some sports magazine. Judy's ears wilted. Every day for the past seven years, even before they were married, they would spend hours talking. Just idle conversation, enjoying one another. That was how they had built their relationship up to marriage in the first place. This was a first for them, and she did not like it. She hoped Nick felt the same way. Maybe once everything was settled in, he would begin to warm up to the boy.

"Dinner's ready!" she called as she set out the dinner plates. Nick got up from the couch and walked over to the dinner table, not taking his eyes off of the magazine. He sat down and started eating, completely ignoring Judy. His wife tried her best to appear unaffected. "Danny?" No response. She walked toward his door. "Danny?... Honey? Dinner's ready." She knocked. "You there?" She opened the door, and her heart melted.

The lights were still on, but the cub was out. He was in his new bed, his knees pulled to his chin. He looked so peaceful, even if a little cold, that it was no wonder he hadn't heard her. The sheets had not been pulled out from under the pillows; he was laying on them. He had changed into the blue shirt and a pair of blue jeans. She laid her paws on her chest and exhaled sharply at the sight. She wanted to call Nick but figured she'd just take a picture and show him later. After taking the picture, she found a spare blanket and pulled it over him. Slowly, his legs extended until they were straight. He was warm. Judy laid her paw on his head and gently stroked behind his ear with her thumb, causing his ear to flick a couple times. He stretched out his arm and spread his fingers the way cats do as a purr rumbled from his throat. He relaxed and smiled faintly. After softly laying a kiss on his forehead, she whispered, "Good night, Honey." Then, resisting the urge to hug him, she turned the lights out and quietly closed the door.

She walked into the living room and sat down at the dinner table. She and Nick ate in silence, with Judy almost constantly glancing at him. He kept his eyes glued to the magazine. Once they were done, he was back on the couch.

She sat on the love seat adjacent to him. "How was your day?" she asked, trying to get him to talk. She hated it when he was like this. Usually, it was hard to get him to shut up! Seeing him this quiet and distant was torture.

"Fine," he responded shortly.

"What was fine about it?"

"I dunno, just a normal day," he mumbled.

Yeah, what a lie that was. This was not going anywhere. "Nick, would you just talk to me?!"

He looked at her for a second before answering. "Oh, now you want to talk. After all the badgering and having my mouth taped shut, now you want to talk to me?"

"Yes. I want to talk. I want to hear about your day."

"I just told you. My day was fine. Didn't you hear me?"

She was taken aback. He had not been like this an hour ago at the mall. Passive-aggressive, maybe, but not angry. "I just... I miss you, Nick. You've been kinda distant lately and I want to see how you're doing."

"Distant. Yeah, I've been distant. And who has been keeping me at a distance? Oh yeah, my wife, who vowed to me that we would do everything, make every decision together. Remember that, Carrots?"

Judy didn't know what to say.

"And here for the past several weeks, guess who has been calling the shots while keeping her husband on the sidelines?" He flourished his paw before pointing. "You."

"Nick, I'm-I'm sorry, ok? I-I just wanted to help Danny."

Nick abruptly stood and slapped the magazine hard onto the coffee table. Judy nearly leaped from her seat from the snap that echoed around the house. "By bringing him here?! A twelve-year-old kid you barely know, who managed to nearly kill an armadillo and a bear?!" Nick approached Judy, who stared at him with wide eyes. "Judy, you are NOT the only one who lives here! Did you even think about what could happen?! What he would do, how that would affect the ZPD? Us?!"

Now Judy stood up. "Of course I've thought about it," she said, trying to stay calm. "I think about it every day. But I'm trying to make the world a better place. That's my- that's our job."

"You can't do that if he does something to you!"

"He won't!"

"HOW DO YOU KNOW!" he screamed.

"BECAUSE HE'S..." she didn't finish.

Nick's jaw fell open, he hunched over. He knew exactly what she was about to say. Unbeknownst to either of them, the sound of the magazine hitting the table had woken the cub. He heard every word.

"Judy, he is not your son. He's a criminal. If he wasn't so strong, he'd already be in juvenile detention."

"I know that Nick, but he's been through so much, so much that I put him through..."

Nick huffed, turning around and putting his paws on his head. He could not believe this.

"Are you kidding me?" he asked in a raspy whisper. He turned back toward her. "Are we still on that? You have to fix every little thing in this world? Judy..." he trailed off.

"I know I can't fix everything, but when I see someone in need, I'm not going to abandon them."

"Like you abandoned me?" said Nick plainly. The apartment suddenly fell silent. As if his accusation had sucked all the noise from the room except from these two lovers.

Judy stared at Nick, her expression one of shock. She turned and walked into their room down the hall. She slammed the door behind her.

Nick sat back down and rubbed his face. He was angry. Angry at Judy, angry at this cub, angry at himself. He had not handled that very well, had he? It reminded him of that infamous press conference. Oh, the crushing guilt that he had felt afterward... Judy had not been the only one at fault, and he knew it. He had abandoned her that day. And he had just accused her of the very same thing. Smooth, Wilde. Very smooth... He figured he would apologize to Judy tomorrow. Then maybe they could sit down and talk about this.

Meanwhile, Danny lay still, trembling. His worries were confirmed by the conversation he had just heard.

Liability, Danny. You're a liability, a disadvantage, and that's all you'll ever be.

Things may seem bad, but everything's in place for the climb. Things always get worse before they get better. And when that happens, that makes the climb that much sweeter. This is not written to be an easy journey. And trust me, there will be more hard times and more good times.